Block Two

The best way to start a summer day, sitting under the umbrella on the deck with some handwork, a cup of coffee, and NPR on the radio.  Fabulous!

I love pink and orange together.  This was one piece of fabric from class and one from my stash.

The New Class

A monthly EPP class at American Quilting.

Well.  This first block is acceptable but boy-oh-boy, lots of learning points.  You might be able to see the stitches in my first seams and you will know they are the first seams because you can see them.  Surprisingly, the block does lay flat.  If you could see the back, where all those points meet in the center, the points are swirled which is what helps them lay flat.

The template is the kite shape.  There are eight kite shapes that make up the block which is 5" top to bottom and side to side.

July Baby Quilt

Finished hand stitching the back of the binding this morning but most of it was done on Slow Stitching Sunday.  It's a nice contemplative thing to do.

The quilt pattern came from this book and we, Carol and I, cannot say enough good things about it.  You might want to consider it for your own library.  This is my first finished quilt from it but Carol has done three and her daughter is working on another!!

The quilt finishes 45x47 and is not the size for a baby quilt that the pattern indicates.  In fact there was some fussing about with blocks as I cut for a crib size quilt which was five across by eight down.    I decided I wanted it square so sewed it 6x6 blocks.  Ha!  Not. Square.  The blocks are rectangular.  Fortunately, I had enough left over blocks cut to add a row to the bottom.

All fabric from stash and I used Hobbs 100% Cotton batting.  I bought three yards of it and cut it into 4 equal pieces so I am not always looking for baby quilt sized batting.  I quilted it with Star Merc.

QOTD

May your summer days be light, 

and may all your stitches 

fall into the right place.

Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

Wedding!

Wonderful locally made caramels on this welcoming table

Lots of things that are hard to control when having a backyard wedding reception in July but the weather cooled slightly and skies were overcast.  No squinting bride pictures and no sweating guest either.

The fotb worked very hard getting the yard ready and it was just lovely.  I heard one guest comment on how green the lawn looked and how did he do that.  All kinds of flowers blooming and even the tomatoes were standing tall and orderly.

The motb and a team of helpers put out a tasty table of food which included among other things, PB&J mini sandwiches which are the groom's favorite and mini BLTs which are the bride's favorite.

In lieu of a guest book

Leave a thought for the bride and groom

Navy and peach colors

Great idea to hide the spa

Centerpieces reflect what Steph and Scott love, reading and board games.

I wish I would have taken a picture of one of the pictures on the wall of doors of Stephanie in her wedding dress, hand on hip and a big smile.  It portrayed her personality exactly and made me really smile.  What a fabulous woman she is!

Oops, didn't quite get all of Scott in this picture.

The Very First One!

I bought just this one zucchini plant and decided to plant it in a very large pot.  It's an experiment because what I do not like about zucchini plants is the way they spread all over the place.  Moving all those vines and searching for the zucchinis always has me looking for other things under those leaves.  Moving things with many legs or worse, slithering thing with no legs.

I am hoping for just a little spill over the sides of the pot but we'll see what happens.  Maybe there will only be one zucchini at a time. In the meantime, I have the Spiralizer standing by

The Used Book Room

A wonderful thing!  It used to be the copy room at the library.

The last week of the month a bag full of books is $5.  It's a plastic grocery bag that you can see here behind the books.  We got 10 books and the bag did not split!  Tristan found two, the Albert Speer book and the military book sitting on top of it.  The other eight were my picks.  Of those eight, all appeared to have come off the same person's shelf, unread, and six were dog themed mysteries.  Lee Charles Kelley did not appeal to me so those were re-donated.  Still, that leaves five light mystery books for Summer Sunday Reading.  Yahoo!

3 Down, 1 To Go

Hard to keep track of what's coming down and what's going up!  There will be (another) large apartment/condo complex built here.

Our new favorite recipe.  It is quite spicy because of all the layers of spice, so depending on what you like, it's easy to turn the heat down.

SPICY WEEKEND GUMBO  Pinch of Yum, Serves 8-10
a quick swish of olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 hot peppers like serrano or jalapeño, seeded and minced

4 cups mirepoix

2 cups additional chopped veggies (optional)

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 3 tablespoons cajun seasoning mix

1 28-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

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12 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced

1 lb. raw tail-off shrimp

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6 tablespoons butter

 ½ cup flour

2 cups milk or chicken broth - I used 1 cup each

heavy pinch of salt

1 VEGETABLES: Heat the oil in a big, deep pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, hot peppers, mirepoix, and vegetables. Saute' for 10 minutes or so until it's all soft and fragrant.

2 BASE: Add the tomatoes, broth, and spices. Bring to a low boil; reduce heat and simmer for an hour or so for the best flavor.  If using fresh sausage, add it now.

3 ROUX: Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and let it all bubble in the pan for a few minutes. Add the milk or broth a little bit at a time, whisking to incorporate it and make it smooth. Season with salt.

4 FINISH: Add the roux to the gumbo pot and stir to combine. Simmer for a little longer over low heat to just to help the flavor develop. Stir in the sausage if using pre-cooked and the raw shrimp. When shrimp is pink (fully cooked) and this should take no longer than 3-5 minutes, stir in a handful of chives and serve over brown rice, red quinoa, white rice, or just by itself. 

Remember: to season with salt! This will vary based on your cajun seasoning mix.

Notes:

Mirepoix: This is mix of diced onion / celery / carrots.  Mine was 50% onion, 35% carrots, and 15% celery because that’s what I had.

Other vegetables - I used red bell pepper, fresh peas, and  fresh corn.  I wanted to add zucchini but was voted down.

Cajun spices: I used McCormicks mix

Sausage:  We found fresh andouille at a nearby Harmons and liked it better than a smoked style I picked up at Sprouts.

If you add the shrimp too soon in the cooking process, it shrinks up into tiny little shrimpy-things that get really tough. Don't do that.

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The Holiday Weekend

As much fun as the parade, the hot air balloon races, and all the other 4th events are, the excessive noise from the ubiquitous firecrackers do not make for a relaxing holiday.  Especially if you live with a dog.  It will never change so now I am considering options for next year that don't require medicating the dog.  Traveling, perhaps the entire month of July as in two weeks we repeat the firecracker thing for Pioneer day.  State law says three days before and three days after the holiday.  My neighbor, dog-less, says12 days of hell twice in one month.  No argument from me.

This was my weekend project.  I will try to send a picture of it to Secretary Clinton just to make sure I can post it as I designed a pattern almost identical to a graphic on her souvenir shopping site.  I don't think there will be a problem as it is similar to putting a campaign sign in the front yard but on the living room wall and I am not selling the quilt or the details/pattern to make it.
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Accidentally Caught Up

It all started because I was looking for the sprinkler attachment for the hose.  There are some bad dry spots in the back yard that need extra individual attention.  I actually have two of these yellow sprinkler heads but repeated searching in the garage had turned up neither one.  Finally I decided they must be in a box.  Sure enough, a box with a lot of miscellaneous other stuff including two baby quilts!

Both of these quilts were practice quilts when I had a Tiara HQ machine in 2012.  The quilting is not too bad and it was just a matter of putting binding on each quilt and then they were washed and ready to donate.  The blue quilt was pieced a long time before 2012 but I think I made the yellow one when I got the machine, just to have something for practice quilting.

June Baby Quilt!

Dog Quilt?

Both quilts measure 42" square.  The yellow one has a fluffy poly batting and the blue one has an 80/20 batting.

Nice to be caught up no matter how irregular it is!