Boo reporting

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Barb

Tap – tap……. is this thing on?  Boo here.  Reporting for Mom today.  She’s sleeping in a little bit.  Up until 5 finishing those quilts just like she promised you!  Well, maybe it was really more like 4:00 that she went to bed.  I had a bit of trouble working the camera to take that pic of me above.  However I chose to use the “auto” setting.  Who needs to fool around with F-stops and shutter speeds at 5:00 in the morning!  And I am a cat, after all.  Holding the camera and pushing the “take a picture” button is about all I can handle.  Thought I’d share with you the outcome of her progress.  Bet you didn’t think she’d get those quilts finished, did ya?  Hey, when she’s on a mission, she’s on a mission!

And it wasn’t like she didn’t have anything else to do all day Sunday.  She was up at the crack of dawn because she had to work in the nursery for the Sunday School hour.  Then church, lunch and then this marriage class that she and Dad are taking.  Anyway – she got a very late start in working on those two projects yesterday afternoon.  You’ll be quite proud of her accomplishment though!  But she didn’t even take time to get some pics for you before she fell into bed.  So I thought I’d save her the trouble in the morning trying to fire some off to you before she goes to work.  She’ll be happy when she sees I’ve already posted them for her!

So here they are!

Now isn’t that quilt just the prettiest thing with all the borders and binding on and everything?  And you won’t believe this!  She even washed it before she headed to bed!  And now it’s all soft and cuddly.  And where the borders were a bit wavy when she put it on the floor before she washed it, when it came out of the dryer it was flatter than a pancake.  She was very pleased!  I think I’ll lay on it tonight after I finish here.  It needs some cat hair to make it just perfect!

Oh, I almost forgot!

You need to see the back side too!  It’s really snazzy with the borders and binding!  She is very proud of that double-sided thing.  I have to admit, I think it’s pretty cool too.  And the whole thing will be much cooler after I’ve slept on it tonight.  I’m sure the ladies at the quilt shop will appreciate the black hair all over it.  Cats and quilts just go together.

And while that quilt was getting washed and dryed, here’s what else she worked on.  But first let me remind you what it looked like earlier…….

And the latest……

See how those stars are starting to take on some curves?  The green star on the lower left has curves and also some of the red pieces – added in the quilting process.  Isn’t that the coolest?  Here’s a close up for you to see better…..

Wow!  I did pretty good with that picture!  You can see the quilting stitches and everything!  Pretty good for a cat, eh?  She probably would have finished this one too, if her eyes hadn’t started glazing over so bad.  She washed her contacts and everything and I even saw her with two pairs of reading glasses on – one right on top of the other – and her nose was about 2 inches from that sewing machine needle.  She made me nervous!  Then I heard her mutter something about how cool it would be for the ladies at the shop to actually see this one in progress.  Personally, I think it was just an excuse to go to bed, but that’s just me.  She did look a little tired.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for you today.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood, you might stop by today with some tuna.  With all this quiltin’ goin’ on, I’m afraid she’s gonna forget to feed me.  And you do know I love tuna, right?  Well, now you do anyway.  Guess I’ll go chase some dust bunnies around for a bit.  They are starting to pile up around here.  If this keeps up, we’re gonna have to get a maid!

Cat hugs & kisses,
Boo

Posted in Boo, quilts | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Progress……

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Barb

It was a  l-o-n-g  day in the sewing room yesterday.  But progress was made – hip, hip, hooray!  Sadly, there is still much to be done.  And today is full with other activities too.  I may not get back to my sewing room until very late this afternoon.  Oh, my!  Remember when I said to not look for completed pics until 5:00 a.m. on Monday?  I wasn’t joking.  No really, I meant it.  And every time this happens to me I swear I’m going to be better next time.  Sigh.

I barely even ate yesterday I was so “head down” at the sewing machine.  I only had a meatloaf sandwich all day.  Then a late night snack at 11:00 p.m.  The meat loaf sandwich was really good though!  Dear hubby said it was the best meatloaf I’d ever made.  I never use a recipe and the meatloaf changes every time we have it.  This time though, I hurriedly wrote down what I’d used.  Since it was “the best meatloaf he’d ever had” and all.  I might want to repeat it.

So anyway – here’s my progress from the day.  Just because I know you were waiting for it.  Right?

Disclaimer:  My camera settings were way wrong yesterday!  And I didn’t discover it until too late.  I mean after all, they are pictures of progress.  So unless I wanted to start ripping out seams, retaking the pictures was not an option.  There are indeed limits to what I will do for you.  Ripping out seams for pictures is beyond the realm of this blog.  Don’t even ask. 

 

See?  Didn’t I warn you the pictures were going to be terrible?  My design wall is NOT pink!  It’s white… really, it is!   Sigh….. I shudder as I show you the rest.  But at least you can see that progress was made – this was early in the day as more seams were coming together.  And just in case you’re wondering about some of the weird fabric choices……..here, I’ll show you up close.

                  

See how some fabrics look like they don’t belong?  There’s a big ta-dah finish at the end and it will all make sense.  So bear with me.

 And see the hole in the upper left corner?  Here’s the reason…..

There’s always one piece left under the sewing machine.  I like to chain piece all the time.  It saves thread.  And there’s a LOT of thread in this project!  It makes for good exercise too, as I try to keep all the pieces in their rightful places on the design wall.  Up Down Up Down – all day long.  (Kinda like the people on the bus – remember that song from childhood?  The people on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down…..  If I knew how to surround this with musical notes, I’d do it for ya!  Now you’re gonna be singing that one for the rest of the day.  You can thank me later.)

Back to progress.

 

It’s coming together.  Bad pink wall!  Bad!  Bad!

And then…………. progress came to a screeching hault late in the evening (like 11:00) as I ran out of fabric for the borders!!!!!  Horrors!  I would have run up to the quilt shop to get some, but it was a little late.    Thread was looking a little bit in jeopardy too – and I needed a new needle for my machine.  But anyway here’s the completed center of the quilt……

Isn’t it pretty?  Actually I made a few fabric choices that I would change now if I could and it is much prettier in person (aren’t all quilts prettier in person than in pictures?)  But this is a class sample that is more about technique anyway – and I learned some things along the way that I will share with students in class.  I get to make the mistakes for them.  They appreciate that in me.  Then their quilts turn out perfect.  I’m so there for them.

And remember the ta-dah I told you about earlier?

TA-DAH!  This is the back side of the quilt!  So you get two for the price of one.  The possibilities are so good with this technique!  What about a nice Fall quilt on one side.  That reverses to all Christmas fabrics.  You can display it over the back of the couch – Fall side up.  Then as soon as the Thanksgiving meal is completed, you flip the quilt and instantly you’ve decorated for Christmas!  Or Valentine’s Day on one side.  With Easter on the other!  Or Easter flips to 4th of July.  How about pink on one side and blue on the other?  Then if that baby that they said was going to be a girl turns out to be a boy, you just flip the quilt over!  It’s two (clap) two (clap) two quilts in one!  (Like Doublemint gum – remember that one?)  The possibilities are endless!  And I have just proven that you can pretty much make this quilt in a weekend.  IF you don’t plan to eat or sleep.

I do plan to make more using this technique – even if it’s just placemats or table runners.  Flipping them to a whole new look would be quite fun, I think.  Shhhhh – don’t tell my family.  They just might be getting some of these for Christmas.  Of course that means I won’t start them until about December 20th.  Because I work so well under pressure and all.

And that other project?  Still looks exactly the same.  So you better go review the pic from yesterday so you can get it firmly planted in your mind.  Then you will be wowed with the finish at about 5:00 a.m. on Monday.

Sleepily,
Barb

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A Quilt Project

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Barb

What?  A blog by a quilter with an actual quilt project in the post today?  Quick!  Call the local news!  I’m actually going to post some pics of what I’m working on!  Call out the National Guard!  Circle the date on your calendars!

There’s something you should know about me.  I work best under pressure.  There.  I’ve said it.  I’m a deadline kinda gal.  And my latest deadline is Monday.  Yeah, that’s right – like 2 days from now.  And I have two projects that need to be completed by then.  Yep.  Quilted and bound and done by…… you guessed it!  Monday.  I’m in deep doo doo here.  And this is quite normal for me.

So where do I stand on these two projects, you ask?  I’m so glad you asked…..

Thank goodness this is a quilt as you go project!  At least these pieces are quilted!  But this pile doesn’t look real promising for Monday – did I mention that’s just two days away?  Well, it did look better last night at the quilt shop on the design wall……


See the rectangular part in the lower right corner?  That’s the only part that’s actually stitched together.  And I had to take it off the wall to bring it home Thursday night.  So here’s how it looked yesterday…..

Back to a pile again.  But at least it was an organized pile.  And that was before I worked on it last night……

A couple blocks going through the sewing machine……..

…….and my design wall.  As you can see I still have a long way to go!  The good news is:  when the blocks are sewn together, it’s done!  Just slap on the binding and you’re good to go!  I can’t wait to show you the finished quilt!  So what am I doing at the computer, you ask?  I’m so glad you asked.  Entertaining the masses.  Apparently it’s my calling.  I must do it!

Oh!  And there is that pesky second project too……

Isn’t it a cute little table runner?  And wait until you see the transformation it undertakes when it is quilted.  I promise to show you another picture when it’s done so get this image firmly in your mind so you can recognize the transformation.  And don’t look for it until about 5:00 a.m. on Monday.  Did I mention I work well under pressure? 

And I think at least for this weekend……. sleep is very overrated……

Off to the sewing room!
Barb

Posted in quilts | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Chocolate

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Barb

Every quilter knows that chocolate is a staple in life.  It’s what keeps us sewing until midnight with our best quilting buds.  Like last night, for example.  I was wound up!  Don’t act so surprised.  OK, OK…. you who know me aren’t surprised at all.  But where was I……..oh, yeah – chocolate.  It’s definitely one of the basic food groups.  And an abundance of it yesterday was probably why I was up until 2:15 a.m.  That and the sugar….

It’s all these guys’ fault……

Don’t they just look yummy?  Don’t you want a bite right now?  Actually I think I want to dive into the pan.  All that icing goodness.  I like my icing almost as thick as my brownies.  And I want one for breakfast!  But alas, they are all gone.

So today is Recipe Day!  My first cooking post.  This brownie recipe has been a favorite in my family for years and years.  I’m pretty sure I got the recipe from my sister, but I have no idea where she got it.  I love it because it’s made with ingredients that I always have in my kitchen.  Always.  I’m never without these ingredients, they are so basic!  So it is my go-to recipe when I need a quick dessert.    Here’s what you need:

See?  Simple, basic stuff….. flour, sugar, cocoa, eggs, butter, vanilla.  And nuts – I forgot to put the nuts in the picture (and nearly forgot them in the brownies too.)  Horrors!  Unless you are my niece and her dear hubby who don’t eat nuts of any kind.  Who doesn’t eat nuts?  Where did these people come from?  Even his mother asks that question.  And I think she knows where he came from.  But back to the brownies.

You can’t go wrong with this recipe.  You basically put the butter in the microwave to melt and while that’s going, you dump everything else into a bowl.  By the way – can I just point out here that it is very difficult to take pictures of yourself putting things into a bowl?  The camera strap hangs in the way, your hand gets in the way and in the picture where it shouldn’t be – it’s a challenge!  But one I was apparently up for.  Just for you.  These are the dry ingredients in the bowl. 

Then add the eggs and vanilla and stir that up a bit before adding the butter.  Don’t the eggs look cute sitting in the bowl on top of the other stuff?  Alright, alright…… so I get a kick out of small things these days.

OOOOO – look at that melted butter!  By the way, the reason it’s important to stir it up a bit before pouring on the butter is because you don’t want that hot mass of butter to hit the eggs and cook them.  After all, nobody likes scrambled eggs in their brownies, right?  And I’d like to point out here that this recipe only calls for one stick of butter.  The Mocha Brownies recipe in Pioneer Woman’s cookbook calls for two sticks of butter in the brownies and two sticks in the mocha icing!  That’s a whole pound of butter people!  In an 8 inch square pan.  I started to make them once and talked myself out of it.  But the next time I might not be so disciplined.  (By the way – if you click on the link today and go to her cooking site, she’s giving away a really cool Le Creuset 7 1/2-Quart Round French Oven.  But don’t go there and enter.  Because you’ll hurt my chances of winning.  Or better yet, do enter!  Because I’ve made it a rule that if you enter her giveaways because I linked you to them, you have to give me the prize if you win.  I bet you didn’t know that blogs can have rules, did you?)

Now because I forgot the nuts in the ingredients pic – I’ve added a couple pics here for you to enjoy the nuts.  OK three pictures.  I’m playing with my camera after all.


See?  I can even chop them while taking a picture.  It was not easy!  And if I cut myself next time I’m sending you all the doctor’s bill…….


All chopped and ready for the batter….. I used walnuts this time, but I’ve also used pecans and they are equally good.  Depends on what flavor you’re going for.   Or in my case, what you happen to have in your pantry.


Add them to the batter, stir all together…….

…… and pour into a greased pan.  (I used shortening.  Just in case you were wondering.)

And here’s the important part……..

 

You cook them at 300 degrees – not 350, like most other baked goods – for 30 minutes.  It’s the trick for ooey, gooey, fabulous brownies.  At least with this recipe.

While they are cooking you make the icing.


Powdered sugar, cocoa, butter, vanilla, salt, milk.  This recipe is a tricky one to share.  I don’t have a clue how much of anything I use.  Well, I do know I use just a pinch of salt.  The other ingredients?  Not a clue.  It’s probably somewhere between 1 and 2 cups of the sugar (My Mom always writes “XX sugar” on the grocery list when powdered is what she wants.  I still do that to this day.  I guess the XX stands for powdered?  I think I remember boxes that said “10 x powdered sugar” in my life sometime, which I guess means how many times they powdered the sugar to get it extra super spectacularly fine?  One of the great mysteries of life.  Back to ingredients…..) About 3 tablespoons cocoa, about 2 tablespoons butter, about 1 teaspoon vanilla and a splash or two of milk.  You know how much a splash is, right?  Then you stir it up.


And of course, it’s too runny………

So you have to dump in more XX sugar…….. then it’s too thick, so you splash in more milk……then too runny….. then too thick……until pretty soon you have enough icing to frost 10 pans of brownies.  That’s when you know you have just enough for the one pan of brownies you made, which have since come out of the oven while you were playing in the icing.

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh, just right.  So then you do something that you are never supposed to do.  But I was in a hurry, you say.  The quilt gals are waiting for these brownies.

So you pour the icing on the hot brownies.  Horrors!  You’re supposed to let the brownies cool!  So of course the icing begins to melt.  And they look so yummy that you want to eat the whole pan….. right now……

But you are good after all……

………and you take only one.  And you wish you had some vanilla ice cream…..

But you eat it anyway with your morning coffee….

……. in your favorite mug.  (It’s a quilter’s motto.  Never mind about the irony here.)

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh….. and you want another one, or two……. or ten – but you refrain and take them to share with your Quilting Bee.

Where they turn up on quilts being basted for quilting…….

And look at the other quilting projects that turned up!!!!  Where did this fabric come from???

And at the end of the day, only one tiny, smidgen of a brownie remained which I gobbled up when I got home.

And that’s the tale of Brownies on Quilting Bee Day.  The End.

Now if I knew how to stick a “handy dandy printable recipe” here, I would do it for you!  But I don’t, so I can’t.  So you’ll just have to find a pencil and paper now and write this down.  Remember, it’s super simple.

Barb’s Brownies
1 c sugar
3/4 c flour
3 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 – 1 c chopped nuts, depending on how much you like nuts! (optional)

Mix all together and bake in an 8-inch greased square pan at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.

Icing
Somewhere between 1 & 2 cups powdered sugar (give or take 10 cups)
About 2 Tbsp butter, softened
About 3 Tbsp cocoa
pinch of salt
About 1 tsp vanilla
Splash or two of milk (more for consistency sake depending on your sugar)

Enjoy!
Barb

Posted in food, recipes | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

A Few Favorite Tools

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Barb

Because I was in the mood to play with my camera today, I thought I’d take a few pics of some of my favorite things in my sewing room.  I’ve only owned this camera for about 25 years (OK, maybe I exaggerate a bit) and today was the first day I actually read the instruction manual.  See what blogging does to me?  It has forced me to stoop to the level of actually reading the manual.  But I had a really fun time playing with the camera on something besides the “auto” setting.  You’ll be getting to see more and more pictures (and some special effects that are pretty cool too) in the coming days/months/years?  Yeah, well, we’ll see how long this lasts…..

So I looked around my sewing room tonight and piled up a few of my favorite things.

OK, OK – so maybe this wasn’t the best way for you to view them.  But isn’t that a pretty cool picture?  Pretty clearly focused…. and no flash used.  After dark even!  I didn’t think that was possible with my camera.  And definitely not on the “auto” setting.  In fact, let’s just get this out of the way, right now.  I think I only took one photo on the auto setting.    I’ll let you know which one that was when we come to it.  Like you care or something.  Like it’s important to your life today that you know what my camera was set on.    Well, it’s important to me and you get to come along for the ride…… so there.

On with the show!

Two huge favorites here.  A seam ripper and a stiletto (not the shoes, silly!)  I use my stiletto “awl” the time.  Get it?  Stiletto/awl – a stiletto is also called an awl?  All the time?  Sigh….I’m really digging for the humor today, aren’t I?  Anyway, I LOVE my awl!  It is my friend.  I use it often…… frequently…. I barely set it down when I’m sewing at my machine.  I probably should buy a second one, because if I ever misplaced this one I wouldn’t be able to sew.  My right hand wouldn’t know what to do with itself at the sewing machine!  My seam ripper is also my friend, but it’s the friend I’d rather not use too often – even if I love it.  But when I do need to use it, this one here is my favorite.

Next up – marking pencils!

These are the best marking pencils ever!  They come in lots of colors…. pink, yellow, green….. but I figured if I had black and white, I’d have all fabric colors covered.  And it’s the lead color I’m talking about.  Just in case that made absolutely no sense to you as you looked at red pencils.

And then just because having one black one and one white one wasn’t quite enough…..

I had to have this one too!  It has black lead and white lead all in one!  Because it’s just so important to have them together.  All in one.  You get it, right?  Did I say these are the best marking pencils ever?  You can erase the marks or they wash right out.  Fabulous for marking fabric.

Scissors are very important to a quilter. 

I’ve got a million of them.  At least.  These are just my favorite small ones.  Well, really they are just the ones I found for the pictures.  I’m sure I have more – lots more.  I was just too lazy to look for them tonight for the picture.  And I love the cool little fobs to hang on them too.  Just so everyone knows these are my scissors and doesn’t try to claim them as their own.

And these little babies are the best of the best.  Fabulous scissors.  I couldn’t live without them.  They are spectacular.  I could tell you why they are so good, but I’d rather you just take my word for it and buy a pair.  They are great!  I promise you’ll never regret it if you get some.  You need them.   Really.  Trust me.

What?  How did this get in here?  I do not use this in the sewing room.  But it is my favorite knife in the kitchen.  Just in case you wondered.

These things are super for storing bobbins.  Your cat can even play with them, knock them on the floor and everything, and the bobbins will not unwind all over the room.  (Ask me how I know that.)

And I can’t live without these……

I’ve got lots of these too.  They are a must have all over the house.  And see the little lights reflecting in the left lens?  That is not a flash.  It’s the lights on the ceiling fan in the room!

And now for some special effects…… just because I can.  And because I have to show off what I learned today.  So that I have something to show for the 12 hours I spent reading about the camera today.  When I should have been quilting.

OK – this is before………

And this is after!  Did you know that you could pick just one color and your camera would turn everything else black and white except that color?  I just thought that was the coolest thing!  OK – so I’m easily amused.  And I may never be able to figure out how to do this again.  But wouldn’t it be cool if I could?  I could have all my friends put on bright red lipstick and then do this and only their lips would be red.  Well, unless they were wearing a red shirt or something.  I am definitely going to use this one again!

So maybe tomorrow I will actually sew something.  Since I’m on a deadline and all.  I actually did stitch a little today.  And tomorrow is a day of stitching with my quilting Bee!  But for me that usually means a day of eating, chatting, eating, chatting and now…. taking cool pics of everyone to post on my blog.  And eating.  Mustn’t forget that eating.  I’ll be sure to share pics of it all with you….. including the food.

Hugs,
Barb

Posted in just stuff | 6 Comments