Quilt Expo 2011 - Part 4 - A One of a Kind

This quilt is in a class all by itself.  It's not unusual for a grandma to make a quilt for her grand-baby, but this one has a twist.  The woman who made it saved her daughter's baby clothes and rather than cutting them up, she hand appliqued them intact!  The clothing is applied so that each item may be cut free and worn by her granddaughter.  And as baby grows up, she can see the images of her own Mama as a little girl. 

Kinda makes me all teary eyed, but in a good sort of way.  :)

Quilt Expo 2011 - Part 3

The next several quilts make use of white space or white on white to create an image.  This tiger about takes your breath away!

This penguin quilt intrigues me.  In high school art class we were to create an image using white on black, rather than the usual black on white.  That must be a very left-brain task, cuz I never mastered it.  The designer of this quilt certainly did!

This last quilt is comical. 

Sure wouldn't want to be that worm in the lower left corner.  :)

Quilt Expo 2011 - Part 2

In honor of the University of Wisconsin vs. the University of Nebraska - I'm featuring quilts with a UW theme or quilts made in red, black and white only.

Isn't this feathered star stunning?  Oh, to have the skill and patience to make all those triangles!  Here's the back side, showing the quilting pattern. 

There's been a lot of the fuss about the Cornhuskers coming to town for tomorrow's big game.  In fact, the hotels are all booked, so some Madisonians are renting out their homes for the weekend.

Tomorrow my alma mater will face off against my former employer.  Just out of college, I took a job at the U of N in Lincoln, NE.  Lived there for about 18 months.

Lincoln and Madison are quite similar.  They're about the same size, both are state capitols (though ours is much prettier and doesn't have a naughty nickname) and both are home to THE state University.  What really confounded me on football day was that they also wore red and white, and said "Go Big Red!"  Kinda felt like I was in an alternate dimension.

But UW alums know there can only be ONE Big Red.  

Guess we'll have to teach them how to Bucky!   :)

The (GF) Holiday Brochure is Here!

I've had excellent results using Land O Lakes gluten free recipes.  Their Butter Cookie recipe is downright habit-forming - so don't make them unless you have oodles of willpower or some friends and family to help you eat them up.  Here are this year's newest additions.

http://www.landolakes.com/assets/pdfs/promotions/LandOLakes_2011_Holiday_Brochure_GF.pdf

I downloaded and printed the brochure without a hitch.  Will definitely be making the Eggnog Snowflakes!  :)

Audacious Autumn Top Complete

Despite my original misgivings, this quilt is growing on me.  I still regret the lack of brilliant golds and oranges I associate with autumn.  I decided that if it's called "audacious" I had to do something to jazz it up.  The binding in the kit was olive drab...neutral...far from audacious!  So I went in search of an appropriate backing and more suitable binding.

Now THAT purple is truly audacious - don't you think?  My next puzzle to solve is my desire to incorporate an image of scarlet Burning Bush leaves, or some beautiful Red Sumac, or the many many maple leaves that fall in my neighborhood.  I had considered applique, but decided against it.  Instead, I'm going to let Mother Nature provide my quilting templates...here are some I'm considering.

This cutting is about a foot in length and could be positioned over multiple blocks. 

Smaller leaves could be depicted blowing on the wind, with lots of swoops and swirls.  I'll have time to look for more "templates" since the quilt is not yet sandwiched.  Am looking forward to working with fusible batting for the first time.  Tried it in a class, and I think I may be hooked!  :)

Ice Blue Dress Steps Out

Here are Miss Kami and Mr. Roberto, en route to a wedding.   Aren't they cute?  She says she got lots of compliments on the dress.  That, of course, was music to my ears!  :)

Audacious Autumn Blocks Complete

I'm pretty excited that Blocks 13 & 21 contain some long-awaited orange!  If you look at the photo on the design wall, it contains much more orange than this kit does.  I'll be rearranging some blocks for better color distribution.  Still want to applique some autumn leaves, but I don't know how machine applique.  Might have to find a good tutorial because maple leaves have points and oak leaves have tight curves.  Could be tricky!  Gonna have to think about this a little longer.... :)

Audacious Autumn - Revisited

Half of the columns are complete.  To be honest, I'm just not into these colors.  The reds and purples are gorgeous, but I've never liked olive green, and I like brown in an autumn quilt even less.  Brown comes when autumn is over and winter sets in. That's not audacious.  Give me some rich golds and flaming orange any day - now that's audacious!

The kit came with brown binding fabric - but I'll probably go with crimson or purple.  Anything to jazz this quilt up.  Also thought about appliqued red sumac branches, but that would probably be too busy.  I hope to have some sewing time this weekend.  Meanwhile, I'm just waiting for inspiration to strike!  :)

GF Serbian Chicken Recipe

I overplanted tomatoes, so I promised to share some great tomato recipes.  Here is one of my all-time favorites.  The original recipe comes from the Circle of Serbian Sisters in Milwaukee, WI.  Their cookbook was published in 1973.  Bought it when I was 12.  Growing up in Milwaukee, I rarely missed the Holiday Folk Fair.  Some years I danced with the Girl Scouts.  Other years I went with friends and family. 

Here's some info if you're interested: http://media.jsonline.com/images/HFF+Logo.jpg

But back to the recipe - I've revised it to make it healthier and gluten free.  You can make it in the slow cooker.  Who doesn't love coming home to a nice hot meal?

Serbian Chicken

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

4 cups diced fresh tomatoes or 1 (28-oz) can of diced or stewed tomatoes

1 green pepper chopped

1 onion chopped

1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

3/4 cup light sour cream

This can be made on the stove top or slow cooker.  No need to brown the chicken either way. 

Pour half the tomatoes into a large pot.  Lay chicken breasts over tomatoes.  Sprinkle onions and green peppers over chicken, then pour remaining tomatoes over all.  Cook on low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours on stove top.  Cook 3-4 hours on low crock pot setting.  When chicken is done, remove meat to platter and keep warm. 

In a medium sized bowl, combine sour cream with cornstarch.  The next part is really important.  If you just stir the sour cream mixture into all those tomatoes it will curdle and look very unappetizing (it will still taste good though). 

Instead, add 2-3 tablespoons of tomato mixture into sour cream mixture.  Stir until blended.  Repeat with a few more tablespoons.  Continue, until your sour cream mixture has doubled in volume.  Should be about half sour cream and half tomatoes. 

You can now safely blend the sour cream mixture into the tomato pot.  (This is also the secret to making your own cream of tomato soup without curdling.)

No matter how I cook the chicken, I always thicken the sauce on the stove top.  Once it thickens, pour over chicken and serve over rice.  Hmmm, hmmm, good!  :)

The F Word

The F word has been bandied about quite a bit lately.  No, not that F word - the other one that rhymes with "ball" or the other (even more terrible) F word that rhymes with "crossed."  I was just coming to the realization that yes, Fall is just about here.  Knowing how one thing leads to another...eventually we face the word that strikes fear and trepidation into the hearts of farmers and gardeners - frost. 

This called for serious defensive measures.  I worked WAY too hard on my garden all summer to let an early frost cheat me of my harvest.

 Here DS2 is trying to persuade me not to take his picture.

Here he is closing it up from the inside. 

I thought we had left a way for him to get out, then realized not!

Here is the final product.  We may have frost tonight and tomorrow night.  Let me tell you, those plants are gonna stay right where they are for two days.  Since DS2 was stuck inside and the wind was blowing, I just left him in there in case the wind blew the tarps off in the night.  NO, no, not really.  Though it was tremendously tempting...He is safe and sound in the nice warm toasty house.  He grumbled about helping, but I think he actually enjoyed it.  :)