Design Wall Monday~July 25

Yawn.... I'm feeling a little sleepy. I mean we have had a few days of summer here in the Pacific Northwest but today is dreary and it sprinkled. I don't mind rain but as it is July I expect more sun! Maybe we will have a fabulous September, which is my favorite month in the PNW.

Not much to write this morning.  Here is a picture of the Pineapple Blossom again. This time I have some continuous prairie points pinned next to it. This technique is so cool!  I did some first in an ugly fabric (how do we ever end up with those?) to make certain I understood the technique. And the smaller ones make the ugly fabric attractive. Well, less ugly anyway! And then I did a few in a second trial as I wanted bigger ones for the border. Easy Peasey as they say! I'm going to be using this technique often in upcoming baby quilts.
Keep this link...you will be happy you did
 http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com/sewtakeahike/2011/01/super-easy-continuous-prairie-points-a-tutorial.html


My plan yesterday was to get the prairie points finished and on, piece the back for this quilt and get it layered and then begin quilting today but....I needed to get caught up on my Bowtie Blocks after spending a few days at the beach with no sewing machine and I was so excited about the Block Lotto Sneak Preview blocks that I cut 9 and finished 5 of those. Shhhhh!  I can't say any more. The blocks are kept secret each month until the reveal. And I did more yo yo's. I will have to update my yo yo progress bar in a few minutes.
http://blocklotto.blogspot.com/

And I have to show you this absolutely, postively, cute, cute, cute apron thatTiff made when she was here this last week. It was her idea. She said "Nana, let's make an apron". We did spend time looking at patterns on line and narrowed it down to a few but I was thrilled when she chose this one that I had saved as a favorite along time ago and yet hadn't gotten around to making. Now I want to make bunches of them!

Here is the site for this:

http://jonag.typepad.com/stop_staring_and_start_se/2008/12/your-christmas-gift-from-mean-apron-in-an-hour.html

Visit Judys website to see what else is going on for Design Wall Monday
http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Just so you know...even after all this ....  I'm still yawning. Too bad I don't drink tea or coffee.  And to think, I said "not much to write about"  Have a great week!

Enjoy!
Toni 

ZUCCHINI SEASON!

 

 I'm already getting enough zucchini to use in some of my favorite recipes. Each year I look forward to the zucchini and trying new recipes. And each year I say "next year I'm only going to plant one hill" but they grow so well!

I don't remember where I got this recipe. I'm pretty sure it was one of the bigger sites like AllRecipes or Cooks.com.  Sorry I can't give appropriate credit.

Zucchini Cobbler

Ingredients

• 5-6 cups zucchini - peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter, chilled
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1.                    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2.                    Place zucchini and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until tender. Stir in 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and nutmeg. Simmer 1 minute longer, remove from heat, and set aside.

3.                    In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir 1/2 cup crumb mixture into zucchini mixture. Press half the remaining crumb mixture into the prepared pan. Spread zucchini evenly over crust. Crumble remaining crumb mixture over zucchini, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

4.                    Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

ENJOY!

Toni 

Design Wall Monday~July 18

Short and sweet this week.


This is the progress I've made on the Block Lotto Pineapple Blossom Quilt. You can see the top rows are sewn together and the bottom ones aren't yet. I WILL have it finished this month. The power of positive thinking! I'll finish the top today. Now I've decided that it would be fun to add prairie points on top of a border. I want to use this technique:

http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com/sewtakeahike/2011/01/super-easy-continuous-prairie-points-a-tutorial.html

Using all one color. I'm thinking a darker marbled blue, with white border. This means I want/need to buy two yards of blue. I am going to Portland tomorrow so I will get that then. AND I might get 4 more quarter yard cuts of some violet or violet blue for the August Block Lotto. Sophia has given us an idea of our fabric requirements but we don't yet know what the block will be. Okay, I will check my stash first. Maybe I don't need to BUY some purpley/violet.

When I quilt this I'm going to use an "alternative" QAYG technique. Always fun, and scary, to try something new. I'll share that website after I've actually used the technique.

For more Design Wall fun, visit:
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/07/18/design-wall-july-18-2011/

Enjoy!
Toni

Design Wall Monday~July 11

Whew! I am so glad we are done haying so I can get caught up on somethings on my design wall. You've seen all these before at one point or another.  This week I am going to get caught up on My Block a Day Bowtie quilt

Then I have to get caught up on my  Quilt Along Kaleidoscope Blocks. Those will be sewn into a top this week. I have half the blocks done...all the aqua ones.

And then, with both these projects off the Design Wall, I am going to arrange the Pineapple Blossom Blocks that I won from Block Lotto and get them sewn into a top. This is the quilt I want to finish this month. So glad I got this months UFO done early!

And lastly I have a UFO to show....done early this month as I wanted it for a 40th birthday present for my son. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL!! He was 40 yesterday. Yesterday morning I only had the binding left to do so up at 5:30 to get it done before we hayed...then made beans and salad and went to a surprise barbeque at Joel and Robyns house. Great, full day!  I was tired.

Visit Judys for more Design Wall Fun~

http://www.patchworktimes.com/

ENJOY!  Toni

Still on the Background...

Comments on blogger favored the navy background and comments on Flickr favored the dark gray background. Equally! So it's like what happens on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and they ask the audience what they would choose and the numbers are so close you still have to decide on the correct answer yourself!

Then to make things harder, I saw Benny's choice of background. See this!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44225923@N06/5872105403/in/pool-kaleidoscopeqal

I was pretty sure I have some purples. I've not calculated my total need for the background so I don't know that I have enough of a couple of these but look!  Now what do you think?

I do like gray and navy but if you look at my Photostream on Flickr you will see that these are probably more my style.
Now what do you think? 
Enjoy!
Toni

Background Help....Please!

I'm doing a Kaleidoscope Quilt Along at:
http://dontcallmebetsy.blogspot.com/
With more pictures to view at:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/kaleidoscopeqal/

I am using up some blue/green, green/yellow scraps and I originally thought, to get away from the white I often use, that I would use the Kona Ash...how daring is that? Not really that much removed from white but I thought "I like gray and turquoise/aqua together" Well, as you can see from the picture it is very boring and it might as well be white.

The quilt will be scrappy, these pieces are only representational, but basically it will consist of blue/green, yellow/green scraps. 
Now I need your help....I have dark gray Kona, Black Kona and Navy Kona in my stash...yes, I want to use from my stash. Subtle differences I know. Which do you prefer? The black is dramatic but I'm leaning toward the navy.  I was going to cut the solid tonight but now I'm going to wait for your input.  Thank you!

I will allow myself to buy something fun/new for the binding and backing. Next month! Remember, I'm on a budget  (except when my husband is out of town says my sister! tee hee!)

Enjoy!
Toni

Design Wall Monday~June 20

Evolution of a scrappy quilt....I saw this cute, no pattern attributed, quilt and thought "I can draft that". That is the easy part. The math I can do but there is much more involved when you are doing it yourself. Kudo's to all you pattern designers! I decided to make the first block and use leftover fabric, fabric I didn't like very much, 'cause you know the first one isn't going to be good.  This is the first one:

What don't I like about this block....other than the colors green/white? Well for sure the center is too linear. It's not very interesting. Also I don't like the proportions. Once this is made into a finished block, the center will be too big for the outer blocks. IMHO!

So on to block two. This time I'm using fabrics that I like but I also know that I don't have enough of the dot to continue, but still, this is a learning block.

The proportion pleases me and the center block is alot more interesting but it still looks too "planned".

And two more:



Didn't I learn anything from the first one? There are a couple more angles but still......



This one, finally, I like! the picture does not do it justice

I have just enough of these two black/white and white/black prints to make thirty blocks which will make a toddler size quilt. I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of unsewing on these blocks.

Another fun thing on my design wall is placemats. My g'daughter, on her own, decided she wanted to make placemats as a wedding gift for a family friend. Tiffany is ten, almost eleven and she chose her own fabrics (with suggestions from our LQS), cut most of it herself and did all the sewing. Nana, me, helped with the binding. She has done a terrific job...don't you think?

 For more Design Wall Monday, visit http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Enjoy!
Toni