And We're Off... Again!

Just as soon as I get home from church tomorrow and finish lunch we will be jumping in the RV and heading toward Houston, TX. BECAUSE... I will be taking 2 days of classes with national quilt teacher Jamie Wallen! I am so looking forward to this... the class agenda is mostly "artsy" things that you can do on the longarm, and some fabric painting, too. Classes are being held at Karen O's studio in Bacliff, TX. It will be nice to meet her in person. She has a really neat blog, so do be sure and check it out if you are not already one of her regular readers.

I'll take lots of pictures to post here. I know you all will want to see what kind of things we create.


And then we plan on spending an extra day at Galveston. We have not been down that way since the hurricane last year, so I will be looking to see how many of our favorite spots are still there. Of course I will have to take a dip in the gulf to cool off... I feel so like a kid again when I go in the water there.



So now for some R&R, good classes, great food, and new friends!
Be blessed!


Kat

Nanny's Pepper Relish

Here's what DH did today... it really turned out pretty, and he and DS will eat it. I won't touch a single bite of it, as I am a tender-mouth and it is VERY HOT!

Nanny's Pepper Relish

6 cups ground hot peppers (cayenne)

4 med. onions, ground

1 head garlic, chopped

1 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons cumin

3 Tablespoons chili powder

1 bottle catsup *

Mix all ingredients well; boil for 5 minutes; put in sterile, hot jars and seal. Makes about 6 pints.

*Now let me explain about the catsup... this recipe was from back in the 60's, when catsup only came in the small glass bottles, the same type you now find on the table in some restaurants. I'm guessing that is about 18 oz. but it really won't matter if you use a little more. We used a 24 oz. bottle because that was what they had on sale last week.

All of these ingredients can be adjusted to taste. Like garlic? Put a lot in, or leave it out if garlic is not your thing. The same is true of the spices.

NOW... what do you DO with this fire-hot stuff? DH likes it on his purplehull peas, butterbeans, etc. DS would just eat it with a spoon... I think he has a cast-iron mouth and GI tract!

ENJOY!
Kat

Scorcher!

WHEW! I knew it was hot yesterday... you melt down if you even THINK about poking your head outside. Then I listened to the news late last night and discovered out temp yesterday was 104 degrees with about 90% humidity! Today is supposed to be the same... that gives us 3 days in a row with 100+ temps.... but this is just JUNE! Usually it is August before we have to deal with temps this high. UGGGG!

That is why I am so glad quilting is an INSIDE activity. DH spends a lot of time outside because he WANTS to. And I spend a lot of time inside because... well, because I WANT to! HAHA! When winter comes I remind myself that I am thankful God planted me in the South because I just can't stand the cold weather. So now that summer is here I have to keep reminding myself that same thing. Bloom where you are planted!!

Today will be very busy... a customer quilt to get done, and I MUST deal with some fresh veggies that are on a fast decline. We will have Zucchini Rice Italian Casserole for supper with a side-dish of fresh cream-style corn. I usually leave it on the cob because it is so much easier, but this is the last of our corn so we will enjoy it the old-fashioned way. My grandmother always made the BEST cream-style corn slow cooked in a large skillet with lots of butter and black pepper. YUM! I will try to recreate it today.

Have a blessed day in whatever YOU are doing today, and BE a blessing to someone, too.
Kat

PROGRESS!

1 1/2 rows of hand-stitching on the G9P quilt got done this evening. YAH!!! Progress! I'll still have to do the machine stitching, but once the corners are hooked together the rest goes very fast. This IS a do-able project.

Kat

G9P Report

It's not good... TWO rows are now sewn together... 9 more to go. UGGG! I had lots of interuptions, and just plain fun visiting today, so I did not get a lot done. BUT I now have a plan of attack.

This project will sit next to my chair, and when I sit to watch TV I will work on hand-sewing those intersections. Once that is done the rest of the sewing goes very quickly. I also have a trip to Houston planned in another week... there will be some hand-sewing time.

So the report is pitiful, but the plan of action should get me moving forward on this dreaded project. No need in showing a picture of 2 measley rows sewn together, but when (if?) I ever get the whole thing together there WILL be a giant picture posted here!!!

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Chomp, chomp, chomp!

Kat

Special Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a special day... it is GHTDI Day. What is that, you may ask?

Gonna' Have To Do It Day... I'm GHTD the putting together of the Glorified 9-Patch Quilt rows. What a BUGGER that has turned out to be! I am really dreading it, but I am taking it to our guild Quilt 'Till You Wilt tomorrow, and hopefully I can have this done before I wilt! I have decided the only way to get this together is to hand-piece each intersection and then the in-between areas by machine. I have several people bringing quilts to me tomorrow to be quilted, so a good bit of my time will be spent taking in quilts.

And you are probably thinking, "Will she ever hush complaining about that quilt?"

I know... I ASKED for this... I thought it would be neat to do a pieced-curves quilt. And it does look wonderful in the 30s repro prints. Now that I am almost through with this I noticed that Quiltmaker Magazine has a pattern that is a very similar type of curved piecing with an extra square sewn in that terrible intersection, which eliminates all 12 pieces of fabric from needing to join at that one intersection... slick idea! Wish I had seen it earlier... I might could have done some altering to my pattern and solved a problem.

Anyway... hopefully tomorrow afternoon this bugger will be history, and I can move on to some fun project (like the Swanky jelly roll quilt I am planning for retreat). I am determined that I WILL have this done before I go to quilt retreat in Texas in mid-July. I do NOT want to haul this with me. Ironically, I started this G9P project at retreat last summer, so the piecing has taken a full year.

I know for a FACT that I do NOT plan on doing any more large quilts with curved piecing that comes together in the corners!!!!!!!!!!! Small ones, maybe, but no more large ones. (That means I will nix the idea of the Wheel of Mystery quilt that a friend did!).

I'll give a full report when I get home tomorrow, and I'm hoping the report will say, "DONE!"

Kat

BLUEBERRIES EVERYWHERE!!

It has been a very long and busy day. My friend gave me 7 bags (I think she said they were 2-lb. bags) of berries. Each bag probably held about 2 quarts. OK... so that equals 3 1/2 GALLONS of blueberries, which yielded 56 half-pint jars of jam and marmalade. WHEW! Don't think I'll need to put up jam or marmalade for a LONG time. And anyone needing a gift from me this year.... guess what they are going to get!

I made a double batch of regular jam, a double batch of Splenda jam, a double batch of regular blueberry orange marmalade, and a double batch of Splenda marmalade. I've think I will have everyone covered with all of that!

For the jam I just used the recipe in the Sure Jel box. For the marmalade, the recipe follows. I was going to take a picture, but you know how I am about the camera, and besides, this dark purple stuff in the pot or in jars just would not show up very well. So here's the marmalade recipe.

BLUEBERRY ORANGE MARMALADE

1 1/2 med. or large oranges (I use large ones... I LOVE oranges)

1 cup of water

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups crushed blueberries

5 cups sugar (or Splenda)

1 box fruit pectin (If using Splenda be sure to get the pectin labeled "No Sugar" pectin!)

1/2 teaspoon butter or margarine to prevent foaming

Peel the oranges; remove white pith from the rind and finely chop rind. Chop orange pulp and set aside. Place rind in a large pot with water and baking soda; bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Be sure to NOT let this boil dry!

Add chopped orange pulp, crushed berries, butter and pectin. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring very frequently. Add sugar; return to a rolling boil stirring constantly; continue boiling for 1 minute.

Remove from heat; pour into sterile jars, seal, and invert for 5 minutes. Turn right side up and let cool completely. Yield about 6 pints.

What kind of blog is this????

I know... it is SUPPOSED to be a QUILTING blog. You sure could not tell that from the posts lately! Perhaps I need to change it to a RECIPE blog... I sure seem to be doing more cooking and canning than quilting, at least if you judge from the blog.

I really DID quilt today... actually I got 2 quilts quilted today. One was another American Hero quilt that will be sent to Washington State. The other was an OSU (Ok. State U.) quilt for a customer... really cute design. I worked VERY hard today so that tomorrow I could have some time off...

And then Paula called. It seems she had some frozen blueberries that were no longer frozen and didn't I want them, and if I don't take them they will just get thrown out, etc. (Can you say GUILT TRIP? Not that she intended it that way, but I just can't stand to think of ANYTHING going to waste!) We are not talking regular size packages here... we are talking HUMONGOUS!! And there are THREE of them. So guess what I'm doing tomorrow on my day "off"... HAHAHA!!! Is there any such thing??

Yep... blueberry jam for starters, and maybe some blueberry marmalade (this stuff is absolutely YUM!). So dig out the jars, lids, and rings, the sugar and pectin. HERE WE GO AGAIN!

I'll post recipes tomorrow... HMMM.... I guess I need to change this to "the Ponderings and Postings of a Quiltaholic AND RECIPE CLUB!"

Kat