Rum Raisin Pudding

We enjoy a sweet treat dessert that is relatively low-calorie with this Rum Raisin pudding. I use the sugar-free Cook'N'Serve Jello Vanilla pudding because I like the texture better than the Instant variety. Additionally, cooked pudding is less upsetting to those who are lactose-intolerant. Make the pudding using the package directions, but add a splash of rum-flavored extract and about a cup of raisins stirred into the mix. I chose to add the raisins as it was cooking so that it pumped them as it cooked.

Enjoy!

Mind-Tricks

I've been procrastinating on stay-stitching around the final outer edge of RRCB, which I have decided to call, "Cotton Candy." After that, it needs a final pressing and then can go to the longarmer for quilting. So I have not blogged because somehow I've felt that I'm being "bad" and don't want to admit it!
Yet I have done several more blocks on my Sister's Choice and I'm putting flying geese units together, too. But what pleases me the most and excites me recently is working on the Chain of Faith quilt designed by Jo Kramer and featured on Moda Bake Shop.
I'm using lots of the FQ's that I bought for 10 for $10 at Keepsake Quilting's main store in Center Harbor, NH. When that sale happened, I had already seen the recipe for the quilt and had mentally pledged to my self that I would make it.

These two pictures show what $70 worth of fat quarters look like in an antique market basket that I bought from an East Tennessee Ebay'er. I love how it looks just sitting out in my living room! It really tickles me to gaze at all the patterns and colors. So now you can see that I'm not using the pre-cut jelly roll from Moda. I wanted to have the fun of picking out the colors myself! That ensures that my quilt is an individual, if not entirely original. Here are a couple of pictures of the four large blocks that I have made so far:

I love the whimsical, shabby-chic cottage aura that they have. But, oh boy, are they ever tricky to make! They look deceivingly simple but are actually deviously complex. I love Jo Kramer's work and her blog, but even she warned us to watch out.
Each of the smaller blocks must be an identical match of the pattern but not the fabric. When Jo posted the pictures for her instructions, she kept showing the new picture in a different orientation from the previous one so it was hard to follow when I was doing it. It reminded me of one of those horrid visual problems on an IQ test where you are supposed to tell which two are pairs. Finally, after three rounds of frog stitching, I got one made that was RIGHT! Then I kept that one beside me at the machine to keep looking at as an example. That worked wonders for me. The pattern calls for 64 of the smaller blocks, putting four together with sashing to make 16 large blocks. For me, 64 sounds mind-bogglingly overwhelming. But 16 sounds do-able! Isn't it silly how my mind works? So I tell myself that I'll just do one of the big blocks in a day. Then I stay on track.
So now maybe I'll find the self-discipline to stay-stitch that RRCB Cotton Candy top! Whaddya think? Can I?

Yahoo, Top Done!

Three cheers and little blue fishes, as my sister, Anne, would say!! RRCB is done! My house is so crowded that I took it outdoors to photograph and the photos are a trifle overexposed, but you can see it here. It was so funny because when my young friend, Matthew, and husband, Felix, were trying to snap the pics, a breeze would come by and lift all the edges. So we would all smooth it out and try again and, bang! another breeze! But we finally got a decent picture.

If you look behind me, you can see a small bit of leftover snow in the lower driveway that had been a huge plowed-up snowbank. We got such warm temperatures in the mid 60's that it took most of the snow away.

We also measured RRCB and it was 99" X 86" which is the largest quilt top I've ever done! Whew! I think it is a much more involved top than Carolina Christmas which took me 13 months to complete. I feel I did great to get all the piecing done on RRCB in 5 months! The only thing that I need to do on it yet is to stay-stitch all around the outer edge and press the borders.

For those of you who haven't finished yours yet, this top is HEAVY!!! I usually get Warm and Natural batting from my longarmer, but that is very heavy, too. God, you won't be able to lift it! LOL! I'm just so happy that it is done!

The Fifth Row

Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll is the very first quilt that I have ever done, "on point," or on the diagonal. So I was happy and excited to get to do my first one as a Bonnie quilt to have her expert instructions. And, I'll admit it, I was a little keyed up about it too.

Bonnie said to sew the blocks into rows on the diagonal, working from one corner in towards the center, and then work from the opposite corner into towards the center again, such that you then finally join the two large pieces of the quilt top together. Sounded simple to me! And there was a neat diagram too.

This is Bonnie K. Hunter's diagram from her instructions in Part 7 of RRCB on her quiltville blog:
http://Quiltville.blogspot.com
and it is used here with Bonnie's most gracious permission. Thank you, Bonnie!!!

Sewing the Center!

So I began sewing together the blocks and setting triangles, being very careful to not mix anything up. Slow and steady; check and recheck, as I went. I was doing beautifully although my progress was painstakingly slow. When I got to the second corner's group of rows I was more confident in the rhythm of assembling.

Then I discovered that I seemed to be TWO SETTING TRIANGLES SHORT!!! How could that be? I had counted and recounted them when I had made them. None were on the floor or under the machine nor on the shelving unit. And I had TWO CORNER CAPS EXTRA!!! How could that be? I had counted and recounted them when I had made these also. Hmmmm. Too weird, I thought. 

I began to study the diagram. Counting diagonally, there are ten rows in all. I had assembled them as two groups of diagonal  five-row units. But the two fifth rows each have one corner cap and then one doubled setting triangle each! I had mistakenly tried to put the setting triangles onto both ends of both of the fifth rows. It was late when I was figuring it all out, so I went to bed feeling confused and muddled. Additionally, all that hauling the heavy rows around to assemble them had given me a minor muscle knot in my back under my shoulderblade.

Husband Wonderful rubbed me down with some Absorbine Junior lintiment and I popped a couple of aspirins and went to sleep. The next morning my subconscious must have sorted it all out because I knew exactly what I needed to do to make it all right! When I was fresh, it was easy to understand my error.

Return to RRCB

Well, the snow is short-lived and I used my hands to very gently lift the sticky wet clumps of it off of my croci. I think they made it!

Also, I worked in my Quilt Cave down cellar and made some real progress on RRCB.

I got all those previously made 60 string blocks cut and resewn back into their respective units for the quilt. After pressing them with my Best Press solution,

I measured several of the 11" blocks and decided that they did not need trimming. Some were even a trifle undersized, hmmmm.
Whenever something in piecing doesn't come out perfectly, I face choices. Should I ignore it, or fix it? My resewn string blocks were only 1/4" off, so I chose to ignore it. Sure hope I don't hate myself later!
I am happiest when I am piecing small units together in large batches. I get into a rythym that is very relaxing. Cut ten, sew ten, press ten! Then it's fun to count up the little stacks I've made and go upstairs for coffee feeling very smug with my progress.
Here is where I braved the big boogie man and actually began assembling the first rows on my too-small work table:

Whew! The sky did not fall in on me after all! Sew far, sew good!

April Fool's Day!

Well, Mother Nature is at it again!

It is still snowing at 3:20pm, but tapering off now. I took a chance on my steep unplowed driveway to go to my little rural Post Office to mail out my 6 sets of Civil War Reproduction fat eighths fabrics for the April 15th Nickelswap Yahoo group. Let's all cheer for the invention of studded snowtires!!! I made it back home!

French Onion Soup

Here is a great soup recipe!

Get six large sweet onions and chop them coarsely.

Put them into a huge pot with about a half a cup of vegetable oil and sweat them over medium heat until they are carmelized.

The carmelization takes longer than you might think, at least 30 minutes.
Next add one box each of beef and chicken broth and heat up the mix. Serve with floating slabs of toast that are sprinkled VERY heavily with shredded Parmesian cheese.

Funny Triangular Units

At last! I gritted my teeth and finished these twelve funny triangular units for RRCB's borders. The fact that two small seams had to be unsewed or ripped just created a really stupid mental block for me. I realized as I worked on it tonight, that I always felt like a failure when I was ripping a seam. It meant I had sewn something WRONG. Yet, here I was, following instructions as part of the process of construction. It was weird to admit that I am trapped in a lil rut there. But here they are, all done!

Fun with Flying Geese

Our weather is STILL very cold and windy today, in spite of all the sunshine. Twenty two degrees this morning!!! Will it EVER be Spring?

My Mount Hood daffodils are up but not growing in this frigid air. They are very hardy, but I worry when the nights are 18 degrees! So I ran over to the next town where there is a supermarket about six miles away and bought two bunches of daffy's for $4 each. ANYTHING, please! Just to pretend it is Spring. I took a couple of bunches over to my sister, Suzanne, too and enjoyed a cup of green tea with her.

But I have done some piecing, too. The little odd triangular pieces for the border units of RRCB are half done. I'll finish those today and work on squaring up the 11" String blocks.
Yesterday I made another 28 flying geese and my pile of them is really growing! Each stack is twenty geese, mostly floral and paisley. They are such fun to make!!!

Mother Nature's Tricks

Our weatherman, Josh Judge, expressed it best;
"Last week, it was Winter and it felt like Spring,
        this week, it is Spring and it feels like Winter!"
All my hopes for seeing my Mount Hood daffodils are dashed in this morning's Marshmallow World. At least I have two of my African violets to cheer me, and my two lady labs always bring a smile.

National Quilt Day Celebration!

Hooray!
Today, a gorgeous Spring day, was National Quilt Day. I celebrated it by meeting Deb, a fellow-quilter and internet friend, in person for the first time to give her a great big hug. We met at Keepsake Quilting's store in Center Harbor, New Hampshire, where a big sale was raging. I betcha there were 50 to 60 shoppers in the store, lined up at the "ten FQ's for $10" table, jockeying for position.
We had lots of fun talking about our recent projects, especially on RRCB. She is still working full-time, so we compared notes as tortoises. Because we had never seen each other, I wore my scarlet tam'O shanter and my Belknap Mill Quilter's Guild name tag, so that she could find me in the crowd.

After we enjoyed a bit of time in a Dunkin' Donuts, we parted ways and I went on to Joann's. Today was the last day to use my 50% off any regular purchase coupon, and I was determined to make it count! I bought 6 yards of black quilter's cotton at $5 a yard and expected to use it on that. But then I spotted a 15 yard Roc-lon bolt of white bleached muslin for $30 and made that my coupon purchase. In retrospect, it didn't matter, now did it? I also found a lovely tawny golden cheddar and got a couple of yards of that.

Some people on Stashbusters' Yahoo group are trying to reduce their stash. I admire their noble efforts. But many quilter's who do not follow the financial markets are blithely unaware that all cotton prices went crazy when Egypt had a revolution. Cotton futures are now up more than 250% over last year. Because there is a significant time-lag factor with cotton, due to harvesting, ginning, spinning, and weaving & printing, the prices have not jumped yet. They may not until Fall. The futures have not been this high since the Civil War era's Northern naval blockades. So I am buying now. I expect that quilt shop quality fabric will sell for $30 to $35 a yard. I hope I am wrong.

 I also purchased 4 bags of tie-ups that Keepsake always uses to tie your bag shut in a festive way when you are done at their checkout line. A bag was $4.99 and the clerks said that the bags each held between 3 and 4 yards of fabric. Won't they be perfect for Scrappy String Quilts?

Last October, I gave a quick demo on making a 10 1/2" scrappy scarlet strings' block at my Belknap Mill Quilter's Guild Show. It was fun to show everybody what I had just learned myself. A lot of folks had never seen String Blocks. I had half a dozen blocks all made up so that people could try making zigzags, Vees, or squares. My favorite was the squares! So here is the result back from Tracy Szanto's studio at http://www.dreamlandmachinequilting.com/home.html. She just used a simple circular meander to help me save money, so it was under $100.00 for this 60X80" flannel backed charity snuggler. It is going to an elderly couple, she's 80 and he is 85, who cannot pay their oil heating bills this year. By the way, to me, the word "Charity" is a good thing. "Faith, Hope, and Charity, but the greatest of these is Charity!" I drove her to the local fuel assistance program and helped her apply.