Sunday Stash #86

I'm trying to go on a fabric diet this year, but the sales kill me. And the Kona Solids Club from Canton Village Quilt Works. I'm toast. Go say hi to Jackie for me. If you can leave without buying something, you're a better person than me!

Still on an egg kick. I didn't eat many eggs before adulthood, but I'm more than making up for it now. This Spanish preparation of an olive oil fried egg was pretty interesting.

See how the white edges get brown and crispy? They taste really good. Like potato chips. For breakfast. Where's the onion dip?

Finally finished the center part of the Grand Illusion mystery. There's a pieced border that may or may not happen. I have the units pieced, but I'm getting a little bored with this 1,500+ piece quilt. Time for something different. I'll let the top gel and see if I'm up for the borders one day.

Inspector Gadget was nice enough to hold my flimsy for a photo, but he got thread all over himself. Ha! See the basil plant I'm going to kill?

Hope you have a happy and productive week.

Happy New Year!

Have you seen this quilt contest by the Quilt Alliance? Might be a fun little challenge once I get through the Quiltville mystery. I really loved how the Grand Illusion reveal turned out. You can see it here. I'm up to 16 main blocks (17 actually, because I forgot I had one done already.) So my quilt will be 4 blocks x 4 blocks with added sashing. I'm a bit nervous about fitting the sashing and cornerstones, but I think I can do it. The pieced border makes me want drink wine. ;) I'm not quite ready for that, but I'm going to work up to it.

We took a quickie cruise to the Bahamas in the new year. I really like cruising. It's relaxing. No phones or internet, fun people watching, endless food, entertainment, sunshine, etc. I had never been to the Bahamas. Nassau was crazy town, but it was fun to visit. And the water is so pretty and blue.

Look! Pirates! Just kidding. This boat guided us into port. I have trouble backing up a car in my driveway. I can't imagine backing a huge cruise ship into a slip. Our captain did it though. First try! Ha ha!

I did see a couple of pirates in town.

Hollywood cruises all the time. Here's the loot she brought me back from her last cruise to Mexico. Hot sauces and the Talavera pottery I collect. She and her boyfriend's family went with us to the Bahamas. We had a lot of fun.

I was surprised to find such nice tomatoes this winter. I'm going to go search for more today. They were delicious.

Artichoke spinach dip is my favorite. I made a huge vat of it basing it loosely on this recipe. College Boy gifted me P-Dub's two latest books for Christmas. I didn't have feta or pepper jack cheese, but I added in some pecorino romano, cheddar and a couple of slices of smoked Gouda. I was trying to make it healthy. Ha! It was really good. I like the heat of the cayenne pepper.

Today's cooking is bone broth or brodo. Bone broths are all the rage right now. I love making stocks and soups, so this isn't new to me, but I don't normally just sip the broth for health. Apparently it's filled with vitamins and minerals that are good for you. This one has seaweed, allspice, bay leaves, parsley, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, salt and pepper.

I roasted inexpensive beef neck bones and chicken wing tips. We eat a lot of chicken wings, and I save the tips. I also found some leftover carrots from a veggie tray in the freezer. You could easily use a rotisserie chicken carcass or even all vegetables to make a vegetarian broth.

I tossed a plum tomato in the pot at the last minute. Here's a step-by-step for making bone broth and the health benefits.Mine is simmering away on the stove this chilly day. I'll strain it this evening, so I'll get a good 10 hour cook time, but you really don't have to let it simmer that long. The recipe above says 48 hours for beef bones, 24 hours for chicken bones, but I'm never that patient.

Happy new year to you and yours! Let's get this year started!

Snap!

And snap, just like that, the holidays are over. I found Mr. Elf while tidying up my studio. He had fallen from the wall clock and rolled under a stool. I guess Hollywood's "tick tock, tick tock" clue was quite literal. He hung with sock monkey for a few days and today I spotted him hanging from a small Christmas tree. The guy gets around.

I printed these paper pieced Santas out before the holidays, but never had time to whip one up. He's kind of cute, isn't he? To get the pattern, visit the talented Imagine Gnats. I used a sunny yellow background because it was 84 degrees for our holidays. It's still hot three days later. I could use some snow. For a day. At least it was nice out to grill the holiday ham and turkey. That's my idea of fun!

I'm all caught up with the lite version of Quiltville's Grand Illusion mystery. Linky party here. I'm only making half the pieces, so I'll end up with a smaller quilt. Bonnie suggested it as an option, so I'm sure it will work. I almost had enough spare time to go back and make all the units, but I came to my senses. I've enjoyed being with family, cooking, baking, and relaxing. My spice cabinet still didn't get cleaned.

During a cleaning spell, I dumped all the trimmed triangles in my triangle box. I'll deal with those later, or maybe that box will fall into the trash. It's a culmination of many binding miters, and stitch and flip units. Eight years in fact.

Also during the cleaning/organizing/put crap away, people are coming for Christmas preparations, I unearthed a chunk of fabric I can use for a backing. Buying scraps, fat quarters, and one-yard cuts can really bite you in the butt when you want to use your stash for a backing. I think someone gave me the light green floral print on the very right. It's cute and will work perfectly. Flowers go with pirate skulls and Peter Rabbit, right?

Quiche Love

I started my weekend with a quiche. I'm the only big fan of quiche around here, but a few eat it. I wish they'd just leave it all for me! This version had spinach, bacon, red onion, tomato and sharp cheddar. Egg and milk too!

I use the refrigerated pie crusts a lot. They're so convenient and for some reason, pie crusts seem so labor intensive. They're not, but for a quick pie or quiche, I like the refrigerated crusts. The best part about quiches is that you can add anything you like. Obviously, I like a lot of stuff.

I finished part two of the Quiltville mystery yesterday afternoon. Part three is already up and I plan to get my cutting done on those units this week. The part three units look like lots of fun! I can't wait to get them pieced!

These little triangles were waste from part two.

Hmmm...they're pretty cute, but I'll try to refrain for now.

Linking up with the other mystery quilters right here. Sometimes the best party about these mysteries is the "drama." Cracks me up every time. Quilters are passionate people! Ha!

Grand Illusion Mystery, Part Two

I finished up all 50 broken dish units for the Grand Illusion Mystery.

I have all the pieces cut for part two. Hoping to get these put together this weekend, since part three came out Friday. I've done a test unit to make sure my measuring and piecing work out. I only need 50 units for this step.

Hollywood gave me an Elf on the Shelf ornament for the tree. Cute! She also hid my elf somewhere when she cleaned the house this week. Wonder where he's hiding? She keeps saying "tick, tock, tick, tock," so I've looked at every clock in the house. Nothing. Anyone have any ideas?

Grand Illusion Mystery

My fabric pulls for Quiltville's Grand Illusion mystery quilt. Nice and scrappy like I like them! Love the bright colors, too!

Squaring up half square triangles is tedious, but it helps my wacky sewing. Some of them come out perfect and I only have to trim the dog ear off. Some need a little more work.

I'm only doing a half version of the mystery which will still yield a good sized quilt. The broken dish units are really cute. Linking up right here. Go see everyone's pretty units.

At Thanksgiving at my cousin's house, I got to see three of my gifted quilts. The oldest one was probably one of my very first quilts. I was so thrilled to see it worn out and loved, Their kids have newer quilts, but I need to replace the family couch quilt!

I made a mojo turkey the day after Thanksgiving. This was the turkey I stole the guts out of to make the stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner. I marinated it overnight in sour orange (oj and lime juices), cumin, oregano, and garlic. Look at all that garlic! You scrape it off to bake it. Here it is before I roasted it.

And roasted. It looks burnt, but it was delicious. I made black beans, yellow rice and collard greens to go along with it. The leftovers have been great for sandwiches. I'm going to make a turkey soup too. I love me some turkey. Turkey all day!

Black Friday

My cousin hosted Thanksgiving dinner for our family, I made stuffing, which is a family favorite. There's a "don't ask, don't tell" policy for the squeamish. Neck meat, chopped heart and gizzard, and liver. You know, the stuff that's in the bag. I remember watching my grandmother whacking at that liver when I was a child. I usually whir it in a food processor, but I grabbed my knife and did it grandma's way.

Here it is before I baked it off. It was delicious, and I gave the leftovers away. The Inspector was sad I left the green bean casserole too.

I did a little pillowcase sewing last weekend. Hollywood, her charge, and the Inspector all get fun pillowcases for Christmas. Can you guess which cases belong to which person?

Here's an easy appetizer to try. Brick of cream cheese topped with jalapeno pepper jelly. I also saw a recipe that topped the cheese with salsa verde. I'm trying that one next. I've been steady eating since Monday. We had a huge potluck at work which resulted in two additional days of leftovers. Then turkey day yesterday. Today I'm making a mojo turkey.

Look what the UPS man brought me! Merry Christmas to me. I haven't figured out the needle threader, but I'm sure I will eventually. I started Quiltville's annual mystery quilt this morning. I think this might be my fifth Quiltville mystery. They're really a lot of fun. Sometimes I even finish them!

Imagine a Title Here

Giada was making these Italian Turkey Meatballs, so I thought I'd give them a try. They were really good. The addition of spicy turkey sausage gives them some zing. The tomato sauce is yummy too. The recipe makes a ton, so I froze half for another day.

Alejandrina brought me some lemon grass, so I made chicken stock. It smelled wonderful cooking. Lemon-y chicken, veggies, and herbs. They should make that a candle scent. I divided it into portions to use and freeze.

I remembered to label the containers. Check out those vintage Tupperware labels. I bet they're older than my kids. Usually I just write on blue painter's tape if I remember to label. I found some beef barley soup in the deep freeze. No label. It's really good soup, so I hope it's not too old. It didn't kill me. ;) I'm pretty good about cleaning the freezers out.

We've been eating simple meals. Baked hot wings, veggies, and blue cheese dip. College Boy's favorite meal. One of mine too!

Cubans and black bean soup. Think I added enough garnishes to my soup? Another family favorite although only three of us eat beans. College Boy has been bean free for decades. I blame his buddy in daycare who bad mouthed beans. I'd love to find that kid and see if he consumes beans and peas now. Bet he does.

One night I grilled romaine lettuce hearts and topped them with a warm bacon and red onion dressing and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese.

I had all intention of sewing a bit this week, but got carried away by other things. I did get a gigantic (90" x 90") backing pieced together. I found the drunkard's path blocks somewhere along the way and used some of my big hunks of batik fabrics.

Here's the front which has been patiently waiting since March to get a backing. It's the Easy Street Mystery from Quiltville. Adding borders wasn't working so well, so I left them off. I'll send this off to the quilter soon.

What a Crock

I've been pinning all kinds of things on Pinterest. My crock pot is getting a workout. I tried Greek Chicken Pitas and served them on warm onion pita with feta cheese, tomato, greens, pickled red onion, and tzatziki. I made hummus and burnt Cajun pita chips for an appetizer.

Mississippi Pot Roast was next up. I'm not sure why it's called Mississippi roast, but it was pretty good. I've made an Italian pot roast that was similar. The recipe called for a stick of butter, but I couldn't do it. That's butter waste. ;) I also used beef broth instead of the au jus package. You can see how much fat was in the finished cooking liquid. I threw some carrots, onion, and celery on top of the roast the last hour. The de-fatted cooking liquid was thickened and used for gravy on rice. Come to think of it, my friend's parents were from Mississippi and they cooked a pot roast and rice every Sunday. It cooked while we were at church and I was always invited to lunch

Since it was Pi Day (3-14), I made a blackberry pie. The pot roast and pie were made special for College Boy, who is usually at work when we eat. I knew he'd be home, so I made his favorite things.

For St. Patrick's Day, I threw this Guinness Glazed Corned Beef into the crock pot. The glaze was really good and a nice change from the usual boiled corned beef dinner. I never bought cabbage, so I made Reuben sandwiches instead. I'm going to miss the convenience of crock pot cooking this week. It gave me some extra goof off time.

This sand hill crane hung out in my yard all day Friday. When he wasn't warming himself in our dead crab grass, he was on his feet squawking or following me to the mailbox. They normally travel in pairs, but I think his mate got lost or killed. I have no idea why he thought she was in my house. For a minute I thought she might have got trapped in the garage. Wouldn't that be exciting?

Saturday's Sew Day was a blast as usual. We had a big group of quilters working on tons of fun projects, including 23 adorable pillowcases for Nemours Children's Hospital. Here's my owl one. I hope those big eyes don't keep someone awake! OvO

I also took advantage of the huge space we have at the library and attempted to lay out my Easy Street Mystery quilt. This sucker is huge. Turns out, I was short four blocks. :( I wondered why I had so many extra pieces! Good thing I kept them. I was able to sew three diagonal rows together at Sew Day and start piecing the blocks I needed.

Tada! Everything is put together and pressed. The top measures 86" square and I'm attempting to add borders now. The first border didn't fit correctly, so I need to tackle that today. Or just wad up the top and put it in a box. I believe this quilt has 2,181 pieces. Gah! I really prefer making smaller quilts. I had to sweep my back porch to get a picture and measure for borders.

P.S. I'm moderating comments for a bit because apparently the spammers like to make me blush. Usually Blogger catches spam comments, but recently I've had some "spicy" ones published. I hope you didn't see them before I deleted them. I blame my racy headlines. That's crock, spammers! Stay away from my blog.