OPAM

Years ago I participated in an neutral block exchange. It was beautiful. It was 1993! I broke my foot in late 1994 and then found out I was expecting child #5. I was supposed to stay off my foot; so what did I do? I made the baby 5 quilts; one of them using the neutral exchange.

It is beautiful. I still had blocks left over... so this month I made this:

a table runner for my buffet. It is FINISHED!

It is beautiful. I still have blocks left over.... in fact I STILL have 53 blocks...

Blackberry bavarian

Since my daughter doesn't like to read a post without a picture I included what was left of our Blackberry Bavarian.

I'm trying to 'cook' with our berries once a week. (I've bought berries before and they have gotten really old before they were used.) 

There is a new jello flavor; Blackberry fusion. I used it with a bag of mixed berries; blackberry raspberries, and blueberries. Real whipping cream. So Good. Like eating candy only better. The blueberry council is trying to convince us that eating blueberries is healthy; it is good for our brains. Raspberries have more antioxidants than strawberries and blackberries; well, blackberries are going to cure the common cold. It sounds like I should eat blackberries when I have a sore throat. Whatever the health benefits are berries are delicious and I'm determined to eat more of them. 

I posted the raspberry version recipe last week so you can find it here.

stash report

This is the 17th WEEK of 2009!

I finished a quilt so I can finally count it. Technically I'd like to have the label on it but I'm counting it anyway. A picture is posted here. Blogger has given me such a headache when loading pictures I decided to just put links.

The quilt was a 'block of the month' designed by Vickie at Quakertown Quilts in Friendwood, TX. I quilted her's a month ago and just barely got mine done in time for 'third Tuesday' last week. I really should post a picture of them side by side but THAT is slightly beyond me.

I guess I'll count the bag from here and here in the total...maybe 1/4 yard for both.

I made no fabric purchases this week.

my year to date totals;

in 17.43

out 73.41

That's 56 yards more than I've purchased.

I'm binding my OPAM for April so I'll have good week next week too!

new lined zippered bag

It is sad sad about my personality that the first thought I had after reading Karen's post about her friends zipper stash was that I better go to the thrift store and get more zippers... But I nipped the thought and decided to use one instead.

Last night I was digging through my purse looking for a pill and thought, 'You should have a zippered lined bag for that.' So this morning I looked in my starred reader's folder and found red geranium's post about lined bags and actually read it then went and made a bag (if I'm rushed and don't have time to read I just star the post and then come back later and READ it instead of just look at the pictures! ;) ). It took longer than 15 minutes...about an hour since I pieced the front and back. The front is actually a strip of stripes that I had sewn together for my stripped quilt and then cut 1/2" too narrow; the black and white was already cut for the same project. 

I used an invisible zipper and it worked okay but maybe a regular zipper would have neater corners? I turned it and then turned it back and made the lining 1/4 inch shorter than the bag and it lays better. 

I'm happy with the bag and I've used another zipper!

(down to 63!)

the Old Rose Emporium

I talked to a friend today and found out she had never heard of the Old Rose Emporium.... and she call's herself a Texan! so I thought there may be other 'Texans' that needed to hear about them.

All y'all have heard of Blue Bell Ice Cream and know that it is made in Brenham but right next door is one of the greatest nurseries that I have been to. It is not really set up to look like a 'store' it is more like a garden that happens to have plants for sale. I have visited in Spring-the best time of year. Summer-beautiful but HOT. Fall-wonderful. Winter-a bit dull. But spring... drop every thing and GO.

The kids had fun, I had fun, even the husband enjoyed it. Grandma loved it. 

There is a green house made from reclaimed windows and roses. There's Mr. McGregors' garden and roses, there's a yellow brick road and roses, a 'sculpture' made from tin cans and roses, a spider web of wire and roses, a bottle tree, a Kansas witch with a house on top of her, a water garden, a cottage perenial garden..... a windmill with a flowering vine entwined... and did I mention the roses?

The pictures are from our winter trip in 2004, so no roses but we took our family picture on the porch of the Stone Kitchen.

There is also a small monastery nearby with miniature horses; a fun thing to see.

Bountiful Baskets

Remember my 'nightmare border'? I finished that quilt Tuesday. It turned out great but I forgot to put a rod pocket on it; so I'll need to figure out where/how/when to display it.

2 of my baskets are the same; can you find them? I impress myself with this quilt. But the border was a nightmare. Then I thought it needed a 1/4 inch binding.... it looks good on this quilt but I like 3/8's better; 1/2 " is what I'm using if the quilt is big enough.

Journal Quilt

I read somewhere in January about a journal quilt....so I started one. I just did a google search and what came up is nothing like what I pictured. So here are 3 pictures of the first section of My Journal Quilt. I don't know how big it will be or even where I'm going from here. I just had the sections and they looked so crooked that I had to add the sashing. So there will be other sections; probably different sizes. I wanted to play a little today so I got it up to date. (Actually a little ahead of myself since the last item isn't finished; but it is loaded on the long arm and will be done this month since it is my OPAM for April.)

Another Zipper Post

One day I'll make something really cute using a zipper and you'll be sorry you decided to skip over all the zipper posts. Meanwhile I made myself another little bag for my purse. This one is strictly for receipts that I need to keep track of for my business or for medical reimbursements.

This is a big deal for stash reduction :) I had 75 zippers and now I'm down to; drum roll please; 64!

Hey I have plans for those zippers;

• a cool camera case
• a cool GPS case for my purse
• a cool________for my________.

Please fill in the gaps 'cause I can't think of a thing.

Raspberry Bavarian

Today for Family Home Evening I made Raspberry Bavarian; Yummy. It's a recipe my mother has often made but I have not. While they were here last week she reminded me of it and gave me the recipe... it is so easy.

Raspberry Bavarian

1 package of Raspberry jello (sugar free or not)

(prepared using only the boiling water and no cold water)

Whipping cream; Whip the cream while or slightly before the water is boiling.

After the jello is dissolved add 2 cups of frozen berries, stir until it is almost set up;

fold in the whipped cream.

That's it. I set it in the fridge and served it an hour later. Andrew loves it; Jeffrey doesn't.

I found some blackberry jello so I'll try this again with the blackberries that are in my freezer.

Stash Report

I just finished quilting this quilt. Isn't it great? I'll be calling the owner on Monday and saying good-bye...

The colors are not quite right here but you get the idea; turquoise, pink, chocolate brown. Eventually I'll get a post about the quilt's details in 'the Quilter Upstairs' blog.

No changes on the fabric scene. No purchases; no usage.

I managed to get a quilt of mine in the frame before my husband was ready to sleep. I 'd like to get it finished on Monday so I can show it to a group of ladies on Tuesday. 

I lay in bed for 3 1/2 hours before deciding to get up and write this post.  Can I blame my sleeplessness on the raspberry cobbler I made tonight? Maybe. It was better as cobblers go than the blackberry cobbler I made Friday. What can I say? I'm looking for the perfect blackberry/raspberry cobbler recipe since I have a large amount of each in my freezer.

Texas flag quilt

I have this picture as my header of my blog but I realized I've never told the story behind this quilt.

Five years ago our son was expecting his first child; Reed and Angela lived in Idaho but were Texans through and through so I decided to make them a quilt for the baby. I gave myself some guidelines;

1. I HAD to use fabric that I had and hopefully use just scraps since they were taking over the sewing area.
2. It would be nice if it was an I-Spy Quilt also.
3. It had to be very washable and usable so it could be dragged around and not come apart.

After coming up with the flag idea I started the relaxed log cabins, using fabric strictly from my scrap bins but using as many 'I spy' kinds as I could find. While sewing I puzzled over the star portion; I knew that an appliqued star would have vulnerable areas where there would be hardly any fabric turned under so I thought I'd piece the star into the background (I'd recently read a book on piecing difficult shapes.) I did a sample and realized that the pieced star also had vulnerable spots that would likely fray with hundreds of washings so I couldn't use that method. I came up with a paper pieced relaxed log cabin block that gives the star 1/4 inch seams at the vulnerable spots that had eliminated the other 2 methods. This would holdup to many washings.

Then I quilted it with Texas designs; the Alamo, bluebonnets, an oil rig, and the word TEXAS as used in the Texas centennial. It was fabulous so I showed it to the quilt shop owner and she asked me to write the pattern to sell. So I did. I made the one pictured above for a model for the shop and eliminated the Texas quilt designs because some of them were copyrighted and gave the Texas themed one to my first grandchild; Tyler.

It has never been washed; It was too gorgeous and has always been on a wall. I could have appliqued the star and it would have been fine. Oh well, I made him a different quilt, one that was easy, a rail fence, and could clearly be used by the child.

I still sell the pattern to the local quilt shop. That shop is Quakertown Quilts. Here's a link to the shop.

*Quakertown Quilts no longer exists if you want the pattern e-mail me at lauriekstone@gmail.com

zippered

My Mother often has a tissue with a few pills wrapped up in it in her pocket or a ziplock bag in her purse with a pill and a couple of crackers if she is going to be away from home during a 'pill popping' time. So I took 15 minutes and made this little pouch for her. Literally 15 minutes; 'cause I changed the thread to tourquoise; otherwise I think 12 minutes. 

Does anyone else need a little pouch?

I had a lovely visit with my parents and got to cook some new dishes for us and show off the long arm. I was sick most of the time and Mom got sick too so we didn't do much but sit around.  I'm so glad they came.

And, Mom, Andrew is practising!

camping in a forest fire!

Good Friday is always a big camping day for our Scout troop. This year they decided to backpack in the Big Thicket National Forest. The Lone Star Trail they were planning on taking Roger has been on several times and it is ALWAYS green; very very green.  Not this time. On Wednesday the Forest service did a controlled burn right where they were planning on hiking and camping. Did they let ashes and smoldering trees slow them down? NO, they did it anyway.  After all it was mostly out.

This picture is not smog it is smoke. 

Here you can see where the edge of the burn is.
These 2 pictures of my sons were taken on the last day of the camp; Saturday. Everyone was eager to take showers when they got home.

They had a great time; dirt doesn't bother boys!

Click on the photos to enlarge them and fully appreciate all the dirt!

stash report

I finished a quilt this week! Unfortunately it wasn't mine so I can only count the 1/2 yard that I added to my sisters back to make it so I could long arm it. I hope to get a better picture of it soon; but it was raining today. Can you tell my sister likes roses? It was fun to get up close and personal to all those rose fabrics; I think she did a great job of mixing busy and calm; light and dark. Those long strips really add to the quilt. 

Stash report for week 15 I bought 4 yards for the back of the 'nightmare border' quilt that I posted about last Sunday.

So; In 4 yards

out; 1/2 yard

ytd

in 17.43

out 64.9

used 47.47 more than I brought in. :( This number is getting smaller not larger; I'm going to have to get my 2 smaller projects quilted soon!)

My baby is 12 today!

I know and you know that he was just born yesterday but he thinks it's been 12 years... where did the years go? Yesterday morning about 11 he started kindergarten and then towards 3 he started cub scouts and about 3:20 he won a pinewood derby race... I think the highlight of his life so far.

This is a pretty lame birthday post but I am getting sicker and sicker...

I baked the worst cake of my life and it seemed to take forever. We are throwing it in the trash; 1 lb of butter $8 worth of chocolate, 1 bowl, almost a whole jar of raspberry jam.

AS you can tell I had the choice of bad and worse photos to show... (and we are OUT of birthday candles but this may even be better!)

He really is a great kid! We love him.

t-shirt quilt

I've been looking on line at t-shirt quilts.... I think this is a giant step up from the basic t-shirt quilt. 
I've been helping a friend make her first quilt. I think she's done a great job with her son's boy scout t-shirts. Notice the red fabric; all the fleur-de-lis are right side up! It's finished; even has a label!

She's working on quilt #2; her daughter's t-shirts. Wow her daughter's t-shirt quilt is, like a flight of stairs up from the basic t-shirt quilt. I can't wait until I can post of picture of it.

interesting link

I'm not sure you can handle this; it's not about quilts, food or kids! My sister sent me a link to this interesting method for raising Stonehenge. He demonstrates his idea by lifting a huge concrete block by himself.

Brian's birthday

Today is Brian's birthday and I'd planned to do a post about him ... but I haven't found (or looked for) the slides I wanted to use. He's the cute red-head in the magician costume. He would have been 27 years old today.

Last Monday I started listing my goals for the week and it really helped me stay on task.  I didn't finish everything I started to do but I got more done than I usually do. So first my report;

FOOD: We (yeah, that's I) followed the menu till Friday. No Fish, No beans

HOUSE: The guest room is cleaner

the path to the house did get cleaned...well it to got cleaner but a lot cleaner.

SPIRITUAL: I listened to 8 hours of conference but didn't write in my journal, but I did post which is almost a journal.

CREATIVE: I got the border on the basket quilt and blogged about it yesterday. You can see my 2 dark blocks-I made 3 but while trimming it cut it 1/2 inch too small. :(
I worked on the long arm computer stuff and made some headway. I made 2 zipper pouches. (Currently filled with candy.) I started my 'long arm journal quilt'; I'll blog about it soon...

EXERCISE: I failed to go to the gym 4 times but I did have kids home sick 3 days last week and still managed to go 2 times. And logged it.

Next week is going to be slower since my goal is to keep my parents happy and fed. 

Exercise 3 times.

Quilt 1 quilt.

I'm really into goals today; I'm just too busy to write about them.

exercise

cupcakes 24

devilled eggs 24

dinner by 5

guest room cleaned

bathroom cleaned

blog

quilt guild meeting

:) smile

nightmare border

Innocently I had a vision of triangles  on either side of plain border. After consulting a book on borders and with my math specialist (husband with Jeffrey putting his 2 cents in). I started cutting. I gave myself a week. I figured I'd be done in 2 days, top. It's taken hours and the whole week to get it to this point; it still needs corners.

I sewed 120 triangles together and they were 1/8 to big at every point...that adds up really fast so it didn't fit. I kept the vision; although I argued with myself repeatedly about how lovely the quilt was with just the plain border... I redid the math; the sizes were right. I examined the seams; obviously larger than the triangle seams. So I ripped apart every other triangle and then just resewed the remaining seam. Last night I marked the lines to make sure the points lined up and pinned the new and improved border on. Oh, my, there were 6 triangles that were clearly to large to ease in. The plain border was looking even better to me.  I went to bed.

At midnight the solution came to me.It involved a lot of ripping-remember half of the seams had been sewn twice. At 2 a.m. I went back to bed with 2 borders fixed and a plan for the other 2. It involved paper piecing the 8 sections that had to be redone. I'm NOT going to do a border like this again for a LONG time.

Stash busting for week 14

I bought no fabric this week;

I used no fabric up this week. 

year to date;

in 13.43 yards

out 64.4 yards

used 50.97 yards MORE than I purchased this year.

It's looking like I'll have 2 projects finished next week. 

Easter scrooge

It's been 30 years that I have filled and hid Easter eggs. Surely I don't need to do it again this year? My baby will be 12 next week; so when is the cut-off for hiding eggs for your kids?

chile rellenos casserole

How many of you have made chile rellenos? I have and although they were yummy I didn't want to repeat the experience. I tried ordering one from a restaraunt and they were too spicy. So when I saw a recipe for a casserole years ago I made them and loved them. I made them for the overnighters during Liz's wedding; thinking they could be made into an appitizer and I think they could. I made them again last night and served them to my quilt class this morning. It's basically a quiche.

CHILES RELLENOS CASSEROLE

For brunch or dinner, your family will love this take off on the classic stuffed, fried chilies.

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS December 1994.

4 4-oz. cans whole green chili peppers, rinsed and drained-( locally these cans range from .79-1.29 @- HEB was the cheapest 2 years ago)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (4 oz,.)

4 beaten eggs or 1 cup frozen egg product, thawed

1 12 -oz. can (1 ½ cups) evaporated skim milk

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. seasoned salt

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. ground cumin

¼ tsp. dried cilantro, crushed (optional)

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

Flour tortillas (optional)

Crushed red pepper or paprika

Sliced green onion (optional)

Grease a 2-quart rectangular baking dish. To remove any excess moisture, pat the drained peppers with paper towels. Halve peppers lengthwise; remove seeds, if desired. Place half of the chili peppers in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with half of both cheeses. Place remaining chili peppers in the dish; sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Combine eggs or egg product, milk, flour, seasoned salt, garlic powder, cumin, cilantro, if desired, and black pepper; beat with a wire whisk or rotary beater till smooth. Pour over chili peppers and cheese.

Bake, uncovered, in a 350 oven for 30 to 35 minutes or till set in the center. Stack tortillas; wrap in foil. During the last 10 minutes of baking, place tortilla in oven to soften.

Before serving, sprinkle casserole with crushed red pepper or paprika and green onion, if desired. Pass warm tortillas. Makes 8 main-dish servings.

Nutrition facts per serving: 201 cal., 13 g total fat (7 g sat. fat), 135 mg chol., 482 mg sodium, 9 g carbo., 0 g fiber, and 15 g pro. Daily Value: 18% vit. A, 31% vit. C, 34% calcium, and 8% iron.

So here's how I did it: I added a layer of corn tortilla's for the bottom crust and a light sprinkling of cheese then another layer of tortilla's after the first layer of chilies. Leaving out the flour would be just fine. I did not use any flour tortillas; just served with a fork on a plate. If you take out all the seeds it is not spicy. I put about 1/16 teaspoon of chili powder in the eggs and none on top. I used one bunch of green onions in the dish-not on top and couldn't tell they were there. Serve with diced tomatoes or salsa.

J. did not like it. A. did. Roger and I love it. I could see adding a layer of taco meat or brisket or chicken to it.