Boo Yah!

The thrill, the agony, the accomplishment. Actually, I'm only halfway done with my latest circle applique quilt. I changed a few of the dimensions of the circles, and I've pretty much decided not to use any sashing or borders for the 16 panels. I had looked at some Kona cottons in black and red and thought that might be a fun look - to make it look like more of a modern quilt, but I think I am really like the assault of all the different patterns and textures. So, here you go - below is half of the sixteen panels rather randomly laid out on the "Quilt Room" floor.

I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with the way this quilt is going - I haven't yet experienced the "I hate this quilt and every fabric in it," phase that tends to happen while working on a big project. My only quibble has to do with the different shades of red - some are more orange-y than the others - I guess I'll chalk that up to the 'pleasing contrast' category.

My new job is going pretty well, since, as far as I know, I haven't made any big mistakes -- although for some reason, I have been a total klutz while on the job! Spilling tea, knocking over files, and today -- spilling a big bag of tamari sunflower seeds inside a cabinet and all over the floor! I'll be happy to have more time with the boys once their summer camp is over - we can spend afternoons doing the stuff we normally do - going to the beach, berry picking, and of course, hanging out at home building with Legos and...quilting!

One of Sixteen!

The progress on this incredibly time-consuming project will most likely be slowing down somewhat as I have just landed a FULL TIME JOB! Wahoo! My three college degrees and years of hard-fought experience have finally resulted in a truly dreamy position at my boys' school! I am at turns thrilled, excited, daunted and exhausted. First to go off my schedule will most probably be gym workouts and oodles of quilting time.

However, in the midst of all of my resume re-writing, cover letter crafting, and interviewing and angsting, I mocked up one-sixteenth of this particular project. I have already sewn together approximately 1/2 of the surface area of the squares needed to complete a full-sized quilt for a certain someone who will be graduating from design school in 2011. At Christmastime he stated that he would like a quilt in the same color scheme as his favorite scarf, which, to the best of my recollection was white, black and red. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the scarf was actually puce, orange and violet?

Observant readers will notice that this is based on the maquette from an earlier post. For the fabric of Project X, I had the giddy opportunity to spend about an hour at Portland Oregon's Fabric Depot over spring break -- where they not only have a half acre of fabric, but large SHOPPING CARTS to put your fabric selections in. As may be apparent, I tried to stick with small scale geometric fabrics, suitable for said young adult recipient.

To calculate the number of squares I would need, I calculated the square inches needed for a full-sized quilt and divided that by the square inches of the maquette I made -- the magic number being 16. My design conundrums at this point are: to continue as is, having every square contain a magically pieced circle in the center, or to cheat a little and mix in some "blank" squares with no applique´d circles. What do you think, dear reader?

More Kaffe

This little quilt (28" x 38") was all about trying to use some large-scale fabrics in an intelligent way. The pattern is called "Vanity Square" by Cindy Hayes - one of those one-off patterns one can buy at their local quilt shop. I liked how this pattern ends up with a slightly random look and I think it *does* showcase the Kafe Fassett and the other large floral print I can't currently find in my stash to identify. The orange, brown, aqua and white one? Totally awesome! I think I have a couple yards of it left that I have been saving for - a skirt? another quilt?

I had fun with the quilting of this one - and I'm totally impressed with this crazy photo! My super-secret technique? Accidentally leaving the Nikon on "child" mode - which somehow really picked up the contrast of the quilting. Also, don't you love how professionally I have hung this on my bathroom wall? Thumbtacks! I'm so metropolitan.

Meanwhile, I am deeply in the middle of making the squares for my red-white-and-black circle quilt. They are proving to be very time-consuming -- I haven't been able to really pre-cut much of the fabric, so am finding myself cutting 12 different fabrics out on an as-needed basis. I'll provide some pictures...soon, but right now I've got a few big irons in the Life Fire and haven't found the time to get to it!

Trying Things Out

Math, it's what I'm no good at. Thankfully, there is not too much math involved in quilting, at least not if you're staying away from such fol-de-rol as designing using the Fibonacci series, or only using squares that are prime numbers... But for this latest charrette, I decided to expand on the basic CD sized template to see what could happen with more circles and more squares.

My notes for this one are pretty funny - "salad plate" "cookie jar lid" and "bottom of the blue juice glass." I've subsequently bought yet another compass to draw my very own circles, so I won't need to scurry all over the house finding appropriately sized circles!

The fabric I used for this was the remnants from the four angel costumes I sewed for my fellowship's Nativity play. It was the very cheapest white muslin Joann's had on offer which I then low-immersion dyed in two colors of blue and some black. I rather like this color combination -- it's all over my house (on the walls, in the curtains, in the art) and it is all over my neighborhood -- grey skies followed by patches of blue, with plenty of clouds, rinse, repeat. I took the picture of the completed quilt-let in full sun, and darned if that isn't a strange exposure! I think I have a lot to learn about photography!

Last week I embarked upon a full-sized quilt using these proportions - it's turning out to be very tasky - I hope I like it!

Targets!

Oh Kaffe, Kaffe, Kaffe. How you inspire me so! My newfound thrill at my newfound skill of pinless circle piecing met up with my fabric design hero for this cute lil' wall hanging I'll call Targets -- after the lovely Kaffe Fasset-designed fabric of the same name.

Delighted as I was at learning this new technique, I immediately started grabbing and pulling fabrics out of the Stash of Density. The size of my creation hinged on the amount of linen fabric I had, so taxing my brain with math, I figured I could cut 25 6-3/4" squares of the stuff, which meant I'd need to unearth 25 disparate orange-themed fabrics. I tried, Lord, I tried, to do it all with stash, but ended up sneaking of to my LQS for  3 or 4 other little hunks of orange-y goodness..

Initially, I had intended to have the colors radiate out from dark to light, but I ultimately didn't have enough range of value to achieve the look I wanted. So I scattered them randomly, ultimately satisfied with the way the values helped the eye to move.

I was trying for a sort of plaid look with the quilting - and used a range of colors, some variegated, some not, the result I thought, although simple, seemed to serve the quilt well, as it didn't detract from the kind of homespun look of the linen.

And oh! The back. Sheesh, did I overdo that! First I stitch basted some crisp white Quilter's Cotton Sateen, and then I tried tea-dyeing it in a dark bath of way-expired English Breakfast (I guess I don't drink that much caffeinated tea.) The shibori effect didn't show up that well, and the tea-dyed portions were very subtle. So, I rinsed the tea out, pulled out all the stitch-basting, and threw the fabric into some Dharma Trading deep orange. It's a little eye searing now.

Just for fun, I made and stitched on an entire bias binding made out of the lavender and orange font fabric before deciding I hated it and ripping it all out. Using some of my precious remaining Targets for the binding instead -- pleased me. Yay! I'm glad I made the change.

Circle Time*

What do freezer paper, an Exacto knife, a glue stick, and a blank CD have to do with quilting? That’s right, it’s circle time. Here at Naptime Studios I have been having a lot of fun with a brand new (to me) technique for making inset applique´ circles. After creating my Kerr and Ringle Eclipse quilt, I was eager to try more circle work and began hunting around on the internet. I finally found this tutorial, that although at first it seemed confusing, I found that if I followed it step, by step, I could actually achieve it!

Of course this new-found skill had me grabbing fabric out of the cupboard to try out different looks. Bright Kaffe Targets and white? 

Bright Amy Butler and white? 

How about a little Kaffe Targets in the brown colourway with linen? 

Finally, I grabbed some hand-dyed cotton for a more atmospheric look. 

All I can say is, it sure is fun to learn a new technique and to try things out. Anyone else want to give it a go?

*I also have been lucky enough to be a part of the occasional child-centered 'circle time'. There’s nothing quite so lovely as adorable moppets sitting together and listening to a story, or singing a song, or yes, doing the Hokey-Pokey. I love the Hokey-Pokey!

Regret

It is just a simple little exercise I put together for teaching My Very First Quilting Class! I taught four lively ladies last Saturday how to cut fabric, strip and chain piece nine patch blocks. I had quickly grabbed the two fabrics and pre-cut the strips and pre-sewn a few and demonstrated a little bit more during class. The boys were finally back in school after spring break and so I had a chance to sew the blocks together yesterday afternoon.

I was also doing this quickly, as I felt kind of guilty to finally be sewing after many interruptions and fun, fun trips (to Portland! to Yakima! to Puerto Vallarta!) so decided to sash with skinny white strips. I liked the way I rotated the blocks and the stripes and thought it all went together pretty nicely until I slapped the finished project up on my design wall. And there it was, regret. How could I have missed the totally cute option of putting  setting squares of the striped fabric in the sashing? I kept looking at it and ruing my choice, and now it’s too late.

I think I’ll get over it -- I can always put setting squares in a border!

Home Dec

Just prior to Graham, our second son's arrival, we began searching for a bigger house. The availability of family-sized houses in our area were slim, but after a few months we came across our current home. One of three on a quiet street near a State Park, it had 3 bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths and was kitted out in "Spec House Classic": white, white walls and beige, beige carpet... everywhere!

We had a baby, potty-trained a big brother and taught our new little one to walk on those increasingly disgusting carpets. Finally, we bit the bullet, hired a hardwood floor installer and transformed the first floor  with beautiful oak floors. The arrival of the new wood floors sent me to garnethill.com where I found this vibrant and somewhat quilty looking area rug. After a while, the proportions and the colors got to me -- and I designed a quilt with the same proportions, and the same color scheme, even taking a digital photo of the rug to the fabric store to match the colors.

I tried to make it just a little bit wonky, with uneven stripe widths, and not a few less-than parallel lines, backing it with some light weight denim I had in my stash. It's a perfect size throw for a boy who wants to take a quick nap, and a bright spot of color in an already colorful room.

Pin Me!

Finally, with the month nearly over, it looks like I am going to get back into the sewing groove. A combination of a sewing hangover from my gifting frenzy, a lack of inspiration to start something new and a bit of dithering on how to quilt a UFO, meant that I really haven't quilted ALL YEAR!

I made a few attempts: after creating a backing for my Dotty Kaleidoscope quilt and testing out some quilting options on a leftover block mini-quilt, I just could not come up with a quilting option that seemed reasonable to me. This particular quilt is either going to have to wait until my quilting skills improve (i.e. I finally learn/teach myself to free-motion quilt,) or I cough up the cash to have it long-arm quilted elsewhere.

So this weekend I pulled out another UFO and dug around for some likely backing options. Hayden really liked the quilt top and asked that it be finished up for him. Perfect! This particular UFO I think I sewed in 2005? I do remember that I chose the fabrics ultra-quickly -- Graham was just an infant then and I reckon I was on a tight leash, what with the breastfeeding and all...

Although I really made an effort to be precise and get those 2' strips to line up exactly, it was only until I had sewn the thing together that I discovered there were some serious glitches in my methodology. Of course, the biggest glitches had to do with the most visible of the colors, the Very Bright yellow center squares. This, combined with my lack of enthusiasm for the Very Bright color scheme slowed this project to a crawl. In an effort to combat the bright color scheme I sewed the turquoise border on with the intent to put the purple Kaffe Fassett border on last. Although I didn't get to it at the time, amazingly, I had not cut into the remaining Kaffe purple print! On it went last Saturday, and I found just enough purple and turquoise flannel to piece together a backing.

So here it lays, all smooth and ironed and ready to be pinned - let the "fun" of pinning begin!

Really Big Fur Ball

Yes, I am still writing gifting posts. Did I mention that I was slightly busy the last week or so before Christmas? Some mysterious force moved me to buy yards of puffy ocelot-colored fake fur this one time at Joann's. Maybe because it was $1.99 a yard? Who knows? The stuff hung around my sewing room for ages until I finally moved it out to a bin in the garage.

It became clear that what I needed to do with this fake fur was to sew it up into a really, really big ball. I had been also using my ball pattern template to make a dozen or more lavender scented Christmas ornaments which I gave out as gifts. About the size of a tennis ball, I thought they were pretty darn cute. Not so cute were the three or four comments from receivers that they looked like cat nip balls. Having never owned a cat, and having never purchased a cat nip ball - how would I know? Fine, give my Kaffe Fasset and Amy Butler carefully chosen fabric balls to your cat. Namaste.

Which brought me to the big fur ball. What to get a sports-obsessed 14-year-old nephew? You got it! A fur ball! Turning a tennis ball sized pattern into a really big ball required a trip to the glacially slow copy/print store. I got to use the architect's plotter machine to enlarge my pattern. I cut, I sewed, I noticed how the fabric's time in the garage had caused it to smell -- not so fresh. Downright musty. I forged on. I then used my remaining box of craft stuffing to give the ball a nice poofy heft. Finally, I gave the whole thing a couple or five spritzes of Febreeze, wrapped it all up and gifted! I think my nephew kind of liked it. Here is Graham posing with it.

Gifting, pt. 3
Gosh, I'm beginning to lose the thread of the frenzied efforts that led up to Christmas '09 (that was a whole decade ago, after all!) but I tried a few new techniques and wanted to share them. At any rate, I have two other nieces besides the one who got the Eclipse quilt, and they needed gifts, too! Obviously, pillows were the answer. Specifically, quilted pillows, because if one can quilt it, one should.

The construction ideas were all mine, because a) I was in a rush, and b) I thought it would look cool. For Maggie's pillow, I re-purposed my Eclipse maquette, (remember this?) ripping seams here, sewing others there. I pinned it to some quilt batting and quilted an open-faced quilt sandwich, as it were. I had an 18" pillow form tucked away in a box in the garage, and found that two twenty-inch squares, after quilting and being sewn together with some leftover double-faced home-made bias binding, made for the perfect proportions for my pillow form. If I had more time, I might have figured out how to make the pillow case come off the pillow form for easy washing, but I didn't. My unstated advice to my two nieces, "don't spill a beer on your pillow once you get to college, or let your roommate step all over it when they have frosting on their shoes" (true stories from my college days!)

For Linnea's pillow I un-shoeboxed some remnants from the very floral quilt I made her back in 2002? I wasn't sure if I disliked the floral-ocity of the fabrics enough to start anew, but finally decided, "hey, it will coordinate!" The pattern was Jacob's Ladder from 101 Fabulous Rotary Cut Quilts, to this day, one of the hardest patterns I ever sewed.

The resulting pillows, if a little musty from their long hibernation periods in my sewing room and/or garage, were delightfully soft and kind of snazzy looking. The bias binding gave them a slightly professional piped-edge look. All in all, a good way to use up quilt scraps!

Cutest Giveaway Day Winner ---Evah!

What fun! I enjoyed participating in the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day, even though I never imagined my ultimate 'winner' would be soooo adorable. Below is two-year-old Tucker,  hugging his new buddy Jed on Christmas morning. I am so happy Tucker's mama Debbie took this picture and thought to send it on to me, and thrilled to share his adorableness with you all! Have fun with your squooshy new friend Tucker!

Gifting, pt. 2


Since I came late to the idea that I would make most of my Christmas presents, I decided to turn to projects and pieces I had at hand. I had cut the triangles for Kaffe Fassett's Big Diamond quilt out three or four years ago, and had tucked them away so carefully (in a snap-top plastic bin!) that it took me an hour or so to find them. I kind of shuddered at some of the fabric choices -- while loving others of them. The Amy Butler Ginger Bliss in two different color ways? Love! The acid green checks, and the lime green dots? Not! I decided to sew it all up anyway, because I thought ultimately it would be a bright and happy lap blanket for my mom, especially if I used the big hunk of light blue minkee I bought at a going-out-of-business sale as the backing fabric.

For extra oomph I stuck some extra thick, here it comes, polyester batting in the middle! I used the evil polyester because I had it on hand, and because it would stand up to the minimal quilting I wanted to do. Minimal, because I didn't want to weigh down the minkee, and minimal because we're talking December 19th here!


Ultimately, it turned out to be like a big poofy hug. I know it doesn't go with the decor at my mom's house, but I figured it might be a happy touch in her wintertime beach condo. I think she liked it?

And Lo, There Was Gifting

(pt. 1)

Christmas has come and gone, and I was in a frenzy of crafting to prepare for it. My biggest gift was a twin-sized quilt for my niece Marja, who is 18 and headed off to college next fall. As I had previously made a quilt for her older sister (back in the hazier days of my skill level and fabric selection,) it seemed time to gift this fun-lovin’ gal with something funky.

I thought I had done my prep work well in advance, asking Marja’s mom (my sister) back in May what colors she might like for a quilt. My sister said she’d get back to me, and did, in September, after I had chosen the pattern, purchased the fabric, and cut the thing out. The September answer was “purple.” The reality was a mix of lovely aquas, greens and light blues; some Amy Butler Midwest Modern, some Flights of Fancy by Michael Miller and a lovely Kaffe Fasset polka dot.

The pattern, Eclipse, came from the Modern Quilt Workshop (Ringle and Kerr) although I tweaked it a bit, and shortened up the size of the squares. This change worked out great, giving me four cuts per length of fabric instead of three! If I have committed a serious design error by altering the fabric, I can’t really tell.

The circular piecing was pretty fun, and if I was careful, and pinned a lot, I found that I could do a pretty good job of it.

The quilting was pretty basic, but I really liked the outcome, my organic grid pattern played off the quilt pattern and lent an all-over quiltiness that pleased me. 

I had a bit of a struggle with the back: although I had purchased plenty of my current fave Dharma Trading’s cotton sateen, I ended up miscalculating my cuts! I hand dyed two hunks in ‘seafoam’ and ‘turquoise’ but ended up just a skosh short, necessitating a creative piecing job for the back. My oldest nephew, the Industrial Design major, quite liked my ultimate backing, what do you think?

I bound the quilt in the Michael Miller polka dot, having purchased an extra couple of yards from my fledgling LQS Creative Union Fabrics -- just the right touch, I thought! One of my favorite parts of this project was that I got the thing done sometime in November - far, far in advance of Christmas, and way before I decided that I would try to make all of my Christmas presents!

Giveaway Day Winner
Commenter #33 debbiekl was the lucky winner of Jed the doll! I hope this sqooshy little guy loves his new home

Happy Giveaway Day!

The fine women at Sew, Mama, Sew! have organized a Giveaway and I am thrilled to participate. I took time out from a busy day yesterday to sew up a little someone, hurrying to finish so I could capture his charm while it was still sunny. I also scrubbed my kitchen floor, shook out a houseful of rugs and threw a recently completed quilt up and over the swingset to snap a few pictures.

But enough about me - what do you get? If you are the lucky winner of my giveaway, you just might get Jed. Dapper and optimistic despite losing both arms to a chainsaw mishap, Jed sports the finest in Pacific Northwest flannel. His hair is a jaunty acrylic boucle, a surprisingly luxe touch for such a homespun guy. Jed’s forbearers are Ted and Ned, hand-made for my two boys; Graham, 5 and Hayden, 7. 

Jed is stuffed with “100% Premium Polyester Fiberfill” making him very huggable, something I’ve discovered after rigorous product testing. Although squooshy enough to be pillows, Jed and his brothers have also been used as missiles, battering rams and all-purpose whackers. 

Oh dear now here come some tears! Apparently, Jed is THE favorite - when I told Graham that I was mailing him off to someone he started bawling! “I want him! I have three reasons: because I love him, I really want you to not, and because I like his pants and he’s a new one.” (Wasn’t that four reasons?) Hayden chimed in with,“Oh Jed I’ll miss you, I’ve certainly enjoyed those few short times we’ve had together.”

Perhaps you’re feeling more doll-quilty? If you are my gifted one, you might choose this delightful little doll/sample quilt, featuring a soothing palette of aquas and greens, backed in a light blue print with a kicky pieced stripe. The white cotton is a luscious sateen -- cool to look at, but warm and soft to the touch. Twenty two inches square, a gal could probably fit two, or even three Barbies beneath it. 

 Please specify which item you would like. I will have one of my assistants draw a number out of the hat and mail the prize off to the lucky winner. I look forward to your responses!

There’s Power in Trying Again

Man, I tell you, I have certainly been in a dither on this next project. See, I’m trying to finish up a quilt top - a lovely Kaleidoscope (from Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! by McClun and Nownes) in nothing but polka dots. I finished it two years ago, and haven’t really moved it up to the active pile until now because I have been looking for *just* the right backing fabric. I felt the quilt deserved it, because making this sucker was one template-using, individually-cut time-consuming project! I’d been saving up polk dot fabrics for a couple of years, and I worked on the piecing from January to May of 2007. No wonder it took so long, I just counted and it’s comprised of 2,688 pieces of fabric! Yikes!

Well, after finishing the Christmas Present, I thought, let’s start working on a UFO. Still needing the backing fabric, I did a look-see on the ‘net and found a truly delightful Alexander Henry print from the Fashionista line -- It had a range of bright colors that echoed the front. Perfect! But yet, not. The line was from 2005, there were only 5 yards left. “Oh, that’s fine, I’ll only need six yards -- I can piece it together with something else.” Problem solved.

Tra la, tra lee, last Sunday we went to Bainbridge to take the boys swimming at the Bainbridge Aquatic Center, and I snuck off to go to Esther's. I had trimmed the thinnest little sliver of the print (which equilter.com had sent me in such a timely manner) and merrily began matching some fabrics to flesh out my five yards. I bought three *more* yards of fabric for the backing and created 16 of these:

I thought it would make a lovely sort of ‘blended’ quilt back, fun to look at - interesting! I finished up the Pinwheel blocks and went upstairs to check the fabric length again, I thought I had just the right amount for two lengthwise strips. Tug, tug, pull, pull, I stretched out the fabric on the quilt top to discover, no. Not enough for two lengthwise pieces. Drats! I briefly told John my silly saga and he said, “why don’t you buy one piece that’s big enough?” Why not, indeed. Any suggestions on what might work well with this?

Done Quilting!

Slicing off the excess fabric and batting from a just-completed quilt is a truly satisfying moment. All of a sudden the crisp edge of your design and hard work is revealed. I am thrilled to be done quilting Someone’s Christmas present! Although certainly not challenging, the quilting motif I picked was pretty time-consuming. In the end, I am impressed with the density of the quilting, and also fascinated anew by the way the quilting changes the graphics of the quilt top. Colors seem to merge and blend, the overall crispness of the design is now more muted, more...wavy, indistinct.

The moments after finishing are also exciting, because finally, finally, one can think of moving on to the next project! At first I was having the urge to do something in deep, rich colors, blues, magentas, deep green, or -- I could finally lay out my Polka Dot Pinwheel, or -- start in on another new idea I’ve been kicking around, or -- I could start sewing some more Christmas presents! Aack! Back, back, I want back to the doldrums!

In the end, I started sewing up some cute little fabric balls. The boys enjoyed them quite a bit, they’re fun to throw, fun to twirl and spin if they’re on a ribbon, and fun to sniff if you hide a little bit of dried Sequim lavender inside. I might make more for Christmas ornaments, air fresheners, cat toys, or juggling balls... who knows?

My Beef Burgundy Recipe!

NSQ headquarters has certainly been busy quilting lately, but as I am quilting a future present I am not posting pictures of the work in progress. As of today, I calculate that I am 92% done with the quilting! And rare for me, I have already decided upon the binding fabric for this to-be-gifted quilt once I am done stitching the ever-so-tiny 1-1/2" squares. That means today's highly read and commented upon post will feature a recipe hand-written and created by me.

Although I suppose I should be daunted after watching the movie Julie and Julia in which Boeuf Bourguignon featured prominently, I am not. I do not have a copy of Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking, and have not based this recipe on that. *My* recipe is an amalgamation of the one my mom gave me, and of about four others that I found on the Internet. Through trial and error I have made it my own, and it approximates the one my mom used to make me as my most-requested Birthday Meal. (Was that a tradition in your family? where the Birthday Girl --or Boy, got to request the meal for the night?)

I finally got myself a 6 qt. Dutch oven after wanting one for a really long time. I got mine from Target, after reviewing the hefty $200 plus price tags of the Le Creuset ones available. I've used it a couple of times this fall and have really loved using it. I think it satisfies my love for, first of all, baking! And, it's not hard to love the rich, heady aroma of meat braised in wine on a cold, blustery day. I've double-checked this recipe a couple of times, and feel like I've got it down. Let me know how it works out for you, if you try it!

Tracy's Beef Burgundy

4-5 oz. salt pork minced
1/3 C flour
1tsp. kosher salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
2.5 - 3 lb. beef round roast
1-1/2 t thyme
3-4 cloves garlic
1 onion chopped
1/4 C cognac
3/4 L burgundy wine
5 sprigs Italian parsley
2 bay leaves
2-3 T unsalted butter
1 lb. mushrooms stems removed, then sliced in two if large
3-4 small carrots, or 1-1/2 cups mini carrots
1 can or jar of pearl onions, drained

Try out salt pork in dutch oven over medium high heat until crispy brown and no longer sizzling. Remove to paper towel lined plate. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a pie tin. Cut meat into 1-1/2” cubes, then dredge in flour mixture. Brown beef cubes in salt pork fat in dutch oven in batches; with beef forming a single uncrowded layer for approximately five minutes per batch. Add unsalted butter and/or olive oil to subsequent batches if needed.

Add chopped onion and garlic to last beef batch. Put all beef and any accumulated juices in dutch oven, then add warmed cognac. Light with a flaming spaghetti strand, then extinguish flames with wine. Add 3 sprigs parsley, thyme and bay leaves, bring to a simmer then transfer to 275° oven. Cook for 3 hours. While cooking, brown whole mushrooms in large saute pan over medium high heat stirring or shaking pan occasionally, until mushrooms are uniformly brown. Add carrots to stew 45 min. before serving, add onions and mushrooms 30 minutes before serving. Serve over buttered curly noodles and top with chopped fresh Italian parsley. Serves 8*

*That is, it serves two adults and two young boys age 5-7, twice!

Sweet Spot or Doldrums?

It's a windy, gray day here in Port Townsend -- just like 200 more to come! Just kidding. Or not. Facing me today is migraine and back pain recovery and lots of sleepiness. Yesterday's migraine was a doozy. Beyond that, I've got my delightful mystery project to work on. I have been quilting it now for just over a week and am nearly halfway done. The sweet spot of this part of a quilting project, particularly if you are liking the results of your quilt top, is the peaceful meditative nature of simply sewing, sewing, sewing those quilting lines. I am doing an organic all-over grid pattern, so my mind is not too taxed by a complex quilting design, in fact it is rather meditative.

The doldrums part of the equation is that I am missing out on the push and pull of the creative process. I am not continually reflecting on my color and pattern choices, nor am I struggling with mastering the techniques involved in a particular piecing project. It might help if I had a better sense of what my next project should be, so that my mind had a creative challenge to work on as I quilt away. Will it be purple quilt top? (as that is the color scheme I've heard the intended recipient of this mystery project would really like) or should I get cracking on one of my many UFO's? A new project might include some trips to a fabric store or two, something that doesn't seem likely to happen in the near future.

Before I make that decision, I will share a NSQ first --- a recipe! I have created a fabulous new way to use up some of the leftover Halloween candy I bought. Hopeful, or hungry, me, went and purchased a 60 piece bag of Fun-Sized candy bars last Friday only to give out a total of 5 pieces to trick or treaters! I created the recipe below to reduce our inventory of extra candy and it was delicious!

Leftover Halloween Candy Brownie Bites
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
6 oz. unsalted butter - cut into small pieces
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
a pinch of salt
1/2 C, plus 2 T unbleached flour
4 Reeses Peanut Butter cups cut into thirds
4 Fun Sized Almond Joys cut into thirds or in half, depending on your love for coconut

Chop chocolate and place in a microwave-able glass bowl. Melt chocolate in microwave for 1 minute on high. Add butter and microwave for 40 seconds more. Stir until chocolate and butter are melted. Mix in the sugar, and then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add salt and vanilla and stir, add flour and stir until just combined.

Grease two mini-muffin sized pans with Pam, and scoop brownie batter into each cup (I use a cookie scoop that measures about 1-1/2 T in volume) Poke either a Reeses piece or an Almond Joy piece into the center of each brownie cup. It is fine if a wedge of candy sticks up out of the batter, that will actually make it less likely for your brownie to stick to the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, until brownie top is set.

Unmold each brownie bite by running a butter knife around the perimeter and gently prying out with the knife. Cool on wire rack and try not to eat half a dozen in the next ten minutes.

I took my batch to a meeting the night I made them and they got rave reviews. Let me know if you try them and how they turn out!