Being Domestic: Vegetarian Cooking!

 And just like that, sewing has taken a backseat to some cooking!  It's been at least 6 years and truth be told, more like 10 since I really did any real cooking.  I'm having a great time preparing more vegetarian styled dishes for Hawkins and me to enjoy & eat.  

This week I unpacked my new Hamilton Beach food processor.  At one time I had a deluxe Cuisinart food processor I absolutely adored.  It was super duty with a full rack of blades.  When I recently inquired about it, I was told it wasn't around any more.  Aw, that made me sad; but, life moves forward.  I can probably do about anything I want with this inexpensive Hamilton Beach; except slice thick slices or slice crinkled french fries.  

To test it out, I decided to chop Fresh Salsa.  Gosh, that was easy and fun!  I'm surprised I haven't made it before now.  It's great on eggs or mixed with avocados or atop salad or even with chips because no one has ever thought of that idea.  

If you want some suggested guidelines, Pinterest is full of recipes.  I used this Easy Salsa from the forkedspoon.com.  It's a large amount and I halved it with Hawkins. 

My other plan for the food processor is to assemble Salad Kits.  I'll have a ready salad at any moment and I can easily add leftover vegetables as they are available for unlimited salads. 

I sliced and diced enough ingredients for 2 kits: one for me & one for Hawkins. 

These Banana Bites are a quick 3 ingredient treat.  I like them but Hawkins said they weren't the effort.  Basically you mash very ripe bananas with oatmeal and chocolate chips; then bake.  I also added cinnamon and some craisins.  They satisfy a tiny sweet tooth. 

If you haven't discovered all the great dishes you can build around sweet potatoes, you are missing an opportunity.

My favorite way to fix them is to slice, add a garlic herb butter and bake.  Here they are ready for the oven.  I also like to cube them, bake and use as an ingredient in my bean burritos. 

For a good recipe, check out Garlic Parmesan Roasted Sweet Potatoes on eatwell.101.com   

This recipe motivated me to reconsider the lowly sweet potato's value! 

Do you have a mouthwatering vegetarian recipe to share?

Pretty January color!  

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Improvisational Quilt: Tshirt Knit & the Argosy Trailer

This beauty is ready for the longarm!  It will be the camper quilt when Hawkins and I go on the road.  It's lively and fun & I plan to give it a swirly curly quilting stitch.  Nice striped fabric backing to keep the cheerful attitude going. 

We've started the cleaning and prepping of his vintage Argosy (Airstream) trailer.  We're hitting the road the 1st week of March.  While we were working on it, 3 people came by and asked if it was For Sale.  Apparently lots of people have fond memories of camping in them during the 1970s.  I think this is a 1973 model.  It has the typical avocado green kitchen appliances.  

Any adventures planned for spring?

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Monday's Studio

 

Monday be like "Get it Together Girl!" 

Just enjoying the last of my beautiful bouquet on my studio worktable

How's your Monday?

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Raw Edge Collage Work: Chasing Sunsets

 I have a few stacks of this & thats, leftover pieces from previous projects, stops and starts that didn't make the 1st cut, you know the stuff in my studio.  Yesterday I pulled one of them out along with a stack of garment scraps. 

This was a long piece but I didn't get a picture before I cut it into pieces.  Basically I had stitched some denim scraps to a green corduroy background.  Not my finest work but it was a start.  You can see why it's lingered for a year or more in the Undecided Pile. 

It's transformation has been lovely! 

Two table mats or place mats. Because these will be washed I decided a binding was a good idea. I raided the stash of leftover binding for a quick finish.  

I finished the last half of the unfinished piece into a small wall hanging.  I'll be keeping this one! 

Chasing Sunsets

23 x 26 inches

Original work by Debra Dixon

Any bits and bobs in your studio you can transform? 

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Bricks/Coin Quilt Concept Idea

 It's no secret I've been interested in the Brick/Coins layout for a long time.  I currently have 2 on my own bed and I've gifted a few in the past.  It's a great layout because of my ability to do most of the piecing on the longarm. 

I finished this one in Jan 2019 and it's on my bed.  It uses irregular sized bricks. 

As I finished the last row of the current quilt I felt like I had just started a journey. The variations this block and layout could take me are probably indefinite.  Like sourdough bread starter, I could take the leftover bricks and change one element in the layout for the next quilt.  I could also keep a layout for awhile and experiment with colors. 

If I stay focused I could have a fabulous collection by the end of 2021 & seriously reduce my fabric stash.  I'm really tempted!

Here's the layout for the next Bricks/Coin Quilt:

I paired 2 bricks and sewed them with another pair for the block.  Then, I will sew them together for the length.  In this layout the bricks will be running vertically across the quilt surface.  It's not dramatic but it's interesting enough to pursue.  I'm still working with miscellaneous small lengths of fabric which is basically the MO of my stash.  Ha!  

What do you think?  Would you follow a series like this?

I would be keeping these quilts.  I think. 

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Bricks/Coin Quilt: Quilting

 After struggling with a vintage sheet I had hoped to use for the backing, I finally took it off the longarm and seamed a fabric backing.  I couldn't get the sheet to load without drooping through the middle.  I think that has something to do with being square so I tried ripping it to square it up and it just went from bad to worse.  I decided the frustration was not worth it. 

You can see how crooked the sheet is in this picture.  I guess this piece will become a hot pad or trim on a totebag.  More extras for the "what do I do with this?" box! 

To my surprise I pulled out one of my very favorite fabrics, added two panels to the sides and loaded it on my longarm.  The blue abstract floral has been waiting a long time and I'm tickled with the outcome so far. 

Today I expect to get all the pieces sewn and quilted down.  I'm on a good roll and I hope 2021 turns out to be the year I get all the unfinished tops sewn and some new ones pieced and sewn.  At this point a stack of fresh quilts sounds like a fun goal.

There are give or take 40 years of my quilting life represented in this quilt.

The blue leaf print on the right was a Hoffman fabric from the early 1980s.  I had a patchwork ensemble in an art show in a museum in Oklahoma City & that was the featured fabric.  Not much of it left these days. 

My Mary Englebreit & Debbie Mumm period (thankfully short-lived) are represented.  I've always been a sucker for abstract watercolor looking flowers and prints.  Some vintage prints.  I had a long run of tropical prints & bought a ton of them.  I may be on the tailend of that supply but I could see buying more.  This time I'd likely buy thrifted shirts to cut up.  I went through a short 40s prints stretch and the last of those prints are disappearing too.  At the bottom is a blue and orange print from a piece of Indonesian yardage circa 1999.  Several sheets and pillow shams too. 

Definitely some early 90s calico, cherry print leftover from Brent's "food quilt", the ubiquitous sunflower print everyone owned & bright florals I bought for the Hoffman challenge one year probably about 2005 or 2006.  I love how the different eras of prints can still work together.

Some gifted fabrics, blue fabric with the butterfly (right) was a Hoffman challenge fabric, reclaimed red plaid from a skirt, the all important dot from the 90s, silly novelty prints (what was I thinking?).  That year I won an award in one of the Hoffman challenge divisions (best hand workmanship) for a crazy quilt and my piece traveled the USA,  My friend Rian won too and her piece traveled; although I think it was the previous year. 

Today's view from the end of the longarm.  Time to get back to it!  I'm using a felted blanket for the batting which gives the quilt a nice loft and interesting texture.  I like the weight too.

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Feeling inspired this new year?

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Fresh Flowers

 So pretty on a cold wintry day! 

Flowers.  Always the right choice.

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What is your favorite pick me up?

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Bricks/Coin Quilt

 Today I'm ready to put the pieced strips on my longarm and sew them down.  It's an exciting process to see the fabrics mingle together. 

Yesterday I was able to sew all the strips and have enough time to sew more bricks together for a variation.  I'll end up with a large twin 72 x 86 without much effort.  Some of these brick pieces have been cut since 2014 when my friends and I were sewing quilts for the Montgomery fire department.  That seems like eons ago. 

The fabrics are muted and dare I say it, dull.  My idea was to have brighter coin pairs sitting on a muted background.  We'll see how it plays out.  

All the pieces are so wonderful together!  Ready for seam pressing.

Pressed and ready to stitch down today!

My fireplace screen is coming in handy as a rack.  

This is the beginning of the next quilt.  A pieced border.

I arranged the leftover bricks in this style for a wide coin length.  I haven't stitched this arrangement before so it's fun to anticipate how it will look.  I might be on to something new! 

The leftovers.  I might just add more bricks and keep going.  I do have a stack of cut off pieces that would be good for an improv quilt.  I should probably stitch that before I stitch another coin quilt.  Decisions, decisions! 

No one can accuse me of not having a Plan! 

It's gotten a little chilly in Houston.  This past weekend I was in Austin meeting Hawkins' daughter.  Austin had snow coming and going.  Now I am sporting my new handwoven scarf from Barbara just about daily.  I'm wearing a vintage wool sweater under my heavy cotton cardigan and wrapped together with my scarf.  Perfect!  Thank you Barbara! 

I like being cozy! 

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What's going on in your studio now? 

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Camper Quilt: Bricks Layout

On the worktable is a new bricks quilt!  I like the 6½ x 3½" size.  It's a good scrap or short yardage buster and I have plenty to unload.  I usually piece the bricks into strips I can use with improv strips but this time I decided to use all bricks.  Gulp!  450 needed for a queen sized quilt. 

I have about 300 cut and a good sized fabric selection for the remaining 150.  I'm trying to really mix them up so the quilt won't have any obvious "she ran out of that scrap" look to it.  That means I will need to piece all the strips (15 bricks per strip) before starting the piecing on the longarm (sewing the strips to the batting & backing).  I am also going to offset the rows so the seams don't have to be matched.  I'm clever like that!  😁😁

This is my typical approach which uses less bricks and is less piecing.  (Obviously) 

I figured out if I just measure the height of the stacks I can get an approximate number of bricks per stack.  That's my story  . . . . .

Ready for hours of mindless (I mean meditative) sewing.

I stitch them in pairs & then into lengths.  It's a hard job but someone has to do it.

This pile is ironed & ready to become bricks.  Lucky fabrics!  Some of these fabrics were purchased in 2004 or 2005 when I was planning to enter the Hoffman Challenge (which I did enter).  I'll say it here:  15 years ago-easily.  Geez.

A couple of strips laid out in the design I am stitching.  Fabrics from: a dress, pillowcase, shirt, vintage sheet and some shorts.  Let the fun begin! 

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Sweater Refashion

Recently I picked up a sweater with a faux shirt sewn into it.  I think the style was popular about 10+ years ago.  I thought it was a little ridiculous at the time it was in vogue even though I did buy a new holiday sweater to wear to a party back then.

In my world a sweater is a very necessary part of my wardrobe staples.  Having a fixed faux shirt limits the sweater's usefulness.  

When I spotted the pink sweater for $1.25 I decided to investigate whether the shirt could be removed.  It turns out it can!  The faux shirt is just topstitched to a finished sweater.  The polka dot shirt was cute enough but it was polyester and dated the sweater.  I'll wear this sweater with jeans or whatever. I like thin pullovers for layering under bulky sweaters. 

I pulled out the holiday sweater and noticed it had a serious case of "ring around the collar".  I also remembered the shirt's opening was too low and the cotton shirt always needed to be ironed.  So, off it came.  I'll get more use out of the glitzy sweater now.

Well that was easy! 

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