November 2016 – Louisa Enright's Blog

Turkey Tracks: Thanksgiving Dinner, Point Lookout, Maine

Turkey Tracks: November 27, 2016

Thanksgiving Dinner, Point Lookout, Maine

I had to take beloved friend Gina Caceci back to the Portland airport yesterday.

It’s always hard to let her go home!

We stopped at LLBean on the way down–to return my winter coat with a funky zipper that would not work. Of course the LLBean person made it work immediately. But they gave me a new coat anyway. LLBean is the BEST!

Here’s Gina and No No Penny at “the boot.”

We ate, we walked, we talked, we binge-watched Netflix (THE CROWN, excellent!!) (HEARTLAND, a favorite), we grieved over the election.

For Thanksgiving dinner, we picked up neighbor Sarah Rheault, and the three of us went up to Point Lookout for a scrumptious dinner.

The full-sized female moose was on the opposite side of the fireplace.

Here are Gina and Sarah in front of the amazing view:

It is flat out dark by 4:30 or so these days. Our seating was at 2:30, so we watched the dusk arrive.

Lovely.

Turkey Tracks: “En Provence”: Bonnie Hunter’s 2016 Mystery Quilt

Turkey Tracks: November 23, 2016

“En Provence”: Bonnie Hunter’s 2016 Mystery Quilt

I’m ready.

The first clue comes this Friday.

Here’s my fabric all ready to go:

The beet colored fabric with gold crosses will be my focus fabric.

I pulled these neutrals for a start. I am thinking lots of pattern and texture to make the quilt more funky.

Turkey Tracks: “Tell Me A Story” Quilt is Done!

Turkey Tracks: November 15, 2016

“Tell Me A Story” Quilt is Done!

And I LOVE this one too.

Choosing fabrics for the individual blocks has been such fun. The idea, from designer Amy Friend (During Quiet Time is her blog), is that the outer ring works with the inner ring to tell a story. Some of my blocks actually work to tell a story.

The peach background fabric is shot with cream–it’s subtle so a bit hard to see here. And the backing is a fabric I’ve had for probably close to 20 years and have not been able to find the “just right” project for it–though I’ve always really liked it.

Thanks you Amy Friend!

There’s another “Tell Me A Story” in my future, I’m sure.

Turkey Tracks: The Super Moon Mid-Coast Maine

November 15, 2016

The Super Moon Mid-Coast Maine

It was truly gorgeous, that Super Moon.

And, hugs.

Here’s a picture from Judy Berk. Thanks Judy.

Judy is on Facebook and posts her gorgeous pictures frequently.

And here’s one I found on the internet of the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse. I do not know who took it.

The tide this morning was pretty impressive too.

For those of you who know the Camden, Maine, harbor, you know you have never seen water this high in this harbor at high tide.

I tried to show how full of water the harbor is with this picture. The water is right at the edge of the boardwalk.

Here you can see one would step UP to get on the lobster boat.

Turkey Tracks: Treasures From The Coastal Quilters and Georges Valley Quilters’ Auction

Turkey Tracks: November 14, 2016

Treasures From The Coastal Quilters’ and Georges Valley Quilters’ Auction

This auction is our fund raiser. Together with the Georges Valley Quilters, we do it every other year.

Coastal Quilters uses these funds to make a donation to the fabulous and generous Lion’s Club for letting us meet there and for bringing in speakers who have a connection to Fiber Art.

As usual, I came home with some treasures.

I have coveted Becca Babb-Brott’s quilted bag for months now. This pieced bag is her own design. (She has the Etsy store, Sew Me A Song.)

I begged, and she promised to make one for the auction. And when another quilter also yearned for this bag, Becca made a second one in about a week!!

When I won the bag, I sat right down and transferred items from my present (and getting shabby) purse to this one, my heart’s desire.

Here’s one side. Look at those terrific handles made from marine rope.

Here’s the other side:

The inside is deep and has lots of pockets.

I’m all ready to go with my bag and my sewing machine.

I discovered this weekend that the bag likes to go grocery shopping too.

Margaret Elaine Jinno made us a whole stack of these see-through plastic, zipper bags. They are PERFECT for carrying English Paper Piecing projects. I got two of them. AND I’ve got a new EPP project lined up–Katja Marek’s Millifiore Quilt.

Megan Bruns appliquéd English Paper Piecing pentagons on to gorgeous, heavy flour sack towels. And, embroidered some of them as well.

Here’s 20 Riley Blake fat quarters–donated by a mystery person.

Yummo! You’ll be seeing these in my quilts soon.

And here’s a wonderful purse from Rebecca Hokkanan, who loves COLOR like I do. I bought it for a birthday present for a loved one.

There were so many lovely, clever handmade items at this year’s auction. And I love having the work of other Fiber Arts people in my house. All their good energy comes with their work.

Turkey Tracks: Quilt-let Quilt Done!

Turkey Tracks: November 14, 2016

Quilt-let Quilt Done!

It’s “The Cat’s Meow!”

And, I LOVE it.

I’ve been trying to decide what to do with it. Would it be a wonderful wall hanging for my office?

Nope. Not with this gorgeous low-volume neutral backing.

How fun is this?

Friend Becca Babb-Brott (Etsy store Sew Me A Song) is going to make one now, and she came up with the idea of doing the pearl cotton as one goes along, but doing the hand quilting in individual blocks when the quilt is finished. Yes! That would solve the problem of trying to make nice quilting stitches on a small quilt that does not really fit into a hoop that isn’t too small to work with hand quilting. The stab quilting is very difficult as the layers shift so much as you sew.

I love every single block, but I wound up with TWO of the Cotton+Steel cats, so the quilt became “The Cat’s Meow!”

I decided to use half blocks to fill in the top and bottom edges–I just cut the batting in half and folded the quilt-let in half and sewed the edges together before decorating with pearl cotton.

This quilt is going to be a lap quilt in my living room. It is so soft and cuddly!

Yummo!!

Quilts will tell you where they want to be if you listen to them while you work. It just comes to you along the way.

THANK YOU Katja Marek for a very fun project that let me enjoy many hours of fabric love, color love, pattern love, quilting love!!

Turkey Tracks: On My Long Arm Machine

Turkey Tracks: November 7, 2016

On My Long Arm

Here’s what is on my long arm machine today:

The tumbler block was the Bonnie Hunter leader/ender challenge for 2016–a challenge that runs from July to July.

This year’s challenge is the Broken Dishes block.

You can see Bonnie’s tumbler quilt and what she is doing with the new challenge on her blog. Go to quiltville.com.

Bonnie’s tumbler is smaller, and I like it better in many ways. I had a 3 1/2-inch template, so I used it with my 3 1/2-inch pre-cut strips–except for the veggie/fruit fabrics, which I have collected for a while and wanted to use. This seemed a good project for them.

This quilt is on the long-arm lengthwise–which means fewer passes with the long arm and NOT having to fight backing seams with every pass.

I’m using a spring green thread, and that is nice.

Wait until you see the backing fabric!

Turkey Tracks: November 6, 2016

Ground Lamb Stew

I think I left garlic out of the list of ingredients in the video.

I like to cook this way.

I look at what I have in my kitchen, and then devise a recipe.

With this one, you sauté the meat until it starts to brown, remove it from the pan while LEAVING THE FAT INTACT AS IT IS GOOD FOR YOU, and then start sautéing your veggies, starting with the onions and garlic. Cook the onions and garlic somewhat slowly as what you want is some nice color to happen–then start throwing in the chunkier veggies–in this case the carrots, celery zukes, and eggplant. I added a drained large can of black beans and the defrosted jar of roasted tomatoes (with basil and garlic) from my freezer stores, a little water if needed and let everything simmer until the carrots are done. Corn kernals (perhaps frozen from the summer) would have been a good addition as well.

I put the stew over a bed of the last of the lettuce greens from Hope’s Edge–and they include some baby hearty greens–topped the hot stew with some slices of cheddar cheese, and added a dollop of my newly made sauerkraut. Drizzling yogurt or cream over the stew instead of the cheese would also have been nice. A goat cheese or feta cheese crumble would also have been nice. I had a bowl of organic tortilla chips on the side–so I was only missing, perhaps, some avocado slices.

In days to come I may cook up some rice as a base and for a change. I like this brand a lot: it’s SPROUTED (which removes phytates and makes nutrients more available) and organic and a nice mixture of rice types:

This rice cooks normally. I use a rice cooker, which I love.

Turkey Tracks: Alewives Quilt Shop Low-volume Fat Quarter Club

November 5, 2016

Alewives Quilt Shop Low-Volume Fat Quarter Club

Each month I get a bundle of ten, low-volume fat quarters from Alewives Quilts in Damariscotta Mills, Maine.

Low-volume fabrics are those that do not have a lot of dye in them–so they are mostly neutrals.

The club lasts twelve months, so there are more bundles to come.

But here’s what was in my mailbox today:

My goodness, aren’t they pretty?

Each month has had a color theme–this one is clearly an aqua blue.

Yummy!

Buying fat quarters in bundles is a great way to get a wide fabric selection, especially if you are working with small pieces and English Paper Piecing.

Turkey Tracks: Lavender Orpington Hens and a Blue Wheaten Rooster

November 5, 2016

Lavender Orpington Hens and a Blue Wheaten Rooster

A friend has some lavender Orpington hens just coming into laying age.

Rose Lowell gave her one of the Blue Wheaten Roosters for her flock.

We are all wondering how gorgeous the babies from this mix will be.

Here’s a little video:

	janet leclair on My New Sewing Area
	Teeny on My New Sewing Area
	quilterkelse on My New Sewing Area
	Judith Brill on My New Sewing Area
	lynettecw on My New Sewing Area

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30