Month: December 2016

Turkey Tracks: Winter Comfort Food: Leek and Potato Soup

Turkey Tracks:  December 18, 2016

Winter Comfort Food:  Leek and Potato Soup

The classic combo of leeks and potatoes is…classic.

I alter Julia Child’s recipe a bit by using a chicken bone broth as a base instead of plain water.  AND, I do wilt the leeks with about 1/4 cup of raw butter before throwing in the potatoes and the broth.

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While the above very simple mixture cooks–about 40 minutes or until the potatoes are really soft, I go hunting for what Emeril Lagasse used to call “the boat motor.”  It’s so much easier than trying to hand smash the soup, or putting a really hot liquid into a blender or through a food mill.

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The result is a velvety smooth soup.

You can make this kind of soup with any kind of veggie combo actually.  Squashes work like the potatoes to give the velvet texture.

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Add a drizzle of raw cream or more butter and a sprinkle of something green, like dried herbs, chopped fresh parsley, etc.

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And, enjoy!

 

Turkey Tracks: Snow Day and Quilty Update

Turkey Tracks:  December 17, 2016

Snow Day And Quilty Update

I love snow days, and this snow is light and fluffy due to the extreme cold.  Temps have been on the MINUS side of zero for the past few days.

I am hunkered down and have pottered about all day so far, but have paid bills, updated CheckbookPro, read and responded to email, blogged, and will go and sew after a late lunch.

I have finished last week’s “clue” for the Bonnie Hunter 2016 mystery quilt, “En Provence.”  I’ll start this week’s clue after lunch–a unit that uses more purple and neutrals.  It’s a good thing I added a few more fat quarlters to my neutral stash for this quilt.

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I’ve had this quilt on the long-arm all week but have not accomplished much on it.  I’m using the clam shell groovy board and a light thread.

This quilt is suddenly looking quite seasonal to me with its red and greens.  I’m almost wishing I had put a green backing on it.  Megan Bruns picked out the outer border fabric, which is a 1030’s red schoolhouse print.  Very retro.

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I am in the home stretch on the Farmer’s Wife blocks however.  Really like how this block came out.

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I finished the first, the BIG, rosette in the Katja Marek “The New Hexagon” millifiore quilt.  And I REALLY like it.  Thought about going back in and making the cotton boll fabric from Cotton + Steel (one of my all-time favorites) all line up, but that would throw off the outer blocks with the rust-colored diamonds so that they would look strange.  As is, the outer ring has a lot of movement, no top and bottom, and if you rotate it in your mind, you can see that there is an organization to it.  It is hard to visualize how these big rosettes are going to come out I think.  One just has to grab fabric and get along with the whole thing.  It is unlikely that anyone ever sees a big quilt straight on anyway–unless it is going to hang.  And this one is going to be USED.

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So…

Stay warm, take time to enjoy these dark nights of peace, and eat well.

 

Turkey Tracks: “Earth’s Bounty” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  December 17, 2016

“Earth’s Bounty” Quilt

This picture is not the best I’ve ever taken, but this was a very fun quilt to make.

The tumbler block was Bonnie Hunter’s 2015-2016 leader/ender challenge.  She starts these challenges in July.  You can see information on her current challenge at quiltville.com.  It’s a broken dishes block.

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I made another tumbler quilt in September 2015 using these fabrics.  That quilt was more organized in a number of ways, but I like this quilt better as it is just more scrappy.

I quilted with a lime green thread, using the pantograph “Sumptuous” by Hermione Agee.

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Love, love, love the green tomato backing.  When I saw this fabric, I knew immediately that it wanted to go on the back of this quilt.

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Here’s the earlier quilt “Garden Tumble.”  If you use the search tab on the right sidebar, you can see more pics of this quilt.

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Turkey Tracks: The Farmer’s Wife Projects Are Coming Together

December 15, 2016

The Farmer’s Wife Projects Are Coming Together

Lynn Vermeulen showed us her Farmer’s Wife blocks at a recent “Sit and Sew” meeting of the Coastal Quilters (Maine).

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Lynn’s blocks are all batiks.  She has set them on-point, but not off-set on point, so a square is formed.  She has used two subtle batiks (pale yellow and pale green) to form these squares, which, in turn, are forming the delicate stripes.  Go Lynn!

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Remember I posted these pics at our recent retreat of Becca Babb-Brott randomly putting up her finished blocks to see what she has.  Becca is laying the blocks out “on point,” but off-setting them, which will make a zig-zag pattern down the quilt.  Since this trial, Becca has decided to lay out the blocks flat so that a square separates them.

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My blocks are still in a notebook–which is protecting their bias edges.  But, the day to finish them and to put them on my design wall is coming soon!  My blocks are just “scrappy,” with an eclectic mix of fabrics.

Margaret Elaine Jinno’s blocks are wonderful!  She is close to finishing as well.  She is using all “water” colors, to honor that we live on the coast.

Linda Satkowski is “on time” as well.  And, yes, her blocks are terrific.  Linda’s blocks, like mine, are scrappy.  She is using a patterned setting fabric.  Can’t wait to see how she sets them.

Paul Blanchard is making a smaller quilt with her blocks.  It is somewhat daunting to make all 99 blocks.  I’ve seen one or two of Paula’s blocks and look forward to seeing more.

What is so fascinating is how very different everyone’s blocks are; yet, all the blocks are so, so pretty.

Can’t wait to see the quilts.

Turkey Tracks: Penny Person, Quilting, and SNOW DAY!

December 5, 2016

Penny Rogers Camm, Quilting, and SNOW DAY!

Penny, aka as Penny Person and/or Pretty Penny–as affectionately nicknamed by the Coastal Quilters, came last night.  (We had to distinguished Pretty Penny from No No Penny, my rat terrier.)

Penny brought her almost finished FIRST quilt, which is almost ready for its binding–a task she is learning to do on this visit.  I love the way her hand stitching with No. 8 pearl cotton is coming out on this quilt.  As soon as she gets the border kind of “nailed down,” we’ll put on the binding–which is the red of the narrow border.  She will do more quilting after the binding is on as she has to leave on Wednesday morning.

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Outside it is SNOWING!  Hard.  And it’s sticking now.  Here is the start of our first winter’s snow.

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Penny finished all her blocks for Amy Friend’s ‘Tell Me A Story” quilt.  (Amy’s blog is During Quiet Time.)

They are SPECTACULAR!  And ready to sew together.

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We had a yummy lunch:  smashed avocado with fresh garlic, salt, and lime and a salad:

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The turkeys came calling:

Penny is watching THE CROWN (excellent!) and sewing down the border.  I am sewing a Farmer’s Wife block.  Outside, the world is all white.

Turkey Tracks: Quilt Label Problem

Turkey Tracks:  December 1, 2016

Quilt Label Problem

I’ve never had this problem happen before now:

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What on earth???

I use Sharpie precision (very fine) permanent ink pens to write on labels.

I prewash my fabrics, so I never wash a quilt before sending it along–and this time, because I used a blue marking pen for the quilting grid, I did.  As an aside, I will say that I absolutely loved how washing the quilt makes it look.  Soft, cuddly, altogether wonderful.  I may be a new convert to washing right after finishing a quilt.

So, now, I was horrified that all my labels would run like the one above.

So, I began testing the markers–and micron 08 archival pens–on muslin and running them through the washer.  I like the Sharpies because they don’t dry out quickly.  Friend Megan Bruns suggested I store all pens upside down in jars to prevent drying out.  The gel pens, in particular, dry up pretty fast.

Here’s the first test:

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The silver gel pen washed right out.  but look at the rest.  Not a smudge!

So, maybe it was the COLOR of the pens.  Like the teal/green I used in the label above.

Here’s the second test:

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Some smudging on the teal IRONED marking.  the rest is clear.  I did iron the label on the quilt.  Why I don’t know.  Maybe because I was going to wash it right away and wanted to heat set the label.

So, I do not have a clue as to why that particular label ran so badly.

It will have to come out, of course.

Maybe it is a good idea to prep the label and wash it BEFORE putting it into the quilt.

Comments from you all would be welcome.

Turkey Tracks: Bonnie Hunter 2016 Mystery Quilt: First Clue

Turkey Tracks:  December 1, 2016

Bonnie Hunter 2016 Mystery Quilt:  First Clue

I’ve finished the first clue:  221 neutral 4 Patches.

I’m liking what I see:

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I chose my neutrals for two goals:  to blend with the purple, magenta, grass green, gold other fabrics AND to contrast print with plain neutrals.

I don’t yet know if these units will work in the quilt to form a plain and a patterned line…

???  Time will tell.