Month: July 2021

Fun “Pancakes”

Turkey Tracks: July 31, 2021

Fun “Pancakes”

These fun “pancakes” have fast become a “go to” for a quick lunch.

They only take a few minutes to assemble. Using a cast iron frying pan gives strong heat without burning too.

Here’s a picture before they have browned so you can see ingredients:

I vary what I put into these delicious concoctions, but grated zucchini and the egg are the bulk and the glue that holds everything together. This one also has grated carrot and some chopped green onion. (I don’t try to chop the onion really fine.)

First, my thanks to Farmer Tom Griffin of the former CSA Hope’s Edge for the basic recipe which I have modified for my needs. For locals, Tom is holding a farmer’s market out at the farm for select hours two days a week: Wednesday afternoon (3:30) and Thursday morning (10:00). As always, his food is so fresh and delicious. I will include the recipe version he sent below my modifications.

For one person, grate one medium sized zucchini. Wrap it in a towel (I’ve been using those bamboo “paper” towels that can be reused over and over) and squeeze out the water. There will be a lot of water. You want at least a packed 1/2 cup of grated, squeezed zucchini.

Grate some carrot too, if you like.

Add some chopped onion—the sweet ones and green ones are in our markets now.

Add some grated cheese—I can use mozzarella, but cottage cheese or ricotta would likely work too. You can certainly use stronger cheeses (cheddar, etc.).

Add an egg.

Add about 2 tablespoons of brown rice flour—I use a sprouted one.

Add whatever herbs you might like and a bit of sea salt.

Mix it all up and fry it in a good fat—I’ve been using duck fat, but one could use ghee or beef tallow. Keep a medium, even heat, not too hot so the edges don’t get too brown too quickly. Turn once and maybe pat each pancake down flat with a spatula as it helps them cook evenly and faster.

***

Here’s the recipe from Tom:

“Fractures” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: July 28, 2021

“Fractures” Quilt

I finished “Fractures” last night and hung it outside my quilt room this morning—after retiring one quilt and moving another.

I am really happy with this quilt.

Latifah Saafir was the guest designer for this year’s 7th month in season 3 of The Color Collective. She called her block “Tenderoni.”

Latifah spread out her block by using blank pieces of her fabric palette (which I really love), but I wanted to play with how the block worked when all were together without interruption. Latifah’s version, though, is a very handsome quilt and a better choice I think if one wants a bigger quilt.

I hand quilted with 12-wt cotton Sulky thread in various colors—using a Tulip Saskido needle.

Dessert Before Lunch?

Turkey Tracks: July 25, 2021

Dessert Before Lunch?

You betcha—when the raspberries are ripe.

I can’t pass them without stopping to eat some—and most of the time, I eat all the ripe ones on the spot.

It’s what raspberries and summer are for, right?

In any case, my raspberry bushes are just in their first year, so production is not overwhelming yet. The ripe berries each day just fit into my palm. For the most part…LOL.

Yesterday, in the midst of mass production of the scrappy centers for the “Funky” wedding ring quilt—I needed 40 more—I paused to play with some of the scraps.

And I can say this improv session was fun. And took a fairly long time as this kind of sewing is intense.

This block trimmed to 12 inches, and I can see that it needs to be much bigger in order to work in the strips with short pieces. And it needs to have funky sewn strips, not these nice neat ones.

I’m going to draw a pattern on freezer paper to use for trimming as my triangle rulers aren’t big enough. I can use my big squares to get the pattern right I think. The blog needs to be 16 to 20 inches big to allow for funky strips and additions of the little stripe strip in various places.

I’ll take this prototype apart and make the pieces bigger.

My inspiration is a quilt Maria Shell made

So, here goes another project—but I’ll put it on hold for now and get back to the “Funky” wedding ring parts that need to have their triangle pieces installed.

I Never Get Tired…

Turkey Tracks: July 24, 2021

I Never Get Tired…

…of watching AC doggie in the woods and water.

This swell in the land is boggy and filled with “things that jump away,” like small frogs.

That tail goes a mile a minute when he’s hunting.

The fox-like springing up and pouncing with front feet is his modus opperendi when he hunts in tall grass. This time out I missed the first line of jumps, but they were at least 4 feet off the ground.

These degraded mushrooms were just out in the middle of the field. They could be the poisonous Jack-O-Lantern, but the one I picked smelled really sweet.

I want to go sew some now that I’ve worn down AC’s super energy, so I’m not going to look through my books right now to see what other possibilities I can find. The dark centers are almost a deep purple. Nature is a really good color artist.

Betsy Maislen’s Idaho Square Dance Quilt

Turkey Tracks: July 21, 2021

Betsy Maislen’s Idaho Square Dance Quilt

It’s finished!

And she sent me pictures yesterday.

Betsy based this quilt on Bonnie Hunter’s Idaho Square Dance Block—but Betsy designed her own setting and borders.

Isn’t it pretty?

Enjoy, and thanks for sharing Betsy.

This quilt is a gift, but Betsy is making another version for herself now. Pictures of possible fabrics with which to surround the Idaho Square Dance block are flying to Maine now.

I’ll post the two finished quilt pictures when she is done with this second version as they will illustrate different design looks.

Morning Meditation

Turkey Tracks: July 19, 2021

Morning Meditation

A friend sent this picture of the Pemaquid shore this morning—and called it “morning mediation.”

It’s going to be a rainy week, for the most part. There may be some fairing off at the end of the week.

Weren’t we the same folks who were complaining about no rain a few weeks back? Yes, we were. And now we are washing away!!! And the garden weeds are thriving, I’m sure. The grass certainly is.

But Maine is so beautiful on these “silver” days which call to us to slow down and rest and to admire the beauty.

Thanks, friend, for this picture.

Design Wall, July 2021

Turkey Tracks: July 18, 2021

Design Wall, July 2021

My quilt room looks like a bomb went off in it as there are color-coordinated piles of fabric everywhere as apparently I am working on four projects at the same time.

(1) Here are the strips for the log cabin, all cut—with two blocks organized on the right. I am using the Creative Grids 12-inch log cabin ruler for this project—which makes log cabin blocks super easy and fast to make.

I fell in love with Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring quilt the moment I laid eyes on it a few years ago. [Let’s face it: I’ve fallen in love with so many of Tara’s patterns now, having been introduced to her in The Color Collective (Sewtopia, Amy Newbold) three years ago.] This past spring I got as far as buying her pattern, and last week I photo copied the 10-inch versions on to freezer paper and thought I’d “just make a trial block.” Yeah. All of you quilters know how THAT goes. Here’s where I was by last night:

I’m finding it takes a lot of cutting to get started on this project—but that it is gobbling up solid scraps like mad.

The “funky” wedding ring quilt top—now a leader/ender project—is coming along. I will make it 4 blocks wide by 5 blocks (14-inch blocks) so it comes out 56 by 70. That will be a nice lap size. Previous posts cover the origin of this project for me. The block is by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston and is in their book FREDDY AND GWEN COLLABORATE AGAIN: FRIENDS. And I am indebted to Debbie Jeske (A Quilters Table blog) for making the block without sashing which makes it much more modern.

And here’s how Maria Shell’s “Rattlesnake” zig-zag pattern gets formed with light and dark isosceles triangles. I used Tri Rec rulers to make mine, but Maria Shell shows how to free-hand cut these triangles in her book IMPROV PATCHWORK. I love the scrappy nature of this project.

I’ve cut a lot of strips while going through solid scraps, but have put this one on hold until I get the “funky” wedding ring top off the design wall.

It’s a totally rainy day today, so it will be a lovely sewing day for me—with breaks to console AC doggie.

Roxanne’s Spectacular Gardens

Turkey Tracks: July 16, 2021

Roxanne’s Spectacular Gardens

Quilty/gardening friend Roxanne sent me these pics of her garden right now.

I thought you’d enjoy seeing them as well. She says they are now at the height of their full bloom and that after this time, they will begin the move toward fall.

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This beautiful lily is called “Spice Island.”

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Thanks Roxanne for sharing these pictures.

Para-Gliding Fun!

Turkey Tracks/Interesting Information: July 15, 2021

Para-Gliding Fun!

I did not know this sport existed until I saw it at the Snow Bowl athletic field a few days ago.

I was entranced!

There were TWO gliders WAY UP HIGH and coming from the mountains. I could not get in place to get a picture of the first one to land (a man), but here are videos of the second one (a woman) positioning to come in for a beautiful landing.

More positioning—a banking to get in position to land.

And the—very soft and gentle—landing. And you can see the first paraglider on the ground with his “wings” in his arms.

I’ve seen this kind of sport over water, where one is pulled by a boat. But I had no idea this sport existed.

Here’s where I wish I was 20 years younger, because flying is in my blood, and I’d be up there in that sky. For sure.

A Fun Quilty Journey

Turkey Tracks: July 12, 2021

A Fun Quilty Journey

It started with seeing Debbie Jeske’s triangle quilt from a class she took with Alaskan quilter Maria Shell at this past year’s QuiltCon virtual (during covid) 2021 meeting—where Maria Shell also won a major award.

I am a big fan of both of these quilters.

Here’s Debbie’s quilt—which is based on Maria Shell’s “Rattlesnake” quilt—and which is on Debbie’s blog, A Quilter’s Table. Among her many workshop class offerings, Maria Shell teaches workshops on dynamic triangle quilts.

My heart started beating the minute I saw Debbie’s quilt. I pulled out Maria Shell’s book IMPROV PATCHWORK, which I have really wanted to start exploring during quilty “play” time, and reminded myself of her “Rattlesnake” quilt, which is featured in her book and in her workshop class list.

I am noticing now how Maria Shell’s triangle lines form a zig zag with her manipulation of the dark colors. Hmmm…. Flashlight! That’s the snake. I can be so dense sometimes when I get overwhelmed with pattern and color. No wonder this quilt is longer rather than wider. I’ll probably have to try this idea down the road. And I am also seeing how the side pieces to each triangle can be different dark colors, but also have some light “pop” colors thrown into the mix.

Anyway, I had an unused palette from this year’s The Color Collective, Tara Faughnan designer, for a project I couldn’t get my head around. (After 3 years and 20 projects, having only 2 projects that didn’t draw me in is an awesome record for Tara Faughnan.) I put the palette and Shell’s book and a picture of Jeske’s quilt in the “to-do play” pile until I had time to get to it.

And that happened this past week as a quilt top on the design wall got finished (“Monkey Business”) and there were several rainy days. Here’s my mostly finished top. There is one block on the far right that is too dark, so I’ll take few minutes to replace that one dark green patch today with the light green and call it a day.

The big challenge was balancing the colors. I did add the pale orange to the original palette. You would think that having 12 colors would be enough, but I really needed one more light color, and I think the orange addition was a good choice.

It will finish at 34 long by 45.5 wide—and I have absolutely no idea how I’ll quilt it. I’ll bind with the dark green, use whatever fabric in my stash that fits the back, and set it up as a wall hanging.

Amy Newbold and Tara Faughnan are going to do a season 4 of The Color Collective. I really feel like I have grown so much as an improv quilter due to The Color Collective, so likely I’ll continue this part of my quilty journey.