The last block in the Tara Faughnan online class “Blocks” is called “Wheels.” I made 4, and the last one is this little guy below. This block draws on other blocks we explored: the curves in Serpentine, the lines in Lines, and the 6-minute inset method of Squircles.
Here are the other three “Wheels” blocks. The aqua and red “Wheels” used the inset method, and I hand appliquéd the lavender block as I was a little afraid to try on of the big blocks with the inset method first. I do prefer the inset method, having tried both, and it proved to be quite easy.
Here’s where my design wall is now. I only had one triangle block that didn’t want to play here–and it can become a big table-top hot pad gift for someone’s kitchen I think.
Is this arrangement going to be an improv quilt, or shall I break it up? When I chose what colors to use in a new block, I often did that while thinking where the new block would go in an improv quilt and what it would be near.
I have a light grey Kona in my stash–so maybe I’ll start to link up the blocks on the upper top left using it and just see how that goes.
This class was–and is–so much fun. I have really enjoyed the time for play and creativity–and an improv quilt would capture this 6 months of my life.
Meanwhile, I bought a whole cabbage and cut big slices out of it and roasted them in the oven. There were some beautiful dark green outer leaves, so I blanched those and cut them into thin strips. And with the smaller ends of the cabbage, after cutting the thick slices, I made a fresh salad–by pounding the finely cut pieces with a bit of salt to melt out the juice.
A grilled flank steak, some refrigerator “asset” roasted peppers and carrots, and some potatoes smashed with raw butter rounded out this delicious meal. I did, however, overcook the flank steak. I do like it much more rare. It’s hard to tell sometimes with flank steak just how done it is–and they do have thick and thin areas.
Tomorrow Block 5 in Tara Faughnan’s “Block” class will arrive. It’s “triangles.” How fun is that?
I’ve walked 5 miles in the past three days–2, 1, and, yesterday, 2. What will today bring? It’s rainy, so whatever will happen will happen when things dry out a bit. But it is cool and that makes for wonderful walking. I play music and sing along some of the time.
I finished this top yesterday, and I love the secondary patterns. There is a feeling of, I don’t know, lace, in this top. I’ll back and bind with the neutral–so next I have to put together the backing and put her on the longarm to be basted so she stays straight while being quilted–and so I don’t have to worry about the needle apparatus catching wrong in a loose edge. I have no idea what pantograph to use on this quilt.
I would not choose to buy these 1920-30 reproduction fabrics today–but as you know, I’m on a mission to use up fabrics in my stash. And I do think these fabrics have worked well in this quilt.
I have a fair amount of fabric left over in all the colors I have–so, I’m playing with blocks on the design wall. When I attended my first Charleston Modern Quilt Guild meeting last week, five or six members showed their 3 quilts each in a challenge to “riff” on fabrics and layout choices in a series. Is that what is playing in my head? Maybe… Those series of 3 quilts were really fun and inspiring.
BTW, the talent in this modern group is fabulous. One member has two quilts accepted into the big modern QuiltCon meeting in late February, held this year in Raleigh, NC. And, she had quilts in last year’s show as well. This member is a MASTER quilter–and it was so, so fun to see her work. Plus, she is so generous with her time with fellow members–and has a suggested project for our next Sit and Sew for an upcoming Saturday morning. I can’t wait.
I never get tired of seeing bright vegetable colors combined in a pan and ready to be roasted.
Here’s my main meal yesterday–which I didn’t get to until about 2 pm.
The potatoes with dill, salt, and drizzled with the nuevo olive oil from Organic Roots were leftovers and are now gone. So today I have to cook something starchy to go with the roasted veggies and chicken. Maybe French Fries in the Air Fryer. Now, there’s a treat! But maybe only if I walk 2 miles.
And, later, I’ll play more upstairs with those developing blocks. And still later, I’ll finish season 5 of Fargo and hand quilt on “Happy.” I’m assuming most of you know Fargo is funny, funky, and can be violent. It’s the Coen brothers and Noah Hawley, so be warned.
I’ve wrapped my outside faucets and will drip water inside when temps fall below 30, which is coming soon. These houses are NOT set up for really cold weather. Recall that the water heaters are on the OUTSIDE of one’s house down here in coastal South Carolina. And unlike Maine, outside water faucets are not the kind that can take freezing temps without breaking.
Many in Maine have sent pictures and links to pictures of the really bad and damaging coastal flooding there. Poor Maine. It’s had a LOT of rain all summer and now, every storm we get here in South Carolina moves right up the coast to Maine. There are many pictures of coastal buildings floating out in the water.
I cooked a lamb rack yesterday, after walking 1.6 miles. ( I added a loop and then went back with the car to clock how far I had walked.) The two added loops–at each end of my big outside road–will add up to a little over 3 miles, which I’ll do one of these days. One loop plus the normal 2 miles would be a little over 2.5 miles. I’ll try that right after my leg muscles–following a whole string of walking days now–stop complaining.
Lamb rack, which I so love, and leftover roasted red peppers, quick-boiled Brussel sprouts topped with raw butter, and more air fryer sweet potato fries–followed by the apple slices and my noon espresso.
Then, I tackled the Serpentine quilt with my domestic machine where I keep a walking foot installed. I’ll do the grid the other way too.
I’m listening to William Forstchen’s sobering trilogy that starts with One Second After and scaring myself to death, LOL. Civilization can disappear…so quickly…especially in this digital age which requires a lot of infrastructure. And then what? It’s not pretty, that’s for sure.
And at night while hand quilting I’m watching Harlan Corben’s murder mysteries–there are 8 of them on Netflix–and each is 8 episodes. I am having fun guessing “who done it” and what happened and why. I’m on the third one now. On the first 2, I only guessed part of what happened on 1 of them before the end. So that’s fun.
I think I’m done making more Squircle blocks (from Tara Faughnan’s online block study class). Done, I’d say, for the moment. I love this inset method pioneered by Dale Fleming.
Here is my collection of 5, 6, and 8.5 inch blocks. It’s not the best picture as I took it when the light was terrible in my quilt room.
And here is what that part of the design wall looks like now, with zipper, serpentine and checkerboards, lines, and Squircle blocks. Hmmmm… Is there an improv quilt possible? Time will tell. *Note, I’ve kept the same fabric palette for all of these blocks–though the palettes Tara Faughnan gives with each block are gorgeous.
Meanwhile, I have to feed myself daily–with good food. So, I oven-roasted some chicken two days ago.
Here’s a bowl meal with chicken, blanched Lacinato kale with some raw butter topping, and air fryer red peppers and French fries. *For the kale, just drop the whole leaves in some boiling water and after about 4-5 minutes drain and cut out the stems and roughly chop the leaves.
Followed yesterday by the chicken and roasted red peppers reheated in the air fryer in one drawer while sweet potato fries cooked in the other drawer AND baby bok choy sautéed with bits of apple and garlic and dried herbs. *Soften the apple pieces and garlic before adding the bok choy as it cooks fast. If you overcook bok choy it gets way too soft. You want to keep some of the crunch of the thicker bottom pieces.
I eat my main meal in the middle of the day and afterwards have some sliced apple or a berry mixture and an espresso.
Today I’ll roast a rack of lamb in the oven and, maybe, the butternut squash I have on hand as well–with my good olive oil, garlic, and fresh rosemary from the garden. There are, also Brussels Sprouts in the refrigerator.
We had a really big storm that kept us pinned down all day Tuesday–very high winds and tornado alerts but not a whole lot of rain here on the coast. Schools were cancelled and most activities just…stopped.
I cooked. And I sewed.
Here’s more “rainbow” eating:
A bit of beef tallow, carrots, red pepper, and asparagus. I can’t think when I have pan sautéed asparagus, but it was lovely.
Locally, lately, one can buy beef hamburger where about 25% added is liver/heart/other organs. Americans have stopped eating liver. And that’s too bad as liver and other organs are so full of nutrients we need and that we don’t get anywhere else.
I made some hamburger patties and cooked them in the air fryer, along with a russet potato cut into four parts–so with the beautiful rainbow dish above, I had food for two main meals.
*Liver with heavy cream added at the last cuts the strong liver taste. Don’t overcook liver as that makes it tough. Slice it into strips and add after your veggies have softened–at the last, add the cream. A lot of cream.
I’ve been playing with the new block that arrived from Tara Faughnan’s online block class on January 1st. It’s a method created by Dale Fleming called “the 6-minute circle.” Tara is calling this month’s block “Squircles.” It’s a fiddly block until you get the method–and then one is off and running and having lots of fun.
I started with Tara’s recommendation of starting small–5-inch blocks–and then went on to 6-inch versions. Will try an 8 inch block today or tomorrow.
My rainbow versions are too narrow I think. But this is a very fun and addictive method. One person online called it the 60-minute block, which set me to laughing. I’m down to way less time, but it is a learning curve. However, the online community for this class is off and running, and their creativity and where they are taking this block is, as usual, awesome.
I do think these blocks WILL go with the others on my design wall. Pics to follow when I’m done.
Ah, air fryer sweet potato fries are so, so good–and so much easier and quicker than baking a sweet potato.
I’ve walked 3 days this week–and did 2 miles twice and 1 1/2 miles yesterday. And I’ll walk today.
We are getting another storm late today and into the night, but it is said to be not as strong as Tuesday’s storm which caused massive coastal flooding in Maine, including in Camden.
How pretty is this veggie mixture that I sautéed the other day?
Very pretty I think.
And it was delicious too.
I started with the firmer veggies and with beef tallow as I was also cooking a leg of lamb: onion, carrots, red peppers, garlic, dried herbs, salt and one small Granny Smith apple.
When these firmer veggies had started to wilt well, I added the chopped red cabbage–a small head. Cabbage will melt down quickly in heat. But I also wanted more green, so I had some frozen chopped kale in the freezer and added it.
The apple and sweet red pepper produced bits of sweetness that were a kind of surprise to the tongue. And cabbage in all forms is very, very healthy.
Note the big frying pan. The mixture made rather a lot of food. It kept well and reheated well. I thought at one point that it would also be good added to a soup one defrosted or started from scratch.
It’s been raining for two days now–6.5 inches on the rain gauge. But I think it is meant to fair off today.
Yesterday I spent–happily spent–a chunk of the day making a big batch of chicken soup. Eventually I’ll freeze some of it.
But before cooking I mailed “Red Positivity”to my niece. And made a run to Isle of Palms to drop off extra raw milk and some yogurt to Bryan and Corinne. I had thought to try yogurt again, but…no…that still doesn’t work. Corinne will make yogurt with this extra milk.
Today I’ll walk if the weather fairs off enough to risk the 2-mile walk which takes me a fair bit away from the house.
And I’ll sew. The 1920s-30s quilt top is coming along. And at night I’m sewing the binding on “Bonanza,” made from big half-square solid units. I’ve rounded two corners now. The binding is that dark midnight blue/purple.
Next up for binding is “Sprinkles,” the baby quilt I made. Then I will be caught up on binding and can start to hand-sew “Happy,” formerly known as “the quilt from hell,” LOL. And “Serpentine Surprise” is on the longarm waiting for me to baste it.
I love fantasy–and fantasy involving DRAGONS–so I’ve watched all of the prequel to Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon. There is…violence. So be warned if you are tempted. But there are also lots and lots of dragons.
I, like many, watched Game of Thrones over many years–as each season came out. Maybe I’ll watch them all again–or parts of all–so I can view them in one time and place. Or, maybe not. That series of books actually has not ended, so there isn’t a neat wrap-up to where the kingdom goes next–if it goes anywhere at all. Perhaps it is too broken to continue…
And I am missing the coffee I purchased on a regular basis in Maine. This small business in Lincolnville, Maine, just north of Camden, roasts and blends its own coffee.
I have enjoyed a latte many times while sitting on the porch pictured below–sometimes with a guest visiting or with a local friend.
So yesterday, I ordered some. I love Dark Harbor and, especially, Roma espresso, which is a special blend made by Green Tree.
Ordering proved to be really easy online, but along the way, owner John called me and we had a nice chat. He wished me to be well in my new home in South Carolina and said he’d mail my coffee first thing Monday.
So now I’ll be hanging out looking for my coffee package!
I LOVE raspberries. In Maine I had a big bed of raspberry plants and froze LOTS for winter eating.
Here, one can buy raspberries fresh pretty much all year long. And I like to combine them with the blueberries and blackberries that also seem to be available all year long–with a drizzle of maple syrup–as a dessert at night, when I eat a lighter meal. (Pricey, but better for you than sweets like a fake ice cream.)
The berries come in little plastic containers–and the blueberries and blackberries do just fine stored in the refrigerator in those containers. But NOT the raspberries. I’ve discovered if I put them on a bed of paper towels and just loosely cover them with one of my “One World, Zero Waste” fabric sheets–NOT more plastic–they last without melting or molding for many days. In the plastic container, the raspberries start to go bad in one day or less.
I’ve blogged about these fabric tops and replacements for paper towels before now, and I continue to use them heavily. I use the sheets to top dishes in the microwave too and then into the wash they go. Mine were a very welcome gift from my DIL Corinne.
I especially like the string-drawn tops–the big ones will also cover a rectangular dish.
Here they are in use in my refrigerator–with one laid over the raspberries and the small one over a bowl:
I’ve had mine for nearly a year now, and they are going strong.
To the left of the milk you can see a quart jar of organic “olio nuevo” just harvested a few weeks ago at Organic Roots–a small farm in California. I bought a gallon and took quarts to each son. New oil like this comes with all the “bits” that will settle to the bottom of a vat in 5 or 6 weeks. And it comes with the most amazing fresh smell and taste, especially when warm. New olive oil only has a short shelf life–about 6 months.
So that leads me to this plate of food, which contains a “salad” of warm blanched and roughly chopped collard leaves–with a bit of this olive oil, the carrot part that was in the container with the raw onion I wanted and which I grated, and a bit of the raw onion–salt and herbs. It was and is delicious. I included some of this salad in three scrambled eggs last night: delicious!
The rest is no surprise to you blog readers: grilled lamb chops and sweet peppers and some of the Carolina Gold Rice. (I couldn’t find any organic Carolina Gold Rice at Whole Foods so will call Anson Mills again tomorrow.) Grilled sweet peppers are so much sweeter than they are roasted in the oven or the Air Fryer.
My little diffuser is happily diffusing this morning–loaded with Young Living lavender and lemon essential oils today. Then I’m going to switch to the green tree oils, like pine, cedar, and some of the firs and balsams. And I’ll soon also order some vanilla essential oil. I have peppermint on hand as I use it to keep bugs away in the summer. Who knew that pine and grapefruit would smell delicious, not me.
It’s overcast today, with gentle rain predicted! So I’m going upstairs to sew on the project that obsessed me for some days now.
Yes, there is corn here too (think grits, for instance, and the fabulous dish called “shrimp and grits”), but corn has been more of a staple. At one time–and for some still now in this region–rice is also a staple. Many would choose rice at a holiday meal over dressing of any kind.
There is a heritage variety of rice here that almost got lost in time: Carolina Gold Rice.
I first bought this “supermarket” version, only to find it isn’t the “real deal.”
It isn’t organic, but it made a very nice rice with a nutty flavor, as you can see. It does have a different taste than the white rice I’ve always eaten.
So now I’m on the hunt for the “real deal,” the heritage rice that is grown by Glen Roberts of Anson Mills. I have a call into the retail number of that company to see if I can buy some, but so far, they have neither answered their phone or called me back.
So when is the rice harvest anyway? Ah, early fall, so I will keep trying. And I’ll check Whole Foods for Carolina Gold Rice that is organic and must be refrigerated or frozen.
I found a really good article by Ari Weinzweig on the history of this heritage rice, linked below, which concludes with a recipe. This rice does not cook like other rice types cook, so recipes have to be adjusted.
Roberts of Anson Mills actually mills his heritage rice on Tuesday and ships the rice frozen or cold-packed, in order to preserve the inner sprout that provides more nutrients than other kinds of rice. Additionally, the rice is hulled only partially, which is said to mimic how it was processed back in the day and which adds to its unique flavor.
Here’s a quote about when this rice came to America:
“The original Carolina Gold rice is believed to have come to the Carolinas in roughly 1685 arriving from Madagascar in the form of a bushel brought back by Dr. Henry Woodward of Charles Town. From that single sack the rice grew to cover the land of hundreds of commercial plantations stretching down from the Cape Fear River basin of North Carolina all the way to the northern end of Florida. The bulk of the production though stayed in South Carolina, where by 1691 it was so well established that the state legislature allowed for planters to pay their taxes in rice. Rice was originally milled as it was elsewhere in the world, with wooden mallets. (More about this technique in a minute). The first water-powered rice mill was built in 1787.”
The article traces the history of this rice up to the point where it more or less disappeared in this region.
“For most of the 20th century Carolina Gold was nothing more than a trademark owned by a large rice company that didn’t even grow Carolina Gold rice but liked the name. But now . . . wow. . . the stuff that Glenn is growing and milling for Anson Mills is something spectacular, head and shoulders above what we were getting, which, again, was already really good. All of which has absolutely nothing in common with the supermarket “Carolina Gold” rice, which has even less in common with the real article than cultivated wild rice has with really wild, wild rice.”
But what makes Roberts’ rice so different: “For opener’s Glenn’s rice is grown organically, and he’s insistent that raising rice without sprays isn’t just the right thing to do for environmental reasons but also because it has huge positive impact on the flavor of the rice. Beyond that he’s making sure the rice is fully ripened in the field before being brought in. As it does with any other produce proper field ripening is a huge factor in getting full flavor development into our food. (Because it’s very difficult to feel or see the difference with grains I think this issue hasn’t gotten much attention. But as it does with the Anson Mills grits, the field ripening radically enhances the flavor.) Additionally, the newly harvest rice is stored frozen in the husk until we order it, at which point Glenn mills it with a small rice mill brought over from Japan…especially designed for Glenn, in order to emulate the 19th century hand-pounding which, at that time, was the way that slaves husked the rice and broke off most of the bran to prepare it for cooking in the kitchen.”
So, I’m now now on the hunt for some version of “the real deal” and not the supermarket version I bought.
I’ll let you know…
Meanwhile, I still love the sprouted brown rice that I have on hand–though all I have to do is to walk by the bag of rice to put on several pounds–so rice, for me, is a treat, not an every day or even often treat. Here’s one version.
Sprouted brown rice has more nutrients available to the human body, according to the Weston A. Price Foundation nutritional materials.
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