Posts Tagged ‘Susan McBride’
Turkey Tracks: Becca’s Feed Sack Bags: Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle
Turkey Tracks: May 16, 2016
Becca’s Feed Sack Bags: Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle
Becca hit the tri-fecta with this project.
She’s Reusing, Repurposing, and Recycling Feed Bags.
The bags came from Susan McBride and Chris Richmond’s Golden Brook Farm, which is just above me on “the hill.”
Becca came to the Coastal Quilter’s Monthly All-Day Sit and Sew with feed bags in hand.
“I’m going to make bags,” she said. What? I thought. Cool…
And make bags she did:
Soon she had this one done:
And I went home with this one:
Thank you Becca!!
PS: Coastal Quilters: save your bird food bags for Becca?
Turkey Tracks: Sewing/Knitting Projects Update November 2014
Turkey Tracks: November 17, 2014
Sewing/Knitting Projects Update November 2014
Late October (that strange blizzard) and early November have brought a fair amount of inclement weather. It is snowing off and on today, as a matter of fact.
So, I have been snuggling into a whole array of winter projects.
This big quilt is quilted, and the binding is on. It is just waiting for me to sew down the binding. It’s 97 inches square, so it will take some nights of hand sewing.
BUT, I’ve been finishing knitting a white linen shawl at night. There’s a tale here. I started this shawl on the J&E Riggin in early September. I had it completely finished but did not like the tension, so I took it apart and went down a needle size. I’m much happier with it now, and it’s almost done. Just a few more nights.
After linen is knitted, one thoroughly wets it, dries it, and irons it. In the process, the linen turns soft as butter and very shiny.
Our Coastal Quilters and Georges Valley auction took place last weekend–and look what I bid on and won:
Gail Galloway Nicholson made this quilt, and Joan Herrick quilted it freehand on her long-arm.
Here’s a closeup:
It gives me such pleasure to have the work of friends and family in my home. Everytime I walk past one of these pieces I am reminded of the loved ones involved and of all the wonderful energy that they have put into their work.
You can see that this quilt is so, so happy to live on my coral chair!
I am in the process of making other quilts for this downstairs room. I need quilts that can be loved, used, and washed–in place of the dog-blanket strategies that live in this sitting room/tv room/den space. So, here’s a quilt top I’ve just finished that’s going to go on the back of the couch–where Rey Rey likes to hang out so she can see the back door comings and goings:
Fun, huh? It’s 85 inches square, and I think I’ll just bind it without adding any borders. I’ll quilt it when I return from Charleston December 2nd.
Here’s the backing–which is especially nostalgic as grandson Kelly Enright picked it out with me this summer. He’ll get such a kick out of seeing this quilt with it’s lively backing when he next comes to visit.
This quilt is made with the 2 1/2-inch strips that I cut up from my stash two summers ago. I had a HUGE bin filled to the top. Look now:
OK, I have a few of the darks and mediums out on the cutting board as I’m using them in another quilt top:
It’s Bonnie Hunter’s Scrappy Trip Around the World version, and I’m having so much fun putting together various sets of 6 strips for each block (at 16 inches). Here’s two of the blocks I made yesterday:
I’ve seen so many variants of this quilt now, and I can’t wait to see how mine develops. I’m sure the blocks will get moved over and over again until I’m happy with the results.
My leader/ender project now is a low-contrast quilt made with a focus fabric and 2 1/2-inch light and dark blue blocks. I’m mixing the focus fabric into the four-patch/eight-patch blocks.
Here’s what’s forming on the design wall–in a dark corner of the wall. I’m playing with creating a center of 8 pieced blocks surrounding one of the focus fabric squares. I don’t know how this will work out… I’m just playing. I may play with some single 4-patch blocks surrounded with sashings of the focus fabric as well. Or, use another fabric that co-ordinates. Who knows? That’s what play is all about…
I made a big soup yesterday so was able to quilt until I got hungry. AND, I’ll freeze some of it to have on the night I return. The meat is from the turkey I roasted earlier in the year–a turkey from last Thanksgiving that came from my neighbors: Susan McBride and Chris Richmond of Golden Brook Farm. Sometime last summer I defrosted the turkey, cut it up, and roasted it. I froze one-half of the turkey breast and am just now using it.
I used a chicken bone-broth base (of course), the turkey, and what I had on hand: frozen tomatoes from the summer, onions, carrots, celery, fresh parsley, rutabaga, some brown rice, and the Indian spices (cumin, coriander, a bit of cinnamon, tumeric). It’s super delicious!!
My fabrics for Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery Quilt 2014–Grand Illusion–are ironed and ready to go! I’ll get the first clue the day after Thanksgiving, but will not be able to start it until I get home. But, I’m ready!
I leave for Charleston, SC, this Thursday, for the Thanksgiving holidays with my family, and, as always, posting to the blog with the ipad is always chancy–but I’ll take lots of pictures and will post when I get home if all else fails!
Quilting Information: Sew Me A Song, Etsy store
Quilting Information: January 4, 2014
Sew Me A Song
Becca Babb-Brott’s Etsy Store
I love the connections in a small community.
Neighbor Susan McBride of Golden Brook Farm told me her friend Becca Babb-Brott, who lives on a nearby street where other people I know live, has an Etsy Store of quilting fabrics.
Here’s the url she sent: http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewmeasong. (I can’t get this url to “take,” so you may have to copy and paste it into your search engine.)
I took a look at it and loved how Becca is putting together fabrics. In particular, I loved her unusual neutrals–which can be hard to find. I, for instance, have looked for neutrals in five (aren’t we lucky) of our local quilt shops.
As an official Bonnie Hunter groupie, I need lots of neutrals–especially for the quilts I have planned for this year. Bonnie’s world divides quilting fabrics into neutrals (nothing darker than a brown paper bag) and colors.
What’s also interesting about Sew Me A Song is Becca’s collection of contemporary and Japanese fabrics. And she has since told me that she is a “modern” quilter.
Take a look?
Becca is putting together a collection of neutrals for me. And I look forward to meeting her next week some time.
Thanks, Becca!
Turkey Tracks: September Update
Turkey Tracks: September 22, 2014
September Update
Late August and ALL of September are really busy months for me in Maine.
First of all, son Bryan often comes for his birthday, which is September 11th. Bryan and Corinne like to come visiting in the early fall as most of the tourists have gone home or are taking a breather before the fall foliage gets rolling. And, it’s cooler.
Second, in Maine, September is the red month (tomatoes), not July, as is true for regions south of us. Plus, the gardens are cranking out food at alarming rates. So I am busy blanching, roasting, drying, lacto-fermenting, and generally reveling in all the bounty of our earth in Maine.
Third, MOFGA, the Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association fair happens in the third weekend of September. This fair, also known as the Common Ground Fair, is one of my most favorite things to attend all year.
Fourth, Coastal Quilters starts its new year in September. I agreed to be President this year, so I’ve had a fair amount of organizing and reviewing to do to get back up to speed. We had a terrific organizational meeting September 14th, and we’ll have a really good year this year I think.
Fifth, I start the process of putting the yard to bed for the winter. The flower pots are played out. The wind chimes have to be taken down. The hummers are gone. The porch furniture and kayaks have to be stored. The chickens have to be winterized. And, the garden put to bed with the new garlic planted for next year. I have LOVED having that garden fenced all this summer–especially since I never was able to keep the hens I have now inside their pen.
So….I will do some separate entries on some of these events. But I will leave you with some fun pictures taken more or less in late August/early September.
Susan McBride of Golden Brook Farm grew these awesome cherry tomatoes. I experimented with drying these to see which ones were the best. Hands down, the purple heritage cherry tomato was. They are like eating candy–and I know I will enjoy having them on hand all winter when the snow is flying. That bag of highly colored bits is corn from Margaret Rauenhorst and Ronald VanHeeswijk. I’m going to grind it and make cornbread with it any day now.
I planted random squash seeds in the blue tubs this year. One is growing a Hubbard Squash–which delights me so much. I will go ahead and collect the squashes as soon as it stops raining and put them into the garage to “sugar off” for a bit. They do better when they have a bit of time to cure. The Blue Hubbard squash can get HUGE–and is a really great all-purpose squash. It’s delicious to eat and makes great “squash” pie too.
Here is a typical Hope’s Edge pick-up day–with Giovanna McCarthy. We have sacks of food and flowers!
I found this picture on John’s computer before we retired it. It’s one of my very favorites. He really had such a great eye for a good picture. LIkely I’ll make some cards from this picture…
Turkey Tracks: Dehydrator Days
Turkey Tracks: August 22, 2013
Dehydrator Days
The hum of the food dehydrator is a constant sound in my kitchen these days.
The earth and the vegetable gardens are pouring forth the most amazing bounty.
I dried the mushrooms shown in an earlier post. They filled all the trays of the dehydrator.
But I also am drying cherry tomatoes to use in salads all year around. These little nuggets are as sweet as candy and are so appreciated in the white cold of winter. They don’t taste like any bought dried tomato you’ve ever eaten.
My garden is producing a healthy crop of Sun Golds. Hope’s Edge, my CSA, will provide some cherry tomatoes to dry. And Susan McBride’s Golden Brook Farm, just up the hill from me, has luscious cherry tomatoes.
I also have discovered that drying zucchini–and even excess cucumbers–is a great way to preserve them. Grating and freezing zucchini does not work so well. The flesh gets slimy and bitter after a bit of time. But the dried disks reconstitute beautifully if thrown into a soup or stew about five minutes before it is done. Cut the BIG zukes into smaller pieces…
I am also blanching and freezing the beans that are coming in like crazy now. It’s easy enough to snap them, rinse them, drop them into boiling water for a few minutes (don’t let them get too cooked), put them into a baggie, and freeze them.
I picked up fresh blueberries from Hope’s Edge last week. So I made jam from the uneaten and frozen berries from last summer.
Blueberry jam is easier than blackberry jam since you don’t have to pick them or deseed them. Otherwise, the process is much the same. I do grate the rind of one lemon into the pot–and add the juice. Lemon perks up the blueberry flavor. Blueberry jam needs a bit more sugar than the blackberries as the blueberries don’t have as much pectin. This jam is a bit looser as a result, but that’s ok. It’s great over ice cream, in smoothies, over pancakes, and so forth–and the flavor is lovely. It tends to get stiffer in the cold of the refrigerator.
***
One of the deep pleasures of my life is harvesting and preserving the food that the earth offers us. It is the most satisfying feeling to know that I have these “assets” in my pantry to be enjoyed all winter and into the long Maine spring when we are so hungry for fresh greens.
But, let’s face it. Feeding people really good food–and eating it myself–is one of the things that I most like to do.
Turkey Tracks: Our Winter Turkeys
Turkey Tracks: September 19, 2011
Our Winter Turkeys
Susan McBride Richmond and Chris Richmond live just up the hill from us, at Golden Brook Farm. They have three children and are a source of ongoing inspiration. Together they have put up three hoop houses, two of them large; have a large flock of chickens and sell eggs; and are presently raising some turkeys for winter eating. We will get two of the turkeys around Thanksgiving. Since we’ll be in Charleston, SC, for the holiday, we’ll have our turkeys for winter eating.
They are bronze-breasted heritage turkeys, and here’s what they look like now:
Turkeys are very social and will talk to you as long as you stand by a fence and speak to them:
This time will be the third that Susan and Chris have raised turkeys for us. They have all been delicious!
And, last spring we got a lot of fresh wonderful greens from Susan’s second hoop house. The third hoop house which is up and beginning to be planted will be icing on the cake for us since Susan will have greens this winter as well. How cool is that!!
I wrote about Golden Brook Farm last fall when Susan and Chris hosted a potluck lunch and cider pressing. This year they have purchased a cider press, and the event will be the weekend of Oct. 1st. This year I’m bringing my camera!
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