She quilts, He cooks' Blog

Love Tara

shequiltshecooks — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 13:25:52 +0000

Recently, I met a woman at work, Ronna, with whom I became fast friends. She and I have had similar life experiences which brought us close. She related to me that she recently moved back to the states because her younger sister, Tara, had been diagnosed with breast cancer and she wanted to be closer to her sister and her family. I decided to make a breast cancer quilt for Tara.

I have seen several patterns for breast cancer quilts, but none of them were exactly right for what I had in mind. So I got out my engineering paper, and after about 8 or 10 iterations, came up with my own design. The quilt is about 65 x 85 which is big enough to comfortably snuggle in. I used a beautiful pink cancer ribbon polar fleece for the backing which is wonderfully soft. The quilt was done in pinks, maroons, creams and whites with a few breast cancer prints thrown in. Ronna plans to give it to Tara this month in celebration of Tara’s birthday. Here is a picture of the finished quilt.

Love Tara Completed Quilt

I felt that the quilt needed something special in the center of the breast cancer ribbon loop. I went out to ebay and found a beautiful machine embroidered breast cancer ribbon that just fit the bill. The lady’s screen name is toogie06 and she does beautiful work. She has several styles of breast cancer awareness embroidered patterns that would really add to any breast cancer awareness quilt. Here is a close up of the one I used on the front of the quilt.

Machine Embroidered Breast Cancer Awareness Applique

Here is a closeup of the one I used in the quilt label on the back of the quilt.

Love Tara Quilt Label

I loved making this quilt and I hope that it brings comfort to Tara. There is nothing more rewarding than giving a quilt!

Engineering A Quilt

shequiltshecooks — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:20:05 +0000

This is my sister June’s story of Quilting Architecture & Project Management

Quilters, like engineers, architects, artists, writers, chefs and other creative types, know that creating something of beauty brings joy to their world.

Creations are composed of a piece of the life of the creator, bringing the creator satisfaction of achievement.

Satisfaction refills the creator’s soul.

Giving one’s creation is a gift of one time, bringing meaning to the creator, the gift, and the receiver.

Appreciation refills the receiver’s soul.

Inspiration
The twin desires to create and give are what inspired eleven of my colleagues, many of them non-quilters, to contribute to the creation of a quilt for our mutual friend, Heather.

As inspiration is only the beginning, here’s ‘the rest of the story’ of how this quilt became a reality!

The Project
The belief that working with others in a creative endeavor, congenially and supportively, while accepting each member’s talents and abilities as they are, creates lifetime bonds more meaningful than the creation itself, motivated me to take on the organization and management of my colleagues’ creative project for our mutual friend, Heather.

The Concept
As a quilter, who nearly always has a piece of needlework in a bag that constitutes a second purse, wherever I go, my colleagues at work often take a peek at my latest project.

One day in mid-August of this year, Myrna suggested that the recent news of Heather’s long-awaited pregnancy warranted a quilt. I quickly agreed it was a great idea. Susan immediately said to count her in, although she hadn’t done any needlework since she was a teenage (only a few years ago!). Just that quickly, a matter of minutes, the idea of a quilt for Heather had become a concept.

Volunteers
A successful organizer needs motivated volunteers. Susan suggested that several of our colleagues might want to participate, as they would be easily motivated by the imminent arrival of Heather’s baby, and the desire to deliver the quilt to Heather, before Heather delivered the baby! That was going to mean commitments and scheduling.

The Theme
Later that day, my head did the math and realized that if we wanted to give Heather a finished quilt by the time her baby was due in early December, we needed to start immediately. I expressed my concern to Susan, and she asked about what making a quilt entails. I explained the first step is to decide on a theme. I felt animals would be great fun, and she agreed. Since the original idea was Myrna’s, I ran the animal theme by her, and she quickly concurred.

The Planning
Now it was a matter of planning the communal quilt project. A minimum of four fabric panels and a maximum of twelve fabric panels was what I felt would be manageable. So, I went about quietly explaining the project and the tight schedule to a number of colleagues, and invited them to participate in making one of the fabric panels to be incorporated into a quilt for Heather. I made sure that before anyone committed, each potential volunteer knew that the delivery date for their ‘stitched fabric panel’ was firm and fixed, no exceptions. Otherwise, I would not be able to create the overall quilt design and assembly by the party date that everyone had agreed was the goal.

Surprisingly, it only took two days to arrive at twelve commitments. The ‘Surprize Heather Working Group’ was official! In true bureaucratic form, we shortened our name to SHWIG.

In recognition of the special effort that each of my colleagues would be making in creating their individual gifts of unique quilt panels, we agreed there would be no imposed constraints of method or color on the animal theme. In addition, each volunteer would write their name on a piece of paper, which I would transfer to their selected panel to personalize their name on their panel in embroidery

The Schedule
Construction engineer that I am, I quickly defined a ‘construction schedule’ using MSProject. I followed the scheduling approach of starting with the ‘project completion date’, which had advanced to mid-November to accommodate the party before the baby’s arrival, and planning milestones backwards to the ‘start’ date. Any excuse for a party!

I then determined the major components of the work, in order to create a ‘critical path’ of deadline dates for completion of each component, such as,

• Draw the animals on paper

• Select and purchase fabric

• Transfer the drawings to fabric panels in water soluble ink

• Create quilt panel ‘kits’, each containing a fabric panel with an animal drawing on it, and the paper drawing original for reconstruction of the drawing if the fabric inadvertently got wet, into separate Ziploc bags to protect the fabric and water-soluble ink, one-gallon size to accommodate each volunteer’s embroidery hoop, threads, etc.

• Go to each SHWIG member, in order of commitment made, so they could select the fabric panel with the animal of their choice.

Integral to this schedule were several ‘get-together’ milestone dates to share information and to show & tell, to help everyone stay motivated and to provide ideas and assistance to each other, as several of the SHWIG members had never done needlework before.

Communication
Within days of receiving the commitments from my twelve colleagues, I sent out the first e-mail to everyone to bring us together and to share the schedule we would be adhering to. Sharing the schedule and its milestones with everyone from the outset is a great way to engender camaraderie and help everyone succeed in completing their gift panel on time.

Every two weeks I sent out an e-mail to SHWIG members to share each other’s progress, and to provide information on the quilting process. This helped those members who had never made a quilt before know about the process, and their role in it, since they would be entrusting me to incorporate their special creations into the finished quilt they could be proud of.

Melanie learned how to make ‘french knots’ so she could incorporate them into her koala.

Embroidered Koala Bear

Valencia made us all laugh as she played with how she wanted her signature to look under her fish.

Embroidered Dancing Fish

Pam’s quail was done using a needlepoint technique.

Needlepoint Quail

Myrna kept in touch sharing her progress on her frog as she stitched evenings in her Tokyo hotel room.

Embroidered Frog

Teri had us in stitches with the skirt she dressed her little pig in.

Embroidered Pig

Susan chose to appliqué her elephant, and then was inspired by Teri in adding the skirt to the last-minute cow panel that she and I produced.

Embroidered and Appliqued Elephant

Cheyenne embroidered her octopus while commuting on the train to and from work, her only free time with going to school at night and taking care of her three–year-old on the weekends.

Embroidered Octopus

Johanna came through at the last minute with the most creative signature, see if you can find it in the turkey panel.

Embroidered Turkey

Sheelena, who had never embroidered before, was the first to turn in her whale.

Embroidered Whale

Suzanne was second, as she was leaving on a business trip and wanted to make sure her raccoon was delivered on time.

Embroidered Raccoon

Like Cheyenne, I used my train commutes weekdays to complete the iguana.

Embroidered Iguana

Each time a SWHIG member turned in a finished panel, I sent out a group e-mail to congratulate her. On the delivery date, all but two of the SHWIG members had been able to turn in their quilt panels. The panel that I had embroidered, just in such event, meant we were only one fabric panel short. Susan asked what would I do for a twelfth panel, and as we discussed possibilities, she suggested that working together we could ‘whip out’ the missing panel and still make the schedule. I agreed that with her help, we could, and we did!

Embroidered & Appliqued Cow-girl

Quilt Top Design & Assembly
The wide variety of styles, from embroidery to appliqué, that were created by these talented ladies, was amazing! What a delight to be given the opportunity to arrange, design and assemble a truly original quilt top of twelve gifts. I immediately set to play, deciding the overall arrangement of the twelve fabric panels, then selecting fabrics in which to frame each panel.

Every two weeks I kept the SHWIG members apprised of progress. When I had the quilt top assembled, a meeting was called to ‘show and tell’ as well as to further inspire our non-stitching SHWIG colleagues to begin planning the office baby party for Heather.

Over the following three weeks, the backing fabric was selected, and basted together with the batting to the quilt top, and top quilted. When commuting back and forth to work, I worked on embroidering the ‘dedication panel’ to be placed on the back of the quilt.

Quilt Label

Here is a close up of the quilt label.

Close-Up of Quilt Label

Enter my sister Julie! The first weekend in November, ten days before the quilt was due to be finished, Julie came over for a ‘quilting & girl talk day’, and to take pictures of Heather’s quilt on her digital camera. We were both so pleased with how successful this group effort of making a quilt for a colleague had been.

The second weekend in November, the weekend before the party and on schedule, the dedication panel was stitched to the backing fabric, and the edge binding secured onto the quilt.

Heather’s quilt was finished!

The SHWIG Baby Party for Heather
On the Monday before the party, all the SHWIG members gathered for a viewing of the finished quilt that, a result of their valuable time and talents contributions, and to share last minute details of their efforts towards creating a lovely party in which to present it. These are such special ladies!

The SHWIG party was a huge success, with so many others of our colleagues joining in. Our boss kept us laughing while he imparted ten minutes of ‘parental advice’ on Heather and her husband, who had joined us for the occasion.

Baby Shower for Heather

Heather’s surprise, delight, and appreciation were summarized by her announcement that, although she was willing to share the quilt with her daughter-on-the-way, “…when she grows up and leaves home, the quilt stays with Mom!’.

The Finished Quilt and Pillow

Deer Santa?

shequiltshecooks — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:54:13 +0000

Have you ever procrastinated on a cooking project because you did not know what to do with a particular entre. I had this problem with a 3-4 pound venison roast I was given recently. It was frozen so I had plenty of time to decide what to do, I just could not get off first base and make that run to home.
Last week I was stuck at home with a kidney stone that was trying to get out. It was very, very, (I could add “very’s” for a long time) painful. The pain medication kept me from driving and therefore going grocery shopping. I was scraping the bottom of the barrel (our freezer) for things to fix for dinner. The venison roast cast a lonely look from the bottom of the freezer. I caved and took it out to thaw in the refrigerator. After two days, it was ready.
The question remains, how do I cook it? Marinade? Brine? Oven roast? Braise? I scoured the Internet for suggestions and found quite a few recipes. The one I finally focused on was one that involved the slow cooker or crock pot. Yay!! I love the slow cooker. It means that most of the meal is done when I get home from work. The night before cooking it in the crock-pot, I seared it in a non-stick pan to invoke the hallowed Maillard reaction (I browned the meat). All of the ingredients for the recipe were easily available so those went into the crock-pot as well. It smelled heavenly, even before cooking. I placed it, covered, in the refrigerator until the next morning.
Come morning it took me less than 5 minutes to retrieve the roast in crock pot and get it cooking. When I got home the same evening, the smell coming from the kitchen was wonderful. During the cooking/braising process the roast had made its own gravy. I quickly prepared some potatoes, carrots and green beans as accompaniments. The venison turned out excellent, especially with the gravy. I highly recommend the recipe. I told my granddaughter that it was actually “dead deer” but we call it venison because it sounds better. She told me, “Papa, I think I will just call it dead deer.” I hope Santa won’t mind.

The Thrill of the Hunt

shequiltshecooks — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:45:06 +0000

“What are you hunting for?” you might wonder. Quilt Shops, of course! I just returned from a business trip to California, but while I was there, I took an extra day to explore all the quilt shops I could find. And I found some beautiful quilt shops! Let me tell you how I plan for a quilt shop trip and then share with you my central California quilt shop journey.

I am not much of a planner for most things, but if I have the opportunity to travel, I put on my planner hat and get busy planning so I can see the most quilt shops possible in the limited time I have. Once I know my destination, I use three sources to find quilt shops in the area.

• Source #1: My copy of the “Quilter’s Travel Companion” book (although I need to get the latest one.) Even though it is old, it is a good start. I look through it to find the quilt stores that are close to the area where I will be staying as well as the quilt stores that may be near the route I will be traveling. Then I copy the addresses (and phone numbers) of those stores into Microsoft Mappoint to help me determine the best route for visiting those stores. And yes, I always take my computer so I have access to those maps.

• Source #2: The Internet site called Mapmuse.com located at http://bam.mapmuse.com/build-a-map/map/quilt-shops-near-ruth-ann. This site lets you identify the location you are visiting in the U.S. and look for quilt stores near that area. I also add those addresses (and don’t forget the phone numbers) into Mappoint. So now I have a pretty good idea of where the stores are located so I can pick and choose which stores I want to visit. Mappoint will then create a route for you. The night before I leave on my quilt store journey, I look at the map I have created, then program all the stores I want to visit into my GPS so that once I leave my hotel in the morning, it is smooth sailing from one quilt store to another!

• Source #3: Quilt shop owners and employees in the quilt shops I visit. I love visiting with quilters as I travel and I let them know that I am traveling through and took a day to visit quilt shops. They are always happy that I stopped at their store and are happy to share with me what other quilt stores are in their area. Quilters are the nicest people!

Tip #1: To make the best use of your time when going on a quilt store journey, use the phone numbers you have collected for each quilt store and call a day or two ahead of time to make sure they are still in business. This is a “lessons learned” for me as well. There were two quilt stores on my route that had gone out of business.

My quilt shop day began in Redondo Beach where there are two very nice quilt and fabric stores. One is called “Luella’s Quilt Basket”and the other is “The Cotton Shop.” My day ended at “The Creation Station Fabric and Quilt Shop” in Buellton.

• Luella’s Quilt Basket ranks right at the top of my list for favorite quilt stores ever. Here are a couple of pictures.

Luella's Quilt Basket from the Outside

Luella's Quilt Shop - View 1

Luella's Quilt Shop - View 2

They have so many patterns with finished samples hanging on the walls. Their selection of fabrics is spectacular. The ladies that work there were helpful and friendly and were very interested to show me their latest “must haves.” Have you heard of “Texture Magic?” It is a fabric that shrinks 30% in all directions. It lets you texturize your fabric using only your steam iron. It is made by Superior Threads and here is a link so you can check it out: http://www.superiorthreads.com.

A New Quilter's Product Called Texture Magic by Superior Threads

While I was in the store, I called home just to check in. When talking with my granddaughter, I told her I was at a quilt store. She asked me if I could bring her some California fabric. Luella’s had the perfect fabric.

California Fabric by Hoffman

Some other fabrics I bought because I might need them were:

Clowning Around by Robert Kaufman

Backyard Safari by Johnny Karwan for Clothworks

I love appliqué, so I bought two patterns from Sand & Sun Designs by Nancy Hammond, “Hoppy Bunnies” and “Barnyard Friends.”

Hoppy Bunnies & Barnyard Friends by Nancy Hammond of Sand & Sun Designs

Just a lovely quilt store that I encourage all quilters to explore if they get the chance!

• The Cotton Shop is a lovely store that, I’m sure, has a couple thousand bolts of quilter’s cotton along with most everything a person that sews might want/need. I am a great fan of fabric panels. My favorite kind of quilting is appliqué and I love doing landscape type quilting. Panels often have just the right piece of fabric I am looking for. I also make lots of baby quilts, so panels are also great for that. Here are a couple of panels that I bought.

Playtime with Sue & Bill by Little Qults for Henry Glass & Co.

Cute Chicken Panel by Debi Hron for Timeless Treasures Fabrics

Here is one that will make a lovely baby quilt.

30's Quilt Collection by Exclusively Quilters

Then here are a couple of pieces that I couldn’t live without. The first one is for my sister June and the other because I love sunrise, sunset and sky fabrics!

I call this one Rick-Rack Bliss and is made by Timeless Treasures

Nature Scapes by Hoffman California Int'l Fabrics

• The Quilter’s Studio in Newbury Park was my next stop. It was a very nice shop with lots of samples hanging on the walls. It had an abundance of nice fabrics that included batiks, reproductions, and lots of cotton prints in all shades of the rainbow. I bought two landscape panels that will compliment my landscape panel stash beautifully. The lady I visited with in the store told me about two other quilt shops that I should be sure to visit since I was in the area. I hope you stop in to see The Quilter’s Studio if you are driving through. It is definitely worth your time! Here are some snapshots of the panels I bought.

Lavendar Hills by Michael Miller

Summer Day by Michael Miller

I also love fish fabric which is something that my daughter Jess started me on a couple years ago. I have since made two beautiful fish quilts, one of which was for her college graduation in May, 2008. Here is a piece I believe might be a center panel for another fish quilt.

Paradise Reef by Michael Miller

• Quilt Ventura was my next destination. My mother and I are both into chicken fabric and I bought a very nice panel that will make up into a lovely wall hanging.

French Country Roosters by Barb Tourtillotte for Clothworks

• The Treasure Hunt in Carpinteria is a lovely quilt and gift store. It had lots of fabrics, especially beautiful batiks. This shop also has a room filled with beautiful yarns for those of us that also like to crochet and knit. There was also a small room set up for cross-stitchers with patterns and floss. I bought this panel that I think will make a nice baby quilt. It might be a good candidate for a crayon quilt!

Bluework by RJR Fabrics

• The Creation Station Fabric and Quilt Shop was the last quilt shop on my quilt shop tour since I was visiting my Uncle David who lives in Solvang nearby. It is filled with lots of patterns and beautiful fabrics. They had lots of fat quarters, half yards and full yards of fabric pre-cut for the buyer’s convenience. I bought a pincushion there that is shaped like a water lily. It will make a nice gift for one of my quilty friends for Christmas. You will not be disappointed if you take time to visit this shop if you get the chance.

Lily Pad Pin Cushion

Tip #2: There were two quilt shops that I had on my route that were no longer in business, Blue Island Quilter in Santa Barbara and Stitcherz in Camarillo. But because I didn’t call ahead, I visited both places only to find new businesses residing at the addresses that used to be these shops. So again, I encourage you to use the phone numbers you collected while planning your trip to be sure that the quilt stores are still in business. And of course, it is nice to have a phone number in case you get lost while looking for the store so you can call for directions! So, to emphasize this important tip, I mention it again.

Tip #3: Take pictures of the outside of the quilt store, and inside too if the quilt store owner gives you permission. This is a lessons learned for me. As I put this blog together, I found that I wish I had taken pictures of each quilt store.

A Wonderful, Fun Trip – All in all, I had a great time on this California quilt journey. I sometimes travel to San Francisco and am looking forward to doing a similar quilt journey at my next opportunity. The one thing I miss on trips like this is someone to share it with me. Quilting is soothing to the soul anytime, but is even a greater experience if shared with another quilter!

Cathedral Window Quarter Panel Details

shequiltshecooks — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:26:08 +0000

The first week in October, I took time to put the 4th quarter panel background together so that I had some handwork to take with me on our long weekend trip to Niagara Falls. I don’t know about you, but I always like to bring handwork with me when I travel. It is calming and soothing to be able to take a few stitches here and there.

Let me take you on a small journey to create the quarter panel. In my last post, I gave the link of the “YouTube video” on constructing a single 4-patch. Here is a front and back view of the single 4-patch.

Single block - front view

Single block - back view

Then join two 4-patches together, right sides together. But before you sew them, place a black square, folded in half, between the layers on either side of the center seam. The fold in the black squares should butt up against each other at the center seam. Add the third 4-patch in the same manner. As you work with the black “flaps” between the seams of each 4-patch, you will begin to understand how this pattern works. Here is what half of the quarter-panel looks like from the front and the back.

Six 4-Patches - Front View

Six 4-Patches - Back View

Here is the entire quarter-panel background from the front.

Twelve 4-Patch Panel - Front View

Once the quarter-panel background was complete, I chose small to medium-sized floral prints as the “windows”, then pinned them over the black squares in a pleasing arrangement.

Full Quarter Panel with Floral Windows Pinned in Place

Once the “windows” are in place, my favorite part of the process starts…..the hand stitching. I begin by choosing one square, making sure that the floral print is centered in the black square. Then I roll one side of the black square over the floral (about ¼ to 3/8 of an inch in the center). Pin in place. Then work gently with fingers to bring the curve over the floral print in a gentle arc that ends at either end of the block. I usually pin again on either side of the center to hold the floral pane in place under the rolled black edge. I start sewing at the left side, taking tiny stitches across the bowed black edge, but only tacking the rolled edge through the black background piece. That way, the cathedral window has a 3-dimensional effect.

Rolling the Edges to Create the Window

While staying at Park Place Bed and Breakfast in Niagara Falls, NY, I spent time in the beautiful common area, sitting in a rocking chair and hand stitching on my Cathedral Window panel. Often, there was a fire in the fireplace and my tea sitting on the table next to me. What wonderful, relaxing moments……..

Rocking and Stitching at Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, slowley I turned, step-by-step…

shequiltshecooks — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:13:41 +0000

We just got back from a trip to Niagara Falls. We left on a Friday and came back on Monday. It was only 7 hours from our house so it was a comfortable drive.

Park Place Bed and Breakfast

We stayed at a quaint bed-and-breakfast in Niagara Falls, NY. On Saturday morning we went to quilt and fabric stores in Buffalo and Lockport. In the afternoon we took a ride on the Erie Canal.

Erie Canal

Come evening, it was time to find some food.

It seems that the Western part of New York, around Buffalo, is known for two kinds of food, Buffalo wings and “Beef-on-Weck.” I believe Buffalo wings are self explanatory, but Beef-on-Weck probably needs to be further elucidated. The Weck is short for a Kummelweck bun, a large Kiaser roll shaped potato bread that is sprinkled liberally with coarse salt and caraway seeds. The beef is moist, juicy roast beef, cooked medium rare, sliced thin, dipped in au jus and stacked high on the Kummelweck bun. The top of the bun is lightly dipped in the au jus also. The Beef-on-Weck is best with horseradish sauce, although I have heard of using mayonnaise. The taste is unbelievably good. It has to be the total combination, because the roast beef is nothing fancy. The buns are good but not outstanding by themselves. It has to be the salt, caraway, potato bread, beef and horseradish that make it sooo, delicious. We ordered one apiece then went back and ordered another one to split. The place to go in Buffalo is Charlie the Butcher’s. There is little or no ambiance but the Beef-on-Weck is outstanding.

We also tried the local loganberry drink, made from, what else, loganberries grown around the Buffalo area. It was O.K., kind of a cross between cherry lemonade and raspberry tea. We tried to find some to bring home, but the local Wegman’s did not have it. J wanted some loganberry jelly too, but we could not find it either. We went back to B&B in Niagara Falls disappointed and stuffed.

Sunday we did the Niagara Falls State Park.

Niagara Falls (New York Side)

We bought a Discovery Pass, which got us an all day pass on the trolly that services the whole park, passes to the Discovery Center Geological Museum, the Aquarium, the IMAX movie about Niagara Falls, the Maid of the Mist boat ride

Maid of the Mist

and the Cave of the Winds. We did everything but the Cave of the Winds. That was the same as standing under a fire hose turned on at full blast. It was 45F outside and we did not want to get wet and cold. On the other hand, the Maid of the Mist boat ride into the falls was great.

After spending all day in the park, we decided to go into Buffalo for some food, again. This time we decided that we had to have some Buffalo hot wings. I had done some research on this before we left and found that the place to get the best Buffalo wings was Duff’s Famous Wings. We arrived there about 6:30pm. The place was packed. We were told it was a 45-minute wait to get a table. I asked if we could order take out. I ordered, then the waitress told me it would take 30-minutes. We should have just waited for a table. Finally, our order arrived, we scurried to the car and flew back to Niagara Falls.

The wings were O.K. I guess we are just not wing fans. I always believed they were too much work for what you got (kind of like artichokes). We will not be ordering wings in Buffalo again.

That was the sum of our trip. The weather was chilly the whole time we were there. The scenery on the way up and on the way back was beautiful. The trees were in full color change and the fall colors were breathtaking.

Fall Colors in New York

I highly recommend the trip, but go in the late spring or summer when you can get wet and enjoy it.

A Variation on Cathedral Window

shequiltshecooks — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:41:51 +0000

For several years, my sister June and I have talked about taking an entire day and experimenting with Cathedral Window quilt patterns that we have collected. Both of us love that classic pattern, but we wanted to play with several techniques to see which suited our fancy. That day finally arrived on July 4, 2009.

I was up early that morning making sure I could find all my Cathedral Window patterns. I had found them all except a book I bought a couple of years ago by Shelley Swanland titled “Machine Stitched Cathedral Windows, Updating an Old Favorite”, published by Martingale & Co. ©1999. Even though I had poured over the book after I bought it and liked her ideas immensely, I had never tried any of the patterns. I gave up looking (at least for the time being.) Another book that I recently bought is by Lynne Edwards entitled “Cathedral Window Quilts”, published by David & Charles Limited © 2008, 2009. It is a wonderful book that illustrates exciting variations on Cathedral Window Quilts. Someday I will take the time to experiment with some of her techniques.

I decided to surf the web for a little while before June arrived to see what ideas for Cathedral Windows I might stumble upon. I found a wonderful demonstration on YouTube entitled “How to make 3D Faux Cathedral Window Quilt Blocks.” After watching the demo, I knew that I wanted to make a quilt using the demonstrated technique.

The hardest part for me in using this technique was figuring out how to connect the individual blocks together. The demonstration only showed how to complete one block. After struggling for several hours the next day, I figured it out. I spent most of July 5 putting a 12 block background panel together by machine. It took another 2 or 3 weeks of picking a few hours here and there to hand sew the “windows” in. Here is what my finished quarter panel looks like:

Faux Cathedral Window Panel

I have 3 quarter panels now finished and have sewn two of them together. My next day of quilting will see me creating the 4th quarter panel background. Oh……for more days of quilting!

Another day, when I get a chance to take pictures of June’s project, I’ll post them. She chose a very traditional pattern that is coming along splendidly.

Silhouettes of Oklahoma

shequiltshecooks — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:51:28 +0000

In January of 2009, I visited Oklahoma during the yearly Oklahoma City Winter Quilt Show. I bought a pattern called Oklahoma Sunsets by Janet Coggins that gave me an idea on how

Fig. 1 - Windmill Silhouette on Bargello Background

to finish a quilt I started over three years ago for my wonderful friend Stacey. Stacey has a thing for windmills and I had designed and finished the center panel of the quilt, but couldn’t decide how to finish the rest of the quilt (Fig. 1).

After returning home to Maryland, with quilt pattern in hand, I laid out the rest of the quilt. I used 10 of the silhouettes from Janet’s pattern, then found pictures from which I made line drawings for the other 4 blocks. By the end of February I had the quilt top done and ready to quilt. I sent the top off to my friend in Oklahoma, Meri, who machine quilted it. When I received it back in August, I finished the binding. Fig. 2 shows most of the finished quilt. I don’t have a place to hang a quilt yet so that I can get a good full picture, but I’m working on it.

Fig. 2 - Whole Quilt (almost)

I returned home to Oklahoma in September to visit my mom, Stacey and her family and brought the quilt to her. Stacey was just delighted. I have to say that the very best part of quilting is sharing it with those you love. Silhouettes of Oklahoma was one of my most joyous creations.

I have included a couple of closeups of the blocks so you can see the details a bit better, but also to show some of the lovely quilting Meri did in order to bring out the beauty of the quilt. See Figures 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Fig. 3 - Chief in Full Headdress

Fig. 4 - Roadrunner

Fig. 5 - Bucking Stallion

Fig. 7 - Oklahoma Tornado

Fig. 6 - The End of the Trail

Squash Soup

shequiltshecooks — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:51:25 +0000

Pumpkin stacked fences
Guard fields of dry, bent corn stalks.
Chilled air, misty breath.

Fall is here at last. Cooler weather, leaves turning colors, back to school and squash. “Squash,” you say? Yes, squash, one of the most ubiquitous of fall vegetables. Acorn, ambercup, autumncup, banana, butternut, buttercup, carnival, delicata (peanut), fairytail pumpkin (Musquee de Provence), gold nugget, hubbard, kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), spaghetti, sweet dumpling, and turban squash. Those are just the ones available in the U.S. So this weekend I made squash soup, not just any flavorless mush of yellow Cucurbita moschata, but soup with a kick.
First you have to go out and kill a squash. Or, do you just squash it? The recipe called for 3-pounds of butternut squash. Of course, there were only two-pound specimens at our local mega-mart. I bought two of them, thinking that I could always toss what I did not need. I found out (by using all of the squash) that ½ pound one way or the other probably did not matter.
That reminds me about my new recipe philosophy. Whatever a recipe says, it is not exactly accurate in the amount of any item. Even if the kitchen from which it came, measures everything meticulously. The variations of flavors between the recipe’s originator’s ingredients and those in my kitchen will make some difference in the final result. Also, unless I have tasted the dish outside of my kitchen and know how it should taste, I will never know if I prepared it correctly. Sometimes I get lucky and it tastes good anyway.
I am sorry for the digression. I started with a recipe that came from “Cook’s Country” website through my weekly email from America’s Test Kitchen. It’s called Southwestern Butternut Squash Soup. You can get the recipe from their site or just use the one that I posted here. Mine is a little different due to what I had on hand and could find.
Peeling and cubing the squash turned out to be an adventure for me. You see, I am a squash virgin. I have never had to peel and cube a real squash. Well, zucchini does not count. It’s more cucumber-like than squash-like. It’s not hard to peel, just kind of unwieldy. Butternut squash is has a pale green layer under the thin skin before it gets the standard squash yellow. It looks like it has green veins running all over it, alien like. After cutting up the squash and shallots, I tossed them with oil and some salt and pepper, put them in a hot oven and waited for 45 minutes. I did stir them around every 15 minutes. Then it was time to add some honey broth and deglaze the pan. It went back into the oven for 5 minutes then into the food processor, onto the stovetop to heat through with a little cumin, cilantro and lime juice then LUNCH. Don’t forget the sour cream.

Where It Began

shequiltshecooks — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:37:46 +0000

Quilting……Ah, the very sound of the word starts my serotonin flowing! It hasn’t always been this way.

As far as I know, I come from a long line of quilters. My maternal great-grandmother, Alta, is the earliest quilter in my family that I personally knew when I was a child. Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers (both named Marjorie) were also quilters. My mother, Patsy, does all kinds of crafts, including some quilting, but I never caught the quilt bug from any of them until I was in my forties.

Crocheting had always been my craft of choice that I learned early in life (both of my grandmothers were expert crocheters). When my girls (Brandi and Jessi) were small, I also did quite-a-bit of sewing for them. During my early 40s, I traveled through some life events that led me to quilting. Living fairly close to my maternal Grandmother during this time in Oklahoma, I often visited her and was a lucky receiver of some of her quilts. When possible, Grama, Mom and I attended local quilt shows and frequented quilt and other fabric stores. Even though I hadn’t begun quilting myself, I enjoyed our time together immensely. This was a way for us to spend time together and talk about life. It is also the time that I began building my stash!

In 2003, my family moved to Maryland. That summer, when my mom came to visit, she and I signed up to take a quilt class. One class led to another until by the end of a year, I had taken 7 or 8 classes in patchwork, paper piecing, multiple kinds of appliqué, free-motion quilting and others. My passion had begun!

Julie