Sister's Choice Quilts

Instant Pot Newbie

So guess what came to my house yesterday?  I may be the last person on the planet to get one of these, but I am now the owner of an Instant Pot!  The Instant Pot is the modern version of a pressure cooker, with the addition of the features of being able to saute and even slow cook.  I've spent hours watching YouTube videos to get up to speed, and I have to say, the things seem pretty fool proof.  I remember growing up with my mother telling horror stories of spaghetti sauce on the ceiling from the things blowing up, but these new electric models have so many safety features in place, that would be impossible to do nowadays.

I started small, with the Mini size, which produces meals that feed 2-3 people.  I am on my own during the week, as my husband currently works a couple of hours away and just comes home on the weekends.  Unfortunately, without him to cook for, I have not been bothering to cook a proper meal for myself and have resorted to frozen foods or potato chips and a cookie for dinner.  Not good.  My idea is that since my Mini Instant Pot produces servings for two, I can have a decent healthy dinner and a nice lunch or maybe leftovers for dinner the following day.  If I love the Mini as much as I hope to, in the future, I may get the larger 6 quart size, as so many people say they can't live without it.

My first experiment was to make brown rice, which turned out great.  No mess, no boiling over, no constant  stirring and waiting 45 minutes for it to cook.  I made it ahead and will warm it up when I serve dinner over it.  Dinner is Chicken Tikka Masala, and I have my ingredients all out on the counter ready to go.

And I have to say, the recipe was a total success!

Chicken TIkka Masala from the cookbook The Instant Pot Bible.  I'm not going to post the recipe, because of course, the author would love for you to buy the book.  $13.38 on Amazon.  It was good, it was quick, it was easy and it served Sara and I a great dinner.  I had a portion and she had a portion and seconds!

Please share.  Do you have an Instant Pot?  The regular size or the mini?  Do you love it?  What are some of your favorite things to cook in it?

 

Sweet Escape Progress

I managed to finish the sixteen taupe blocks over the weekend.  Now I will begin to make the blue blocks that will form the star points that surround the taupe blocks.  I think there are 24 of the blue ones to make.  I am really pleased with the look of the blocks and think the finish is going to be wonderful.  

My friend and I had a wonderful shopping adventure Monday.  It took two hours to drive to our destination and two hours to drive home, and we had four hours to shop and have lunch.  It was delightful.  My friend was able to find not one, but two pair of jeans she liked at Chicos, and I found two pair of espadrille style shoes at DSW, so we both accomplished our missions.  We stopped by Bath and Body Works, and each of us got a French Baguette candle.  That is the best scent--just like fresh baked bread.  

We had fancy grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato bisque soup for lunch and as I write this, I doubt either of us will want dinner.

Hope your week got off to a good start!  

Stringalong Quilt Finished!

I am so happy with this finish!  Putting the blocks together was a project and a half, and I admit to getting bogged down when it came to sewing them together.  The blocks have been on my design wall for weeks and weeks.  The pattern is Signs of String by Clark Street Quilts and the fabric is from two lines by Moda Designer Linzee McCray, Red Rover and True Blue. The blocks took a ton of fabric, and seemed like an eternity to complete, but the result is pretty spectacular.  I wonder what this project would have looked like in Jo Morton or Kansas Troubles fabrics?  Just a thought.

In other news, I have been having a great time working on my Sweet Escapes Variation project, and look forward to showing you my progress on that front.  I can tell you this:  my project will look nothing like the pattern!  That is to say, when you look at the pattern, you will think, "Oh right, that's cool", but in actual fact, the way I am plotting out the placement of the colors is going to give it a completely different look.  I am excited about that.

Hope you all had a great weekend.  Ours involved a corned beef dinner courtesy of my son in law.  I have plans for a major shopping excursion today with a friend who has lost a ton of weight, who needs new jeans and new bras.  I have planned the trip with myself as sort of a shopping guide, so we will see how that goes!  I'll keep you posted.  Chicos and Soma are on our hit list.

 

Now I'm Happy

I am so pleased with my modification of the Sweet Escapes log cabin block!  I have an idea regarding the color layout of the blocks too, that is different.  My center star will be red as shown, and I will have radiating blue stars in the four corners.  I decided not to be so random with this project, and be more planned in my color placement.  I hope it works the way my mind is envisioning it.

There are no plans to even leave the house this weekend, so with luck, on  Monday I will have more to show you.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Log Cabin Block All Figured Out

This log cabin block has undergone quite a metamorphosis from the original block in the Sweet Escapes sew along pattern.

This is my test block, which I rejected for two reasons.  One, it came out wonky.  Operator error, but I wasn't confident it wouldn't happen again.  I like to trim my blocks down with a log cabin trim tool, and these strips didn't conform to the tools that I have on hand.  Two, I was very unhappy with my choice of alternate background fabric.  It was too pale and wishy washy, not providing enough contrast, and that particular print reappeared at least eight times in other colorways in the fabric I was using, which bothered me.

The changes I made were to switch out my alternate background fabric to a taupe that coordinates well with the Sweet Tea fabric collection I want to use for the blocks, and which also was a slightly darker tone which I thought provided more contrast with the plain white background strips.

The blocks in the Sweet Escapes pattern are 10" finished.  My Creative Grids Log Cabin Trim tool is for a 6" block.  Still a bit small.  To achieve the look of the Sweet Escapes block, I need to add another round of strips to my block.

To trim the final round, I used my 8" Bias Square trim tool, which kept that last outside round of strips straight and true.  I love all the markings on that ruler.  You can't go wrong lining things up.

You may also have noticed that instead of using two 1 1/2" squares at the center of the block (see my dark blue test block), I made a 2" half square triangle for the single center square.  I think when I put these blocks together, I am going to have the same look as the quilt in the pattern.  Since my blocks are two inches smaller than the blocks in the pattern, my quilt is going to be smaller as well, which does not trouble me in the least.

So why am I going to so much bother to change up the block, instead of just going with the pattern?  I don't know.  I guess because I can.  I like things to be really square and not wonky, and these trim tools achieve that for me.  I don't trust myself to get a nice straight square block without some help.  In the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn't matter, but I am just going with a method that makes me happy, even though it is more work.

Hometown Christmas Quilt

Have any of you seen the Sweetwater Hometown Christmas quilt?  Click on the photo above to enlarge and see the detail.   It is simple patchwork, combined with machine applique and embroidery (eeeep).

The first step is to make twelve blocks that consist of a strip of 2 1/2" squares and two rectangles.  On one of the rectangles you machine applique the shapes, and on the other you trace your embroidery design.  The embroidery is super simple, easy block letters.  I can do this, right?   Hah.  Talk about over confidence.  I quickly discovered how out of practice with embroidery I was. 

I have never been particularly good at embroidery, but I have enjoyed it from time to time.  The last time I did any was when Sara was pregnant with Eva and I embroidered some onesies for the baby.  She is now seven and a half.  It has got to be like riding a bike.  I thought I would just jump right into this new project and all will be good.

No.  It turns out that embroidery is one of those skills that needs to be kept up with regular practice.  My stitches were not straight, not all the same length, and quite sad looking really.  My panels looked like a first graders first attempt at writing.  I had two false starts with my blocks, but luckily the poorly embroidered panel can be un-sewed and you can start over with a fresh panel.

Clearly, what I need is some practice before I pitch myself into embroidering the blocks for the quilt.  I am still rusty, but I think I can get up to speed again.

Killing Time with New Projects and Tools

While I wait patiently (not) for my extra materials for the Sweet Escape project, I have been passing the time by playing with some new projects and tools.  Some time ago I purchased a Creative Grids ruler called the Curvy Log Cabin Tool.  I got the six inch size, but it comes in 4 inch and 8 inch block sizes.

The concept is the same as their regular Log Cabin trim tool, but with the Curvy, you use strips of two different widths to create the curved effect.  If you google Curved Log Cabin quilts, or look on Pinterest, you will see all sorts of wonderful results people have gotten using this tool.

One tip that I learned from this tool is how to get a center square that is dead on perfectly square.

There is a little guide for you to use to cut your center square, and (this is the cool part) the tool has four little holes where you can take your pen and make dots to follow as a stitching guide!

I have learned that if you go awry with that first center square, your block is going to look wonky, even if it measures square once you get all the strips attached.

This picture is before trimming the strips.  You can see that little center square is perfect.

The ruler has marked squares that show you where to line up the center square and seam lines for accurate trimming.  You trim the narrower strips first, then flip the block and the ruler around to trim the wider strips.

I have in mind that I will make a table runner with twelve or sixteen of these blocks.  It takes four blocks to make the pattern shown in my first picture at the top of the post, and four blocks to make this design:

Both designs are fun, but I am leaning towards the circular one.

Hope you had a great weekend!  Mine was pretty quiet.  It stopped raining and the sun came out, which was a great novelty.  I also got some St. Patrick's Day flowers.  It is mostly greenery, but I still like it.