Sister's Choice Quilts

Dilemma

Anybody know where this is?  We are at Hearst Castle in San Simeon!  Eva has a school report due on a famous American, and she was assigned William Randolph Hearst.  Now, I admit I was a bit dismayed at her assigned Important Person.  Why couldn't she have gotten someone more fun like Walt Disney or Sally Ride?  Well, we decided to try to make the best of it.

We made a spontaneous field trip down to Hearst Castle in San SImeon  (a five hour car ride) to learn more about Mr. Hearst.  Our task was to come up with some contributions Hearst made towards making America great.  This was going to be a challenge, because I have some serious prejudices against the man.  And that is all I am going to say about that.  

"There is so much good in the worst of us
And so much bad in the best of us
That it ill behooves any of us 
To talk about the rest of us."

When Hearst died the property called Hearst Castle passed to the State of California, who maintains and repairs the estate, which has become a major tourist attraction.  The three of us had a great tour of the place, and stayed in a lovely hotel on the ocean on Saturday night.  Eva learned some facts about William Randolph Hearst, and was particularly impressed with the importance of maintaining the land and property.  She even got a Junior California Ranger badge and took an oath to be responsible for the Earth and it's creatures.  Here she is taking her oath with a proper ranger after our tour.

It was a fun trip, but I still can't find three nice things to say about her Important Person.  Hmmm, well, he was against child labor...

Thank You

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who commented on my Twelfth Anniversary post.  It has been so rewarding to have you follow along on my journey these past years and I hope we can continue our relationship for many more.  I love sharing my love of quilting, family tidbits, decorating, books and recipes with you.

Speaking of which, I have a recipe that I hope you might enjoy.  It has been so rainy, stormy and windy this month that I have turned  more often than not to filling, nourishing soups and stews that leave me feeling all cozy inside.  This recipe for Beef Barley soup is one of them.  Bon appetit!

Beef Barley Soup

1 pound beef stew meat, cut into small chunks, and dredged in flour and Lawry's Seasoning Salt
olive oil 
1/2 lb sliced mushrooms
1/2 half onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 32 oz box Swanson's Beef Broth, low sodium
1/2 c uncooked barley
1 tsp fresh thyme, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Season beef in flour and Lawry's Seasoning Salt.  Brown in 1 T. olive oil.  When nicely browned, remove from pan.  In remaining oil, add mushrooms, onion, carrots and saute until softened.  Add more olive oil if necessary.  Sprinkle with a bit more flour if desired, to thicken ( no more than 1 T.).  When veggies are softened, add box of broth, reserved beef, barley and thyme.  Bring just to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 30-40 minutes, until thickened and barley is cooked through.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add more broth if you like.  Serves 4 generously.

Have a great weekend everyone!  Dreaming of drier and warmer days here.

Crosshatch Quilt

I have launched myself into making the block units for the American Pie quilt, which I have decided to call Crosshatch.  The photo above shows what the quilt will look like when finished, only of course I chose Jo Morton fabrics in autumnal colors for this version.  I have actually made this quilt once before, years ago, for my daughter Sara.  At that time I used lavender 30's prints.  I rarely, if ever, make a quilt twice, but I think this one might be worth repeating.

This is the book where you can find the pattern:

And here is my progress so far.  Each block is made up of four units, and I decided to mass produce all the units, and then put them into blocks.  It is going to take awhile to press all of those units...

This project has the end result of loads of half square triangles being produced as a by-product of trimming the blocks.  These are really starting to pile up and I have in mind some sort of pinwheel block project to use them up.

The stitching and trimming is pretty mindless, and I am enjoying listening to podcasts and audio books while I putter.  I just finished listening to The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz, which was pretty good.

Hope your week is going splendidly.  We had a terrible rain/wind storm last night which left one of the awnings over our side porch in tatters.  Hope I can find someone to replace it out here in the boonies.  We sure have been having some weather this winter.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

Twelve Years

February 12 was the anniversary of my very first blog post.  A kind reader, Pam, pointed it out to me and I thought at first that she must be wrong.  No, it could not be possible that I have been blogging for that long.  Maybe ten years, but certainly not....And then I checked, and sure enough friends, Sister's Choice Quilts was launched on February 12, 2007.

I started this blog for several reasons, mainly because I love to write, and second because I wanted a record of my quilting journey, and third, because I was in the hope of meeting more like minded people with whom I could share my love of quilting.  

The quilt pictured above was featured in my very first post.  It was made on a quilting retreat and I named it Blogging Friendship.  It was my first and last Mystery Quilt! I featured the quilt in a giveaway in 2008, and  Susan from Blackberry Creek Home Arts was the winner.  Susan is still blogging as well, so you should go say hi.  I know she'd love that.

So many things have changed since that first post twelve years ago.  Blogging was in it's heyday back then, and I had been inspired by several bloggers who unfortunately, no longer post.  I had several cyber friends with whom I would exchange long quilt/fabric related emails.  We provided mutual support and also joked that we were "enablers" who caused one another to buy way more fabric than was necessary. We even met up in person on several occasions!  That was such fun.  People do Instagram more now I guess, and blogs seem to be out of fashion.  Quilt shops and quilt shop hops were a big deal in those days as well, and there were many opportunities to shop in person and even get together at shops and sew with friends. Now quilt shops seem to be few and far between, victims of the economy and the ease of internet shopping. The shop that sponsored the retreat where I made the Mystery Quilt is no longer in business. 

When I introduced myself in that first post, I explained that I had named my blog Sister's Choice Quilts in honor of my four sisters.  Now, sadly, I only have three sisters.  I also said in my first post that I hoped to meet more quilters and make some new friends.  That goal has been met in a way that has far exceeded my expectations.  People have come and gone over the years, but I still get comments and appreciate every single one of them.  The greatest blessing in this twelve year adventure has been the interaction I have had with lovely, quilt loving women.

Whether you are a long time follower of this blog, or if you just discovered me by accident recently, I thank you with all my heart for visiting and giving me a chance to express myself.

Red Ohio Star/Threadology Runner

I posted about the Fatquarter Shop Threadology Sew Along here a week or so ago.  Check out that post for all the details regarding the sew along.  Every time a goal is reached, a new setting alternative is released.  I wasn't super interested in making the entire quilt, but when I saw this table runner pattern featuring five of the blocks I knew I had to make it.

I had some red Fig Tree fabrics in my stash, which I thought would be very pretty in a table runner, especially for February.  I was short the tone on tone red fabric for the sashing and border, so I needed to see if I could find some on the Internet.  I was able to locate some and got the runner together at the end of last week.

The basic block is the Ohio Star, with the background in a print and the star in a solid.  I love how the use of the print in the background of the block really showcases the pretty fabrics.  I also like the blended effect you get when the blocks are positioned next to one another.  It is hard to see where one fabric stops and the adjacent one begins.

Monday was a school holiday here, so I had Eva keeping me company all day.  She spent part of the day making a Valentine's box which she will take to school on Wednesday.  They were selling the plain white boxes at Hobby Lobby for under $4 if you can believe it.  Cuter and so much more convenient than trying to cut up a shoe box and cover it with wrapping paper!  She was very happy with it and said  "If we do this at school next year, I am keeping this box and using it again".

Hope your week got off to a good start.  Our snow is nearly melted away and for now the sky is blue.  It is pretty chilly for us, as 35, so I am staying cozy inside and making my Aunt Gerry's Oatmeal Cake, and a beef barley soup.

Snowed In

I woke up to a winter wonderland Sunday morning.  It had quietly snowed all night long, and our power had been out from midnight to about 6:00 AM.

This was the view out my bedroom door.  The trees were so beautiful with their branches all decorated with snow.

But our driveway was somewhere under all that whiteness.  And it is a hill.  My husband with his two knee replacements, was keen to start shoveling it, but I had grave misgivings about the wisdom of that plan.  

Luckily, my daughter and her husband, who live in the mountains and have a big truck with special snow tires, drove down and helped us out.  That is my son in law at the top of the driveway with a snow shovel, taking care of it for us.

We just are not used to this kind of weather.  It's California for goodness sake, and in February I am expecting to see the daffodils coming up and the cherry blossoms coming out on the trees.

However, some members of the family thoroughly enjoyed the novelty that the snow storm brought.

Too Pretty Not to Share

This was just too pretty not to share.  I had this little Bear Paw table topper quilted nearly a year ago, and just had not gotten around to binding it.  Valentine's Day is fast approaching and I thought it would be just the thing for a pretty tablescape.  My problem was the red/pink is kind of an odd shade.  Reddish pink with a coral vibe.  I looked and looked and could not find any candles that really went with it.  It was pretty on the table, but needed some accessorizing.

I walk several days a week with a friend, and was complaining to her about my dilemma of not being able to pull together a table decoration around my new topper due to the unusual pink/red color.  We were about half way through our walk when one of us (ahem, I believe it was me) suggested turning around and immediately heading to the nearest shopping mecca to shop (about an hour away).  And we did.  Now that's a good friend.  We rationalized that we were not getting our full allotment of steps in if we quit our walk halfway through, but after all, that tromping around the mall would certainly add enough steps to make our quota.

We went to Ulta, we went to Target, we went to Trader Joe's, we went to Hobby Lobby.  We went to Red Robin.  They did not have candles there, but my goodness, those cheeseburgers were good.  We spent lots of money on beauty products, but ultimately I came home with nothing for my table.  We drove an hour there and an hour back, because we live out in the country with no good shopping.  We talked about books, we talked about kids, we talked about clothes.  After saying good bye to my friend, seven hours after our morning walk, I ran to the grocery store five minutes from my house for some provisions.  There was a Hallmark store next to the grocery store.  I went in.  And they had candles in the perfect shade of pinky/red that I needed to match my table topper.

Do I regret spending an entire day on a fruitless quest for something that was five minutes from my house?  Not at all.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

New Project-American Pie

Aren't these fabrics perfect?  Perfect for me anyway.  I've been talking about the new project I have had in mind to get started on, and finally have something to show for it.

I've made a couple of test blocks and am excited to get going on the project.   The pattern is American Pie by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  I will share more details on it in my next post.

For the block units, I need to apply two folded corner squares to each 4 1/2" print square.  My Folded Corner Ruler by Doug Leko is coming in handy for this step.

Usually I don't bother to save the triangle trimmings, but these are nice and big-over 2", so I guess I'd be crazy not to.  I can make a wonderful table runner with the leftover triangles.  In fact, I could probably make another quilt, there are so many of them!  Over 700 if my memory serves me correctly.

The snow is melted, at my elevation anyway, and school is back in session.  A lot of folks are still without power, including my daughter Sara who lives near Yosemite at a higher elevation than me.  Electricity is unlikely to be restored very quickly so they have been playing cards by lantern light and trying to amuse themselves.  She says they know they are going to lose everything in the freezer, so they got started eating the ice cream last night.  She always steps up to the plate in an emergency.  Hee hee.

Snow Day

As you may know, I live in Northern California.  Our weather is pretty temperate, with quite warm summers.  We are in the foothills at an altitude of around 1500 feet.  Rarely, about every three years or so, we get a light dusting of snow.  And everything comes to a halt.

All of my friends in colder climates will get a kick out of this.  You can see in the photo the amount of snow that fell (and which quickly melted).  And they closed the schools and some government offices for a "snow day".  

It was pretty cold for California, I have to say that.  35 degrees.  Brrrr.  All you folks affected by the Polar Vortex and -27 degree weather must be laughing at that.  To be fair, there are plenty of people not far up the hill from us who were affected by much heavier levels of snow and quite hazardous driving conditions due to icy roads and fallen trees.  Lots of folks lost electricity, and still don't have it back.

Since the schools were closed I had my grand daughter Eva with me all day, and we did not set foot outside.  It was a lovely lazy day of reading, watching movies and baking cookies.  I don't think I would care to have snow on a regular basis, but it was pretty nice for a day.

Something New

As you know, if you regularly read this blog, I have been itching to start a new project.  Now that I have nearly finished a long running string quilt project, I am ready to move on.  I have something all cut out and ready to dive into, but as often happens, I got sidetracked.

It came to my attention that Fatquartershop.com is sponsoring a charity quilt along they call Threadology.  The sew along will ultimately benefit the Make A Wish Foundation.  Full details can be found on the Jolly Jabber (FQS blog).  I am posing a photo of the finished sampler quilt here:

Fatquartershop will post free patterns and also block making tutorial videos each time a new pattern comes out, which is supposed to be every two weeks.  In addition to the setting above, alternate settings will be shared when certain fund raising goals are met.  You are encouraged to donate $5 to Make A Wish for each free pattern you use.  Details here.  Moda Fabrics will match any donations to this worthy cause.

The first block pattern is for the Ohio Star block, with a dark background and light star.  This is such a great block for showing off fabrics you love. 

You make one 12 inch block and four 6 inch blocks each time a pattern is released.  The first fundraising goal of $3500 has already been met, and therefore, an alternate block arrangement was shared.  This was for a table runner, which I really liked.  I had some pretty Fig Tree red prints in my stash and decided spur of the moment to go ahead and make the five blocks, plus the flying geese/square in a square end strips.  I was not able to finish the runner because I didn't have enough of the tone on tone red for the sashing and border for the runner.

Thanks to the trusty Internet however, I was able to order more of the red and with luck, should be able to finish up the runner in the next week or so.  I hate to have to stop when I was on such a roll, but that's life.

Be sure and check out the links to the Threadology quilt along, as people are sharing photos of their blocks and fabric choices, which is always fun and inspiring.  On Instagram, use #threadologyquiltalong.