Sister's Choice Quilts

Spring Table Runner and Reading

I got this little table runner back from the quilter last week.  I have the binding attached but not sewn down.  The quilt is one twelve inch Ohio Star block, four six inch Ohio Star blocks and twelve flying geese.  I had some Fig Tree reds in a bin, which is what I used.  Easy to put together and a good size for the dining table.

I have not been much in the mood to sew this week, but have been doing a ton of reading.  I have read several lately that you may enjoy too.  I mentioned "Daisy Jones and the Six" yesterday. 

One that I finished earlier in the week was "Mariana" by Susanna Kearsley.  Kearsley is known for her well researched historical fiction, suspense, romance and a touch of magic in her books.  Mariana buys a house in the English countryside and starts having visions of what happened there three hundred years before.  It was a good story, and I loved the descriptions of the houses and gardens.

"Garlic and Sapphires" is a memoir by Ruth Reichl, former restaurant critic for the New York Times.  When Ruth is hired on by the NYT to be their restaurant critic, her photo is plastered on the walls of every restaurant in the city.  When she arrives at a restaurant to critique the food, everyone recognizes her and the food and service she gets is not at all what the general public would receive (in most cases).  So Ruth embarks on a campaign of clever disguises to hide her identity.  She successfully dines in famous New York restaurants, unrecognized by the wait staff and chefs.  This makes for very entertaining reading.  Some of her experiences had me laughing out loud.  She definitely exposes some very snooty behavior and sketchy practices at some well known establishments!

Hope to get some sewing in this weekend.  Have a good one everyone.

Slow and Steady

Six more blocks are done, and this is my progress so far.  Not too many more to go.

Not much to report this week.  I have been reading a really good book, "Daisy Jones and The Six", a story loosely based on the rock band Fleetwood Mac.  It is really engrossing, and if you grew up with the music of the 70's you might enjoy it too.  Even if you didn't, the book is well done.  The format of the novel is as if it is one long Rolling Stone magazine interview about the band and the life they all led back in the day.  Kind of fascinating.  It had me listening to Fleetwood Mac songs all day and seeing the (previously to me) tension between Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham.

The book has been getting a lot of press lately, well deserved.

 

 

 

This and That

I had my tiny little table topper quilted, and it came out so cute!  It is the perfect size for a candle or vase of flowers.  Still need to do the binding, but at least I have the fabric and know where to find it.

I needed more fabric for my Sweet Escape blocks, and good old Fabric Shack came through, as I knew they would, so I am ready to finish up those blocks.  I am seriously considering a scrappy companion piece in a log cabin design, featuring a layer cake of an older Minick and Simpson collection that has red, light blue, navy and cream.  I can see those two quilts out on my front porch on those nights during the summer when we want to sit outside and stargaze.  Red white and blue seems like such a summer color scheme, doesn't it?

In Instant Pot news, I am still completely smitten.  So smitten that I ordered the larger 6 quart size in addition to the mini 3 quart size I started out with.  This appliance is a complete game changer, I tell you.  Over the weekend, I made a Tomato Beef Curry that was perfect for entertaining.  Monday night I made Chicken Paprikash, which was so good I was talking to myself while I was eating it.  "Mmm, so good.  Wow, this is fabulous.  Mmmm.  Yum."   Seriously, this was the best $70 I have spent in, well I don't know, ever?  I love how you can saute the onions in the pot, then brown your chicken (in the same pot), then toss the noodles in the same pot, switch to Pressure Cook and in 4 minutes you have the most delicious dinner imaginable. And only one pan to wash.

I made home made mac and cheese for Eva in about 10 minutes, and she gave it her thumbs up sign of approval.  I took a bite, and even though mac and cheese is not something I typically crave, I decided then and there maybe I needed to have a small bowl of it. And it was good.   I have a cookbook called The Instant Pot Bible, which is great, but I also have gotten a ton of recipes and tips from two YouTube sites:  Pressure Luck and Six Sisters Stuff.

Hope your week got off to a good start!  Mine sure did.  I now have a fridge full of mac and cheese and chicken paprikash to eat all week long!

Working on My Sweet Escape Variation

Do you see where I am going with this?  I will end up with four quadrants of blue stars with red centers.  All my taupe blocks will be used as the "background" blocks.  I did not have quite enough of the navy blue fabric and had to order a few more fat quarters, which should arrive this week.  Did you all know that Fabric Shack sells quarter yard cuts of fabric?  Not many online shops will do that.  And they carry almost every current collection.  Everything.  I order fabric from them quite often and they always mail it out very promptly.

Those of you familiar with the Sweet Tea fabric collection I am using will notice that I did not include the light blues at all.  They just didn't work with this plan.  Now, I am finding myself wishing that I had another jelly roll of the collection so I could do a really scrappy version of Sweet Escapes, using all the colors in the line.  I would scramble up the combinations in each block, having some red/light blue, red/navy, navy/light blue etc.  I am really in the groove of making these log cabin blocks!

If I do another jelly roll quilt, I will not precut my strips. It is so much faster not to have to do all that cutting.  Since I am using a ruler to square up each round, those strips really do not need to be cut into shorter lengths.  

All the red and taupe blocks are made, just need to make sixteen more navy blocks.  My blocks are smaller than the Sweet Escapes pattern calls for, so my quilt is going to be more a generous throw than a bed sized quilt.  I should finish it this week.

Hope you all had a great weekend.  Our weather isn't exactly warm or sunny, but it is mild and pleasant.  The air is "soft".  My husband and I went out to lunch on Sunday and were able to eat outside which was lovely.

Cooking and Cleaning

I have been cooking up a storm in my new Instant Pot.  I may have made the best soup of my life-Loaded Potato Soup.  The recipe can be found here.  The recipe was for the 3 Quart Mini Instant Pot, and made at least five servings.  I have had it three times since I made it and there is enough for two more bowls.  I made it just as the recipe dictated, but I did use my immersion blender to puree things before I tossed the crispy bacon in.  Bowl licking delicious.

At some point, I am going to get this new appliance off my kitchen counter and want to put it away.  Which got me thinking....  My pantry was a horrible mess.  Who even knew what was in those far corners and on the top shelves.  So, I pulled every single thing out and Kon-Maried my pantry.  Not much sparked joy, and I did a massive purge of outdated and unwanted items.  It took hours.  No before photo as it was too terrifying.  That is my after photo above.

I have ordered some clear plastic bins from the Container Store, which will allow me to put like items together.  The bins have a pull handle on one end, so you can use it like a drawer-pull it forward and you can see how many cans of diced tomatoes you have instead of rummaging around moving things aside on the shelf to see what's in the back.  I had a few of these bins already, but went online and ordered eight more for my canned goods.  On sale right now too.

Here is one of those organizer bins with Eva's favorite snacks in it.  It is hard to see, but there is a handle on the front that you can grab and pull forward like a drawer.   My pantry shelves are super deep, so this is so handy.  

Here are my bottom shelves with some of my appliances easily accessible.  My new Instant Pot and my panini maker on the shelf and my bread maker and pasta maker on the floor.  

Gosh I love being organized.  

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.