Clammy Progress

I took a break from the medallion quilt to work on my little "Feeling Clammy" mini quilt. This clamshells were supposed to be appliqued, so I used my glue and freezer paper technique that I discovered last month, and it worked so well!

I had all my clams finished in an hour, and after that is an easy matter of machine sewing them to the background fabric.

I thought this mini would take me a couple days to make, but it ended up being a two hour project!

Friday Finish: Feeling Clammy

I finished up my June mini last night in time for Friday Finish!

I quilted this in wavy lines, trying to evoke water or ocean waves. I used the same diagonal stripe background print for the binding, and the background is a green mini pearl-bracelet print, that i think is so fun.

All in all, I loved doing these little clamshells, and yes...I think I want to do a bigger full-sized quilt out of them, so stay tuned for that project!

Aviatrix Medallion: Border 2

The second border on the Aviatrix Medallion quilt was also easy-peasy. Just strips of colors sewn together in blocks, rotated different ways.

Aren't the colors great? Things get a little more involved on the next three borders...

Aviatrix Medallion: Border 1

After finishing the center star last night, I dove right into the first border, which is easy-peasy half-square triangles in varying shades of grey.

Most quilts are made with blocks, and you make all your blocks first, and then sew them together row-by-row. The fun thing about medallion quilts is that they're constructed from the inside out, so you can see your progress as you go.

These triangles took me all of 20 minutes to make, so it was a nice break after that intense center star!

Aviatrix Medallion: Center Star

I think the center star is the trickiest part of construction this medallion quilt. I layed out all my little pieces and started carefully sewing them together last night. I'm pretty good at eyeballing a quarter inch seam, so I didn't mark the intersections...which went well for the MOST part.

Some of my seams are joined perfectly, others not so much. Ahem. Moving on:

Pretty near perfect seam intersections!

When I glanced at the pattern, I was pretty sure this would be sewn together with y-seams, but after a more careful study, I realized that clever Elizabeth Hartman figured out a way for this to come together without the dreaded y-seam - hooray!

As you can see from the pictures below, I have the star pieces finished, and now there will be two triangles sewn to each corner, and then the whole business sewn together in quarters. Once it's trimmed this will measure about 14 inches. Aren't the colors pretty?

Careful Cutting

My next quilt to tackle is Elizabeth Hartman's pattern called "Aviatrix Medallion". This one has been on my bucket list for a long time, and I'm excited to finally start it. I read that the hardest thing about this quilt is all the cutting required, and yes, that's completely true. I've spent six hours cutting so far, and I'm still not done!

There are lots of tedious template pieces to cut, and scratching my head deciphering directions that say "Cut 6 six inch squares for row 6, piece A, and 5 six inch squares for row 4, piece B." It's not hard, it just takes me a minute to get it all figured out.

The cutting is so tricky, that Elizabeth put a separate "Pattern Support" document on her website where she gives helpful hints about putting bits of painters tape on the plastic templates so they won't slide around so much, and using little baggies to keep all your pieces organized. I'm following all these tips to the letter, and so far so good. Soon I'll actually be able to start sewing this thing!

Recipe Time: Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

http://www.wellplated.com/chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole/

I'm a Minnesota girl, which means I have love of casseroles in my DNA. Most of these casseroles have Cream of Mushroom soup as their #1 ingredient, but sadly this good old staple has gotten a bad rap lately, what with all the sodium and MSG and other weirdness.

Thank goodness, it's possible to make your own casserole binding sauce (it's basically a bechamel sauce), so you can continue having your cake (make that casserole), and eating it too.

For my Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole, I used this recipe, and it was great. Here are a few notes about what I did differently (because I always do!):

• I used regular rice (not instant) - so I adjusted the cooking time and added a little more chicken broth. I boiled the rice for about 15 minutes, so it wasn't cooked all the way through, but it finished in the oven.
• I used real garlic instead of garlic powder
• I added a chopped onion, because I add onion to everything
• I used full-fat everything, because that's better for you than all the non-fat or reduced fat stuff. 

Hedge Maze

So, I find out on July 1st if any of the quilts I submitted for exhibition get chosen. I figured I should probably buckle down and get them made, right?

This quilt is called Hedge Maze, and it's made using all Kaffe Fassett material. Kaffe Fasset is an English designer and is known for bold adventurous fabrics with wild designs and patterns. People either seem to love him or hate him...I'm on the love side most definitely.

Kaffe Fassett

This quilt is made completely of large Half-Square Triangles, which are easy to sew. I made the blocks in about two hours, and have them all lined up on the design wall. Tonight I'll get the rows sewn together and baste it, and it'll get quilted soon after.

One almost done...three more to go!

June Mini Quilt: Feeling Clammy

My mini quilt of the month package came yesterday, and it's a Clamshell Quilt! These have been trendy for about a year now, and I've wanted to make one, but word on the street is that they are TRICKY! I think a mini will be the perfect way to dip my toes into the whole clamshell thing and see how it suits me before I tackle a regular quilt.

Friday Finish: Mini Spiderweb

From the title it sounds like this is another one of my little mini quilts I've been having fun with, but the mini part only refers to the small size of the scraps used, and the scaled down spider web pattern. Each block finished at 3.5 inches and has an average of 18 fabrics in it - that's a lot of scraps!

It's fun to look at the blocks and see little snippets of projects past. I think every quilt I've made since 2009 is represented here! I used some leftover yardage for the backing, and the binding is a fun polka-dot print I had on hand.

From the Archives: Sommerset Medallion

This medallion quilt was I think maybe the 3rd or 4th quilt I free-motioned quilted, and looking back at photo's I'm impressed with myself! I remember looking through different quilting designs and practicing on scraps of batting and material before I actually tackled the quilt. It's pretty damn good, all things considered.

There's no way I'd spend the time and effort to do something so elaborate these days, but a smaller project like this one was the perfect way for me to practice, and I think the quilt pattern lends itself pretty well to all the experimentation.

This quilt lives with my grandma now, who has it displayed over her sofa and refuses to wash it for fear of ruining it!

Recipe Time: Tiramisu

I hosted my sister's 26th birthday party the other day, and she requested Tiramisu for dessert. I've never had a bad recipe from America's Test Kitchen, so I used theirs, and it was perfect! This is a easy recipe to make - it took me about 20 minutes. I was worried about finding ladyfingers at the grocery store, but they had them in the cookie aisle, no problem.

• 2 1/2 cups strong brewed coffee, room temperature
• 8 tablespoons dark rum/brandy/Kahlua
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 24 oz. marscapone cheese
• 3/4 cup cold whipping cream
• 14 ounces (42 to 60, depending on size) dried ladyfingers (savoiardi)
• 3-1/2 Tablespoons cocoa, preferably Dutch-processed
• 1/4 cup grated semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (optional)

Stir coffee and 4 tablespoons rum in a shallow bowl. Set aside.

In bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat yolks at low speed until just combined. Add sugar and salt and beat at medium-high speed until thick and pale yellow, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula once or twice. Add remaining 4 tablespoons rum and beat at medium speed until just combined, 20 to 30 seconds; scrape bowl. Add mascarpone and beat at medium speed until no lumps remain, 30 to 45 seconds, scraping down bowl once or twice. Transfer mixture to large bowl and set aside.

This was the brand of ladyfingers I used

In now-empty mixer bowl (no need to clean bowl), beat cream at medium speed until frothy, 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks, 1 to 1-1/2 minutes longer. Using rubber spatula, fold one-third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Set mascarpone mixture aside.

Working one at a time, drop ladyfingers into coffee mixture, roll, remove and transfer to 13 by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. Arrange soaked cookies in single layer in baking dish, breaking or trimming ladyfingers as needed to fit neatly into dish.

Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers; use rubber spatula to spread mixture to sides and into corners of dish and smooth surface. Place 2 tablespoons cocoa in fine-mesh strainer and dust cocoa over mascarpone.

Repeat dipping and arrangement of ladyfingers; spread remaining mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers and dust with remaining 1-1/2 tablespoons cocoa. Sprinkle with grated chocolate, if using, and chill overnight. 

Quilts on Exhibit?

My city exhibits the work of local artists at our city hall every quarter. When I saw the call go out for submissions for the rest of the year and 2017 I thought - why not submit my quilts? I filled out the application for four quilts and got it submitted and will hear back in July if anything get accepted.

Here's the catch: I submitted four quilts that I haven't even made yet! I included photos of the patterns so they can get an idea of what they'll look like, but at this point the quilts are figments of my imagination.

I do better work if I have a little bit of pressure behind me, so I guess this is my self-induced way of creating that pressure. Time to get sewing!

Friday Finish: Diamond Strips

This is my first normal-sized quilt finish in a few months! It feels good to be finally knocking out a few finishes - they'll be another one next friday too, I'm pretty sure!

This was a simple quilt, made using the classic Economy Block pattern. I think when a fabric line is outspoken, it's good to have a more understated design, and I think the Economy Blocks work well with Joel Dewberry's exuberant collection. The backing is a interesting fern print, and I used leftover strips for the binding.

I thought I made up my spiky swirly quilting pattern, but it looks like Christina Camelli does something similar she calls "Bear Claw". It's my new favorite because it's fast and flexible, and covers space well.

This is going to my sisters teaching assistant, who deserves something nice after a year of difficult second graders! My sister was over last night for her birthday party, so we quickly took a picture in my sewing room after dark so she could take the quilt with her...thus the not so great photo's

Quilting up a Storm

Now that I've been able to get a few quilts basted, I set up my machine for free-motion quilting and have been cranking them out.

I've discovered that elaborate free motion designs get kind of lost in a quilt once it's all washed and being used (as my quilts are intended for), and so it's not worth spending the time and effort, unless it's a show quilt or wall hanging. Simple all-over designs work best for the type of quilts I make, and I can do them quickly and pretty well

For the Mini Spider Webs, I'm doing a stipple using light lavender colored thread. There are lots of seams and bulky points in this quilt, so I've struggled a bit with breaking thread now and then, but nothing too terrible. I'm about 3/4 of the way done on this.

I also basted the Economy Blocks quilt I blogged about in March, and I'm doing that one in a sort of spiky swirly pattern I made up. It goes fast and covers the space well.