Quilting the Aviatrix Medallion

Well, after lots of working on quilt tops, I decided I was long overdue to finish an actual quilt. The Aviatrix Medallion quilt top has been sitting nicely folded in a drawer for over six months, and since I had a clear idea of how I wanted to quilt it, I decided it'd be an easy one for me to pull out and work on.

I basted it at work on a big conference table last Friday, and a week later, I'm almost finished with it! I'm quilting it in free-motion angles - mostly squares and rectangles. It's sort of like stippling, only instead of squiggles it's all horizontal and vertical lines. I think it looks pretty good, and I'm excited to soon have my first finish of 2017!

Amish Medallion Progress

I am really loving working on this medallion quilt. Because there are so many varying parts, and each part is so different, it's impossible to get bored with it. I finished up the rainbow colored circles, and started working on the green and blue circles they're paired with. I'm getting pretty good at the curved piecing, but it's still tricky to get them lined up just so. I've done a fair bit of seam-ripping and resewing of these in attempts to get them just a little bit better, and most of them are good now.

These got bordered by a rainbow of squares which was a nice easy break from all the precision piecing, and now I'm working on the next four blocks, which are these big bold appliqued flowers:

I'm not hand-appliqueing them, because I don't have the patience, but it's been fun to work on large-scale applique after all those teeny-tiny flower pieces I was doing previously.

Recipe Time: Ramen Noodle Chicken Stir Fry

Every time I make a stir fry, I think - why don't I do more of these! They are easy, fast, healthy and delicious. With this one, I started with this recipe, but made a bunch of changes, so I'm just re-writing it for this post:

Ingredients (serves 4)

Peanut Sauce

• 1/4 c. peanut butter (crunchy or creamy, whatever you have)
• 2 T. soy sauce
• 2 t. toasted sesame oil
• 1 t. sugar or honey
• 1 t. hot sauce or chili paste or whatever spicy condiment you have - add more or less depending on your taste
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 c. water

Stir Fry

• 2 T. oil for sauteeing
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced thinly or cubed, whatever you prefer.
• 2 3 oz. packages ramen noodles (discard the seasoning packet!)
• 5-6 c. stir fry veggies - you can use peppers, onions, broccoli, carrots, snap peas, water chestnuts...whatever. I used frozen mixed stir fry veggies from Costco and added a few random things we had in the fridge too.

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce and whisk until smooth. 
2. Pour 1/2 the sauce over the chicken and set aside to marinate for 15-20 min.
3. Get a pot of water boiling and prep your veggies while waiting for the meat to marinate
4. In a large skillet saute the chicken until cooked through, 6-10 min. Remove from skillet and set aside in a warm place.
5. While the chicken is cooking, boil the ramen noodles for 1 1/2 - 2 min (you want them al dente). Drain, return to the pot and coat with the remaining sauce. Cover to keep warm
6. Heat the oil in the skillet and saute the veggies for about 10 min or until they're done to your liking - I like mine a little crunchy so it was more like 7 minutes for me. Add the chicken and noodles, stir to combine and continue cooking for another minute or two until everything is nice and heated through. Yummm

Inspiration

What is it about daylight savings time? One little hour changes, and I'm knocked on my ass every night barely able to keep my eyes open over dinner and an rerun of "Friends". There hasn't been much sewing happening, what with the 8 pm bedtime and all!

One thing I wanted to write about was that Quilt Con happened a couple weeks ago. This is the annual quilt show put on by the The Modern Quilt guild, and anyone who's anyone enters quilts and goes to the show. I've never been, because they're always in inconvenient places, but I look forward to seeing the winning quilts and hear all about the goings-ons on social media.

In previous years the "Best in Show" winner has been controversial, but I haven't heard a single peep about this year's choice. It is amazing, plain and simple: 

bling - Pieced and quilted by Katherine Jones

I keep looking at this quilt - looking at the colors, looking at the shapes, looking at how it was pieced together, looking at it up close and far away. It's mesmerizing!

Another entry I just loved was Chawne Kimber's "Autumn is Wistful". It didn't win any awards, but it's another one I find myself going back to again and again. It's powerful. These quilts are completely different, made with different materials and different techniques, but both are considered modern quilts.

"Autumn is Wistful" - pieced and quilted by Chawne Kimber

I don't consider myself a "Modern" quilter as it's typically defined (and believe me, trying to define this has been the subject of tons of controversy over the past five years). Just like the books I read, the quilts I make I consider eclectic - some hallmarks of modern quilting I don't use at all, like improvised piecing or minimalism or use of negative space. Others I use all the time, like solid fabrics, straightline quilting, and making quilts that are functional.

I'm OK not really fitting in with any particular movement or group (story of my life!), and I love the fact that inspiration can be drawn on from multitudes of sources and people and styles. The world of quilting is a big one, and my horizon's are constantly being expanded by both the past and the future. I'd encourage you to look at the rest of this years winners - it's a treat!

https://community.themodernquiltguild.com/resources/quiltcon-2017-award-winners

Recipe Time: Crockpot Moo Shu Pork

http://www.foodtasticmom.com/slow-cooker-moo-shu-pork/

When a friend at work mentioned that she was making Moo Shu Chicken for dinner, I knew right away that it sounded delecious and I wanted some! I also knew I was feeling very lazy, and crockpots are the way to go whenever possible, so after a little googling, I tried a recipe and it was great.

I don't know why I haven't jumped on the Moo Shu bandwagon earlier - delecious shred of meat, yummy asian flavors, healthy veggies, and SO EASY.

I used this lady's recipe, but of course made a few changes as is my way:

• She says to use 1 1/2 bags of coleslaw mix, but just throw in two whole ones - one right away in the morning, and then the second one during the last 1/2 hour of cooking.
• I added some asian red chilli paste to my sauce because I like a little spice
• You can be crazy and add more veggies to this - I added 1/2 a bag of shredded carrot, because I had it laying around, and I've also seen mushrooms and snap peas too. I'd add those during the last 1/2 hour of cooking too, because otherwise they'll be mush.
• Traditionally this is served with those thin crepe-like chinese pancakes, but nobody wants to make those and instead they use flour tortillas. I think tortillas are gross unless they're fried and turned into chips, so I served this over rice and thought it was was fabulous.

Color Wheels (Part 2)

Ok, so I was working on these color wheels, remember? But then I had to put them away due to running out of scraps. In the meantime, work on this Amish Medallion quilt has begun, and it turns out the next steps are to make some color wheels! These are different than the other ones I was working one, but still - more color wheels!

The actual wheels are paper pieced, and then sewn unto the black background, using curved piecing. Piecing curves is a little tricky, but fun, and I love how these pop against the background. I have to make four of them, and I'm almost done.

Paper Piecing Roll

 So, I ran out of solid color scraps for my Color Wheel quilt, so that's temporarily put away until my scrap supply is replenished. I figured the best way to do that would be to start working on another quilt, right? I decided to start the 2016 Craftsy Block of the Month quilt called "Amish Medallion", which starts out with a big paper pieced center flower thing. I've decided paper-pieced things are good side projects to have going when you need a break from your real project.

This center part is some tricky piecing, let me tell you! It's made up of multiple different sections, and there was a bit of seam ripping happening since paper piecing is confusing, and I'm easily confused. It got better once I decided to write what colors all the different sections were supposed to be.

But it's cool, isn't it? I possibly got so interested in doing this "side project" that my main project (the Smithereens quilt) got neglected.