Not quite the same, but perfect for this season.

I was at IKEA a couple of weeks ago, looking for items for my travel cooking kit.  As I browsed through the cooking section, I came across this spatula.  It was larger than that old cooking spoon I had, but the same basic shape.  I decided to get one and see how I liked it.  With doing so much roasting and sauteing of my winter squashes and potatoes, this utensil is perfect.  I can stir things around and then scoop them up when they are done.  A great find!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am doing a lot of peeling these days.  My current peeler is from OXO, and I wanted to get at least one more so I have a clean one available when I need it.  Looking at their site, I saw that they have a professional version that doesn't have the ridges in the side, which are terribly hard to keep clean.  Plus it comes with replacement blades.  Another great find!

And finally, when at IKEA I bought a couple of knives that I will use now and take traveling.  Big knives have always seemed rather scary, but with all the chopping I am doing these days, especially with the butternut squash, it was time to get used to using one.  I must say, it does make my work much easier, and I am happy to have this addition to my cooking arsenal.

 

Necessity...

...encourages thinking outside the box.

The new arrangement of my studio places my sewing machines on what were previously a side table and cutting table.  The desk which had served as my sewing table had a foot shelf on which I had the foot peddle for Bernie.  Being a person of little stature, no longer having the foot shelf has made it rather an awkward reach for me to use my foot peddles.  

Recently I was at Container Store getting some spice jars and bottles for the travel cooking kit I am putting together.  While there, I decided to see if I could find anything that might serve as a foot shelf.  Sure enough, Container Store came through for me again.  Designed for kitchen cabinet/pantry use, these shelves were nice and sturdy.  And since they were expandable, I was able to adjust them to just the size I needed.  What a big difference it has made in controlling my speed with Mr. J. 

I am really enjoying the new layout, and having one machine designated for sewing/piecing and one for quilting.  The fabric for the blocks of Painted Desert are cut out.  Steady progress is being made on Mixed-up Split, and I was given another quilt to do some "fancy" quilting in some of the blocks.  That quilt needs to be done by October.  Looks like I have plenty of happy quilting time ahead.

Mixed-up Split

Remember the Ugly Duckling quilt?  Well, I have another one on my hands, but I am afraid that there is no swan potential at all for this one.  The block is called the Disappearing Nine Patch, but since it involves splitting a block in half both vertically and horizontally, I am naming this quilt the Mixed-up Split.  

First, we started with nine 5 inch squares which we then sewed into a 3 by 3 block.  The block is then cut down the middled from top to bottom, and then again from side to side.  The pieces are rearranged as desired and reassembled together.  It actually is a pretty nice pattern.  We each made a block and then put them together in a quilt.  The problem was that some of the blocks had nine different fabrics and some had three.  Some were put together one way and some another.  There is no cohesiveness or order to this quilt.  The quilting I am doing on it has not improved it, so I am just considering it a good practice opportunity with Mr. J.  With this design, I am working on quilting straight lines both vertically and horizontally, and making stars and an ivy type design from a variety of directions.

Mixed-up split

Ivy and Stars

Straight lines

My next UFO projects looks to be much more fun.  It is called Painted Desert.  I nabbed the striped fabric from the UFO bin several months ago, but there were only fifteen 8 inch squares.  I have been searching for a pattern that would allow me to use this fabric as the main fabric, but not require a lot of it.  The quilt pictured below is the inspiration.

 And these are the fabrics I will be using.

The dotted fabric in the back will be the backing for the quilt and may be used at the corners of the sashing and in the border.  More pictures to come.

Same Goal-Different Views

My quilt group is a wonderful bunch of ladies.  Lots of camaraderie and creativity.  Some really pretty quilts, and some not so beautiful (more on that in the next post).  And there are a lot of different ways that we approach quilting.  KC, who leads our group (though she denies that she is the leader, she really is) wants to keep the quilts simple so that we can make as many as possible to give away.  A very reasonable approach for sure.  She has made some very lovely quilts that are simple in design and quilting.  The UFO's I work on from start to finish tend to have smaller pieces and more detailed quilting than KC would like, but I can't help following the design to where it takes me.  For me it is not just a giving of the quilt itself, but also investing time and creativity to make it something special to receive. Thankfully I am not the only one that has this tendency, and we do get enough quilts made that KC is (mostly) willing to bear with those of us who favor the detail.

Since I have started coming to the group, I have been able to encourage the ladies to try their hand at machine quilting.  While most have become comfortable with quilting in the ditch, if they want any "fancy work" done, they usually ask me to do it.  This is just fine with me since I love working with free-motion quilting, though I hope in time they will want to play with designs more.  This week I was asked to do some fill quilting on one of our UFO's.  It was fun to do and I am pleased with the results.

Flags a-Flying

Fill quilting with seam ripper for scale

The quilt is two rows of pre-printed flag panels, with strips added in between to get it to throw size.  The fill quilting I did is in the wide red strip in the middle.  It is very passable for one of our patriotic quilts (not my favorites).  Mr. J and I continue to get to know one another, and this project went pretty smoothly.  I foresee happy quilting times ahead.

A-Peeling, Part 2

To peel or not to peel?  That was the question.  While tis better to peel than not, the abundance of peeling makes peeling very unappealing sometimes.  But with organic, I needn't panic, so not peeling is fine, some of the time. (Okay, Shakespeare I am not, but Fezzik and I would get along quite well.)

As I did some digging concerning the peeling issue, I went back and looked at past pictures again.  In the 2007 Christmas pictures I did not have the rosacea, but in the 2008 Christmas pictures I did.  Going through our past health reimbursement file, I saw that I started taking Fosomax in January of 2008.  This, I believe may be a, if not the, big factor in my health issues. Considering that I was on it for two years, I figure I should give myself a minimum of two years to heal.  

Things continue to be better overall, but I have noticed that the Metrogel I am using for the rosacea doesn't seem to be keeping it as clear as it did.  Could this be because of the calcium I am taking or is it losing its effectiveness as some have reported it doing?  And why do somethings seems to bother me one time and not another.  And sometimes what I think is the thing bothering me isn't the issue at all.  At this point I am doing all I know to do to address all the issues, so when things get out of sorts, all I can say to my body is "Sorry, you just have to deal with it."  Hopefully, my positive efforts over time will begin to outweigh the negative things I can't avoid.  

So, I will hold to this course, and unless something major turns up, I plan to lay this topic to rest.  I pray a blessing of good health for myself and those I love. 

 

Vary A-Peeling

After watching all the "latest and greatest" health food fads come and go, I have become  skeptical about any pronouncement of the newest healthy thing on the market.  When organic products came on the market, I pretty much dismissed them along with the rest.  However, both my research dealing with my food issues, plus reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen, changed my opinion.  Consequently I am buying more and more organic products and finding the more I do, the better I do.  

With the summer heat taking its toll on the local farmers, I am having to look more to the grocery store for my produce.  The organic produce at my local grocery and Sprouts really leave a lot to be desired, so I made a trek to Whole Foods this past week.  Comparatively it was like walking into an organic produce wonderland.  They sure know how to do a beautiful display.  Though they have the Whole Paycheck reputation, the produce isn't really higher than what I would be paying at the farmer's market, and I was surprised to find that some of their store-brand products were less than what I was paying elsewhere on sale. No complaints about that.  While my diet is not excessively expensive, it is more costly than what it was before I began this journey, so any opportunity to spend a little less is a bonus.  Looks like Whole Foods will become a regular shopping stop for me.   

Summer fruit is the one thing I look forward to in the summer.  I am doing fine with organic peaches and nectarines, but iffy with non-organic the cherries and the plums.  I did fine, though, with the plum when I peeled it.  (There is no way I am going to start peeling cherries.)  Is the issue that they weren't organic or that they weren't peeled.  Some organic plums will be the test.  To peel or not to peel...that is the question.

The Last Dot

Signed, sealed, and delivered to its sweet, wonderful, amazing little recipient. (Sorry--a little grandma mushiness kicked in.)  This was such a fun project (thank you, Mr. J.) and I was very pleased with the results.  Without further ado, here is Dot to Dot:

Front side

Back view

Small star detail

Hidden pictures

The block

Quilting detail-back

More quilting detail-back

Yet more quilting detail-back.  The way this lined up wasn't planned, but it sure worked out nicely.

The two sides together