Another hoar frost morning

When we went to bed under a blanket of fog and it was already down to twelve degrees, I figured conditions were ripe for another hoar frost.  It's so fragile and yesterday I waited a bit too long to try to capture it.

  

But this morning I braved the cold while brewing coffee, and got some more photos.  The sun is trying to make an appearance, but so far it's losing.   Even the common house finch looks better perched on frosty limbs. 

  

The high yesterday barely got above freezing, and so we didn't lose much of our snow.  I'm looking forward to my weekend in Phoenix, although I can appreciate my frosty beauty.

Snowy morning

It snowed all day Thursday along with wind that blew interesting drifts.  There were road closings all around us, and we were just glad not to have to go anywhere.  But today the sun is shining and everything is beautifully sparkly. This was the scene just outside my sewing room.  

I was working on getting my Mimbres Bend quilted.  I've had this Kukulcan pantograph for some time, and was just waiting for an appropriate venue for it. It's a bit fussy to do, but I love the design. 

The steady wind made an interesting drift atop our carport roof.  There was also a pretty big cornice hanging off the house roof over the carport, but it didn't hold up to the sunshine and warmer temperatures. 

Row Robin

(I'm trying out the new editor and had to open another tab with my blog, because I had no idea what the default font was before.)  I finally put my row robin together that was started in February 2008.  I'm really pleased with the end result, and decided I like this method of making a quilt so much that I was going to join another one.  

But the best laid plans of mice and men, I just got a call from the VA, and I'm scheduled for my total knee replacement February 18th, the starting day for my annual quilting retreat in Phoenix.  I'm so disappointed, but I need to get the knee taken care of.  I'm trying out a new pantograph on a donation quilt, and then I'll be loading the row robin next. 

I did get this quilted for a friend.  I tried Maxi-Lock for the first time on the longarm, and I'm happy to say it worked great.  It's especially good because I bought five spools of it, four variegated, and one solid when it was on sale at Hancock Fabrics.  It's nice to have some less expensive thread to use on all the donation quilts I have coming up. 

Bright quilt under cloudy skies

This is another donated quilt that I finished up. There was enough of the striped fabric used on the border that came with it for bias binding. I do so like a stripe cut on the bias. Thanks Karen and Becky!

Also used the last of the kid's print for the back. That print has found a home in a number of quilts, and it's been a favorite. I used Nichole Webb's Spring Fling pantograph. It was fun to try a new one of my newly acquired stash of pantographs from another longarmer that has gone to computerized quilting.



I'm trying to work on our bed quilt, but the stash of tops and new pantographs to try keep calling out to me. It's been a work in progress for a while, so a while longer won't hurt it...it's aging like a fine wine! At least that's how I'm justifying not working on it today! ;-)

Another top done...

Pat left me with 13 quilt tops, and I'm slowly getting them quilted and bound. It's great to have such a wealth of tops, since I'm not very speedy at putting tops together. I've also been working on the quilt for our bed using some prints featuring Frida Kahlo. It's been a long time in the making.

It was a bit difficult photographing this one on the clothesline. The wind picked up just as I went outside with it.

What had been several days of just gorgeous sunshine, without much wind turned cloudy and cool today. We used a couple of pieces of fabric that were supposed to make up into a stuffed chicken, which we thought was fitting with the top. I finished another one today, but it needs to be washed. I don't love my quilts until they come out of the dryer, properly crinkled.

A wintery day...

Boy what a change in the weather, though not unexpected for a winter's day. Tuesday I was hanging clothes out on the line, and today I didn't even walk to the post office. Dale was braver, donned his snowmobile suit and walked to get the few pieces of junk mail that were in our box.

I finished putting a resting strip and borders on the quilt that was on the design wall when Pat left. I don't know who to thank for the cute center fabric, but Pat brought so many things, it was hard to keep it all straight.

I'm back to work on our bed quilt. It's been over a year in the making, and I have a vision for how I want to finish it. It's too heavy and won't stay up on the design wall now, so no pictures. I have wool batting that I'm going to use for it, and I can't wait to quilt it, but I'm sure I'll be waffling over how to quilt it. I've come to terms with my pantograph usage. It works for me, but I'm purposely going to load a donation quilt that I think requires some custom quilting. It has some chicken blocks that I don't feel should just be quilted over without regard to the design. We'll see if I really do a custom job on it, or at the last minute decide that a pantograph will be just fine! I think I need to add to my pantograph library. Here's the back of the Christmas quilt with Dave Hudson's snowflake design which is one of my favorites.

Glorious Morning

The sunrises have been beautiful. Mostly I just enjoy them without bothering to photograph them, as I have so many pictures of sunrises and sunsets. At this time of year, there are many that are photo worthy.

We had a wonderful early holiday with the girls and their significant boys (what can I say, they're boys to me) in Colorado. We squeaked in and out and avoided a major snowstorm on the way home.

Pat came out for the New Year holiday weekend, and boy, we got a lot done in the sewing room. We delivered another nine quilts to Dr. Kaufman. I have that many left to quilt and bind. They are so appreciated. This quilt already found a home, hot off the press! A 21-month-old little girl that was in the hospital, newly diagnosed with diabetes, and understandingly not very happy with high blood sugar and a fever. Hope the quilt is a little bit of comfort during this trying time of adjustments.


We watched Julie and Julia and that inspired me to be creative with turkey leftovers. My favorite dish was spinach tortellinis, which Dale had helped me make and were waiting an occasion in the freezer, with a mushroom champagne sauce made with recycled gravy. Today I'm going to recycle the last of the mashed potatoes into a pie crust with the last of the turkey...and maybe a little of that champagne sauce. Let the new year begin...

Candy recipe

I've finished another couple of quilts, and have three more to go before I go make a delivery to Albuquerque on Thursday. The quilt express is rolling along. Fortunately Pat likes to piece and is way faster than I am. Thanks as well to all my quilting buddies that are cleaning out their stashes of orphan blocks!

Here is the recipe for Chocolate Coconut Balls . It came from Pauline Stringer, who had a PhD in Home Economics when that was my major in California some 30 years ago. (I didn't stick with it.)

Mix together in a large bowl, stirring well:
1 stick melted butter or margarine (butter is best)
2 cans flaked coconut = 14 oz. (no longer comes in can)
1 can condensed sweetened milk (Eagle Brand)
4 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
4 teaspoons vanilla

Add 2 boxes (=2 lbs.) powdered sugar and mix thoroughly.

Form into small balls. At this point I usually chill so it holds together when dipping in melted chocolate.

Melt 2 packages chocolate chips in double boiler with 1/4 square parafin.

Dip each one and set on wax paper. If you refrigerate it at this point, it will get freckles...won't be attractive, but will still taste great. One warning, this makes A LOT. Good to do with many small or large hands to form the balls.


Here is the other quilt that Pat put together from leftovers. It's small, but then so are some of the newly diagnosed kids. Dr. Kaufman is on call over Christmas, and this is always the most difficult time of year to have this kind of news. Not that there is ever a good time...

I'm off to the dentist for teeth cleaning, and unlike Dr. Stringer, I don't think I'll be taking any candy to mine.

And the winner is...

Linda P. Congratulations, and I'll be mailing your package out today or Monday! I have finished a few things besides aprons. Another pair of socks.

This was the expensive wool I bought at a yarn shop, which I'll probably not do again, and I'm hoping it is indeed "super wash" and doesn't shrink. Somehow $27 for a pair of socks that I have to make myself is just wrong! I have a bit of yarn leftover and I'm working on making some cuffs, or fingerless mitts with the it. I'm sort of adapting the sock directions since I love the two at a time on cirular needles method. I could use something on my hands in the morning while I sit at the computer before solar gain takes over heating my space. We do have a gas heater, but since we lower the thermostat to 60 during the night, it takes a while to warm the house up in the predawn hours.

Lindsay came and spent the night and we did some holiday cooking. We made a full batch of the coconut/nut balls for dipping in chocolate, and I thought we'd never finish! It had been a long time since I made a full recipe. Fortunately the garage was just the place to set the trays while I waited to melt chocolate, dip them, and then let them "set." I do like them way too much and there was a lot of sampling.

I still need to bake cookies and the cardamom bread that I made last year. I also finished quilting and binding a small quilt, and will have another batch for delivery if I can get one a day done. That will keep me in the sewing room away from all the chocolate that is calling out to me!

Sewing and sewing...

It all started when I was reading the about.com quilting forum, and someone mentioned they were getting rid of their jeans stash. Well, I have (had) a big Rubbermaid tub full of salvaged jeans. I thought that sounded like a good idea, and so I decided to go through my own denim stash after I saw this cute apron. Well, I had a lot of jeans that I could salvage and after doing a search of images for jeans aprons, I found some bib aprons from the pants legs.

I just couldn't stop even after I had made aprons for each of my girls, and their boyfriends. I repurposed a quilt block, some clothing labels, and some of my Route 66 fabric stash. More pictures of the rest of the aprons on Flickr.

So even though I have a pile of quilts to quilt, I've been otherwise occupied. Then today I spent most of the day cooking, making tortellinis, bread, and cinnamon rolls. Tomorrow younger daughter is coming over so we can make candy, scone mix, and cookies. And so since I didn't ever do a giveaway for my 100th post, here it is! Leave me a comment by this Friday (12/11) and I'll draw a name and send you an apron, and some other goodies!