Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Welcome to the world!

This morning I received the news that my brother's third grandchild arrived safely. Welcome to the world "Baby Crocodile" (that's what my brother says they've been calling her).

Now to figure out what quilt to make for this new addition... I've been so focused on Orca Bay that I hadn't thought about making a baby quilt. I suppose, if I can find it, crocodile fabric will have to be a component of the quilt. Anyone know of a good site that might have feminine crocodile fabric? Also need pattern suggestions. I made Bonnie Hunter's "Little Monkey" quilt earlier this year for my nephew's baby, so I need something new.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas preparations

Christmas Eve has arrived; so quickly did it come that it almost caught me unprepared. I've scrambled over the past couple of weeks trying to prepare gifts for some of my family, plus a few extras for people who will be part of our Christmas Day activities.

As part of my preparations, I've done a bit of sewing and not nearly as much cooking as I normally do.

In the sewing department, I made a bunch of 'Angry Bird' beanbags:


The puppies got ahold of a couple of the beanbags (not too happy about that!), so I'll have to redo a few of those. And I'm still working on the pigs and target. The recipients are my nephews children, who are spending Christmas with their grandparents and cousins in Arizona, so I still have a few days to finish this project.

And since Bonnie published step 6 of the Orca Bay mystery quilt, I just HAD to sew a little on that to see how those blocks would look, plus I wanted to play a little with layout.

I really like dark background against the red string blocks. Not too sure, though, how I feel about the light background. Perhaps I just used the wrong neutral fabrics... And I like the blue and black/white together as I have arranged them (they'd make a great border, but there would need to be more blue in the center of the quilt).

Next comes the Christmas candy. I made fudge and toffee a couple of days ago. More than half of each candy has been eaten, so it must have tasted alright.

I usually make peanut brittle and carmel as well as the fudge and toffee, and a couple different kinds of cookies, but just ran out of time. Here are some recipes if you want to try them:

Fudge

2 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk (aka Eagle Brand, but I use the store brand)
3 12-oz. packages chocolate chips (I use 1 semi-sweet and 2 milk chocolate)
1-2 cups nuts of your choice (or you can omit these)

Put the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a large saucepan and melt together over medium heat, stirring constantly. When chips are completely melted, remove from heat and stir in nuts. Pour into a buttered 9x13 pan. Cool until set, then cut and enjoy!

Sue's English Toffee

1 pound real butter
8 tsp. water
2 cups sugar
2 Tb. white corn syrup
1 12-oz package milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (almonds, pecans, or walnuts) - optional

Melt butter; add sugar, water, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn up the heat, insert a candy thermometer, and stir constantly until candy reaches the hard crack stage (300 degrees - if you don't have a candy thermometer (I don't), the candy will thicken and turn a golden brown color and a teaspoon full dizzled into cold water will make a cracking sound - about 5-10 minutes after turning up the heat). Pour into buttered 9x13 pan. Let sit for 10 minutes, then sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Spread melting chocolate until candy is completely covered. Sprinkle with nuts.

Easy Peanut Brittle

1/2 cup white corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup raw peanuts
1 Tb. butter

Cook in a cast iron skillet until the mixture turns a golden brown and makes a popping sound as it bubbles. Then add 1 tsp. water which is mixed with 1 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir (candy will "foam"). Pour immediately into a buttered pan. Spread out the candy as thinly as you can. When cool, break into pieces.

Christmas Carmel

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk (aka Eagle Brand)
1 cup white corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
Walnuts or pecans, optional

Melt butter. Add sugar, Eagle milk, and corn syrup. Cook at a medium temperature, stirring constantly, until mixture turns a tan color and forms a firm ball in cold water. Add vanilla and pour over nuts which have been placed on a lightly buttered pan. When cool, cut and wrap in waxed paper.
*This recipe makes excellet "turtle" candies. To make turtles, place whole pecans on buttered cookie sheet. Drop a teaspoon full of carmel over each pecan. Let cool. Melt milk chocolate chips in a glass bowl or mug in the microwave. Dip individual carmel pecans into chocolate and put back onto cookie sheet. Cool until firm, then enjoy!

I'll save cookie recipes for another day.

Have a delightful Christmas. And remember to receive the gift (let Him in).

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Orca Bay and Chicken Salad

I sat at my sewing machine most of yesterday afternoon, trying to put together at least a few of the red string blocks for the Orca Bay mystery quilt. I sewed a total of 20 blocks, each cut into triangles. Here are some pictures.

Do your blocks curl like this?

For some reason, even after pressing the fabric open, the strips won't lay flat and I sometimes get "bubbles" in some of the strips, so I always remove the paper first before pressing and cutting to size so I don't have to press and cut a second time.

That's quite a pile of paper! And 5 blocks had not even been de-papered at this point! Removing the paper is easy, especially if there is something good to watch/listen to on TV.

All nice and pressed. See, the curl is gone!

These are the boys, Mike, Max, and Maurice, who thought they had to play at my feet while I was ironing.

Now to cut. First to square, then to triangle.
And yes, these really are red even though the photo looks pink-ish.

Hmmm, I wonder how all of these are going to fit together?
The above photos shows blocks from all four steps. Try as I might, I just can't seem to get them to work together. Patience! Four more steps (at least) and Bonnie's design will be revealed. :-)
I still have a lot of the smallest black/white squares (called half square triangles or HSTs for short) to finish, as well as the red string blocks. I doubt I'll be caught up by the time the next step is revealed, but it isn't a race, and I am making some progress.

I kind of like this design, even though it only incorporates two of the four blocks:

If you are reading about Orca Bay for the first time, and would like to join in on all the fun, please visit quiltville.blogspot.com and click on the Orca Bay tab!

While sewing, I kept thinking I really should stop and prepare something to eat. But the more I sewed on the red string blocks, the less I wanted to break away, thinking all the while that my stomach was growling and if I'd only stop for a few minutes... but I'd already had plenty of interruptions and my day of sewing wasn't producing results. My mind just wouldn't shut off! I kept thinking about food, glorious food! I needed something that would be quick, filling, and delicious. Low in calories would also be nice, but I'd settle for just the first three requirements.

A couple of recipes came to mind while I sewed, but I didn't stop to make anything. So today, still thinking about something easy and delicious, I ended up making chicken salad which is really similar to a recipe shared by Michael McLean for Egg Salad. Michael McLean composed The Forgotten Carols What? You haven't seen it, or maybe never heard of it? It's a wonderful show. The story is about a woman who is too practical to be bothered by Christmas. She is a nurse who is assigned to care for an older gentleman with alleged psychiatric tendencies over the holidays. This unlikely patient, John, is nothing like the "senile crazy person" she expected. Instead John’s warmth and spunky kindness break through Constance's iron-clad exterior as he walks her through the untold carols of the more "forgotten" characters in the Christmas story and guides the nurse to the Christmas carol waiting to be sung inside her own heart. If it comes to your area, you should buy tickets and go. It will leave you feeling fabulous, plus you'll have a few new favaorite Christmas carols!

Back to the recipes. First, the chicken salad:

Heavenly Chicken Salad:
about 4 cups chopped cooked chicken (can also use turkey)
1/2 pound bacon
2 cups grapes
2 stalks celery
2 green onions
2 apples (optional)
1 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup mayonnaise (do NOT use Miracle Whip - it won't taste right)
1 cup Cool Whip (yes, Cool Whip!!!)
1 tsp. curry powder
salt and pepper to taste

Slice raw bacon into small pieces, then fry until crisp. Remove bacon to paper towels to drain. Slice grapes into halves. Chop celery and onion. Chop apples and nuts if you are using them (I love them, but omitted them today). Stir together mayonnaise, Cool Whip, and curry powder. Then add chicken and other ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill until ready to serve. Good on a bed of greens or use as a sandwich filling.

Here's the recipe Michael McLean shared; it is his mother's recipe and it is DELICIOUS (and see how similar the dressing is to my chicken salad?).

Forgotten Carols Egg Salad:

1 dozen hard-boiled eggs
2 cups celery, chopped
1 cup radishes, chopped
1/2 cup bacon bits
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup Cool Whip or whipped cream
1 Tb. mustard
1 tsp. curry power
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt

Chop eggs or mash them with a potato masher. Add radishes, bacon bits, green onion, and celery. Stir to combine. In a separate bowl, stir together mayonnaise, Cool Whip, and mustard. Then add curry powder, salt, and pepper. Combine with eggs & vegies; stir until mixed. Keep in the fridge until ready to use. Serve on sturdy bread. They recommended sour dough. I think homemade wheat or white is great, too!


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Progress on Orca Bay

Orca Bay is the current quilt mystery by Bonnie Hunter. Three steps have been revealed so far.

Here is Step 1, hour glass units:

Here is Step 2, string blocks (aren't these cute?):

And Step 3, which I am currently working on, are these half square triangles (which are also shown in the above picture):

Since all of these blocks are of different sizes, I can't imagine how they will fit together. But I'm sure the quilt will be splendid! There are still several steps to go, and I have yet to use the red fabric (and possibly more of the blue). So stay tuned to find out what this quilt will eventually look like.

If you'd like to join in the fun, please visit Bonnie's blog and click on the Orca Bay tab: quiltville.blogspot.com

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A year's worth of quilts

I was going to comment on my Orca Bay progress, but since I haven't taken pictures yet, I'll save that post for tomorrow.

Instead, I'll let you look at some of the quilts I made in the last year. Enjoy!







Friday, December 2, 2011

Everyday Miracles

Yesterday a miracle occurred!

Because of all the bad windy weather that came through, I opted to stay home from work, and because I was home from work, one of my girls asked if I would take her to her place of employment around 2:00 (normally she walks or catches a ride with her boyfriend). We left the house at 2:00, stopping by the bank on the way, then headed to The Dollar Tree where Cyndi works. '

I always take the back way into this shopping center, and yesterday was no exception. There is not usually much traffice on this road, even with Christmas shoppers out and about. As we passed the apartments and neared the shopping plaza, a car pulled out in front of me. CRASH - you all know what that sounds like! Breaking glass, metal or plastic bending and breaking...

I was going fast enough that the airbags should have deployed. They didn't!

We each got out of our vehicles, expecting some serious damage to our vehicles. Nothing could be seen, but the cars were still adjoining each other. I backed up and surveyed the scene again. Still no evidence that an accident had occurred. Not a dent or scratch could be seen on either vehicle. We pulled into the parking area she had been leaving, and I surveyed the road - nothing there! We exchanged information anyway, and I gave her a hug as I left and told her not to worry about the mishap (she was rather shaken, I think).

So what had made all that crashing breaking noise? I don't know, but I do believe it was a miracle that neither car sustained any damage. Perhaps we were both in need of a miracle yesterday - not the least of which was love being extended to the other party, or feeling the lighter load of not having the burden of having to get a car repaired.

One good thing that came of this accident, which I had been worried about for a couple of weeks: I was able to get new tires on my car. And boy did I need them! They were already worn and needing to be replaced. Yesterday's skid pretty much took off the remaining tread on the front, so it was off to the tire store (and they couldn't see any damage either). '

My next miracle happened at the tire store. I was expecting to pay at least $200/tire (and more likely $250/tire if I wanted anything decent). It just so happened that they were having a sale on their tires, and the cost for tires guaranteed to last at least 80,000 miles (with free replacement if they didn't) was less than $150/tire - and they threw in a gift card to a local grocery store to boot! (They said the gift card was left over Thanksgiving promotion, but since they still had a few left, they weren't going to waste them.) That was really a nice savings, especially since I had to borrow the cash for the tires.

I tend to think that we have miracles happen every day, but we often fail to recognize them for what they are. So what miracles have you experienced lately?

Now since we are talking about miracles, here's a recipe I discovered last year:

Christmas Miracle Fudge (Semi-dark chocolate version)

1 12-oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips
1 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp butter (1/8 of a cube)

Melt everything in a saucepan on low heat, stirring until it's smooth. Remove from heat; stir in 1/2 tsp of vanilla. Add nuts, if you wish. Pour into pans and allow to cool slightly before cutting into squares.

For a sweeter milk-chocolate fudge, only use 1-1/2 cups of chocolate chips (about 3/4 of a 12-oz bag.)

For larger batches, just double, triple, or quadruple everything. It will still come out fine.


Oreo Cookie Fudge

3 6-oz. pkgs. white chocolate (if you use chips, buy Ghiradelli - they work the best)
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/8 tsp. salt
2 cups coarsely chopped Oreos or other sandwich cookie (about 20 cookies)

Melt the chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and salt in a small saucepan over low heat. Fold in cookies. Spread evenly into a prepared pan. Cool until firm. Cut and enjoy!