LaVieEnRosie

Turkey and other stuffing...

Let me get that out of the way... just in case I forget.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours ~ here's hoping you have - or had - a wonderful day with family and friends.    

It's ironic that this is "turkey" week because there have been a few times when I've felt a bit like one... to the point where I should have been roasted and sliced to pieces.  From "duh" moments to "oops... shouldn't have done that" moments, I'll be glad when this week is over.  And no, I don't have to worry about Black Friday, shopping and huge crowds at the mall.  I'm planning on being a hermit this weekend.  That's the plan anyway.

The truth is that I've already gotten some Christmas shopping done... and it was sort of the start of my "turkey-ness".

After getting the catalog, I had to race go to Crate and Barrel.  How adorable are these?  Gingham Ramekins.  

Turkey Moment No. 1.  Wouldn't these make really cute pincushions?  I could fill it with a felted wool ball or a fabric-covered stuffed ball!   

And then there were these fabulous Norwegian Chalet Latte Mugs!  

While I love lattes, I am more of a cafe au creme sort of girl -- coffee and a generous amount of steamed milk or fat-free half-and-half.  

Turkey Moment No. 2.  I bought two cups without really looking at them, and then when I got them home and turned them over to take off the price tag -- nope, hadn't even looked at that before -- I liked the cups that much.  Well, duh.  Designed by Kate Spain!  No wonder I loved them.  After using them, I had to order a couple more, they're that terrific.  I would have bought them even if I didn't like her so much -- and her fabric.  Meeting her was one of the highlights of my trip to New York City for the Infinite Variety quilt show.  

Please forgive the shameless copying of a certain someone's coffee picture, especially because her pictures always have more style.  Which reminds me, can I have a show of hands on how many of us covet this Keep Calm and Carry On coffee cup?  Not just one with that saying on it but that one... one exactly like it.  If you know where to find one, please let me know.  

Stuffing -- do you make your own from scratch?  Or do you use a boxed stuffing mix?  I've been entertained reading some of the food-blogger posts about stuffing -- homemade vs. Pepperidge Farms.  While we don't use it ~ my Mom has made her own for as long as I can remember ~ I've always liked the PF.  In recent years, I've bought and used the Foccacia stuffing mix from Williams-Sonoma and its terrific.  Though I have to tell you, we don't make it the way it says on the box.  It's very good but it's much better if you "Paula Deen" the recipe, substituting a stick or two of butter for the olive oil.

Just so you know, the taste-testing shows that even among serious foodies, blind taste-testing have Pepperidge Farms winning out by a landslide.  Even the Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appetit magazine, Adam Rapoport, prefers his Mom's stuffing recipe over all others.  What is her secret?  Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Mix with a few extras.

Turkey Moment No. 3.  I had to go to the grocery store three times -- yes, three times -- because I kept forgetting to get bread for the stuffing.  Seriously.  One of the trips was even specifically for the bread!  And I still forgot it.  I get sidetracked easily.  

Turkey Moment No. 4 doesn't come with a picture because that would mean taking a picture of a package that came back in the mail yesterday after having the wrong address on it.  Oy vey.   

But I think my worst "turkey moment" was the other night when I left a comment on a blog before thinking about it.  Dumb.  I should know better.  Like a few others, I didn't have all the facts and I jumped to a conclusion.  The wrong one.  Seriously.  I really should have known better.  

So before I have another one of my "moments", I'm going to leave you with this...

Happy Thanksgiving!  

I hope you have a very safe and happy one... and that all your "turkey moments" are tasty ones.  

 

Mice and men...

This isn't about mice or men.  And no, I'm not having any problems with either one because I don't have any of either one around to cause me problems.  

This is about that "best laid plan" thing -- what I was planning to do, what I wanted to do, and what I actually did.  

I know, I'm preaching to the choir here because we've all been there.  The good news is that it has been a very nice week even though it whizzed by at light speed.  I have been out a little and had a bit of fun, which always seems to get me in a little bit of trouble, monetarily speaking.  

Have you seen the new issue of Where Women Create?  

The woman on the cover is Kristin Alber of Found in Mesa, Arizona.  I used to shop regularly at Domestic Bliss, the first of Kristin's shops.  When it first opened, it was a bit like Found but with more gifts.  Then it changed into more of a gift shop and I didn't get over quite as much.  Kristin moved on to open a a couple of design businesses, and Found is part of that.  While Domestic Bliss is open daily, Found is only open by Appointment or once a month for an event.  Starting this past Friday, they will be open Friday and Saturday through the holidays.  If you are in the area, its worth the trip.

 

That gorgeous chest of 30 drawers in both pictures... I really wanted it but I couldn't fit it into the trunk of my car.  And I didn't have a clue where I would put it.  Oh... and there was the price issue.  But they were having a special and I could have gotten 20% off.  Of $1895.00.  

On a side note, have you ever noticed that a woman who would emphatically state that she was terrible at math can figure out the discounted price of something in her head?

As I am currently in the midst of a pillow-fetish, I used my discount to get one of those candy cane pillows on the couch.  It's very cute.  

It's a beautiful shop.  

Lest you think it was all fun and shopping, I also got a little bit of sewing done.  Okay, there was a little more shopping because I bought two quilt magazines.

What caught my attention in this issue was the article about the Infinite Variety -- Red & White -- Quilt Exhibit from this past March in New York City.  Three of the quilts in the exhibit are included in the magazine as patterns.    

I also had to get the latest issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks -- this one is Volume 4.

There are at least a dozen blocks I love, including Monique's -- Open Gate Quilts -- applique block.  It's terrific.  But the only one I've made so far is Jo Morton's block, Times Nine.  Or Nine Times.  It's one of those.  

Yesterday afternoon, I made this.  It's 1 1/3 blocks... you know how I feel about changing things.  

Since it isn't quilted and I don't know when I'll get around to that, I decided to frame it for the time being.  It's already on the wall.  

This came on the heels of making two other little Jo quilts this past week.  This is from Jo's Little Women's Club No. 10 -- Courthouse Steps.  

Can you believe I made this in an afternoon?  Or that I quilted it that night?  And stitched on the binding before I went to bed?

Neither can I.  But I did.  The only thing that really slowed me down was trying to remember how to do a single-fold binding as it had been a few years -- okay, decades -- since I'd done that.  And how wide was I supposed to cut those strips?  After playing around with some leftover pieces on the cutting table, I decided to cut the strips at 1 1/8" wide and that worked perfectly.  

After making that and getting really inspired, I decided to make another one -- but different.

This measures 20 1/2" x 20 1/2" -- 16 blocks that finish at 5" x 5".  The logs are 1/2" wide.  

And I do apologize for the funky pictures.  I also took those late at night.  With my phone.  I know that millions of people can take world-class pictures with their iPhones but I'm different... I can't don't do what other people do.

The last thing I'll bother you with today is this -- have you ever made "Overnight Oatmeal"?  I love it, mostly because it means I can have my favorite steel-cut Irish oats every morning without having to do instant or wait for an hour.  I can store it in the refrigerator and heat it up on the stove or microwave, and I can add whatever extras I like on a day-to-day basis.  If you've not heard of it, here's how simple it is:

At 9:00 or 10:00 pm, bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan.  When the water comes to a full rolling boil, add 1 cup of oatmeal -- rolled oats or steel-cut oats.  Not quick-cooking oats.  Bring back to a boil and stir for 1 minute.  Seriously -- stir it and keep it boiling.  You will have to watch it and maybe even reduce the heat a little bit as it will want to foam up and boil over.  But keep stirring and boiling for 1 minute.  Turn off heat.  Put lid on saucepan.  Remove saucepan from stove and place on hotpad or trivet -- a pretty one.

By 6:00 or 7:00 the next morning, you've got oatmeal that is ready to heat and -- this is the best part -- ready to eat.  It's fully "cooked".  I store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator and each morning, I spoon out what I want into a bowl and zap it in the microwave.  I then add whatever strikes my fancy that day -- dried fruit, nuts, a little bit of pumpkin puree (it's terrific, by the way), bananas, fresh fruit, etc.  And a very light sprinkling of Turbinado sugar -- it's the law.      

The recipe/instructions are easily found online, the only change I made was to reduce the amounts of water and oatmeal.  The original recipe called for 6 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal and that was a lot, more than I was using in a couple of days.  The 4:1 water to oatmeal ratio I use makes enough for three to five portions.  

Which reminds me... I need to put oatmeal on the shopping list.  

Ugh.  The grocery store.  Tomorrow.  Right before Thanksgiving.  

I'm guessing the "fun" part of being out is over for a few days.     

 

Building Permit...

I've always liked quilts made with house blocks.  It didn't matter if the quilt was made with just house blocks, or if those houses were mixed with something else, I don't know that I've ever seen a house quilt that I didn't love.

And it is becoming a problem. 

As much as I love house quilts, I love house pillows even more.  Yes, that's right... house pillows.  

This will be on my sofa next month -- five of the "large" Full House houses, a pieced border on the top and bottom and a lumbar pillow.  

 

Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater.  I love this fabric -- a lot.  

When I finished this one, my Mom asked for something a little more fall-ish that we could use right now so I made this.

Little Gatherings by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.

To make a pillow, this is what you'll need... Full House Pillow.

That was the easy part.  This was just 10 houses.  How much time does it take to make 10 houses?  My problems really started while I was piecing these pillows... because I had time to think.  

I couldn't stop thinking about something Simone made...

Photo shamelessly swiped from Simone de Klerk's blog.  

She blogged about it in September.  I loved this little quilt as soon as I saw it.  Simone wrote me that she had always liked Cracked Pots but had never gotten around to making it, so when she saw Full House, she decided to combine parts of each for a small quilt.  I love the colors and fabrics she chose, but her use of the "in the round" design got me thinking... and thinking smaller...

So I made this.  Around the Pink 'Hood.  

 I used a charm pack I got from Corrie at Quilt Taffy.  And I added a little bit of stash... just because.   

My Mom loves this pillow but she asked about a darker version... sooooo... this one isn't quite finished.  But since that could take weeks and weeks and weeks... here it is.

Jo's Neighborhood.  I decided to see what it would look like with a different border on it so I just used some of the leftover strips for a piano-key border.  While I will finish this as a pillow, I also think it would make a nice little table-topper or wall quilt.  

If you're so inclined -- Around the Neighborhood.

And so you don't have to go looking -- Tiny Town.

That makes 106 houses.  

I'm 16 houses short.  Count two more Nine Dots "big" houses -- those were made but not used and they were quilted up for pincushions that I haven't finished yet.  The other fourteen houses?

They're small.  

You see... I still had some Countdown to Christmas pieces left over and it was just too yummy to put away...

As Duke said... [they've] got friends!  Eleven friends, to be precise.  They still need filling and closing, and then all of them will get one more step.  I promise to show you the lot of them when they're all done.

As to the size, these are the little Tiny Town houses with one little tweak -- I trimmed 1/4" from the top edge of the house before attaching the roof, squishing the house down just a bit.  The houses then got a 1 1/4" border.  After the houses were machine-quilted and washed to make them quilt-y, I squared them up and finished them as little pincushions.  But if you added a little ribbon at the top, wouldn't these be cute as tie-ons to Christmas packages?  Or as quilt-y ornaments on a tree?  

I suppose I could put off working on my Blueberry Crumb Cake quilt for another week... 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know.  Thanksgiving isn't for several weeks but at the rate I'm going, I should probably wish it to you now.  Just in case.  

First, everything here is fine.  Really.  It's just been busy.  My Mom has started physical therapy and -- her words -- she's getting a bit friskier.  She also had a couple of doctor's appointments and she desperately needed a haircut, so we were out-and-about this week.  And then it was Senior Day at the grocery store.  And I had to run my sewing machine out to the shop as I think I burned out the foot pedal ~ old Bernina, not an unusual problem.

But what I really want to do is go on a quilt retreat with all of you!  

May I start out by saying "awwww...."?  

I loved reading how many of you made sure that you'd be bringing along friends.  And it seems like we all do the same thing at retreats ~ laugh.  A lot.  It also made me really happy to know that so many of you need the same things I do ~ reading glasses, good light and a comfortable chair.  And music!  I think you all know that I'm not really into the audiobooks, but I do like music when I sew.

But Nancy... ix-nay on the Christy Minstrels.  Bad idea.  I've always liked them but I start singing along and then... well, it's not good.  Ear plugs would be mandatory... which, by the way, I think most of us would agree aren't a bad idea at retreat anyway.

I always laugh reading about the snacks though.  The first time I taught at a big retreat ~ years ago ~ one of the retreaters brought one of those dorm-sized refrigerators.  Seriously.  She got one of the young men at the hotel to carry it up the flight of stairs to the retreat room and it was stocked with soda and chocolate.  How ingenious is that?  Of course, if we had locked up the room that first night, we would have had enough snacks and soda to lay siege for a couple of months.  Havoc would have ensued from everyone being on a sugar high, but we definitely wouldn't have starved.  

Since you know I don't do things in singles, and since I have to make up for leaving you hanging this past week, I have a several winners.  I've already e-mailed everybody so check your e-mail boxes to see if you need to send me your mailing address.  

The winners of an Ikea light, a signed book and a bundle of Nine Dots fat quarters are:  

• Amber ~ who will be wearing black and white polka dot pajama pants 
• Kim ~ who is bringing Carmello bars and Dr. Pepper for everyone!
• Susan ~ who has never been on a quilting retreat but already knows to bring fuzzy socks and peanut M&Ms
• Debbie ~ who is bringing her pink Fiskars and her long pins

And while I'm out of lights, I still have a signed book and bundle of Nine Dots fat quarters for:

• Gina ~ who is bringing a drawing by her daughter, dark chocolate and Shiraz
• Cindy F ~ who is wearing her fuzzy socks
• Jennifer ~ who is bringing chocolate and scissors (probably to keep moi away from her chocolate!)
• Lizzie ~ who is bringing Dove Dark, her dog Annika and her pink reading glasses

Ladies ~ check your e-mail!

As for what I've been up to, I've been building some houses.  Lots and lots of little houses.  I have now officially made the quilt on the front cover of the pattern.  

But these are just eighteen ~ okay, just twelve are in the picture ~ of the 122 houses of one size or the other that I've made all-totaled.  Not this past week... just since I made the first quilt.  Three of this size quilt, the Tiny Town I showed you a while back and then some playing around... but more on that by Wednesday.  I'd show you now but I have to finish a binding, stuff some pincushions and wash something so that it is all quilt-y.  And get the directions for the variations all written up.  

Until then, let it suffice to write that I've gotten one or two things made for Christmas.   

And I will be back before then.  

Unless I go on retreat instead.