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Thanksgiving Quilt...

Brace yourself, there are only 181 days until Thanksgiving!  More importantly, there are just 153 days until I will be able to take my newly finished, hand-quilted Thanksgiving quilt from its special place of honor in my quilt cupboard and put it to good use!  And by good use I mean, wrapping myself up in it (starting November 1st, after the Halloween hoopla has ended) with a stack of cooking magazines and cookbooks nearby, to start my annual reading of Thanksgiving recipes so I can begin to plan our feast.  That's why I made this quilt.  I needed a Thanksgiving quilt to give me some extra mojo while reading recipes.  Call me crazy but I just couldn't let one more Thanksgiving season come and go while reading recipes under an autumn quilt...

Back in October I posted this picture, I had just finished the top.  As you can see, there is a ton of hand-embroidery!  I spent most of September/October dealing with a kidney infection so I had to lay-low, and since I just can't sit and do nothing, working on this quilt was just the thing I needed to keep me sane!  I had spent so much time with the top on my lap I decided I had to spend a few more months hand-quilting it; best decision I ever made!

Years ago I took a class on how to perfect my hand-quilting...use a smaller needle, take tiny even stitches...it was all fine and good until I realized I was never going to be that kind of quilter...what good are precision stitches if your points don't match?!?  Then I discovered utility quilting.  Larger stitches!  Ooooo happy day!  Utility quilting is big enough to get the job done without toe nails getting snagged!  

 

Besides, quilting through several layers of fabric was just not going to work with tiny stitches.  I used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting in this quilt, it shrinks up so nicely!  I backed this quilt with flannel so it is super soft and warm, perfect for those cold November nights.

  

 

This is Lori Holt's pattern, if you don't know Lori you should, take a visit over to her blog soon, Bee In My Bonnet - you will be amazed and inspired with all she does.  Right now Lori is having a Summer Sew Along, I think I might participate, I love the patriotic quilt she is doing!  I saw her Thanksgiving quilt hanging in a quilt shop in American Fork, Utah in 2010.  I fell in love with it because it reminded me of all the wonderful Thanksgiving dinners I had growing up with family.  I bought the pattern and was so excited to get home and get to work on it.  I think two years passed before I looked at it again!

 

 

Every now and then though I would get the pattern out and cut out a few pieces, then I would get distracted by some shiny object or another quilt and that would be the end of it!  Finally, 10 years later and my Thanksgiving quilt is done!  I changed a few things, it had to "sound" a little more like me, and I added a few things, too, but 90% of the quilt is true to the pattern.

 

It's rainy and cold this morning in Seattle, we've had a lot of thunder booms, one even shook the house!  Rosie is now completely traumatized and won't come out of the closet!  Looking out my window I realize it looks exactly like it does in November, except for the maple tree which would have a few sparse yellow-ish-brown leaves left on it.  Seattle is always green, which is why we love it here so much.  Today might even be a good day to "test drive" my Thanksgiving quilt, we are still in lockdown here so nothing to do but sit in front of the boob-tube and watch movies!

I know you'll find this hard to believe but I don't pre-wash my fabrics, including the reds I used to piece the "raspberry Jell-O salad" block above.  So it shouldn't come as a surprise that those red fabrics bled all over the place!  Thanks to the magic of Color-Catchers I was able to get the bleed out, whew,  another close call!  (Actually there is still a tiny spot that I can't get out but everyone knows Jell-O is messy!)

Don't be fooled, Rosie is still in the closet shaking.  This picture was taken a while ago, when Mother Nature wasn't crying.  Surely she is sick of the quarantine by now, too!  I'm so looking forward to visiting a real quilt shop, buying a bunch of fabric I don't need and then going to a restaurant and spreading the fabric out on the table to think about what to do with it.  The good ol' days!   Hope you are good, healthy, with clean hands and a supply of masks that you'll never out grow!  xoxoxo 

Pineapple Coconut Cream Pie...Island Pie...

Guess who's going to Hawaii??  Me!  Well actually, when I say I'm going to Hawaii I don't mean I am going there in person, but I am definitely going there in my mind, with every bite of this pie.  Palm trees swaying in the breeze, sand between my toes, sun and surf and pink drinks with little paper umbrellas in them and me on a lounge chair covered head to toe with sunscreen, hat and a towel so as not to burn and blister like a red chili pepper over hot coals...ahhh yes, that's livin' the life. 

 This pie will make the islands come alive for you, too, and it's one of the easiest pies you will ever make.  You can make things difficult and make your own pie crust or you can use a refrigerated pie crust or a frozen one like I did and then this easy pie becomes so simple that all you have to know how to do is  S T I R.  If you can stir a wooden spoon, you can make this pie!  All of the ingredients go into one pot; crushed pineapple and coconut, mixed together in a creamy custard creating a transporting flavor that we all crave/need when we have to quarantine staycation at home.

The mister informed me the NCAA tournaments that are played in Hawaii each year have been announced.  Like always, they are played Thanksgiving week and Christmas week.  Been there done that, not doing it again.  I want to be HOME for the holidays!  It's May and he is already working on me to go to Hawaii for Thanksgiving.  I've got months ahead of me with him winching on about how great it will be.  He said we could fly home the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, gee thanks!  Then I'd have all of of 24 hours to shop, bake, cook, set the table, etc., while jet-lagged.  That's about as tempting as Corona virus.  Talking about Hawaii though made me think about this pie and I've got to say, it's a pretty good substitute for actually being there!  Coconut and pineapple go together like chips and dip, like pancakes and syrup, like booze and bad decisions!  And when they are mixed into the custard, well, now you're talking the perfect trifecta:  sweet, creamy and chewy.   This pie can be topped with meringue but we prefer slightly sweetened whipped cream.

Cue the Tiny Bubbles!  A pie Hawaiian-enough for King Kamehameha himself of Don Ho or Duane Johnson even!  This one is definitely 5-dangs worthy on the dang meter!  It's dang, dang, dang, dang, dang good!  Breaking news:  The mister told me he mentioned to his Marine Corp buddy who lives on Oahu that we might be visiting in the fall and his buddy then emailed the other buddies and told them all that they should come for a Marine-Corp-Hawaiian-Basketball-Thanksgiving-Reunion!!!  Oh Joy!  What could be better than sitting in a tiny stadium watching basketball (instead of shopping in an ABC store, my personal favorite thing to do in Hawaii) with a group of strangers watching a game I don't care one bit about followed by sitting around a bar listening to stories about Vietnam and the mister's highschool escapades during Thanksgiving week?!?!?  Time for another slice of pie.

 

Pineapple Coconut Cream Pie - Adapted From Hawaiian Airlines Recipes

1 pre-made refrigerated/frozen pie shell (9-inch) baked and cooled

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 can (20 oz.) crush pineapple, undrained except for 2 tablespoons

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 of a large lemon)

3 egg yolks

1 1/3 cups coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla 

For topping:

1 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Bake pie crust according to package directions.  Set aside to cool completely.  Take the can of pineapple and drain off 2 tablespoons of the liquid.  In a medium size saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, semi-drained pineapple, sour cream, lemon juice, coconut and egg yolks and cook over medium heat until the mixture bubbles and has thickened, stirring constantly, about 5 to 6 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.  Pour into cooled pie shell, smooth top and refrigerate until completely cooled, about 3 to 4 hours.  

Whip cream in the bowl of an electric mixer until it is just starting to thicken then add the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue beating until the cream is thick.  Top cooled pie with cream, heaping up as you go!  Serves 6 to 8.  Aloha!

Keep any leftover pie in refrigerator.

 

 

Corona Quilt #7...

Years ago I saw a skirt in Nordstrom made of ties.  I wanted to buy it for my daughter but it was $275 which made me quickly come to my senses and I kept walking.   I couldn't get the skirt out of my mind though so I decided to make her one.  The mister didn't have enough ties that I could steal so I checked ebay and ordered 200 ties for about $50.    Here's a picture of her skirt that I made, which she loved but she eventually out grew it (it's a size 4) and years later when I was visiting her home I found it in her garage in a pile with things she "didn't know what to do with."  (You can read more about how I made the skirt by clicking here.)  Well I just couldn't let it languish there so I grabbed it and brought it home with me.  

Those ties from ebay turned into a skirt and then they turned into an ottoman cover.  It's one of my very favorite creations and we have it in our family room still!  I love knowing that it's really a skirt (with just the removal of a few stitches it is!)  (It looks a little lumpy/askew in the picture but that's just because Rosie jumped on it right before I took the picture and I didn't fix it...dang dog!)   Anyway, you can probably guess I didn't use all 200 ties so I had a lot of ties left.  They have come in handy over the years in many different ways.

I made little "purse pockets" that held a package of Kleenex for the ladies at church and a folded up church roster, which I still have even though half of the people have moved away or died!  I made little Christmas pockets from the Christmas ties that I had and put special little treats in for the kids.  

When I was asked to teach a lesson to the ladies at church I had this brilliant idea to sew the ties together end-to-end and roll them up into a big ball.  During the lesson the ladies had to toss the ball of ties around the room, while hanging onto to a piece, so they were all connected.  I thought I was so clever!  After the lesson I rolled up the ties into the ball and took them home where they sat on my shelf for about 10 years.    

With Corona time on my hands I decided it was time I made myself a tie quilt.  I didn't think it through.  Didn't think about taking the guts out of the ties to make things easier.  Didn't think about washing the ties first either.  I just started sewing the ties to a muslin foundation and I kept on sewing, block after thick block.  

What I have ended up with is a quilt that weighs 6.5 pounds and it doesn't have the backing or binding on yet!!!  It's like one of those weighted blankets and, if I do say so myself, it's spectacular!  I love it so very much.  It's silky as almost all of ties are made of silk (there are a few cotton and one or two polyester ties) and it will be incredibly warm. 

 

I will have to hand-tie this quilt but until the shops open back up I have no idea what to back it with.  I do know that I won't be putting any batting inside, it doesn't need another layer for sure!  Rosie loves this quilt and insisted on having her picture taken with it, I suppose now she will think it's hers!

After all of my tie projects I still had about 100 ties so I thought that would be plenty for a quilt.  I was wrong, yet again.  Some of the ties (as you can imagine when you buy them cheaply on ebay) were actually too ugly to use; they had neon colors or weird words or pictures.  Some of the ties were badly stained so if I could I would cut around the stains and use part of the ties.  Also, some of the ties were incredibly skinny at the ends so they were not really useable either.  

When I was about 3/4's of the way done I realized I didn't have enough long pieces of ties left.  Due to Corona all of the flea/antique/used clothing stores are closed so I put out a request on Facebook to see if any of my friends would be willing to go through their husbands ties and donate a few to me.  And they did!  (Thank you Marsha and Nancy!)  Since this already weighs so much I decided I couldn't make it any larger, as it is it measures 56-inches by 60-inches, so it really is the perfect lap size.

 

My tie quilt is now at the top of my "to do" pile.  There are 4 quilts and one pillow in this pile (not counting the ones on the bottom of the shelf) in need of a repair of some sort and the rest are tops that need to be finished.  Our lockdown will continue for another 2 1/2 weeks so I just might get one of them quilted and bound...hope springs eternal!  

Rhubarb Breakfast Cake...

Even though I barely know what day it is, I do know that there are certain things I always do in the spring and one of them is to buy rhubarb.  Another one is to try to decide what to make with the rhubarb.  I always make Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie for the boy, it's his very favorite.  I usually always make Strawberry-Rhubarb Crostata which is basically a rustic pie and while it sounds suspiciously like strawberry-rhubarb pie, it's decidedly different.  I also make a Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble, do you see a pattern here?  It soon became apparent to me that I needed help in the rhubarb department!  Surely rhubarb could stand on its own without any help from strawberry!  Why yes, yes it can and this cake is proof of that.  

Rhubarb will last quite a while after being picked if you wrap the ends with a wet paper towel and keep in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.   However it won't last a month, as I discovered when I went to get mine out of the fridge and it had rotted.  Off to the store!  With my mask on, I grabbed fresh rhubarb and on the way home I realized I could have gone and picked it from a friend's house who is always offering it to anyone who wants it!  Oy vey.

Putting the thinly sliced rhubarb into a plastic bag and shaking it up with a bit of flour will keep it from sinking in the batter when it's baked.  Although if you look at the batter (in the pic above) you will see just how thick the batter is, so it's hard to imagine the rhubarb would sink, but trust me!

Before the cake goes into the oven the top is sprinkled with turbinado sugar (raw sugar) which gives it a nice sweet, crunchy top.  I won't judge you if you sprinkle on more than the recipe calls for.

Did you know that rhubarb is a vegetable?  We treat it like a fruit but it's a veggie so you can consider this healthy and good for you because you're eating veggies!  After the cake is baked the rhubarb will have softened and it becomes almost jam-like, sweet-tart and utterly delicious.  This breakfast cake is a great way to start your day, or to round out your lunch, or to enjoy as an afternoon snack, or even as dessert after dinner with a side of ice cream.  Basically is this what I consider a 24/7 cake - good at any time on any day.

Rhubarb Breakfast Cake - Adapted from Heritage Home Cooking

1/2 cup half and half

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour, minus 1 tablespoon reserved to toss with rhubarb

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups thinly sliced fresh rhubarb (about 6 large stalks)

1 to 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, (you can use granulated sugar) for topping cake

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9-inch spring-form pan.  In a small bowl combine lemon juice and half and half.  Set aside.  Measure out 2 cups of flour and remove 1 tablespoon and put in a zip-lock style plastic bag, add rhubarb and shake to coat.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the butter and sugar and beat until pale yellow and slightly fluffy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla, scraping down the bowl as necessary.  Add baking powder and salt and mix.  With mixer running on low speed, add half of the flour and mix.  Add the half-and-half mixture and the remaining half of flour.  Mix until just barely combined.  Mix in rhubarb by hand.  The batter will be very thick.  

Spread batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar.  Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cake is a golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let cake cool for about 15 minutes before running a knife around the side of the pan and releasing the pan.  Let cake cool completely before cutting (but if you must dive in, go ahead, I can never wait!)  Makes  one 9-inch cake, serves 12.