Oooo, it smells good in here!!

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Sewfrench

This week I have been practicing hand embroidery skills. Mainly my initials and dates 😉 Over and over again! If you don’t know me in real life, then you might not know that that is how I finish off my projects.

hexagon quilt   

Sorry I can’t show you all the newest new and improved skills yet, but too soon, I promise. Because that is when Christmas is, oh my!!

Mary Corbit’s  Needle n’ Thread website is where I have been hanging out this past week. I’ve wanted to beef up my embroidery skills, for a while now, and I starting reading through her articles and see lots, and lots, of room for improvement! I love that she tells you what needle size works best for which stitch, too. I usually just rummage through my studio and feel lucky to find any needle, much less one that I can thread with embroidery thread! No wonder I’ve not been so happy with the results!! I also realize how important it is to use a ruler and fine line marking tool. Much better that the thick blue water soluble marker I’ve been using and use every day, of my life, for one thing or another!

And because it’s the day before Thanksgiving, it is off to the kitchen I go.

Today has been set aside to whip together the sides that we’ll be taking to Thanksgiving dinner at daughter’s house. You know the one who raised the centerpiece, this year 🙂 Mmmmm….. turkey!

My must have Thanksgiving dish would be the dressing. Some people call it stuffing, but since we aren’t stuffing the bird, we call it dressing! This is my recipe for southern style cornbread dressing. It is easily made gluten free (and even dairy free with appropriate substitutions) by using 1 package of Pamela’s Cornbread mix, according to the recipe of the bag, for southern cornbread and then your favorite GF bread. Works like a charm!

Cornbread Dressing
printer friendly version

2 boxes of Jiffy mix cornbread mix, prepared the night before, with eggs and milk as the package directs. Buttermilk is best but non dairy milks work fine, too. (large cast iron)

6 slices of bread, toasted and cubed

Crumble and combine these in a large bowl.

Soften in 3/4 stick butter:
1 1/2 c diced onion
1 3/4 c diced celery

add to the breads

then stir in around 48 oz chicken broth, it really depends on how dry your breads are. This is where I use the stock I made last week!
Season with poultry seasoning, dried sage, and pepper, at least a teaspoon of each.
Salt to taste before adding in 3 beaten eggs.

After sitting awhile broth should rise to the surface, if it doesn’t you haven’t added enough liquid, keep adding more.

Pour into a greased 9″ x 13″ pan.

Bake 375 30-40 minutes, until done.

This can be baked the day ahead and refrigerated. When the turkey comes out of the oven, to rest, pop this in, covered in foil, and bake for about 30 minutes or until heated through.

Enjoy!

P.S. the Post lady just came and dropped off my Traveling Stash box!!! I can’t wait to dig in and show you what is in it and what I might add to it for you to pull out and keep!! Check back (or subscribe!) I hope to have the giveaway sign up posted on Friday!

Linking up with Tuesdays at the Table and…

  

Have a fantabulus Thanksgiving everyone!!

Posted in Celebrate, Cooking, Dairy free, Eating, Fabric Tuesday, Family, Giveaway, Gluten Free, Linkys, Quilting, Recipes, Traditions, Uncategorized, WIP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Finish it Up Friday

Posted on November 17, 2012 by Sewfrench

Hard at work on several large projects that I can’t yet share. One is ready to go in the mail, so that is exciting! I can’t wait to share it!

The only sharable finish, this week, isn’t very impressive you may think. Everyone makes potholders. All the time. These poor potholders have been all over the house for two months waiting on me to get the thread and the potholders, in the same room, at the same time, to hand stitch the binding down. I bought this linen over the summer and wanted to play with it but didn’t have a plan. Ended up making potholders because of all the scraps that were still hanging around from my Tomorrow Morning quilt. I’m just finally glad to see them finished before fall is over. That was close…. Obviously this is an original prototype. I say obviously because I didn’t even notice the rough patch in the seam allowance until I added it to WordPress! Oh well, that’s what happen when you try something new. You get too excited, too soon. Even if it’s been months in the doing.. LOL!

Don’t forget about my upcoming Traveling Stash giveaway! I haven’t received it yet, but when I do I’ll be adding lots of goodies from my studio and shipping it off to someone! And it could be you!! Have a great weekend!!

    

Linking up with Amy over at Finish it Up Fridays, too. Maybe I’ll see you there?

Posted in A Sttitch in Time, Crafting, Finish it Up Fridays, Giveaway, Linkys, Quilting, Sewing, Show it off Friday, TGIFF | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Upcoming Giveaway!

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Sewfrench

It has been a lazy, though productive last several days around here. We watched several movies then proceeded to get caught up on our television recordings, so that means I got a lot of hand quilting on this queen-sized, scrap quilt done.

I am to the point where I should be tracking the percent left to go. I think I’m just past the half way point.

I love the way hand quilting shows up on plain, old-fashioned muslin. I’m not sure why I ever got away from it and recently found myself really struggling to figure out which one I should buy, since now they all have brands and different levels of quality stamped on the bolts. The brands and qualities suggested to me, by other hand quilters, was not available, locally. What was available, and that I really liked the feel of *and* that there was 9 yards of… was Roc-lon Permanent Press. It has a nice feel and it is not see through, but not a thick one, either. And I really, really like the price!! What a huge difference to quilt with this on the back as opposed to a Kona-ish fabric, which has backed so many of my more recent quilts!

With all your help I am further along with figuring out the mechanics of FMQ. My stitches look SO much better with a new needle that is labeled “quilting”. I think it is a #11, I was using a fairly new, universal, #14. My stitches are still not consistent, lots of panicky, sharp turns, but I did manage to quilt this project with no more eyelashing! Bound, washed and dried and my quilting looks even better!

As everyone else is, I am sure, I am working on other gifty items that I can not share 😦  I am ready to start quilting on my Starry, Starry Night quilt, too. I *think* I know what I’m doing to it.

Have you heard of the Traveling Stash boxes? They are these boxes filled with a collection of fabrics, patterns, thread and other quilty fun! When you receive a box you take out what you like, replace it with items from your own stash, hold a giveaway and then send it to the next lucky person. You can find all the rules and guidelines (including how to save on postage) here. I just recently ran across a post about them and started entering the giveaways, for all the different boxes, like a mad woman!

I just love surprises and it doesn’t look like there are very many people throwing their names in the hat for these. I am really thankful I didn’t win two in one week!

As soon as my box arrives, I’ll be posting a quick turn around giveaway. So this is your warning! If you think you might want in on it, you should subscribe not to miss the post!

Posted in fabric, Giveaway, hand quilting, machine quilting, Quilting, Sewing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Thank you all. Again!!

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Sewfrench

On Friday, the winners of the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival were announced and yes, my name was right up there at the top!

Not for Hand Quilting, or as a Wall Hanging, and not even for the most beautiful photography, taken my our daughter Amanda.

But instead, my original quilt, Out of This World was given the Viewer’s Choice award!!

How about that?! I could not have been more flabbergasted!

All of the quilts were just amazing and offer so much inspiration and challenge for upcoming projects. Seriously. So many fabulous quilts….

Thank you for cheering me on, taking the time to vote and sharing your sweet comments! It means the world to me.

And thank you, Amanda. This quilt never looked so good. No wonder people wanted to vote for it!

And now, I *really* promise to quit talking about it!

XXOO

Posted in 2012 completes, Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Celebrate, Design, fabric, hand quilting, Quilting, Sewing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Preparing for Thanksgiving

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Sewfrench

You realize it is less than two weeks away, right? Where has this year gone???

Thankfully, we will be guests this year. Daughter Krystal, and her husband D, that have the *huge* garden and the 24 turkeys running around their yard, have graciously insisted on hosting! How am I to argue with that idea? I think it is brilliant!!

But that doesn’t let us off the hook. We’ll be bringing some sides, but the first thing that must happen is to make stock. You can not make dressing, or gravy, for that matter with out homemade stock, can you??? Okay, I suppose you can, but this year that is the one thing I am on top of.

Perusing the grocery store yesterday, I just realized that they have turkey wings, backs, and all the different parts, cut up and at bargain prices, this week. Even the organic parts. I mean, how many people really want a turkey back? I realize many will be buying the breasts and even the drumsticks. Well, they have to get rid of the other parts somehow. Care for a turkey neck???  Okay, that doesn’t sound very appetizing.

How to make chicken broth

But…. they make great stock. And at bargain prices, this week!!

Along with some onions, celery, carrots, parsnips, a head of garlic, whatever you have. Anything but potatoes and tomatoes.  Add in some bay leaves, parsley, dill, peppercorns, thyme…  Whatever sounds good and lots of it.  Add water to barely cover.  Now just a small splash of cider vinegar. This will help to leach the calcium, out of the bones, to make this an even healthier broth than usual. And we can all use that. Right?!

This is also a fine way to use up odd bits of chicken in the freezer or rotisserie carcasses. We always save those, in the freezer, for making stock. Simmer it all for several hours, half the day, or more, until you can no longer stand it.  At this point the meat will not really be fit to eat.  The flavor will be gone. It’s purpose has been served.  Stock.  Mighty fine stock. I do not add salt. I will wait until I use it to salt the final dish.

I then scoop out all the solids, as best I can, and strain it all through a fine strainer, letting it drain and then pressing the veggies with the back of a wooden spoon, to get all the golden juices out.

I then let this goodness cool, then pour into containers and refrigerate overnight. After it’s chilled the fat rises and will lift off the top.

I then scoop it up into Ziplocs to freeze. I say scoop because the gelatin from the bones gelatinizes the broth and it is definitely a scooping process!

Homemade chicken stock

I ended up with 10 12oz bags.

One step closer to being ready for Thanksgiving!

How about you? Are you getting ready??? Do you make your own stock?

On the sewing front, I read through all the suggestions you had for creating smoother free motion quilting. For one thing, I went out this morning and picked up fresh needles. Though that was a fresh needle, it was a 14. All I had in the house…… Now I have a variety!

Did you know that Joann’s fabric store has an app, with coupons, right there on your phone? I didn’t! I also didn’t have any of their coupons. I had one for 40% off from Hobby Lobby that I knew they would honor, but that was it. While waiting in the line, that was way too long, one of the friendly ladies, also waiting, asked if I knew about this app. And of course, I didn’t and quickly downloaded it, coming up with an additional 60% off and 40% off one item, coupons!! Great deal, since needles were not on sale this week and that is all I went in for! Cha-ching!! I should never complain about long lines again!

But yesterday, as I was reading all the suggestions and couldn’t get out, I threw together a quilt top that I had been thinking about for quite a while. Everyone else seems to have made a star quilt, except me! Well, I am now the proud owner of a baby sized, Starry, Starry Night finished quilt top! I hacked and whacked and even did a little math. Mostly I just made blocks and then added strips as needed to make them line up square! All from inventory, mostly from scraps, including the navy! It’s about 38″ square. Even have batting and backing for it, how about that?!!

So…. Now that I have *two* projects to quilt, I am off to try all the different suggestions for FMQ and hope to figure out something that works. Wish me luck!!

Linking up with Amanda Jean over at crazymomquilts for Finish it up Fridays!

Posted in Cooking, Eating, Gluten Free, Health, Linkys, Quilting, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Wednesday update

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Sewfrench

Okay, back to what I actually have been doing, instead of what it would appear if you were just scrolling through my blog…..


I’ve never pieced battings before. Lord knows I have enough leftovers, about 24″ wide, not big enough for even a baby quilt, too big to waste on coasters and hot pads.  For this little project, I didn’t think a pieced batting would matter. If it was going into an heirloom quilt, I wouldn’t be doing this.

I won’t show you what this little project is, just yet, but I wanted to try my hand at free motion machine quilting, again. So here I am, not even practicing, but testing my tension. No matter how tight I set it, I can *not* get the eyelashing to stop. I even slowed my speed way down. Is there something I am missing? What am I doing wrong? I quilted one twin size quilt, in a stippling style, with what I thought, at the time, was beginners luck. Now I’m sure it was…

So, while waiting for you all to give me lots of suggestions to fix my problem, I’ll move on to another project…. But I am serious. I need help!

I am machine quilting this puppy in straight lines, outlining the shapes, using my walking foot.  I am still feeling really torn about not hand quilting it, but Peter keeps telling me it is still a hand-made quilt, machine quilting it doesn’t lessen the care and creativity that went into creating it. He compares hand verses machine quilting to when woodworking and using primitive, hand tools verses electric tools.

When you look at it that way……..

And as with anytime you do a lot of sewing, it ends with cleaning your machine.

And after a good cleaning, your machine will no longer thunk, making you think it needs to visit the machine doctor. That makes me happy! Do you regularly clean your machine or wait until it thunks and the bobbin won’t lay flat because of the lint balls?

Then on to the next project…

I love making messes…. I wouldn’t feel at home if I wasn’t standing amongst a mess.

As a reminder, like you need it, Thursday is the last day to vote for your favorites over at the BQF. Exercise your right to choose your favorites!! And thanks for all the support, I really appreciate it!

Posted in Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Crafting, fabric, Fabric Tuesday, hand quilting, Linkys, machine quilting, Quilting, WIP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Go Vote!

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Sewfrench

Just one more time, please!! Okay, maybe two.

Yes, my quilt made it to the finals in the hand quilted category!

>>VOTE<< here for the best in hand quilting.

Voting is still going on for the viewers choice award, if you didn’t previously vote for that, you are not too late.

>>VOTE<< Mine is #96 for what it’s worth!

With 628 quilts entered Out of This World was one of five nominated for the Best in the Hand Quilting category. There are seriously some fabulous quilters out there, I was shocked to be chosen in this category! Thrilled, but shocked!

Click the vote button for one quilt in each group of five.  One vote per IP address or cell phone, however you connect to the web. Voting will take place only a couple of days, so I’d appreciate it if you just scoot right over and do it now, it is really quick to do.

Not like that other election going on today!

But seriously, I very much appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read, follow along and watch as this quilt progressed. I was challenged at times, folded it up and just thought about it for weeks at a time, but I couldn’t get it out of my system. Not until it was finally finished. And you all advised me and cheered me on. Thank you for being just what I needed, when I needed it!

Thank you for taking the time to vote today. It is your right as an American.

And now that I think about it, you might want to go vote for a President today, too!

Posted in 2012 completes, Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Crafting, Design, fabric, hand quilting, Nature, Photography, Quilting, Sewing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Sewfrench

It’s American, exercise your right to vote.

Sewfrench's avatarSewfrench

It’s that time of year, again! Not only is it a most gorgeous fall, but this week starts The Fall edition of the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival. It should be subtitled Bloggers’ Open House because we get to peek inside so many people’s blogs. It’s almost like peeking in windows, only you are invited in! If you’re new here, welcome! Pour yourself a nice one and have a look-see! Thank you Amy for hosting such an inspiring event!

This is one of my slowest ever quilts, but it is finally finish ~ finished! Including the hanging sleeve and embroidered date and signature. Saturday the weather was perfect for getting outside and enjoying it! I took my quilt along for some mother/daughter time. Okay, I took my camera, too, so she could help me photograph a couple of quilts. This one, I’ll share today, I call Out of This World.

“Out of this…

View original post 861 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Creativity is Alive and Well!

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Sewfrench

If you are visiting from the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival, welcome! Thank you for stopping by, I’m glad you’re here!

There are over 600 quilts entered as I write this, and I’ve only made it through about half of them. So many great pieces, I am in awe at the ability to connect with SO many talented people, so easily!!

I started out by using Pinterest to track my favorites, but that didn’t last long when I started running into bloggers who don’t like to be pinned. I guess I’m oblivious to the pain… So… I’ve started making notes on scrap paper. I hope I can make sense of it all, when voting starts.

Voting for your overall favorite has started. To do that you click on the star associated with the quilt you best like here.
Nominations are now open here, put the number of your favorite quilt for each category.
Voting for the top five in each of the categories will be here November 5-8

And as a reminder ; ) …

Out of this World scrap quilt

Entry #96
September 2012
70″ x 55″
Machine pieced
Hand quilted: by myself, Lori French
Special technique: Bias binding appliqued, Hand Quilting
Best Category for the BQF:
Wall hanging, Scrap quilt, or Art Quilt

So…

I told you I was involved in some fabric swaps, right? Immediately my mailbox started filling up! It is so exciting!!

With 13 of 15 of my packages received, 50 different pieces from 13 different people for a total of 650 little squares, how many duplicates do you think I got??????

One.

One pretty little fabric that I got two of. Isn’t that bizarre?
I think so. I know there is a lot of fabric out there, but come on, that is crazy!

I have a ton of fabric, cabinets and baskets overflowing, right? Guess how many of these I already owned?

Five.

Five little pieces out of 650. And guess what? These are not even any that I cut to share. So hopefully others got as few duplicates as I did!! What fun! If you have not tried a swap before, go for it. If you go to Flickr you can search for fabric swaps and find something going on all the time. Next time I spot an interesting one I’ll be sure and share it before the last minute!

I have to figure out what I’m going to do with them. I’ve already made a postage stamp quilt and that feels like a once in a lifetime kind of quilt! Actually, that one was made with much, much smaller squares, so this could be a piece of cake? Today I drug out old quilting books, looking for inspiration for the perfect “something old is something new” kind of quilt. But for now I’m waiting on my little packages from the other swap I signed up for to arrive. Then, I’ll get those sorted and decide which way I’ll go with them all.

Right now, I should probably pick up all this mess and get back to the secret Christmas present I started in July, promptly lost and happily found just today! So excited to have found it and still love it! I can’t wait to share that later!

Posted in Bloggers' Quilt Festival, fabric, Fabric Tuesday, hand quilting, Linkys, Pinterest, Quilting, WIP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

“Out of This World”

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Sewfrench

It’s that time of year, again! Not only is it a most gorgeous fall, but this week starts The Fall edition of the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival. It should be subtitled Bloggers’ Open House because we get to peek inside so many people’s blogs. It’s almost like peeking in windows, only you are invited in! If you’re new here, welcome! Pour yourself a nice one and have a look-see! Thank you Amy for hosting such an inspiring event!

This is one of my slowest ever quilts, but it is finally finish ~ finished! Including the hanging sleeve and embroidered date and signature. Saturday the weather was perfect for getting outside and enjoying it! I took my quilt along for some mother/daughter time. Okay, I took my camera, too, so she could help me photograph a couple of quilts. This one, I’ll share today, I call Out of This World.

“Out of this World”
September 2012
70″ x 55″
Entry #96
Machine pieced
Hand quilted: by myself, Lori French
Special technique: Bias binding appliqued, Hand Quilting
Best Category for the BQF:
Wall hanging, Scrap quilt, or Art Quilt

Once that was done it could finally be put in place. It now hangs where I see it every time I walk down the stairs to my studio. I love it. Even after all this time! When we bought this house in 2006, I knew I would be making a quilt for that wall. It’s a big wall and I finally had a space to make a big wall hanging!  Plus, I knew it would really warm up this space.

This quilt idea came about when working on other quilts. I’ve always loved quilting in circles. Some people don’t like working with them, but for me, they are all about the challenge!

   

There are more but you get the idea.

Years ago, while I had a huge mess of scraps out, for another project, I decided to play with the scraps and see how many colors I could get into one 5″ block and have it still make sense. I started out playing with the templates that I more recently used in my Shoot for the Moon quilt. I suppose they are Drunkard’s Path pieces, though I have yet to make one of those.

I then duplicated those templates and cut them into more pieces … similar to what I did in my Radiant Stars quilt. Then I put them all back together. That is what we quilters do, isn’t it? Cut up perfectly good fabric and then sew it back together?? LOL!

I wish I had more pictures of the process, but this quilt was started before I was a blogger. Back then, I was happy to just have a picture of my finished quilts!

While playing with those templates I decided I wanted even more color so grabbed my Clover bias tape makers and started playing with those.

If you have never used these, they are pretty sweet to make smaller quantities of bias tape. They are especially good for bags, purses, to trim out necklines and arms in sleeveless tops. They are not for making quilt bindings, that is different. Little did I know then, that Simplicity actually makes a machine to make bias tape. I suspect it wouldn’t have work as well, with using scraps, as a ruler and straight edge does!

They worked perfect for this application. I grabbed my basket of scraps and started cutting bias strips of different widths, pulling them through these, under the iron, to set the folds, then stitching them on top. The 1/2″ worked good, enough width that you could see there was another fabric added, but still narrow enough to curve even in the smallest of areas. The 1/4″ worked okay, the 1″ did not, it was too wide to make tight curves, though there are some of them both in this quilt.

This quilt was made entirely of scraps, including the borders, and backing, which were left over strips of Stonehenge fabrics from the quilt I made my sister in 2010. From scraps is my favorite kind of quilt. I could not begin to tell you how many different fabrics I have used. Some blocks have as many as 9 different ones in them. After the top was made it languished as a flimsy, for quite a while, until I decided how I wanted to quilt it. Of course it would be hand quilted, I just wasn’t sure how, there were SO many seams to deal with. I decided on hand quilting concentric 1″ circles and partial circles, having to make a decision on each circle, or most often, partial circle, as to which path I would follow! Each 5″ block is unique in layout, fabric, bias binding and quilting…

On the advice of my hand quilting, expert, friends, I quilted the borders in a simple 1″ crosshatch. I couldn’t be happier with how it came out. That is one thing about internet quilting friends, they are so very generous, and *smart* and have no problem helping out with ideas. Had I asked for opinions/ideas sooner, this quilt would have been hanging much sooner! If you are interesting in hand quilting you should check out the Celebrate Hand Quilting blog. They also have a very active Facebook page where someone is almost always at the ready to help with any question or just to share and celebrate your projects.

“Out of this World”
September 2012
70″ x 55″
Entry #96
Machine pieced
Hand quilted: by myself, Lori French
Special technique: Bias binding appliqued, Hand Quilting
Best Category for the BQF:
Wall hanging, Scrap quilt, or Art Quilt

Now, go refill your choice of drink, click below and see what everyone else created! Don’t forget to nominate and vote for your favorite after November 1! Feel free to pin anything here you like, that is how I’ll be tracking all my favorites! Come back soon!

I’m also linking up with:

A Stitch in Time
Can I get a Whoop Whoop
Show off Friday
TGIFF
Finish it Up Friday

Posted in 2012 completes, A Sttitch in Time, Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Can I get a Whoop Whoop, fabric, festival, Linkys, Quilt stories, Quilting, Sewing, Show it off Friday, TGIFF | Tagged , , , , , | 57 Comments