Moosewood Monday

I can't stop making things from the Moosewood Restaurant's recipes. Everything I've made so far has been sooooo good! Just like everything served in the restaurant itself.

This is their Mixed Vegetable Curry (I added chicken to satisfy the caveman carnivore in my house). The spices used to make the curry flavor (not curry powder in a jar) work so incredibly well together. I served it over jasmine rice topped with yogurt, cashews, and golden raisins as suggested in the recipe. (Oh yes, I added a few chickpeas as well, but I picked mine out and gave them to the caveman chickpea-lover.)

Served with a glass of Leidenfrost Vineyards Log Cabin White wine.

The recipe is definitely a keeper!

More Good Stitches

One of my quilts is featured here! While you're there, be sure to congratulate Victoria of Bumble Beans.

Transformation

After I finished the quilt that I blogged about in Wednesday's post, I had some strips of fabric left over when I trimmed the backing after quilting...

So I worked on another project, which started with this....

It's a canvas tote bag that was given to me when I went on a shop hop with friends last spring. It's functional, but not very pretty. So I decided to dress it up.

I sewed all of the leftover strips using the Jelly Roll 1600 Race method (except, of course, it wasn't 1600 inches), and then sewed that fabric on top of the tote bag...

Now it's much prettier to look at...don't you think?

So if you have a bunch of scraps (or even an orphan block or two), you can use them to cover up all of those boring tote bags that you probably have hidden away somewhere.

Modern Block of the Month

This is block #4 of the  Modern Block of the Month Sew-a-Long on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. I'm making these blocks using leftover fabrics from my son's high school graduation/going-off-to-college quilt. If you're new to my blog, you can see his quilt here.

To see the first three blocks in this series, click on the "SMS BOM" label on my blog sidebar.

Do Good Stitches

I finally finished a quilt I blogged about here (and yes, the pieces are supposed to be crooked -- my husband wondered about that when I showed this to him).

Anyway, this is now going to go to its new home in New York City after I read about a wonderful project about  Bumble Beans Basics. It's part of my ongoing mission to make charity quilts for teenagers. Quilters often make charity quilts for babies/young children or for the elderly, but too often the teenagers are forgotten. But they get sick and are sometimes homeless, too. And they could use the comfort of a quilt as well.

Here's a picture of the back....

And a closeup of the quilting. Improvisational piecing calls for improvisational quilting...

I Hit The Jackpot!

My guild held a "Needlework, Quilt, Craft and Stuff Sale" this past weekend, at which guild members sold their unwanted quilting/sewing/crafting supplies as well as some finished fabric items.

I wasn't a seller (only a volunteer helper), but came home with all of what you see in the photo for a grand total of $20!

Here's a detailed list --

-- June Tailor Scallop/Wavy Edge ruler ($24 on Amazon)
-- Creative Grids 60-degree Triangle ruler ($25.95 on Amazon)
-- Clover needle threader ($11.86 on Amazon)
-- Quilts of a Different Color book by Irene Bluhm ($19.74 on Amazon)
-- 3 yards of tone-on-tone white fabric
-- 2 yards of solar system fabric
-- almost 2 yards of construction equipment fabric
-- a Diane Phalen fabric panel ($9.50/yard on her website)
-- a Jelly Roll (albeit of W-----t fabric, but it will work for a charity quilt)
-- 21 birdhouse blocks that someone had won at a quilting retreat
-- 7 batik nine-patch blocks, also won by someone at a retreat
-- several recent issues of Sew News and Threads magazines

Oh, yes....and four brownies and a small bag of caramel corn from the bake sale table..but those didn't last long enough for the photo!

Not bad for a morning's work.


P.S. A big thank you to the sellers who had great bargains, and especially to Sylvia for her "everything's free on my table" announcement right before closing!

Moosewood Monday

Here's this week's Moosewood Restaurant recipe. I made this Sweet Potato Apple Chipotle soup and it turned out wonderfully!! The ingredients are so varied, yet the flavors work incredibly well together. Who would have thought that sweet potatoes, apples, celery, onions, garlic, cinnamon, and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce would make a delicious soup? Apparently, someone at the Moosewood did once. It's in their Cooking for Health cookbook, but I found it here.

The recipe calls for blending the soup until it's creamy, but I skipped that step and just mashed the veggies a bit when they got soft. Tasted just as good as the creamy version served in the restaurant.

Served with a glass of Catherine Valley Winery White Cascades wine.

Maybe I'll try the Mixed Vegetable Curry next....

Mean Girls

A few of my quilting friends and I recently decided to form an art quilt group that would allow us to stretch our quilting ideas a bit.  I am not an artist by the common definition of the word, but I do love to work with fabric and color. Some of the members of the group are more "artsy" than others, but we all want to try new things, which is very exciting. No quilt police will be allowed anywhere near our group get-togethers.

We plan to take turns planning "missions" -- things that will allow us to try new techniques, new colors, new patterns, whatever. As our first "mission", together we decided that we would each draw another member's name out of a hat and then provide that quilter with 4 or 5 fabrics to use in her first piece. These fabrics were to be out of that quilter's normal comfort zone.

The quilter who chose my name gave me the fabrics you see in the photo. Those who know me know why I've titled this blog post the way I did.

I think I may have to quit the group...

DJ Continued

This is "LS-9, Kiwi", a beginner-level block. I just used the raw-edge machine-buttonhole stitch method to applique the pieces.

Ten triangles to go...

Moosewood Monday

(Technically, we had these on Friday night, but I like the sound of "Moosewood Monday".)

Anyway, my favorite restaurant in Ithaca, NY is the famous Moosewood. It's actually one of my top two favorites anywhere. Whenever I spend a fun quilters' day out in Ithaca with my friends, we always make sure to stop there for lunch. The menu changes daily and we have never had anything there that wasn't absolutely delicious. I made these quinoa stuffed peppers from a recipe on their website. Yum!

There are a good number of recipes on the website, but you can also buy their cookbooks as well.

Next to try...Sweet Potato Apple Chipotle Soup...Stay tuned next week...

P.S. I just did a quick Google search and discovered that my other all-time favorite restaurant (a Thai one in northern VA) has closed. That was shocking to hear -- everyone I knew who ever went there raved about it.

Dress for Success?

During my visit earlier this month to the Corning Museum of Glass (see this earlier post), I came across this dress in the gift shop. It was only $4,500 -- hmmm, my birthday is coming up soon....

How does one wear something like this? I think I'll stick to clothing made out of fabric...

My Favorite Things

Well, two of my favorite things...

Book sales... 

...and quilts...

My son was home on fall break this past weekend, so that meant a trip up to Ithaca and the local library's famous book sale. The book sale is held twice a year (May and October) for three weekends each time. The sale is so large that they have a permanent building to house the books. Here's a shot of part of the interior -- I would estimate that's about a third of the entire place.

I came home with this...

Published in 1935, written by Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger.   The book has lots of pictures, but alas, all in black and white. But it's still quite an interesting find. You can read more about Carrie Hall here and Rose Kretsinger here.  I'm most intrigued by the title of Carrie Hall's other book -- From Hoopskirts to Nudity: A Review of the Fashion Follies and Foibles of 1866-1936. 


The quilt in second photo above was hanging on the wall inside the book sale. 

Smile

Celebrate!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday, so we spent the day up in Corning, NY. It was a beautiful day for a walk and for a visit to the Corning Museum of Glass, as well as for lunch at the Old World Cafe.

These teapots caught my "quilter's eye" in the museum....They were just a few of the gorgeous glass items on display. If you're ever in the area of the NY Finger Lakes, a stop at this museum is a must, for all ages. And I highly recommend it for local residents, too.

One tip for local residents -- the entry fee to the museum is only $6 for locals, but you have to tell them that at the admissions desk -- it's only on their website, not on the display board at the desk. Otherwise, it's $14. Oh, and you can bring two guests in at the local rate. And everyone 19 and under is always free, local or not.

I took lots of pictures and will post them at some point (as well as photos from the quilt show in Philly, a quilt show in Ithaca, another quilt exhibit at Cornell, etc).

Tribute To Flora

Several weeks ago, a few friends and I had a fund quilters' day out in Ithaca, NY. One of the things we did was visit a small quilt display at the Cornell Plantations Visitor Center. This display can be seen until the end of October. If you're anywhere in the area, I highly recommend it. Spend some time wandering around the lovely gardens there before winter kicks in. And if you can't see it person, here's a quick slideshow...



Cornell Plantations Quilt Exhibit

Positive Thinking

First of all, thank you to all who commented on my post yesterday. It's always great to hear positive comments about what I'm working on and it helps keep me going on this @#$%^&* project!

This is "LS13, Watermelon", an intermediate-level triangle which I paper-pieced and again used the raw-edge machine-buttonhole stitch method of applique. Not perfect, but it will do.

What's On Your Design Wall Today?

I have sewn on the right side row of triangles and am now working on the left side triangles. The four corner pieces will be set in last. I'm not too worried about the set-in seams for those, especially since it's a fairly wide angle.

Having this up on my wall again is inspiring me to keep working on it, so perhaps I'll make another triangle this week. No guarantees.

To see what others have on their design wall today, check out Judy's blog.