My Little Hexie Project…..

My start of my Grandmother’s Flower Garden

I have scraps, lots and lots of scraps….I have told you about my scraps in previous posts.

One of my scrappy projects is to make a Hexie Quilt. I am using the technique called English Paper Piecing.

Creative Memories Paper Punch

I cut my hexagon out with a paper punch. The outer edge of the larger punch is 1 1/2″ long, I use the little cards that we find in magazines – the ones we hate, that fall all over the floor when we open a new magazine. Hey they are free and the perfect weight for this project.

I have a folder full of these cards – one more stash of stuff.

I use my Go Cutter with a Hexagon die to cut the scraps into the size and shape that I need.

various scraps cut into hexies

I pin the fabric to the cut-out hexagon and use a running stitch around the outside to hold it in place. I do not stitch through the paper because I am going to remove it after all of the hexies are attached to each other.

Hexies basted to paper

After I have a bunch of them basted I start to group them but color and sew them together. There are several different stages to making these little “flowers” so I am never bored.

the beginning of a little flower

I have had one of these red fabrics for 30 years!

It is the perfect mindless project to do on a car ride, or air plane ride or while watching TV when you are too tired to really think about sewing. One thing that I have noticed about quilters is that they never want their hands to be idle. If we are sitting, we are stitching.

I realize that this quilt (whatever size it turns out to be) will take me years. There is no time limit on it, it is “busy work” but eventually it will be something that is totally made by my hands – no sewing machine. Every tiny little stitch made by hand. An age old craft still being done in spite of all of the amazing technology available to us. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love the technology that we have – I use it all the time – the internet has brought so many quilters together in so many different ways. I use a computer to design blocks and quilts and I love it, but doing things totally with my hands is really fun. I really have a sense of accomplishment when I do hand work. That is how I learned 30 some years ago because I didn’t have a sewing machine but I wanted to make quilts. It is relaxing.

Hope you aren’t getting to buried in the snow – it has just turned to snow here on the coast- it had been raining all day. To the west of the Maine Turnpike it has been snowing all day. Drive carefully.

Be Kind….

Faith

Happy Valentine’s Day….

Feb14

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of my valentine’s.

I used to love Valentine’s Day when I was little. We would dig into our mother’s package of paper doilies and pull out all of the pink and red construction paper and decorate our shoe boxes. We would cut out hearts with our little silver child safe scissors and glue all of the hearts and doilies to the shoe box that we had saved from the start of school (when we got our new shoes). We would have our mother slice a slit in the top so that all of our classmates could give us a valentine. There was always a party with fruit punch and cupcakes decorated with pink frosting with sprinkles. I remember Valentine’s Day being one of my favorite school days.

I am sure that this would all be politically incorrect these days and children are probably not allowed to participate in a party like this lest someone’s feeling will be hurt. So sad that the powers that be can’t let children just be children any more.

Years ago my darling daughter made me this lovely little heart pin. I still wear it every year on Valentine’s Day. I am wearing it now.

Especially handmade by Elizabeth for her Mom.

My Valentine gave me this lovely orchid for Valentine’s Day. I have several other Orchids in various stages on bloom. One that my children gave me is blooming for the third time. They are amazingly easy to care for and so beautiful to have in my home.

For those of you who don’t realize it today is also Ferris Wheel Day.

I always loved the Ferris Wheel when I went to a fair or carnival. I especially loved it when it would stop at the top and you could look out over the entire fair.

So have a very happy Valentine’s day and try to remember the last time you were on a Ferris Wheel – maybe it was with your special Valentine.

Be Kind…

Faith

The Blizzard of 2013

Feb11

view out front door

Well it started to snow here around 3 am on Friday, and it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and snowed etc. Of course the wind was also blowing very, very hard.
We were all set – we had been to the grocery store, we had food, water, WINE, a generator, gas for the snowblower. So we settled in and watched it pile up and oh my word it did. It is practically impossible for us to measure how much snow we got because it was blown all over the place.

The wind blew so hard that it made it very difficult to sleep – it was very noisy. We were up early Saturday morning – anxious to see what had been dumped on us over night.

the living room window

view from mud room door

There were spots in the yard that had no snow and spots where it seemed to be over 6 feet deep.
We waited until Saturday afternoon to get started. The wind was still blowing very hard but for the most part the snow had stopped. We bundled up in our warmest layers and headed outside.

This is the view from inside the garage – Chuck had climbed out the mudroom door over the snow drift to an area on the driveway where there was only a few inches of snow.

Hi Chuck

We realized that we were going to be moving snow for several hours – there was just so much of it. It is really one of the largest storms that I can remember. Chuck was snowblowing and I was knocking down the high drifts. You couldn’t really shovel it because there was no where to put it. Moving snow is hard work – THEN……

the calvary arrived!!!!

Our wonderful neighbors came and helped us dig out – then we all moved down the street to do several more neighbors. All in all over the two days we cleared 5 driveways and cleared paths for the oil men to be able to make deliveries.

That is what Chuck is doing here….

the front walk

The snow drift in our front yard was probably 6 ft high – hard packed snow.

This is what a neighborhood is supposed to do – group together – work hard – have fun and get it done. It is fun to pay it forward and do for others. We are all a little bit stiff today but we all have decided that the work we all did together was fun.

Thank you residents of Channel Cove for helping us have fun playing in the snow for lots of hours this weekend.

Be Kind….

Faith

The Best Laid Plans….OOPS!

Feb4

So, the beginning of the oops started with purchasing a new sewing machine last week. My goal over the weekend was to totally straighten up all of my scraps so that I could sew, sew, sew with no guilt. As I was pulling scraps out of the many containers of scraps I started to remember – “Oh I made Elizabeth a jumpsuit out of that fabric”, “I used this in the quilts that I made when we were furnishing our first condo in Maine”, the list goes on and on. I was getting nostalgic, so of course I needed to sew.

I pulled out my Accuquilt Go http://www.accuquilt.com/ and started to cut different shaped hearts.

Accuquilt Go

I was using my scraps. No yardage was cut in the making of these table runners.

Work in Progress

I happened to take a quick picture of my work in progress to send to Elizabeth –she of course loved it so I offered to make one for her as well. I worked on these all weekend – finishing the last stitch just as the Super Bowl was ending.

Back to the new sewing machine, I purchased a new Janome Memory Craft 7700 QCP http://janome.com/.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my vintage machines and I will continue to use them but this new machine is a gem. My old Bernina 1230 is still chugging along and doing well but it has a very narrow throat 6”, very difficult to put a quilt through that narrow space. The new machine has an 11” throat. Wonderful! It also has many other features that make quilting a larger quilt much easier. It is really the reason that I bought the machine. So I had to give these new features a try. What fun I had and these 2 table runners are the first of many projects that this machine will help me create.

I used an applique buttonhole stitch to sew the hearts on and the free motion quilting feature to quilt the runners. I will not win any awards for these pieces but there is a learning curve and these are sort of my practice runs. I thought why use a bunch of scraps and thread to just practice – why not make something?

Of course I still have 3 baskets full of scraps and my closet still needs to be straightened out but I had a great time making these. So I will continue to sort scraps and straighten closets until another creative surge hits and then I will stop and sew, sew, sew.

Be Kind….

Faith

Super Bowl Weekend Plans….

Feb1

So I would classify myself as a pretty big football fan. I usually am very excited about the Super Bowl games but this year not so much. I won’t get into all of the reasons why I don’t want the Ravens to win or the reasons why I do want the 49ers to win but I will not be glued to the TV all day on Sunday waiting for the “Big Game” to begin.

OLDEST BIN

Instead I will be sorting. I have way more bins of fabric than I have room to store them. I am going to sort through the scraps that I have been saving for close to 25 years and slice and dice until I have nice neat piles of strips and bricks of fabrics.

LOTS OF MEMORIES HERE

I know that this project will be a walk to memory lane. I can see just by looking at the fabrics in the baskets that there are fabrics from quilts that I made when my children were babies. Many of these scraps of fabrics are from clothes that I made for both of them over the years. It will be a lot of fun to look at all of these fabrics but what will be even more fun will be the bags of fabric that are ready to be made into new quilts. No $ spent and laundry baskets of jumbles of fabric emptied. How great is that!

MORE!!!!!

I have a storage container with 3 drawers in it that fits very nicely under my sewing table and a box of 2 gallon zip lock bags ready to be filled with slices of fabric. My plan is to cut 3 ½”, 2 ½” and 1 ½” strips when I can. I am going to cut 1 ½”, 2 ½” squares, 5” blocks. I am going to cut a variety of bricks 2 ½” x 3 ½”, 2 ½” x 4 ½”, 3 ½” x 4 ½” and possibly 4 ½” x 6 ½”. These are all sizes of fabrics that can be combined easily with strips to use in quilt tops. I will then sort them by colors, not to fussy but general sorting.

Where most of it will end up

I am looking forward to getting all of this organized. I have been trying to use more of my scraps lately just to add some zip to my quilts and to also use up fabrics that have been sitting around for years. If I have an organized way to get at the scraps it will make my job that much easier. All of this organizing has been inspired by Bonnie Hunter – you can see Bonnie’s tips on this here – http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/scrap-users-system.html. Check it out – she has loads of clever ways to get your scraps controlled.

I am really excited about this. Ok call me crazy for being excited about something as mundane as sorting and cutting fabrics, but I know that in the end the reward will be great! So wish me luck and I will show you the results when I am done.

Enjoy the weekend and the game. Remember to do everything in moderation, eating and drinking.

Be Kind….

Faith

Unexpected treasures….

Jan30

1860’s Civil War Quilt made in Hopkinton, MA

You just never know where you will find a treasure. I have a very friendly relationship with the Postmaster at the nearby Post Office. It is a little Post Office that thankfully is not going to close – it is only having its hours cut. It is amazing how much people in little towns depend upon their PO’s. It is sort of like the village center – especially when you live in areas that are full of people in the summer and little bit empty in winter. That is in no way a complaint! We have a wonderful little community here in Biddeford Pool, we have an active community club that has loads of activities all winter long to keep us all in touch. No Cabin Fever here.

But I digress….back to the topic of this post. A Civil War quilt from the 1860’s!!!!! Terry – the Postmaster – brought this amazing record of American History for me to see today. It was made by someone in his family in the Boston area in commemoration of the soldiers in the war. It seems to have been made by one person. All of the names and towns appear to be written by the same person.

Boston, MA

close up of signatures

Stars in the corner

tells where the man was killed

The quilt doesn’t have any batting in it. It has been very lightly quilted and it clearly has been well taken care of because it is in remarkable condition. It is stored properly in a archival box wrapped with acid free paper.

I am amazed by this quilt – I don’t know very much about it but I am thrilled that Terry shared it with me. I of course, would love to have spent hours looking at it. I would love to know about the maker of the quilter and her history, why she felt compelled to make this quilt. Was it a quilt made by a group or just a single person? So many unanswered questions. It such a wonderful treat to see this quilt up close and comfortable. Thank you Terry.

This is part of the reason that we quilters quilt. To leave something behind, to be creative, to keep our families and friends warm with something substantial and creative, something from our hearts and hands. Quilts remember when the maker is long gone. They hold the memories of happiness and tragedy, of new beginnings and lost loves. Quilters quilt when they are happy, when they are mourning, when they are expecting new things in their lives. Most quilters these days quilt as a creative outlet – years ago many women quilted out of necessity. They needed to keep their loved ones warm. No matter the reason it is wonderful to see a quilt that has documented a very sad time in our nation’s history and is still here to remind us of it.

Be Kind…..

Faith

GRACIE…

Jan28

Sweet Baby Sept 2008

Oh how we love our pets – some of us go over the top but my feeling is that our pets become part of the family. Gracie had me at Hello, she fell asleep in my arms in the car after we picked her up at Puddleduck Retrievers and I was done. Love at first sight puppy breathe and all. Gracie is a Chocolate Lab and we have all heard horror stories about Chocolate Labs. None of them are true of Gracie, she is smart, calm and above all sweet. Gracie has not caused us one moment of stress since we brought her home. Until Saturday.

I was all packed up getting ready to spend the day making pillowcases for the Battered Woman’s Shelter in York County. Sewing machine, scissors, iron, lunch and a snack all loaded in the car, time to take a shower and get moving. Gracie always comes upstairs when I am getting ready to go out, she is trying to figure out whether or not she is coming me, she seems to be able to judge by the clothes that I am wearing what her chances for a ride in the car are.

I heard a strange noise and turned to see her having what appeared to be a seizure. It was very disturbing – I dropped to the floor and tried to still her. The trembling did not lessen in fact it seemed to intensify. Chuck was in the basement – in my biggest booming voice, I called him to come quickly. I didn’t dare mention at this point that I was concerned for Gracie – that would have scared him too much. We quickly came to the conclusion that we needed to get her to the Vet. Gracie was unable to walk, Chuck had to carry her to the car. We were very frightened! First we brought her to our regular Vet who thankfully has Saturday hours and then unto the Emergency Vet.

Gracie had to spend the night in Hospital. They were monitoring her for more seizure activity. There are still a lot of questions. Did Gracie actually have a seizure? What caused the seizure? Was it something she ate? Is it the onset of Idiopathic Epilepsy? The Vet did blood work so that we know it was not caused by a metabolic disease.

Happy dog! Christmas 2012

Gracie did not have another seizure. We were able to pick her up late Sunday morning. We still do not have a confirmed explanation for the seizure. If she continues to have seizures we will do more tests, to get confirmation of Epilepsy we need to have an MRI and a spinal fluid analysis. These tests will cost almost $2000. If the seizures continue we will have these tests done. Thankfully Gracie has been seizure free since 10 am Saturday morning.

We love our dog in a way similar to the way we love our family. We have committed to taking care of them and to giving them the best life we can. They bring us endless joy, they make us laugh, they comfort us and they always seem to know when we need an extra bit of affection. Gracie seems like the same wonderful dog, companion that she has been since the day we brought her into our family. Hopefully the seizure was a fluke and she will be seizure free for the rest of her wonderful life. We will watch her carefully and get her the medical attention that she needs, hopefully it will not be needed.

Gracie brings joy into our life she is a sweet, gentle, smart little dog. We will continue to give her the same joy.

Be Kind….

Faith

Oh Baby it’s Cold Outside…..

Jan23

Brrr – When I got up this morning it was 1 degree outside. It is currently 4 degrees – wow what a warm up. It hasn’t been this cold in Maine in years – I believe the weather man said this morning that the last time it was this cold was 2000. Thirteen years is a really long time for mild weather. Don’t panic this is not a post about Global Warming. It is more a post about past memories of cold weather and snow.

When our children were born we lived in the Town of Westerlo. It is a small town in upstate NY in the beautiful Helderberg Mountains. It is the southwest corner of Albany county but it is a world away from most of the county. It is just high enough in elevation to make it snow when it is raining in Albany. It is always a little bit colder “in the Hilltowns” than it is off the hill. When our children were little we would guess how cold it would be when we pulled into the driveway. You would have to have your guess in before we started up the hill. Very often the change in temperature could be as much as 5 degrees.

First house – Westerlo, NY 1986

This is the house that we lived in. It was built about 1856. It was a lovely home and I miss it. We have many very happy memories of family times and parties in this house.

I used to love it when it snowed – I actually still do. I like to make some comfort food – chicken pot pie, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, pot roast, just to name a few. A pot of soup or chili are always good choices on snowy days.

Charles 20 months old

This is picture of Charles when he was about 20 months old.

He loved being pulled around the yard in his sled. He was one cool dude with his shades on. I used to love kissing those cold rosy cheeks! Memories are wonderful.

Elizabeth 2 years old

As you can see in these pictures my little darlings were all bundled up for the snow.

Charles 3 years old

They were probably outside for about 30 minutes before complaining that they were cold. I am sure that Daddy had something to do with the building of the snowman.

Snowman winter 1991

We don’t have snow like that any more. Of course a big part of that is where we live. Some years we have alot of snow and other years like 2012 we have no snow. Right now we have cold but not alot of snow.

So if you go outside – bundle up and be sure you have a big cup of hot chocolate or tea waiting for you when you come inside.

Enjoy – this too shall pass. In July and August we will be complaining about how hot it is.

Be Kind…

Faith

Braised Beef Short Ribs…

Jan20

It is a warm, windy day today…. but tomorrow it is supposed to be very cold. Joe this recipe is for you. Let me know how you like it.

Lots of playoff football on later today, and my dinner is simmering on the stove. It is a wonderful pot of Braised Beef Short Ribs. It is a variation of a Mario Batali recipe from his Molto Italiano cookbook. I love his cookbooks and use his recipes or a variation of his recipes a lot.

This recipe starts with a Basic Tomato Sauce. I use this sauce for a multitude of different meals. I use it for Eggplant or Chicken Parmigiano; I use it as my go to marinara sauce. It is easy quick and delicious and I always have the ingredients.

Basic Tomato Sauce:

¼ cup olive oil

1 Spanish onion, ¼” dice

4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

3 Tablespoons of fresh thyme

½ medium carrot, finely shredded

2 28 oz. cans of whole tomatoes – I prefer San Marzano tomatoes

Salt

In a 3 qt. saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, cook until soft and light golden. And thyme and carrot and cook until tender
Add tomatoes, with juices – (I crush them with my fingers prior to adding) Bring to boil and then simmer for 30 mins.
Season with salt.

Be careful when you shred the carrots – watch out for your knuckles, I tend to shred mine. Ouch! Whenever I read to slice garlic thinly I think of the movie Good Fellows where they slice the garlic with a razor. No need to slice it that thinly but the thinner the better because it will practically dissolve in the sauce.

The next step is the ribs… These are wonderful and easy to make.

Braised Beef Short Ribs:

6 tablespoons olive oil

4-5 lbs. beef short ribs bone in

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 large Spanish onions ½” dice

1 medium carrot ½” slice

2 ribs celery ½” slice

4 oz. diced pancetta

2 cups dry red wine – I used a Malbec this time

2 cups of the Basic Tomato sauce above

In a large Dutch oven heat oil over high heat until smoking. Season meat with salt and pepper. Working in batches brown all the meat until dark golden brown – 10-12 mins. per batch. Transfer to platter and set aside.
Pour excess oil out of pan. Add sliced and dice veggies and pancetta and cook until tender.
And wine and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil.
Add meat and bring back to boil. Cover and cook until meat is tender – 4-5 hours. Transfer to platter.
Bring cooking liquid to a boil and reduce to 2 ½ cups. Season with salt and pepper and pour over meat. Serve immediately.

I am serving this with Roasted Garlic mashed potatoes, a salad and warm crusty bread, and of course the rest of the Malbec that I used to braise the meat.

Enjoy the football games and what ever delicious meal you are making.

Be Kind….

Faith

Chicken Barley Soup –

Jan17

What a beautiful morning it is here today!! It is a bit chilly but the sun is shining so brightly and the snow is so pristine. The perfect day for a big bowl of soup and piece of homemade bread.

Chuck was out of town last night and I hate to have a driveway covered with snow – so I dragged the snowblower out and got the driveway and sidewalk cleaned up. Thank goodness the snowblower is self propelled, it is so heavy that I never would be able to push it around with out that feature.

Chicken Barley Soup

Chicken Barley Soup

4 bone in Chicken Breast

1 large onion – chopped

2-3 large carrots peeled and sliced

2 stalks of celery – diced

2 cups baby spinach rinsed and chopped

1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes crushed in your hands

2 quarts Swanson Chicken Broth

2 cloves garlic minced

2 cans Small white beans – optional

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 ½ cup pearl barley – rinsed

olive oil

Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees –

Coat Chicken breast with olive oil – sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Place in roasting pan skin side up and roast for 45 mins or until done.

Heat oil in large stock pot – add onions, celery and garlic. Cook until soft. Be careful to not let the garlic burn – it will get very bitter.

Add carrots – sauté until they are softened

Add chicken broth, both cans of tomatoes, chopped spinach.

Once the chicken is cooked – let it cool a bit then cut it off the bone and dice into 1” pieces. You can also shred it if you prefer shredded chicken in your soup.

Add barley – bring to boil. You made need to add a bit more broth or water after barley is cooked – it absorbs a lot of the liquid.

Add rinsed beans and chopped parsley. Add salt and pepper to your taste.

ENJOY!

Winter is so beautiful! I love the snow on the tree limbs.

Enjoy the view from your window if you are somewhere that is covered in snow. The view from my window is sparkling. Stay warm.

Be kind…..

Faith

quiltingonthecove

A peek at my life. My quilting, my cooking and a look at the beautiful place that I live!

My Little Hexie Project…..

Happy Valentine’s Day….

The Blizzard of 2013

The Best Laid Plans….OOPS!

Super Bowl Weekend Plans….

Unexpected treasures….

GRACIE…

Oh Baby it’s Cold Outside…..

Braised Beef Short Ribs…

Chicken Barley Soup –