Early Garden

Walking around outside today in the sunlight, it is about 66 degrees and calm.  It is so quiet, like the season is holding its breath for a moment while the flowers get ready.  A couple have started to show their faces. These are the crocus flowers that were mostly closed and dusted with snow, was …

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Bleeding colors on quilts

At some point, nearly every quilter will face the problem of a bleeding fabric in a finished quilt.  Some of us try to minimize this by pre-washing, but there are times when that isn't possible, like a block of the month club where you only get a few little bits.  Other times, pre-washing just didn't …

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A Promise of Spring

As I poured a hot cup of coffee this morning, I opened the shade on the window over the kitchen sink and saw a scene of quiet beauty.  Overnight there had been a light snow, like the world had been dusted with powdered sugar.   This happens several times each winter in our part of the …

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Spring Floral Wall Quilt – Part 1

One of my UFO Challenge projects for the year is to get a spring floral wall hanging done, something that will last partway into summer, and something to put up between St. Patrick's Day and Easter, if like this year they are pretty far apart. So, started out with a couple of florals and found …

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Spring Floral Wall Quilt – Part 2

OK, so now, I am going to use proper border attaching method of measure and sew.  See the top of the blog for a full tutorial on this process. The quilt is supposed to have a design that is shared, the floral squares all share the HSTs, so the stars blend into each other.  Neat, …

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Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup with Gouda

I adore tomato soup, and there is a restaurant in town that makes a super version.  They call theirs Gouda Soup, and it is a tomato and roasted red pepper soup with Gouda cheese grated on top.  I just had to figure out an acceptable recipe to make at home.  Several tries, but I think …

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Coffee Bag Project

I was in a cute quilt shop while on my last vacation, and found an adorable coffee motif panel.  It had six little mug rug size motifs.   I had to have it along with a yard of the coffee bean fabric that went with it.  Getting home, I pulled out my coffee color stash …

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Mitering Printed Borders

One of the comments on my tutorial on borders was a question on how to miter with prints.  Luckily, the question came at a good time when I had just had two of my friends over to help me do just that.  I still had some of the fabric, and I could take some close …

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A walk in the forest

I really enjoy hiking and  Saturday it was just too pretty a day to stay inside with temperature in the low 60s and clear skies.  Time to go to DuPont Forest for a nice walk.  We have hiked this area many times in the past, and the trails range from easy to very difficult.  It …

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Casserole for a Crowd

I like to cook for a crowd almost as much as making a special meal for two.  Parties and pot-lucks are a great time to get together with friends and catch up with everyone’s news.  For a pot luck gathering last Saturday, I made this dish that was a crowd pleaser.  Very little was left …

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