Is there anything that says Irish holiday more than corned beef? Well, maybe Irish Stew. But given a choice, I'll take a wonderful, tender, corned beef roast any day. The moist meat has a flavor unlike any other, perfect with cabbage and potatoes. Wonderful for dinner, and great the next day too, it is a …
Stamping Thank You Cards
While watching a stamping video last weekend, a phrase caught my attention about mixing prints. The class was fantastic and very inspiring, so I went to the stamping workbench to see what I could do. One tip she gave that really rings true was to mix the scale of prints if you are using more …
QOV Stars and Bars
I'm working on two secret projects right now that I can't talk about yet, so it's a good time to show you the last of the Quilts of Valor completed before the holidays last fall. Normally I am not a fan of jelly-roll race quilts, but this one found a way to be interesting with …
Reworking a Thrifted Treasure
We like to eat outside when the weather is warm, and I enjoy having cookouts. One thing that is a constant with outdoor dining is the breeze that will take all the napkins off the table before you can catch them. So, when I found this lovely iron napkin holder at a thrift store for …
California Fire Quilt – Finishing the last quilt
The last of the three quilts we worked on for the Ventura California quilt guild group was loaded on the longarm, with the other gorgeous wide backing from Backside Fabrics. This time I decided to use a golden polyester thread, the same one I used on the Japanese Art Quilt. I used the panto Fascination …
Continue reading California Fire Quilt – Finishing the last quilt
A Quilt Repair of Silk Dupioni
Silk dupioni patches with tapestry and heavier upholstery patches are not the best compatible pair for a heavily used quilt. As this shredded seam on the silk dupioni shows, the lighter weight fabric always takes the brunt of the stress, and dupioni tends to ravel. When a lady brought this to me for repair, I …
Itadakimasu, and Musings on Gratitude
This is the last post on the Asian inspired ideas, and I want to share a way of thinking that has really captured my interest. One of the things that really inspires me is the Japanese way of showing gratitude and an appreciation of beauty in everything, down to the smallest thing, the tiniest detail. …
Zhenzhu Qiu – Asian Pearl Balls
Like many cooks, I am always looking for ways to have flavorful and interesting meals while saving money wherever possible. A few months ago, our local grocery put ground chicken on sale for a ridiculously low price, so I bought 5 pounds, not knowing what I could possibly do with it. That made an opportunity …
Sakura Tsuki finishing
The Japanese inspired art quilt was loaded on the longarm for quilting, and I knew before I put it on how I wanted to quilt it. There are some fan shapes in the print, and one of my new pantographs has the same feel. I have a lovely golden brown polyester thread that is very …
Ikebana – The Art of Arranging
Ikebana is the art of arranging natural elements in a display. The art is over 500 years old, beginning around the time of the advent of formal gardens in Japan. Bringing the natural world inside is something we all do, picking flowers from the garden to display in a vase on a table, or bringing …
From My Carolina Home 