Mary's Tips -Try Clipping

When I quilt I like to use my design wall. It helps me see and organize my work. Once I have decided on the placement, I have to figure out how to get my fabric pieces from the design wall to the sewing machine and back with some order.  Trying to carefully pin my pieces together and move to the sewing machine. With pins my pieces stayed together but I hated getting stabbed with the pins. There had to be a better way and I think I've found one. My clover binding clips. Not just for binding anymore!

                                                      

It couldn't be easier! Just grab a clip and start clipping your pieces together and head for your  sewing machine. When I sewed the first pair in my line of  clipped pieces I removed the clip. My patches were small enough to hold  together in my hands and sew without pinning. Keep the remaining clips in place removing it just as you get to the clip. In your clipped strip you will have a combination of sewn pairs and clipped pairs as you continue sewing. My row pieced quickly and no painful pin pricks! I was  happy with the results of my clipping idea.I think you will be too. Thank you Clover!

     

Happy Quilting

Mary

 

The Care & Feeding of my Mister - Roast Carrots with Sea Salt, Olive Oil & Thyme.

I have to say my husband is a pretty good sport about my cooking aerobics. When my cooking is in full swing,often all the burners and oven are cranking while the pans are piling high. He tiptoes in to investigate, (an oxymoron for him) getting a handout and promises of what's to come. 

I usually shop with a list and plans for meals but willingly adopt anything that looks enticing and add it to the mix. I was delighted to find a local/organic bag of gnarly little carrots from RED FIRE FARM located in Granby and Montague MA. www.redfirefarm.com. I thought these would go great with the roast chicken but they might not make it that far.

 

Roasted Carrots with Sea Salt, Olive Oil & Thyme

2 lbs of small carrots 

2 T. good olive oil 

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2-1 tsp. dried thyme

Freshly ground black pepper (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.  

3.  Wash and lightly scrub the carrots, dry, then toss with olive oil.

4. Spread on the baking sheet and roll carrots around to coat with olive oil.

5. Season with sea salt and thyme to taste.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes re-rolling the carrots in the oil after 15 minutes.

7. Remove when fork tender and lightly browned. Season with fresh ground pepper if desired.

    

   Happy quilting & cooking,

   Mary

I want to be a vintage quilt when I grow up.

Recently while driving, I heard a radio commercial praising the benefits of anti-aging therapies. They rattled off a litany of enticing services that offered fat freezing, face peeling, and assorted other unimaginable practices promising youth. I mentally calculated the effects that some of these procedures might have on my appearance and my pocketbook. 

Our society has a strong foothold in promoting the benefits of youthful appearances and I too am guilty of wanting to  believe some of those promises.  How does this square with my all natural, always buy organic, leanings?   It doesn't! I want to be able to age gracefully on my own terms. I want to have crows feet, laugh lines and evidence that I faced the wind and the sun. I want my greying hair to be a sign of accomplishment that I have lived long enough to have done something I cared about.  

Why would  I alter that agenda?  I hope I age as well as this beautifully soft Welsh quilt in my collection. I want the patina of those slightly worn and deepened hand quilted lines. I want to be patterned  like the hours and days it took to add every stitch to this quilt as evidence of my age. Intriguing  to the quilt historians and appraisers who study the value and provenance of quilts and wish they knew the stories of the maker. 

Yes, this is my philosophy as I sit in a snarl of traffic that's trying my patience. Then I remember to I smile and squint a little in the sun as the driver next to me honks and passes.

                                                                                                                      Happy Quilting,

                                                                                                                                      Mary

 

   

Misters Care & Feeding - Tuscan Kale Soup

 
When I need a quick meal on a busy day- meaning I really want get into my studio and work out a new class project. I cook out of my kitchen stash so I can get on to my fabric stash!

Tuscan Kale Soup

Note: I recommend using organic ingredients

2T. olive oil

1 large yellow onion finely chopped 

3-4 cloves of minced garlic

14 grape tomatoes or 15 oz. can stewed  tomatoes                                                                           

1 bunch curly kale- remove large stems and chop                                                                                1- 15 oz. can Garbanzo beans

4 c. chicken stock

1 t. sea salt

1 t. dried oregano 

1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

1/4 c.  grated Parmesan cheese

• Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed stockpot. Add onion and saute until translucent.
• Add grape tomatoes, sauteing on medium heat until they begin to blister.
• Add garlic and oregano. Saute stirring often for 5 minutes. Lightly mash tomatoes with a potato  masher.
• Add chicken stock, garbanzo beans, salt, pepper and 2 T. Parmesan cheese.
• Simmer for another 20 minutes. 

Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle with reserved Parmesan cheese and enjoy (Serves 4)

In thirty minutes we had great lunch and I'm off to my studio with plenty of time to focus on the new quilt idea I started thinking about while I was chopping onions and stirring soup!

Happy Quilting,

Mary

Shopping With My Hind Brain

Months ago my MIL shared a photo of  Gustav Klimpt in his studio wearing a painters smock. Fast forward to the gallery sales page who posted that image and are selling a replica of this same smock made of an indigo dyed cotton. (www.neuegalerie.org) I admit I'm smitten with this textile item. I think of it often and keep asking myself why I'm so enamored with this  $300 frock? 

 

 

True, I am an artist but not a painter. I would have no practical use for such an item but I still want it! Could I, would I wear it to an opening? It costs more than my little black dress. My friend Ginny, may she rest in peace, was always perplexed with the notion of why, since she had purchased a pricey gym membership hadn't she lost any weight. Would wearing this garment make me a better artist? Is it the evidence of an indigo dyed garment fueling my geeky  obsession with all things indigo?

It's a deep down yes in my brain. It's a vital connection to seeing and  touching the evidence of a notable artist who wore this smock daily. A simple necessary  garment used to protect his clothing donned in a subtle act, like breathing, to paint. 

Is knowing all this enough? Do I want to purchase this item to remind me of what I want to remember? I'm still entertaining the idea. One thing I do know photo of Klimpt with a kitty, priceless!

 

Happy Quilting Shopping,

Mary

 

 

Mister's Care & Feeding - Chicken Stock

My house smells great! The crock pot worked all night so I won't have to! I love having a food stash for those (most) days when I really want to spend all of my time in my studio quilting. 

This beats any salty, fatty, hurried take-out meals available. I know I used all organic ingredients for the stock. In a matter of minutes I can have healthy a soup, sauce or side dish ready for my mister.

Yesterday I roasted a chicken for supper. While It was still warm I removed almost all of the meat then put the carcass and juices from the pan into the crock pot. Next toss in -

1 carrot, 

1 stalk of celery  

1 onion unpeeled

2 bay leaves

4 whole peppercorns (optional) 

Top off the crock pot with cold water filling to within 1" from the top. Set to low and cook 8-16 hours and voila! Strain the stock and let cool. When cool, remove any fat from the surface and your stock is ready. Use now or freeze in quart sized portions.

Many thanks to my friend Denise for her method of making great stock in the crock pot.

Note- there are infinite varieties of  what you can use for making crock pot stocks. Any veggie trimmings, beef bones or turkey parts work great.

 

Throw Away Those Pins!

Recently I was reaching for a pin in a students pincushion and pulled out an innocent looking candidate until I tried to use it! It was a thick shirt pin! NO NO NO Those are not made for sewing they are made for anchoring a shirt around the cardboard collar for packaging. Just because your mother and grandmother saved them doesn't mean you have to. They're still in their pincushions aren't they...

Throw them away and while you're at it  take a moment to inspect all of your pins. 

Toss any bent, nicked, rusted or thick pins you are planning on using. Now don't you feel  better I do! 

I'm not leaving you pin less get new pins. There are many good candidates to choose from.

One of my favorite pins is a silk pin. Silk pins can be found in different lengths from applique, standard and extra long. These pins are slender and easily glide into multiple layers of fabric while still keeping the layers pinned together secure.

It is also possible to sew over these fine pins when sewing together long pieced seams. (sewing over pins when piecing is another blog post debate)

While I am not endorsing any one brand over another and Clover hasn't  prompted me to promote their products I like and use them.

I recommend tending to your pincushion every year on your birthday. What better way to treat yourself to another year of great sewing.  

Happy Quilting,

Mary