Vegetarian Feast

Every couple of months a group of us get together and make a feast with a theme chosen by the host . Each person picks a couple of recipes from the chosen cookbook and then we get together and eat, eat, eat. This time the theme was vegetarian using one of the Moosewood cookbooks. The picture above shows some of the food but none of the desserts are shown here. By the time dessert rolled around nobody had energy left to get up and take a photo. This was a truly amazing meal with lots of different salads. The round yellow loaf at the back is gluten free bread and was totally amazing. The cold beet borscht was to die for. The cubed baked tofu would convert the most anti-tofu person. Center front is a cabbage-mango slaw, also amazing. I contributed knoephela soup and my lemon pie which are not in the cookbook but everyone wanted to try. It's going to be hard to top this one!

Changes

I didn't really like the black border so yesterday I dyed some mottled gray fabric and I like it much better. The first four strips are sewn into two double strips. I am using Elmer's School Glue instead of pins. So far, so good.

Gifts

My daughter in law recently visited her parents in Japan and brought this gorgeous piece of fabric back for me. It is not only has a beautiful design but also a very interesting texture that you never find on fabrics here. It will be awhile before I'm brave enough to cut into this one!


My twin grandsons turned 18 on Thursday. That is a big milestone here because it is the legal drinking age. They had a family party yesterday and, as requested, I made lemon pie instead of cake. I found a new recipe and it turned out great. I'll be making more of them soon.

It Looked Fine From the Front...

Hint: If the machine sounds a bit off, it probably is.

Getting There

The One Block Wonder, at this stage, is a bit boring. Lots of short bias seams to sew. I have eight of the thirteen rows assembled. For a bit of light relief, I have loaded the Teddy Bears on the frame and will spend part of my time doing some creative doodling on it.


I'm thinking the black border will have to go. Maybe a gray similar to the medium value on the boxes would work better. I'll have to dye some though, because I don't have enough left of that piece.

Thrifty Day

These were my two best finds at the thrift store today. I love the square sushi plate. I don't know if I'll use the chocolate fondue set or give it away. It looks like it has never been used. maybe it's time for a fondue party.

First Row

I got the first row sewn together this weekend but that's about all I got done. It was finally nice outside so I decided to enjoy the outdoors. I sewed the first full patterned row because I'm not entirely sure I like the black for the border. There are many, many more seams to sew before this one is done.

Swimming Fish

One picture was too dark and one was too light so I went with the lighter one. The fish are fused on and now I'll go around them with gold thread since they are all outlined with gold. I just realized that the whole thing is far from square so I'll have to trim the right side off quite a lot. I'm still bothered by the bottom of the middle box. Maybe a flower or something there?

Help From Some Fish

I am going to hide the worst of my mistakes behind these cute fish. I'll back them with fusible interfacing and then hopefully, insert one end in the seam and handstitch the rest down. Maybe even a tiny bit of batting to make them puff out would be nice. The other method would be to fuse them. I'll see how turning the first fish works before I decide which method to use.

Sewing Multiple Boxes is Frustrating

The last strip on each side is not sewn on yet. There is a mistake on the lower corner of the middle box. The gray is too wide. There should be a small dark triangle there. The seams don't match very well. I may have to applique a lot of flowers or beads on it to cover the worst mistakes. It has been interesting but a bit like Paula Nadelstern's technique, it's just not me.

Tie Dye Shirts

My friend Jenn and I did some dyeing today. These are the best results.

Open Boxes Again

Sorry this picture is a bit blurry but it's cold and wet outside and I don't feel like trekking back to the studio to take a better one. I thought I'd use this piece for a bag but it's getting huge. It covers the whole middle of my ironing board and it's not done yet. It will match a bit better when it's sewn together but I may go back and re-do a couple of the first pieces that didn't fit properly. There are also some light spots on the green fabric that need to be colored or changed. I'll see if I have any paintsticks or markers that match.

Open Boxes

I have designed some open boxes using the method from One Block Wonders. The designing was difficult enough but sewing them is even harder. My seams are far from perfect (ever try matching angled seams?) but I'm not going back to re-cut them. I am looking on this one as a total practice piece. Hopefully, I'll get it all figured out and do a better job on the next one. If there is a next one...

Values

Here I have arranged it with the lights in the upper left corner to match the light on the boxes. I can already see some red ones on the left that have to be moved up higher. Then when you move a couple of them, some more look out of place...



This is the black and white version so I can check on the values. It's very hard, with such a busy pattern, to tell which blocks are darker and which are lighter. I want to make some more boxes to spill out into the border.
This is the second of many versions.

A New Layout

This is the latest arrangement. I put most of the boxes in the middle with lights around them and darks toward the edges. Then I saw that there was a hole in the upper left corner so I made some more boxes. I'm going to try darks near the boxes to make them more subtle. Then I'll try darks to one side and lights on the other. So many possibilities. I'll probably make some more boxes too, just because they are fun to do. I have some triangle graph paper to design some of my own ideas for boxes.

More Boxes

This morning I made some more complex boxes. I'll make a few more and then try to figure out how to integrate them into the overall design. I'll probably take down all the hexagons, sort them into colors and then start with the boxes first. This is the part I like the best.

Cheese

I have been experimenting with home-made cheese and yesterday I made Quark. Today I mixed in some extra ingredients. They are, from left to right, Ancho Chile cheese, Guajillo Chile cheese and herb cheese. They are all quite tasty. I think the chile cheeses may get stronger as they age a bit. I guess I need to make some crackers to go with them.

Thrift Shop Find

This is a set of tube turners. Apparently they can be used to turn tubes of fabric. They could come in handy for making purse handles or flower stems for appliques (not that I ever applique, but I can never resist a gadget). Judging from the instruction book I think this set has been sitting around in someone's sewing room for quite awhile.

Hexagons are Done

I have done all the hexagons and made a couple of boxes. The next task will be to make some more boxes and then start re-arranging the hexagons. I have to decide if I want it light in the middle and dark at the edges or to shade from light to dark, side to side. Or I could go for something completely different. Now the fun begins.

Hexagons

I have been sewing hexagons. I have about thirty more to go and then I want to make some boxes to put among them.

Quilt Show

Sorry this picture is a bit blurry but it's the only one I have of one of my favorite quilts in the show. I love the different blues and I have always been a fan of black and white. It is done in three pieces so it looks like curtains over a window. It was made by Marilyn Stuart Stothers who is the featured quilter this year. The one below that is cut off in the photo is also hers.