Friday, February 20, 2009

February 2009 BOM #2

Here’s the second block for February. I picked one that a little different; it’s an original pattern from Quilterscache and the link to the instructions follows:

http://www.quilterscache.com/T/Twist&ShoutBlock.html

This block has a technique that we haven’t done yet on the BOM’s. It’s commonly called partial-seam piecing. If you haven’t ever tried it, this would be a good time to add a new skill to your reportoire. The last paragraph on page 1 of the instructions says to sew to a point ¼” from the center square. My personal preference is to leave more than ¼” open; up to 1” is good and won’t get you into any trouble. If you need help with this technique, let me know.

Here’s a pic of the one I did:


As you can probably see, I altered the color-way a little. If you want yours to look like mine, cut only two of the light 2-1/2” squares, and two dark ones. When you get to the instructions for making the unit B’s substitute the dark squares for the light ones in the picture. You can do it either way, but I thought adding those dark squares gave the block a little more interest and movement.
Have fun!
Carolyn

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Vegetable Chili Recipe

I thought I'd share a recipe today. I'm not normally much of a "recipe" type cook, but I got this one recently from Sue in New York, and it's so good and easy that I thought it was worth sharing.
Vegetable Chili 28 oz. diced tomatoes 16 oz. salsa 16 oz. chicken broth 16 oz. black beans, undrained 16 oz. corn, drained 16 oz. green beans, drained 1 T chili powder Open cans, dump it all in a large pan, heat and enjoy.
I used the Pace medium salsa, but you can use milder or hotter depending on what you like. Sue says it's about 90 calories per serving so you can enjoy this one guilt free. And, even though it's called "Chili", it's not what a Texan would call chili. It's really more of a spicy vegetable soup.
Carolyn

Monday, February 9, 2009

Blogland Give Away

Rhonda at Patches and Pieces is giving away six fat quarters in honor of the month of February. Check it out here.

Carolyn

February 2009 BOM #1

Oh gee, I'm late on posting a block of the month for February. I've had it done, just neglected to get the pic and instructions posted here.

There will two blocks for February. The first one is a traditional block called Grandmother’s Choice. Here's a picture, and the link is for the instructions on Quilterscache:

http://www.quilterscache.com/G/GrandmothersChoiceBlock.html




The picture on Quilterscache shows it made in two colors, but I used three so I could keep that red center triangle. If you like the more traditional look, you might want to stick with one color plus the background color.

The half-square triangles on this one are a little different because one half of them is pieced from a 2-1/2 inch square with 2-7/8” triangles added to two of the sides to make the larger triangle. If you are sewing an accurate quarter-inch seam and pressing carefully, they should fit just fine.

I'll have another one done (and posted!) mid-month.

Carolyn

Friday, February 6, 2009

Can somebody tell me.....

.....what happened to January? I always enjoy the opportunity of starting a new year and am a big fan of goal setting, but I seem to have missed it this year. I was disorganized and running behind on everything for most of 2008, and I now I've started 2009 the same way! I think that's how I lost January. I refuse to spend this year in the fog of the past year, so I've spent the first week of February catching up on everything. All my January swaps that were late and lingering got put in the mail on Wednesday.

I'm happy to say that one of the envelopes contained the three sets of red and white 9 patches I owed Teresa.

I don't know yet how I'm going to get the rest of my life under control, but I'm sure going to try!

Carolyn

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Pain and Trauma

First, let me say that there won't be any pics in this post. I'm a big fan of blogs with lots of cool pics, but it's been that kind of week for me so far. Here's what's happening: I've had a tooth that's been really sensitive for some time. I've been to the dentist twice to get it checked to see if it was cracked, but nothing ever showed up. Last week, when I bit down on something hard, it finally cracked all the way through. Seems it's been cracked all along but not in a spot that showed up on the x-rays. I called the dentist and got an appointment for this past Monday, and by the time Monday got here I had an infection that made me look like a rabid chipmunk. I was more than ready to have it pulled or whatever needed to be done, but I had no idea having a tooth pulled was that painful! I will say that the pain is gone now, and I'm already feeling a lot better. But, the idea of having one of my teeth missing is really strange. It will be eight weeks before I can get something in there to replace it........I'm really not vain, but eight weeks with no tooth? At least the lost tooth won't affect my sewing.

Carolyn

Monday, February 2, 2009

Blog-land Give Away

One of our Australian bloggers, Christine, is having a giving away of three cute projects on February 7th. Her work is really nice and who doesn't like to win free gifts? I think there were already about 60 comments left; it will be interesting to see how many have commented by the 7th!

Carolyn