For my baby shower, Zelda made two lovely crustless quiches which she called savory clafoutis.
The basis of it is the egg-y custard, to which all sorts of things can be added. The recommendation in the recipe is to use a lightly oiled pyrex casserole to bake the quiche. So the custard base is
1/4 cup cornstarch
1-1/4 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Pinch cayenne
To which you can make all sorts of quiches. Zelda make two - a roasted vegetable quiche which despite all the yummy veggies turned out kind of plain. And a ham and mushroom version, which was very tasty. The ham and mushroom version calls for
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 lb. white button mushrooms, wiped clean, stems trimmed, caps quartered (or cut smaller if large)
Kosher salt
6 oz. ham, sliced 1/8 inch thick and cut into 1-1/2x1/2-inch strips
Freshly ground black pepper
Butter or oil for the pan
2 oz. Gruyère, grated (to yield 1/2 cup)
2 Tbs. snipped chives
The basic instructions are:
Position a rack in the top third of the oven and heat the oven to 425°F.
Heat the oil and butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, add the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and browned slightly, about 8 minutes. If the mushrooms release a lot of water, increase the heat to evaporate it. Toss in the ham and cook, stirring frequently, until it has browned a bit, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, season with a little salt and pepper, and set aside to cool.
Put the cornstarch in a medium bowl. Whisking steadily, slowly pour in 1/2 cup of the milk, mixing until quite smooth. Whisk in the whole eggs and egg yolks, mixing again until smooth, and then gradually whisk in the rest of the milk, the cream, salt, and cayenne.
Butter or oil a 2-quart, 7x11-inch Pyrex dish or an 8x11-inch ceramic gratin dish. Spread the ham and mushroom mixture over the bottom of the pan. Scatter on the Gruyère and chives.
Whisk the batter in case it has settled and then pour it into the baking dish. Bake until the top is deep golden and the custard is set (insert a pick in the center to check; it should be softly set, neither liquid nor firm), 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand for 30 minutes before serving.
The batter can be made up to one day ahead and refrigerated, covered.
Adapted from Fine Cooking.
This would work well with a salad as a light lunch, which is how Zelda served it after an initial course of fresh fruit salad. I think I'd try for petite versions, baked in little ramekins, so that they'd unmold like a flan.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
I'm baaack!
I officially started maternity leave on Friday, March 11, 2011. And my brain and I haven't quite connected that we're not going back to work for a long while. Probably because the baby is still safely nestled in the womb and so it feels like I should be doing...something. So I'm going to do some cleaning and whatnot, but also try to get back into this blog. I've been baking a lot and have some quilts I want to make, so the next few weeks should be pretty interesting, esp. when the baby makes an appearance.
Fair warning - I'm told the first two weeks of life are somewhat consuming on the parents. So don't be silly and have high expectations. But this will be a needed outlet for me, so I'm guessing you'll see some content, even then.
Fair warning - I'm told the first two weeks of life are somewhat consuming on the parents. So don't be silly and have high expectations. But this will be a needed outlet for me, so I'm guessing you'll see some content, even then.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Resolutions
It's not even close to new year's, but I'm feeling the urge for some resolutions. Probably thanks to some movement on resolutions from new year's! A wall in my house is no longer white. Yay! It's a lovely shade of bluish green. And looks awesome.
My resolution for the rest of the year is to do more painting. But in general to be more creative. I need to get back to quilting more frequently. I dug out the quilt tops I've got lying around and realized I need to get them quilted and gifted! Or at least put them up on a wall or something. I have two already cut, waiting to be worked on. And there is at least one quilt-a-long which has me thinking about another project.
Anyhow, stay tuned, I'm back and I'm going to make things!
My resolution for the rest of the year is to do more painting. But in general to be more creative. I need to get back to quilting more frequently. I dug out the quilt tops I've got lying around and realized I need to get them quilted and gifted! Or at least put them up on a wall or something. I have two already cut, waiting to be worked on. And there is at least one quilt-a-long which has me thinking about another project.
Anyhow, stay tuned, I'm back and I'm going to make things!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Resolutions & Doughnuts
I realized how I've neglected this blog and resolved to do better for the rest of the year. After all, I am doing a ton of stuff. What stuff, you may ask? Well...
1. I decided to try my hand at homemade yogurt. I've been sucking down a bunch of yogurt smoothies lately (plain yogurt + frozen fruit + water + sugar) and love them. Yogurt is not exactly expensive, but making it yourself is uber cheap. Esp. when going through a little more than a half gallon every week. I did a bunch of research, talked some some of my Indian friends at work (as in from India), who make yogurt all the time.
Ultimately I decided not to get a yogurt maker, as they are single purpose machines which Alton Brown abhors and I have been avoiding. Luckily I found How to Make Yogurt. No fancy equipment and I already owned or could rig all the components except for one. I promptly picked up an inexpensive heating pad
from Amazon and waited impatiently for it to arrive. This morning, I used it in my first ever yogurt making endeavor.
Today, I got up, heated milk in what is essentially a giant double boiler, then cooled it and left it on my new heating pad for seven hours. It was almost jiggly and reminded me of fresh soft tofu. And now it is in the fridge in two plastic quart sized yogurt containers, hopefully firming up. I will go at it in the morning and see if it's any good. I may adapt the recipe as I was a bit annoyed by the pace of the recipe. But we'll see...
2. Doughnuts. I kind of obsessively read the Pioneer Woman's blog yesterday evening. I used to follow her a couple of years ago, but had dropped her RSS feeds because they were so voluminous. It turns out she's had a busy couple of years! Anyhow, I zoomed through the story of how she met her husband, which is super romantic. And apparently will be published as a book next year. And she has a cookbook, which I was unaware of, but could have guessed as she's always had great recipes with awesome photos.
Anyhow, she posted a doughnut recipe and I decided that just in case the yogurt is a flop, that I should have some kind of comfort waiting. And if it's great, then it's a celebratory doughnut-fest. The husband was a bit confused but enthusiastic, as is the friend with whom he is currently playing Civilization
. Alas the friend moved his family down to San Diego and cannot stop in tomorrow to taste the goodness that will be these doughnuts.
3. Quilting. I've been working on several things at the same time, which means none of them are done. I took a great Double Wedding Rings quilt class over at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks last month. Unfortunately, I was uanble to make the last class. Luckily Carolyn, the instructor, was willing to let me come in on a day when she was working and learn the last part of the quilt assembly. Unfortunately, she has been ill and it's been a month since I finished the components. So they're still sitting around.
I've also been working on another quilt. Last year, my wonderful friends Alex and Steph had another baby, Sophia. I made a quilt for Sophia. My friend Ruth also organized a quilt to which several people contributed squares. That collective quilt didn't quite get done, so I offered to help put it together. It turned out to be a bit challenging as all the pieces were...a bit different from each other. I did some ruthless trimming and framing and made my first set of wonky squares. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I sashed them all together and they're ready to be quilted once I finish piecing the back with the few pieces I had left over. It should get done in the next week or two.
And, of course, because there isn't enough quilting going on, I also started organizing the fabric for my first quilt for myself. I'm going to make a big quilt called a Sea Glass quilt. I can't find the link to the original kit, but the colors are very cool and soothing blues and greens contrasted with a lot of white. I think it will be my first quilt to be sent out to be quilted because I don't honestly know that I could manage to quilt a queen sized quilt with all the overhang that I'm planning for. I'm thinking of putting wool batting in, too, because it's pretty breathable, but I saw some silk blend a while back and may end up with that instead. Either way, I'm kind of excited to have a piece of deliberate quilting in my house.
4. Knitting. Last fall, I took knitting back up with a vengeance. I made socks and hats and I'm working on an interesting scarf-y thing. The socks were great for Christmas as everyone in the family has been very budget conscious. The thing about socks is that they take more time than money. I made custom fitted socks for my husband, mother and stepfather. I had offered for my brother, too, but I suspect the skepticism and the coincidental symbolism of socks as a gift were too much for him.
I just finish the first sock of a pair for my mother-in-law, which was fascinated by them when she and my father-in-law dropped by on their way home from a week-long road trip down to the Grand Canyon. And, of course, my Drew wants a pair. His feet are still so small that I'm not even sure how I'm going to make socks that small.
5. Bread. I'm kind of obsessed with it. Probably because I'm Asian and, well, we don't really eat that much bread. I picked up Jim Lahey's My Bread
which has been simply amazing. I've made the basic white boule, the wheat boule, and the stecca, which is kind of foccia-like. I'm totally into the stecca into which I embed olives, tomatoes, or crushed garlic cloves and top with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of really good salt. Sigh. Rich and Drew love the white boule. Drew amazed me one day by eating two huge slices of it while we were out for a walk. He doublefisted the bread and just followed along on the walk, noshing as he went. Sigh. He's learned so well.
Anyhow, this bread obsession hasn't been too distracting. The bread pretty much does its own thing over 24 hours and then I just play with it for a minute or two and then let it rest and then bake it. That's it. I will admit to having purchased a 4 quart cast iron pot
so that my bread will rise higher. My 5 1/2
and 7 1/4 quart Le Creuset dutch ovens resulted in tasty but kind of squat bread. I am hoping the new pot will give me some nice tall slices.
6. Weddings. Well, just the one. My best friend is getting married and I am the matron of honor. (I'm having a hard time with that matron part, but it's just a word, right?) I've been helping her with wedding planning as best I can from a distance, which means lots of emails and some phone calls. We went wedding dress shopping with her mom and sister, which was fun. And I directed her to some different invitation options, which I think worked out pretty well.
I've got to tell you - this is an odd year in general for weddings. After several years of one or no weddings a year, this year, I have three or four (the fourth depends on whether we'll be invited), one of which I'm actually in! I haven't had this many weddings since my 20's. And despite the fact that that wasn't so long ago, it feels like a crazy busy year.
7. Kindergarten. Now that Drew's in kindergarten, holy cow! There's homework every weeknight, most of which requires significant parental assistance. Plus, he's reading. Seriously! Reading! I can't get away with spelling things anymore because he can almost always sound it out and he's right 98% of the time. I'm so dead.
The other real consequence of kindergarten is that our mornings are a bit hectic. I generally don't shower until the boys leave. Rich gets in the shower while I get Drew dressed, fed, and lunch packed. Rich takes Drew in and then I get ready. Some mornings, because of conference calls, I don't get into the office until well after 10 AM.
8. Work. It's pesky, I know, but I got promoted! And we're super busy, which is kind of a relief given the economy. I feel really fortunate to be employed and be doing so well, but man, it's been rough. A bit more travel than I've had to do in the past, which makes all that stuff up above a little bit harder. I travel with some sewing handwork (a Grandmother's Garden hexagon quilt) and my knitting (thank goodness they let me take knitting needles on planes again), which helps. But mostly it's the being away from the boys that makes it hard.
We have managed to work out some video conferencing, which is fun for Drew. He likes talking on the computer to me. I show him my hotel room and the (nonexistent) views from the windows. One night we chatted while the power was out in my hotel in New Hampshire. He couldn't see me, even though the camera was on because...well, the power was out.
Anyhow, my delinquency is hopefully coming to an end. I hope. I'll blog more, I promise. If nothing else, to keep myself accountable for all my projects in progress.
Cheers!
1. I decided to try my hand at homemade yogurt. I've been sucking down a bunch of yogurt smoothies lately (plain yogurt + frozen fruit + water + sugar) and love them. Yogurt is not exactly expensive, but making it yourself is uber cheap. Esp. when going through a little more than a half gallon every week. I did a bunch of research, talked some some of my Indian friends at work (as in from India), who make yogurt all the time.
Ultimately I decided not to get a yogurt maker, as they are single purpose machines which Alton Brown abhors and I have been avoiding. Luckily I found How to Make Yogurt. No fancy equipment and I already owned or could rig all the components except for one. I promptly picked up an inexpensive heating pad
from Amazon and waited impatiently for it to arrive. This morning, I used it in my first ever yogurt making endeavor.Today, I got up, heated milk in what is essentially a giant double boiler, then cooled it and left it on my new heating pad for seven hours. It was almost jiggly and reminded me of fresh soft tofu. And now it is in the fridge in two plastic quart sized yogurt containers, hopefully firming up. I will go at it in the morning and see if it's any good. I may adapt the recipe as I was a bit annoyed by the pace of the recipe. But we'll see...
2. Doughnuts. I kind of obsessively read the Pioneer Woman's blog yesterday evening. I used to follow her a couple of years ago, but had dropped her RSS feeds because they were so voluminous. It turns out she's had a busy couple of years! Anyhow, I zoomed through the story of how she met her husband, which is super romantic. And apparently will be published as a book next year. And she has a cookbook, which I was unaware of, but could have guessed as she's always had great recipes with awesome photos.
Anyhow, she posted a doughnut recipe and I decided that just in case the yogurt is a flop, that I should have some kind of comfort waiting. And if it's great, then it's a celebratory doughnut-fest. The husband was a bit confused but enthusiastic, as is the friend with whom he is currently playing Civilization
. Alas the friend moved his family down to San Diego and cannot stop in tomorrow to taste the goodness that will be these doughnuts.3. Quilting. I've been working on several things at the same time, which means none of them are done. I took a great Double Wedding Rings quilt class over at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks last month. Unfortunately, I was uanble to make the last class. Luckily Carolyn, the instructor, was willing to let me come in on a day when she was working and learn the last part of the quilt assembly. Unfortunately, she has been ill and it's been a month since I finished the components. So they're still sitting around.
I've also been working on another quilt. Last year, my wonderful friends Alex and Steph had another baby, Sophia. I made a quilt for Sophia. My friend Ruth also organized a quilt to which several people contributed squares. That collective quilt didn't quite get done, so I offered to help put it together. It turned out to be a bit challenging as all the pieces were...a bit different from each other. I did some ruthless trimming and framing and made my first set of wonky squares. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I sashed them all together and they're ready to be quilted once I finish piecing the back with the few pieces I had left over. It should get done in the next week or two.
And, of course, because there isn't enough quilting going on, I also started organizing the fabric for my first quilt for myself. I'm going to make a big quilt called a Sea Glass quilt. I can't find the link to the original kit, but the colors are very cool and soothing blues and greens contrasted with a lot of white. I think it will be my first quilt to be sent out to be quilted because I don't honestly know that I could manage to quilt a queen sized quilt with all the overhang that I'm planning for. I'm thinking of putting wool batting in, too, because it's pretty breathable, but I saw some silk blend a while back and may end up with that instead. Either way, I'm kind of excited to have a piece of deliberate quilting in my house.
4. Knitting. Last fall, I took knitting back up with a vengeance. I made socks and hats and I'm working on an interesting scarf-y thing. The socks were great for Christmas as everyone in the family has been very budget conscious. The thing about socks is that they take more time than money. I made custom fitted socks for my husband, mother and stepfather. I had offered for my brother, too, but I suspect the skepticism and the coincidental symbolism of socks as a gift were too much for him.
I just finish the first sock of a pair for my mother-in-law, which was fascinated by them when she and my father-in-law dropped by on their way home from a week-long road trip down to the Grand Canyon. And, of course, my Drew wants a pair. His feet are still so small that I'm not even sure how I'm going to make socks that small.
5. Bread. I'm kind of obsessed with it. Probably because I'm Asian and, well, we don't really eat that much bread. I picked up Jim Lahey's My Bread
which has been simply amazing. I've made the basic white boule, the wheat boule, and the stecca, which is kind of foccia-like. I'm totally into the stecca into which I embed olives, tomatoes, or crushed garlic cloves and top with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of really good salt. Sigh. Rich and Drew love the white boule. Drew amazed me one day by eating two huge slices of it while we were out for a walk. He doublefisted the bread and just followed along on the walk, noshing as he went. Sigh. He's learned so well.Anyhow, this bread obsession hasn't been too distracting. The bread pretty much does its own thing over 24 hours and then I just play with it for a minute or two and then let it rest and then bake it. That's it. I will admit to having purchased a 4 quart cast iron pot
so that my bread will rise higher. My 5 1/2 and 7 1/4 quart Le Creuset dutch ovens resulted in tasty but kind of squat bread. I am hoping the new pot will give me some nice tall slices.6. Weddings. Well, just the one. My best friend is getting married and I am the matron of honor. (I'm having a hard time with that matron part, but it's just a word, right?) I've been helping her with wedding planning as best I can from a distance, which means lots of emails and some phone calls. We went wedding dress shopping with her mom and sister, which was fun. And I directed her to some different invitation options, which I think worked out pretty well.
I've got to tell you - this is an odd year in general for weddings. After several years of one or no weddings a year, this year, I have three or four (the fourth depends on whether we'll be invited), one of which I'm actually in! I haven't had this many weddings since my 20's. And despite the fact that that wasn't so long ago, it feels like a crazy busy year.
7. Kindergarten. Now that Drew's in kindergarten, holy cow! There's homework every weeknight, most of which requires significant parental assistance. Plus, he's reading. Seriously! Reading! I can't get away with spelling things anymore because he can almost always sound it out and he's right 98% of the time. I'm so dead.
The other real consequence of kindergarten is that our mornings are a bit hectic. I generally don't shower until the boys leave. Rich gets in the shower while I get Drew dressed, fed, and lunch packed. Rich takes Drew in and then I get ready. Some mornings, because of conference calls, I don't get into the office until well after 10 AM.
8. Work. It's pesky, I know, but I got promoted! And we're super busy, which is kind of a relief given the economy. I feel really fortunate to be employed and be doing so well, but man, it's been rough. A bit more travel than I've had to do in the past, which makes all that stuff up above a little bit harder. I travel with some sewing handwork (a Grandmother's Garden hexagon quilt) and my knitting (thank goodness they let me take knitting needles on planes again), which helps. But mostly it's the being away from the boys that makes it hard.
We have managed to work out some video conferencing, which is fun for Drew. He likes talking on the computer to me. I show him my hotel room and the (nonexistent) views from the windows. One night we chatted while the power was out in my hotel in New Hampshire. He couldn't see me, even though the camera was on because...well, the power was out.
Anyhow, my delinquency is hopefully coming to an end. I hope. I'll blog more, I promise. If nothing else, to keep myself accountable for all my projects in progress.
Cheers!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
That Unfinished Quilt
You know, the one you just don't want to work on? For me it is the quilt we made in my Beginning Quilting class. I know why I don't want to work on it. I don't like it. The colors don't appeal to me. they don't really coordinate. I don't love the pattern either. It's a bit...traditional? for me. Sigh. I finally worked on it this week, after finishing up quilting on quilt #5, a surprise gift, which is why it isn't blogged yet. I just have to add the outside border to the quilt and I promise to post photos since it is technically my first quilt, although it will end up on the site at Quilt #6, I think. (Unless I get distracted by another one...like that Mr. Roboto kit I picked up with the help of Amy Smart.)
Quilts #3 and 4, since I know you're wondering, were Drew's quilt and another gift quilt I haven't blogged yet. I'm really torn about Quilt #4. I am struggling to quilt it and while I know from my Quilt #5 quilting experience that it will look fine when it's done and washed and scrunchy, I'm just not happy with it. I'll probably blog it after the weekend.
We're heading up towards Tahoe to hang out with some work friends for the weekend. We're looking forward to lazing, hiking, swimming, and hopefully just relaxing.
For now, I'm off to bed! It was a very long day of work.
Quilts #3 and 4, since I know you're wondering, were Drew's quilt and another gift quilt I haven't blogged yet. I'm really torn about Quilt #4. I am struggling to quilt it and while I know from my Quilt #5 quilting experience that it will look fine when it's done and washed and scrunchy, I'm just not happy with it. I'll probably blog it after the weekend.
We're heading up towards Tahoe to hang out with some work friends for the weekend. We're looking forward to lazing, hiking, swimming, and hopefully just relaxing.
For now, I'm off to bed! It was a very long day of work.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Second-ish
Glowing in the success from the first quilt, I decided to try another one. This one at least came with a reference guide on the Moda Bake Shop. Being a complete beginner and admiring the color coordination, I took the photo literally and went for it.
For this quilt, I used what is known as a charm pack. It is a pack of precut 5-inch squares. This time I use a concept I had seen online and almost duplicated it to surprisingly satisfactory effect. This quilt had machine quilting, a little free motion, and I even did some little curves. Very scary.
I didn't take progress shots on piecing this one, but here is the final product.
This was much smaller than the other quilt. I don't know how useful it will be as a quilt in the end. I really liked the little triangle prairie points around the edges. I may play with that idea some more. Maybe add a loop and other kid-friendly things.
While making the two adorable girl quilts, I used Drew for practice and made his Transformers quilt, which is nothing more than two large pieces of novelty Transformers fabrics (two different ones, actually), and sandwiching them with some batting and using it to practice machine quilting. It turned out poorly from my perspective but was good practice. Drew, of course, adores it and it is on his bed. In the end, I suppose it worked out well for all parties involved.
For this quilt, I used what is known as a charm pack. It is a pack of precut 5-inch squares. This time I use a concept I had seen online and almost duplicated it to surprisingly satisfactory effect. This quilt had machine quilting, a little free motion, and I even did some little curves. Very scary.
I didn't take progress shots on piecing this one, but here is the final product.
This was much smaller than the other quilt. I don't know how useful it will be as a quilt in the end. I really liked the little triangle prairie points around the edges. I may play with that idea some more. Maybe add a loop and other kid-friendly things.
While making the two adorable girl quilts, I used Drew for practice and made his Transformers quilt, which is nothing more than two large pieces of novelty Transformers fabrics (two different ones, actually), and sandwiching them with some batting and using it to practice machine quilting. It turned out poorly from my perspective but was good practice. Drew, of course, adores it and it is on his bed. In the end, I suppose it worked out well for all parties involved.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The First Quilt...Sort Of.
I started quilting by signing up for the Beginning Quilting class at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks. I was throwing around the idea and ran it by my coworker Elaine, who is into crafty things. She was into it, too, so we signed up together. The class essentially taught how to make the Hollyhock Houses quilt pattern. The quilt looks like this:
The one hanging at the store is made with a much softer palette of pastels. I'll see if Rich still has the photo on his phone. It's quite pretty. I figured what the hey, a class is a class, so I signed up and picked up the supply list and went for it. I had a couple of friends who were expecting babies in the next few months, so I figured I would be able to make something simple and cute for them.
So I started working on the quilt in the class...my fabric selection was rather random. I ended up with purple, green, and blue fabrics and it was a struggle to get the variation in color saturation that was requested because I just didn't get it it. The supply list said to buy fabrics in light medium and dark. What the heck does that mean? I took it literally and attempted to get guidance at the fabric store. No to helpful. So I winged it. And...well, let's just say it's hard to make a quilt like that without a cohesive theme in colors.
The class ran six sessions over about three months. Even with the homework assigned, I was itching to do something. ANYTHING. So I started searching online and reading up on quilting. Now that I could stitch two things together, apparently I could quilt!
So I decided to go easy and try working with precut fabric, known as a honey bun. They're 1 1/2" wide strips, generally from a fabric line.
With the internet at my fingertips, I ordered some fabric and away I went!
I chose to start with a Soiree by Moda honeybun and did some fun strip quilting.
The first thing I noticed when it arrived, though was the crazy amount of fabric lint involved. So I promptly took it apart and ran it through the dryer on air fluff.
So then I arranged them into sets of five that were complimentary.
And then stitched them together into 5 piece strips.
After I had them all stitched together, I cut them into squares and started alternating them vertically and horizontally and laid them out.
Then I started piecing the squares together.
I ended up going for five block long strips and seven strips. Here, I've got the first three strips stitched together and am still in the process of putting the other four strips together.
With my leftover little pieces from cutting the squares, I made long 1 1/2" strips of squares leftover to be used as a border. This isn't the best shot, since the top is done but then along the right and bottom are the border strips and on top of the top is the striped binding fabric.
I used some white cotton to provide some contrast and then did some simple machine quilting (which was the most nerve wracking part) and then bound it up and tossed it into the washer with some baby detergent.
And voila!
I had some leftover strips of 1 1/2 inch squares so I pieced a little bit on the back.
As you can see, my quilting technique was straight lines, at a diagonal, using the quilt top as my guide. It works surprisingly well given that this was my first machine quilting exercise.
The one hanging at the store is made with a much softer palette of pastels. I'll see if Rich still has the photo on his phone. It's quite pretty. I figured what the hey, a class is a class, so I signed up and picked up the supply list and went for it. I had a couple of friends who were expecting babies in the next few months, so I figured I would be able to make something simple and cute for them.
So I started working on the quilt in the class...my fabric selection was rather random. I ended up with purple, green, and blue fabrics and it was a struggle to get the variation in color saturation that was requested because I just didn't get it it. The supply list said to buy fabrics in light medium and dark. What the heck does that mean? I took it literally and attempted to get guidance at the fabric store. No to helpful. So I winged it. And...well, let's just say it's hard to make a quilt like that without a cohesive theme in colors.
The class ran six sessions over about three months. Even with the homework assigned, I was itching to do something. ANYTHING. So I started searching online and reading up on quilting. Now that I could stitch two things together, apparently I could quilt!
So I decided to go easy and try working with precut fabric, known as a honey bun. They're 1 1/2" wide strips, generally from a fabric line.
With the internet at my fingertips, I ordered some fabric and away I went!
I chose to start with a Soiree by Moda honeybun and did some fun strip quilting.
The first thing I noticed when it arrived, though was the crazy amount of fabric lint involved. So I promptly took it apart and ran it through the dryer on air fluff.
So then I arranged them into sets of five that were complimentary.
And then stitched them together into 5 piece strips.
After I had them all stitched together, I cut them into squares and started alternating them vertically and horizontally and laid them out.
Then I started piecing the squares together.
I ended up going for five block long strips and seven strips. Here, I've got the first three strips stitched together and am still in the process of putting the other four strips together.
With my leftover little pieces from cutting the squares, I made long 1 1/2" strips of squares leftover to be used as a border. This isn't the best shot, since the top is done but then along the right and bottom are the border strips and on top of the top is the striped binding fabric.
I used some white cotton to provide some contrast and then did some simple machine quilting (which was the most nerve wracking part) and then bound it up and tossed it into the washer with some baby detergent.
And voila!
I had some leftover strips of 1 1/2 inch squares so I pieced a little bit on the back.
As you can see, my quilting technique was straight lines, at a diagonal, using the quilt top as my guide. It works surprisingly well given that this was my first machine quilting exercise.
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