Louisa Enrights Blog | Mainely Tipping Points

Time 2020-11-21 20:08:02

Web Name: Louisa Enrights Blog | Mainely Tipping Points

WebSite: http://louisaenright.com

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Here is a lamb stew (with added rice and asparagus when plated) that came out with tender, tasty lamb chunks and carrots that were NOT overdone. The sauce was thickened with the addition of a flour at the start—for me cassava, which I can eat.Several people have asked me now how I make my Quilty “Tree” Block. First let me say that this block was inspired by Amanda Jean Nyberg’s tree block quilt AND that I finally devised my own method after completing the “Mowed Lawn” block in the Sugaridoo Bernina Quilt-Along that just finished up this month. Up until the “Mowed Lawn” row, I just could not get my head around how to proceed easily with this kind of a block.My own blocks are moving along quite nicely now as a leader/ender project, and I am pleased with how this project is shaping up. Note that I have used some different sizes of the “tree” trunks—for me about 2: a 1-inch cut and a 1 1/4 inch cut. And this arrangement will not likely remain after I have more blocks done. I’ll refine placement then by color and by how the trunks relate from block to block.Start with a block that is ONE INCH bigger than your finished block size: for me that has been 8 1/2 inches. And it should have been 9 to finish at 8, but that was part of my own learning curve.Cut the block into 4 pieces—without coming too close to where the seams that join the blocks will be on either side. Don’t make these angles too, too sharp or you will have trouble getting four pieces AND do vary the slant on the first cut—leaning to the left or the right differently for individual blocks. IMMEDIATELY put little numbers ON THE TOP marking each pieces placement. It is so easy to get confused really fast, especially with solids.You will have already made a swatch of fabrics that will make the tree trucks. I cut these strips randomly at 1 inch up to 1 1/2 inches. Then I cut the trunks at 1 inch for most, but add in a few 1 1/4 inches. Again you can see how the widths work out in the first picture of my completed blocks.I make my tree trunks so that they will be a bit longer top and bottom—so I can vary now I lay them out in terms of color—by reversing some of the strips. It’s good to make several sets of sewn strips so that you can vary color. It is easier to sew the strips to the block is you have all the seams going down. Just reiron a strip if you need to.Here’s my plan for this block. When you sew try to keep the top (pink) edge about the same if possible. You can see here that I didn’t do that as neatly as I like. Lay your strip in, put a pin on the 1/4 inch line, and turn the strip to see if your background fabric is lined up better than here. I don’t worry so much about the bottom edge if this top one is fairly even—since I won’t lose too much fabric on both sides, just one.So now it is time to trim to 1/2 inch bigger than your finished block when sewn—so my 8 1/2 will now go to 8 inches square.A square ruler REALLY helps with this trimming as you can see everything at once that you need to consider and can see how to best trim ALL the sides and if there is some problem with size. Honestly, I use my different sized square rulers a lot. I trim two sides, then flip the block around, line up again, and do the final two sides. (This block is 8 inches and will finish at 7 1/2—the ruler is just a bit high on one side in this picture as I relaid it in for this picture. She just finished this lap-size throw and is blocking it. Oh my! How gorgeous is this work? Very GORGEOUS.I have FOUR quilts to longarm now—each is all set up with all their parts organized, including their labels and bindings.And while my quilt room is feeling MUCH less tangled with projects now, the bed in the adjacent bedroom is piled high with these projects.First up to quilt will be the Wild Goose quilt, seen here on the design wall a while back:Next will be the funky rail fence quilt designed by Sajata Shah and which can be seen in her book CULTURAL FUSION QUILTS.The TWO Sugaridoo QAL quilt tops are finished as of yesterday. These two quilts have been a year-long journey. Here’s the rainbow solid one. You can see a piece of the backing fabric on the cutting board. I wanted something quiet, though I was tempted by the very bright choices others are making. I am going to bind in the darker grey accent fabric.Row 11 is so graphic. It was so fun to make. And in general, I have learned a lot during this project and have now 12 new patterns and several quilty methods new to me.I have absolutely no idea how I should quilt these quilts. At 70 by 90, they are just way too big to be done on the domestic machine with a grid. And I don’t do intensive longarm quilting with rulers. I just don’t. And I don’t like intensive quilting on a functional quilt as it makes them too stiff. So I will do something overall—either freehand or with a pantograph.I have TWO leader/ender projects on the design wall; each is endlessly fun and are using up the solid scraps. The tree block is inspired by a quilt by Crazy Mom Quilts, and the striped quilt is inspired by a quilt by Tara Faughnan.AND, in the relatively clean quilt room, I will now wade into the first Color Collective project as the white background fabric I ordered arrived this week. People taking the class are showing their completed blocks now in the online social media groups (FB and Instagram), and their different color choices are so fun and so inspiring to see. I always look forward to the moment in the fall when the Sun Services crew comes and cleans my windows.This year we decided to remove the cheap, broken, flawed white wooden cross-hatch pieces. They are a perfect examples of nice windows with flawed, cheap wooden decorative pieces that ruin the impact of the otherwise really good windows.I am so happy we took them all out. Look at these beautiful views that are fully visible now!The kitchen is on the north side of the house—and it’s hard to get a picture where the inside is not dark.Here’s an example of why I need help with window cleaning—this one takes outside and inside ladders—as do many of the windows around this house which sits on a hill.The house is filled with even more sunshine and light now. Why didn’t I take out those broken messes that especially on doors, flapped on the sides with every opening and closing of the doors! I have been having so much fun playing with these two projects on my design wall. They have been wonderful ways to cope with all the political chaos of an election in the middle of a pandemic. Both of these projects are meant to use up solid scraps acquired with two years of The Color Collective online class on Sewtopia, with Tara Faughnan as the teacher and curator of fabrics.On the left, the “trees” quilt was inspired by Crazy Mom Quilts. And on the right is a quilt inspired by Tara Faughnan’s quilt made with this kind of method.I pulled out the bin of solid scraps and sorted it—I have piles where the fabrics need to be cut into useable sizes—like, at the very least, different sizes of square blocks. The strips are going into the developing quilt on the right. Occasionally I dive into the bigger bins of bigger pieces of solid fabrics to get a color I want to go with what is here, or to cut new squares for the trees quilt.I’ve washed and ironed all the fabrics for the first project of season 3 of The Color Collective. The block is “Marrakesh.” The first set of fabrics is a luscious combination.The funky rail quilt top from Sajata Shah’s CULTURAL FUSION QUILTS book and all the needed parts for the longarm joins the Flying Geese quilt with all its needed parts. I’ll start to longarm quilt these quilts pretty soon now.The funky rail fence block is super fun to make. I used a suite of fabrics I’ve never used—and added fabrics from my stash. I pieced the back with the remnants, so that’s a lot of fabrics out of the stash. And does it count as an almost-created Unfinished project since I did have a suite of fabrics kept together? I think so. I do NOT want to be one of those people who dies and leaves a huge amount of fabric for my family to manage.I worked on the last row of the solid Sugaridoo QAL quilt yesterday. Along the way I added sashing that is a bit too wide, and the quilt is way, way too long. Sugaridoo planned it at 70-90, which is not a ratio I like. I spent the evening ripping out some of the sashing, and I have at least gotten the quilt back to 70-90. I’ll likely finish these two quilts in the next few days, and I have enjoyed the learning curves involved and all the new block patterns. I have backings for both quilts, but need to organize bindings. Completing these two tops will make FOUR quilts ready for the longarm and binding.The third row of the EPP project “36 Ring Circus” is going faster than the first two. I’m making all the center blocks in a row at one time now. And I pretty much have all the parts that surround the center glued and ready to go.I also have two knit garments cut out and some patterns I really want to make. That’s a bit harder since I’m not really seeing anyone with the pandemic situation and so have no place to wear new garments.My sewing life is rich and satisfying during the winter season here in Maine, and it feels good to get unfinished projects completed and to take on some new challenges. Dr. Becky Campbell, in the new book I got, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan, recommends the online store Thrive Market. I joined, and here is my FIRST box. For those of you who live in cities, something like Thrive may not be necessary. But I live in a mostly rural town in Maine, and while we have some great local co-ops and other stores that specialize in local clean foods and healthy products, these stores do not necessarily carry speciality food products, like Tigernut flour. And, the Belfast co-op, which does carry a lot of what I need, is 45 minutes north of me.Here’s my first box. Thrive does not carry anything GMO and does carry Fair Trade, organic, sustainably created, and so forth. Many of their products are also cheaper than our local ones. And, shipping is free if the order is over something like $50.Below, there’s my tigernut “flour” and my tapioca flour. Tigernuts are a tuber, not a nut or a legume. Tigernuts have been, apparently, used in Africa forever and are known to be really healthy for gut health. The recipes I’ve made so far have a delicious, mellow nutty taste. And it turns out that Tapioca flour, which derives from cassava, has some important nutritional features. Who knew? I thought it was just a useless starch. And, there too, is SPROUTED brown rice. (Thrive carries other sprouted grains as well, including rolled oats, which are now in my second box.) Sprouted grains make the nutrients in grains way easier for the body to absorb.I have not had a muffin or baked anything like a muffin in over 10 years. Maybe longer. These apple/carrot/tigernut muffins are DELICIOUS and filling. The “nut butter” I made with the flour is also delicious.Here’s a “pudding” made from almond milk (I found a brand at the Belfast Coop that is just nuts and water—no preservatives—Elmhurst), coconut milk (I make my own from dried organic coconut, but will buy some canned from Thrive on the next order), chia seeds, vanilla, and maple syrup. A pinch of salt is not a bad idea. I top it with organic blueberries I got last summer that have been defrosted and steeped in a bit of Maple syrup. It is SO GOOD. The chia seeds are the magic ingredient (and are so good for you) as they form a kind of gelatin when put into water. The soup I made from the Instant Pot chicken broth is delicious and very filling. The broth has so much gelatin in it that when cooled, it practically stands up on its own. That’s an added benefit to the Instant Pot.The blocks are done, but not sewn together. Sajata Shah designed this “funky rail fence” block, and it is in her book CULTURAL FUSION QUILTS.Yesterday I started piecing a back and pulled out leftover batting strips to sew together. The binding is cut, but not sewn together. It’s one of the reds in this fabric suite. I was able to add some greens from my stash to this mix, so a lot of fabric has gone flying out of my stash.I think I would love this quilt in shades of grey and black. AND in modern bright fabrics with, maybe, some neutrals. But, maybe no neutrals. And of course it would look great with solids as well.So, someone please tell me how—in spite of my vow to NOT start anything new—that this happened? It comes from playing with a new block, of course. And the excitement of getting a new book with LOTS of fun projects. Can I count having a suite of unused fabrics an “unfinished” project?Anyone who reads this blog for any time knows I have a mast cell/Histamine Intolerance syndrome and have to be really, really careful with food and chemical smell triggers. This problem is one reason why I cook a lot.But this past week I saw on a Facebook HI group post that there is new book on the market. Ho Hum, I thought at first. But then, for some reason, maybe I’ll give it a try as this book is really current: 2019. For one thing, Dr. Becky Campbell sorts out the whole issue of mast cell disorders, Histamine Intolerance, and allergic reactions of other sorts really well. She is pioneering ways to help people deal with the worst of the reactions and to get back to a healthier place that doesn’t involve a lot of scary reactions and that allows more normal eating. She includes a whole section of recipes new to me that will work for me and which, so far, are delicious. AND, the fact that more information is out in the market now signals that at least some people are “getting” this issue and working out ways to manage it. One of the methods Campbell recommends is using an Instant Pot—which is a high-tech pressure cooker with modern features. This appliance bears NO resemblance to the pressure cooker my mother had or that I had so many years ago. I gave mine away as I recall. For one thing, they were totally scary to use and tales of them blowing up and putting holes in the ceiling abounded, especially if one didn’t pay attention. Plus, I didn’t especially like the overcooked taste of food cooked this way. The Instant Pot has a timer system, for one thing. One can leave the room while it is cooking. And it’s REALLY quiet.Mine, a 6-quart Duo version, came Thursday. I opened the box, unpacked everything, found the instruction booklet, and did the recommended water test to understand how the Instant Pot works. Then, using a recipe in the new cookbook, I loaded in a 6-pound pasture raised Freedom Ranger chicken—which just fit and which cooked in 40 minutes. The browning of the chicken in the pot top and bottom happened before the 40-45 minutes. (I planned for 45, but in my excitement and nervousness, I might have just done 40 minutes.). And, it was slightly overcooked, 35 minutes would probably have been just fine. The meat was moist and delicious, however, and perfect for making a chicken salad recipe from the book and for reheating for another meal. A smaller chicken would have been better as well as one could brown it better. Here’s my DELICIOUS chicken salad, which uses a low-histamine mayonnaise recipe in the cookbook. I have SO MISSED homemade mayo. This recipe uses Annie’s plain mustard to make the mayo emulsify—as it contains distilled white vinegar, which is the lowest histamine vinegar there is. (All fermented foods are triggers for HI people.) There is also some turmeric, which I’ve been afraid to try and a tiny bit of paprika, also a trigger. But the mayo did not set off anything for me. (I take Mercola Quercetin daily, which I think really is helping with triggers.). I had a lot of broth left in the pot as I did not make the gravy in the recipe. It jelled up beautifully in the refrigerator, which shows it got a lot of goodness from the chicken and the bones. I reserved some of the chicken meat for a soup made with this broth.The next day I made the 2-hour bone broth recipe from the book with the spent carcass. (You can stand the hot lid up on the handle of the hot pot until everything cools.) It was so easy.And look at this beautiful bone broth so full of goodness. A traditional bone broth cooks for 20+ hours.This batch is going into the freezer for small batches of soup or other cooking needs. And I’ve ordered two silicone ice trays to freeze and store broth and a kale pesto in smaller portions that can be popped out, stored frozen in bags, and used in a flash. The larger freezer tray has 1-cup compartments. I had another meal of reheated leftovers last night, which was also moist and delicious. Next up in the Instant Pot: some sort of beef or lamb stew. I found a nice recipe at the Instant Pot web site.When I first got on Instagram, friends helped me with whom to “follow.” Meanwhile, the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild started a challenge inspired by a group whose work appears on Instagram: #beesewcial. Here’s a list. I had to do a screen shot to get the list, and the text is light to read, but I think you can see it well enough if you want to follow any of these quilters on Instagram. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Join 404 other followers Email Address:

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