More from August Quilt Group

Helen finished her hand quilting on this awesome quilt!

She also made this colorful one-her style is evident even when she's trying to be different!

Still more from Helen- these are the presents she's been working on...

Which inspired our block exchange for this month...we each made 12 present blocks to swap.

Helen made this cute drawstring bag with a TINY present block...

Marsha's reproduction fabric sampler is coming together from the blocks we made for her...
And she's finished up her adorable dresses quilt too. (The dresses are from a panel, the 9 patch blocks are pieced.) I would wear those outfits. Really. Even at my age. :D

Nan shared her sewing machine covers... One with chickens standing up...

The other with them lying down. Oops. We all have done that with directional prints, haven't we? :D

This pillow should be mine.

I supplied the thrifted embroidered fabric...I couldn't pass it up, but didn't have a plan for it. I passed it on to Nan. (www.potsandpins.com)

It's a famous speech given by George Graham Vest- the closing arguement at a court case from 1870, called the Case of Old Drum. It's the origin of the saying, "A man's best friend is his dog." Nan washed away (most) of the smokey smell, added the perfect trim, and now owns her very own "eulogy of the dog". I love it.

This sunny quilt is by my friend Marcia. She had me deliver this to Terry to long arm it, and so I had to share it with our group...

And last is a great old pieced panel from Terry's family. I love the soft colors and the textures of the shirt stripes...

Make it a Wonderful Day!

August's Quilt Group

I love seeing what our group is working on! This black and cream beauty is by Janet. Love it!

And this month we had a special guest, Janice Pope, who was visiting from North Carolina. We loved her Circle in a Square quilt. It's her very own applique and reverse applique pattern, made with hand dyed fabrics.

Check out her patterns at http://www.anythingbutboring.com/
She also brought a couple of her bags to share. This Traveler's Tote has a panel that slips over your suitcase handle. Such a great idea!

This one is called Long-Stemmed Tulip
Up next is Barbara's pinwheels in summer pastels.

She used her extra pinwheels to piece a sweet baby quilt too!

Her bookcase quilt includes some fun "titles" like Moda...

... and she used tie labels too.

Claudia made this GIANT quilt for her daughter to take to college. It's huge!!

Denise used the cute vintage (and thrifted) embroidered dish towels to make a table runner...

...and she brought her fall quilt too. (Sorry for such a bad picture of a cozy quilt!)

More tomorrow!

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Summer Centerpiece

Have a Wonderful Day!

Salad Party, part 2

Nan's kitchen was a busy place as 8 "chefs" worked on their salad creations featuring 4 new dressings from Wishbone. It was fun to see/taste what everyone came up with.

This next one is a Tuscan Bread Salad, with Greek Vinaigrette. Toasted pita bread, cucumber, tomatoes, feta, kalamata olives, and fresh flat leaf parsley, cilantro, and spearmint...

Next is Warm Squash and Spinach Salad. The chef baked cubed acorn and butternut squash with pearl onions and pine nuts for 20 minutes. She served the squash on a bed of baby spinach and topped it with thin slices of rare fillet mignon and shavings of fresh parmesan cheese, all lightly drizzled with Italian dressing..

And remember the marinated grilled chicken I started with? Here's my salad- a pizza inspired pasta salad...

Pizza Pasta Salad 3 C. dry pasta, cooked and chilled

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (marinated in 1/2 C. Bruschetta Italian Dressing & lime juice)

4-6 C. assorted vegetables, roasted or raw (colorful peppers, zuchinni, red onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, finely chopped kale, parsley)

1 can black olives, drained

1/2 lb. fresh mozarella, cubed

1 can artichoke hearts, drained

1 C. buttermilk

1 lime, juiced

1/2 pound salami, cubed or sliced

red pepper flakes

3/4 C. pecorino romano cheese and parmesan cheese, grated

1 small bunch fresh basil chopped (reserve sprig for garnish)

Marinate chicken in refrigerator for one hour or more. Bring to room temp and grill until juices run clear. Set aside. Toss vegetables in 1/4 C. dressing. (Roast for 15 minutes in 450 degree oven if desired.) Whisk together remaining dressing, buttermilk, lime juice, and red pepper flakes.

Slice chicken breasts.

In large bowl, combine artichoke, olives, cheese, pasta and salami. Add vegetables and chicken. Toss. Garnish with grape tomatoes and fresh basil.Makes 10 main dish servings.

Our salad party was a fun way to spend a beautiful summer afternoon!

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Salad Party

We invited some friends to try out some new dressings, courtesy of Wishbone, and had a great time getting together to sample some yummy salads.


Mine featured the Bruschetta Italian. Before the party, I marinated chickenbreasts in the dressing and lime juice. I grilled, sliced, and chilled the chicken breasts, and then headed over to Nan's, the hostess with the mostess. (Really! Check out her blog at http://www.potsandpins.com/ )





It was a beautiful day-the sun was shining and the sky was blue! (A bit unusual in the Pacific Northwest this summer.)

Nan's salad featured the Mediterranean Italian dressing. Her salad included roasted tomatoes, peppers, Kalamata and black olives, parmesan cheese, fresh basil and pearl couscous...

Alison made a chicken salad with the Greek Vinaigrette, celery, onion, and mayo, served on colorful peppers. She arranged the wedges with feta cheese and olives on a bed of lettuce...

N's spinach salad included the Superberry Vinaigrette along with bacon, cottage cheese, strawberries and mushrooms...

M's Bruschetta salad also included spinach and bacon. And mozarella, grape tomatoes, avocado, and toasted French bread...

Another one of our friends created a centerpiece with bokchoy. She drizzled orange slices, avocado and artichoke hearts with the Superberry dressing, and topped her salad with diced green onion, pine nuts, and gouda cheese..

I'll post a couple more tomorow to inspire your salad creations!

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Another Summer Palette

Have a Wonderful Day!

Summer Bouquet

Have a Wonderful Day!

Playdate to Paint

We had fun playing with paint!

Kay was my roommate in college, back in the day, in another state. But we both moved to the Pacific Northwest years ago and raised our families here. We live over an hour away from each other, but we've been getting together to go see art, and recently got together to make art. I love Kay's bold style. (She has a Mondrian kitchen and great artwork throughout her home.)

Kay's two paintings are richly textured with lots of thick paint. I mean to be looser like that, but I seem to always wind up doing stuff with dots and circles! (For some reason, the photos of my other painting refuse to post. Blogger, what's up with that??)

We're going to do some encaustic next time. Thanks, Kay for inviting me to play!

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Shade Color

Have a Wonderful Day!

Spicey Birthday Cake with Caramel Frosting

I just had a birthday. My twin did too! :D

My childhood favorite cake was Spice Cake with Caramel Frosting. Back it the day, it came from a box mix. Remember when frosting mix came in a box too? Mom made both of us our own cake, though Alison wasn't committed to a particular cake. In fact, she doesn't remember that we each had our own cake! (Our childhood memories are so different, we sometimes we think we grew up in different houses!)

Anyway, when Dave asked me what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday, I gave him three choices: his favorite, Ruby's Italian Cream Cake, our stand by, Sour Cream Chocolate Cake, or Spice Cake with Caramel Frosting....Only I didn't have a recipe for my childhood favorite. So he went on line, found a recipe, and made this for me. From Scratch. YUM!

It sank a bit in the middle. And the frosting set up so fast, it had to be patted on in places.
But it was delicious.


Yes, that's a monkey mask with my birthday cake. And there's a wolf mask too. That's what you get when you're an Art-Teacher-Who-Likes-Cool-Folk Art-Slightly Freaky-stuff. The masks were gifts from two of my sons who went to Ecuador recently. Thank you, family, for a great birthday!

Spice Cake with Caramel Frosting
(from Alice Bird, posted by Charlotte J, on www.food.com )

Cake:
2 1/4 C. cake flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/16 tsp. black pepper
3/4 C. shortening
1 C. sugar
3/4 C. brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. buttermilk
Sift together dry ingredients. Cream together shortening and sugars till fluffy. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk. Beat an additional 2-3 minute with mixer on high speed. Pour into greased and floured 8-inch round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool.
Frosting:
1/2 C. butter
3 C. powdered sugar, sifted
1 C. brown sugar, packed
4 T. cream
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt butter in saucepan. Add brown sugar and cook over low heat 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add cream and continue stirring until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla. Add additional cream as needed.

Make it a Wonderful Day!