Westering Women

It's time for Barbara Brackman's

WESTERING WOMEN

block of the month again. 

And we're already up to block #9 --

the year is just racing along!

This month we're sewing SAGE BUD blocks,

and learning about the metropolis of

Laramie, Wyoming, and also about sagebrush plants which were common along the wagon trails.

 Sagebrush is a common plant here where I live also.  It's very fragrant.   And it's flammable, which is significant for fire season and drought.

It's nice that I'm keeping up with the rows and sashing as we go along.

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Monday

This one's been on my Bucket List for a long time.

I decided to start cutting diamonds today, because it's autumn, and because I have LOTS of scraps.

This should only take years:

1700 diamonds, template-cut one at a time  :)

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Batwings

Another in my log cabin series.  When I saw a diagram for this arrangement, 'Herringbone', it made me think of flying bats ... which suggested my color scheme.  This one is completely done and ready to use next month with Halloween décor.

Already starting to think about my next

log cabin project ...

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Grape Quiche

We enjoy this for our annual first-day-of-autumn dinner, served with Italian sausage and salad

GRAPE QUICHE

9"deep dish pie crust, prebaked and cooled
8 oz. package Italian-blend shredded cheese
1 1/2 cups seedless red grapes
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbl. yellow cornmeal
2 eggs
Fresh rosemary springs

Preheat oven to 375*
Sprinkle half of the shredded cheese into bottom of cooled pie crust.
Arrange grapes over cheese layer.
Sprinkle remaining cheese over grapes.
In a small bowl, combine milk, flour, brown sugar, cornmeal and eggs until smoothly blended.
Pour mixture over cheese and grapes in pie crust.
Bake at 375* about 40 minutes, until set and golden brown on top.
Remove from oven and arrange rosemary sprigs on top while pie is still hot.
Let stand 10 minutes before slicing to serve.

About 6 servings

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Autumn

Happy Autumn - Mabon Greetings!

Enjoy this day of balance and this season of bounty!

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Red Strings

I was cleaning out a UFO storage tub and came across this top. I sewed it up a while ago for a guild activity that didn't happen, and put it away and forgot about it.  Just a simple basketweave block arrangement, but red always makes me smile.

Now that it's out in the light of day again, I'll add it to my To-Be-Quilted stack. 

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Medallion

I started a block-of-the-month with my guild way back in early 2015  -- in a rush and already late for the first month -- and having gotten off to a bad start I never returned to it.  Those few beginning blocks have been brooding in a storage tub for a long while, and they are finally next on queue to see some action.

I've been playing -- piecing quite a few additional blocks of my own choice this past week to add to some of the existing ones, and here's where things currently stand:

It's going to hang on the design wall for a while now, so I can make the next  decision: another round of blocks, or is this large enough to move on to borders?  No particular destination in mind, but another round would put it into queen-size range.

I made some retirement choices last month, which of course involved a lot of social drama, but I'm so enjoying being in control of my time and energy!  I can decide what I want to do, and when, instead of shuffling responsibilities and feeling guilty, or being stretched too thin and resenting everything rather than enjoying anything.  My spirit is in a good place these days!

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Streak of Lightning

I've been slowly working along on a behind-the-scenes log cabin series. I'm exploring some of the traditional layouts possible with log blocks.  I have a number of bags full of color-sorted 1 1/2" strips, so it's very easy to jump into a new block set on a whim.

I currently have nineteen log cabin quilts in my collection, but have made more than four dozen through the years, as well as countless log runners that I've sold in boutiques and at the shop. Log cabins are by far my favorite block :)

Just finished this one, a 'Streak of Lightning' example, and added it to the log cabin roster.

More to come ...

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Chicken Robusto

CHICKEN ROBUSTO

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lb.)

16 oz. bottle FATFREE Italian salad dressing

10 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1/2 cup sour cream 

15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained

Place chicken in crockpot and add salad dressing.

Cover and cook on LOW for about 4 hours.

Remove chicken, and whisk in cream of chicken soup and sour cream until smooth.

Add drained chopped tomatoes and stir to combine.

Put chicken back into crockpot and raise heat to HIGH.

Cook about 1 hour more, until gravy begins to bubble.

Serve over cooked pasta.

About 6 servings.

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Westering Women

Barbara Brackman's Westering Women - block 8:

CHIMNEY ROCK

Some areas of my life became complicated this past month.  I'm current with this BOM, but have decided to :::pause:::  my work on the Morris Hexathon series
for the time being -- weekly is more than I can keep up with right now.

Hoping to get myself back on an even keel soon.

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September

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