Mom alert: blatant bragging about number one son, Joshua!

Saturday was the first wrestling meet of the year. Last year, Joshua’s first year wrestling, was a bit rocky, but ended on a good note. Middle school kids in grades 6 to 8 wrestle each other based on weight class. This year started off with a resounding BANG on Saturday:

*Three matches.
*Three pins (that’s the best..an instant win when you pin your opponents shoulders to the mat for a length of time)
*Three pins all in the first round (of three) of the match.
*Total points scored against Joshua in all three matches: Zero!

Way to go sport!

On one of my e-lists, someone asked (hi Janice in WNY!) how to deal with small scraps. Well, I’ve got a good one that works well for me. Do you do fusible applique? If so, this is what I do–this of this as a mini-tutorial. If not, omit the adding fusible part. First, I fuse up the scraps.

FUSING:
Set out a “chunk” or length of fusible web on your ironing surface. I prefer Misty Fuse or Wonder Under, with the “business” (fusible) side facing UP. (If using Misty Fuse you’ll need to lay down parchment paper or a non-stick applique press sheet first, then put the Misty Fuse on top.)

Lay your scraps out wrong side down on the fusible, fitting the odd shapes together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Lay a non-stick applique press sheet or parchment paper (Reynolds brand seems to work best—the “organic” / “green” varieties don’t seem to have as much release coating on them and can stick) on top.

Iron.

Carefully pull the scraps apart.

Or, if I want to create “yardage” I’ll cut a few lengths off fabric in the stash cupboard and fuse them up

NOW…SORT AND STACK

Get a stack of small boxes. I use Clementines boxes (mandarin oranges of a sort), but shoe boxes, boot boxes, Amazon boxes or even nice Rubbermaid would work. Sort the scraps by color family. Here’s some of the contents of the “warms” box:

I keep my stack of Clementine boxes in Eli’s walker-wagon from when he was a toddler (please tip head sideways…photo shows vertical in iPhoto, but loads sideways…sorry!). Since the Clementine boxes have these little “pokey up” posts on the corners, I can stack them criss cross in a neat (well…sorta) tower by my work table.

Currently I have:

Earth-black-white (this includes everything from snow to sand to rock to dirt to black)
Greens
Blues and purples
Yellows, oranges and reds
“Fancy stuff” (this includes sheers, silks, sparkly nonsense, tulle, etc)

When I want to put together a postcard, or am working on a project with fusible, then I have a stash with a wide array of colors. Sometimes I even cut a chunk of fabric (instead of using just scraps) maybe 9×12 or 7×14, and fuse that up and add it to the boxes. Here’s a small project in its early stages. I’ve set out the boxes in an arc around my groady cut-n-press (it was SO decrepit I fused some ironing board cloth to the top!):

Cheers, Sarah

Hi! I got a request for the recipe from Diane Keagy (your comment came through as “no reply” Diane, so couldn’t write you directly to let you know this was coming), so I thought I’d give you what I did, and then what I’d do differently next time. My recipe is a variation on a recipe in the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook. I LOVE the catalog and the cookbook, too, because they explain the “how” and “why” so you can make your own variations.

2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
6 Tablespoons butter at room temp.
1 cup buttermilk (except I didn’t have any so I made this mix as a substitution:
-about 3/4 c. milk
-1 Tbsp. vinegar
–combine and allow to sit 5 min, add
-1 egg and
-enough sour cream to make 1 cup liquid)
about 4-5 ounces sharp cheddar, grated
1/2 tsp. dry / prepared mustard (the powder, not the spreadable kind)
5 slices bacon, cooked crisp and chopped / crumbled
1 scallion (spring onions) snipped into bits

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle a dusting of flour on a baking sheet.

–Blend dry ingredients in a bowl.
–Cut butter into smaller bits, drop into bowl and toss with the dry ingredients.
–Use fingers to quickly rub in the butter.
–Add bacon, scallion (I use scissors and just slice mine over the bowl) and most of the cheese to the dry ingredients and toss/mix.
–Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquids.
–Mix quickly with a fork or bowl scraper.
–Dust counter with flour; turn out dough onto flour and knead about 10 times, until it holds together.
–Form dough into a round about 1 inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges.
–Transfer wedges to flour-dusted baking sheet.
–sprinkle remaining cheese on top
–bake 10-15 minutes, until golden brown

OK… the recipe called for fresh buttermilk, which didn’t have. So I used their “wet ingredients” substitutions instead. But instead of using a cup of milk plus 1 Tbsp. vinegar (to “clabber” or curdle it), I also wanted to add the egg to make the scones nice and rich. We also had some leftover sour cream. If you use all sour cream or yogurt, though, the resulting mix is very dry! I think next time I’ll try 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, a scant Tbsp. of vinegar, and enough yogurt or sour cream to add some tang.

Also, I think next time I’ll use only 1/2 cup whole wheat, and 2 1/2 cups white. I LOVE whole wheat breads: nice and hearty! But years ago we used to shop at a wonderful “organic” / wholesome grocery store called Fresh Fields. I tried everything in the dessert and baking case. I decided then that there IS a place in the world for refined sugar and flour: it is called dessert! I’ve expanded that to include light and airy dinner rolls, sourdoughs (some, some can also be wholewheat), and rich scones (I love all-white-flour scones made with dried cranberries instead of raisins and add the zest of two lemons or one orange…serve piping hot with homemade marmalade and hot tea–heaven!).

Next, quilty content! My fusible scrap jigsaw and chunks…..

We had another wonderful day, with Deborah joining in from a hectic house in Texas thanks to the wonders of long distance cell phone minutes. We met at Hannah’s house, which is nearly sold–they have less than 3 weeks left in the house before the move. Nevertheless, you can tell we felt quite at home….lookit the living room!

Kathy brought this WIP (work in progress), which of course we all LOVED!

We talked about our show this coming August at the library in Camden (and all said we want Kath to include her quilt, since the theme of the show, or at least part of it, will be “home”). And, to our communal elation and pleasure, we received a request to submit proposals for projects for a book (more info if and when it all happens) as a result of the editor seeing our work in the Winter 2006 issue of Quilting Arts (see my blog post about it here), so we talked about what we might submit as projects.

As always, food played a central role! After my cheddar, bacon and chives scones in the morning, Bart, Hannah’s very-keepable hubby (some of us are wondering if he will roll-model for other “spice”) fixed us delectable grilled sandwiches for lunch:

Kathy brought a salad of nuts and broccoli and raisins with a sweet dressing, declaring she was bored with lettuce. Kate, remembering Deborah raving about the “On the Go Bistro” chocolate lava cakes from the local grocery chain, brought a box of them. We agree: PERFECT! Just enough sweet, not too much, and a reasonable portion size: enough to feel indulged without feeling like a porker. No photo here, either…we snarfed them up too fast!

Hannah shared pictures of her new daughter from China, whom they will get to meet and bring home in late March, and showed this pillow she bought at a craft show over the weekend . ADORABLE!

Kate worked on a wonky log cabin using hand-painted fabrics from a member of Art Quilts Maine who has passed away; it was a nice way to remember her and revel in the spring-time colors (and of course I forgot to take pics of Kate stitching away with her machine perched on a tiny stool!), but if you look on the floor of the living room in the top photo, you’ll see it.

And I shared a fistful of sweater patterns and started knitting a hat….Kathy liked one pattern so much she’s already ordered her own copy! I’ll blog about those later in the week. My next post will be about my fusing scraps that I promised! The photos are taken and the post is almost completely written.

Keep your fingers crossed…we’re supposed to get a blizzard, FINALLY, here in Maine. Of course, it may snow, then turn to sleet and freezing rain, then back to snow, which means road conditions will be hideous. Perfect to stay home, watch movies, quilt, and make chocolate chip cookies and eat too much batter! Stay tuned, and think snow-not-rain!

The Gutenberg project isn’t quilting, but if you like all kinds of needlework, click on this link and prepare to get lost in cyberspace for a delectable hour or two! Deirdre (here’s her blog link) sent me the link to this bit of heaven on the internet…thanks!

I’m off to a Frayed Edges Mini-Group today, so will blog some more later in the week, with pictures. And I have been taking pictures about how I sort my small fusible scraps, and my “chunk” and “jigsaw” methods of making small fusible bits that are useful for all sorts of projects, from postcards and journal quilts to larger pieces like The Wall and The Tree (see my earlier post dated January 25 (if it has scrolled off the bottom of the blog, click on the link to the right for January Archives).