Almost There

My friend Sue is back in town for a few days before taking off again for more traveling. We got together for breakfast and a much-needed "friend fix" this morning. We haven't seen one another all summer, and we've missed our walks. Recently, I texted this image to Sue:

So it was a lot of fun and much appreciated when Sue gave me this gift this morning:

I had something for her too because her birthday is next month. Since I'm taking off during the whole month of September, I'll miss it. We celebrated this morning. Fortunately, the restaurant wasn't busy because we talked and laughed for the longest time. It was good to see Sue, even if we won't see one another again until October (!).

When I got home, I had a few housekeeping chores to do. It was forecast to be a hot day today, and so I went out early and picked all the ripe and nearly-ripe tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Now, that's what I'm talking about! I have enough now for a batch of salsa. And there are more coming. Yay!

When I had that done, I went back to quilting Joseph's Quilt. Today I quilted the setting triangles and the inner border, and I got one side of the outer border finished before I needed to stop for the day. I quilted radiating triangles into the setting triangles along the sides.

I continued that same wavy line on the inner border. In the corner triangles, I did a triangle stipple.

It looks a little scribbly to me, but I'm experimenting and practicing, so I'll live with it.

Then, in the outer border, I did a square stipple. I like this better than the triangle stipple.

Since I used the design below in several of the blocks, I decided to use it again in the cornerstones.

And that pretty much sums up my day. A good Monday, indeed. 

I wanted to tell you about the most delicious recipe I tried last night for Enchiladas Suizas. It takes a bit of time to put it together, and a lot of pans. But despite being a kind of a to-do, there is time to clean up your mess as you go. One of the requirements for recipes that get made a second time in my kitchen is that if they make a five-star mess, they'd sure as heck better have five-star flavor. This one did not disappoint. It was so delicious that we ate the whole thing between the two of us.

It has a few exotic ingredients (exotic in my kitchen, at least), and so I Googled some substitutions. For one thing, feta can be substituted for the Queso Fresco. Also, I have never even heard of Oaxaca cheese, but according to Google, mozzarella can be substituted. Easy enough, and I almost always have that on hand. Finally, the Mexican Crema: I can get it in my grocery store, but it comes in a rather large jar, and most recipes only require a tiny bit of it. Sour cream is a good substitute. So, with those substitutions, we really liked this dish. If you're up for a little bit of fancy cooking and a dish good enough to serve guests, then click on that link I've given you above.

Tomorrow is my third and final observation with the Coffee Creek Quilters, and then I'm going to spend a little time at the church where the group stores its fabric stash. We're heading over there to put away some donations, and we'll also be making up some kits for the women to use when starting new quilts. It'll be another good intro to the group. There are many ways to volunteer with the Coffee Creek Quilters, instructor being only one of them. After tomorrow, I'll be well-acquainted with the ways that I can pitch in and I can make my final decision about whether I want to continue on with the extensive training required to be given a Department of Corrections badge.

And that's it from me today. I hope your week got off to a good start.