A Full Day

Yesterday I spent the morning hours in the kitchen...before the day got too hot. We have air-conditioning, but I dislike running the oven when the A/C is on.

I've been doing pretty well using up my CSA veggies. They are harvested so fresh, that they keep in my crisper longer than the ones I bring home from the grocery store. I realize that they lose nutritional value over time, but then...time. Time is always a limiting factor. Stomach capacity is also a limiting factor. So all of that to say that over time, I've grown quite a collection of carrots and beets, and I had in mind to get those out of the refrigerator yesterday morning.

First, I roasted the beets. Once they're roasted they can be used in lots of different ways. I'm such a fan of beets, I eat them plain, cold, no salt, no nothing. Yum. On the other hand, they are really good in salads. I picked up some beautiful heirloom and cherry tomatoes at the farmer's market on Saturday, and I made them into a salad last night along with the beets.

For this, I put a slice of heirloom tomato, topped with a slice of beet, topped with an orange section, topped with cherry tomatoes, minced onion, and freshly ground black pepper. Then I drizzled it with a balsamic vinaigrette. Mike preferred the tomatoes. I preferred the beets. Between the two of us we shared our favorite parts of the salad, eating off one another's plates as we went. Marriage...it ruins one's table manners.

Also, I wanted to do something with the carrots, and so I baked this Carrot-Walnut Loaf Cake. 

Here's my question: What's the difference between a "loaf cake" and "bread"? It's not much of a looker, but it's quite tasty. I used about half a bunch of carrots to grate enough for two cups. This morning I had a slice for breakfast. I cut into it almost immediately after taking it out of the oven because that's just how I roll. Usually Mike isn't home when I bake, and so it was a treat for him to get a slice still warm from the oven. And, just to be clear, it was absolutely, completely, totally for his benefit that I cut into it while it was still warm.

So there were a few other things that came out of yesterday morning's kitchen caper, but nothing you want to hear about.

Around noon, I made my way to the sewing room for the rest of the day. It's so frickin' cold in the sewing room when the air-conditioner runs that I have to put on a sweatshirt. It's still the best place to be on a hot day. I'm still hard at work on the Quilter's Tool Tote I started a few days ago.

Both of the large sections are quilted now, and I've cut the lining and made the pockets, which are also lined.

Recall that I was thinking of waiting to see my guild speaker tonight, Jody Houghton, who designs the Sisterhood of Quilters fabrics. I considered seeing if I could find a panel for the large pocket. Then, yesterday, I just wanted to get on with it, and so I went ahead with the fabrics I'd pulled from my stash originally. I'm using a few remnants I've picked up along the way as well as scraps from other projects. My stash is overflowing its bins, and I'm trying to draw from there (she says, as she buys more fabric). Anyway...those are the pockets you see in the image above. They're lined with the green and then they have a little green trim at the opening. You can't really see it in the image, but right in the middle, there is a clear vinyl pocket with a green edging too.

Also, I made the "finishing strips". Most people would call this seam binding. I'm not sure where the pattern designer is from, but she's using terms I'm having to translate. For example, "finishing strips". That one isn't all that unusual, but the one I had to study on for a while was strips of "hook and loop closure". Hm. Finally, I decided she was referring to Velcro. At least I hope so, because that's what I'm using. Anyway...six finishing strips:

And the handles. These are made by folding 4 1/2-inch strips in half, then folding the outside edges to the middle, then folding in half again. So now you have four layers of fabric that you've ironed into a nice little "envelope". Then you open it again and run either twill tape or (in my case) grosgrain ribbon down the inside. Then you stitch five rows of stitching. It made a nice sturdy handle. Sturdy, but still flexible.

When I had that done, I was tired of sewing for the day. Today I'll start sewing it all together. I'm about five steps into a seven step process, and so I'm thinking it will be finished very soon.

Also, I was fresh out of embroidery to do, and so I traced out the last of the quilting snowladies. I'm trying to decide if this one reveals our quilting snowlady to be something of a hussy. You decide.

This block had its own cat there on the bed. And now it's hooped up and ready to go. That's what I'll be doing after I publish this post.

But before I go, there's this:

Anyone care to guess what I'm going to use these for? Here's a hint: it isn't cookies.