String Saver

This morning the Quilting Snowladies reached the point of the last hoop change.

Since I tend to be a string saver when it comes to embroidery floss, it's liberating when I reach the end of a piece. As the last stitch of a color is taken, the remaining length on the needle simply gets tossed into the pile to be discarded, rather than wound back onto the spool with the last of the skein. You just never know when you'll want to use those little snips of floss. On the other hand, when the piece is done, they just end up getting wrapped around one another in my floss storage box until I have a hopelessly tangled wad.

When I left it this morning, the last bit of the design was hooped, and this will probably be finished tomorrow morning.

When a piece reaches this point, I start thinking about what hand work I want to do next. The day just doesn't get off to a good start unless I do a little hand work in the morning. Next up will be the next Vintage Kitchen block.

Those can be stitched in one sitting, and so that one will be followed closely by the next block for Lisa's Live, Love, Teach quilt...this block by George & Robin.

It will be mostly hand embroidered, but I might use some crayon or marker to fill in the colors on the leaves.

As for today's sewing, I want to make the back for the Vintage Tin quilt from this fabric. 

It will be an easy back because I have just the right amount of fabric. All it needs is squaring up and one seam down the middle. Oh yes, and I'll grudgingly fix the border that is sewn on in the wrong direction. Doh!

And then I'm hoping I can finish up the top for my Four Fabric Forest. Except for the "G" section to the far right, all the pieces are made. They just need sewing together.

It's a CSA pick-up day. We're finding a comfort zone with the vegetables. It helps that the season is progressing and there are fewer greens. We much prefer the sweet lettuces and gorgeous tomatoes. Officially, I've made all the vegetable stock I can store in my freezer, and so the cuttings and leftovers are probably going into the compost pile at this point. My friend Sue has offered to take some off my hands so that she can make her own vegetable stock.

CSA cooking has changed the way I cook somewhat. A good-looking new recipe will always get my attention, but the ones that will use up my CSA veggies definitely get preferential treatment these days. Last night, I made this Farmer's Market Fritatta. It was published in the Washington Post, but it's one of Dorie Greenspan's recipes.

It has the distinction of being one of the few recipes I've made with kale that Mike actually liked. The secret was sprinkling the raw strips of kale with salt and then massaging them with my fingers for a full minute. It had the effect of pre-wilting the kale, and then it was sauteed before it was added to the eggs. Oh yes, and that brings me to the eggs. My dozen per week sometimes stacks up on me, and so we end up with an eggs-for-dinner meal...which I happen to love. The leftovers are good for breakfast too.

Tomatillos have been a part of the last two weeks' shares as well. They are relatively new to this cook's palate. The only way I've used them is to make Enchiladas Suizas, a favorite dish of Mike's.

Now, I'm of a mind to try canning some salsa verde. I have a trip to the Farmer's Market with Erik and Mae this Saturday where I should be able to get enough tomatillos to do just that.

So there's lots on the calendar for the coming week, and it's time to get busy. Today I'll be mixing housework with sewing before I leave to pick up my CSA share. It's going to be a good day.

Before I go, however, I want to link up to the Tuesday Archives. Today's theme is "Sampler Quilts". My favorite is this Amish sampler that I call "Plain and Simple". You can read about the quilt right here.