A Finish and a Winner

Yesterday, I turned the fourth corner on the Doors of Ireland quilt.

This morning, I finished it. O'yahoo! (That's "yahoo" in Irish.)

Also, I made a label for it, but it isn't fused down yet.

So, gee...I hardly know what to do with myself now. I know! I'll pick a winner for the Journey's End Celebration Giveaway. There were 137 comments, including two via email that were included as well. Here's what Mr. Random has to say about it:

Counting the comments that brings me to:

Kate!

Kate is a long-time follower who blogs over there at Katie Mae Quilts. We had the pleasure of meeting a couple of summers ago when drove through the town where Kate lives. I've sent you an email, Kate, so check your inbox.

Well, that was so exciting I've practically got the vapors! How about you?

In other news, after my morning stitching session, I spent Sunday in the kitchen. I wanted to try to make some Bacon Jam. Yes, you heard that right...bacon and jam all in the same sentence. In other words, spreadable bacon. What could be better than that?

I read about this on someone's blog recently...let's see if I can find it again...(searching)...okay, this isn't the one I read, but it's still a pretty good run down on all the uses for bacon jam. Not being a beer fan myself, I opted for the recipe I found on Martha Stewart's website that uses bourbon and maple syrup. I figure why go for beer when you can go straight for the hard stuff?

Martha's recipe is done on the stove-top, but she also has a slow-cooker method. But who wants to wait? I wanted to eat it as quickly as possible. The only thing I did differently from Martha was to roast the bacon in the oven rather than frying it in a skillet. I wanted to eat it quickly, but I didn't want all that bacon grease everywhere. My bacon was a thick-cut, and so it took about 30 minutes in a 400°F. oven. Then I made it just the way Martha said to. When the bacon is cooked, you chop it into one-inch pieces, then add it to the glaze you're making on the stove top. The glaze includes shallots, garlic, bourbon, maple syrup, sherry vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, mustard, and chili powder. Yum.

It only took about 15 minutes to cook it down to a nice glaze. Then you pulse it in the food processor a few times until it's a chunky jam consistency.

You can use it for all sorts of things...kind of the same way you'd use ketchup. I like it on eggs. Mike spread it on an English muffin this morning and pronounced it good. But in the spirit of quick tasting yesterday, we just spread it on some crackers and popped it into our mouths. Dee-lish.

But I didn't stop there. After our lunch of bacon jam, we needed dessert, and so I got to work making Mrs. Floyd's Divinity. My mother always made this at Christmas. After I married and left home, I didn't have it again until I started making it myself about five years ago. Now, it's an annual treat once again. I don't know who Mrs. Floyd is, but her recipe approximated my mother's recipe, and so I've been using it.

It's like popping a little cloud of sweetness into your mouth, and it feeds my inner (and voracious) sugar fiend. Fortunately, the recipe doesn't make much because it doesn't take much to get your fill. And, best of all...Divinity is fat free! (No, not calorie free, but work with me here.)

Finally, I keep forgetting to show you this picture of the Feed the Cat quilt finished recently. It's the first quilt on the second wall of the stairwell Cat Quilt Mewseum. It looks a little lonely there, doesn't it. Obviously, I need to make more cat quilts...and soon.

For now, its neighbors across the street can keep it company. 

I'm thinking this is similar to the Gracie vs. Smitty stand-offs that are routine around here. Routine, that is, until Smitty turns on his lasers.

Today I had in mind to head into town for a quilt display at our local library. One of my quilts is on display in yet another library, and so it was going to be a two-library day. Then, I woke up to the most horrible weather...definitely Oregon at its worst. We're expecting nearly two inches of rain in 30 hours. Many of the rivers on the Oregon coast are expected to flood and that's never good.

So all of that to say that I've decided to put off my library visits for a couple of days. There's bound to be standing water on the roads, and there's no rush to get to the libraries. The displays will be there until the end of the year. With that in mind, it's going to be a sewing day...and that means it's going to be a good day.