Some Pizzazz for a Busy Day

There was barely any time yesterday morning for my daily dose of slow stitching, but some is better than none. So, I started my new project.

That was as much as I had time for because I needed to get going on our dinner. Mike smoked and grilled a flank steak, but I needed to get it in the marinade. Also, there was pie on last night's menu.

Lemon Meringue is my favorite, as it is for so many others. It isn't hard to make, but it is a bit of a to-do. I like this recipe from Cook's Illustrated for Ultimate Lemon Meringue Pie. Ordinarily you would need a membership to see their recipe, but someone posted it on Genius Kitchen, and so you can find the recipe right here. Rolling the pie crust in graham cracker crumbs is a genius step. It keeps the pie dough from sticking to everything better than flour alone. So here it is...a thing of beauty if I do say so myself. And it tasted as good as it looks.

There was some light housework to do, and Mike helped with some of that too. When the clock said 3:00 p.m. I had everything done that I could do, and so there was some time for sewing. I went straight to work on the Paintbox Pizzazz blocks. This is my second project for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. First, I cut the squares. I needed 16 fabrics to make 4 blocks.

Then, I made them into half square triangles and laid them out pinwheel style.

After that, I sewed together the pinwheels,

and then added the black and white corner squares. And those were done!

Here are all the blocks I have so far for this quilt.

It was about 4:50 p.m. by then, which was perfect timing because I still needed to make some Tequila Slaw with Lime and Cilantro. And let me just tell you, that is a delicious slaw. It's so easy to make because it uses one of the packaged mixes and just a few ingredients. It's very low in calories and it's on our diet. You can find the recipe right here. And if you don't want to use the tequila, you can just leave it out. It should turn out just fine without it.

Okay, so the Queen will grant you an audience now. She likes this pillow we keep on the couch downstairs, and she has adopted it as her throne.

So today I'll get started quilting the Rainbow Jubilee quilt. Originally I thought I might do it with a grid, but I've had second thoughts about that. When I laid it out to sandwich it, I came up with a new idea that will require the use of curved templates. I'll say more about it when I make up a practice piece and give it a try. Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion.