6/10/20

Slow Stitching on a Rainy Day

We're pretty tired of the rain here at the Three Cats Ranch. Even kitties have had enough. It gets in the way of their squirrel hunting adventures, don't you know. A rainy day is always a good day for sewing and cooking though, and that's how yesterday was spent.

The first order of business was to finish off the left side of the Appalachian Memories block.


Slow stitching is always done with the assistance of my little cat. She ensures that my lap stays warm and my heart stays full while I'm working on an embroidery project. Slow stitching is the best time of the day in Sadie's world.


Now I've moved my hoop to the bottom of the piece. There's still quite a bit to do on this one. Some of the barns are more densely stitched than others.


I did a little more stitching, but then got out between rain showers to have a look at the new clematis. Wasn't it thoughtful of this new addition to bloom so soon after being planted? It still isn't quite open all the way, but maybe this morning.


I had some cooking to do after lunch, and I'll tell you about that in a minute. But first, I want to say that I finished my challenge piece. I'm itching to show it to you, and I'm terrible at keeping secrets. But rules are rules, and we'll both have to wait for the reveal on August 1st. For now, I'll tell you that I needed to free motion quilt some words on mine, and I was puzzling over how to mark it to keep my writing straight and uniform in size as I went. I tried different markers, but didn't like them for one reason or another. Also, I tried creasing the fabric with a hera marker, but it was hard to see under the bright light of my sewing machine. Then...duh...I got the idea to use painter's tape, and that worked great.


Before the day was over, my piece was finished, including the binding.


So there you go...that's three small quilts finished during the month of June so far. (Polishes fingernails on shirt.)

Okay, so back in the kitchen, I made this Dilled Potato Salad with Pickled Cucumbers. This is a great salad, but it has to be started a day ahead. The day before, I started pickling the cucumbers and I boiled the potatoes, which made assembly pretty easy yesterday. 


This makes a ton of salad...great for a backyard get-together. The recipe is from Deb at Smitten Kitchen. She uses peeled Yukon Gold potatoes in her salad. I like to use red ones with the skins left on. The skins are the most nutritious part of a potato, which is a good enough excuse for skipping the peeling part. Also, I used a red onion because I had one already cut. I like the color, especially combined with the green of the cucumber and  fresh dill.

Also, I tried this recipe for French Onion Stuffed Peppers. I took a picture of my own, but the picture from the recipe is better.


Here's the thing: I like cooking. I like it almost as much as I like quilting. And so I'm not afraid to make a huge mess, nor to tackle something relatively complicated, if it results in a delicious dish. This dish  makes a five star mess. It took a long time to cook and assemble it. Also, I've done stuffed peppers in my slow cooker before, and so that's how I did this one. (The original recipe has you roasting it in the oven.) I assembled the peppers and then put them in the slow cooker with 2/3 cup of water for five hours, and that part worked great. For all that effort though, the flavor just wasn't there. If a dish makes a five star mess, it darn well better have five star flavor. We all agreed, this didn't rise above three stars...four stars if we're being super generous. So I'll stick with my usual slow cooker recipe for stuffed peppers, which goes together a whole lot easier. Also, it tastes better, in my humble opinion.

Okay, so that was my day yesterday. We're expecting more rain today, but possibly we'll see some sun breaks. I really want to get out and weed the vegetable garden before it becomes impassable. In this kind of weather, the weeds grow fast. As for sewing, y'all convinced me that Hearts A-Plenty should be a wall hanging, and so I'll add a hanging sleeve to it today. If I can get that finished, I'll make my way back to the top of my WIP's list with another row for Jenny's Flower Garden. When I worked on it last, I had it this far:


Also, I want to make up the next block for Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs.


The blocks are a combination of applique and embroidery. The applique needs to be finished first. With Appalachian Memories moving along, I'll be needing the next block ready to go soon.

Okay, so fingers crossed for some sunshine today. How's your weather this fine June day?

8 comments:

Julierose said...

Well, we had a lovely day--beautiful coffee on the deck morning and finishing up my 4th of July Baskets work...it has cooled way down this evening and now we are expecting rain tonight and tomorrow, too....

I love that Dancing Chicken piece so darn cute!! Your Flower Garden is going to be just gorgeous--that is such an inviting pattern...those white places are perfect for some fancy quilting....
Hugs from afar julierose

Anonymous said...

After 2 days of hot, muggy weather, & Cristobal clipping us, we had a tremendous storm line blow through this afternoon. No damage on my block thankfully, but trees on cars & buildings, barns damaged & small limbs blown everywhere. Cooler & drier air moving in now.

Teresa F.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Sadie must love the ritual of morning stitches and naps. I can't wait to see the Barns done - this is a fabulous piece. We had a stretch of great weather, but rains moving in with severe lightening expected tomorrow - probably no power for the day.

Dorothy said...

Thanks for the link for the dilled potato & pickled cucumber salad recipe. Two of my favorite foods :-) And 2 days to make it my kind of "cooking" !!
Love your Kingfisher too !!

piecefulwendy said...

You stitched words?! Holy cow, now I'm really curious. You tease. I need Sadie to come and cuddle on my lap. Wilbs has opted for no cuddling as of late. Yesterday, he managed to lose his footing walking across the quilts on the stair railing. The quilts fell to the floor below (maybe 7 ft drop), but he ended up on one of the stair steps near the top. We're not sure how he pulled that off, but he seemed to be no worse for wear. I'd love to make stuffed peppers, but I'm the only one who can eat them here, so no go. You're right, if it makes a big mess, it better be good!

SJSM said...

After being caught between two weather systems over the weekend our weather now is clear, bright sunshine and highs in the mid 89*s. Last weekend no rain but certainly blustery weather. In June we normally have foggy mornings and bright afternoons. That isn’t the case so far this month. I like the foggy mornings as that means sleeping weather is at its peak. Cool enough for a light blanket and days where the temperatures stay in the 70s. At least we have air conditioning and the solar panels get to work overtime.

Enjoy your day!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I don't know what I'd do without painter's tape - I use it all the time. Of course you know I love your barn block - not that I happen to like barns or anything of the sort. That potato salad looks wonderful - I'm going to see if Resident Chef will add cucumbers to our recipe. We like our potato salad but it could use a bit of a change.

QuiltGranma said...

Here in the desert of eastern Oregon, it has been much more rainy than usual, but my flowers like it, and I don't have to water so often. I finally got some sewing done yesterday, mended a side seam on a pair of jeans for son, and added hanging loops to a new pair of dish towels. That IS a start, for me at least! So glad that you, Barbara, are getting lots of sewing done... does it make up for me not doing so?