Picky

Except for my morning slow stitching, I spent most of my sewing day pick, pick, picking at those quilting stitches. Thanks to all who offered up ideas about how to make the process less scary. A combination of your suggestions is getting the job done. I should be able to finish it up today. I'll say one thing: It's giving me plenty of time to listen to my audiobook. 

When I left it yesterday, I'd taken out all of the feathering around the border, and all of the cat's tail and face. Just the section inside the pink circle is left now.

It looks like a lot, and it is. I still think I can get it finished today. It's been kind of interesting because I notice that in areas that were stitched slowly (the tail, for instance), the stitches are tight and close together. Those have been the most difficult to remove. In the section where I'm working now, I was stitching faster, and with more fluid movement. Those stitches are bigger, and easier to see and pick. I'll just be glad to have it all done, and then we can all just pretend this didn't happen. If anyone asks, you never saw it, right? Let's just keep this between us. 

I'm actually looking forward to getting back to the quilting because I know what to do now. I'm going to use an all over design, and I think it will be pretty. It occurs to me there may be the lesson in all of this. I rarely choose an all-over design. Possibly, when I'm stumped for how to quilt something, I need to make my brain consider an all-over design. Maybe indecision can be my cue. When I get that far along, I'll say more about my next quilting idea.

Okay, so, of course I needed a break from that during the day. I took a break for lunch, and then later in the afternoon, I tried a new recipe. This is a Skillet Apple Brownie. You can find the recipe right here. I baked mine in an 8-inch skillet. When it came out of my toaster oven, it looked like this:

It's really more of a cake than a brownie, but I didn't name it. When I cut into it after dinner, I took this picture of the inside. You can see the bits of apple and pecan inside. 

The recipe says it will serve 6. It's baked in the same size skillet that I say serves 4, so I guess it depends on how big your pieces are. It seems to me that cutting it into sixths would be skimpy servings, but that's just me. We cut it into fourths, so we'll have dessert for two nights. 

We had ours with some vanilla ice cream, and I think it would be good with a dollop of whipped cream in place of the ice cream too. Or, you can have both whipped cream and ice cream! Let your conscience be your guide.

It was really good. The pecans and apple bits gave it a really nice texture and the crust had just a tiniest bit of crunch. It has cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, and it smelled so good while it was baking. Then, when I cut into it, it gave me a whole new hit of olfactory delight. I can highly recommend this. Mike raved about it. The recipe calls for two cups of chopped apple. I cut mine into about 1/2-inch chunks, and I used a Granny Smith apple. One large Granny Smith gave me a scant two cups of chopped apple. I wonder how it would taste with an apple that cooks down a little more, like a Gala or a Gravenstein. Probably I should make it again soon and see for myself.

Okay, so Mike and Erik are headed off to some road rally in Goldendale, Washington, today, and so I'm going to have a luxurious day to myself. Housework is done, and I can get back to my thread picking. I'm hoping to get back to the quilting by the end of today.

Did you remember to fall back? Please do it without any actual falling. Falling is bad.