How Do You Like Them Apples?

Good morning, my friends. It was a busy kitchen day yesterday, but there was still some time for sewing. No actual sewing...just finishing and prepping, but it's all good.

My first stop was to finish the embroidery for Block 1 of the Quilter's Retweet. There was only a little ways to go with this.

And then I had bigger fish to fry in the form of apples. My recipe called for 7 lbs. of apples before coring, and that there is what 7 lbs. of apples looks like.

Mike helped me with this. I cored most of the apples myself. My wrist has been bothering me from all the hand-stitching I've been doing, and so Mike did some of them. He helped me run them through the food mill too. There was enough for two batches of applesauce. My yield was ten pints. 

There are still enough apples and pears to make a batch of apple-pear chutney. I'll need to make a quick trip to the grocery store before I can do that. For now, the apples and pears are separated out and weighed. That will use all of the apples. There are a few pears left, but I have some recipes that will help me use them.

While I was waiting for the applesauce to process, I tried using one of the pickling cucumbers in one of my favorite sandwiches. Usually, I use an English cucumber for this, but I wouldn't have known the difference. This sandwich is made using some "whipped" (read that, "spreadable") cream cheese. The cream cheese is spread on one side of the bread. Then I sprinkle it with fresh dill. (Dried dill works fine for this too.) Then the cucumbers are peeled and sliced, and I like a slice of Swiss cheese on mine. It's a good sandwich. Sometime I'd like to try it with one of the cream cheeses that's flavored with green onion.

Sadie started her day gazing out into the field from the wood box out front. She was considering what she might kill.

When she was ready to come back inside, she helped me make up my next embroidery project, the "Plaid Cats in the Garden." She likes the idea of stitching another cat.

Now, it's traced...

And colored...

And hooped up for stitching. I decided to start with the face so that we can chat while I stitch.

This pattern is a part of a larger quilt. There were two sizes of tracings...one could be smaller for a quilt block. I used the larger one to make a wall hanging. My background piece is cut to 19 x 14 inches. It'll be smaller when it's finished, but I'll add borders, making it a nice wall-hanging size. My stairwell Mewseum needs some new cats, and this one will be just right for that.

Also, I've been mulling over what my next actual sewing/quilting project should be. I've decided to work with the small quilts for quilting, starting with this Tulip Time quilt. It's a small quilt top I finished back in March. Working with my smaller quilts will give me some sewing time before we leave on our trip without having to (gasp) leave something unfinished.

Already, I know how I want to quilt this, and so it's just a matter of sandwiching it and then getting to it.

Just after dinner last night, we watched our neighborhood bobcat stalk and capture his prey (probably a gopher), and then sit in the grass enjoying his dinner. 

Then, he walked away, licking his chops. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Ya gotta love those greasy, grimy gopher guts.

All righty, then. Pancakes are next, and then I'll get going on the Plaid Cat. Today should feel more routine than the last several days. Except for baking some zucchini muffins this morning, I'm looking forward to doing nothing out of the ordinary. At some point, I'll need to get the rest of the ingredients for the chutney, but that can wait. Today I'm going to put my feet up and chill for the afternoon. How about you?

Lunch in Boulder City

Good morning, my friends. We had a slow day yesterday. Our only plan was to go have lunch in Boulder City, and then get some fudge to enjoy with our afternoon cup of espresso. Before leaving, I spent some time on my embroidery, filling my hoop.

While I worked on that, the kitties shared some of their wheat grass. 

We waited for the noon crowd to clear out, and then headed over to the Boulder Dam Brewing Co. We try to have at least one meal here each time we're in Boulder City. I inadvertantly caught a selfie when I took the picture below.

It was good, as it always is. Mike had their club sandwich.

I had a Reuben. We each ate half, and brought half home to enjoy for today's lunch.

While we ate, we enjoyed the sounds of the grackles. There were several in the tree right beside us.

This one offered to help us eat our lunches.

If you've never heard the sound of a grackle, you can here it with the video below. They have quite a repertoire.

Walking the sidewalks of Boulder City, one sees dozens of bronze statues with plaques. I sent this one to my pig-loving friend, Sue.

Boulder City is proud of its heritage as the location of Hoover Dam, and it honors the many who built the dam with statues and other works of art. The plaques accompanying the statues follow the image.

It was only about a block to walk to the fudge place.

It wasn't as much fun as some of the other fudge venues we've visited. These were the flavors. On the far right was chocolate walnut. They were sold by the quarter-pound slice, and so we got a slice of each.

Wrapped in paper, they aren't as easy to see as when they're wrapped in plastic wrap.

Back at the RV we cut off a hunk of the peanut butter and enjoyed that with our espresso. And then we all took naps...kitties too. Kitties like to take naps.

From there, we just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Mike went out for a short bike ride. I spent a little more time on my stitching. Today we're going to visit the dam. As Mike said this morning, “We’ll be dammed.” My friend, Dorothy, sent me a link to an item at the dam we might have missed on our many previous visits. We'll search it out today, and then I'll tell you about it in tomorrow's post. For now, it's back to my slow-stitching. I expect to finish my piece today or tomorrow. 

Hand Stitching

Good morning, my friends. It seems as if a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the last time we talked. When I left you on Friday, I was preparing to take Eliza in for a spa treatment. That turned into practically an all-day affair. We dropped off the machine, but I'd left the bobbin casing at home. The technician said it was better to adjust the tension if they had the bobbin casing. I said I'd go home, get it, and bring it back, but whoa. That was quite a journey. It's an hour's drive both directions, and so I ended up spending four hours on the road on Friday. Yeesh. No sewing for me. 

And now, my friends, please take a moment to feel the loneliness in the room as I write this. I've brought the Painted Ladies upstairs since they'll be next under Eliza's needle when she's home again. But, oh...what a sad sight to see for now. The Painted Ladies were looking forward to their chance to cuddle up with Eliza. For now, all they get is this flat table. Sigh. Probably their turn for quilting won't come until we return from our trip south in March.

On a more optimistic note, I've stitched two more Tiny Treasures since we last chatted. This is Tiny Treasure #18. This one has stem stitch, lazy daisy, and French knots.

This is Tiny Treasure #19. It's mostly stem fill, but there's one French knot.

My first stop yesterday was to bake these Brown Butter Pumpkin Cookies. These turned out nice. They're a little like a shortbread with just a hint of pumpkin flavor. They have a nice texture. Also, they used up the last of the can of pumpkin I opened a while back. When I took them from the oven, they were to cool completely on their baking sheets.

I've linked to the recipe back there. Just know that mine took 18 minutes to bake. Possibly, I need to check the temperature of my oven for accuracy because the cookies I've baked recently have taken far longer than suggested in the recipes I've used.

That was the last task standing between me and my sewing, and so my next stop was in the sewing room to square up the Whimsical Garden. Usually, I get a kitty helper, but not yesterday. They were busy doing other things.

When it was ready to go, I sewed on the binding.

When I took it upstairs to start on the hand-sewing, Sadie joined me. She was a little late to the party, but she's all about getting under the quilts I'm working on. Her other business would have to take a back seat to this opportunity for snuggling.

With her help, I was able to turn the first two corners. I'm probably just shy of half way around. Depending on how energetic I am, I might finish this today.

As a last gasp for the day, I tried this new recipe for Jezebel Chicken Thighs. The least expensive way I've found to buy chicken is to buy the big "family" packs of 8-10 pieces of chicken. It might be thighs or drumsticks or wings, or whatever. But I end up with lots of pieces of chicken. I've been breaking the packages down and freezing some for future use. In this case, I used four of the ten chicken thighs in the package. It was pretty easy to make...easy enough for RV cooking...and it was very tasty.

The recipe called for apricot preserves. I used some of my homemade peach jam instead. Also, my chicken thighs were rather large. I figure the chicken(s) must have been hitting the gym before they died. Anyway...they ended up taking about twice as long to cook as the recipe suggested. Because of that, the peach jam probably darkened more than it might have otherwise. 

On the side, we had Honey Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes. This turned out to be a good paring. While the sweet potatoes roasted, I could make the chicken, and so it was an easy meal to put together.

So in the middle of writing this post, I made and ate our Sunday morning pancakes. Did you notice me being any more coherent after I took sustenance? On today's agenda...the usual stuff...and I'm hoping to finish off the binding on the Whimsical Garden. It'll be good to have another in the finished column before the end of the year. I'm also still thinking about how to sew together "S" is for Sew. 

Just now, I'm heading for the next Tiny Treasure. We've had a couple of days of chilly but nice weather. I'm afraid the rain will be back today and for the remainder of the week. It hardly matters. Cooking for Thanksgiving will commence in a couple of days, and so I'll have plenty to do inside. What are you doing to stay busy?

A Square Foot Finish

Good morning, my friends. It's a gloomy day here at the Three Cats Ranch, as it has been since Sunday. Today we're getting some rain, but we're expecting better weather tomorrow and Thursday. We have a new baby elephant at the Oregon Zoo, and I'm hoping we'll be able to get up there to see her on Thursday when we're expecting sunny skies.

There was a little bit of sunshine yesterday morning. The kitties have been enjoying the warming weather.

Just after letting them out, I looked to the windows at my right to see these two engaged in...well, I can't say. This is a "G" rated blog, and so I'll just say I'm pretty sure we're looking at a male and a female here.

Back inside, I did my morning slow-stitching. Then I did a workout. And then I came back and stitched the binding on the Catmint piece. And that's a little finish.

It ends up at 12 x 12 inches. Here's how it looks from the back.

There are still a few open spaces for small quilts in the Mewseum, and so I wasted no time hanging it there.

There are still a few open spots for small quilts here.

From there I went to work making another kitten in a cup. March's color is yellow.

Smitty helped me choose these two fabrics from my yellow scrap bin.

These are all the pieces that go into a single kitten in a cup. The ones on the right of the image below are the same for all six of the Kitten #1 blocks. The ones on the left are cut fresh for each one.

Sadie reminded me to watch my language while I do this. She has tender ears that can't take harsh words.

And, so far, so good. The head of the cat is finished. The only problems I had were the self-inflicted kind.

When I had it that far, I decided to call it a day. There was a recipe to test for America's Test Kitchens on last night's menu. I'm sorry I can't share the recipe until it is published in the magazine, Cook's Illustrated. This is Tomates A La Provencal. (That first word is their own spelling. When I added it to my database, I added the "o" at the end of "tomatoes," otherwise I'll never find it again.) Here's how it looked. Tasty, indeed.

So that was a full day. I have another full day today. I'm not testing any recipes today, but I'm going to bake some more biscotti. I have half can of pumpkin puree in my freezer, and so I'll use it to make some Pumpkin Biscotti. There are a couple of to-do's on my list, but nothing major. I want to go for a walk on the treadmill, and then I'll continue on with the yellow kitten in a cup. If I can finish that, I'll get started on the next snowmen for the Merry, Merry, Snowmen quilt.

So, there's plenty to keep me busy today. Time to get to it.