One Piece at a Time

Dimensional Iris

I don’t know about where you live but Iris’s (is that a word?)are blooming like crazy here. I can hardly handle all the inspiration so I designed a dimensional iris to share with you. I will have the drawing up for you on Friday but here is the tutorial.

First, appliqué the side petals and the center top petal down in the traditional way.

I was going to call the yellow parts “beards” like in bearded iris but I kept having visions of me sewing beards on little dwarfs so I’m switching to ruffles here, for sanity sakes. To make the iris ruffles cut three pieces of 7mm silk ribbon 8 inches long. You can find silk ribbon at many sewing and craft stores or it can be ordered here.

Fold each piece in half so that the sides a re slightly overlapping.

Sew a running stitch from the raw end to the fold and back again, sewing in the overlapped part.

 

Pull the thread to get a ruffle.

Knot it and distribute the gathers so you have a nice iris ruffle.

Add two of these to the top of each side petal and sewing down using a running stitch.

To make the top side petal, take two pieces of purple fabric and put them right sides together. I’m using one light and one dark.

Trace two petals and cut out, leaving a scant ¼” seam allowance.

Sew around each petal.

Turn right side out.

To make the petal gather, sew a line of gathering stitches along the reverse side of the petal and along the inner edge.

Pull to gather and knot.

Gather the bottom as well.

Pin this petal in place and appliqué down. Repeat this to make the other petal.

Tomorrow I will have directions for the center petal and the little bud so be sure to check back then.

OK, I’m in a SWOON…and a Give-away

Last week my quilting buddy and fellow McCall’s finalist, Mary Kay, alerted me to the fact that this here little blog was named one of the 55 Best Quilting blogs in Quilter’s Home magazine.

Eeeep!

Of course I dropped everything and ran to the store to get a copy of that magazine. Well, it turns out that it wasn’t on newsstands yet so I have patiently (truthfully patience was not part of this) gone to EVERY book store in my area looking for a copy. I’m sure the security personnel at Border’s and Barnes and Noble now have special alerts for THAT LADY who is stalking the sewing and crafts section. But my patience (some might call it obsessive-ness) has paid off and I am now in possession of not one but TWO copies of the magazine. One for me and one to give to you! To enter just leave a comment suggesting some fun summer reading since it is officially SUMMER VACATION here and I feel the need to lollygag in the bag yard with a large iced tea and a good book!

In between lollygagging I will continue to make-up dimensional flowers and other quilty things for my wonderful blog readers. Speaking of which here is a small download on the dimensional poppy.

Download Dimensional Poppy

Dimensional Poppies Part 2

Here’s how I finished up this fun little poppy block.

It’s very helpful to have all the leaves appliquéd down before you attach the dimensional flowers. To do these leaves I lightly traced the stems onto the background. Next I glue basted the leaves in place.

The stems came next. After the stems you can glue baste the top leaf on (I forgot to take a picture of that )

Applique everything down.

To make the bud I made an additional petal.

I folded it and pinned it in place.

Sew down using your machine.

For the bud base I made an oval template and did it perfect circle/oval style complete with batting.

Place the bad base over the bud and appliqué down.

Attach the poppy using a button and you are done!

I will have some drawings for you all tomorrow along with a super fun give-away!

Dimensional Flowers: Poppies

Last month when I was working on my basket tutorials I had the lightning bolt idea. These baskets are very dimensional…so…why not develop some dimensional flowers to put in them?

I shock myself sometimes, really. This was a ton of fun and I am completely open to suggestions for other flowers. Right now I have a list of about 9 but am looking for more.

So, without further ado, here is my first dimensional flowers…the poppy (which are springing up like mad around here)

I started with a rough drawing…I will have a nicer one for you to download on Friday.

I made a template of the petal but kept the bottom part wide so I could gather it.

Here I have two colors of hand dyed fabric placed together. If you are using printed fabric make sure you put them right sides together.

I trace my petal.

And cut it out of both pieces of fabric…keep them together with a pin.

Now you can sew around the edge using a matching thread.

After sewing trim the seam allowance to about 1/8”.

Turn inside out…here I have used a point turner.

Using a matching thread, sew along the open end of the petal and gather.

Tied a knot and then use the same thread to gather another petal.

Keep doing this until you have five petals. Then sew the ends together.

For the center I used a small piece (5” x 1.5”) of silk dupioni  that I unraveled a bit.

Fold this in half and sew along the folded edge to gather.

Once you have gathered it sew the ends together to make a loop.

Now you can sew this to the inside of your poppy.

Check back tomorrow and Friday for the rest of the tutorial…and a download.

Frozen Dead Guy Day

Seriously friends, it’s things like this that make me really glad I live in a somewhat quirky county in Colorado. Let me just add that I am not making any of this up, scouts honor. Also…sorry if you are offended by my gallows humor…I will be back with a quilt post later this week…promise.

Every year in the tiny town of Nederland Colorado they has an event called, Frozen Dead Guy Day. This is all in honor of Nederland’s most famous resident Bredo Morstol. It turns out that shortly after Bredo died in Norway his family brought his cryogenically frozen body to the U.S. He was kept in a “facility” until his grandson and daughter moved him to Nederland. No one knew any of this until the grandson was deported for outstaying his visa. As you can imagine, it was quite a sensation.The town tried to outlaw such behavior but there was such an uproar they had to pass a special exception, a “grandfather clause” to allow Bredo to stay (kinda gives new meaning to that legal phrase). Since then a cryogenic company has taken over preserving the body and he is now in a Tuff Shed.

The town of Nederland celebrates every year with the appropriately named event, Frozen Dead Guy Day. Happenings include coffins races, slow motion parade and a Dead Guy look alike contest. There is even a movie, Grandpa’s in the Tuff Shed and now an even more recent movie, Grandpa’s Still in the Tuff Shed. You can even take a tour of the Tuff Shed.

I sure do love living here!

P.S. aren’t you glad I refrained from sharing the Youtube video?

Where’s Walter… a case of Digital Kidnapping

DISCLAIMER: No animals were injured in this post.

Ok...it’s summer…the kids and I are a little bored so we decided to kidnap Walter…digitally.

Let me explain. My kids pet sit during the summer to earn a little money. One of our favorite animals to take care of is Walter. He’s a tortoise. Miss Werlin the Kindergarten teacher’s tortoise to be exact.

Here she is with Max on his first day of Kindergarten eleven years ago.

Miss Werlin is very attached to Walter and brings him everywhere. Here she is at the pumpkin patch hauling Walter around.

So, while she was away we decided Walter needed some adventure. Can you guess where my daughter took him?

Here’s another hint.

Yep that’s Venice. See Walter hanging out on the top of the water taxi? I’m seriously jealous right now. We are headed out on vacation soon, unfortunately it won’t be Venice, but I’m not complaining.

Check back for a Walter update.

 

Quilt Lady Cooking: Turkey Cous Cous Salad

Continuing my mission of cooking as little as possible during the hot months of summer, I bring you the latest addition of Quilt Lady Cooking. This Cous Cous salad is a mainstay at our house during the summer. The great part about it is that the only thing to cook is the cous cous which takes about 5 minutes. It’s also low calories as well…just in case you were wondering…or had been having a “little” too much ice cream.

Here we go,

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup plain cous cous

1 cup red seedless grapes, cut in half

1/3 cup currants

1 small red onion chopped

10 dates, pitted and chopped

3 Tbsp parsley

¼ cup pine nuts (these are REALLY, REALLY expensive this year so omit if needed)

3 Tbsp orange juice

2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 tsp honey Dijon mustard

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground cumin

½ lb. smoked turkey, cut into ½” cubes

Salad greens

Directions:

Bring chicken broth to a boil, remove from heat and stir in cous cous. Cover and allow to cool.

Combine dates, grapes, currants, onion, turkey, cous cous and pine nuts in a bowl.

Whisk together orange juice, vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt and ground cumin.

Pour over cous cous mix.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve with salad greens.

For a printable version of this recipe click  here. Enjoy!

Quilt Lady Cooking: Chicken and Wild Rice Salad with Mango Dressing

I thought I was out of ideas for Quilt Lady Cooking since it is now summer and over 100˚F here but then I had an idea. How about minimal cooking. THAT would leave plenty of time for quilting (and blog writing as the case may be). What better way to not cook than to visit your local grocery store and pick up a rotisserie chicken. I have several recipes that involve these chickens so here is our new favorite around here, Chicken and Wild Rice Salad with Mango dressing. It is so easy, just pick up a chicken, some veggies, make a little rice, let it all cool and…well…YUM.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

One rotisserie Chicken cooled

2 6 oz. boxes long grain and wild rice mix (I like Near East or Uncle Ben’s brand) prepared according to directions and cool

1 red or yellow pepper, sliced

4 green onions

4 cups of salad greens

1 cup mango chutney (I like Pataks  Major Gray brand)

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

Directions:

Remove all the meat from the chicken and chop coarsely

Mix rice, chicken, peppers, peas and onions.

To make the dressing: place the chutney, canola oil and vinegar in a blender or food processor and puree.

To serve, place a generous helping of salad greens on a plate, top with a scoop of the chicken and rice mixture and drizzle with the dressing

To download a printable version of this recipe just click  here.

Quilt Lady Cooking Summer Style

I thought I was going to have to give up the Quilt Lady cooking for a bit due to summer but I have found an IDEAL Quilt Lady recipe for when it’s hot. Instead of sticking some nice casserole in the oven while you sew this one uses a slow cooker so you can sew for hours and smell your dinner cooking while you do. I know it is too hot where some of you live to run the slow cooker indoors so my idea is to get an extension cord and run you slow cooker outside instead. Of course then your neighbors might show up for dinner when they smell this.

I don’t even need "how to" pictures because it’s that easy. Plus I didn’t even think until I was eating this that it would make a great Quilt Lady recipe.

ALL you have to do is buy a pork tenderloin and a jar of Pace Salsa Verde. Place the tenderloin in a slow cooker with the entire bottle of sauce and go away until it’s done. When it’s done warm up a few corn tortillas and garnish as desired. VERY YUMMY.

I’ve added a little grated cheese and some salsa to my tacos and the salsa recipe is on the download.

Download  here.

Um..am I the only one that thinks this is…just a tad…EXTREME

I found this FULL page advertisement in my local newspaper.

 

Many of you know that from time to time I enjoy making fun of my (almost) hometown Boulder Colorado. Technically I live in a smaller and mellower town just east of Boulder so I really shouldn’t mouth off too much for fear that this young man might come looking for me.

As my children have gone through public school here I’ve grown increasingly concerned about the amount of pressure on teens today. I can’t even really write about it without becoming upset. When did it become OK to rob children of their childhood? What’s with all this fear?  Just read this excerpt:

 

Apparently now I should start worrying about PRESCHOOL age children falling behind and becoming criminals. Who knew?

If anyone else is concerned about this I want to suggest checking out the new documentary coming out this fall, Race to Nowhere. I’m going to be first in line.