One Piece at a Time

Quilt Lady Cooking: Mexican Lasagna

Welcome to my next installment of Quilt Lady Cooking. I figured that I’d better get this recipe out before summer hits in full force and no one wants to turn on their oven. I found this recipe on Pioneer Woman and I’ve scaled it down to normal family size. If you have a huge crowd to feed just double everything and use a REALLY big pan.

There is a printable version of this recipe at the end so you don’t have to take notes or anything.

Here are the ingredients

The first step is to cook 2 cups of rice (I use basmati) in 4 cups of chicken broth (I just use the whole carton)

While this is cooking sauté your onions in a couple of tablespoons of butter.

Add the chopped tomato

Then add 1 ½ Tbsp of chili powder and 1 tsp of ground cumin

When this is done add it to the cooked rice

Then stir in a can of black beans and set aside

The next step is to brown the ground beef and add 1 ½ Tbsp of chili powder and ¾ tsp of cumin to that as well

To make your tortillas a little more pan friendly chop them up in quarters

Now to the layers

First pour ½ your jar of salsa verde into the bottom of a 9”x11” pan

Next add a layer of tortillas

Next add ½ the rice mixture

Next add ½ the cheese

Another layer of tortillas

The whole can of enchilada sauce

All the meat

The whole (drained) can of corn

The rest of the rice

The rest of the salsa verde

The rest of the cheese

Now pop this in the oven at 375 for about 40 minutes or until the top gets all yummy and browned

Don’t forget to go sew while it cooks.

To make it really special top it off with some cilantro and a dollop of sour cream.

You can print out the recipe here.

This recipe is really great as left-overs. We fight over it around here.

Quilting for the Birds: Bird 1

A while back I did a post about one of my current projects making a raffle quilt for EFTA. You can read more about this here.

When I first started thinking about this project I was going to do each bird in a kind of “Pine Needles” style and have a small amount of thread work to finish it off. The more I thought about it the more convinced I became that if there ever was a project that screamed for thread painting it was this. My only problem was that I needed to learn to do this.

After some trial and error I have my first bird done. Isn’t he cute?

The next couple of tutorials are an explanation of what I ended up doing and why. As I said before, I’m not an expert on this by any means so if you have ANY ideas please leave a comment.

First I started off with my pattern. I traced each part onto Lite Steam-a Seam 2 and fused this to the batik fabric used for that part.

I’ve found over the years that if you are doing any kind of fusible work a Teflon sheet is invaluable. You can get these here. I really like these because I can put my pattern down on my light box, place the Teflon sheet over it and pre-assemble my project.

Since it’s hard to “see” through several layers of fabric I first pre-assembled my eyes.

Here are some shots of how the rest of the bird went together.

Here he is all fused and ready to be embroidered. Check back tomorrow for how I did this.

Once I have things a little more figured out I’m planning on offering these patterns for a small donation to EFTA. Each pattern will have directions for a “thread” version and a fabric one as well. The fabric bird will be done mostly by fusing and all the edge finishing can be done with machine quilting. If you are interested in this could you please leave a comment? Thanks.

Quilt Lady Cooking: Arroz con Pollo

Welcome to a new part of my blog I’m calling Quiltlady Cooking. It’s mostly for those of us who like to cook but don’t LOVE it. My idea of the perfect type of cooking is the kind where you can through a bunch of ingredients together go away and quilt and come back to a yummy meal. Needless to say I have quite a few of these recipes. You might too and it would be fun to share them.

My first recipe is a modification of a recipe my friend Maurice made for me back in 2003 when I needed surgery. I will never forget the day I opened my front door to find him standing on my porch covered in spices and tomatoes holding this dish. It is my definition of comfort food.

WARNING: for the squeamish among you…there will be pictures of raw chicken…I’m just saying that because raw chicken had a bad effect on me when I was pregnant. Very bad if you must know.

There will be a printable version of the recipe to download so I’m just going to channel Pioneer Woman and show you how to cook it.

First measure your rice into a heat proof bowl and cover with HOT water and let soak.

Next take your chicken breast and cut them in half, they’ll cook faster that way.

Next measure out all the spices and just dump them on the chicken. Make sure to rub the spices all over the chicken.

Next, heat the oil in a large dutch oven and place the chicken pieces in. Brown them lightly on both sides, this usually takes me about 2 minutes per side.

The next step is to puree the purple onion with some garlic, a food processor works well for this but a blender will get the job done.

Then I add my can of diced tomatoes and puree some more.

When the chicken is browned remove it from the pan and set aside.

Drain the rice and add it to the pan you just took the chicken out of. Stir the rice around until it becomes golden.

Now add the pureed tomatoes and onion and stir. Cook until liquid is absorbed, about 2 to 3  minutes.

While this is cooking I chop my cherry tomatoes.

I add these to the rice.

Then I throw in my frozen peas and stir.

Now place the chicken on top of the rice.

Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Once it’s boiling put the lid on and stick it in the oven for 45 mintues and GO QUILT.

Well you might want to clean this up first.

 

For a down loadable pdf of the click  here.

"Quilting for the Birds" gathering supplies

 

Before I launch into the preparations for “Quilting for the Birds” I want to introduce you to my friend Sue from EFTA and let her describe this organization to you.

Sue and I met and bonded back in 2008 when we took our kids and their high school orchestra to Europe. Luckily for the adults on this trip, all the kids were lovely so we (the adults) could wander around beautiful European cities, drink coffee and basically have a blast. We even had a tour bus to drive us from venue to venue, sort of like the Rolling Stones only nerdier (is that a word?). Since returning Sue and I and the other parents have all kept up with each other and it has been a huge blessing to me these past two years.

I had Sue write up a little description of EFTA for you because she is much better at those kinds of things. So here’s Sue:

“Environment for the Americas (EFTA) is a non-profit organization that works to increase awareness of birds and their conservation throughout the Western Hemisphere.  Through our programs, we provide the framework educators need to provide public programs, from presentations and bird walks to full-blown, multi-day festivals.  Our keystone project is International Migratory Bird Day, a celebration of bird migrations that takes place from Canada to South America.  If you haven't taken part in an IMBD event, there are a number of opportunities in Colorado in May 2010, including the Boulder Wild Bird store's bird walks at Walden Ponds, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory's event at Chautauqua, and the Front Range Birding Company's event in Denver.  Our annual art is one of the focal points of the event each year, and each piece represents a specific theme.  The birds are carefully chosen to represent this theme.  In 2010, we are celebrating The Power of Partnerships in Bird Conservation.  Each bird species in the 2010 art (by Robert Petty of Missoula, Montana) represents a species that has benefited from the efforts of creative partnerships formed for its protection.  Visit our website at www.birdday.org to learn more, and thanks for following Erin's bird quilt tutorials!”

So today I went in search of fabrics and supplies to begin “Quilting for the Birds”. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this but I’m not a big batik collector. I love them but I find them hard to appliqué by hand. I do really like them for projects like this however. Anyway here’s what I’m starting with.

Here is a book  by Ann Fahl I’ve found helpful as well.

My first bird will be the Burrowing Owl. I’m going to teach Sue to do this as well and she’s going to do the Wood Thrush. I just love that owl. It must be something about the full on stare. It kind of reminds me of the portraits I like to take when working with my camera.

I’ve even turned a few of my portraits into quilts. My kids hated them. Around here they are affectionately referred to as the “Creepy Face Quilts”

 

I'm glad I’ve moved on to birds. They don’t roll their eyes and talk back.

Come to think of it, those quilts are a little creepy…I like my flowers better…off to get Florabunda Block 3 ready.

Quilting for the Birds

Back in my student days (which went on forever it seemed) I saw this PBS special about an artist who painted birds. He had this gorgeous studio surrounded by woods with beautiful natural light coming from multiple windows. I was enchanted. At the time I was spending 12 hours a day in a windowless basement lab where everything went wrong more often than not. I remember thinking to myself, that’s what I want to do, be an artist who painted birds. The only problem was, I couldn’t paint. I also knew nothing about birds. Luckily the University I was at had an ornithology lab so I did learn a few things about birds while I was there. I’m still working on the artist part…minus the painting …which I still can’t do.

So the other day I was having breakfast with my friend Sue (more about her later) who runs EFTA (more about this later) when she told me that her current poster for her organization was designed to look like a quilt. I don’t know how exactly it came up but the idea is; why not make it into a quilt that can be raffled to raise money. Well, let me tell you, my little brain started working over time. Maybe I can’t paint with paint but I CAN paint with thread and fabric. And I know other people who can too.

To make a long story short; some other quilters and I are working on turning this gorgeous poster into a quilt that can be raffled to raise money for EFTA. So, in addition to tutorials for Florabunda I’m going to do a few on this process as well. If you know anyone who is interested in thread painting and nature quilts send them my way.

Other News: I’m going to work on getting the blogroll up over the weekend. Thanks for sending my your blogs. I’m so impressed.

Handy Dandy Sewing Light

Here is my find of the year for failing eyes. I ordered this sewing light from Karen Kay Buckley last week and it is GREAT. It’s very comfortable to wear for long stretches and gives great light. Go get yourself one right away. Your eyes will thank you.

Now for a funny absurdity to do with the packaging: I was looking at the side of the box when I noticed this.

Don’t see it? Well look here.

Yep, that’s right, one of the uses listed is PARENTING.

Now I don’t know about you guys but if any of my kids ever saw me looking like this

They might need to be hospitalized.

Feathered Star Lesson 6: Bias Strip Piecing

One really great way to piece all your feathers for this block is what Marsha McCloskey calls Bias Strip Piecing. This is a very handy because you press all the seams open before you cut your feathers so there are no burnt fingers. Her ruler is very handy as well. You can find it here.

To make the feathers for the 18 ½” feathered star you will need to cut two 13 ½” square of fabric. Cut one from your feather fabric and one from your background fabric. Place these squares on top of each other right sides together as shown.

Using a rotary cutter and long ruler cut along the diagonal of both squares. From this cut measure and cut strips 2” wide in both directions as shown.

These strips are then sewn together along the long side of the cut as shown.

The seams are pressed open.

Sew the strips together as shown, pressing the seams open as you go. Start by sewing the long strip sets together, then the medium and then the short.

To cut the feathers turn the strips right side up. Line the ruler up with the diagonal line as shown and cut out a 1 ½” x 1 ½” square.

To trim the other side, turn feather around and cut as shown.

Cut all the points along the lower edge. After you have cut off the bottom row of feathers you can cut the next row as shown.

Trim these as shown.

When you are done you will have all the feathers you need, already pressed. Hopefully no BURNT FINGERS.

Note: when cutting the bias strips you will end up with two corners. Sew along the diagonal of these squares and press the seams open. These can be cut in a similar fashion to make more feathers if needed.

Feathered Star Lesson 5: Putting it All Together

Now we should have four corner units, four side units and one center. These go together much like any nine patch with the exception that there is a partial seam. So, here we go.

First let’s construct our sides. Start with one of the Triangle side units as shown. I like to pin the partially sewn triangle out of the way so I don’t accidentally catch it when I sew the corner unit on.

 

Take one corner unit and pin it as shown.

Sew all the way along that side and lightly press the seams as shown.

Next you will need to fold the block as shown, pin and sew.

The finished side will look like this.

You will then attach the other corner unit to the other side in the same fashion. Make two of these sides.

To make the center you will need to attach a triangle side unit to the center portion as shown.

Do this with two triangle side units and lightly press in the following way.

Now, to sew the block completely together you just need to do this same partial seam method along the long sides. First, pin and sew as shown.

Then finish the partial seams in the same way that you did when you were constructing the side units. Once you have done this with both sides you are DONE. Give yourself a little pat on the back and go have a cup of tea and some cookies. You deserve it.

Feathered Star Lesson 4: Making Corner Unit

To make the Corner units of your feathered star you will first need to attach some more of those small background triangles (1 7/8”x 1 7/8” square cut on diagonal) to the diamond star points. There will be four in each orientation as shown.

I lay out the units before I sew to get the right orientation

I have to be careful when I sew...sometimes things get sucked into the machine...might be my machines problems but I doubt it

All finished

After you have made these diagonal units you will need to make your short side feather units as shown.

Finished short side

Back of the short side

These short side units are attached to one side of the corner square as shown.

Next you will need to make the long side feather units as shown.

This unit is attached to the corner triangle like this.

And TA DA here are your 4 corner units.

Tomorrow we will put it all together. Yeah!

Feathered Star Lesson 3 : Finishing the Triangle Side Unit and Making the Center

 
 

First off I have to tell you guys the exciting news. Yesterday I got a comment on my Feathered Star tutorial from Marsha McCloskey. Yep, that’s right, THE Marsha McCloskey, as in author of the book Marsha McCloskey. She pointed out that if you use her bias cutting method to make your feathers there is MUCH less pressing (and finger burning) going on. I will demonstrate this method on Monday, you guys are going to LOVE it. The other good news is that there is going to be a new Feathered Star book out in April and she has a new ruler for making these tricky sizes easier to cut. I put a link to her website up in the right side bar. It’s a great site, especially if you are a feathered star junkie like me.

So, let’s finish our triangle side units.

Now that we have out feathers attached to the side triangles we need to attach the kites.

The first kite can just be sewn on as shown.

The second kite needs to have a center triangle sewn on. This triangle is made by cutting a 2 ½ x 2 ½ square and then cutting it again along the diagonal. These are also the triangles that get sewn to the octagon to make the center.

Here is how it goes

This kite then gets sewn onto the first piece as shown.

Make sure you haven’t butchered any points.

Now it’s time to make the center.

To make the center you will need to start with the octagon you cut in lesson 1. You will also need to cut 4 center triangles the same size as the last step. These are attached as shown.

A note to all you appliqué addicts out there: Don’t worry this pretty little star is going to get some flowers appliquéd on SOON. Seriously, I wouldn’t leave that out.