Zucchini time!

I simply have to make this zucchini casserole at least once a year when the zucchini is in abundance.

That time is now!

----------------

ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE

------------------

4 c. diced or chopped, peeled zucchini

1 c. Bisquick

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 c. oil

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Salt & pepper to taste

4 beaten eggs

2 tbsp. chopped parsley

2 tbsp. basil

Mix all together and bake in ungreased 2 quart casserole at

350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove cover for last 15

minutes. 4 cups zucchini = 1 3/4 pounds approximately.

I like to add mushrooms and fresh dill and basil. You could add anything you like :-)

 

I left my zucchini in pretty large chunks and added more cheese than called for cause that's how i like it and it looks like a hot mess, which it is, but oh it is so delicious!

Enjoy!

Posted with Blogsy

Vermont quilt fest favorite

Just wanted to share one of my favorite quilts from the VQF

 

 

 

The tree line made with yarn or wool fibers

 

 

Detail of the pants

 

 

While I was writing this my Collie, abbey had one of her seizures, poor girl - she gets so scared cause she doesn't know what's going on so I hold her and reassure her but it's really hard.

Anyway, she's ok now and wants to say hello to you all and wants to tell her new blog friend Chloe that even though Chloe had a nose job, abbey has a better looking (or bigger at the very least) nose of anyone:-)

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Welcome? Mat

I just found this on pinterest and love it!

Which way would you put it on your doorstep?

Posted with Blogsy

Growth with seta color paints

I went to artquiltmakers blog today to see what the creative response prompt was (growth) and read her post about how she has a list of 26 WIP and is getting bogged down by the need to get them done thus not having time to create new works. I told her to throw away the list and then realized I am doing the same damn thing as she is. I have been working so much on my llama, that probablly isn't going to turn out that great anyway - I mean hours and hours, days and days , now weeks and weeks on this thing and have only gotten this far. Still to finish the barn wood and then tweak everything before I even think of quilting it.

Meanwhile I haven't created anything new for 3 weeks. Every time I take a walk and see ferns I think I should try sun prints. But what do I do when I have some sewing time - work on the llama.

So after telling Jaye to drop everything and create something new I thought I would take my own advice. I put away the gray beast and went to pick some foliage to experiment with.

 

 

 

 

This is also my creative response to the word growth - this being both depicting growth of various plants but also my personal growth of learning to sun print with the seta color fabric paints and learning that sometimes you just need go with the flow, toss aside the obligations and just do it!

 

I had some white cotton I got at a garage sale that was a vintage bedcover. I cut it up and basically mixed the seta color paints with water to be like watercolors, sprayed the fabric with water first, then slapped on the color at random. Then laid the leaves down pressing them alittle to make them stay, threw alittle sea salt in the mix and put it out in the sun to dry.

After the fabric is dry, take off the leaves and this is what you get - cool, huh?

 

This was fern leaves and some queens Ann lace - sort of looks like trees and stars in the sky.

 

I put some fabric underneath, figured what the heck and the paint is so wet it also affected the underneath piece the same way only more subdued - a two- fer if you will :-)

 

Same plants Different paint but every one comes out unique

 

The bottom fabric.

 

This was really fun and satisfied my creative craving. Now what will I do with these?

Hmmmmmmmmm - what would you do with them?

Posted with Blogsy

Walk pics and CRP 7/13/12

Ferry

When I ride the lake Champlain ferry And get the front slot, I'm always afraid my car will fall off into the brink. Here I am cowering in my car waiting for the end.

Here are some photos from my days off morning walks this week.

Nice and cool - aaaaaaah

Lovely flowers along the path

Bee balm - looks like a 4th of July fireworks

Summer wouldn't be here without sunflowers.

Finishes 7/12/12 - yeah!

I finally finished up some art quilts I've been working on, trying to design some simple ones although simple is not easy for me.

Wolf at sunrise - 16" wide by 13" long

Moose - 15" wide by 11" long

Winter in Vermont ( it will be here before you know it) 18" wide by 19" long

The meet and greet - black bear and doe

17" wide by 11" long

I should probablly make at least one of them as a pattern / tutorial to sell, the moose is already done and on etsy and a few people have bought it. There I go with another project, but first I want to work on my llama.

More to come on that front.

 

sparkle - creative response

reminder that the creative prompt is a word that jaye from artquiltmaker throws out there every week and challenges anyone who wants to create something from that word - usually a drawing or something quick - no pressure, no judgements - it's just to get you to draw or create at least something each week. For me it's good to practice a bit of drawing, which I obviously need:-)

the info on it is here in case you would like to join in. I usually just draw the first thing that comes into my head, mostly with the paper53 I pad app.

here are this weeks masterpieces

:-)

her eyes sparkle with delight

Look at the rock on her finger - how it sparkles!

Walk in the woods 7/6 / CRP bridge

I haven't been on my favorite path in a week and am amazed at all the new flowers in just a week.

Looks like an astilbe of some kind but it's rather a large bush, almost tree like

Bee balm?

I call these wild daisies but I'm sure there is another name - pretty

And finally a creative response to the word bridge, I live in Vermont so of course had to draw a covered bridge. It should have been longer, this sort of looks like a house over a brook, but this I now have learned about drawing a covered bridge ;-)

class with david taylor day 2

I want to list a couple of key points that I learned and want to write down for myself to remember.

So basically you trace the full size black and white full size image (the size the quilt will be)

only the basic lines and features are traced - DO NOT pay attention to shading, light and dark areas like in the usual way of fusing (McKenna Ryan type designs) the shading and color is done only with the fabric.

After the basic shapes are drawn on the tracing you draw lines to form the feel or the flow of the image, how it will be divided up into different pieces that will blend together, remembering that you will have to applique these pieces so no evil points. the ying - yang type shape works best - incorporate that as much as you can.

see how these two shapes fit together nicely, with two different fabrics - the fabrics would blend and it would be easier to applique as well

When drawing do not look at your hand or the pencil - look ahead to where you are going. When you drive a car you don't look at the steering wheel do you?

then you flip your tracing paper over after numbering all your pieces (I have 176!) and put freezer paper over it and trace and number all your pieces on freezer paper. You then cut out all the pieces, pick out just the right fabric for your piece and lay it back on the master pattern (your tracing paper). this process could take awhile, just sit back and enjoy it. It took me 10 hours just to get the llama - david said sometimes he takes a whole evening just getting a few pieces picked finding just the right fabric, placing the lights and darks of the fabric to get it in the right spot for the piece. 

So on day two we spent most of the day picking out fabrics - hint - to pick out fabrics, pull all the fabrics you think might work and unfold them - throw them in a big pile. You need alot of fabric and you can't see how they blend or go together when they are all folded - play with and feel the pile. It may take you a half hour just to find the right shading or light and dark to put at the area you need. take your time and just let it happen - iron on the fabric to the freezer paper piece and set it down on the master pattern, if you don't like it just peel it off and try another. After awhile you will get more of a feel of what works and what doesn't.

you can see here how the different pieces are laid on the tracing paper. You have to turn under with an iron using starch on the edges but wait until you are happy with everything together in case you want to change a fabric or two. It helps at this point to put the pattern (which has a white paper behind it to see) on a foam board so you can stick pins in the pieces as in the above pic to keep them somewhat together in place.

So after all the pieces look good together, you simply (well not so simply :-) applique all the little pieces together working from the farthest part away from you first. Then quilt to add more dimension and shading and interest. here are some more photos of others progress in the class.

I love this cat! note the pile of fabric:-)

an iris

my mom's flower (she doesn't like it but I think it's great)

a chicken 

and finally my 91 pieces done on my llama! now only 85 more to go on the background barn wood:-)

and lastly a couple of things he went over on how he quilts and binds his finished pieces.

• he uses only sulky blendables or superior thread for quilting - 50 weight. I asked about my favorite aurifill and he said it breaks and he doesn't like the color change length in the variegated
• he changes thread color for every different area of different color, so a lot of thread changing and knots and hides the thread in the back after every thread change
• after quilting the hell out of the piece, he hangs it on the design wall with T pins and irons it on the wall for blocking - iron and pull, iron and pull, iron and pull - until it lies completely flat with no wrinkles
• he puts poly twill bias tape (the stuff you buy at joannes) all along the edges - first top and bottom, then both sides - sews in right next to the edge
• then cuts a 2" binding ON THE BIAS - always on the bias because it has to go around so many layers including the twill tape. 
• the reason for the twill tape is so that the quilt will retain it's shape better and lay flat better.

sorry if this was so long but I wanted this written out so that I could go back and refresh my memory in the future  - that's the beauty of a blog:-)

a class with david taylor day 1

I just finished a two day work shop with applique artist david taylor. If you aren't familiar with his work go here and check it out - it is amazing! His class was only 15 people so he gave us lots of one on one help (which we all needed lot of) and he was very entertaining - a really nice guy and quite a character. 

He takes 3 to 6 months to complete one of his quilts, only working on that one quilt for all that time and I can see why. His is very meticulous (admitting that he is very OCD) which makes him so good at what he does.

I'll share a few photos I took in the class

 

this is one of his quilts that he brought for us to "pet"

he says he wants his quilts to make people say "oh look at that cute little hummingbird" and want to go over and pet it, which he encourages and when drawing such a quilt to keep that in mind.

this is the back of the hummingbird quilt

after the whole applique process he quilts very heavily and carefully, changing thread color through each color change, taking the time after each thread change to go to the back of the quilt, tie the end of the thread and thread it into a needle then hiding it into the quilt. This would totally drive me insane but is one reason why he wins so many prizes in quilt shows.

first we trace our image onto tracing paper but not the way I am used to dividing the pieces into different shades or colors in the piece. He does that with the fabric. He says to think of how the image flows and try to do lines depicting that. The body of things in nature have continuous lines from your head to your toes with curves and rounded shapes. Let the drawing just happen organically. Now this is easier said than done, especially the first time. I think he helped most of us in class by doing most of the drawing but I took photos of a few of the drawings.

here is my llama

an owl

a red bird

a fox

a sea gull 

closer of the sea gull

 a Bernese mountain dog

a rooster

7 hours later - this is what I have - kind of looks like a nose!

this is a slow process, so if you need to get things done fast this is not the method for you.

If you want beautiful results and enjoy a long process, playing with color and fabric - you will love this.

this was the first day of the class - more to come

I will also be posting some of my favorite quilts at the vendor, uh oh - I mean quilt show:)