Cranberry Walnut Relish

Do you have favorite, time tested recipes that always appear on your table at Thanksgiving?  One of our favorites is Cranberry Walnut Relish, a recipe given to me by my dear friend, Sharon W., over 35 years ago. We use this in place of that nasty, gelatinous, quivering blob of GAK that comes slithering from a can. Blechhhh!!!

This is the original recipe, written in my own girlish hand, all tattered and stained.  I suppose I could recopy it,... but I kind of love it just the way it is.  

Sharon was my bestie way back when I was a young mom.  She had a teen-age daughter and she warned me about all that I would be experiencing in the future as the mother of two girls. She pretty much nailed all of it.  We used to take power walks almost daily.  My butt has never looked so good since.

Cranberry Walnut Relish is super easy to make.

You will need:

2  packages of fresh cranberries, 12 ounces each

2 cups of granulated sugar

1 cup of chopped walnuts

1 cup of orange marmalade.  (The cheaper store brand is fine.)

1 orange

OK, lets get started!

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the chopped walnuts into a large Pyrex baking dish and toast for 8 - 10 minutes.  Oh, LOOK!  My oven in clean!  Just in time to completely dirty it up for Thanksgiving...

Rinse the cranberries under running water in a colander.  Remove all of the funky, soft and/or shriveled ones.  

Using a zester tool, cut about 1 tablespoon of orange zest.  If you do not have a zester tool, this link will show you how to easily cut the zest without one.

Put the cranberries, the sugar, the marmalade, walnuts and orange zest into a large bowl.  Add the juice of half of the orange and thoroughly mix it all together.  

Eat the other half of the orange.

Spread the mixture into the Pyrex baking dish used to toast the walnuts.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Remove the foil and stir after about 40 minutes.  Replace the foil after stirring.

After removing from the oven, let the mixture cool.  Spoon into a pretty dish and add an orange peel garnish.  

This recipe makes just over 4 cups of sweet and tangy goodness!

It just would not be Thanksgiving at our house without Cranberry Nut Relish.  And fond memories of long time friends. 

Note - My dear friend, Sharon, passed on August 21, 2015.  I miss her terribly, but her Cranberry Walnut Relish will be on our Thanksgiving table, this year and always.  

Weavers and Thread Catchers

One of my Thread Catchers was recently purchased by Geri R. who left me some lovely feedback. She wrote, "I am so impressed with your work, the design of this piece is perfect and I love the fabrics. I don't have a wastebasket near my loom and have been throwing my little ends on the floor, picking them up when I get up from the loom. Unfortunately, my dog has discovered these threads, and I find them everywhere! No more!  Thank you again."

I sent a message back to Geri, thanking her for her kind words and remarking that it had never occurred to me that weavers might like my product.  Geri sent me a photo of her thread catcher, on the job, perched near her loom.  

Isn't Geri's loom just beautiful?  Weaving is something that I would love to try... someday.  Too bad all of my space is taken up by sewing things.  Thank you, Geri, for sharing your photo.  

Classes and Kits

How is it that I always forget just how much preparation it takes to put together my supplies for teaching a Thread Catcher class?

I have two classes scheduled for today at the cutest little quilt shop in my area, the  Rustic Rooster Quilt Shop in Myrtle Creek, OR.  I provide the printed pattern and complete supply kit for each attendee.  Students bring their pre-cut fabrics and most have a finished thread catcher at the end of the three hour class.

I have been puttering with some new kit packaging, both for classes and for mailing my supply kits.  I was wanting something that would be great for class, have a nice look about it, be cost effective, not be too labor intensive and would do nicely in the mail.  These are what I came up with.

I started out with this one.  Fine for class, but not so good for mailing. 

Then I folded the brown paper bag like this.  Much better for sending in the mail.

I'm kind of loving the new labels...

This is for the Dreamy Dresden Supply Kits, this time with the ends of the tie clipped.  Perfect!

 Hug Snug works great for binding the kit packages.  I may need more colors... lots more colors!

My students will be getting an unexpected surprise when they receive their pattern.  I dropped my print order off at a major office supply/tech store whose name begins with an "S".  I always have the cover page printed in color and the rest of the pages in black and white.  The harried Copy and Print employee goofed up my order and printed everything in color.  Of course, she didn't charge me for her mistake, so all of my students will be receiving a full color pattern!

So now, my SUV is loaded up and I'm ready to go.  I'm off!  And I'm going to Myrtle Creek, too!

My Epic Blonde Moment

How do you miss a quilt show that your own quilts are being displayed in?  Well, that's exactly what I did this week end.  I was very excited to have entered three of my quilts in the Oakland Antique and Quilt Show in the little town of Oakland, a bit north of where we live.  Quilts are hung on the outside of the charming old buildings on the main drag through town, much the same as is done in Sisters, Oregon for their big quilt show each July.  There is no judging for the Oakland show, but there are Viewers Choice ribbons as well as Sponsors Choice ribbons.  I feel certain that my quilts will never hang at Sisters, but I was excited to see my quilts hung outdoors at the Oakland Show.

I am going to totally OUT myself here and tell you that I COMPLETELY MISSED THE SHOW!!! I was thinking that it was on Sunday when it was actually on Saturday.  Turns out that I looked up the date online and landed on a webpage advertising last years show, hence my mix up of the date.

I would not have even known of my error until the next day when I would have shown up in Oakland to see, well, nothing..., had it not been for the telephone call that I received Saturday afternoon from Penny B., one of the ladies who organized the show.  She called to inform me that I had won the 2nd Place Viewers Choice ribbon and a lovely gift basket for my Birdsong quilt.  If I was surprised at my win, I was even more surprised that I had missed the entire thing!  Can I get a "DUH"?

I pulled some photos of my quilts hanging from the show's Facebook page, the only "real" way that I was able to see the show.

My Birdsong quit was hung on the bank building now housing the Wine Vault, right on the corner.

My Bunny Quilt, still waiting for it's owner...

And my Hanging Basket quilt, on the frames in the alley.

The gift basket was chock full of fat quarters, various notions and four GREAT quilting books, among other things.

 I also received three Sponsors Choice Ribbons, one for my Birdsong quilt, one for my Bunny quilt and another for my Hanging Basket quilt. Four ribbons for three quilts at a quilt show that I did not even attend!

My husband declared this madcap mishap to be "An Epic Blonde Moment".  He's completely right, of course...

Falling in Love Again

You know how sometimes you sort of fall out of love?  Your heart no longer flutters and that certain "ZING" is missing?  But then,...  something wonderful happens.  You fall BACK in love, head-over-heels style, and you can think of nothing else but the object of your affection.

Well, that's how I am feeling about my hexagon quilt.  It had been sitting, untouched and unloved, for months and months, but I am so happy to say that I am now back in the hexagon saddle, so to speak.  I was recently asked by a friend, Dorothy C., to join a little hand quilting group that meets two afternoons a month.  The only hand work I had in the works at the moment was my Hexagon quilt.  So I dug it out and took it along to my first meeting with the group.

That handwork of mine seems to go so very quickly when my mouth is moving, just chatting the whole afternoon long! These lovely ladies are all working on various types of beautiful handwork from embroidery to piecing to hand quilting.  I think that I just might be the junior member.  The eldest is Patty, a firecracker who is well into her mid-nineties!  I think that she could probably run rings around me.

Of course, I had to order some new reproduction fat quarters to add to my quilt.  You can never have enough different fabrics when you are working on a Hexagon quilt.  I have been working on it in the evenings if Mr. T. and I sit down to watch a movie and some real progress is being made for the first time in a very LONG time.

It is beginning to actually look like a quilt instead of stacks and stacks of hexagon flower units.  I just might possibly finish this quilt in THIS LIFETIME!

It Followed Me Home!

I have been seriously drooling over the Bernina 550 QE since it came out and I just took the plunge and bought one for my very own.  My sewing machines earn their keep around here so thankfully, I did not have to think too hard about the expense involved in upgrading.  This little baby will pay for herself in short order.  And, by shopping between two different stores, mere miles apart, I saved a whopping $1400.00!

I ordered my new machine at the end of last month and believe me, it's been a very LONG two weeks, waiting to pick it up.  

I arrived at the store this morning and got to unpack it myself.  It felt like Christmas in August!

I had a lesson in it's operation and learned all about what a marvelous machine it is.  I love a sewing machine that does tricks!

I puttered a bit with the BSR.  Maybe I can actually perfect my machine quilting.  

I couldn't wait to get home and set her up.  What was my first project?  Why... it was a thread catcher, of course!  Hmmm, what to make next...?

Thread Catcher Revisited

Some time ago, I made a Thread Catcher using a different pincushion design.  I listed it on Etsy and someone "pinned" that thread catcher. It has since had about a gozillion re-pins!  ( That particular Thread Catcher is now living happily in Perth, Australia...)  Still, to this day, I have people visiting my Etsy shop looking for that same Thread Catcher.  I have also had numerous inquiries asking if I could make more.  I did not have the main fabric any longer, but was recently able to track down a small amount of that fabric, no small feat, I might add.  I have made up a couple of them and have one listed now at my Etsy Shop .  I used a different bag lining fabric and I think that I like the new lining even better.

What do you think?  Before... ????

... or AFTER!!!  I'm loving the simple and understated lining on this one!

New Fabrics Alert !

Have I mentioned that I offer ready-made Thread Catchers at my Etsy Shop, Curry Bungalow, just so that I have a really great excuse to buy any and all of the fabrics that I love?  Well, this is a prime example of that.

I just picked up these BRAND NEW fabrics from Riley Blake called "A Beautiful Thing" and I am in love! I have already made up two thread catchers in two different colorways and they are both so incredibly cute.

 I would keep one for myself..., but I need another thread catcher like I need a hole in the head.

New Fabric Happiness

It doesn't take much to make me happy.  A new line of fabrics or two is a sure guarantee!  I recently visited The Rustic Rooster Quilt Shop  and found two new lines that both called loudly to me and I could not ignore them, could I? I knew that they wanted to go home with me.

"Snowbird", by Edyta Sitar was a new addition at the shop. These understated and elegant fabrics made up beautifully, or at least I think so.  I added a vintage ecru crocheted medallion and a vintage button to my Dreamy Dresden pincushion.  Perfect!

"Folklore" by Lily Asbury also caught my eye, and no wonder, because I love anything designed by Stephanie Carter.  I picked up yard goods as well as a layer cake for lots of variety in my pincushions. These are already great sellers at my Etsy Shop, Curry Bungalow.

I love it when fabric speaks to me.  And I like to think that I am a great listener.  WINK-WINK!

Sewing and Singing

My daughter, Butterfly, announced that she wanted to make a quilt for her dear friend Lesley, who will be having her first baby in August.  Remember, she and I made a quilt together previously, another quilt for a baby, that can be seen here . Lesley loves all things nautical so Butterfly chose an assortment of fabrics that were perfect for the project.  She also chose the pattern from a number of ideas that we had both been putting together on Pinterest. Interestingly enough, she chose a pattern that I had pinned myself.  Great minds think alike!

She and Trooper drove down for the weekend.  Butterfly and I immediately 

set about cutting out the quilt pieces.

All stacked up and ready to sew!

Lucy got in on the act! She loved the colors!

We were SING-GING!  Everything from her music from the 90's 

to my music from the 60's with some Country thrown in.  I keep telling Butterfly that if you love to sing, you HAVE to like Country.  She has resisted all of these years, but guess what?  She's now listening to her very own County playlist!

We set up a make-shift design wall for perfect block placement...

and then sewed the blocks together.  

Looking good!  

After Butterfly and Trooper returned home

I did some simple straight line quilting...

and added my favorite piped binding.  

Mr. T. held the quilt up for me so that I could get a picture.

LOOK! The quilt has shoes!  I boxed it up and sent it off, just in time 

for Lesley's Baby Shower.

Butterfly reports that Lesley was mightily surprised!

And Auntie Butterfly is some kind of a baby gift SUPER STAR!

I am imagining this new baby all cuddled up in the quilt that Butterfly and I made together.  And that's the best part.  We made it together, which just makes this Mom's heart happy!