Cooking and Quilting

This past weekend I went on a cooking binge. We have a new community right next to our neighborhood that is being built where the old airport used to be. This weekend they had a special farmers market, and Brian and I went and got some yummy fall vegetables. This inspired me to use up some of what we had lying around. I made caramelized squash from this recipe and some rice with tomatoes and pineapple in it.

We've just recently cleaned, seasoned and started using an old cast iron pan that belonged to Brian, and I've been trying to come up with a recipe where I can use it on both the stove top and the oven (because that's just part of the fun!). I ended up veganizing a recipe for something like a chili pie with cornbread on top. Just onions, red pepper, garlic, tomatoes and beans, with Brian's favorite cornbread recipe on top. It turned out fantastic.

Then Sunday morning, because I know how much Brian loves them, I made cinnamon rolls. They were eaten very quickly.

Though I've been fooling around on my own with patchwork and quilting, I decided that it would help me along if I took a class. So Sunday I went a took a quilting class at Craft-O-Rama in South Austin. I learned some things I didn't know, improved some of the things I had already figured out, and ended up with a pretty fall table runnner.

Now I'm all set to get working on Christmas presents for everyone.

patchwork

I had knee surgery last week, and since I'm normally a super active person the last week has been hard for me. I was used to working out daily (it really helps with my stress), riding my bike to work and all over our side of town, and going hiking on the weekends. So I haven't really adapted well to being sedentary. Especially last week, when I was still unable to do much more than sit in bed, I would get really frustrated. And poor Brian, not only did he have to help me out by doing almost everything, he also had to put up with my sour mood. In an effort to cheer me up, Brian surprised me with a sewing machine.

I love patchwork and handmade clothing and patchwork quilts, and have always wanted to learn to sew. My grandmother could make anything with her sewing machine, so I always had the best costumes come Halloween. Sadly, she was too crippled by arthritis to teach me by the time I was old enough, but the memory of what she could do has always inspired me.

And Brian comes from an old time farm family, and his grandmothers both made their own clothes and quilts. He loves the idea of taking our old clothing and reusing it like his Grandmothers did. So with his gift and support, I've been experimenting and trying to teach myself.

I've been working on making a patchwork scarf. I'm just starting out so I figured a scarf would be easy enough, and not take me forever to finish. And since I know I'll be living in Texas for at least the next 9 months, I wanted to make a scarf that was light enough to work as more decorative that warm, so I could wear it now. I followed this how-to from the Sew, Mama, Sew! Blog. Mine is a little thicker and longer than theirs.



I picked one solid color for the back (I actually changed it after I took this shot, I didn't like the grey, now it's purple and green polka-dot pattern) and then pieced together random pieces on the other side.



I then sewed it together and top stitched a decorative vine on the top (I used mostly greens so I figured the vines fit).



And then here is a terrible picture of me in the finished product.



I have to admit I'm insanely proud of myself, and wore it all weekend even though it's still in the 80s here in Texas. Next I'm going to try to make a baby quilt for Brian to give his best friend Aaron and his wife Maggie for Christmas. They're expecting their first child, a baby boy next week. Hopefully I can stitch straight!