Completed Red Stars and a Postcard

When I arrived at my sister's last week I found my red star quilt waiting for me with all the quilting completed. I'm so happy with this! Click on the pictures and you can see a close-up of the beautiful quilting that Deb Geyer did. The center of the stars can't have been easy. I still have to sew on binding, but since I won't do that for a while, this is this quilt's
final appearance.



When I came home last night, I found this beautiful postcard from Joy Vale, sent all the way from Australia as part of an exchange on Stitchin Fingers. It's hand painted fabric with a lovely suede-like texture, and some applique. Thank you, Joy! This was a delightful piece of mail. In fact, this was a good week for me and the post office!

Kale and Red Stars

Karen posted about her love of kale, and I offered a salad recipe. Since I got another request for this, I'll post it. Spare me the "Yucks". I was told it was rude to discuss your food. :) As I told my kids, "Just say 'No, thank you.'"

Kale Salad 6 servings

2 bunches kale, stems removed
2 T EVO
2 T lemon juice
3/4 t salt
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup raisins
Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Stack kale leaves, fold in half lengthwise, then roll tightly like a cigar. Slice crosswise into thin strips. Chop the kale strips crosswise a few times, so they aren't too long.

Place the kale in a mixing bowl along with the olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Toss well with your hands, massaging the dressing into the greens, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the red bell pepper, pine nuts, and raisins, and toss gently, Season to taste with black pepper. This will keep for three days in a sealed container in the frig. (I didn't try this, so can't vouch for it.) Serve at room temperature.

This is surprisingly good. The very tart dressing and the raisins cut the strong taste of the kale, and pine nuts are always a great addition! The red pepper mostly just adds color, and vitamins of course.



And in quilt news, Deb Geyer is working on the quilting for my red stars quilt. Isn't this exciting! I'm going to be so glad to see it again after she's done her magic.

Peppermint Stars Done!

Finished! This was the original design, but I am thinking of adding a red band on the outside, perhaps with small stars as cornerstones. But that should be straightforward. There's still pressing and de-linting to do. Deb Geyer has agreed to quilt it for me.

I'm happy with this quilt. I had been thinking about using this block in striped fabrics for several years, and it's satisfying to see it done. Every star is different, although the fabrics repeat. Seeing all the different effects produced by different combinations or arrangement of the fabric was the fun part of the project. The piecing isn't as good as I had hoped to achieve, but it's respectable, and I think the design is a strong one. It was a challenge, for sure.

It's Square, It's Square!

You have to imagine that sung to the tune of "It's May, It's May, la la la la lah." I put the zig zag borders and their framing yellow borders on the red, white, and yellow monster, and IT IS SQUARE, and at least within easing dimensions of the star border. So that is next. No pictures yet; I'm just going to do it. I am very, very tired of this quilt. Never another large one, I say, as my husband says, "Isn't it smaller?" (He's looking at center w/o borders.) "I thought it was going to be queen size." The Robert is all about practicality, in quilts anyway.

To the machine--

Maybe I'll Stop Here...

Finally, a layout for the red stars! My design wall is too small to hold the entire thing, so I've folded over part of the center. Just focus on the upper left-hand corner.

That little zig zag border has caused endless trouble. It's described in The Border Workbook, and isn't really difficult, just requires careful stitching and cutting (of course, I've only made this little sample). It also requires lots of math to make the border fit, especially around the corners, and this required an email to That Patchwork Place for an explanation of one section of directions. The number given made no sense to me. I got an answer in less than 12 hours, so they deserve lots of credit for that.

This was last week; in the meantime I've been toying with many other ideas for that section. This has actually been so exhausting that I feel I've finished the project! Time to stop. Seriously, I'm planning a real push to the finish line. First step is to cut lots of red and yellow squares to frame the border stars.

In non-quilting news, we have bought a new car. My husband's "winter" car gave up the ghost on our driveway Monday morning, so we have bought a new Ford Fusion. Since I am partially housebound because of weather and a car shortage, Bob has done the shopping. I took a very brief test drive last night; it was brief because a) roads were slippery, b) it was snowing, and c) it was 10 below zero. The heater, anti-lock brakes, and traction control seem fine. Other things, I don't know. We'll hope for the best. And yes, the Ford salesman seemed glad to see us.