Incredibly Simple Asian Slaw Recipe

My friend Kelley made this recipe for our Quilt Guild picnic last month and it was sooooo wonderful I begged her for the recipe. She graciously gave it to me and I tried it out for the first time on my Husband's family this past weekend for a family potluck.

 Here's what you'll need to make the most amazing Asian Slaw ever:

Dressing:
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 cup oil (I used veggie oil)
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
* Mix these ingredients and chill overnight in the fridge shaking every so often to help mix in sugar.

Topping:
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 pkgs Ramen Noodles (just the noodles, doesn't matter which flavor, you'll toss the seasoning packet) crush the noodles
1/2 cup slivered almonds
* Mix all of the above with a bit of butter or oil and toast in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes in a jelly roll pan mixing once during toasting. Let cool and place in a baggie.

Salad:
1 head bok choy
1 head napa cabbage
* Slice into bite size pieces

Mix all ingredients and toss just before serving. Done!

This makes a ton of food, so heeding Kelley's warning about how much it made, I only made a half batch. The container I used was filled and it's approx. 12"x12"x5". We had about a dozen hungry people there and the picture below is all I had left!

I think they liked it. Even though the topping gets 'not-so-crunchy' after awhile, the dressing works it's magic and the leftovers were wonderful too!

To get a half batch, I used the other half of the napa cabbage in a stir fry earlier in the week and the head of bok choy Ben got was the last one on the shelf and pretty tiny so I used it all. I highly recommend making this for any picnic you're heading to, not only is it easy, but without mayo or that kinda thing it can sit out on hot days without worry! Let me know what you think!

Machine Quilting: Batik Hunter Star

Once again, I'm going to say how much I love my Nana. Not only does she make the best Chocolate Chip Cookies (which I was sent home with last week just in time for my latest Moda Bake Shop recipe), but she makes awesome quilts and she lets me quilt them for her!

Now going back to the cookies - I had all intentions of making my own, but they're just not the same. I had to go to Nana's house to drop off this quilt I'm showing you and she just happened to have made a big batch (is there any other kind) of her Chocolate Chip Cookies and sent me home with a small bag. I had one, just ONE and I left the rest for Ben and I to split (key word there is 'split'). Ben got home later that night and had dinner and had the bag of cookies sitting there too. He asked me if I wanted one and I said no, and then he proceeded to eat the REST OF THE BAG!!! Granted there were only a few in the bag, but dang! I was hoping for more than one.

Alright, back on topic. So a couple weeks ago I showed you all the first Rapid Fire Hunter Star quilt Nana made using Christmas fabrics (click here to see it again). This is the first one she actually made in class with all of those wonderful batik fabrics.

 This quilt is a nice size, about 44" square I believe. Plus that backing fabric is a wonderful wide backing, it's actually the same one I used on Leafy Greens (love that fabric!).

 I recently discovered this swirly style of quilting from Angela Walters new book. As soon as I saw it I knew Nana would love it, but I wanted to do something different in the stars so I did some line dancing with loops in the middle. It wasn't what I had planned initially, but I love how it turned out!

 I used the same principle as I did on her other Hunter Star quilt and carried the quilting for the stars into the border. I used my white Sewline marking pen to draw in the other half of the star and then treated that area of the border as if it were a completed star. You can kinda see it in the picture above, but the next picture shows it much better.

Small touches like this are so much fun for me to showcase the artfulness of the quilts. I am an artist at heart and this is where I get to "run wild". Don't get me wrong, I love quilting all types of quilts and I understand not every quilt needs or deserves custom quilting depending on what it's intended purpose is for.

But one of my most favorite and scariest moments that I encounter is when I get told to do whatever I think would be best... At first I shudder (just a tiny bit) until I understand who the quilt is being made for and what purpose it's going to be used (wall hanging, wedding gift, quilt for a 13 year old's bed, etc.). I'll quilt a wedding gift a bit differently than I would for a 6 year old. But then my mind turns on into overdrive and I think about the designs I could do almost too much until I come up with the "perfect design". This not only is a great end result for those of you making and receiving the quilts, but it also helps push my creative abilities and designs further and further.

I do have those designs I fall back on again and again. I always will. And if you ask most long arm quilters they tend to find themselves in design trends where you quilt a ton of flower designs for a bit and then a bunch of swirls and then it just continues. But the exciting part is trying something new, finding a new design, and getting an end result that inspires even more creativity.

This is definitely one reason why I love my job! Thanks again Nana! You're the best!

Bake Shop Time Again!

Head on over to the Moda Bake Shop to check out my latest tutorial, Santa's Cookie Mat!

 This was inspired by miniature quilts and postage stamp quilts. When you combine the two ideas and use Charm Packs you get the most adorable blocks that finish at 3". My pieces seem to be getting smaller and smaller and smaller...

Plus, I got to share one of Santa's cookies... Wasn't that nice?

I used a new piecing technique (I guess you could call it that) to speed up and simplify the whole process and I love it. Worked like a charm! (hahaha, get it? Sorry, coffee hasn't kicked in yet this morning)

I hope you all enjoy it and I'd love to see your version if you decide to make a Santa's Cookie Mat.

I'll be back soon with some other new tutorials, a new recipe and some new quilting too!

Machine Quilting: Down Under Quilt

I met this adorable lady, Beth one day while I was working at Cottonpicker's Quilt Shop. She brought in this wonderful quilt that she got as a kit all the way from Australia. The fabrics have a slightly different hand to them, like a mixture of cotton and linen.

 I just fell in love with the colors and prints as soon as I saw them and I couldn't wait to get started quilting on this one.

Beth wanted the quilting to be a little more soft and flowing since the design of the blocks are very square and stiff.

 I came up with a mixture of swirls and McTavishing that I think turned out wonderful! I think everyone will see something different in the quilting like wind or waves. It really does soften the look of the quilt.

 Here's a better look at the quilting. Beth wanted me to put the binding on this for her so I got to love on it just a while longer...

Here's a look at the back of the quilt showing the quilting a bit more. Thanks again to Beth for letting me quilt this! I had a blast quilting it and I found a new favorite design in the process!

I finally did it!

I turned in my two weeks notice at my full time construction dispatcher job!

Yippee! Hooray!

Now I feel like I can finally focus on my quilts and the long arm quilting and the blog for goodness sakes! I feel like I've been neglecting it all for far too long now.

After my chest pains flared up twice in just over a month, that was the first red flag. My first day back to work after the second episode was absolutely horrendous, that's when I said enough.

I determined if I'm going to torture myself working as many hours as I have, it's going to be for my business, not for someone else. I have too many things I could be doing and I've put them off that I need to shift my focus to what is best for me for once. And gosh darnit, it feels wonderful! So officially in 1 hour and 58 minutes, my last full time day here will be done!

I plan on taking off a couple weeks to catch up on new patterns, tutorials  and long-arming and then after that I will still be helping at the construction office part-time until my position has been filled.

But most of all, for those couple weeks I'm looking forward to setting my own schedule and not having to get up while it's still dark outside! Hooray to that!

So, stay tuned for all sorts of wonderful things happening here in the near future!

Semi-Custom Machine Quilting

Most of the long arm quilting services I do are for baby showers or presents which means it's typically something simple and an all over design or pantograph design, which is fine. But every now and then I get the opportunity to cut loose and just have fun.

 My Nana is a machine at making quilt tops! This was a quick top she made after taking the Rapid Fire Hunter Star class at Cottonpickers. I still have yet to quilt the one she made in the class, but it'll make an appearance here soon.

If there's one thing my Nana and I have in common, it's a love for reds. There's probably about 7 different red fabrics in this quilt.

 In the center she embroidered the words Merry Christmas. Playing off of the Christmas theme, I quilted loops with holly leaves and berries in the majority and a special design in the stars.

I even carried the star pattern through the border and quilted the same design in those too. This is unlike anything I've quilted before, but I love it!

It's really getting me in the Christmas in July spirit, how about you?

Machine Quilting: Baby Quilt

Jane had this adorable baby quilt she needed for a shower. She let me have free reign over which design and threads to use.

I played off of the many polka dot fabrics within the quilt and quilted bubbles all over. I think it turned out great! This is such a nice alternative to a traditional boy quilt. I just love the orange! Don't you? Thanks, Jane!

Gosh darn squirrels!

Last night as I was cooking dinner, I had the curtain half drawn back going out from the dining room to the back yard. Duncan was sitting there ad all of a sudden started whining. Not his typical whine, not the in pain whine, just weird.

Finally I looked over to see this:

 I don't know if he's just brave?

 Or if he has a death wish...

But at least he's cleaning up all those pesky helicopters! I thought this was too funny. (Oh, and sorry for the dirty window, yuck! I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend)

Shortly after I took these photos a commercial on the TV rang the doorbell (isn't that the most annoying sound for a dog owner?) and off the dogs ran barking to the front door. I went and peeked out the back door and sure enough the little guy was still out there munching away. Not scared one little bit. We'll see how he does the rest of the summer and through the fall and winter.

I don't mind him if he stays out of my garden. The rabbit however I'm not too fond of right now because almost all of the hostas my M-I-L gave me this spring are gone. He obviously figured I gave him a nice buffet rather than attempting to plant a flower bed...

Best Coleslaw Recipe EVER!!!

A while ago my Dad thought it would be a good idea to have a fish fry, and it was wonderful! I brought coleslaw but opted to find a new recipe, something with a little jazz. I found one but didn't have all of the ingredients so I substituted a few things and it was the best I'd ever had!

Here's what you'll need:

 - This recipe works for both cabbage and broccoli slaw, grab a 16 oz bag of your favorite kind
 - 1 cup of mayo (I like to blend half mayo and half plain yogurt, it's healthier and it seems to coat the slaw better)
 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar
 - 1 tablespoon horseradish (I used horsie sauce since I didn't have the regular stuff)
 - 1 tablespoon white vinegar
 - 1/2 teaspoon celery seed or salt (whatever you have on hand)

Mix up all the ingredients except for the slaw itself. Make sure it's well mixed, then add the coleslaw to the bowl and toss to coat.

Let sit for at least an hour, stirring before serving. If you let this sit for longer than an hour, be sure to stir the mix every few hours or so.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I figured this was the perfect pre-4th of July recipe.

I wish you all a wonderful 4th of July! I'm not planning on doing much of anything, just working on quilts. Hope to have more to show you soon!