Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Treehouse III


Treehouse III
Hand dyed and commercial cottons, fused, hand and machine quilted. $250 Email me.



This quilt top was made on Sunday and then I did some of the stitching, finishing up this morning. I am loving making this series. Here the first three so far:



It's a wonderful place to be at this stage in my career, where I can play with color and stitchery, at a nice daily pace, and still have room for reading, parties, keeping up with my housework, and not feeling overwhelmed.
For Labor Day my sister Brooke and family came for a day of eating and chatting. We both love to cook and everyone has special foods either they LOVE or won't eat at all. It was a bit of a juggling act getting it all done at the same time, three veggies, two meats and all the accompanying condiments. Brooke wanted to see how I grind my beef for hamburgers, and she loves bacon cheeseburgers so that was on the menu. We got it all cooked and sat down to eat when she noticed no bacon, no cheese!! Horrors. Those items were quickly added to the feast (I cooked the bacon earlier in the day on my new skillet) and wham we ate everything in seconds. It was like a food race.
The super nice thing about having Brooke here (and not in Singapore, for heaven's sake) is that we are getting to know each other in depth. Cooking together is so fun and we are using this as an excuse to go overboard on treats. Homemade cookies, hot fudge sundaes with Cool Whip and nuts, (o my!) following a tremendous rain storm which threatened to flatten my garden, and then guitar and banjo playing, youtube watching and lots of giggling. Dave and Terry got in some ball throwing after the rain subsided and the sun returned.
The hit gastronomic discovery of the day was Corn with Basil Butter. I have so much basil and it needs to be eaten so in place of pasta with pesto we made this, sure to be added to our summer memories.
Corn with Basil Butter
One stick of real butter
Hand fulls of fresh picked basil
Lots of ears of corn ( or like we did, two bags of frozen corn, white shoepeg and golden super sweet)
Place butter and basil in the food processor with a bit of salt and pepper, whirl and add to the steaming hot bowl of corn.
Words cannot express the wonderfulness of this dish.

10 comments:

  1. You're on a roll! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Melody,
    The corn sounds so good! I think DH Mike and I will have to try it. Unfortunately, I'll have to buy my basil at the market. You're so lucky to have your sister nearby. I'm an only child and the in-laws are over an hour away.

    How do you get those quilts done so fast? Are these made from all that fabric you fused earlier in the year?

    I have a knitting question for you-I really want to learn how to knit socks. We had 2 yarn shops and one had to close because of no business. The other is not offering any classes at all. There aren't any knitting groups nearby, only crocheting. I've found a book on Amazon called "Getting Started Knitting Socks" by Ann Budd. It's gotten great reviews. I've wanted to do this for a while now and just procratinated my butt off. Do you think this is a good resource to try?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:15 PM

    I just wanted to say how touching I find it to read of your joy in having your sister living so close. I too enjoy my sisters, and can't imagine them not in my daily life.
    Karen S in Edmonton

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great idea for basil--I have bunches, too! Yesterday I picked some, along with fresh oregano and tomatoes, then I whipped up a yummy spaghetti sauce (even had enough for the freezer). Sounds like a must try!

    ReplyDelete
  5. O YUM! I put some garlic, olive oil, tomato, motz, parm and feta under the broiler with fresh basil. Nicely toasted it was delish! And as usual your new red piece is so very special. It's vibrant and yet somehow very serene. I don't know how you pull that off but it sure is cool!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful series. Love the trees more and more on each quilt! The house looks transparent -- like one of those modern ones with a huge window pane.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the 1st and 3rd ones!

    Kristin

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous7:43 PM

    I'm totally LOVING the trees made from the multicolor strips...and I love Eva's comment - it DOES look like a modern glass house!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Not banjo, ukulele. And don't forget the juice harp (Jew's harp?)

    Everything was delicious, urp.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love your tree house series.. can I live in one?

    ReplyDelete

Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com