Well it's officially September which means back to structure and routine for all of us beginning Tuesday. It's a long weekend for us here; one of my very favourites as fall can be felt so strongly in the air and the light, and the very last moments of summer holidays are sweetly savoured.
Remember when I said I was going to stash my beautiful Amy Butler jelly roll for a rainy day? So much for good intentions. I've worked on the Summer Garden Quilt fairly steadily over the past several days, intermittently mingled with other required activities, such as back-to-school preparations (whew, I did in fact get the list completed), cooking, baking, laundry, etc. I really had to think about the design of this quilt as the fabrics are so incredibly vibrant. I finally decided on the current arrangement along with the equally vibrant background fabric purchased separately at my local quilt shop. The whole project was kicked off by sewing all the jelly roll strips together in variations of four. Each of these looonngg strips was then cut into lots and lots of 2 1/2 inch, four-fabric strips. I then sewed four of these little four-fabric strips together to make each block. Simple right? Next came choosing the background fabric, which was no easy feat. With the intense colours of the blocks, I was initially planning on a pure solid, worried that anything even remotely wanting to be a print would just be too busy. And what colour on earth could possibly work with this intense mash of hues? There was only one thing to do. I packed up my finished blocks and hauled them all to the local fabric shop where I insisted on commanding everyone's attention by eliciting opinions from every staff member and customer within the vicinity. (I have no shame when there's a job to be done).
"My, those ARE bright, aren't they?"
"Maybe something a little... er... softer, would provide a nice balance?"
After narrowing down the choices, blurring my eyes, inspecting everything from several feet away, then again from close up, then from far away again, I of course chose the most vibrant of the lot. I think it compliments the intensity of the Amy Butler fabrics while still holding its own and giving the whole thing some semblance of order. I love it.
The top is now officially completed, hanging in my window patiently awaiting the attachment of borders. (Doesn't it look like stained glass with the light coming through like that?) I'm really excited to move on to actually quilting the thing-- determined to take the plunge into my very first attempt at free motion quilting. I've been researching U-Tube religiously, carefully planning out my full strategy including the use of several practice sandwich blocks to get the technique down before tacking the quilt itself.
Naturally, I'm terrified.
Oh... before I sign off I thought I'd share my recipe for scratch pie crust 'cause it's just so gosh dang yummy!
* * *
Best Ever Pie Crust
2 cups flour (plus extra for rolling out the dough)
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup cold shortening (I use Crisco Golden)
5 tbsp ice water
1/2 tbsp lemon juice (or vinegar if you don't have any)
Stir flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Cut the shortening roughly into 1/2 inch cubes and drop them into the flour/salt mixture. Cut the shortening into the mixture with a fork or pastry cutter until the everything resembles coarse corn meal. Sprinkle ice water and lemon juice over the mixture and quickly stir until everything comes together into a loose ball. Split the dough in half and form into 2 firm balls, handling the dough just enough to get the job done. Wrap each ball individually in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. I use this time to tidy up and prepare my filling if I'm making a double crust pie. On a lightly floured surface, roll out your crusts to approximately 1/8 inch thick. Place them into 9 inch pie plates, trimming around the edges neatly with a knife. You can reshape the excess dough to make decorations for the top of your pie, or you can just crimp the edges with your fingers. Makes enough for 1 double crust pie or 2 single pie shells. To blind bake as single shells, either pierce the bottom with a fork, or line with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake at 425F for 10 - 12 minutes. Otherwise, follow the baking instructions for whatever pie recipe you are using.
* * *
P.S. - Some of you have asked where I found the Amy Butler jelly roll. I bought mine online from http://www.fabricsquareshop.com
Have a wonderful week!
xox
Finally some comfortable temperatures outdoors (in fact it is raining this minute)
Your quilt is beautiful, J ..... but where is the OTHER one you had hanging? with the flowers ?
Posted by: petrox | September 02, 2012 at 06:53 PM
Yes, the weather is SO MUCH BETTER!! The quilt you are talking about is still hanging where it was and next up for some work after this one is finished. It has a lot of applique to do on it and I'm just not geared up for it quite yet. But I will get to it eventually! :D
Posted by: Olallieberry | September 02, 2012 at 08:34 PM
the quilt couldn't be lovelier!! Just perfect!
please send some of the fall weather south, OK???
Posted by: steph@woolythyme | September 02, 2012 at 09:21 PM
Get ready, sending fall weather now!!
Posted by: Olallieberry | September 02, 2012 at 09:45 PM
I was thinking 'like stained glass', and then you said it. Gorgeous :D
Posted by: Annie @ knitsofacto | September 03, 2012 at 04:22 AM
Oh Janine! It's fabulous! I love it (and I'm a pale and wan quilt kind of girl usually). What have you done to me!
Great post as usual. Oh and your darling kitty cat does just what mine does too.
Sx
Posted by: Sophie | September 03, 2012 at 02:31 PM
Oh, wow! those photos that have the black lines in them make the quilt look like a fabulous, glowing stained glass window. The background color really works well--good job!
i love the pattern of the fork pricks in your pie crust.
and...Oh! those blue eyes in that sweet face!
:^)
Posted by: zephyr | September 05, 2012 at 08:24 AM
Thank you all for your kind words, they are so very encouraging! xox
Posted by: Olallieberry | September 05, 2012 at 04:46 PM
Ooooh, ooooh, oooh. My first thought when I saw your quilt was, "That looks like stained glass". So pretty and I love the fabric you used. Great job!!!!
Hugs,
Sharon
Posted by: Sharon Braxton | September 11, 2012 at 04:01 PM
Hi Sharon, thanks for stopping by. I'm so happy to meet you!
Posted by: olallieberry | September 11, 2012 at 06:38 PM