Heart Attack-on-a Stick...

Yum (not!)...that's deep fried butter-on-a-stick.  In my last post, I mentioned having entered quilts in a local community fair and mentioned this new midway delicacy.



This was introduced, I think, at the Iowa State Fair, or at least it was highly publicized at THIS year's Iowa State Fair and the circus of the surrounding Presidential Republican Party Straw Poll.

Some of my blogger friends from "down under" and other points across the globe commented or sent emails asking about this intriguing "food" item.  Well, this post is for YOU!  I hope you have a strong stomach.  I feel my arteries hardening just posting the pictures!

Americans will deep fry ANYTHING!  Maybe that is why this country is so fat.  Here is a link to how to make deep fried butter-on-a-stick - you HAVE to see it to believe it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/fried-butter-stick-iowa-state-fair_n_924768.html

But this isn't the first deep fried popular item offered at fairs and carnivals all over this country.  There are many new, weird items that have hit the midway in recent years.  Here is a deep fried Twinkie.  The original snack cake has been around for years - literally!  They would have been a good item for cold war bomb  shelters due to their long shelf life.  As if they couldn't get more unhealthy:

Then there are deep fried Oreo cookies:



Deep fried pecan pie:





Deep fried avocados:

This is the "Zucchini Weenie":

Deep fried deviled eggs:

Chocolate-covered, deep fried bacon:

Funnel cakes being fried:

Deep Fried White Castle Cheeseburgers:

Deep fried beer pockets:



Deep fried strawberries:

Deep fried candy bars:


Ugh...now I think I'm going to be sick...at this point you are either repulsed or heading out to find a state fair.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

That will put starch in your shorts...

I have learned WAY more about the anatomy of a pair of boxer shorts than I initially thought necessary while working on this little project called "Boxer Rebellion."  (If you are just joining me here, click back 2-3 posts to get the skinny on this one.)  When you cut away the elastic waistband and the ridiculous little trap door in the front, you get three main pieces of fabric.  The piece pictured above is the rear panel (literally), then there are two larger pieces that make up the sides and fronts.  I had no idea they were so complicated, even though I have folded them hundreds of times after doing the laundry! 

Due to age, and a little blended polyester, the fabric is really thin.  Frankly, I don't know what was holding some of these together!  Next time I plan a sassy little project, I should check out the quality of the ingredients first!  I am having to use spray starch to stiffen these up a little in order to piece the blocks that will accompany the three applique squares.

Then I needed to audition some "neutral" pieces of light blue from my stash...most of the boxers are really dark.  I am also going to throw in some bright orange just to shake things up a bit.

Here are the first two pieced blocks for the project, "Contrary Wife" and "The Dandy."

After the starching, the plaids are even wonkier than they were before...I guess that will just add to the charm.

The quilt will consist of 3 applique blocks and 9 pieced blocks, all finishing to 7.5 inches square.  I'm thinking the pieced blocks will be sampler style, with no two block patterns being the same.

I popped in at the Saline Community Fair this week at the Washtenaw County Fairgrounds.  I entered a couple of quilts for exhibition.  Michigan no longer has a state fair, due to budget concerns, but this community fair continues.  I love walking around the exhibition building and seeing all the lovely things that people have entered...quilts, sewing, knitting/crocheting, flowers, food, photographs, antiques, collections, animals.  It's a great slice of America that is slowly dying, I'm afraid.   

"All Around the Town" continues its winning streak taking Best of Show.

"Wickedly Liberated" earned a second place ribbon...with the limited hanging space, it wasn't the best quilt to enter.  It was probably hard for spectators to get my full meaning with half of the words folded away, out of sight.  It is a big quilt!

I had to visit the baby animal barn.  Just look at this sweet little baby horsie.

And this handsome character is either Chip...or Dale.  They weren't talking...

These two porkers were awaiting the judging.  They prove that there is someone for everyone.

T

hey were all scrubbed and looked ready for Sunday School.

The judging for the flowers took place a day or two ago, but many blooms were still beautiful.

I'm sure this sunflower looked better for the judges...I took a picture of it because that's how I feel sometimes, LOL.

I picked a good time to go...the booths making deep fried butter-on-a-stick and funnel cakes were not cooking yet.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

That's one pasty midwesterner...it just looks like three...

Boxer Rebellion took a giant step forward tonight...and Mr. Fabric Therapy is still speaking to me (bonus!).  Ola helped me with my skin tone dilemma earlier in the day.  Yep...that's his color, alright...(how does she know so much about my husband's skin tone?!?  Hmmm...).

He went from the drawing board to the freezer paper/glue stick prep stage tonight.  His head is about the size of a Barbie doll head...minus the hair (as if depicting him without his boxers wasn't humiliating enough...).

"It's ALIVE!!!"  Now I know what the creators of "South Park" must feel like, playing around with their little construction paper cut-outs of the TV show characters (he does sort of resemble Mr. Garrison...uh-oh, Mr. F. T.'s not going to appreciate THAT one...).  I need to settle on background fabric, hand applique and do the embroidery embellishments.

Oh, let the economy slide into oblivion...fun things are happening in the quilt cave...but for now, must - go - to - BED, zzzz.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

These boxers won't be brief...

No...this isn't Weasley, but it looks like him and his work.  I couldn't resist when I saw this "LOLCAT" on the Internet.  I hope everyone in the hurricane-affected area is OK after their long weekend of watching the weather.  I've lived in a hurricane zone, so my heart goes out to all of you dealing with high water, wind damage, loss of power, and all inconveniences related to these things.

Well, I fought the urge to title this post "I've had my hands in my husband's underwear..." or something like that.  I've been making some preliminary doodles concerning the appliques I want to do for "Boxer Rebellion" to blend with the blocks pieced from the actual fabric from the boxers.  I'm still not happy with arms and hands...Mr. Fabric Therapy thinks I'm spot on concerning his head, though (giggle).  I wish I had had nothing to do this weekend so I could have devoted FULL ATTENTION to this project.

After dissecting the shorts, I can tell you there is PLENTY of fabric to work with...if he had worn extra large undies, I might have had enough for a king-size quilt!  So, Tonya and Bonnie...I challenge you to use boxers in your projects along with the old shirts!  Now I need to finalize the applique drawings, make a decision about the pieced block design, and find just the right skin color fabric to match my pasty white mid west husband's skin tone.  Thank you for all your funny (and serious!) suggestions for which block(s) to use!  I really enjoyed reading your comments.

I have to say my husband has been a good sport.  If pictures of MY underwear had shown up on the Internet (even on an obscure quilt blog), there would have been a murder by now...he likes that my doodles have no facial features except for the glasses.  As he would say, "this could be ANY naked, balding, middle-aged geek..."

Meanwhile, my magic box containing my little hand applique basket blocks is almost empty...I'm stitching on the last prepped block!

I had to prepare some more...too many meetings coming up in the next couple of weeks, and I manage to stitch at least one a day when I am waiting to pick up the teenagers after school.  It was time to dip into my red reproduction fabrics.

I have about 15-16 freezer paper patterns that I work with.  I iron them on the FRONT of the fabric, cut them out leaving a small margin, and use the paper as a guide to glue the margin to the back with a glue stick and a pointy tool (I like my long, Clover stiletto).  (If you want more detail, there's a tutorial about glue stick applique on my top tool bar.)

After the gluing (and much pressing with my fingers), I peel off the freezer paper off to use again.  I use these over and over again until they won't stick any more when ironed to fabric.  Then I will chuck them and trace some more using my plastic template that I traced from the book "When the Cold Wind Blows" by Blackbird Designs.  My friend Susi of Susi's Quilts is making another quilt from this book...you should check it out!

Now to put the baskets together, then glue baste them to backgrounds...

I glue baste the handle to the basket first before going to the backgrounds.  I work right over my paper pattern.

I place the basket handle on the pattern first.  Then I place pattern weights on the handle to keep things from shifting around while I glue.  It takes very little Roxanne's Glue Baste to hold things...always think "dot-dot-not-a-lot."  Never glue right at the edge of a piece where you will be making stitches!

See my little dots?  Excess glue is messy, wasteful, and harder to soak out later after stitching the block.  It may not seem like a little dot will hold, but this works remarkably well (I hate stitching around pins!).

I carefully place the basket on the handle and press.  I use my beading tweezers to move pieces around because my fingers are a little clumsy.  I press just long enough to hold things together then carefully run the tweezers underneath it all to make sure I have not glued the whole mess to the paper.  It you are frugal with your glue, you won't have this problem.

Obviously, I have a little trimming to do (I'd rather err on having too much to tuck under than not enough...).

Now I can start stitching red baskets!  I was getting a little bored with the green ones.  I still have some more red fabrics to cut baskets from, but this will hold me for a little while.

FINALLY some quilt-related humor in the New Yorker...(is this the new rotary cutter??).

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)