Lots of Christmas cooking...

I love making Moroccan Eggplant Dip during the holidays.  It is healthy, exotic, easy, and most important...it is DELICIOUS!  I always make 3 recipes at once because it disappears, especially when I am taking it for a family gathering.  It is delicious with pita wedges.

It freezes well.

Here is the basic recipe: 

MOROCCAN EGGPLANT DIP

3 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil
1 large eggplant, peeled and diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
1 large onion, diced
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh cilantro or 2 tbsp. dried coriander leaves

In large fry pan, heat the oil and add all ingredients except the fresh cilantro (if you are using dry coriander instead, that can go into the mix now).  Cook uncovered over medium heat for 20 minutes.  Uncover and cook over high heat, stirring, until reduced to about 3 cups.  Cover and chill at least 2 hours or overnight. 

Before eating, stir in fresh cilantro, if you chose to use that over the dry coriander.

Serve with wedges of pita bread, thin slices of crusty french bread, or pumpernickel.  It is also good with raw vegetables.

YUM!  It is just perfect when feeding family and friends during the holidays.

In stitches,
Teresa

"Coaster-ing" into Christmas...

If anyone knows where December went, please let me know!  I have been in the quilt cave finishing some Christmas stuff...most recently...COASTERS!  When I came up for air, it was the winter solstice!

I made some free-pieced scrappy tree coasters last year for my Mom...very simple...just a triangle and a trunk.  They live in a tree wilderness, so it seemed appropriate.  They were very popular and well-appreciated.

Well, my sisters saw them and coveted them...one even took some. Then came the requests...both from the 3 sisters and the mom, who wanted some to replace the ones that "got away."

Thus started the quilt cave coaster factory.  For days I combed through my scraps of neutral, red and green to make coasters.  This time I made 2-tier trees and threw in some wonky stars.

As usual, I ended up with more scraps than I started with...how does that ALWAYS happen?!?

Finally, I ended up with quite a pile of coasters.

The scrap bins are still as full...need to make a BIGGER scrappy quilt.  I love making these trees and stars...GREAT fabric therapy. I just fill a dozen bobbins, put in a good movie (or a DVD of "The Big Bang Theory"...my VERY FAVORITE show) and just sit and feed the machine with chain-piecing.  

Oh, so satisfying...and it gave my applique fingers a break.

I love the wonkiness of the project, and I used up a lots of tiny scrap batting, which is always fabulous.

I must start Christmas stuff sooner next year...like, in January.  I say that EVERY YEAR and I know I won't.  I must finish hand quilting the music quilt FIRST THING IN THE NEW YEAR! Then I have so many other fun applique projects to get back into.

But for now, I will enjoy an extended family Christmas season! Lots of cooking, lots of nieces and nephews, lots of music, lots of memories...I hope you are doing the same!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

The "Good Earth" - Happy Anniversary Dad and Lee!

This is the unfinished center medallion square of "The Good Earth," an original design to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my parents. This central square will measure between 28-30 inches and will anchor the rest of the quilt design.

More than half of these motifs have been hand appliqued to the background square, some are just prepped and glue basted, and 3 motifs are still in the drawing phase. 

There are a lot of embroidery details that need to be added after all the hand applique stitching is finished and the piece is soaked to remove the glue.  The embroidery will really make the designs pop and make them look more detailed and correct.  My dad needs his glasses, birds need feet, fruit and veg need stems, some pieces need to be outlined, dogwood blossoms need centers, wheels need spokes, etc.

There are a lot of details in this square that sum up their love for each other and their love of the land.  They are both physicians, which is why both of them are wearing stethoscopes around their necks. 

They have improved or built almost every house they have lived in for the last 40 years, hence the hammer in my Dad's hand. 

They have set out thousands of pine saplings and have a small catfish lake.

They have worked to protect the trees on their properties, and have planted a lot of young pines to go with the mighty oaks, other hardwoods, and the endogenous dogwoods that thrive in the north Alabama environment.

They have planted thousands of daffodil bulbs that bloom in February through early April every spring...just beautiful.

The fish...they need some embroidery details as well.

They have chickens for egg laying and used to have a beautiful peacock when they lived near the Birmingham Zoo (he was an escapee when I was in high school in he mid-1970's).

The chicken is roosting in a mighty oak.

I experimented with fussy-cutting a favorite Kaffe Fassett fabric for the peacock tail...he needs some embroidery details as well...like his lovely head feathers.  He is sitting in a pink dogwood tree.

I will have a lot of French knots to do at the centers of all the dogwood blossoms.

My grandfather passed down his gardening skills to my Dad.  Lately, they have been growing green beans, squash and collard greens.  

There are lots of deer and other wildlife on the property.

They have fruit and nut trees, a muscadine arbor, and amazing blueberries.  My Dad has all kinds of machines...tractors, off-road vehicles, earth-movers, but loves an old-fashioned push plow.

 The muscadines (a kind of grape)...

The apples and blueberries...

Lee has an amazing green thumb and loves growing flowers and shrubs.  She is constantly trying to outsmart the deer (who really appreciate all of her gardening efforts...).

The squirrels are welcome to all the acorns and hickory nuts they can carry, but stay away from the pecans, walnuts, and bird feeders!

This will be a bluebird of happiness at the top of the square carrying the banner and hearts.

It seems like a special anniversary...for all of us.  They are celebrating 40 years, and we celebrated our 20th anniversary in October.  They have set a beautiful example of a strong, productive and purposed-filled marriage for their seven kids. 

Happy anniversary and I love you very much!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

The "Good Earth" Quilt - Fruit Orchard sneak peek...

This is the fruit orchard for the lower right corner of the medallion square for the "Good Earth" quilt I am designing for my parents' 40th anniversary this month.

The pieces are glue-prepped and glue-basted, ready to be put on the background square in anticipation of the hand applique.  When designing and constructing such a large central medallion, I find it easier to prep in units.

The blueberries are TEENIE-TINY!  I put a penny in the above picture to give you a reference.  My parents have TONS of blueberries off their bushes every year.

There will be embroidery to do after the hand stitching and soaking to remove the glues.  For now, the cherry leaves are hovering, ghost like, awaiting their embroidered stems.

Some of these pieces are so tiny...my clumsy fingers can't pick up and manipulate the freezer paper and little pieces of fabric without my trusty forceps.  I would be so lost without them!

I prepped a lot of applique before going east to see my in-laws for Thanksgiving.  I had hoped to finish stitching and embroidering this central medallion so that I could mail it to my parents this week in time to get there before their anniversary this Sunday.  But there was so much to do while in Philadelphia.  I really needed some fabric therapy, but there was no time.  Steve's mom was home following her surgery on her broken neck...vertibrate were fused, etc.

I hate gifting the promise of a completed project, but things have been so hectic for the past months that it can't be avoided.

I hope to post the whole medallion this weekend, then email them the link so that they can see it...kind of an anniversary "reveal."  I think they would better be able to see the pictures through my blog instead of trying to open pictures in their limited Internet email (they have satellite Internet service, and it is AWFUL!).

I had wanted to continue posting bits of the medallion before showing the whole thing, but I think I have to use my blog post as a way to communicate the quilt with my parents, who are 700 miles away.

Any Auburn fans out there?  I did get to see the last quarter of the "Iron Bowl" (the annual college football game between Alabama and Auburn, my alma mater).  I was trying to root for 'Bama, since they were going for their third national title in a row, but it was hard to not be a little proud of the "team of destiny," which is what people are calling the 2013 Auburn season now.  Unbelievable!

I hope your Thanksgiving was nice...it has not hit me yet that December is here...

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

The "Good Earth" Quilt - Vegetable Garden sneak peek...

Happy Thanksgiving!  Here is another segment for the central medallion square of "The Good Earth," an original quilt I am designing for my parent's 40th anniversary.

They usually have a garden...it is a family tradition!

It was fun trying to draw little veggies...and try to make them look identifiable...

After I do the hand stitching and soak the block to remove the glues, I will add a little embroidery which should help in the "name that garden item" game...

My Dad especially loves growing green beans, collard greens, and squash.  My Dad's Dad taught vocational agriculture in Alabama...he could make anything grow and passed that gene down to my Dad.

I have so much to be grateful for in this season of remembering our blessings, and I feel very humbled and thankful.  I hope you have a great holiday weekend...and aren't having travel problems in the northeast.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

The "Good Earth" Quilt - A Simple Plow (sneak peek)...

Here is another element for the central medallion square of my "Good Earth" quilt project.  It is missing all the embroidery details, like wheel spokes, but I think you can get the idea.

My dad loves these antique push plows, and even with all his "toys," like tractors, tillers, etc., he loves the ease and simplicity of a push plow when working on a small bit of the garden.

It is fun to stretch the old fabric stash to find enough shades of tone-on-tone fabrics to give the items the proper perspective and shading.

Here is a little prepped pile of pieces for the second tree of the medallion square...

Can you tell what kind of tree it will be??  

I also have my little "to go" stitching box filled with the next music block for the Baltimore Rhapsody quilt project.  I grab it as I go out the door so I can fill the moments where I am waiting on someone or something...that is the only way I can get things done these days.  

Last Saturday I sat at the FREEZING COLD horse barn while my daughter rode.  I am not ready for winter!!  I managed a few stitches between the teeth chattering...

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)