Tomatoes the Size of Peas?

You've heard of cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes, put pea tomatoes? I don't think so. My tomato plants are still producing fruit, so I'm letting them go even though it's February and I have my new seedlings for this year's crop already started. I figure I'll pull them out sometime in March. I planted some regular sized tomatoes and some grape tomatoes. In the middle of January we had a cold snap (nothing like back east) and several of my grape tomatoes that had started to grow, stopped. When the weather warmed up again, they got ripe, but look how small they are!

 And yes, that's a pea next to it. I ate it - it tasted great. The ones that are growing now are regular size - about the size of a grape.

For those of you in the winter storms - stay warm. Kandi

My Quilt Book

I'm not a quilter, so I never thought I would write a quilting book, but here it is:

I'm so excited about this book because you don't have to know anything about heirloom techniques to make this quilt. You just have to know how change your needle and thread. It's finally in print and starting to ship.

It took a lot of trial and error to digitize all the techniques. After many months of trying, I finally got it right. The quilt on the cover would have taken me about a week to make normally. When I used the embroidery designs, it took a few hours to make the top and another couple of hours to add the backing, binding and quilt it. I stitched in the ditch for the quilting.

This is book number 12 and I'm happy to have it done.

Happy 2015

It's hard to believe the Holidays are over already. All the decorations are down and the house is back to "normal." It looks so bare. I hope your Holiday season was wonderful.I spent much of my holiday time putting on Christmas by Candlelight VIII. We have two dinners of 14 people each time.

Here's the table before anyone sat down (if you look carefully you can see the napkins are folded like little suit jackets):

There were 6 courses. Here's the menu in pictures.

Above is course zero, an amuse bouche. A single bite consisting of celantro, topped with a garlic crouton, stilton cheese infused with a cardomon sead and a bit of celery for crunch.

 The first course, a crepe rolled like an English Christmas cracker hand-rolled & tied Crêpes stuffed with morsels of Shredded Organic Chicken Breast blended with Boursin Cheese, white wine, tarragon & green onions and sauced by the same, then garnished with Pimentos & Chopped Fresh Parsley

The second course was Winter Kale from our garden & Masoor Lentils simmered in light chicken stock with New Orleans spices finished by Home-grown Basil and served with hot, straight from our ovens Home-made Traditional “French” Rolls

Our fish course, the third was a Trio of Roasted Pacific Shrimp lightly dusted with Hungarian Paprika, topped with a Cherry Tomato served with a reduction of Shallots, Red Wine & Tamarind and garnished with Radish Sprouts

 

Course four was a Unique Sorbet made from an intense reduction of puréed Georgia Peaches softened with a dew drop of Kentucky Bourbon and presented in a Chilled Baby Martini Glass.

Before the main course, the table lights are turned off and we dine solely by candlelight. The empty seats above are the couple in the kitchen helping us bus and serve the next course. We have each couple sign up to help during each course. It wouldn't be possible to serve 14 people without help.

The main course was Spécialité de la Maison “Yule Log” a Butterflied Pork Tenderloin rolled with Caramelized Parsnip Slices and layered with pressed Sage & Onion Stuffing presented with
Potatoes Pave accompanied by Pan-Roasted Brussel Sprouts finished with a Dijon Marsala Sauce.

Course 6, Lemon Bliss, Marbled White Chocolate Cups filled with Zesty Lemon Mousse softened with a touch of Freshly-whipped Cream decorated with Fresh Raspberries and Chocolate Mint Leaves from our garden

 The year ahead bring with it lots of promise - I wish you all a happy one!

Thanksgiving Table Vases

Need extra vases for your Thanksgiving table? Just take old pickle jars, mayonnaise jars, peanut butter jars, etc. and wrap them in fabric. Use scraps from your stash in Thanksgiving colors. Measure the size of your jar but measuring from the top of one side down to the bottom. Double this measurement. Then measure across the bottom of the jar. Add this number to the measurement you already have. Add another 4 inches to your measurement. Draw a square on your fabric that is this measurement across in both directions. Cut out the square. Set the jar in the middle of the fabric square and bring the sides up. Using ribbon, raffia or string, tie the fabric to the jar at the rim where the lid used to be screwed on. I don't even bother to finish the edges of the fabric when I do this. I just carefully fill the jar with water and add flowers. After the holiday, the fabric can go back into your stash.

 

Here's one I made out of linen scraps.

 

Here it is again with some basil flowers in the jar.

My Weekend at ETA-CA

I spent last weekend at the ETA-CA show (Education for Textile Arts, California). It was my 9th year and I must say it's one of my favorite shows. It's so great to see all my friends and make new ones.

Here's my booth:

The quilt is made from my newest book, "The Completefly Amazing In-the-Hoop Heirloom Quilt." The book's not out yet, but I took the quilt anyway.

This is a shot of my French scarves in-the-hoop.

The ETA-CA show is all about education, not so much about shopping. I had three fantastic classes - fantastic because the students were so wonderful. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Beautiful Basil Flowers

I was out in the garden this morning - it was a beautiful morning, just perfect for gardening. My basil had grown like crazy over the last week. The weather was hot and it had bolted a bit. I cut off the tops and placed them in a jar in the kitchen. It smells wonderful and the dainty flowers are so pretty. Here;s a photo:

I also picked tomatoes. Bruschetta tonight.

Cleaning my Room

I'm a little embarrassed to say how bad my studio got while I was working on my new book and a magazine article. Bue here's the pictures to show you. It was horrible. My sewing machine needed service so I took advantage of the couple of days off to clean my room. Before I show you the pictures, I should say that I generally hate clutter. I can't start cooking in a messy kitchen and clutter in general makes me nervous. How I got to this point? Just being in a hurry.

Okay, here we go - first the mess.

I could hardly type because there was so much stuff on the desk.

 My fabric, etc. was bulging out of the closet.

I think you get the idea that I was being a total slob.  The studio space was overflowing with stuff. I pulled everything out of the closet and cupboards and got to work. When I was done at the end of the second day, I had created order out of chaos.

Here's the photos with comments.

 

My sewing machine goes on the little stand on the right, you can see it's missing, but the area is now cleaned up and ready for sewing. I covered boxes and magazine holders with fabric and paper (I still have a couple to finish) so they look pretty on the shelf. I added labels to everything so I can put things back when I'm done.

 

I refolded all my fabric (except the large rolls) and added some bins to hold the smaller things like lace thread office supplies, etc. I still have a lot of fabric, but at least I can see it now.

 

This is the other side of the closet. More bins and boxes. I also added a couple of hooks so I can hang any garments I'm working on. The cable on the wall looks a little messy - it's temporary, it's been temporary for about 12 years.

 

I even added large bins under the daybed for magazines that I want to save. They're a lot neater than when I just stuffed them under there.

 

 

This little table is a round sitting on a filing cabinet filled with papers and supplies. The top holds my guillotine cutter and laptop. You can see my lace shaping and cutting boards stacket next to it. The phone is from the 1920's.

I made a box ( I love making boxes) for my desk where I can keep my current project - one at a time please!

I can now sit on my daybed. The hoops in on the wall were my grandmothers when she was a little girl.

 

I now have a real work space where I can design my projects. I like to draw them using colored pencils and then work on the computer to create them and finally over to the sewing area to test them. The old Singer on the shelf was found by a trash can - someone was throwing it away! The wallpaper on the computer is a picture I took of the Sonning bridge across the river Thames in England. It's one of my favorite spots in the world.