I worked on a couple of things last week.  I finished 6 Scrappy Trips blocks on the treadle.  I’ve got a whole stack of strip sets waiting to be pressed.  It’s dawned on me that 48 – 12″ blocks is bigger than I really want.  With a 6 x 8 layout that makes the top 72″ x 96″.   So, I may have a few extra blocks when I get them done.

On the edge of the ironing board is a stack of Black and Bright Swap blocks from 2007. The 4 blocks up on the wall with the green sashing are part of the set.  I’ve had the design ready to go and the fabric bought for nearly as long, I just hadn’t sat down to do it.

So, with plans to attend a UFO workshop on Saturday, I pulled out the blocks and fabric to see exactly what I could cut ahead of time. I cut the fabric for 4 of the 8 knot blocks, then got so excited to see progress, I promptly sat down and make the 4 blocks and put the center of the quilt together.  At this rate I’ll have a good bit of the quilt done.  But I’m sure I can find something else to work on if needed.

Finally over on the far right are the spool blocks I made while working with the swap blocks.

Check out what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Although I’ve been treadling away on my Scrappy Trips, it’s not a top yet, so I’m not counting the fabric.  No new fabric came in either, so my numbers are the same as last week.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 80.11 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 23.141  yards

Net Used for the year -56.97 yards

To see how others are doing check out the links over at Patchwork Times.

It’s not much but another Friday night at Stitch and Chat and I made a bit more progress on my  DWR.

I just realized that I neglected a very important word in my Rice Casserole recipe I posted Wednesday.  That word is “cooked”!

• 2 cups rice – COOKED
• 1 1/3 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 10 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon of grated lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/3 cup raisins (optional — I didn’t have any)

Combine all ingredients, pour into a greased pan – I used my 2 1/2 quart casserole dish.  Cook at 325 degrees for 50 minutes until set.  Can be served warm or cold.

When Judy announced that Rice — used as an ingredient in a dish —  was the ingredient of the week, I couldn’t decide if I would make Hoppin’ John (a rice and black-eyed pea dish) or something else.  I opted for something else  – a dish from my childhood.

Pictured above is my mother’s Joy of Cooking book. This edition is from 1975. The only recipe I can remember my mother making from this cookbook is Rice Pudding. In fact that is where the first book mark is.

Apparently Momma made this recipe June 3rd, 1977. She marked up the recipe the way she liked it. I basically followed her instructions — but used 4 large eggs since that’s what I had on hand. Given her caution about not overcooking the pudding, I may have undercooked mine a little, but it still tastes good!

• 2 cups rice – COOKED
• 1 1/3 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 10 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon of grated lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/3 cup raisins (optional — I didn’t have any)

Combine all ingredients, pour into a greased pan – I used my 2 1/2 quart casserole dish.  Cook at 325 degrees for 50 minutes until set.  Can be served warm or cold.

Check out what others did with rice over at Patchwork Times.

For the past couple of nights I’ve been treadling away sewing strips into pairs of strips.  I just finished sewing my last pair to make an 48 block Scrappy Trips.  I need to wind a few bobbins and then I’ll be off treadling again.

About 6 years ago I was in a swap and received 24 black and bright blocks.  I then started drawing in EQ to find a design.  After many ideas I ended up with the one above.  During the design process I considered doing some applique. Yeah, right – that idea was quickly scrapped, but not before making a wall hanging to coordinate with the quilt I’m planning on making. (The colors are WAY off in the picture below).

In a couple of weeks, I’m going to a UFO retreat – not that it would matter if I worked on something new, but I thought it might be a good time to pull out the swap blocks.  So, I’ve been studying my EQ drawing.

In the drawing, the corner knots are 8″ finished and the sashing is 1″.  In the wall hanging they finish at 4″. No big deal. But I’m also looking at how to deal with the swap blocks which are not all 12 1/2″ before I set them into the quilt.

I considered sashing the blocks with green/turquoise/green — but per EQ, I don’t have enough fabric for that option, so I went back the drawing board.  Along the way I wondered if the 8″ knot were going to look ‘weird’.    But what if I go with the same size knot as in the wall hanging?  It wouldn’t take as much fabric (1 1/2″ pieced sashing instead of 3″ pieced sashing).

I pinned my center blocks on the wall hanging.  In person I like it.  But I wonder whether or not it will translate when I do the next round of blocks.  I guess it’s back to EQ.

Today it is my ‘design ironing board’.  It’s strips sets for a Scrappy Trips.  I’ve been sewing pairs together.  I’ve got them laid out in bundles of 3 pairs to see how many more strips I need to cut.  I stopped after sewing half of my strips to see how many more I need.  Since I’m aiming for a quilt about 60 x 80, I need to cut another 48 strips to add to the mix.

I really thought I was further along than I am.  Hum…I wonder if I want a smaller quilt?

Check out what others are working on by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Did you see Bonnie  Hunter’s find in Nashville?  I LOVE that flying geese quilt.  But then I love flying geese 🙂

Based on Bonnie’s photos, I’ve drawn this classic quilt in EQ. That’s 480 flying geese, each finishing at 1 1/2″ x 3″ for the sashing around 9″ navy/midnight squares.  The quilt will finish roughly at 70″ x 88″

I’ve got too many shirts for my space, so I’ve got to use them up.  So this afternoon I made a few geese to see how they’ll look in the plaids.  I think they’ll do.

I’ve made four of each since I plan on using the Quilt-in-a-Day flying geese ruler.  When I need to make tons of geese this ruler allows me to make then quickly and precisely.  Of course every quilt and quilter is different, so it is always important to know more than one way to do things.

According to my calculations, I’ll need 120 plaid 4 1/2″ squares. They’ll be scrappy of course, so no yardage to calculate.  I’ll need to get 3 1/2 yards of the blue — I think I’ll bind it in the blue – and 1/2 yard of the orange.  Oh, the sky fabric?  About 3 1/3 yards.  I should be able to find it in my  big bag of muslin.

I’ll work on the geese and then seek out the navy and orange fabric.