2012 March 01 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Progress Report – 030112

March 1, 2012 · by JudyL

I need a better way to number my progress reports so the first two numbers will be the month, then the day, then the year. I guess if I’m still doing progress reports in 100 years, that could be a problem but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it (and we all know I’m not crossing any bridges!).

Originally I was going to set it 5 blocks across x 6 rows up and down but then decided that was going to be really big for an auction quilt and figured it might work better as a throw so I only used 20 blocks.

I stopped sewing a little after noon, went to get a haircut, then to the fruit/veggie market, then to the grocery store and by the time I got home, it was time to get dinner done so maybe tomorrow I’ll get all the rows together. Since the borders aren’t pieced, this will go quickly now.

· Filed Under: Quilting · 3 Comments

How Vince Does Salmon

March 1, 2012 · by JudyL

Here’s how Vince does the salmon. He’s sitting here telling me. I don’t want to know so I’m going to forget as soon as I type this or . . smoking the salmon will become my job.

Choose the salmon you like. It needs to be at least 3/4″ thick.
Rinse it well and pat it dry with paper towels.
Sprinkle the non-skin side with coarse salt. The salmon does not have to be covered completely but it needs a pretty good coating. (If your piece of salmon doesn’t have a skin, where it says “non-skin side”, do whatever it says to both sides.
Place in a dish in the fridge, uncovered, for about an hour.
Remove from fridge, rinse. Pat dry.
Place back in the dish, put in the fridge for another hour or so uncovered. This allows any remaining excess liquid to drain.
Remove from fridge, drain off any liquid. Do not rinse.
Coat the non-skin side with brown sugar. Rub it in and leave a layer of brown sugar on top.
Place back in the dish, in the fridge, uncovered, overnight.
Remove from fridge, smoke for about 2 hours at 180º or until it’s done.

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 2 Comments

My February Color Challenge Quilt

March 1, 2012 · by JudyL

You’ve seen it already but here it is again with the picture Vicki chose for our February palette.

And here’s a closer view of the picture next to the quilt.

There were four greens in the palette and only used three were used in my top. When choosing the fabrics, it was a hard decision for me to go with the mint green as a background. White or ecru fabrics are used for backgrounds almost exclusively in my quilts but using the mint for the background allowed me to use a third green and allowed me to use up a whole lot of of a big piece of green fabric!

When I originally saw this palette, it looked like it was going to be really difficult to work with because, while all those colors are ones that I love, putting them all together just didn’t seem like it would work but as I pulled fabrics, I realized it was going to be a fun palette. These were definitely not colors I would have chosen but I love this quilt. At one point, when I was running out of month, I considered making it smaller and even went so far as to draw the smaller version in EQ but then decided I wanted this quilt on my own bed some day so I continued sewing. Not all of my quilts earn the spot of being on my own bed! This is truly an example of what can happen when we try something new.

Thank you, Vicki, for this palette and for challenging us to go beyond our comfort zone.

Get on over there and check out the March palette and come up with a plan. It doesn’t have to be a whole quilt. It can be a bag or a pot holder or a pillowcase!

· Filed Under: Quilting · 3 Comments

March Color Palette Challenge Post

March 1, 2012 · by JudyL

The March Color Palette Challenge post is here but because adding the link box for some reason, removes the comments option, please leave any comments here. I will link these two posts soon.

I know that at the current time you cannot see comments left by others. Please go ahead and leave your comment and surely I can get that fixed soon. Thanks!