2013 January 08 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Carrots – Copper Pennies

January 8, 2013 · by JudyL

Have you made your carrot recipe yet? Tomorrow is the day we share recipes and get a new ingredient. I have no idea what that ingredient will be but I’ll think of something between now and tomorrow.

This is a recipe that my mom has made for years and I love them! They’re so good in the summer when it’s really hot and you can come in and grab a few cold, sweet carrots. The recipe says they will last for 6 weeks in the fridge but ours never last that long.

Copper Pennies

This is another recipe that even folks who say they don’t like carrots will probably love. The trick to making them so good is to cook the carrots til they’re just almost done — we like them kinda crunchy.

This is the recipe that I like but I use a tad less sugar than the recipe calls for.

We eat the carrots and pretty much leave behind the peppers and onions. Once the carrots are gone, if you have “juice” left, we had a bit of wine vinegar, along with equal parts olive oil, a bit of red pepper and a bit of dried oregano and this makes the best bread dipping sauce!

· Filed Under: Cooking · 12 Comments

Miss Hattie

January 8, 2013 · by JudyL

Has anyone been wondering how Miss Hattie is doing without Roscoe? She’s fine. She’s a chicken! I’m not sure she ever noticed he was gone. I’d like to think she mourned for a while and missed him at least a little but I think the truth is . . she did not. I surely did. It aggravates me every time I hear the Dominique rooster crowing. I don’t like that rooster at all and it doesn’t seem right that he’s here, glaring at me with those evil rooster eyes, and sweet little Roscoe is gone!

Miss Hattie continues to escape every morning. I let the chickens out of the coop, into their secure run and within minutes, she’s out. She spends the day running around, all by herself. She investigates everything around the house. Some days she comes over to the far door by the sewing room to check on me. Some days I see her out near the watering tank for the cows. She definitely does whatever she feels like doing . . without a care in the world.

She gets on the front porch and peeks in the door to see what’s going on inside the house.

Miss Hattie on the front porch

Notice something hanging off her far side? There’s a pecking chicken and at night she must peck them all so I have to keep duct tape over their naked spots to keep the pecking chicken from drawing blood. Miss Hattie, being the free spirit that she is, will not leave her duct tape on. I tape the other chickens and their tape will last about a week but not Miss Hattie. Every single evening I have to re-tape her before I put her in the coop and sometime about mid-morning, she’s managed to get her tape off.

Over the weekend we tried to get a video and never did but no matter where she is, if she can hear our back door open, she comes running to meet us. Sometimes she’ll fly a bit and run as fast as she can. She reminds me of a teenager in a fast car peeling out and burning rubber around the corners. It’s like she thinks she’s racing the other chickens to get to us first and she’s the only one that’s loose!

She’s still laying her eggs in her little spot on the rocks. Every day I go out there and get one egg from the carport and get 12 eggs out of the coop from the “normal” chickens.

Miss Hattie is definitely a funny chicken. I just wish Roscoe was out there with her.

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 13 Comments

The Design Wall Posts

January 8, 2013 · by JudyL

Have you looked at the quilts on the design wall links? There are some beauties! Lots of beautiful quilts. There are many of Bonnie Hunter‘s recent mystery, Easy Street, and they’re all beautiful! If you haven’t spent some time looking at those quilts, I believe you will be inspired! One word of advice: Don’t do it when you’re getting ready to go to bed . . you’ll be up half the night with quilt ideas swimming through your head! That’s what happened to me last night!

Thank you all for participating and sharing your links. As of writing this post, there are 119 links. That’s what makes it all fun for the rest of us!

· Filed Under: Quilting · 11 Comments

Socks Completed – #1 for 2013

January 8, 2013 · by JudyL

Finally! These were the socks that I thought would never get finished.

Patons Green Socks

This is yarn that Nicole found at Hobby Lobby when I was there in October. She liked the yarn so I bought it and these socks will be for her.

Patons Yarn

This yarn is $5.99/skein and it takes two skeins to make a pair of socks. This yarn is much less expensive than the yarns at The Loopy Ewe and it holds up just fine. It wears very well and behaves nicely while being knit. So, you may be asking why would one pay $25 – $35 for a skein of sock yarn from The Loopy Ewe when a pair of socks can be made for $12? I know you’re thinking it and if you aren’t, your husband is!

The yarns carried by TLE are mostly yarns that are dyed in smaller batches by “indie dyers”. Indie dyers are often folks who are independent, self employed type folks who dye in small batches. I think of Three Irish Girls, Madelinetosh, and my current favorite – String Theory.

The yarns from TLE definitely feel and look different . . in a way that makes it worth the extra money most of the time. Not only do I love yarn from TLE but I love the whole experience of shopping there and then having the package arrive. That counts for a lot!

I’ll still buy some of the lesser priced yarns . . I even have a couple of pairs of those socks in my sock drawer, but most of my yarns will continue to come from TLE.

These were the socks that I started out using two circular needles to make both socks at once. I gave up on that . . I got so tired of dealing with those two needles and the two balls of yarn. I took the socks off and finished them on double points and from now on . . unless there’s some major changes in my way of thinking, I’m using double points for my socks.