Um . . . oops August already

Well, I won't start with the excuses. Just let me share what we've been up to all month while I haven't been blogging.

I look forward to this market all year, but unfortunately due to the extreme heat and lack of sufficient shade at the venue - it was a bit of a bust. I have vowed to go next year early in the morning and without children. Yes, July in Santa Fe has been hot as well . . and I've loved every sweaty minute of it. Not a huge fan of cold weather. We went two days with a broken swamp cooler and I think there may have been a small amount of complaining, but other than that we're golden. One way to cool off: a dip in Cochiti Lake.
Our new neighbors finally moved in next door. There are now 5 little boys and one girl living on our cul-de-sac and what a brood they are. Most of the time it's great and of course our boys love it, but very little peace and quiet around here anymore (not that there was much to begin with.)


I finally finished the Old Red Barn quilt along quilt. It's ok - not my favorite, but I had fun doing it and seeing other's quilts in the group. I was able to make a second quilt out the scraps and some of Aunt Ginny's fabric she gave me a while back. I ended up liking this one alot actually, especially with the chenille and rickrack.

I've yet to quilt this one because I needed to move onto to other things - my eyes got tired of looking at the same fabrics. Also, making a quilt start to finish - although a wonderful process - takes a long time. I needed a little instant gratification to get my creative juices flowing again. So I started making pillows . . .

and more pillows . . .
I'm far from done - my plan is to have that nice green couch smothered in pillows. I like being able to start a finish a project in less than a day and it's giving me good practice on my machine. I highly suggest a smallish something for when you are feeling burnt out or uninspired. It gave me the boost I needed to finish all my other projects dangling around out there and on shelves in my craft/laundry room.

Hmmm, what else . . .

Finn taught himself how to ride his bike without training wheels. Go Finn!

It was such a trip. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and I see Finn through the kitchen window getting on Orion's (neighbor) bike and just taking off! I love everyone clapping and cheering in the background.

Andy picked a monster 15 oz porcini mushroom on a recent hike of his. For real.

I attempted to make homemade essential oils from yummy things in our garden - rose, lavender, lemon verbena. Yeah - not so great. Pretty sure they're headed for the garbage can. If anyone knows of the right way to do this, I'd love some pointers. I'd like to eventually use the oils to make some soap or candles or something. Well, it seemed like a good idea anyway.



I've started collecting recipes for strange/quirky/funny sounding pies from some old cookbooks I've found and borrowed. The best two so far are Funeral Pie and Reconciliation Pie. The recipes themselves don't sound very appealing, but really it's the names of the pies I'm most interested in. Please send along any you might know of; I'm thinking of making an art quilt with each square depicting the name of the pie and an illustration.

And speaking of pie . . . what in the heck happened to July's Pie of the Month? So here it is - but without a photo, but it looks similar to the pie of the same name in my previous post.

Peach Creme Fraiche Pie

1 unbaked pie crust
6 peaches, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt

To make creme fraiche: place 1 cup heavy cream and 1 TBS buttermilk
in glass jar with a lid. Shake well and let sit at room temperature for at
least two days, depending on the climate of your kitchen, until it has thickened
and smells mildly tangy and sour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the above ingredients
together and pile into unbaked pie crust and top with the streusel (recipe
follows.) Bake for about 45 -60 minutes until the bottom crust has
browned. If the top is getting too dark, cover with foil.

Streusel Topping:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5 oz unsalted butter, cold and diced
2 eggs, whisked

Mix everything except the eggs together until it is crumbly and resembles a
course meal. Add the eggs and mix until it starts lumping together
loosely. Sprinkle over top of filling.

I actually make this as individual crostadas using small tart rings, but I'm sure it will be just as good in a pie shell. And it goes without saying that you must have very ripe, fragrant peaches to make this worth your while - not to mention a gallon of vanilla ice cream (or caramel would be yummy too).

And Chaco's getting big (and a little less perfect). He's lucky I'm already in love with him because he's turning out to be quite the hand full. I'll be Netflixing the Dog Whisperer DVD very soon. But really, to me, he's fantastic and he gets me out walking - and still sleeping on pillow by my bed every night . . . aaaaaaaw.

Relish Summer

Andy made a pact with himself at the beginning of June to cook our dinners on the grill for the rest of the summer. So on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (his days off) we've been luxuriating in the pristine Santa Fe weather all evening - listening to some rockin tunes (you should see Gram dance), working on our yard, drinking wine, playing with Chaco, and basically just kickin it while Andy waits for the coals to cool down to start cooking. I know, I'm a lucky woman.

I'm usually responsible for salad, but sometimes he does that too. Last week we had some friends over which was a great opportunity for me to try out a peach dessert for the summer menu. People ask me all the time if I make goodies for my family all the time and the answer is a definite "no." A point of contention in my household. But when there are guests, it's time to bust out the rolling pin. I tried a recipe for Peach Creme Fraiche Crostada. Here's the final product.

It was not entirely what I expected - not to say it wasn't good. So I started from there and adapted the recipe for my own purposes and am quite happy with the results. At work, we serve it with a housemade peach ice cream and a some honey macerated blackberries.

Neighbor Rob informed me yesterday that his peach tree is heavy with fruit so it's pie time again!! So in a week or so I can make the new and improved version for our July Pie of the Month - check back for that recipe.

Haven't mentioned quilting in a while mostly because I've been too tired after the boys go to bed to do much of anything but read, which, by the way, has finally re-entered my daily life. My neighbor gave me a huge stack of books at the start of the summer that she was going to take to Good Will and I've nearly read them all. Some good, some not so good. The best so far is The Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich. The worst probably Homebody by Orson Scott Card - he should stick with the fantasy genre.

Anyway, I'm on the binding process of my Old Red Barn quilt-along quilt which may take weeks since it's done by hand. I also made a smaller, lap sized quilt with the scraps and some pieces of white chenille - very cute. I'll include photos when they're done.

The kids are great - we took Chaco to show and tell today at school which made Finn very proud I think. Funny how egalitarian children can be . . . they showed about the same excitement for a Betty Boop swimsuit as they did for the puppy! Also no wonder they do it right before nap because by the time the entire circle had showed us their rocks, stuffed animals, Transformers, and so on - Andy and I were about ready for nap and Chaco was fast asleep.

Cherry Limeade

Ok I'm back.

My friend Julie from the quilting store invited me to a lecture/presentation at the SF Quilting Guild meeting today. The speaker was renowned quilt artist, author, and teacher Frieda Anderson ( yeah, I'd never heard of her either.) Anyway, it was pretty inspiring. She dyes her own fabrics, which are the best part of it, and she does a lot of fusible applique and tiny itty bitty quilting. She passed some of her work around the room - one of which was the size of a postcard and priced at a whopping $50 buckeroos. So maybe there is money to be made someday. You can check out her quilts at www.friestyle.com/ .

I was easily the youngest woman in the room by about 15+ years - no surprise. I've really chosen a hip and happening hobby, huh? Oh well, you do what you love I suppose. I find it to be rather cool myself. It helps to a part of the quilt-along I mentioned because I've discovered how not alone I am as a thirty something mom addicted to fabric, crafts, and sewing.

Speakin a wich . . . here is my completed quilt top for Dana's quilt-along.

I think I'm calling it "Cherry Limeade" - my neighbor went to Sonic the other day to get one and it made me think of my quilt. I've finished free motion quilting the center and will be doing the border tonite. Now I'm on the prowl for my binding fabric which I want to be in the same family as the darker blue, tile-like fabric in the quilt. Strange, but I think every quilt I have made so far has a significant blue aspect to them. I think my blue bedroom walls are affecting me on some subconscious level. So anxious to paint that room!

I also had a breakthrough today because I finally took Andy's advice and went for a hike even though I felt exhausted this morning. It turned my world around! I haven't done that much since Lu-dog became unable to hike ( and since having babies). I forgot how cleansing it can be - just being out there breathing in the mountain air and feeling the warm sun on my shoulders. Truth be told, we went for an amazing hike with the kids last week at Kasha - Katuwe National Park, aka "Tent Rocks". I forgot how stunning that place is - the last time Andy and I had been there we had only been dating less than a year.

We were very proud of Finn because he hiked the three mile hike up to the top all by himself. Graham is still not entirely fond of hiking - except for the narrow canyon parts and climbing over big boulders. But we're proud of him too because it turned out that I was with him at urgent care that same night - poor guy had a raging ear infection all along. (FYI mom, he's fine)

Easy Peasy

Part two : fill and and crumb coat with chocolate frosting. Complete! As you can see I've delayed grocery shopping until next week so we can empty out our fridge to make room for the cake. If you're wondering, I made an extra 10" cake to make sure they wouldn't run out - second helpings of this cake are always likely. Tomorrow I load up and pray - transport is definitely the most nerve racking part.
I'm back on track now with the quilt-along ; all fabrics cut into nice neat 2 1/2 " strips. Hopefully I can get next week's task done before we leave on our trip - but hey, not that it really matters. I'm feeling all warm and cozy inside because when I checked my flickr account a lot of people had some very nice comments about my fabric choices.


Andy went on an amazing hike the other day and took some killer photos. Wish I could've been there - the trail descends from White Rock down to the Rio Grande. Gorgeous.

Andy is very into petraglyphs. This is just a sampling of the several incredible ones he was able to photograph (despite the rain).

We're headed to the circus tonite - hopefully it won't give my kids clown nightmares - or me for that matter.

hello Sky

If I can manage to wake up before Finn, my early early bird, there's a chance to enjoy the morning like I used to - my sacred time for quiet and a hot cup of black tea with milk and sugar.
Today, however, no such luck. But I thank him for at least calmly watching Sesame Street so I can step outside and see this gorgeous sunrise.