Make a Wash with a Grid

Say what?  Yes, you make a wash with a grid. More precisely you make a watercolor wash quilt using a wonderful product called 'quilter's grid fusible interfacing' by Pellon. 


Today I played around with some pieces I won from Judy at Sew Fun Quilts.    When Judy had the giveaway she said that you would need to get some Quilter's Grid to do this.  I found some at the local Hobby Lobby - with the other interfacing products.  


Sew, today I laid out pieces and fuse tacked (no steam)  them in place until I had the entire piece laid out.  Then I followed the directions that said to steam it.  Then you fold on the lines between rows and sew a quarter inch seam at each fold.  EASY! Then the "hard" part is snipping between where you will sew the next time. 
Hey this post at Stash Manicure explains it all. 
Here is my "watercolor wash" quilt top.

Monet's Quilt Garden

All the points match up. There are 196 squares of fabric in this piece. Yeah! Really!!! That Quilter's Grid stuff is awesome for fast piecing and perfect points.  I will say that the finished piece is rather stiff. That is my only complaint. 


 Now I know in this picture the rows 'sag' but that is due to my lack of photo skills, they are really straight. 
I think my values could have been better, but I was playing so I am not going to be hard on myself.  I like it; and that is what matters!


It will get borders and become either a lap quilt or maybe I should do some (((gasp!!!))) applique on it and make a wall hanging.  Which do you think would be best?

What AM I Making?

Surprise it is NOT a quilt.  I suppose I am on a quilt break right at the moment. Why?
Mom's fig tree is bearing an enormous amount of figs this year. But, mom isn't canning since Dad is gone and she has no help during the day. So, I am giving figs away, eating figs, and What???  I just did something I have never done before.  I made Jam (or is it preserves?)  Does it matter? I don't think so. 
I went online and found a recipe for making fig preserves with strawberry jello (a co-worker told me about her aunt making it.) 
I cut the figs in quarters, (yes I washed them first!) then added all the other ingredients and put it on to boil. 

I used this lovely silicone spatula to stir it.  It looks pretty good...but....
well look closely- those chunks are kind big still -see:

What to do?   I tried the potato masher...it did NOT work.  So I thought, hey, I have a stick blender.  I plugged that puppy in and blended it right in the pot while it was cooking. 

Now it is smoother and looks a lot more like strawberry jam.
Here is a bit on a saucer. It is hot and runny but it looks right otherwise.

You would swear that is strawberry in there.  So I did all the proper cooking and boiling water bath and here are the results of my labor:

Five jars (8 oz.) of preserves or jam....whichever you want to call it. 
I confess I cleaned the spatula and the pot carefully (and ate the good stuff that was left) It is delicious.  


Now some folks turn the jars upside down, but my granny always just put a towel over them to let the cool down slowly so the jars don't crack.  I decided to follow granny's method. 


Okay, here is the recipe for you, just in case you need it.  (I got it from Cooks.com)  I renamed it and added my changes in parentheses. 

Faux Strawberry Fig Preserves/Jam

3 c. fresh, peeled figs mashed slightly (I didn't peel or mash to start with...just washed and quartered) 
2 c. sugar (I used 1 1/2) 
2 (3 oz.) pkg. strawberry Jello (I used one sugarfree and one with sugar)
1/2 c. water
1/2 slice lemon (I didn't have a lemon but I had "TrueLemon" packets -I used two
5 (8 oz.) jars

Mix all ingredients in large pot. Cook on high heat until mixture comes to rolling boil. Cook on medium heat 20 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Pour into sterilized hot jars and seal.

This is a first time event for me. I have never canned before. I do however read and follow directions really well for food safety. 

Just a little sewing play time

Since I finished the commission quilt (and sent it on its way) I have not started any new projects.  Life has been busy.  But I have had a couple of times to play with the sewing machines.   


I told you that my friend. Sherry. sent me a new die.  So I took some fabric and cut pieces to play with. I also added some triangles to finish the block. I made this block:

I didn't get all the points in the center exactly perfect, hmmm could have been that I was watching a movie and didn't get up to iron at every step along the way. 


I also did this cute embroidery applique on a burp cloth for my great niece. 

Isn't that little duck just adorable?  I can see doing a baby quilt with this set of "baby animals" that I got from emblibrary.com (that link will take you to the baby animals.)

Don't forget about the Quilting Stimulus where you can register for half price quilting. I meant to mention that I had a quilt quilted by Joanne and she did a lovely job.  Remember if you go, tell her I sent you!

Quilting Stimulus

My friend Joanne posted about two wonderful things.  One is the Wanna Be Quilter event starting tomorrow.   
The other is Joanne's  own Quilting Stimulus giveaway. She is offering chances at half price quilting and even (with every 200 entries) a chance at FREE Quilting.  This is huge.  You see Joanne does "Insanely Cheap Quilting"  She even has a blog named that. 


I really hope to win at least a half price quilting.  Please if you go over tell Joanne that "Gene Sent Me!"
So, what are you waiting for?  Go on and click here to read about it and enter.