Pandemic Productivity, part 2

Welcome to part two of the sister act I like to call Pandemic Productivity, this time with a couple of minnie blocks from Jane. Last year she was smitten by tiny little trees that Dutch quilter Anna Jantina was posting on Instagram. She just had to make some!

It was only going to be a table runner project when she started but went overboard on the trees and made a whole forest!

They measure 2.5" x 5” and are soooo deliciously scrappy - just about anything goes - and it appears to be a speedy hand stitching project because she's got enough now for an adorable quilt. She still wants to add two borders and lace to the outside edges as Anna did with hers and the plan is to have it on her double bed by Christmas. 

These little guys are adorable so I followed Jane down the rabbit hole, but I only got as far as making myself a set of templates - nothing is cut yet. That's the difference between Jane and I. Anna used to have acrylic templates for sale, but they no longer seem to be available.

I was busy drooling over tiny trees when she sent pics of another amazing project (I swear she is not sleeping at all these days 😉). With all of the self-isolation going on these day's you'd be forgiven for feeling like a bit of a basket case, but Jane has taken that idea and turned it into cute, cute, cute!

It is inspired by another of Anna's quilts - adorable little 4" x 9" basket blocks. She doesn't have as many tiny florals as Anna has used in hers because she doesn't have access to her stash (much of the stitching has been done while in isolation at her sister’s home) so she relied on a few scrap fabrics that she had with her and then Linda kindly let her do some 'klepto quilting', digging through all of her scrap bins to try to use up what they had instead of cutting into larger pieces. Ah, the joys of klepto quilting.

The original pattern has bias handles for the baskets but she wasn't into that. When the lovely and talented Linda suggested using rick rack instead Jane was sold. She loves how it worked out. I do too - it gives it a really vintage feel, doesn't it?

She finds that Anna's quilt to have more of a summery palette while hers leans toward spring so she calls it Easter Baskets.

This quilt was started around the end of March and apparently she has already made about 120 blocks (!!!) so she will soon lay it out to see if she has made enough. It will probably be a throw for the sofa rather than a bed-sized quilt so I'm thinking she's pretty close to finished. Can't wait to see what's next on the agenda!....M

Pandemic Productivity, part 1

I've mentioned before that Jane and Linda are quarantined together as we all ride out this pandemic, and they are taking their down time very seriously. Needles are flying and quilts are being finished at seemingly lightning speed. This is the first of two posts that provide a peek behind their creative curtain.

The first is this gift of love from Linda to one of her son-in-laws. It is a reversible quilt and I'm going to show you the back side of it first.








It's all hand stitched and made from the pattern and kit Over & Down Under (LUV!), and if memory serves me correctly, she's had it for a while. It is the most gorgeous collection of flannels that I have ever seen. The spectacular autumn palette makes it difficult to decide which of the many colours might be a favourite...










...simple black polka dots, hounds tooth checks or lovely weaves. And they are deliciously soft - they must have been a dream to stitch.

She started stitching just before I visited with her in early February and had wisely developed a very systematic, numbered system to keep colours and rows in the proper order.

Sigh.

I guess I should show you the other side, too. It's made from some of his faves. Linda freely admits that if it hadn't been a request she likely would never have made a quilt with tees, but he was keen to immortalize a few of his favourites and she was happy to oblige.

She added in a few sashing strips made from leftover flannel squares and then made it the same size as the backing using wide red flannel print borders. It came together beautifully and I suspect that her son-in-law thinks so, too.

Jane's been busy too, but in a teenie, tiny kind of way. Stay tuned - her pretty show and tell is next up for your viewing pleasure.....M

Coming In From The Cold

Just as our world was beginning to social distance I picked up my baby quilts from Roberta. She had distancing protocols in place to protect both her and her clients so it was more like a drug deal than a quilt pickup in that my bag was waiting at the front door and there was no one to see or chat with.

The quilts had been in quarantine in her garage for a day or two already, just to be on the safe side, and when I got them home I decided that leaving them in our garage for a few more days was probably not a bad idea idea. So there they stayed. For a week. Then for two, because my memory had turned to mush.

Eventually I remembered to bring them inside and was delighted to find that she had once again exceeded my expectations. I had had a tough time narrowing down the pantograph that I wanted because I am in such a rut with using her feathered scroll pattern, but she had pulled three or four excellent suggestions.

The star and moon pattern that we landed on still has lots of scroll to it and it looks as though they are tumbling through the Milky Way. It is perfect and the quilts are adorable.

They just look so incredibly cozy and my little mice seem to be enjoying the new look as well.

Besides being a talented longarmer she is also a bit of a miracle worker. Neither of the pieces that I had for backings were overly large and my fingers were crossed that she would be able to make them work. Well, not only did she make them work, I had leftovers enough to bind them both. I could have kissed her!

So now I enjoy the lovely task of hand sewing the bindings down and saying goodbye to these little beauties. I have it on good authority that the mother-to-be was to have had a baby shower this weekend but that's not happening, for obvious reasons, so guests will drop their gifts at the end of the drive while she waves at them from the window. Interesting times....M

DoubleTree's Signature Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been watching with interest while the world works its way through this pandemic, baking bread like crazy. I've pinned any number of recipes but haven't taken the plunge. And then I saw that DoubleTree recently shared the recipe for their signature chocolate chip cookies. Game on!

My love affair with this cookie goes back decades when I was organizing a conference in Sacramento. For a variety of reasons it was a great conference, not the least of which was that it meant a trip to sunny California. A lasting memory of that trip was having a warm chocolate chip cookie slid across the reception desk toward me at check in. Being a Canadian, I wasn't familiar with the DoubleTree hotel chain at the time so this was a truly unexpected and pleasant surprise. I was hooked.

I came home with a souvenir cookie tin that I've been tempted to toss any number of times over the years but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Well, today its purpose has been realized. The Official Cookie Tester was delighted!

This cookie is fully loaded - the only change I made was to roast the nuts a bit beforehand to enhance their flavour and use a combination of semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips, because that's what I had.

Anyone who knows how I bake knows that I like lots of tiny cookies on a plate, but this recipe calls for BIG cookies - three tablespoons of batter. I made mine large but not quite that large and still ended up with 36 good-sized cookies instead of 26.

I also froze the dough for a dozen so that we can enjoy more fresh baking down the road.

Maybe some day I'll turn my attention to baking bread but today it's all about cookies and milk. Thank you DoubleTree - the love affair continues.....M