My 2015

All year long I make a list, noting highlights big and small. 2015 was crescendo and gorge and lots of ordinary changes.

1. In April Clark's brother Rig died.
2. My quilt Beach Dream was in Southern Exposures show at the Ruth Funk.
3. I sold some art -- people LIKE  it!!
4. Turned 70.
5. Vegetables and fish -- eating better, not exactly by plan
6. Kitchen renovation -- a magnetic knife rack in a sunnier room
7. Bud & Angel go -- What, you don't know the names of your vehicles? 
8. Traveled. Visited family in California, Clarkston, Cincinnati and Columbus. Visited NYC for Picasso show.
9. Fell in love with painting. Doing it, I mean.
10. Purse returned by NY taxi driver -- stupid me to forget it. But I'm almost glad I did -- his kindness and honesty revive my hope for 2016.

Mom's leek and potato soup

Mom's recipe card

As the weather chilled, I wanted a comforting soup, and what could be better than Mom's creamy leek and potato soup? I still have her recipe card, and it warms my heart to use it. When I told the women in the family what I was making, they wanted the recipe too -- in her handwriting. So I copied the card and glued the recipe to fresh index cards, which I sealed with matte medium. They love having the recipe, and -- even more -- this dear memento of Mom, in her own script.

Mom's Leek and Potato Soup

3 to 4 cups peeled potatoes, sliced or diced
3 cups thinly sliced leeks, mostly white part
1 1/2 quarts homemade chicken broth (canned is OK)
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 to 3 T. soft butter
2 to 3 tsp. minced parsley

Simmer vegetables and broth together, partially covered, until vegetables are very tender. Mash the potatoes with a fork.  (I use an immersible blender.) Season with salt and pepper. Set aside, uncovered, until ready to serve.

Reheat to simmer just before serving, then add cream and butter. (You can skip cream and butter, but it will taste different.) Heat -- do not boil. Decorate with parsley.

*Before mashing vegetables, cook until you think it is the right consistency. If too liquid, cook it down before mashing.

Flower Series 6: Success??

Bright flowers
12" x 12"
acrylic

I planned a series of quilts inspired by flowers, mandalas and the Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes. Months later I have a stack of acrylic paintings. One is a mandala, all have flowers, and  I see Milhazes in their layers and colors. My niece Gretchen got me started painting a pineapple for her. Since then I've painted on cotton, drew with stitch, and collaged with fabric and paint. But there is no series as planned.

Instead, I'm on a discovery trail and loving it. 

1. For inspiration, give me flowers -- they are more than mere petals and stems!
2. And give me paint to mess with. Yesterday I read about an artist who paints with his fingers, wearing plastic gloves. I'm more of a natural mess; I love my fingers all gooey with colors. (Paintbrushes also have a place. ) For me, precision is in the feel of the finished piece, not perfection according to plan. I must discover a way to make messy quilts, with undefined edges 
3. For now  I'll skip "meaningful" (or political) work. The world is such a tumble, but direct defiance is not my best response. (Embracing causes has not worked for me,  in either religion or journalism. Or art.)
4. I'm going to continue painting and sewing and looking and loving. Flowers and paint are not the end. They are leading me somewhere.

Crust for Thanksgiving pies

Pie crust is tricky. That's what Mom said. And a flaky crust is the mark of a good cook. She said that too. I've used lots of recipes, including Mom's, and have to admit mine is not always as flaky as I'd like. My current favorite recipe is from Bon Appetit. I love that it says to work the dough with your hands! You could also use a food processor or a fork, I guess.

The Flakiest, Butteriest Crust

1 cup + 2 T. chilled unsalted butter
2 1/4 C. flour
1 T. sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 T. apple cider vinegar
3 T. water

1. Cut butter into 1" pieces. Chill it while you measure the dry ingredients.
2. Mix the flour, sugar and salt together in a big bowl. I use that bowl you see in the photo above.
3. Add the butter and toss it until it's coated with flour. Then use your fingers and palms to work the butter into small, irregular pieces. This is fun. Stop before the butter gets warm. You should still see some pieces of butter.
4. Mix the vinegar with the ice water.
5. Drizzle the liquid over the flour-butter mixture. Mix it up quickly with your hands so the dough kind of sticks together. It will still seem pretty dry.
6. Turn the dough onto a piece of waxed paper (no extra flour needed) and knead it a few times. Don't let the butter get all mixed in. The idea is to keep some butter in discreet pieces.
7. Push the dough down and cut it in half. Press each half down to about an inch high, and wrap the two pieces in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator 1 hour to 3 days. (OK, I'm doing a few more than three! Let's see -- Thanksgiving's four days from tomorrow. In a day or two I'll:
8. Roll it out and fit into pie pan.
9. Blind bake or fill and bake according to recipe.

I'll be making this pumpkin pie Thursday morning.  You could do worse!

Sweet, squiggly hanging heart: How-to

Yours will look better! This is old and well-loved. It guards my fabric cupboard.

Here are directions I made for friends at Sew Arty. We are sharing ideas for quilted gifts.

1. Draw a heart on stiff paper.

2. Cut it out.

3. Find a quilt scrap.

4. Trace heart on it. Cut it out.

5. Repeat for a backing.

6. Sew the two hearts together, right sides out. Stop, leaving room to stuff.

7. Stuff the heart with loose batting. Finish seam.

8. With wire, make a loop between the two heart lobes, slipping wire through your stitches, then twist to secure.

9. Squiggle a longer piece of wire decoratively and end with a hook for hanging. Make sure wire is strong enough to hold the heart without sagging. Squeeze the ends of wire so they are not sharp.

Flower series 5: Happy heart

Happy heart
32" x 36"
paint and stitch

I love Happy Heart!

Of course, there was a moment when I wanted to throw her away (her??) That happens.

I like how my original small flowered heart transforms dramatically when enlarged. I copied the original onto a transparency and enlarged it. using the overhead projector that Maureen so kindly insisted I keep. (Sure does come in handy, Maureen! Thank you!)

I drew the lines in pencil on white Kona cotton, lightly so the pencil wouldn't show on the finished piece.

Then I sewed over the lines with black thread, using free-motion stitching. It was miserable! Even if I blasted light on the piece, I could barely see the lines. Then I used Mark-B-Gone, with trepidation. It's as blue as this quilt! It's hard to believe the color will wash out with cold water. I tested it first. Still I worried my piece would be ruined by blue. Probably everyone who uses the stuff feels the same way at first.
Before quilt-drawing I layered the Kona with felt and white duck. (Yes, purists, I confess I used spray adhesive. I love it!) The thing is, that felt is wool. I love wool felt.

After  the design was all stitched in black -- my machine was like a drawing tool -- I held my breath and ran cold water over the piece. I held it over the bathtub, and in a flash the blue ran down the drain. I sighed big time! 

Alas, too soon! 

Did you know that wool felt shrinks in a second?? 

My quilt was all scrunched up. Lots of people do this on purpose, but I did it by accident. Suddenly my quilt was very QUILTY. The design was bumpy, thanks to shrinkage. I was sad. 

Then I was happy. I love it the texture!

After that, painting.

This, too, was a delight. I expected to be bored to death, coloring within the lines of my flowers. But it was peaceful and fun.

It helped that I had made a dozen preliminary drawings, mixing paint and then trying out this and that combination. 

It still needs at least stitching around the edges. Maybe a simple facing. 

But I have a happy heart.

** Series note: You are right, Ellen! veering from guidelines is the definition of art. My series is far from what I'd envisioned. It turns out I'm exploring paint-related quilting techniques, doing what's fun rather than following the rules I'd set for myself. It's still about flowers, quilting, and color, with Beatriz Milhazes as my distant teacher. A series, it turns out, can be exploration. Boundaries are for leaping.

detail
Happy Heart

Series 4: veering from plan

Seduced by paint,  I have detoured from my plan to make a series of quilts. A couple of months ago, dazzled by my own sense of organization, I outlined what I wanted to make (Yes, I did want to!), then created a few flower paintings to warm up for the floral quilts. And never quit. There's paint on my pants and on my hands, and dripped on the floor too.

I haven't abandoned flowers. I thought they'd get to be a bore, but instead found that forever isn't long enough to absorb floral color and variety and life.

Flowers are in. Color is in. I've stuck to that much of my series plan. Stripes and mandalas are on hold. I'm spending lots of time painting (The colors, when I mix them, turn into other colors!) I'm making a glorious mess.

Thanks to Google and a visit last month to the Quilt National exhibit in Athens, Ohio, I have been able to observe how others combine paint with quilting. I'm now "drawing" on fabric using black thread and free-motion quilting, then painting inside the designs: flowers, for now.

This may be a series of sorts, based on the gorgeousness of flowers and fabric. And paint.