Thursday, September 4, 2008

Orange Crush Again...

... or maybe I should say still. Lately I have managed to get a few more border blocks finished in between blocks for other projects, and today I finished the rest of them and started sewing the blocks into rows. When I mentioned in my last post about how I wish quilters would share more about the ways in which they work on a quilt, Lori took me at my word and posted about how both she and her friend Henrietta approach the making of a quilt. I enjoyed reading every word about the nuts and bolts of their process. Lori likes to cut all her pieces right away, which is something I rarely do. It blew my mind to think about cutting 1,469 pieces for her quilt all at once, but I think it's a good idea to reevaluate the way I do things once in a while, and maybe this method has some advantages. Sometimes mindless piecing is really what I want to do! I thought the ziploc baggies were a great idea. See, that's just what I'm talking about!

Today was a Special Day, and I spent the entire day engaged in my two favorite activities, sewing and eating. I puttered around this morning finishing up the border blocks, one by one. I was focused, but some of these split half 4 patches, or whatever they were called, didn't come out to exactly the right size, so I was working with a paper foundation putting them together so they'd turn out the right size. Who would do it that way? Probably only me. It was a one by one kind of activity, and I poked along, thought about lots of other things, and just enjoyed myself.

Long about 2:00, I decided to make a blueberry pie with some fresh Maine blueberries I'd gotten at the grocery store the other day. The crust of my pie is a mixture of ground up oatmeal, ground up pecans, brown sugar, and butter, and it's delicious. The recipe calls for a cream topping, but I love the pie so much that I never made the topping before. Today I thought was a good time to try it. The topping is made with melted marshmallows mixed with half and half , whipped cream, and vanilla. Never did get around to finishing the topping. I melted the marshmallows and mixed in the half and half, stuck it in the frig, and there it sits.

Because it was a Special Day, my husband and I went to dinner at The Sedgley Place in Greene, and what a wonderful dinner it was. Like so many businesses in Maine, the building looks like it might once have been a private home in a quiet rural setting. The interior is decorated in such a way that you feel like you're eating in someone's home--wallpaper, lace curtains, fireplace, just a lovely quiet setting. No kids either. No menus. No annoying background music. No crowds. Just fine dining.

We had a 5-course meal with reasonable portions at reasonable prices--another thing that sets the restaurant apart. And absolutely everything was made from scratch in their kitchen, right down to the blue cheese dressing on my salad. For dinner I had creamy vegetable soup and mushroom caps stuffed with scallops for the appetizer; fresh homemade bread; all organic Maine grown vegetables in the salad and the meal; a 7-oz filet mignon grilled to perfection and Bearnaise sauce; and peach melba for dessert. Sound good? You bet! Surely this must be one of Central Maine's best kept secrets.

And now, I'm back in the sewing room!

5 comments:

Gretchen said...

Love your Orange Crush! Now I want to teleport myself to Central Maine so I can eat at that restaurant!!!! Sounds fabulous!

Lori in South Dakota said...

Special day? What was it--anniversary?? The orange crush is beautiful. And I never before added up how many pieces that quilt took--1,469 blew me away, and that doesn't include the sashing, cornerstones, setting triangles. Guess I'm better of not knowing! But although the pieces are small--they go together quickly! Your recipes had me drooling, no wonderful blueberries here. sigh Can we have the recipe anyway--can I use frozen blueberries?? I LOVE blueberries!

PS--I sorted the blocks into piles tonight, no blocks has a fabric repeated in it--yet! I may have to cut into that box of fabric.

Anonymous said...

I found your post while searching for lace curtains. I love your quilt! I still very new at it, and one of the things I find so time consuming is the cutting of the fabric. I guess I would make more quilts if that didn't take so long... mmm that restaurant sounds divine.

Quilter Kathy said...

Sue - Your OC looks great! Good for you to keep at it!
Can you email me your blueberry pie recipe?!?!
Please?

Mary Johnson said...

Your OC looks great - one of my favorites that I've seen.

I rarely cut an entire quilt out at one time - I'm usually too impatient to start piecing. I also tend to make blocks in sets of 6-10 rather than doing all of one step first since I like to see the quilt develop.