Seduced by Basil

Pesto wasn't my plan for dinner, but when I stopped at the produce store on the way home to pick up some tomatoes and a bunch of fresh basil, the aroma was so wonderful, it demanded to become the main ingredient tonight.

Pesto Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 2/3 cup packed, coarsely chopped fresh basil
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 clove garlic, peeled

DIRECTIONS

In a blender, combine all the ingredients. Makes 4 servings.

Toss with cooked pasta–I've become a fan of Barilla Plus angel hair pasta–and save the rest for something yummy later in the week.

Sauder Village Quilt Fair

I was able to spend a couple hours at the Sauder Village Quilt Fair in Archbold, Ohio over the weekend.

Most of the 400 plus quilts were of the beautiful traditional variety . . but there were a few surprises.

I was surprised to find that the organizers had chosen to display many of the wall quilts on point, like this.



I wondered what the quiltmakers thought about that. My friend Linda's quilt, Good Morning, was one of those wrapped around a wall.



Congrats on the ribbon, Linda.

This second place art quilt, Beginning Band, also won a special award for innovation. It was one of my favorites. The quiltmaker, Marie Moore, is a Music Teacher who began by taking close-up photos of musical instruments.



Another fun quilt reminded me that quilters also have all kinds of other interests. Here's a detail photo of Joyce Ann Smith's Star Trek themed quilt.



Beam me up, Scottie!

This One Block Wonder quilt, by Donna L. Beuhrer, reminded me . . . I have some yardage of that fabric in my stash. Maybe I ought to try this technique and create some more interesting yardage . . .



Even though I don't usually gravitate toward the traditional, it was hard not to be awed by many of the quilts in the show. Here's a detail photo from a beautiful red and white quilt with a wonderful combination of single, double and triple feathered stars by Pauline Warren.



I'm not the only one who was impressed. I saw on the web site today that it was the viewer's choice. You can see my photo of the whole quilt here.

You can check out all my photos from the show in my Flickr set Sauder Village Quilt Fair.

What's a Swapaholic to Do?

When I found out that Sharyn Craig was teaching a day-long workshop The Joy of Sets a few hours away and that there was still space available, it seemed like the perfect way for this swapaholic to spend the day. So I packed up some well aged swap blocks and watched Sharyn work her magic with them.



I loved the idea of using my chicken blocks as a border.

Spending the day with Sharyn sparked so many setting ideas, color ideas, border ideas . . . it was well worth the trip. Everyone else's blocks sparked more ideas--for quilts, color-ways, future swaps. Spark, spark, spark. The day was electric.

Also seen at the Museum . . .

One of my favorite landmarks inside . . .



. . . and outside, some beautiful signs of Spring.

Susana Allen Hunter, Quilting Genius

Today, I went to the Henry Ford Museum.



It was the last day of their exhibit, Quilting Genius 2, The Improvisational Quilts of Susana Allen Hunter. Here's one of my favorites from the exhibit.



And some more of Susan's quilts (click for larger images)





The exhibit also included items and photos from Susana's life. I especially liked the two hats that were included--her work hat and one she wore to church.



You can see more photos of quilts, detail of quilts and other items in the exhibit in my Flickr set Quilting Genius 2.

Everyday Performance Art

This is an Osaka crosswalk, found on Flickr during my life as a mouse potato. It made me smile.

Long Story Short

Almost four weeks ago, I crashed and burned, health-wise, and every time I thought I was improving, I crashed even harder and found myself further away from feeling better.

As a result, in the last month, everything stopped.

I received four more beautiful birthday blocks and hurt too much to take photos and thank the block makers.

I made NO progress on birthday blocks I am making for others or any other quilting, sewing, crafting or anything.

All work on the Walking in This World exercises stopped after my last artist date, a couple hours spent at a local quilt show. Photos were taken, but never labeled or shared.

Just about my only progress in life these last four weeks is measured in doctor appointments and lab tests.

I must be some kind of crazy optimist, because I've joined Kate's little quilt swap . . . believing I will feel well enough soon enough for long enough to make a little quilt for this swap.

And I'm optimistic that I'll feel well enough to catch-up on blogging soon, too.

Spring

It is beginning to feel like Spring around here, even though there are no buds and flowers like these, from Mrs. Mel's blog, Fibermania, . . .



. . . nor wildflowers, like these from Rian's Pages . . .



In fact, when I drove to a nearby park, curious to see if a walk was possible, it really didn't LOOK like Spring at all.

But the main path was clear, if sometimes wet or icy and even if it didn't look like it, it sounded like Spring–the songs of birds filled the air–so, I walked.

It was a short one, only about a mile and a half--the unpaved paths turned out to be too muddy/snowy/icy for me and I turned back. I nearly had the place to myself: just me and the birds, the river, blue skies and sunshine.

More snow is in the forecast for next week, but today, it seemed that Spring ihad arrived, even if I was all bundled up and walking among bare trees, snow and ice.





Closer to home, a pair of geese stopped by to check on the state of the still-frozen pond.

Doll Quilt Swap II Quilts

Today, I received Twinkle, Twinkle, this fabulous quilt, made by Debbie.



And Bonnie received the quilt I made, Baby Steps--named for the 4 inch Stepping Stones blocks.



Twinkle, Twinkle is 18 inches square; Baby Steps is 18 x 24 inches. They are both made from 4 inch blocks.

This was a great swap . . . all the quilts have been wonderful and I think all of us are ready for DQSIII.

National Quilting Day

Saturday, March 15, is National Quilting Day.



This is NQA's logo, click it to go to their site for more information about the day and their quilt day activities.

If you are a quilter, will you celebrate? How will you spend the day? A local quilt show is in my plans for this weekend as well as time spent quilting with Pat Sloan and her friends for a SeW AloNG Quilt Day Retreat Weekend. (Check out the button in my sidebar.)

Is it the Thought . . .

. . . that counts? I tried to organize a comfort quilt for a friend . . . and failed. And after being attacked for my failure, I confess that, to me, it feels a little more like "No good deed goes unpunished."

Here are Kate's Pineapples, made by her friends last fall. I thought this comfort quilt effort needed about twice as many of these 9 inch blocks as these and once thought I could make them . . . but my health issues stood in the way.











They are in Kate's hands now, at her request, and a few people have rallied and sent her some more. If you'd like to help, I'm sure she'd appreciate it.