NQM-BOM all rounds

 So, if you've been following me or have read some of my past posts, you know I've been doing the National Quilt Museum's Block of the Month facebook rounds since it started in 2018.  The first couple I made verbatum.  Didn't change up a thing.  But, I get bored.  I use a variety of fabric colors and textures, sure, but I get bored.  So, by round #3 I started choosing a theme to coincide with the BOM.  Changing just minor things to their monthly sample blocks.  Sometimes not changing the block at all.  It gave me joy to create a block inside my theme but fit their criteria/style/technique.  

NQM-BOM Round #1

NQM-BOM Round #2

NQM-BOM Round #3 -  Theme Japan

NQM-BOM Round #4 - Theme Tesla & Nature's Elements

NQM-BOM Round #5 - Theme Video Games

NQM-BOM Round #6 - Theme Art Deco

If you've never seen the instructions for this Block of the Month project, then let me tell you the instructions are brief.  You are left to make your own choices as to fabrics, placements, borders, etc... You read each instruction from the designer of the block and make it, plain and simple.  

 For round #6, I really felt that it wasn't "finished" with the 8th block, which was meant to be the final one.  I made an extra block as I wanted the 3X3 (9) setting.  These blocks are 14" square.  That's pretty big and I felt it needed some substantial borders to bring it all together.  So, that's how this one grew into a Queen size bed quilt.  Yes, it measures 89"X89" square.   The search for what to do next was easy for me.  Keeping in theme, I knew I wanted some sort of fan shape and a take on 3D so it was just a matter of drawing and sizing the border sections to create two border patterns.  This quilt is my favorite of all the rounds I've done and I can't imagine topping it, so this may be a good place to stop and call it quits on the BOM's.   It's currently in the process of quilting on my B740 Bernina, so it's slow going.  If it gets finished by the time our local quilt show is on, I may enter it.   

It's got to be called a series, in my opinion.  An accomplishment.  Each one different, but also the same.  Looking back, I am glad I started this journey.  I've learned quite a bit from each of the different designers for all these blocks.  Thanks to the National Quilt Museum for offering this free to facebook users BOM group.  Join, learn and create.  Go Here

Retrospective for my 2024 year

 The phrase, "It's a wrap" has become a cliche.  As well as, "It's in the books".  Why do we repeat phrases over and over until they really have no significance or meaning anymore.  How about this one from a few years back, "it is what it is"....what does that really mean?  I would say in contrast, "it isn't what it isn't".  Please stop, take a little extra time to explain whatever you mean.  Afterall, it is true, we've lost the art of conversation.  Literature, poetry, ordinary conversation used to be one of  the arts of romanticism.  In todays times, people are inserting emojis, icons, abreviations, and frankly have lost patience for long winded paragraphs explaining absolutely everything.  

Thankfully, there is still a growing number of people creating and learning the art of stitching whether it's embroidery, tailoring, knitting and crocheting, crafting, or piecing and quilting.  It takes time, you don't want to rush through something just to be done.  Enjoy the process, examine and work through each step.  Technology has made learning anything you can dream of accessible and easy to obtain.   

Do people take time to make New Year's resolution lists?  I admit that I don't anymore.  Every year there are carryover projects or ideas that I never had time for or I get a mental block and want to let it sit in the corner longer.  

Looking back on the year, I am happy with the amount of work I have accommplished.  In retrospect, these projects were...

Mini challenge (Flower Power) for the Virginia Quilt Museum exhibit, was donated to raise funds for the museum.  I titled this one, "Nocturnal Garden Gate".

I taught a class on collage for my guild.  These are small mug mats, so it was a small project they could finish in one day.  

I made 2 Raven mini quilts.  One went to charity and the other went to my DS.  He loves Edgar Allen Poe.  

This is a quilt I call Alice's Fantastical Garden.  It's collaged using Emily Taylor's technique and most patterns from her book.  I added so many butterfly fussy cuts that every time I count them, I come up with a different number.  They're hidden in a lot of places.  

Still a work in progress, 89"X89".  This is the finished top completed by the end of December 2024, but it's been challenging quilting it on my Bernina 740 domestic machine.  The National Quilt Museum facebook group round 6 for 2024 and will probably the last one I take part in.  I've done every year since they began, so I'm pretty tired of making the sampler type quilts.  However, it's been a wonderful journey to be part of this group.  

There are more quilts I haven't mentioned, but these were the important ones that...dare I say....I am proud of.  Acknowleging God's gift and fulfilling my artistic need to create them.  So it continues...

Cookbooks and recipes

 I love books.  The artwork of bookcovers amazes me along with the artwork throughout the book's pages.  I just love to thumb through books of all kinds.  Cookbooks are my choice at the moment.  I have 5 shelves full of cookbooks that I have accumulated over the years.  Sometimes I ask Alexa for a recipe, but it's not the same as finding it in a cookbook stained from previous times where I've splashed vanilla or unknown ingredients on the pages.  Some cookbooks will never be reprinted.  Some are just old enough where people have forgotten either the author, restaurant, or other reason why the cookbook was published.  

My Neiman Marcus cookbook is a treasure.  It contains so much history of the why that came about for this fashion company to persue culinary excellence in their flagship stores.  Once a very long time ago, I was fortunate enough to have experience a meal at the Mariposa restaurant.  Of course I had to try the Chicken salad sandwich.  It is their signature lunch sandwich and it's been a menu favorite for over 50 years.  This recipe is in the cookbook along with the coveted Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe of urban myth.  The myth being that someone had requested the recipe from a NM cafe and was charged $250.  This is false, they never charged any amount for their recipes...ever.  Whether it was a gimick marketing ploy by NM or just an out of hand rumor, it didn't matter.  Neiman Marcus stayed popular and didn't fall from grace by the public.  

With that, I want to share recipes from the cookbook.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

3 TBSP granulated sugar, or white sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 tsp. instant espresso coffee powder

Yield= 2 dozen cookies

Preheat oven to 350F. Place the butter, and sugars in a mixing bowl, beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.  In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients except chips and coffee powder.  Add slowly to the mixer, beating on slow speed.  Beat for 15 seconds.  Fold in the chips and coffee powder.  

Prepare a cookie sheet using a scoop or 2 TBSP measure, drip cookie dough onto the sheet leaving 3" apart.  Gently press with the back of a spoon.  Bake for 14-18 minutes or until browned around the edges.  Remove to a cooling rack and store in airtight containers.  Or freeze cookies in an airtight container.  

Chicken Salad Sandwich

2 3/4 cup diced chicken breast, poached

1 TBSP cider vinegar

1/2 cup minced celery

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3 TBSP heavy cream

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground white pepper

8 slices of whole wheat bread

4 large green leaf lettuce leaves

1 large tomato, cut into 8 thin slices

In a bowl, mix the chicken with the vinegar.  Add the celery, mayo, cream and seasonings. Fold the ingredients to gently combine.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Place 4 slices bread on a clean surface.  Top each with 1/4 chicken salad and top with lettuce leaf and 2 slices of tomato, top with a slice of bread.  

Optional:  Try adding crispy bacon.  Use whatever bread you like including croissants, cheese buns or cheddar biscuits.  

This recipe is creamy which is part of the secret to its success in the NM cafe's.  

Hopefully, recipes like these and tens of thousands more will never die off and I think as long as we cherish a written recipe or keep our cookbooks from accumulating too much dust from lack of use, maybe next generations will also appreciate their culinary/historical importance.  I've rambled on about these recipes, now it's time to make something great in the kitchen.