Monday Morning Design Wall 10/21/2012

I had another productive week as  I have put together five more blocks for my little Baltimore Album quilt.  I am so enjoying this project!   I only work on sewing the blocks when I am away from home as I have larger projects to work on when I am home.  Between my hand quilting projects and getting more applique ready to sew, my home time is taken!!  I am planning on getting other projects ready to finish up this week and I may have to take my "October Promise" into November just to start cleaning out the projects!

 As part of my October promise, I am still working on my UFO's and the Lil'Twister quilt below is one of those.  I purchased border fabric for it ages ago but did not know how to do them.  This afternoon I pulled out Judy's book, 60 Pieced Borders and just did the math!!  Took a while, a bit of trial and error but it finally worked. 

I love how this turned out and I am looking forward to attempting to machine quilt it as I just finished the Crafty Class, Design it Quilt it by Cindy Needham, dang it, I think I can actually do it.  GREAT CLASS worth every penny!  I am going to see how ESS (Every Stinking Seam) works out so wish me luck!!


Remember to check out Judy's Blog and see all the other walls

Monday Morning Design Wall 10/15/2012

 Another productive week! I was able to finish off three more blocks for my mini-Baltimore Album.  I am enjoying this so much I have a dilemma.  Do I just do them quickly and enjoy every minute or do I slow down and savor each one?? This is like reading a great book so fast that it is over way to quickly.  Sigh!  I was able to attend the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara California on Friday.  I had a great time and actually purchased a new applique pattern, I bought P3 Designs Baltimore Halloween.  It looks like so much fun but I will be waiting to start the quilt, as I am trying to finish up some already started projects.

 I went from PIQF in Santa Clara to visit my daughter in San Luis Obispo for Parent Weekend at Cal Poly.  This is her senior year, her last year to cheer for the college and I had a great time visiting with her, attending her lunch for her sorority and then the Cal Poly football game.  There is a picture of her below cheering for the team, in the group picture she is somewhere at the bottom of the pyramid!  She is hoping her competition stunt squad makes the national competition and wins enough to go back to compete in Florida at spring break! 

 Below is my actual design wall, and yes it is pieced.  I was cleaning out my closet the other week and came across the stack of blocks on a shelf.  I made these after taking Margaret Miller's class several years ago, I just made the blocks for fun but never did come up with a setting solution.  Here is one idea, but I will be trying several over the next week, maybe on point???  The amazing part is the put the blocks away with the rest of the fabric!  YIPPEE! I have all the stuff to finish it off!

 My beautiful daughter, cheering for her team at the football game!

Monday Morning Design Wall 10/8/2012

Wow, what a great week, I am keeping my promise and working on my UFO's, every evening, every day but I am also managing to get more blocks done on my latest applique project!!  So much fun.  My reward for two hours of work on another project is an hour or two on this project!!  I hope to have pictures next week of something (anything at this point) finished.  You never know, it could be all 25 blocks of this quilt!!  Don't forget to check out the rest of the design walls on Judy's blog!

Baked Ziti Monday! Too good to miss

Baked Ziti

Serves 8 to 10

The test kitchen prefers baked ziti made with heavy cream, but whole milk can be substituted by increasing the amount of cornstarch to 2 teaspoons and increasing the cooking time in step 3 by 1 to 2 minutes. Our preferred brand of mozzarella is Dragone Whole Milk Mozzarella. Part-skim mozzarella can also be used, but avoid preshredded cheese, as it does not melt well. For tips on cooking with cottage cheese, see related How To Cook.

Ingredients

• 1 pound whole milk cottage cheese or 1 percent cottage cheese (see note)
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/2 cups)
•   Table salt
• 1 pound ziti or other short, tubular pasta
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 5 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 5 teaspoons)
• 1 (28-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
•   Ground black pepper
• ¾ teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy cream (see note)
• 8 ounces low-moisture whole-milk mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups) (see note)

Instructions

• 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup Parmesan together in medium bowl; set aside. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta begins to soften but is not yet cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain pasta and leave in colander (do not wash Dutch oven).
• 2. Meanwhile, heat oil and garlic in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until garlic is fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and oregano; simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in ½ cup basil and sugar, then season with salt and pepper.
• 3. Stir cornstarch into heavy cream in small bowl; transfer mixture to now-empty Dutch oven set over medium heat. Bring to simmer and cook until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pot from heat and add cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup tomato sauce, and ¾ cup mozzarella, then stir to combine. Add pasta and stir to coat thoroughly with sauce.
• 4. Transfer pasta mixture to 13- by 9-inch baking dish and spread remaining tomato sauce evenly over pasta. Sprinkle remaining ¾ cup mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan over top. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
• 5. Remove foil and continue to cook until cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer. Cool for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil and serve.