Tasting Party

Tonight was MYSnB and as usual it did not disappoint.

Last week I mentioned that I was entering a few items in the canning competition for the NJ State Fair. Because the MY Stitch and Bitchers are my people, they too were very excited about the prospects. I brought some libations (red and white), cheeses (smoked and sharp) and my four entries for tasting and feedback (recognizing that the deadline to drop off items in 7/26 so there was not a lot of time to make any changes).

The offerings:

Top, left to right: marinara fra diavolo and pickled beets
Bottom row: left to right: mango chutney, blueberry orange jam, and oranges in cointreau

The verdicts:

Happy faces! That's a good sign!

The NJ State Fair runs August 1st - 10th. Wish me luck. ~ksp

Summer Dreams, Ripped at the Seams...

...but Oh, Those Summer Nights.


I play slow pitch, high-arc softball in the Tri-Town (West Orange, Clifton and Bloomfield) Women's Recreation League with some amazing women. We didn't make the playoffs this year in a rough defeat, and I struck out at 2 at bats*, nevertheless, I had some great summer nights.

A salute to the ladies of O'Neil's softball team...

Jan, Sharon, Gil, Donna (with her back turned), Paw Steel (our good luck charm) & Marie.

Herb (base coach and supportive spouse), Massey, Chris, Missy and Janine.
Not pictured: Staci, Nagel and me.

Lesley

Donna at bat!


Missy - on first base

Our other crackpot manager/base coach Lou "foot in his mouth" Massey managed to allude photos) as did hordes of fans.

Thanks for a great time. ~ksp

* I vow to practice my hitting in the off season. Wink!

And Then There Were None

This is Kimberly and Robert. I met them a little more than five years ago when I spent the summer between living in Atlanta and Boston with my family in NJ. Since I've had ADHD before science knew there was such a thing, I spent that summer volunteering as a grant-writer for the non-profit that Robert heads up.

Last fall, the couple announced that they were expecting. I knew that the nursery colors were burgundy and teal, but I didn't know much else about the decor. So the pondering began...

I scoured the internet looking for ideas. I wanted something classic and fresh with a vintage/scrappy feel. I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and bought short yardages of different fabrics in the same color family. I bought Fig Tree Quilt's Argyle pattern on clearance at Purl Soho (what a great find).

This was my second quilt (although the last to be posted here) and my first foray into commercial patterns. I had so many questions: was the seam allowance included in the template or not, how do I size-down this queen size pattern to accommodate a baby crib, how many of these #@%& triangles do I have to cut out?

Whew! Breathe...

Here is the finished product...roughly 60" x 60". I quilted a stipple stitch inside of the green "stars" and in one square I hid the baby's name.


Up close you can see the different reds, greens and creams.


Here's mom-to-be with me at the baby shower...


And here is babyC all cuddled up with his quilt.


I made so many baby blankets this season that I am drinking bottled water for fear that there's something in the tap water. ~ksp

Silver and Gold

Make new friends, but keep the old.

One is silver and the other's gold.

My last post got me to thinking of my time in the Girl Scouts. We used to sing that song all the time. In the spirit of my Girl Scout training, I am working to make friends in the quilting community. In the fall, I plan to join the Nubian Heritage Quilting Guild, a local group of quilters of African descent.

I am also participating my first quilt square swap as a member of the African American Quilters group on yahoo. The swap challenge: using cream, beige, silver and gold fabrics, create a 12" sawtooth square pattern. I bought a lot of fabrics from one of my favorite online fabric stores. Now's the hard part, how to put it all together.

Here is the shape of the square. Some group members mentioned that they may like to embroider in the center square so I am tempted to keep that fabric simple and uncomplicated. My tendency, however, is to go bold...

I am struggling on how to combine some of the silvers with the golds without it looking garish and still be pleasing to women of varying tastes. Any suggestions? ~ksp

NJ State Fair

When I was a wee tike, I was a Brownie (junior Girl Scout) ...and I never remember doing anything agriculture related. Unless you count digging up the backyard with a Tonka front-loader and dumpster (fun times).

This is a blurry shot of me receiving a pin of some sort.

I did, however, grow up with a lot of gardening and canning at home. My mother tended a small garden patch and the yard included a concord grape vine grown from a cutting from my great-grandmother Gaga's house.

For years in the fall, my mother would freeze and can tomatoes for later use. My Gaga, a lover of all things fermented, would make dessert wine and/or grape jelly with the tons of grapes that we would pick. While I was not much of a helper during those years, I kept my mother distracted by talking my head off...but something must have been sinking in.

I think in direct response to these influences*, I am a lover of many agricultural and culinary traditions like gardening, canning and preserving. This year, in addition to planting heirloom variety tomatoes, I am placing several entries into the NJ State Fair (for my urban/non-ag friends, imagine Charlotte's Web). My plan is to enter several entries.

There is a special contest withing the canning category.

For The One and Only Blueberry Contest

I will be entering Blueberry Orange Preserves (with a dash of hooch). I am in the process of tweaking this recipe because my taste-testers think it is too tart. And that will not do, I am aiming for a ribbon here people!

The second entry...

Pickled Beets. I am not a lover of beets. In fact, I am not even a liker of beets, but my trusted tasters assure me that these are tangy and yummy...so into the contest they'll go.

Last but not least, what's a NJ State Fair without a tomato. My contribution...

Marinara Fra Diavolo. Right now these are just some locally grown tomatoes I bought at Montclair's Farmer's Market. But when the sun to goes down and the heat let's up, they will be magically transformed. I am slightly modifying a recipe I canned last fall and gave as Christmas 2007 gifts. I like spicy things and so a Fra Diavolo is right up my alley.

I received a few surprises in my organic food co-op today so I may decide on an additional entry before Monday's deadline. A taste testing will commence at MY SnB in next week. I'll keep you posted. ~ksp



*The moral to this story. Lesson 1: ADHD survives well into adult hood. Lesson 2: Teach younger folks (your children,nieces, nephews, neighbors) your hobbies. You never know.