Showing posts with label Hoffman Fabrics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hoffman Fabrics. Show all posts

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Latte Quilt Travels and A Giveaway

Last October I shared here about an opportunity to make a quilt top for Hoffman Fabrics for their display at the upcoming Fall Quilt Market 2011.  I think I had about a week to get it done and mail it to their offices in Mission Viejo, CA so they in turn had time to get it quilted and bound before it left for Texas.
Latte Quilt 
Here are the details:
Latte Quilt
Quilt top Started & Finished:  October 2011
Fabrics: Mixture of Batiks and Screened Prints from Hoffman Fabrics 
42" x 39"
Quilt top/binding and backing made by me
Quilting done by Nena McCane
Binding attached by Sandy Muckenthaler of Hoffman Fabrics

Here it is on their display at Quilt Market with a photo taken by the wonderful Marilyn Pond of Marilyn's Maze . I was thrilled when she e-mailed me a photo of my quilt in the Hoffman Fabrics display booth as it was fun to think of a part of me there.  Someday I'll get there in person.
Latte Quilt at Quilt Market
After Quilt Market the Latte Quilt traveled to Minneapolis, MN with a Hoffman Fabrics sales rep for a show in November 2011 and in late December I received an e-mail from Mary of Quilt Shack in Dubuque, IA telling me that my quilt had just visited her store. She went on to ask if I had a pattern that she could purchase for wholesale  - that alone just about did me in.  Someone asking me for a quilt pattern?  

The Latte Quilt apparently loves to travel just as much as I do and although it is now back in my home, it is destined to go traveling again.  I'm offering up the Latte Quilt for any reader whom thinks they would like this in their home, office, coffee house, etc., as a wall hanging (42" x 39"). *Just to be clear, I do not want the quilt back.* If you are interested in the Latte Quilt please leave me a comment below as to why you would like to have it.  I'll choose where this quilt will go next by Thursday, June 28th.  

Happy Saturday ~ have fun and be safe.  
Susan

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

T@t{summer}T: Cast Iron Grilled Chicken with Lilac Ratatouille

Grilling is the theme this week over at Debbie's Tuesday at the {summer}Table feature and although my BBQ is closed during the week, last night I pulled out my Cast Iron Grill Pan and went to work.  I had no plan, no recipe or thought to what the final outcome for dinner might be other than to grill some chicken and use my Lilac Bell Pepper.  

My first step was to find out how this baby tasted as I needed to know if it was sweet like a red bell or armpit tasting like a green bell (yes, I'll admit not a fan of the green bell pepper) or somewhere in between?  


I could tell by how it felt that it had a pretty thin hull and upon cutting it open I confirmed that thought but what caught me by surprise was the white inside.  Unfortunately I must tell you that the Lilac bell pepper didn't taste like much of anything.  No sweetness but no armpit taste either so the idea of using this raw in a salad was out, it would need to be cooked and seasoned.


Next up was grilling my chicken.  I wanted the chicken to cook evenly so I sliced each boneless chicken breast in half horizontally so I could have pieces that were all the same thickness.  The uniformity of the chicken makes grilling indoors so much easier as (theoretically) all of the pieces should be done at the same time.

Into another pan went onion, garlic to sweat for a while and then I threw in the bell peppers.  I let all cook together for about 10 minutes.  I was going for a modified ratatouille so I added in some tomatoes just before I plated my dinner.

I served my Cast Iron Grilled Chicken with Cavatappi  (a corkscrew shaped pasta with ridges) that had been lightly seasoned with olive oil and a bit of Parmesan cheese, and then covered with my Lilac ratatouille and a basil chiffonade from my garden.  Chiffonade is such a fun word - sounds so pretentious for thinly sliced basil.
Cast Iron Grilled Chicken with Lilac Ratatouille

Dinner was a success all around as it was light, well seasoned and contained a multitude of textures and flavors.

One last item for today  ~ my Latte Quilt came back to me yesterday via the UPS man. This was the quilt I made for Hoffman Fabrics  for Quilt Market in Houston, TX last year.  I'll have more on a future post about where it has been and where it is going (Giveaway opportunity!).

Latte Quilt 42" x 39"

I'm linking up with Debbie at her Tuesday at the {summer}Table feature today.

Enjoy your Tuesday!
Susan

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

WIP Wednesday: When Bad Rotary Cutting Happens to Good People

The last ten days:  work + school + life = no crafting therefore no blogging.  

Today:  lots of free time = crafting and blogging.  Yea!  So I sewed up two new pouches - one for me and one for a friend who is going on a little vacation.  

For a friend
Could not resist Going Coastal fabric in a local fabric store (M&L) yesterday. Wanted to make myself up a new pouch and walked around and around looking for the perfect fabric.  Could not believe it when I spied this as I have almost bought it online many times.  Lining is Hullabaloo by Urban Chicks from the Dots Swap hosted by Debbie from A Quilter's Table earlier this year.   Love it Debbie!  

For me


Works in Progress: 
T-Shirt Quilt - earlier this week I was ready to start stitching up the t-shirt quilt.  The t-shirt blocks were squared up and ready to go and I decided to go through the solid Kona Light Grey fabric just to make sure those were squared up as well.  Well....they were NOT.  I had cut the Kona squares while I was sitting on the floor - big mistake.  (If you are a Stash Resolution Podcast listener - my title is respectfully taken from one of her segments in her show.)  All of the Kona squares are at least 1/2 inch off.  What the heck was I doing that night while cutting?  Must have been a rare night that I was actually watching what was on TV.   That project is back on hold until I have time to go buy more fabric.

Quilt for my best bud - Minimal cutting and no sewing.  Her birthday is coming soon so this needs to be first on my list for next week.

Latte Quilt update:  My quilt top has now been quilted by Nena of Nena's Quilt Shack and is now in Houston, TX!  I pulled this photo off the FB account Nena.  You can see the binding she sewed on the front.
Latte Quilt
I'm so anxious to see photos of the Latte Quilt up in the Hoffman Fabric's booth at Quilt Market.  

Please visit Lee at Freshly Pieced to see what others are working on this week.

Have a super fun Wednesday evening - wherever you are.
Susan

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

When Opportunities Bring Fulfillment

Earlier in October I posted a finished photo of Supernova to my Facebook account just for fun.  I received  great comments and congratulations on the finish from my friends and family but then was completely surprised by a comment from an old friend who works for Hoffman Fabrics. She asked if I would be interested in working on projects for Hoffman and if so would I come down to their headquarters to meet with them.

It could have stopped right there and I would have been fulfilled.  Seriously.  I felt so validated that my friend had thought enough of a photo on Facebook to ask me to work on projects for them.   Of course I said yes.

Last week I visited their headquarters in Mission Viejo, CA and had a tour of their warehouse full of fabrics - oh my goodness what a treasure trove of fabric.  I had no idea how gorgeous batik fabrics really were as I had not had any previous introduction to them.  As we walked by bolts and bolts of fabrics I kept thinking to myself how various fabrics could be made into skirts, bags and of course, quilts.  I was in heaven.

After viewing different "color stories" of fabrics, we chose a mixture of batiks and screen prints for me to make them a quilt  *drumroll please* for them to take to Quilt Market.  They are going to take my quilt and use it in their display for Quilt Market at the end of this month.  Well...first they have to like what I made:
Latte Quilt for Hoffman Fabrics
So what do you think?  I did not use a formal pattern but just took elements from what I see on blogs all the time to come up with a way to focus on the Hoffman screen prints with the batiks providing a highlight and frame.

While finishing up the Latte Quilt this morning I made Nutella Scones.
Nutella Scones
Nutella Scones
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg
Jar of Nutella

Preheat oven to 400F.  Sift dry ingredients into medium sized bowl.  Add in chilled butter and mix in with a pastry blender until a coarse meal forms.  In a small bowl mix together the cream, milk and egg.  Add wet mixture to dry mixture until moist clumps are formed.  You may need to add a bit more milk if the dough is too dry.  Use large spoons to place about 1/4 cup of dough on parchment paper lined cookie sheet, spacing them apart.  Use those spoons to make an indentation inside the dough ball.  Use two different spoons to add about a teaspoon (or more if you like!) of Nutella into each of the scones.  Then go back to the dough and add enough to the top to envelope the Nutella.  Bake scones until golden brown about 15 minutes.  They freeze very well : Place them on a cookie sheet UNWRAPPED in the freezer.  About an hour later come back and wrap each of the frozen scones up airtight.  Leave out on the counter for 30 minutes to thaw.  

Linking up to Tuesday at the Table with Debbie from A Quilter's Table - go see what others are making today.  I made Debbie's Butternut Squash Soup that she highlighted in her Tuesday at the Table post last week - so good!   Also linking up to Quiltstory - go see what others are have created - lots of Halloween inspired goodies this week.  

I'm off to school ~ have a wonderful Tuesday,
Susan

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Giveaway Winner & Mother's/Grandmother's

Thirty six wonderful comments...36.  All through the week I have enjoyed reading the comments as they have rolled in with descriptions of how you all discovered quilting.  Although the inspiration seems to come from many different sources, the common denominator was mother's and grandmother's and because I'm a total sucker for mother/grandmother connections I had to go with Allegory's comment:

For me, it was all my mother's fault. She would quilt while I was sewing clothes when I was in my teens. Fast forward 7 years and I'm bored sewing clothes so I call mom and ask her what it was she used to work on next to me.
I got a rotary cutter and some handwritten starter notes in the mail that week. ;)


Congratulations to Allegory for winning the $50.00 Fat Quarter Shop Gift Certificate.  Please visit Allegory at her blog {sew}Allegorical to see her quilting/crafting projects and to read about her hunt for Count Chocula cereal.  Too funny.

To continue on with the mother/grandmother theme, sometimes I have tea in the morning with my grandmother:
My grandmother's china cup with a Mr. Hunky Fireman mug rug that my mother would have LOVED.  
Two more tidbits before I attack my crazy busy day: 

Fabric picked out for the Christmas Tree Pants sew along hosted by Sew Mama Sew/Happy Zombie
Holiday Happy fabric by Happy Zombie

Everything else is on the back burner while I work on this project:
Hoffman Fabrics batiks & screenprints
Happy Saturday!
Susan