HI everyone! I want to wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving and God's best to you throughout the holiday season. May you have the kind of peace and Joy that only He brings!


I have a fabulous cranberry salsa recipe that I think originally came out of the Mpls. Star/tribune newspaper. It's for one batch, but you might as well make 2. Like I said, it's fabulous! I had a 3lb bag of cranberries and quadrupled it when I made it today.
Here goes:
12 oz bag of cranberries, wash and drained
1 cup water
1 cup sugar (I usually use a bit less)
1 whole green onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cilantro
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 tablespoon diced jalapenos

Bring the water and sugar to a boil. Add the cranberries and boil about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and gently stir in the remaining ingredients. Cool. Serve with chips or as your side for the turkey.

I'm sorry I didn't post this when you'd actually be able to get to the store and get everything but, I'm sure you've got some Christmas parties to attend. It will be a big hit!

I hope you all get some sewing done over this long weekend.
Happy quilting!

the incident

Here's another new quilt design. This is a BOM that I designed for Blank Quilting Fabrics. It will be available in January. I'm sorry I don't have access to a list of shops that carry it but as I find out a few, I'll post links to them.

There is also a version with a green background and the colors are a little bit more on the Autumn side. It's a 9 month BOM and it's big, 86 x 104-ish. The fabric is the Splash line from Blank which is their basic line. The colors are great, some blend a couple of colors, some are more solid. I'm shipping the green quilt off to Blank today and I'll post a picture after I get the really good photo back from the photograher. He does a fabulous job.

You'll notice the green/yellow block in the lower right corner. I have affectionately named that one the John Deere block.

I'm writing the pattern for the BOM today and I'm thinking of digging into my batik stash to make more blocks as I write. I think I'll do rusts, golds, purples, oranges, etc. I have enough of one fabric for the light center, I think. It's a dark cream and it shouldn't be too hard to find coordinates later on.

So, about the incident mentioned above. I was binding a quilt the other day and managed to sew into my index finger. Right through the nail. Ugh. Thank goodness for Vicodin, hehehe. It's still slightly tender but fortunately it was my left hand (I'm a righty) so I was able to finish the binding after the throbbing subsided. Learn from my mistakes; watch your fingers!
Happy quilting everyone!

The retreat

Good Morning!

I got home from the quilt retreat late afternoon yesterday and what a great time we had! Now to recover. Sleeping is always optional at a quilt retreat and I need to make up for staying up very late sewing. I think most of us gauge our bedtime by the frequency of mistakes.

I did get quite a bit accomplished. The quilt pictured is the one I mentioned last week that I needed to enlarge. I didn't need to take too much apart to redo it. And even though it's not as big as I had originally planned, it's large enough to get a good color sense. It's my Doo dads fabric and the pink and green Twinkle. I used one block from the Bling! pattern.

I also made a quilt top for my son's bed (time to replace that ratty one he's been using that now belongs to Daisy the dog) and a Minkee/chenille/flannel baby quilt top for the shop I work at I finished all of the blocks (another version of Bling!) done for a twin size quilt in '30's fabrics. I would have completed the top but the yellow fabric I had for setting the blocks was a rather poor quality and I decided not to use it. Hmm, must go shopping.

While at the retreat, which was in Amery, WI, there was quite a snow storm. We only got about 3" in Amery but there was about 8" in Inver Grove Hts, where I live. Heavy, wet stuff that I did not have to shovel, whew! We were hoping to get snowed in at the retreat center but no such luck. I had enough projects for a week of sewing.

I'm done retreating until next spring so I need to put everything away and try to organize a bit.
Blech.
Happy Monday everyone!

yesterday

Wow! Thank you all that took time to visit my blog and share comments! As I commented yesterday, quilter's are the best. I truly appreciate your encouraging words.

I'm off to a quilt retreat this weekend so I need to pack my projects. I always take way too many but it's good to have variety, isn't it? Something may not be coming out as planned or maybe I've grown tired of a project, need to be able to switch to another project. I guess running to a quilt shop to get a new one would be fun but Heaven knows I have plenty already.

So how many projects do you all take to a retreat? 1, 2, 15? I think I'm taking at least six. A couple are UFOs, the rest have yet to be started. One that I WILL GET DONE this weekend is a quilt from my black and white Doo Dads line and the pink and green Twinkle (see it on my web site). I'm using the quilted Jewel template set. I stated this particular project the afternoon before heading to quilt market. It was going to be a throw size quilt but the later it got in the evening the smaller the sample became, It's about the size of a bathroom rug. I'll be separating the rows of blocks and adding until it's a decent size. Picture to come, maybe Monday.

Have a great weekend, get lots done and may your points be pointy!

Fabric and fun

It's my blog tour day as part of the 100 blocks magazine.

First thing I want to do is thank all of the staff involved in the making of the magazine. What a nice group! They kept us well informed and put together another wonderful issue. I know I'll be using both volumes for reference for a long time!

Next, I now have my line of fabric available for sale on my web page. It's the black and white Doo Dads collection. Next is a few colors of Splash followed by the Twinkle group designed by Yolonda Fundora. I added the bright colors because the go so well with B&W. They really add POP to your quilts. All are made by Blank Quilting fabrics.

If you like the B&Ws check out the Square Dancing pattern in my pattern section. It would look great with the Doo Dads and Twinkle. Look for the fabric and pattern tabs on my home page.

Have a quilty day and may all your points be pointy!

www.irishchain.com
www.quiltmaker.com

100 blocks blog tour

It's here! The blog tour for the 100 blocks by 100 designers! My day is Wednesday the 10th. Since I'm so new to the blogoshere I'm not sure what I will be adding but there are lots of other great designers with wonderful blocks to share.

Greetings

Hi! This is the first blog from The Irish Chain. I'm hoping to keep it up to date and add posts a couple of times a week but, honestly, I'd rather sew and design than write.

Look for photos (the first will be my quilts from the Houston market), updates on new patterns, and whatever else I feel like posting, quilt related or not.