Another quilt for the wall

This is a quilt that I completed the piecing about 4 years ago.  When I finished it I folded it nicely into a box, put the box on a shelf and made a mental note that one day I would make time to quilt it.

I did alot of the piecing on this quilt in the loft of our cabin out in Colorado. With the cabin not being ours anymore, this quilt brings fond memories to mind.

It measures just shy of 80" square.  It really would not be big enough for our bed and I think one reason it stayed so long in the box is because it had no destination in mind.

Earlier this week we moved some furniture around that opened up a big space on the wall in our living room.  I knew I had plenty of quilt tops finished, but not quilted yet.  So between Ron and I we decided this was the one that I would quilt to fill the space.  None of the quilts on the walls have to stay where they are.  That is one of the reasons a quilter needs to have lots of quilts around.  Changing out the quilts on the wall can change the whole look of a room.

 

As I stood back to take this picture I looked to the left and saw another great picture opportunity... there is another quilt hanging over our bed.  Almost like a quilt gallery.

Lemons and Tomatoes

I have been creative in the kitchen the past several days.  First was the chocolate cake I posted about yesterday.  Then yesterday we were supposed to have supper at a friend's house, so I didn't want to eat anything that would spoil my appetite, but I was in the "snack" mode.  Another friend had given me some fresh tomatoes the other day and I hadn't used them yet.  I'm the only one in the house that will eat fresh tomatoes, so it was a good choice for a snack.  A few weeks ago I received an email message that told all about lemons and how good they are to enhance whatever you might be cooking.  It suggested that you should not discard the lemon peel, but rather freeze your lemon whole and grate the lemon onto whatever you are cooking/preparing, right from the freezer.  I have a couple in the freezer right now in a Ziploc bag... so I decided I would try it on my tomato slices.  I sliced the tomato onto my plate.  I took a fine grater that you would typically use for lemon peel... I wasn't sure it would grate the lemon while still frozen... but it worked just fine.  On two slices I maybe used the equivalent of 1/2 teaspoon of grated lemon.  I then sprinkled some black pepper on them, and just a dash of salt.  The tomato flavor just popped.  Totally awesome.  A snack worth repeating.

Now if you are interested in the lemon article, I have it saved as a Word document, but I am not sure how to attach that here, so if you leave a comment or send an email message, I will send you the article.  It was definitely worth reading... and there are some good tips regarding the health benefits.

Chocolate cake anyone?

 

 This is a chocolate cake with an addition I would not have thought of on my own.  I was at a friend's house with a few other ladies and we were quilting.  For a treat one of the ladies brought a bundt cake that she had made that started with a yellow cake mix.  It had blueberries and yogurt and it was really good.  I asked for the recipe which she was able to tell me right on the spot.  A couple days later I decided I wanted to give it a try, but I didn't have any vanilla yogurt on hand and I only had a Devil's Food chocolate cake mix.  My husband thought it would be good to try using the chocolate cake mix.  After all he does like his chocolate.   The only ingredient I changed was the chocolate cake mix.... everything else was just as the original list that was given to me.  So here is the recipe and it was awesome.
                     
                                 Chocolate Blueberry Cake
               1    package  Devil's Food cake mix (yellow cake mix)
               1    package  Instant Vanilla pudding
               1    teaspoon  cinnamon
               1    cup  vanilla yogurt
             1/2   cup  oil
             1/4   cup  water
               4    eggs
          1 1/2   cups  blueberries (if frozen they should be thawed)

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Reserve a couple tablespoons of the dry ingredients to coat the blueberries before adding.  Whisk the eggs with the oil, water and yogurt.   Pour the liquid into the dry and mix with an electric mixer until well blended.  In a separate smaller bowl coat the blueberries with the reserved dry mix.  This will help keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake.  Fold in the blueberries. 

Lightly grease and flour a bundt pan.  Pour mixture into pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.