My Kitchen and other thoughts...

                                               Humble crooked house....

           MY KITCHEN...AND OTHER THOUGHTS....
    "For the food we are about to receive, we are truly thankful..."   

I live in a humble crooked house. It is tiny by modern standards, it is old, not centenarian, or from the civil war era, but old.  I have to admit that the weekend when the mega zillion dollar lottery was up for grabs, I bought a ticket. The store clerk asked me if I wanted to pay another dollar and take a chance at “doubling” the amount. I laughed ... if I was to win the many billions, I would not have enough lives to spend it, let alone doubled the amount!!! Dreams danced in front of me for the hours prior to the drawing ... what would I do, sure, the usual.  I would pay all my bills, would see what my kids' needs are, and after all was taken care of, I would remodel my kitchen. Now, I don't want a modern kitchen, although I would like modern conveniences, like a dishwasher, and a nice refrigerator... perhaps a garbage disposal...but I want it to look vintage, with lots of wood and a bar or a very old, heavy, weathered, wooden table, where my guests would sit and have treats while I cook. My kitchen is usually the busiest place in the house when we have a gathering. Friends walk around the kitchen or sit at the dining room table while meals are being prepared. I like them to come and feel at home. That is the most important thing I like to convey, to make my visitors comfortable and free to serve themselves to treats, tea or soda. As non-drinkers, in here guests will have to bring their own libations. That is allowed.

In my kitchen there is a pantry that husband built for me. A whole side of the door shelves is devoted to tea of all kinds.

 I also have a lovely collection of mugs, china  and other tea cups. Tea is an important part of my life. It implies comfort, healing, elegance and inspiration. When I am ill, I drink tea. When I sew or create, I drink tea. When I paint, I drink tea. If I spin, weave or knit, it is very likely that I have a cup of tea as well. And I like to chose special cups for different reasons. Some are very large, others very fine.  It depends on my mood at the moment.

A year ago I discovered the delicious flavor of Maple tea....it is the most soothing and soft of teas...."The d'erable", is called in Canada....it has that je ne se quois sound....so French! The d'erable joins my other favorite, Peach tea and Christmas Eve tea.....  gifts from one of my daughters. She gave me Christmas Eve, Christmas Morning and Christmas Day teas....

Also, in my kitchen, the one that will be remodeled when I win the lottery, I have a collection of cook books of all flavors. And inside each, you are most likely to find special cards, letters, little drawings and pictures of my children and grandchildren and other family members. Years of life between those pages surprise me when I look for a special recipe.

 On the shelves I have gadgets from my travels.

 A mortar and pestle made its way to my kitchen directly  from Chile in my daughter's backpack!! I have kitchen towels, cutting boards and oven mitts that family and friends have collected for me on their own travels .  My rolling pin is vintage, of course, from Chile.

Chilean miniature pottery

A Chilean ox cart carved from wood

Spices put together by a friend and her family

A guardian mouse

                                               THE EMPANADAS

In this family we have special food traditions. Each Christmas, for example, I cook empanadas, a pastry filled with seasoned ground beef, onions, olives, a slice of hard-boiled egg,  raisins, salt, pepper, paprika and cumin, then baked in the oven. I also make some that are pure cheese, and when you bite into them, the hot cheese goes further than your arm can extend.... These empanadas are made the day before as I do all the foods for Christmas. Then, on the big day, the family can enjoy food and I can rest...

Gluten free upside down apple and cherry cake

Gluten free foccacia

"Regular" and gluten free apple pies...hard to tell the difference!

A must have...Lemon-sugar cookies...corn free

 Since husband has a series of allergies and food intolerances, and one daughter is allergic to EVERYTHING that has corn, I carefully chose my menus so everyone is happy and well fed. 

At one time, oldest daughter became a vegan, now she is a vegetarian...thank God...cooking vegan was harder than adjusting to all the food intolerances in the family! And of course my son, now that he is a serious competing cyclist, has troubles keeping his weight up and eats very healthy...up to 5000 calories daily during racing season! So there must be nutritious caloric energizing foods on the table as well.  The following foods usually will do the trick....

Nutritious chicken stew....

Cranberries

Fruit

"The usual suspect"...

 I have a lovely collection of pottery, most of it made by my friend Cherie. I use it daily.... 

 
I love to cook, when I want to, and when I am in the mood. There are times when I simply don't care to enter my kitchen and would rather put a lock in it and eat out every meal. It goes in cycles.

My kitchen is a combination Tuscany, Chile and early garage sale style. The walls are brick color and on the arch above the sink I painted a scene from my childhood, Melipilla where my ancestors lived. Home of orchards and famous wines.... and the little church where paternal grandfather used to play his violin and cello. 

When one of the big quakes happened about 20 years ago, all that remained of that church was the wall that held the organ pipes. Dad said that you could still see the organ above. It had to be destroyed as the wall was torn down. On my recent trip to Chile I saw the “rebuilt” church, this time with a “keep out” sign. The quake two years ago did much damage again.

Near my kitchen I have a little hutch. Tiny memories fill the top....miniature  Coke bottles, pottery trinkets, tea cups....

Look how tiny and perfect this kettle is!

Stored in the hutch, is the china that my mother in law gave me. Reminds me of the china my Mother used to have. The one that I only saw on special occasions, with tiny flowers. Mother also had a set of crystal wine goblets. My brother found one that he sent me about a year ago, with a note attached...the last remains of my childhood memories.....

And when grandma Kitty, my maternal grandmother died, my aunt sent me a set of champagne glasses that were used at her wedding. I have used these on special occasions for a toast...

  

Grandma Kitty's champagne glass... must be at least 100 years old

There is something about a kitchen. It brings people together It "gathers".  I like my kitchen, but someday I will remodel it and will  love it. My life revolves around it when family and friends are here, when holidays arrive. It exudes warmth and friendship. It fills the senses. It evokes and makes memories. It feeds the body and soul...


And on other news...


I went to the bank on Friday, the teller wished me a happy mother's day and gave me a carnation... what a lovely surprise!

 I had to wait at the gas line, but had something to keep me busy...

I went to lunch with a friend and she surprised me with a rose....

I warped my little loom...

Made balls out of the lovely wool daughter Paula and her family gave me sometime ago...

A tangled mess!!

Untangling...

To the swift...

Made three lovely, good size balls of wool!

Selecting my colors to start a little Andean tapestry...

Sketching and Andean theme

And I started some ideas to design a 4x6 ft wall quilt for Paula and her family. A marine theme, of course, ... it will go from light to deep dark at the bottom of the ocean....

And at work...I had the opportunity to say "Thank you for your service" to a Marine. He came to have some patches made and applied to a vest to be sent to the Vietnam Wall to honor a fallen comrade.  When his friend perished,  the Marine was sent to retrieve the dead and wounded. The plane was full and they were unable to bring him back. So, fighting back tears, he asked if  I would embroider the patches. I did...and when he asked for the cost, I said it's free, and shook his hand..... and thanked him....I was so happy to have this opportunity.... it did my heart good....

Designed and digitized on my computer

Transferred to my embroidery machine....

It is Mother's day weekend. I have been blessed to experience motherhood........Hope your day is lovely....
 
Maria

The Quilt Peddlers

The Quilt Peddlers

Quilt: "A coverlet for a bed, made of two layers of fabric with some soft substance, as wool or down, between them and stitched in patterns or tufted through all thicknesses in order to prevent the filling from shifting".   Google Dictionary

Joe and I started our quilt show season. Long, exhausting weekends, rush set ups, rush take downs, hopeful days, when we pray customers will love our sewing, embroidering and quilting machines and buy one, or more, at wonderful prices only offered during the show. We will have several of these events as the summer approaches.

This weekend show was held at the Fairgrounds in Roseburg, Oregon, about 2 hours from our home. Set up was Thursday, show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with take down after the show, packing the van and the trailer, to and from, in pouring rain. What made this weekend different, was that I had severe plantar fasciitis, two bad knees and a sciatic that decided to join the other pains. Luckily the hotel had a very warm swimming pool and a delicious hot tub that eased the discomfort.  However, I had to walk on the outer sides of my feet in order to make it through the day.

But, enough about me and back to the fun part. Quilt shows are interesting events. Fabric and notions vendors set up their booths with colorful offerings. Fabrics of all designs and colors, threads, books and kits galore. Samples and demonstrations to entice visitors to join the sewing and quilting family. How can you resist, when the samples are there to be savored and touched, and people are willing to help you figure how much fabric you will need for a specific project, what colors and what the project will look like when finished. Also participating are inventors of the latest gadgets, special rulers, wooden frames and quilt hangers.

The Quilter's Guild had an interesting and historical booth

We brought in our new and VERY large long arm quilter, 12 ft in length. We had to buy a 14 ft. trailer just to transport this beast.  Also  a 5 ft. long arm and a sit down one, all made by the Tin Lizzie company. The large quilting machine features a robot which can work on the most impressive designs and perfect stitches. You just tell it what pattern you want, where on the fabric should it go, how many times you want it repeated, or when you want it to stop, press the on button and go. An amazing machine. You can almost hear this robot think! You can also do free hand quilting, but why, when you have this mechanical brain doing the work for you! And then there is the smaller Tin Lizzie, where we demonstrated free hand quilting. Another impressive machine. And last, if space is really a problem, the sit-down quilter is a smaller machine, where you move the fabric instead of the machine. I would watch people be mesmerized by observing the robot do it's magic. Some wanted to play with the machines and have a try at quilting. They were hooked right from the start. You could tell, as they made several trips back to the booth, then bring in their friends and husbands the next day. I kept reminding these women that, at our store, we have a sign that says “Your husband just called and said that you can buy as much as you want”...

Free hand quilting with the Tin Lizzie

 

"The 12 ft. beast"

Customers commenting on the 12 ft. long arm quilter and watching a demo.

The robot is absolutely awesome

Luscious!

An interesting thing happens at these shows: men who quilt are very quiet. They walk by, look, leave, come back and then ask if they can try quilting. They are usually very good! And then they open up, and tell you that they ARE quilters ….

The Umpqua Valley Quilters Guild show is very well organized. The guild members really appreciate the vendors. They take care of your booth if you need to leave. They feed you lunch every day and keep a snack place open, just for the sellers. They come by with water, to make sure that you are well hydrated. This was their 29^th Annual Quilt Show and the theme was “Kaleidoscope of Color”. Everywhere one could see color in all forms, fabrics, glass beads, boxes, signs.

There is so much talent at this show. From tiny quilts...

 to extremely large...

From the traditional

 to the very modern...

Hand quilted and quilted by machine. Made by experts and made by novices. Adult and children creations, there is a little bit of everything, even a little store from the guild where you can find some lovely treasures.

Santa made an appearance ...

 And the red, white and blue was present...

The Quilt Guild made quilts for children...

 Customers were able to put together blocks that the guild ladies would sew.

Their Featured Quilter was Jane Yurk, of Roseburg. She has been quilting over a decade and is extremely talented. She is great at paper piecing and a wonderful teacher.

The Show also featured an Honored Quilter, Doris Koozer, who begun quilting in the  4^th grade. Like Jane, Doris is very talented. On the last day she wore a luscious blouse she had constructed...

I was inspired to, perhaps, attempt to make my own. Doris purchased one of our Tin Lizzie machines. I am anxious to see next year's creations on her new long arm quilter.

 Doris, with her new toy!

 One meets all kinds of nice people at these events. We all drag our feet at the end of the day, we all hurry to take down our booths at the same time. Some have trailers, motor homes, horse trailers to carry their wares. We see each other at different shows, we get to know each other. I have met young Mothers who have to make arrangements for their children, while they work the show, older couples, Internet businesses that want to show their faces, new entrepreneurs, established shops..... There is great work and sacrifice that goes into these weekends. For some, like us, it is our bread and butter, you must put your best foot forward and have a lot of hope!

It rained heavily on the Thursday, when we were packing up. It had rained for days on the coast. Everyone complained..but I secretly snickered... you know me....a rainy day is "A Maria Kind-of-Day"

When one arrives to the show place, it looks rather empty. But it only takes a few minutes for the room to change into a colorful sight. Guild members work like bees getting it all done with precise moves, like a perfect ballet. They know what to do, where to hang the quilts.  Then the judging begins. The chosen judges walk and inspect the more than 300 quilts to come to a decision as to who will win a ribbon. Much thought goes into this process which takes place before the show opens. 

  

Guests are given a glove, you should never touch a show quilt with bare hands. Some come all three days, others just one or two. Most make a weekend out of the show. They come in groups, alone, with spouses. Some husbands participate, others looks for chairs in which to relax and watch the world go by.

And as quickly as they quilts go up, they come down. Guild members carefully fold them and arrange them on tables to be picked up. 

The best of show was a lovely rooster...

He was very cute and the creator was so excited!

Lovely tea pots

Round quilts

Quilts perform on stage...

Elegant Egret

Funny Fishies

Kitty cats

Unbelievable designs

The Three Sisters, Oregon

A quilt made from fabric selvedges!

Years of saving selvedges...

And from this humble blogger .... Sunset Beach...

Moon Over Coos Bay, easy strip quilt ...

... and Forgiving Squares, all classes I have or  will teach at our store.

And while the Quilt Show was taking place...directly across...

...but I decided that I was too busy to participate :)

Happy quilting!

Maria