Playing catch up #3. It's Glam Clam, baby.

I took Glam Clam class by Latifah Saafir's last month through our Valley MQG and it was a lot of fun for everyone.  Here are some of the highlights from the class.

And this is my Glam Clam quilt top, using a 12" Glam Clam ruler.  I'm very happy with it.  This will be a gift for a friend.

Happy Quilting!!

Playing catch up #2. Let's make some jam!

We had family gathering at my father-in-law's home.  His white peach tree was loaded with peaches.  We didn't do a good job of thinning them this year, so the peaches are smaller than usual but they are really sweet and juicy.  They gave us some to take home with us, whopping 9 lbs. altogether.  Let's make some jams.

  
Peel and dice all the peach, I got 12 cups and used them all.  Put them in a bowl with 4 cups of sugar and 4 tbsp. lemon juice.  If you want your jam to be on the tart side, put more lemon juice in, one table spoon at a time.  Let them marinate for an hour.
 

  
Put the peach mixture in a large non-reactive pot and bring to boil.  Lower the fire and let simmer for 30-45 minutes.  Mash the peach mixture with potato masher and adjust the sweet and sour taste to your liking.   I like my jam tart, a little less sweet and chunky.  Continue to simmer until the temperature reach 220 F.  Do the cold plate testing until it's done.  You can read more about my jam making method here.
 

Ladle the jam into prepared sterilized jars.  Now I have 8 big jars to share with family and friends. 
 

 Have a great day!!

 

Playing catch up

I've been busy sewing and doing other things that I neglected to blog.  On top of being a slow writer, it's hard for me to decide what to write.  I have a lot to share and that would make the blog really long, so I'll share one thing per blog.  Here we go.....

Last time I mentioned the challenge that we had at our Valley MQG which is circle.  I had done some curve piecing on the coffee filter paper and one thing led to another and this is what I have done.
 

I laid some grey fabric and quilted it with walking foot as I go along.  I decided to do raw edge applique but I didn't use any adhesive on the fabric.  I used Aurifil threads; grey #2606 and #5004 to quilt on the rock area, the same #5004 on the black sky, white #2024 for the stars and beige #8339 on the moon.

This is the end result of the quilt.  I named this quilt "Midnight Moon".  It's measured at 22x23.5 inches.  There are a few firsts in this quilt.  This is my first art quilt, my first raw edge applique and it's the first time that I used facing to finish the quilt instead of normal binding.

I learned a lot from working on this quilt and had fun in the process.  I'll be doing more of this style of quilts in the future, I'm sure.

I want to dedicate this "Midnight Moon" quilt to my Thai college friend Piya Srisutham who passed away on June 6, 2017 from hemorrhagic stroke.  I had similar experience last year which you can read about it here.  His sudden and tragic death sent shock waves through our little group.  He was loved by many friends and colleagues.  He was kind, generous and thoughtful of others.  When I was in Thailand in 2015 visiting my mother in the hospital, he and his family came to visit us in the hospital.  He hardly knew my mom, but he came anyway.  He was so tired from working that he often dosed off while we were talking, but still, he came to visit me and my mom.

He loved his family very much and talked about them often.  He was very proud of his son who is studying in a University right now.  He will be greatly missed by many.  Rest in peace, my friend.  May God watch over you till we meet again.  Your good deeds will be forever remembered.

Embrace life and tell your family you love them everyday!!