red and white do not always make pink

Title:  Little Red Hen Quilt
Size:  Approx. 30 inches square
Fabrics:  Snow and Tomato (Kona Cotton)

When I first designed this quilt I was having a love affair with wonky stars.  I even have a row of them cascading down the back of my zig zag quilt.  This design is simple, and the construction was even simpler.

I didn't prewash any of the fabrics so I was really worried when it was time to throw the quilt into the washer.  For good measure I also threw in a Color Catcher sheet to prevent discoloring.  It turns out I had worried for nothing. A half an hour later I opened up the washer to find that the sheet had not picked up any stray dye!  Phooey!  I guess it does attest to the superior quality of Robert Kaufman fabrics, though.

Anyway, I'm really happy about the results.  It feels really good to see a simple sketch on graph paper turn into an actual quilt. 

My favorite part of the quilt is the little touches of red on the binding.  It reminds me of striped calf-high athletic socks.

A big bag of excuses

Reasons why I haven't been posting lately:

• I'm going through a bout of post graduation blues
• I just adopted a new diet and work-out regimen
• I've been playing waaaaay too much Mario Kart Wii
• I'm lazy

Although all of the above has contributed to the sparse updates, I think the primary reason lies with my inability to handle set backs. 

See the puckering between the last two lines in the middle?  It's a huge problem that I've already tried to remedy twice now.  After several sessions of pulling out stitches, I put it aside and declared that I would think about it tomorrow (ala Scarlett O'Hara).  It's been nearly a week and the quilt is still unfinished.

I promise that I will have this quilt quilted, bound and washed by Wednesday.  I often break promises to myself, but I'll be damned if I break a promise to my reader(s).

Food

Today I made pita bread and roasted chickpeas.  I know bread making can seem really intimidating to most people.  But making pita bread is insanely easy.  I followed a recipe I found on thefreshloaf.com which included very detailed instructions. 

The dough after it's first rising

Divided and left under a damp dish towel for a 20 minute nap

Rolled flat and ready for the oven

Puffing

Look at the all the puffage! 

I also decided to whip up a snack for myself since the oven was already hot.  I drained and rinsed two cans of chickpeas and then patted them dry with a clean dish towel.  I then tossed them in a bowl along with some olive oil, curry powder, chili powder and red pepper flakes.

I spread the mixture on a cookie sheet lined with tinfoil and left them in the oven to crisp.

Yum!

Yeah, that's right, I ate the whole batch in a single sitting.  It's healthy snack so it gets the distinction of being one of my few guiltless pleasures.

Big ole mess

Remember those improvised blocks I made from scraps?  Well, I finally decided to make a mini quilt out of them.  My initial idea was to simply sew them together and create a back using additional scraps.  Not content with something simple, I made a few alterations.

I honestly don't know how to feel about it.  Part of me definitely hates it.  But the remaining part is keeping an open mind, hoping that the quilting and binding will improve the whole look of the quilt.

The plans I had for the back of the quilt under went several revisions.  I had a stack of "butt ends" that I cut off from the strips I used in the zig zag quilt. 

I sewed them together in rows and ended up with this:

I took out my rotary cutter.

Yuck.
Guys, I'm like King Midas in reverse.  :(