Orange Cranberry Sauce Goodness

2 Replies

Years ago, I discovered an oranged cranberry sauce recipe. We enjoyed it, but it made enough to feed an army. It was also a little too cinnamony, with not quite enough orange flavor.

I’ve tweaked this for years, and have made this version for the last few years. I think I finally have it right!

Orange Cranberry Sauce Goodness

1 bag of fresh or frozen cranberries (12 – 16 oz, depending on the brand)
1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1 small cinnamon stick (3 – 4 inches long)
1 small, seedless orange
orange juice

Rinse cranberries (if frozen, no need to thaw). Add to a medium saucepan. Zest orange onto cranberries. Peel orange and add sections. Add sugar. Stir, then add enough orange juice to just cover.

Turn on heat, bring to a boil and then simmer for one hour or until the cranberries have broken down and start to thicken.

Turn off heat and allow to cool enough to add to a bowl or container and then refrigerate, uncovered, preferably overnight. The sauce will gel in the fridge.

My sauce, still cooling before being removed to the fridge. Once it’s cold, you can cover the container.

Serve cold.

It’s also fantastic on leftover turkey sandwiches! Yum!

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

Photobucket

TTMT #137 – Shorter Than Usual

2 Replies

A short video with some Show & Tell…

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

Photobucket

A Little Focus

Leave a reply

My 8th grader is flying home from Seattle right now, on a plane full of middle school honors band kids, directors and (I’m sure) exhausted chaperones after a very successful concert at the Western International Band Clinic (scroll down to see Deerpark Middle School Honors Band).

Knowing he’s headed home after not seeing him for almost five days is making it a wee bit hard for me to focus on anything for more than a few minutes.

That’s a good time for crochet. I can let my hands work the yarn while my mind jumps around in excitement at seeing my kiddo!

Today, I’m working on the Box Stitch Carriage Robe pattern, which is really just fancy talk for a baby blanket! This pattern is an old favorite for children’s blanket charities, originally shared by a Project Linus volunteer.

Mine blanket will go to The Linus Connection, as usual!

While Project Linus and The Linus Connection are not the same organization, we do have the same mission, to provide blankets to children in crisis and all of our patterns can be used interchangeably.

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

Photobucket

November Linus

4 Replies

With my Babylock back in working order and all missing stitches found, I was able to complete Stars for Linus quilts #3 and #4, as well as quilting a Scrappy Brick quilt top donated by Aalia.

Something I need to do more often: photograph quilts from the back. My free-motion is improving, but I think I need to only quilt one per day from on!

Finished after a month off from crocheting after repetitive stress kicked my crochet muscles sideways.

Granny Ghan donated by Amber

All the blankets above were donated to The Linus Connection during yesterday’s meeting. You can lots of great Show & Tell photos right here, including a couple of photos of yours truly!

It’s been such a busy time around the O household, that I completely forgot that yesterday marked my 9-year Linus anniversary!

I went to my first meeting in November 2002, invited by Osie, who I barely knew at the time. Our daughters were in first grade and in Brownies together. I heard her talking about Linus to another mom and mentioned I had made some baby blankets over the summer and would like to donate them. She encourage met to bring the blankets to the meeting.

It’s no small statement to say that volunteering for The Linus Connection changed my life. It gave my craft a cause, and encouraged me to learn to do things I had never before considered. It gave me friends I would not have had otherwise. At a time when I was a stay-at-home mom with two small children, it gave me something that was my very own. It’s really hard to sum up what the last nine years have meant to me.

These are my very first Linus blankets, donated in November 2002:

The predecessor to Oh Wavy Baby

…and Oh Wavy Baby is born

Linus Sideways Shell…see, I told you I’ve been making this one forever!!

You might be wondering where the quilts are. Well, I wasn’t a quilter nine years ago…

This is my first, very ugly quilt, donated in May 2003. I didn’t know about quarter-inch seams or rotary cutters. As horrible as it is, it was my first nudge toward quilting. I was ready to learn. The yellow afghan is a knitted sampler that was donated in pieces and I finished putting together.

My first real quilt, donated November 2003, one year after I started volunteering for Linus. I pieced, tied and bound this myself, encouraged by Osie. This was the result of my first ever Linus Work Day.

What a wonderful journey it has been. I found a passion for volunteer work I didn’t realize I had and made some of the best friends that I’ve ever had. Not least is the personal satisfaction that I receive knowing that my quilts and afghans have been providing comfort for children in their time of crisis all across Central Texas for the last nine years.

Photobucket

You mean my secret identity?

Leave a reply

As many of you that have followed my blog for any length of time are probably aware, I’m a big ole fangirl. I love Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Trek and all kinds of other awesomely geeky stuff.

It brings me joy. So I quilt it!

My other reality is called Fandom In Stitches.

I talk about FiS all the time on Talk to Me Tuesday, mainly because it’s just so much fun!

Currently, we’re running a block of the month themed around The Hobbit called There and Back Again. I’m working with three other uber-talented designers, Michelle Thompson, Lilja Björk Sigurdórsdóttir and Schenley Pilgram to bring free Hobbit-themed patterns to our readers once a month for a year, culminating in a quilt layout that will create a 37″ x 37″ quilt.

Aside from our current BOM, we also post all kinds of other fandomy goodness! I thought it would be fun to do a little update on some of my contributions to Fandom In Stitches so you can see what I get up to in my “other” job!

The Potter Puppet Pals patterns live on Fandom In Stitches’ Harry Potter Page!

Fandom in Stitches is a huge amount of fun for me, not only because of the obvious appeal of doing anything related to fandom and fun, but because I get to work with almost 20 other talented designers, all sharing their talent for free.

One of the things we all share in is the Request page. This gives the designers the opportunity to see what kind of patterns our readers are looking for.

Many of us use this as inspiration for new patterns!

Scooby’s Tag, blogged on Fandom In Stitches

Free Pattern direct link

I also enjoy writing for FiS, and while it’s a challenge to keep up with, it’s well worth the effort when we, the designers, see projects being made from our patterns.

More of my recent FiS patterns:

Original Apple Logo

Modern Apple Logo

Portal Guy

(EQ version on the left, pieced by me on the right)

Aperture Science Logo

(EQ version on the left, pieced by me on the right)

Vampire Fangs

(EQ version on the left, pieced by Cat Magraith on the right)

Probably the most fun for me is getting to stretch myself creatively doing what I love best and in a way that is both fun and recognizable to other quilters. Fandom In Stitches, and it’s inspiration, Harry Potter Paper Piecing, have been responsible for turning many non-quilters into serious quilters!

See all our patterns!

Fandom In Stitches Pattern Pages:

I hope you’ll visit FiS and see all the wonderful patterns created by talented designers all over the world!

Photobucket

TTMT #136 – Mood Lighting

2 Replies

In which I discuss general craftiness, updating my living room, Fandom In Stitches (we have a FB group for TABABOM!), The Linus Connection, specifically Stars For Linus, and making baby goodies!

Baby Sweater pattern by Beth Koskie
Rib Look Baby Hat pattern by Kathy North
Very Easy Newborn Booties pattern by Beverly A. Qualheim

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

Photobucket

No News Is Good News

1 Reply

I’ve been a bit busy the last few days in my number one roll as Mom. Things should be calming down after this week as my eighth grader travels to Seattle to perform at the Western International Band Clinic with the rest of the Deerpark Middle School Honors Band.

We’re super excited for the whole band, and I think they’re excited to go, and to see light at the end of the proverbial tunnel after their last six months of rehearsals!

I hope you’ll indulge me a little as I share the complete awesome of the Deerpark Middle School Honors Band.

Honestly, folks, these are seventh and eighth graders. Almost all of these kids started playing for the very first time in sixth grade. The music they are making are nothing short of phenomenal.

My kiddo is the boy on the right center row at the end…black glasses and clarinet!

We’ll be back on the crafty track tomorrow with a new Talk To Me Tuesday!

Photobucket

Heart With A Cause

Leave a reply

Today is Veterans’ Day in the United States. I thought today would be the right day to share this special free pattern with you.

Heart With A Cause
a free 6″ paper pieced pattern

Get it on Craftsy!

There are many causes that have a ribbon to represent them. Another one that is dear to my heart is the pink ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness.

I hope this little pattern will bring a little comfort to someone in your life.

Awareness ribbon color meanings on Wikipedia.

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

Photobucket

A Little Flickr

Leave a reply

Whenever I’m a little tired or feeling somewhat uninspired, I love to go to flickr and click through the zillion and two fantastically creative photos. What’s even extra fun for me is when I come across a project made with one of my patterns like Ruthiequilt’s Penguin ornament, made with one of the patterns from Holly Jolly.

Ruthiequilts has her own Santa’s Helper!

Also floating around on flickr were a couple more Sweet Sue Tops The Tree. I love the variety of fabrics used for this block and how unique it makes each one!

by Mona’s Creativity

by ams2010

Sweet Sue Tops The Tree – a free 12″ paper pieced pattern

For best results, print with scaling set to “none.”

Original Sweet Sue Post

Sweet Sue is part of :

Thank you flickr friends for making my day!

I special thank you to everyone that has participated in We Are The Face of Quilting so far. I’ve loved getting to see your faces and meeting new friends. If you have not yet shared your quilting story, please be sure to check out this post. I’d love to hear from you!

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

Photobucket

The Face of Quilting

18 Replies

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that non-quilters can’t help but generalizing about who quilters are.

I think I’ve read one article too many that puts quilters exclusively in the “50 plus” or in the “retirement home” and maybe, just maybe, had one too many people mention that I’m too young to be a quilter, or, another favorite, that quilting is “a dying art.”

Not in my world, bucko.

My mother quilts, her mother quilted, my dad’s mother quilts. My great-grandmothers quilted. I have friends, young and young-at-heart, from every demographic and from different geographical locations around the world that all identify themselves as quilters.

So why the pigeon-holing? Does the non-quilty world really think that only one type of person is a quilter and that quilting is really, truly dying?

My name is Jennifer.

I am 38 years old and I am a quilter.

I have been sewing and crafting my entire life. I learned to use a needle and thread when I was a child. Craftiness of all kinds carried over into my adulthood, and by my late twenties, I was quilting.

I would like to challenge you, my quilting friends, to show your face.

We Are The Face of Quilting.

We are all ages and come from all socio-economic groups, religious backgrounds and political demographics. We live in all countries of the world and we are connected by quilting. It brings us together and gives us common ground. These are our faces.

Take this message, We Are The Face of Quilting, and write about being a quilter. Share it on your blog. Add your photo to our flickr group and tell the world: I am a quilter.

Grab this to share on your blog:

<a href="https://sewhooked.com/2011/11/08/the-face-of-quilting/" target="_blank">
<img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6238/6325665113_06a0e380bb_m.jpg" width="240" height="240" alt="We Are The Face of Quilting"></a>

Use it anywhere you share your quilting story. I’ve set comments for this post to allow trackbacks and pingbacks, which simply means that if you link to this post, it will show up in the comments. It’s a great way to meet new quilting friends.

What will I get from this? Nothing other than the satisfaction of seeing your faces and the affirmation that what I believe is true: quilter’s faces are like quilts themselves. They come in all colors, styles and sizes. They are from all over the world and they are timeless.

Photobucket