The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The Good:

The past couple of days I got lots of visitors to my blog. How fun! Holly Holderman included me in the Blog-able Feast. Yum. Yum. Make sure you check back at her blog on Wed. 9/26 to participate in a contest and give-away! The past 12 days have been so much fun. She has featured many talented bloggers who have shared delicious desserts and shared with us what they are working on. Elizabeth, Brenda, Anna, and Pam...just to name a few! (Believe me, I was honored that Holly invited me to participate!)

I also got a lot of visitors from Gina Halladay's QuiltersBuzz column. I was a guest writer (is that like a ghost writer?) for her and wrote about an awesome quilter named Ronda K. Beyer. Go check it out when you get a chance. And check Gina's column often. She posts lots of interesting news happening in the quilting world.

Also Anna Maria Horner posted a picture recently on her blog of the quilt I quilted for her earlier this year featuring her darling Chocolate Lollipop fabric. It's cute! You should go take a look. (BTW, I just made a cute baby quilt featuring that same fabric and I'll post a picture of the finished quilt soon!...finally got the binding done...my least-favorite part of the process...no time to just sit!)

The Bad:

I'm still feeling the *%@?! effects of Lyme Disease which I contracted from a tick bite last summer on a camping trip. The doc is still trying to find the right meds. He tells me in his 15 years of practice, I'm only the second patient he's had who tested positive for Lyme Disease. Does that mean he's just guessing on what to prescribe? My kids ask me if I got it from eating too many limes! Ha Ha, not funny.

The Ugly:

Ok, maybe Ugly is a little harsh...just in case Justine Bateman reads this blog. But if anyone knows her, please put her in touch with me and I would be happy to make another patchwork dress for her. (Remember her from Family Ties?) Poor choice of fabrics, not very flattering at all. Have her give me a call!

(Justine Bateman)

Chocolate and Zucchini, they should win an Oscar!

...as part of the Blog-able Feast...welcome to Vivian Love's Blog...

As Dave Barry said, “…you cannot grow just one zucchini. Minutes after you plant a single seed, hundreds of zucchini will barge out of the ground and sprawl around the garden, menacing the other vegetables. At night, you will be able to hear the ground quake as more and more zucchinis erupt.”

This is what usually happens in our garden!

My son, Todd, age five, with our bounty of zucchini.Todd, age seventeen, "Why do we still have to grow zucchini, Mom?"

When my children were little we would plant things in our garden that were easy to grow. Zucchini was one. Every year we would end up with a great bounty of zucchini. In order to get the kids to eat all that zucchini, I would make up different recipes. One really good one was:

Chocolate, Chocolate-chip Zucchini Cookies
Remember, “chocolate doesn't make the world go around ... but it certainly makes the ride worthwhile!”…and it helps you eat up all your zucchini!

The Cast of Characters:

½ c. butter flavored Crisco
½ c. granulated sugar
½ c. brown suger, firmly packed
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 t. vanilla (I like Mexican vanilla the best!)
2 ¼ c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1 ¾ c. grated zucchini (drain well)
1 c. chocolate chips

The Script:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Spray cookie sheets with Pam. Cream together Crisco and sugars until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, soda and salt and gradually stir this into creamed mixture.

Fold in grated zucchini and chocolate chips.

Can "The Purse Dog" have some? No way! The Purse Dog says, "Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup!)

Drop cookies onto cookie sheets. I make mine big when I make this dessert (you’ll see why!). Bake for 13-15 minutes. Remove and place on foil to cool. Makes about a dozen large cookies or 4 dozen small ones.

The climax of this Epic Drama (or is it a ‘One-Hit-Wonder’?)

It’s all about presentation, according to my friend Martha Stewart. Did I ever tell you about the time my daughters and I met her? (It was long before she went to prison.)

Notice who is making a cameo in our little drama. It's none other than some new Lakehouse Dry Goods pink hydrangea fabric! So pretty, don't you think?
Top these cookies with ice cream and syrup. They’re rich and delicious!

Your family will be big fans!

Epilogue:

What is the Director of this Epic Drama (Vivian Love) working on these days?

...a new project with Lakehouse Dry Goods fabrics. Soon to be a pattern. First inspired by a quilt I made for my daughter’s wedding. Stay tuned to see what the new project will be!

...and I’m also teaching freemotion machine quilting classes at Cranberry Quiltworks once a month. Above, you see a class sample I did with black cotton sateen and variegated threads.

End Credits:

Photos by Vivian Love, on location in Yorba Linda, California.

Fabrics by Holly Holderman's Lakehouse Dry Goods.

And of course,

No animals were harmed in the posting of this blog…(in fact they were spoiled!)

The Beauty of the Earth and Sky.

"For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies."

Beautiful earth: Blue Hydrangeas
I have been racking my brain trying to think of a quilt to make my daughter for her wedding. The colors of her home in Utah will be blue and chocolate brown. Her flowers for the wedding will be lovely blue hydrangeas. Well, one day I found some beautiful blue hydrangea fabric at my local quilt shop: "Hydrangeas & Raspberries" by Holly Holderman of Lake House Dry Goods. So pretty, don't you think!

That was a month ago.

I have been searching and searching through quilt magazines, the internet, quilt shops...asking all my quilting friends for their ideas. I couldn't find just the right quilt pattern to use for this fabric. I didn't want to cut up the big, beautiful blossoms.

One day while visiting the 'master quilters' in my friendship group (I am the rookie...believe me!) at Leah's in Orange, CA, I asked one of the store managers, Gretchen, for her advice. She got out a ruler and began measuring the size of the blossoms and she thought and thought. Then she said, "Vivian, don't you think your daughter would rather see your machine quilting? Why cut up the fabric at all? Just keep it whole and go crazy with the machine quilting!"

I smacked myself in the head and said "Why didn't I think of that!"


Here's the rest of the fabric I collected.

I'm working on it today. I know! I know! The wedding is only a week away. (That's the way Vivian Love works!) And....I bought double the fabric so I can make one for me too. Hey, I'm going to all this work on the wedding, don't I deserve a little wedding keepsake too! (That's the way Vivian Love thinks!) I'll post a picture of the quilt when it's done.

Beautiful skies: Philmont Ranch, Cimmaron, New Mexico

Yes! It really looks like this!