Porch Quilt : Winter

A Little Porch Time quilt

Hi! Oh my gosh, it is windy!

I hope to show you this very cool video at the end here. Despite the days' sunshine, I just want to stay indoors and hide.

Yep, the kitty has it right! I feel like I don't get much done but Oh I am tired.
It's the wind! That's my excuse.
And I need an excuse because I feel like a little kid who did not finish her homework. Today is the  day to show our progress on Lori's "A Little Porch Time" quilt along.
Actually we---I ---was supposed to get this baby finished, but no.

Lori said she'd love to see our quilts anyway, so here goes:

 

  

I did the stems on the borders. Partially. That is it. I figured out that dark brown birds will work on my mud border....and I patched together the ''remember me'' block ground for the backing, using my NYC fabrics. Pink beach combed template.
That's it...not a good show and tell :-(

I had estimated that the borders were about 25% of the total labor here...so doing the applique in one month, or even two was a [failed] challenge. I had hoped this would be a good January project but now I realize I rarely sit quietly and hand sew. Only on the beach, in the summer, where there are no chores, no calls, no post office runs.  I can't do fine hand sewing and watch TV, so it's senseless to think I'll sew during my favorite shows, the only time I sit and do nothing, usually.  For a few discouraged days I seriously planned to put the quilt top away, folded up with the un-stored as yet beach chairs [H. Sandy?] by the back door. I'd save the darn borders for next June, when I could knock them out happily in a couple sunny afternoons.

But I do love working on it and so I have been trying to pick it up some evenings when one of my kids is home, eating their supper...we sit in companionable, or so I believe, silence....he watches golf. I sew on my Porch quilt...for half an hour. Maybe we both think about hot carefree summer days?

 January is  a big month for me on Ebay and etsy, as I make and list many hearts and Valentine-y things. And you know how I love make-it-do  inspirations.

These hearts have little pockets on their reverse sides---a friend who wears gorgeous bespoke suits gave me a tattered suit jacket, for the fine wool. [oh his shirts!].....

But what I loved were all his fancy little hidden pockets in the ombre grey-rose silk lining.

A secret message to one's Valentine.....

And this was from a thrifting expedition that I haven't shown you guys yet. A souvenir shell box, once marked Miami Beach. 

I removed the writing...added a felted wool pad inside, for a pincushion. An old photo, a silk rosette [remember these, that awful vest?]...and we have a Sailor's Valentine of sorts.

Last make-do... an almost new but discarded bolster/ bed pillow. The child wanted memory foam, not primaloft. Instead of throwing it out, I took some unused batik  cotton , sewed a tube.

Squished in the bolster and tied the ends with linen twine.

A draft guard for my damaged deck door!

Good thing because here is the scene outside that door and window---

crazy guy on a sail surfboard, 50-60 mph gusting wind



love

           lizzy

    gone to the beach ................

 

 Lori's Blog:  Humble Quilts Lori's quiltalong/ porch quilt

 

there is a linky at the end so you all can see other quilters' versions of The Porch

 

 

Winter Beach

Hi! Let's go for a walk!
I was watching treasure hunter videos on You Tube the other night! Very inspirational, lol. And since the wind died down a little I could get out with my cameras.

You can see the path to the beach is already rebuilding itself, above.

My town is helping the dunes rebuild by piling up discarded Christmas trees. The branches attract sand and the dunes repair themselves naturally.
I was surprised to see so many trees.  I often think I am the only person around who buys a real once-live Christmas tree, in this age of prelighted green plastic. It's also kind of nice to think one's tree, once admired and treasured, then just tossed aside, can have a second life rebuilding the beach. Cool.

This isn't a very pretty picture, below---unless you think about what was here just a month ago. This is where that huge storm debris garbage dump was! Many trucks came just before Christmas and hauled the junk away in only a couple days. It was many football fields' worth of, sadly, the remnants of peoples' homes.

....

Heading west, far away, I could see this red thing! [just to the right of the brilliant security light which is actually another mile or two beyond and marks a washed out dangerous stretch of beach.]
See it? Big as a mom-van...whatever could it be?

 

 

No! It is the red channel buoy, still here. There is a red flasher out 10 miles in the shipping lane, so I thought this one had been hauled back out to sea.

But no. Either it isn't ours, or it was easier/ faster right after Sandy to just put a new one there. Its timed red flasher warns large ships away and marks the entrance, to my east, to the inner bay and fishermen's marinas. It contains a computer operated light sequence, and broadcasts information like wave height, air and water temperature, wind velocity. 
It sends out information to ships that lets them locate their safe routes in our surprisingly treacherouse water.
You'd think it was valuable enough to salvage, wouldn't you? Well unless it is from South Jersey or somewhere far....

 

 

Then the early winter sunset began, catching me by surprise a couple miles from home.
You'll notice the sky and beach get lighter again as the sun peeks beneath the snow clouds, before the final dusk.
.
I'll just let the pictures talk, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then...the full moon, the January Wolf Moon, rose in the eastern sky...

 

 

 

 

And as I headed home in the near dark the first fluffy snowflakes began to fall. Pink snowflakes....happy sigh.

And hot tea...

love

        lizzie

           gone to the beach

PS   This was the only treasure:

Isn't it so cute? But too heavy to drag home. Look at the darling handpainted bows---even on the seats!--- 
and white weathered wood.

They seem to be old stadium seats that someone redid as a country kitsch, shabby chic bench. .  Too bad I have nowhere to put it...

 

***don't forget to click and supersize the photos!

Green Chili / Chili Verde

Hi! Isn't this perfect weather for chili! It is suddenly so cold. And so windy. And a pot of fragrant chili warms are hearts as well as our tummies.

Admit it, doesn't cold weather make you extra hungry? I know I am starving,lol, after a long cold beach walk. And my family loves chili, especially chili made with lots and lots of colorful veggies. So when my Colorado internet friend Lise mentioned, oh so casually, that she was making GREEN chili, I was intrigued. And you know me, always with the Crock Pot experiments.

I'll put a couple recipe links for green chili at the end because it seems that Lise is a ''toss some in the pot'' cook like me. You know, all little of this , a little of that. She did kindly send directions though..and a wonderful link for the spices which I cannot buy here. Savory Seaonings

Aren't they beautiful! And great fast shipping too. For the Chili Verde I needed the green adobo and the green chili powder.

Lise pan sears everything first. I was too lazy.  I cut boneless pork cutlets into strips;

I also used some leftover ground beef, mostly just to use it up...sauteed with a diced Vidalia/ sweet onion and garlic.

That went in the slow cooker, along with a can of fire roasted tomatoes, four small cans of diced green chilies [mild, not hot],  2/3 of a box of chicken broth.

Added cut up peppers, carrots, squash...
 [summer yellow Plus butternut.

My family really loves their veggies.]
Fresh cilantro.

Lise told me not to add okra but I did it anyway. Was fine....and I added a bag of frozen corn towards the end of the cooking time.

Seasonings to taste: besides the green adobo and green chili powder I added a bit if  Savory Seasonings black chili powder, a T. of  ''sugar''[Splenda], salt , pepper, cumin, paprika, Mexican spiced chocolate-chili powder, a hint of cinnamon. This is a mild favorful chili. If you like your chili hot, you could add some jalapeno peppers or hot chili power. Be careful, though. I notice the slow cooker enhances spicy peppers and things get too hot to eat.

More fresh cilantro added at the end.

Lise mentioned her onions weren't quite as cooked as she'd have liked, so I cooked the Crock Pot on high for two hours then 6 hours on low.

Serve  on a bed of shaved lettuce, with cheese and sour cream.

Trader Joe's Veggie-Flax seed taco chips for a bit of crunch.

I have no idea why these not-corn chips are ''healthier''---or even if they are?--but we love flax seed and these were great, very tasty and so thin and crisp.

Verdict: wonderful chili!

It got yummied up and eaten before I could freeze half. A wonderful winter [or summer!] easy meal. Only drawback..it would have been better, more caramelized and richer tasting, if it had been cooked in my le Creuset dutch oven, in the regular oven...instead of the Crock Pot. The Crock Pot steams instead of roasting. Next time: into the oven for this new favorite.

PS Good for Super Bowl Sunday? You can serve this to your football fans and feel happy they are eating something delicious and healthy.

Thank you, Lise!

for recipes, try: Martha Stewart's Green Chili 

                          http://mexicanfood.about.com

                          The Soup Chick's Green Chili Stew

 

 

 

I read over half a dozen recipes, via Google search. Bottom line, you put everything in the pot, add seasonings, and voila~ easy-peasy!

love

           lizzy

            gone to the beach.....

 

 

 

 

 

pls enlarge the photos by clicking on any one pix.