What to do when Tortillas run amuck.......and we have a WINNER!!!!

Okay. I'm just human. Really, I am. I mean a blog can make you look REALLY GOOD! But the other day, I made a double batch of TORTILLA DOUGH and forgot to put the oil in. I thought they were a little stiff!

 What to do with such a mistake? It came to me, rather slowly, but it came to me. As I stared at my big lumpy mistake, I thought.....what is made from flour, salt, baking powder and milk? Why, of course, you idiot, I said to myself,.....CRACKERS!!!!

So I started rolling out dough. Whew! Not easy without the oil. See, I had already made little dough balls in preparation for making tortillas, so I just started rolling out big round crackers. To be successful crackers, I knew they had to be rolled VERY THIN.

 So, while resting my aching arms after having rolled out three of the rebellious little balls, IT CAME TO ME!!!! (A day of many revelations, yes, indeed.). Why not roll them out on my pasta roller?


So, I tried it!!!

And it worked!!!!

Instead of little balls, I made little oval hockey pucks.

I rolled them through on 7.....

and 5.....

and 3....

and poked them with a fork....

and cut them with my pizza cutter.....

and put them on the sheet.....

and salted them a little.....

and baked them for about 12 minutes.....

learning to rotate them so they baked evenly.....

and, VOILA, a lot of crackers.

Being half white and half whole wheat flour, they are rough and robust little crackers.....

very crisp, especially the browned ones.

Keep them damp under a layer of paper towels while you work.



I spread them with our favorite Black Olive Spread.


Very yummy and good for you too.

So, what do you do when life gives you lemons (when tortillas run amuck?). Make Lemonade (crackers), of course.

Oh, and we have a winner of our pattern give-away. It's Kathy H!!!!! Congratulations, Kathy!!!!! She's going to choose a pattern from our stock and I'll let you know which one she likes.

Thanks, friends, for tuning in. Running amuck is so much fun when you have company.

Here are the recipes for crackers and olive spread.

Crackers

1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
3/4 c. lukewarm milk
1 1/2 t. baking powder

Mix altogether and knead until all the flour is used up. Pinch off 12 to 15 little balls of dough, cover and let rest for at least 30 minutes. Form balls into flattened ovals and run through a pasta maker three times, each time making the setting tighter (7,5,3). Poke strips all over with a fork. cut into squares with a pizza cutter and bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 minutes, rotating the pan at least twice during baking. Let cool on racks and bag tightly to keep. These will be good for up to a week without refrigerator. To freshen, just heat a little in the oven at 350 degrees for a few minutes, cool and serve with a spread or dips.

Black Olive Spread

2   8oz. packages Cream Cheese, softened
1 can Black Olives, drained & chopped small
1/2 t. Garlic Powder
1/2 t. Onion Powder
1/4 t. Cayenne (optional)

Place all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and mix well with an electric mixer. Store in the refrigerator. Spread on crackers or toast or use as a stuffing for celery.

A Few More Favorites from the 2013 Odessa Quilt Show.....and WIN A FREE PATTERN!!!!! Enter by Friday, June 14th at 5 PM PDT.

Well, I just love star quilts.....

and this one by Betty Rogers, of Ephrata, WA, really caught my eye. It's called "Red Stars". It was quilted by Joyce Ross.

Also, these stars by Gail Kiesz. She calls her quilt, "800 Mile Quilt".

Sherrie Heimbigner won our guild's 2013 Challenge with this table topper she calls, "Chicken Dance". Aren't those the cutest little chickens you ever saw?

Another of Sherrie's quilts, "Christmas with Friends".

Well, that's about it, buddies, for this year's quilt show. There are one or two I didn't have pictures of for some reason, but I think you've seen about all my favorites for now. Yup, I do love applique', no doubt about it....and stars. What can I say?

OH, DO YOU WANT TO WIN A PRIZE? Just write a comment on any of the quilt show posts and tell me your favorite of all the ones from the 2013 Odessa Quilt Show I've shown, and you'll be entered to win a free pattern:  "Harvest Ghost".

I'll draw the name for the winner on Friday, June 14th at 5 PM PDT.

More Favorites from the 2013 Odessa, WA, Quilt Show

Linda Powell's quilt, "Star and Ribbons", is one of the ones I really like. I saw it first, when Lise Ott (Experience Quilts! quilt shop owner), was quilting it on her long arm machine. So cheerful! Don't you just love a rainbow?

Gail Kiesz, from our Saturday Quilt Group, made this quilt, with our help, called "Red White Equinox". Our Saturday group meets once a month and there are about 12 of us in it. We decide, each one of us, on a pieced quilt we would like to do. We give out fabric and a pattern to each member of the group and each one has a month to piece the block and return it in time for the next meeting. Each member is assigned a month in the year when her blocks have to be ready to distribute. I really liked this simple, red and white pattern and thought the quilt was very successful.

 Quilt guild members, Kathy Taylor and Scotty Bacon went together to buy these vintage blocks on E-bay. They split them up and each one made her own quilt from the blocks. Very nice and, what a lucky find!

My friend, Shari Wilson, of Davenport, made this wall hanging of houses, "Good in Any Kind of Weather". Her applique work is simply wonderful. She designs all her own quilts.

Speaking of designs, this wall hanging is by Prairie Cottage Corner and titled "Harvest Mice". It's part of our new fall offering of wall hangings for sale now. The one below, too, is part of our series for autumn....

"Harvest Kitty". The third design in the series was offered at the Portland quilt market in May by Pattern Peddlers. You can purchase all three there.

"Family Memories" by Linda Kuch, of Odessa, is one of the nicest uses of photographs in a quilt that I have ever seen. I think she did a great job of integrating the colors so that the precious photos come forward enough to be clearly seen.  More to come......

Some of My Favorite Quilts from the 2013 Odessa, WA, Quilt Show

 Kathy Meyer's Quilt, "My Ladies"

Some of you will recognize these patterns from pattern designer, Helen Scott's, Bonnet Girls.

 My friend, Kathy Meyers, sewed this quilt. Each block is a little masterpiece.

Here, the Bonnet Girls are laundering, cooking and decorating.....

celebrating Independence Day, dipping a toe in cool water,

teaching school,

braving a windy day, saluting Old Glory,

mending, taking the air,

strolling, enjoying the lake on a summer day. Such a fun quilt....and Kathy does a wonderful job of sewing and embroidery....all hand quilted, too. Definitely one of my favorites.

Karen Brooks, of Odessa, made a wall hanging that is so precious. "Looking Out the Window"

I am very fond of Linda Bryant Smith's quilt, "Spring in my Favorite Garden", quilted by Nancy Wenke.

Sorry, my pics are, sometimes, blurry. I've got to learn to slow down and take a deep breath......

One of our "Appliquer's Anonymous" quilters, Sharon Parr did this lovely quilt with a sunflower and a pumpkin.

"Sweet Sixteen" is the name of this bed quilt by June Likes, of Spokane. It was quilted by Chloe Dehner.

Odessa Quilt Show Continued - Featured Quilter: Linda Dills

Goodness, where does the time go? I want to continue showing you some of my favorite things from the Odessa Quilt Show.

Here's our sweet and wonderful featured quilter, Linda Dills, of Marysville, Washington. 

 Featured Quilter - LINDA DILLS- BIOGRAPHY  

My mother and paternal grandmother were quilters, so there have been hand-made quilts on my beds my whole life.  As a child, I enjoyed looking at those quilts and picking out the fabrics that had been scraps from dresses my mother had made for me.  I helped tie quilts at a very young age.  At about 10 years of age, I learned hand embroidery.   

"A Walk in the Meadow"

Linda is passionate about Thread Painting. 

I started making clothing in high school.  I made my first quilt in 1973.  It was a raw edge applique made out of polyester knit.  I didn’t take time for quilting except making baby quilts for gifts for about 15 years.  In 1988 I discovered free motion thread painting and a group called The Machine Embroiderers of Oregon and Washington.  Over the next 12 years, I took classes in free motion thread painting but working and family took most of my time.

"Free Spirit"

She's also passionate about horses (an artist after my own heart).

 In 2001 I joined the Busy Bee Quilting Guild of Snohomish.  I enjoy helping with their quilt shows, Making charity quilts and working on their raffle quilts.  I was chairman of their doll quilt committee for 3 years.

"Horse"

Some horses love to trot. This one is obviously enjoying himself.

 Linda Dills - My Inspiration……

I entered my first quilt show in 2002 and have been entering local guild shows in both eastern and western Washington ever since. My favorites are realistic pictorial quilts.  The first took over 5 years and the idea for it came from a ceramic lamp.  

"Frog in a Swamp"

Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to take classes from Charlotte Warr Anderson and Ruth McDowell as well as having taken many classes at local quilt shops and guilds. I am also a long arm quilter.  Some of my other hobbies include reading, traveling and going to the beach for quilting retreats with my friends.  The best part about getting so involved in the quilting world has been the friends I have made.

"Just Spikey"      &       "Convergence"

Stained glass pattern books, enlarged cross stitch patterns, and enlarged fabric design elements have been great sources for my thread painting and quilt designs (My greatest tool is my HP printer that will enlarge designs 400%!). I have made appliqued birds using petals from silk flowers.  The ideas are endless.  

"Where in the World"     &      "The Chase"

 I like doing different techniques and, most times, once is enough.  Then it is on to something new and different.  I have dyed and painted fabric.  I have also used colored pencils, crayons, inks and Schiva oil sticks.  There is no quilt police so it is not illegal to try what other people have said won’t work.  Sometimes the other people are right, but just experiment.  You never know what you might create.

"Dreams Kitten Style"

How many times have Bodecia and Norman adopted this "cattitude"?

" A Scene from the Sea"

 I love the message in the bottle in the lower right. I wish you could see it!

 "Cardinal"

Plain, simple and lovely. Her details are a feast.

 "Cat Acatamey"

She has captured everything about cats.

 "Lazy Days"

Very beautiful.....

"My Desert Blooms at Night"

Everything you every would want in a desert at night.

Linda Dills - Quilts on Display at Odessa 2013

(I haven't shown them all here in pictures. Just some of the ones that caught my eye. All were wonderful)

Bargello Heart

Dragon Star

Cat Acatamey

A Scene from the Sea

Leaf Table runner

One - D and Eight - B's

The Hunt

My Desert Blooms at Night

Roundabout #2

Quiet Time

The Chase

Landscape Plus

Spring and Fall (reversible)

Dreams Kitten Style

My Pond

Peacock

Lazy Days

Butterfly Kiss

Roundabout #1

Where in the World?

Convergence

Free Spirit

Water Lily

A Walk in the Meadow

Just Move the Dog

Horse

Inspiration

The Old Grist Mill

DWL

Rainy Day

Yellow Hibiscus

Rooster

Cardinal

Just Spikey

Hearts and Roses

Night Glide (reversible)

Just Frogs

Noel

My Giant Dahlia

A Pot Holder - It's Not

Winter Chickadees

Frog in a Swamp

....more to come....