Luck Be a Pink Hat

This one has been a long time coming.  I had the top finished, and the back too, over a year and a half ago.  I managed to get it to the long armers shortly before or after Smilosaurus was born, I can't remember.  And it sat for nearly a year once I picked it up.  I simply had no motivation to get the binding on.  It's not like I dislike the quilt, I quite love the boldness of it all, I was simply lazy and didn't want to sew on a binding.

The motivation to finish it came because I entered it in the show over the weekend.  Nothing like a deadline to get your butt in gear!  So I found the perfect fabric, braved the bias cut, and got it done.

The center portion of the quilt is from a book called Strip Pieced Quilts by Maikke Baker.  I was at a retreat with some quilting friends in my Red Hat group, The Garnet Gals.  Yes, I know I am way too young for a red hat, but these great ladies welcomed me in and still share lots of life and quilt experience with me.  We decided to sew one afternoon and put this together from stash.  And we all liked it too much to donate it - bad us! - so we drew straws to see who got it. I won!

The borders were pieced from scraps, yet another black and white fabric, and more circles.  If you look closely in the bottom photo you will see that the purple we used had coloured circles scattered across the purple.  That's where the colour of my circles came from.

This is one of my favourite backs ever.  So simple, yet really bold.  My initial plan was to put the label in a circle in the green, but I couldn't print a small enough, yet still legible label for any kind of border on it. It still works.

It now seems that the girls can't keep their hands off any aspect of my hobby, er... obsession.  It was impossible to get a shot of this quilt without them in it.

I had this one professionally quilted by a local lady, Berny Sproule.  She used a purple thread in a swooping meander pattern to bring it all together.  

Now, don't get too googly-eyes staring at the photo!

Backseat Adventure - Asparagus Festival

Much to Hubby's chagrin I dragged him away from the yard and we made the drive to Edgar Farms' first Asparagus Festival.  He was tired and tried not to be cranky, but the rewards were sweet.  The girls sat on a horse and a pony, got to pet some brand new goats, ran around a hay bale maze and fort, and even went on a tractor ride.  But the highlight of the day for me, and possibly Hubby, was eating stalks of asparagus that we'd just picked from the ground.  It would never have occurred to us to eat asparagus raw, but we were trusting the advice of Elna Edgar, and she would know.

Elna and Doug Edgar own and operate their farm, with their daughter and son-in-law just South of Innisfail, Alberta.  They are a traditional grain and cattle farm.  But they also grow fantastic peas (so I am told) and Alberta's only commercial asparagus.  And they've been doing it for nearly two decades.  So, when Elna tells me to take a taste of asparagus right from the ground I do it.  

Wow, what a revelation!  Other than the fact that raw asparagus tastes more than vaguely like peas, it was crisp, light, and purely fresh.  Unlike tomatoes that you pick in the late summer sun this tasted like cool spring.  The Monster and Smilosaurus had as much as they could eat.  Good thing the baby got her front teeth a few weeks ago.

We saw the asparagus fields last summer, long after harvest.  Did you know asparagus is a fern? But as soon as it comes out of the ground the spears can be picked and will continue to grow. The only thing that stops the Edgars from a continuous harvest is the need to let the crowns rejuvenate to produce next year.  During spring, however, these custom pickers travel up and down the fields picking the tall enough crowns. It is a near continuous harvest for more than a few weeks as the crowns can grow over 6 inches a day!

Once we returned from the fields we tasted some freshly grilled asparagus from both Wade Sirois from Forage and Infuse Catering and dee Hobsbawn-Smith.  Grilled is my all-time favourite way to eat asparagus.  A little toss with olive oil then just a few minutes on a hot grill. You can drizzle some lemon or vinaigrette over top, but I will happily eat them like fries straight off the grill.

One of the best things was hearing people's surprise when they heard that no, you don't need to break off the ends or peel asparagus when it is this fresh.  And you don't get any fresher than off the picker's truck.
Asparagus Festival is over until next year.  Okay, this was the first one and there are no guarantees, but I'm betting that we and many more will be back next year.  You don't have to wait until then to go to Edgar Farms.  You can visit them daily at their farm store - where they currently have asparagus, rhubarb, their own beef, and a variety of asparagus pickles, relishes, and some sweet berry jams.

You can also visit Edgar Farms with the rest of the Innisfail Growers at farmers' markets around the province.  And make sure to stay on top of things through Doug Edgar's blog, he'll keep you up-to-date on harvests, this year's pea crop, and more on-farm events.