An Overdue Thanks

Back in August I won a copy of Bend the Rules with Fabric from the author and designer herself, Amy Karol. It was quite a treat really.  I continually pull it out and plan some ideas in my head.  I even went so far as to buy some fabric paint for a specific home decor project, but Hubby vetoed the addition of stamps on the curtains. But Hubby's been away a lot lately.

No, I didn't go ahead and stamp the curtains, but I did make what is known as a Daddy Doll in this house.  You see, the Monster fully recognizes that Daddy is away and come bedtime she gets upset. Personally, I think it is more her knack for melodrama than actually being upset, but who am I to argue with a crying three year old? Then I remembered a specific project from the book.

With a little help from a good friend at work and her Photoshop skills (I have none) and a drawing of Daddy that The Monster herself made I turned this:

into this:

To be honest, it isn't the best example of what the concept is. We had a major printing error where the head, inexplicably, printed itself about 3 inches from the body.  But the printable fabric is expensive so I had to figure out a way to make it work.  How very Tim Gunn of me. So I cut out the shape, without making Hubby look a little too male, and hand appliqued it on. Hubby picked the fabrics, it was his doll after all. And I rescued the filling from an old, unused pillow. It isn't quite the same effect as the original concept, but the end result is the same - less crying at bedtime when Daddy was away.

Scotch and ...

In a fit of accidental drinking and eating Hubby and I discovered a fantastic food/liquor combo. Scotch and caramel corn.  In particular, peanut and sea salt with my caramel corn and a smoky scotch like Caol Isla. Okay, so the drinking wasn't accidental, but the insane hunger that led us to the Scouts caramel corn was.

Not wanting to repeat ourselves, nor get into that beyond sweet caramel corn again, as well as prep for My "Whiskey for Dinner" class tonight I set out to make my own caramel corn. How refreshing it was to discover that it is so damn easy. Pop some popcorn, make some caramel, toss together, and bake at low heat. That's it. I even encouraged the men in our class tonight that it was dead easy and hopefully they are logging on to get the recipe right now.

One of the surprising things in my research was that 99.99 % of the recipes I found used brown sugar.  Actually, I didn't find any that used white sugar, but I can't conclusively say that there isn't one out there. The first batch I made was with the "best brown" sugar I keep in the house for oatmeal and cookies.  It was good, once I got over the concept of adding baking soda to the recipe. But I knew I wouldn't have enough, plus I wasn't that fond of the colour.

The second batch was with the "yellow" brown sugar I borrowed from the neighbour when I realized that the nanny had used the last of my brown sugar making cookies - not that I was complaining. And, I'll admit it, I was afraid to try white sugar since I found no recipes with it. So yellow brown sugar it was. 

Can you tell the difference in the photo above? Best Brown on the left, yellow brown on the right.

So I had my caramel corn ready to go. Good to go. Loaded up I joined a great group of guys at J. Webb tonight. Where are my single ladies?  Seriously, develop a taste for scotch or an open mind, because there are always a fun, intelligent group of guys at scotch tastings. 

The caramel corn was on deck to serve with those lovely smoky or peaty scotches.  When it comes to scotch and food pairings you don't want to pair smoke with smoke. The sweet and salt of caramel corn matches perfectly with the smoky drinks. Actually, the caramel corn went with almost all the scotches.  As does chocolate, especially the fruity ones from Venezuela and Guatemala.

But pairing scotch and food is more than the sweet stuff. At its most basic level, pairing is pretty straight forward - match the basic characteristics of the scotch to your food. For example, the Lowland scotches are lighter, so they work well with rich cheese, honey, and fruit. Something like a pear and brie tart, or a cream of leek soup. And think about where the scotch comes from, The Island and Speyside styles work really well with seafood and both clean and salty flavours.  Even sushi works really well, or mussels with fennel.  The Lowland and Highland styles lend themselves to the richness of game meat, the sweetness of peppers, and even some spice.

But the star of the night was the caramel corn.  And the Glenfarclas 17 year old.

The caramel corn recipe I used was a slight variation on this one.  I added a bit more salt, used the roasted peanuts I had in the cupboard, and that yellow brown sugar. It isn't cloying, has the burnt sugar saltiness, and the baking soda makes the carmel crackle, but not crack.

Caramel Corn

Makes about 10 cups

1 3/12 ounce package plain/orginal/natural popcorn

OR 10 cups air popped popcorn

1 cup yellow brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 tbsp water

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (cut this back if you prefer it without the salty taste)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup peanuts, cashews, or pecans

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray. Spray a large bowl.

2. Pop your popcorn and toss in the bowl, being careful to keep out any unpopped kernels.

3. Whisk sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt, and water in a small saucepan.  Melt and boil for 3-5 minutes until it reaches 250 degrees F on a candy thermometer. You need the candy thermometer, so don't try to just eyeball this step.

4. As soon as you reach temperature stir the baking soda and vanilla into the caramel.  Pour over the popcorn, add the nuts, and stir together.  You won't get a complete cover over the popcorn, but stir well and try to get a little on each bit of popped corn. Spread out on the cookie sheet.

5. Let cook slowly in your low oven, stirring gently every 20 minutes, for 1 hour. Let cool completely before enjoying.

No Workshop This Week

Nothing, nada, no one has anything to report.

I'm a little bit sad about that, I really enjoy visiting all the blogs and working on design challenges. Is it just a matter of time or is the Workshop not working for people? Let me know.

How do you like The Workshop in Progress?

True Inspiration

Inspiration for an artist of any sort doesn't just refer to seeing something or hearing something and then turning it into a project.  Inspiration can come in the form of people and ideals. I had that experience the other night and it gave me so much energy, so much affirmation for the approach I have to quilting. On Friday I had the pleasure of attending a trunk show by Bill Kerr from Fun Quilts.

Fun Quilts is the quilt baby of Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, a husband and wife combo of designers, artists, quilters, teachers, and authors. I discovered them about 5 years ago. There'd been a bit of a lull in my quilting, mostly because I felt a little alone and lost in what I was trying to do. I knew that I wasn't that interesting in traditional piecing, but I hadn't found anyone who was quilting like I was, with simple and bold designs. And I didn't want to see another Yellow Brick Road quilt!

So I did what most of us do these days, I turned to the internet.  My very first Google search was with the term "modern quilts." I'm not sure I googled anything else, to be honest, because so much came up. It was eye opening for me. 

At the top of the search results was the book The Modern Quilt Workshop and a pile of blogs showcasing work from the book. Wow, it was eye opening. No, I didn't rush out to the buy the book. (I'm not a pattern person and this book is mostly patterns.) But I started exploring all the blogs and got so excited.  Generally I'm not one be a joiner, preferring my own track, but this felt like a community of like-minded creative folks. 

It was just the inspiration I needed, just the kick in the pants to get me creating again. I started sketching and sewing with energy again. I even started the blog after not too long. And now, I can honestly say that the one internet search led to a a whole new creative me.

Seeing Bill Kerr speak, one of the authors of The Modern Quilt Workshop, is only getting me more jazzed about creating. His presentation included a brief discussion of design and the reflection of quilt design as a sign of the times. And this, really, is the crux of the Fun Quilts approach. There is no one visual style to their work, rather they like to think they create quilts that are a reflection of the times we live in.

Sigh. So perfect.

Then he went through a number of their quilts, discussing the inspiration or motivation behind the piece. For example, this one was inspired by a can of mixed nuts and boxes of cereal. And I thought I was the only one who was inspired by food! And the one above was inspired by the departure maps in the back of the airline magazines.

It has actually been a while since I was on their site and in preparation for the trunk show I found myself browsing through their quilt gallery. It actually shocked me to see the influence of them in not only my quilts, but in many others I've seen. Either we think exactly the same, or their quilts were hidden in my subconscious when I was sketching!

Sometimes it is so enlightening to meet the people who inspire you. Thankfully with quilt celebrities you almost always get the chance to actually chat with them as well. I always admired the work of Fun Quilts and now I admire the people behind it. I identify with their approach and personalities (even if they managed days of skiing without incident while visiting our area). And I am totally focused on where I want to take my quilting and my creative life. That, for me, is the result of true inspiration.