Watch This!

Go, watch this now.

Okay, it's an hour or so later and you're back. Wasn't that great? Rossie did an amazing job. The term wabi-sabi is now a permanent fixture in my vocabulary. To see the history behind Fresh Modern Quilts, as well as her own inspirations and evolution, was interesting too. Modern quilt fan or not, this is worth the cup of tea and time to watch.

Peel Me a Grape

There are times in the kitchen where experimentation fails in a colossal way (note to self: stay away from the curry) and other times where a little 'why not?' turns into 'why have I never?' With a pile of Coronation grapes being snubbed by The Monster I needed that why not.

Why not put grapes in muffins? We put raspberries, peaches, apples, and even pineapple in muffins, so why not grapes? You really don't see it much though. And I'm not sure why.

Hopefully, after you see these muffins you will change your mind. There was some Twitter chatter about this a day after I made the muffins, with Jennie going all out to seed her Concord grapes.  I am far too lazy for that, so thank goodness the Coronation grapes are seedless. 

The base for this recipe is my basic muffin recipe (find it here) with some grapes and roasted, skinned, and chopped hazelnuts added in. With the the girls I have much better luck with muffins when I bake the mini kind. Mama doesn't like that because I eat a lot more that way! This recipe will make 12 regular sized muffins or 24 mini muffins.

Grape and Hazelnut Muffins

1 cup hazelnuts

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup small grapes (I used Coronation)

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray or grease with butter.

2. Roast the hazelnuts (unless already roasted) in the oven on a cookie sheet.  Roast for 10-15 minutes, giving the pan a shake every now and then. Be careful not to burn them. Pour them into a clean kitchen towel. Wrap it up loosely and rub the nuts with the towel. The skins should come off easily. Don't worry if not every bit of skin comes off. Aim for most of it. Le the hazelnuts cool while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

3. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Combine the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla in another bowl.

4. Chop the hazelnuts coarsely, on the smaller side, but don't worry about any larger chunks.

5. Toss the chopped hazelnuts and grapes with the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.

6. Scoop into prepared muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes, until tops are rounded and golden.

Sneak Peak

I know I go on and on about process and even criticize folks who wait for finished projects for a reveal.  But I can't help myself on this one.  I am so excited by it.  It deserves a proper unveiling when the time is right.

This is a tiny sneak peak of my all organic quilt, showcasing the Geo Grand fabric by Daisy Janie. I was completely inspired by the fabric when it came to the design.  But the full effect isn't there yet, that's why I want to wait to reveal it.

To complement the Geo Grand I picked up some Robert Kaufman Organic solids from Pink Chalk. And I picked up some yardage of Geo Grand and organic thread from Plum Project. (Thanks Holly, for that recommendation!)

Yesterday I cut and finished the top.  This whole being home thing is kind of nice when the creative juices hit! Of course, there was little in the way of home maintenance done yesterday and I stayed up way too late to finish. I'm paying for that today. But nothing that tea in a Bunnykins mug can't mend.

Running (on Fumes)

Oh to have the energy.

My first week as a freelancer/stay-at-home mom/housewife/lazybones/artist and I'm sick as a dog. So much for much in the creating, cooking, and fun department. Shh, don't anyone, but the girls watched a lot of TV this week. And ate graham crackers for breakfast. In my defense, they were homemade.

Somewhere in there I did manage to finish my little quilt top. I had grand plans to make this bigger so it was at least a good nap size for an adult. But to do so would have necessitated buying more fabric and I already have that habit down pat. I didn't want to buy anything more for this quilt; I even used stash for the backing.

So it ended up at 48 inches on all sides. I really do prefer to make larger quilts, but I'm fine with it. This was one of those quilts that just had to be made. I'll tell you why another day.

Now to find the time and space to baste it because I already know how I'm going to quilt it. But for now, it must be added to the pile of UFOs. At least it is a pretty pile.