A BRIEF Update on the Drunken Dragons Quilt

Channel Quilting with Walking Foot, Monofilament Nylon Thread

Now that I've finished quilting "in the ditch," I'm adding additional straight lines of quilting vertically through out the Drunken Dragons quilt, using the width of my walking foot as a spacing guide.  I'm quilting two straight lines to the left of each seam and two straight lines to the right, removing safety pins as I come to them.  As you can see, now that I'm not in the ditch anymore the quilting isn't TOTALLY invisible, so now it feels more worthwhile -- but it's still boring.  I'll be glad when I have all of the straight vertical lines in the quilt so I can turn it and start on the horizontal lines.  With the quilt all rolled up and folded, you can't really see the progress you're making.    By the way, I'm quilting all of the straight lines first because the fancy designs and curved quilting lines will tend to pull in and distort the quilt, and it would be next to impossible to quilt straight lines afterwards. 

And -- can you believe it? -- that's ALL I have to say about that right now.  They say that brevity is the soul of wit, and I'm trying SO hard to get my wits about me, for a change...

Have a great day!

Muffins du Jour: KAF Glazed Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins, Baked Entirely by Anders

Anders Samples his Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins

Today is the first day of our Spring Break!  Woohoo!!  Bernie took Lars and Otto to the Kings Mountain State Park in Blacksburg, SC, where they hiked up the mountain and investigated the Revolutionary War memorial.  Meanwhile, Anders and I did some violin practice, took Lulu for a neighborhood walk, and baked muffins together.  My Anders was not at all fond of the somewhat tart Blueberry Rhubarb Muffins I made last week, so we decided to try a new recipe instead.  I supervised, but Anders did all the work of measuring, preheating the oven, and following the recipe all by himself.  I no longer have to worry that he will grow up to be a helpless man and starve to death, because he knows how to follow a recipe and bake muffins now.  Whew -- that's a load off a momma's mind!

We made the King Arthur Flour Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins with chocolate chips instead of pecans, and substituted Fiori di Sicilia (a floral citrus/vanilla flavoring) for orange oil because that's what was in the pantry, and an online reviewer mentioned having made that substitution successfully.  Pumpkin, chocolate, and citrus?  Hmmm...  It's a little unusual, and not my personal favorite -- but the little blond baker was very pleased with the fruits of his labor.