Something new from something old...

The New York Times Natural Food Cookbook. I got it in the late 70's in paperback. Last fall, I found an old  hardback copy in good condition. I was ecstatic because my copy was in three pieces. I have truly loved this cookbook. I have been making the whole wheat banana bread recipe from this for as long as I can remember owning it. The only tweak I made consistently was adding a generous quarter cup of sesame seeds to the batter. All these years, I have looked forward to brown bananas so I could make this recipe.

The other day, I got the batter ready and said to my son who happened to be in the kitchen...."What can we do differently this time?" His suggestion was to add fruit. We happened to have blueberries, so in they went. I did not expect it to be so absolutely delicious!

I decided to make twelve placemats with the Paintstik bamboo panels that I made. I clearly wanted an Asian theme for the fabric I chose. I hunted through a box and found a lovely piece that my wonderful stepmother brought back from Japan maybe fifteen years ago. I was so excited to be able to finally feel good about using it.

The bamboo panels got a 1/4" border of dark green with metallic gold dots...

and the result was this. They are super-sized placemats 15" x 20".

I've been wanting to get the brown star quilt done, so I completed the blocks for the April class...

May class...

and June class...

Thankfully, I have now finished ten out of the twelve blocks. Two more to go....then I can put it all together!

Leap Year..

"Today isn't real! Do whatever you want."

This morning, a friend posted this on her Facebook. After all, today only happens once every 1460 days. So, maybe I can ignore it. Ok, no school today!

Today, we will prepare for my daughter and my only grandchild to arrive from the west coast. I will make banana bread, prepare wasabi sesame crusted salmon for dinner, and have a long overdue visit with an old friend. For a good part of the day, the deep recesses of my mind will be pondering my plans for the month of March. To be realistic, it's going to be very full. Visits from two of my out-of-state children, a class to teach, quilt group with my lady friends, and the opening of Art Quilt Elements 2012.

Looking back on February, I am pleased with what I accomplished. 

-Bound 5 quilts

-Finished 2 quilt tops 

-Took 2 tops to be quilted

-1 pillowcase for my daughter

-Finished twelve bamboo paintstik panels

-Started the "Overlapped Mountain" quilt

-Continued working on 3 other quilts

My plan for March is to simply keep doing what I'm doing. When I have time, I work (play). That's it. It is also time to prepare my taxes, and I have wedding invitations to work on for my son's wedding this summer...more on that later.

Here is the first panel of the "Overlapped Mountain" blocks. There are 3 here, I have 2 others done, and 3 to go. Then I get to mull over ideas for the center square.

Here are the bamboo Paintstik panels. There are 12 of them. At the moments, I'm thinking about a set of placemats.

I think the most exciting thing about welcoming March is that I will go into my closet and pick another pile of something from my stash for a new project.....Happy Leap Year :)