Pink Soup

Well you know that summer is truly here when I make my first pot of "Pink Soup"! Pink Soup is a family recipe that my Mom's Husband's family have made for years. As it requires a small beet root with the beet tops and fresh dill, I can only make it once the new fresh vegetables have been harvested! It is a annual treat each year! I am going to share it with you as it is easy, only takes about an hour to make, start to finish and it is Mmmmmm! Goooood!



LYLE'S "PINK SOUP"

6 cups of water
3 Tablespoons of chicken bullion powder
1/4 cups of uncooked rice
1 medium potato diced small
In a large pot bring the first 4 ingredients to a boil and boil until the potatoes and rice are cooked (about 10 min.) When cooked
Add:
1 medium beet root that you have peeled and diced small like the potato.
Chop finely the beet tops and add to the pot
Also add a good hand full of finely chopped fresh dill. (it must be fresh to give the good flavour, dried dill will not give the same flavour)

Cook stirring frequently until beets are tender.
Lower the heat, and slowly add :

500ML. of "Whipping Cream" (Yes this is true light cream doesn't do the recipe justice!) Heat slowly just until warm, DO NOT BOIL! as the cream will separate and curdle.

Serve with a sprig of fresh dill on top. (If you really are not concerned about calories, then add a small dollop of sour cream !)

Back to Quilting!

My first adventure into Strip Piecing, and it is soooo easy and fun! I picked up a copy of Strip-Pieced Quilts by Maaike Bakker, and just fell in love with all the quilts she had designed in the book. It just spoke to me! My husband wants me to make a quilt for us (I can not imagine why as I have made only about a dozen for ooddles of other people!) I had decided that I would make us a black and white quilt and then I found this book .... the quilt for us!

This design she called "Optical Illusion" only one of the 13 quilts she has designed and gives you patterns for. One prerequisite that I have set for myself before I purchase a book is that I need to be interested in making a min. of 3 quilts from the book. There are 10 I would like to make from this book .... it was a definite must buy!

Her instructions are clear, and layed out well, the photographs are clear and her methods are well illustrated. So as the summer moves forth, I will continue to work on "my Optical Illusion" Time will tell how well it will turn out!

Camping at Francios Lake

So Friday afternoon we decided to load up the motor home and head out to Francios Lake for the Weekend. The weather was overcast, but we thought that it would be fun to spend a relaxing time on the lake shore. I always like to have a camp fire when we camp, it makes the camping cosy! Well in this case it was to soon become apparent that it was not a luxury, but a definite necessity! Mosquitoes, Black flies, and NoSeeums! Clouds of them! I positioned my chair in the smoke and stayed there! The lake was exceptionally high still. No beach to find, just trees in the water! Saturday night was to be a exercise in no sleep! Bugs buzzing, landing, biting ...Okay by 4:30 am we gave up. We made a quick cup of coffee, and drove home. Arrived back home by 8:30 am, fell asleep in the motor home, woke up at 10:00 a.m. and went down town for breakfast! Some wilderness campers hey!

Rhubarb is Ready!

Well this cool wet summer to date has certainly made the Rhubarb grow! Like the ever producing zucchini plant, I am looking for door steps to drop Rhubarb on in the dark of the night! Carl has put in a request however for ... Rhubarb pie, so I thought that I would share with you one of our favorite Recipes.

Rhubarb Cream Pie
4 cups of chopped Rhubarb (cover with boiling water and let stand for 5 min. Drain)
Mix with:
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
1 heaping Tblsp. Butter
2 Tblsp. flour
Beat yolks of 3 eggs (2 will work in a pinch) Save the egg white for Meringue.
Add 3 Tblsp. water to the yolks

Pour into a 9 inch unbaked pie crust.
Bake for 40 min. at 375 degrees.

Make Meringue from the egg whites, cover the top of the pie and return to oven and bake until the Meringue is brown.

Mmmmm Good!

Workshop with John Willard

I had so much fun during the Saturday Workshop that I took with John Willard as the instructor! He asked for Bright Colors only for the fabric, and we just had fun sewing, cutting, sewing, and cutting again! In the end we all had created our "Own" one of a kind block. It was refreshing, and creative. John is an excellent instructor, who enjoys high energy fabrics, and out of the box quilting techniques!

Okay so were are your purchases Coralee?

Along the way we stopped at all the quilt shops we could find. Coralee introduced us to several that we did not know about. This one was our first stop in Quesnel, 9:00 am. We were not the first customers, and Coralee was happy to meet some ladies from the Prince George Quilting group that she had belonged to!

Quilt B.C.

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to quilt B.C. we go! Wow! what a show! Coralee, Deb,Dorothy, and Pamela all made the drive down to Kamloops to attend Quilt B.C this May. It was inspiring, and overwhelming at the same time. I know that I am so glad I was able to attend. Here we are stopping for Lunch in Williams Lake on our way down.

When I am not Quilting or Fishing or Visiting with Family...

then it is probably winter, and I am at work. So what work do I do you ask?
Let me start by saying....when Carl came home from a Ritchie Bros. Auction announcing he had purchased something for me .. I knew that it probably was Not Fabric! With hesitation, and trepidation I asked him to show me. When he said that it would not be arriving for a couple of day ... I knew that this Definitely was not Fabric, or a New Sewing Machine!

Yes Logging is one of the main employers in our little community ... and yes he brought me home a lovely piece of logging Equipment!

With a big grin on his face he announced that he bought me a processor! You can only imagine my Joy!!!

Now I am not a spring chicken, at the age of 50+ my boys wouldn't even entertain the idea of challenging me to one of those "Joy Stick" operated computer games. It just wasn't worth it, I couldn't get the feel of the joy stick operation!

My first view of the operators seat in the Processor turned my blood cold! Not just one joy stick, but 2! anddddd, on the top of each joy stick a toggle switch, and on the main stick of each joy stick were 3 buttons, then of course there was the computer screen, and two foot pedals also.

Sure after 25 years of helping Carl in the Logging Business I had helped to move equipment from one landing to another, a small cat, a skidder, not to mentions hours helping him do repairs or maintenance. But this .... This was just mind boggling for me!

After many encouraging words .... he convinced me to give it a try. Starting by bucking up the winters fire wood into 2 ft. chunks, soon had me comfortable handling small lengths of logs.

He assured me the leap to full tree lengths would be a breeze! Hmmmm!

Needless to say I have put in two seasons of logging ,operating the Processor and to tell the truth quite enjoy the job during the winter months.

I told him I would do it until I was 60., after all I was 53 at the time! (Perhaps I was a little over zealous with this commitment?!)

One thing I can tell you .... I can challenge any of the kids to a "joy stick" operated game now ...move over boys , Mom can run those computer joy sticks now .. No Problemo!

Some of our Past Community Quilts

This was our first group quilt, and led to our name, The Cut Loose Quilters. Each person was asked to bring some of their scrap fabrics that were left over from past quilt making. I led this quilt making so when they arrived, they set up their sewing machines around the table, then I put all the scraps in a pile in the middle of the table, and gave them a good shuffle. They were then asked to take a scrap, and without color matching pick another scrap and sew the two together in no particular shape. They were asked to continue sewing strips onto strips around in a block formation until when the fabric was squared off they could make a 10 inch square.
We then sewed the squares together. This was quite a challenge for many of our more "seasoned" quilters as they wanted desperately to sort the fabric into piles of likeness. I would let them entertain themselves with this activity and then come up and give the pile a good shuffle again! Lots of protests and laughter was experienced during the making of this quilt but much to some "speculation" they were very surprised at the end result, which they all like very much. This quilt was auctioned for a fund raiser in our community and raised a nice little sum.

Community Quilt Delivered

As I have referred to several time prior I am a member of a group of quilters here in Houston, B.C. we call our group "Cut Loose Quilters" when we first came together we wanted to give a little to our community in some way and so we decided make quilts as a group to give to those in our community who have been faced with misfortune, or ill health or any other challenge that is a struggle. To date we have made 6 quilts and given them to various people of community or fund raising events. We were so happy to be able to give this quilt to members of our community who were unfortunate to have lost their home to a fire. Although it is not always possiable to have all the ladies who helped to make the quilt attend the giving of it, in this case we were able to! The three ladies on the right along with myself, (taking the picture) were so happy to give this quilt to Charlie, and Joyce. It is our hope that they will be able to enjoy this in their new home.

When a Bag is More than just a Bag!

This is in fact my all around going to town, workshops, visiting and holiday bag! It was supposed to be a "Beach Bag" as the fabric is "Flip Flops" and summer things, but I enjoy it so much that I use it nearly always. Great for picking up the mail!

A Feast from the Sea!

Along with the spectacular Sunsets ... King Neptune also provided us with a delectable meal!
This is our first time prawning ... I have NEVER seen such large prawns! The pot they are cooking in is 10inches (25cm.) in diameter! Could only cook 2 at a time. A feast you could not purchase in any restaurant better! I know that I am so fortunate to be able to enjoy such a wonderful life.

Okay I must Confess!

I must at this time make a small confession!
Although quilting takes up much of my time, in the summer months here in Northwest British Columbia, I also "love" to spend time on the ocean with my Husband fishing and exploring the coast. Sooooo .... I have just returned from a 4 day trip out to Prince Rupert .. it was wonderful. Here is a photo of our 2nd. night at anchor in a little cove South west of Prince Rupert, it was a truly glorious sunset!