Fried chicken and . . . .

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

¾ cup shortening (or a mixture of butter and shortening)

1-1/3 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add shortening.  Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, blend in thoroughly. 

Stir in buttermilk and mix until dough holds together.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface, roll out the dough ½ inch thick.  Cut out biscuits using a 2-1/2" cutter.  Gather up scraps of dough and roll out.  Cut additional biscuits. 

Place biscuits on a lightly greased cookie sheet, bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned on top and dry on the sides. 

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When time allows, baking bread is something I love to do; however, I've learned that biscuits require a special touch.  The mixture should be worked as little as possible so as not to toughen the dough.  Remember not to twist the cutter as it goes in the dough; a straight up and down motion is best.   

This recipe comes from a 1987 Early American Life magazine article entitled "A Picnic in the Deep South", so you know it's good.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . . 

First order of the day.

Clean up.

Here's the sewing room 2 weeks ago.  I've been pulling a lot of fabric to prep and trim up.

However, a total of 6 stores in 2 days yielded NO liquid starch.  It's like the dinosaur, extinct overnight.  Sheesh.

So this week will involve more tidying and cleaning off the table in order to finish assembling BIG blue / yellow, (3,840 pieces).  This was begun last December I believe and put away for awhile.

It's in 4 sections.  The yellow borders will go on as soon as I locate liquid starch to prep the fabric.

A recent visit to the Mennonite Market shows how much rain we've had this summer.  Sooo green!

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

We're up to 11!

You've already seen the green ones made with 2" strips.

 And this 9-patch was made a few months ago.

 The fun one finished recently.

 And those you didn't see yet . . .

6 more QOV tops made

with 2-1/2" strip pieces cut last year and sitting in a  . . .

 baggie!

 

Dolly is supervising.  She just had a bath with 6 oz. of conditioner to help the itchy hot spots.  We're having a very difficult time with hot spots this summer.  Staying in the cool AC room and sewing is about the only thing that helps.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

New day, new look.

You'll notice the blog layout has changed.  Do let me know what you think.  If the titles are hard to read, the text is hard to read, or you think everything should be changed to hot pink and magenta.

Just kidding on the pink / magenta part.  But you knew that.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

The sad, now happy quilt top.

Remember this one?

 The idea was okay, but the right side arc was simply blechh.  Very unprofessional.

 Ahhh, much better.

Late last night, I decided to explore a possibility.  So I removed several of the vertical pieces from the original top, until I had a unit that was roughly 18" wide and cut 3 squares using my largest square ruler (16-1/2").

Other left over 2-1/2" wide pieces were assembled into units 36" long (twice the ruler size plus a bit) and roughly 18" wide.

Sometimes a 2" strip was needed to make the unit wide enough.

This was all improvisation mind you, based loosely on a quilt I made in 1998.

You can do the same with your left over / donated strips.  Pull out your largest square ruler, piece vertical strips and cut them 2 x ruler size + 3" = length.  Assemble vertical strip units into a rectangle with the width being 1 x ruler size +2".

Be sure to starch final units, as those strips can get squiggly.  From each unit, you'll get 2 blocks.  Make enough blocks for the size quilt you'd like.

By using a 16-1/2" ruler, final measurement with just 12 blocks is  roughly 48 x 64, a nice nap size.

I'm naming this one "Everything Works".  No doubt Alycia will find just the right veteran to present it to and it will keep someone warm this winter.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .