Sunday, November 15, 2015

Many Trips Around the World

Many Trips Around the World:
Fall temperatures make it feel like soup weather!  I made a pot of Beef Vegetable Barley soup yesterday, and it was delicious!  While the soup was cooking I was working on another variation of Around the World… Many Trips Around the World.  This block is made up of seven 2-1/2” strips, with one contrast colors going diagonally from top to bottom.  These blocks are put together in a way that creates a diamond pattern that appears to be edged with the contrast color, and the design that results seems to be two separate blocks but they are all formed from that one block.  I first decided which seven fabrics I wanted in the quilt, and next sewed strip sets of the fabrics, with each of the fabrics in the same place in the strip set.  Working with two strip sets at a time, I pressed each of them in opposite directions.  I evened the ends, and sewed each strip set into a tube, as instructed in my previous tutorial, Around the World. http://www.diamonnaturals.blogspot.com/2015/11/around-world_8.html  Then cut the tube into 2-1/2” segments.  I laid the strips into two stacks, so one stack had strips pressed in one direction, and the other stack contained strips pressed in the opposite direction.  In this way, the intersections butted up against each other without any pinning.  
Open one seam, with the dark or contrast color at the top of the row.  The next strip will be staggered one color down, so the contrast color will be second on the row, and the color that was on the bottom of the first strip will be at the top of the next strip.  Working from left to right and taking strip sets from alternate stacks helps to keep the colors in the right place, plus alternating the way the seams are pressed so there is no need to pin.  I lay the seven strips out, making sure they are in the proper place, and then join the strips, starting at one side or the other.  (See photo at right, with the strip sets laid out, and then joined into a block.)  Just as when you join strip sets, alternate the end you start sewing on so the block is straight when you finish it.  When all seven strips are sewn together, I press all the seams in the same direction from the back, then flip it over and press it from the front.  Lay the blocks out in a way that is pleasing to you.  They can be put together in diamond sections or joined to look like a traditional Around the World quilt.  See photo below.  
My oldest daughter has a super king-sized bed, and I've made up a few samples for her approval for a quilt for her bedroom.  The furniture has dark marble tops, and there is one burgundy wall.  The samples I made so far were not successful.  She doesn't want much white in the quilt, and using just grays and burgundies looked dull and boring.  I finally tried adding a tan background print with apples on it, so the dark red apples blended with the burgundies, and the warm tan and green of the leaves added some more interest.  When she was here last week, she approved the design and colors... she liked it a lot!  It had some black and light gray strips with silver (Stonehenge Winter fabrics), some Jinny Beyer tone-on-tone melon rose and burgundy, and a few burgundy prints, one is a Haversham fabric I've had for a long time, along with the apple print.  (See photo at right.)  Since it will be so large, I think I will quilt it in sections of four, which will be about 28" square, finished, in a Quilt As You Go method.  The photo at right shows 12 blocks finished.  

Bonnie Hunter has a free pattern on her blog for a scrappy version of Around the World, using six strips of various colors without any specific pattern. 
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/scrappy-trips-around-world.html  Here is my version of the Scrappy Trips, in a blue colorway.  I will make this in a queen size.
Speaking of Around the World quilts, one of my local quilting friends and I are planning to take a short trip in a couple of weeks, to meet one of our online quilting friends, who is visiting the United States from another country.  She will be only around three hours away from us, so we are excited to be able to go and meet her for lunch and possibly take her to visit some Indiana quilt shops so she can check out some American fabrics.  
If you’re in the mood for soup, here are two recipes I made in my electric pressure cooker… they could easily be made on top of the stove, as well, but would just need to be cooked longer.

Beef Vegetable Barley Soup:
Season and brown 1 pound of stewing beef in a very small amount of olive oil.  My pressure cooker has a browning function, so I used that.  I seasoned the beef with Montreal Steak Seasoning.
Add: 1 small chopped onion and a quart of water, with 2 Tablespoons of beef soup base stirred in.
Cover and cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.  Release steam and add:
1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables, 10 oz.
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
5 cups water
1 cup pearl barley (mine was quick-cooking)
Cover and cook on high pressure for 18 minutes.  Release pressure.  Season, if necessary. 

Pressure Potted Fall Vegetables & Beef Stew:
1# cubed round steak, lightly floured and browned in about 1 Tablespoon Olive oil
                (more if you want a meatier stew)
Place in pressure cooker.  Add 1-1/2 cups water and cook on high for 45 minutes.
While meat is cooking, prepare the other vegetables:
2 cups peeled and diced rutabaga
2 cups thickly sliced baby carrots
2 medium diced potatoes (if using new potatoes, scrub and do not peel before dicing)
2 cups shredded bagged coleslaw vegetables (cabbage with a bit of shredded carrots)
1 medium onion, diced
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 – 28 oz. can Ro-Tel Tomatoes with green chili (this makes a VERY spicy hot soup… may substitute regular diced tomatoes, if you don’t like it “hot”!)
Add the vegetables to the meat in the pressure cooker.
Add 3 cups water, or amount wanted to obtain the amount of broth you desire.
Add 1 Tablespoon Mrs. Dash’s seasoning
Add 1 Tablespoon beef soup base to enhance the flavor (no need to add additional spices; if it is not seasoned well enough, you can add seasoning when you eat it.)
Cover and cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.
Options:  Can add fresh chopped spinach, frozen corn or canned black beans after cooking, heating until everything is hot.

If you want to make this vegetarian, just cook the vegetables with the water, adding some meatless soup base, optional.  Cook about 30 minutes, and add one can of black beans, one can of white beans, and one can of kidney beans to the vegetables to add protein.  May also add some textured soy protein, mixed with water to soften, if desired, which simulates ground meat.
Enjoy this lovely fall weather before the cold of winter sets in.  I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving season! 


4 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, Alaena! This is Sue in Marion, IN--home of the Quilters' Hall of Fame. I'm on the board. Margaret will be staying in Logansport, which is northwest of here, but also said she will visit Kokomo, which is just 15 miles from here. I told her I'd pick her up and bring her to see the QHF, take her to lunch, and to our very nice quilt shop, Sew Biz. She told me some ladies from Cincinnati wanted to meet up in Indy---I think she may be relying on me for transportation. What do you ladies have in mind for lunch & quilt shops? There is a nice quilt shop on the north side called Quilts Plus that is one of my favorites. A few miles north in Noblesville there is Always in Stitches, another one of my favorites! And next door is Ginger's cafe which has excellent homemade food. There's another more modern quilt shop down the road that has more of the modern fabrics and patterns called Quilt Expressions. I will contact you--have to get your email from Cyberquilters list, but will send you my email so we can join forces. Fun!

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  2. I so enjoy your tutorials and I thank you for all the inspiration photos!

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