Quilt for Baby K, Next Phase--Ideas, Anyone?

Progress has been made on Baby K's quilt, according to kind suggestions received here!
(My apologies for the lame photo--the quilt top is actually quite square in real life!)

I think the two new borders set it off well--the new white border brings out the blocks, and the scrap border seems to frame the whole thing. I've also chosen the fabric for the back--think it ties the top together very nicely.

Now for the next phase--with the addition of the borders, the quilt will be 36" by36"--a little on the small side still. Another border? Two? Pieced? Single fabric? White? Print? Would another border or borders add or detract? I'll let the ideas incubate.

Any input?

Fall Food Rituals--Fire Roasted Green Chiles

Late last month I indulged in my favorite of all fall food rituals--putting away my annual supply of fire-roasted green chiles.

I'm happy to say that beautiful, fresh green chiles are available locally here now--not too long ago, my dad would ship them to me from New Mexico via UPS (and I imagine the UPS truck smelled wonderful!) and I'd roast them on the charcoal grill. This year's local chiles were particularly delightful--very flavorful, and hot enough but not too hot.


We bought two burlap bags of chiles--about two bushels--which the vendor roasted for us in his rotary cage: the most wonderful fragrance in the world! After letting them steam in plastic bags for a while, the blackened peels slip right off, and we then freeze the chiles in bags of five or six, ready to use. We'll enjoy their smoky flavor in our southwest-style dishes throughout the winter!



Credit to 'Inside Nanabread's Head' for the photos!

Fall Food Rituals--Onions

Last week I indulged in one of my favorite ways of celebrating the fall season--my annual purchase of a very big bag of onions.

Onions seem to me to be the essence of the fall harvest--I look forward to the 25-pound bags appearing in the produce department of my favorite small grocery store. The texture of the onions and of the bag make me happy--and I simply adore the labels and graphics!

(I will admit right here that I am developing quite a collection of onion bag labels--many of them definitely deserve to be recycled and celebrated, and a couple of projects are swirling around in the back of my mind. We will see what comes out!)

While I was horrified to note that my bag of onions this year cost $6.00 (much more than I've paid in the past), it still comes out to only $.25 a pound--a definite good buy!

A 25 pound bag gives me plenty of onions to share and cook with for some time to come, though it's sometimes a race to use them all before they start sprouting in late winter or early spring. It then becomes a challenge!

Now to bring out my collection of onion recipes: onion soup, baked onions, onion pie, grilled onions. . . what else?