Silver Haul!

It's that time of year when the garage sales start up and 

I'm always ready to go treasure hunting.  A church near 

my house was having a rummage sale and I stopped in to

look around.  I saw this bag of silverware marked $5.

The first thing I noticed was this server that was

sitting on top of all the other items.  I thought the

rest of the bag was probably filled with assorted

forks, knives and spoons but I was interested in the

server.  In an antique store this item alone would 

probably cost at least $15 so I figured $5 was a 

good deal.

When I got to the car I looked in the bag and laughed.

I guess someone else likes butter knives as much as

I do!  I use butter knives often and not just for butter,

when I serve triple cream brie or other soft cheeses

or dips, I like to give each person their own knife.

When I was a little girl I always liked to use the butter

knife from my Mum's silver set ~ it just made the meal

more special.

While watching a movie this afternoon I got them all

polished and looking beautiful.

They are mostly silverplate but I did find some 

sterling.  There are even a few that match

 ~ not that that matters...

I love the little shields on this set of 6, perhaps I

should have them engraved with our initial.

These two will go to someone I know with the

initial B.

There was even one M ~ made just for us!

Mid-Century Atomic Snowflake

While I was out treasure hunting recently, I came

across this Mid-Century Meat Platter by Inland Glass.

I took a photo and sent it to Kate saying, "too bad you 

are a vegetarian, this would have been perfect for you."

She asked, "would I have to use it for meat?"  I figured,

no, you could serve anything on it so I got it for her.

This is not just a perfect find because she likes this sort

of style but also if you notice the edging is in black and

gold and Kate is a proud Purdue graduate and those

Boilmakers are wild about their school colors.  This

pattern is known as the Atomic Snowflake which I

find wildly amusing.  It is so Mid-Century.  I'm (luckily)

too young to have had A Bomb drills in my childhood

classrooms, we only had firedrills.  But I remember my

siblings talking about air raid drills where they were 

told to get under their desks.  Ah ~ the good old days!

It also came with a stand so you could keep your

dinner warm with candles under the platter.  I guess

it's good Kate is a vegetarian since our modern tea 

light candles don't fit...

Elle's Kitchen: Cinnamon Toast

I was out of state this week and yesterday I got

home in the afternoon, played with the puppy dog,

headed down to the big city with Trishie for a lecture

 by Frank Abagnale at the IMA and then we met Kate

 for a very late dinner before heading home to an end of

 day telephone call with Mr. Wonderful and off to bed!

This morning I woke up and let's just say, the cupboard

was bare,  nothing for breakfast...  there were a few pieces

of bread so I went old school and made cinnamon toast.

This is a favorite of mine from when I was a child but I

haven't had it in years.  It is so simple and most people 

have everything they need in their kitchen.  

Toast the bread until it is light brown, spread with butter

and let it melt a bit then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon

and gently mix the butter, sugar and cinnamon together.

This is something my Mum often made for me when I was

a child.  When I was old enough to make it myself I 

remember we had a spice jar with the sugar and cinnamon 

already mixed together ~ I don't remember if this was a

commercial product or just something my Mum mixed up 

herself to make it easier for me.  

It was still delicious!

Quiltmaker's 1000 Blocks Book Mystery

A while back someone had told me I was a 

part of this book but I had not heard from

the publisher so I wasn't sure.  A few weeks

ago I visited Lolly's Fabrics in Shipshewanna,

Indiana and noticed they had the book so I

took a peek.

On one of the opening pages showing some

of the blocks, there was one of mine.  It's the

top row, second from the left.  I checked the

index and my name and two page numbers 

were listed but when I visited those pages,  my

blocks were not there.  I thought maybe it is not

the page number but the block number ~ tried

that and nope, that didn't work either.

So when I got home I contacted the publisher 

and found out I am indeed in the book but there

was an editing problem with the page numbers

which will be corrected in future issues.

Here is one of the blocks called Dutch Treat,

it says it is on page 85 but it's really on 87.

This is my other block called Felicity, it says 

it is on page 77 but it is on page 79.

This is the quilt I made using the Dutch Treat

block, I call it Going Dutch.

This is the quilt I made using the Felicity block,

I call it Felicidad.

If your guild or shop would be interested in a class

for either of these quilts, send me an email:

ellen.americanhomestead@gmail.com

Elle's Kichen: Orange Raisin Scones

On Sunday nights we are watching the final

season of Downton Abbey.  Last Sunday we 

had a late dinner and made it a tea.  Of course,

when you have tea, you should have scones.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar, divided

2 tabl. orange zest

1 tabl. baking powder

1/2 teas. salt

1/2 cup butter, chilled

1/2 cup raisins

1/3 cup sour cream

1 egg

cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Spray a baking

pan with Pam.

Whisk flour, 1/3 cup of the sugar, orange zest,

baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Add butter and cut into the flour mixture

with a pastry blender or 2 knives until

mixture looks like coarse meal.

Add the raisins.

Whisk the sour cream and egg together in 

a small bowl.

Add sour cream/egg mixture to the flour

mixture and toss until mist clumps form.

Pour flour mixture onto a lightly floured

surface and gently knead just until dough

comes together.  Divide in half and form each

half into a 4'' round.  Sprinkle with cinnamon

and the remaining sugar.  Gently press this 

into the dough so it stays in place.  Cut each 

round into 4 parts and transfer to the baking

sheet.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until

golden brown.  Cool and serve.

They were delicious!

And the Winner Is...

The time has come to pick the winner of the book,

75 Fun Fat-Quarter Quilts!

Drum roll please!

Rat-a-tat-tat

or

since Christmas is 2 days away

Pah Rum Pum Pum Pum!

And the Winner is:

Bonnie!

Congratulations!

I will be contacting you by email to get

your mailing address.  Bonnie liked Big Red

and Garden Paths.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the

giveaway and even if you didn't win on the

blog tour I hope you will consider buying 

this book.

Also, I have a lecture and trunk show for this

book, so if your quilt group, guild or shop would 

like to see the quilts in person and see how easily

 I made them, with lots of tips and hints, then 

please contact me at:

ellen.americanhomestead@gmail.com

All the best,

Ellen

A New Book Project!

75 Fun Fat Quarter Quilts

An exciting new book has just been released.

It is called 75 Fun Fat Quarter Quilts and many

designers have written chapters and I am happy

to be one of them.  My chapter is called 

One Simple Block

because all the quilts are made from, yes, you 

guessed it, one simple block, The Contrary Wife.

The quilt shown above is called  Au Contraire.

This quilt started with this sweet fat quarter

bundle because remember, this book is about

quilts that can be made from fat quarters.  And

all the quilts in my chapter are so easy to make

because the blocks are made from 4 half square 

triangles and 5 squares and you sew them into

a simple 9-patch block.  What makes this chapter

so interesting is the eight quilts that I designed 

all look so different by changing the colors or

changing the way the block was placed in the

quilts.  And just to get you a bit more excited,

I'm going to give you a sneak peek at the quilts.

This is Falling Leaves, a great Fall themed quilt

but you could use the same idea with any fat 

quarter bundle that you may love and it would

 look beautiful.

This is Chain Link, a completely different look

using white, red and black fabric.  This color

grouping is the favorite of my daughter Katie

Rose so I have lots of these fabrics in my stash.

This is Big Red, those of you that know me know

I love stars in quilts, they are such a traditional,

iconic look.  But this quilt looks bold and modern

by using bright, bold colors.

This quilt is called Magnificent Valour, I thought 

it would be perfect for those of you that make all

of those wonderful Quilts of Valor.

This is Ups and Downs, as you can see, again, I

have lots of red, black and white in my stash.  I 

think this would also be great if you did each row

in a different color.

This is Garden Paths, it reminded me of a show

garden with lots of flower beds surrounded by

grassy paths that meet with a fountain at the 

intersections.

This is Candy Garland,  I thought of strings of

wrapped candies when I designed this one.  It 

would also be fun in Christmas fabrics.

And this is just one of many, many chapters from

all sorts of talented designers.  So there you have it, 

just a snippet of the chapter I wrote, after all, we want

 you to run out and buy the book so you can see the full 

designs for yourself.  And remember, this is all from

One Simple Block!

To win a free copy of this book* please leave a comment

on this blog post, let me know which of the quilts in my

chapter is your favorite or you can just say hi!

  Remember to include your email address with your 

comment so I can reach the lucky winner.  On Wednesday, 

December 23 I will select a winner using a random 

number generator. 

*If your address is  in the United States you will receive a 

hard copy of the book.  A winner from outside the US will 

receive a free e-book version.

So many people can get to know about this new book we

are having a blog tour.  Stop by these other sites to see

what some of the other designers have to say about their 

chapters.  There are still a few more days of the tour!

12/14 C&T Publishing blog

12/15 Jera Brandvig

12/16 Melissa Cory

12/17 Kate Colleran

12/18 Sue Pfau

12/19 Tiffany Jenkins

12/20 Ellen Murphy

12/21 Amanda Castor

12/22 Jo Kramer

All the best!   ~ Ellen

Update!  A winner has been chosen for 

this giveaway.  It was Bonnie.

Thanks to everyone who participated!