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Southern Comfort for Dinner

27
Apr 2010

Haha, you thought we were having whiskey for dinner didn’t you? Nope. Not tonight. :)

We are having Black Eyed Pea Soup. Yum. Over the past few years I’ve come to love Southern cooking more and more. I think it comes from having traveled a little in the South, and falling in love with places like Memphis (hello, Graceland anyone?) and Oklahoma and Texas. Last summer Mr. F.T. and I took a little road trip, just the two of us, for a week last summer. We dropped the kids at Grandma and Grandpa’s and took off east on I-40. We had a blast seeking out all the crazy, quirky, beauty of Route 66 and parts of the country neither of us had seen before.

There are some funky places in this beautiful country of ours. But I’ve gotten off track. Here is our southern comfort recipe:

Black Eyed Pea Soup

Ingredients:
4 cans chicken broth (make sure you buy the No MSG cans)
1 empty can chicken broth of water
1 package dried black eyed peas
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups chopped ham
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional. leave out if you don’t want a little bit of spice)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Turn on low. Ignore for 8 hours. La de dah. I love recipes like that.

I served this with Cornbread Muffins. I used this recipe.

Oh and don’t forget to include the baking powder. I did this last time I made these. I was thinking all kinds of evil thoughts about this cook and then realized it was all me. Duh. (Kinda makes you leery to try my recipes now doesn’t it. Ha. It’s good. I promise. )

Here’s a picture:

Let me know if you give it a try!

Comments

Category: Cooking, Photography Tags: Cooking, Photography 5 Comments

Polkadot Potholder

26
Apr 2010

Beverly

Here is the second portion of the Polkadots, Pompoms and Potholder post. Whew. That’s a lot of “p”s. If you like to see the tutorial for the Apron, click here.

So on to the potholder tutorial. Sorry about the lack of photos in these steps. I finished this up last night and totally forgot about taking pictures as I went. (Still getting this whole tutorial thing down. :)

Cut out of your base fabric 2 rectangles 8 1/2″ x 7″. I rounded the edges of the rectangles.
Cut the same size rectangle out of batting. There are lots of things you can use for batting. You can use multiple layers of cotton batting (You don’t want to use polyester batting. Heat will melt it) You can use layers of sweatshirt fleece, or batting from an ironing board cover. I wanted this little potholder for holding on to the handles of pans on the stove, so it didn’t need to be very thick. I used a single layer of cotton batting.
Cut out 4 pieces for your scalloped ends 3 1/2″ x 7″. Cut two pieces of your batting fabric this size also.
Decide how you’d like to bind your potholder. I used binding that I made, but you could also use store bought bias tape. If you are making your own, cut out a strip 2″ by 30″. You can piece this together if you need to. The binding needs to be cut out diagonal to the selvage.

Sewing:

Layer your base fabrics together right sides out, with the batting between. To quilt these together, I sewed diagonal lines down the rectangle an inch apart. You could quilt it any way you liked, you just want to keep the layers together. Sew around the outside of the rectangle, 1/4″ from the edge. Set this part aside.

Make both scallop ends the same. Trace your scallop edge onto one side of the rectangles and cut out. I did this freehand, but I think it would look better if you used a little spool of thread or something similar to trace for your scallops. Use this edge as a pattern for all the end and batting pieces. So you’ll cut a scalloped edge onto one long side of the 4 fabric rectangles and one long side of the 2 batting rectangles.

To sew them together, place 2 end pieces right sides together and place a batting piece on top of that. Sew all three layers together along the scalloped edge only. Clip this seam well and turn right side out. Press the seam. Repeat for the other side.

Place a scalloped end on each end of the potholder. Stitch these on with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Trim all the way around the potholder close to the stitching.

Now prepare your bias tape. If you are using store-bought, you can skip this step. (Obviously ;)
If you’ve had to piece together your bias tape, sew the pieces together. This works better if you sew it in a diagonal seam.
Next you need to press your sides in on the bias tape. I have a little trick for that.
Cut a piece of parchment paper and fold it into a flattened cone shape. Similar to if you were going to make your own pastry bag. Measure up from the tip and cut off the end so it leaves a 1″ hole. This is the size your bias tape will be when you fold and press each side in 1/2″.
Feed your bias tape through the hole, folding in the sides as they go through. This will hold the sides in and allow you to press them down without steaming your fingers. Ouch.

Once you’ve pressed the sides in 1/2″ all the way down, fold together the bias tape in half, wrong sides together, and press.

Pin your bias tape on the potholder, easing around the corners. If this is your first time applying bias tape, I would recommend basting it on, then stitching it on. You’ll stitch about 1/4″ from the folded edge. When you get close to the starting point, fold over (and trim if you need to) the end of the tape and sew to the end, then sew down the folded end.

Ta da! You know have a finished scalloped potholder and a snazzy matching apron. Go you! I’d love to see them if you give them a try and as always, please feel free to send me an email if you get stuck or something is confusing. Or if you just want to say hi. :)

Comments

Category: Kitchen, Sewing Tags: Sewing 6 Comments

Polkadots, Pompoms, and a Potholder. Oh my.

26
Apr 2010

Beverly

I’ve been lovin the little half aprons they have at Anthropologie. Check this one out, and this one. Don’t you love the scallops?

Here’s my version, along with my matchy matchy potholder:

(you can’t tell from this picture but the apron has a white waistband)

What do you think? I’m lovin it. :)

Want to make one too? Here are the instructions:

Out of white fabric cut a rectangle 34 by 15 inches. (If you’re a tiny little thing this might be too wide for you. Measure around your hips to about where you’d want the apron to go, then use that measurement plus 1 inch. Then adjust the other measurements accordingly.)
Cut a strip for the waistband the same width by 5 inches.
For the ties cut two strips 36 inches by 5 inches. ( I wanted nice long ties but you could get away with shorter if you want.)

For the polka dot fabrics cut out:
Top and Middle panel rectangles: 36 inches by 8 inches
Bottom rectangle: 36 inches by 7 inches

Next cut out the scallops for the top and middle rectangles. I marked out how far up I wanted the fabric to scallop at several places along the rectangle. Mine is about 2 1/2 inches up. I used a bowl to trace for the scallops.

Then I did the same thing with the middle panel, only I used a salad plate so the scallops would be a little wider. On this panel the scallop went up 3 inches. Cut out the scallop panels.

You also need to cut out a scallop facing. Lay out the scallop rectangle over your fabric, right sides together. Cut out along the scalloped edge. Then measure up 1 1/2 inches and draw a straight line. Cut out. You’ll have a small facing rectangle for your panel.

Do that with both panels. Now you can start sewing. :)

Start with your bottom panel. Put a small hem in the bottom (turn over twice and stitch near the fold) and the sides. I did a zig-zag stitch in the top because I wanted the panels to lay as flat as they could.

Make both your scallop panels the same way. First stitch the top of the middle panel and both the facings with a zig-zag stitch.
I used a little pompom edging on the bottom of these two panels. I applied it like you would a piping. (Let me know if you think a tutorial on putting in piping in would be helpful.)
This was a little tricky. This stuff is tiny – only about a 1/2 inch total. So I’m sure the tiny little elves who created this stuff have no problem sewing it on their tiny little machines. But I had to be fairly enthusiastic about making sure it was sewn on well. It kept slipping out from under the presser foot. Grrrr. I sewed it on 1/2 inch from the edge.
Once you have the trim on, pin the facing along the scallop side and stitch on with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, right up to where your trim is. Sew along the side up to the point where the facing stops also. It will be easier if you use a zipper foot.
Clip these seams really well, especially up into the point of the scallop.

Turn your scallops right side out. Press the seams. (Make sure you do not touch the pompoms with your iron. The little things must be made of polyester. They’ll singe right up. This will make you think evil thoughts about the little elves.)

Hem the two sides of the panel, turning over the side so it matches up with the facing seam.

Repeat with the other panel.

Now that you have all three panels finished you are ready to start assembly. Hem the two sides and bottom of your large white rectangle. Lay it down, right side up. Line your top panel up with the top edge of the rectangle. Place the other two panels on the rectangle so that the middle overlaps the bottom and the top overlaps the middle with no white showing. The bottom panel should extend below your white rectangle about an inch and the panels should extend past the sides of your rectangle about a 1/2 inch. Measure and mark the placement of the panels. Mine is sewn at 4 inches from the top for the middle panel and 9 inches from the top for the bottom panel.

Starting with your bottom panel, sew on all three panels with a straight stitch 1/4 inch from the top of the panel.

At this point you’ll add on the waistband. Sew the two tie pieces on either side of the waistband section, right sides together. Fold over each long side 1/2 inch all the way down and press into place. Then fold it over in half, wrong sides together and press. If you’d like the ends of your ties to be angles, cut them and press them now.

Pin your waistband section over your apron panel, with the front and back of the waistband overlapping the apron panel about 1/2 inch. Match up the side seams to the sides of the apron panel. Pin this in several places. Start sewing at the end of your tie, 1/2 inch from the edge. Sew all the way to the other side, catching the apron panel between the two sides as you sew. Once you’re finished, turn it over and make sure you’ve caught the waistband and both sides look tidy. If you like, run a top stitch along the top of the ties/waistband, 1/2 inch from the fold.

Congratulations! You’ve just made an Anthropologie-ish apron for a lot less! Here’s my approximations for the amount of fabric you’ll need.
Of base rectangle, ties and waistband, 1 yard.
For the top two panels, 1/3 yard each
Bottom panel, 1/4 yard

Here it is again: