L is for........Life and Lemons

And we all know that when Life gives me Lemons I make Limoncello! 

of course!

Once upon a time my friend Marta started talking about this amazing drink that she absolutely LOVED!

Limoncello was its name.

I'd never had it, but shortly after she started talking about it I came across this VOX post telling you how to make it!  Being a crafty, do-it-yourself kind of person I decided that I should make some because it would be a perfect gift for my friend.  (I know, I know.....I'm so selfless!)

Over the years I've posted about Limoncello several times:   here,  and here.

You can learn how to make your very own Limoncello here: When Life gives you Lemons  

Here are a couple of my favorite photos featuring good times with Limoncello:

Darn it!  I couldn't find the picture of my mom trying Limoncello!

So in closing, always remember......when Life give you Lemons

Make Limoncello!

AND Lemonade!

Goddess of the Last Minute

Wow!  It's been so long since

 I posted I had to sign in!

I almost didn't remember my password!

Yesterday and today I've been working on my

quilt show entry.

I guess I could have waited another week or so....

it's not due in til March 4th.

Kidding!

Yesterday I loaded the longarm with a very thick

polyester batting and floated my quilt top.

Then using a water soluable thread on top and regular

thread in the bobbin I quilted around the major

shapes that I wanted to TRAPUNTO.

After the quilting is done you have to cut away all of the

thick batting from the areas that you don't want to stand out.

Here is a picture of what the quilt top looked like

at 6pm tonight:

I've cut the major blank areas of the

the batting away from the quilt back.

Now I just have to do the detail cutting.

4 hours, an episode of Survivor, and hour of Sex in the city movie, the last 1/2 of

Seventh Heaven episode, 2 loads of laundry, several Limoncello shots and one sappy Hallmark movie later the top looked like this:

Whew!  I'm really glad that the cutting is all finished! 

And here is the best part...........NOT ONE SINGLE CUT ON THE TOP OF THE QUILT!  In the past when I've done trapunto quilts no matter how careful I was, I always had a slip or two and but the quilt top.  The Limoncello must have given me a steady hand!

I took several breaks during my cutting marathon and during

one break I bottled my latest batch of Limoncello which I

began on Dec. 29.

During the last couple of days I've finished this quilt for Becky:

And made this label:

I embroidered this shirt for Jenny:

Embroidered this label for the round robin quilt:

And now it is time to rest!

Good night!

When Life gives you Lemons......

Well............ya'll know that I make Limoncello!

My friend Steve brought me a bag full of lemons

So I got out my potato peeler and peeled all of the

zest off of the outside of the lemons trying really

really hard not to get any of the white pith.

The pith can make the end product bitter.

After I get all of the peeling off of the lemons

then I put them in a very clean glass jar

and give them a vodka bath!

Sometimes I use 1/2 vodka and 1/2 Everclear.

This makes the end result just abit stronger.

This vodka bath will last for 1-2 months.

At that point I make up a simple syrup

with about 6 cups of water and 4 cups of sugar

and mix it with the very lemony vodka in a larger glass jar.

This will sit for another 2-4 weeks.

Sometimes it is hard to wait, but the longer you let

it set the better it is!

To make the limoncello all I really need it the lemon peel,

but I surely can't waste all those lemons, so I juice all of

the lemons and make LEMONADE!

ta ta for now.

When life give you lemons.............

Make Limoncello!

On my recent visit to San Diego I plucked about

20 lemons or so off of my parents abundantly producing

lemon tree.

The lemons in the picture look kinda scraggly, but that

is because I have painstakingly peeled and/0r grated

the lemon's waxy skin off of it trying really really hard

not to get any of the white pith which could make the

limoncello bitter.

I place all of my lemon peelings in a glass jar
and add a bottle of Everclear and a bottle of vodka.

This mixture will "brew" in a dark room for 3-4 weeks

and then be ready for the next step in the process.

It has been a really busy week so far.

I was able to quilt two customer quilts.

This lovely basket quilt is Maryanne's

and this pastel beauty belongs to Liz.

My daughter Jenny is attending a baby shower

for one of her high school friends this weekend

and wanted to make a gift. So she came over

a couple of days this week and make this really

cute "Hanky Blanky Pet".

(By Black Cat Creations

http://www.black-cat-creations.com/

designed by Judy Reynolds)

Jenny did the hand embroidery on the cat's face and

made the blankie out of super soft minkee.

I bought this pattern several years in Olympia Washington

while I was visiting Bayside Quilting!

I was thrilled to see the pattern used

and it sewed up into a really cute little gift!


We had one kinda bad thing happen to us this week.

I arrived home on Sunday from my Quilting Road trip

and my dear daughter and son-in-law invited us over for dinner.

(Very sweet of them to think of that!)

(oh, that's not the bad thing!)lol

We took my car and left Mike's truck at home.

So when Mike went out to jump in his truck to
go to work on Monday the sound was horrendous!

On Saturday or Sunday night someone had cut the

catalytic converter off of his vehicle!

The mechanic who fixed this said that we had a very

nice thief...........I guess he cut off the converter

without damaging any of the other parts.

Now there's a bright spot for ya!

Silver lining in a dark cloud!

I still have not completely unpacked my "goodies" from

my trip to the Long Beach quilt show.

I got some new stencils that I used this

past week while working on some trapunto.

I'll be posting that sometime next week.

I've designed, marked, stitched and

now have to work on cutting away all that

thick batting.

It's a labor of love I'll tell ya!

So until next time.........try to stay cool!