Tuesday To Do #10; Sláinte!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Let's see if I had any luck getting

last week's to-do's completed!

Snowflakes

Work on quilting.

I had a whole day set aside for this but with

the lightning that day, I preferred to keep the

the longarm unplugged.  Priorities.

I did get one pass done over the weekend.

One. (Lame. I know.)

Charity Baby quilts

Finish first and start on second top.

Done.

This quilt was finishing up at 36 X 36 but

I needed it to meet the minimal requirement

of 36 X 40.  I wasn't comfortable with the

low amount of the theme fabric anyway

(also a requirement) so I thought this was an

opportunity to bring it home, so to speak.

Putting the top and bottom on first allowed

me to take a step back and decide if it should

go all around or not.  Easy decision.

Way too busy with it all around.

I wish you could see this one in person

because it really is so much more cheery

 and fun than it shows in the picture.

I moved right on into my second charity quilt.

As usual, I need just that *one* more little bit

of fabric.  One more teensy pop of color.

Like not even a fat quarter.  Like if you lived

close to me, I'd probably come raid your scraps...

HSTs

Any progress.

Yeeeeah....no.

Gardening

Depending on the weather, get onions and

shallots planted and cut up seed potatoes.

Done.

I'm very impatient when it comes to these first

crops.  It is not unusual for KS to have a very wet

spring so if the garden is even close to being ready,

I push it.  In sunny and/or windy conditions, I'll turn

turn over the top lightly with the tiller in an effort to

dry out and warm what is beneath. In doing so, I'm

working (and walking on) the slightly damp soil so

I know you full-on gardeners are cringing at this.  

No it's not recommended...but I do it anyway.

I just counter my poor method with lots of compost.

With chickens and three acres, compost is aplenty!

But anyway, last week was no exception to my

unorthodox gardening shenanigans but it has been 

raining ever since--a lot--so I'm patting myself on

the back once again and kind of wondering why

I didn't toss in some lettuces for good measure.

Here's the part where I digress....

Last week I linked up a few Irish recipes, including 

the Steak and Ale Pie from Global Bakes.  I refer to

her as Tanya-Who-Made-It-To-The-Tent because

she baked in THE tent on the British Baking Show.

To me, this is like the end-all/be-all of foodie things.

And I know that I could never in a million years

do it so I respect anyone that has. 

We have put on a lot of dinners for large groups

which have given me such a respect for chefs.

The research, planning, timing...

just literally having so many plates spinning at once!

I think I would get used to it after a time and maybe

even grow to like it but, as it is, performance cooking

is not my strong point.

Now, after all that digression, I just want to share that

I finally made rough puff pastry.  Pastries seem to

scare me and I'm not sure why--well, aside from the

bajillion calories I take in while just looking at them.

But anyway, hubs made the steak and ale and,

because his baking experience is next-to-nil, I took

on the pastry.  There was plenty of dough left-over

so I cut it up into pieces and tossed them on a baking

sheet with a bit of egg wash.  In retrospect, if I'd

realized they were were going to be the most flakey,

crispy pastry items I've ever made, I would have done

something more creative but, in truth, my confidence

in my pastry skills is about...oh...50%.

Oh me of little faith.

After years of avoiding something I thought was

beyond my patience level, I write to you now feeling

pretty darned accomplished and I'm telling you all

that this one is doable!  My mind is already

reeling with all the appetizer possibilities

(I always need good ones for dinner parties)

among other things but I'll stop there.

I just wanted to follow-up on that one and

share that pastry recipe again.

And now, because this is also a

quilting/gardening/occasional-chicken blog,

I'm going to move back to the matters at hand.

It's not so bad with all of the rain keeping me

out of the garden now because I have plenty

to keep me busy inside.  The week ahead:

Snowflakes

Finish quilting.

This is a must because the baby quilts

have to be quilted asap.

Charity Baby Quilts

Finish top #2.

Even better if I can get a start on their quilting.

HST's

Who knows here?

It's not a priority so we'll see.

Gardening

Likely nothing here.  Too wet.

Even for this gardener.

Happy quilting and happy St. Patrick's Day!

Linking up to:

Chris Knits Tuesday To Do

Wednesday Wait Loss