...spaghetti a la Della Bosca

I have been on leave the last couple of days (and working a little more friendly hours the days before that) so have been place on dinner cooking duty. And while I like to bake and cook some things the daily dinner part of it has never been my favourite thing to do - and deciding what to eat, really no fun.

So earlier this week saw me wandering Woolworths about 4:30 looking for inspiration when I decided we would have Spagetti a la Della Bosca. I am sure this dish has a real name but I don't know what it is. When I was growing up that is what it was called, named for the family of one of  my Mum's bridesmaids who gave her the recipe. Which also means it is not specific and isn't written down anywhere in a cookbook I can search online with my phone while I'm at the shops.

So there I was, calling Mum, Dad and anyone else that might have been able to clarify the ingredients list to save me coming home, checking out my hand scralled directions and coming back. I'm posting this here now to share it with you - and stop me ever needing to do that again!

Spaghetti a la Della Bosca


butter
onion, diced
garlic, crushed
750g gravy beef, trimmed and cut into small chunks
1tsp Allspice
salt
3/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup claret or red wine
parmesan cheese and pasta to serve


Melt the butter in a large heavy based pan and cook the onion and garlic until soft. Try not to brown them, so low temperature for about 10 minutes works for me. 

Add the beef, salt allspice and enough water to almost cover the meat (the amount of water you add now will affect the saucyness later). Simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. 

Add the tomato paste, claret and simmer for another 20-30 minutes until beef is tender and the sauce has thickened (simmer a little longer if you want thicker sauce or you added a little too much water earlier)

Serve atop cooked pasta and sprinkle with a little freshly grated parmesan cheese. 

...Hexy M(ini)F

It is Mini because there is only 2 so far!

I've finally started, what feels like weeks after everyone else.

I got my fabric chosen just after the papers arrived in the mail. In the end I went back and bought the fabrics from this post that I really liked, rather than those I thought I needed to co-ordinate, and then took this bundle to Amitie during the sale to add the extra 4 prints (or more if it turned out one I chose wouldn't work but that didn't happen).

Somewhere in between the first fabric purchase and the visit to Amitie I came across this series of posts - I found the one about bundles interesting but it wasn't so helpful in the store as I looked at shelves of fabric with a feel rather than a picture of what I wanted in mind. I also chose the chartreuse from Dear Stella for the flower centres, I didn't catch the name of the colour on the end of the bolt.

I made a start at the Sit and Sew evening on Friday night and now I have a couple of flowers sewn, all the centres basted and all the petals cut.

I have cut my strips at 3.5"and then cross cut at 4" to give me a 3.5"x4" rectangle - and then cut this into hexies with a template Lisa made me with the 3/8" seam allowance I like for EPP. Cutting this way I was able to get all the centres cut from just over 3/4 yard of fabric.

Katy has given a couple of different basting methods. My preference is to secure the fabric to the paper with a circle of glue to hold it steady (I find pins move or fold the papers) and then baste through the paper with a stitch at each corner and one in the centre of each side. Leaving the knot at the front when I start makes it easier to remove the basting threads later.

There are 74 of these flowers to make - I'm labelling them as I go.

...crafty time

While I'm not a teacher I work in schools and with students so when school holidays come around I don't have to leave for work so early in the morning or work quite so last. This weekend marks the beginning of two weeks of this quieter, less frantic work time and in just my style I have a long, long list of crafty plans.

This weekend saw me have a very crafty themed weekend with a fun Sit and Sew evening on Friday night (with the start of my Hexy MF after my papers arrived and I finally decided on my fabrics - but more on that later), a very sad craft show on Saturday with some not sad at all company and lots of sewing and other things. Let's hope I haven't burnt myself out too early!

Top of the list was the blocks for June for the Cherish circle of do. Good Stitches. Melissa had asked for Granny Squares with and extra rounds and pink as the last one (she had sent us the spots to be used for one of them). Given the larger size someone had dubbed them Great Granny squares - a good name I think!
It was good to be able to put some of the 2.5" scrap stash I cut up ages ago to good use.

She has asked they be sent back untrimmed but I folded some of the sawtooth edges over to see how the pinks will look together - OK, I think and I love the concept - looks much more like a 'real' Granny Square!

The other was also to get the top together for the May do. Good Stitches Cherish quilt - for which I was responsible for the design. I posted about my plan here and I am so please it has come together a lot like what I had in my mind. I have the backing and the batting ready to go - I just need to do the next thing on the list and finish quilting one of the quilts I have on the go to gather enough basting pins for the basting and quilting!

I hope to have this one quilted and bound in the next couple of weeks!

...thinking about it

I've been sick, the kind of sick where I spent a day lying down and not even being able to think about sewing through the pain in my head, the pain in my throat and the stuffiness in my ears followed by far too many days of being well enough for work (although at times during the day I questioned the accuracy of that belief) but so tired at the end of the day TV was really all I could face.

Somewhere in the middle of all that I came across a post about a quilt-along for Katy's Hexy MF quilt. The hand quilting is progressing on my star quilt and it appears I felt well enough for a moment to contemplate a bigger hand pieced project because I have and email confirmation for an order of the papers.

While I wait a couple of weeks for them to arrive I have been thinking about the fabric to use, I'd like to use a bundle I've put together but when I've tried in the past here and here I've liked them but they still seem a little flat.

I want something a little Japanese and vintagy - I love this and this and this.

This morning I had a go in Spotlight with some DS quilts fabric and again, while I like it I don't love it.

Any suggestions on some rules for putting together bundles, how many colourways should I use, should they all have a roughly equal number of prints, what ratio of large, medium, small prints? I'm wondering if there is a formula or some guidelines - it would sure help me.

Tips and Tricks....clean your machine

A few weekends ago I went away with some stitchy friends with big plans first for some quilting on Lorraine's frame and then some piecing and hand quilting.

On Saturday morning I was up bright and early for a walk and then settled into loading the quilt and  starting up my machine. All went well for the first few passes. And then my machine stopped. I re-threaded, fitted a different bobbin, oiled and it still kept beeping and flashing an E6 error message at me. Google told me that meant a tangled thread. I couldn't find it.

To cut a long story short the quilt was unloaded and I took to the couch with some hand quilting.

On Sunday morning I attacked the problem with renewed vigour. I wasn't having much luck up top so I decided to unscrew the plate and this is what I saw....5 years worth of lint.

In my defence my machine tells me not to oil it and a screwdriver the correct size to remove the plate did not  come with the machine. To sing the machines praises this accumulation of muck didn't affect performance until a few weeks ago.

It's  been to the doctor and has returned but I've not yet unpacked it - the Contessa and I have been becoming reaquainted. She isn't as loud, as tempremental  as I remember her but she is a tough old bird!

...have you pinned the trimming entry of your choice?

Have you visited the Trimmings Competition Pinterest board to vote for the People Choice Award? You can vote for your favourite by repinning from the Competition Board (as I understand it 'likes' and comments don't count).

There is so many wonderful entries - I am always so interested in to how many different kinds of things people can come up with - even with a similar bundle of fabric.  

...in a bind

In most cases I decide on the backing and binding I am going to use for a quilt at the time I choose the rest of the fabric - at the very latest these decisions are almost always made at the time the top is completed.

When I am feeling organised I make the binding at this point so I have it ready when I finish the quilting. My problem is that I often get stalled at the idea of the basting phase and right now I have a pile of binding waiting for a finished quilt.

From left to right there are the bindings for the quilted quilts - the basted quilts - the finished tops - a not yet pieced top.