Apple Bread recipe

Be forewarned, it takes a while to put together and an hour or so to bake (depending on the size pan you use).    The original recipe I found is from 1982 Southern Living cookbook.....Fresh Apple Loaf----we just call it Apple Bread!

4 cups peeled, grated apples

1/2 cup raisins---optional

1 cup sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

•  Peel apples.......I like Red Rome apples.  Once peeled, I give them a dunk in a  lemon  and water bath----about 4 C water with 2-3 tablespoons of lemon  juice until ready to grate.  It keeps them from turning brown.  Drain before grating.
• Grate the apples.   I use a large food processor to speed up the process and save  my fingers. 
• Place grated apples, raisins, and sugar in large bowl.  Stir and allow to sit about an hour for the juices to run.

3 C of all purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

• Sift all dry ingredients together.

2 eggs

1 cup butter.....2 sticks, melted

2 teaspoon vanilla

•   Once the juices have run from the grated apples, add the dry ingredients.  Mix well.  
• Add vanilla, butter and eggs.  Mix well.

Grease 2 loaf pans----9'' by 5''.   Spoon the batter into the pan and bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  

  

If I make smaller size loaves, I  check to see if done at 45 minutes for the mini loaf pans, and at 1 hour for the mid-size loaf pan.   I use a long wooden skewer to check to see if done....as this recipe is dense and moist. 
   These loaves freeze well.  I wrap them in fold and then bag in ziplock type bag.  Perfect served warmed and for breakfast or snack.
Enjoy!

Apple farm trip and an email note

   Cooler temperatures finally settled on us this week.  Not really feeling like fall.....no color at all in the trees, but we have had much lower humidity and nice breezy days.  I pulled out a few seasonal runners and wall quilts for a change from my summer assortment.
    I have been struggling with the neuropathy and so only minor sewing has happened.   I am not sure if the neuropathy in my legs or hands  has any improvement ....things are different.  Especially in the feet and legs, which has greatly affected my balance and standing.

  Anyway, we took a ride up to Apple Valley to the apple orchard.   It is  a beautiful area and the day was perfect for a trip.  We bought up a bushel of Red Rome apples for Fresh Apple Bread, and then selected a few other varieties to share with the neighbors too.    Baking day for the apples begins on this weekend.

  On the way back down the mountain, we stopped in at Foam and Fabric to find some upholstery weight fabric to recover our bar stools.  I only picked up a scrap bag for $4 and a new seam ripper.   I need one with a sharper point to un-pick short seams of sub cuts for a scrappy trips project.

  Scrappy Trips project......I have two bins of assorted strips of 2'' width.  I got tired of string type blocks, so I turned to a "kitchen sink" pattern.  That means anything goes.  No photos as I am in the sorting and grouping stage.  I really need to clear these strips out.  I will continue with the leader and ender---Jewel Box Star---as I work on these.

  In the email in box this morning......A nice note that gave me a lift.
Kathy originally found one of my quilts on Pinterest, and followed to my blog.  She was planning a watercolor wall hanging for her son for his wedding.  Apparently she had already cut squares to 2 1/2'' and began to have challenges as she was developing her design.  She asked for help with sizes, and blending.
   I gave her all the info I could in an email, and referred her to several spots on the blog for more details.  She promised to send photo of her finish.  That was several months ago.

   Today this arrived.

Made by Kathy

Made by Kathy for her son, who is an architect, and his new wife.  She could not find a pattern for this concept, so she designed her own!

 She also use batik fabrics adding a detail in cross stitch. 
Her finished size is 24'' by 36''. 
Viewed from a distance, the glow from the base of the buildings is striking.   I can almost see the specks of light in the buildings as day begins.   She captured the skyline against the sunrise behind the buildings.  I absolutely love it. 
  Great job, Kathy, and thank you for sharing your finished project. 


  A total stranger finds my blog, asks a few questions, and the back and forth dialog begins.  And I have a new person to help and touch.  Little do these folks know just how much they help me, give me purpose, provide me with a reason to stand longer and fight on.   Thank you.
Happy stitching. 

This week and another hurricane

   Not a lot of sewing done as I have been waiting to get my eye exam done.  My old glasses were just not helping and quilting is made difficult when you can't focus :)   So the exam went okay....new doctor because my very reliable doctor has retired....sure am missing him.  And new glasses are ordered for reading.  At the optometry section, Scott suggested low mag generic readers for watching TV or driving......tada!  They work great and saved me money.  Just waiting on the close work reading glasses to come in. 
 

 
 In compensation, I pulled out a small set of string blocks.  These are a mixed batch of 8'' blocks.....so I made up a few more to add to the stack.  Once I get them squared up, I hope I can figure out a layout and get a top sewn.   My string bin is getting low....and that's a good thing. 

We made a stop into Big Lots a couple of days ago.  And look what I found.......clothesline rope for $4!  That is half what it costs at the hardware store.   This brand is just slightly stiffer and maybe slightly thicker, but will work great for more bowls and trivets. 


     And then the appearance of the super hurricane Micheal happened.  This boy grew up quickly and made a beeline for us.  We woke up at 2 am this morning to pounding rain and very strong gusts of wind.  And the good news is......Micheal is a fast mover and will fly on out of here by early afternoon.....leaving us with 5 inches of rain.  We still have power  and life will return to normal rather quickly here.  But those poor folks on the Carolina coastline are in for more rain which they do not need. 
    Thanks to all for checking on us......happy stitching. 

One thing leads to another

   It's been slow around here....or I have been moving slow.  We are still having summer temps, as the predicted front never made it this far south and moved north of us.  So no fall inspiration has appeared on my porch yet :)     
                 
  I am still getting thru and sorting strips and strings.  I found another bin tucked under something else.   I decided to just piece up some colorway units.  I cut up some  4'' by 8 1/2'' foundations to cover.  Only one orange unit out of the whole bunch.....guess you can guess I don't use that color a lot. 
   I am not sure how I will use them.  I have a couple of ideas but no true direction.   I still have more to put together.  That will fill up spare moments.








   On the design wall is this year's Leader and Ender project....Jewel Box Star.
    I pressed up the units that I had stacked up over the last week or so.  The pattern is now beginning to emerge.
I matched up some more sets and realized I needed a lot more of the 4 patch units.  I have twice as many of the large HSTs. 




   So that meant digging thru the florals for short strips to sew together.  That was easy, I am just exaggerating the ordeal.  Sewing them together was easy too......zip, zip.   Once they were pressed they need to be cut into segments for the 4 patch unit.  Only.....the corner broke off my slotted ruler. 

  I use this ruler a lot....June Tailor Shape Cut slotted Ruler.    I mean all the time.  For me it is a 2 reason thing.....it is less wear and tear on my wrist that I use to hold the ruler in place, and it gives me consistent cuts.   Once I line up the fabrics....here they are slightly overlapped...I can make the cuts quickly and easily. 
   But luckily the J Store sent me coupons in the mail that morning, so I did a bit of shopping online.  And waited for delivery.  And waited for delivery......the batting came in 3 days.  And I waited for the ruler delivery. 

  Now you can see why I sewed up a bunch of strips and strings.  Before I get comments and questions.....I had checked around town and was unable to find a store with this particular ruler in stock.  Everyone could order it for me, but no one stocked it at this time.  No I did not want the fringe slot ruler, or the one with 1/4'' slots.  I waited for delivery. 
   I know I could have probably finished the quilt by this time, but the ruler came and I got to make my cuts.  It was stubborn, bull-headedness  on my part, but the cuts are made.  I now have a stack of 4 patch units to sew together.

   I finished up at the dentist.....three visits in 3 weeks is enough for a long while.  Only have an eye exam this week and I will be done with the doctor visits for a couple of months I think.   I am looking forward to some inspiration and motivation when cooler weather decides to drop in for a while. 
Until then.....happy stitching.                                   

Quilts for Carolina hurricane victims

From my Carolina Home quilt 

   Carole at From My Carolina Home shared a post today about her hurricane project.   She has  also prepared a PDF of the split 9 patch block she will be using.   mIt's the same as those used for the California Fire quilts.  So instead of me "plaining" it all, please drop in and read her details.
 




  Quilts of Compassion are also making and collecting quilts for the Hurricane Florence victims.   Their latest posts lists a couple of shops who are helping collect quilts, as well as address for mailing quilts. 

  The news here is showing rivers are still cresting and rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days.  Some of it actually may be leftover parts of Hurricane Florence that has circled around and reformed into a small system!  Unbelievable -----I have never seen a hurricane refuse to die like this one.  The flooding continues and people are still waiting to get back to their homes.  Many of them know all is lost.  So if you want to help at all, these two projects will be wonderful to support.  Thanks. 
Happy stitching. 

The Unexpected

   Last week I was quilting.....meander quilting....the water color wall hanging.   I had made the blocks for  a class  using the strip pieced method.  Tutorial for this method is  found here.    This type of water color work is strictly dark to light in a block format.  I had at least 3 sets of blocks for this that were left over from demonstrations.








 I had put them together, but goofed.  The top row was sewn on upside down.  It did not look quite right....lol.

  So a little ripping and re-sewing.......add a border  and finish it up. 

     At first I was not happy with the border color I chose.  But the more I worked on it, the better I liked it.
I began to notice how the border color pulled out the odd blues and greens in the floral fabrics.  Overall it softened the effect.   It became the expected.  Exactly, something different than I usually use. 
 










   Then I found the perfect print for the binding....with touches of dark brown on the light turquoise background.  I liked the way it finished off.

  The Unexpected---wall hanging.
  30'' by 36''

 
Happy stitching. 






 

It was minimal for us

  Today all is fine.  The storm has passed directly over us with very minimal damage to our area.    We had some winds on Saturday, and rain began in the afternoon.  Sunday was more rain....light mostly.  But it was a painful day for me....I found out on the weather last night that the eye passed directly over us.  That low pressure had been giving me high pain for the weekend.

  We did hear from a cousin who rode the storm out in Wilmington.  No power, all wind and rain for 72 hours.  Damage to the roof from limbs with some leaking spots.  Little sleep with the house temperature at 88 degrees.  They had no flood damage being on higher ground,  but they sought relief in the car on Sunday afternoon.  They got it out of the garage and turned on the AC for some soothing cooling.  That must have been a wonderful few minutes. 

Thanks to all who checked on us.