Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Celebrating Baseball and Cherries

Baseball

Starting the final Great Debater quilt. The future owner (FO) and I share a love of baseball although we root for separate teams. {Hmm. That's a line from I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair in South Pacific. About halfway through the song.} Instead of riding him off my range, I decided to make a baseball quilt highlighting his beloved Phillies.

After quite a few sketches of baseball diamonds and backdrops, I remembered Farmer Fill by Freddy Moran. There are several versions in her book, Collaborative Quilting. Pages 82-84. Freddy spoke at our guild meeting last year and this is the Parts Department quilt she showed with a few of those guys.

Parts Department 2 by Freddy Moran. Shown at SCVQA meeting

I asked Freddy and she enthusiastically told to me to go for it... and send her a photo when it's done. How sweet is that?

My first pattern centered the ballplayer along the vertical axis. Looks okay except the glove fits almost to his elbow. I need to redraft this; it's bothering me more and more.

The Phillies colors are red, white, and blue. They usually play in red and white pinstripe uniforms. Lucky me. I had some in my stash - both a pinstripe and a loud red and white stripe. Loud looks better to me currently. The next job is to locate skin tones, glove tones, and green grass for them to play on. Here's what came out of my stash. My current guideline is, "No shopping until I'm absolutely sure there's nothing on hand."

Fabric pull from stash for Phillies baseball quilt

Not nearly enough greens or tans in house so I shopped QS' stash while I was there. That's my favorite first stop! After that I checked out a couple of stores in Colorado, including Alamosa Quilt Company. This small store has a broad selection of fabrics and some of the friendliest staff anywhere, including my dear friend, Peg Collins.

For a millisecond I considered using a single green for all the backgrounds. Ha! The uniforms will be consistent and that's enough. Once home, I paired skin colors with greens, trying for some contrast.

Pairing fabrics for baseball
Next I pieced my first ballplayer. I thought it would be easy to switch from lefties to righties but made several cutting errors. And I don't have extra of the pinstripe. Notice I switched from the broader red-and-white stripe to this true pinstripe shirting.

Left-handed Phillies baseball player
After all these fiascos I'm going to make a new set of templates strictly for lefties! I'm also wondering if I should make a cut-out template for the baseball glove to make fussy cutting more successful.


Cherries

We're nearing the end of bing cherry season so I was determined to make at least one batch of Cherry Almond Scones. This recipe comes from Paige at For Love of the Table where I find many favorites.

My first step is to curdle some milk with lemon since I don't keep buttermilk around. Then set the eggs out until they are at room temperature while pitting and cutting the cherries.

Cutting cherries

Once the dough is prepared, I scooped sixteen small scones on parchment paper. Then they go in the freezer for a couple of hours. The final prep step is to cut the parchment and transfer the scones to freezer bags. It's easy to pull them out when needed.


Of course, I baked one for breakfast the next morning.

Cherry Almond Scone, recipe from For Love of the Table

Enjoy the day, Ann

16 comments:

Quilting Babcia said...

Only one??! You have amazing willpower!

Robin said...

I didn't remember that line from the song so I clciked on the link and listened to it. I always liked Mitzi Gaynor. In fact, I have a daughter named Mitzi. The baseball player looks terrific. I wouldn't change a thing. You sure have an eclectic variety of greens.

Ann said...

Ha. It wastes power but I can have one fresh scone in the morning. Then it takes too long to bake a second one.

Ann said...

I enjoyed watching Mitzi on TV but we also had a record with Mary Martin singing. Such a wonderful voice. I have eclectic greens now - after raiding my sister's stash and shopping. The thing is, she will raid mine when she visits.

patty a. said...

What a great job you did matching the stripes on the uniform! This is going to be a fun quilt. Are you going to put numbers on the jerseys? Those scones look incredible! I didn't know you could freeze them then bake them later. Do you let them thaw or just put them in the oven frozen?

Barb said...

I love your block and yum do those scones look good!!
what a fun post

Quiltdivajulie said...

I would not make a template for the glove - let the viewer imagine the details and just represent the idea. This will be a fabulous project!!

Ann said...

I had to look at the block again to see how well the stripes matched... this time. It wasn't planned. Probably why it worked so well.
The scones go straight from the freezer to the oven. I enjoy having a fresh scone some mornings.

Ann said...

Thanks, Barb. I hope the future owner likes the quilt as much. It's certainly fun to make.

Ann said...

Yes, I think you're right, Julie. It's what I'm doing with the face after all. Thanks.

audrey said...

What a great project! It's so much fun to mix things up and make something whimsical occasionally! Am looking forward to seeing this one come together!

Janie said...

Freddie Moran uses color in an exciting way and she's full of great ideas.
And you're inspired by her farmer fill turned baseball player, that'll shake
things up for sure.
Your scones look delicious.

Ann said...

We both enjoy (different) baseball clubs so I've been figuring a way to celebrate that. It sure is making me laugh.

Ann said...

She sure does although this one was surprisingly soft. I love all the details she added to make a medallion.
I think the scones are delicious. Paige is a professional chef her recipes are well thought out and accurately measured.

Mystic Quilter said...

I didn't pick up that it was a Freddy Moran quilt first off (even though I have her two books) because it's not overly bright, I still love it though. How many baseball players will be in the quilt? I don't envy you the drafting and sewing of these blocks.
I've printed off the cherry scone recipe - looks delicious and the recipes she has on her blog are very appetising!

Ann said...

I looked twice at her quilt, too, for the same reason. I'm only making nine players so they will be larger than hers. It's my first run through the idea. Keep it simple for now. They are lots of fun. It perks me up to design a block myself.
Paige is an excellent cook and professional chef. She started this blog to encourage people to cook and eat at home. I have tried several of her recipes and enjoyed each. Hope you do, too.