Setting Goals....

All systems are go for the donation quilt I am making for the annual fall bazaar at Trinity Cathedral. They've never had a donation quilt and ticket sales before, so it has been a bit difficult for me to get people to understand that YES, you can raise more funds with a raffle, than you can in a silent auction, especially where quilts are concerned, and a raffle gives EVERYONE a chance to win, not just those with big bucks.

In between everything else I am breaking this quilt down into steps. Working (hopefully)1/2 hour to 1 hour a day on getting this top together in the midst of everything else. I can do it. I know I can. I am starting with the 4 patches first. I have gone through my 2" strip bins and pulled all the jewel tones and the neutrals. I have cut more neutrals because they were really depleted! While Lucy was here I culled through my FQ's finding ones that I was wanting to pull out of those drawers, cut into strips to spice up what I had in the strip bins. I've cut more jewel tone colors from those to add to the strips I've pulled.

This morning I started sewing light/dark pairs....about a mile of them! Next step is to iron them open, and then cut into 2" sub-cuts. The next step after that will be to sew them into 4 patches. I only need about a gazillion 4 patches! After those are done, I will choose the next step, which will either be 1/2 sq triangles, or the Tri-Recs star points. One step at a time...I don't want to get ahead of myself. I need the quilt finished and bound and ready to sell tickets by August 1st. Can I do it? I hope so!

I've had requests for my banana bread recipe! So here you go. I always felt it wasn't worth all the effort for just one loaf, so I usually make two loaves at a time. One to have, one to give. Enjoy!

Bonnie’s Banana Bread

2 loaves.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray two loaf pans with Pam or non-stick cooking spray.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
6 over-ripe bananas, mashed
4 tsp baking powder (not soda)
1 tsp salt
½ cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts.

Cream shortening with sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add bananas, vanilla, salt, milk and baking powder until well blended. Mix in 3 cups of flour, scraping sides of bowl to mix evenly. Stir in chopped walnuts.

Divide mixture between two loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Be careful not too over cook or bread may turn out dry. Done when knife inserted into loaf comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans to finish cooling on wire rack. Banana bread is best aged a day or so in the refrigerator for all flavors to blend and ripen.


Bonnie