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Monday, December 16, 2019

Patchwork, Quilting & Power Outages!


Well, that quilting spurt was short lived!

Throughout my life I have always tried to look on the brighter side of things.  It may sound trite to some, but it was instilled in me as a youngster, perhaps about the time I was turning double digits (10 or 11) that no matter what I was going through, all I had to do was look around to find that there were others struggling with difficulties far greater than my own.

No, what I experienced yesterday was not a difficulty at all – just a mere inconvenience.

There are currently 8 tubs of mail waiting to be dropped off today at the Mouth of Wilson Post Office.  The biggest batch yet, and I sure hope she doesn’t keel over when I show up EARLY with this batch.  They open at 7:30, and I am not waiting until the last minute to spring this on her.

Why so much?  My whole weekend was short sheeted by the ice event we had on Friday.  It took a bit to catch up, and when that finally happened I thought I could quickly load the holiday runner in the machine and have it ready for binding by evening time.

I was about 6 inches into a row of quilting when the power blipped.  And stayed off.  Well rats!


It was at this moment that I was so grateful for battery backups!

I was able to hit stop on the machine, and send it back to the edge of the row before turning it and the computer off for safety.

What you see here is the natural light from my abundance of windows.  And this is also where my gratitude came in.  The power may be out, but it was only 4pm and there was still daylight outside for me to do some organizing and cleaning before calling it quits and heading home to make dinner.

Were I in my basement in Wallburg NC where the machine used to reside – I would be fumbling in the dark with light from one small window directing me where to find the flashlight placed on my bookcase for emergency purposes, so I could find my way up the dark basement stars and into the main floor of the house.

I packed it up and locked it all down, and headed home to the cabin– remembering only when I was about half-way that when the power comes back on, it’s likely that the bathroom light would still be on, and maybe the track lighting that is in front of the main big window…..was I lighting the world last night?

I have no idea, and I will find out when I head over this morning.  At least I KNOW that the quilting machine and its computer were safely off.  Small gratitudes!


DINNER!!

Since both The Hubster and I need to eat gluten free (For two different reasons. My issue is with joint inflammation and his, well he breaks out in nasty hives with even the smallest amount of gluten consumed) I have not made a lasagna in YEARS.  Really.


But we found some gluten free lasagna noodles and decided to give it a try.  You can see the recipe filled my pan to overflowing, and I baked it in a second pan to catch the boiling over.

But good? OH MY!  And fairly easy as far as the lasagna scale goes because I used a “no boil” recipe.

You can make this with regular lasagna noodles too – I was hoping that the gluten free ones wouldn’t go mushy, or be too tough when baked in a no-boil method, but they were PERFECT.

"No Boil" Lasagna

  • 2 (15 ounce) containers ricotta cheese (I used 1 24 oz container of light small curd cottage cheese as I had it on hand.)
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 (24 ounce) jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
  • 12 uncooked lasagna noodles
  • 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained.


  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Combine ricotta or cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and eggs in bowl; set aside.
  3. Add sauce to ground beef and heat through to boiling.
  4. Spread 1 cup Sauce in 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Layer 4 uncooked noodles, then 1 cup sauce and 1/2 of the ricotta cheese mixture; repeat.
  5. Top with remaining 4 uncooked noodles and remaining sauce.
  6. Bake 1 hour covered tightly with aluminum foil.
  7. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
  8. Bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes.
  9. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I found that I had about a cup or so of sauce left over – I’ll add that to soup or something.

I simply served it with a salad and some steamed broccoli.  It was a fairly painless meal – it just took time for it to bake.  I’ll be adding this to the recipes tab at the top of the blog because I will be making it again.  You might want to give it a try, too.



And now for what you’ve all been waiting for!

We had 4546 entries in our Jan/Feb ‘20 Quiltmaker Bundle Gift-Away!


Who is entry 990 out of 4546?


Diane Murphy!  Congrats!

Diane, I’ve sent an email to the address you left with your entry.  Please reply with your mailing address and I will be shipping this bundle off to you ASAP.

Thanks for participating, everyone – be watching for more fun Gift-Aways happening SOON!


Mystery Monday Link-Up on Instagram!

Have you been posting your progress and using our hash tags #quiltvillemystery and #frolicquilt ???  Even if you aren’t an Instagram user, you should be able to click the linked tags and see how others are coming along with their Part 1, 2, and 3 units! 

Following hash tags is a great way to meet people, see what they are sharing and make new friends.  And you can do it on any day at any time, not just on Mondays!

Remember to use our tags #quiltvillemystery and #frolicquilt when you post, and please tag me @quiltville_bonnie so I can see what you are up to, too!

And while we are it it:





Our 50% off pattern of the month is my Hunter's String Star! You know how much I adore string quilts, and you can be printing, cutting and stitching up this beauty in your favorite colors in minutes! Sale price good through the month of December only.


When you receive your download links email, please read the READ ME file first so you know where your file is saved when you hit download. For best results download to a real computer first saving the file to where you know how to find it. Click the saved file and open to print. Once you have saved your file you may easily transfer it to your iPad, tablet or other mobile device.

There is also a file showing you WHERE to find saved PDF files on your Ipad if you don't know where they go. I hope you find this helpful.




And how about another goodie for those on your Christmas list?






Celebrate important dates with a quilty keepsake calendar

Keep birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions at your fingertips forever.This is a perpetual calendar you can use year after year. Filled with more than 70 of my own quilts, inspiring quotes and quips and bonus quilting essentials in the back of this special keepsake planner,  you can easily stash it in your purse, at your desk, or by the sewing machine.










For the month of December only, you can grab my Quilter’s Date Keeper for just $9.99!






Our Quiltville Goes to Bavaria project pattern for Warm Hands, Warm Heart is now available for everyone! You'll find the easy to follow PDF pattern full of full-color photos and helpful hints in the digital pattern section of the Quiltville Store where all of the other Digital Goodies live!





Quiltville Quote of the Day

Hello, Monday! Let's see how you set the tone for this week ahead!

Mondays have always been a clean slate, a brand new page to fill for me.

How will you be spending yours?


16 comments:

  1. You'll have to let us know if you lit up the world! Hopefully power is back on and that the mail lady was kind to you. Have a wonderful Monday! Love your posts and love Frolic! My first time!

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  2. I too am familiar with the gluten free cooking. My husband was diagnosed with Celiac Disease over 10 years ago. I recently found several very good recipes over at www.kingarthurflour.com. Including an excellent stuffing recipe I used this past Thanksgiving and a scrumptious chicken and dumpling recipe we had last night. They have mostly sweet recipes for baking that could be used over the holidays for your gluten free family members. I'm going to try a gingerbread recipe from their site for Christmas this year.

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  3. I'm not an IG user; I don't own a cell phone. I've managed to create a profile so I can follow the mystery...but anyone who wants to see my progress will have to click through to my blog. Looks like everyone's keeping up and having a great time; I know I am! :-)

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  4. I've never made lasagna with uncooked noodles--I always boil mine just until they will bend.--I'll have to try this. I like to use cottage cheese instead of ricotta--I prefer the taste and texture. Now I'm hungry!

    Enjoy your holiday season.

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  5. How do you handle being gluten free when you travel? I have celiac disease and it is sometimes hard to just go out to dinner, much less travel to a foreign country.

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  6. Sequestered in my Basment. I HAVE TO get my Family Christmas project finished. Frolic Blues are shining on my IG feed. That's sew fun! A few other color combos too. Thanks!

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  7. I also eat gluten-free. Products have come a long way in the last few years. A few flour companies have what they call 1:1 gluten-free flour which you can use with your old gluten recipes and it tastes great. The one we use is King Arthur

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  8. My mother is gluten-intolerant and I used Italian guten-free pasta for her. In my opinion Italian gluten-free pasta is the best.

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  9. I have little time to read blogs anymore but there are a few special ones that I hold dear. Yours is one of them. Not just for the "quilty" information but for your insights and the way you face life, everyday. I have followed the saga of the Quiltville Inn transformation with great interest. What a grand project. Look forward to more stories. Take care.

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  10. My husband has celiac disease, so we have been eating gluten free for many years. His favorite pasta, including lasagna noodles, is Tinkyada brown rice noodles. No one knows it is is gluten free. I either wet them in hot water for a minute or make the lasagna the day before and put it in the fridge until time to bake. Never had a dry noodle this way.

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  11. Thanks for the recommendation of that gluten free brand. Some do come apart! I have a granddaughter that is AIP. No gluten, no dairy, no tomato. That means no lasagna, chicken and rice are our go to meals! I’m loving the Christmas-y table runner!

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  12. Thank you for the recipe. My DIL was recently diagnosed with a gluten intolerant thyroid disease and I try to cook things for her. Thanksgiving a did gluten-free pie crust that was delish. Used it for a Pecan Pie. We also tried an Apple Crisp and a Quinoa Stuffing. They were all hits, as well as me with my DIL.

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  13. I was so excited to win the Gift-away bundle. Thank you so very much Now on to more Frolic sewing!!!

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  14. Such a bonus that you now have all the natural light in you QPO, your lasagna looks delicious.
    Congratulations Diane on your win. Keep safe in all that snow and ice as your dropping off all your postal buckets.
    Hope your power is ok today.
    Love and quilty hugs
    Anne xx

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  15. You could also substitute pasta with thin layers of aubergine/egg plant or courgette/zucchini - but I haven't had a lasagne for years. That photo had me drooling! We had no internet TV or phone (mobiles are next to useless here and we only have Netflix and Amazon prime) because a farmer was hedge trimming and cut a cable! I'm glad it wasn't the power line! It was almost 2 weeks and 2 villages affected, but some people were reconnected to different houses! Oh the fun we have in the middle of nowhere!
    Love to see the progress of the mystery - I especially like the rounded stack - looks like tiny flying geese lines! Nice fabrics peeps. :D

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  16. I second the recommendation of Tinkyada pasta. It tastes like "regular" pasta, and they make all kinds of shapes (lasagna, large shells), and even a spinach spaghetti.

    ReplyDelete

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