longboat614

I'm late posting this week's TAST stitch because it took me the better part of the week to master the chevron. I realize now why I've never been able to produce this stitch successfully--the directions weren't clear for my left hand. I usually swear by Montano's Stitch Tool, but in this case a better articulation of the steps for a left hander were produced by Stanton. When I realized what I was doing wrong, it became simple. However, because I've been doing it wrong for a while now, it will... Read Full Story

Italian wedding soup is a perennial favorite and this spin on that classic makes a delicious and satisfying weeknight meal served with a salad and some crusty bread. I chose to make the meatballs with ground turkey, but you could certainly use ground chicken or beef.. Serves 4 3 tbs plain, fresh breadcrumbs 1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving 2 tbs chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper 1/2 lb ground turkey 1 large egg 1 tbs... Read Full Story

    This week over at Sharon Boggons' Pin Tangle, the challenge was to learn the herringbone stitch. I don't mind admitting that this stitch has given me fits in the past. I don't know why, but I had to constantly look at the directions for left-handers while I stitched and it took many, many tries before I was able to just stitch without consulting those directions. I think I finally have the basic stitch down. I did try to do some more advanced work, but it's still not in my comfort area. I... Read Full Story

If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, right now it would be this cheesy chicken buccatini. If you've never had buccatini (or perciatelli), let me warn you upfront that you can't slurp it like regular spaghetti because it is a hollow tube. So, if you're not a good twirler, save this meal for weeknight eating. That said, you will want to put this in your rotation as soon as possible, it's that good. Serves 4 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken... Read Full Story

Cretan stitch is one of the first I learned and it remains a favorite. I usually use an open cretan stitch, but have been playing with the closed version as well as echoing cretan stitches. After a few practice stitches on my doodle cloth, I embellished a few seams on my CQ sampler with this old favorite.  Below I combined cretan stitch with detached chain and fly stitch, then worked some beads into it. Read Full Story

I've made vegetarian lasagnas before, but when I saw this recipe in Cooking Light, I thought I'd give it a try. I should have gone with my first instinct and made a basic roux to create the white sauce. Instead I followed directions and ended up throwing out the first sauce and making it again, this time using a roux. There are some procedures that shouldn't be subjected to short cuts. When I made the second sauce, I decided to eliminate the 3 garlic cloves because I felt they were excessive... Read Full Story

For week 3, feather stitch was the challenge. For those of you who haven't read other posts about TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday), it is a year-long challenge offered by the very talented and generous Sharon Boggons ( www.pintangle.com ). Each week on her blog, Pin Tangle, Sharon offers a tutorial on a new embroidery stitch. The challenge is for beginning stitchers to master the stitch and for more experienced stitchers to try to get creative with the stitch. Being left-handed, I had always... Read Full Story

Those of you who know me personally know that for me getting ready for Superbowl Sunday means finding a movie I've been wanting to see or a quilt shop that stays open late. However, in the interests of my readers who DO follow the antics of large men wrestling a pig skin (and not in the interests of making a good Sunday gravy), I thought I'd share an appropriate dish for the occasion. I apologize for the photo. I hadn't planned on blogging about this dish until after I tasted it, so I only... Read Full Story

We eat a lot of chicken in The Food of Love kitchen, though it's generally boneless, skinless chicken thighs. With a lovely log of garlic goat cheese in the fridge, I logged on to Food TV to see what Ina would do with chicken and goat cheese. Luckily, I happened to have some chicken breasts on hand, which I deboned (not as well as I'd like, but I didn't waste anything since I cooked the backs along with the breasts). I also had a jar of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil in the fridge, so we... Read Full Story

So it's week 2 and I'm relieved to find another familiar stitch:  buttonhole stitch. What I like about this stitch is that it can be made to look very different just by varying the length or direction or by working it in a half or full  circle. To the left is my "doodle cloth." I have to confess that I really dislike working on this linen because it requires me to count threads and holes to produce a uniform stitch. Never one to "color in the lines," I find I'm constantly ripping out stitches... Read Full Story