Family Sewing Retreat and Shoofly Pie Recipe

Our family sewing retreat was the first week in September and I was the lucky host this year. This was our 7th year and everyone had an awesome time sewing, visiting, advising, shopping and completing projects. There are 5 of us....4 sisters and our mother and we live in different states...Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma...and rotate homes each year.

We have our retreat banner and everyone contributes to the yearly goodie bags. Cooking responsibilities are rotated daily and we watch quilting tutorials during our lunch time breaks. Each year we learn what works best, making our retreat better every year.

The Tuesday of Retreat is our shop hop day. This year we visited 3 quilt shops and ended our day with an early supper and shopping at The Pioneer Woman's Mercantile Store, restaurant and pastry shop.  And no,  Ree was not there that day.

Our shopping day purchases definitely helped the economy.

The "Merc" is a fun place to visit and the food is awesome. Go if you can!

The 3 quilt stores offered lots fabric choices and inspiration. 

We work on individual projects during the week and they consist of UFOs from previous retreats, home decor and clothing items and new items...that sometimes become UFOs for the next retreat. I'm sure you know the story well!

One of my cats enjoyed helping out too! They rule the house anyway. 

We hold demo sessions if anyone is interested in teaching a technique or just wants to pass on quilting or sewing related information.

And yes there was "wine-ing" during retreat... but no whining. 

On Friday, the last day, is our Sew to Serve day. My sister, Gina, is coordinator of the Prayer Quilt Ministry at her church and we generally sew quilt tops for her on this day. This year Gina gathered her scraps and cut them into strings and we all sewed string blocks. I believe we sewed enough blocks for her to make 4 quilt tops. Our sewing machines were really humming.

We have awesome fun every year, staying up late, laughing, enjoying each other's company and participating in a craft we all love. Sewing and quilting definitely brings people together.  

And...at the end of the week, even the cat was worn out.

Next year we will be in Texas!

Happy Living!

Happy Quilting!
Be Kind and Love All!

Today's Recipe - Shoofly Pie (Shoe fly Pie or Shoo Fly Pie)

When we were in Pennsylvania last year for my husband's working stint we ate several of these on cold winter evenings....enjoying it with a cup of coffee or hot cocoa.

To read the interesting history about this pie and the different versions click here

Shoofly Pie

You must use molasses in order for it to be a Shoofly Pie!

Ingredients:

1 frozen pie crust or make own (see below)                        1/4 tsp salt

1 cup all-purpose flour                                                         1/2 cup boiling water

2/3 cup firmly backed light brown sugar                             1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp butter                                                                         1/2 cup dark (or light) molasses 

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon                                                     1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg                                                         1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp ground ginger                                                           1 large egg, beaten lightly

1/4 tsp ground cloves

(use light or dark molasses depending on your "boldness" preference)

Pie Directions:

Add pie weights or dried beans to frozen pie crust and bake 15 minutes at degrees stated on packaging. Remove weights and bake until golden brown or use the delicious pie crust recipe below...It's easier than you think!

Filling:

Using a pastry cutter or food processor mix flour, brown sugar, butter, all the spices and salt until crumbly. 

Stir together the boiling water and baking soda in a large bowl and let stand for 1 minute. Stir together the molasses, corn syrup, vanilla, and egg in a medium bowl and mix into the water mixture. 

Sprinkle half of the crumb flour mixture on bottom of prepared crust. Pour molasses mixture over crumb mixture. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over filling.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until set. Remove from oven to a wire rack, and cool for about 2 hours. 

Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

1/4 tsp salt

4 to 5 tbsp ice cold water

Combine flour, butter and salt in a bowl and blend with pastry blender until it resembles crumbs. Sprinkle ice water, 1 tbsp at a time, over flour mixture and stir with a fork until moistened. Shape dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat over to 425 degrees. Lightly flour surface and roll dough into a 13 inch circle. Lay dough into a 9 inch pie plate, fold and crimp edges of dough to fit plate. 

Line pastry with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights and bake 5 to 8 minutes longer or until golden brown. Cool completely before adding desired filling. 

If you make this recipe please comment below on how it turned out and any changes you did.

Have an awesome week. 

Life is full of many journeys. 

Check out my Journeys:

Gardening Journey

Cooking Journey

Machine Embroidery Journey

Journey with My Pets and Other Creatures 

January UFO - Finished (piecing)...and King Cake Recipe

It's A Saturday Sharing Day at Pigtales and Quilts. Go take a look at what everyone else is sharing on this Saturday and share something yourself. It's easy to link up! This is what I would like to share...

...I am so happy to report that I finished piecing my January UFO (quilting to happen this month). I think this quilt came out fantastic and is more stunning than what I expected. I love the blacks and whites! Quilt book and pattern information can be found here on a previous post. String quilts can use up so much thread. I bet I changed my bobbin at least 12 times! No matter I still love it. 

I was in a dilemma about the borders. I didn't want anything too fancy that might take away from the quilt, but didn't want just black borders either. I had thought about extending the side half diamonds into the border but that was going to take making 44 MORE squares and I was already wanting this quilt to end. Julie over at Julie's Quilts and Costumes  commented about the same idea of extending the diamonds and it made me thank about it again. Thank your Julie, your comment moved me in the right direction.

So I cut out 44 more stabilizer squares, 44 more black center pieces (which I had to re-design since I only wanted half a diamond and border section). I rummaged through my stash and found more black and white fabric and hoped the 7 inches of sparkly white fabric I had remaining for the outside of diamond was going to be enough. So I made these which is one fourth of a diamond and what I hoped would be a black border. Well, I made one at first....

Then two...and laid them out....then remembered I had to do mirror images when I sewed them together. (Glad I thought of that before I started sewing..whew). Happy with these two and what I hoped to accomplish in my mind, I sewed on...and on...and on. When I had all 44 completed I had a 1 inch strip left of my sparkly white fabric and was digging through the garbage can for black and white scraps I had discarded. But I had enough to finish!!!

Ta-da....

here is my finished quilt top! I was very pleased with the way the half diamond and black fabric created my border and surrounded the quilt. 

I plan on bringing it to Show and Tell this morning at my LQS for our monthly "Strip Club" get together. 

I'm glad this project is pieced. Now I need to go shopping for more black and white fabric! Aw...the tragedies of quilting!

Now...on to other things.

Since it is Mardi Gras season I thought a King Cake recipe would be appropriate. Mardi Gras is one thing I do miss about living in Louisiana. It's such a fun and happy time!

My niece, Angela, sent me this recipe named

As Close As You Will Get To A Louisiana King Cake Outside of Louisiana King Cake Recipe

or I'll just call 

 Mardi Gras King Cake Recipe

Ingredients: (makes two cakes)

Pastry:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

5 1/2 cups All Purpose flour

Filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup All Purpose flour

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup melted butter

Frosting:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 tablespoon water

Green, yellow, purple food coloring

Directions:

Scald milk and remove from heat. Stir in 1/4 cup butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture, whisk in the eggs, stir in remaining white sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until smooth and elastic, about 8 - 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl turning to coat dough with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Punch down and divide dough in half.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Filling: 

Combine brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.

(Cream cheese and/or fruit pie filling with the pecans, cinnamon and brown sugar also makes an excellent filling and is very popular in the New Orleans area)

Putting it all together:

Roll dough halves out into large rectangles approximately 10 x 16 inches. Sprinkle (or smear in the case of cream cheese) filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a the prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Frost while warm with the confectioner's sugar blended with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water and food dye. Also can be sprinkled with colored sugar if desired.

Enjoy!

If you want to know more about the history of the King Cake, click here to read this short article.

Thanks for stopping by and I love to read your comments!

Happy Living! Happy Quilting!

January UFO...almost done!...and a New Orleans Beignet recipe.

One of my January 2013 UFO projects I started last April or May was to complete my black and white Star/Diamond quilt. I'm lovin the way it has turned out!!! It's from the book String Quilt Revival and is named "Diamonds are Forever".  I love the book...the quilt design changes based on the size, shape and placement of the one constant fabric (my black fabric).  Instead of muslin or some other fabric, the authors use stabilizer as the foundation piece. It is a refreshing twist on the normal string quilt that I've tackled in the past. I love the simplicity of just using the two colors!

Here is a closer look. The quilt is made of 30 large blocks and measures about 60 x 86. The black and white strips seem to make the diamonds just sparkle!! I used some white sparkly fabric as my second constant fabric that I placed as the first string next to each black piece (That gives it a REAL sparkle).

This is a pic of the quilt in the book to get an idea of the color variation! In my opinion both are well worth doing!! When I first saw this quilt though, I knew I wanted to do it in black and white. I always say...go with your first instinct...I'm glad I did.

I need a border...not sure what I'm going to do. Any suggestions? Embroidered border in diamonds? Simple black border with diamond quilting? Maybe a white binding? I figure it needs to be simple so not to take away from the beauty of the quilt. I will let you know what I come up with.

On to other things...

Food brings people together. Food is our common ground, a universal experience. It's a language everyone understands and makes friends among all people while it warms the heart.

Today's Recipe is...

Another New Orleans Tradition

Beignets

bei·gnet

   

ben-yey 

noun, plural bei·gnets  [ben-yeyz; French be-nye]

a fritter or doughnut.

The French-Creole colonists who came to New Orleans in the 18th century introduced the Beignet. The concept of the dessert is simple - dough is fried then covered with powdered sugar. Beignets are made from square-cut pieces of yeast dough and do not have a hole in them. Serve hot with cafe' au lait or chocolate milk.

Ingredients: 
1 cup scalded milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 envelope dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Powdered sugar

In a large bowl, combine the milk and egg with the 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and the sugar. Blend thoroughly, then add the dry yeast and stir to dissolve. Sift together the flour, salt, and spices, then add half to the yeast mixture. Mix well. Add the remaining flour and knead to incorporate it. Form a large ball, cover, and let double in size, about 40 minutes. Punch down and knead until dough is elastic.

On floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch and cut into 24 5-inch squares. Cover and allow to rise again, for about 45 minutes.

Pour 3 inches of oil into a deep-fryer or tall, heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat to 375 degrees F. Drop in the dough squares a few at a time, cooking and turning them until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve hot, 3 to a serving. Serves 8.

The Food of New Orleans, 1998; Periplus Editions, Boston, MA

Hope that you enjoy. Great as an evening snack too!!!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting! Hope your Monday was a pleasant one and your Tuesday will be great!

Happy Quilting!  Happy Living!