Hello again New Orleans!

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So we hadn’t been back to New Orleans for a couple of years and have just recently returned from a quick weekend visit. While New Orleans is mostly about the food, there is lots of shopping, people watching, wedding parties strolling down the Quarter, street music and atmosphere to be enjoyed. We stayed at our favorite Hotel Monteleone located in the French Quarter on Royal Street. The location is great for accessing shopping and restaurants. We also visited Harrah’s Casino, which is much nicer now that it is a non-smoking casino. Yes … I said non-smoking! I learned lots watching hubby play craps and perhaps next time I might even be persuaded to join him at the pass line to throw the dice!

BREAKFAST OPTIONS – We had some interesting restaurant experiences that I just have to share. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, especially when I don’t have to conjure it up. Be sure and check out the Ruby Slipper Café located at 200 Magazine Street, just outside the Quarter. It was recommended by several FaceBook friends and I can see why. The café has several locations and open seven days a week. Their motto is “there is no place like home” and it shows. The staff are the friendliest we encountered during our visit. Hubby had the Eggs Blackstone, which is two perfectly poached eggs over bacon, grilled tomato and open-faced buttermilk biscuit finished with hollandaise sauce and served with breakfast potatoes. Yum! We also had an interesting breakfast after attending Mass at St. Louis Cathedral on Sunday. I had noticed The Grill, 540 Chartres Street, as we walked past it from our hotel. It certainly meets all the criteria of a “dive,” but from the window, had a healthy number of people with smiles on their faces. After Mass, we entered into a world fresh out of the past. The interesting counter configuration with seating stools looked ancient like something out of the 1950’s, or older. I couldn’t help but notice most everyone had an omelet on their plate. OMG … best omelet ever! I had the Vegetable Omelette with delish grits! Eggs were light and fluffy and with over 10 different kinds on the menu how can you go wrong.

OTHER DINING OPTIONS – Dinner in New Orleans is a bit of a challenge, unless you dine at a place that accepts reservations. Wanting to be spontaneous is not recommended. That being said, we had a lovely dinner at King Fish on Chartres Street. They have an interesting menu (crab lollipop appetizer was a huge hit) and the service was great. We also stopped into Kubi’s Bar & Café located at 109 Tchoupitoulas on our way to Harrah’s. Now while I’d definitely call it a dive, hubby and I shared an excellent burger, the Kentucky, brushed with BBQ sauce, topped with bacon, cheese and fried onion rings. Our worst meal was at the Gumbo Shop on St. Peter Street. The line was long, the service too fast, and the food … put fast food to shame. We talked about getting bread pudding for dessert, but skipped it because the food was so bland and well, old-looking. We won’t be going back.

A LITTLE SHOPPING – Laura’s Candies has two locations in the French Quarter and has been around since 1913. We couldn’t resist the pralines and promised to come back for more. Unfortunately, we ran out of time! One regret I had two years ago was not making time to check out The Quarter Stitch, a needlepoint and yarn shop, on Chartres Street right down the street from Jackson Square. The place has been open for 43 years and the ladies are so nice. They offered to teach me how to needlepoint, but I declined. These eyes are too old. They have amazing canvases all ready to needlepoint. I lingered through their lovely yarn and chose two skeins of ruby red Merino Superwash made in Peru. Bonus … PJ’s Coffee Shop is right across the street. Hubby had the best time hanging out there while I yarn shopped!

I already can’t wait to go back!

2014 Texas Row By Row Quilt complete

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I finally finished my 2014 Texas Row by Row quilt and just had to share! Now just so you know, an official Row By Row quilt has eight rows. But for my purposes, the quilt would have been way too long to hang in my sewing room. So I decided to place five rows on the front and three on the back. I always like it when I flip a quilt over and there is a surprise … don’t you?

The fabulous Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin suggested the bluebonnet quilting pattern. The thread choice is a light blue and really looks striking against the Texas flags row.

Did I mention that I use Personalize It to make my quilt labels? They are also great to work with and seem to know when I walk in the door that I have finished another quilt! By the way, they have a lovely shop! I bought Jake’s monkey blankie there and they had his name on it the next day. It is great being a grandma!

So the 2015 Texas Row By Row is starting up in a couple of weeks. Basically, it is a shop hop that lasts all summer and into the fall. It starts June 21, and lasts until September 18. Each participating shop offers a free row pattern they have designed with a fabric kit for sale. I have provided the link above if you are interested in participating!

I have been keeping track of what quilt shops are coming up with this year as the website rolls out the rows to see which ones I might want to visit … or “pretty please” a friend, or family member, to visit for me if the shops are too far away. This year the theme is “water.” Sounded like a challenging theme when I am craving cowboy boots and more Texas flags but I remain optimistic!

Kate Spain Christmas quilt all done!

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I LOVE Christmas fabric! I’ve been collecting fat quarters for years. So every now and then I find it healthy to pull some of those pretty fabric pieces out and actually use them in a quilt.

When I saw Kate Spain’s pattern called “Flurry,” I knew what I had to do. If the truth were told though … I really wanted the fabric line that Kate Spain used for the Flurry quilt. OK so I couldn’t find it anywhere on the Internet. Hence … my stash to the rescue!

I changed up the pattern slightly since I didn’t have her “Flurry Panel” which is found in the corners of the quilt and in strategic spots between the rows of “present” boxes.

The fabulous Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin quilted an all-over quilt design called Holly Jolly Christmas from Urban Elementz with a butternut-colored thread from King Tut.

This quilt is destined to become a Christmas present for … wouldn’t you like to know?

We proudly support Blue Bell Ice Cream

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MImi with her Blue Bell shirt
We are really missing our Blue Bell Ice Cream at our house. I don’t know how much longer we can go without our favorite Blue Bell flavors like The Great Divide, plain old fantastic Homemade Vanilla and, my personal favorite, the one that combines vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet … drool.

Feeling kinda helpless, we decided to do our part to support Blue Bell Ice Cream in their time of need. I mean … we can’t afford to take out a whole page newspaper ad like Gallery Furniture … which was major cool. So instead I purchased a couple of super cute t-shirts for our special needs daughter, Mimi, off of Blue Bell’s website. They came in the mail in just a couple of days. How much are you missing Blue Bell Ice Cream right now?

Florida’s white sandy beaches, fishing and Texas Holdem

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Just after Easter, I spent several days relaxing in Navarre, Florida on white sandy beaches. Located in the Florida panhandle, we stayed at The Pearl of Navarre Beach. Google the condo name and you will find several ways to rent one of their condos. Every morning someone puts out all the beach chairs/umbrellas for their guests. The water consists of lots of shades of blue … and the sand it was fluffy and white … a great combination!

We did lots of relaxing, walks on the beach, playing board games and even learned to play Texas Holdem. I’ve seriously gotta learn to bluff! The boys did lots of fishing. With options like pier fishing, surf fishing and charter fishing there are choices to be made! One afternoon hubby and I ventured out for lunch. I highly recommend The Slippery Mermaid for sushi! With items on the menu like Sassy Mermaid and Funky Mermaid how can you go wrong?

I gotta give photo credit to Kate’s awesome mom, Aleta. She took nearly all the photographs.

Spiritual batteries recharged!

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This past weekend I went on St. Martha’s ACTS Retreat as a team member. I had the privilege of helping host just over 40 retreatants. To say it was a spirit-filled party was an understatement. Set just north of Tomball, Texas at Circle Lake Retreat Center, the setting was perfectly serene.

Almost exactly a year ago I attended as a retreatant. Back then, I so lamented my lack of a camera to catch the beauty of the place. Not this time! I purposely kept my photos devoid of people … except for St. Francis! As we were all kept VERY busy, I missed so many little pockets of the lovely center. My deepest regret was not having my camera in my pocket in the early morning when the steam rose off the lake. It was simply beautiful.

2014 Texas Row by Row Quilt – Part Two

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This is the last of my eight rows for my 2014 Texas Row by Row Quilt. Fabrics Etcetera is located in Webster, Texas. Their row of bird houses was fun to make and I loved their choice of fabrics. I really enjoy putting together a block that represents things like a house, or a boat, or even a jar of bugs. It is fun to see the picture evolve as you are sewing.


Lone Star Quiltworks is located in Bryan, Texas, home of the Texas A&M Aggies. I was not able to get to the shop last summer, so I had to wait until the 2014 Texas Row by Row event was over. They mailed me the pattern and I used fabric from my stash to create the row. Lots of fusing on this row and I zigzagged around the fused pieced. The pieced bluebonnets turned out nice! I was a little nervous. Great directions helped!


Quilter’s Emporium is located in Stafford. Lovely quilt shop! This row’s name is “Regatta!” The row was as challenging as it looks, but I was pleased with the results!


BJ’s Quilt Shop is located in Bay City. They apparently do not have a website so a link is not provided. My friend, Sally, who also participated in the 2014 Texas Row by Row, picked up the pattern and fabric pack for me. The row is called “Harvest Time.” This was the only row I sewed where all the fabric pieces were actually cut to size by the shop. Talk about spoiling your customers! I think it sewed up in twenty minutes. Not so with any other of the seven rows. My favorite jar is the colorful bug jar.

Now I gotta turn the rows into a quilt top. Planning on hanging it in my quilt room.

2014 Texas Row By Row Quilt – Part One

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I finally almost have all my eight rows pieced together on my 2014 Texas Row by Row Quilt. The 2014 Texas project began last summer (started in June and ended in September). I noticed the pieced row hanging on the wall behind the cash register when I visited our local quilt shop, The Quilt Room, in Huffman. After collecting eight patterns from different shops, this is one of my favorite rows!

The gist of the experience is to create a quilt using at least eight different row patterns collected from participating shops. It is kinda like geocaching, or a ginormous Easter egg hunt, only more fun if you are a quilter because fabric is involved. The participating shops create a pattern which is free. They also sell the fabric for the row.


This pattern is from Sew Let’s Quilt It in Dallas. I wasn’t able to travel to Dallas but the pattern and kit became available for shipping after the event was over. They gave me enough fabric for two rows so I shared with my friend, Sally, who picked up a row for me! You see how this works?


This row and fabric came from Quilter’s Patch in Victoria, Texas. My little sister, Gretchen, picked this row/fabric kit up and mailed it to me. I have to admit to a little bribery. I told her if she did me this favor I’d make her a table runner for Christmas! She probably would have done it for me for nothing. It’s the kind of person she is!


Sew Contempo has a lovely shop! I wanted to linger but had to get back home. I love the colors they chose for his block! It was fun to put together.

Next post will show off my last four rows!

This year’s 2015 Texas Row by Row starts in mid-June and I hear the theme will be water. This year lots more Houston-area shops will be participating. I’m pretty excited as I think Sally and I have hooked Michele into joining in the treasure hunt for quilt patterns!

Follow link to find out what is planned this year for 2015 Row by Row Experience. The project began in 2011 with just 20 shops participating in New York. In 2015, all 50 states and Canada will be participating!

Lobster risotto … need I say more?

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Did you notice that all the retail establishments are decorated for Valentine’s Day? It made me think about what I could make this year. My favorite go-to fancy recipe is Lobster Risotto. Found it in a book published several years ago by Williams-Sonoma called Wine & Food a New Look at Flavor. Thought I’d share!

Time saving hint … shop for a lobster at a grocery store that will steam one as you shop. Saves lots of preparation time and there will be one less pot to clean.

Ingredients
3 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup rich white wine
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
pinch of saffron threads
1/2 pound lobster tail meat, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup peeled, seeded and finely chopped tomato
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Pour the broth into a small saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat, and adjust the heat to keep the broth at a bare simmer. In a large deep skillet over medium-low heat, warm the oil. Add the onion and red pepper flakes and sauté until the onion is soft, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the Arborio rice and cook, stirring to coat with the onion mixture, until the grains are opaque, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, lemon zest and juice, and saffron threads. Cook for 2 minutes.

Begin adding the hot broth to the rice 1/2 cup at a time, stirring often and waiting until each addition is almost fully absorbed before adding more. After about 20 minutes, when you have added all but 1/2 cup of the broth, the mixture should look creamy. Taste a grain of rice. It should be cooked through but still slightly firm (not hard) at the center. If it is still too firm, add the remaining broth and continue cooking.

When the rice is ready, stir in the lobster, distributing it evenly, and then stir in the tomato and butter. Let stand covered for 5 minutes before serving to heat through the lobster and tomato.

Spoon the risotto into shallow bowls and serve right away. Makes 4 servings.