Size does matter

September 30, 2010 at 6:55 am · Filed under Tools, Treats!

I’m so pleased to be able to join in Pat Sloan’s “The Edge” blog hop celebrating her new Edge rulers! BUT, when I found out I’d be sharing the blog hop day with THE PAMKITTYMORNING and THE HAPPY ZOMBIE?!?!?! Can you imagine my glee?

I’m not sure Pat knew what she was in for.

Maybe Pat didn’t realize that we are AMP-ed about measuring! So we became Team AMP-ed and set about to show you that yes, indeedy, size does matter. We hit the road to measure the immeasureable (?), to compare and contrast the size of major landmarks, to take Pat’s rulers where they have never gone before! AMP-ed, I tell ya!

First off, my crack measuring team (Team Tiny AMP?), hit the city streets.

They totally got into the “spirit” of measuring. That’s the “Spirit of Detroit” statue, dontcha know.

Then they made their way into the middle of the street to meet Joe Louis and take the measure of the man.

Size matters! I’m getting out of the way of that man’s fist.

Next, they got a measure of the local economy.

Yeah, that’s the GM headquarters. I’m not sure that size is an accurate reading there.

All of that measuring made Tiny Team AMP hungry.

So they had to stop in to American Coney Island for a little refreshment.

And then they just took a picture of an immeasurably cute girl:

Well, because she’s cute.

Then Tiny Team AMP-ed 2 went back out on the road to get the measure of some fun and games.

First, we had to measure how much time we had.

Good, plenty of time before our ride wrist bands expire!

First we took on the Super Slide.

That was a measure of fun, BUT, the biggest winner on the midway?

Definitely the Skywheel!

Makes the Super Slide look absolutely puny. We confirmed that size definitely does matter when it comes to fun!

Finally, we took the ruler out into the wilds to see what we would find. What, ho? Giant marshmallows?

Well, OK, not really.

After putting Pat’s rulers through their measuring paces, we can say that other rulers just don’t measure up like Pat’s!

While the Team AMP-ed measuring feats were fun, Pat asked us to share our first quilting experiences.

I can’t show you my very first quilt because it died a slow, shred-dy death. I will tell you it was all solids in peach, brown, red, blue and green and it was a quilt-as-you-go log cabin from an Eleanor Burns’ book. I took a class through our local recreation program back in about 1993. I thought it was great and was having a lot of fun until it came time to figure out how to attach a backing to the thing. I believe I decided at that point, so early on in my quilting career, NEVER to quilt-as-I-went again. I’ve pretty much stuck to that. Although I have quilted-as-I’ve-appliqued a number of times.

The closest living relative to my first machine-done quilt is this one:

The venerable four-patch on point. Do you see the rebel yell in the quilt? I went against the grain, so to speak, and wanted to put a color in the setting squares. I took this class at a local shop and caused trouble from the start. I think the next quilt project was a small trip around the world (I believe I am still handquilting that one…). The one after that was a heinous elongated nine-patch with heavy use of tea dyed muslin and lipstick coral.

And, look, here’s my first rotary cutter:

I believe it still has its original blade. Ah, well. It got me on the road to much quilting mischief. The rest, as they say, is history and stuff I haven’t done yet.

Finally, Pat asked us to share a recipe. I’m going to share two because they are on my mind these days what with the change in seasons.

I start making this one around December.

Horseradish-Olive-Cheese Spread

2 – 8 oz. lite cream cheese
2/3 C. chopped green olives
2 Tbsp. horseradish
1/2 C. grated parmesan cheese

Mix together well. Chill. Seems to be best with stoned wheat crackers. yum yum

And I do believe vegetable roasting season has begun. This makes the house smell amazing!

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Tomato Vegetable Casserole
(Recipe originally from Giada De Laurentiis)

1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium yam, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced into rings
2 small or 1 large zucchini, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
Salt and pepper
2 large ripe tomatoes, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons dried Italian-style bread crumbs
Fresh basil sprigs, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the potato, yam, bell pepper, carrots, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss until coated. Spread vegetables evenly over the bottom of the pan.

Arrange the onion slices evenly over the vegetable mixture. Arrange the zucchini over the onion. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange the tomato slices over the zucchini.

Stir the Parmesan and bread crumbs in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the Parmesan bread crumbs over the vegetables in the baking dish. Drizzle with the last tablespoon of olive oil.

Bake uncovered until the vegetables are tender, and the topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil sprigs, if desired.

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OK, now I’m starving. I’m going to have to go eat something now.

Anyhoo, if you’ve stuck around through the measuring antics, first quilt and recipes, you deserve a prize! And someone’s going to win an entire set of Pat’s new rulers.

To be entered to win the set, you must comment on ALL of the ruler blog hop posts. Comments will be open through Sunday.

In addition, I’m giving away a fat quarter set of Color Theory by Sandra Banava:

I’ll draw a winner from the comments to this post through Sunday.

Here are all of the other The Edge ruler blogs:

Monday, Sept 27

The inimitable “how does she do it all?” Pat Sloan http://www.patsloan.typepad.com
Kelly of “IHAN” Fame… she is the funniest writer out there! http://ihaveanotion.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, Sept 28

Amy “NEW quilt book author.. oh yeah!” http://amyscreativeside.com/
Jackie “fabrics so awesome” http://cvquiltworks.blogspot.com
Wednesday, Sept 29

Julie “the tutorial queen” http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/
Amanda “who pumps out projects!” http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com

Thursday, Sept 30

Monica “lover of red and aqua” http://www.thehappyzombie.com/blog/
Amy “you are here” https://mrsschmenkmanquilts.wordpress.com/
Pam “the Kitty” herself http://pamkittymorning.blogspot.com/

Friday, Oct 1

Carrie Nelson “standing in for Miss Rosie” http://lavieenrosie.typepad.com/lavieenrosie/
Polly Minick and Laurie Simpson “the DY-Na-MO Sistas!” http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/
Cheryl Arkison “A most Modern Girl” http://naptimequilter.blogspot.com/

Saturday, Oct 2

Michele Foster “master of blogger heaven” http://quiltinggallery.com
Pat Sloan- Pat’s wrap up http://www.patsloan.typepad.com

Thanks for visiting! I hope you are AMP-ed about Pat’s new rulers, and I hope this blog hop stop measured up!

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