Monday, October 13, 2014

KF Finish

I had another lovely weekend spending time with a my quilty mentor-friend and enabler, the Empress of the Universe.  It was such a blessing to stay with her and visit while attending a workshop at Linderella's Quilt Works (link).

So now, it's finally time to reveal the finished project using the Kaffe Fassett fabrics shown in my last post.  Did you guess what the tent would be?



A TUFFET!

View from the top; I adore the center button

 Bottom


This 2-part class totaling 6 hours is so satisfying. There is homework in between the weeks, and what a sense of accomplishment to come away from class with a finished piece of furniture!  Sharyn, the instructor, is loads of fun and carefully guides each participant step by step. 

A wonderful group of ladies worked together in the construction stage.

If you're in the NC area, I highly recommend signing up for this class.  You can check Sharyn's teaching schedule at Tuffet Source (link), and be sure to browse the website for more tuffet beauties

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

KF Tent

 Remember all these lovely Kaffe Fassett prints?


I cut them into strips and made 8 of these.


And those made this.


And this will be made into?

a) Toaster Cover
b) Tree Skirt
c)  Footstool

I'll show and tell next week.
Hehee.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Apple Chips vs. Apple Paper

Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending time with my quilty mentor/friend.  I brought along some homemade apple chips which we fully discussed the making of.  


This is the gadget I used to prepare them:  My apple/vegetable corer/slicer/peeler.
With it, you can choose to peel or not, but have no control over thickness of slices.  Thicker takes a longer baking time, at 225°F for 2hrs. 15mins in a convetion oven.  But a great tool for raw apple snacks.


A few months ago, I purchased a mandolin to assist with salad making.  Works a charm for super-thin-sliced celery, cucumber, carrots, etc.  

My friend suggested that I use it to slice the apples, since one can have control over the thickness. "And don't bother coring them either", she said.
 Brilliant!

I first tried the thinnest slicing option.
Yikes!  You could actually see through them. 

  They took only 40 min. at 225°F, about one-third of the time for the thicker ones.  (I could put in 3 racks of apples, if I had another baker's rack.)


They're so thin and crisp...

I call it apple paper!



The man of the house came home and said he'd like them better with cinnamon, so round 3.

Here's how you can make them at home for about $2 lb., instead of paying around $15 lb. for the prepackaged store bought variety: 

  • Slice honeycrisp (or your favorite) apples mighty thin, placing them on a 20x14 grid rack and baking at 225°F for 40 mins. The rack pictured (by Wilton) is the perfect size for the oven, and the grid allows the flow of air and heat from the bottom.
  • I have a convection oven, so the time for your oven may be slightly longer.


NOTE:  If you make them paper thin, you MUST peel them off the rack immediately upon exiting the oven.  There is a window of time (about 60 seconds), until they will be stuck to the rack and break into pieces.  If that happens, shove them back in the oven for 2-3 minutes, pull them out and peel off.

I've been sewing several projects this week so come back to see the evidence in the next couple of days.
Teaser