Romania September 2010

The first 3 photos are of Bucharest. This first one is a building inside a building. The old building was the secret service building before the revolution of 1989. I love the idea of "new from old." The bullet holes are still visible in many buildings. But Bucharest is a very vibrant city. Photo 3 is the marble floor pattern in one of the rooms of the Parliament House. Many quilt ideas from the floors there. 

 Here is Transylvania. The Royal family summer palace in the mountains, and the following pictures are from Brasov- lovely town; and the last one is Sibiu. There are many more wonderful places and a book could be written about each place in these photos. As a matter of fact, many books exist. So, before you go, just read a little and you will be so glad you did.

Vanity/Vaidade

These are my quilts and jacket hanging on the DOQ quilt show from October 22 to 24, 2010. The show is gorgeous. The talent of the quilters here is amazing. But this post is all about my bragging. Sorry about my lack of shame; but I am loving the ribbons in all of them. This is mostly so family and friends far away can see my work on the show. Enjoy.

DOQ Show Donation Quilt Challenge

This is my donation quilt challenge for our 2010 show. The members buy the required fabric (fat quarter)and make a quilt using it. The quilts will than be donated to the children hospitals in our area. Duke University and University of North Carolina children hospitals usually get the quilts. The challenge fabric is the black one with the airplanes on the picture on the right. I enlarged one of the planes for the "dream" cloud. The bunny inspiration came from a Japanese magazine with small bunnies. I just drew a large one looking at the pictures. I used polar fleece for the bunnies and cotton for everything else. The batting (wadding) is also 100% cotton. I hope some kid will be happy with this quilt.

Apple Cake

It is apple harvest in North Carolina. We are 7th in the country in Apple production. My friend gave me a whole lot of them and after I peeled and diced them I came to 32 cups. So did some freezing and shared some with friends. I have been making apple cake to take to groups. This is a very easy one to feed a crowd. I adapted this recipe from one found in a magazine. Sorry; but I don't know which one. Anyway, I change the amounts of the recipe to make it.

1 cup oil (250 ml)
2 cups sugar (I decreased this to 2 &3/4 since my frozen apples have sugar)
3 eggs
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups diced apples (2 large)
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans (walnuts are also good)
1 tsp vanilla

Topping: (optional)
1 cup brown sugar
4 Tbsp butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven at 350 F (180 C) Mix ingredients in the order listed. Batter will be very thick until apples are added. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 inch pan. Bake for about 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Pour the topping on cake while cake is warm.

To prepare the topping:
Mix the ingredients on a sauce pan and on medium heat cook it until boiling. Cook 2 more minutes stirring constantly. Remove form heat and add vanilla. Pour over the cake.

PS. I love cinnamon and it would be a good addition (1Tsp to the batter). The photo shows 2 pieces with the brown sugar topping and 1 piece plain. Enjoy.