The Fabric Maverick: September 2008 Archives
I have always thought Halloween was the holiday totally for children. What could be more fun than dressing up in a funny or scary costume and getting candy for it? I adore the little children in their costumes yelling out "Trick or Treat". The very youngest just hold out their bags because they don't know the lingo yet.
I was raised in a small Midwest town of less than 12,000 people. My brothers and sisters knew everyone. We would dress every year in outfits we concocted at the last minute. We might be cheerleaders, football players or a ghost. Mom never did appreciate the eye holes in her white sheets. We knew where the best candy could be found. There were two maiden ladies who lived next door who made the best popcorn balls and brownies. I do not imagine that they had many treats left after 8:00 PM. Of course, there was always one 'scrooge' on the street that would sit in his living room reading his paper who would not even answer the door. After one year, we all knew to avoid his house.
One year when I was eleven, I agreed to meet a friend at the school yard to go trick or treating. It was the perfect Halloween night. It was dark and chilly. The tree branches rustled in the wind like ghost fingers scratching on a door. The solitary light in the school yard created a small spotlight against the darkness. Of course, Jimmy was late and I huddled in the light imagining the shadows becoming solid shapes. The swings were swinging to and fro from the wind and small noises started to sound very ominous! Of course, this is when Jimmy jumped out of the dark at me. Yes, he did scare me. We had a great time though.
Halloween is very different from my youth. It is no longer safe to eat homemade items. You should never go alone to meet someone. You should always go with a group or parent. Costumes are often purchased. This weekend I took Victoria's granddaughter, Jade, to select a costume pattern for her and her brother. She selected a cheerleader costume and little Sebastian will be the most adorable dinosaur. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a whole section devoted to pet costumes. I will spend this week selecting fabric from our Halloween Bootique. I am starting now because I know it will take me awhile. Victoria and I will post those photographs when we have the costumes finished.
To me, this is the official start of the holiday season. We all need to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas!. It does come fast, doesn't it!
The Fabric Maverick dared me to throw a tailgate party. I am pretty busy at the Redneck Cafe, but Chef Bubba cannot refuse a dare from the Fabric Maverick. Dat woman, she is so sassy! Now whether you throw your tailgate party at the stadium or at home, there are safety tips. One of the most important is the one-hour rule. This is not a football rule. If a food requires refrigeration, it should not be left out more than an hour. You do not want the partiers ending up in the ER. It doesn't help your reputation as a host or a cook! Now the chef loves a good beer or glass of wine, but do not drink and drive.
One of my favorite things to fix for any party is chili. You can prepare ahead of time leaving the host plenty of time to socialize or watch the game. For the ladies, I have developed a low calorie chili. I call it "The Big Chicken" chili.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c chopped onion 1 can mild green chilies
3 garlic cloves, chopped 2 tsp. cumin
2 Tb. cornmeal 6 tsp. Tabasco "Chipotle" liquid seasoning
2 lbs boneless chicken breasts 1 tsp. oregano
4 15 oz cans of cannellini beans 3 cups chicken broth
3 tsp. canola oil
. In a separate pot, cook chicken breasts in chicken broth until tender. Allow to cool. Chop chicken into small pieces. Cook onions and garlic in oil until translucent. Combine chicken and the onion-garlic mixture in a large slow cooker. Add broth, stir in 2 tbs. of cornmeal. Mash 1/4 cup of the cannellini beans and add to the mixture. Stir in remaining beans. Add seasonings. Simmer in the slow cooker for 8 to 12 hours. Serve with cheese,sour cream, sliced green onions and a twist of lime (optional). Cornbread is also very good. From our pictures, you can see we had a very good time. The collegiate tablecloth fabric was the perfect touch for our table.
Of course, wherever I go it turns into a competition. All of the lovely ladies showed up with their 'special' chili recipes. If they give me their recipes, I will post them for you. Here is a small sample:
I have tried to give you some extra time .Here are the answers to the questions!
1. True- A touchdown is six points.
2. False- The University of Kansas is not in the Southereastern Conference
3. False- March Madness is the tournament to determine college basketball winners.
4. False - Herschel Walker attended the University of Georgia.
5. False- The quarterback is a member of the offensive team.
6. False- The quarterback may carry the ball, but he may also pass it to another member of the team.
7. True- A field goal is 3 points.
8. False- It is rare, but the defensive team can score two points in what is known as a safety.
9. False- "Bear" Bryant coached at the University of Alabama. Alabama fans would barbecue anyone who said the "Bear" had anything to do with Auburn.
10. True- The University of Notre Dame team is known as the "Fighting Irish".
11. False- Tailgate parties are held gernerally before football games. The Fabnc Maverick believes that you can party anytime if food is involved.
12. True.- A very good time is had at the Georgia-Florida game.
13. True- Alabama's war cry is "Roll Tide"
14. False- Most husband's do not appreciate chatter during their football games unless you are bringing food or drink. You will be lucky if you get a grunt.
15. False- Uga is the sacred mascot of the University of Georgia.
16. False- Of course, the Trojans have won at the Rose Bowl.
17. True- The offensive team does have the football.
18. True- The defensive team tries to stop the offensive team from scoring a touchdown.
19. True- A down is at least 10 yards.
20. True- There are 4 quarters to a football games.
Mini-Dictionary
Coin toss: Before the start of the game, the captain of the visiting team calls heads or tails when the coin is flipped by the referee. If the visitor wins the toss, he can select whether to receive the ball or kick the ball. The losing team chooses which goal they would like to defend.
Defense: The team tha is responsible for keeping the offense from scoring points.
Down: A play, starting when the ball is put into play and ending when the ball is ruled dead. Basically a down is one play.
Field Goal: A scoring play worth 3 points. Placekicker kicks ball throught the uprights to achieve goal.
First Down: The first play of every series. The offense must gain 10 yards or more in four downs to be awarded first down.
Offense: The team that has possession of the football and attempts to advance it towards the defense's goal line,
Penalty: Punishment for an infraction of a rule.
Quarterback: The offensive player who receives the ball from the Center at the start of each play before either handing it off or running with it himself.
Touchdown: A scoring play in which any part of the ball, while legally in possession of a player who is inbounds, crosses the opponent's goal line is worth 6 points.
Ladies, get ready for football boot camp Fabric.com style!
We will start with a football quiz to assess your football knowledge and end with a tailgate party from Chef Bubba on Friday. You may not know any more about football by the end of the week, but you will have a lot of fun.
True or False:
- A touchdown is six points.
- The University of Kansas is in the SEC.
- March Madness is the tournament to determine college football winners.
- Herschel Walker attended the University of North Carolina.
- The quarterback is a member of the defensive team.
- The quarterback is always the ball carrier.
- A field goal is worth 3 points.
- The defensive team can never score a goal.
- "Bear" Bryant coached at Auburn University.
- The University of Notre Dame team is known as the Fighting Irish.
- Tailgate parties are traditionally held during basketball games.
- The University of Florida vs. the University of Georgia game is known as the best outdoor cocktail party.
- Alabama's war cry is "Roll Tide".
- Talking to your husband during his favorite college football game is acceptable.
- Uga, the bulldog, is the mascot for Georgia Tech University.
- The University of Southern California has never won the Rose Bowl.
- The offensive team is the team who possesses the ball.
- The defensive team is the team who tries to prevent the team who has the ball from scoring.
- A down is 10 yards or more.
- There are four quarters in a football game.
The answers will be in Tuesday's blog since we cannot print the answers upside down. We will also have a mini football dictionary so you will be able to speak football!
Check out our new collegiate broadcloth, collegiate flannel, collegiate fleece, and college tailgate tablecloth fabric. This is a great time to make something special for the men in your life. I know that I always have a problem deciding what to buy men at Christmas.
Ladies, even Chef Bubba has a bad day occasionally. He invited me over to his kitchen last night to test out today's recipes. He wanted to share his Waldorf Chicken Salad with pumpkin muffins. Alas, tragedy struck his pumpkin muffins. I tried three muffins, but I could not give it a thumbs up rating! The chicken salad is excellent!
Waldorf Chicken Salad
4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped 2 apples, coarsely chopped
1/4-1/2 cup of pecans 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
Chopped celery to taste 1/4 cup plain yogurt
Splash of lemon juice 1 Tb. honey
In a large bowl, mix chopped chicken, raisins, celery. Chop your apples. You may use Granny Smith or Gala apples. Any apple will do. Just make sure you pick an apple you like to eat. Coat with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Mix with chopped chicken mixture. Combine yogurt, mayonnaise and honey. Stir until well mixed. Pour over chicken mixture and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill for an hour. I like to add my pecans just before serving the chicken salad. Place a lettuce leaf on a chilled plate. Place a large scoop of chicken on each lettuce leaf. You might garnish with sliced apples on the side for that special Chef Bubba look. This is delicious served with a fruit muffin such as blueberry or pumpkin. Iced tea is the drink of choice in the South.
Chef Bubba has gone looking for another can of pumpkin. I have a feeling I will be eating more pumpkin muffins until that recipe is perfect. I hope he perfects it soon or I will need to start my New Year's diet in October!
I ran across a nifty little tip this weekend I would like to share with you. The tip was printed in the American Patchwork and Quilt magazine. I had read an article several months ago on a quilting technique. On Saturday morning I spent a gazillion minutes trying to find this article. While I enjoyed reading all of 2008's quilting magazines, I never did find the article for which I was looking. The tip I found was about a reader who had the same problem uses her extra address labels and marks the pages with the address labels (folding them over the page) to create a marker. One extra tip, when placing the label make sure you are not covering up any valuable instructions on the back side of the article you are marking. I now have several magazines with little markers, I hope I can find the articles I am looking for now. I hope that this will help you, too.
Why is it that on the day after Labor Day, daybreak seems to take longer to arrive? Is God signaling that summer is almost over? The feel of the air is even different. This is the time of the year that we start thinking about falling leaves, cool, crisp days, making soup and high school/college football. The fabric of choice will be flannel so I have searched our customers' tips and researched magazines to find the best tips to work with that oh-so-soft flannel.
1. Prewash flannel at least twice. Flannel is loosely woven and can shrink quite a bit,
2. Use magic sizing or Best Press to restore the body to flannel for ease of cutting.
3. Flannel will stretch. Use a walking foot to control the stretch.
4. Change needles often. Flannel will dull needles quickly,
5. Use a 1/2'' seam instead of 1/4" seam if making a quilt. Flannel will fray easily.
6. Machine quilt your quilt or tie it. Hand quilting is too difficult on flannel.
7. Use a thin batting for the inner layer. This will reduce bulk. Warm and Natural is perfect for flannel quilts.
8. Choose a simple block such as a nine-patch, four-patch, etc. for a quilt.
Flannel can be wonderfully soft and will wear well if you use these tips. This might be a good time to make a cozy flannel shirt for cool days or a snuggly blanket fo cover up with while watching those football games. Pass the cocoa, please.
P.S. If you have any tips you would like to share with the Fabric Maverick we will happily share them with our readers. Posse, if you have any ideas you would like us to write about, please let me know. You can respond to this blog or write to Fabric Maverick at fabricmaverick@fabric.com.
