Natural Beauty Garden Lattice Quilt

 

Last year, while visiting my sister in Seattle, I had to visit a few quilt shops while there. One was an unexpected gem. We went to a shop called Ben Franklin. There used to be a Ben Franklin in my home town, so I was extra pumped to see it. While browsing through the store, I discovered a rockin’ fabric section… and they had some pre-cut sets marked down.

 

 

Yeah, I have to take a look at that for sure. It was so hard to pick what to get and what to leave behind. You know how it is when you’re trying to be good and not buy ALL the fabric. I bought a couple packs, including this one called Natural Beauty.

 

 

The colors are so bright and vibrant, and the patterns are so fun.  I immediately knew what pattern I wanted to use with this fabric. I had seen a neat block that when twisted, creates a fun lattice look. The scrap look allows all the different colors to pop all over the place. Its fantastic! I am so happy with how the patchwork came together.

 

 

The only problem was that it felt a bit small. I like lap quilts, but this one was a little too small. I decided to add some borders with the scraps leftover from the original blocks. I also added some black borders, again to pump up the size. The cool thing is that the borders really framed the lattice nicely and I ended up loving it even more.

 

 

I found some fun fabric for the backing at the LQS, and decided to free-hand quilt some leaves in the black of the block pattern. 

 

 

Then I finished off the borders with a basic meander. It allows the colorful fabrics to pop even more.

 

 

Finally, I finished the quilt with a binding made of the backing fabric leftovers. It’s not from the same line, but I like how it’s a little different and still frames the quilt well. I added my label, and called it good.

 

 

I am so happy with how this one turned out. It was a lot of fun to work with such colorful, wild fabrics. I am so glad I found this pre-cut pack and got to have such fun with it. An extra cool prize is that there were a couple fabrics that I thought worked really together, and not as much in this quilt. That will be posted soon…

White Chicken Chili

 

Recently, I have been getting into using herbs and seasonings to flavor my meals. It’s amazing what a difference the right spices can do for a dish. It brings the food alive, especially proteins that can sometimes lack flavor.

 

 

I am also constantly on the hunt for meals that are easy to put together, can be done a bit ahead of time, and require minimal work right at the end. The instant pot can help with all these things.

 

 

This Chicken Chili is spectacular, mostly because of the flavors. It has a bit of heat, but not too much, and is creamy. It can be easily modified to fit your tastes, and offers a great source for protein and fiber.

 

 

This is a dish that goes great in the colder weather when you need a warm up. I like to serve it with some delicious corn muffins to help soak up all the yummy juices.

 

 

White Chicken Chili

 

1 lb chicken breasts

1 ½ tsp cumin

½ tsp each of paprika, dried oregano, ground coriander

¼ tsp cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper

½ medium onion, diced

1 T EVOO

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 c low sodium chicken broth, or 1 can

1 7oz can diced green chilis

Salt and pepper to taste

4oz pkg cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces

1 ¼ c frozen of fresh corn

2 15oz cans cannellini beans

1 15oz can pinto beans

 

Mix together the spices (cumin, paprika, dried oregano, ground coriander, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper). Pat the chicken dry with paper towel, and rub the spice mixture on the chicken. Meanwhile, in the Instant Pot, heat the EVOO on the sauté function. Brown the onion for a few minutes just until they’re soft and translucent, and then add the garlic for a minute more.

Turn off the sauté function and add 1 ½ c of the chicken broth and the can of green chilis. Place the chicken in, nestling it into the liquid a bit. Put on the lid, and make sure the pressure valve is open and steam is allowed out. Turn on the slow cooker function; high for 3 hours, low for 5 hours.

While the chicken is cooking, empty one can of beans into a colander and rinse. Dump into a bowl and then, using an immersion blender, puree the beans. Add ¼ - ½ c chicken broth while blending to make it smoother, and then set aside. Rinse the second can of beans in the colander and set aside. Remove the chicken for shredding and add the cream cheese to allow it to melt into the liquid mixture.

Once the cheese is melted and the chicken is shredded, return the shredded chicken to the pot, along with the pureed beans, beans, and corn. Heat through, adding more chicken broth if it’s too thick.