Rosebud Block

 

Easter really snuck up on me this year. I’m used to having more time for boiling and dyeing eggs, shopping for Sunday clothes, and – this is really important – watching Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments. Easter is a “moveable feast,” which means it occurs on a different date each year. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the full moon after spring equinox. The equinox was March 19 and the full moon was March 25, so tomorrow is Easter. The earliest Easter can fall is March 22 (It happened last in 1818 and will happen again in 2285) and the latest it can occur is April 18 (The last time was 1995). We won’t have dyed eggs tomorrow, but I’ve got a ham for Sunday dinner. I won’t wear a new frock, but I do have a musical number ready for tomorrow’s worship service. And there’s still plenty of time for the Charlton Heston movies – in April.

Nine Pin Cushions

 

I love the phrase “you learn something new every day.” To me, it means each new day is an opportunity to add to the sum of my knowledge. I like to imagine all the facts I’ve accumulated are just floating around in my head, waiting for the right moment for them to become useful. Of course, that isn’t how it works. Research shows if we don’t DO something with our new knowledge, about half of it is gone within an hour. 70% is lost by the end of 24 hours, and in a week, the number goes to 90%. It feels as if our brains are sieves, dropping information as fast as we pick it up. In fact, that may actually be a defense against memory overload. It’s helpful to know exactly where you parked your car this morning. It’s somewhat less helpful to remember where you parked it last week, last month or last year. 

Four Friendship Stars

 

Late Saturday night, November 2, 2019, Ethan Crispo stopped by a Waffle House in Birmingham on his way home. There were a few dozen people dining, with more just arriving. But there was only one employee. Because of a scheduling snafu, there were no waiters, busboys, or dishwashers – only a bewildered cook. Ethan was ready to leave with an empty stomach. But as he watched, one of the customers finished his meal and asked the cook for an apron. He then stepped into the kitchen and began washing dishes. Another started pouring coffee. Diners actually stepped up to serve and bus tables while the cook manned the cash register and grill. On the face of it, this sounds like above-and-beyond generosity. But Waffle House was less than thrilled. None of the volunteers were employed there or had food handler’s licenses. If anything had gone wrong, the 24/7 chain could have ended up with egg on its face.

Nine Challenge Blocks

 

Quilt Etc. in Sandy stopped holding their first Saturday block-of-the-month classes in spring of 2020. None of us ever imagined that in the four subsequent years, they wouldn’t start them up again. But here we are. To add insult to injury, the quilt shop called Mormon Handicraft inside the Midvale Deseret Book disappeared when the Deseret Book moved to Cottonwood Heights. I enjoyed block-of-the-month classes at both stores for many years, and their absence has left a hole in my calendar and my heart. I’ve been trying to fill the hole with Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge. I made a lovely queen-sized quilt with their 2021 blocks (and some others) that was displayed at the Thanksgiving Point Garden of Quilts. The 2022 top has been hand-quilted and is almost done being bound. I’m still debating how to set the 2023 blocks, and here are the first nine blocks from 2024.

Friendship Star

 

In the 1830’s, in the aftermath of the destruction of the Napoleonic wars, the Swedish navy planted 300,000 oak saplings to be used in ship building in the far distant future. They chose Visingsö, an island in the southern end of Lake Vättern for their man-made forest. Alongside all those oak trees, they planted various other species such as ash, elm, maple, beech, and silver fir, so the oak saplings would be encouraged to grow up straight and tall. It takes at least a century and a half for oaks to mature enough to be useful in building ships. But by the time these trees were ready, the naval industry had already transitioned to iron and steel construction. The oaks of the Visingsö forest will probably never sail the seven seas, but many of them may become beautiful hardwood flooring, fine veneers, exquisite Scandinavian furniture, and even whiskey barrels.

Half a Dozen Pin Cushions

 

“Don’t misunderstand or devalue how important you are to your Father in Heaven. You’re not an accidental by-product of nature, a cosmic orphan, or the result of matter plus time plus chance. Where there is design, there is a designer. Your life has meaning and purpose. You’re a beloved child of Heavenly Father. You’re the subject matter of all those parables and teachings. God loves you so much He sent His Son to heal, rescue, and redeem YOU. Jesus explained how the two great commandments to love God and love our neighbor are the foundation of all of God’s commandments. One of our divine responsibilities is to care for those in need. Religion isn’t only about our relationship with God; it’s also about our relationship with each other. Elder Holland explained the English word religion comes from the Latin religare, meaning “to tie.” Thus, true religion is the tie that binds us to God and to each other.” – Elder Alan T. Phillips

Sixteen Rolling Stones

 

Henry Brown was born into slavery in Virginia in 1815. At fifteen, Henry was hired out to a tobacco factory in Richmond. Henry married a fellow slave named Nancy. Together, they had three children. Somehow, Henry had funds of his own (I’ve always assumed slaves couldn’t earn money. I stand corrected). He used it to rent a home for himself and his family, and to bribe his wife’s master to not sell his wife and kids (but, of course, he did). In 1849, Henry decided to mail himself to abolitionists in Philadelphia. With the help of friends, Henry was sealed up in a crate labeled, “Dry Goods,” “Handle with Care,” and “This Side Up.” He had a hole for ventilation, a little water, and a few biscuits. The trip via wagon, train and steamboat took 27 hours. It cost him $86 – more than $3,000 in today’s money – but he stepped out of the crate a free man.

Twelve-Inch Woven Together

 

Whole Orange Pound Cake

 

1 whole seedless navel orange, seeds removed

4 large eggs

3/4 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon extract

2 cups flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 9x5” loaf pan with parchment and coat with baking spray. Put eggs, oil, lemon extract, and quartered orange into a high-powered blender, then add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend for 30 to 40 seconds or until a thick, pourable batter forms. Pour batter into pan and bake 45 to 50 minutes. To test if it's done, poke a toothpick into pan between the side and middle. Toothpick should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before removing cake from pan.

Thirteen Rolling Stones

 

When I’d take my grandma to the supermarket, there was this thing she’d do EVERY SINGLE TIME. We’d  go through the produce section, checking off items on her shopping list, and she’d say, “When I was a little girl, wild asparagus grew in the irrigation ditches along the roadside. I hated asparagus back then. Now that I like it, look how much it costs!” Grandma’s been gone twenty-one years now. We never did buy asparagus, though it was a lot cheaper two decades ago. I could try planting it, though. Asparagus is one of those crops you can plant and keep harvesting year after year. The idea gets more appealing every time I buy groceries. I already have concord grapes and red raspberries in my yard. Other perennial backyard crops include rhubarb, artichokes, horseradish, chives, kale, and Egyptian walking onions. I’d never even heard of Egyptian walking onions before, but suddenly I really need to plant them.

New Spring Frock

 

“And the Spring arose on the garden fair, Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere; And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”– Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.”– Gustav Mahler

“…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”– Vincent van Gogh

“The earth laughs in flowers.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A flower blossoms for its own joy.”– Oscar Wilde

“She turned to the sunlight and shook her yellow head, and whispered to her neighbor: ‘Winter is dead.’” – A.A. Milne

“Always it’s spring and everyone’s in love and flowers pick themselves.”– E.E. Cummings

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”– Claude Monet

“Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”– John Muir

Stacey's Cabin - With Borders

 

This has all the flavor of your favorite lasagna recipe, with none of the work. You can substitute almost any kind of pasta, but Mafalda just seems made for this soup. If you'd rather cook the pasta separately and add it at the last minute, that works, too.

 

Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup

 

1 pound ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

14 ounces diced tomatoes

28 ounces crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

4 cups beef broth

12 ounces Mafalda (mini lasagna noodles)

1/2 cup ricotta

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1 cup shredded parmesan

 

Brown and drain ground beef; dump into slow cooker. Add onion, pepper, tomatoes, garlic, seasoning and broth. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours. Stir in Mafalda. Cover and cook another 30 to 45 minutes, until pasta is done. Serve topped with ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan.

Twelve-Inch Glisten

“What are the fruits of exercising spiritual gifts? They include promptings from the Spirit that help us face our daily needs and show us what to do and say and blessings of peace and comfort. As we listen and act on spiritual promptings, the Holy Ghost magnifies our abilities and capacities to far exceed what we can do on our own. These precious spiritual gifts will help us in every aspect of our lives. The constant companionship of the Holy Ghost is one of the greatest spiritual gifts Latter-day Saints enjoy. How important is this gift? President Russell M. Nelson answered this question categorically when he stated that ‘in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.’” – Elder Gary E. Stevenson

Stacy's Cabin

 

Two years ago, I was gifted a kit to make a 65x 85” sampler quilt called Blessed Beyond Measure by Buttermilk Basin for Riley Blake. The pattern had instructions to make about a dozen 12” finished quilt blocks (several were duplicates). I used it to make thirty 12” individual blocks, and then purchased extra fabric for sashing, cornerstones, border, back and binding. The finished quilt came to about 85x95”. But there was still a LOT of fabric left over. Without any end product in mind, I started using the scraps for more 12” blocks. (I like to use scraps when I experiment. If the block is a failure, I don’t mind much.) Then, I discovered a Roly Poly (a collection of 2 1/2" x 42" strips) from the same fabric line. Before I knew it, I had nearly two dozen red-and-black log cabin blocks, and just as many other blocks to stick between them. Another quilt!

Ten-Inch Glisten Block

 

Slow Cooker Eggroll-in-a-Bowl

 

1 pound ground pork

1 medium onion finely chopped

2/3 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon ginger

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 bag coleslaw mix

3/4 cup shredded carrots

4 sliced green onions

 

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown ground pork. Drain fat and set aside. Dump onion, garlic, sesame oil, and ground ginger in slow cooker; add browned meat. Pour in the broth, vinegar, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low 3 hours. Stir coleslaw and carrots into pork mixture until well combined. Serve over white rice, topped with green onions.

Four Pin Cushions

 

Ida and Louise Cook were spinsters in their 30’s living with Mum and Dad. One wrote romance novels; the other was a secretary. They sewed their own clothes and loved German opera. They loved it so much they’d spend weekends going back and forth between London and Germany. No one paid much attention to them, or to the fact they’d come home wearing jewels and furs. In the 1930’s. The sisters entered and exited through different checkpoints, so no one would notice. If anyone saw their handbags were full of valuables, they’d say, “It’s not safe to leave them home!” Ida and Louise were collecting and transporting precious things for German refugees. They found people to house them, and assembled papers for their passage. They used their own money, so the refugees could sell their furs and jewels later for cash to get settled. They directly rescued 29 people from the Nazi regime. And they were never caught.

May in Bloom

 

Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands, is a colonel-in-chief of the Norwegian King's Guard. He is also a penguin. Nils Olav resides in the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, and he is the third king penguin to hold this name and honor. It all started in 1913, when the family of a Norwegian shipping magnate donated a king penguin to the newly opened Scottish zoo. In 1966, the Norwegian King’s Guard visited the zoo. Following this visit, Lieutenant Nils Egelien arranged for his regiment to adopt one of the penguins. This penguin was named Nils Olav, for the lieutenant, and for Olav Siggerud, contingent commander of the guard. The first penguin was originally a lance corporal, but there were subsequent promotions and even a knighthood. The current Nils Olav holds the rank of major general. According to Guiness World Records, he’s the world’s highest ranking penguin.

Tomato Pin Cushion

 

Ribena is a blackcurrant-based drink that has been manufactured in the UK since 1933. The name comes from the botanical name of the blackcurrant: Ribes nigrum. Blackcurrants are on a very short list of fruits indigenous to the British Isles and high in vitamin C. During World War II, when imported citrus fruits became non-existent, home cultivation of blackcurrants was encouraged by the government so Ribena could take up the slack. For a long time, adverts claimed “the blackcurrants in Ribena have four times the vitamin C of oranges.” Two students in New Zealand decided to test this. In a secondary-school lab, they were unable to find ANY vitamin C in ready-to-drink Ribena bottles. GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturers of Ribena, were forced to admit their recipe has changed; instead of a “nutritional drink,” Ribena is now a soft drink. The GlaxoSmithKline was fined NZ$217,500. Hopefully, cases like these will inspire other companies to stand behind their promises.

Three Spring Blossoms

 

“Here, then is a great truth: in the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd. In our extremities, it is possible to become born again, born anew, renewed in heart and spirit. We no longer ride with the flow of the crowd, but instead we enjoy the promise of Isaiah to be renewed in our strength and mount up with wings as eagles” - Elder James E. Faust

Star Crossed

 

James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott in the television and film series Star Trek, had seven children, including twins Montgomery and Christopher. When the twins were high school seniors, their father told them he’d arranged for them to take a tour of the studio where Star Trek: The Motion Picture was being filmed. The boys arrived, and James said the first place they’d visit was the costume department. The three of them entered the building, and were approached by a costume tech who said the boys’ costumes were ready for them; they should get dressed now. James confessed that he hadn’t really arranged for a studio tour at all. The boys were there to be extras in the new movie. You can catch a glimpse of them in a scene where the Enterprise crew is being briefed: Montgomery with a mustache and white uniform, stands behind Chris, who’s clean-shaven, in tan.

Spring Blossom

 

Daryl Davis is an R&B/Blues musician who played with Chuck Berry, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Muddy Waters. But his real claim to fame is in a quite different field. Daryl is an African-American who deliberately befriended Roger Kelly, a KKK Grand wizard. He spent years cultivating a friendship with Roger. Instead of hating Roger, Daryl listened to him. He even attended klan rallies as Roger’s guest. Eventually, Roger began listening to Daryl, too. In the end, Roger denounced the KKK, and gave Daryl his robe and hood as a token of his changed heart. Roger received robes and hoods from more than 200 former klansmen in just this way. “These individuals are, like it or not, our fellow Americans,” says Daryl. “Through understanding and patience, we can find unity. It's about transforming fear into friendship, one conversation at a time. For the sake of our future, let us start talking WITH each other.”

Six-Inch Criss-Cross

 

Pancake Spaghetti

This isn’t really a recipe; it’s more of a technique. You can use your favorite pancake recipe (I love sourdough pancakes) or any commercial pancake mix. Take a large, heavy skillet. Whether it’s non-stick or not, coat it lightly with butter or vegetable oil before putting it on the range at medium heat. (If you’re using an electric skillet, set it to 375F.) Once the pan is hot enough to send a drop of water skittering, you’re good to go. Mix your batter so it’s just thin enough to pour. Put it in a zipper bag and cut a small triangle off one corner. Swirl the batter all over the pan, as if you’re making funnel cakes without the deep fat fryer. When the batter starts to look dry, flip the “pancake.” Serve with your favorite syrup, fruit, or powdered sugar. Note: expect your first pancake to be a disappointment. Toss it and try again.

Bunny Trail

 

Last Autumn, I signed up for the Riley Blake Door Banner Kit-of-the-Month. Twelve kits will come to my house for wall-hanging sized quilts to be displayed on or near the front door. The first, which arrived four weeks ago, was for April. I’m guessing the two-month offset was to give me time to complete each small quilt. I’ve seen the twelve finished designs, and I like them all, except for the first one. April’s quilt is ALL applique. It features a big, ugly brown rabbit, an uninspired pink Easter egg, green stems and grass, and seven circles in yellow, lavender, orange, blue and teal. I assume they represent spring flowers. Worst of all, the top quarter of the quilt has “Happy Easter” spelled in heavily serifed black letters. I KNEW I could do better. Here’s my own take on Buggy Barn’s “Bunny Trail,” using all the colors from my April kit, excepting black. Maybe I’ll use the black to bind it.

Mississippi Star

 

In the summer of 1948, several people reported finding enormous three-toed footprints in the sand at Clearwater Beach, Florida. Later on, similar tracks were discovered along the shore of the Suwannee River, some 40 miles from the ocean. During that same year there were sightings of giant penguin, at least 15 feet tall. Some saw the bird at a distance, waddling along the river; others spied him floating on the water. Ivan T. Sanderson, a cryptozoologist (Terrific job title! How exactly does one become a cryptozoologist?) declared an enormous flightless bird had somehow become separated from its natural habitat. The mystery was finally solved in 1988, when Tony Signorini showed a reporter the huge three-toed iron shoes he’d worn to perpetrate the hoax. He’d kept the prank going more than ten years, with no one the wiser. And all those big bird sightings? Maybe they’re the product of several over-active imaginations. Or maybe not.

Six Rabbits

 

“Anger may be justified in some circumstances. The scriptures tell us Jesus drove moneychangers from the temple, saying, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.’ Even this was spoken more as a rebuke than an outburst of uncontrolled anger. Now, my dear brethren, I plead with you to control your tempers, put a smile upon your faces, which will erase anger; speak out with words of love and peace, appreciation, and respect. If you do this, your lives will be without regret. Your marriages and family relationships will be preserved. You will be much happier. You will do greater good. You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful. May the Lord bless you and inspire you to walk without anger, without bitterness of any kind, but to reach out to others with expressions of friendship, appreciation, and love.” – President Gordon B. Hinckley

Twelve-Inch Sawtooth Star

 

Mixed Berry Pretzel Dessert

 

2 1/2 cups coarsely crushed pretzels

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoon flour

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup butter, melted

8 ounces cream cheese

8 ounce extra creamy Cool Whip

1 cup powdered sugar

21 ounces blueberry pie filling

6 ounces raspberries

6 ounces blueberries

6 ounces blackberries

 

Preheat oven to 375F and coat 9×13 pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, combine crushed pretzels, brown sugar, flour, and vanilla. Melt butter; add to pretzel mixture. Stir. Spread all but 1/2 cup pretzel mixture in baking pan. Press evenly. Bake 10 minutes and let cool. Beat cream cheese 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until combined. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread the cheese mixture evenly over cooled crust. Spread pie filling on top of the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle berries over pie filling. Sprinkle reserved pretzel mixture on top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate four hours or overnight.

Cotton Candy

 

Shavarsh Karapetyan was an Armenian swimmer. In 1976, he took a sixteen-mile run around Yerevan Lake with his brother, Kamo. Suddenly, he heard a loud crash. A trolley had lost control and fallen into the water. It was 82 feet away from the shore and quickly sank to a depth of 33 feet. Shavarsh dived in after it. He kicked out the back window of the trolley, though the water was murky. Of the 92 passengers onboard, Shavarsh pulled out 46. Twenty of them survived. Because of the cold water and lacerations from glass shards he was hospitalized 45 days. He developed pneumonia and sepsis. He recovered, but damage to his lungs prevented him from continuing his career as a swimmer. In 1974, he saved passengers on a driverless bus that started rolling downhill. In 1985, he saved several people trapped in a burning building. Shavarsh is seventy now, still living in Armenia.