Monagamous! and Fricassee

With all vacations cancelled, we're back to the cookbook challenge, and DH picked Marcella Hazan's The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking again. I wanted to cook a recipe that seemed more like home food than restaurant food (although I can't tell from the book), something that isn't typical to Italian restaurants in the US, and something DH did not expect: Chicken Fricassee in Red Cabbage. The cabbage is cooked down with onion and garlic, then the browned chicken and red wine are added and cooked a while more. It was excellent!  I cooked and served it with a California pinot noir, and accompanied it with polenta and spinich and shallots sauteed in pan drippings from the chicken. I'll make this again!

On the fiber front, I continue to be monogamous. 

I'm quilting away, often on the deck by the pool, when I can negotiate with the cats for access to the quilt. I'm more than half way done with the background, then it'll just be the borders! This afternoon's task will be to mark more quilt. I did sign up for a ruler quilting class at PIQF in mid-October, and I'm invited to the local quilt group meetings where I hope to find out if anyone can coach me through quilt-as-you-go.

Negotiating who gets
which part of the quilt

I'm weaving hand towels for the bathroom, and those are going well. I finally conceded that I need 6-8 inches to get used to pattern and beat before my project looks good. I just signed up for another Janet Dawson Overshot class so will warp the little loom for that; I'm also about to order fiber for the rug by the kitchen slider and flirting with a bound weave project for later in the year.

I'm only really working on my knitting one evening every other week. Two weeks ago, I encountered an error but put it out of my mind, so last night I rediscovered it and spent an hour picking it out. I'd picked this project for travel and now that travel isn't happening I confess I'm looking at other projects.

I hosted two spinning classes taught by guild member BP; I brought out my wheel and continued to spin that blue merino mix that has been making me so unhappy. The good news is I'm almost done with the spinning, then I'll ply that and the brown singles I have (not together). I also took out the charka and tried some cotton but I fear that'll have to wait until my class at the end of September.

I've also been spending lots of time in the garden; I've convinced the gardeners that we need to finish one project before we move to the next. So large parts of the garden are looking much better.