Table Talk Blog Tour and Giveaway!

Welcome to Day Four of the Table Talk Blog Tour!

Dont' forget to visit Gudrun, our hostess-with-the-mostest. She's blogging every day along with us. If you've missed the other posts so far, here is the line up:

Monday May 23rd: Kimberly Jolly - The Jolly Jabber

Tuesday May 24th: Sandy Gervais - Pieces From My Heart

Wednesday May 25th: Monique Dillard - Open Gate Quilts

Thursday May 26th: Me!

Friday May 27th: Kansas City Star - Diane McLendon

I was so happy and excited when Gudrun asked me to be a part of this because it's always so fun to see what she's got cooking (pun intended in this case). Just before Market, Gudrun was kind enough to send me a copy of her book to take a peek. I started to flip through it and by the time i reached the back cover, i was so hungry! You see she did quite a tantalizing and subliminally sneaky thing; she combined recipes with sewing projects. Beware!

Gudrun grew up in a small town in Iceland and her book focuses around the dining table where her family would gather to nourish their spirits with lively conversation, laughter and special family treats. Add fabric to the food and fun, and voilà...Table Talk. There are numerous projects for table runners and toppers that span all seasons and the instructions are really simple with well-drawn diagrams accompanying each step. I love diagrams!

One of my favorite projects in the book is the "Jolly Woods" runner.

I've been looking for a small something to make using my fabric collection Flurry and i think this would be perfect! Even though there are lots of triangles (which usually scare me), it's whimsical and too cute not to at least try. Like the buffalo chicken dip! Not that the dip is cute, but i do want to try it.

I almost thought about making the "City Square" topper using Terrain, but then i got to the last few critical assembly steps in the instructions and realized there is NO POSSIBLE WAY i could ever finish this project when the facing page has a recipe for "Hot Fudge Pudding Cake". Nope, no way.

So the project Gudrun made with my fabric is called "Jelly Jar" and it's a sweet and scrappy table runner that uses leftover strips from any jelly roll project — or really almost any project that leaves you with a bunch of 2 1/2" strips. I love projects like this that help to put those scraps to good use. I also love that she used Verna.

Aww, remember her?

The jelly jar theme reminded me of a few things:

1. My grandfather Jack who made homemade jelly and jam from blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries that he grew himself. I remember going out to his garden and getting tangled in the miles of netting he would use to protect the precious berries from sneaky birds. Also, he would put jelly on...well, everything. I was fascinated by this as a child. A dollop would go on his oatmeal in the morning, or in his cereal, or smeared across toast, or on his ice cream or in some yogurt. Pete and i grow blueberries and raspberries in our back yard and i now know what Jack went through to get even a very small jar. We savor the berries too, as much and as often as possible.

2. I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Always have. And as if it couldn't have gotten better, you can now buy peanut butter with toasted flax seeds added — sublime.

3. Jars are really useful! Last summer, my Dad gave me a simple recipe for making basil-infused olive oil from the basil plants that were left in our garden at the end of the season. It was a wonderful way to use up the plants, and we froze some of the oil to use throughout the winter. Can you believe we just defrosted the last jar this week? Perfect timing because we also just planted this summer's seeds that will eventually yield a fresh supply of liquid gold..

***I'm afraid that just to be on the safe side, i've removed the recipe for the basil oil. Sorry! I don't want to be responsible for inadvertently poisoning anyone with botulism! Yikes! So if you've already copied the recipe down, please do read up on how to make and store

herb-infused oils.***

Ok, i think i've Table Talked enough for now! The book is great and will keep you busy in the kitchen and at the sewing table. Plus, someone is going to be very lucky because Gudrun has generously offered to let me give away one of her beautiful books! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. Nothing specific, just a comment. I'll draw a winner on Tuesday, May 31st. You can also buy the book here and here if you can't wait :) Good luck!

Oohh, woah...waitaminute....don't leave yet...almost forgot...

The fun and zany people at Moda sent me this giant, 48 pound box crammed to the tippy top with totally usable 2" - 5" fabric strips and scraps from my newest line, Terrain. Lookie!

So i was wondering if mayyybe any of you were sorta interested in possibly kinda helping to take some of it off my hands? If so, please include that in your comment. I'll pick a couple winners for some of this as well — good luck times two!