Makerie Sewing 2013

Last month I spent 3 and a half blissful days at the Makerie Sewing Retreat in Boulder, Colorado during a trip back to the US and Mexico to visit family and friends. The teachers were amazing, generous, and funny. These ladies are the rock stars of the sewing and craft world: Amy Butler from Amy Butler Design, Jenny Hart from Sublime Stitching, Kaari Meng  from French General, Liesl Gibson from Oliver + S, Cal Patch from Hodge Podge Farm, Heather Jones from Olive and Ollie and Tamar Mogendorff.  We also had insightful lunchtime sessions with Amy Flurry from Recipe for Press on generating your own PR.

Amy Butler's class in one of the beautiful workshop spaces at Chautauqua.

Creating Your Unique Colour Story with Amy Butler

A very happy group of makers with Amy Butler (bottom row centre). I'm standing fourth from the left.

 Jenny Hart's Illuminated Embroidery workshop. Sitting with the lovely afternoon sun streaming through the window with a woman from Scotland.

The snow in Boulder 2 days before the Makerie started. I had planned on hiking but went on a tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea factory instead!

My fantastic cabin mates, Rhonda,  me with my eyest closed, Mary and Michele. We all happened to wear purple on the last day! Great minds think alike. (Rhonda's photo)

Our creative output laid out on the table in our cozy cabin. (Rhonda's photo)

 

The Dining Hall at Chautauqua with the Flatirons in the background. You can see how much the snow melted after three days of sunshine. (Rhonda's photo)

 

More pics can be found on my Pinterest board and the Makerie blog, and Flickr sites.

 

Olé

 

It's a fiesta of chiles from my garden and a few from the Burnley Rooftop Garden.  The varieties include Thai, Habañero, Birds Eye, Jalapeño and yes, Fiesta!

Making Escabeche from the chiles, garlic from my garden and purchased carrots and cauliflower.  I posted the recipe here two years ago.

Bottled up and ready to go!

Next on the Mexican veggie harvest train were the Tomatillos...

Tomatilloes are the main ingredient in Salsa Verde and can also be made into soup or a number of other recipes including pasta sauce. I grew two types this year, purple and the regular green. They turn pale yellow if left longer on the plant but I prefer the tangier flavour when they are still green. They can be picked any time after the papery husk starts to break like the ones above on the right.

Tomatilloes are not eaten raw, the papery husk must be removed and the fruit is cooked before eating. Browning them on each side gives them a lovely smoky flavour. I chop them in half, grill them in a pan or under the broiler for a few minutes on each side and then freeze them in individual portion sizes in zip-lock bags.  They can be defrosted as needed and chopped up with some Escabeche to make a delicious salsa!