Josh’s Stippling & Echo Shell in a Basket Block

Josh here for another block in our basket series. Today I’m stitching Echo Shell and Stippling.

I enjoyed stitching these echo shells. It was so helpful that the echoes were more in the center of the block, opposed to along the perimeter where the stippling is.

The block being set at a right angle was also a great help in my stitching. The angle definitely made things easier. Keep in mind, Leah is left-handed, I am right-handed, so we often utilize opposing angles when we free motion quilt.

I feel I am gaining skill and confidence in my stippling. No real issues to report, and stitching the curved shapes in both stippling and the echo shell was much  more comfortable and came far more naturally to me than they did when I was starting out.

Here is the completed block:

This was a quick and easy block, and it was a lot of fun to stitch out. Very minimal, almost no travel stitching. Looking at the finished block, I now wish I had stitched in the handle. Instead of following the premarked cheater Spoonflower lines, I would have marked outside the path and made a tight, slinkie-like fill through the handle.

And on the note of baskets… the summer growing season is over here in NC, and I just used up our last basketful of green tomatoes. If you still have a lot of green tomatoes on the vine, here is a quick, super easy soup to throw together which is light, delicious, and the perfect end to the summer.

3-4 medium green tomatoes, chopped in 1/2″ pieces
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, minced
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 bay leaf
Kosher or sea salt
Black pepper
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 pound fresh bratwurst sausage, or 1 pound ground chuck
2 cups homemade chicken stock, or store bought

Brown meat in a cast iron pan, set aside in a colander with paper towel beneath the meat. Drain well and keep aside.

Wipe down cast iron pan, return to heat, add olive oil. Saute onion and green tomatoes with bay leaf for at least 8 minutes. Your goal is to remove the toughness and bitterness from the unripened tomatoes. When fully sweated, add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Incorporate and stir for another 2 minutes.

Add drained and degreased meat and chicken stock. Season with a little more salt and pepper and dried parsley. Cook at medium heat until soup begins to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Can be served with a cilantro and sour cream coleslaw, a splash of Tabasco sauce, and tortilla chips.