I'm busy knitting

TWD White Loaves

2012-02-07T17:20:00.005-05:00

Don't my White Loaves look gorgeous? I've never tasted a better piece of bread. I have always used a bread machine and those loaves can't be compared with what came out of my oven. So delicious. I loved the density too. I was able to slice it very thin with a regular knife. Sooo glad this recipe made 2 loaves, because the first one was gone in a snap.

I love looking at this photo. I think it was suppose to be browner.

Notice that white hook looking thing? It's called a dough hook thingy. It's been sitting in my cabinet for the past 15 years. I've never used it before this recipe.

Here's the dough rising.

Here it's rising again.

I can't wait to get started on the next project.

Happy Anniversary Lilly and Themo

2012-02-03T10:45:00.004-05:00

60 years ago you married. 60 years and 6 months ago you met.

You two have a great-granddaughter. She is named after your mother, dad(me too) and you, mom. I wish you had had a chance to meet her as well as your 4 grandchildren. They have missed you. Not in so many words, but in what you could have given them...

I found your letters to each other and am writing a novel of your 6 month whirlwind engagement. I must admit I have had them for 30 years and only now have been able to read the first two.

love you

A Dorie Recipe

2012-02-03T10:13:00.005-05:00

Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good, that's the title of this delicious looking meal from Dorrie's Around My French Table.

Mine looks like goo-over-easy.

It was delicious, and 3/4 of us ate it, and 1/2 0f us ate the next night. I had it for lunch, and brought it to grad school for dinner. Yum-bo

Some of what I used: sausage, chunks of bread, and cream.

It was so tasty.

A Dorie Recipe

2012-01-23T17:59:00.006-05:00

Chicken in a Pot round 2

Celery, little carrots, scallions, an onion, 2 large potatoes, parsley,and of course, the chicken.

I lightly cooked all the veggies in special olive oil from Greece, then browned the chicken in butter.

Then I placed the vegetables in the pot under the chicken and added the herbs and some pepper. So far, so good.

I finished with a much smaller round of dough on top of the pot to seal it. I hope things go better this time. Time will tell, 60 minutes to be exact.

Tick Tock

This was delicious. So yummy. The potatoes picked up the flavors and didn't need a thing. BTW....I cooked this with out salt, none. This was a success. It reminded me of the stove top version I've made a gazillion times. The seal and oven cooking really ramped up the taste.

A Dorie Recipe

2012-01-22T11:18:00.008-05:00

As usual, I was listening to NPR on the way home, and Dorie Greenspan was on. I loved the interview. I immediately ordered Baking From My House to Yours from Amazon. I love that Amazon Prime.

Then I downloaded Around my French Table onto my Kindle Fire.

My first attempt at a Dorie recipe was on the front cover. That chicken dish with the crust around it.

Why show the book cover and not your food, you might say? Ahemm, not a pretty sight. First the crust looked like some kind of growth that needed to be lanced. Then, I used chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken. It wasn't a pretty sight. In the recipe, Dorie says to unlock the seal at the table so everyone can delight in the aroma. [The dough is circled around the top of the pot and the cover seals it shut.] The result was not what I expected. We all had a good laugh.

The taste? Let me just say it was delicious the next night, after I cooked it more and added a few more veggies to make up for the lack of chicken pieces and the resulting juices that weren't there.

I bought a whole chicken and will try again tonight. I'll take pictures this time.

Recipe #2.....the chocolate cake from the cover of the Baking Book.

Again, no photo. The cake looked beautiful, and tasted great. Still looking for a perfect chocolate cake. There are some small round shortbread cookies I want to try next.

I'm thinking of joining a group cooking the recipes in another Dorie book, Baking With Julia. Julia is of course, THE Julia. Two recipes a month and posting them. Why not, just add it to my growing list of things to do.

My Christmas Miracle

2011-12-19T14:20:00.006-05:00

We thought that our sweet Golden, Cabot, was on her way to heaven. She has had trouble walking and has been getting injections for arthritis to help her 14 year old body. Suddenly she started falling down, walking into things, not climbing stairs, and mostly looked awful. Now what? I hate those 2 words used to describe euthanasia, p_ _ d _ _ _. See, I can't even write them. When ever I hear them, I cringe. We decided to let her live out her life at home and deal with the mess.

Cabot - sick

For 3 mornings I was afraid to check on her, fearing the worst. Then my Christmas Miracle came. I woke up to her loudly drinking water on her own!! at her bowl!! standing up!! Yikes!

Later in the day she got thirsty again: ho, ho, ho!

Each day has been better than the one before. Today she even went for a solitary walk after her potty break. Her food and water bowls are now back in the kitchen and for the past 2 nights she has climbed the steps up to our bedrooms..(heat rises in our house, he,he)

Here she is sniffing the camera, looking for treats.

2011-12-09T16:01:00.003-05:00

New feline...Autumn. Can be nasty and mean,

especially to step sisters, Bella and Cabot. Is quick to startle, so watch your back, literally.

It took her a month to stop hissing, and screaming at all of us. She still hisses at my sweet deaf and near sighted golden retriever, Cabot. She doesn't even know the cat is walking by her, let alone screaming at her. So funny. Autumn either loves you or hates you.

I just started using a SMART board at school...fun. I also use an ELMO, no not the red fuzzy one.

It's a document

camera that projects an image to the wall, it can also be connected to a computer and project the pages, videos, everything.

2011-12-05T17:50:00.003-05:00

The latest quilt top. Coming Home charm pack from Moda. I have 4, soon to be 5, quilts going at the same time. I envy those who can start and finish 1 project at a time, then go buy fabric. There must be a name for people like me, and people like them.

Started PT today for my knee, surgery from August. Feel better already.

Tomie!!

2011-12-04T16:37:00.004-05:00

I met Tomie DePaola today....yea! I was so pleased to finally meet him. Jim and I went with Sarah and her son, John. Tomie was at the Concord Museum in Concord MA. He was having a bad day and wasn't able to talk much, but his assistant and his(I think) publicist, helped out and they did most of the talking. We had to leave our books for Tomie to sign later and we'll be able to pick them up in 2 weeks. Oh my! What a turn of events.

The museum store ran out of Tomie's new book,

Strega Nona's Gift, bummer. I bought two others and 2 from home for him to sign.

The explanation for Tomie's problem was blamed on his upcoming surgery and being off pain killers for the past week. I hope everything goes well.

2011-11-14T21:35:00.002-05:00

I am driving home from school and all I can think about is how hungry I am. My stomach is growling and I feel a little funny. I had plenty of food, I think. I recall every bite: coffee at 7:30, a bag of Cheerios at 10:30, a cheese stick, yogurt and apple at 11:45. I guess that wasn't enough. I don't want to eat yet. How low can I go? I'm home and 86. Not bad. Can I wait a little longer? Better eat. Coffee first, that has my Peppermint Mocha in it.....ah, better.

Happy World Diabetes Day

2011-10-28T18:05:00.005-04:00

Last one, I promise.

Noooo. Not the parrut. I gonna be Dyack, Dyack Sparrow, the pirut. I hab da costoom AND da hat. You know I like him, Dyack Sparrow.

2011-10-25T21:13:00.004-04:00

Jack part 2

Then in writing workshop:

I saw dyack. I saw him I went to canada. I saw dyack sparrow...(big toothless grin). dyacks a pirut. he wear a costume.

I write a story for you about canada and I see dyack.

I see mooby 1, mooby2, mooby3, mooby4. (is there a 4th movie?)

Next day:

I find my halloween costoome. I find da hat. It go wit da costoome. I gonna be a pawit. Yup, I gonna be dyack sparrows pawit. I have feathers. I gonna look good.

2011-10-21T15:31:00.004-04:00

Here's my day:

Me: "When you see _ck at the end of a word it says /k/."

I write the letters one at a time on the white board and...

Me: "What's the sound, ..../p/

what's the sound, ..../i/

what's the sound, ... /ck/

what's the work,...pick."

repeat for lots of small ck words, then:

we do J-a-ck.

This is what I hear all week in a small cute toothless voice:

Yack, I like Dyack, Yack is a pirut, Yack, ha,ha, I have d yack moobie, Yack is d pirut.

Me: "Phonics is over for today"

Ahhhhh, gotta love it.

2011-10-15T11:47:00.003-04:00

I'm really interested in the 30's quilts. These 2 books have great patterns. The Fancy to Frugal even has old newspaper clippings introducing the patterns...just send 10c to... very fun to read about the old times.

I stock up on patterns during Joann's 99c sales. This is the lastest one...a quilt pattern! Who knew.

Doodle Stitching inspires me.

I have wanted one of these for a long time...yea! No more begging people to hold my yarn. No more flopping the hank over a pillow, my knees, a chair.

2011-10-13T16:14:00.008-04:00

The September fog has lifted and I'm into my school year routine of getting up too early and being tired by 4pm. There has been one change. I'm taking a class every Tuesday night for the rest of this decade. Not really, just the the next 2 years. That will make me a Title 1 Reading Teacher. Ah, yes I know I'm already a reading teacher. This will put the capital letters on it and make me look really good. I think the extra duty on Tuesdays till 9pm has been the reason why my September fog lifted in October.

There has been sewing going on despite my busy days.

That's a banner for a little friend who is now a big sister.
Below, a fall quilt, not Halloween, those are scarecrows. I stuffed it with polar fleece instead of the normal batting due to not having any and having too much fleece. Even though it's the thin baby-like fleece, it is heavy. I won't do that again.

Next is the Flying Geese. No binding yet, but on the couch looking pretty.

The next project is a hanging bookcase/shelf/library. That's the outline of a cat I'm not going to use and those books down there are also not being used but, you get the idea. I went to Joann's and got loads of fabric at 1/8 of a yard, that's 41/2 inches. Plenty to make books. The cutter was not happy with me. Most of them came to under a dollar. No use buying a half yard when all I need is a few inches. I got my teacher's discount card for an extra 15% off even sale items.

The best part of the book making is the practice with paper piecing. I waiting for Raining Cats and Dogs to come in. There is a pattern that looks like my granddog Dander. He's a Labradoodle, a triangular head which lends itself to nice quilting. Here's the one I love.

Knee update: still hurts...ugh. Getting some WD40 for knees in a couple of weeks.

Go get a flu shot! I thought I had a little while longer before the plague hit. Seems my immune system thought it was late October a week ago. That's my time to get sick from one of the rugrats every year.

Mug Rug

2011-08-22T11:22:00.011-04:00

Little House Mug Rug

The first of many to come. I got my design idea from Meg at Fashioned by Meg. She has tutorial for these and other quilty stuff on her site. I didn't follow her directions, just eyeballed it. Who cares if the house is a little off or the door is not perfect. Real houses tilt! I can see so many different shapes for Christmas presents. My next one will be a large abstract (crazy quilt) cut into small parts, bound and voila!, a set of Mug Rugs.

A finished object:

Also a first, Dresden Placemats. Six of them. The fabric came from Joann's rolled up fat quarters. Cows and such. I do love scrounging in that rolled up assortment. I know the quality isn't great and it's cheaper to gather bolts and get 1/2 yard cuts. What I like about the rolls is it's theme in one place.

I'm slowly working on these hexagons. It's a Moda Charm Pack I

picked up at my LQS, CandleliteQuilts. It's such a cute old house in Chelmsford Center. Practicallyunder my nose for the past 5 years.I'm going back there soon.

How about my cute little sewing basket,

a-tisket a-tasket vacation mom has a sewing basket!

Today is an A1c day. I can't imagine it going down since my last visit. That was when I started paying attention to my knee and subsequent surgery....no walking off the sugar. Although today I weighed myself and 5 lbs gone since that last visit 3 months ago.

My Folded Goose

2011-08-18T10:53:00.008-04:00

Surgery sucks! Enough of that, it's over and I'm limping along.

I saw a YouTube about flying geese by making a sandwich using 3 pieces of fabric. Two sky pieces for bread and the goose in the middle. The goose is a folded rectangle sewn between the 2 sky pieces. I should of used a darker goose to photograph.

Open the sandwich and voila! Flying Geese.

As I was sewing and putting together these geese, I thought of a different way with less work both cutting and piecing and sewing.

Instead of 2 sky pieces, I made 1 long rectangle. I made mine 3 1/2 x 8 1/2. Cut the geese 3 1/2 x 5 1/2.

Finger press the sky in half, fold the goose in half and place it on top of the sky just a hair from the crease. Fold the sky back over and sew a 1/4 seam from the fold.

Open and spread out the goose.

Now I have more sky around the goose, which I like.

I made 6 rows of geese and attached them with the blue floral.

It wasn't long enough, so below are six more pieces.

Give my folded goose a try and let me know. I would love to see them.

2011-08-02T18:35:00.004-04:00

Vacation mom is quilting. A simple patchwork using 2 colors, lined in the purple...it's purple not blue. The yellow has the same purple in a stripe. The photo shows a perfect match, the only one :)

The squares are 6 inches. There are 2 reasons the squares are not even. 1st: I may have cut too many pieces at once, I know I did. 2nd: I used a selvage on my machine that I never use and then forgot and went back to a wider one. duh, I love it anyway.

Usually when I quilt I tie it. This one will be machine quilted, an allover free whatever. I have a walking foot and a quilting thingy. I was about to do it this afternoon but, I got the bug to head over to Joann's. I bought fabric for 2 more quilts, yippie!!! I can hardly wait. I must wait! I will wait. Oh boy. All of it is in the wash.

Here are the shorts that go with the top for Cutiepatootie. btw They both fit.

2011-07-31T11:33:00.006-04:00

I love watermelon in all things. Now I can have watermelon toes! Go here to see them in all their glory. Michelle / A Little Tipsy has fun blog, go check it out.

Here's a thought: A watermelon manicure party with frozen watermelon margaritas! Now that would make my knee feel better.

Q: How do you know mom has been eating the watermelon?

A: All the middle parts are gone. (he he..... I can't help myself.)

2011-07-29T10:22:00.003-04:00

Ugh!

Two of my summertime activities have been in the crapper because of the torn ligament. Driving is a big one, although I can drive if I don't take the happy pill, then I won't be happy, more like down right obnoxious to myself and others. The not driving means no shopping...$#&&*&^%!! Shopping in the summer is a major activity for me. I can't stand being driven, because the driver then has to wait for me. Shoppers don't like having someone waiting for them.

The second activity is cleaning....ok, I'm not that upset about it, but still, I tend to save big cleaning projects for the summer.

Today I was going to put a picture of a torn miniscus for you to see, they were all too gross. I did find this: Freezie Wrap!! I want one, right this minute! Doesn't it look great?! I have been thinking about taking a large ice pack and using some kind of wrapping to go around my knee. The Freezie Wrap even has velcro.

2011-07-26T13:19:00.001-04:00

I have now seen everything.

I love it. There are pins and earrings too! HA!

Go here to see it and many more

2011-07-25T18:44:00.003-04:00

I have been sewing forever, and this is my first muslin. So many ruined pieces of fabric and wonky looking garments...just not quite right. You can teach an old dog new tricks.

1) I used regular muslin and cut the largest size on the pattern.

2) I sewed it all together, clipped curves, and wow! it was really big. I couldn't even get the whole thing in a picture that wasn't 10 feet away.

3) Here's another w-i-d-e angle.

4) Now begins the tucking and sewing and trying on, over and over again.

5) Cutting the excess off. Now it fits the picture a bit better.

6) Take it apart and cut out the real fabric.

#5 should have included adding the neck trim, cuz that would have prevented me from thinking the pattern was way too big around the neck and too short. UHG! I won't share the mess I had to deal with, just that I finally got a pattern to use.

The top isn't finished yet, I need a few days to recover from the 'toile'.

Now I remember why I never muslin-ed before.

Fancy Nancy Clothes update. Too small (no muslin) I added a strip down the sides and it should be fine.

2011-07-17T22:05:00.002-04:00

How did that happen? Can you guess where this plant is growing? Hmmmm.

Give up?

It's growing in my gutter. This is what scientists call succession.

"Ecological succession" is the observed process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. In a given ecosystem, and under that ecosystem's set of environmental conditions, those species that can grow the most efficiently and produce the most viable offspring will become the most abundant organisms.

In this case the community is the gutter. The seeds must of floated up there and made a home in the leaves that I assume are also there. We all know leaves decay into soil, ergo...the garden.

If you look closely there are 2 plants growing, they may be scallions.

In other news, Cutiepatootie wants Fancy Nancy clothes. I think all I have to do is make it fancy with contrasting fabrics.

I'll be seeing her tomorrow and find out if I did a good enough job.

2011-07-15T14:21:00.003-04:00

I tried a another bakery, yummy devil's food and the icing...to-die-for. Not far, right under my nose in fact, and reasonably priced. Unfortunately it's a bit more labor intensive than I was looking for. The cuppy cakes are from The Hines Box...Duncan. Thank you mom, why reinvent the wheel.

Still going strong with laminated fabric. This time I made a table topper for my island.

I used a 50% off coupon at JoAnn's for iron-on laminate and bought 10 yards of it.

Picked up a few pieces of cotton to make Cutiepatootie some "clothes like Fancy Nancy".

Go check out Made to see her tutorial on making a faux chenille blanket. So crafty. You know I'll be working on that soon, along with my oilcloth projects, Fancy Nancy clothes, a few tops for me, some more flag buntings, and of course my knitting. No sweat.

BTW, just found out I have a torn miniscus. A sports injury of all things. Keeping in shape can be dangerous, hehehe Bursitis there too. I'm suppose to be taking it easy, but I'M ON VACATION, DAMN IT! The doctor said remember RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Easy for him to say.

2011-07-08T18:41:00.002-04:00

I have a new obsession: oilcloth! This is chalk cloth, fun to draw on and then wipe clean. There are so many good ideas on Oil Cloth Addict. The black vinyl was a red tag item at $6 then 50% off. A great deal at $3 a yard.

I'm working on fabric baskets/boxes/trays. A little droopy even with iron-on stiffener. I'm going to try spray starch.