Been Awhile

 Due to life, I haven't been doing much in the way of quilting, but am doing cross stitching. I'll try to upload some of that stuff later. Getting sewing room ready again to start quilting/sewing projects next week.  My goal is to get back in the habit of sewing at least an hour a day.  I'm not sure what to do about photos yet as my last place folded up and my current place I need to close up. $5/month for not much data space. So, I'm trying Google Photos and will see how that goes!

My first plan is to get started on small wallhangings for my sister. I'll post those as I get the tops done. She machine embroidered the center sections.

Not my photos, but my inspiration for quilts that will bust some of my stash. I bought the pattern for the first (I could figure it out but it was unique arrangement and I like to benefit designers).  The second is a triple Irish Chain. I've made one like this before that just used florals. What's different is that the center blocks are much bigger and the chains thicker. Assembly might be a little different so I have to study it a bit.

This quilt is an old BOM that I bought that I wanted to start.  This is not my photo but the one that inspired me to buy the BOM.  My colors are similar to the original which is more spring like yellows and greens.  Plan to start cutting pieces out on Monday for the center section.

Fixing fixing fixing

 Well folks, I found out today that Picturetrail.com shut down in January taking a bunch of my photos with them.  It's going to take me a few days to get over that.  Lost all my links to the patterns used for some of the quilts, my kitten baby pictures notes, and mostly just the organization of photos. So, unhappy, but I will get past it. I also noticed some of my recipes ended up here instead of food blog. I will have to copy those over.

I took a 6 month break on hobbies - variety of reasons but I lost the impetus on my quilting when my sewing room just got too cold.  This winter, I will use a heater by my feet for just when I'm in there.  I had to stop cross stitching in October due to tennis elbow. Better now.  Definitely have to get back to knitting socks!

Hobbit Seed Cake

I wanted a Hobbit based treat for the Dewey's 24 hour Readathon.  This is very likely what J R R Tolkein grew up eating.  I had to substitute poppy seeds for the caraway as my brother has trouble with caraway. Original recipe said to bake for 1 hour - cake is too dry.  50 minutes would work better.  Otherwise, this is a light scone in texture.

Recipe is taken from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1861 and I give credit to this link for posting it. http://www.innatthecrossroads.com/seedcake-the-hobbit/

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. of butter (2 sticks)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground mace
•  1 Tbs seeds (caraway is traditional, but I like poppy seeds)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 2 cups flour

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the spices and seeds, followed by the eggs and brandy, beating to combine. Gradually add the flour, stirring until everything is mixed together completely. Pour this thick batter into a tin lined with buttered paper, and bake it at 350F for 50 minutes.

No pan size indicated, but other suggest 8-9 inch pan.  I used an 8 in square with parchment paper.

Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon

 Well, it's been some time since I posted.  This is primarily due to limited computer access. I've been using just a laptop and my vision problems require me to literally have it on my chest while in a recliner or I can't read it!  Have a big screen for my desktop and hopefully will get that up and running very soon.

Tomorrow at 7 a.m. (CST) starts the semi-annual Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon.  Reading as much as you can in a 24 hour period.  I'll alternate between ereader and audiobook.  Looking forward to it.

Had my 2nd Moderna shot the other day.  Slight fever and headache this afternoon, but other than pain in injection site, I'm doing fine now. 

Fabric Frolic and stuff

Finally, I'm back to sewing, stitching and needlestuff!   I have to find new storage for photos.  I have google storage for updating my computer, so gotta figure out how to do the photos and link them.  Photobucket is charging too much compared to other places.
I have a new sewing space. It is small, it is not yet done. Lighting is my primary problem at the moment.  I actually had a choice of moving myself into this room and turning my bedroom back into the sewing room that it once was.  However, my cats all have arthritis now and that is the window that faces the bird feeders.  They jump up on bench to the bed and can either lay on the bed and watch the birds or jump into the deep window space to watch up closer. I couldn't take that away from them.

Partly due to loss of family, I plan to reassess my fabric hoard in the Spring. I only have so much space for quilts and only a few family members who need quilts.   I'm not keen on using my fabric primarily for charity projects - I just can't afford it as I would have to buy additional fabrics to make stuff.   Yet, what do I do with finished pieces? So I do plan to use some of the fabric for curtains in the bedrooms, and perhaps selling some of it and using the cash for other purposes.

I'm doing Bonnie Hunter's (quiltville.com) current mystery quilt called Frolic.  I'm on part 3 and part 7 was released on Friday.  So, it's a catch up game.  She's asked that we not reveal the mystery for awhile, so I won't be uploading any photos until at least February. :) Cool fabrics though!

Knitting - for this year, I am mostly just knitting socks.  Due to vision loss, I no longer buy any knitting patterns.  I can still knit - but complicated or lacy things are too hard - If I drop a stitch, I can't easily pick it up to fix it. My current goal of weight loss, if met by next Fall, will enable me to justify buying yarn to knit up a new sweater.  Now that the house is not kept as warm due to moving my disabled brother upstairs, I'm much more comfortable, but still need a sweater when the temp is hanging around 30F as the furnace doesn't run as much.

Cross-stitch - I discovered, despite the vision loss, that I can cross-stitch again now that vision has stabilized.  I can't stitch 32 ct fabric (although I plan to finish one ornament using a magnifying glass) any longer.  Some 28 ct works well, others do not.  There are lot more projects I can do with Aida.  Finished one easy project and almost done with a second. Then I plan to focus on the many SALs I joined and turning my UFOs (Unfinished Objects) into WIPs (Works in Progress) again.

SALs include Chopping Mall, Harry Potter, Space, and Familiars.  A little behind right now due to having fabric and all of them starting at the same time, but there is a lot of time in between for 3 of them, so I will catch up.  I have to have my feet up in the evening, so I get a lot of stitching in most evenings.

Finally, I am finally on Facebook.  I won't be linking this blog to my account, but I was really amazed how many of my yahoo groups are now on Facebook.  Alas, what used to be groups of 400 where you could easily get to know 20-25 fellow crafters, they are now huge groups of thousands.  So much for interpersonal groups.

I finished something!

I finally completed a project!  Finished this a couple of weeks ago. I made a bunch of these Montessouri Math Mats.  2 different sizes.  They came out nice although I ran into some trouble due to shrinkage of the batting. I preshrunk the batting, but it was ready to shrink some more. Sigh.  Anyway, the teachers really liked these and the kids all wanted to choose these over the older ones, so I guess it went well. I'll be making more in the Spring.  Note: I have NO IDEA how they use these to teach math, but they sure look cute. This was the equivalent of making a queen sized quilt, so lots of work.  Thank goodness for a walking foot!

Math Mats, both sizes.

Each one includes gross grain ribbon for tying for storage.

Sewing is Happening!

Finally sewing again.  I think I am past most health problems that I can do anything about.

For a first project, I'm making Montessori Math Mats for my Aunt's school.  They have more than enough of the beads, but wanted enough mats so that there was 1 mat for 2 kids. They simply can't afford more sets.  My aunt bought the materials and I'm making them.  Pictured is my sandwich which is taped to an old card table awaiting a new cover. Plain black on the bottom, Warm and Natural for the batting.  My sample has the binding coming up from the back, which will then be folded over and sewn down.  I have 3 more backs to cut to complete the pinbasting for the tops I have completed.

This is how you watch birds when you are a feline who is really, really, tired.  This is an afghan I made my Mom some years ago. I don't think she really liked it as it gravitated back to me.  Mom likes her afghans large, despite being a smallish person.  I made her one that she loves, so no problem.  In any case, this is the original Mile-a-Minute pattern. I probably made 6 of these in different colors.  They were a great lunchtime project at work.

The afghan above was made from the pattern below. You can still get it in electronic format over at Annies Attic.  Easy, easy pattern - I recommend it for an experienced beginner. While I found that using a slightly heftier yarn for the center (where there white is) gives the resulting afghan more stability, it isn't absolutely necessary. Great pattern, but I chose to make it wider and longer.