Scrappy Hearts

Help has arrived!

Yesterday I mentioned that I was working on finishing a quilt, my block of the month from three years ago.  I also mentioned that I had misplaced the directions for finishing the quilt. Well guess what I received today in the mail - that's right, the finishing directions!  I couldn't believe it! Thanks so much to Sue from the Village Quilter in Mount Holly!! Now my quilt that looks like this: Will be finished with a border of twinkling stars created from reproduction prints from the 1930's.  The challenge will be to finish the quilt in a timely manner - report cards are looming and I usually get nothing else done for the two weekends it takes to pull them together.

My mother's quilt looks gorgeous! I pinned it up against the railing in my loft and here it is: Well, it's time to move onto the next project. I am still working on Jessie's quilt but I always need more than one project at a time because I get bored and when I make a mistake I get extremely frustrated so I need to look at something different for a change.  I have just a little more work to complete on a table runner, also for my mom which I started about 4 years ago.  I am handquilting this piece so it is taking a little longer but looking good just the same. My mom and I both decorate with blue, white and yellow.  Recently mom has begun to add green into the mix - I won't go there! Green is definitely not one of my favorite colors.  This table runner is large and I have enough fabric to make each of my sisters a springtime runner - perhaps I should get started.  Again, too many projects and too little time. Tomorrow it is FAFSA and tax time, sewing will have to wait for a couple of days.

Taking Time

I have enjoyed taking time away from technology and reconnecting with one of my favorite hobbies, quilting.  Now mind you, I do not "quilt" per se.  I piece together fabric strips into quilt tops which I then drop off to a quilter with a long arm machine.  After she quilts the top together with the batting and the backing, I bind the quilt.  The whole process takes a long time, especially for someone like me who has a myriad of hobbies and a limited amount of time.  I did finish a quilt I have been making for my mom for about 4 years - yeah! (I will take a picture and post later in the week.) I actually started my Sunday by spending an hour sitting in bed hand sewing the binding in place.  I was so happy to finish the Blooming Nine Patch which I began in a class at The Little Shop in Haddonfield. 

I have also spend time working on the quilt I promised Jessie almost two years ago.  I thought it would go together quickly but I failed to realize that if I need to cut 898 2" squares, at some point I need to sew every one of them.  Time consuming.  I am also working on completing a block of the month quilt that I have been working on since 2005 - for which I lost the finishing instructions.  Well, this week I started sewing together the blocks.  I hope that once I put on the first border I can either find the instructions for the finishing or find someone who has their copy.

In addition to spending time sewing and just relaxing, I spent time this weekend working to perfect the boule that I have been trying to make.  Yesterday the bread did not darken as I expected probably because the oven was running about 50 degrees too cool.

The color wasn't bad and the texture of the crust was great.  Inside however, the crumb was a bit dense: Today I think I had the oven temperature a little better managed and while the loaf looked the same:

The crumb was more open, custardy (if that's a word): It tasted delicious with the chili I made yesterday. I am desparately trying to watch the Academy Awards, finish this blog entry, sew and get ready for school this week.  Multi-tasking at its best.  I must focus now - there will be more to write another day.

Sunday Quickly Turns into Monday

I love Sundays - especially yesterday. I wasn't on the computer once - not once.  I was watching my nieces for the weekend and they let me sleep late.  Once I was up, however, things really started moving.  Waffles for breakfast followed by the making of beds, folding of laundry, the packing of bags and then off to the "happy, happy park."

Happy, happy park is no more than the playground at the school in my neighborhood.  One day Emma wanted me to take her to a happy, happy park and since this park was close, well, that explains the name.  After an hour, the four of us headed home for some comfort food.  Grill cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  A little rest was called for.  Thinking Emma would take a short nap we settled down to watch an old Scooby-Doo episode.  That didn't last for long and soon we were itching to get to another park.  The next park we visited was in a development on our way back to my nieces' house.  With turrets and winding staircases it  was the perfect place to end our day.  Again they ran around for over an hour.  Liv was funny. She said, "you can tell the kids who come with their parents because they only stay for 15 minutes.  With your aunt you can stay longer!" 

We had a great time running around and just enjoyed the opportunity to be outside.  We had actually spent about an hour or so at a park on Saturday so I am sure all the girls got their exercise over the course of the two days.  A trip to Friendly's on Saturday night as well as a stop at Bockbuster rounded out the weekend.  As we left Friendly's on Sasturday night, it was snowing. When the girls noticed the snow they figured if they crossed their fingers they could get snowed in at my house.  That would have been a real treat.  I returned my nieces to their parents at dinner time on Sunday and after a quick dinner at home I headed to another baby-sitting job.

I have been watching Louie for about 10 years and I jump at the opportunity to see him.  Now that he is 12, babysitters are not needed all that often.  I got my first introduction to Wii and Louie and I were able to catch up.  He showed me his black belt trophy that stands over 5' and we talked about some of the books he is currently reading.  While he played his Wii I sewed the binding on a quilt for my mom.  All in all it was a great Sunday - made even better because there was no school on Monday.  I love a day off during the week.  I purchased a new shelving unit for the garage and spent the afternoon taking the old metal shelf apart and cleaning a small section of the garage.  The perfect job for today.  I was also able to replace the flapper valve in the toilet downstairs and the interior exhaust fan in my bathroom.  I exercised and made a meal for dinner. My bags are organized for school tomorrow, my lunch is made and I am getting ready to call it a day.  It is not even 11pm.  As I said, I love days off during the week - so much gets accomplished!

In Pursuit of the Perfect Loaf of Bread

In an attempt to simplify and become more grounded in my own life I have tried to spend more time doing the things that actually make me happy.  The hard part is that I enjoy doing so much, it is really hard to keep it simple.  I have been able to spend more time sewing.  My house is less cluttered and cleaner.  I even spent time hand sewing in front of the TV the other evening.  But there are times when I try to do too much.  For example, on Sunday, after cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming the downstairs rooms and doing 3 loads of wash, I decided it was time to make a loaf of bread.  I made the bread dough using a great new cookbook I purchased over the summer, Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day.  The idea is to make a large supply of dough, allow it to rise for 2 hours and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.  When you are ready to bake you spend just 5 minutes a day preparing the bread to bake.  Now of course, after preparing the dough it needs to rise for 40 minutes and then bake for 30 minutes.  But, after approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, you have a loaf of freshly baked bread.

So, on Monday evening, I dutifully prepared my dough so that it had a nice gluten cloak.  I let it rise and then baked it. The smell was intoxicating. I was on a carbohydrate high anticipating the bread. I lost track of the cooking time and took the bread from the oven too soon.  It looked great - crusty and rustic. 

 It did not taste great - for a couple of reasons.  I had used flour that I had stored in the freezer and it was whole wheat bread flour. Not the flour of choice for this type of bread (I thought it was unbleached all purpose flour). I also did not bake the loaf long enough. Note to self: set the timer.  Even with taking the bread out of the oven too soon, it still was not finished until about 6pm, long after I had devoured my dinner.  So I remain in pursuit of the perfect loaf of bread. Tomorrow is another day.

It's Sunday!

What a great Sunday.  I never left the house and what a blessing that was! I was able to bake cookies, make bread dough (which will be baked on Monday), clean and sew.  I set up my sewing machine in my family room in front of the window to take advantage of the light, but I did not begin to really sew until after the sun set.

I have been busy trying to locate the directions for several quilts that I have in process.  I think that when I did my large purge in the fall I inadvertantly purged the directions.  A fast trip to the quilt shop yesterday yielded at least part of the finishing directions for the block of the month quilt from a few years back. So I spent a little time working on pulling that quilt together. I also completed the back for a quilt top I had finished a couple of months ago. Jessie's quilt also gained a couple of rows, I know she will be pleased to know that I spent time working on it. Although, she will be the first to point out that I promised it to her before she started at FIT in August 2008.

Her quilt is made with the Summer in the City Collection from Urban Chicks which is very appropriate since she moved to NYC to begin FIT at the end of the summer!!  A little time was also spent working on a shabby chic quilt that I bought in kit form at the quilt shop in Ocean City.  Visiting Ocean City 2 weeks ago reminded me about the quilt and I had great fun resurrecting a couple of older projects.  I really enjoy completing the quilt tops, the hard part has always been finishing the hand sewing of the binding on my finished quilts. Just ask my mom, she has been waiting for this quilt for two years. I did spend some time hand sewing, but a queen size quilt takes a great many tiny stitches to actually complete.

This is the back of the quilt and as I sew, I re-fold because it is too big to work with when it is open and I am forever losing my place. All in all it was truly a great day.  I think that weekends should be three days so that I can have 2 Sundays in which to accomplish all of my projects. 

After work tomorrow I have plans to sew with a friend, actually she is just learning to sew. It will be an easy project from Alex Anderson's book for beginning quilters.  We will be working with holiday fabrics so that we have plenty of time to complete the projects before next December.  I hope your Sunday was as pleasant as mine. 

SNOW!!!

I love snow! And this snow is the terrific, gather it in your hands, pack it tight, throw it at your friends, kind of snow.  It has snowed here for most of the day.  It was snowing upon my arrival at school.  It was snowing upon my departure from school.  It was snowing when I arrived in Philadelphia and it was snowing as I left Philadelphia. 

My friend Robin and I ventured into Philly for extended restaurant week where we were treated to a phenomenal meal at Prive on Market Street in Old City.  Jason met us and it was an evening of good food and great conversation.  JJ then traveled by train with us back to Jersey to visit a friend.  I was heading to bed when I realized that I had not captured any of this snow.  And, by the way, it is STILL snowing.  Here are a couple of pictures of my yard - I love the way the snow looks when the camera catches it falling.

Here's hoping we have a delayed opening tomorrow. I'd love to have the opportunity to take some photos and play with the exposures on my camera although I know that I will probably just sleep until the absolute last minute. I confess - I would rather spend the extra time in bed! Here's hoping that the weather is just as terrific in your neck of the woods.

Sunday in the park with Jess!

I think it would make a great play! Well, to be honest Jessica prefers to be called by her given name and really does not like when I call her Jess or my favorite, Jessie.  She was actually named for my great-grandmother whose given name was Jesse.  She told me to make sure I gave my daughter a whole name - she did not like having a nickname her whole life. But I digress.

Back to the original story - we had a great day in Central Park.  Jess does not usually have off on the weekend so when I found out she was off today I just had to plan a visit.  We stopped at a little diner, midtown, for lunch and then headed uptown via subway.  After a detour in Columbus Circle we walked into the park.  It turned into such a beautiful day.  The weather really cooperated. At one point we were shedding outer garments due to the warm temperatures.  Our destination was to be Belvedere Castle but really, the journey was the most fun.  We walked and talked.  It's funny how similar we both really are.  Anyone looking at us must have thought we were strange with all the camera action going on.  Jess and I both love to take pictures of buildings and stonework and we both like to take pictures of each other.  Unfortunately neither one of us likes to get our picture taken.  Here are a few shots of the day:

 

That's my Jessie! As you can see, we had a great day and really enjoyed being together.  Our last stop before parting ways was Chat 'n Chew, one of Jess' favorite restaurants in Union Square.  She is addicted to their Day After Thanksgiving Sandwich, complete with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy.  I will have to share more pictures later in the week as I still have over 100 to upload to my computer.  I really need to figure out what my 52 Sundays album is going to look like - I am loving the whole process of collecting the stories and living in the moment.  I hope your Sunday was just as memorable and that you were able to take a few photos.