Week 4 : Jan 22 - 28

 Jan 22 - birds on a wire

 Jan 23 - fondue

 Jan 24 - retreat in the redwoods

Jan 25 - reminds me of little bear going to the moon

 Jan 25 - BOM (first block)



Jan 27 - quinoa cake (?) with almond butter


Jan 28 - Hank, checking out the fabrics

Block of the Month w/Katie

So one of the items on Katie's list, #34, is to do a new project with me!! She suggested doing a block of the month quilt.  Together we picked a modern BOM.  Here's the link.

and the first block

 

I was going to use these fabrics but changed my mind...

These are the fabrics I bought to use instead.

And here is my first block.  It's actually a little small .. I guess I need to re-do it.  

 Here's a link to Katie's blog and her first block.

Week 3 : Jan 15 - 21

 

 Jan 15

Jan 16 - fabric for the star quilt

 

Jan 17 - Captain Adorable and Brother

 

 Jan 18 - cousins

 

Jan 19 - new fabric

Jan 20 - work anniversary

Jan 21 - bubbles

Week 2 : Jan 8 - 14

 Jan 8 - new paint

Jan 9 - Holly

Jan 10 - Pepsi display

Jan 11 - foggy morning

Jan 12 - Santa

Jan 13 - lighting

 
Jan 14 - tea and worms

Bread #1 - Honey-Oat Pain De Mie

So, I've made my first bread this year (#30 on the list).  I haven't decided what kinds of breads to make so I went to the King Arthur Flour website to find a recipe.  They have really good biscotti recipes so I figured I could count on them for good bread recipes too, and I was right.  

My first bread, as the title of the post indicates, was a Honey Oat Pain De Mie.  Of course, I had no idea what Pain-De-Mie was, but according to wikipedia, it is a type of sliced, packaged bread.  I think there's a special pan you're supposed to use but I just used a regular bread pan.  It was a little small for the loaf but it tasted great anyway.  The recipe came from here.

The ingredients

• flour - 3 cups
• butter - 4 tablespoons
• salt - 1.5 teaspoons
• honey - 3 tablespoons
• old-fashion oats - 1 cup
• yeast 2 teaspoons
• water - 1  cup

,

I didn't really follow the instructions.  I put the yeast in the warm water, let it start doing its thing, and then added the rest of the ingredients.

This is what it looked like then -- kind of nasty -- but I let that sit for a while and then kneaded it and let it rise and put it in the bread pan and cooked it.

Since it was a little big for the pan it hang over the edges kind of funny, but it tasted really good.

Here's what it looked like this morning ...

It would be a great bread to go with soup or just by itself.  It might even work for sandwiches, if it would last that long.

Week 1 : Jan 1-7

Jan 1 - sleeping in

 Jan 2 - getting ready to be put away until next Christmas

Jan 3 - outlet mall - taking a break

 Jan 4 - TARDIS water

 Jan 5 - the ribbon drawer

Jan 6 - Christmas cards

Jan 7 - still hanging out in boxes...

Sewing Kits

I previously posted pictures of the sewing kits*  in progress and then earlier this week I showed you one finished kit.  Here's the progression...

The fabric.  So very pretty.  

I have some leftovers; not sure what I'll do with those.

 The forms cut with the labels ironed and sewn on.

hard to tell where this was in the process.  I can't see if the pockets were added yet, but definitely not the binding or the strap.

This was my first time making a bias binding and I was terrified so I put off finishing these until December 23rd.  It turned out to be much easier than I thought and I was so mad at myself doing that.

A finished and filled kit! 

Here's what I put inside -- the Altoids tin holds safety and straight pins.

 

and here's what my YD had to say about it.  I think she liked it.

 

This one is for my OD.  I am taking it with me to England to give to her there.

 

This one I gave to one of my DILs.  I don't have a good picture of the fourth one :(.

*pattern, fabric, and labels from Sweetwater.  I just love their stuff / projects / patterns and fabrics.

Christmas Pictures

As I mentioned in my Week 51 post, I had misplaced my camera on Christmas day and my YD just forwarded me her pictures today, so here are some pictures from Christmas.

 

 The boy in the box .. we also had a picture like this last year but I couldn't find it to compare.

 Did you notice, just about everyone (over the age of 21) has a mimosa in hand .. the glasses were a gift that just had to be used.

 no-sew blanket I made for the youngest ..

 and someone else getting in on the box fun!

Merry Christmas!