A week (or two) in pictures

 It feels to me as if I made my last post just a week or so ago, but looking at the timestamp I see that it's been two weeks already! My, oh my!

A lot of progress on current projects. I dipped another batch of chocolates and they came out even better than last month's batch. It's boosting my confidence and I'm starting to feel like I have a bit of control in the matter.

Next on the agenda are some jellied centers, oh I love those. And chocolate covered cherries. I made the cherries many years ago when I was still living in Brooklyn and they were very good.

Upon further reading I found out that dipped chocolates won't be shiny, and if shiny chocolates are the goal, one must use molds.

We had a power outage early last week. Three hours without electric. I had muffins in the oven and they'd been baking for 20 minutes; they need 25 to 30 minutes. I left them in the oven thinking I'd turn it on when the power came back, hoping that it would be a short lived outage. When the power was restored, three hours later, I opened the oven expecting to find half-baked muffins but wouldn't you know! The residual heat in the oven was enough to bake them. A happy surprise. They weren't browned much on top, but they were fully baked. Hurray!

Just this week I realized that my recipe for pancakes and the one for muffins have the same ingredient list except that the pancakes take melted butter and the muffins take vegetable oil! Who knew? Flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, egg, milk, and butter (pancakes) or oil (muffins). The proportions are different, of course.

There is nothing like taking the time to stop and do a bit of slow living. Fifteen minutes hanging laundry out to dry is a really nice way to pause the day, immerse oneself in the natural way of things and get pleasure from taking in the sight of grass waiting to sprout, trees lining the forest, water puddling in ground depressions while listening to the breeze and the birds. I used the downstairs dryer during the winter months but I'm glad to be hanging my laundry outside again. Feels wholesome to do so.

Our local supermarket often has a rack of fresh cut flowers reduced in price for quick sale. They are not top shape, having sat in the store for a little too long, but they are quite salvageable and can bring beautiful color into to the house for a few bucks. So I picked up a dozen multi-colored roses for $3 a week or so ago, intending to harvest the petals for decor. The blossoms lasted 4 or 5 days, not bad for such a low price.

I've stopped using the wood stove. Day temps in the 50s (almost 60 some days), night times in the 30s (tonight is supposed to dip to 26 or some such thing). So too warm for a wood fire during the day (simply won't draft when it's that warm) and I'm under the covers at night. I do use my little space heater at the desk at this time of year just to get the chill out. I was contemplating lighting the stove this evening seeing how the 20s isn't especially warm, but I think I'll let it go and see how things are in the morning. If it's too cold, next time I'll do something different.

Another block for the quilt is done. This one was complex and took almost 2 weeks, a challenge. I'm pretty happy with it though, considering I was really unsure about the colors I chose. Turned out nice.

The next block, however, has taken only 3 days so far and I'm almost done with it. Just a few more petals to sew on, and one leaf. I really like this one a lot.

In other news, daffodils and tulips are growing. Tete-a-tete daffodils are just blossoming. I sowed some spinach, arugula, and swiss chard over the weekend, hoping to take advantage of the cool temperatures ... as long as they sprout.

The bears have awakened from their slumber. I went out to the entry way one morning last week to find the back door open (it was ajar from the frost heaving) and the bag of birdseed gone, along with a couple bags of garbage which were strewn up the field. I also heard him/her the other night when I went out to get the bird feeders. Could hear and feel the ground rumble under the weight of it's running.

This picture is from a few years back...

Scarf: Done! ... and new spindles

 

Someone who did not know would have a hard time imagining that less than a week ago we were in the middle of a nor'easter blizzard that left over 12" of snow. The temps have been in the daytime 40s since then and it was really warm and sunny today; over 60 F. A whole lot of the blizzard has disappeared already and I even noticed a crocus in bloom (the above picture was taken a few years ago). I had the front door open today for the first time since winter began. Feels so nice. My sump pump in the basement has been very very busy. 

The scarf had it's finishing touches put on this week and got a good soak in no-rinse soapy water. I spun up some yarn with high twist for the fringe since it will get more wear and tear. Off to storage until next winter.

A surprise find at one of the local thrift shops last week. Two supported spindles and what I believe to be some sort of niddy-noddy for winding yarn. The spindles are quite long--longer than the typical--but not as long as a Navajo supported spindle. The whirl is clay. Rather primitive. I'm trying to find out more about them. The NH Sheep and Wool Festival is about a month away; that will be my opportunity to ask around. Experiments under way.

One more block for the quilt:

And another one started:

A YouTube recommendation. I've been following Georgie Newbery since last summer. She's a flower farmer and florist; a wonderfully outgoing personality. If you love flowers, growing flowers and arranging flowers, you'll find lots to love on her channel.

Making chocolates

 

There is again a lot of visible bare ground in the yard, much of the 18" that fell last week has melted. That's a lot of snow to melt in one week, but it's been in the 40s quite a lot. However, it looks like we're in for another repeat: A major snow storm is predicted for Wednesday. My goodness.

Finished the latest block for the quilt. A lot of pieces went in to this one. Well worth it.

Planning for the next ...

I made chocolates for Easter. I have a fascination with the techniques and ingredients (yum!) of chocolate making, so I give it a whirl now and then. Finally, I have come close to success. The chocolates I made late last week are my best yet. The chocolate coating is crisp with some shine at room temperature, and the fillings are delicious. I helps to have good recipes and after many years, I have hit upon recipes for fondant and caramel that are quite good. I've also read up on tempering chocolate which is a must to achieve quality coatings.

I say 'close' to success because there is a bit of faint streaking in some of the chocolates, although it has not affected the flavor nor the crispness. So I'm very close to my desired result. I'm pretty sure the streaks are from 1) the chocolate getting too hot when I melted it, and 2) the chocolate getting a few degrees too hot after I brought it back up to temperature.

The process of tempering is simple-ish. Melt the chocolate, cool it, bring it back up to dipping temperature. But the temperatures are specific and important. I went too far, I think. One expert I've read says it should take up to an hour to melt the chocolate initially in a pot over hot--but not simmering or boiling water.

I put the chocolate on and decided to do dishes while it melted. When I checked on it, it had all melted and may have gone over the recommended 131 degrees F. I don't know for sure because I didn't check the temperature.

Then the chocolate is removed from the heat and another 1/3 the total amount of chocolate, unmelted, stirred into it vigorously and the stirring continued until the chocolate reaches 80-82 degrees F. Then it goes back on the heat until the temperature reaches 88-89 degrees F. I know for sure that I heated this stage over 88-89 and this may have been the mistake that resulted in some faint streaking. I'll try again this week because I have pounds of centers to dip!

The above method is called the 'seeding' method of tempering chocolate. There is another method but is described as more difficult. I'll master seeding before moving on.

A whole lot of centers. I made raspberry fondant, orange fondant, and caramels. I also had some store bought marzipan in the cupboard that I had purchased for Christmas but didn't use. I shaped and molded the fondants and marzipan with a few cutters and molds, and cut the caramel into squares.

The bottom line: They are delicious! A little bit of streaking doesn't stop me from enjoying these sweet bonbons!

The Cream Center (fondant) recipe I'm using these days:

2 cups sugar
1 cup heaving cream
1 Tblsp light corn syrup
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp flavoring
1 tsp soft butter
coloring

Cook the sugar, cream, corn syrup, and cream of tartar on low-ish heat to melt the sugar. Brush down the sides of the pan with water. Increase the heat and boil until thermometer reaches 238 degrees F (soft ball stage). Transfer to mixer bowl, add butter and beat on low for 1 minute. Increase speed of mixer to medium speed and beat for 6-7 minutes until shine is gone (mine always sets up around 5 minutes--watch carefully). Add flavor and color towards the end.

When it sits out, it may get too hard to work with. I find that placing it in a very low oven for 5 minutes or so softens it up enough to work with.

The Caramel recipe:

I should note that making caramel frightens me. Once the mixture nears the desired temperature it can scorch in an instant! One must be very attentive. I once ruined a pan by scorching and turning the mixture into one solid mass permanently adhered to the pan!

2 cups white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup evaporated milk
1 pint whipping cream
1 cup butter
1.25 tsp vanilla

(No wonder chocolates are so expensive!)

Heat all but the vanilla to melt. Wash down sides of pan. Continue to heat to boil until mixture reaches 250 degrees F. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into parchment lined pan. I find it best to cut the caramel into pieces just after it becomes stiff enough to not lose it's shape.

If you are going to try making these, brace yourself for failure. Possibly more than once. The line between great caramel and one that is ruined by the burnt smell of scorching is thin.

Bonne chance!

Wool applique process - step by step - part 2

 

For all the talk about an early spring, it's not feeling so at the moment. I took this picture early last week after our first new snow of about 2-3". Saturday we had another storm that dropped 18" of new snow. I take solace in knowing the first of April is Monday and if years past are any measure, once the snow starts to melt, it'll be gone over the span of a few weeks. Pretty though, isn't it?

I potted my Hippeastrum (you may know it as Amaryllis) late this year. I bought the bulb in November intending to grow it for the festive season, but it didn't get potted up until February. At any rate, it is in full bloom now and I've never seen one with so many blossoms: 7! It's a spectacle.

I want to share this piece of music, appropriate to the season. Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ. I don't think it's as well known as Handel's Messiah, which was written as an Easter Oratorio, even though it's very popular at Christmas, but it should be. It is sublime.

Here is the continuation of my step-by-step process of wool applique. The quilt I am working on is called "Everything's Blooming" designed by Erica Kaprow.

After the stem lines were transferred to my cotton square, I embroidered them using a bright green pearl cotton in stem stitch. Then I added the top pair of leaves and the first flower. This flower could have been sewn with individual petals, or as I have done, grouped petals. I wanted to see how the grouped petals would look and I like it so the other two flowers will be done the same way.

I like to work on my knee! It sound odd, but the curvature is perfect. I'm sure my previous Alexander Technique teacher would gawk to see me hunched over working this way, but I sit up frequently and stretch. At my desk--if I want to watch a video while sewing--I use an ironing ham. It works pretty well also.

You can see I've pinned two more leaves in place. You'll also notice the pointy points at the base of the leaves have been snipped off because they don't always look great in blanket stitch. In my opinion. The next step is choosing a thread for blanket stitching these leaves. Do I want something contrasting?bright? subdued? matching? Decisions to make. I first turn to my "tangle": A tangle of threads left over from other projects. This tangle is always in use and always being fed new left overs. I thought I was the only person to have a 'tangle' so imagine my surprise when I saw Marion of Marion's World (on YouTube) take out her tangle in her videos. If I don't find some thread in the tangle, I'll use new thread.

I found a color that is close to the wool leaves so it won't stand out too much.

And now we sew. I use blanket stitch for these appliques using two strands of embroidery thread. It's possible to use slip stitches as well. I am right handed and work my stitches around the wool in a clockwise direction. To begin, bring the thread up from below the cotton, right next to the wool piece.

Apologies for the less than clear photos. Here you can see the thread coming up from the left side of the leaf, right at it's edge.

Take the needle down through the wool and cotton just a small stitch in from the edge of the wool (depending how big you want your stitches) and bring the needle back up through the cotton at the edge of the wool and over the hanging thread on the left.

Here is the completed stitch.

Sewing the next stitch:

Continue around the wool piece until the starting point is reached, then take the needle to the back near where the thread was originally brought up and secure it on the back. To secure, I like to take 3 small stitches behind the wool piece.

A word about stitch consistency: Don't sweat it. I've heard of people who draw marks on their fingers to gauge stitch size. I don't do that. Trust your eyes and try to ease into a zen state. You'll be surprised that your hands will almost automatically go to the next stitch without you having to think much about it. Your stitches won't all be perfect and they shouldn't be, this is hand work. Hand stitching reveals a beautiful humanity, something the perfection of a machine can never achieve.

It can be difficult to gauge where the edge of the wool is when you are coming back up through the cotton. This is especially so when taking very small stiches because that requires folding the fabric back a little bit. What I do is place my left thumb (my left hand is holding the fabric) right next to the edge of the wool and make a note of it's placement in relation to the wool piece. Then when the edge of the wool lifts up (as it does when you fold the fabric) and obscures the line where it rests on the cotton, you can use your thumb as a visual reference for where to come up.

Points. If I'm working with a piece of wool that is not prone to raveling, I leave the points alone, generally. But blanket stitch around points can end up getting a little bit wonky, no matter how carefully the stitches are laid down. To solve the problem of the point stitch from slipping around, after I've made the stitch I immediately take the needle down through the cotton over the last stitch and that tacks it down.

Here's the finished square:

Happy Easter!

Wool applique process - step by step

 

The first row of blocks for the new quilt is appliqued. So far so good.

Moving on to the next block, I thought I would go through the steps of how wool applique is done--at least how I do it.

Step 1. Get out the box of wool and pick colors for the new block. This is one of the most fun parts of the project.

Step 2. Trace the pattern pieces onto the dull side of freezer paper (not the waxed side). I use a light table that I found at the thrift store.

Step 3. Cut out the individual pieces, leaving a margin.

Step 4. Place the pieces waxed side down on their respective wool pieces and press them with an iron, without steam, for about 5 seconds. The wax will melt and adhere the patterns to the wool.

Step 5. Cut out each piece following the drawn pattern lines.

Step 6. I like to do a color check at this point just to make sure I haven't created something awful. The placement is rough, this is just to check the overall look. On this block, I've only cut out the pieces for one of the flowers because I'm not sure if I want each petal to be an individual piece, or, as I've done here, group some of the petals together. I think it's going to look better with grouped pieces, but I want to sew one before deciding on the others.

Step 7. Trace the bones of the design onto tracing paper. Only the lines for embroidery and perhaps some other placement points--which I may or may not use. I will definitely use the embroidery lines.

Step 8. Fold the blank square and finger press both vertical and horizontal centers to get the center point. Since I work with oversized blocks, it doesn't have to be exact.

Step 9. Rub the back of the tracing paper with chalk--only the parts I want marked on the fabric at this stage. Blow across the chalked back to remove excess chalk. Then I place the tracing paper, chalked side down on the fabric and trace the lines needed for embroidered stems or other parts that will be worked on at this stage.

Step 10. The chalk lines will not be rigorous enough to withstand much embroidering and/or applique so I go over the lines with a fine point Bohn chalk pen. The square is now ready for embroidery.

In my next post, I'll go over the steps involved in appliqueing the wool pieces on the square.

Needle and thread

 

I think we're having an early spring. The temperatures last week were mild, reaching the mid-50s one day. The stove sat un-stoked 2 or 3 days until evening time.  A lot of snow melted, so much so that great swathes of bare ground were uncovered. Then, last night, we got over 6" of new snow. But we had highs in the 40s today and a great deal has already melted. This week's weather looks similar to last week's, so yeah, I think we're having an early spring. Fine by me.

When so much of the yard lay bare this week, the scope of my spring cleanup became apparent. I will have my work cut out for me, for a good month.

Most of my fiber activity this week centered around needle and thread. I have 3 more blocks completed for my new quilt. They are all roughly sized at the moment and need to be trimmed down to 10.75" square before the final construction happens.

I went upstairs to look for my special block ruler last week and couldn't find it. I know I came across it in the not too distant past; seems like it was in one of the boxes of fabric scraps because I remember my reaction when I saw it there. One possibility is that I left it where it was thinking I'll know where it is when I want it. The other possibility is I moved it to the bin that contains sewing related objects. But I'm not even sure that the box of fabric scraps is where I actually saw it. I checked all my fabric boxes and the sewing bin to no avail.

This happens all too often. I put something "away" for safe keeping but subsequently forget where that place is! It might be that my 'filing' system is faulty. Or it might be that I have so many supplies. Or it might be that I don't have enough space. Or it might be all of the above. At any rate, it's still missing. I've looked everywhere it "should" be and it ain't there.

The three newly finished blocks:

I also had a bit of time with the knitting needles. The scarf is longer. I will need to spin some more in order to finish it. I'm thinking 70" would be a good length. Getting close. I really do love this yarn, it's one of my favorite yarns I've ever spun. With the weather being what it is, this scarf will be for next winter.

I have another YouTube channel recommendation. Marion's channel is absolutely fantastic. She's so delightful and utterly creative. She continually astounds me.