Livin' La Needle Loca

 ...in which I revive my sourdough bread skills. I've been feeding my sourdough starter for several months (years?). I had to put it all away when we did the remodel. I had locate everything and replace a lot of my supplies because they aged out. Yesterday, I started a new loaf and immediately ran into problems. Muscle memory had not yet returned and I measured something incorrectly. I tried adjusting the remaining ingredients and crossed my fingers. Fortunately, I had enough started where I could start another loaf, this time measuring correctly. The recipe that I use instructs you to refrigerate the unbaked loaves for 12-20 hours. I refrigerated the two loaves overnight. This morning I baked them both. So far so good. After they cooled, we cut into them. The incorrect recipe came out a little dense, but it tasted good. The correct recipe turned out great and had a wonderful taste! Yum! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Pearl Orchid (cross stitch)...

 ...blog and run. Dianthus in our backyard: and freshly-baked sourdough rolls

 ...and another finished object (sort of). I finished the top of the Bean Me Up! quilt: Specs: Started 1/31/2021 Top completed 3/1/2021 Pattern: none, winging it Fabrics: Jumping Java panels and fabrics from Clothworks In honor of the sourdough bread class that I took last year (right before COVID impacted our lives), I fed my sourdough starter and made bread dough on Monday. After 24 hours of proofing in the refrigerator, I baked it last night. It turned out beautifully! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Marionberry Shawl [ Ravelry ] Working on the second round of the pattern repeats Pure Comfort Cardigan (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Still working towards the center point of the collar. Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) Finished one diagonal section; starting another Works In Progress: By the Sea needle roll (cross stitch) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting)  Illusion hexagons [ Ravelry ] Ma...

 ...and it's a week before Christmas. We have a little color in the backyard. and the cilantro is going to seed. I'm having trouble staying in the Christmas spirit. I kick-started it a bit by baking a few cookies. That helped, but like everything else this year, not quite the same. I've had to cut back on our decorations because the kittens are getting into everything, so it doesn't look as festive this year. I'm just so ready for this year to be over...

...day number 87 of shelter in place for me. I probably will stay home for a while longer.  With my age and diabetes, it's best for me to stay put. Staying put means that I will continue to explore sourdough baking. This week, I tried a new recipe for sandwich bread, this time with sourdough instead of whole wheat. I toasted two slices as breakfast this morning and it was perfect!  Light and tasty...yum! I finished the Tiny Garden scissor fob. It will join the other items that need finishing work. Specs: Started 5/30/2020 Finished 6/3/2020 Kit from Shepherd’s Bush I've been spending a lot of time doing needlework. As a result, I've been experiencing some eye strain. Today, I'll swap back over to quilting and maybe start a new handspun to give my eyes a rest. .

...it was a baking weekend! In addition to the weekly sourdough loaf, we decided to try a couple of new things. The first thing on the list was whole wheat sandwich bread. The Husband has been having trouble finding the kind of whole wheat bread we usually buy. He bought a different kind that was tasty, with lots of nuts and crunchy things. However, it went moldy very quickly. I hate throwing away food, even if it gets thrown into the food waste bin.  A couple of friends mentioned a recipe from King Arthur, so I decided to try it. A bit of history: the only successful yeast bread that I've been able to make was in a bread machine. Every time I tried to make it by hand, it was a complete fail. This time, it was only a partial fail. The bread did not rise as much as it should have, but it still baked all the way through. It's a dense, but has a very good flavor. I'll try it again and see if I can get it to work better next time. The Husband likes flavorful breads...

...and it's been quite a month. I finished the Scarab handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 3/17/2020 Finished 3/27/2020 Falkland (4.1 oz) from the Yarn Wench 185.4 yds. chain-plied with beads, 10 WPI I started a new weaving project yesterday. I'm calling it Milky Way [ Ravelry ]. It uses the Destination Yarn Space collection minis and yarn that I bought at this year's Stitches West. I also went through my stash and found some complimentary sparkle yarns to use in the warp. I spent some time trying to sew a mask using a pattern from Masks Now and ran into a problem with the instructions. The pattern is for a mask that covers an existing N95 mask.  It took me a while to figure out that there were a couple of steps missing. Now I need to go back and try again to sew the mask. It was frustrating. At least I was making a mask for myself as a way to try out the pattern. I baked another loaf of sourdough bread, this one with olives. It was a...

...I learned something new! On Saturday, I took a sourdough bread class with two friends at a local cooking school/store. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot. The instructor was good and took us through all of the steps of making the dough, the starter, and baking the loaf when it's finished proofing.  He had a couple of loaves ready that he let us taste. I really enjoyed it! We took home dough that need to proof 12-24 hours: I let mine go about 22 hours and let it drop from the basket: I slashed it and put it in a Dutch oven: I baked it according to the recipe. As it turns out, my oven was way too hot at 500 degrees. The bottom burned and the top was too brown. However, the taste and the chew were amazing! I need to try this again, spending more time on the stretch-and-fold portion of the prep and adjusting the oven temperature. Aside from the class, we had a visit from the Husband's brother. It was really good to see him! I worked more on both th...

...I'm trying to get back in the swing of posting and taking photos again. This morning I only had time for a couple of photos. The Princess flower is blooming again in our courtyard: I brought this metal mermaid back from Santa Maria when I visited mom in October. This mermaid used to hand in my late brother's backyard. I asked if I could have it to hang in my yard. Her new home is in my courtyard where i can see her from the living room and from my studio when I'm at my sewing machine. It's nice to have a reminder of my brother in my home. I miss him! Up this weekend: Christmas is number one on the agenda! My plan is to sandwich the Christmas tree skirt and get that assembled. I still haven't quite settled on how I'm going assemble it. I change my mind every time I think about it. At least I know that I want to cut the batting to fit the top and then figure out whether I do the traditional quilt+binding thing or seam it wrong sides together ...

...after the flurry of vacation, getting back to work, and the company party on Saturday, crafting has been low on my list. Our company parties usually have a theme. This year's was Play with Food/Food Play. The intent was that people bring a dish based on something that inspires them. I took my inspiration from Game of Thrones. Dragon Scales Madeleines: Ice... and Fire cupcakes. A co-worker was inspired by the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings she visited in Chicago. This is FLW Stain Glass Shortbread: It was a good party! WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Cozy Red Hat 2 (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 7/20 started and knit about 1.5 inches of ribbing Saratoga Calypso Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 7/23 Cast-on In the Queue Renaissance Mermaid (cross stitch) Works In Progress, Did Not Work On This Week: Finishing work for some old crewel pictures (sewing) Look Through My Window quilt for me (quilting) Shimmering Points Wrap (weaving) [ Ravelry ] Silver Chalice h...

...and it's my day to chill out. I catch up on Christmas movies I didn't get to watch and do a little crafting. I'm a little tired, which is pretty normal after the activity of the last week. Thursday 12/20 I finished decorating the house - the Christmas tree, the Star Trek tree, and my village. I had to replace the light strand that I hang above the stockings - it had died. That meant a quick trip to Rite Aid. While I was out, I swung by the quilt store to get some coordinating fabric for my MIL's quilt. Friday 12/21 I needed 23-24 goodies bags. I settled on a total of 25 - we always seem to need an extra one. I sorted and packed the cookies. I'll have to repack the ones to be mailed, but that will happen after Christmas. Then, I sorted and packed the biscotti. In between, I managed a trip to Target ad Trader Joe's for some stocking stuffers and a couple of things I needed for Saturday. Saturday 12/22 I packed the Amaretto-Cinnam...

...yeah, I know. I missed Monday and Tuesday. I'm scurrying around at work, trying to get things done before I start vacation TOMORROW! A quick report of my baking progress (which seems so long ago now): Saturday: Iced all of the sugar cookies. This includes part 1 of 3 for the snowflakes. Made 12+ cups of Grand Marnier nuts (pecans and walnuts) Made 12+ cups of Amaretto Cinnamon nuts (pecans and walnuts) Sunday: Put chocolate on all of the biscotti. I had a minor fail with the milk chocolate chips I used for the chocolate biscotti. I melted the chocolate in the microwave like I always do, but the milk chocolate seemed to be very sensitive this year. (I did not have a problem with it last year.) It started getting thick, so I stopped heating it and added some shortening to the chocolate and mixed it up. That worked to smooth it out, so I didn't have to discard the batch. Made 2 pounds each of Rocky Road bark, Cranberry-Pistachio bark, and Peppermint bark. I did...

...and the beginning of another weekend in the kitchen. When I left for work this morning, it was very windy and the clouds were moving quickly across the sky. It's supposed to rain today and it sure looked like it! And because my life is centered on baking right now, here's a closer look at two of the new cookies this year: Up this weekend: It's chocolate and icing weekend! I haven't decided which day is which yet, but one day will be devoted to icing the sugar cookies and the other day will be devoted to putting chocolate on the biscotti. In between, I will be making the fudge, chocolate bark, and sugared nuts. It will be a busy (and messy) weekend! .

...in which most of the WIPs are not crafts. My primary WIPs this month are baking and Christmas decorating. While the baking is on track, the decorating is sadly behind. I have hung the front door wreath, and hung up the advent calendars and stockings (and that's only because they were in the same box). Our Christmas tree is still sitting in a bucket outside. The Star Trek tree is still in its box. The Husband and I are both a little Bah Humbug right now. It's been a tough year for us and I'd like to get back some "normal" by getting the house decorated, or at least partially decorated. We've set aside tonight to get the tree inside, which means rearranging the furniture first. From there, we'll bring out the boxes of decorations and get started on making it more Christmas-like. WIPs Roll Call Worked On: Charred Teal Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Started the last color in section 4. When that's finished, the last thing is the picot bind-off. ...

...it was a long weekend in the kitchen, but I finished baking the cookies and biscotti. Saturday Before any baking was done, the Husband and I went to buy our Christmas tree. We normally buy it at Summerwinds Nursery. They usually have a decent selection of trees over 7-feet tall, but not this year. They had very few trees of the size that I wanted and the ones they had looked either skinny or had wonky trunks. I guess the shortage really affected them. We decided to finally break down and buy an artificial tree, something I wanted to avoid for another couple of years. The Husband had to stop at Yamagami's Nursery to check the availability of bare-root trees (to replace our apricot tree). We normally don't look their for our tree, but I decided to check out them out while the Husband did his thing. I found a very nice Douglas fir tree in the size we wanted (7 to 8-feet), so... I guess we'll get the artificial tree next year! After we got home, we put Mr. Tree in a ...

...and rolling into a long baking weekend. I'm completely loving the skies and clouds. 11/30/18: 12/5/18: Today was a co-worker's birthday and she bought her own cake from Whole Foods. This is a Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch cake: Up this weekend:  We hope to get our Christmas tree - I just don't know if it will be Saturday or Sunday. Other than that, the primary focus will be baking. I have the 9 cookie doughs in the refrigerator to bake. There are 3 or 4 other cookies to make as well. The day that we don't buy the Christmas tree will be biscotti day. I need an entire day for that! .

...it's December, so you know my main WIP is baking! I've mentioned before that this is the last year of my cookie baking marathon at Christmas time. Since it's the last one, I thought I'd document some of my process. Who knows...you might want to do your own marathon! While my processes work for me, they might give you an idea of how to modify them for your own use. First up: how I organize my recipes and track what I'm making. Organization is key. When I started in 1986, I used a calendar to identify what I wanted to bake and when.  I started tracking what I was making from the beginning, but I didn't always note how many I actually baked per recipe. The calendar evolved into a spreadsheet when I realized that I was going to devote my month to baking and the only date that mattered was 12/24! And I got a lot better at noting how many I made. I used to bake one cookie per day, mostly because I only had a couple of cookie sheets and I needed to wash t...

...and the weekend report. Friday afternoon, I did ingredient shopping at Smart and Final and at Trader Joes. On Saturday, I hung up the Advent calendars and the stockings. I also did the ingredient shopping at Safeway. I baked the pumpkin breads and fruitcakes. I made room in the freezer and got them all in. Yay! In between baking batches of breads and cake, I managed to get the laundry done. On Sunday, I did a regular grocery run and picked up a couple of things I missed on the previous day. I spent the rest of the day making cookie dough, right up to dinner time! If this wasn't the last year of the cookie marathon, I know which cookies I would cycle out: the Pistachio Spirals, Spumoni Slices,  and the Espresso-Chocolate ribbons are the biggest PITA to make. They all require rolling the dough into certain sizes. The spirals require stacking 2 rectangles of dough and then rolling them up. The ribbons require stacking 3 rectangles of dough in a certain order. The ribbon...

...such as it is. I have not had time to take many photos, but I do have one from our trip to Mom's: a rainbow on the way home: Up this weekend: It's time to cycle over to baking. Today, I will start the ingredient shopping. The goals for Saturday and Sunday is to bake the fruitcakes and pumpkin bread, and prep the cookie dough that much be refrigerated. It doesn't sound like much, but I'll be in the kitchen all weekend! The advent calendars will go up tomorrow and then it's the mad scramble to get the Christmas decorating done at the same time that I'm baking. Yes, it's Cookie Time!! .

...and the Thanksgiving report. The long weekend was pretty busy, so I didn't really have time to post. We woke up Wednesday to rain!! It was so good to smell clean air after 10 days of smokey and hazy days. We went to my Mom's on Wednesday. I baked an apricot cobbler when I got there so I wouldn't have to deal with it on Thanksgiving Day. I helped my sister set the table and helped my mom with whatever she'd let me do. Let me tell you, at 88 she still has a ton of energy! ON Thanksgiving day, we all pitched in to do whatever needed doing. The turkeys (!) were cooked in electric roasters, freeing up the oven for the side dishes. 14 people arrived for dinner. It was yummy and the desserts were fabulous. We all ate too much, but it was all SO good! We came home on Saturday morning. I cooked our turkey and The Daughter joined us for dinner.  I cooked a smaller turkey this year because there were only 3 people. So, fewer leftovers, but that's a good thing! I w...