Little of This, Little of That...

Over time, I have dabbled in a lot of different mediums when it comes to arts and crafts. I've done painting, ceramics, weaving, crocheting, knitting, sewing, drawing... Anything that strikes me, I will try. Since I don't have enough pictures of the process for any of those projects though, I thought I would share a quick glimpse into my past...

Painting on a piggy bank for my nephew

 Pine and Holly door wreath for Winter

Crocheted bonnet for a friend's daughter

 Thread Crocheted Christening Bonnet that I am saving

Lavender Sachet I gave to my mom while she was sick

Baby Booties 

Potpourri holder for my mom 

Thick crocheted blanket for my nephew (first ever)

One of my random drawings I couldn't help but upload 

I always wanted to make a family tree for my future children that would combine my love of history with something beautiful for their wall. Since my sister beat me to it, I started the design for my nephew, but made it easily modifiable for other family trees.

Family Tree Design

Hand drawn then scanned and modified in GIMP

Basket Weaving

HS Ceramics - Study in Sculpture

HS Ceramics - A study in symmetry

One of the mediums I miss the most is ceramics, but with the requirement of a kiln, it is not very feasible right now, either to own one or to work in a studio. While polymer clay isn't anywhere near the real deal, its a reasonable stand in, and every project is not a study in patience. Looking through these, I realized I didn't make one of our other dog yet - new project for the list :)

 Replica of our first dog Buddy that I made for my husband

Prediction of my husband when he's old

Polymer head and limbs, cloth body and clothing

  

Silly Frog

My First Quilt : Layering, Quilting and Binding

The layering, quilting and binding are what I considered (and still do, since I think I cheated) to be the most daunting part of the quilt.

Lay the backing down on a flat surface, making sure it is secure. Next lay the batting over top of it, smoothing everything as you go. Over top of both layers, lay the quilt top down next. Smooth everything out, and trim the backing and batting, with a couple inches of scrap just in case. Quilt the layers together. I decided to knot each corner with embroidery floss of matching colors. The directions suggested sewing an X through each square and a V through the halves. Once all of the layers are secured together, trim the excess of the backing and batting even with the top.

I also sewed line around the outside of the inner border to create a little pop as well as secure the layers a bit more than the knots could.

The instructions for the binding confused me for a while. First you had to sew the strips created from the 18"x42" rectangle together into a single long strip. Once that was done, press the seams open, then fold the entire strip in half and iron again. The instructions only stated "with raw edges aligned, place binding onto the front side of the quilt, pin and sew through all layers, fold binding to backside of quilt and blindstitch with matching thread". Most of my sewing lessons were Jr High Home Ec, watching my mom, or figuring it out myself, so that didn't mean a whole lot at first. After watching some YouTube videos, I finally figured it out.
The video is the one I found on YouTube that finally helped me figure out what I was doing with the binding.

Attach the binding by sewing along the edge to about 1/4" to the corner. Backstitch and remove the project from the machine. Fold the binding 45 degrees in the opposite direction you are about to turn, then fold it back.

Place the binding back under the foot and begin sewing along the new edge. once finished, fold the binding back over the seam and fold around the back.

Make sure the corners are nicely mitered on the back and sew the binding to the back. making them invisible is preferred.

My impatience may have gotten the better of me though... I didn't realize until I was done attaching the binding to the front that the instructions all wanted me to handstitch the binding to the back, to hide the stitches. I tried it for about an hour, and barely finished the top. I decided that the binding would look just fine if I sewed it with a border to the machine. I like the extra design it gave my quilt.

All in all, I learned the basics of quilting. I also realized I need to sew straighter lines, as mine pretty much suck. The seam ripper is definitely your friend while sewing. I want to learn to quilt so that I can turn my mom's old t-shirts into 3 quilts for my sisters and me. I think now I am not near as afraid to start working on them, at least first on my own quilt so that my sisters' quilts will be even better.

Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice Mix and Toffee

About a week ago, one of my friends - currently living in England - shared this on Facebook:

For future reference boiling a can of condensed milk for 2.5 hours does indeed make toffee!!!

I was more than intrigued, but had to ask, dump it out, or the whole can? She confirmed the whole can, covered in water.

So, there is currently a can of condensed milk beginning to boil on my stove.  I figure that I need to make something with it, and I still have a stock pile of pumpkin flavored goodies from the fall. Because of the versatility, I think the Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix, or any of the dry mixes, are good to have on hand. I glanced through bettycrocker.com for some ideas but didn't find anything in entirety. I did like the idea of a pumpkin spice bar. It had oats in it as well. I think I am going to go off of that and mix up my own Pumpkin Spice and Toffee Cookie Bars. Hopefully it will go well with the Pork chops marinating in a mixture of soy sauce, honey, garlic and pearl onions still waiting to go in the stove.



Honey Garlic Pork with Pearl Onions
(modified from recipe on Recipes.SparkPeople.com)
2 pork chops
1/2 c honey
1/4 c lite soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, some minced
1 jar pearl onions and liquid

1. Marinate the pork chops in the honey, lite soy sauce and garlic for a couple hours
2. add the onions and liquid about 30 mins before cooking
3. dump everything into a pan, cook at 375 for 35mins

Pumpkin Spice and Toffee Cookie Bars
1 bag Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice cookie mix
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2 large eggs
1 stick of butter
8 tbsp water
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Place the entire can (remove the paper) of condensed milk into a pan, cover it with water and boil for 2 1/2 hours.

grease 5x11 pan (larger if you want to make them thinner)

combine cookie mix, cocoa powder and old fashioned oats

 add eggs, butter and water, stir until everything is combined

bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes

allow to cool

top with the toffee once it is finished

EDIT: The cake was a bit dry but tasty, so next time I will add more moisture to it. I always should have added more when I use oats. Eventually I will learn.

As for the pork chops, I will cut back on the soy sauce, or replace it completely next time. The taste was interesting but I don't like a strong soy sauce taste.