domestic

A European Bakery

| terriaw

After finishing a big commissioned sewing project last week, I rewarded myself with a field trip to a European bakery in town.

I haven’t been there in years, so I couldn’t remember what to expect. It doesn’t get great reviews on Yelp, making me a bit skeptical.

However, since I like to do my own thing and form my own opinions, I explored with an open mind. I learned that the owners are originally from Germany, and moved here to the upper midwest in the late 1950s, bringing with them traditional European bakery recipes. Their daughter runs the bakery now, after getting her pastry degree in Germany.

They offer a huge variety of old world baked goods, including bread, cookies, desserts, sweetbreads, candies, truffles and more.

As you can see from my pictures, I was not disappointed!

The smells of freshly baked bread, the sights of all the beautiful confections and glazed frosting!

It was a mouth-watering experience!

I didn’t buy anything I couldn’t make at home, so I bought a French baguette for dinner, two croissants for Saturday morning breakfast, and one of those decadent morning buns for fun. 

Good thing I’ve been working out again regularly.

Art Cards – Week 45 – Domestic Days and First Snow

| terriaw

It’s hard to believe we have only 7 weeks left of this project. It will be fun to continue illustrating as the holiday season and winter approach.

I was lucky to have a day off last week where I could be domestic, so I spent the day cooking, baking, cleaning and doing laundry. It might sound like chores to someone else, but I loved every minute of it!

We had our first snowfall of the season last week. It was so beautiful! The snow started to fall after I got to work, and it ended before my drive home, so I just got to enjoy the beauty of seeing the snowflakes coming down, and seeing the snow covering the grass and trees the next day. It’s all melted for now, but I’m sure there will be more snowy days to come.

Stop by our Flickr group to see the art Michelle and Sandra have been creating. I love how different our styles are, and how clever they are in illustrating their ideas.

Art Cards 2011 – Week 12

| terriaw

Last week, Michelle and I swapped cards to celebrate the first day of Spring.

She received my package so I’m excited to be able to share what I made for her. I was inspired by a photo she shared recently of a ribbon of daffodils growing across a field. Daffodils are such a cheerful flower, usually the first to bloom in my part of the world. Since I was mailing this little card to Michelle, I really wanted to created a postcard image. I found a piece of paper in my craft stash that had stamps all over it, and I saved one of those air mail stickers from another package I received from her.

I also found inspiration from one of my favorite spring flowers that will be blooming soon, crocuses, along with some lyrics from a Bob Dylan song that I know hold a special place in her heart.

The entire lyrics say “just to dance beneath the diamond sky, with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea, let me forget about today until tomorrow.”

I have to admit I was happy with how these turned out, so I made a duplicate set to have in my own journal.

I also made a couple more cards for the new week.

I have been inspired by all the spring bulbs trying so hard to come back to life here even though our temperatures continue to be cold (30 degrees F). I drew an illustration of the first tulip leaves to come up, cut them out and pasted them on a bright blue background for a 3-dimensional effect. I found a Chinese proverb that was a fitting sentiment to use for my journaling.

More and more birds have been returning to our part of the world, especially the common grackles, who act like bullies of the birdfeeders in our yard. They are fun to watch, but they are noisy and eat everything. I loved illustrating one of them clucking away because of the beautiful irridescent blue and purple and black colors of the feathers.

I haven’t added a journal sentiment to this card yet. I want to add this saying “Birds return every spring like clockwork, but where is the clock” but I’m not sure how to make all that fit on this little card. You know me, I’ll figure it out!

Be sure to stop by our Flickr group to see what Michelle and Sandra have been doing on their fun art cards.

Art Cards 2011 – Week 7

| terriaw

We don’t usually celebrate Valentine’s Day in our house (we prefer to save the celebration for our anniversary), but I ended up picking up  a box of Godiva biscuits for Dave, and he bought me this lovely bouquet of spring flowers. It’s been so refreshing to have flowers in the house this past week!

I can’t believe we are in week 7 already for this art card project. Yippee! That means we are getting closer to spring with each passing day.

I decided to sew a little art card using snippets from my tiny Valentine’s Day stash.

We had some problems with our washing machine earlier in the week, with water spilling out and flooding the unfinished half of our basement with a shallow layer of water. Thank goodness everything of value was stored in plastic bins or on shelves off the floor. We had to throw away a bunch of empty cardboard boxes, and hang a pile of rugs out in the winter elements to dry. After testing the washing machine, we think it’s fixed and still working, so we are relieved to not have to spend $400 on a new one right now.

I pictured those adorable mini clothesline quilts when I illustrated a whimsical art card to reflect Wash Day, using my watercolor pencils and Micron markers. You might not be able to see it in the photo but I also rubbed on some glimmer chalk to add a little extra sparkle.

I find it’s healthier for me to focus on the positive and try use such an experience as a chance to challenge my imagination and illustration skills.

Don’t forget to stop our Flickr group to see what Michelle and Sandra have been doing on their art cards.

Just Call Me Cookie Monster

| terriaw

We already ran out of cookies from our family Cookie Day, so I had to make more.

First, I made these chocolate crinkle cookies, which are mouth-watering. They are exactly the way Nichole described them, crunchy on the outside and like a brownie on the inside.

Next, I made sugar cookies because they are Dave’s favorite. They are my least favorite holiday cookie, so to be totally honest with you, I didn’t feel like doing cut-outs!

Finally, I made a batch of my favorite cookies – gingerbread people. Notice, I took the time to make these into cut-outs – LOL!

There were some characters in the pan, like the one on the left below, whose eye fell out, but luckily he caught it. Must have had too many cocktails at the holiday party. Or the one on the right below with the hairy chest, winking at you!

Then, our neighbors showed up with their annual Christmas box full of layers of the most adorable and beautifully decorated cut-out cookies!

As you can tell, we LOVE cookies in our house. I hope these last a little longer than the previous cookie stash!

List of Gifts To Make

| terriaw

Have you started making gifts yet for the holiday season? I admire you if you started back in July, like I should have! I just recently started making a list of the gifts I want to make. I have gifts completed for just a couple people, but I sure would love to be able to give more handmade gifts this year.

Here’s my list so far, of the projects I want to make for gifts:

-Charm square table runner

–Storage cubes

–Little Forest Quilt (in progress!)

–More bird ornaments

–Advent House ornaments

–Scrappy tree mug mats

–Makeup bags

–Makeup brush roll

-Travel jewelry pouch from the Fall 2010 issue of Stitch magazine

-Travel sewing kit from the Fall 2010 issue of Stitch magazine

I used to tell myself that if I didn’t have to work, I would have time to make all those things I want to make. I’m not working now, but I feel like I have less time than before!

I am taking two classes, which means I’m gone about five hours a day. Then I have homework to do. I try to cook and bake a little more, and clean parts of the house once a week (not just before guests stop by). That just tells me that life is busy, no matter what you are doing.

I put a new list on my sidebar called Quilts I Want To Make. Maybe I will get to those projects next year, as long as I finish the five or so quilt tops I have piled in the closet, waiting to be quilted.

These days, I have started telling myself, “if I had all the time in the world, I would make this!” And then I add it to my list.

A Productive Saturday

| terriaw

I love productive Saturdays. Of course, it helps me stay focused when it’s cloudy and rainy outside.

While Dave raked leaves, I painted a few extras sets of checkers for some new checkerboard sets in my shop. I sold a few sets last year during the holiday season, so I wanted to restock for my upcoming craft show and the gift-giving season.

I like to mix up the king side with crown stamps for some sets and leaf stamps for other sets, which go along with my Patchwork Trails brand.

Then I was feeling motivated to make a batch of pumpkin cookies, the melt-in-your-mouth kind!

EDIT: here is the recipe for the pumpkin cookies, if you’re interested:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 can pumpkin

1 egg

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Vanilla baking chips (as many as you want)

Milk chocolate baking chips (I used minis)

1 container cream cheese frosting

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease baking sheets.

2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin and eggs; beat until smooth.

3. Add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and baking soda. Beat until well blended.

4. Stir in baking chips.

5. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

6. Bake for 12-16 minutes. Cool for one minute on cookie sheet, then remove to cooling racks.

7. Spread frosting on warm cookies.

– – – – –

To keep all that domestic momentum going, we enjoyed chicken pot pie for dinner.

We started with a recipe from the Midwest Living magazine, December issue, which called for puff pastry sheets on the top but we also added a layer of pie crust to the bottom. It was divine!

EDIT: here’s the Pot Pie recipe, if you’re interested:

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

3 cups cooked, diced chicken or turkey

3 cups frozen mixed vegetables

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons herbs (parsley, thyme and/or oregano)

1/2 package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheet (1 sheet), thawed

1 pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Whisk egg and water in small bowl.

3. Heat butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and broth, stirring until mixture thickens. Add chicken and vegetables. Pour into pie crust.

4. Unfold pastry sheet and place over filling. Press pastry to rim to seal. Brush pastry with egg mixture and sprinkle with herbs.

5. Bake for 25 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

– – – – –

I’m off to my sewing room now to play. Hope you had a productive day too!

Autumn Cravings

| terriaw

Ever since I had a scoop of ice cream a few days ago that had pumpkin flavor and ginger snap cookie bits, which tasted exactly like pumpkin pie, I have had serious cravings for Fall flavors. I swear, it was the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted!

This morning, I am enjoying a cup of this Autumn Spice coffee, which has hints of cinnamon, cardamon and cloves. It is SO delicious! Perfect for a cool day. Now I’m off to find a can of pumpkin so I can bake pumpkin cookies. There seems to be a shortage of canned pumpkin around here because we’ve been to two grocery stores so far, and their canned pumpkin shelves were empty!

I am also looking forward to making a couple more hexagon needle books for my gift stash. Now I see why these little buggers are addicting!

Enjoy your Friday, my friends!