Author: jennifer

HOME Needle Book

Quilting and Sewing

I wrote last week about my moody little HOME blocks (created with my HOME quilt block pattern), and how I was craving a small project.  Well, I dove in and made something with them.  No pattern, just cutting and sewing (and learning by trial and error), and now I have a little HOME needle book.

For starters, I have renewed respect for makers who create sewing patterns for bags, books, and pouches.  Their attention to detail is really awesome, and my novice skills are apparent in this little book.  And yet, it makes me smile and I’m happy with it.  I enjoyed making it and am already using it.

One of my goals was to just finish it, so I didn’t look online or visit any stores to find hardware.  I just used what I had on hand.  Obviously this could be a lot fancier.  But I decided to make a little envelope to hold scissors and thread inside the pouch.

Above the envelope I added a flap of felt for holding my needle.  Hot pink ribbon won the color audition for a simple ribbon closure.  Since finishing this, I’ve been playing more with the envelope idea, and have figured out a better way to sew a fabric envelope.  I’m excited to use this new skill for the holidays!  For now, I’m tucking the flap inside to keep everything in place and it seems to work just fine.  Simple.  A HOME needle book for the joy of sewing with colors that make me smile.

On the back I put a piece of the amazing modern floral I first photographed these little 4 inch blocks with.  I have a small piece of it but sort of wish I had yards and yards.

What do you sew when you need a small project to finish quickly?  I enjoyed making my HOME needle book.  What became of my second block?  Well, I made a quilted book cover with it, and it matches the needle book. So fun!

Leave a comment

Cinnamon Focaccia Sourdough Bread

Breads and Rolls

I get to gather with my family this weekend, and I am so excited to spend time with them.  We’re pausing the busy-ness of life to be together and listen to General Conference, and it’s like we have an extra holiday weekend.  I love this time so much, and food is always an important part of gathering a large family!  For almost 18 months now I’ve been baking all our bread.  Baking sourdough is a huge part of that, and the rhythm of this practice has been so good for me.  Today I’m sharing with you my recipe for cinnamon focaccia sourdough bread.

It’s delicious and chewy and my new favorite cinnamon roll style treat.  In fact, I don’t want to make cinnamon rolls anymore after making this!  It’s SO fast and SO simple, and also has much less sugar.  Plus you get the health benefits of sourdough.  Yum.

All you need is a sourdough starter, plus water, flour, salt, butter, sugar and cinnamon.  I also like to mix up a simple glaze using powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to drizzle over the top.  My sister asked me for this recipe last week, and I couldn’t find it until late at night I remembered where I’d written it down.  So now I’m putting it here, where it can always be found!  I hope you’ll enjoy it.  We surely do!

 

Cinnamon focaccia sourdough bread

 

100 g active sourdough starter

440 g water

1 tsp salt

515 g all purpose flour

stick of melted butter (but I cut that in half)

1.5 Tb cinnamon

4 Tb sugar

 

Mix flour and salt in one bowl, then mix water and starter in a second bowl until starter is somewhat dissolved.  Pour into flour mixture.  Mix together.  This is a wet dough.

After about 15 minutes, do one stretch and fold of the dough.  It will be very wet, and that’s fine.  Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rise overnight (or all day).  I typically let mine rise on my kitchen counter, but you will need to decide what to do in your climate/kitchen.

Butter a deep 9 x 9 or similar sized baking pan (I use a deep dish 7 x 11 pan) and pour dough into it. 

Melt butter and mix cinnamon and sugar into it.  Drizzle over dough.  Wash hands and poke holes all through the dough.

Bake at 425 for 30-35 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes and remove loaf from pan.  Top with glaze  (powdered sugar, milk or cream, and vanilla).  

Leave a comment

Moody Little HOME Blocks

Quilting and Sewing

Last week I needed to take a deep breath creatively.  I have SO MANY quilts and other projects I’m working on or planning in my head, and the list is longer than there are hours in the day.  I needed a small project to work on.  Enter my HOME quilt block, a foundation paper pieced quilt block pattern in three different sizes.  I really love all three sizes (my Refuge quilt is made with the largest), but there is just something about the tiny 4 inch block that always calls to me.  So I pulled some fabric, started sewing these small blocks, and now I’m smiling at my moody little HOME blocks.

In fact, It occurred to me that if these were the typical Halloween color scheme, I might like the holiday more.  The pinks and dark blues with a touch of honey are so pretty to me.  It looks like the tiny house is glowing in the dark of night, and I love it.  A few years ago I started a 100 day project using this little 4″ block.  Unfortunately, I didn’t stick with it because they take so long to sew.  Smaller is definitely not always faster!  These cute little blocks take time to piece, but are oh, so worth it!  In fact, I still intend to finish a quilt made entirely of these 4 inch blocks.   I’m ok with a far away finish.  It will be marvelous.

But, back to my moody little HOME blocks.  I’m loving dark backgrounds with bright colors, and I have hopeful plans for these two little blocks.  Honestly, I love this color combination so much that I wish I could just keep making them and turn it into a quilt.  But my goal was a small project, so I’ll see what I can do.

What about you?  What would you make with a little 4″ block?  Any suggestions for what they might become?

Have a great day!

Jennifer

2 comments
1 … 5 6 7 8 9 … 522