Random...

I had quite a hectic week, but busy is good right now.
Here is an update on my vintage sheet quilt. It is waiting for me to finish it, but will need to be patient one more week.



In a mean time, I am taking photos of birds around the house. There is inspiration for a quilt coming up, but for now I am just playing with camera.



Oh, and a new hair cut...



I am ready for spring...

New bag...

This bag was cooking in my head for a long time, but it wasn't until last week that I was able to sit down and make the idea come to life.



In fact, lots of ideas are cooking here lately and I hope soon I will find enough time to bring them to this world.. :)



Back to the bag - I won Ashley's wonderful giveaway sometime last year and was in love with all those tiny scraps, well I still am. This bag is the first of the many love affairs planned.



Simple and shorter messenger style bag to fit my love of big handbags. The brown is a random purchase from Jo-Ann's clearance sale last year, the inside is polka dot re-purposed bed sheet and batting leftovers from quilts.



Nothing new was purchased for this bag, therefore it fits in my challenge of this year.

Thanks Ashley! I love my new bag..

Some more mindless sewing...

I had another one of those nights last week when I just wanted to sit down and sew. I pulled my bag of small strip scraps and these are what I came up with.



Now, what do I do with them? I had some ideas, but so far they have been coming and going.
Add some solid and do quilt? Tote bags with scrappy appliqué? Apron with scrappy pockets? Pillows?
Who knows...
I might just wait and sleep a little more on this one...

... and maybe they could become a nice houses for a great cause...




check out Bumble Beans Inc to see how to help.

Simple red and white

This is the quilt that has been sitting for about two years. I found all of the red squares already cut in the local thrift store and just couldn't leave them there. Later I found a fabric that inspired me for mixing them with florals. I have made a couple of pillows in this style already.
Here is archive post about this one. I can't believe it took me so long to make this top.



It still needs borders since I ran out of red squares and quilt is too small just like that, but that shouldn't take another two years to finish. Right?

My weekend experiments...

I am so happy to be back here with a good news.
My new batch of yogurt turned out amazing! It's thick and oh so yummyyy!



I have to thank Jennie for suggesting to let it set much longer because that is exactly what I did. I place it on closed heating vent and covered with blankets for most of the day (about 6-7 hours) When I went to check on it later it was still runny, I realized that since I am baking a lot in the kitchen, our heating stopped running, so I moved the yogurt on the top of the stove while the oven was cooling and left. An hour or so later, the yogurt was thick to the point that when I turned the jar sideways, the yogurt stayed in its place.
( Another friend suggested to place it on the top of the fridge towards the back, where it's nice and toasty. )



This morning I had the best yogurt ever.

So how about the bread?
I used the same recipe from Hanna for no-rise bread and made these buns. This time I used only white flour. They turned out great!



For the loaf of bread, I tried my mom's recipe or bread she made when I was little. I have so many memories of this bread baked in our house and me laying my head on the towel covered bread feeling how nice and warm it is.




Mom's bread

1 kg (6 cups) all-purpose flour
1 spoon of salt
3 tsp dry yeast
2 spoons of vinegar
6 dcl (2.5 cups) warm water
1 spoon of sugar
3 medium size boiled potatoes, shredded (I cooked them and used larger cheese shredder)

Add water, yeast and sugar, mix well, let sit for couple of minutes. Add flour, salt, potatoes, vinegar. Knead the dough (it will be light) and let it rise on the warm spot. (about an hour, or until it doubled in size) Spill out from bowl on the flour covered surface and knead some more, roll out a bit and fold, let rise again for about 20 minutes, repeat once more.
Create a oval shaped loaf and place on the flour covered baking sheet.
Bake on 200 C (390 F) for 15 minutes, then on 150 C (300 F) for 45 minutes
I used brush and brushed the loaf several times with water as it was baking, makes nice crust.

- now, I was lazy (I know I wish I didn't do this, but I wanted to be done faster) and only let the dough rise once (just to see if it would work anyway). It turned out OK, but it took much longer to bake. After 45 minutes, I had to raise the temp. on 200 C again and give it another half an hour or so. Also, I remember mom's bread being bigger. I learned my lesson... :(

Sewing Spring...

A whole lot is going on these days, but since I have been kicked by a creative/ sewing muse, I am spending every minute possible at my little sewing corner or in the kitchen.
So what did I do?

( I need to catch up with picture taking.)

- more mindless sewing
- baby quilt almost finished
- quilt top that was planned for a long time
- and another quilt top in progress

It still snows here and even more snow is expected, but I have been longing for spring for some time now. That is how this project started.

Can you find a dog in this picture?



I told you, I was busy...



I have found some new for me inspiring blogs that I would like to share. One of them (and the one I browsed all yesterday and this early morning) is Craftykin I found her through Mary Beth's post.
Hanna inspired me to bake my own bread and make my own yogurt yesterday.



For the bread, I used Hanna's no-rise recipe (look for it on her sidebar). I opted for 4 cups of white flour and 2 cups of whole wheat. Next time, I will try either much less wholewheat flour or none since it made a bread quite heavy.
For the yogurt, I am going to try it again. I know it is supposed to be runny compared to store bought yogurt, but how do I know if mine is too runny or not (reminds me consistency of a banana milk shake). Any thoughts?
Also, I read that sour taste of yogurt depends on how many hours it sits (3.5 hours less sour, 5 hours more sour). I am going to try this again and let it sit less hours to compare the taste.
I can't wait to try both o them again and find ways to make these regulars.

Also,
I have been nominated by my sister for a blog award.



I should pick another five blogs to pass this on. How can I do that? There is way too many gorgeous blogs in my reader.
maybe I can pick some that I was inspired by recently.
1. Craftykin, I don't think this one needs more explanation.
2. Salt and Chocolate, for making me hungry whenever I learn about another yummy recipe she tried.
3. Quilted Simple, for joining me in eliminating buying new fabric, so we can be using what we have
4. Bumble Beans, for inspiring me to play with color.
and
5. Sunflower Quilts, for reminding me that quilting/sewing with friends is much better.