12/13/14

A Loaf of Bread, a Jug of Wine, and a Flimsy

Okay, so the jug of wine will come later. Maybe not the whole jug. Maybe I'll stick with just a glass. The loaf of bread and the flimsy, though. Those are real.

Sugar fiend that I am, one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is the baking and candy-making. I've made White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge, Divinity, and regular Fudge fudge so far this year. Mike and I each had a few pieces of each, and then I sent the rest to work with him. Last night I gave Mike his choice of Cranberry Bread, Cranberry Bliss Bars, or Cinnamon Swirl Bread for my baking project on Saturday. He chose the Cinnamon Swirl Bread, and so I started on that first thing this morning. It has two rises, and so I needed to get it going. After that I worked on my embroidery for a while and then went downstairs to finish the Shoot the Moon quilt.

Yesterday I finished making the final eight stars for the cornerstones. There were 20 of these in all. Each one had to be appliqued and then top-stitched using a tiny stitch and rounding three times. It wasn't difficult, but it was tedious and time-consuming.


I'd been cutting them out, fusing them, and top-stitching as I needed them, and so the project went a lot quicker once all the stars were finished. While the bread was rising, I sewed on the third row of blocks.


I messed with the bread a little more then and got it ready for its second rise. While that was going on, I finished the fourth row of blocks.


It was time for the bread to go into the oven at that point. Once I had that safely installed, I spent some time auditioning border combinations, more cornerstones, more appliques, all kinds of stuff, and I really couldn't come up with a way that I liked to finish this quilt off. Finally, I asked the Resident Engineer to step into the sewing room for a design consult. It seemed to me a fresh pair of eyes was in order. He messed around with it a little bit too. In the end, we both agreed that no borders and finishing it off with a yellow binding was the best way to go.


And may I just say Fine. With. Me. I hate sewing on borders second only to sandwiching quilts for quilting. Those are really the only two things about quilting that I'd almost rather pay someone else to do for me. It ended up a small quilt at 32 x 36 inches, so pretty much a mini. I have no plans for this quilt behind entering it in the fair this year (assuming I can quilt it to my own satisfaction). Here's the fabric I have for the back.


So by then the bread was baked, and it had spent some time cooling, and we could cut into it. I've made this bread several times, but I think today's loaf was the prettiest I've ever made.


Usually I end up with the top not level, or the loaf sort of wonky, or else the cinnamon swirl leaking out the ends of the loaf. Today's loaf was almost perfect. Cut into it, and oh my, my.


It was so moist and delicious. It's especially good toasted with butter, and it's going to be mah-velous for breakfast tomorrow. I used the recipe from America's Test Kitchens. You have to be a member to see their recipes, and so I can't link to it. There are plenty of cinnamon swirl bread recipes online, however. I've also made this one, with good results.

So, aside from that, we hung the Merry and Bright quilt in our family room downstairs. We don't usually decorate the family room beyond hanging Christmas stockings by the fireplace. It's nice to have something new for that room.


And now, I think I'll be lazy. What're you up to today?

28 comments:

OhioLori said...

Oh my Gosh!!! The Quilt is AWESOME!!!! You did such a Grrrrreat job! LOVE IT!!!!

Your bread too...looks so Yummy!! Busy Girl there!!!

kauanoeanuhea said...

I love your moon quilt layout. I started making the blocks and so far only have three done (and just to let you know I started in January! - oh well, there is always 2015).

I also like your merry and bright.....did you tell us where you got that pattern? If not, can I ask....I would like to do one for next year...or at the rate I get projects done it might be 2016. You are a whiz with your sewing and quilting....not to mention your baking. You have got lots of energy!

WoolenSails said...

Love how it looks, all together, the back and the yellows are so stunning together. I used to bake a lot but now that I can't eat them, I cannot stand to smell them if I cooked them;)

Debbie

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Your Hello Moon is adorable!

gpc said...

Too late to be lazy! Your quilt is amazing, even more than I expected it to be. Love it. Your bread looks delicious, I haven't made a swirl bread in years -- I used to work at a place where I took food in, now I tend to eat it all myself which is not good. I miss those baking days. :)

Vicki W said...

I love the moon quilt and you new Christmas tree quilt looks fantastic!

dq said...

The bread looks delicious as does the Christmas Tree quilt.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Excellent use of those inbetween bread times. Congrats on a gorgeous flimsy. Yummo on the bread!

Janarama said...

O.M.G. that bread is making my mouth water. I love warm, homemade bread with butter and a big cold glass of milk. YUM! Mike is sure lucky you like to cook.

Your moon quilt is out of this world fahbulous darlink! :)

Teresa in Music City said...

Love your Shoot for the Moon quilt! It definitely has "Star" power :) I agree it is perfect just as it is, and the backing fabric couldn't be more perfect. I can smell that bread from here - wow it's gorgeous :) We hung Christmas quilts today too - I always love seeing them go up again each year.

Val's Quilting Studio said...

BUt it's the jug of wine that got my attention...LOL!! This moom quilt is so adorable. I really like how you matched the background of the cornerstone blocks with the block background.

SJSM said...

Barbara, another stunning flimsy. You inspired me to download the moon blocks and I even have fabric for it. Yours came out so well.
Our family is in Yosemite getting ready for the Bracebridge Dinner at the Ahwanee tonight. Tuxes and ball gowns. I haven't dressed formally in years. We decided to go for it and meet some long time friends from San Diego at the dinner.

Love reading your blog. No day is complete with out it.

SJSM said...

Barbara, another stunning flimsy. You inspired me to download the moon blocks and I even have fabric for it. Yours came out so well.
Our family is in Yosemite getting ready for the Bracebridge Dinner at the Ahwanee tonight. Tuxes and ball gowns. I haven't dressed formally in years. We decided to go for it and meet some long time friends from San Diego at the dinner.

Love reading your blog. No day is complete with out it.

Wilma Lee said...

I love the quilt! And the bread. I make Dories recipe. It makes the most scrumptious french toast!

Dana Gaffney said...

My bread would have burned if I went back to quilting. I really like the three times around on the star, it adds just the right touch, such a good idea.

Kate said...

Your Shoot the Moon quilt is a beauty!

Claire said...

Love the layout for Shoot for the MOon! I agree with your finishing idea. Isn't it nice when less work is also the best look? And the bread looks beautiful and yummy.

PS blogger isn't letting me use my wordpress ID--the capcha flashes on and off too quickly for me to read and type the numbers/letters. You might want to report it.

Doreen said...

Your quilt is awesome but the "carb-aholic" part of me went right for the bread.....AWESOME!! I understand wonky, sunken, uneven, oozing, etc, etc..................... Note: for some odd reason I'm not able to publish my comment with my WP ID......goes to "edit" and won't publish it. This has happened before, but, of course, it will 'take' my Google ID!!!!!

Barbara said...

Okay, so you're the second one to complain about this. I made a change this morning by "embedding" the comments in order to get rid of the "numerical captcha" device. Apparently that is going to create headaches for you Word Press types. I wonder what the best solution is? Continue with numerical captcha or have you Word Press folks create a Google ID for yourselves. I'm assuming my blog isn't the only one with this dilemma.

Barbara said...

Claire, please see my reply to the comment below yours. Any thoughts?

Lynette said...

Hey, neat! I love the stars in there! Super cool flimsy for "Hello, Moon" My flimsy for this has been stored for many months, waiting for a turn at the free-motion machine. I'm pretty sure I'm going to want to add a border to what I did, anyway. . . a UFO for some other day. ;D

Lynne said...

"Merry and Bright" is happy and Christmas-y and the moon quilt is so cute (I especially love the owl block)! The bread looks delicious.

PS I bet you never expected to hear from me again! I am so far behind with blog reading since I began packing to move house way back in February. I've been reading all my 'must read' blogs from February forward but it's going to take a while to get through yours! I will read but won't comment much. In the meantime, I'm just reading the posts that come out day-to-day!

quiltzyx said...

Tell Mike that I agree with his 'no border' assessment for the moon quilt! I had no idea that it was going to be so small! I figured it was about lap sized.

The cinnamon swirl bread looks perfect - is it gone already?!? Would be at my house!

Motherdragon's Musings said...

The bread looks ever so yummy, mmmm.

The flimsy is cute as.

The Christmas Tree Quilt is lovely.

Did the cat get to taste the bread??

MOMCAT14C said...

I absolutely love the Goodnight Moon quilt! Is the pattern available? I also love your backing fabric and the yellow-and-black dot for the night sky. Do you know who makes them?

And, I'm with you on making quilt sandwiches. I just put together a small table quilt sandwich, and it drove me crazy. No matter how carefully I lay out the backing, by the time I have it all pinned together, I have an assortment of not-so-nice wrinkles on the back!

Linda

Kate said...

Goodnight Moon is looking good. It would make a fun baby quilt.

Hope you managed your class of wine and a bit of bread while you relaxed.

Judy1522 said...

That is a beautiful loaf of cinnamon bread and now I am going to have to make some soon. I think your quilt looks great with just the yellow binding and I love that you added the crystals to your Christmas tree quilt.

Brown Family said...

I agree that the quilt does not need another border. The bread looks yummy.