Now that Squared is finished (and hanging above our fireplace), it is time to get going on the next project. I am switching from bold, bright, and contemporary to bright, old-fashioned 1930's reproduction fabrics. A few months ago I gave a fellow quilter some fabrics leftover from one of my small wall quilts to help with some color challenges she was having on a project. In exchange she gave me several fat quarters of some 1930's style fabrics. I have to admit that the depression-era quilts are some of my least favorite in style, but it would give me opportunity to make a quilt very different from what I have done in the past.
In tandem with this Bernie and I have been in this battle with each other about what thread she is willing to use. The only one that has worked well comes in small spools and is rather expensive per spool, so I have to either try to guess which color I will need next and buy it on sale, or buy as I need it and pay a premium. There was one last thread brand I had yet to try, and in their recent catalog they had a sampler of 1093's style fabrics that would work really well with what I already had. I ordered the fabric and one spool of their thread to see how it would do. A quick initial trial indicates that Bernie and I will both be happy with this thread. Hurrah! It is extremely reasonable in price and comes in spools of 1200 yards, enough to do at least a couple of quilts. They have great colors, too. Finally!!
Here is a sneak preview of "Starry-eyed Grandma":
A few weeks ago our son and daughter-in-law were up for a visit, and she mentioned that she had found a great scone recipe. I had a rather sad, "poor GF me" response. A couple of weeks later she issued a challenge to me on her blog to come up with a gluten-free scone. Here is the link to her blog with her challenge and my response:
Chocolate Stitches
Of course I accepted the challenge not only for the problem solving aspect, but also for the yarn incentive. :-) In my GF baking, I have come to realize that GF flour works best when I can make it as light as possible. Scones are by their very nature dense, so the question is whether I can reach a happy medium of good taste and texture without the scone settling like a brick in the old tummy. I printed out the recipe she used and will do some research on GF scone recipes. This will be a good opportunity to try out some experiments I have been mulling over, so as my DDIL says: "Game On!"
Last Thursday my gracious husband stopped by the grocery store on the way home from his travels that week because I had forgotten to get enough bananas at the grocery store. When he walked in he not only had bananas, but he also had these:
"For the 4th", he said with a smile and a wink. What a sweet, wonderful hubby I have!
Yesterday started out with the blues when I realized that by re-purposing some of my previous wheat-storing container for my gluten free oats and granola that I had most likely contaminated my food. Yes, I washed them; but they are plastic, and I have had them many years so they are scratched on the inside. Then I looked a little more into trying to be gluten free in a non-GF kitchen, and I became discouraged and overwhelmed.
Some time, research, wrestling with the possibilities, and a helpful conversation with my younger daughter brought things back into perspective. To help make this transition hold more anticipation than frustration, I am going to pursue colorful solutions wherever possible.
First, I found some new measuring cups:
Next I am taking some mixing bowls that I was mostly using for decoration and making them my new GF mixing bowls for now.
I have ordered some new storage containers, that while not colorful, are distinctly different from what I am currently using. I also order a couple of stainless steel muffin tins since that is what I use for GF baking the most. I will get some baking sheets along the way, but since I usually use parchment paper with that baking, I am not quite so concerned about that for the moment. Also on the list are a couple of sauce pans since I have used my current ones for pasta, baking utensils, a couple of colanders (pasta issue again), and leftover containers. I will have plenty of things to put on my Christmas list this year. :-)
Once I have my new storage containers, I hope to rearrange my pantry to help me and my hubby keep things separate. Concerning the actual baking, ideally I would like to keep GF baking on one week and non-GF baking the next, with a thorough scrubbing of the counters in between. The one thing that may be hardest to remember is to scrub the rack in my toaster oven before I toast any of my bread. I am sure there will be other issues to consider along the way, but this will be enough for me to deal with right now.
First I wanted to write out in more detail the flour blend that I am using:
1 pkg. Bob's Red Mill GF sorghum flour (22 oz)
1 pkg. Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free oat flour (24 oz)
1 pkg. Arrowhead Mills Organic soy flour (22 oz)
I combine these flours in a large mixing bowl and mix until thoroughly blended. I then store the flour mix in the freezer and measure it out just as I would regular flour. Since I find the rice flours and various starches difficult to digest, I do not use them in my baking. In my shopping for flours, the three I use were the closest in texture that I could find to wheat flour, and so far are working well for me.
And now, finally, another recipe to share.
Almond-orange Muffins
1 cup GF flour blend
2 Tablespoons almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Combine wet ingredients separately. Stir wet ingredients into the dry mixture, mixing well. Spoon batter into a paper-lined muffin tin, filling each section about 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes or until done. Makes 10-12 muffins.
These muffins came out nice and light, lightly sweet, and with a nice orange flavor. They met the approval of some of my non-GF family members, which is my mark of a successful recipe. Thank you, dear ones, for being my taste-testers.
Finally there is something show after all the assurances that I am working on projects. This quilt was to go in my husband's work office, but a recent realization changed that. He travels some with his work and on returning to his office a couple of weeks ago, he found all the blinds on the windows in his office opened wide. The interior walls are glass, so the co-worker that offices across the hall opened the blinds to get more light in his space. Understandable, but not conducive to having quilts on the walls. The plan now is to take a picture of it, have the photo made into a poster, and hang the quilt here at home.
Here is the how Squared came to be:
First, the fabrics.
Next, the design
Then the swatches.
The blocks are pieced. (I love my design wall!) The two block on point are ones that I changed the colors to match the pattern my husband worked out. Can you see what it is?
The top is complete.
The quilt is done. Ta da!
Quilting details.
To follow up with my previous food thoughts, I am buying milk from what was a local dairy, but has been acquired by a large dairy. It is still run by the same management, so I think it is good for a while. Eggs I am purchasing at our local farmer's market, and my grocery store has started carrying Panorama ground beef. Their cattle never see a feed lot. I hope this trend will continue, and that I will see this kind of product in the other cuts of beef, chicken, and cheese.
When the economy got very shaky, I began to look for ways to be more frugal. Being a single income family with several children, I had always been on the look out for ways to make our dollars stretch, but I have been more relaxed in that regard in recent years. Now my motivation is not just economic, but also the desire to be less wasteful, so I have been looking for ways to reuse and re-purpose. This train of thought led me to find a way to use less sugar. I like sugar and the particular sweetness it gives, and I am not a big fan of other kinds of sweeteners with artificial sweeteners being totally out. Though I don't eat a lot of sugar, I knew it would be helpful health-wise to reduce it where I could. Recently I tried agave nectar, and while it was okay, I still much preferred sugar. Even so, I liked that is has a low glycemic index, so thought I could perhaps use it in combination with sugar. That has worked out very well--about half and half agave and sugar in my tea and in my oatmeal still gives me sugar's flavor.
With so many changes in my diet--no gluten, a lot more veggies and fruit, and less sugar--I will be interested in seeing how this affects my next wellness check. It will still be a while until I am where I want to be in regards to being gluten free, but I am continuing to make progress. The recipes are slow in coming because I want to tweak them, but I need to eat up one batch before making another. Hopefully, once I get them posted, they will be worth the wait.
