For the love of being home. Finished projects and biscotti

Now that the endless rehearsals are over it's back to having fun on my UFO's.

A trip to Maine (6 1/2 hour trip) to see our kids is one great way to get those knitting projects done.

I managed to finish my "Basic Sweater Pattern" by Jacqueline Fee (seamless bottom up sweater) made from Noro Silk Garden yarn. It turned out very well. Interestingly enough, the Spring weather turned a balmy 80 yesterday so it may be a while till I wear it on a regular basis.

The car ride allowed me to start and finish the matching sock to one already made.
Love tying all these projects up. Makes me hungry for more, though.
This is a great sock pattern. No fuss and easy to follow. I discovered this nice yarn shop when upon a visit to Brunswick, Maine, where my children and grandchild live.
The shop is called "The Knitting Experience" and the pattern of the sock is called "Comfort Socks"

Well, for the love of being home and being able to schedule my days activities for once, I knew tea time today was going to need something to go with that tea so I tried this recipe for Biscotti sent to me from my daughter.
Don't laugh. It has Weleda Pomegranate Body Oil in it. (I know~everyone has that in their cupboard..yeah right!) The only reason I do is that my daughter gave it to me. It is fabulous after a bath. It's so pure and natural, you can eat it. Nice to know that there are products out there like that! But getting back to the recipe....
Very yummy.
Simply substitute another oil for the body oil. Click on Recipe title to get the link....

Almond Pomegranate Biscotti

Turkey Track Tote Bag /Unfinished Object - finished!

Today I headed straight to the sewing room. There say a box of two unfinished projects which had to be removed from the cutting table to accommodate costume making for the show.  There sit two projects, an unfinished purse and a wall hanging that only needs to be quilted and binded.

I finished the tote bag. Turkey Track Designs. Neat purse, for sure. The pattern is not for a beginner, though. It can be a bit confusing to follow. Any one with purse making experience will not have a problem.
I would make the handle a little shorter and a little narrower. I added interfacing to the handle for strength. This pattern has lots of possiblities.  I probably will use the ideas in some of my own designs further on down the road. I found this pattern at Joann Fabrics.
Anyhow, it felt good to get back to the sewing room and to say I finished an UFO.

It' Spring.

Walks and springtime discoveries.
Hiking in the woods is great in March. No tall grasses or black flies. Warm sun, sap dripping from the trees.
No school, only the peace and quiet of nature. Sapsuckers, red winged blackbirds, robins, geese.
The world is coming to life.

So this has been what I have been up to.....

Directing a musical.  That's it. No time for anything else. No quilting, no cooking. 15 hour days at school 7 days a week. Three months of intense rehearsing. But now it's done.

The Sound Of Music. I know; pretty saccharin but it was wonderful despite all of it's preconceived notions.

The poor show gets such a bad reputation.  It doesn't help that the movie plays a million times a year on TV. Well we were out to debunk the Julie Andrews myth. (I still love Julie Andrews) But Maria Von Trapp she was not.  Plus the stage production is so different from the movie.

Such amazing people involved and most importantly, a truly wonderful learning experience for all.

The "VonTrapp children" were perfectly cast......

A cast of 50 people.

25 nuns. A beautiful sound. We had some alumni and faculty members join us.

Georg and Maria were perfect. Such voices.

Balancing!

Between directing a musical and life in general.

15 inches of snow over the last 24 hours so I have two snow days in a row. A rare thing indeed. It's given me time to organize specific aspects of the High School Musical I am directing and a moment to slow down as balancing the rehearsals and show demands with classroom teaching has been especially exhausting. The view off the front porch is indeed beautiful. Gratefully, I have a husband who treasures his snowblower and leaves none of that to me. It is heavy wet snow and I hope the kids who are home from school today are out there building snow forts as it is the perfect snow for that!
I'm directing our School Musical, "The Sound Of Music" that will be presented in 2 weeks. I spent yesterday making some of the "curtain costumes" for the Von Trapp children and Maria's apron.

I used a cheery fabric called Bijoux Swirly Buds Lime from Westminster Fabric. It was tricky picking just the right fabric, but I decided to go bright and colorful and I'm pleased with the choice. I ordered my fabric (since I needed 20 yards) from Fabric.com. I love this fabric source. Great sales and selection. It's one of my standard ordering sources. This fabric is wonderful quality. It has a wonderful sheen and feel to it. I can't wait to see it on stage. Also busy making the head dresses for the children in the wedding scene. Thankfully my horticulturist brother supplied me with tons of flower arranging supplies one Christmas so I have everything I need to make 5 of these cute flower head wreaths.

There is more to be done.  Someday I may return to my sewing room to finish some of my 'pre-musical' projects and I cannot wait.

"Tradewinds" quilt made from Bali Pops Hoffman fabrics

"Tradewinds" using Bali Pops from Hoffman fabrics. Again, a nice and easy quick quilt. 

The Christmas gift to my daughter in Maine.  She just sent me a picture so now I get to post!

Recipe for my Winter Day

Ingredients:

-New placemats

-New coffeemaker

-Fresh batch of cookies

These placemats were finished last weekend. I have been spending days simply cutting up all my scrap fabrics into usable pieces and decided to make these Mini Log Cabin Prairie Placemats from the March/April 2005 issue of Fons & Porter Love of Quilting Magazine. These are my 2nd pair of placemats using this pattern. Love it. All leftover scraps. It's really satisfying to not let them go to waste.
These go pretty quickly once you get all the little pieces cut. 

Last week I was visiting a friend and she had a Keurig coffeemaker. She introduced me to the fun of making any flavor of coffee I so chose and within a minute I have a great cup of coffee and if it wasn't the most fun.  I didn't hesitate for one minute. I went online to Green Mountain Coffee and ordered a coffeemaker of my own. Sure it cost more to buy the pods, but there is no guessing. An unbelievable variety of beverage choices. In it's trial so far I've made an amazing cup of tea, a fabulous cup of hot dark chocolate and of course, coffee. The possibilties are endless. I get up very early in the morning to quilt and I can just make one cup of coffee for me and not worry about having coffee sit in the carafe getting overcooked.  Now I bought this for use in school, but I may not be able to have it leave the premises of my home. 

This coffeemaker is 4 stars in my book. Love it!!!!

With all this excitement and sampling teas and coffees I decided to make one of our favorite cookies. Hermits. This recipe has history. Came from my babysitting days when I was probably 13 and was taking care of children of one of the many families I used to babysit for. I asked the mom for the recipe and I've had it ever since. Probably one of the most repeated cookie recipes in my file.

The cookies are usually shaped in a log for the length of the cookie sheet and baked; then cut into bars when cooled, but today I made them as drop cookies.  Warning: The cookies are slightly addictive.

HERMITS

3/4 cup butter (half shortening if desired)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 Tablespoons milk

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. mace

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I simply break them, large chunks are desirable for this cookie)

Mix butter, sugar and eggs thoroughly. Add molasses and milk. Stir in dry ingredients. Stir in raisins and walnuts. On parchment lined baking sheet, shape dough into 2 or 3 long rolls on 2- 3 baking sheets. Shape dough with knife so dough is spread to about 2 inches wide and 1/2" high. Bake at 375 degrees fro 9-10 minutes. The edges will be browned, but the center may appear uncooked, but remove and sprinkle immediately with granulated sugar. Let cool completely on cookie sheet before cutting (Really!) The cookies continue to cook as they stand. When cool, cut into 2" rectangular bars. 

(May make as drop cookies, drop by small spoonfuls and flatten slightly; bake for 8-9 minutes). These cookies will have a very moist interior.