Friday, April 2, 2021

I’m quilting today. The pattern I’m using is an easy one and one that I’ve used many times. I don’t even have to mark the top as the seam lines pretty much tell me where I need to point my needle. The pattern is from corner to middle, from middle to corner around the block in eight lines until I am back in the starting corner. Sounds easy enough.

It was going well until at one point I lost my focus and had to take out a line of stitching. No problem. Then I sewed again and still didn’t get it right. I know what the issue is. Each of the blocks is made up of four smaller blocks and each of those smaller blocks is positioned differently so corner to middle in one block isn’t necessarily the same in the next three.

After reverse stitching a couple of times I started putting a flower-head pin in the middles and the corners. The heads of the pins for the middles face a different direction than the head of the pins in the corners. So far, so good.

But now that I have a method I think I’ll stop for the day and move on to something else. At the Guild virtual meeting last night I said I was going to take the photos from the Facebook page and put them into our blog. Why I said that I have no idea except they wanted a report and I had nothing. It’s been an easy task to get the pictures off Facebook but it will be another matter entirely getting them onto the blog.

Thursday, April 1, 2021

I did some research on hot cross buns to find out why “hot” and here is some of what I found. This all comes from a Google search so it must all be true!

Hot Cross Buns are inextricably linked to Easter and to Christianity. But in reality, they probably have pre-Christian origins. ‘Cross Buns’ were baked to celebrate Eostre, a Germanic Goddess of Fertility, after which the season of Easter is said to be named.

One theory is that the Hot Cross Bun originates from St Albans, in England, where Brother Thomas Rodcliffe, a 14th-century monk at St Albans Abbey, developed a similar recipe called an ‘Alban Bun’ and distributed the bun to the local poor on Good Friday, starting in 1361.

A traditional hot cross bun is a spiced, yeasted bun. It is traditionally made with raisins or currants and is marked with a cross on top. The spices inside the buns symbolise the spices put on the body of Jesus after he died. The buns are best served hot, hence how they received their name.

In 1592, Queen Elizabeth I decreed that hot cross buns could no longer be sold on any day except for Good Friday, Christmas or for burials. They were simply too special to be eaten any other day.

I’m not sure mine are all that special and I’ll certainly be eating them beyond Good Friday. I had some trouble with this year’s batch. Usually I throw the fruit in along with everything else rather than wait for the beep on the bread maker. This year I was having a cup of coffee and decided to wait for the beep. It seemed like it was a long time coming so I dug out my bread maker book and saw it took 45 minutes to the beep. I waited and waited and after almost an hour I decided the beep wasn’t going to happen so I added the fruit. But by then the bread maker was on a rest and rise cycle so the fruit didn’t get folded in until I did it myself when the dough was done and ready to cut into buns.

They may not be perfect but they are still good; Pat and I both tried them when they were hot. I will like them just as much cold, iced or not. And I have enough fruit for a second batch.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Audrey often says that when she reads my Journal it makes her tired. Well today doing all the things I’m going to write about in my Journal has made me tired.

I started the day very relaxed. I finished up my Neglected Floss stitching for February; March’s instalment isn’t available yet. I thought I would have at least one of my February Ornament’s of the Month to do but I finished them previously and, again, I’m waiting for March to be released. I knew that another of my Peppermint Purple weekly sections would be available today and I got that stitched up.

I had a bit of computer work to take care of so I started on that. The final clue for the Guild Mystery is due out tomorrow so I got everything prepped for its release. Before I finished the secretary from the Hall messaged me to drop some mail off; there was an invoice so while I was at the computer I got everything paid. By then it wasn’t quite lunchtime but I didn’t want to start anything too onerous so I scanned our tax documents so they’ll be ready to send to the accountant. I had another look at Pat’s accounting and got a few questions answered so, with the exception of one document we’re still waiting on, it is ready.

After a late lunch I got started sandwiching. I was half done the first quilt when my spray canister stopped working. I think the nozzle is plugged; I’ve looked online for a few ways to clear it that will hopefully work as the can is still about half full. I finished sandwiching the quilt with pins.

I really, really wanted to get the second quilt sandwiched so I went ahead, knowing it would have to be pin basted and that I was running short on pins. I have it finished but the pins are very scattered and I think as I quilt each block I’ll re-pin the next block with the pins I take out. I’ve never run out of pins before but I know that I have several quilts sandwiched (and pinned) in my bins waiting for that particular project to show up on my UFO Challenge list (which comes out tomorrow).

It’s too late in the day to start making my Hot Cross Buns but I’ll get the potatoes cooked and mashed and get at them first thing in the morning.