Thursday, May 4, 2017

I started baking again today; I’m loving my new mixer. I made a lemon bundt cake (a new recipe) and I was worried when it didn’t come out of the pan easily. I managed to get it out and only lost a tiny bit off of what will be the top. If I were icing it you’d never know but since I want to be able to serve everything on napkins there will be no icing.

Next up were the cookies. I made Mum’s Chocolate Cookies. I made them once before for a Song Circle and we thought they were a little bland. Of course I didn’t remember that until after I had them mixed. The recipe called for walnuts (which we don’t like) but I had some pecans so I added them in. Hopefully the nuts will add a bit more flavour.

While I was waiting on things to bake I looked over the other recipes I wanted to make. When I did my shopping list I thought I had enough corn syrup but today I realized I was making a double batch and I wouldn’t have enough. I debated about using some agave syrup; I checked the equivalency and you would use about 1/4 as much but you’d have to add up to 1/3 of the liquid. That math was just too much so I decided to get some.

I had some packages to get into the mail so when they were wrapped I headed out. Pat wanted me to pick up a prescription at Safeway and, since it didn’t matter where I bought the syrup, I said I’d get it for him. The Post Office visit went fine and then I stopped at Canadian Tire for my clothes pins (and a package of napkins for the Hall). From there is was a quick trip to Safeway and home.

I fully intended to bake another batch of cookies this afternoon but a nap sounded like a better idea! My allergies were acting up this morning and although the pills I took say non-drowsy I’m going to blame the pills and not laziness. I was only down for about ten minutes when I realized I had forgotten to buy the corn syrup. I’ll head out to the Guild meeting a bit early tonight and pick it up on the way.

So what do ideas have to do with this post? I was wondering this morning why on earth I volunteered to do another concession at the end of the month. After the Board meetings when everyone is coming up with ideas of things we could/should do, I feel like I have nothing to contribute. I think if they come up with the ideas the least I can do is some of the work!

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

After I got my reports ready for the Cranberry Hall Board meeting I should have started baking for our Friday night concert. Instead, I worked on my project. I thought it best to get as far ahead as possible while the instructions from yesterday were still fresh in my mind. Everything worked well today; I’ve made some changes to the notes on my pattern and I’m hopeful, should I want to do the project again, I’ll be able to.

I’ll stop at the grocery store after the meeting tonight to pick up the things I need for my baking. This week’s menu includes a Lemon Bundt Cake, Butter Tarts, Rice Krispie Squares and a couple of kinds of cookies. Although the cookie mixes are cheap and easy I found that the cookies dried out very quickly; I’ll go back to Mum’s recipes for my cookies. Since my left-overs this week will be taken to the Song Circle on Sunday I want things to be as fresh as possible.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

I took my sewing problems to the bee today and I’m back on track. Back on track but not before having to take apart pretty much everything I had sewn together in the past couple of days. I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine for the rest of the project; I took lots of notes and photos to go with them.

Although I had lots of ripping out to do before I worried about stitching, the time came to fire up my machine and resew a zipper. Much to my dismay I hadn’t put any thread into my many bags. When I move and put the cover on my SUV I have to take off the thread and lower the thread spools. I had bobbin thread in the machine but none to thread the needle with. Somewhere in my dreams I had taken along a hand stitching project that I thought I might have time for; fortunately there was a suitable colour of thread in that package. I got the zipper restitched and moved on to the next step.

The next step was also one that I had totally missed up when sewing on my own. But I had good instructions now and I knew how things were supposed to go together. It was almost lunchtime when I finished that step, only to realize that my bobbin thread had run out about one inch into the seam! Again, without any of my normal thread with me I used the hand stitching colour to fill a bobbin. That got me through the remainder of the day.

So although there isn’t anything to show for the day, I feel like I’m back on track and can complete this project on my own. Fingers crossed anyway.

Monday, May 1, 2017

There is a reason I don’t make many bags – they usually include a zipper or two or more!

After I finally had my three zippers stitched properly I moved on to the next step which was much easier. But as I finished that step and moved on I realize that there is something seriously wrong with one of the zippers and I think I may have to start the whole **%#! thing over again.