I just saw a screen shot on someone's Facebook page the other day about how cold this February was. The whole, entire month was in the deep freeze. We usually get a few cold days, followed by a bit of a respite, then back into the deep freeze and the cycle continues. This year has been exceptionally cold. Even for me. I don't tend to complain about the weather since there is nothing you can do about it anyways. It is weather, after all. But, as I write this, I am thankful for the sun streaming into my studio, just not so stoked that it was -35 C again last night. My winter walks have been sporadic, at best this year. Not so good for the mental and physical health, but the days are certainly getting longer and now that it is March 1st, the end is in sight. I think we are all very much ready for Spring.
Speaking of cold, why is it always the coldest day, or night as in this case, of the year that the furnace has to quit, or the septic tank freeze up or the power goes out? The other night, Papa noticed a faint beeping noise at 2:29 in the A of M. He sat up in bed and asked if I heard it too? Off to investigate. The gas fireplace was running. Weird. It is on a thermostat, but the that is set to 60 degrees Fahrenheit as we don't use it often. The house was cool, but not cold. We like our bedroom on the cooler side, so we hadn't noticed the temperature had dropped. When we built our home, we put it in as a back up heat source. This is odd. Off to investigate the heating system.
We have a boiler system that runs glycol, with each section having its own pump. The one for the furnace suddenly quit. -45 C with the wind chill and the furnace decided to take a break. The good news is the fireplace is running, so the house won't freeze up. The better news is the pump for the hot water and the in-floor heat in the basement are both still working. He shut off the pump for the furnace for a few minutes to check on something else. Several minutes later, he flipped the switch to turn it back on. We went back to bed as there really wasn't anything we could do at this point. We'll deal with it in the Real morning. About 5 a.m., I heard the furnace running. Apparently the pump just needed a break in the extreme cold. Papa spoke with a plumber buddy later that day and found out it happens occasionally. Could be anything. We now have a back up replacement pump. Just for good measure. All's well that ends well.
So because of the extreme cold, I have had a wonderful month in the studio. And in the kitchen. There's nothing like a good, old fashioned cold snap to bring out the baker in me.
Last January, in 2018, I started a sourdough starter. Making bread with it has become a bit of a passion for me. I just love the flavor and texture of this loaf. The recipe I am using makes a really soft crust, perfect for Papa, as he prefers a soft crust. This bread keeps well and stays soft where most of the yeast breads I have made over the years need to be used pretty quickly as they tend to dry out. This one freezes beautifully as well, so it is a great product for us as we don't go through it that quickly.
We were planning a family dinner and I thought a rustic, traditional sourdough loaf might be in order. Well, I found the most amazing YouTube video on just this. The channel is "ilovecookingireland". The baker had some great tips that I had no idea about! I made up a couple of loaves and am extremely happy with them. And Papa, who prefers a soft crust, had to admit that this one was pretty fine as well. Win Win.
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| Rustic Sourdough Bread in the oven. It rose up beautifully! |
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| Rustic Sourdough Bread cooling. The crust is actually darker than the picture shows. |
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| Is there anything finer than fresh bread, butter and jam to have with your afternoon tea? |
And the Studio news. I have been busy making kids quilts as of late. I am a little behind on a few, so I have used the cold snap as an excuse to get them done. I love doing kids quilts as they tend to be quick and are always cheery and colorful. I was also thrilled when putting the binding on one of them, that my almost empty bobbin got the job done. How often does this happen? I am usually about 3" too short! Only a quilter would appreciate this. Ha ha ha!
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| Boy's quilt with quilting mimicking the circles in the prints. |
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| Can you believe it!? This was what was left on the bobbin after finishing the binding! |
And the past couple of days have found me snooping through my stash looking for inspiration. I happened upon an Alphabet panel with some coordinating fabrics. Cool! I love embellishing panels with thread play. It really kicks them up a notch.
Several years ago, when I had my shop in town, we had a threaducator come out from Wonderfil Threads for one of our Demo Days to teach those who attended how to embellish with threads. It was a great day and I, among those who attended, really took a lot away from it.
You start with a panel or really any fabric print that you want to decorate, and press it well. Cut an appropriate sized piece of medium weight interfacing to put underneath. Bobbin weight thread in the bobbin, an embroidery needle in your machine - my favorite is Schmetz 90/14 Gold Embroidery, some fun threads in different weights and play with some of those fun stitches on your sewing machine. I have a little Flower that I love to use and a French Knot, as well as a triple stitch. The process is very therapeutic. Very Zen and meditative. And the end result is show stopping. It is one of those processes that you don't want to be in a rush to do. Just enjoy the process and the rhythm of your machine.
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| Thread Play on a Pre-Printed Panel. |
Until next time, have a great day and Sew On & Sew On!
Regards,
Gremlynn
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