GLORIOUS CREATIONS: August 2013

Edited with an epilogue, a week later September first, when I returned home.

I haven't been to visit the Grandchildren since the last of December. They have been unable to visit me with their school schedules and with the summer camp schedules. One of the things they look forward to is Shabbat with the baking of the Challah and the resulting Cinnamon rolls.

The following are my usual renditions of Challah and Cinnamon rolls:

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2011/05/challah-made-easy.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2011/05/cinnamon-rolls-from-challah.html

I arrived at the Grands on Thursday afternoon and the first question from my grandson was, "Tomorrow is Friday, "Are you going to make Cinnamon rolls?" I answered, "If we have the ingredients to make Challah for Shabbat." I was told everything was in stock.

Friday morning, I was told the kids only had a half day school could I wait to bake till they got home. I said sure, it would on take 4 -5 hours time to finish the bread. Things began to happen and it turned out they had to do stuff for school after school was out, so I was on my own.

I was very lucky that was the case. I can truly say I have never had a failure before. I've had batches that weren't as tender and soft, but not failures. In fact, no one thought anything was wrong with the bread, but to me they were mediocre loaves.

Friday was humid, the whole month had been humid, I started the bread. I mixed the wet ingredients first and then started adding my dry ingredients. Normally the most flour I have ever had to add is under ten cups. I lost count at ten. I was using All Purpose Flour, because that was what was available. That was not the problem. All purpose flour does not result in a horribly dense loaf. Too much of any type flour does that.

The dough I was working with kept staying like it was a brioche dough. It took forever till I could knead it properly and then it wanted to go back to the brioche consistency. I set it aside to rise, the first thing I noticed it didn't rise very fast. It was like it was a cold day in a house heated with a wood stove.

When I panned it, it still didn't rise quickly on this second rising and when it was put in the oven it seemed to not stay even at the height it was. Turning out the finished loaves was so disappointing. Their color wasn't even golden. It was sort of a muddied brown. At Shabbat dinner the bread when pulled apart, didn't pull apart. It was so dense it kind of broke up.

The comments at the table were, "Baba, this isn't the same recipe you usually use." There was plenty of left overs. The birds enjoyed the crumbs tremendously.

The cinnamon rolls, they had a saving grace, They can be dunked into a hot liquid of your choice. I guarantee they soaked up lots.

What caused the catastrophe? I can blame it on the weather, or the all purpose flour, or maybe the yeast was old, or was it the salted butter I used; she isn't kosher. What ever the cause it sure put a cloud over dinner.

Shabbat is over and before I leave Tampa I am going to have to make another batch of bread with Cinnamon rolls for the Grands. Maybe this time it will be edible.

(Thursday before I left Tampa, I made them Challah for their Shabbat the next day. I purchased new bread flour, new yeast, butter with no salt, used bottled water. I left nothing to chance. The weather alas was just as humid. The saying is, "You can't do anything about the weather". I couldn't but decided it was worth the try.

Worth the try it was. The bread and rolls turned out spectacular. My grands were thrilled with the cinnamon rolls for supper and said they couldn't wait till the next night for Shabbat so they could have the Challah.

I am home now and working on the first clue for the Mystery for my Guild.
I am Chairman of my quilt guild's mystery quilt this year. The instructions for the beginning of the mystery are on this blog. It is the introduction, about choosing your fabrics:

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-mystery-in-making.html

"A MYSTERY IN THE MAKING"

A mystery quilt designed with the novice in mind

First Clue to be presented October 16.

Other blog sites by me:

http://glosgarden.blogspot.com/

Where I have stories of my cats and other pets

a blog about my courtship with my husband,

and a blog about my most embarrassing moment.

A "Soap box" blog where I do air my opinions.

http://organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/

blogs about the wildflowers on our farm

Organic methods we use, some cooking and some poetry,

blogs about Seed sprouting, insects, and garden pictures

Blog about an endangered beneficial beetle

New Blog:

http://organicinstlouis.blogspot.com/2013/08/blackberries-kitchen-aid.html

All recipes, pictures, and writings are my own.

I give credit for items which belong to other people in my blogs .

Please do not copy without permission

"THROUGH THE ALPHABET"

A twenty-six month Journey

Dorothy Young, owner, of the yahoo group "A Pocketful of Mysteries" is presenting her Block of the Month quilt series. It began in January 2013, and will continue for the next two years.

"HAYES CORNER" above

The yahoo site for this trip is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apocketfullofmysteries/

It is not too late to join in. This block and the other six are at the beginners level.

So far I have found the construction of the blocks very simple. I do recommend you start with the first block if you are a beginner. There are simple techniques you will pick up on the journey.

The above are the stops on the trip we've made. As you can see I added a new fabric last month (it is also a paisley). In my opinion it doesn't work. I am going to wait till I get more blocks made before I decide to "frog stitch" the blue. If I decide to use the blue in another block it might work. I did pick the two basic paisleys with the idea I would use the mound of paisleys in my stash.

My friend and I are taking this road trip together. This is the block I made for her this month:

I haven't delivered the last two blocks to her. I wish I could see her others with these.

These will go in the mail tomorrow to join their friends.

HINT: When piecing, I normally say to scant or not to scant. In this block I found no where I would scant. On one of my groups one of the daily discussions was, "How perfect is your quarter inch?". I have a Janome 1/4 inch foot. On my machine it is just about perfect. I would recommend you stitch with dark thread on a light piece of fabric and measure your machine's quarter inch (Even a company's foot made for your machine may not be accurate.)

I do recommend you take into the consideration how heavy the fabric is you are stitching. If it is a heavier fabric, when you fold the fabric over after stitching the seam, your fabric will take up more room changing the ending measurement. Your quarter inch will not be a quarter inch anymore.

In the directions for piecing this block Dorothy mentions this bit of info on the block:

Before women in the US could vote, they had political opinions. Sometimes they expressed their opinions through the quilts they made. The Hayes’s Corner block may have been made by supporters of Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes was the 19th President of the US. He is remembered for his dedication to educational and social reform.

The block and it's name holds a different significance for me. I make a journey from St. Louis to Denver several times a year by car. I am one of those people who likes fruit cakes and loves the drive across Kansas. My first thought when I saw the name of the block was about Hays, Kansas. I had a fondness for the local area long before I knew I had an internet friend living on the outskirts of Hay's.

My first trip there, I was exhausted and needed gas. Afterwards I grabbed a Mac Donald's hamburger. My idea was to go through the drive-through and get back on the road. Beside the drive- through there was the nicest tree which stopped the intense heat of the day. I decided to stop under that tree and sleep for an hour. The burger (a double cheese burger) was the best I ever had. I thought maybe it was because I was so tired and hungry. But NO, I have had Mac Donald's across the nation. I've eaten the same burger in Connecticut, Florida, California, Colorado and Missouri. I can truly say it was the best. I wonder if it was the Kansas Beef?

Something else in Hayes, Kansas, there is the nicest quilt store. It is about a mile from the interstate on the main drag. I haven't had the time to stop in the last 8 years, but the last time I was there I have never seen such a wonderful stock of Flannels. There was an enormous wall (maybe 20 FT long) with three rows high of flannels. The name escapes me for now..maybe it's "the quilt cottage". Just googled...boy I love the internet. This is the place. So do yourself a favor, if you are in the area and stop in and fondle. (I have no affiliation with the company, just like to share about vendors who are great.)

http://www.quiltcottageco.com/

Since I began driving west the scenery changed and the car I drove changed. I began driving a Maxima which took me 4 fill ups to traverse the country and always put me for a fill up at hays, which is about half way for me. On my last trip in the maxima at my stop at hays I could no longer sit under the tree with lunch. The tree had been removed to make more parking places and improve the drive through. My stops at hays became more infrequent because We inherited my son's brand new CTS while he was deployed with the Navy to Japan. The CTS will make the trip in less than 3 fill ups. It seems to literally drive itself. If I had to recommend a car product which is American made I would recommend Cadillac. (Our DD also had an Escalade for years). Our Son re-took owner ship of his car a year ago and drove it out to Denver to say hello to his grandparents. Then he headed over the mountains to San Diego where he is deployed with the Pacific Fleet protecting our freedoms.

Now I am making the trip in a 12 yr. old Buick. She does super, and makes the trip in 3 fill-ups. She enables me to fill her up with a sewing machine and everything I need for down times while visiting for a week.

The last three years, the landscape on my trip across Kansas is changing. It started with just a few, located on the prairies. This last trip, a month ago, there were thousands. On the news, people are saying they are polluting the look of the prairie. All I can say they are breath taking. It is an awesome sight when you come over the first rise and see your first wind farm. Then you see them lazily going round and think of all the electricity they are producing, saving the air from the pollution of power plants.

The most incongruous site I have seen was an old working wind mill in the shadow of the gigantic new one. Brought a smile to my face. Kansas holds so many hidden sites you can see if you look. On One trip I didn't stop to take a picture. I came over a rise and there spread out for miles were fields of sunflowers, all in bloom. The blossoms were all facing me. I thought, I am in a hurry I don't have the time, It will be here another time. I have never seen it since.

Last, but not least in this travelogue, If you ever make the I70 drive, take a gander at about mile marker 200-201..maybe 202. when you are traveling west, it will be on your right. There is a wonderful perfectly square two story stone house in the middle of the field. The windows are boarded up but it is still standing strong and wishing it had occupants before its barn and out building turn to Kansas dust. Can you tell, I wouldn't mind setting up housekeeping there. It's only draw back is lack of vegetation of the tree variety.

This journey with blocks is taking me on journeys through the corridors of my mind.

While you're on a quilting journey of any kind, please think about possibly reducing your stash and making a quilt top to send to the "Quilt of Valor" group in your area .

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/05/quilt-of-valor.html

Join us in this 2 year journey. There are several hundred friends taking the trip.

The following, are blogs written each month on my journey through the alphabet.

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2014/04/block-of-month-p-is-for-pennsylvania.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2014/02/block-of-month-n-is-for-new-york-star.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2014/01/block-of-month-m-is-for-monkey-wrench.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2014/01/block-of-month-l-is-for-lady-of-lake.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/11/block-of-month-k-is-for-kansas-star.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/10/block-of-month-j-is-for-jacobs-ladder.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/09/block-of-month-i-is-for-independence.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/08/block-of-month-h-is-for-hayes-corner.html

http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/07/block-of-month-g-is-for-glory-boxes.html
http://gloriouscreations.blogspot.com/2013/06/block-of-month-f-is-for-friday.html