cooking, sewing, and "art"

I was at the grocery store the other day picking up a few things, among those items was milk.  I've not been drinking as much as I use to (milk!), so I've dropped down from buying a gallon to a quart.  I've notice before that the pricing is ridiculous.  This time it just irritated me even more that the price of a quart of milk was actually higher than the price of a gallon of the same brand.  I decided the heck with it, and just bought a pint.  Per ounce its even more, but it felt better for some strange psychological reason.  What's wrong with these people?

I also picked up some Bisquick when I was at the store.  Elise had watched Sid the Science Kid, and Sid was pondering the question of why his dad's pancakes are always blackened and crispy, his mother's are gummy in the middle, and his grandma's are perfectly golden and taste delicious.  It got me to thinking that I really need to experiement a bit and see if I can make better pancakes than the usually blackened ones I turn out.   There may be a better batter to use than Bisquick, and if you have a preference please let me know, but that's what I used.   Sorry I have no marvelous pictures, but this morning's experiment just came together at the last minute.

I made half the recipe, got my pan nice and hot, had some butter on it to cook the pancake in, and ladled in a big spoonful.  I expected to see the little bubbles that pop up and tell you its getting done, but none ever showed up.  I finally flipped it, and of course it was blackened a bit.

The next one I reduced my heat a bit, ladeled on another spoonful of batter, and again, no bubbles.  This one did turn out a big gummy though not as blackened.  Progress?  Of a sort I guess.

The next one I kept the heat on the lower temp, and managed to not have it blackened, and while it wasn't gummy inside, wasn't a beautiful golden color.  Still didn't have any bubbles appear.

Finally I thought to add a bit more milk to the batter to thin it.  This time I came closer to having the bubbles, and it browned without scorching, so I was pleased enough.  I made one more and called it done.  I added some maple syrup, and they tasted fine.  Not wonderful, but fine.   On the HGTV cooking forum (I think that's where I saw this) they had talked about the real deal maple syrup being so good.  I bought some on an earlier shopping trip, so used it for the first time with my pancakes, and it was good.  To be fair, I'll have to try it with French toast some morning, something that I already know how to fix.  :)

In other news, Marciel in my Bunco group is having some health issues.  She had made a bit of a start on a t-shirt quilt last year, and it got set to the side.  Long story short, one of the other Bunco girls, Lisa, asked if I'd want to help her finish the quilt top, and get it ready to go to the quilter.  Of course!  So we made a good start last weekend, getting the sashing attached to all the blocks.  So nice when one can cut while the other one sews.  The during the week I sewed the rows together, and it's now ready for the borders.  Lisa will be over one night this week and we'll get that part done.  Here's where we are so far.

And to show that I have a bit of variety in my interests, smile, here's my latest art work.  Along with my helper of course.  The floral is a little fat quarter (fq) that I'm sending to a fellow quilter who's having some medical issues, but  I decided the blank spot on the front of the card needed something.  Wahlah, an art opportunity!

And of course, my helper Elise.

I guess that's it for now.  Have a good week everyone.

this and that

Sometimes I'm almost compelled to hold onto something just because it might come in handy someday.  I'm getting better about letting go of things, but still have my moments.  And this time it paid off.

Last summer I cut off some denim capris that I didn't like the length, and made them shorter.   There was this set, and one darker.

They yelled out "wait a minute, don't toss me in the trash!"   Probably because of the buttons, who knows.

Now that I'm making a few doll clothes, I thought they might work out for some pants for the doll.  The buttons were too big to look right, but by cutting them to use the inner leg seam they worked out fine.  That seam turned into the outer leg seam for the doll.  And they already had a nice hem, so that was less sewing and working with the heavy denim.   Here's a picture using the darker denim, along with another pair I made using the fabric from the shirt I made last week.  I had a scrap of lace trim that worked well with it.

The pink ones are a tad longer, so we'll say the denims are more of a cropped length.  :)

Angela sent me a phone picture of Ashlynn with her doll and the clothes from last week.

Ashlynn may get tired of the little clothes, but for now I'm enjoying doing something different.

In another area of interest, little Elise has shown an affinity for tucking things away in special spots where she can find them readily.  I may have mentioned that a month or two ago I couldn't find my Ipod.  I looked everywhere I could think.  I happened to mention it in front of Elise, and she immediately went to my room, opened up a small dresser drawer, and sure enough there it was.  It was upside down, and had I glanced in there would most likely have overlooked it.   I've taken a few pictures recently of things I've come across.

Hair bands on the door knob.

 A pill fob on a jar top.

And a couple of bits of red reindeer fabric (from making the boot scootin' tree skirt) in my little drawer with tea towels.

Ah, its the little things that keeps life interesting.

And here's a fun picture of Robert, Angela, Rhett, and Ashlynn.  Angela thought she wouldn't be in it, but surprise!  And I love the look on Rhett's face. 

That's it.  Have a good week.