Stitches | November

 We are already at the end of November and here is my sewing project report.

I altered this skirt to fit my daughter by adding an elastic waist band.

This skirt used to be a miniskirt for 10/12 year olds with a side zipper closer. I used the zipper opening to make a concealed pocket.

This is what my pocket looks like from the inside.

This is what the pocket looks like in use.

This month I finished the blue pinafore that I was working on back in April. HERE is the blog post about April Stitches.

I made this needle book for a spur of the moment gift exchange on Thanksgiving day. I started it Sunday and finished it Monday.

I wanted to my design on the front to look like wheat stalks. I got this far and realized that the lazy daisy stitches would look more like grains if they were turned around. So I picked all the lazy daisy stitches out and restitched them in the opposite direction.

I gave the needle book 4 pages; one for needles, one for pins, one for safety pins, and one that I turned into a pocket for a needle threader tool.

Thanksgiving Season And Pumpkin Pie Recipe!

 

I have so much to be grateful for!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

 In every thing give thanks: 

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus

concerning you.

Every year I make a turkey dinner sometime before Thanksgiving. We just can't wait!

This year our menu was a little extra than most years.

We had:

Turkey 
Mashed potatoes 
Gravy
Sweet potato casserole 
Green bean casserole 
Corn
Cranberry fluff 
Canned cranberry relish 
Pumpkin pie

Our favorite pumpkin pie recipe is the Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe. I am going to write it here for easy retrieval.

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie 
1 1/2 cups Sugar 
1 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Cinnamon 
1 tsp. Ginger 
1/2 tsp. Cloves 
4 eggs
1 large can of Pumpkin Puree or 3 1/2 cups Home-processed pumpkin 
2 cans Evaporated Milk 

2 Unbaked Pie Shells (Pie crust recipe HERE)

Mix together sugar and spices. 

Blend in eggs, and then pumpkin. 

Slowly stir in the evaporated milk.

Pour evenly into prepared pie shells.

Bake at 425° F. for 15 minutes. Turn down the oven to 350° F. Bake for 40-50 minutes longer.

Cool for 2 hours before serving.

When Do I Hate My Job?

 Sometimes I get in a slump and I say to myself, "I hate my job." I have learned to follow that phrase with, "When I'm not doing a good job." In my head or even under my breath my mantra staggers, "I hate my job.......when I am not doing a good job."

Everyone loves things that they are good at doing. We can think back to subjects in school that we hated when we didn't understand them very well, but then grew to love them when we understood the concepts like the back of our hand. Like when long division was first introduced and the steps seemed so dumb and you didn't get it. But once you memorized the multiplication tables you couldn't stop and just round up at the one's place, but wanted to keep going into the tenth's, and hundredth's places, and beyond. 

 Or, when you learned to diagram parts of speech. It was all foreign and you weren't going to remember the difference between a verb and a noun. And then you got good at it and wanted all the compound subjects and verb phrases and adjective and adverb branches sticking all over the place in your diagram skeletons. 

 Outside of school maybe there was a job you had to do that you weren't thrilled about but the more you did it the faster you got and you figured out a streamlined system and polished you techniques and received compliments. Then that task became your favorite because you were good at it.

 My point being, we all love things we are good at doing. When the dred comes over me and I hear the words whispering out my throat, "I hate my job." I pause and then keep going, with determination I add, "When I am not doing a good job."

 The truth is that I hate my job when I didn't do any preparation and I am behind: behind with meal planning, behind on grading math, behind on laundry......... I hate my job when I am not doing a good job: when the bathroom is grimy, and the floors are strune about with various toys and trash, when I spent the previous two hours scrolling on my phone, eating the last snacks in the house, and everyone is hungry, I have no idea what to cook, and the pot I need has to be washed first. I hate my job when I am not doing a good job.

I love my job when the house is clean, the laundry is folded and put away, the meat is thawed, the potatoes are peeled, the math test is printed before we start lessons, and I am cooking a meal that everyone likes before people start begging me for food. 

 You know what? I even love my job when all those things aren't done perfectly but I have made a good effort. I feel good about my job when I can honestly say I focused on the tasks without using my phone to distract myself.

When I have this hateful feeling about my job creep up, I have learned to look around and recognize all that I am not doing. I put something away, sweep, start a load of laundry, wipe down the bathroom surfaces, or read a book to the children. Those things usually bring me back to a place of joy.

I am alone, or do you know what I am talking about?

Proverbs 15:17
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, 
than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

The Golly Sisters

 Beloved book from my childhood. 

Sisterhood. Humour.

Those are the words that come to mind when I think of The Golly Sisters easy reader books. There are 3 books about the Golly Sisters, as far as I know. When I was little I would check out the read aloud cassette tapes and the books from the library. I loved the Golly Sisters. I thought they were hilarious! May-May and Rose act in such a realistic sisterly fashion. They can be hopping mad at each other one minute and be friends the next minute. They know each other so well and can play to each other's strengths and also push each other's buttons, as the mood suits. 

I still love the Golly Sisters. I have one of those books now, thanks to my mom. Last time we were visiting my mom I saw this book on her shelf. I was so excited! I read it aloud to myself. I think my grandma listened to me but she may have been more interested in watching me enjoying myself than she was interested in the story. I always read aloud in a very animated way, and with this book I mimick the style of the lady who read the books on cassette tape so many years ago. She made the Golly Sisters' voices kind of obnoxious and not very much in a way that I'd expect to be endearing. But, the voice works, at least it works for me. 

Perhaps the tone is fitting because sisters can be annoying and pushy. 

Perhaps that is just me, I should speak for myself because I can be the annoying, pushy sister. 

Perhaps because I can be the annoying, pushy sister is why I think The Golly Sisters are funny and not revolting. 

Perhaps because I am the annoying, pushy sister is the reason why I ended up with this book. This possibility is just dawning on me.....

 I asked my mom where she found the book and let her know that I loved the book. In the back of mind I was thinking perhaps she would see my joy and give me the book. I don't think my mom knew that I was thinking this, but I bet my sister knew it. Sisters just know each other's thoughts and motives in an uncanny way. Exactly like May-May and Rose. That's what makes the Golly Sisters so great, they are so relatable. And now we have come full circle!

(Yes, my mom gave me the book, and I didn't even have to ask, but I did say thank you.)

Puff Pastry Recipe!

 I recently learned how to make puff pastry when I made the Egyptian dessert, Umm Ali. I was very intimidated by the prospect, but it turned out to be much simpler that I expected. 

 Puff Pastry is laminated by many letter folds like croissant rolls, but unlike croissant rolls it is not leavened. It can be used as a pie crust or in fancier pastries. I am tempted to use puff pastry in all my pies from now on. I probably won't, but the puff pastry is SO much better!

I followed the recipe from the kitchen.com. They have really nice pictures of the steps over on their site that helped me understand how simple the process was.

This recipe makes one sheet of puff pastry. I think 2 sheets come in a package, but these may be larger than the packaged sheets, I can't speak to that.

Puff Pastry 

2 cups Flour 

1 tsp. Salt

2/3 cup Ice Cold Water

1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter 

Mix the flour and salt together.

Slowly sprinkle in the water while stirring.

Form a ball with the dough: flatten out and put in an airtight bag and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, make the butter malleable by taking cold butter, cutting it into large chunks, sprinkling with flour, putting it between two layers of wax paper and beating it with a rolling pin. Form the butter into a 4 inch square. The butter needs to be cool but not cold. Depending on your room temperature, you may need to chill it for 10 minutes before you seal it in the dough.

Encase the butter in the dough. On a floured surface roll the dough into a rectangle. Fold in thirds in the manner of a letter fold. Roll out again and fold once more. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pull the dough out of the fridge and roll out and fold and roll out and fold again. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pull the dough out of the fridge and roll out and fold and roll out and fold again. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

Roll out to 1/4" to 1/8" thick. cut into squares or diamonds and bake at 425° for 15 minutes unless you have a particular recipe that you are using the Puff Pastry in, then follow those recipe instructions.

Stitches | October

These are my sewing projects from October.

I did some hemming and a few repairs.

I hemmed a couple more of the new skirts that I got for my daughter. She wanted one to be extra long. They were brand new, with tags, LullaRoe skirts that I found at the thrift store. I added an elastic to the waist bands. The material was high quality. I was surprised by that because I had seen someone trash talking LullaRoe on YouTube.

Anyway, the directions for care said,"Hang dry or you'll be sorry." What does that mean? I accidentally did put one through the dryer and I wasn't sorry. I didn't melt or shrink or anything.

This next project was a repair. My daughter wore this new dress for one single day and ripped part of the ruffle off. I fixed it, but told her to wear it only to church and keep it nice for a while.

I finished the patches on my son's overalls.

Lastly, I did a hemming job for hire on these Levi's.

I used a binding tape to finish the raw edge. Doing it this way reduced the bulk and made it easier to sew.

Nature Highlights | October

 I hope you have enjoyed October and been able to spend time in the outdoors this time of year.

My favorite pictures this month are the Buckeye Butterfly and the October 10th Sunrise. Let me know if you have a favorite!

Beautiful Asters are part of the fall assortment of flowers. My Asters were a whir with activity from insects seeking nectar and pollen.

I captured pictures of a little bee with his pollen sacks full and a Silver Spot Skipper sipping some nectar.

Comma and Question Mark Butterflies are attracted to carrion which is highly available in October. Here is a well camouflaged Comma Butterfly finding some nutrients in the juice of a rotting tomato. (His head is facing the ground.)

My son was sharp eyed enough to spot a Common Buckeye Caterpillar starting to make an anchor for it's chrysalis. He moved it to a container and it continued the process.

Common Buckeye Caterpillars eat Plantain and Snapdragon. We have both of those plants in our yard but I have never been able to spot a Common Buckeye Caterpillar. 

The chrysalis was pretty small and looked like it would be very difficult notice in its natural environment.

After 10 days the Buckeye Butterfly emerged. It is so amazing to witness a butterfly metamorphosis!

These butterflies are so stunning!

The Buckeye Butterfly limbered up it's wings and made it's foray into the wild.

My son found this Praying Mantis at a playground and brought it to me. It escaped and scampered down my shirt. He was so fast! It was difficult to get a picture of him.

I saw this Crab spider outside our back door by the exterior light. I suppose he lays in wait for the moths attracted to this light. His shadow made me laugh. He looks so much scarier because his larger than life shadow. It would be funny if he knew this and could use it to intimidated predators!

I didn't take very many sunrise pictures this month. Sunrise is getting later and later and the part of the morning that I see on my walk is getting darker and darker. Next month I will get a welcome reprieve due to the end of daylight savings time. Yay! I hate daylight savings time! I know hate is a strong word, but I mean it. Daylight savings time saves no daylight and it is as dumb as the emperor's invisible clothes.

October 10, 6:51a.m.

October 11, 6:54a.m.

October 17, 6:51a.m.

October 18, 6:58a.m.

October 27, 6:55a.m.

And one sunset:

Umm Ali Recipe

 

This is an Egyptian dessert called Umm Ali that I made recently for an International Supper that our Church hosted.

Umm Ali is a little bit like an Egyptian version of bread pudding. This was very good and I highly recommended it. I wasn't sure that I would like it but everything came together with a satisfying flavor and texture.

Puff pastry is baked and broken in pieces into a 9"×13" baking dish.

Among the puff pastry pieces raisins, coconut flakes, slivered almonds, and pistachios are layered.

Smear dollops of plain Greek yogurt over the conglomeration.

Heat the milk sauce and pour over the ingredients in the casserole dish.

Bake 15-20 minutes before it is removed from the oven it is broiled for 5-10 minutes to brown.

Umm Ali is best served fresh out of the oven.

This is the recipe that I was trying to follow: Hungry Paprika Page. 

I had to make a substitutions for one of the Egyptian ingredients and I had to convert all the measurements from metric to imperial.

Here is my version:

Umm Ali

1 pound of Puff Pastry 

6 1/3 cups Milk 

2 cups Whipping Cream 

1 1/4 cups Sweetened Condensed Milk 

3/4 cup Sugar

1/4 t. Cinnamon 

1/4 t. Cardamom

1 cup Slivered Almonds

1 cup Chopped Pistachios 

1 cup Shredded Coconut 

1 cup Plain Greek yogurt 

Bake puff pastry according to the directions on the package. Cool and set aside.

Heat the milk, cream, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom until steaming. Do not boil.

While the milk heats break the puff pastry in pieces and layer in a 9"×13" casserole dish with raisins, pistachios, almonds, and coconut flakes. Minimize the raisins on the top because they will burn at the broiling step.

Dollop the yogurt on top, evenly, and smear to spread.

Carefully pour over the hot milk solution.

Bake at 350°F. for 15-20 minutes.

Turn on broiler and broil 5-10 minutes until browned on top. 

Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Pasta Machine!

Marcato Atlas 150

This is my fancy new pasta machine. My sweet, sweet husband surprised me with this for my birthday. It's beautiful!

He bought this fancy pasta drying wrack, too.

I have rolled out noodles with a rolling pin for years. I always thought it would be so nice to have a pasta machine. The job is so easy and kinda fun with my new pasta machine. I have been making a lot of chicken and noodles. I think I might actually be in danger of making my family sick of noodles. ;⁠)

This is the noodle recipe that I always use: Homemade Noodles. You don't have to have a pasta machine if you want to try them.