Christmas Baking Done and Delivered

We made a few things in our house the past few weeks. Nothing fancy, but some homemade treats to share with neighbours, the daycare, and some friends. I wanted to make more, but The Monster was sick and baking wasn't high on our list of things to do.

That still left us with some very yummy results. There was my peppermint bark, cherry vanilla biscotti, sugar cookies dusted with vanilla sugar, and my all-time favourite cookie for Christmas - chewy chocolate gingerbread. I think The Monster agrees with me already.
There are few recipes in all the magazines I read that capture me as much as this one. Good ol' Martha. I've been making them for 10 years now. And it's no wonder that she chose them for the cover of the Cookies cookbook, where the recipe is repeated. I've done nothing to change the recipe, so I won't repeat it here (check out the link above). But I encourage you to go out and make them - right now.

We are currently a nut free household, so my childhood faves are still off-limits. Rugelah and something called Christmas Jewels were the treats that graced our table for dessert on Christmas Eve, along with shortbread and so much more. I'm hoping that our nut allergy potential is proven wrong in time and I can introduce these to the girls.
For now, I am phenomenally happy with the sugar cookies. I tried Martha's recipe and this year it just did not work. Maybe I was overtired when I mixed them up and missed some flour. I'm not sure, but I ended up throwing out the entire batch, what I baked and the rest of the dough after I gave up - an entire pound of butter all said and done. I remembered Julie posting about them after her adventures in Jasper and tried her recipe. Oh. My. Gawd. Fantastic. Nearly as good as these ones, but homemade.
I changed Julie's recipe only in delivery. Rather than roll them into balls and press them down I pressed the dough into a rectangle, sprinkled them with vanilla sugar, and cut out squares. The dough is quite soft, so I thought this would work better. Besides, I already had round cookies and wanted variety.
It was back to Julie for the biscotti as well. I used her basic recipe and added my own flavourings. There were dried cherries in the house so I chopped them up, used vanilla sugar, and doubled the vanilla extract. It would have been preferable to use a vanilla bean, but there were none in the house. As a final touch, I drizzled some melted bittersweet chocolate on top.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to deliver our treats to daycare as The Monster was in no condition for play and company. That means another round of baking in the New Year. I'm sure the girls there will be in no mood for baking in January, but I have a lot of butter and flour to get through. Truth be told, we never need a reason to bake in this house. But I am sure glad we have people we can share with.

Piecing for Others

One of my quilting friends was recently diagnosed with cancer. The ladies in a group I belong to got together and made blocks for a quilt for her. People sent me the churn dash blocks, I pieced together and appliqued the lighthouse block, and another friend and I put the top and back together this week. Another lady is quilting and binding it before we send it out to provide some real hugs from virtual friends. I'm excited to see how this gets quilted. I'll let you know.

My apologies for the crappy photo. We were in a rush to get this out for mailing.

It Must be the Ukrainian in Her

There are a million lists that circulate through inboxes that start with, "You know you are X when..." I must admit that I can identify with the ones that refer to children of the 80s, Ukrainians, and quilters. But nowhere on the list about Ukrainians does it mention wanting pickles for breakfast.

Mornings in our house are lazy affairs, what with me on mat leave and Hubby self-employed and not a morning person. The Monster wakes up, steals a few snuggles, aggravates her sister and sits down with a handful of raisins and Zaboomafoo while I nurse Little Miss Sunshine. Once the little one is fed I make myself some tea and try to convince the Monster to eat some breakfast. Like her Dad, she isn't much for eating early in the day.

Well, one day last week she made the particularly unique request for pickles for breakfast.

We had a jar sitting on the counter, waiting for Hubby to open. When my parents make pickles and my dad does up the jars with his beefy construction worker hands a special gravity is enabled, one that holds the lids on with particular force. Of course, old lids don't help and being the frugal Ukrainian that he is, he won't replace the jars. Opening his jars is a two person, hot water, wooden spoon, and damp cloth job.

So that morning Hubby and I tried struggled. We rinsed, we banged, we grunted, we braced ourselves and turned. Nothing was working. Hubby finally felt some movement so tried that extra bit harder. I could hear the crack in the other room. The lid came off - with the top of the jar. Definitely time to replace the jars, Dad.

After the Monster got over the shock of the noise and the short-lived drama of thinking she wasn't going to get any pickles, we opened one of the jars that my mom and I made while our playhouse was being built. The Monster got her breakfast of three little pickles, and a bit of cheese too. Off to daycare a happy little Ukrainian. Well, half Ukrainian with garlic breath.

Dynamo Done

This little Dynamo is done! Delivered too, as the little man's bris was yesterday. What a special ceremony for welcoming someone to the world. Intimate and beautiful. Yes, beautiful. My friends, the parents, were overcome with emotion for their wondrous son and for the meaning of the celebration. Their community of friends and family welcomed Charlie and brought a bit of light to what is a busy, stressful time in anyone's life.

My hope is that this quilt can bring some comfort and light to Charlie's life as well. From building forts, snuggles on snow days, and some bright spots in his room - all can bring love to the child.
This quilt was a bit of a different style for me. I am thrilled with the way it turned out - very graphic and bold. The colours are more muted than I normally work with, but they all went so well with the inspiration fabrics. I tried a few layouts after making a whole bunch of half square triangles. It was all too busy, so I went for larger blocks. Then, of course, I couldn't resist a few circles...

To emphasize the graphic nature of the quilt's design I stuck with a simple and graphic quilting pattern. I simply accentuated a few of the circles - free-hand, can you tell? - and did some straight line quilting on the diagonal. It's been a while since I used a walking foot.
Sometimes it is good to try a few new things. Sometimes they do just work out.

The Games We Play And the Songs We Sing



For all you with thirty-something suburban white rap fans as partners, this one is for you. Hubby grew up on De La Soul, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Eric B. and Rakim, and Methodman. For all these folks there is actually a kids show for you. We are addicted to it in this house. Please welcome DJ Lance and Yo Gabba Gabba into your house.

Sure, it is pretty much as irritating as any other show geared towards toddlers, at least when you are forced to watch it as much as they are allowed to watch TV or DVDs. It is not nearly as painful, however, as purple dinosaurs or creepy costumed grown men with fake hair. But it is quite catchy and oddly entertaining, what with the beatboxing with Biz Markie, celebrity guests who dance, and funky monsters with weird names like Fufa.

Hubby and I were never ones for pretending that airplanes or choo-choos were making their way to the baby's mouth when she ate. Open up or don't eat. You don't want to eat? No worries. But as The Monster asserts some independence and, at the same time, is getting a bit lazy about eating, we've glommed on to one thing to help us through dinner.

Normal dinnertime in our house generally involves Hubby and I trying to have a conversation over The Monster's singing, or rousing bouts of all of us roaring like lions or comparing owies and eye colour. The Monster hasn't been eating much lately so we resorted to a bit of a guilt trip a la Yo Gabba Gabba. Did you know there is a party in your tummy? And the beans want to be there, so do the pierogies, and the roast beef. Seriously, all we have to do is remind her about the party and she eats more. And when she is done she repeats all the attendees to her party. Heck, days later she is still telling us who came.

She had a bit of a gastro problem the past few days and yesterday she asked why she was sick. I told her it was because a funny bug went to the party in her tummy and made her sick. A perfect explanation. And then she asked to peel a banana and send it to the party, complete with the action of lifting-up her shirt and pointing at her belly button. Let the Party begin.

Check out the official version of the song here.

It Was a Good Idea

Oh, but how the execution sucked. This is why I don't make bags and things with lots of different, somewhat intricate ways of manufacture. Or maybe it is why I'm not one to sew anything but quilts.

I had this grand idea to make a special travel colouring book for the Monster for our upcoming Christmas vacation. Something new for the plane ride and something to keep markers contained.


It started with an idea, a pattern drafted, and some delicious fabrics. Somewhere between my brain and the sewing machine something went screwy. It looks great, but the markers fall out, it is too big for the chosen book, and it doesn't close tight enough to keep everything contained. Laying open and flat it is handy, but that's about it.

It's worth another shot, but not this week. We leave on Sunday and I have way too much to do. I think we'll just be putting the markers in a ziploc and the paper in the little backpack I bought her.

I'll Show You

I've been kicked out of the house a lot lately. No, Hubby and I are not fighting. Sure, we're stressed with the reno, but we're not fighting. It's just that I need to get one or both of the girls out of the house while he does messy or noisy work. There have been a lot of visits to friends and prep for our Christmas trip, but sometimes none of that can be done. What's a girl to do? Fabric shop, of course!

In total I went to four different local stores:
Traditional Pastimes

As you can see, I bought a wide variety of fabrics. Oh, and this isn't all of them. I saved some special ones from the photo because they are to be made into a quilt for new baby for someone who reads here. Generally, it was simply stash enhancement. A few pieces were for one quilt I have brewing in the back of my head.
It was good to go to a number of stores in a short period of time. We often get used to going to the same one or two places. Once I got out and about (yes, I am Canadian) I could see some big differences in the fabric selection. Hmm, maybe that isn't such a good thing when your money is supposed to be directed towards renos.
It wasn't all brand new fabric either. A few weeks back I swapped with Jacquie for this great retro fabric. She found it on a bolt and I begged her to swap with me. It is going to find its way on to our dining room wall, and maybe some placemats or an apron.

Speaking of walls, check out the sweet wallpaper we found hidden behind the basement bathroom's walls.

Not much quilty activity lately. Just getting the binding sewn down on this baby quilt. I'm trying to finish off a travel colouring case for The Monster. We have a 4 hour flight next weekend and I'm hoping this new treat will carry us for a bit longer than 5 minutes. Oh, and I started some Christmas baking.

Best get back to my budget spreadsheet. The girls are both sleeping, the dogs are finally outside for a spell, and Hubby is buying lumber to make some stairs. And I'm working on a spreadsheet. Fun times.

If You Can't Buy Shoes...

Stay-at-home moms don't get Christmas parties. Especially stay-at-home moms married to a self-employed men. There is no reason to go shopping and buy a fancy dress and wickedly sexy shoes. There is no babysitter to find and pay a small ransom. There is no mediocre prime rib dinner and boring dance. There are no door prizes, cheezy centerpieces, and someone embarrassing themselves.

Okay, it isn't all bad. But a night off is nice. My girlfriend Tanya to the rescue (she is so good at that)! She invited a few of us over for treats, gossip, and Grey's Anatomy. We all brought more treats too. That way none of us was really cooking and all our little girls stayed home with Daddy (or were already asleep).

We had a fantastic time. What a treat to talk without interferences from little girls demanding our attention. We ate way too much sugar and talked about everything from Barbies, pajamas, colo-rectal surgery, vacations, bilingualism, waxing, and politics. There was no need to watch what we said, and no reason to watch how much sugar we ate. Oranges gave us some semblance of feeling healthy.

My contribution to the night was peppermint bark. Williams and Sonoma be damned, make it yourself. I am by no means a chocolate making expert, so anyone can do this. If you know how to temper chocolate (to make it solid again at room temperature and a little but shiny), great. I don't, but I try. Either way, it is ridiculously easy and highly addictive. Just keep it in the fridge and no one will know the difference.

Peppermint Bark

4 candy canes
16 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate
10 drops peppermint extract
16 ounces white chocolate

1. Prepare a rimmed cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
2. With candy canes still their wrapper bash them lightly with the handle of a knife or a wooden spoon. Don't bash too hard or you will have candy cane dust everywhere. Unwrap them over a bowl.
3. Chop semi/dark chocolate coarsely. In a bowl set over a pot of simmering water melt chocolate slowly. Pull off the heat just before it is fully melted. Stir to finish melting. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until it is still warm, but not hot. Stir in the peppermint extract. Pour and spread around prepared pan.
4. While the semi/dark chocolate is resting, coarsely chop the white chocolate and melt in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Pull off the heat just before it is fully melted. Stir to finish melting. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until it is still warm, but not hot. Pour directly over the semi/dark chocolate.
5. Sprinkle the candy cane bits over it all.
6. Cool in the fridge until hard. Break into bite size pieces.

Little Helper

I had a little helper the other night. Oh, she was so interested in what I was doing and insisted on helping. It breaks your heart. And drives you insane. Very insane. Just when you get things the way you want she starts placing/throwing blocks around or crawling over the blocks to get one where she thinks it needs to go.


You just can't get mad though. She is taking such interest in quilting. When she wakes up from her nap she comes straight to me at the machine, pulls up the chair next to me, and grabs hold of the quilt to help. Of course, it doesn't really help when you are trying to actually quilt and she's pulling in the opposite direction.

Is she too young to teach how to sew?

Poor Hubby. It's bad enough that he has one girl in the house with this expensive habit. Of course, this is also the girl that loves to go to the basement and look in the holes and watch Daddy bang things.

Oh, an actual quilt update. This was us playing around with the layout for the latest baby quilt. I went with a completely different layout. I thought this was far too busy. I'll post it as soon as the baby is born - my friend reads the blog sometimes so I don't want her to see it here first.

Tragedy

It was a sad day in the kitchen a few weeks ago. With an accidental bump of my wrist while turning on the oven I also turned on a burner on the stove. To maximum. Dinner was cooking away in the oven, and I may have had rice on another burner. We could smell the burning, we opened a window (one day we'll have a hood fan), and we checked inside the oven for crusty bits maybe burning on the dirty floor. Did we drop something on a burner? After about twenty minutes I finally noticed the smoke rising up from the cookie sheet.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

This was the cookie sheet and Silpat Hubby bought me to avoid buying me a new oven. I was sick of burning cookies on my old cookie sheets and I blamed the oven. So he bought me these instead. I have to say that it really helped. I still wish I had a new oven, but I settled for buying two new cookie sheets and Silpats last week. Just in time for christmas baking.

Océane's Quilt Finished


The final pictures of this quilt are long overdue. It was delivered to the precious girl a few weeks ago and the pictures have been sitting on the camera. I was quite relieved to find out that they painted her room a bright yellow. It's not often that I actually get a quilt to match well.

This is a close-up of the quilting on this one. I went along horizontally, creating a wave pattern. Once washed, it created a wonderful effect with the crinkles.

I loved making this quilt. The colours were bright and soft at the same time. It was also nice practice to hand applique.
Océane's quilt became Hippocampe pour Océane. Hippocampe means seahorse in French. Sure, it's not that creative of a title, but it fit.

The Emotional Eater

The perfect brownie can make anyone feel better. I've been feeling the need to eat a lot of brownies lately. Not that I need more things brown in my life, what with the mud flat currently surrounding the house. And the mud piles in the backyard and the muddy paw prints and footprints littered over the hardwood... But these brownies really do make you feel better.

They are dense yet still a bit cakey. They are fudgy but not heavy. They are a hug in a square crumbly package. With a glass of milk at lunchtime or a stiff scotch at bedtime they fill you with love. Sure I have a great Hubby and the girls can do that too, but the perfect brownie is just for me.

It's hard to not feel better when you start with chocolate and butter. Seriously, not much gets better than that, on their own or melted together in fantastic richness. I need to make them without the Monster around or else she takes them both and messes up my measurements.

Okay, maybe it's not just her who snitches tastes along the way... Somehow it is naughty when I dip my finger to lick the chocolate, and just messy and fun when the Monster does it.

When all is said and done and the oven brings out the chocolate scent the hugs begin. It is almost painful to wait for them to bake and cool. Warm brownies are more fudgy, but I prefer them cool and dense. A good brownie can make you feel comforted and warm, a bad one leaves you cold and cranky.

About 13 years ago I worked at a health food store with a bakery in it. Beyond the granola and ultra-healthy food, we specialized in items for people with restricted diets. At one point that summer the chef and I took on a mission to create a healthy brownie. We tried multiple substitutions like carob for chocolate, fake eggs, brown rice syrup, and more. None of them worked. This was before some good gluten free recipes were readily available. Eventually we decided that we would go back to basics and make a recipe with real food - butter, eggs, chocolate, brown sugar, and unbleached flour. This was before the slow food movement or Michael Pollan. You know what? They were amazing brownies! Sadly I lost the recipe in the post-university moves.

After experimenting with many recipes I finally found The One. It never fails me, it's fast, has only a few ingredients, and results in a perfect brownie. The recipe comes from a cookbook I picked up on a trip to New York. Broke and spending an afternoon with a quilting friend in Brooklyn I picked up The Brooklyn Cookbook. Really just a hardcover community cookbook, the book is filled with personal anecdotes and recipes from locals. The perfect brownie comes from this book.

What makes a bad brownie? To me that means anything that is not chocolate related inside. No nuts for me, I hate the sudden change in texture when you bite into a brownie with nuts. I don't like glaze or icing because it changes the mouthfeel. On a cupcake yes, but not on a brownie. I've added chocolate chips, even mint ones, and raspberries before, but it's not my favourite. Just a plain, simple brownie, thank-you.


The Perfect Brownie

(adapted from The Brooklyn Cookbook)


4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 inch square baking pan.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. When melted set aside and let the mixture cool.
3. Beat the eggs with the salt until foamy. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla, beating until the mixture is creamy. Quickly stir in the cooled chocolate mixture, then the flour. If you are going to add anything like chocolate chips or nuts (!) this is the time to do it.
4. Pour into the greased baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the center is set but still a bit giggley. Cool before cutting.

Sushi Night - Taste Adventure

It was a surf and turf weekend. After a crazy week with the renos and lots of mess the family - meaning me - was in no mood for cooking. Out for steaks one night and then Hubby and I decided we needed sushi. Time for The Monster's first sushi.

We chose to go to Kinjo, a sushi bar in an old Tim Horton's. We've been there before, and been quite happy. On the plus side, it's close. It isn't the best sushi we've ever had, but it's good. And after our adventure on Saturday we'll be back.

The gregarious owner, Peter, greeted us with a carved orange and melons for the Monster, a forced (by knife) declaration of love from Hubby to me, a couple of boxes of Pocky candy for the table, and a free treat of four pieces of sushi rolls, a Japanese amuse bouche. It was quite the welcome and good start to the night.

Hubby and I decided to simply order what we liked and let The Monster taste as we went. We've also learned in our restaurant ramblings with her to make sure there is at least one thing on the table we know she will eat. Usually that's bread and butter or some snacks we brought from home. At the sushi bar that is edamame.

She devoured her fruit, attempted to use chopsticks (giving up and spearing fruit with toothpicks instead like they were chopsticks), ate a whole lot of edamame, and opened wide for the sashimi we fed her off our chopsticks. She happily ate her tuna, salmon, snapper, tuna belly, and even tobiko. In fact, the tobiko was quite fascinating to her. After her first bite she swallowed and then had a little shiver, like it went down a bit wrong. We thought we were done with that but she asked for more. About the only thing she wouldn't touch were any kind of rolls. That wasn't surprising to us because she has never been a fan of rice.
Did I mention that she liked wasabi?

This isn't a restaurant review, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the service at Kinjo. The kids were welcomed warmly. In fact, one thing that struck us was just how many children were there. All the kids are welcomed with a carved orange and the Peter told us that they'd served at least 30 oranges that night. It made us, as a young family, very comfortable. Sushi bars can have a lot of reverence and formality associated with their hospitality, making you feel welcome but hushed. Not Kinjo. Kids are encouraged and entertained. It keeps the parents happy (and coming back) and the kids a bit more adventurous.


Sources:
Kinjo Sushi 403-255-8998

Backseat Adventure - Glamorgan Bakery

When you return to the memory of tastes it is easy to be disappointed. Too often the memory is linked heavily to the event or the circumstances of the taste. The brioche aren’t as rich as they seemed when they were a luxury in your days with a limited student budget. The meringue cookies you cherished on your bakery visits are more sweet than blandly crisp, more cloying than any adult should enjoy. Then there are the dinners, marked by romance, birthdays, or trips that can never be replicated. But sometimes, just sometimes, something is as good as you remember.

My brother-in-law, B, and I had this discussion over the weekend. A birthday present for my mother-in-law brought Hubby’s family to Banff for a weekend of eating and laughing at the children, with some swims and a hike thrown in. With a need to get my girls out of the house I decided to take them to Glamorgan Bakery, to stock up on B’s favourite cheese buns for the weekend.
Glamorgan Bakery is a Calgary institution. Since 1977 the owners have been churning out buttery goodness to Southwest Calgary. Hubby’s family grew up a relatively short bike ride away and took advantage of that quite regularly. It wasn’t until B and his then girl-friend and now my preggo-sister-in-law came to visit us shortly after we moved that I was properly introduced.

All I can remember B talking about was the cheese bun. How it was filled with cheese and butter to such an extent that the bread dough involved seemed superfluous. For a man who practically survives on any variety of cheese on bread – pizza, grilled cheese, melted cheese on bread dipped in ketchup – the Glamorgan Bakery cheese bun was his idea of perfection.
Then came the sugar cookies. We came for the cheese buns and we will return again and again for the sugar cookies. He says that he remembers eating them as a child, although I find that hard to believe because my mother-in-law is a fantastic baker. But then, fueled by a childhood memory, he went back to bakery and tried the sugar cookies, . Shockingly, they were better than he even remembered.

The Monster was enthralled by the selection of the bakery -colorful cupcakes, the overwhelming scent of butter and chocolate, and too much selection in the cookie department. I went straight to the counter for the cheese buns and she went straight to the sugar cookies. More precisely, the brightly coloured dinosaur cookies. How can you say no to a happy 2 year old? She got her cookie, promptly sat down on the floor, and took a bite. And then another and another. Two men were enjoying their coffee at the tiny counter for that purpose, oblivious to the joy of a sugar fueled toddler at their feet.
The dinosaur cookie was bigger than the Monster could handle so sadly I had to help her finish it. Let me rephrase that, I thought the cookie was too big and too good so I forced her to share it with me. Seriously, these are the best sugar cookies I’ve ever had. Not so much cookie as sweet butter that someone like Ferran Adria or Heston Blumenthal decided to serve in a crispy form. So I went back yesterday and bought more. Some for me and some for a girlfriend who was hosting us for tea in the afternoon as Little Miss Sunshine and I escaped the mess at home. By the time I got to her house the butter had stained the brown paper bag they came in and one cookie was missing. Good thing I bought more for dessert.

Will I Make It?

I'm referring to more than getting the baby quilt done on time, although I am making progress on that.

The renovations have bathed the house in a fine layer of dust and a not so fine layer of mud. Hubby is working so hard to get the basics done so we can actually finish the basement. At some point in the future this space will be my sewing studio. At some point...

Back to the quilt. I went with triangles. And some circles, of course. Are you surprised? I'm trying to work on it in the midst of the mess. Not in the basement - the state of that space means I'm even afraid the laundry isn't getting clean - but in the dining room. That's the joy of a baby quilt, it doesn't take up much space when you are working on it.

A Break

Because this is what my house looks like right now. Because this picture hides the 8 foot moat surrounding the house. Because the mud is filling my house as we make our way in and out. Because our lives and house are topsy turvy at this moment. Because this week was filled with sleepless nights, sick kids, city hall, dog walks, and driving to and fro. Because of all this I have not been quilting and not able to get to my tutorials.

Hopefully next week...

Bindings - Attaching, Mitering, and Hand Sewing - A Tutorial

You've got your quilt squared up, you have your binding pieced and ironed, now is the time to attach the binding. First, by machine, and then by hand to finish.

To review, I use a double fold binding. Simply put, I iron a strip of fabric in half - wrong sides together - sew it down by machine on the raw edge, flip it over the edge of the sandwiched quilt, and stitch it down by hand through the fold. I do not do a continuous binding. Rather, I attach each side individually and mitre each corner once all the binding is attached.

In this tutorial I will show you how to attach the binding, especially at the corners, mitre the corners, handstitch the binding, and finish the corners and binding. Sit back and get a thimble, this one's picture heavy.

1. Sew down your binding, from corner to corner. Overhang the binding by at least an inch at the top and bottom - check your length before you start sewing. Line up the raw edge of the binding with the edge of the quilt top. Start sewing 1/4 inch from the top edge, thus leaving 1/4 not sewn down. Backstitch for a stitch or two. Using a walking foot or an even feed (like my Pfaff has) sew down with a straight stitch, using a scant quarter inch seam allowance. I don't pin the binding before I sew, preferring to hold it down and line it up as I go.

Stop your seam 1/4 inch from the bottom of the quilt top edge.
2. Go around the quilt, sewing all the bindings down. To attach a new piece, take the already attached piece and fold back the end at a 45 degree angle.

Pin the new piece to be attached, with overhang, on top of the folded back piece. I like to put the pin in at 1/4 inch from the edge so I know where to start sewing.

Start sewing 1/4 inch from the top and 1/4 inch from the edge. Sew down the binding as you did your first piece.

Finish the final seam the same way you started. Fold the underneath piece back at a 45 degree angle and sew to 1/4 of the edge.

3. Mitre the corners. Measure from the folded edge of the binding to the seam. This measure will change from quilt to quilt depending on the thickness of your fabric and how large you cut it. Divide that measurement in half and make a mark. Don't worry about what you mark it with because these marks won't show. Well, don't use black felt on a light coloured fabric, but otherwise don't worry about it.

From that mark measure the same distance straight up. By up I mean perpendicular from that first mark towards the dangling ends of your binding strips. Mark this spot as well. For example, my overall length was 9/8 of an inch. I made the first mark at just over 1/2 inch. From that mark I measured and made a mark at just over 1/2 inch up.

Now, draw a line from the folded edge of the binding, in line with the seam, to the second mark you made and back to the seam. It should look like a right angle triangle.

This is now your sewing line. Stitch on this line, backstitching for a stitch or two on each end. When you get to the point of the triangle stop with your needle down, lift up your pressure foot, and pivot the quilt. Be sure to fold back the quilt itself so you don't sew through that.

This is what it looks like when you're done. Repeat with all four corners.

4. Handstitch the binding down. First, thread your needle. This is the best way to do it, leaving you with a single strand thread on your needle. The goal of your first stitch is to hide the knot underneath the binding. I make the stitch inside the seam line of my binding - the straight stitch in the picture below. (The zig zag stitch is from squaring up the quilt).

Pull the stitch through the fold of your binding. First stitch done!

It goes without saying that you should pin your binding down. Do not pin the whole way around, rather pin a few inches at a time. Move the pins as you go.

Here is where it might get confusing for some. I do my hand stitching (and hand applique) backwards from most. I sew right to left. I was taught left to right, but it never felt natural to me. If you are having troubles with handstitching try switching directions and see if that helps.

Put your needle in the backing fabric, at an angle, just catching a few batting fibres. Come out in the fold of the binding. I keep my stitches small, so they are about 3 millimetres apart. Start the next stitch directly below where your previous stitch ended. In other words, right below where the thread lies.


Continue around the quilt, moving the pins as you go. I like to have at least an inch pinned down in front of where I am.

5. Sew down the corners. First, trim the excess fabric. I tend to trim to about 1/8 of an inch seam allowance. You want to minimize bulk in the corner.

Now you need to turn the corner right side out. I take my small applique scissors, but anything with a blunt point will work, like a pencil or a stick. Place it in the point of the corner and push it through, turning the fabric right side out. Use your turning object to ensure all the fabric is flat and the corner is as sharp as you can make it.


Pin the corner down and sew down as you've done the rest of the binding. I put a few extra stitches right in the corner.

6. Last stitch. For the last stitch - and every time you finish a length of thread - this is what to do. It hides your knot yet is quite secure.

Start your stitch as normal. Before you pull it through wrap the thread around the tip three times.

Pull the needle through, holding the thread against the binding fold. The knot should end up snug against the fold. Clip the thread right next to the knot and it will end up being virtually invisible.

And you're done! Personally, I find putting to the binding quite satisfying. The quilt will still need a label, but it is effectively finished at this point. Beyond the relief of finishing a project, it is about realizing the vision I've had and the excitement of passing it on or snuggling under it that night.

Was It Really Worth It?

Some things are just more trouble than they're worth. I now put homemade ketchup in that category, along with transplanting houseplants you already hate, arguing with a toddler over green socks versus white ones, and trying to keep the dog hair off the new couch. Is it better than your bottle of Heinz? Hell yeah, but it still isn't worth the expense or the effort.

I blame you, Jamie Oliver. You and your ridiculous enthusiasm for gardening, food, and making sure people eat well. I blame you, Safeway, for having Jamie at Home on sale in the book bin. I blame you, Calgary weather, for making sure I had loads of tomatoes ripening in stages on my kitchen counter in September and defeating my efforts to make a large batch of tomatoe sauce. I even blame the Monster - just a tiny bit - for having the common desire of any toddler to dip everything in ketchup. In that case, I blame you, Hubby, for fueling that desire in her by never growing up yourself.

Ultimately, however, I have to blame Michael Pollan. He and the Slow Food folks are encouraging me to reduce the amount of processed foods coming into the house. We go through a lot of ketchup and I thought I was being a good mom/wife by introducing another homemade staple.

The recipe* itself was time-consuming, but not difficult. The toughest part was reading through the Jamie Oliver style of recipe writing. And there were a ridiculous number of ingredients! Who knew?

So I spent an afternoon chopping, simmering, reducing, and pureeing. The house smelled wonderful. Two pounds of tomatoes and I got little more than 1 bottle of ketchup. Then the Monster decided that she liked mustard better. Seriously, every time I tried to serve it to her she cried for mustard instead.


Now the ketchup sits in the fridge. This is good stuff. I can't wait to try it on Hubby's famous hamburgers. For now, and post root canal, I will savour it on some scrambly eggs. But next time I'm just making tomatoe sauce.

*Let me know if you want the recipe and don't have the book. I followed it exactly so I won't repeat it here.

Another Baby Quilt


Thanks Jacquie. I went to the store for you and came home with these. So much for stash busting with my current projects.

Yet another baby quilt to make. I've left this one a bit late, the baby is due any day and there might be a bris that I'll need to attend with a present in hand. Good thing I haven't actually decided what I want to do yet.

My friends are very vibrant people - an engineer and a speech pathologist who write music and play (he) on the side. Yet their home is subdued, letting art and music take center stage. It is a challenge for me to tone down and design a quilt that maybe isn't so bold. I thought I could do the no darker than sand concept, but it was too much (or too little) for me. But these fabrics, while bold in design, are softer in colour. They've become a perfect jumping off point.

Because Hubby is making me to get all my stuff out of the basement this weekend I braved the chill (he took out a window the other day) and went to pull fabric last night. Anything and everything that remotely went with the starting fabrics came upstairs. We'll see what makes it into the quilt. Some of these seem a little too bold.

Now, to just figure out what I want to do... Triangles are winning right now, but I've also thought of some interesting (and easy) linear designs. What to do, what to do?