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Please don't remind me that I'm poor; I'm having too much fun pretending I'm simply "living green" like everyone else these days.


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Sunday, October 21, 2007

Eating in important too

I didn't go to the LAFTA meeting Thursday because the sky was getting dark and warnings were already being forecast on the news. I couldn't be out at a bus stop when a storm was approaching. The guest speaker was from Owensboro and he did give his presentation before leaving for home shortly after the storms had passed over. I'm sorry I missed the presentation. I hope everything was alright when they got home.

This is the quilt that took the last couple of days to finish. After quilting all the designs I went back to do stitch in the ditch around the rings.


A close up of the designs.


From the back.


Like several others, I make my own bread. I have to tell you the story behind my bread machine. For a long time after my daughter left home; I existed on peanut butter sandwiches and cereal. I was suffering from an empty nest and I hated cooking for one. I would buy groceries but there wasn't much point to cooking so I gave it away to the neighbors before it spoiled. It was a long time before I started eating right again.

Every time my daughter called to ask if I needed anything from the store (since she was on her way) my answer would be - bread and milk. So one year she bought this machine for me for Christmas. She put a note into the box that said; I tried to buy you a cow to go with this machine but the city doesn't allow farm animals in back yards.

I do know how to make bread without a machine. When I was a small child visiting with my grandmother we used a wood burning cook stove; even in the summer. I learned to cook the daily bread in it. Some days it was biscuits and some days cornbread and other days muffins.

When raising my kids I was always a scratch cook. I just don't want to have my daughter come over and ask where her gift went. Kids are very sensitive about gifts. So I use the bread machine.


I do save myself 'time' by putting the dry ingredients into freezer bags and then into the freezer. They are there, ready to take one out, pour it into the machine, add the water and oil, set the timer, and wait to hear the finished beeps.


The machine does all the work while I keep on quilting. It kneads, lets rise, kneads again, lets rise, bakes, and tells me when the bread is done. The machine even tells me when to add other ingredients for banana nut bread or cinnamon raisin bread. My neighbors ask me all the time to make a loaf of some kind for them. They supply the ingredients.

Today is a day away from the quilting machine. I usually use this day for away from home trips. To visit, to shop, to guild, to other places. Instead of leaving home; I'm sending the furkids to the vet and taking some time to sort through my book collection.

I love books! Frugal living books, organizing books, and quilting books are my favorite. I have books that I bought at used book stores way back in the 60's and 70's. I don't have an extensive collection, just an old one. It's time to let some of the oldest quilting books find new homes at the library.

Why don't I sell them on eBay or amazon? If the books are at the local library I can revisit them any time by simply checking them out for awhile. If I sell the books or give them away I won't ever get to see them again.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The DWR turned out beautiful. I don't know that I would have enough patience to SID around all the rings, but you're right, it does really add to the quilt.

Terri S.

Randi said...

Gorgeous quilting on that DWR!

EileenKNY said...

The quilting on the DWR is beautiful! The customer will be so pleased.
When you freeze the bread ingredients, do you freeze the yeast too? I always thought yeast had to be kept at certain temperatures, but I'm a city kid so what do I know? :) I had a bread machine a few years back but it stopped working. We used to love doing up biscuit dough in it for Sunday dinner. It also got very fattening. That's why we never replaced it. Oh well.