New Address

I haven't been blogging because I was having my website developed and it includes my blog.

Please check out my website at www.blainemhunter.com

There is a link to the blog.

Crazy Quilt

I bought this book , Fabric Embellishing: The Basics and Beyond by Ruth Chandler, Liz Kettle, Heather Thomas and Lauren Vlcek, a few months ago.

 It is a wonderful book for anyone who likes to make crazy quilts. In it, the authors write about an amazing number of embellishment methods: to name a few, beading, couching, needle felting, and weaving.

One of the chapters is about "deconstructed" crazy quilting. Each block is made of a variety of fabrics placed on fusible stabilizer in a random pattern of fabrics. The example in the book looks very geometric, with squares and rectangles.

I am going to try this method on my stash of construction fabrics. I have rinsed the fabric out and am now drying it. I hope to iron and cut it tomorrow and start the deconstructed crazy quilt this weekend. I can't wait - such fun... I just love new projects!

Train Class

Thursday night we went to model train class in Wallingford, CT. It was amazing to find out the amount of  information we do not know. We listened to four teachers, each of whom has been modelling for years, for two hours. I learned about the differences between product magazines and how-to magazines, between weathered and un-weathered cars, between freight and passenger trains, and between different scales and sizes of models. I was overwhelmed with information, and we have five more classes to go!

For fun today, Bill and I went to Yankee Candle store in Deerfield, MA. It is one of my favorite stores. In addition to candles of every conceivable size and scent, they carry books, home goods, Department 56, and trains. They actually have trains going around the walls near the ceilings! We usually wait until the fall to go there, making a day of shopping and having lunch; but today we wanted to see the trains!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Yankee_candle_shop_flagship_outside.jpg
Slovakjoe at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Model Trains

Bill loves model trains and I love Department 56 houses. Is this a marriage made in heaven, or what?

We are taking a class together, starting this Thursday night, in model railroading. Today we went to an event at  Portland (CT) High School and saw some fantastic layouts. Bill loves HO, but the scale is just a tad too small for my two D56 collections, Halloween and North Pole. He will still work with HO, but I like S. It is just the right size. I imagine an S scale train with an orange engine and black cars zipping by Grimsly's Retirement Home and Walter and Larry's Crypt. And what could be cuter than a Christmas train, with a peppermint stripped tanker, flying by the North Pole Cookie Exchange and the Gumdrop Shop?

Not too big, not too small, just right! Where have we heard that before?


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Goldilocks_and_the_3_bears.jpg
By Gaspirtz (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


We didn't see this train at the show, but it gives an idea of what can be done with these detailed models.




http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/US_model_railroad_02.jpg
By Graham Causer, Wombourne, United Kingdom [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Maple Walnut Cake

Today I made cake number 12, Maple Walnut cake. Without going into gory details, I will only say, it was an unmitigated disaster. I have never had a cake so, so - well, so sad. The recipe is now where it belongs, in the circular file.

Basket

Bill and I bought this basket at Michael's around Christmas. I put it on the floor for a few minutes, and when I came back, Mitzi was enjoying it. Bill put one of his old shirts in the bottom of it.

I guess we will have to go buy a new basket!

Another Cake

In the last week I have tried a total of three red velvet cakes. My husband is starting to think I am a little weird. I thought the first one was moist; then Bill told me it was the driest cake he ever had. (Thank you very much...) So I threw the recipe out, and tried one from a Paula Deen Magazine. That one was much more moist because it had 1 1/2 cups of oil in it. But I was not totally satisfied, so tonight I made yet another one. This one uses 2 1/2 sticks of butter. I suspect it will be quite tasty when I try it tomorrow.

I also made a chocolate "party" cake. It was nothing to write home about.

So, since January 1, I have made: 2 Hawaiian wedding cakes, 1 sour cream coffee cake, 1 chocolate party  cake, 1 Tennessee jam cake, 2 chocolate pumpkin cakes, 1 vanilla "party" cake, and 3 Red Velvet cakes. That is 11 cakes, all with different recipes, and we are only in week 7 of the year. I am way ahead of schedule.

At his point, 6 have made the cut as truly acceptable. But I have not yet found my "signature" cake.

I have a Polynesian wedding cake and a Maple Walnut cake to try next week!