Red Puzzler revisited

LAST October I pieced all these red segments... thinking that I would make a 2nd Ocean's Wave quilt (like my green one), but in red. Except, somehow, I cut all those triangles much bigger than needed, sewed them all together and only then did I realize - I had made an error. I don't want to use these segments to make an OW quilt because the resulting plain square is EXTRA large. While the green quilt is a great size for my queen bed, these jumbo sized blocks would give me a bigger than king quilt. Nope - not going to make an Ocean Waves quilt with these segments. So - back into my sewing tote they went to simmer and stew while I tried to come up with a plan for them (ok, so maybe I had to simmer and stew a bit too - I was a bit upset that they were the wrong size). I already spent all that time and effort getting them made - might as well use them. But how? And believe me, it took me awhile to piece all those units together.
*
This week I think I hit on a good idea... that dark fabric is just a super cheap dark fabric that I keep around for a background auditioning - I will actually have to buy a dark background fabric... but it gives you a good idea. I like either one of the above options... Just imagine the top one set straight - the photo is just a bit slanted to work around the Thomas the Train track right next to it, plus other toys, because of course, School Boy is right by my side! The 2nd option would be the blocks set on point and that nice wide triangle corner idea for the 4 corners - which I think is a bit unique, so is interesting.
*
Speaking of the toys - SB had Mon, Tues. and Weds. off from school this week for Canadian Thanksgiving. Yeah, ok - so we were waiting for the school bus on Tuesday - I didn't know that "Teacher Meeting" on the calendar was code for "School Closed". ALL other days that school is closed is clearly marked!
*
A rejected idea was this zig zag setting option. I like the zig zag setting and have used it before, but am not sure I want to fiddle around to get such a narrow zig zag with these bigger blocks.

The idea below was my starting point on the dark background. Right away I knew that while this particular lay-out didn't strike my fancy - I really did like the dark background. As much as I didn't want to like the dark background, because...


What I really, really wanted to work - was this beautiful yellow and blue stripped fabric. I tried ALL kinds of different layouts - narrow strips, wide strips, set different ways, considered bordering blocks with the yellow and blue... I'll spare you all the photos, but here are some. All these ideas were rejected. I wanted that stripped fabric to work because I bought is specifically for these ideas - which seemed good in my head at the time, but when I saw it laid out on the floor, well - I think that the idea was actually better than the reality!
*
Isn't having a digital camera grand?! After reviewing these photos, I really don't think that making the initial cutting error was such a bad thing, my red puzzler is starting to come together! With a dark background. The stripped fabric is going back on the shelf... for now.

Easy as Pie!

Making a pie is easy. Really! Making 2 pies at the same time is even easier - I mean you already have out all the stuff for making pie, so why not make 2? I like to make pie. This morning I posted my favorite pie crust and summer pie recipes over on my cooking blog at www.starfishyskitchen.blogspot.com
*
Making cookies - well that is a whole 'nother story! Especially rolled cookies. Unless your name is Martha Stewart, I suggest you forget all about making beautiful, perfectly decorated cookies. That really isn't the point. The point is to entertain your small children while they make cookies that they are ever so proud of and dearly love to eat. If you want perfect cookies - do yourself a favor and go buy some at the bakery!
*
So - here is a photo of our finished results. We used canned frosting that we put some food coloring in. Let me tell you - these cookies are tasty! Anytime he sees some kind of fancy-smanshy magazine cover with beautiful "art food" and asks if we can make that? - I tell him - we can certainly make that recipe - it just won't look the same. We both accept the limitations of Momma's art food abilities and have a good time in the kitchen anyway.

*
We don't make rolled cookies often. They are very time consuming - much faster to make pie. Faster still is our favorite snack bread - apple/banana loaf.

Mmmm. This bread is extra yummy. I love it with butter. I love it with cream cheese. I love it with cream cheese mixed with honey. I also posted this recipe over on my cooking blog today. I've been making at least 1 loaf a week. Up until this week I didn't have any apples so was making it with 2 bananas instead of bannana/apples - but trust me, it is ever so much yummier with apples! Bring on apple season! See my bag of apples? Wheeee!!!!Macintosh - perfect for baking. I bought these off of a guy who pulled in to my yard with a pick-up truck full of apples and squash. I bought some of each - how could I resist. Good fresh produce, delivered to my door - way out in the middle of nowhere! SB doesn't like store bought apple sauce, but he will eat homemade! And apple chunks sprinkled with cinnamon/sugar - he just can't seem to get enough. That bag probably won't last for too long!
*
Our other baking project this week is sourdough bread... or at least the starter - it takes 3 days for the starter to be ready to use. We have 3 days to spare. The starter will be ready tomorrow so that is our baking project for tomorrow. The kitchen is needed today for making a special family dinner - seeing that it is Canadian Thanksgiving and all... I figure, why not celebrate both Canadian and US? We are doing low-key today, but it will still be a special family meal. Here is SB stirring the sour dough starter.

Stray Cats

They are a bit hard to get a photo of... but here are the 2 stray cats that live here. I am almost positive that they are from the neighbor down the street - who tried to give me a kitten earlier this summer. I declined. 1st off, School Boy is very allergic to cats. 2nd off - I have a commercial kitchen and the last thing I want is a cat on the counter! So, I turned down 1 kitten and now somehow have 2 stray cats!

*

The thing is - they turned up because SB has a small child's wading pool in the back kitchen garden. It is soft sided and the cats were trying their hardest to figure out how to get a sip of water without falling into the water. So - I gave a small bowl of milk to SB to give to them. Poor things shook and trembled the whole time they drank it. SB stood at the window and watched them, absolutely delighted that these 2 cats had appeared from nowhere. I explained to SB about stray cats. And after a bit he said to me... "Momma, you know I have some recycling money saved up for toys? Well, I don't really NEED lots of toys, but those cats need food. So, can I spend some of my recycling money on cat food for them?" What's a Momma to say to that?! I was thinking that we should get them a bag of food anyway - it is just so sad to see such skinny creatures on your doorstep. So, a bag of cat food was purchased and the rest is history - those cats aren't going anywhere now!

*

The good news is that my community has a program - you can call someone about your stray cats and they will come get them, get them fixed - and then return them to you! How about that!!! Actually, the more I tell people about these 2 strays - the more stray cat stories I hear. Turns out that lots of people in the area have a stray or two that they always feed. Some people even have small cat boxes made for the cats to take cover in during extra cold weather. These cats currently have a towel out on the veranda, in a spot away from the wind. They seem to like that just fine.

*

They are getting tamer - the screen door snapping shut will scare them into a quick scurry away, but when I open the kitchen door early in the morning - there they are - waiting and meowing away in the pitch dark. When it is sunny they like to lally-gag around a few feet away from where ever I may be. And sometimes when I sit on the step I can even get them to stand next to me while I pet them. That black one especially likes to be pet and will start purring away - if he gets brave enough to come and get pet. I could hold him, but he startles so quickly that I could also end up with a lap full of claws - so I let him be. And his coat - very thick and luxurious now - after a few weeks of good food.

*

And no - SB doesn't have to spend all his recycling money on cat food - we are already well into the 2nd bag of food. But I will let him contribute a little bit, it makes him feel very important. He really loves his stray cats and is very diligent about feeding/watering them every day. He has been trying really hard to get a good photo of them - he took the photo of the black one with the flowers. Now that I've got the chip cleared off (of the other 100 photos that were blury!) and the battery re-charged - he can have the camera back again tomorrow. He might get a close-up photo of that black one yet in the next batch of 100 or so photos!