Great Giveaway

Bagels - Homemade

Today I was wanting to make some homemade bread so I jumped on the web for some inspiration. I stumbled upon a great website that was helpful and gave me a lot of inspiration. Knead to be Loaved is a great site. She has a lot of different types of breads. I liked the fact that these are not breads you see all the time but some things that are not so frequently offered on cooking websites. I read through her instructions for making bagels and thought I could do that. So I called to my oldest Daughter so we could tackle this project together.

Here is 4 of our bagel dough balls. Each ball was for one bagel. This is during the second rising. It told me to cover them with plastic wrap but I did not spray it so it stuck a little. Once they had risen I poked a hole in the center so I could drop them in the hot water.

These turned out to swell up so much that I could only fit two in the pot at once. Next time I will divide my dough into smaller portions before I start so I can have more bagels.

My daughter held her hand up to the dough so you could have an idea of how big they were when they came out of the boiling water.

This is our finished product. They tasted very good and the texture is a lot better than the store bought ones. I hope in the future I can make them look a little prettier. I am going to punch the holes in the center before I let them rise the last time under the saran wrap so that way all they don't deflate while I am putting the hole in them like this time.

I hope after reading about my experience you will check out her site and try one of her great recipes. I think we should all try to continue learning on a regular basis.

Red and Aqua swap

I finished my blocks last night for the red and Aqua swap being done on Jane's blog. It was a lot of fun. I can;t wait to see the blocks I get back. I hope I like everyone else's blocks as much as I like mine. I am thinking that I will make a quilt for a special girl I know. These colors are not really me but they are very pretty together none the less. I will post a pic of the blocks I get back when they arrive.

Tonight is quilt guild so I am really excited to go and get inspired.

What I have been up to.

I have finally took a picture of my bag I made for from the moda bake shop. I am happy with how it turned out. I used Roger's old uniform bottoms. I also used an old belt for the handles. The only new material is the lining and band fabric. It is just the right size for my little one to carry a few toys around with her.

I am also working on a Block of the Month from my local quilt shop Sew Much Fun. They call it $5.00 quilt. You buy the first block for $5.00. Each month they have a special meeting at the shop. If you bring your block completed to the meeting you get your next block free. If you don;t have it done you have to pay $5.00 for your next kit. So you could make all 12 blocks for only $5.00. pretty smart huh! The are smart with this club because while you are at the meeting they show you all the new products in the store and also have a whole list of specials that are just for club members that morning. So your top in the long run will cost you quite a lot. But hay what the heck it is a lot of fun!!

This is the iPod case I made for Lil. I didn't really have a pattern. I just looked at a lot of others people had made online and went to my machine and doodled around. I am pretty happy with the results. I used scraps from other projects. I will most likely make another one sometime. The front of the case has a pocket for money or an ID card. The back yellow pocket with elastic on top is made to hold the ear buds. This is all for now maybe I will have some more to post in a few days.

Great Giveaway

Head on over to PS I Quilt to sign up for a great giveaway. This is another great quilter that has been featured in the Moda Bake Shop.

Favorite Blogs

I am very new to the blogging world. I spend so much time looking at all the great bogs and being filled with ideas that I forget to update mine. I wanted to share with you one of my favorite blogs that I enjoy gettting great quilting ideas from. The link below is for the most recent post. http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/07/charmed-gift-bag.html
Today they posted a great gift bag made by a fabulous quilter named Kimberly Walus. She also has a very fun blog that I just came across this week. I have added ot to my list of blogs to follow so I can glean from her wealth of ideas. If you have the time you should check her blog out also. She is having a giveaway right now for a cute gift bag.
http://bittybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/
Our family has been making gift bags to use at Christmas for the last few years. We use very little wrapping paper. This was Roger's idea a few years ago becaus ehe thought it was a waste all the paper and tape we used at holidays to just be thrown away. I think this bag would be great for replacing the gift bags we use to give gifts to others. These would be easy to make a few in holiday fabrics to have on hand. I think it makes the gift extra special. I hope to make one in a few days and post a pic along with pics of our gift bags we use each year.