Celtic Knot Trivets (Canning Jar Sealer Ring Hot Mats)

 

I'm not totally sure where I picked up the hot mat/trivet in the picture above. I'm quite sure it was a freebie from somewhere and I brought it home, thinking it was a cool idea and I intended to attempt to replicate it. The circles are crocheted around those old red rubber canning jar rings. And I was able to purchase some of the rings as well. But I've had this since before my marriage ended and life kind of got in the way since. However, now that I'm retired, I decided to give it a try. 
By the way those rubber rings are still available at Canadian Tire and Home Hardware, and maybe other places as well. I'm not sure if people still do their canning using these, but someone must be using them for something since they're still being sold. And since they're still around, I'll share with you how I made mine. 
The original one in the picture appears to be made from Phentex, which is a synthetic yarn. I would be concerned about the yarn melting if the item placed on it was overly hot. I opted instead for a cotton yarn, Bernat Handicrafter Cotton. I do have quite a large stash of it, so I wouldn't have to make any purchases. And I used the hook suggested on the yarn label: 5.00 mm (US H/8).
I did an internet search to see if I could find the pattern, but nothing I found initially was exactly the same. So that meant I had to count stitches. The hot mat requires 6 rubber rings as the seventh ring in the centre, which joins them all, does not have a rubber ring and is done as a band of double crochet, which is woven through the rings and then joined end to end. I counted 49 double crochet in one ring, but I opted for 50 because I wanted to make sure it was full enough. And I think it's easier to remember a round number. 

The challenging part was the first stitch. Yes, I suppose I could have just done a slip stitch through the ring and chained 3 to make the first double crochet. But somehow I don't think that would look right and maybe would make the stitch taller than it should be because the chain 3 would be on top of the rubber ring, whereas the rest of the double crochet stitches would be around the rubber ring. Anyway, I opted to just start with the slip knot on the hook, loop around the hook, put the hook through the ring and draw up the third loop, and then finish the double crochet - a standing double crochet, I guess. The challenging part was keeping everything from getting too loose and sloppy for this first stitch.But I managed it. And then I could proceed with the other 49 double crochet. Joined with a slip stitch to the top of the first double crochet, and the first ring was done, aside from working in the ends. 

Since it's just double crochet, the rings work up pretty quickly. Don't ask me how much yarn I used. As I said, I'm just using leftovers in my stash. As the original was done in two colours, I opted for two different colourways as well. But it could be done in all one colour, or each ring done in a different colour, or whatever makes you happy, or you have available. 
Work in all the ends before proceeding to the next step. 
I shared this project with my sisters that crochet. And my oldest sister wanted to know how to assemble it and found this video: 

It's worth a watch as it is often easier to see an actual demonstration of techniques rather than just pictures and descriptions. But I do not recommend using plastic pop can rings or synthetic yarn because rubber or silicone rings and cotton yarn are more heat proof. Nor is her stitch count right to work with rubber rings. I counted 55 stitches in the joining ring on my sample project. I chained 57 and worked a double crochet into the third stitch from the hook, and double crocheted to the end of the chain, counting 55 stitches. Somehow I ended up with an extra chain, so maybe you should only chain 56? Anyway, I worked it in when I joined the ends. Leave a long tail when you fasten off the end to use in stitching the ends together.

Now for the really challenging part - weaving the band through the rings. You might follow what she does in the video. It might make more sense than the mess I have in the picture above. She does hers in a row and then bends it around to form a circle. You just have to make sure that you overlap the two end circles correctly and weave in the right direction. Please don't join the ends as she does in the video. Leave a long tail when you fasten off the last stitch and use a yarn needle and stitch the ends together. Then work the ends in. You should never just tie a knot. 
You've basically just made a Celtic knot. 

Finally finish the edge of the hot mat with single crochet in the back loops of 17 double crochet on the outside edge of each of the 6 circles. Join with a slip stitch to the first single crochet, finish off and work ends in. 
Admittedly, using variegated yarn makes it look messier than using solid yarn because you can't see as readily where the loops are going. But it's still pretty. 
Since I had 6 more rings in the box, I decided to make another one, only this time I decided to make the 7th ring/joining band more of a circle instead of just a flat band. In other words, wider on the outside edge than on the inside edge. Here's how I did it:

• Ch 51, not including slip knot (52 stitches including slip knot)
• In 3rd chain from hook, dc 
• 1 dc in each of next 7 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch
  
• 1 dc in each of next 9 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch - repeat to end of row

Basically, you should increase one every 10 stitches. There should now be 55 stitches, but don't blame me if it doesn't work because I'm not a crochet pattern designer. 
I liked this technique better, but care must be taken when weaving the band through the rings as it tends to stretch. And this is true using either technique for making the band. I suppose I could reduce the number of stitches (50 maybe instead of 55?), but I would be concerned if I should ever wash it and the yarn shrank. And it's just not that significant to keep experimenting. 
And this second time, I decided to try lining the rings up in a row to weave in the joining band, like in the video. For me, that was a bad mistake. I ended up making a couple of mistakes and had already stitched the band together before I realized it. I was able to snip it apart, realign the trivet correctly, and stitch the band back together again. Hopefully, it won't unravel sometime down the road. And I also ended up with the rings overlapping in a counterclockwise direction, and I think it looks neater in a clockwise direction, like the first one, and my sample one. 

Regardless, it's done, I've finally completed a project that's been waiting for years, I've used up some of my yarn stash, and they both look pretty. And I will likely put these in my camping equipment, as I don't think I have any trivets in there. I'm hoping to go camping with my daughter and grandson soon, if the rain ever stops long enough. 
If you have any questions about my techniques, please just message me using the contact form in the right sidebar. Or comment on this post. 

Whimsy

Whimsy:

a fanciful or fantastic device, object, or creation especially in writing or art
(Merriam-Webster)

I think I may have mentioned before that our local quilt shop has closed. Sad, but nothing I could do about it. My nearest quilt shop is now in a smaller community about 20 minutes drive away, which is not bad when you consider that you can be living in a large city and and take at least that long to get to your local quilt shop. But since I no longer drive outside of town during the winter, I guess I  will no longer be visiting a quilt shop in person once the snow flies. 
So, I visited my nearest quilt shop recently and, as usual, headed to the clearance section. That's where I found this border stripe print. 

It says: 
    Open your heart and soul.
    Seek wonderment.
    Embrace whimsy. 
    Envision good things.
    Dream and make it real. 
I really liked it, the colours, the funky design, but I wasn't sure what to do with it. What does one do with border stripes, besides backing or Triangle Frenzy table runners? Then the clerk in the shop showed me some of the quilts where they used border prints, separated into the individual stripes, alternated with simple rectangles of coordinating fabrics. And I thought that was a cool idea - simple and quick yet still attractive.  
And then I thought that I could get enough of the border print to use in a queen-sized quilt top for my bed. I do have several more complex patterns that I intend to make for my bed. Some day. But this way I could make a fairly quick quilt and finally have one of my own quilts for my bed. 
I did some calculations, determining what size and width I wanted the different fabric rectangles (I hadn't taken any measurements on any of the ones in the shop), and utilized my Quilt Pro 6 software to design a layout and calculate yardage. And on my first quilt shop hop with a couple of friends from the Lutheran church crafting group, I took the border print fabric along with me. Once again, I hit the bargain section and came up with some blender fabrics that look good with it. 

I love the colours, but initially I felt that the design was quite boring. You may recall that I like to challenge myself with complex quilt blocks and designs, and this just wasn't meeting my expectations. I felt better about it once I put the borders on as it seemed to help make the quilt top more cohesive. But I determined to use a more complex quilting design since the design of the quilt was so simple. 

And I chose New Delhi #2, a fun and funky design that I felt suited the vibe of the border print. 

I chose this large pansy print for the backing. While I wouldn't normally want anyone to say that the back of a quilt I'd made is prettier than the front, in this case, I think it may be true. 
Now, if only it would stop raining long enough for me to get all of my bedding (blanket, comforter, pillows, etc.) washed and on the line to dry. Then I will make up the bed with this quilt on top. Meanwhile, I'm sleeping in the basement bedroom, where I already have one of my own quilts on the bed. 



 
 

Starburst

 

This one, I was really tempted to keep. But I've been wanting to make a quilt for this particular friend for quite a number of years. Finally, her 60th birthday gave me the impetus to get it done.
I originally started an alternate quilt for her. But then Kim Caskey shared Ricky Tim's Kool Kaleidoscope (videos can also be found on YouTube) and I decided to try that instead. I bought the requisite 20 fabrics for the kaleidoscope part, which then just sat there while other projects took priority. Eventually, I was also able to find the book somewhere, either at a thrift store or among the used books being sold at a local quilt shop. Finally, I was invited to share this friend's 60th birthday celebrations, and that was the motivation I needed. 
Initially, I had 3 Christmas fabrics in the collection I was saving for this project, but decided that that wasn't going to work. This had to be an every day quilt, not a Christmas quilt, and, while the pieces may have ended up too small to be significant, I didn't want to take the risk. So, I moved those three to my stash of Christmas fabrics, and picked three alternates from my stash. I ended up using 19 of the collection of 20 fabrics in my kaleidoscope, and then had to decide what to do to make it into a throw-sized quilt. Because the centre looks like a star, I decided to make it a supernova, with a "night sky" background, and adding a few extra stars on the bottom. I ordered an appropriate background and border fabric online and prayed it would arrive on time. It did, actually several days before the expected arrival date, thank God. I considered adding rays or "arms" made from the remnants of the strata (the fabric strips sewn together to make the kaleidoscope), but when I put them on the design wall, it just didn't look good. So, I decided instead to just square off the kaleidoscope with background fabric. 

I made the stars for the bottom part of the quilt out of leftovers from the fabrics used in the kaleidoscope.
In spite of the fact that Ricky Tims says in his video that many people say they're not happy with their results, I've been happy with mine from the start. But when I was ready for the border fabric - a blue and purple batik with gold metallic stars printed on it, I cut a couple of strips and put them on the design wall beside the quilt top and it did not make me happy. I felt that the stars were too busy and distracted from the kaleidoscope. So, I chose instead to just complete the remainder of the quilt top with the background fabric, especially since I had ordered enough. And I'm very happy with that decision. I also chose to use the same fabric for the binding. 
For the quilting, I continued the star theme and used Becker's Shooting Star. 

The backing is actually a much deeper, richer brown than this. And it's minky dot, of course, so it will be nice and snuggly for her. And I called it Starburst.
The final quilt ended up about 50" by 70", so a good sized throw. 

Sophia's Backpack

 

I've been wanting to make my daughter one of these backpacks for several years. I've had the fabric and hardware, but just didn't take the time to do it. Finally, I planned on making Damian's Travel Bag and Sophia's backpack for this past Christmas, but I didn't get either of them finished on time. Well, finally both of them are finished! 
If you've been following my blog, you've seen this backpack pattern before. It's the Sew Sturdy Essential Backpack pattern, found on the Craftsy platform. You can buy the class or just the pattern. I've used it twice before: first for my grandson, and second as an insulated backpack for carrying lunches. Now, it was finally my daughter's turn. 
I do like the final product when I make bags, and a lot of the process, but putting it all together makes me wonder why I continue to make bags. Such a lot of hassle stitching through the multiple layers - I still can't comprehend how people make bags using heavier materials, like upholstery fabric or vinyl. Nevertheless, it's finished. And my daughter has already made a request for a sewing machine cover, so I'm not escaping bag-making yet (though technically, that will not be a bag). 
And I'm continuing my bread making adventures.

I made the cottage loaf, which made for a very interesting presentation. Not a bad bread, but interesting as to how one actually eats a loaf like this.

I also made the Split Tin loaf, though my split filled in rather quickly and is not as pronounced as the picture in the book. Both of these breads are from the British Breads section in The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making. 

And finally, I made the Naturally Leavened Sourdough Bread. It, too, turned out fine, though I have yet to figure out the best storage option for my bread. It gets rather hard in the fridge, but I don't generally eat it quickly enough to keep it from getting moldy outside of the fridge. Perhaps I should consider cutting loaves in half and freezing half. 
And that leads me to my freezers, which are overly full. I did get the smaller one defrosted and a little better organized. I have three bags of UFOs (unidentified frozen objects) and "use soon" items. My plan is to take out one or two items out at a time, determine what they are and decide whether to use them or compost them. I took out one unlabelled container and it turned out to be pizza sauce. I managed to use up my sourdough starter discard and made 3 batches of pizzas. That's 3 - 10" pizzas per recipe. I actually staggered my starting time for each recipe, so that I wouldn't have to be making all 9 pizzas at once, especially since I only have 3 - 10" pizza pans. But somehow, even though I started each recipe an hour after the previous one, they managed to catch up with each other. However, I got them all made, and into the freezer. 

Vegan pastrami, green peppers and pineapple

I made a huge batch of veggie cheese sauce that I figured would be enough for all 9 pizzas. But it was quite thick, and not very spreadable, so it only lasted for the first two batches. 

broccoli, vegan pepperoni and red onion

Next time I use that particular recipe, I think I may try adding more liquid. Fortunately, I did have some commercial vegan cheese shreds in the freezer, so I was able to use that for my final batch of pizzas. 

garlic soy chunks, garlic and olives

By the time it came to this last batch, I had run out of space on my cooling racks, and these pizzas were placed on the back of a large cookie sheet. 
And the pizzas have already come in handy when I failed to plan ahead and/or ran out of energy by mealtime.
I also found a pie crust and enough cooked sweet potato in the freezer to make a sweet potato pecan pie for Easter. 

I wanted to try something different for an entree, so I did an internet search for vegan Easter recipes and found a recipe for Lentil Wellington. I was planning on purchasing puff pastry and the website for my local grocery store said that they had it in stock, but after searching every freezer, I had to give up and decide on an alternate. 

I made it into a pie instead. I used a whole wheat pie crust recipe that I hadn't tried before and it was too crumbly. It was still tasty, and so was the filling, but it barely stayed together. 

And of course, I made hot cross buns. Originally, I was going to use a recipe from the King Arthur Baking website, but it called for both yeast and baking powder. That just seemed really weird to me. So, I pulled out my old Purity cookbook and modified their recipe. I made them out of white whole wheat flour and substituted mixed dried fruit for the candied peel (which I find disgusting). They turned out quite nice, but I've got to stop making such large recipes, especially when there's no room in the freezers. And they do tend to get dry and hard in the fridge. 

Leaven

 "Then Jesus said unto them, 'Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees'."
Matthew 16:6

leaven: noun, archaic a substance added to dough to make it ferment and rise, esp. yeast, or fermenting dough reserved for the purpose (Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd Edition)

I've been messing around with sourdough for some time now, with mixed results.  It does make it more challenging that I choose to use 100% whole grain flour, as a general rule, and the majority of the recipes I try are meant for 100% white flour (or unbleached). And I seldom add the extra moisture that I should, (since whole wheat absorbs more moisture than white flour) because I'm leery of a dough that's too sticky. And many of the recipes are what I call "cheater" sourdough - adding a little commercial yeast to boost the effects of the starter. I have since discovered that sourdough purists refer to this as "sourfaux", a term that can encompass anything more in the ingredients than just flour, water, salt and sourdough starter. 
Recently, in a Sourdough group on Facebook, someone commented that it was impossible to make a 100% whole wheat sourdough bread, that it would turn out like a brick. Challenge accepted. I used this No-Knead Sourdough Bread recipe, which again was made for white flour. But I used 100% whole wheat. The purists would be happy that I didn't add the optional diastatic malt (though I might have if I had some), so this loaf was definitely not sourfaux. Water, flour, salt and sourdough starter were the only ingredients, and look how it turned out. 

And guess what? I didn't break any teeth on it, so it did not turn out like a brick. Yes, it had more "body" than a white loaf would have had, but that's to be expected with a 100% whole grain loaf without additives to make it soft like store-bought bread. Look at that beautiful open crumb! And maybe it's a little flatter than if I'd used white flour, but I'm still pretty much a newbie when it comes to sourdough, so I continue to learn.  And I'm proud of how this bread turned out.  
Meanwhile, I ordered a baguette pan, and decided to give it a try. 

I'm not that fond of baguettes, but I'm actually looking for a recipe that will work for submarine sandwiches. I wasn't that thrilled with the results. I found a recipe for sourdough baguettes as well as a recipe for whole wheat baguettes. Overachiever that I tend to be, I decided to try both recipes. The sourdough recipe makes 6 baguettes, or 3 Italian loaves (don't ask me how the same dough can be both French, as in baguettes, and Italian), and the whole wheat recipe makes 3. I'm not really sure what I was planning on doing with 9 baguettes, when I don't even like them all that well. But I did it anyway, deciding to make 3 baguettes and one large "Italian" loaf from the sourdough recipe.

I didn't have a clue what I was doing when it came to shaping them, so to me they look more like misshapen, oversized bread sticks. But again, they had a nice open crumb like sourdough is supposed to have. 

When I slashed the whole wheat loaves, they started to deflate. So when it came to the sourdough loaves, I didn't bother slashing them. Or was it the other way around. Anyway, I ate the large loaf (not all at once) and cut the baguettes into thick slices and put them in the freezer for use in French Onion Soup. I watched a video on how to actually form baguettes and was slightly more successful with the second batch. 

Almost ready for the oven

Once baked, I was planning on turning this batch into croutons, but didn't get around to it, and I've just eaten them with my meals, particularly with soup. I may try serving baguettes with fondue sometime. And I do need to try a vegan French Onion Soup for use with the other baguettes currently in my freezer.
I'm still searching for a good submarine sandwich roll/bread/bun.
But I do want to comment on the text I shared at the top of this post. First, however, a little history.  This is taken from "Jesus and His Times", published by Reader's Digest, 1987: "As for her duties as provider of meals, a wife had to grind grain, bake bread, milk the goats, and make cheese and curds. These daily tasks began around daybreak. To grind the grain she used either a mortar and pestle or a hand mill, which consisted of two stones. The lower stone held the grain, and the upper stone was rubbed or rolled across the bed of grain to make flour. Next, she mixed the coarse meal with water, salt and a little fermented dough saved from the previous day's bread making as a leavening agent." So, in Israel in Bible times, they made sourdough bread. 
If you've ever started your own sourdough starter, then you're likely aware that you can have a bad batch. For me, this time around I had to dump the first batch I tried because it developed a mold smell. Not what sourdough starter should smell like, so into the compost it went. But in the Bible text, Jesus is not warning that the Pharisees and Sadducees had a bad batch of starter. Down in verse 12, the disciples realized He was talking about their doctrine or teachings. Well, we may not have literal Pharisees and Sadducees around, but it's still a good principle to apply to our daily lives. We need to be careful about what we read, see or hear, because, like leaven, it can permeate our whole lives and change us into something we may not have been able to predict. Another piece of advice that Jesus gives is "Ye shall know them by their fruits." Matthew 7:16, or as the New Century Version puts it, "You will know these people by what they do." Sometimes, we need to take a step back and give ourselves time to evaluate the "fruit" of what we're hearing, as is evidenced in the lives of those who are teaching it, and others who are listening as well. Has it made them better, more productive members of society, more loving and giving? Sometimes, it can take awhile for the fruit to develop, so it's always best to be cautious when hearing new "truth". For me, I choose to follow the Bible's advice found in Isaiah 8:20, "To the law and to the testimony (the Bible)! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." NKJV. I need to be familiar with the Bible and open it and study it to know whether what someone is teaching is consistent with the truth of God's word, "that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting". Ephesians 4:14 NKJV.

Forever Canadian

I'm a patriotic Canadian, always have been and likely will be until this earthly life ends. And so the current threats to our sovereignty from both the United States president and the Alberta separatist movement have upset me and exacerbated my anxiety. But when the going gets tough, the quilters get quilting. And so I set aside my other projects and proceeded with a plan that I've had percolating for over a year now.
It started as an idea on graph paper and then I moved it into Quilt Pro 6, so that I could play with colours/fabrics. Originally, I had submitted the idea to a magazine as a possible Quilt of Valour. Of course, the magazine was from the United States, so they weren't necessarily interested in a maple leaf design. Nor do I have sufficient followers on social media to make publishing my designs profitable. Or whatever their reasons were, my design was rejected. I then modified the design to make it "landscape" instead of "portrait" (it had a single strip of HSTs both above and below the maple leaf, instead of on the sides) and eventually decided I could add a couple more strips of HSTs on each end to make it a twin bed sized quilt. But without them, it would still make a great QOV, and I have actually considered offering the design to Quilts of Valour Canada. But I'm not a famous quilt designer and don't know if they would be interested, and maybe I'll see if I can profit from it personally instead. 
My design plan was to use a red-themed layer cake, utilizing what I call the "quick quad" method, where you stitch two 10" squares, right sides together, ¼" seams on all 4 sides, and then cut it diagonally in both directions. Yes, you end up with all bias edges, but it's a quick and easy way to make 4 HSTs at once. You just have to be careful not to stretch the edges when working with them. Nevertheless, it can be very difficult to find an all-red-themed layer cake. No problem - I had sufficient red fabric in my stash, mostly left over from Log Canada, but I had some from some other projects as well. 
With our national Flag Day (February 15) coming up and our current political situation, I was suddenly motivated to get this quilt made. And I started cutting red fabrics. And solid white, of course. 

Meanwhile, I've been studying our denomination's Sabbath School lesson (can be found at Sabbath School Net), which is currently on the Bible books of Philippians and Colossians. The lesson for February 7-13 is titled, "A Heavenly Citizenship" and the memory verse is:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6 NKJV

And the verses following have this to say:

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Philippians 4:7.8 NKJV

These verses gave me some definite admonitions to follow and promises to claim. And the introduction seemed to be written specifically with me in mind: 

"Even when things don't go the way we would like, which happens more often than we would like, we don't need to be worried or anxious or discouraged. Instead, there are principles that will help us find inner strength to face the challenges that life brings, and thus we can experience a settled and lasting peace that only God can give. The present and the future are in His hands, and He will supply everything we need.

"Most important, we need not place our hopes in earthly systems of government, which regularly disappoint us. As Christians, we are citizens of God's heavenly kingdom."
(Extracted February 7/2026 from A Heavenly Citizenship - Sabbath School Lesson 07, 1st Qtr 2026, emphasis mine)
So, yes, I recognize that, even though I remain a patriotic Canadian, I need to focus more on where my true citizenship lies, and that my KIng is still sovereign of the universe, no matter what happens to the nations of this world. And claim for myself that "peace that surpasses all understanding" that He promises. 

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27 NKJV

And yes, I did get the quilt finished in time for Flag Day. And I did have some challenges with the bias edges, but managed to make it work. I chose Maple Grove for the pantograph. 

In hindsight, maybe I should have used Maple Syrup. 

Maple Syrup pantograph on Log Canada quilt

The designs are quite similar, but I don't think Maple Syrup is as "crowded". Or maybe it just looks that way because the white spaces are so much larger in the Forever Canadian quilt. 
Anyway, I did write up the pattern for the Forever Canadian quilt, so if you're interested, message me via the contact form in the right column. I'll be charging $12 for a PDF pattern, and I include instructions for both the throw size (76"x64" - appropriate for QOV) and the twin bed size (100"x64"). As I do not have an online shop, and likely won't unless my quilt designing suddenly "takes off", payment will be via e-transfer or PayPal (if I can figure that out) and I will send the pattern via email. 

2 Days of Baking and Very Sore Feet

Baking - especially bread baking - can be very demanding and time-consuming. And very hard on the feet, because it involves a lot of standing. I've had bad feet pretty much my entire life. Plantar fasciitis, according to the podiatrist, although I'm inclined to believe that that has become a catchall phrase for any foot pain not explained by other causes. I've tried orthotics and various shoes, but nothing really helps. As a matter of fact, the orthotics and some expensive shoes have actually made the pain worse. Various insoles, various footwear, and I'm still stuck with foot pain. And it's only gotten worse as I've aged and put on weight. I really don't remember having foot pain as a child, but I do remember having to roll a pop bottle with my feet. Supposedly, the exercise was beneficial, although at that time it wasn't being called plantar fasciitis. So, it can limit how much I can do that requires standing. And after 2 days in the kitchen, I'm ready to return to my craft studio, where it might require some standing - at the ironing board, at the cutting table and at the longarm, but mostly I get to alternate between sitting and standing. Except when I'm on the longarm. 
Unfortunately, I still don't have anything to eat, other than pancakes and other bread products. I decided to make something with my sourdough starter, Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls, but that required reactivating my starter, which produced more discard. And I didn't want to get into the situation where I had an overabundance of discard in my fridge again. So, on Monday I made Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread and Sourdough English Muffins. 

I remembered when I made the bread previously that I found that it tended to separate around the filling because it was made as a roll. This time I decided to just add the filling to the bread dough. Unfortunately, I probably could have left out the flax egg and extra water, as it wasn't incorporating well into the dough and the dough was too soft. So I added more flour. Then it was too stiff, then I added a little more water. I haven't tasted it yet, but it looks and smells good. 

I've also made the English muffins before, and tried to just approximate when I divided the dough. This time I chose to use the scale and ended up with more uniform sized muffins. And the taste and texture is fine. But next time I will make sure to have the pan prepared (not for cooking but for setting the muffins out to rise) because the dough started drying out while I was weighing the individual pieces. And I think I will flatten them more before allowing them to rise. 
That evening, I stirred up the sponge for another batch of pancakes. I normally use whole wheat pastry flour for these, and occasionally hard white wheat flour, both of which have lower gluten content than hard red wheat. But hard red wheat flour was all I had ground and by that time I was too tired to grind any more. Plus I've also been using mostly hard red wheat flour in feeding the starter, with some occasional rye. So my starter has been thicker than when using all purpose white flour. With thicker starter and higher gluten flour, my resulting pancake batter was quite viscous. But it worked. It just made thicker pancakes than normal. 

That was yesterday for breakfast. And the starter was ready for the cinnamon rolls. But I also decided to make pizza again, using up some of the discard. And I hoped to make some biscuits as well. But I never got to the biscuits. In between messing with the dough for both cinnamon rolls and pizza crust, I also made my own vegan pepperoni crumbles (from the Vegan Pizza cookbook) and Melty Cheese (from Give Them Something Better), plus the filling and the icing for the cinnamon rolls. I had to rehydrate some brown sugar for the filling. I over-watered it and that could be why mine didn't spread out as nicely as in the website picture. Either that or they "cheated" and made more filling than the recipe said. And that pretty much took up my whole day. I grabbed a few handfuls of peanuts and that tied me over until the pizza was ready to eat. 

In addition to the pepperoni and "cheese", I topped the pizzas with a store-bought sauce, spinach, onion and kalamata olives. Yummy! I made three 10" pizzas this time and it worked fine with the sourdough pizza crust recipe that I've used before. I ate one and put the other two in the freezer. Each of these pizzas fit perfectly into a large freezer bag. I covered the tops with waxed paper to keep the cheese from sticking to the inside of the bag. 

I had a cinnamon roll with my breakfast this morning. I think the bread part could have been a little moister, but otherwise, it was fine. Most of these will go into the freezer. I just have to figure out how to do that without loosing most of the frosting. 
I wish my daughter and grandson lived closer. Then I could drop off some of my baking for them to enjoy. 
Maybe I'll make biscuits today, but I definitely should make the curry. And hopefully get into the craft studio. The only crafting I've done in the past couple of days was sealing the edges (stitching ⅛" from all edges) of the quilted pieces for my daughter's backpack. 
 

The Ulitmate Travel Bag

My grandson's bag is finished and I'm glad. Bags are a lot of work, and the worst part is sewing the front and back to the side strip. So Many Layers! On the one side where the binding on the inside front mesh pocket lined up with the binding on the seam joining the zipper strip with the side strip, I had to stitch by turning the hand wheel by hand. Otherwise the needle just stuck and the machine vibrated because it couldn't force its way through all of that bulk. Fortunately, I was able to keep stitching by rotating the hand wheel. And I had to go over that seam three times: once to stitch the pieces together, then to attach the binding, then to fold the binding over the seam and attach it to the other side. Also fortunately, these two bindings didn't end up lining up perfectly on the other side, so I was able to stitch through them, slowly. But the most challenging part was attaching the back because I already had all of the bulk of the front attached. It was quite unwieldy and didn't "scrunch" very readily to force it under the presser foot. I'm still puzzled how on earth people can sew bags made using home dec fabric when I find it so challenging sewing bags with quilting cotton. Maybe they have industrial machines. I don't think my heavy duty Singer could do it, but maybe if I had a heavy duty Janome. 
I actually considered getting dragon zipper pull charms for the zippers on this bag. When I first looked for them, I found some on Amazon, but the shipping was as much or more than the cost of the item. Then when I just looked for dragon zipper charms, I was able to find some that would ship free with the minimum purchase ($35), and I could get 24 of them for $11.99, far better than the $5 or $6 or more each plus shipping that the other ones cost. But, as they were just charms, I would also have to buy some hardware to attach them to the zipper pulls. And I only need 4 of them. I'm not sure what I'd do with the other 20, especially since I don't intend to get into jewelry making. I don't even wear jewelry. I was also concerned that the charms could get caught on something too easily, so I just opted to use the fabric pulls. 

This is the bag after attaching the front and back. I don't remember if I mentioned that my grandson picked the fabric. I actually really like all of the fabrics he chose, but it might have been better if there weren't so much contrast between them so I didn't have to keep changing threads. Nevertheless, it's done and, as I suspected, it was nearly impossible to turn it right side out with the stabilizer already in the sleeve. And I did end up bending one corner of the foam core. I think making a separate sleeve, like I did for the laptop carrier bag, and inserting it after turning the bag right side out would have worked much better. As I mentioned before, if Damian wants me to replace the foam core board with plastic canvas, I will do so. And since it's not as rigid, the bag will be turned more easily. 
I ate the last of my Roasted Veggie Fajitas for lunch today. I also used some of the Not Refried Beans in a Breakfast Burrito with Tofu Scramble. I'll discuss them more when I review the cookbook that they're in. The recipe made 4 burritos and I froze three as per the instructions in the cookbook. Except that the instructions said to wrap them in paper towel and then foil. Then, when you want to reheat them, remove the foil and put them in the microwave in the paper towel. I couldn't understand why I shouldn't just use plastic wrap rather than foil. It would have been different if they were going to go into the oven. So, I just used plastic wrap. I also took the rest of the beans and some of the Spanish rice and, together with some cooked veggies, made up a couple of dinner trays to put in the freezer. They're in divided plastic containers, and I checked the bottom of the containers and there is no microwave symbol, so I'll have to dump the food onto a plate if I want to heat it up in the microwave. I still have a little of the rice left, but I'm planning on making a curry, so will use it up with that. I don't really like my leftovers to be around for longer than a week so they don't go bad, unless I freeze them. 
I fed my sourdough a couple of times on Friday, so I now have a total of 3½ cups of discard in my fridge, so I need to do something with it soon. I'm thinking of making pizza again, only this time trying 3 small pizzas, and I can probably freeze 2. I also need to make a regular batch of bread. I've used up all of the loaves I bought at Costco. The multigrain sourdough boule is finished and I'm working on the Whole Wheat and Rye sourdough bread and I still have the Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread in the freezer. So, I will need more bread soon. And I have one Sourdough Tortilla left. I was using them for the fajitas, but I've used up all the filling now. I used storebought tortillas for the breakfast burritos as they needed to be larger. 
And now I need to get my daughter's backpack made. But I may take a break from bag-making. It's pretty labour intensive. And I do have 2 or three 3-yard quilts to make.  
Just about forgot, here is the link for The Ultimate Travel Bag Class and here is the link for just the pattern. 

That Didn't Last Long

It's only what? the second or third post? and I'm already bored with daily blog posts, so I don't think this is going to be an ongoing thing. It's kind of like keeping a very public diary, or journal. I'd rather be crafting than blogging anyway, so maybe I'll try and blog weekly??? We'll see.
It was craft day at the Lutheran church today. I had recently tried a dish scrubber made with Red Heart Scrubby Sparkle and I really liked it. It's great for the things like non-stick pans that you shouldn't use a more aggressive scrubber on. It doesn't fall apart readily like those plastic mesh dish scrubbers do. And it can be thrown in the laundry. So I brought along some very yellow Scrubby Sparkle yarn and made another one. 

I hadn't brought a yarn needle with me, so I still need to work the ends in. 
After that, I started working on a current quilt project. I seem to be making a lot of mistakes lately, but more when I'm at the church. Of course, I'm used to working at home by myself, so have few distractions. But at the church, I have lots of people to chat with, view their work and share mine. A great bunch and I enjoy going there, so if it costs me a few more mistakes, that's the price I pay for the socialization. 

I managed to sew the third row on upside down. After rectifying that. I began to assemble the fourth row, only to put two of the blocks together incorrectly. By that time, it was time to pack up and head home, so I will deal with that next week. I've already ripped out the stitches between the two offending blocks. And honestly, the colours in this quilt are much prettier in person. It's more aqua/teal and navy than grey and black. I wish my cell phone camera would exhibit more accurate colours. Sometimes I try to adjust the colours in the photo editor, but I can never seem to get it to what I see in real life. And sometimes, my editing just makes it worse. 
Went out for lunch today with a bunch of friends from my former work. It was a planned event, so I called the restaurant a couple of days ago to request a vegan meal. They gave me a handful of sautéed vegetables and a salad consisting of just leaf lettuce (plus there was one raisin in the bottom of the salad bowl, which I assume was a mistake) drenched in a very sweet balsamic dressing. And when I say "drenched", I mean it. I think there was about a tablespoon of dressing left in the bottom of the bowl when I finished my salad. I said to the friend sitting beside me that I understood why she had asked for her dressing on the side. I was kind of surprised and disappointed. And hungry! The previous time I was there, they gave me rice and some cooked veggies in a tomato sauce of some sort. I don't remember if it was a curry, but it was very tasty and much more substantial than what I had today. Maybe they've got a new cook. I don't feel that they overcharged me for my meal today, however. And I'm not going to stop going to that restaurant. The only time I go there is for these get-togethers and it's probably the best option in town for a crowd that size. And I'm not going to stop getting together with these friends. Maybe I'll sneak in a veggie burger next time. 😂
Now, it's supper time. If I do any crafting this evening, it will be a yarn project that I can work on in my living room. I'm tired and I don't feel I have the brain power to work on the travel bag.

Thread Choices and Bag Progress

 

After trimming the front and back and rounding the corners on the Ultimate Travel Bag, I was rummaging through the pieces to find what came next when I realized I still hadn't done the bag stabilizer sleeve. When was that supposed to be sewn in? I had the impression that it needed to be done after the buttons, but so much time had elapsed since I paused the project in order to purchase buttons that once I got the buttons sewn on, I just skipped to the next stage without watching that whole video. I didn't figure I needed to watch the instructor sew on buttons by machine when I intended to sew them on by hand, and I had forgotten about the sleeve. Fortunately, I hadn't started putting the bag together, aside from the side and zipper strips. So it was still workable to fit the sleeve in. When I made my grandson's laptop carrier bag, the stabilizer sleeve was separate, sewn as a wide tube into which was inserted the stabilizer, and it was then put into the bottom of the bag. But this one is just one side sewn - not a tube - into the bottom of the bag and the stabilizer is to be inserted once the bag is finished. I'm waiting to see how that turns out. And my stabilizer choice is different this time as well. The pattern recommends plexiglass, foam core board or heavy cardboard, as it did for the laptop bag. And I really didn't like any of those options. Plexiglass seems too rigid and heavy - not to mention expensive (not that bag making is cheap). And I also had concerns about how sharp the edges might be and whether it would wear through the fabric. And the other options just didn't seem very durable to me. I opted instead to use plastic canvas. I was going to use that again for the travel bag, but opted instead to try the foam core board. We'll see how that goes. If Damian decides he doesn't like it, I can always replace it with plastic canvas. Personally, I've never worked with foam core board before. 
But back to the sleeve - it had to be finished with a ¼" folded hem on each end, and then stitched into the bottom of the bag with a ⅛' seam along both sides. Since the zipper strip was already in place, I skipped placement markings and just centred it between where I had attached the pockets. When I attempted to sew down the hems, I had the regular needle plate on my machine (I was using the Janome 8200, so I didn't have to change the thread and bobbin on the 6000 - that's one of the advantages of having more than one sewing machine), and the hem ended up forced down through the hole and got stuck there. I wasn't sure what was holding it there, but I couldn't get it out. I opened the bobbin compartment, removed the bobbin and snipped the bobbin thread. That didn't help. Then I snipped the upper thread, also didn't help. I removed the bobbin case, then the insert that fits around the machine in its table and then popped off the needle plate. I then had a needle plate attached to the stabilizer sleeve. I had to pick out some threads in order to release the bunched fabric and was finally able to remove the needle plate from the stabilizer sleeve. And then I switched to the straight stitch needle plate and finished the hems. I then switched the bobbin thread to black to coordinate with the outside fabric and completed the ⅛" seams. I'm beginning to feel that this bag has created just too many adventures. 

And on the subject of thread, I have 3 different-coloured threads that I'm using with this project (plus a couple that I used on the longarm). 

The two large cones on the left are the threads I used on the longarm: Bright Gold in the bobbin and Aqua on top. The others are used on the sewing machines.

And I have bobbins in each colour as well, so that the thread matches whatever colour fabric it will show on. And that means that I have often been sewing with different colours on top and in the bobbin. And I've been constantly switching back and forth, depending on what part of the project I'm working on. But since I do have several machines, I don't know why I don't just leave one colour in each of three machines and just switch the bobbins when necessary. However, the end is in sight, and I don't think I'll need to use the gold thread any more. 
I got the bias binding cut into strips, but I've run out of steam, so it can wait for another day to get stitched together. I opted to use 2½" strips as I've used 2¼" bias binding on bags before and it was really a stretch to wrap it around all of that bulk in the seams. I also will be pressing my binding. While the instructor recommends pinning it because she says that pressing it gives her wrinkles and creases that she doesn't like, I have not found this to be the case and I have found pinning my binding for previous bag projects from the same instructor to be cumbersome and annoying. Not to mention the fact that any time I use pins, I can pretty much guarantee that I will get poked. And I also tried using my quilt clips on the binding instead of pins and that gets pretty heavy... Besides most of this binding will be on the inside of the bag, so what's a few wrinkles and creases where no one sees them, even if they actually did happen? 

Sleep Aids and Other Laughing Matters

Did you know that there are bloggers that blog every day or almost every day? I was wondering how that was possible. What do they find to talk about? And where do they find the time? My post from yesterday took me about 2 hours to write, and many have taken longer. Do I have 2 hours a day to write a blog post? Or will it take less time because I will have less to say if I'm posting daily instead of sporadically? I decided to try it and find out. I could spend less time "doom-scrolling" and watching time-wasting videos on YouTube. So here goes. 

In yesterday's post, I mentioned my insomnia. One of my friends suggested a couple of things: the sleep patches in the above picture and a supplement for anxiety. I tend to react (side effects, adverse reactions) to a lot of medications and supplements, so I was reluctant to try them. But they weren't that expensive and I finallly decided to give them a try and ordered them. I chose to try one at a time so if I had a reaction, I would know which one it was. So far, I've just been trying the sleep patches. I don't think I mentioned in yesterday's post that I had woken up around 2:30-ish in the morning and started writing that post sometime after 4:00. Ditto for today. So, I don't really think they're helping. The package suggests that you use them consistently for 14 days to realize their full effect... if I can remember to use them consistently. I finally left them out on the bathroom counter as a reminder, but even that doesn't always help. The package also says to apply it about an hour before bedtime. Sometimes I remember to do that, and sometimes not. One day I distinctly remembered removing it in the morning, but later in the day when I was scratching my upper back/shoulder area, I felt something suspiciously soft and slighlty squishy that wasn't my shirt (the patches are foam). Yes, there was another patch there. Had I put one on one hour before bedtime last night and then, forgetting I had already applied one, applied a second one at bedtime? Or was it still on there from the night before? Another day, I was also scratching my back, this time around my waistband and found one that I had neglected to remove that morning. I decided not to put one on that evening since I had been wearing one for most of the day. I guess it would help if I consistently showered in the morning, but since retiring, sometimes it's later in the day, and sometimes I skip a day. I obviously cannot be trusted with patches. 
And then there are the nasal strips. I found these in the dollar store and decided to give them a try. I couldn't figure out how a "band-aid" on the outside of my nose could help me breathe and keep me from snoring. I have bad environmental allergies, so have constant congestion and am a mouth-breather as a result. And I have constant dry mouth and throat. So, I decided that, at dollar store prices, it was worth a try. 
These strips have a very strong band that, when applied to the nose, pull up and out, supposedly opening the nasal passages. I tried it once, found it rather uncomfortable and didn't notice any improvment in my sleep or my dry mouth. A couple of nights ago, I decided to try one again. I applied it too far down my nose, so I moved it up. And then it didn't want to stick. I pressed it down as best as possible and went to bed. 
I am not a sleep walker, but I do remember a time when I had finished crocheting some mittens shortly before going to bed. I put them on the dresser near my bed. In the morning, I found them on my bed and that was the only reason I remembered sitting up and putting them on during the night. So, something similar happened when I was wearing the nasal strip. I removed it, found it was sticking to my fingers and attempted to drop it over the side of the bed. This time I remembered doing it, and found it on the bed beside my pillow. I guess I can't be trusted with nasal strips either. 😄
Remember I mentioned making a sampler quilt with all of the Bachelor's Puzzle and Old Maid's Puzzle quilt blocks? Out of curiosity, I decided to check out BlockBase+ to see how many were there. Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, on which BlockBase+ is based, is not as extensive as Beyer's Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns. I did a search for "Bachelor's Puzzle" and came up with several blocks, but when I searched for "Old Maid's Puzzle", the program shut down. I tried it several times with the same result. I tried restarting my computer, I tried checking for updates, but it kept happening. When I searched for "old maid" and finally "old maids puzzle" without the apostrophe, I was able to get the blocks successfully without the program shutting down. I did report it to Electric Quilter, the producers of BlockBase+, and they reported back that they were able to replicate the "bug" and had forwarded the problem to their development team. So at least I know it wasn't just me, or my computer... But what a bizarre thing!

I managed to get the front and back of the travel bag finished, aside from the shaping/trimming. Yesterday morning, I was working on the front and was at the point where I was ready to put the mesh pocket on the inside of the front. Reviewing the video, the instructor said to remember if you have directional fabric to make sure it was going in the right direction. I double checked and mine was not! The dragon scales were pointing up instead of down. 😖 Initially, I was being very careful to keep track of which way was up, but as I turned it around to make the required markings, I lost track. Admittedly, it's not terribly noticeable with dragon scales, and a small part of the side strip has the scales upside down (I opted not to add a seam in the bottom to reverse the piece so the scales would be pointing down on both ends), but I couldn't leave it that way. So, a lot of stitch ripping ensued. Fortunately, I have a really good ergonomic stitch ripper. Unfortunately, I had the pointed end, and not the ball end, inside the seam and ended up with a small tear in the fabric on the bag front. 😓 I used a mending zigzag stitch over the tear, and some HeatnBond Lite and a small patch of the dragon scale fabric to cover it. I used a small zigzag stitch to keep the patch in place, and then went over the quilting with teal/aqua thread so that it's barely noticeable. It's at the top edge of the bag, mostly covered by the handle. As my mother would say, a blind man will never see it. 
I finally made salad to eat with my leftover fajitas and Spanish rice for dinner. I actually really like leftovers, as long as they were good the first time. That way I can spend more time in my craft studio, without having to take time to cook. But when I went to make my ranch salad dressing, I accidentally added Italian dressing mix instead of ranch dressing mix... Oh well, I now have creamy Italian dressing. Not bad, but not as good as ranch. 
Back in the studio, I was having ongoing thread problems - looping on the back, shredding, breaking. It was mostly when I was stitching on the handle over the front pocket. Think of all the layers: the bag front and a double pocket (because the front pocket has both a slip and a zip section), plus the handle. All of these have both an inside and an outside layer of fabric, plus an inner layer - foam on the bag and pockets, and webbing inside the handle. So that's 8 layers of fabric, 3 layers of foam and one layer of webbing. And then I added the layer of mesh when putting in the inside pocket. I ripped out loopy stitches (my stitch ripper has really gotten a workout with this bag), I changed the needle, I tried changing threads - using polyester instead of cotton and then finally switched to Glide 40 weight that I'd used in the quilting - but the problem persisted. I even tried turning the project over and stitching with the inside up instead of the outside. I finally moved to the heavy duty Singer that I picked up at the thrift store for $10. After all, it has "heavy duty" right on the machine, so it should be able to handle the bulk. I put in a new Schmetz needle and initially it appeared to be working. Then I had a thread break, cleaned up that mess and started again. Then the machine stopped with the tip of the needle just barely touching the fabric, and I couldn't budge it. It took some prayer and a lot of fiddling and I was able to extricate the project from the machine. So I decided to move to my mother's Janome - the old 6000. That's what I had ended up finishing the insulated backpack on. But first, I switched the needle. This time, I switched to a topstitch needle. Duh! Why hadn't I thought of that before? In my defense, mostly what I do on my sewing machines is piece quilts, for which universal or microtex needles are all that are required. But topstitch needles have a larger hole so that the thread is less likely to shred/break when going through multiple layers of fabric. That, or quilting needles, are what are used when one quilts on a domestic machine. But I quilt on a longarm, and for the odd potholder that I quilt on my sewing machine, I generally don't bother switching out the needle. But I knew about those needles and, fortunately, I own some. After that it was "game on", and I finished both front and back without any further problems. I probably could have continued stitching on either my Janome 8200 or the Singer HD, but I hadn't used the 6000 in a while, so it needed a workout anyway. 

Now, on to the trimming and shaping. But first exercise and breakfast. And maybe I better wash some dishes...