The Great Bread Making Adventure: Pugliese

Well, now, that's disappointing! After making a nearly perfectly formed and risen loaf, it got scorched in the oven. 

But I still think it's beautiful. I've had experiences with bread being too crumbly, fallen in the middle, really yeasty tasting and other bread failures. That I managed to produce such a well-formed loaf is pretty impressive to me. And the inside is still good. 

And tasty. Initially, I was just going to cut off the burnt top crust, but bread without a top crust does not slice very well. So, I decided to leave it in place and just cut the burnt parts off each individual slice. 
Today's loaf is another Italian bread, Pugliese. In case you need to know how to pronounce that (I did), here it is:

(Even after listening to it several times, I still don't think I have it quite right). 
The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making has this to say, "This much-loved Italian bread was once the regional bread from Puglia, in the southern region of Apulia. Perhaps is is the extra virgin olive oil from this region or the excellence of the wheat, but pugliese is considered to be among the jewels of Italian breads, popular all over the country and beyond as well. The bread is normally white, with a pale, floury crust and a soft crumb, quite dense by Italian standards, compared with the holey ciabatta and the open-textured pagnotta."

I want to make a couple of statements in regard to this quote. The first is regarding the use of fats/oils in these breads. While I prefer to avoid the use of added oils in most of my cooking at home, I am not attempting to make these breads oil-free. Having never made them before, I need to know what the taste and texture should be with the oil, before I attempt to make them without. Also, the standard replacements for oil may not work in breads. Pureed prunes and apple sauce likely will impart a slightly sweet flavour, which may not be desirable. Avocado and pureed prunes could also add some inappropriate colour. So, I will be making the recipes with the oil/fats included. Having said that, there is a recipe for lardy cake and, as I pointed out in my previous post, I will be making all of the recipes vegan, so I most definitely will not be using lard. 
The second statement I want to make is just a reminder that, as far as possible, I will be making these breads 100% whole grain. So, in spite of the fact that the book states that this bread is normally white, and the recipe calls for only 2 cups whole meal flour out of a total of 5½ cups, I did use whole wheat for the entire amount. 
An interesting thing about this bread is that it starts with a biga. This is sort of like a sourdough starter, except that the traditional sourdough starter is made using wild yeast, not commercial yeast (though I think many modern cooks start their sourdough with commercial yeast) and the cook keeps replenishing the sourdough starter. A biga starter is made using commercial yeast and only sufficient for that recipe is made. If you want to know more, I suggest you check out this link. 

As mentioned in my first bread post, this book was published in Britain. As such, I will have some challenges with ingredients. The recipes frequently call for fresh yeast, which comes in a soft cake, rather than dry yeast, which comes in a package or jar. So I've had to use this website to help me figure out the equivalents, as well as this one because fresh yeast is not readily available where I live. However, if I find some I might buy it just to give it a try. But more than just yeast, some products are really challenging to find in North America or figure out the North American equivalent for. Granary or malthouse flour, for example. I can find them on Amazon, but the shipping nearly doubles the already high price. I suppose if I knew someone going to visit the UK, I could ask if they could bring back a kilogram of one or the other... Nevertheless, I will figure out what I will do when I get to those recipes. 

Meanwhile, I am planning on taking a detour from Italian breads in order to make the Barley Bannock in honour of Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30th), also known colloquially as Orange Shirt Day. I'll tell you more about that next time. I'm also going to look for an oven thermometer to see if my oven temperature is accurate or not. 


 

The Great Bread Making Adventure: Olive Bread

Different cultures - their customs and traditions, their history, their dress, their food - fascinate me. So, when I found the book, The Cook's Guide to Bread, in a bookstore, I bought two copies, one for myself and one for my daughter. That was PD (pre-divorce), so I've had it for quite a few years. Later on, I found the second book, The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making, in a thrift store and purchased it as well. not realizing that the contents were identical. 

That's right: aside from the size and cover, the books are the same, even to the page numbers. 

I'm still happy I bought the second book, however, because the print is larger and it stays open easier. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the first one. 
While this book does make an interesting reference book, and I enjoy perusing its pages, it also has at least 100 recipes. None of which I had tried, until yesterday. Making a dinner of lasagne, I decided to complete it with a Caesar salad (vegan dressing recipe here) and bread. An Italian bread, since the meal was Italian (though apparently, Caesar salad was invented in Mexico by an Italian American, who had also lived in Canada). The book has this to say about Italian Breads: "The distinguishing feature of most Italian breads, especially those bought from an Italian-style baker, is the shape rather than the dough... The difference lies in the shaping, the slashing and the baking..." p. 66.

Flipping through the Mediterranean Breads section (most of which are Italian), I found the Olive Bread recipe and knew I had everything required to make it. About olive breads, "Olives are grown throughout Italy and it's not surprising to find all sorts of olive bread. the more commercially produced loaves are enriched with eggs and butter, and normally contain pitted green olives and sometimes whole olives stuffed, Spanish-style, with red pimento. Smaller bakers often also produce their own olive breads. These are plainer doughs, which usually contain black olives, sometimes pitted, sometimes not - so take care when biting into a slice." The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making, p. 71

I did use pitted olives. 😉 The green ones were stuffed with pimento because that's what I had on hand, and I added black and Kalamata olives as well.  I prefer to use whole grains, so instead of 2-1/2 cups of white flour and 1/2 cup of whole meal flour, I used 3 cups of whole wheat flour.

And it turned out delicious! Admittedly, my loaf is not as professional-looking as the picture in the book. I think one of the problems is the measurements. This is a British book and in Britain, they weigh their ingredients rather than measure them by volume, like we do here in North America. And while the book provides measurements in both metric and imperial, I think sometimes something is lost in translation. The book actually has this statement on the copyright page:

For all recipes, quantities are given in both metric and imperial measures and, where appropriate, measures are also given in standard cups and spoons. Follow one set, but not a mixture because they are not interchangeable. (In the smaller book, it omits this note). 

Fair enough, but it is an inexact science. 

As a Canadian, I automatically defaulted to the cups/spoons measurements and that went well until it came time to add the olives. Olives, kind of like dry pasta, do not measure well in a cup. Being oval shaped and hollow if they're pitted, there's lots of empty space in and around the olives. The kalamata olives were already sliced, so it took more of them to fill the space. The pimento-stuffed green olives also took up more space than the hollow black olives.  And mine ended up being a "generous" one cup rather than a level one cup. How do you level a cup of olives anyway? So, I found it was almost impossible to incorporate the olives into that amount of bread dough. And in the picture from the book, there appears to be a lot less olives than in my finished loaf. 

Taken from The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making

Next time, I think I will weigh the olives instead of trying to measure them in a cup. And anything else that might not measure well in a cup. I will have to keep this in mind as I continue to try the recipes. 

And that's what I intend to do. I've set myself the goal of trying every bread recipe in this book. They will, of course, be veganized, and made with whole grains as much as possible. So, stay tuned and I will report on each one. 

By the way, this book has been reprinted once again under the title The Bread Bible and you can find the full pdf of this book here. The printing is so small as to be almost inscrutable, so it's not like you could actually try any of the recipes from it, though, at least on my 21" screen. And certainly not from your cell phone. So buy the book if you want to follow along and experiment with different breads from around the world. 

Grieving and Not Moving On

Last week, I was really struggling with whether or not I should renew my registration as an active nurse, or whether I should switch it to "non-practice". I'm honestly feeling that I will likely never go back to my nursing career. I was reading this article about the changes being implemented in Ontario regarding patients waiting for long term care placement in hospital, and came across this statement: 'Jones said discharge planners will have to have "very challenging" conversations with patients about going into a home that they do not want to go to.' I have been having those "very challenging" conversations with patients for years already. And as I was writing a commentary on the article on Facebook, I realized how very burnt out I am. Not just depression, anxiety and winter driving phobia, but burnt out as a nurse. I'm really tired of being responsible for other people's lives, of trying to convince them that it's no longer safe for them to live at home, convince family members that have promised mom, dad or spouse that they would never put them in a nursing home that keeping them at home is not the best or safest option. And yes, convincing them that they couldn't wait in the hospital until a bed becomes available in their first choice of long term care because it has a long waiting list. Of putting up with their anger because I was the one they were dealing with, even though I didn't make the rules. And regularly being caught in the middle, between clients, families, doctors, home care, acute care, long term care, placement office...

In the end, I did put in for active registration. But when I had to answer yes to the questions, "Do you have a mental or physical health problem that prevents you from safely practicing nursing?" and "Are you currently off work?" followed by "When do you expect to return to work?" to which I had to answer that I was uncertain, the College of Nurses has placed my application in the "For further evaluation" pile. If they decide to place me in the "non-practice" category, I'll be fine with that, as long as they refund the difference I paid for active registration. 😁

But I'm still trying to figure out how to get on with my life. I don't really want to be on disability indefinitely. A month ago, I applied to a couple of insurance brokerages who were both advertising for insurance brokers as I felt that was something I could do that wouldn't be as stressful as nursing. I did a little investigating first and found the training that I could take to become a licensed broker and figured it wouldn't take me long to get my level 1 licence. However, I had no intention of paying for the course until I knew that I had the job. In my cover letter, I did point out how I felt many of my skills as a nurse were readily transferable to being an insurance broker. I did get an interview with one broker, but the anxiety the night before seriously hampered my sleep, making me wonder how well I could do in any job, subsisting on so little sleep. The interview only lasted about 10 minutes and they didn't even ask for my references, so I knew I wasn't getting that job. They were polite enough to email me to let me know that they wanted someone with training and experience. The second brokerage initially emailed me back stating that they had a likely candidate, so were no longer looking. I wished them well with their new candidate and was relieved that that was the end of that. At least I thought so. Then late last week, I got another email from them stating that the candidate they hired had decided not to pursue that line of work and was I still willing to come in for an interview. I didn't respond until yesterday. Honestly, I really didn't want to go in for an interview as I really didn't want to go back to work. And I was trying to analyze myself - is it because I'm just too lazy? Maybe this is God's plan for me. What if it's the answer that I've been praying for? And believe me, I was praying. I even asked God to make me feel positive about this job if it was His plan for me. But I didn't. However, I also didn't feel that I should pass this opportunity up. So, I actually had an interview booked for tomorrow, even though I was incredibly stressed out about the idea. But then I started crying and crying and crying, and getting short of breath and started hyperventilating. It didn't get to a full blown panic attack, but it was heading in that direction. And so I called my sister Judy. She's my second oldest sister and has basically stepped into the maternal role since my mother passed away. Yes, at 60-something, sometimes we still wish we could talk to our mothers. Anyway, she said that I need to just stay on disability. I agree. I know that God would not expect me to take a job, or even a job interview that would stress me out almost to the point of a panic attack. But I still feel lingering guilt about it. And that guilt and doubt has been forcing me to try to get on with my life when I'm just not emotionally ready. 

Meanwhile, the Queen died. We all knew it was coming, but I really didn't expect the Queen's death to hit me as hard as it did. I don't consider myself a monarchist, but nor am I anti-monarchist. However, she has been a part of my life for my entire life. I've known the anthem, "God Save the Queen", since early childhood and I'm still struggling to replace it with "King" and "him".  It's the end of an era. And I think my emotional health has really impacted my ability to cope with the death of the monarch. I've sat there and watched multiple long processions of her coffin, with tears running down my cheeks and sometimes great sobs racking my body. This morning, when I was watching the rerun of her actual funeral (I didn't get up early enough to watch it live), I thought I was doing okay until the bagpipes started to play. My prayers are with the royal family. Charles and Camilla looked absolutely exhausted as well as bereft at the funeral today. I almost felt as if was revisting the loss of my mother through this entire mourning period. 

On the plus side, I did a self-study module on insomnia and I am trying to implement better sleep hygiene habits, like going to bed and getting up at the same time every day and not using electronic devices close to bedtime. And maybe someday, in the not too distant future, I will actually get a decent night's sleep in return. Hopefully, more than one decent night's sleep. This evening is not the evening for good sleep hygiene, though. After nearly having a panic attack over a job interview, I felt that I needed to write. 

Triggers

 Today, I was watching this video:

It's actually a very good video and now I have determined to purchase one of these window breaker tools for myself and one for my daughter. Maybe one for each of my sisters. They're not that expensive and it's better to have one and never need it than to need one and not have it. 
But that's not why I'm writing this post. Towards the end of the video, Doug, the man with the red beard, got into a car that was then turned upside down to demonstrate how to use the tool to escape from a car when it was flipped upside down after an accident. Just the thought of them turning the vehicle upside down, before they had even done so, was a trigger for me. All of those vehicles that I saw on their sides in the ditch this past winter came rushing back, and, even though it didn't happen directly to me, I was still traumatized and I could feel the panic rising. One vehicle in particular came vividly back to me. While most vehicles that end up in the ditch are removed within 24-48 hours, this one must have been there for at least 2 weeks and I passed it every day on my way home from work. It was on its side and the occupant(s) must have escaped through the hatch, because the hatch was open and there was a full garbage bag sitting beside the open hatch.  I started to cry, I started to hyperventilate and my throat began to feel like it was closing off. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to stop. I cried off and on for at least the next half hour, and had to force myself when I wanted to go to Walmart. Walking through the aisles of Walmart, I told myself a few times not to panic and was thankful I didn't run into anyone I knew because I still felt like crying and didn't feel capable of making small talk. Even now, when I think about the video, I still feel like I could panic and cry. 

But that wasn't my first triggering experience. I think the first time was back in July. I hadn't been outside of town since Canada Day, and I was wondering if the canola was in bloom. With the price of gas, I definitely wasn't planning on driving out of town just to check. And then I thought of the road cameras that I could check online on the AMA (Alberta Motor Association) website. Unfortunately, I was just opening the website where I could access the cameras, when I started to panic and cry. The last time I had looked at those cameras was this past winter when I was poring over the road reports and camera views multiple times every morning to determine whether or not it was safe to go to work. And so it triggered me.

In addition to depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), I have also been diagnosed with winter driving phobia. I'm not really fond of driving in the best conditions, but the driving conditions this past winter really pushed me over the edge. I ended up in the ditch once because of extreme icy conditions, right side up thank the Lord, and I didn't seem to be that negatively affected by it. But the winter went downhill from there. By the end of the winter, even if there were just small patches of ice, I would start to panic and had to stop driving. One time I remember feeling my heart pounding in my chest and barely being able to breathe. So, I pulled over into a rest area, and waited for the roads to warm up enough for any remaining ice to melt and headed back out, turned around at the next intersection and headed home. Yes, winter driving phobia sounds like something made up, even to me. But, unfortunately, it's very real. 

The next trigger had nothing to do with driving. I went to Peavey Mart. Peavey Mart used to be one of my favourite stores. It was overcrowded and kind of dingy, but I knew where to find most of what I might want in there. I actually worked there for about 8 months before I got back into nursing. But they have since expanded it. I had actually been looking forward to the expansion, because, as I mentioned, it was overcrowded and dingy. I'd been in it once since the expansion, but that was just to pick up something for a friend, and I just had to stop at the checkout, which was by the front door. And that was before I went on mental health leave. It might have even been before last winter. They have since moved the checkout over to the side. It now looked nothing like my Peavey Mart. And I didn't know where to find anything. I felt like crying as soon as I walked in the door. I wandered around the store repeatedly telling myself not to panic. I finally managed to find what I wanted and also located the Round Up for future reference, made my purchase and exited without falling apart. I haven't been back since. I'm not sure if it's because I'm afraid to go back or if it's just the inertia associated with mental illness that's preventing me from going back. Probably a little of both. 

One thing about triggers, at least for me, is that they are totally unexpected. Unpredictable and sudden. And maybe I'm more emotionally fragile than I want to admit. I don't see myself that way and I don't want to be that way. And I keep pushing myself to perform. I think I'm my own worst critic. 

I'm still not sleeping. Some nights are worse than others. Recently, I had a bad night where I was awake till the early morning hours, got less than 3 hours sleep, I think. I'm dreaming a lot. Waking up frequently during the night. And it's really hard to feel like accomplishing anything when I'm so exhausted all the time. Still short of breath and dry mouth. I tried an antidepressant but it made the nausea worse. I really don't have any faith in antidepressants anyway. I know they apparently work for some people, but statistically they're really not that effective. And my experience with them in the past is that I get all of the side effects without any of the benefits. 

So, here I am, praying for healing. Praying for wisdom and direction in my life. And trying to wait patiently on the Lord. 

Sophie's Universe

 

It's done! I can hardly believe that I have finally finished Sophie's Universe, but I have. And the feeling is less jubilant and more relief. It's been a long haul and I'm good and tired of this afghan. I believe I started it in 2015 and it stalled several times since then, but it's no longer on my UFO list. It's been frustrating at times because I don't believe that I should have to change hook sizes or block my afghan to make it lie flat, as the instructions say. I think I did change from a 5.0 to a 5.5 sometime during the process and might have blocked it once or twice. But around round 87, I'd had enough and started adding stitches to keep it lying flat without blocking. And it worked. I added the final round of Betty's Beautiful Border (modified treble bobble, which I think should be called bent treble cluster) as my edging round, as I didn't like it with just the back post double crochet as the final round. Back post double crochet doesn't really lie flat on its own.

The afghan finished at approximately 76" square and weighs 5 lb. 9.1 oz. Yes, it's heavy! And I used a total of 14 different yarns in it. So it's the biggest, heaviest and most yarns used of any afghan I made to date. I think I'll put it on my queen-sized bed, so it can be viewed in all its glory. Especially since I don't currently have a quilt finished for that bed. 

And yes, you can see my tallest step ladder in the top picture. Grass may not make the smoothest surface on which to take a picture of an afghan, but I don't think I really have the floor space to spread it out inside, nor the ceiling height to get high enough to fit the whole afghan in the picture. 

I was planning on doing the Warm Up America Knit and Crochet Afghan next. It's going to be a gift for my daughter and I was hoping to finish it for her birthday next month. However, after ripping out the same block about 3 times, I decided to do something that my mental health can manage. Did you know that your mental health can affect your cognition (your thinking ability)? Well, it can. I'm still struggling with depression and anxiety and I know that my cognition is not as sharp as it should be. So, I've moved all of the yarn (13 different yarns) for the Variegated Moss Stitch afghan into my Rubbermaid yarn organizer and that will be my next project. 

Haven't seen my Rubbermaid yarn organizer yet? Well, here it is: 

It's just a Rubbermaid container that I've drilled holes into the lid. It's fantastic for projects that use multiple different yarns. Here's a picture of the label so you know which container I used. 

Really simple and really efficient!

A Lesson in Quilting

 

The term "quilting" is frequently used for the entire art of quiltmaking, from start to finish. But, in its strictest sense, it refers to the part of the art where the layers of the quilt - quilt top, batting and backing - are stitched together. This can be done by tying the quilt (using thread, embroidery floss or yarn), quilting by hand using needle and thread, or quilting by machine. The machine quilting can be done either on a domestic sewing machine or a longarm. 

I made one tied quilt, but the ties started working their way out. I intended to use an X-stitch on my sewing machine to replace the ties, but never got around to it. That quilt might still be in my stash somewhere... I have never hand-quilted and I doubt I will ever try it, but I won't say "never". I have surprised myself by the things I have tried. 

My earliest quilts were quilted on my domestic sewing machine. Most of which was straight line quilting using a walking foot. Sewing machines tend to feed the bottom fabric faster than the top fabric, which would result in puckers in the back of your quilt. A walking foot ensures the top and bottom feed evenly, but it also works quite slowly. Zzzz... When I tried free motion quilting (kind of like doodling) on my domestic machine, it was not successful. In order to do this, you have to drop the feed dogs on the sewing machine, switch to a darning or embroidery foot (newer machines designed for quilters actually come with a quilting foot) and make other adjustments on the machine, most of which I don't remember. The most important part of free motion quilting on a domestic machine is learning to synchronize how fast you move the quilt around with the speed of the stitching (how hard you push down the foot pedal) because most domestic machines don't have stitch regulators that coordinate this for you. I never mastered this and either ended up with huge stitches or really tiny stitches. I did slightly better after taking a course in machine quilting, but by then I had discovered longarm quilting. Another issue with quilting on a domestic machine is what to do with all of the bulk of a quilt. The last larger quilt that I finished on my domestic machine was my grandson's John Deere quilt. In addition to the sewing machine cabinet, I set up two extra tables. 

It certainly didn't help that my cats took turns

going along for the ride. 

But even with the tables (and without the cats), I still had to wrestle the bulk of that quilt through the throat space of the machine when I wanted to quilt in the centre. No easy feat! And this was only a 70" square quilt! Yes, the newer machines do have larger throat or harp spaces, but still not a fun challenge, especially not with a larger quilt. Imagine trying to maneuver a king-sized quilt!

 And then there is the whole issue of basting: in order to keep all layers equal and hopefully not get any puckers with the quilting, the layers need to be basted together somehow. This is generally done using an adhesive spray or safety pins. Either way, you need a large area to lay the quilt out while basting. The adhesive spray, which I have never used, is likely the quickest method, but you need to make sure you are in a well ventilated area. Where the safety pins are concerned, you can actually get special curved safety pins so that they are easier to get in and out of a quilt without moving the quilt around too much. You must tape the backing down with painter's masking tape to keep it taut during the procedure. Then lay down the batting and backing and crawl all over the quilt applying safety pins, hurting your knees, your back and your fingers. How many people have a large enough flat surface that they don't mind getting pinholes in to use for quilt basting? Some people have actually bought plywood or foam board, but then you have to store it somewhere. I've tried doing it on an unfinshed basement floor, and then the basement flooded before I finished. I've tried doing it on carpet, and of course, I ended up with the quilt pinned to the carpet. I actually bought a basting gun that applied those little plastic tags kind of like what's used to apply price tags to garments. But that soon jammed. Ah, what we put ourselves through to make a quilt. 

So, yes, I do still quilt things like hot pot holders on my domestic sewing machine. Admittedly, I'm quite lazy about it and mostly just use the regular foot and no special settings and just straight lines. And don't always even pin the layers together. 

When it comes to longarm quilting, there actually are sit-down longarm machines. You encounter some of the same problems that you encounter with a regular sewing machine, except that it has a bigger throat space. For me, maneuvering the quilt rather than the machine seems couterintuitive because it's kind of like drawing by moving the paper instead of the pencil. And one of the best things about longarming on a stand-up machine is that the basting is all done on the frame as you advance the quilt. No more pins or sprays!!! However, I've longarmed long enough to recognize that there are advantages to being able to freely maneuver the quilt, as you can with a sit-down machine. 

When it comes to quilting, there are actually several methods of quilting a design. First of all, there is free motion. As I mentioned, it's kind of like doodling. And as someone who has never really been much of a doodler, it definitely does not come naturally to me. There are also stencils that can be traced onto the quilt. I do have a few, but they would have to be traced onto the quilt first, which makes it more time consuming. I would also have to have a method of tracing that shows up well enough for me to be able to follow it with the machine, lasts long enough for me to complete the quilting and then is easy to remove once finished. So far, I haven't been thrilled with the options. Then there is this lovely gold paper on a roll, about the weight of tissue paper, that I can draw or trace my desired design onto, and then stitch directly through the paper. The downside is having to remove all the bits of paper afterwards. Then there are special quilting rulers. These are ¼" thick acrylic and not cheap, but then quilting does not tend to be an inexpensive hobby. I bought a bunch of them once during a Christmas "stuff your stocking" event at one of my favourite vendors. But then I had to buy the ruler base for my longarm (definitely not cheap) and the Sure Foot (also not cheap). But the thing I like about rulers is their precision. Don't get me wrong - it's still quite easy to wobble and wander off in the wrong direction. And using them can make one wish that one had 8 arms like an octupus, and feel like a contortionist. This might be one of those times when having a sit-down machine might work better... (The jury is still out on that). But using rulers is very labour-intensive. It's not a fast method of completing a quilt. 

Finally, there are pantographs, my preferred method of quilting. Pantographs are quilting designs on a roll of paper, usually 12' long, the width depending on the width of the design. 

Someone has already created the designs. I just have to choose one, lay it on the pantograph shelf at the back of my machine 

and stitch out the design by following it with the laser light. 

One edge to edge design used for the entire quilt. I don't have to try and figure out a design for each section of the quilt. And I can quilt many things like horses or cupcakes that I would never be able to replicate using free motion quilting. 

And I can usually find a pantograph that suits the theme of the quilt. I will admit that doing a simple fmq design would actually be faster than most pantographs. I did a simple loop-de-loop design on a baby quilt once. And it was pretty speedy, but I was disappointed that I didn't use a pantograph that would have been more suitable to the quilt. 

I also will admit that there are times when I look at a quilt and think that it would benefit from something more than just a pantograph. Such was the Maple Leaf quilt that I made for my daughter. I had considered using a maple leaf pantograph, but didn't really feel that it would be the best method for dealing with this quilt. Instead I opted for rulers and free motion quilting. 

While there are plenty of imperfections, I'm really pleased that I didn't go with a pantograph. 

Of course, there was also my Practice Makes Perfect quilt, which I did for a course in free motion quilting. That wasn't just a simple all-over design. It was practicing different motifs for the entire quilt. And my comment at that time was that I didn't enjoy it enough to keep doing it. 

However, I keep seeing new quilting challenges that I'd like to try in spite of my reservations. And thus it was with Welsh quilting. Welsh quilting is a form of whole cloth quilting. And whole cloth quilting is, as the name suggests, quilting on one whole piece of the same cloth. There is no patchwork involved, and the only piecing involved would be if the piece of fabric isn't big enough to make the desired size of quilt. But the quilt top would be all of the same fabric, generally a solid or a fabric that would "read as" solid. Because the emphasis in a whole cloth quilt is on the quilting, not the intricacies or colour play and geometric design of the patchwork. And when I saw the projects in the Craftsy Welsh Quilting course, I wanted to try it. I wanted to take a giant leap out of my pantograph comfort zone and tackle this intricate quilting. Especially since a lot of it could be done with rulers. 😊

And I did it. 

And I am actually quite thrilled with the results. 

Of course, I used Michael Miller Fairy Frost, one of my all-time favourite fabrics. Because it's not a solid, it conceals more of my imperfections than a solid would.
These two will be 20" pillow covers. After I finished both of them, I then went on to play with the octagon quilt block (Brackman 292, Hexagon Beauty Quilt) at the top of this post, which will be a cushion cover for the peacock chair in my craft studio. This one isn't Welsh quilting, just me playing with rulers and fmq. Each one of these small quilts probably took longer than quilting most of my larger quilts. But the results, in my not so humble opinion, are pretty spectacular. 
Now I need to finish them up so that they can actually be used (and admired - at least by me. LOL!). 
 

The Study of Geometry Crocheted Afghan

 

I really, really, really did not need to take on another project. With knitting, crocheting, quilting and miscellaneous other crafts, I have so many WIPs and UFOs that I haven't even attempted to count them. I had made some progress by completing a couple of years-old UFOs and wanted to continue that progress. But instead I added a couple of new ones last summer, this one - The Study of Geometry, and the moss stitch variegated afghan. 

I think I started the moss stitch one because it was a good use for variegated yarn. I love variegated yarn, but it doesn't work well in a lot of patterns. The varying colours often mask the stitch patterns and the beauty of the stitching is lost. But this one is such a basic stitch that the colours are allowed to shine. 

Progress as of last August

It's going to be a pretty attracitve afghan when it ever gets done. But I find the moss stitch quite boring, though I did opt to do the waves version. I think the monotony would have nearly killed me if I was just doing straight rows. I really don't understand the people who say that they love the moss stitch...

As far as The Study of Geometry is concerned, I couldn't resist. It has so much visual and textural interest, which is what I like in a project. When it got to the border, however, I decided to switch it up. It was supposed to be 4 rounds of single crochet, one round of V-stitch and one more round of single crochet. I do NOT like doing round upon round of single crochet. So I opted to take some of the textural stitches from the main body of the afghan and use them in the border as well. 

I only ended up doing one round of single crochet at the beginning of the border and one round at the end. That's much more aesthetically pleasing to me. Finished, it measures approximately 58" across and 70" point to point. Another work in progress completed!

I have now moved the Knit and Crochet Aghan to the head of the cue. This is from the Red Heart book, "It's Great to Give". I don't know when I started this afghan, but it's supposed to be for my daughter, and it would be great if I could finish it for her birthday, 2 months away. It features 8 different sampler blocks - 4 knit and 4 crochet. So, it's quite an unusual and interesting project. 

Meanwhile, in the quilting world, I decided to try my hand at Welsh quilting. 

It's much more intense quilting than I normally do, but I'm enjoying it. And it gives me a chance to use the quilting rulers that don't see much use since I'm usually quilting with pantographs. 

Now, I'd better close as I need to get my laundry off the clothesline before the next rainstorm comes.