Ideas all over the place...

...and few make it to a post... (sigh!).

Sometimes I wish my mind had an integrated keyboard that will automatically dictate every single crafty musing to the computer and post automatically.  After a second thought, it could take away some of the fun... Dunno...

The reality of the deal is that I'm working on several little projects - testing a paper-pieced pattern, coming up with ideas to draw and collect all the block figures that pop in my mind and designing two quilting series for the blog.  I'm still wondering how -or when- it all will make it here, but rest assured that I'm working on stuff for everyone to share.  

This is where I beckon your patience and leave a little token of my advances... 

And just a little extra - some early morning shots of the beautiful snow from last week!  

 

 

And a secret message...  :)

 

 

I just can't have enough of that soft crunch under my feet with each step! 

See you soon and stay blessed!

A treat in Mom's Kitchen - No bake cookies!

Hello again!

As you may already know, we were back home, in Mexico City, for Christmas break.  It was a wonderful time with the family that we will treasure forever.

And just like when we are in the States and are asked about traditions, my inquisitive - and sweet-toothed - relatives were asking about typical culinary treats of the USA.  I immediately thought of No-bake cookies!  They are super simple to whip up, ingredients are easy to find and the recipe yields quite a lot of yummy bites for a bunch of hungry tummies!  :)

Now, before we start, I'd like to thank mom for allowing me to experiment in her kitchen.  It's always been me the one that messes up things; mom is not that into cooking, so I was in charge of things ever since I can remember!  I must also say that I rarely follow recipes - I rarely go to the drawer and take out the measuring spoons because I just do it my old good grandma way - a pinch here, a dash there, a squirt over here and so on and so for yonder and yonder...  OK, I should give mom kuddos for digging up recipes from the darkest corners of the forgotten kitchen book shelf and sticking to them to the T; she's been able to come up with pretty good stuff that kiddos are eating, so they must taste good.  Not sure whether I've been lucky and not been there for trying her food...  You got me!  This sounds horrible, but I'm not the only one known for not even coming close to mom's culinary experiments in the past.  We love so much momma!!  :)

OK... Going to the no-bake cookies.  Let's start with the original recipe that I found in a cooking card in my mother-in-law's recipe thingy:

 2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
  2 cups butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla 

2 cups rolled oats

Bring to a boil the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 1 minute then add vanilla and oatmeal. Drop mixture by teaspoons on a flat, cold surface. 

This is what I call the standard recipe, but why stop there? Note that in the picture there are two "secret" ingredients - that's my experiment part!!  Peanut and hazelnut butter - YUM!  This recipe can also have one cup of either, just remember to add one cup of oats.  In other words, if you add 1 cup of peanut butter, remember to use 3 cups of oats for the batch.

So, here we go...  Add the butter to the pot; at this point, I like having everything medium heat, so that I can get a homogeneous mix without overcooking anything - this is CRUCIAL for the recipe to work! It's one of those chemistry-thingies that I find so interesting and would like to understand and explain to the full!  :)  

Add the sugar...

  

Add the milk...

Add the cocoa...

... and one cup of peanut butter (or hazelnut cream, a.k.a. Nutella).

Don't forget to add the vanilla extract (not pictured, sorry)!  Now, up to this point, I really haven't seen any major consequence about the order in which ingredients are added to the pot, as long as the heat is medium to low, and you make sure to stir so that you get a homogeneous mixture.

Ehem! May I draw your attention to the wonderful -and handsome- assistance provided by Mr. Fuzz?  He loves cooking, and he was not shy of helping out so that I could snap almost every step of the no-baking process for you to see...  Note how he likes to do it - taking the pot over to a burner that is not on and mixing before putting it back on the burner that has medium heat going on.  Look at that technique!!  The invisible hand to the no-bake-rescue!! Hehehe...

The next step is to be VERY careful and watch the mixture... Here is where the chemistry deal comes in!!  As the recipe says, you need to BRING TO boil the mixture, not BOIL it... Makes sense?  OK, let me try again... Watch for bubbles!!!  Just think of water boiling; bubbles start to form when it starts to boil.  This baby is no different; watch for bubbles starting to form (particularly in the edges) and move the pot away from the heat, or turn it off. The bring to boil moment is what makes all the ingredients bond and form a cookie that does not fall apart when you take it; in other words, this is what makes it all stick together!

Time for the last ingredient... And remember, I used 3 cups of oats because we had 1 cup of peanut butter.

With the heat OFF, start adding oats.  I found it works better if oats are added little by little, because it is easier to add them to the mix.

Keep adding and mixing...
 

... a bit more...

... looking good...

... and this is what you want to see! Everything looking even, but starting to come off the sides of the pot.

At this point, go get a helper or work super fast, because the mix cools quickly!!  Take a teaspoonful and drop it on a cool surface. What works best for me is using cutting mats - they are small enough to move to a table, large enough to drop several cookies and easy to clean!  What can beat that, huh?

Here they are!  Note that the ones on the large, white board are of a lighter color; those were made with one cup of peanut butter (and yes, an extra cup of oats).  The ones on the mats look darker because they have hazelnut cream.  You just need to be patient and let them cool down.  If you don't have this kind of cutting mats, alternatives are silicone baking sheets or baking trays.   

Here are the peanut butter ones all by themselves...

And here they are with their Nutella buddies...

... but they did not survive long! :) I hope you give them a try, they are easy and fun to make.

God bless!  :)

A weekend at the lake

Oh wow!  It's been several days since I've been around the blog, and even if it sounds weird, I actually miss posting. However, there's is a good reason for this mini hiatus - or at least, that's what I always tell myself each time I pause for some days.

We were blessed to get tickets to travel to Mexico and spend a bit over a week with family. Seeing everybody again was a wonderful gift and some comfort for the heart. When Mr. Fuzz and I got married, I moved to the US and had not been able to come back home since then. All the kiddos are grown, there are more all over the place, and one more is yet to make it here (he's happy in mommy's tummy right now).

And with all the visiting, calling and excitement, I have put off posting, but it's been well worth it!

However, I decided to log in and share a bit about the beautiful place we were at last weekend, Valle de Bravo. It's a place West of Mexico City; there are a lot of activities to do at the lake, like paragliding, cruising around the lake and even visiting ostrich farms! 

This time, we went downtown and enjoyed a little cruise on a 10-passenger boat.

Many people have the idea that Mexico is only a big desert and that there are cactus all over the place.  I hope these pictures change your mind and show the wide variety of natural beauties that live happily somewhere in this colorful country.

Mr. Fuzz was particularly fond of the trees; I'm not sure what kind they are, but he thinks they resemble willows.

 

We went for a walk on Sunday, and I was thrilled to find little surprises along the way, like the stream that sparked so much curiosity in us; we kept hearing the wonderful sound of the running waters, but had not been able to see where it came from, until we stepped outside the house.

And going back to our Sunday cruise, we had dinner at a floating restaurant. I had one of the most delicious fajitas I've had for a long time!  But I must confess that the most memorable - and awesome - moment was when we stepped out and were greeted with a gorgeous view of the setting sun.

And this is where I have to end this post. At this point, I can only thank God for his precious love and gift of family and home. This is my wish for the new year, that you experience His love and blessings in a wonderful way!

Going Doodly Quilty Crazy!

There are some things in this life that are beautiful, and we sometimes get the chance to make some.  But whenever we make them, they just don't look right. This is a bit how I sometimes feel about myself and what I make. I have a certain vision in my head, and it's difficult to make it happen, at least in a way that "is right."  Each time I start a project, whether is a craft, at work or even organizing things at home, I am thankful for the opportunity of one more day and the God-given ability to make something happen.

And what became as a doodle experiment, ended up as a practice piece that kept reminding me of how important it is to practice to achieve what we want. And by looking at nature and comparing quilting designs, I kept marveling at the wonder of each line and the beauty of it all, despite my inability to reproduce what is in my head.  

So here it is!  Finished, crooked, wrinkled and crazy!  My largest quilting piece so far.  Now, I don't know whether to start another one or going back to my UFOs...  

And this is what started it all...  Hey! Never underestimate doodling when it comes to FMQ!  

Here are the two together:

But the picture of the day HAS to be this one, just because Mr. Fuzz made it happen:

When he got home, my fuzz-band parked the car and put his mug on top of this mini column that marks the little path that goes to the porch...  And then, it snowed, and snowed, and the poor mug was still there next morning! I couldn't help but get the camera; as I was getting ready to go out, my sweet heart takes it and goes out himself to snap the pic!  He does so many little things like this for me!!!  I'm sooooooo madly in looooove!!  :)  And for the cherry on top, Blogger decides to add fake snow, so it looks cool!  Serendipity in action, ha!

So, remember... Practice and patience!  I guess I can never have enough of those!

Stay warm and blessed!  :)

Back up for a snowy day!

Snow... What a delightful sight!

What to do on when we're supposed to be indoors?  Something tells me that the answer might be obvious, but I just had to type it to create some kind of suspense...

This guy has been mounted on the machine for some days and I just HAD TO get back to FMQ!

Trying to combine different patterns in order to find out how the quilt can be handled to cover all areas, I start having tension issues...  The quilt gets sort of jumpy and all of a sudden... SNAP! Upper thread is gone!

Back up ready to the rescue!!  My! I'd never have thought that quilting takes that much thread.  I've gone through several spools already!  And while the new spool is not quite the same color as the one I started with, I was NOT going to let that hinder me from enjoying some time at the machine on this wonderful, snowy day...

And here is where I'm at so far...

Something that I've really enjoyed of quilted feathers is the effect that surrounding areas with heavier quilting can produce. The following loop has "scribbling," which is basically a simple stippling (or meander) but the effect is done by crossing the lines and going over the same area several times.  As you see, it uses A LOT of thread, but when the color blends with the fabric, the contrasting texture of the squished scribble and the puffy feathers looks awesome!  However, I think the lattice creates a more elegant look... what do you think?

And here is a section of McTavishing... Well, sort of... This is a sound proof that after you stop stitching, ALWAYS remember to hold the fabric in place if you don't want to end up with long, straight stitches like the one on top of that feather... I decided to keep on going; after all, this is a practice piece, and mistakes are allowed.

And to balance the thread heaviness of the other loop with scribbles, I went for small pebbles with a curl inside, in order to build up thread and make it look darker.

Taking a break from FMQ and peeking outside, I am out of words... So much beauty is breathtaking.  With a little prayer for those who weathered this storm, I post this wishing that you all have a blessed, white Christmas!

Crafty bone on Thanksgiving

There are so many wonderful things that happen over a Thanksgiving weekend - family gathering, chats, cooking together...  you name it! 

Sometimes, I wonder if we just give things for granted.  We get stressed because the meal is not exactly the way we want it, or we may get annoyed because someone took the little piece of that dessert we had our eye on...  How often do we stop and think of the greater picture: we have food, a stove with oven, a fridge, central heating; all of them are tokens of God's provision for us, and we are blessed to live in a time and place when and where we can enjoy them and share it with those we love.

Thanksgiving is a big word that means a lot of things for different people; some may even think it's only "turkey day." However, thankfulness is gratitude because there is some level of acknowledgement. 

So, when it comes to spend time with the kiddos that I can't share time with the rest of the year (and that somehow manage to get taller than me), it is about Crafty Bone to the rescue!

Card making with LOTS of glitter was on the menu...

 
And just to make it more interesting, we decided to play with glitter layering:

Beads and personalized jewelry weren't too far down in the list:

And then, with a million football games going on in the background, Yiya starts drawing this crazy looking thing with quilting patterns secretly hidden all over the place...  When FINALLY someone asked if there was anything wrong with my head (little does my brother-in-law knows how close to reality he is, hehe), I was tickled to death to explain everything I could about curls, swirls, feathers, lattices, echoes, loops, stipples and cathedral windows.

Then, the magic question: "So, how do you actually do it with the sewing machine?"

HA! Did I hear right?  Woohoo!!  Demo time!!  Dining table is then overtaken by cutting mat, fabric and all the paraphernalia...  I guess it won't be difficult to guess what happened next: a new FMQ practice piece!  Did anyone say anything about being "tickled to death?"

And here is the drawing that started it all:

And no, I'm not planning on duplicating the paper one - I only wish I were that good at it!  For the actual practice piece, I made a loosely marked rectangle with big loops inside. The loops turn into the perfect practice areas. Think of all those awkward corners or curves that are often hard to fill in; with the big loopy line, you can create the perfect practice piece that can help you learn how to continue stitching your FMQ and get the design into those tricky spots.

With all the excitement and the multiple creative areas going around, it was hard to take more pictures!

But the best part of this Thanksgiving weekend goes beyond the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen or even a bunch of touchdowns...  With no doubt, the best is being aware that our families are constantly blessed and that our needs are taken care of - God is good!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend!