Thursday, April 10, 2008

Come On In and see the NEWS!!!!!!

I made that yummy creme de menthe cake from the Chinaberry cookbook again. It's gone already.



But you can still have a virtual bite.



Then I made these from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion



They're basically just oats, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and vanilla, with chocolate chips, cocoa butter (my substitution for shortening) and walnuts on top. They didn't get a great reception, but they're disappearing anyway. They seem better on the second day.

For our Ancient History class, Fishy made a scale model of the Ark. (Noah's, not "of-the-covenant.") He was going to make it out of Play-Doh, but changed to this paper print-out model when that proved too awkward. Whether you are into arky stuff or not, I find it fascinating that there are hundreds of cultures around the world that each have their own world-wide flood legend.


It's really hard to glue something made of paper that's so long and thin. ^_^

Sluggie compared 3 flood legends from different cultures (China, Egypt and Greece), Mollusc drew a scale model of the ark, and Prawnie made a lapbook about Paleolithic People.










I have a new project in the works: a Wheel of the Year quilted wallhanging. I have yet to decide whether it will be circular or octagonal. I want to be able to turn it throughout the year so that the current season's wedge faces right-way-up.

So far I have these fabrics for Mabon, and Imbolc or Ostara:



And finally, the BIG NEWS! Meet MY NEW BABY Xavier! He is soooooooooo lovely. He sews like buttah. I'm in love. :) The adoption fee was only $75. His mother had to give him up because he had too many siblings. He's currently slightly disabled because he has no feet, but I plan to remedy that tomorrow if possible. Welcome, Xavier!!



My other machine (a Singer from Sam's) has served me well for at least 11 years with no servicing at all. My big girls will inherit it, but it needs reconditioning, because right now when I use it, it goes DONK DONK DONK DONK DONK instead of hmmmmmmmmm. They have yet to name it, but I suspect it will be something like Boromir or Aragorn or Legolas. ^_^

8 comments:

SM said...

Mmmm...I love that fabric! Awesome quilt pattern, too.

And that creme de menthe cake? Yum!! And the other thing you made looks pretty yummy, too.

C said...

The fall fabric is even lovlier in real life. Yum! My hanging probably won't be quite as Celtic Knotty as that picture, but that shape (as I'm sure you know) is the general idea of what I'm shooting for. I have to figure out the background still, as well as what the spokes separating the wedges will look like.

That cake is so yummy it never lasts. I think I posted the recipe a while back. The bars were not bad and certainly improved with age, but they weren't the most amazing thing in the world, either.

Radioactive Tori said...

That cake looks amazing! I made cupcakes last night because I was craving something yummy, but if I hadn't, I would totally be making this right now!

I really wish I could sew. I don't know what my deal with that is. Every time I have tried, I have broken the sewing machine. It gets all jammed up and just makes a noise. I currently have two sewing machines in my closet and neither work because of me.

Your kids are so smart. I love projects that teach them things. A lot of times I find that my kids school work is just "busy work" and that sort of annoys me.

Anonymous said...

The Cake.

Oh my god.

Jay said...

First off - creme de menthe cake? I feel empty that I have lived my life without it thus far.

Second - excellent cubicle-like. Leave it to you to be in the know!

Simon said...

Naming sewing machines is geekery of the highest order, C. Bravo! I, for my sins, tend to anthropomorphise computers.

My last laptop was a voluptuous woman named Kiki. Unfortunately, I drowned her in red wine.

Fortunely, my current laptop is a retired builder named Dave, so he has far less sophisticated tastes.

Toby said...

Creme de menthe cake should be on every pillow.

C said...

Tori - I had lots of jams today, and then I just rethreaded and everything was fine. Weird.

Busy work drives me insane. I have to admit that it is very nice to be in control of that. :)

Cameron - It's yummy! But today I made another one and forgot to press "go" on the timer. Bad idea. :-P

Jay - I wonder if there's a martini related confection. Hmmm. . . But yes, you must fulfill (or at least fill) yourself by trying the creme de menthe cake!!

Simon - I aspire to none but the greatest heights of geekery, S. :) Our computers are all anthropomorphised, too. The windows ones are all Harry Potter characters and the Linux ones are Calvin and Hobbes characters. Except for my laptop, who is Phantom. ^_^

Sorry to hear about poor Kiki! Dave? Like in 2001? Oh wait, that was Hal. I think you're better off with a voluptuous woman on your lap than a retired builder, but that's just me. Don't let him near any beer.

Toby - Hello stranger!! :) That sounds messy, but yummy. ^_^