new tricks

Oh, dear.  January has turned into such a busy month when it was supposed to be a relaxing start to 2011.  How does that happen?


I'm not entirely sad about it, though.  January has already been filled with lots of craft time; the best part is I'm sewing and quilting without deadline.  Mostly.


When university friends of mine asked if I could make them a quilt for their soon-to-be-born first child, I jumped at the chance.  I'm always happy to make quilts, and it's only better when I'm actually making them for a reason.


So over Christmas break, I finally sewed together the quilt top of my 'purple' quilt.  Setting the blocks on the diagonal gives this quilt a look I really love, but it really, really requires concentration.

Forgive the not-so-great picture, but this is what happens when you try to sew everything together long after you should have stopped sewing.  Oops!  More than once, I had to pull out my seam ripper for this project.

The quilt is much bigger than a baby quilt typically is, as my friends wanted their little girl to be able to use it for years to come.  It took some time with Johanna to sort out the measurements of my setting triangles, and I learned some new tricks (thanks, friend!).  I'm so, so happy with this quilt, and I can see myself making many more. Who knew half-square triangles could be so fun?


I'm determined to see this quilt finished by the time Baby M. comes along in just a few weeks, and I think it can be done.  I'm keeping the quilting clean and simple so the focus is on the colourful fabrics.  For the binding, I'm thinking of using the Library Stripe fabric in the cranberry colourway from Greenfield Hill (a collection I adore by the way; every time I look at it, I love it more and more). What do you think?

salted caramels

As the holiday crafting days got shorter and fewer, I found myself still looking for something to make for friends.  At the 11th hour, I stumbled across a recipe for salted caramels.

Making caramels was so much easier than I anticipated, although they do take some time.  I used a recipe from Epicurious with very few changes.

Fleur De Sel Caramels

1 cup whipping cream

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon fleur de sel (or other type of fancy salt)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

Combine the first three ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil; set these aside.  In a large pot, add the sugar, corn syrup and water; stir until the sugar fully dissolves.  Bring this mixture to a boil, swirling the pot (not stirring).  While the mixture is boiling, you'll notice the sugar mixture start to change in colour; keep swirling the pot until the mixture is a light caramel brown. It took about 20-25 minutes to reach this point for me.

Now it's time to add your whipping cream mixture.  Be careful!  Add it slowly, because when you mix the syrup and milk together, they'll bubble up and spit at you.  Just take your time, and you should be fine.  Once they're fully mixed, simmer on low until the temperature reaches 248 degrees farhenheit.  Remember to stir the caramel often so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot!  When you've reached the right temperature, pour the mixture into an 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper.

I wasn't clear when I needed to put the candy thermometer in the pot, so I just clipped it to the side of the pot when I started making the sugar mixture.  It seemed to work out fine. I also tripled the recipe without any problem.

These caramels are soft and perfectly chewy, but don't stick to your teeth like store bought caramels.  The most difficult thing about making the caramels was trying not to eat them when I was wrapping them! I can't wait to make more soon, adding other flavours like vanilla and chocolate.  Yum!

Project 365

Happy New Year!  It's hard to believe that another year has gone by, and that 2011 is here. 

The start of a new year is always such an exciting time full of promise and new opportunities.  But, although I adore this time of year, I'm not one for making a ton of resolutions, and I learned long ago that making resolutions you are actually interested in keeping goes far to actually seeing them through.  Sure, I could say I'm going to go to the gym three times a week, but I'm not really going to do it.

Last June, I bought myself my first DSLR camera, the Nikon D90.  I love my camera, and I've slowly been getting to know it after using a point and shoot all my life.  Having never taken any sort of class or ever used an SLR in any form has meant that taking photographs with the D90 can be a bit daunting, but also so very exciting.

One of the things I'd like to do in 2011 is improve my photography skills--take some classes; learn new techniques; take more pictures in full manual mode (!)--so I'm joining Project 365.  It seems fitting that my first photo should be of my favourite subject, Gordon.

I'll post some of my photos on my blog,  and be sure to visit me at Flickr to see the latest photos from my 365 project.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'll make it all the way through with no cheating!