Closing in on a year of this bazaar journey I’ve found myself reflecting a lot about keeping a positive mindset and a little more emotional than I expected. It’s hard to believe a whole year has passed, but some of the seasonal chores that distracted me in the beginning and counted as small wins, the cobwebs and dirty windows, the weeding have come back full circle reminding that indeed it is true.
Sew Katie Did is currently the correct tense for me and I’m giving myself a free pass. I fell in the snow injuring my thumb. Turns out thumbs are important for sewing, but I did move things around on the design walls and finally am loving two quilts that have been up for two long.
Mentally it was good timing that The International Quilt Museum posted on the first day of Quiltcon Together a photo of my Psychedelic Baby quilt that is now part of their collection. A good reminder that even though I chose to not teach online this year in order to focus on my family, I’ve done good things. It’s a win;)
I loved that quilt so much I recreated it with some changes. This quilt was the seed that led to my favorite strip piecing workshop “Strip Tease.”
Looking back my optimism of the duration of the pandemic was a little off. My thought was for every day of it I’d make a house block. You can see how far I got with that.
Fussy cutting all those doorways was a great distraction and use of prints. I see a baby quilt in the future.
Winter distracted us briefly here in Seattle, but there are signs of spring. It was great to have the routine mixed up for a few days. Since the snow landed mostly over a weekend we were actually able to really enjoy it. It was pretty fun to see Boss’s love for it as he’d ‘snorkel’ around.
COVID has changed some things for me in a positive manner. I’d love to say that making more time for my love of cooking and baking is likely here to stay at its present rate. It has been my biggest distraction besides the Boss.
Regardless of working with a solo induction burner and a small convection oven I’ve had more time to enjoy the process because there simply was no rush. And on another note/win our kitchen plans are all drawn up and finalized!
I put affiliate links to all the books if you’d like to make something yourself.
The snow inspired me to break out my snowflake pans. The Vanilla Bean Book I’ve mentioned before is a keeper for the banana bread and brownies alone, but the almond picnic bread here was delish. I skipped out on the almond topper because of the pan and went with a browned butter ‘glaze’. The author has a cookie cookbook out now and if I wasn’t functioning with an oven that can only hold about 5 cookies total I’d be adding it to my collection.
The exception for cookies is shortbread in a pan or sometime soon a rosette. Martha Stewart’s recipe from her cookie book is one of those that the ingredients are always here.
I think I mentioned Flourless in my last post. In my opinion pudding and a ripe banana are a match made in heaven, so lately when we’re on the edge of committing to Nutella banana bread or not I’ve been going with the butterscotch pudding. I love that it doesn’t require egg yolks since I’m not a practical planner when it comes to the producing something with the whites.
It’s also time to try to clear last spring’s fruit from the freezer before it shows up again. This rhubarb snacking cake didn’t last long nor will the empty spot in the freezer. I’m new to Alana Chernila and her book The Homemade Kitchen, but have several recipes bookmarked after this impressive start.
My neighbor Henrietta Rollin’s eggs went into making these bacon and egg breakfast tarts from Chicken and Egg. This is one of those recipes that looks fancy but is super easy to pull off with frozen puff and whatever you have in the frig. We’re trying it next with pancetta and those left over sun dried tomatoes I’ve been trying to find a home for.
Mad Hungry has my favorite guac recipe. We probably make it once a week. I’ve found that cutting a round of Trader Joe’s waxed paper works well in place of plastic wrap for keeping it from browning, but it generally doesn’t last that long.
Nom Nom’s asparagus and eggs require a skillet and a broiler and about 6 minutes of my time, so when I start to see skinny asparagus in the market we whip this up with whatever leftovers we might have. I love the lettuce wraps too.
My family declared Martha Stewart’s mac and cheese from her America Food cookbook the best they’ve ever had. The crispy bread topping is key.
It’s nearly impossible to get a good photo of a stir fry, but if you were to add one paleo cookbook to your collection I can’t recommend Paleo Takeout more. I’ve gone on a good run with all the stir fries. I’ve never met a Kung Pao I didn’t like, but this book’s recipe is as close as it gets to my favorite from an Ann Arbor restaurant. I usually stick with regular tamari, cornstarch and serve over rice since we don’t have to go paleo.
My oxalis are some of the happiest houseplants, perhaps it is a March celebration. Happy Saint Patty’s.
Boss had a dermoid removed from his eye. He looks all cute here but it only took him a day to fully weaponize the plastic cone by cracking out a huge piece of it.
Our furniture, trim and knees thanked us when we replaced it with a softer one. Nothing like a clumsy, huge, vision impaired puppy. I’m so glad he’s healed and the cone is gone.
I forgot the mess that dogs create and finally pulled my older magic numbers quilt out so the newer quilts wouldn’t get ruined with the constant clawed stretching and muddy paws.
It took a few paint samples as always, but I found my new bedroom paint color, Benjamin Moore’s Aussie Surf.
I wanted something cozy and it was hard to beat the Pure Periwinkle we painted 9 years ago, but we (I) was ready for something new.
I’m loving it with the Daredevil of the hall and Jalapeno in the bath.
That’s kind of it peeps, nothing frilly here.
I’m embracing being outside in the garden again, it’s a welcome distraction. Walking in some sunshine with Boss and perhaps some soda bread is in my future. I hope you’re all hanging in there too;)
xoxo, Katie
