Another project from the embroidery machine

Hello, everyone.

Yesterday the embroidery machine got to do some more work: an in-the-hoop pouch with a zipper. The regular sewing machine got to rest this time.

The pouch closed up. The project includes the quilting stitches on the front.

The pouch with zipper open to show the lining. This was a stash buster project all the way: fabric, batting, and zipper.

One thing learned from this, though, it's really important to pay careful attention to the photos and the words of the instructions. I had to redo some things because they were stitched incorrectly. Also learned the hard way that when restarting after a birds nest or similar mess up, it's a good idea to take the hoop bar back to home position and re-position it after doing the "backspace through the messed up stitches" trick.  I have officially broken my first needle on the new machine.

The solid green corner is a piece of linen, which I backed with iron on interfacing before putting into the project. The iron on interfacing has been working well as the first stabilizing bit in the black linen coasters. It worked well here, too. (It's one of the knit ones on that page.) I used the regular sewing thread (50 wt) instead of embroidery thread as there really isn't any thread visible other than the quilting stitches. The project called for cutaway stabilizer, and I now know that it's maybe a good plan to trim that layer a little more than the others at the end when removing the project from the hoop. Final closing stitches: ladder stitch, by hand.

The small pouch as shown will hold a cell phone, at least some sizes, but I suspect my Otterbox cover doesn't go through the opening very well. YMMV. If, like me, you've abandoned your fat, heavy wallet for a little pouch to hold money and cards, this would work very nicely.

A summery sort of fidget mat

Hello, everyone.

This fidget is more summer-oriented. Or, at least, water-oriented.

The large buttons are in functional buttonholes. Under the side fin is a concealed heart-shaped bead. And behind the little zipper is a backing piece, so none of the fur can get stuck in the zipper when it's in operation.

All components from stash. The background landscape was an off-cut from the embroidery-hoop holder we did in last month's Sewing Club meeting.

The fish fabric was also extra fabric from that project. It was free-motion quilted before the hoop holder was made and the flame-like (or succulent plant-like) stitching made me think of water.

The "seaweed" bundles are also functional; they hold the backing against the front of the fidget.

Friday night, Spanish food style

Hello, everyone!

We really miss the Camino. One of the ways we keep the memories fresh is to eat Spanish style foods. Tortilla de patata is one of them. Unlike Western hemisphere tortillas, it's not a bread. It's related to fritatta, the Italian egg scramble that is finished off in the oven.

Having many interesting things in the fridge that needed to be used, I rang a change on the standard tortilla last Friday: Tortilla with potato, shrimp, radish, and mushroom.

There is of course a little bit of onion in it. The parsley got thrown on because it looked a little dull in color when it came time to serve and eat the tortilla.

We really liked it a lot.

5 eggs, ready to scramble (no added milk or cream)
about 1/4 white onion, sliced thin
about a half pound of Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
a 12 ounce package of precooked salad shrimps, chunked up
a half package of radishes, trimmed and sliced
a red potato, trimmed of eyes and sliced

The slicing here is about what you get on a mouli with the #2 insert, not potato chip thin but fairly thin.

I refer you to the link for the recipe. You really, really need to have a plate that fits your skillet. One of the skillets with the rounded sides is easier to use. It also helps to say a quick prayer when it's time to flip the mostly cooked tortilla out onto a plate and slide it back into the pan!

Finished a project

Hello, everyone.

The old Aggie Bag that has been going with me on so many trips is getting a bit old. More to the point, I recently used it on a trip where my only luggage was a backpack, carried on. The Aggie Bag was a big to carry on as the pack, and so I proceeded gingerly down the aircraft aisle with a big round thing held in front, the bag, and a big round thing in back, the pack. It was doable but not really desirable, if y'all know what I mean.

I have been learning about my beautiful gift from Santa (I understand that there is now a newer, bigger version on offer instead) and found a project on Sew4Home to practice the embroidery on. It involved buying new thread...oh boy, more stuff that has to find a home!...and embroidering a design, then using the embroidered fabric in a tote bag. The tote is a good size to hold my tablet, DH's tablet, and some few odds and ends...assuming one also has a waist bag, it will work I think.

Yesterday it was finished.

This is the zipper added to the top, to keep the contents from spilling out all over my feet during a plane flight, and discourage strangers from exploring the bag. It is a purse zipper, from stash. I looked around and used one of the various tutorials to create the zipper facings and attach it. The bulk of the bag made things a bit difficult.

The print used for the sides and the zipper facings is from stash--it's left over from a set of half-circle gathered swags at the Former Abode. Or maybe it was a sample piece left from the decision making at that time? The white used is a fake-linen piece (poly) and I used Stay-Flex for the interfacing. The rest of the interfacing was iron on fleece. Maybe I should have gotten some of the Decor Bond that was recommended. Speaking of bulk under the needle of the sewing machine! But I didn't want to add yet another pile of half-used stuff to the sewing studio.

The embroidered side. It is an open pocket. I lined it with a white on white cotton print, so the lining wouldn't show through the white panel. As y'all can see, I didn't go with the suggested leather handles. (Really? Stiff leather handles for something that has to tuck in by my feet in those tiny airplane seats? Don't think so!) I made straps out of some solid cotton that matches one of the colors in the printed fabric, padded with some iron on fleece, and stitched into the seam between the top edge of the bag and the rest of it.

I also added a zippered pocket on the back side. With only a little bending and folding, boarding passes could fit here. Passport would go with no trouble at all. And of course! the credencial. When ever we get to return to the Camino path, that is! The zipper here is an invisible zipper from stash.

About that new thread: it's Auriful 80 weight cotton. It comes on a wooden spool. Of the three spools I got, one has a snag on the edge. It catches the thread while sewing. And, being very, very thin thread, I had to lower the top tension on the machine a lot to get the project to sew out reasonable well. There are 2 failed attempts now in stash, and DH says they're cute too and look like quilt blocks to him. We'll see what turns up. The stitching pulled in when it was done. And because of the snag and the tension issue, there were a lot of thread breaks. I'm not at all sure this thread is for me.

On the plus side, Fat Quarter Shop had really fast service. (Thread link above is to their site.) And lots of colors of thread, too!

Garlic Potato Rolls

Hello, everyone.

The other day I made a batch of Garlic Potato Rolls. (It's cute how capitalizing it makes it seem important, isn't it?) This started with the Potato Bread recipe in the old Beard on Bread book, a volume that we've had for years and years. The book is probably out of print by now.

His potato bread recipe included egg (used), mashed potato (used), sugar (not used), milk (used), butter (used) and the usual flour, yeast, salt, water things.

The only really difference this time was the potato was leftover garlic mash from an instant potato packet that had been prepared, and of course the skipping of the sugar. With all that potato, milk, and flour there really is no need at all for sugar to feed the yeast. It proofs nicely in the wrist-temperature water in the measuring cup or bowl without any accelerant.

Oh, and instead of making a pair of loaves the dough was formed into 24 medium-large rolls. They were baked in a muffin pan on a pizza stone at 400F for about 19 minutes.

The dozen that was baked right away.

The other rolls were frozen on a cookie sheet, covered with plastic wrap, until firm, then put into a zipper-closure bag to await their future glory.

It's so nice to have rolls almost ready to bake in the freezer.

Another recent walk, this time at Bentsen Park

Hello, everyone.

Just before everything combined to reschedule our Camino walk, we did a relaxed walk at Bentsen-RGV State Park.

The bird-feeder season was pretty-much over. Except for those feeders that had been stocked! We saw some pretty birds. One type we were seeing, in addition to the green jays, the red-winged blackbirds, the chachalacas, and various full-colored red cardinals, were these ones:

Near the bridge over the irrigation canal at the entrance. His color looked rather orange-ish that time.

At the water-enhanced bird blind with benches, getting a drink.

Also at that bird blind? He was eating sunflower seeds here.

These don't really look like the female cardinals. They might be. Or they might be another color variant. Or desert cardinal? the bill in the internet images of the desert cardinal seemed more sharply curved but the feathery look to the crest--sorry, those pictures came out blurry--made me think it's not a regular cardinal.

The weather was cloudy that day and it seems to have convinced the birds to keep their little caps down.

Returning to our little snake friend of the path

Hello, everyone.

Today we discovered that the Camino walk we have been training for must be rescheduled. The government of Spain declared a national emergency with travel restrictions, as near as we can tell.

So returning to the puzzle of the snake was an attractive thought. We think we have him identified:
desert massasauga is a type of smallish rattlesnake that lives in the Rio Grande Valley. It likes dry grassy country, and since there has been very little rain this year it should be very happy these days! (Link is to a photo from the New Mexico herp society.) We're still having trouble spotting the pit in his face, but he certainly has the cat's eye pupils, and the color. The tail photo seems to show a small rattle chain beginning to form. And he has the full cheeks of a rattler instead of the narrow head of many other snakes.

We cropped the photos and came up with these detail bits:

The head

Overall look at the snake, lying on the pavement

The tail

Interested readers are welcome to add information about this interesting reptile in the comments.

Wildlife on the walking trail

Hello, everyone.

A few days ago we were walking on the Hike and Bike Trail in our town. We often carry cameras in case something interesting turns up.

I almost stepped on this one.

He doesn't have a visible rattle--the first thing we thought to wonder about!--but he's rather small. (Around 18 inches?) He does have a line of brown spots down his back. His head is triangular, the wide part being behind his eyes. No pits were visible in his cheeks, at least to our glance. (But we didn't give him an all-over look.)

A view from another angle.

He was lying in the sunshine trying to warm up for the day, minding his own business right out there on the paved path. We passed on by, live and let live, and continued our walk. When we returned through that spot he had moved on.

A new fidget mat

Hello, everyone.

After returning from the Frozen North, I had a request for a little gift for a relative: a fidget mat, to ease the tense fingers and allow relaxation while watching TV.

The nurse had suggested fur.

An overall view of the red fur fidget mat. The embellishments, except for the stabilizing button clusters, are all on a separate piece that was appliqued at the end. The beads on ribbon idea was shamelessly stolen from, oops, I mean inspired by a video on Youtube that a lady made to keep a record of a fidget pillow she made. The zipper is a fairly standard embellishment, but this time it is sewn on at an angle to increase the interest in the shape. There is a purple button under the zipper and a silver-toned gogo pailette strung on one of the other ribbons. It moves, but only inside the zipper space.

Detail of the zipper, the movable strung seed beads--yes, they are really big seed beads!--and various accent buttons.

Detail of the bead-woven ring. It's from an instruction for a right-angle weave bangle done by Mortira at Inspirational Beading.  The ring is formed by the difference in bead sizes. When I made the sample, to learn the technique, I discovered that the ring is almost a self-operating fidget device. My fingers kept turning it and turning it, exploring the feel of the beads. It's a natural to hang from a ribbon loop on a fidget mat!

The button clusters are texture in the midst of the fur, but they're also there to prevent the layers from shifting in use.

After a short hiatus, a look at how the other (northern) half lives

Hello, everyone.

I went out of town for a few days and discovered how it feels to be in actual cold. (And this was in good weather for up there!)

I am told that in warm weather many waterfowl come to this pond. There is a strolling path around the water, and people were using it.

While riding on the roads there, I did see a couple of sand-hill cranes. They were standing right next to the pavement! Their long necks and their bright red flashes above the eye were impressive.

A late-winter warm spell came while I was there and melted the top layer of ice on the pond.

There is still ice there, but it looks like water now. One goose was gingerly stepping out onto the ice to see if it was swimmable yet.

In the spring these folks will have the famous spring bulbs of the temperate zone to enjoy, like drifts of daffodils and spreading zones of tulips in many colors. In south Texas neither one grows. Also no crocuses!

Photos were taken with my Samsung 5 cell phone. It's not bad for a phone camera. I do still prefer either my Canon point and shoot (new, 10 ounces) or my slightly heavier Canon camera (older, 12 ounces) that was taken on all of our Camino de Santiago walks so far. The new point and shoot camera's first outing was the Israel pilgrimage. It has 40X optical zoom. Sadly, it also has a completely different battery size than DH's Canon point and shoot. But I forgive it, as even with the extra charger to carry it's likely that the weight overall is the same and it doesn't stick out from my waist in its carry pouch like the other does. Larger carry pouches, and larger batteries and chargers, also weigh more than smaller ones.