Wise Men (Michelob bottle version)

Hello, everyone.

A number of years back, MIL used to like making Christmas decorations. She made round beaded scenic ornaments. She made oblong beaded ornaments. She made beaded bells. And, one year, she made Michelob bottle Wise Men. (This required the assistance of someone who would drink the three Michelob beers.)

The version she made for her home is lost now. She then made a set for our home. When DD2 got old enough to take interest in craft projects, she wanted to have a set of her own. (Pictured above.)

The project requires some foam coffee cups, some pretty braid and fabric scraps, and a few acrylic jewels and sequins of various shapes.

The particular set has right angle weave pearl collars instead of braid--we ran short of the braid and it was really very easy to weave the collars for their necks.

One of the (many) grapefruit cake recipes out there

Hello, everyone.

My sweetie has been trying to use up grapefruit a lot this year.

He's made a batch of grapefruit wine. (Seen here in secondary fermentation, under the carboy jacket with beer bottles on it. After this he clarified it and let it set in the big jug some more, and then he bottled some and racked the rest...ran out of containers.)

Grapefruit wine in the back, a beer kit in the front. White bucket in background on floor contains sanitizing solution for cleaning hoses, testing equipment, and whatnot.

 Then he made a grapefruit cake recipe he found on the internet. It was a fairly basic white-ish cake. Used whole eggs, and had some zest and juice in it.

The grapefruit cake--which wanted to slide apart. Thus the toothpicks temporarily in the cake top!

Then he was supposed to pour a boiled-down juice glaze over all and make a frosting with confectioners sugar and juice and butter. (?) The icing wasn't that great at first, but the grapefuit flavor came out more over time. I told him he should try making the French pound cake (quatre quarts) with zest either instead of vanilla or in addition to it, and then pour the fruit glaze over that and call it a day. It might be really good.

Brewing experiments

Hello, everyone.

DH is a beer maker, as our friends know, and he's been taken with the urge to use up grapefruits this year. (With two mature trees, we have a lot of grapefruit to use up!) He dug up some information about grapefruit wine making online and got  yeast and suchlike supplies from the local brewing supply shop. Then picked about 60 fruit to squeeze. The juice marinated for a few days and then he, following the directions, put the yeast, sugar, and water in. It took almost two days to start bubbling, but then it was a champ!

Today he moved the grapefruit juice mixture to the secondary fermentation carboy, and covered it with its carboy jacket.

Then he started making one of the little one-gallon beer kits that were on special at the Giant Book Store that is more interested in selling non-book stuff. I knew he'd started that when he turned up in my sewing room with the small carboy in his hand. (Think of a 1 gallon moonshine jug here, in clear glass.) A new, small-sized carboy jacket was needed.

I pulled out a piece of stash fabric: polished cotton from the dining room window swags. Added the back half of a stained linen top, which was still black. Cut both to size and attached at the bottom edge.

The jug is a smidge less than 21 inches in circumference, plus seam allowance gives 22"

Base of jug to neck is around 11 inches--the neck itself will stick out a bit.

Bottom seam pressed open. 

 I had cut the lining piece a little shorter than the outside piece, so the selvage you see at the seam is folded up in the pressing.

Bottom folded up, sides sewn together and serged to prevent fraying. The layers are treated as one piece from now on.

The next step was to sew the short sides together to make a tube to fit over the jug. Then press that seam open, so it wouldn't be a big lump inside the cover.

Sewn into a tube. 

 The top edge was folded down and pinned for a casing. A piece of stash ribbon (1/4" or 3/8" wide satin and about 12 inches long) was used for the drawstring.

Sewing the casing with a 1/2" seam.

 Threaded the ribbon through the casing with the always-useful safety pin, then sewed the ends together so it would stay threaded.

Completed carboy jacket!

Father-and-son carboy jackets

 The fermenting grapefruit wine is in the 5 gallon carboy in back. The 1 gallon carboy in front is ready for action.

Camino memories: Valdeiglesias

Hello, everyone.

In 2014, we stayed in the newer albergue in Valdeiglesias.

Y'all might remember this patio picture.

 We met a wonderfully friendly pair of hikers from Belgium there. They told us about their village in Belgium, called LaChouffe. The village has a brewery.

This past weekend, in Spec's wine shop in San Antonio (mmm, Rioja!) we found a bottle of the beer from LaChouffe. The hat worn by the little elf in the label picture is the regional hat of the village. He's wearing wooden shoes, too, so one supposes that the land around LaChouffe is rather damp. I'd love to visit the village some day.

We haven't opened it yet. It's a huge bottle and one wants to be able to do it justice.

Progress on the Red Quilt

Hello, everyone.

I have made progress on the Red Quilt. The squares are sewn to the sashing strips and connected into rows. Which are back in the "audition space" so I could stand on the piano bench and take a picture of the final layout.

Final layout of the red quilt, with the sashing.

There are still a lot of unchosen squares and strips around--can we say Stash Overload?--and so I'll probably make some more after this is finished.

On another note, my sweetie has declared that it's Beer Season. And his first batch of the year is the Pumpkin Beer recipe from Austin Home Brewers Supply.

Beer fermenting in the carboy, dressed to wow in its protective jacket.

Giving the clean bottles a sanitize cycle in the dishwasher

Capping the filled bottles

Ready to go to the beer fridge and mature until ready

My sweetie says that, since these black lids are the last solid color bag in the house, his next batch will have mixed colors of lids--he's pretty sure there are fifty-plus lids of mixed colors in the bag still.
He really enjoys making the beer. He spends a day mixing and cooking and putting it into the bucket for the first fermentation, then he transfers it to the carboy for the second fermentation, then he bottles and sets in the beer fridge--at carefully chosen temperatures!--to mature. The beer needs to be protected from light, he says, when it's in the glass carboy. That's why I made him a carboy jacket--to keep the light away from the developing brew.