The flower was really heavy

Hello, everyone.  In my Texas garden, I can't grow any of the beautiful flowers we saw in Alaska. And they were glorious! As a consolation,  though, I can grow various Southern plants. 

The Milk and Wine crinum flower is blooming,  with two big, tall stems. This morning I discovered that one had fallen over during the night. The blossoms in the truss are just too heavy, I guess. I cut that stem and brought it inside.

A detail:

The pink streaks are why it's called Milk and Wine Lily.

Cloud Bread

Hello, everyone.  I know that cloud bread was last year's fad, or maybe a couple of years ago, but I only tried it this year. Today, wanting something to spread taramosalata on, I got out the printout of a recipe and made some...with an extra egg because I thought I had contaminated the first egg white with yolk. Some cooking things just aren't worth taking chances on. I put the maybe contaminated white into the yolks cup and separated three more. The batter was a little less stiff when it was time to fold it into the whipped egg whites.  This may produce a less dry result than the original recipe...I am kind of hoping for that. 

Top view after baking for 35 minutes.

Side view. In the background is the Air Bake cookie sheet I supported the pan with.

After a while I flipped the little rounds over onto the baking rack so the bottoms would not become mushy from steam inside the pan.

I like the cloud breads, even though with no wheat flour there is no gluten with its chewy texture. They do need to be used with soft spreads as the lack of gluten does make them crumble if the sandwich filling is the least bit tough.

Airport Art

Hello, everyone.  It's an unofficial ongoing series around here, when I see Airport Art and have to to snap a picture, I  share it with y'all. (Sadly, ANC Anchorage Airport has some very nice art but I didn't have time to make pictures of it. If any of my readers has some, y'all can add it in comments if you wish.)

This was in the terminal at Seattle Tacoma Airport. It's a sort of fantasy canoe. The silhouettes on the side are actually mirrors that show different colors depending on where the viewer stands. The long fringe like stuff on the sides is, of course, the rowers' paddles. 

Perhaps it's supposed to be a dragon boat?

Beautiful Bead Embroidery

Hello, everyone.  I have mentioned in my last post that I made a trip up north. While there I visited the Alaska Native Heritage Center, a kind of hybrid between cultural demonstration and art museum.

This beautiful piece was on display there. It is bead work on smoked moose hide and the design and execution are wonderful. It was inspirational. 

An amazing sight

Hello,  everyone. Today I am sharing the most amazing view.

This is Mt. Denali and its two companion peaks, Mt. Foraker at the left and Mt. Hunter, plus the rest of the range, fully visible! 

They say that only 30 percent of visitors get to see the mountain without its veil of obscuring clouds.

It's amazing.

Another project is done

Hello, everyone.  It's completion season in the sewing room. Yesterday finished a gift, today finished a pouch that will probably be a gift as well.

The first time I made boxed corners by myself. 

The butterfly is an included design in my Janome embroidery machine. 

The fabrics are from stash...I think this finishes the blue print binding strips that were made for the butterfly quilt a while back. Cotton, of course. The zipper is also from stash.

Getting use out of my magnetic hoop

Hello, everyone.  As usual,  there are a bunch of crafty projects underway. 

A friend asked me to embroider on some coated canvas and the fabric turned out to be too thick or stiff to go into my regular hoop. Before I tried something that would not have worked (floating such a stiff project) I remembered that I have a magnetic hoop. It doesn't require the fabric to bend around the upper half of the hoop to hold the fabric.

It is a little tricky to line up the center, but I was able to check centering by laying the grid from my other hoop on top of the marked edges and get it lined up.

Also, my new "hair clips" are hard at work controlling the bulk of the portfolio. 😀 

I used topper to encourage the letters to sit nicely on the top of the blue fabric. The stabilizer is a medium weight cut-away. 

Now to find some use for the test pieces!