Second Fall Project: PINS!

 Here is a really quick, fun way to wear a little bit of Fall! These 2-1/2 inch pins (acorns, above; pumpkins, below) are wet felted, then attached to the pins with a jump ring and a little bit of embroidery floss. Don't be fooled by how large these look on the jewelry mannequin stand! For the step-by-step directions, keep reading!

 For the pumpkin pins, first take a little bit of orange roving and an even smaller amount of green roving. Put the roving in the palm of your hand, keeping the green toward one end. Add a bit of dishwashing detergent and let hot running water thoroughly soak it. Vigorously rub the roving in between the palms of your hands until it forms a solid ball. You'll notice the green will want to stay on the end, just as it should. I guess it knows its place! If you'd rather make the acorn pins, do the same thing, only use shades of brown/gold roving. Use a darker roving for the acorn cap, just as you used the green roving for the pumpkin's top.
After you have the little balls, let them dry. For the acorns, shape them a little bit at the bottom end so they are not quite so round.

 Once they are dry, you'll need a bit of Number 3 perle embroidery floss in the color you want (or you could just use a double-length of thread), an embroidery needle and a pair of needle-nosed pliers. You'll also need your kilt pin. I bought mine from an eBay seller. You could also just use a safety pin. I also bought a bag of jump rings from Michaels. First, I used the pliers to attach the jump ring to the ring on the pin. If you are using a safety pin, just attach the jump ring anywhere on the pin.

 THEN, thread your embroidery needle and make a knot in one end. Run the needle and thread all the way through the pumpkin or the acorn, from bottom to top. You'll need your pliers to grasp the needle as it emerges at the top. Pull it out, letting the knot catch at the bottom.

 NOW, pull the needle and thread through the jump ring and back into the pumpkin (or acorn), this time from the top down. Pull the needle out at the bottom (again, using the pliers to help). Run it back through again from bottom to top, and again put it through the jump ring. Come back down and pull it out the bottom and, this time, go ahead and trim the floss as close to the bottom as possible. For the acorn, I leave a little bit of floss at the end, beyond my knot, so that it looks like the little point on an acorn. I trim it a little closer on the pumpkin, but the knot looks like the bottom of a pumpkin, so it fits right in!

 Here are some real acorns (very small) and one of my felted ones.

 Did anybody catch the cover of Southern Living this month? I love the display of pumpkins and cabbage and kale! So here's my mini version.

 Aren't the colors wonderful? I also like the variety of pumpkins you can get at the grocery store these days.

Enjoy! If you need any help with the pins, just jot me an email.

First Fall Project: Pumpkin Bread!

Okay, I know I've been a little bit slow on getting those promised Fall projects posted. I'm working on some wet felted and needle felted Fall pins ... so stay tuned for those (I think you're going to like them!!!) ... but in the meantime, here's a delicious Pumpkin Bread recipe that will definitely make your house smell delicious while it's cooking ... and then, when you taste this, you won't believe how moist and fabulous it is!
The recipe is Belle's Easy Pumpkin Bread from the Very Best Baking website. You'll find lots of other great Libby's Pumpkin recipes there, too.

 I sprinkled powdered sugar on top and, really, the taste was just fabulous, if I do say so, myself!

The recipe made two loaves. The only change I made was to reduce the oven temperature to 325-degrees F after an hour. It took about 1 hour and 15-20 minutes for them to be completely cooked. I used brown-tinted glass bread pans, which I know you're not supposed to use ... but still, the bread came out perfectly!

It's Official: Fall Has Arrived!

Just in case you were wondering: Fall is here! I'll be back with some fun Fall and holiday projects! Stay tuned!!

Cake Pops Part II ... Secret to Success!

Cake pop with coating that is way too thick, lumpy and bumpy.

If you know me very well, you know that I do not give up easily. If you recall, my first attempt at making cake pops a few weeks ago was a complete disaster in appearance (although the taste was still pretty good). If you don't recall, you can scroll down and read that entry below. Anyhow, I decided I'd give the project another try.

The worst part about making these little things is the fact that the Wilton Candy Melts simply will not melt to the luxurious, silky-smooth appearance that the "professional" cake pops have. I have purchased four different cake-pop books and not one of them addresses what to do if your candy does not melt to the right consistency. Believe me, consistency is the ENTIRE thing. If your pops are not dipped properly, you will not get the right surface to decorate. It doesn't matter how cute your designs are or how many sprinkles or colors or edible glitter you may have, if your cake pop is lumpy, bumpy and thickly coated, it simply won't look like the pictures. AND let me also offer this little tid bit, if you paint decorations (i.e., little faces) on your cake pops with cocoa butter as so many books recommend, be aware that the cocoa butter features will smear.

Poor, smeared cocoa-butter features

A blurry close-up of another smeared cocoa butter face.

After searching on google for what to do when your candy melts won't melt, I stumbled upon a discussion group on the Bakerella facebook page and VOILA, the secret is buried on page three of the discussion! The answer! This was posted by a very kind person named Cyndi Moore. Just scroll down the page for her entry.
Add two teaspoons of Crisco solid shortening to one package of candy melts. Add more, if necessary. I ended up adding almost two tablespoons' worth. IT WORKED!

Cake pops coated with candy melts that have shortening in them.

Admittedly, I still need LOTS of practice to get these little things to look like the darling photographs, but now there is hope! At least the candy coating is finally the right consistency.

Back to School and Fall Friends

It's that time of year again! School buses are back on the roads. The mornings are considerably darker and, even though it's still August, they've gotten chillier, too. The Canada geese have grown back their feathers and fly, honking, overhead. Soon, the leaves will be changing into their fall colors and the air will be filled with the pungent aroma of burning wood and freshly turned earth.

As Autumn is just around the corner, it's not too early to start planning for Halloween. In honor of the changing seasons, here's a not-so-spooky tree to join our fall friends.

The pattern for Not-So-Spooky Tree is available for free for a limited time at The Pattern Box!

CAKE-POP obsession!!

My very first attempt at making cake pops. They taste very good, although I still need a lot of work on the decorating!

There are LOTS of cake-pop books out there now. Here are a few. My favorite recipe so far is in the book that has not arrived from England yet (but the recipe is free, online).

Cake pops. The name implies a piece of cake on a stick ... and, well, bottom line, I guess they really are cake on a stick. BUT what makes cake pops so incredible are two things: The fact that you mix icing INTO the cake before it gets placed on a stick ... and the fact that you cover the cake completely in a melted candy coating, which you can decorate in any way you can possibly imagine!Cake pops are not really all that new. In fact, they've been around for awhile. Martha Stewart did a show on them, featuring Angie Dudley of Bakerella.com fame, back in April of 2008!! That's right! Three whole years ago!

I hadn't heard of them until a few months ago when my husband brought one home from the office. One of his co-workers had made it. It was wrapped in cellophane and looked cute, but I really had no desire to try it. "A cake pop," I said to myself as I twirled the stick around in my hands. It took me a day or two before my sugar consumption was low and it was the only thing around. One bite and I was hooked. It was delicious. In fact, it was more than delicious. It was just INCREDIBLE. After that introduction, I really didn't think about cake pops too much. I went about my usual routines. I started planning my next big knitting project. (I have two in the works) ... and I'd been suffering from knitting withdrawal. Do you know I haven't knit in earnest since February when I designed Incognito? Sigh. I know. Isn't it terrible when life has so many demands one can't even knit??? Well, the next thing that happened was quite a set back, really. I was outside, weeding, a couple of weeks ago. I got poison something or other ... in a big way. It was so bad, my son said I looked like somebody took a can opener to my arm. Yes, big, lash-like welts were everywhere. It was on both arms, my leg and a patch on my face. The itching was horrific. I couldn't even think about knitting. While I recovered, taking prednisone and slathering on some kind of cortisone cream, my mind turned to cake pops.

I started looking at cake-pop photographs. I started imagining my own kitchen as a sort of cake-pop bakery! YES! I needed candy melts in every color and sprinkles! YES! TONS of sprinkles of all shapes and sizes! I needed fondant and gum paste, cocoa butter for painting, edible glitter and luster dust. The list went on and on ... and suddenly, I had spent over $300 on cake-pop supplies. THEN reality hit. Why, I wasn't going to have a cake-pop bakery! How ridiculous! I was just going to make some for special occasions and to give away. Why, everyone at home was watching his/her weight, anyhow. Why would I start baking tons and tons of cake pops??? What the heck?

It must have been the prednisone taking over my brain, creating some mad steroidal rush!! NOOOO! What have I done? Well, I did the only thing I could do. I started to make them.

I made two batches. One from a recipe from Molly Bakes Cake Pops that is available free online and the other from the Cake Pop Bakery book. And because Molly Bakes Cake Pops is a British-English recipe, I also had to purchase a food scale that would allow me to measure my butter and other ingredients in grams. (Yet another cake-pop purchase!)

Well, both cakes came out tasty (I prefer the Molly Bakes recipe, actually), but I still need lots of work in the decorating category. Okay. Now that cake pops are out of my system, and the poison whatever has only left vague, pink scars, I can go back to knitting. *Audible Sigh*

A "Very Special" Blog Entry

If you've ever watched a comedy on television and suddenly, without any warning, you get a very special episode, you know what I'm talking about. It's not funny. It either deals with some sad or controversial topic that really has no place in a comedy at all. I usually become very upset with very special episodes, so if you don't want to read this entry, I completely understand! Because ... well, it probably is very special.

You see, my blog has suffered a lot in the last couple of years. I used to try to write entries as if I were still writing my weekly humor column for the newspaper ... poking fun at the little things that happened in my life. But then, all kinds of things that weren't particularly funny started happening. You can't poke fun at dementia and hallucinations or car accidents or broken bones or bacterial infections. At least, not when the people who are suffering from these maladies are your very own family members. It's just not funny.
Somehow, my view of life ... and of death ... totally changed after my Mom passed away last April. It was strange because many beloved relatives had died over the years and it never affected me like my Mom's death. The reality that someone can just "pass away" without any warning ... that one day the person is speaking to you and the very next they are gone ... forever from this life ... that no matter how much you wish you could turn back the clock for just a few hours or a few days and gather all the hugs you possibly could and somehow seal them all up for the rest of your days ... so that you could take them out a little at a time when you needed them most ... you can't. You can't do it. There is no "do over."
As you go about the business of living, you'll find people with similar stories of loss. Suddenly, you'll meet these people everywhere. AND when you least expect it. You'll meet them at the cemetery as they water the grass or the trees or place flowers and trinkets on graves. You'll meet them at the self-storage center when you go to sort through things. You'll meet them in the department store, the grocery store, at the gas station ... wherever. A common thread, I've found, is the need to tell, in very particular detail, the last hours, days or months of the person's life who has died.
I thought I was the only one who had to keep talking about the last two weeks of my Mom's life ... but then I found everyone does it. It occurred to me one day, we need to do it. This need spills out and people who don't normally talk a lot keep talking, words tripping over themselves as they remember those last moments and try to make sense of it.
There is no sense to be made, though, because this is what happens. Life here will end. We will miss our family and our friends who go before we do ... they leave us behind and, although they leave their memories, impressions, likes and dislikes; they leave their special ways and words somehow deep within ourselves, it doesn't make up for the lack of the tangible. Not being able to physically see them, hug them, hold their hands or kiss their foreheads ... is, indeed, painful. We can talk to them all we want to (and believe me, I do!), but we can't ever hear their voices or look into their eyes. Not ever again.
This is when faith has to kick in ... and it wouldn't be "faith" if we didn't have to believe in what we can't see and what we can't understand! Which makes me realize that what we are all striving toward -- eternal life with God -- is the only thing that does make sense! The lack of the tangible we feel at the loss of those we love is only the tip of the "lack" iceberg if we were to be separated from God. Even just to think about this is chilling (no pun intended)!
In the last couple of months -- from April to June -- there have been at least six deaths of friends and relatives. Can you believe it? That is a lot, isn't it? At first, it's almost numbing. What is life all about, anyhow, if all we do is die ... no matter how much we try to treat or fix or cure? But then I remember, as I drag my mind back, that we're not supposed to live forever here. It's only that it seems we should be clinging to this life ... but really we should be shoring up our pathway to eternal life, instead!
There's so much going on in my head that I'd love to be able to get down on paper (even virtual paper) and share with everybody about how intertwined life and faith and death are, but I don't have the right words yet.
So, in the meantime, I'll just say this: While I'm still living, I know I need to make it worthwhile. This doesn't mean I have to succeed at BIG things. I only need to succeed at being a good person. I need to remind myself every moment how important kindness is. How patience matters. How we treat others is all we have to carry us through, because not one of us knows if we'll be here tomorrow.