Lasso The Moon

The homeschool question

 *Note: I posted this originally on our family blog, but have decided to add the home-schooling aspect of our lives to "Lasso the Moon" since it is taking up more and more of my creative energy.    I also hope it will serve as a source for teaching ideas for others of you who are schooling at home, or just love to see your children learn.  Find all of these posts under the "teach your children well" category.*

We haven't actually decided to homeschool at this point, but Emma is still a year away from starting kindergarten, so I've decided to "play" school with her this year.  We'll be learning geography through pen-pal relationships, work on reading skills, and use nature as our science classroom. 

I'll be using this blog as a journal of what works and what doesn't.  Although, at this age, she is so eager to learn, we find teaching opportunities at every turn.  She put this puzzle together by herself.   (50 pieces.)

Quilt Tuesday

Since I'm over at Mom's every Tuesday with my latest project in tow, I thought it would be a fun idea to show a weekly work-in-progress shot. 

As you can see, I went ahead and tried out the blue diamonds, and I'm really happy with them.  I think the whole quilt will have 2 1/2 blue diamonds, with one of them on the very edge, like is shown here.

To make the squares with more than one color, sew green strips on one side of the foundation strip (the grey one) and blue strips on the other side.  Four squares make one diamond.  You could make the entire quilt like this, or just stick in a couple here and there, like I did.

I have decided that the finished size will be six diamonds across, and 7 diamonds down.  I still have some work to do.

Off the Wagon

I have a vague memory of telling you that I was going to sew up all of my apparel fabric before I got anything else out of storage.  Well, I tripped up.  One day last week I needed something out of our storage rental, and as I was digging through the mountain of boxes, I came across one that had this inside:

It's been a couple months now since I've had all of my supplies at my finger tips, and while this jumbled mess of fabric scraps might not seem like much to you, it held all the comforts of home for me.  I took that box home, and wondered for a couple days what I could do to use some of it up.  I didn't have to think for very long.

I found out about "string quilts" a couple months ago.  They are basically quilts that are pieced using the smallest random scraps that you have lying around.  Perfect.

I wanted the quilt to have a somewhat-cohesive nature, so I anchored each 5-inch square with a 1-inch strip placed on the diagonal.  That way, when you put four of them together, they form a diamond.  I decided to use only my green scraps for the quilt.  I like the scrappy feel, but I love the orderliness of using one color family for a whole project. 

I was going to make my own tutorial for paper piecing, the technique that I'm using here, but I found this one that is better than mine would have been.  I'm using my cell phone for a modem, so pictures take forever to load!

Here's my first strip, which I glued temporarily to the foundation paper.  I used an old college catalog I found for the foundation.

Here's what the back of one square looks like when it has been sewn and trimmed.  I'll leave the paper on until the whole top of the quilt is pieced together.  Then I'll pick out the paper and iron the seams.  I used a small stitch length so it would perforate the paper as I sew.

Here are the first four "blocks" which are made up of sixteen squares.  I'm giddy about it at this point.  It's really a fun, mindless way to make something really cool.  I love projects with a repetitive nature, because you can use your time praying, pondering, or planning your next project.  Keep a notebook nearby for ideas!

I'm loving the green, but I might stick in a couple blue diamonds for added interest.

 

Making Biscuits

Since I am now officially a Southern mama, I have taken it upon myself to learn a few classic southern baking tricks.  First up is the homemade biscuit.  I have always made biscuits from those pop-open tubes, and the idea of making my own from scratch seemed ridiculous and way too difficult. 

That tool is called a pastry cutter, in case you are unfamiliar with it.  It helps cut the frozen butter into teeny tiny pieces as you mix it into the dry ingredients.  You can also use two knives slicing in opposite directions, but it's a lot harder and I gave up too early when I did it that way.  I found this one in an antique store for $4.00.

After making the recipe (see below) a couple times, I think I've almost perfected the kneading part.  I flour my hand and basically fold the dough in half, over and over.  You don't have to do it for very long, just until you are sure it's not too sticky to roll out.  And the folding creates the layers you are looking for.  Not like the layers from the tube, but they are still layers.

I didn't need to roll with a rolling pin.  I just pushed the dough down with my hands.  Cut them out with a biscuit cutter, or the top of a drinking glass like I did.

The Classic Biscuit
(from Country Living Magazine, March 2009)

Makes 10 biscuits, Working time-25 minutes, Total time-45 min

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sal
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold buttermilk
1 tablespoon melted butter

Heat oven to 475 degrees.  Cut the butter into small cubes and freeze for 15 minutes.  Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Stir in the buttermilk using a fork, just until a dough forms. Knead 3 to 4 turns on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7 x 10 inch rectangle.  Cut out biscuits using a 3 inch cutter, gathering the scraps until all the dough is used.  Place 2 inches apart on a baking pan.  Brush the tops with melted butter.  Bake on the top shelf for 16 to 18 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serve with fruit preserves, cheesy eggs, or country gravy.  I've made these every week for three weeks and I don't see myself stopping any time soon.  Yum.