Sweet Treats....Low Carb/sugar COOKIES

 Sometimes it may seem as if my entire life revolves around quilting.  To be honest it does.  Fitting real life into my need to quilt can be difficult as some of you can relate, right?  Please tell me I'm not the only one.  Laundry, dishes and cooking often take a backseat to quilting.  But there's one day a week that quilting takes the backseat.  It's usually a day early in the week.  On this day I clean the house really good, run errands, cook a meal that Mr. Podunk can eat on for at least 2 days and cook for my dad and his friend.  Both dad and his friend, Bruce, live alone and never learned to cook.  They live on packaged food which I find disgusting.  Most of the time I make them meals that can be easily frozen and reheated.  Every once in awhile they just need something extra special like cookies.

Dad is on a low carb, no sugar diet.  His diet is almost Keto. If you're unfamiliar with Keto it's a no sugar, low carb, moderate protein, high natural fat diet.  There's many versions of this diet.  From the not so healthy to super clean and healthy.  It gets a bad press and many doctors don't suggest it but my dad is living proof that it works for any age.  He's 74, has had open heart surgery, stints, high cholesterol and high blood sugar.  Since going keto he has lowered all of his high blood work.  He no longer takes any prescribed medicines.  No Metformin, no more betablockers and no more statins.

  The most interesting health improvement for him has been the 100% clogged carotid artery in his neck.  He had one side cleared a few years ago, it was NOT completely closed but I don't remember the percentage of the blockage.   After about 18 months of Keto the 100% blockage is now about 85%.  At 100% they will not do surgery to clear the blockage.   It now qualifies for surgery but he's going to see if it will clear itself. 

Eating this way isn't easy if you like sweet treats, as does dad.  He will find what he thinks is a sugar free low carb option but they aren't.  Just because a product says KETO or LOW CARB does not mean it's true.  They hide sugars and carbs in the ingredients with big words or insanely small serving sizes.

  An example would be Salsa.  One salsa company made the low carb claims and it was low carb if you ate the suggested 1 teaspoon portion size.  CRAZY!  When was the last time you ate just one teaspoon of salsa?  Me?  Never...HAHA!  

Lets get back to these amazingly delicious cookies.  The recipe can be found at the Fat For Weight Loss website here.  Many of ingredients are more than likely things you don't have in your pantry.  I know I didn't until going Keto.  These cookies are not like Tollhouse or Chips Ahoy.  The texture isn't smooth like the traditional chocolate chip cookie.  But after months/years of not eating sweets on a regular basis these are the best thing since sliced bread.  Mr. Podunk is not Keto and he gave them an OK and he ate more than one. 

There's many different brands of sugar free chocolate chips, the one I like the best is Lily's.  They can be found on Amazon, at Walmart, Meijer's and just about any health food or Wholefoods type of market.  They come in dark chocolate, semi-sweet, white, salted caramel, butterscotch and mint.

There's also some companies selling Keto mix sorta like Duncan Hines.  A friend of mine sent me a couple earlier in the year.  I don't eat a lot of cookies so I saved the Kalifornia Keto Peanut Butter cookie mix for dad at Christmas time.  You can find the mix here.   I prefer to make things from scratch it keeps my costs lower and just it just tastes better when you add all the love of making it from scratch. 

Dad's buddy Bruce is not low carb and has no teeth so I made him the standard chewy brownie.  Let me tell you this is my absolute weakness.  BROWNIES were my go to yummy treat before eating healthier.  Dear lord help me to get these delivered without caving into temptation.  Get behind me Satin!  HAHA!  

I don't keep sweets in the house, I never have since the kids left home.  I would make them when I wanted them.  And found that most of the time I was too lazy to actually make them.  These days the only time I bake is if Mr. Podunk asks or if we are going to have a family gathering.(who knows when that will happen again).  

My way of eating is mostly meat with the occasional 1/4 cup or so of low histamine veggies.  I'm not happy about eating this way.  I love ALL food and miss it very much.  Two years ago my diet was primarily plant based, you know the standard American diet.  Hopefully someday my histamine intolerance will heal and I can add back a few more foods a little more often.  A typical plate for me is meat only with meat fat or butter on the side for dipping.  The picture below as a special occasion dinner so I had steak.  An average day I eat ground beef or whatever is the cheapest.

Pin It

Leaders and Enders Design Ideas

 Okay I'll admit it, I jumped into this leaders and enders thing with absolutely no idea what I was going to make with them.  The fabrics were already cut so I just started sewing them together.  Making the process a habit was my only concern.  Now that I'm nearing the end of my little stash of blue and yellow squares I need a plan before going any further.  And that plan needs to fit into what I've already haphazardly sewn together.

These squares were leftover from a simple charm quilt I made last year. 

The thought has crossed my mind to make pillow shams to match my Simply Summer quilt above but a quilt would be a lot more fun.   Who knows I may still go that direction.  But for now playing around with ideas is just part of my process.  Cutting more squares isn't a problem.  I've tons more blue scraps in my older scrap stash.  The yellow scrap bin is almost empty but I could always cut from my yardage.

In my spare time over the last few days I drew up some ideas for the scraps.  The two quilts on the top are the ones I'm leaning towards.  They are quick and easy and require only cutting background fabric.  Do I want to make this a HUGE project and cut more squares?  Maybe.  Only time will tell. 

Another thing is quilt math.  Ugg...I love designing quilts but the quilt math sometimes is a real chore.  Mindlessly sewing and cutting using someone else's pattern sounds much nicer.  And who is the queen of scrap quilting patterns?  Well Bonnie Hunter of course!  I pulled out every Bonnie book I own.  So many beautiful quilts but I'm looking for just the right pattern for my already pieced squares.  I found 2 that look promising and require tons more cutting.  In both she has a light dark theme going on in the squares but I could still use mine even though they are mostly just blue.

Then I remembered Bonnie had recently released a new stand alone pattern in blues.  Her Winter Blues pattern would be perfect for the blues and would also put a big dent in my blue scrap bins.  I don't have a ton of low volume background prints in my stash but I do have a ton of different white scraps with no print or tone on tone.  This is looking promising.  If you're interested in this Winter Blues quilt pattern you can find it here in Bonnies Shop.  If I use this pattern it will  mean I'll need to find another quilt pattern for the yellows.  Decisions, decisions....oh look a squirrel!....LOL!  My mind is constantly jumping around.  It'll all come together eventually.

For now it's back the studio to work on my On Podunk Pond(On Ringo Lake) quilt by Bonnie. Well, maybe it's time for a little self care.  I've got this going on today.  My bed head was tickling my face so I grabbed a the paintbrush I use for starching applique and fixed the problem.

Pin It

On Podunk Pond Assembly Line

 Happy Monday Quilting Friends!  It's days like today that make me thankful for my happy place.  Outside it's going to be another cold, gloomy and gray winter day in Indiana.  But inside it's bright and happy like a warm spring day.  The sweet smell of the lilac candle in the living room has drifted into the Studio giving me the illusion of spring.  My brightly color version of Bonnie Hunters quilt pattern called On Ringo Lake is singing to me....🎵🎵 Hello sunshine, Good Morning, Morning...Wakeup sleepy Head....I'm the happiest Girl...In the whole USA.🎵🎵  While admiring the vibrantly color design wall it occurs to me that this quilt will need a new name.  It's doesn't remind me of a lake.

Can you see it?  This quilt laid out on the ground with a picnic basket, me and my girl Khaleesi(dog) laying in the sun watching the clouds roll by on a beautiful spring day.  Yep it's official, my quilt will be called On Podunk Pond.  I feel this better describes my version of this pattern, color makes all the difference. Not to mention I have a strange emotional attachment to many of my quilts that helps me with making and naming them.

Quilting has always been an outlet for my emotions, good or bad.  I tend to stitch the happy times and the not so happy times of my life into a quilt.  It's also used as a way to keep the blues at bay.  I find surrounding myself with bright and happy colors makes my little ole heart go pitter-pat.  So when I feel a little negative or blue I like to open the fabric stash cabinets and just pet, sort or play with different fabric combinations.  

Not everyone feels the same working in the same color pallet and that's okay.  We each need to find what we are passionate about and what makes our heart and soul sing. 

 Following the popular color trends is not my thing.  Like right now, most fabric lines are muted with browns or grays and lean towards pastels.  I suppose it's a sign of what's going on in the world.  Things do seem a lot more dismal and gray in the last few months.  I may make an occasional out of my comfort zone quilt to challenge myself but I always go back to the basic box of crayons for color inspiration.  What colors make your heart sing? Are you more of a warm and cozy quilter?  

Another trend in quilting is efficiency.  A quicker way to do this or that is great but we need to remember to move.  While it can be great for pumping out the quilts quickly it can also have an adverse side effect if we don't take steps.  STEPS being the key word.   In the past I was always looking for the fasted way to get things done.  That has changed a bit.  I still want the process to be fast but I also want to move even if it's just a few steps.  Having my quilting assembly line set up in a nice "U" shape allowed me to never leave my seat.  Efficient for quilting but not for health.   So I've decided to make it a point to MOO-VE.  It's not about weight it's about health and being able to MOVE.  I'm sure many of you here in the USA have seen the TV commercial for a drug that says "A body in motion stays in motion".  

I want to stay in motion as long as possible.  We all do right?  So here's what I've done to make myself move a tad bit more in the studio.

Steps 1, 2 and 3 in the image below are the basic no movement, keep it quick and simple quilt assembly line.  In the past I would piece all the blocks at once.  Then get up press them all at once and put them on the design wall all at once.  That's the low movement way. 

The new more movement way is to piece one block at a time, press the one block and put it on the design wall.  I have two options for pressing the blocks.  I can either get a nice stretch by standing and stretching over my machine to reach the pressing board(4) or walk around the table to the other side press the block and walk back around to the design wall(5).   

The yellow arrows are pointing to the empty design boards, there's two sizes. Previously all of these would be put right beside me on a table, no movement.  Now I must stand and stretch a little to put the small ones on my cutting table...more movement.   While this isn't an aerobic workout at least I'm getting some movement and working the largest muscles in my body, the leg muscles.  And this project is moving along after years of being a UFO.

So far I'm loving this new game plan.  However, the efficiency police in my brain is having a cow right now.  Changing up my system/quilting rhythm has effected my attention to detail.  Interesting how changing the way I move can effect other areas like quality and attention to detail.  I'm so focused on the new  movement steps that I'm making more piecing errors and spending more time with jack the ripper.  Oh well, I guess I just need to make the best of it and look at it as more movement.  

  

Pin It

Vintage Holiday Charm Quilt and Christmas Cleanup

Back in September of this year my 7 yr. old granddaughter came to stay with us for a couple of weeks.  She's full spunk and is quite the creative little gal.  So when she showed an interest in learning to sew I thought a simple charm quilt would be the perfect project.  I was wrong and I ended up finishing up this quilt with the Vintage Holiday charm packs she chose from my stash.  

I'm not a big fan of themed or novelty prints.  But this line of Christmas fabrics was simple and really doesn't scream novelty print.  Since it's not screaming Christmas it was easy to add some non Christmas prints to the mix.

The border print is also a Bonnie and Camille fabric from the line called Smitten.  I love the look of the low volume border and was tempted to feather quilt it to death.  

 Common sense kicked in and I decided to do the bare minimum quilting design to keep it a quick and easy quilt.  Simple straight lines was the perfect addition to make this a cozy, soft and cuddly quilt.  This is probably the quickest I've ever quilted a quilt of this size.  About 2 hours of quilting on my domestic machine and she was ready to bind.

The backing was made from 2 fabrics.  The red is a print from Bonnie and Camille's Handmade line of fabric.  The white with birds and the binding are both Lakehouse Drygoods fabric.  You all knew I would find a way to add Lakehouse to my quilt.  HAHA!

To finish it off I added a simple label with another Bonnie and Camille aqua gingham print.  On the label is the story of how my granddaughter started this and I finished it for her.  My hopes is that it will be something she will cherish the rest of her life.

For now it's time to store it away with all the other Christmas quits.  This big stack of quilts and pillows need to be put back in storage for a few months.

I pulled out the pillow forms and folded everything with the backing side out.  Later in the year when I'm decorating for the patriotic holidays I'll pull these out of storage and refold the to help keep them as healthy as possible.

Storing with the backing side out protects the pretty side from light, dust or stains.  If these were going into my hope chest I would put them in pillow cases or wrap them in sheets.  But these will go into large clear plastic totes in my office.  Then I will cover the totes with a sheet to protect them from the sunlight.  Folding them with the label showing makes it easier to find one if I need it for marketing or trunk shows.

Since we're on the topic of quilt storage and hope chest I thought I would share a picture of my girl.  She often sleeps with her head under the hope chest.  Not sure why she crams herself into this small space like this but I find hilarious and cute.

Pin It