1000 Little Quilt Pieces: Project #1; Table Runner

The first project made from the little quilt squares...... this one was pretty easy, since the pinwheel squares were already done, all I had to do was come up with a border and sew it all together.

I found some small squares of the perfect fabric, great colors, and they had little bit of sheen, much like the pinwheel squares. And the best part is, I had enough to make a border. I also found enough fabric for the backing, which also matched perfectly.

Now the project is in my Mom's hand, to do her quilting magic, and I am pondering what to do for Item # 2 of the 1000 Little Quilt Squares Project.

1000 Little Quilt Pieces

My Mom has a closet full of material that she used to use for quilting. Now that she's a bit older, she is not so much into sewing the fabric pieces together, but she still likes to do the hand-quilting. This is where I come in.

We were going through her stash, and found tons of different sized fabric squares, from about 1 1/2 inches to about 3 inches, plus she had some quilt squares already made up. She said, "Take the whole thing, I'm sure you can figure out what to do with them." The point is to make something that she can quilt. Soooooo,

I took the whole thing. I started sorting according to color and size, and came up with a bunch of little piles of fabric squares. Then I took a look at some of the finished quilt squares and tried to figure out what I could do with them.

The good news is that I think there are a couple of doable projects using the quilt squares that she already made, plus I think I can do something with all the little fabric squares. It's quite a project, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Come back in a few days and I'll have something to show you!

Flax Seed Bread

Today was bread-making day. A perfect day for it too, since it's overcast and a bit cool for this time of year. I started making bread again about 5 months ago, after we were unable to find a nice, hearty, healthy loaf at the grocery store. They were mostly too "bunny bread-like", or on the rare occasion that we found something we liked, it was very expensive. So, out came the bread pans, and after a hiatus of probably 25-30 years, I'm back at making bread!

Above are the loaves getting ready to go into the oven. You'll see that I am using glass and ceramic loaf pans, which give you far superior results. To the right, are the loaves just out of the oven. And below, well the photos speak for themselves.

I like making bread by hand, no bread machine for me. A bread machine is nice if you don't have time, but I have lots of time. I enjoy the process of mixing the ingredients, kneading the bread, watching it rise. I enjoy the yeasty smell that permeates the room as the dough starts to rise. And then there is the baking. The aroma is to die for, and that first warm slice, drenched in butter.....you can't get any better that that. Well, maybe a bit of salted caramel is better, but not by much.

This bread is Whole Wheat, Flax and Sesame Seed Bread, derived from a recipe on Allrecipes.com. It's the perfect blend of hearty, but not too dense. And I can say from tasting the first slice, is quite yummy!