Muffins Anyone?

And now for something completely different. I seem to have suffered a Nintendo injury. I sat on the couch with my feet under me too long yesterday and I strained a muscle in my side trying to outwit those stupid blocks that were trying to crush me. I tend to get my whole body into these things.

So this morning I woke up with a sharp pain in my left side. It's kind of like the time I went to my chiropractor and he asked how my neck got so out of whack. I told him it was a reading injury.  If I get reading a good book I can be there for hours with my neck is in the same position and it stains it. Chiropractors are great, he did solve some long standing back issues but I no longer go to one cause at my age my bones are getting brittle and I really don't want anyone adjusting them. They're find and dandy right where they are.

Anyway, so what else can I do today. I have housework and yardwork that needs doing but nah.. don't feel like doing that. Then I thought I could make muffins, that's easy. I promised to take some to the Spring Bazaar on Saturday. I made one batch and realized I was out of eggs. When I went to get eggs I saw muffin mixes that are pretty cheap and all you add is water so the bazaar is getting packaged muffin mix and husband can have his regular carrot muffins.

These muffins are like nothing you've ever tasted. I find carrot cake dry. This recipe was one of 4 one-pan cake recipes in Woman's Day or something back in the early 1980's. So I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

The recipe is for carrot cake but I mix it in a bowl and use it to make muffins. If making a cake you can mix the whole thing with a fork right in a 9" cake pan.

Mix Well:

1 1/2c flour

1 1/4c sugar

1 1/2tsp baking powder

1 1/2tsp cinnamon

Then add and mix briskly until thoroughly blended

9 oz. strained carrots (baby food)

2/3c vegetable oil

2 eggs slightly beaten

1/2tsp vanilla

Lastly stir in

1c crushed pineapple (drained)

1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Bake

Cake 40-45 mins @ 350F

Muffins - about 20 minutes at 375F

Eat... and try to hide from your husband. *LOL*

Notice I didn`t say salt. I don`t use salt anymore so I don`t know what the recipe said originally. 1/2tsp or something maybe.

I really wanted to continue with stripping wallpaper but I need to tidy up around here since we have people dropping in this weekend. So I guess now I better go declutter something.

Catalicious Quilt Stitch In Block 3

Whew! This was the most intense one so far. But it's also my favorite so far. I just love Bronwyn's designs. I haven't even started my Gifts of Grace one but I did get it copied onto fabric yesterday and hopefully it will only take a couple of days. I love the mixed applique/embroidery component of that one.

I made placemats and coasters for the bazaar next weekend. And I'm reading a new book (see side margin) called Three Day Road. It is SO good. It's Canadian but that's okay. It's about 2 Cree men (boys) who are sent to fight in WWI. The world of the white man is strange enough for them without mixing it with a war. The book starts when one of them arrives home missing a leg and addicted to morphine. The other one died in battle. It's stories told by his aunt of times when she was a girl combined with stories of the war told by him. It's an interesting mixture to have 2 first person components in one book. I have to have it read by May 8 cause I've joined a book club and that's the book they're doing right now. Not a problem. I'm a fast reader and I'm addicted to reading as well.

And this morning I went to a meeting for women who are volunteering to make caps for soldiers to wear under their helmets when they are on watch in Afghanistan. It gets really cold and a lot of them just stuff socks in their helmets. The woman who organized this is amazing. People back East who are making these buy their own wool. They have to be real wool so they'll be warm enough. She started this knitting group at a local coffee shop and when they moved from making personal stuff to making the caps a lot of the local merchants offered to donate towards the price of the wool. The woman at the wool shop sells it to the group at cost plus freight. And the Legions got involved with fundraising too. So she has enough wool to make over 500 of these. There are only 100 more needed. There must have been 25 women at the meeting and she was going somewhere else this afternoon so she'll have her 100 caps in no time. So I'll be trying my hand at knitting again. I've lost my skills but the only way to get them back is to use them.

This meeting is at my old church. I haven't visited there for 15 years now and it was interesting to see who is still there and who is new. They have a large women's group.

And, yes, I'm still playing with Farmville but I have another confession. 2 years ago my husband gave me a Nintendo DS for Christmas. It was my daughter's idea. She knows about my addiction. She was playing Animal Crossing and needed someone else who had the game so she could visit my town and get something she needed for her town. Not as complicated as it sounds. But now I noticed they've come out with a Super Mario game.. as in the old fashioned jumping Mario. How could I resist that? I remember sneaking in and playing that game years ago when it first came out on my kids Nintendo when they were at school. I played so much I injured the muscles in my thumb. I called in Nintendonitis *LOL*

I'm such a mess... I need an addicted to life stuff meeting *LOL*

AND I'm going to pull the wallpaper off the office wall so we can finally paint in here. It may mean no computer for a couple of days but it needs to be painted.

I FInished it!!!

I did it! I actually finished the Boston Red Sox quilt AND I quilted it myself even with the fleece backing. I was soooo nervous. I asked a professional quilter and she wouldn't do it. She's done it before but she's a perfectionist like me so isn't happy with the result. She said home machines are better because we have feed dogs where she doesn't.

So my friend at the LQS told me to use 505 Spray baste twice - once on the fabric, once on the batting - and it worked! Usually Spray Baste doesn't work on Fleece cause the fleece doesn't take the stickyness but spraying both I had no problem at all. I used the large quilting needle that I saw recommended somewhee - mine was a 75 - and I used large stitches. I forgot I have a dual feed stitch in the ditch foot but I did okay with just my quilting foot. And the back is flat flat

I have to say after 8 years of quilting this is the best quilt I've made to date. Even my corners on the binding turned out nicely.

I've been visibly absent for a couple of reasons. Mostly cause I'm playing Farm Ville on Facebook and it's terribly addicting. The craft group at the church has declared me "wonderful" so I've been given more projects to sew. If I'm wonderful makes you wonder what the others do with a sewing machine *LOL* Now they all want to learn to quilt. I can't do long days but I could do 2-3 hour workshops to get them started I suppose. We'll see what comes of it.

Another Table Runner

First of all thank you everyone for your kind comments yesterday. I'm so glad to see that Aspergers is getting enough attention that many more people now know of it's existance.

For the table runner. I'm not proud proud of it but I know I did my best... well, almost did my best. I forgot to check the back after I pin basted and there's a crease down it but I've decided that's okay.

Here's a close up

The dark lines you see are a shadow from the mutton bars on our french doors. Now this doesn't look great but I've realized that beggars can't be choosers and since the ladies pick stuff up at thrift shops chances are it's going to be polyester and that stuff is impossible to work with - or I'm a fabric snob, I don't know which. The smell when you're pressing is very off putting.

Anyway it's done and it looks okay considering they'll probably sell it for $10 or something. The colours are pretty.

We went out last night to a local musical thing. This group raises money for charity so I guess singing well isn't a requirement to take part in their musicals. It was nice to see that a few young people have joined cause mostly these people are in their 80's and it would be a shame for it not to be carried on. They were having fun and they do their best on a very limited budget. A couple of them had very nice voices. We had a "Delta Idol" thing here last year for teens to take part in and the winner has joined the group to get practise singing in front of groups I suppose. She was very good.

All I've done today is sew on that table runner.

Autism Awareness Month

Being the parent of someone who suffers from Autism I like to remind people that April is Autism Awareness month and share a bit about it so hopefully I can help allay some of the misunderstandings and misconceptions about it.

Until the 1990's very little was known about the Asperger Spectrum of Autism. Up until then people with Autism were presented as non-verbal, head banging, hand flapping, unable to connect with and basically unproductive.

Dr. Hans Asperger, who studied in Vienna, did a study of 4 boys and released a paper about his studies in 1944. He described these boys as having "autistic tendencies". The pattern included "a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversation, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements." Asperger called children with AS "little professors" because of their ability to talk about their favorite subject in great detail.

Even with this and further studies Asperger's Syndrome was not included as a diagnosis in North America until 1991.

My son Michael was born in 1979. We knew there was something wrong but the more we searched for answers the more "labels" he got. Hyperactive, ADHD, OCD, Borderline IQ and Borderline Psychotic (there's a scary one), learning disabled, defiant.

At age 15 we were asked to remove him from school because he had become suicidal. We admitted him to a ward at our local Children's Hospital - which wasn't easy - and it was there that we were told what he has is Asperger's Syndrome. 

He is 30  now. He's still at home. I have to remind him to shower, he eats only a specific diet of foods. He has a strict routine and gets very nervous if it is changed. For example he likes McDonalds. They are closed on Christmas Day. That's only one day out of the year and most of us wouldn't think anything of it but to Michael it's a great disturbance. He goes to McDonalds at 1pm every day. It is his routine. Christmas Day is difficult for him to get through because it is a change of routine.  Over the years he has come to accept that closure but it doesn't mean he likes it, he just finds it a bit easier to deal with.

I was in renting a movie the other day. The cashiers recognized my last name and said "Your son comes in every night at 10:45" They had to tell him to come earlier so now he comes at 10:30 cause they close at 11:00. I had to tell them he has Aspergers cause they had no idea. They thought he was just quiet. But see the pattern? Same time every day.

He drives a car. He's had his license for 10 years without any incidents. But he still has his Novice license. He won't take the test for a permanent license because having a stranger in the car is too stress producing for him.

I get embarrassed sometimes. To look at him, to talk to him you wouldn't think there wasn't anything wrong with him aside from him being very quiet and shy. But he will no longer agree to go to a barber and he doesn't like to shave. I also have to remind him to clip his fingernails. Some days I look at him and think "Oh my gosh, my son is Howard Hughes!!"

I want a cat or a dog in the worst way. He can't handle having one again. His cat died, his dog died. I did bring home another kitten one time and he sat up with it all night and cried. He has never gotten over the loss and never will and he can't stand the idea that if we got another pet it would die too. He can't focus on the positive part of having a pet.

He doesn't work. He's on disability. I make him go out one day a week to do something so he won't be completely cocooned in the house. He delivers a local paper one afternoon a week. Sometimes I feel like I'm spoiling him. I feel that I need to push him to go to a barber, shave off his beard, get a job. Then there are nights like last night.

His papers arrived for his route today. With them was a manilla envelope with about 8 sheets of paper in it. He came into the livingroom where I was sitting with a horrified look on his facing holding all these papers. He'd looked at them but could make no sense out of them at all. So I calmed him down and said we'd go through them together.

One was a sheet telling him what should be in the envelope. Well, that made no sense to him at all. Why give someone a sheet of paper listing what the other sheets of paper were?

Another was a schedule of what day he would be paid each month. He said "I already know when I'll be paid". In other words why are they telling me some thing I already know?

Another is a sheet asking for his name, etc. and his banking information so they can do a direct deposit. They already do a direct deposit. Why do they need him to fill out a form? This has an added problem because they want him to sign it. He doesn't like anyone seeing the way he writes his name. He forgot to dot the i once and it took us a week to get over that one.

Another is a sheet telling him he has to wear a safety vest while delivering papers. Did I mention he doesn't like change? He wears the same jacket and the same hat every day. He wears only black track pants and T-shirts with wolves on them. The thought of having to put a vest on top is very disconcerting. He's never been hit by a car and he's careful. Why does he need to wear a safety vest?

Then there are two pages of legal mumbo jumbo explaining an accident insurance policy that he has to have. It will cost him $2 a month. I don't even understand that language. I told him it wasn't important. I mean if I go into "If you lose a foot they will pay you $30,000" then he'll get worried about losing a foot and we'll end up in a conversation about if he lost a foot he'd rather die than be in a wheelchair. It would go on for about an hour.

So that is a bit about my life with a son with Asperger's Syndrome. He is the sweetest son anyone could ever have. He's as annoying as hell but he's caring, he's eager to help around the house, he's supportive, I think he's wonderful and I'm glad to have him as my son. He was adopted so I'm not saying that because mother's have to. We had no idea there was a problem when we adopted him at 10 days old. We had different dreams for him but I wouldn't change a thing.

When a Pansy throws up

You know sometimes you look at a piece of fabric and think "Gosh that's pretty" But between the recognition that it's pretty and the decision of what to do with it a lot can change.

So here is the fabric

Without the crosshatching of course... I did that after I turned it into an abomination.

I'm volunteering again. One of the things I volunteered for.. no, wait.. was volunteered for.. was to do some sewing for our Church bazaar being held on May 1. I was having coffee after church and Christine, who I was talking to, suddenly opened her eyes really wide and said "You're a quilter!!" Well, I'm kind of a quilter, I try to quilt. "No, you worked in a quilt shop, you're a quilter!" Okay, I'm a quilter. Then she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me across the room to another woman that I'd never met where she once again said "Shirley's a quilter!" The woman looked at my name badge. Yup... she remembered my name from seeing things I'd put in the quilt walk. I can't deny it now. Well, she had some things that needed sewing for the bazaar. They're already cut out, all I have to do is sew them together. Well, okay, I can do that.

So she brought me two things to sew. This first one is a long piece of the above fabric, an equal sized strip of black fabric and some batting. All I had to do was sew them right sides together and turn. Well, I couldn't just do that, that would be silly so I decided to crosshatch it as well.

The problem is when you're working closely with something you don't see the overall picture. Then you finish and put it on a table to take a picture of it and ... oh my GOD that's so ugly! Maybe some little old lady will buy it to put on a dining hutch or something and cover it with her china cup collection. Look at it!

It's just a piece of fabric - it's a bright piece of fabric - much brighter than it looks in the picture - about 3 feet long. It really does look like a pansy threw up.. or did something. And it was so pretty when I started. I want to cry. I sure don't want anyone to know I'm the one that sewed it.

On the bright side I do have a bit more hope for the other one I've been given. It's a 9-patch runner and has two colours in it. Plain green and a nice small patterned green. We'll see what I come up with tomorrow.

I swear it's February here. I woke up at about 4am to the sounds of a thunder storm and heavy rain. When I got up at 8am I discovered that wasn't heavy rain I heard. It was hail. It was about 1/2" round hail and it still hadn't melted along side the house.

I want Spring! Hey, maybe those aren't pansys, maybe they're Johnny Jump Ups. Maybe it's a sign that Spring is coming.

GIFTS OF GRACE Block 2

I finally finished the second Gifts of Grace block. I like it but the white beads look too large. I'm a little disappointed cause they looked so small in the store and they're not cheap.Oh well, I'm thinking I'll be donating this when I'm done anyway and maybe the beads on further ones won't look so big.

The reason I'm putting the beads on as I finish is because I'm planning to use this to practise hand quilting eventually so they won't be in the way. Angela was asking where I got the beads. I got the ones for my first block at a local craft shop. Yesterday we went into Michaels and it's bead overload in there.I had no idea so many people would be into beadwork. Anyway, that's where I got these. I'm really enjoying using beads to enhance the blocks. 

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. We've still both had a light touch of this virus so we mostly rested - except for yesterday. Silly me. My husband said he wanted to go in shopping and he's an early riser. So when I was wide awake at 8am I got up. So did he, but then he went back to bed for 2 hours and I didn't. I've been having trouble getting to sleep the last while so that meant I was running on less sleep than I need. 

We finally left here at 11. One of the things on the list was to go to Lazy Boy to get him a new chair. His back has really been bad and the chair he sits in is meant for much younger people (one of those overstuffed things). He found one in the showroom he liked so I sat in it to see. Big mistake. When I stood up I felt like I was going to pass out. I was so tired and my poor body thought we were resting now. Takes awhile these days for the brain messages to reach other places like muscles. The chair needs to be ordered in cause there was a sale on and they have no more in the warehouse. This means it will be delivered in 4 to 6 weeks which is close to his birthday so now I don't have to buy him a present. Bonus!

Lunch at Tim Horton's renewed me but they gave us the coffee in regular cups so I didn't get to "roll up the rim to win". Environmentally better but gee whiz, I wanted to roll up the rim *LOL*

Then we stopped at Fabricana for me to get batting for the Red Sox quilt. They had a sale on. Wish I'd known that and I could have made a list. But I got the batting 25% off so that was good.

And I found something a few weeks ago that I've been meaning to share but keep forgetting. What's the next best thing for aging quilters/embroiderers? SELF THREADING NEEDLES!!

 

These things are amazing! No more holding up the needle and thread and squinting to try to get it in the hole! You just put the thread on top and pull down and voila! Love it, love it, love it. There's another brand out there besides Clover but I don't know what brand they are.

Off to catch up on my Monday chores I didn't get to yesterday and then hopefully get a start on hand basting the Red Sox quilt so I can get it quilted.

Gifts of Grace Block 1

I've finished the first block of the Gifts of Grace BOM. I love it and I'm learning. It looks better in person than it does in the photo. The beads I used on the flower stems and the bottom wing absolutely sparkle in person. It adds a  lot. I've never filled in letters before like in the word Peace. It looks like it was done on an embroidery machine when you see it up close. But I don't use too long a strand of floss cause I don't want it knotting up on me, and I'd get so close to the end that I'd really pull to finish the letter with that one strand. I need to not pull so hard and start a second strand so that it doesn't get so crinkly. But it, too, looks better in person. I'm starting on Block 2 now. By the way if you love butterflies you are a Lepidopterist. I never knew that. I just got an email notice that Lepidopterist's would love these old books about butterflies that Abe's Books has for sale.

I think Ben Affleck was just doing circuits in a helicopter over the house. DH saw him out at our local airport this morning in the passenger seat of a helicopter. He got a picture so we're going to try to blow it up - not literally - and see if we can make sure it was him. I was going to get a big, big, piece of cardboard and write "HI BEN" with a Sharpie but it's cloudy today so I couldn't even see the helicopter. That sound sure is annoying when you can't see anything. The only other time we hear helicopters is if the police are playing with theirs or if there's a Search and Rescue going on. It wasn't up there long enough for it to be either of those.

Not much else going on. I was going to go to the Maundy Thursday service tonight but I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days. I think I have a mild flu. I had a flu shot but that doesn't mean you won't get it at all.