I decided to run a test on my hot cross bun recipe today....
Easter is coming...here are all the ingredients.

Butter creamed and yeast whipped...



yeast and flour all bubbly...



Dough all made into a smoothe ball....

All brushed with egg white and crosses cut....

All baked and drizzeled lightly and I've eaten two already...




Here is the recipe...

HOT CROSS BUNS
Scald 3/4 cup milk, pour into bowl and add 1 tbl. sugar, Cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile dissolve 1 teas. sugar in 1/2 cup lukewarm water and over this sprinkle 1pkg. of yeast, cover and let sit 10 minutes. whip up the yeast with a fork )..add yeast to cooled milk mixture and stir. Add 1 1/2 c. of all purpose flour, beat until smooth. Cover and let rise until light and bubbly (about 45 min)while that is doing it's thing...cream 1/4 cup of butter and 1/2 c. of sugar..add it to the bubbly (when the 45 min are up)...also add..1 beaten egg, 1/2 teas salt, 1/2 teas. cinnamon, dash of cloves, dasg if all spice, 1/4 nutmeg, 1/2 c. golden raisens or currants...add another 2 1/4 c. of flour...work all that in and knead about 5 min and form into a smooth ball and cover and let rise for 1 hour. Punch down the dough and divide in half....divide one half into 9 pieces...make into buns..do the other half ..arrange in greased baking pan and let rise again about 45 min to an hour.Beat 1 egg white with 1 tbl water slightly...brush tops of risen buns...use kitchen sissors or sharp knife to slash the buns with a cross on top (not too deep now)...bake at 350 to 400 for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on your oven. Glaze:1/4 c. sifted icing sugar, 1 tbl milk , 1/4 teas vanilla...mix and drizzel over buns while hot out of the oven. ...it will go into the crosses...this is a very good recipe...save it forever..
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I found lots of neat little blocks today for my scrap quilts. I forgot I have EQ, Dear Jane, Block Base, and three Shirley Libby paper piecing programs. And you can actually make any block smaller but I'm trying to stick to the one patch ones. I found a good thimble, a spool (I had called that a cotton reel yesterday), a flower pot, a triangle, a hexagon, small railway blocks from 1830 (I think that's what the pattern said or 1930?) and a 4 ins. Apple core. I am happy. Now I can add to my scrap quilts or start over with the new sizes. I like the small size.

Today was the last class for the Butterfly I was teaching at a new quilt shop...




The students were busily cutting and sewing. They finished a 1/4 of the butterfly today and will finish the rest at home..Notice the floor? We all seem to have it in one room or the other don't we?

Aha, I finally got a good camera like Mrs. Mel lol. Sunday was a day to go drifting. In Belize, where I was raised we call a day that you go out all day and accomplish absolutely nothing, "drifting". I spent all my JoAnn's coupons and bought the wrong roc-lon muslin. As I drifted through the store very slowly picking up this and laying down that...trying to see if I could find something I didn't have. I did pick up some more beads and fixings as I'm going to make a few bead things sooner or later. I then went to Walmart and just happened to go by the camera department and low and behold they had a sale. A panasonic, 5 megapixels Lumix, 6x zoom..all for 167.00 or so. After I bought the camera and the card and tax, it came to about 206.00. Now that was a deal. Already I'm in love with my new toy.



Now I took a pic of the new cam with my old cam lol. I made a little bag for it immediately to protect the large LCD screen in the back. This was a scrap left from my butterfly quilt. I stuck in a piece of batting between the layers and sewed it up...made a hole in the side and pulled the strap through.

I checked out a few blogs and noticed that a few ladies are also doing scrap quilts with their tiny scraps. I call it modular quilting because the blocks are not really blocks but a single piece like: the Timble, apple core, clam shell and the octagon. Most of these are sewed by hand because they are small pieces and most are curvy. They are always a challenge to me to find a way to sew them on the machine. So far I've started a timble, an apple core and a clam shell...somewhere there is a piece I started with little tiny cotten reels, made in a very peculiar way. I will find it and post it and continue to work on these as I have quite a collection of scraps now. Oh all are done on the machine. If anybody has another scrap or modular pattern and would like to exchange with me, please do.

Pic with the new zoom camera of the scrap quilts..they are still in the small stages... this is the thimble..


Apple core, it's kinda a big. I think I would like it smaller...you can see the clam shell in the background. I would like to be abel to use all my scraps as I make them. Just by adding them anywhich way to anyone of the scrap quilts and them have 3 or 4 quilts finished at one time all out of scraps. That would be fun.

Hubby and I went to the home and garden show today. I was getting a bit bored with all the bath tubs, cleaning supplies, windows etc...You know the stuff. Then I spotted this booth with Mexican pottery in the talavera style ( looks like a rough form of Rosemaling to me)...But pretty anyway. I took some pic of the booth. I think they were the only one's selling anything lol..




This is the other side..



This is inside the booth...





Another inside...





Hubby bought me this pot..



A close-up of pot...



Well is really was a fun day.

Oh oh, I went Joann's yesterday (new super store) and used my coupon. Low and behold I found a book by Jenny Bayer (I never really cottened to her style lol). Anyway, this book got my attention. It's called, "Quilting by Hand". Of course I don't do that! lol. I will sew anything she has by machine. Well this quilt of my obession is called, "Day Lilies". Nice and complicated, just the way I like em. I need constant stimulation you know? Today I will do a patch or two and will post pics. In the meantime let me entertain you again with Cinco De Mayo from the beginning. I had posted the finished quilt some time ago, but never the start. Here is the beginning, cutting all the pattern pieces apart for one block.




Choosing the fabrics and putting it together.



Here is another block.



Here is just a strip section...

Ok got to go sew...more tomorrow or later...

Mrs Mel said, "I love this design! So do you have a British accent?" I wish, hahahahha. I was born in Germany, raised up in Belize, Central America and moved to the States when I was around 25. Both my sisters married those handsome Englishmen and decided to move to England. They speak perfect english lol. People can't figure my accent out. They always ask me what it is. I never knew I had one hahhaha. I guess I speak Heinz. What with the German, English, Spanish and creole all mixed in.
The quilt is from from the book, "Quilts without Corners," by Cheryl Phillips. I love the butterfly and this is my second one. I'm playing with her "Circle A Round" now. Here is a pic of the book and a couple circles.



Here is the back. The circles go in so neat. I don't know what I'm going to end up doing with the rest of the piece.


I made some meat pies to day...well that's what we called them in Belize. The two odd ones are the best. All left over dough and the rest of the meat. Just going to put them in the oven.


I went to get my camera to take a pic of the baked product and one was gone hahahha...and it was one of the odd ones too....

I miss my sissy already. I don't think I'll ever see her again. She is 72 now and the trip is very hard on her. I think it's eight hours and then they have to drive another 3 or 4 hours to get home once they land. I called her already and she got there just fine and had slept 5 hours already lol. she is so brave to make that trip. I made it once so I know how it is when you don't have first class.

I have some info for those of you who have relatives living abroad. It doesn't cost me a nickle to talk to my sis. I have a program call "voibstunt". All calls to England, Australia and a bunch more are free. The require a 10.00 deposit but it always stays there because most calls are free. They give you a list of the free ones.

http://www.voipstunt.com/en/splashvoipin.html

Wow, it's been a while since I posted. I have been so busy. My sister and niece from England were here for two weeks and it was wonderful. I dont' get to see them that often so this was a nice treat. We did sea-world, animal kingdom and the beach and little things in-between. Lots of great cooking (english triffle), movies, and chatting. I worked on a Butterfly medallion quilt in-between all the visiting. A new quilt store opened up and asked me to teach so I'll give it a short run lol...here is the quilt, it just lacks the binding...

I really need a good camera like Mrs. Mel. This is not too good a pic. Well here is a close-up inside....



Here is another inside. Notice the border? This quilt makes a lot of waste. I took all the waste and sewed them together and made new fabric. Then cut that into borders and joined it any-which-way. I love the effect. Nothing went to waste.

A close up of the border...

I am dying to work on this circle quilt next..lots of circles. you can even use you old blocks and circle them. That will be coming up next.