Placemats and Poilane Sour Dough Bread

Everyone needs and uses placemats. And if you have the time, it’s easy to make your own and a great way to use up fabric scraps and small pieces of batting if you're quilting the placemats.

Just think of all the different colors and designs that can be incorporated in making your own unique placemats that go with your very own color scheme and personal decor. No more being content with the colors and designs offered by the big box stores, allowing some unknown buyer to determine your decor.

Here are some placemats I’ve made over the years. I eventually would like to have one or two designs for each month reflecting the different seasons and holidays.

For the backing I used denim from old jeans

My serger does a cool wave stitch

Appliqué makes me feel creative. Most any design can be created.

(I think I need to get busy sewing placemats because those are all the ones I've made for myself.)

After finishing this quilt using batik fabrics, I had plenty of scraps that I turned into HSTs, like 96 of them!

What to do with HSTs?! SO MANY OPTIONS! After playing around with several options I finally settled on this design for my placemats.

I made 4 with the multi-colored border

And 4 with a dark green border because I was running short on scraps from my scraps. I love that concept of acquiring scraps from scraps 😊

I’ve decided to add these to the items on my Etsy shop, well, since I need more products on there!

Try making your own placemats someday. You're creative! You can do it!

                And now onto the Sour Dough Bread 👅💦

Poilane is a famous bakery in Paris well known for their huge round loaves of sour dough bread (book cover picture) using a recipe that’s been passed down in their family since 1932. The bakery was started by Pierre Poilane then passed on to his son, the famous baker Lionel Poilane, who along with his wife, died suddenly in a tragic helicopter accident in 2002.  The bakery is now run by their daughter, Apollonia. Her first cookbook in English was released on Oct 31st.  The cookbook, Poilane The Secrets of the World Famous Bread Bakery (non-affiliate link. I just love the book and want to share) is an awesome book filled with many family stories, baking processes and of course recipes, including their famous sour dough bread recipe.

      Here are some delicious photos from the cookbook



           And...

Here are photos of my version of their sour dough bread. Mine is smaller and taller, but all I had was a 10 inch cast iron pot. The recipe called for a 14 inch pot, but hey, you work with what you have. Regardless, the bread was delicious with a soft firm crumb and dark crusty crust. We enjoyed the bread several ways for 5 days then made bread crumbs with what was left.

Toasted and spread with Irish Butter

Toasted with melted Hot Pepper Cheddar cheese and Honey Ham

Wish I can share the recipe but, well...you know about those pesky copywrite laws. The book is awesome and reasonably priced and if you like baking bread and reading a good story I suggest you purchase the book. I'm looking forward to making more of the recipes!

If you sew up any placemats or bake any kind of bread, please share your creations or links in the comments below.

Happy Living!

Happy Sewing!

Happy Baking,

And Be Kind To All

A Memorial Quilt for Bryant

Bryant, a friend of my brother and sister-in-law,  passed away suddenly a few days before Christmas 2013.  Bryant was in his mid 40s and his death, of course, was devastating to family and friends. While most folks were doing last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, Bryant's family members were shopping for funeral attire.  My SIL, who is best friends with Bryant's mother, wanted to present her with a quilt in memory of her son.

I'd not had the pleasure of knowing Bryant, but was honored to get to know him while my SIL and I worked together planning the quilt. Our final decision was a t-shirt quilt that was to include pictures of Bryant and his two lovely daughters along with various t-shirts that Bryant favored. 

It happened that my mother came for a two week visit in March and the plans were for her to bring the finished quilt back with her to give to my SIL. While Mother was here we had loads of fun attending the Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop, planning my indoor hydroponic garden plus we were able to work on and finish Bryant's Quilt. We both had a marvelous time working side by side as the quilt came together. Most importantly we had quality mother-daughter time that will always be remembered and cherished by me,  just as Bryant's family will always remember and cherish him. 

Quilting is suitable for all life events and even though Bryant's Quilt was made because of a sad life event, its making created happy moments of laughter and fellowship that my Mother and I shared together...moments that I will always remember. And even though I did not know  Bryant, I thank him for the happy life event that was shared with my mother by making this quilt. Even in death one can still bring joy to those left behind. 

Bryant's Quilt

As of this photo the borders still need to be added. We used batiks for the sashing and the quilt borders.

He enjoyed outdoor sports so I embroidered designs on a couple of the shirts.

It's difficult to see in this photo, but two of the t-shirts had pockets in which I embroidered a heart and a fancy design on the fabric.  Since the pocket of a t-shirt covers the human heart, love ones can put their hand in the pocket for a few minutes and dwell between the hearts. 

I thread binded the quilt with my Serger using a wave stitch. I love this stitch and finding I'm doing it more often instead of tradition binding.

And then....

...Mother and I wrapped up in the finished quilt.  My motto is a newly finished quilt should immediately be wrapped around someone!

Have you made a memory quilt or a t-shirt quilt? 

It was an honor to make this one.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have a blessed day.

Happy Living! Happy Quilting!

Sewing It - Serger Style and Wicked Blog Hop

Sergers are more versatile than we know.  My serger is an important machine in my sewing studio and I use it for all my sewing projects...even quilting projects. 

Here I've done a serged wave stitch on a project for the Wicked Blog Hop.

See all the excitingly Wicked projects created by those Wicked bloggers October 22nd thru October 31st. Be sure to hop on over to our Wicked cheerleader Wendy at Why Knot Kwilt and peek at the schedule. You're sure to get lots of marvelously creative ideas and have a wonderfully Wicked time! I'm sure giveaways will be offered too...I know I'm offering one!

My day is October 28th so check back and see how Wicked I've been and enter my giveaway.