Free Motion

You might know that I do some free motion sewing and quilting. (I also take photographs of things but  forget to not put my greasy finger prints on the lenses.  That white-ish blurry spot in this picture between this guy and his hand is not a ghostly manifestation of inspiration…it’s probably french fry grease. )
Paul Nosa at the Maker Faire in San Mateo this weekend, goes at free motion sewing in a way that I hadn’t seen before.  His works are like little free motion etchings.  The stitches are done on a Singer with dropped feed dogs. He uses only his hands – no embriodery hoop, no programming, no pre-sketching – and improvises as he goes along.
Did I mention that his sewing machine is solar powered or alternately, using a bicycle powered generator?
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Rug Hooking

I’ve always wanted to learn to rug hook.  I bought a kit while in New Hampshire,  and have been slowly hooking away. The hooking falls into crafts I like to do while watching TV with one eyeball.  It keeps my hands (and my other eyeball) busy.

 Plus, I bought it because we felt the sheep was channeling Schnap.

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Corn Bread – A Recipe

‘Pi R Squared? No,  pie are round, cornbread are square.’

Ever heard that one?  It comes up every time I bake cornbread.  We’re strange that way.


This corn bread gets rave reviews. I think it’s because it’s a bit closer to corn cake than corn bread, but who’s quibbling?

I like a corn bread that has a nubbly corn texture, preferably with corn kernels in it. And to avoid having to slather honey and butter over it, I like my corn bread on the moister side. Sometimes I slather more honey and butter on it anyway.

Here’s what you need to do:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Mix together:
1-1/2 C yellow cornmeal
2 C All purpose flour
1 C sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp. Salt

Separately mix together
2 C milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick melted butter

1 ear fresh corn on the cob
(cut kernels off the cob first or you’ll be sorry)

Fold into dry ingredients until just blended. Do not over mix.   Lumps or unevenness is ok.  Remember, there are corn kernels in there and those will never stir out.

Pour the mixture into a greased 9×13 pan. Drizzle about 2 T honey on top of the batter.  I squirt a design out of the honey bear, so I’m not sure the exact amount actually, but get enough on there that each piece you eventually cut will have a little honey.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until it’s browning on the top and a wooden toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean.  Cut into 24  reasonable sized squares, or 12 large ones.

By the way, Schnap jumps for cornbread.

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