Incoherent Scribblings

Backstitching

This is going to be a super short post because the only thing that I have to report on the stitching front is that I (finally!) started the backstitching on “Passing Admirers” yesterday. I am not posting anymore pictures until I am finished, but I can already tell what a difference the backstitching is making.

And on another, somewhat related note, with the help of all you great stitching bloggers and my weekly SBQ today my humble little stitching blog surpassed one thousand (yes 1,000!) comments! Wow!

Happy Stitching!

Golden October

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous for the past week or so. I believe we are experiencing what they refer to in German as a “goldener Oktober” or, as we call it in American English, an “Indian summer.”

I have had the windows in the apartment open for the past few days and I have really enjoyed the fresh air. But deep down inside I know that instead of sitting in front of the computer screen, I should be outside right now taking advantage of this weather while it lasts. I know that in the next few weeks the cold will come and I will dread going outside. I know that I should at least go out on the balcony today and enjoy the sunshine for a little while, but I probably won’t.

I believe that my lack of enthusiasm for going outside in this beautiful weather is twofold.

First of all, simply put, no matter how hard I try, I am just not an outdoorsy person. I have tried throughout the years to become more of an “outdoorswoman,” but for the most part, I have been unsuccessful. Nevertheless, I will say that as a direct result of my attempts to enjoy the outdoors a bit more, I did discover that I do enjoy the occasional hike… as long as it isn’t too hot, too cold, too wet, too windy, too far, and doesn’t take too long.

However, even though I have been known to hike on occasion, I very seldom take a leisurely stroll just so that I can enjoy being outside. In fact, I think it is accurate to say that the only time I that I would ever voluntarily go on such a walk is in the spring: And let’s face it: In the northern hemisphere when the calendar says October 27 it is most definitely not spring!

Enter the second explanation of why I am not outside at the moment: No matter how nice the weather might be right now, it doesn’t change the fact that it is autumn and I am not very fond of this particular season. Autumn always lowers my spirits because instead of budding with life, the landscape is in its dying phase and instead of lengthening, the days are shortening. The birds are migrating to warmer places, the kittens have become cats, and at night the heaters have to be turned on. I dread autumn because I know that winter is just around the corner and winter is, without a doubt, my least favorite season.

Therefore, no matter how beautiful the weather is, it has always been difficult for me to enjoy an Indian summer because I know I could wake up the next day to discover snow on the ground.

A Gift SBQ

Today’s SBQ is very similar to one we had a few weeks ago from AngelSan, but as we begin to plan our holiday stitching in anticipation of the season, I thought that Outi’s SBQ suggestion was quite appropriate.

Have you ever stitched something as a gift and later realized that receiver doesn’t respect your stitched gift a bit (for example it’s never on show, or you have other reason to suspect that it may even be nonexistent or at least placed in some dark storage room corner)? If so, what have you done? If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid such people what would you do if it’d happen to you?

I don’t stitch gifts very often and when I do they are only for people that I know appreciate the hard work that went into the gift.

However, if I did stitch something for someone and I felt that they didn’t appreciate it I wouldn’t make a big fuss. After all, I may have stitched for them, but it is up to them what the ultimately do with it. BUT I definitely wouldn’t stitch for them again if I didn’t feel my gift was respected and, sadly enough, it would probably make me think twice about stitching for other people.

The Lavender Fairy, Finishing, and Other Stuff

Yesterday I finished stitching “The Lavender Fairy,” but I have not yet made her into the promised flanged pillow because I have been playing with the notion of using the fabric that I was going to use to make the pillow and turn her into a wall hanging instead. I am not sure though, so I have decided to think about it for a couple of days before I dive in and finish her.

I was in a finishing mood today though and so I decided to finish up Dawn’s birthday gift. It took me all afternoon because I had to use the seam ripper a couple of times, but in the end what I made for her turned out awesome! I can’t wait to give it to her, because I know she will love it! Unfortunately, I can’t show a picture yet, but as soon as she gets it I definitely will.

Other than that, yesterday I stitched some more on my “Model ‘A’” for my EMS round robin. It is coming along pretty well and I hope to finish it up sometime this week. I would like to get it finished as soon as possible and get that robin back to its owner so that I can say that robin is finished. (Except for waiting for the return of my piece of course.)

Once I am done with the “Model ‘A’” I am going to finish “Passing Admirers.” In fact, here and now I have decided to give myself a new finishing date of November 15. If I get it done by then perhaps I can get it into the framer’s and have it framed and on my wall by Christmas.

Project Guglhupf

A guglhupf is a southern German or Austrian term for a type of bundt cake, is among A.’s favorite desserts, and is one of the few German cakes that I like.

Because A. is so fond of guglhupf, his mother usually makes one when we visit and as a result, guglhupf was one of the first German desserts that I sampled. I remember that first taste left me slightly disappointed: The cake had no frosting, it wasn’t nearly as sweet as I thought it should be, and in all honesty, it was a little dry. However, after trying a plethora of other German cakes, I came to the conclusion that the guglhupf wasn’t too bad after all and since A. kept telling me that I could surely make a better guglhupf than MIL, I also became interested in someday making my own.

As a result of a lot of begging and pleading from A., last spring when we went to visit the in-laws I finally took the initiative and spent some time with MIL in the kitchen; specifically asking her about a guglhupf recipe. Since I am not as much of a “visual” person as a lot of women, usually I can get along just fine with merely reading instructions. However, since the recipe was from an ancient Austrian cook book I thought it might not hurt to actually see a guglhupf being made, so I asked MIL if she would show me how to make one. (Besides, I have learned that hanging out in the kitchen with MIL is always good for a few brownie points!)

And as usual, by observing MIL in the kitchen for a couple of hours I learned a lot about what she does wrong when she cooks. Don’t get me wrong: MIL isn’t that bad of a cook. The problem, as I have mentioned before, is that she was trained as a cafeteria cook and I believe it is literally impossible for her to cook anything without cooking in quantities that can only be described as able to comfortably feed a small army.

Such was the case with the guglhupf. The first thing MIL did was pull this pan out of the cupboard that, first of all wasn’t a proper bundt pan, and second of all looked big enough to make a wedding cake for 200 guests. According to MIL, this pan was large enough for 2 ½ guglhupf recipes and so she almost tripled the recipe! As we made the cake I took note of the things she changed from the original recipe and realized it was no wonder that her guglhupf was always a bit dry.

While we were making the cake, I was also surprised to see that I almost always have the ingredients to make a guglhupf on hand in my kitchen. All I needed was a (proper-sized) bundt pan. The day after we made the guglhupf, MIL took me shopping and bought me a bundt pan. (Even though she did try to buy me an enormous one until I finally convinced her that since A. and I are just two people I didn’t need such a large pan.)

Today, after approximately six months of sitting in the cupboard, I finally used the bundt pan. Yes, after months eating store-bought guglhupf A. finally convinced me to make my own. It turned out so well (except that I slightly burned the bottom – I always forget that my oven is just a little bit on the hot side) that A. and I passed on a nutritious dinner tonight and substituted caked instead!