National Waffle Day! Who Knew?!?

Today is National Waffle Day!!!  Who knew that such a day existed???  Andy and I decided it was the perfect excuse to make waffles.  We didn't have time at breakfast so we decided we would have them for dinner.  I have REAL Belgian waffles rising in my refrigerator right now.  Are you one of the many people who think that a Belgian Waffle is one made with BIG holes?  One that is round?  Well you are wrong!  Belgian Waffles contain yeast. 

When I discovered this I started searching the internet for a great Belgian Waffle Recipe.  I found several.  One is called an overnight batter but really any of them can be made the night before, covered tightly and put in the refrigerator until the next morning.  The one I made today does not say it's over night but I've made it the night before several times and made out fine.

Belgian Waffles

Click on the picture above to see this wonderful recipe.  I serve them with warm real maple syrup.  I pour some of my maple syrup into a glass measuring cup and warm it in the microwave.  It's not a pretty syrup container but it works great!  Real maple syrup must be refrigerated and I don't want to pour cold syrup on the waffles.  These waffles are light with a delightfully crispy outside.  I freeze any leftovers and toast them to warm them.  They aren't as good as the freshly made ones but they are still very good. Can't wait for tonight's yummy dinner!

Chased by Grace

I don't know how many of you read this blog but if you stumble upon it or subscribe to it, I highly recommend you check out some of my favorite blogs that are listed on the right hand side.

I had missed this one yesterday but fortunately a friend posted a link on Facebook.   It's from a blog entitled A Holy Experience and the entry was called When You Are Finding It Hard to Keep Up ( or Chased by Grace)

I need these reminders that I am not the only one feeling overwhelmed by my "to do" list.  I am also not the only one who feels overwhelmed with my failures.  As I grow older I see that time is running out and that makes me feel more panicked sometimes.  I may live quite a while longer.  I'm 55 now.  But I may not have tomorrow!  I have things I want to do and places I want to go and I am quickly realizing my body is NOT 30 anymore! God alone knows how much time I have and I need to be reminded all of the time to slow down and let His grace be sufficient for me.

Cracked Wheat Bread and Fonts

Cracked Wheat Bread for Bread Machine

My husband and I love bread.  Good, homemade, filling, yeasty bread.  We love to have it toasted with all natural peanut butter and my homemade strawberry jam, or with a little butter when it's straight out of the oven.  It is a wonderful addition to a meal of homemade soup.

I had some cracked wheat ( bulgar wheat) in my freezer.  It's been there a LONG time.  But it was still fine.  I have an old bread cookbook and found a recipe for Cracked Wheat Bread.  It was grand.  Since getting the cookbook 30 years ago, the Internet has become my main source for recipes.  I did a search and found many recipes for Cracked Wheat Bread.    I haven't made all of them yet but this one was VERY easy.  If you click on the picture, you will go to the website where you can get the recipe.  All of the ingredients can be put in a bread machine.  If you want to bake it in the bread machine you can.  I like to put my bread in a loaf pan so I set my bread machine to the dough setting.  If you slice each loaf into 16 slices, each slice will have 121 calories, 1.6 g fiber, and 3.5 grams protein.  I had a slice for breakfast.  I sliced 1 oz. of Cabot's Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese onto the top of the slice and top browned it in my toaster oven.  Yummy!  With a bowl of fresh cantaloupe and peaches, I had a delicious breakfast.

 
As for embroidery, I have been busy this summer.  I'll have to post pictures of some of my projects in other blog posts.  One of the things that has kept me busy for the past month is fonts.  I follow some wonderful embroidery pages on Facebook.  One of the pages, 8 Claws and a Paw , offered a 1 month font membership.  I looked at their fonts and decided it was well worth it.  I purchased the membership and started buying fonts.  Once they are purchased, they are sent to me in an e-mail.  I could only purchase 10 at a time.  It took me many hours of sitting and "shopping".  After receiving the e-mail with the link to download the fonts, I had to create a folder  for each font and unzip each file.  This isn't difficult at all for one or two items but I purchased over 200 fonts!!!  Now I'm creating pictures of the fonts so my customers can see their choices.   As you can see below, I'm working my way through alphabetically.  The fonts below are a small sampling of some of the wonderful fonts I have now.


When you order from Nan's Nappies, you can pick out a few fonts that you like and I will e-mail you a picture of what the words you want will look like in that font. 

Weddings, Showers & House Warming Gifts

The invitation arrived!  You are thrilled for the happy couple.  You send a positive RSVP.  Now what will you get them?  You look on their registry.  Many of the items in your price range have already been purchased.  You want to get them something practical and useful but unique.  How about something personalized?

 Many of these designs will work well on towels, blankets, pillows, flags, etc.

 

Towels can have a simple one letter monogram,  a three letter monogram, one letter with some simple designs added, or full names .  I will work to help you find the perfect font to fit the personality of the bride and groom.  I've been embroidering the towels from Sam's Club and have found them to be thick, and thirsty.   The embroidery thread is bleach resistant and durable. The towel will wear out long before the monogram does!  They make such an elegant gift.

A bride approached me with a unique request.  She had some dainty little antique linen napkins that she wanted embroidered for her and to give as gifts to the mothers of the bride and groom, and grandmothers of the  bride and groom.

  Their colors were periwinkle and celery.  She chose a font and thread colors.  The top picture is of the ones for the bride and groom to carry.  The picture to the right are the ones for the parents of the bride.  The center one shows how the mother's looked when folded and the far right shows how it looked when she opened it.  What a wonderful unique gift for this bride to give!  They can be used and will always be a reminder of their beautiful wedding.

Napkins .Another wonderful and unique gift!   This customer found these beautiful napkins and napkin rings and had me embroider the one letter monogram.  This bride can set a really nice table when she entertains.

 Pillow cases.  Is an entire sheet set out of your price range but just giving pillow cases is not your idea of a nice gift?  How about embroidered pillowcases?  The top case belongs to my husband and me.  I love using them.  They are sateen.  The bottom case is of 600 thread count Egyptian Cotton.  I found them on Amazon.

Garden Flag

I bet no one will give the couple a garden flag.  The flag can be one sided or two sided.  It doesn't have to have a butterfly.  I can help you choose a design.  I sell these in my Etsy shop where you can see the other colors in which the durable flag material comes.

How about some kitchen towels to fit the personality of the recipients?

 This was purchased for a couple who love to hunt.






The Fruits of the Spirit are needed to maintain any successful relationship.  These towels are not only pretty and practical but a wonderful reminder.

 

I love this kitchen towel.  It belongs to my husband and me. 

We love coffee and Slow Lane Cafe is a website my husband used to have and also our e-mail address.  We love those moments when we can sip a cup of coffee and take life in the slow lane.

The following designs are great for showers and weddings also or as a housewarming gift.  So don't feel as if you need to give another set of glasses, baking pans, or a toaster.  Get your imagination going and lets come up with a unique gift that is sure to be a big hit with the recipients!

How My Machine Embroidery Is Done

I really didn't have a clue as to how to do machine embroidery and applique' when I got my machine.  I knew you used a computerized sewing machine, bought some designs, and hooped the material.  But I really knew nothing else.  I just knew that I loved the results I had seen.

I purchased my machine and took lessons.  Then I started embroidering.  I thought my first attempts were wonderful but experience certainly helps and I'm still learning.  As with so many things, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know.  Technique varies according to what is being embroidered but I've show the basic steps in this post.

In addition to purchasing the machine, I purchased threads.  I now own almost 100 colors and always see more that I want.  Then I needed several different types of stabilizer and many designs!  I've lost count of the designs I own and am always buying more.  I would estimate that I now have at least 500 designs and maybe more.  And then there was another big purchase, software.  I have a program that allows me to change the colors, size, shape, and eventually digitize some of my own designs.  I can then put everything together as the customer has requested, make it into a jpeg image and e-mail it to the customer to see if they like the design before I stitch it.

I just finished some cute towels for a client.  She owns her own basket making business and also teaches classes.  She gave me her business card so I could see her logo.  I searched for basket designs for her and she chose one.  I then added her logo.  She ordered towels and had them sent to me. She wanted some with her logo and some without to give as gifts to fellow basket weavers. Let me show you step by step how I embroidered her towels.

The first thing I do with almost all items is wash them.  Towels are usually 100% cotton so there can be some shrinkage.  Then I mark the towels to show exactly where I want the embroidery to be placed.  Then pen I use is temporary and will disappear when sprayed with water or if just left alone for several days.  

 Next, I turn the towels over and spray them with some temporary adhesive and place a piece of stabilizer on the back.  For these towels I chose a stabilizer which will tear away easily and the remainder will wash away.

 Now I'm ready to place the towels in the hoop.  I was able to use a medium size hoop for this design. 

 I have to be very careful to get the towel into the hoop so the design will be straight.

After I get it into the hoop, I lay a grid on top to check my marks and be sure the towels  are straight.

With towels or any material with a deep pile, I apply another stabilizer on top of the towel.  This allows the stitches to lay on top of the pile.  This stabilizer dissolves totally when wet.

 When the design was chosen, I used the software to match the colors with threads colors that I own.  This particular design uses 11 different colors so I line them up in the order in which they will be used.

 Now it's time to attach the hoop to my machine.

 The machine stops after each thread color is completed and I then change threads.  In the above picture, it is stitching with the third thread color.

 Thread #4

 Thread #5

 Thread #6  Some threads stitch for 6 minutes in this design, others stitch for 1 minute.

 Each thread starts to add dimension, detail and depth to the design.

 Thread #7

 Periodically I stop and cut threads.  I call them connector threads.  As the machine moves from one area to the next, it just draws the thread with it.  You don't want all of those connector threads on top of the design.

 Thread #8 , the roses.

 Thread #9, the  outlines of the roses.

 Thread # 10 is the petal of the black eyed susan, and thread #11 is the center of those flowers. It takes 33 minutes of actual stitching to complete the

15, 609 stitches in the design.  With thread changes and some trimming it will take around 1 hour to complete this towel.

 I remove the towel from the hoop and look at the back.  There are many threads to trim.  I have tiny little scissors with sharp points to get under those threads.

I also look at the front and trim any remaining threads. Now it's time to put the towels back into the washer.  When they are wet, I turn them over to the back to see if any more stabilizer needs to be removed.  To me, it is easier to remove it when it is wet.

Here are the finished towels.  The thread will retain it's pretty color through many, many washings.  They can even be bleached without taking the color out of the thread.