I Have A New Recipe To Share - Oreo Cookie Cake

I am very lucky to work with an amazing woman named Chris.  She always has a wonderful smile and just the sunniest disposition.  She also loves to bake and has a husband who is not particularly fond of sweets.  Every Sunday, Chris brings in the results of a new recipe that she found and just had to try.

2 weeks ago Chris brought in the most amazing Oreo cookie cake, which disappeared very quickly.  She kindly shared the recipe, citing that it was a quick cake to make up.

So here is Chris' recipe for the Oreo Cookie cake.  I haven't made it myself, but I can tell you that I have tasted it and it is very yummy. The recipe looks like it would be really easy to make.  Enjoy!

1 package  (18 1/4 oz.) white cake mix
16 Oreo cookes, coarsely crushed
1 pakage (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. milk
2 C. heavy whipping cream
3/4C. powdered sugar
Additional Oreo Cookies for garnish

1. Prepare cake batter according to package directions, stir in crushed Ores.  Spoon mixture into a greased and floured 10" tube pan.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 33 - 38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted neat the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

3. In a small bowl, beat cream chees and milk until smooth.  Beat in cream until mixture begins to thicken.  Gradually add powdered sugar; beat until stiff peaks form.  Frost cooled cake. Garnish with additional cookies.  Refrigerate leftovers.

The Scarf, She is Finished!

So here are a couple of photos showing off the new scarf.  I think it is absolutely lovely, don't you?  The reason I am so excited about it is this is the first item I have knit from yarn I have spun myself. Let me share all the details, OK?

The yarn was spun from a Colonial roving (I originally thought it was a merino) which I purchased last October from Alpaca Direct in Brentwood.  This store just opened last year and has an amazing variety of yarns and rovings for spinning.  Anyway, the color is called Agate, and you can see more information about it here . If you follow that link and look at the roving, you will see that it is multi-color, not just "grey".  The blue swirl really adds to the finished product, and gives the yarn a very professional look.  The yarn was spun as a fine lace weight on my Cascade Mt. Shuksan drop spindle and knit on a size 5 bamboo needle.  4 ounces of roving resulted in enough  yarn to knit a 40" long  X 7" wide scarf.

The pattern was modified from a lace shawl pattern in order to get a narrower piece.  Here is the pattern, should you want to give it a try.  (Note, I am not a professional pattern writer, so I am writing this as I knit it.  If you are having troubles understanding or following the pattern, drop me an e-mail).

Pattern - a repeat of the following 2 rows:
Row 1 (right side): knit 4 stitches, knit 2 stitches together (3 times), knit 1 then yarn over (6 times), knit 2 stitches together (6 times), knit 1 then yarn over (6 times), knit 2 stitches together (6 times), knit 1 then yarn over (6 times), knit 2 stitches together (3 times), knit 4 stitches.  Turn.

Row 2 (wrong side) knit 4 stitches, purl to last 4 stitches (purl 54 stitches), knit 4 stitches. Turn.

To knit the scarf:

Cast on 62 stitches.

First edge (4 rows):
     Row 1: Work Row 1 of pattern
     Row 2: Knit  (62 stitches)
     Row 3: Work Row 1 of pattern
     Row 4 knit (62 stitches)

Body of scarf:
     Work Row 1 and Row 2 in pattern until scarf is desired length.  Leave enough yarn to knit last edge (4
     rows) plus bind off.

Last edge (4 rows):
     Row 1: Work Row 1 of pattern

     Row 2: Knit (62 stitches)
     Row 3: Work Row 1 of pattern
     Row 4 knit (62 stitches)

Bind off all stitches loosely, in knit stitch.

Please send me a photo if you decide to try this pattern,  I would love to put it up here on this blog and share your work with others.

So from start to finish, the scarf took almost 3 ADHD months.  It took far longer to spin the yarn than to knit up the scarf.  But it is finally complete and I love the fact that there was more to this than just knitting the yarn.  The next step in the process would be to dye my own roving, and that will happen with time.  Hmmmmm, I wonder how my husband would feel about sheep in the back yard.








/

THIS is why I am a Paper Gypsy

Soon after I started my journey as a paper artist, I fell in love with making miniature books and albums.  My favorite place to take classes and get inspiration was My Daughter's Wish in Walnut Creek.  It was located on Broadway, next to Changes Salon and Day Spa.  When the owner of the building upped the cost of the lease for the store, My Daughter's Wish had to move from its wonderful site and classroom in Walnut Creek to an industrial complex in Pleasant Hill.  Although there was more room for all things paper and a larger classroom, there just wasn't enough foot traffic at the new site.  As a result, My Daughter's Wish became a casualty of the economy and closed its doors last year.  SO sad!

Now, what does this have to do with moi?  Well, at My Daughter's Wish I discovered a line of papers, ephemera, books and "junque" produced by a company known as 7 Gypsies.  The 7 Gypsies line drew me in like a moth to a flame, and WHAM! I was addicted to everything they produced.  My love of these items went along with all the other reasons I consider myself to be a gypsy (see the first post in the blog), so I became the Paper Gypsy.

Twice a year, when 7 Gypsies releases a new product catalog,  I am reminded why I am The Paper Gypsy.  The new catalog is absolutely amazing, and there are so many wonderful items in the new catalog that a hopeless Francophile can use when she is creating new art.  If you also enjoy looking at paper, ephemera, supplies for making miniature books, and really good junque, take a look at the new catalog here .

Also, the infamous scarf knitted of handspun wool was finished after I got home from work this evening!  Hooray!  I think it came out really well.  I will take pictures ASAP and post them for you to see on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Have a great evening!

You Need to See On The Razzle at Diablo Valley College

My daughter has just completed an arduous month of hunting for, borrowing and creating props for her college production of  "On The Razzle". As prop master, she was responsible for items that are used by the actors and used as set dressing.  Some props were easy to find, some took a bit of effort to locate - try to find geraniums in January or a set of bagpipes that needs to be playable.  For those items that were not easy to find or that were perishable food items - well, she just had to manufacture them herself.  She can make an awesome lobster thermidor out of foam, by the way.

The show is based on an Austrian play that was adapted by American author Thornton Wilder, and eventually became known as "The Matchmaker".  This, in turn, became the wonderful Broadway hit "Hello, Dolly!"  The DVC production was written by British playwright Tom Stoppard, and is an absolute hoot!  The entire production had the audience in stitches the whole night.  The actors are all amazing and the costumes are wonderful and the set shows how a few pieces can be adapted to many different settings. And why the plaids on the right, here?  Well, you need to see the show to understand.

If you are looking for an evening of great entertainment, I whole heartedly suggest that you get yourself over to DVC on a Friday or Saturday evening, or a Sunday afternoon before February 14th.   Curtain time is 8:00 for evening performances and Sunday matinees begin at 2:30.  For more information, visit dvcdrama.net

This is what I am working on today

The rain is coming down and the wind is blowing hard.  I keep watching the three, 30 foot tall white birch trees in my backyard sway back and forth, hoping that their roots are firmly planted in the ground.  I can deal with the branches falling off, but do not EVEN want to think about one or more huge trees in my family room.

So, weather like this means that it is a quilting day.  My "Tuesday morning, once a month" quilting group did not meet this morning, and I would not have been able to join them even if they did.  So I have next week to look forward to sewing, gabbing and laughing with my friends.  But I still need to "touch fabric" today.  So I have decided to sandwich and baste one of my tops that needs to be quilted.  This is another one of those "long time in the making" tops - the red and blue stars on cream backgrounds were started after we returned from South Africa in 1994.  I was feeling happy about being back home, so I figured a red, "white" and blue quilt was just the thing to celebrate with. 

I love the Sawtooth Star pattern and so pulled fabrics and started to cut and sew.  The blocks were started in 1994 and finally finished in 2009.  Once they were finished, I had to hurry up and add the sashing, posts and borders before life got in the way once more.  You see, it is not that I don't want to finish a project once it is started, it is just that other things (i.e., life) get in the way.  And OK, I guess I AM kind of ADHD when it comes to my projects.  It is easy to get me interested in lots of things at the same time, so there are always 5 or 6 different projects going.  They will all get done, just not right away and not in the order in which they were started.  That's just the way it is......

So the quilt will be ready in a few hours to put on my trusty Bernina for quilting - maybe later today, maybe later this week, maybe in a couple of weeks.  But I feel that some sort of progress has been made, at least.  So now do you understand why the scarf of the handspun yarn is not finished yet?

Attention Knitters - Have you seen THIS site?

I have found a website that I refer to whenever I have a knitting term that I do not understand. The beauty of this site is that it not only describes how to knit a particular stitch, but it also has videos that show you how to knit the stitch.  And wait - there's more!!!!  It shows you how to knit stitches in both the English and the Continental styles of knitting!  Now, to me, this is the best thing going out there.  My Grandmother taught me how to knit Continental style when I was 9, and all we got to was cast on, knit, purl and basic bind off before she passed away  There was still so much to learn, but no one to teach me.  And all of the knitters I knew only knit English style.  Let me tell you how exciting it was to be living in South Africa and have knitters there question what in the heck I was doing, since none of them knit Continental style.

So anyway, here is the site - knittinghelp.com .  Click on that link and it will take you directly to the glossary and the videos.

Going back to work on the lace scarf I am knitting from yarn that I spun.  If all goes well, I should be able to post the photo for you all in a few days.  Until then, stay safe and go well.

Sharing Another Quilt From This Last Year

I am busy knitting a scarf from some gorgeous merino yarn that I finished spinning for myself in November.  But it is not finished yet, so I will just share another one of my projects from this last year.

This is another one of my favorite scrap quilts.  The pattern is called Autumn Leaves and the colors come from leaves that I once saw in friend's yard while visiting her in Pennsylvania.  I ended up making 2 identical quilts - she owns one and I own the other.  They were both started about 8 years ago, and hers was finished in a very timely manner. So to be honest, only the pieced leaves are identical on the quilts. My quilt took a bit longer because I did not buy enough border fabric for both quilts, and then could not find the border fabric that I wanted on mine.  I finally finished my quilt this last year, and I LOVE it.  The colors go with absolutely NOTHING in my house, and I think that is the beauty of a scrap quilt.

Scrap quilts are my favorites to make and to look at.  I think it is because I own so danged much fabric in small pieces, and it needs to be used up. I am trying very hard to not buy more fabric because I am drowning in my current stash.  You quilters our there know exactly what I am talking about, don't you?  Sometimes we want to use special fabrics (like plaids, florals or kid prints) in a quilt, so we just might have to buy more fabric, but sometimes we just let our quilting friends know that we will be more than happy to take their scraps off their hands. As my friend Marilyn always says - FRIENDS SHARE!

OK, so much for today's fun - I am off to clean up the Tuesday night kitchen mess.  This weekly mess comes from my darling family's need to cook for themselves on Tuesday night while I go off to quilt.  Cleaning it up is a small price to pay for the joy I get from hanging with my friends for a couple of hours.

Ciao for now!

It was a longer than expected "mental health" break...

Hey there, world – I am back! And I do promise to be better about this blogging thing.

After a longer than usual hiatus, I have been cajoled and convinced by my good friends to come back to my blog. So, I am hoping to be a bit more diligent about it this time, updating at least a few times a week with news of what The Paper Gypsy is creating.

I am going to start off giving you a bit of an update on what has happened since my last entry. I fried my brain and got crispy around the edges with rubber stamping. I eventually crashed and burned when I realized that it was no longer fun because it became something I HAD to do, not just something I WANTED to do. Most of my stamps and stamping supplies have been sold off, although I have kept a lot of my paper crafting supplies and embellishments.

So where is my time spent now? I have returned to quilting with a vengeance, and have completed 6 quilts. I continue to work on my projects once a week with my good buddies, Karen’s Kids, at Main Street Quilts in Martinez. Our fearless leader (Karen Matsumoto, AKA the Color Goddess) is one of the most innovative quilters around, with the greatest sense of putting just the right colors together. And one Tuesday morning every month I meet with my other good buddies – my mini-group from Diablo Valley Quilters. This is a very creative but small group (only 5 if us) that really enjoys each other’s creativity and company.

I have also been doing some more beading this year, because those silly beads sitting in the containers in the corner of my craft room still know my name and scream to me, asking me to come play. But the high point of the year is that I finally taught myself how to spin yarn on my drop spindle! THIS has been an 11 year process, and I finally ”got it” after watching Abby Franquemont on a couple of YouTube videos.

I look forward to sharing a variety of projects with you in the coming years, and hope that someone is inspired by a color combination or bit of serendipity found on this blog.

The photo at the top of this post is of one of my favorite quilts from this last year - The Floor of the Senate Chamber on Atlantis. (Think broken mosaic tile floor lying on the bottom of the ocean.) The finished quilt is 54" X 54" and was made as a wall quilt for my family room,  The design is a modification of Patricia Pepe's original Venetian Tiles pattern.  You can find the pattern and X-Block ruler used in making this quilt here.