Warm day to bake

Today was supposed to be one of the hottest days of the year, so today was a baking day!  Last night I made up some Angel Biscuits and a bread sponge.  This morning I got up early and took the sponge out to warm up on the counter.  When I checked the weather I realised it wasn't the best day to bake but it was to late!  The dough was for a simple rustic bread and it had no trouble rising in the warm kitchen.  In fact it tried to "Lucy" me!  It was so small an amount of dough when I started I almost made it into one loaf, but thankfully didn't.  As it was I placed both loaves on the same pan and by the time they were done they were "conjoined".  It made two nice sized loaves with a dense chewy crust and soft almost fluffy inside.  I couldn't wait and cut off a slice while it was still warm.  It had very good flavor development from the 10 hours in the fridge.  This was the first time I had heavily floured the loaves after forming them and it made a lovely crust.  We are looking forward to sandwiches tonight!  Tomorrow the Angel Biscuits will have developed enough to bake.  If you've never had an Angel Biscuit it is just a regular buttermilk biscuit with yeast added.  Then the dough sits in the fridge for a couple days to develop flavor.  They are wonderful and the best part is that when you want biscuits you just take some dough and roll it out and bake them.  Make only as many as you need and they don't have to warm up to bake them.  They are easier then biscuits in the can you hit on the table because there is no can to open.  They last for up to a week in the fridge and can even be frozen.  I think I will have biscuits with butter and jam for breakfast!

Anyway the baking took up my morning and when Lee came home he found me sitting on the bed sleeping.  No back support, kind of wobbling.  So now I have to try and get something done today.  I may just do some more baking after the heat has broken.  Peach buttermilk muffins! Mmmmmmm!

Happy Tuesday!

This morning I took pictures of some boxes and the paper tray.  The boxes were purchased but at a heavy discount.  I'm cheap and would not buy predecorated boxes usually but they were so pretty, I love butterflies and roses so they were perfect.  The top box I made using a paper mache hat box and painted it turquoise and sponged it in silver ink.  The pictures are from a private collection reprinted on glossy paper and the edges were torn and inked in silver.  It is still a project in the works.  The inside will be painted in lavendar and a heavy purple cord will hold the top on when finish.  I keep ribbons for making ribbon flowers in this lovely box.  It is considered a requirement to have a lovely box for doing ribbon work.

The green book box holds bead over flow and the pink box holds embroidery floss.  I keep a little book inside the pink box as a catalog of the floss colors and amounts. The book is very helpful for planning large projects or looking for a skein for a friend. The clear box underneath is for already opened floss.  These sit on top of a room divider behind the paper tray.

Paper tray

This is part of a five foot paper holder that I purchased from a closing scrapbook store.  We no longer have any scrapbook speciality stores in town so it was a sad purchase.

I'm still sorting through the paper and putting it in the trays.  I have some boxes of paper to go through yet.  I want to make some tags to mark the trays by color and specialty.  They are sorted by speciality (all colors), color with paper to the left and cardstock to the right.  This makes it easy to find what I need.  The trays are immediately to the left when entering the room.

Thanks for looking at my craft area.  Please post a link to your craftroom ideas.

Hard to believe it is September

It must be September because the apples are getting red and tugging at the tree limbs.  The other trees didn't fruit this year and even the apples are fewer then usual.  They will be very welcome this year, I love apple cake! 

The last ten days have been a bit rough and I haven't really been doing much. Read a Doctor Who novel and The Invisible man.  Currently I'm reading a Doctor Who novel where he is separated from the TARDIS and living with prostitutes in 1780's London.  An interesting book written as a history of the period. I have also been working on the craft room, getting things sorted and put away.  Pattie, my sister, has started setting up a craftroom so I can't let her out do me!  We both have different ideas of setting up a room so this should be interesting.  She is using baskets (bought at DI) that she has decorated to hold her supplies.   I like to contain my supplies in stuff from the hardware store and containers that would otherwise be recycled.  Using toolboxes helps to make crafting portable along with rolling luggage. It also stacks on shelves nicely and keeps supplies from getting dusty.  With so many hobbies I need the supplies protected.  Lee got the paper racks stacked today so I now have five feet of trays to sort paper into!  I love it!  Having the trays stacked helps me to reach the paper more easily and that makes me want to craft.  That is why it is so important to be organized.  Not knowing where your knitting needles are when you want to try a new stitch is aggravating not to mention the time wasted looking for things.  With a little luck I hope to have the room organized by October.  The goal is to get as many supplies as possible into the room and also have a table cleared and a chair to sit in and craft!  How would you design a craft room?  I would love to hear other crafters ideas!