Arty Ankylosaurus

a doily i finished a few weeks ago for international tatting day :)

pattern by Tat-A-Renda, link here

“Significant”

In honour of the Radch AIs declaring themselves significant and Breq tripping face first into an unplanned coup d’état <3

Yield: 8 servings

ingredients

3/4c or 177 mll extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan

1/2 cup or 118 mll Earl Grey tea, or use coffee, dry red wine, orange juice, or water

1/2 cup or 50 grams Dutch processed cocoa powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1 cup or 200 grams granulated sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons or 135 grams all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

preparation

step 1 heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round pan and line the bottom with parchment paper

step 2: in a medium saucepan over high heat, bring tea or other liquid to a simmer, then turn off heat. whisk in cocoa, cinnamon, and salt until smooth, then set aside to cool

step 3: in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, olive oil, eggs, and vanilla. beat for about 3 minutes. reduce speed and pour in cocoa mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl. gradually beat in flour and baking soda until just incorporated.

a. She’s 5′ 11″ and can never find pants long enough for her legs or shirts long enough for her arms.

b. She hates synthetic fibers as much as I do and it’s difficult to find natural fiber clothes that aren’t made of cotton

c. She’s a biologist and would physically fistfight microplastics if given half a chance

So her gift from mom and dad for her birthday was a sewing machine. Not a super expensive one but a good solid serviceable one.

And recently she asked “So where do I GET wool or linen and thread that isn’t polyester” and mom was like ‘go ask your sister’

“Bets, u know I’m a 15th degree blackbelt of buying shit on the internet”

cotton and Silk thread; https://redrockthreads.com/

Linen thread and wool fabric; https://burnleyandtrowbridge.com/ (they’ve got wool stuffs and worsted wool fabric for $15 a yard! I just got three yards of navy worsted wool I’m making a constellation winter skirt from)

More linen thread and wool; https://wmboothdraper.com/ (just ordered wool broadcloth to make a coat)

Silk fabric (THE best place to get silk lining fabrics and raw silk fabric):https://www.dharmatrading.com/

A varying assortment of wool and silk and cotton and even some leather, use coupon code  spring2020 for 50% off your full order, worked yesterday when I bought some stuff there; https://metrotextilesnyc.com/

The Linen Lab has a variety of weaves, weights, and colors available

I have seen a few sampler quilts with stars that I really liked online so I knew a star quilt would be in my future. Unrelatedly, I had picked up a copy of The Block Book by Judy Martin but I found it has a ton of star patterns. Then, at a quilters’ garage sale last month, I saw a $1 scrap bag of yellow fabrics. That’s serendipity if I’ve ever seen it, so I decided it was time to start my stars.

The first two were directly from the book. The third one is similar to one in the book but it was a 10.25” block and the others were 12” so I decided to tweak it a bit, resize it, and make it a paper pieced pattern. The process would have been far simpler if I had one of those 45 degree rulers, but with a little trigonometry I made it work.

For the layout I have in mind I’ll need about 16 of the 12” stars and 8 or so 6” stars. Right now, I think I will do all of the small stars in that cathedral window style, but we’ll see if I change my mind.

My name is Echo and I’m an Mushkego Nēhiyawēwin Cree Two Spirit living in Treaty Six Territory.

on top of everything else i got going on i thought it be a fun project to just buy this couch and restore it.

the fabric got here this week and i just finished staining all the wood

just gotta wax it tomorrow and than i can start putting her back together