Kitchen Hangout 2021

Welcome! Here's a place to chat about those things that are not necessarily needleart specific. Random thoughts, questions, recommendations...whatever you want to chat about.

ETA: And have a scone while you're here.

So I'll start even though it's not 2021:



My step-daughter gave me these for Christmas. They are Uzbekistan bread stamps. I had to do a little research but I've found a couple of recipes that I can try. I need to get a couple of ingredients and from what I see, they are best eaten almost as soon as made.

>1 dudes22: I was expecting your cookies, Betty...

>2 dudes22: That's a very intriguing gift.

My first kitchen purchase of 2021 is a stovetop tea kettle. My coffee maker gave up the ghost in 2020. I bought a fancy-dancy replacement (Technivorm Moccamaster); but lost my on-demand hot water. I'm finding I like water heated on the stove. What is it about water heated in a microwave that never stays hot long enough?

>4 lesmel: - I got a new electric tea kettle for Christmas. The cap on my old one had broken and it didn't shut off automatically. Unfortunately that model was discontinued but the new one is nice too. I know what you mean about the microwave.

>4 lesmel:, >5 dudes22: I love my electric kettle. We use a French Press to brew coffee so really hot water is important. I agree microwaved hot water just doesn't cut it.

I have to agree — water from a stovetop or electric kettle is so much better than microwaved. I've got an inexpensive electric kettle and I can't remember how I got along without it — especially now that I have been working from home, it gets a workout every day!

A few weeks ago we gave ourselves a Cuisinart Belgium Waffle maker (the kind that makes two at a time, one above the other, and flips over). About once a week we make and enjoy waffles (we are still trying all the waffle mixes....)

>4 lesmel: I have a Cuisinart clear kettle that I bought years ago that still works fine. It was a bit pricey but has been worth it bc it lets me set the water temp for whatever I am using it for. Like 212 for black tea, 160ish for green, etc. It does have a loud alarm though so sometimes if it's early I still use a copper pot on the stovetop to heat water and it's just as good. :)

Heating water in the microwave is something I've never heard of before, possibly because I never had a microwave until 2017 when it came with this house I moved into then.

At one time I did boil water on a stove top, but now use an electric kettle as it is much more energy efficient - a pity as there are so many lovely kettles for stove tops.

I do find when travelling that the water in those one cup at a time pod brewer things for tea or coffee are never hot enough, so if I'm travelling by car, I now take my kettle along.

>2 dudes22: Those are really interesting. Could they be used for decorating shortbread or pastry?

Everything is best eaten as soon as made!

>10 SassyLassy: - I'm not sure. I might try it. Since neither shortbread or pastry rises very much, it might work. I might be a little concerned about the dough getting stuck between all those little metal pieces.

>11 dudes22: Just dip them in hot water before each dough prick and go straight down.

Thanks for the tip. None of the recipes I looked at mentioned that.

I agree with all of you that kettle biled is better than microwaved. The only time I heat water ina microwave is when I'm mixing it half-and-half with milk to make instant chai. The milk heats up almost too much in the microwaved so it balances the water. I doubt I could manage without an electric kettle these days, I rely on it for so much - not just tea water. Any time I need to boil water for cooking pasta etc. I do it in the kettle and then pout into a pot - much faster and more energy-efficient.

>9 genesisdiem: I want one of those kettles that lets you set the temperatures, it's a dream of mine. But they *are* pricey and I can't quite justify it yet.

>14 PawsforThought: Any time I need to boil water for cooking pasta etc. I do it in the kettle and then pout into a pot - much faster and more energy-efficient.

Well, that's smart. I should try that next time!

>14 PawsforThought: Any time I need to boil water for cooking pasta etc. I do it in the kettle and then pout into a pot - much faster and more energy-efficient. Great idea

>15 lauralkeet: Well, that's smart. I should try that next time!
Seconding that!

Glad to be of service! That was really the original purpose of my family getting an electric kettle in the first place (some 20ish years ago). Our summer house didn't have hot water back then so if we wanted to wash ourselves (or wash anything else, or boil something) we'd have to boil a big pot which was mind-numbingly slow and pretty expensive, considering energy costs. So a kettle helped.
Thankfully, we have a boiler in the summer house now.

>10 SassyLassy: Not some layer cakes, and not bread puddings!

>18 sallypursell: Have to agree on the layer cakes, but warm bread puddings are wonderful.

>19 SassyLassy: I have to agree on warm bread puddings, especially with a lot of vanilla sauce.

I'm curious - those of you who quilt - what size needle do you use for piecing?

>21 dudes22: I'm embarrassed to say that I use whatever's available... but I am very curious to learn what would work best. :D

>21 dudes22: I mostly hand piece, but it's whatever's to hand, I'm afraid! And it depends on the fabric I'm piecing.

Actually I inherited several dozen Sewing Susan needle books so I have mostly been using those, although the eyes are really too tiny.

I also use whatever needle I happen upon, but if I have been doing any quilting, I use a quilting needle. The others feel as big as a harpoon.

>24 sallypursell: - Do you know what size that is? I'm not sure I've ever seen any that were specifically called quilting needles. Well I have but they were hand needles I think. I'll have to go look that up later.

>25 dudes22: Oh, I'm sorry. I misunderstood the question, I think. I do only quilt by hand so far. I use size 10 or 11 between needles for quilting.

>25 dudes22: Schmetz has machine quilting needles 75/11. I had to go check my stash and funny thing, I've been using their 90/14 sharps, or their labeled 'universal'a (I seem to have some 60/8 and 70/10s). They all seem to work fine for quilting :-)

I usually use an 11 but I ran out and decided to try a 12 until I can get more. Of course, they're usually mixed with another number. I might switch to a 10. For my red and white quilt I've been using a 7 and a 50 wt thread because the pieces are so small. I'm sure the difference between a 10 and a 12 isn't that much. I was just curious. I prefer a thin needle that leaves smaller holes, I guess.

Well, in hand quilting, the difference between the 11 and the 12 is substantial. I can't make the stitches go all the way through the sandwich every time if I use a 12, and it just doesn't look right. I can just do it with an 11. The 10 is easy sailing.

I thought I'd ask here, now that a year of pandemic is nearly upon us, how it affected your needlecrafts, sewing, creative endeavors (now that we have some hindsight). Were you less or more productive? Did you go with comforting projects or the tried and true, or did you explore new things? ....

I sewed a lot of masks. :D And I did a lot of cross-stitch, which had never been a major part of my hobby before, because it was exactly the right balance of soothing and brainless that I needed when my stress was at its worst.

I might have done more non-mask fiber crafts during the time I was completely stuck at home, but my sister was quarantining with us for most of that time and the guest room is also the crafts room, so I stuck to other kinds projects most of that time.

>30 avaland: I purchased a few new projects bc I thought I would have loads of free time to sort the crafts room and sit/sew.... turns out when a great deal of your work is IT related, working from home doesn't mean a slow down unfortunately... But I am working on taking more time to destress. :D

>30 avaland: I made a new quilty friend through Twitter (ok, we already sort of knew each other through work) and we are enabling each other. lol

I had taken some smaller projects to Fla when we went before the virus. So when we got back I finished some of those. Then I got hooked on the reading pillows and did a bunch of them. And masks, of course. And I tried to do those smaller projects that my church group works on. I did one baby quilt but that was the biggest thing I worked on.

Gosh, 2020 seemed like a very long year.... Can I even remember last winter? I reviewed my thread and I did nothing from the list of potential ideas or products I noted that I might do.

It seems I bound one or two quilts which came back from the quilter last winter, and I had gone down to the New England Quilt Museum to get re-orientated to do the volunteer job I used to do before we moved. That was March 11th and surprise! by the 18th every was shut down!

Three days later on the 21st I was first approached to make masks, and so I did. And that didn't end until Sept 3rd! (500+ masks later) Of course, there was the great elastic drought of 2020. Then I put together 10 lap quilts for a charity (I had done this also in 2019), a few of those were quilt tops that had to be assembled.

So, based on the skimming of my 2020 thread, beyond the charity quilts and zillion masks, I only bound a few small quilts and made that one blue/purple quilt at the end of the year. 2020 seemed like a year of industrious energy rather than creative energy. I would be happy to just dither around this year....

Well, I got back into sewing and knitting during spring because I was so bored at work since I was more or less sitting alone in a building with very little to occupy myself.
I darned socks, mended cardigans and knitted socks and a hat. I started a few sewing projects which stalled when things didn't look the way I wanted and I'm not quite sure how to fix it.
I also spent a lot of time looking at knitting patterns and have enough to last me a lifetime and more of sweaters and other knits.
I hope 2021 is less start-and-stop than 2020 was, and that I get more of a flow.

I feel like I got about the same amount of stuff done as I usually do, weirdly, but of course some of that energy was funneled into making lots of masks.