How to make the perfect soft-boiled egg

I don't know about you but for years I have eaten nothing but hard boiled eggs. Why? Not because I preferred them but because I could never make a really good soft-boiled egg. Finally, a couple of months ago I decided I would see what my cookbook said about boiled eggs. The Better Homes and Garden cookbook stated that a soft-boiled egg was a three-minute egg. I figured I had nothing to lose except an egg or two so I followed the instructions. Beware, that in order to be successful, you should stay in the kitchen for most, if not all of the time it takes to do this. (BTW, here's my disclaimer: I never claimed that this blog would only be about sewing or quilting.)

In a pot of cold water, place your eggs and turn on the burner. Not all of these are going to be soft-boiled since they don't go well in salads. I usually cook more than I am prepared to eat right away.
Take note of the time when the water starts to boil.
Let the water boil for 3 minutes - or four if you are uncertain and don't feel you want a really runny egg. Sometimes this takes a few tries. Do not leave the kitchen! Come on, 3 minutes without tv watching or yacking on the phone won't kill you.
Get a cup and fill it with cold water. Get a spoon too so you can scoop out your egg.

When your 3 minutes are up, scoop out the egg and place it into the cup with the water.
Don't over-fill the water or you may have to clean up the mess.
See? Egg in water.
Put it under more cold water. Eggs tend to hold the heat. My dad used to do this all the time - just let the water flow. After about a minute or less stop the water or if you are an environmental person who wants to leave something for their children, just keep changing the warm water with cold water (if you live in California use less water.)
Crack your egg open and eat. See? A perfect soft-boiled egg. I like salt on mine. I know I eat too much salt but I can't help it. Food is bland without salt. I guess I should have done the photo presentation better - like putting it into an egg cup. Oh well, I wanted to eat it right away and not use a spoon.

The other eggs stayed boiling for another 8 minutes or more - thus making them hard-boiled and good in salads or for egg salad sandwiches or just to eat as is.

I wonder if this counts as my first ever tutorial?

YouTube and his and her aprons

Just sitting here checking out my blog buddies and listening to Marco Antonio Solis on YouTube.  It's raining so its indoor activities today. Cleaning floors, sewing, you get the picture... Youngest son Eric, left this morning to visit big sis Laila. He is on the plane to BC as I write this and won't touch down for another two hours. He took with him the little housewarming gift of the wonky houses quilt and the following two aprons. My daughter and her husband have birthdays in August and she requested aprons. All their stuff is in storage until the 10th or 11th of August while they, with the help of Eric, take down wallpaper, paint and lay new flooring. Oh yeah,and cut the grass, make trips to the dump and generally clean up their new 'old' home. I helped Eric stuff his huge bag (looked like a big sports bag) and close the zipper. I had repaired it since some of the seams had come apart after little sis used it. I was shown one hole but found two more areas where the seams were splitting and so, when I saw how much trouble Eric was having closing the zipper, I prayed that the bag and its contents all got to BC safely. On top were these two aprons.

I took shots of fabric when my daughter requested 'countrified' fabrics. His apron, being modelled by Eric last night, is a blue gingham that I thought was blue and black but it's really two shades of blue.
The fabric in this apron that Maili is modelling is heavier than quilting cotton - but not as heavy as twill or duck. The colour is a check in peach and pink.
And this last apron that Ayla found in the cupboard is years old. It is a gift I made for Father's Day as a barbecue apron. All the little ones signed their names at the time (I think someone signed Ayla's or helped her form her letters.) Anyway, as you can see it has been used - although not lately and features a 3-D hot dog and hamburger. I loved making it with all the things we like on our dogs and burgers - mustard and relish on the dog and a tomato (or ketchup) and an onion on the burger. All fabrics were cotton polyester or whatever was in my stash at the time. The onion was embroidered and the relish was just raw-edge applique (tacked.) Way ahead of my time with that. On second inspection, I wrote most of their names on it - so it is really old!!

Everything old is new again and more diversions

This is a picture of Maili, my middle daughter, who used to live and work in California. She is wearing a sweater/shrug that I purchased eons ago. Her little sis found it in my closet and confiscated it one day and then it sat in her closet. Maili found it and now it's 'cool' to wear. I thought, when I bought it, that it would have made a nice little sweater for special occasions like a wedding and seeing as how there is one that we are attending this weekend, I may just borrow it back.
Maili is the one that put the faces on the heads I made. I have been busy with the things below and so the bodies/body have not yet been made.
My quilting buddy Judy and I decided to exchange paper-pieced animals. They had to be North American mammals and we eventually will make a Canadian-themed quilt. Judy, of course, is further along than I am. I have to make one more of these little blocks - a lot of work.
Since Maili has been going to parties (it seems there are a lot of birthdays this summer,) she has been very creative and making cupcakes to bring with her. I will post pics of horses, owls and hamburgers just as soon as I have them. This little apron above is one I whipped up for one of her friends as a b-day gift.

Back - for now and the quilt is finished

My wonderful middle daughter, the former Miss California, Maili, has downloaded Safari and that is the internet browser I am using. It is not perfect but it does work - at least for now. It takes a bit of getting used to - like anything new.

I have completed my little quilt and here are the pictures. It is a house warming gift for my eldest daughter Laila and her husband Gilles. They just purchased their first house together in B.C. 

These are the colours I went with for bordering the little wonky houses. I only used the three little houses because it fit better going down - instead of arranging them across. This way they will fit in some small space on the wall. I wanted green and brown/beige initially but my stash is lacking in shades of brown.

I then auditioned border fabric and even though it is hard to see in this picture, I went with the process of elimination and settled on the darkest green. I only have a small piece of it left and so I figure, it was meant to be.

Next step was putting it together with the backing fabric and batting. 

I usually don't use a hoop when the quilt is this small. I just pin it all together.

Then I baste it all both ways about every 4 inches or so apart. It was hand quilted and bound. I had to use black to bind it since there wasn't enough of the dark green. The label is on and now I just have to put on the hanging sleeve.

I now have two aprons to make and a bag or two - and another quilt has been started and I have to get down to working on it.

**Some of the photos are clickable and so you can see a close-up. But some of them are not clickable. Does anybody know why this happens? It isn't Safari because the same thing happened in Explorer.

Another diversion

Ok, so I did it again. I deviated from finishing the little quilt. I just had to make these little heads and since neither myself nor my daughter have ever made a doll's face, I thought I would make a few in case of 'accidents.' Actually, I asked my daughter to draw them - chicken that I am.

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to win another giveaway. Felt from Felt-o-rama. I have plans for some of this stuff but I have a few other things to finish up first.

This lovely piece of fabric is the backing of the little quilt I am working on. I bought it on sale a while ago. I figure it would come in handy one day for something I would make for my eldest daughter and her husband. They are the outdoorsy types with all the toys - boat, ATV, snowmobile. They always try to make time for fishing and are always willing to take family and friends out. Their recent purchase of a house in BC had a few things going for it - loads of property and right on the river.