A RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS

 I just had a thought! A happy thought! 

Back during COVID I told Wayne I wanted to do something I had never done before. He asked me what.  I told him I didn't know since it was going to be something I had never done before. 

When our Lead Pastor asked me if I would head up a group to make unleavened bread to use for communion, I thought that might be it since I had never made unleavened bread before. I'm still doing that and enjoying it, but maybe this random act of kindness I am enjoying is it, too. 

I sew, but I have never made hand-sized hearts and then leave them in public places for someone to find. The hardest part for me is to not know who finds them - assuming someone does. I did go back the next day after I left my first one at the entrance to a walking trail to see if it was still there. (It wasn't.) But I just remind myself that's not the purpose of the act. There is always a chance I might find out if the person goes to the web site and reports it. If I were really lucky, I might even see it on Facebook if it were reported.

Facebook is how I discovered this activity. Because I react with several quilting sites, Facebook shows me more. I don't remember now which I did first but I joined a group called I found a quilted heart VT and started following a community Page called I Found A Quilted Heart. The website for the latter is ifoundaquiltedheart.com . I found the general instructions and rules and decided I wanted to make quilted hearts. 

Now I am encouraging my friends to make quilted hearts also. 

On the website you can also see blog posts that you can check out. The first one tells how they found a quilted heart in Nevada back in 2014 when on vacation. They told friends who told friends and now it is world-wide. You can also see pictures of different hearts people have made. The only provided instructions are things not to do. There is a link provided for a printable sheet for the tags that you can place on the heart. Everything else is whatever you want to do.

In my capacity as a blogger, I thought I would offer some suggestions to make the project easy and encourage you to join the community and start giving people a blessing. If you follow the page or join the group, you can be blessed by reading the testimonies from people who found them and what it meant to them to do so.

First of all I saw this as another great way to use up some scraps I have and then I started thinking how I could make it easier to do so. You could make every heart look the same if you don't have scraps and had to buy some fabric either by yardage or to buy fat quarters, etc. Think of each heart as being found by different people and they will never know what the rest of your hearts look like.

I also saw this project as a way for me to experiment with the different special stitches my sewing machine will make. This is the first quilted heart I made...

See all of the different stitches I used. It was so much fun. Took forever also. 😊 Not really but probably an hour. The scraps came from the quilt I made for my granddaughter Sadie. Her favorite colors were yellow and orange and I had kept everything. Some of the strips are narrow because I had even kept the edges I had cut away. 

I had a paper heart pattern that I found that I think I made from a heart cookie cutter. It is about 5" wide and 4-1/4" tall. (This is a picture of the back of the heart.)

For this first one, I sewed several strips together to make three sets and then arranged them to make a size big enough for the heart to fit. (Sew the top two sets together and then sew to the bottom piece.) 

I did one more heart from a similar set...

At this point you can lay the pattern anywhere on the set to make cut out your heart.

I also cut a heart out of some scraps of batting and

made a "sandwich" with the pieced heart, batting, and backing. You can trim off any edges that don't match so don't worry.

I quilted it together by stitching over the seams.

I cut a piece of narrow ribbon for the hanger,

doubled it over and inserted the ends inside the heart, pinned it, and sewed over it as I zigzagged around the edges. (I now just stitch about 1/4" in from the edge. Then I can trim it at the end.)

I trimmed the excess off the edges before I sewed around the heart.

As with most projects you can get involved with I came up with easier things to do as I made more hearts. Instead of making a set just big enough to make one heart, I made a bigger set using this time pinks and purples from granddaughter Hallie's quilt.

I then cut several several hearts by moving my pattern around the set. Just like you would do if you were cutting out cookies from rolled-out dough.

Don't forget the back of the heart...

One time I folded the fabric and cut two hearts at the same time. When I looked at the one underneath, I realized the selvage showed, so I just sewed another piece over the edge

to cover it and

trimmed for the

heart shape. Turned out cute.

I got four different  hearts from that set.

As I mentioned there is a link on the website for printable labels you can use on the hearts. I had some cardstock material that I cut the width of the label and stuck it on using double-sided tape.

I punched a hole with a hole-punch and later added a piece of tape over the label in case the tag got wet.

I pinned the label to the heart using a small safety pin.

These are the first ones I made.

My first one I left at the entrance of a walking trail.

I left this one when we were on vacation last week. I bought some buttons and sewed some on the finished hearts I had taken with us the first night in the hotel.

In addition to the pretty buttons I also bought some different trim to decorate the hearts. I will come back and add some pictures of them when I get some made.

I made pieced hearts but you can use one piece of fabric for the front if you like. There really are no set designs that the hearts must follow. On the website you will read the dos and don'ts.

Now I invite you to join me in making a quilted heart and leaving it in a public place for some random person to come along and find your Random Act of Kindness.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES

 I didn't get any posts published last week, but for a very good reason. Earlier this month we celebrated moving here to Kansas City from Ventura fourteen years ago. In some ways it seems like we have been here longer than that but probably more likely it's hard to believe we have been here that long. Either way one thing I wanted to do when we moved here was visits some more states I have never been in...mainly the northern states in the west and midwest. In particular, I wanted to go to Mount Rushmore and the area. Last week we finally did that.

We had a fabulous time and I took so many pictures. I promise I will share some of them in a post soon. It looked and felt like fall...brisk mornings 50s and high 40s and delightful days in the 60s and 70s. We did have clouds two days but the day we went to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Custer State Park to see the buffalo was perfect with not one cloud in the sky and the sky ... the bluest I have ever seen. You will see what I mean when I share my pictures later this week.

Coming home on Friday my mind was racing with the prospect of getting in my kitchen and doing some baking. Fall and baking just go hand-in-hand like biscuits and gravy. I ended up making two different muffin recipes Saturday along with these delicious pumpkin pancakes. (One of the muffin recipes used pumpkin so I had leftover pumpkin I needed to use.) I do love pumpkin pancakes though so it was just natural for me to make them. I was looking through some cookbooks for recipes of main dishes I could make ahead of time and freeze when I came across this recipe. I have made pumpkin pancakes before and even shared the recipe here, but I didn't check the previous recipe.

This recipe makes a lot of pancakes and there is just the two of us. Since the recipe calls for 2 eggs, I just cut the ingredient amounts in half. I made three pancakes apiece for us Saturday night and then made four thinner ones for us last night for supper. They were thinner because I added just a bit of water to the refrigerated batter before cooking them.

PRINTABLE COPY OF RECIPE.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES

2       cups flour

2       teaspoons baking powder

1       teaspoon baking soda

1/2    teaspoon salt

1       teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4    teaspoon ground ginger

1/4    teaspoon ground nutmeg

2       eggs, lightly beaten

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

1       cup cooked, mashed pumpkin (I used canned pumpkin)

1/4    cup water

1/4    cup oil

Sift together the first seven ingredients (the dry ingredients) into a large bowl.

Beat the eggs in a smaller bowl and then add the buttermilk, pumpkin, water, and oil and

stir to blend.

Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and

stir until blended. (I added a little more water because I prefer the batter thinner than what I made cutting the recipe in half.)

Pour batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle.

Turn pancakes when tops start to show bubbles or edges looked cooked. Cook on the other side. I place cooked pancakes on a plate buttering each and place the plate in the microwave and close the door while I cook another set.

While we were gone, one or both of our cats, Charlie or Parker, opened the door of my sewing room and had some fun. I'm just glad it wasn't worse.

I'm just glad they didn't paw the spools of thread down. That would really have been a mess to clean up.

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES

 It's true I'm not baking as much as I used to, but I haven't given it up completely. And because I am back on Sugar Busters I am trying to find recipes that I can make sugar-free or no-sugar-added so that I can keep my sugar at 5 grams per serving or less. I also have to avoid using enriched flour. 

This recipe from my Pillsbury Healthy-Baking cookbook fits my requirements. I wanted to use Old-Fashioned oats because they are better than using quick oats, but I stayed with the quick oats.

I have to say this oatmeal raisin cookie tastes as good as a regular oatmeal raisin cookie. Guess it is good that the recipe made 3 dozen cookies. I think Wayne will be eating a lot of them.

PRINT RECIPE

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES

3/4   cup sugar (I used stevia)

1/4    cup firmly packed brown sugar (I used truvia brown sugar complete)

1/2    cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2    teaspoon vanilla

1       egg

3/4    cup flour (I used whole wheat flour)

1/2    teaspoon baking soda

1/2    teaspoon cinnamon

1/4    teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups quick-cooking roll oats

1/2    cup raisins

1/2    cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease two cookie sheets. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, and butter;

beat until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla and egg,

blend well. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Add to butter/sugar mixture and

mix well.

Stir in oats, raisins, and nuts.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheets.

(I also used my cookie scoop and flattened the dough slightly with my fingers. I liked the result.)

Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute before removing the cookies

to a wire rack to cool completely.

For HIGH ALTITUDE - Above 3500 Feet: Increase flour to 1 cup. Bake as directed.

(whole wheat/grain and no-sugar-added)