Truth and Fiction printable quote

"Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense."

Mark Twain 

This printable quote was inspired by my very good friend Rosemary. I hope you enjoy it!
You can share the above version from either of my Facebook pages, Don't Eat the Paste Quotes or the main Shala's Beadwork and Printables page. The version below is to print. Click on the image for a larger version. Because it's in black and white it will look great printed on colored paper like AstroBrights.

 

 

Illusion crochet afghan idea

When I was working on the tumbling blocks boxes the other day, I built the blocks from triangles. Geometrically, the shape is hexagonal, and hexagons are built from triangles. So last night, I went to bed completely exhausted, and apparently mumbling "It should work. Crochet equilateral triangles are easy and cubes are made from hexagons." Then went on to explain to my husband who hadn't asked that I mean 2 dimensional representations of cubes so it would make sense. Apparently I failed, but he was very patient about it.

So an example of a 2 d cubic representation is the tumbling blocks design which works out on triangle graph paper like this.

(I like modular granny square (or triangle!) crochet, it's very mindless for when I'm watching television and just want something in my hands)

So that's been done before. What I wanted was more of an illusion. If you look at the image at the top of the page, it can either look like a cube with a corner cut out of it, or a corner with a cube in it. So how would that look graphed for modular crochet?

The illusion relies on the varying tones, it's most effective in a monochromatic color scheme which probably will mean different yarn brands that are the same weight. Now I need to swatch for gauge and find the right colors! As a hexagon shape, it will be good as a throw I think.

Here's some graph paper if you want to play with your own ideas. I'd love to see them!

Book Review- Sweet Macarons

Sweet Macarons- Delectable French Confections for Every Day by Mercotte starts with the author explaining her goal in the book, which is to demystify the making of these wonderful treats.

The author does a wonderful job. If you've never made macarons before, or have no experience with piping, meringues or the basic fillings, she walks you through the steps in a conversational and reassuring way. Starting by explaining the ingredients and giving you tips and tricks for making the cookies including handy things like the best way to fill the pastry bag and how to space them on a cookie sheet.

Then she gets into more detail. Rather than having you go straight into working with meringue whipped egg whites and almond meal, she walks you through 3 cookies that help you learn how to pipe correctly, how to bake meringues and then finally, working with almond meal. After that, she explains how to make the batter for macarons. She gives 2 methods, the more involved Italian meringue recipe, or the simpler, easier French recipe for meringues, and how to turn that into macaron batter.

The next part focus on fillings, and the basic filling recipes given can be flavored many ways. Her basic filling recipes include buttercream, a couple thick creamy fillings, some ganache fillings, jam and praline filling.  Using just this section of the cookbook, and varying flavors and colors on the fillings, you could make a lot of types of macarons.

Then the recipes, which are fancy enough to impress anyone. Starting with salted butter caramel, then getting into lots of other flavors. I'm not a fan of licorice flavor, but even skipping the anise/fennel and the licorice flavored cookies, there are still a lot of great options. Some are fruity, some are spicy, some have tea or floral flavors. These are recipes that can be paired easily to echo the flavors of tea, coffee or wine for entertaining. The creme brulee ones are amazing.

If you like traditional cookbook formats, this one may not be your cup of tea. The tone is conversational, and the recipes aren't laid out traditionally. Instead of line by line ingredient lists, the ingredients are listed in a single paragraph separated by commas. The instructions are very well written with good detail. The recipes are also followed with tips for modifying that recipe to suit your own tastes. There are also ideas for things to do with failed macarons and tips on fillings for really quick macarons for when you have cookies in the freezer and just want a fast fix.

My 17 year old daughter is very excited by macarons, and the instructions are perfect for the way she learns. So I'm just thrilled with the layout and the detail. The only thing that would make this book better for my daughter's and my macaron adventures is a spiral binding so it would lay flat. The photographs are gorgeous, the recipes are good, and the step by step breakdown of the process of making macarons is well written.

Published by The Taunton Press.
I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, my reviews are always my personal and honest opinion. You can read more about my review policy here.

Tumbling Blocks Boxes

I've been pretty obsessed with optical illusions and impossible objects lately, so you're going to see some of that reflected in what I post this week. I hope you enjoy these printable 2x2x2 inch boxes!

Click on the images for larger versions, print on card stock, cut out, score, fold, glue!

I posted a couple bracelet patterns on BellaOnline Beadwork last week and completely forgot to post the link here! Here you go Fall Fashion Geometric Bracelet Patterns

In medical news, if  you've been following the drama in the last few months, I finally got to talk to a neurologist. Since all the tests so far have been clean, they are pretty sure it's intercranial hypertension. Absolutely treatable and caught in the very early stages. On Tuesday the 25th, I have a lumbar puncture scheduled, and that's the definitive test to see if that's what I have.
The biggest danger with that, as big and scary as it sounds is that the pressure in my head can permanently damage my optic nerve, causing blindness. They want me to lose 10-20 lbs and go on medication if it that winds up being the diagnosis.

I'm incredibly grateful my glass broke when they did, and that my prescription was expired, because it was caught while I am still completely asymptomatic. No headaches, dizziness or the other issues that generally tip off doctors something is wrong. It was a routine eye exam that caught it. The optometrist noticed an irregularity, and sent me to an ophthalmologist. He looked further into it, and referred me to neurology. It was terrifying at first because they started by ruling out a lot of very scary things. Get your eyes checked regularly!