Am I a Bad Mother?

There was an article in the Huffington Post yesterday, titled "Confessions of a Bad Mother."

Say no more: I'm intrigued.

What did this woman do to earn that title?  More importantly, have I unwittingly become a bad mother by committing a similar act?

{Jane kicks.}

Turns out, she pierced her 6-month-old's ears at the request of her husband who wanted to honor his Nicaraguan ancestral tradition.  She didn't do this on a whim; she gave it careful consideration.  When she decided to have it done, it wasn't at a kiosk in the mall; her daughter's ears were pierced by her pediatrician.

Eleni Gage wrote about her experience last week in the New York Times' "Townie" section.  Readers had strong reactions to the article.  They wrote kind words, and they lambasted this mother (and, seldomly, her husband) for making a decision they didn't feel was hers (or his) to make.

The reaction Gage received touches a nerve.  As a mother, I understand the uncertainty that accompanies making a decision for your child.  There are a million to make and while some are easy, others are impossible, and the pressure is immense.  To top it off, I notice all the other ways people are raising their children; ways that are totally different than mine.

It makes me wonder, Am I doing this wrong?

The answer I return to more and more, because it offers the best chance of sanity when I think I've
 finally gone and done it and screwed up my child for good, is to trust my instincts and do this parenting thing the best way I can.  Piercing her daughter's ears is what worked for Eleni Gage, just as not piercing my daughter's ears works for me.  Who's to say who's right and who's wrong?

Whole Wheat Bread

I usually doubt simplicity.  When things come too easily, I wait for the catch.  But, trust me, this bread recipe is simple and catch-free.  

Oh, wait...you need a food processor.  There's the catch.  I knew it.

Technically, you can't call this a no-knead recipe.  There's about one minute of kneading, but I don't want the legal hassle, so let's just call it a knead-a-minute recipe.  

There: honesty AND a pun.  We all win.

Gather your ingredients.  If you want to be all modern, you can just stop here and say you've prepared a deconstructed bread.

You will need bread flour, wheat flour, sugar, yeast, olive oil (or butter), milk, warm water, and salt.

To start, pre-heat your oven.  Let the oven heat to a gentle warmth while you prepare your dough.  

What is a gentle warmth, you may wonder?  It happens when your oven is warm but not so warm you can't gently rest your hand on the oven wall.  Eventually, you will be letting the dough rise in this gently warmed oven.  I find letting my oven pre-heat to 200 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes and then turning off the oven gets me right where I need to be.

Mix the yeast with warm water and sugar.  Yeast eats sugar and then releases carbon dioxide which makes your bread rise nice and tall, which should make your pride puff up a little, too.  Let that yeast mixture sit for a few minutes until you see a bit of foam on the top.

Meanwhile in a mixer across the kitchen...

Add the flours to your mixer along with the salt.  Pulse a few times to blend and then, while your food processor is on, add your milk, olive oil, and yeast mixture through the feed tube.  

Process for about 30 seconds until your dough comes together.  The dough will be moist and sticky, but add more liquids or flour, a little at a time, if you think the consistency is off.

Now, a word about kitchen safety: when you dump this dough out of the food processor, it will stick to the blade.  Just let the dough stick to the blade.  The blade wants it more than you do.

Lightly flour your hands and dump the dough onto a floured surface; knead for a minute.  Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  

Let rise for two hours in warmed oven.  For good measure, place a bowl of hot water on the lowest rack in the oven while the dough rises.

When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down to deflate and place on a floured surface.  Knead the dough a few times and let rest, covered, for 15 minutes.  

Grease a loaf pan.

Shape the dough into a rectangle and place, seam-side-down, in your loaf pan.

Loosely cover and let rise for one hour until the top of the loaf is just even with the top of the loaf pan.

Brush the top of the loaf with milk or water and bake for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

When the loaf is done, it will sound hollow when tapped. Remove your loaf from the pan immediately and set to cool before slicing or storing.

If you bake this, send photos.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

adapted from the How to Cook Everything cookbook

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant active yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup warm water (about 105 to 115 degrees)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter)
• 1 cup milk (scant)

If I Had $500 Million Dollars

{The world}

One day I met a man.  He was an old man.  He wore a Bolo tie.  He wore a leather vest.  He wasn't winning any fashion contests, but he was quiet and thoughtful, and when I was a college student, that meant he was wise, too.  

This old man told me that, one day, I would win the lottery.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a charm.  It was a miniature silver globe.  I dropped the charm into the pocket of my purse, where it has sat for the past nine years.  

Jack bought lottery tickets today.  If we win, I'll never again make fun of Bolo ties.

Spiced Carrot Bread

This bread tastes like a carrot cake hugging a cinnamon roll.

The recipe is adapted from a carrot bread recipe I found online; I used whole wheat flour, lemon zest and orange extract to lighten the flavor, agave nectar as a substitute for half the sugar, soy milk instead of regular milk, and nutmeg.  

Next go with this bread, I will probably add old fashioned oats and use applesauce instead of oil; mashed pineapple would be yummy, too.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Gather your carrots, golden raisins, vanilla, orange extract, flour, sugar, agave nectar, milk, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon, and oil.

Whisk together your dry ingredients in the largest bowl you have.  Starting now and for the rest of your life, Zou Bisou Bisou will be stuck in your head thanks to the season premier of Mad Men.

At first, I used a cheese grater to grate these carrots.  Do yourself a favor and don't try that.  If you don't have a food processor to grate the carrots for you, there is absolutely no shame in buying bread.

In another bowl, blend the carrots, lemon zest, and raisins.

In yet another bowl, blend the eggs, nectar, oil, vanilla, orange extract, lemon juice, and milk.  

Combine the liquid ingredients and carrot mixture.  Stir to the tune of Zou Bisou Bisou because those are the only words you know out of the whole song.  Wonder what Zou Bisou Bisou means in English.  Google it.  Learn it is a song about kisses.  Awww.

Finally, dump the whole mess in the big bowl and stir until combined.  Pour into two greased loaf pans and bake for 45 to 55 minutes.

Cool completely before storing, but cut off a nice piece for yourself to taste test first.  Top with butter, apple butter, cream cheese, or marmalade.

Spiced Carrot Bread

makes two loaves

• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup agave nectar (you may substitute with 1 cup sugar)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• zest of one lemon
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Be Nice

Most of us have something we don't like about ourselves.  Along with many self-criticisms, I hate my nose.  I hate how it looks.  I hate how it looks on me.  I hate the bump on its bridge.  I hate that I'm never comfortable with people looking at me from the side.  I've thought about getting it fixed.  I've stood in the mirror and covered the bridge of my nose with my finger to see what a new silhouette would do for my profile.  I've wasted more time and energy complaining about this thing in the middle of my face than I care to think about.

{Photo by the incomparable Suzuran Photography.}

This past week brought about a revelation: I have never treated anyone as horribly as I have treated myself.  It's sad and it needs to stop.  That's not to say it's time to start daily affirmations and giving myself hugs, but I'm certainly going to stop with the self-deprecation.  I want to set an example for my daughter that she should treat everyone with kindness, especially herself.

 

Bread Baking Tips

I love baking.  I love the flour and how it makes your hands soft and dusty.  I love the smells that fill the house.  I love making a mess.  I love that I don't care that I'm making a mess.  I love that I can drag Jane into the kitchen with me to keep me company and how she never gets fussy when we're in the kitchen together.

Since I learned I could bake a loaf of bread for just $0.40, on average, I've been experimenting with any recipe I can find.  And since I'm new at this, I've scoured the Internet for any advice that's out there.  There's a lot.  Everyone, it seems, has their must-do way to bake a loaf of bread.

Despite the fact that my poor little loaves are tragically short and I have a long way to go, baby, here's a list of what's worked for me, and what I've learned from my mistakes, with bread baking.

1. Know your yeast  There's a difference between quick-rise and dry active yeast.  Not that I've ever confused the two.  Just make sure you read the recipe carefully, not that I ever haven't, and be sure to get the right one, I've heard.
2. Proof your yeast  There's a standard process with making yeast dough, typically starting with incorporating the yeast into the flour.  There are two ways to go about this: either add the yeast directly to the flour and then add your warm liquids, or proof your yeast first by dissolving it in warm water and letting it activate for five or so minutes.  No matter what the recipe says, I always proof the yeast before adding it to the rest of the dough; I've just had better results.
3. No salt allowed  As a rule, no matter what the recipe says, I don't let the yeast touch salt before it's touched warm water.  Salt kills yeast and if the yeast is dead, so's your bread.
4. Add a little sugar  Yeast feeds on sugar and flour to produce carbon dioxide that makes your bread rise.  [Insert yeast flatulence joke here].  During the proofing step, sprinkle sugar in with the yeast and warm water.  
5. The temperature matters  When you proof your yeast, you want to be sure the temperature of the warm water is somewhere between 105 and 115 degrees.  Too hot, you'll kill your yeast; too cold, it won't activate.  An instant-read thermometer is best for this step, but I don't own one so running my hand under the tap until it feels right is my current method.  Probably if I followed my own advice, I'd have taller bread.  Eh, whatever.  
6. The less flour, the better  The best dough is dough that's too moist to handle, which is why so many swear by no-knead dough mixed in a food processor.  Even if you don't have a food processor, adapt to this by adding less flour than the recipe calls for (i.e. if they say to knead in 1 cup of flour, try to get away with only adding a 1/2 cup).
7. Knead for texture, not time  When kneading your dough, make your goal texture instead of time.  Many recipes call for kneading for five, ten, twenty minutes or more, but you're not done kneading until your dough is smooth and stretches without breaking.  Essentially, kneading your dough develops the gluten and impacts the final texture of your bread.
8. Rise in a warm place  Typically, you will need to let your bread dough rise twice before baking.  The rise times vary from recipe to recipe, and can also be influenced by what kind of flour you use.  Always let your dough rise in a warm place.  I will pre-heat my oven to 200 degrees before I start assembling my dough, and then turn it off after five or ten minutes.  You want the oven warm but cool enough you can comfortably rest your hand on the inside of the oven wall.
9. Flour type makes a difference  If using whole wheat flour, you will end up with a denser loaf.  It has something to do with the length of the gluten in whole wheat flours versus all-purpose flours.  To accommodate for this difference, and to bake a fluffier loaf, I increase the yeast amount.  This may negatively impact the overall flavor, but that's okay.  No one will say to you, Hey, this bread you baked tastes yeasty.  What's with that?  Are you over-compensating for whole wheat flour?  Amateur.
10. Sounds hollow when done  When your bread is done baking, test if it's really done by thumping the bottom of the loaf.  If it sounds hollow, it's ready.  Always remove the loaf from the loaf pan immediately and set to cool completely before storing.

Did I forget any crucial tips?  Let me know; I'm still learning!

When I Was Jealous of the Golden Girls

They say you forget all about the pain of labor once you see your baby's face, but that wasn't true for me.  I can still picture what Jane looked like the first time I saw her, but I also remember the contractions.  The pain wasn't so bad that I cried, but I do remember thinking, I'm never doing this again.  Then I got my epidural and everything was juuust fiiine.

What I have to really try to remember are the first six weeks that Jane was home; maybe I've subconsciously blocked it out.  It was those days where she wasn't sleeping, she had no routine, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  I was still coming to grips with the fact that she was ours; I kept waiting for Jane's parents to come pick her up because we had been babysitting an awfully long time.

{Jack at work, a few weeks after Jane was born.}

One morning, while watching TV, sleep-deprived but exhilarated because I had just managed to brew a pot of coffee while simultaneously nursing, I found myself being jealous of The Golden Girls.  They didn't have babies who seemed constantly hungry.  They weren't worried they were irrevocably harming their child by feeding two ounces too much or too little.  Life hadn't become one massive guessing game.  They could run errands.  When they pulled all-nighters, it wasn't to change diapers in a stupor, it was to eat cheesecake.  I found myself reasoning that maybe someday, when Jane was 18 or so, I could find some semblance of order.

Then, literally overnight, Jane started sleeping.  She smiled.  She made eye contact.  She babbled.  She showed her personality more and more, day after day.  Now we go to the store.  We go to lunch.  We take walks.  It's good.  It's so good, we talk about doing it all over again.  And then I see the picture of Jack, napping at work, and remember when I wished I were Rose Nylund.  We can wait a little bit.

Healthy Chicken Savoy

First, hats off to all those food photographers out there who can make a roasted chicken breast look appetizing.  I was born without their talent, and, therefore, you must trust me that this Chicken Savoy smells so much better than it looks.

We had a plate of chicken in the refrigerator that was at the tipping point of cook it or freeze it so I turned to the Internet and found the perfect recipe: it looked easy, it looked fast, and, best of all, we already had all the ingredients; well, almost all the ingredients.  I am a firm believer that recipes are merely suggestions and take creative liberties when it suits me.  So there.

Now, since I can't pinpoint its defining ingredient, I don't know if what I made can be technically called Chicken Savoy.  Maybe I took out an ingredient and unwittingly made Brown Derby Chicken, or Studio 54 a la King.  If I did, I'm sorry; I didn't mean it.  Let's agree this is a minor issue and move on.

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.  You will need chicken stock, olive oil, red wine vinegar, herbs de provance, garlic, salt, pepper, and chicken.

In a bowl, blend everything but the chicken.

Place the chicken in a oven-safe dish and pour your mixture over the chicken.  Try really, really hard to not be completely grossed out by how chicken looks before it's cooked.

Roast the chicken for 45 to 60 minutes.  I cover my chicken when I roast it, but I'm not sure this is necessary.  This would be delicious sliced in a Caesar salad or rolled up in a chicken wrap.  We're re-heating this for dinner tonight with roasted carrots.

Chicken Savoy

• 2 to 3 pounds chicken
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon herbs de provance
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Re-cycled

{My new bike.}

My first bike was a pink Huffy with dark pink flowers on its banana seat.  To brake, you had to push backwards with your feet. I once flew down a steep hill on that bike and landed face-first on a log.  It was my first real injury and I remember my Father was taking a nap as my face swelled up to the point I couldn't eat my corn dog for dinner.  I was hungry and mad and woke him up, Dad, how can you sleep at a time like this?  Don't you care about me?

Remember, I was six and couldn't fathom what anyone in the world had to do except worry over me.

Now I have this bike, a treasure that was once buried under rust and broken wires, brought back to life by a kind neighbor.  It's chocolate brown and chrome and from the 70s.  Sold.

I feel like I'm 10-years-old again and ready to ride back roads to the drug store for a strawberry Clearly Canadian and a package of Fun Dip.  If I have enough left over from my allowance, maybe I can get grape Bubblicious, too.  Or a tube of LipSmackers.

Citrus Biscotti (Reduced Fat)

Maybe it's the warmer weather.  Maybe it's the sunshine.  Maybe it's that I don't know what else to put into my favorite antique bowl.  But, lately, it's all about lemons.  Our dish soap is lemon-scented.  The wallpaper on this blog is lemon-themed.  Maybe this is a problem.  Maybe there's a really fresh-smelling support group out there I can turn to.

As good as lemon is with fish and chicken and peas and broccoli, it's even better in cookies.  Using the recipe for Classic Biscotti from the ever-more-classic Joy of Cooking, I made some adjustments to get my citrus fix.  

Gather lemons, eggs, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, orange extract, baking powder, and vegetable oil.

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Lucinda Scala Quinn was just on the Martha Stewart Show yesterday and she said you don't need to sift together your dry ingredients; a whisk will do just as well.  Martha didn't say anything.  It was kind of uncomfortable.

In a bigger bowl, combine the oil, eggs, egg whites, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and orange extract.  Beat on medium speed until combined.  Fold in the flour mixture and stir until combined or until you no longer care.

Grease a cookie sheet and roughly shape your dough into two logs.  Unless Martha Stewart is standing behind you, don't worry about making this perfect.  At the end of all of this, no matter how they're shaped, you're going to have warm cookies coming out of the oven.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until just starting to brown.  I under-cook the dough at this step because, for one thing, I have an oven that doesn't understand just right and my cookies are either under-cooked or burnt, and for another, I like the final texture of the biscotti better when they're initially under-cooked.  Biscotti means twice-baked and what you should have at the end of this are crispy, hard cookies delicious dipped in hot coffee or tea.

Take them out of the oven and when they're just cool enough to handle, cut with a serrated knife into 3/8" slices.  Place back on the cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes more.  Turn the cookies and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

 

Reduced Fat Citrus Biscotti
Adapted from Joy of Cooking

• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 large eggs
• the zest of 2 lemons
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Healthy Chicken Salad

Greek yogurt is the healthy man's mayonnaise.  It's also the healthy man's sour cream.  And it's his ranch dressing, too, once it's seasoned properly and mixed with ranch dressing.

It's good with fruit, it's great for baking, and it's best when eaten directly from the container and sprinkled with honey nut cheerios.

This recipe is wonderful because it's flexible and easy-going.  Add grapes, apples, walnuts, or whatever else your little heart desires.

Gather your ingredients, which are celery, roasted chicken, cranberries, lemon, plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, soy sauce, curry powder, and chives.  I used freeze-dried chives because Jack couldn't find fresh chives anywhere in the grocery store and, bless him for looking, these were the next best thing.

Chop your chicken, chop your celery, and toss these in a bowl with the cranberries.

Blend the yogurt, lemon zest, soy sauce, curry powder, and chives.

Introduce the ingredients from the first bowl to the ingredients from the second bowl.  Tell them you think they have a lot in common and should get to know each other better.  Over time, they do.  They mix very well.  So well, in fact, that eventually you can't even tell them apart.  Before you know it, they're finishing each other's sentences and registering at Macy's.  Get upset when they don't ask you to be in the wedding.  Re-gift that ivory and gold porcelain lamp you've never quite known what to do with.  Feel better, not bitter.

This Healthy Chicken Salad is delicious on a sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes or on top of a salad of spinach.  

Healthy Chicken Salad

• 6 oz cooked, cubed chicken
• 1/3 cup cranberries
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• 3-4 celery stalks
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• lemon zest, to taste

Whole Wheat Yogurt Quick Bread

I love bread.  I love yogurt.  And after a friend mentioned that she adds yogurt to her bread recipes for more moisture, I had to try my hand at baking a loaf.

To start, I Googled "yogurt bread."  This gave me a recipe that I adapted.  Well, adapted is a nice way of saying I don't know how to follow instructions.  This is all well and good when you're cooking, but I hear it's a major no-no when you're baking.  When you're baking, you're supposed to do as your told. 

I big, fat didn't do as I was told.  I added a little of this, I ignored a little of that, and the dough almost went in the trash instead of the oven.  But I decided throwing in some milk instead of throwing in the towel was the more adult thing to do.  And what I got for my mature decision was a lovely loaf of yogurt bread that I actually really like AND it's healthy.  Go get a stick and beat that!

 When a group of ingredients love each other very much, they make a loaf of bread.  

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a loaf pan.

Gather your ingredients.  You'll need plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, one egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, one lemon, butter, agave nectar, baking soda, milk, and vanilla.

A note about the butter and agave nectar, you can substitute these with olive oil and honey, respectively.

In one bowl, blend the yogurt, olive oil, egg, agave nectar, lemon zest, vanilla, and milk.

In another, bigger bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, bread flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda.

Fold all the ingredients together until just blended.  

It's at this point you may think you've done something wrong.  You may think the whole thing should go in the trash and you may wonder why you ever gave up on store-bought bread.  Fight the urge.  Dump the lump of dough in your loaf pan, put it in the oven, and believe in yourself a little more.

When the loaf is golden brown and smells yummy, it's done, which should take about 40-50 minutes.

If you make this, send me pictures.

Whole Wheat Yogurt Quick Bread

• 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil or 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 c agave nectar
• 1/4 milk
• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• zest of one lemon

Jane's Hands

Jane has doll hands.  They're dimpled and smooth and look too small to have all the pieces she needs to make them move.  When she was born, we couldn't get over how tiny her fingernails were.

Lately, she's started reaching out and touching our faces when we lean towards her.  She pats things.  She watches her hands as she makes her fingers swirl around.  When she's curious, it's her hands that go out to learn more.

{There's so much potential in these two little hands.}

Looking at Jane's hands, I think about how, throughout her life, they will touch every experience.  

She'll use them to travel, to turn the pages in books, to tie her shoes, and to draw pictures.  

They will cover her eyes when she's scared and her mouth when she laughs.  

They will hold the hands of people she loves and hold on tight when she rides roller coasters.

Her hands will hold her chin when she's pensive.  They'll fidget when she's nervous.  

Maybe they'll play the piano.  Maybe they'll pull her up a mountain.

Cathedral Window Quilt

It started five years ago...(Is that right?  Five years ago?  Yeah, it was five years ago.  Wow.)...I started this cathedral window quilt five years ago.

Completely hand-sewn (which is absolutely why, five years later, it's still a work-in-progress), this quilt is made of muslin, with a variety of fabric scraps pulled from fat quarters and my sister's stockpile (she's one of those masterful quilters who can whip up an heirloom in a weekend).

When I started this quilt, I was 24, just graduating from college, and I still thought bangs were a good choice for me.  I've grown.  My hair has grown.  And right along with it, my quilt has grown, too.  Over the years, the quilt has gone through a number of intended recipients, but, thank heavens, I've held on to this project long enough that now it can be for Jane.  Or, if I'm going to be honest with myself, for Jane's daughter.

To put it simply, you just take muslin, cut it into squares, iron the corners to the center, iron the corners to the center, again, sew the points together, and then whip-stitch all of those squares together, and then add pieces of fabric to the top, sew them in place, getting that lovely curved edge, Bob's your uncle, and you have a quilt.

I taught myself how to make this quilt from a Web site.  Sadly, when I was about two years in, I learned that I was making this quilt all wrong.  Eh, that's life.  I've continued to make the quilt my way, which, admittedly, isn't perfect.  Next go 'round, I might try it this way.

But, if you want to give this method a go, it's simple, it's great for hand-sewing, and perfection is boring.

You will need:

• muslin (start with a yard or two, get more as you need it)
• quilter's thread (in same shade as muslin)
• patterned fabric (as few or as many patterns as you like; about 1/4 or 1/2 yard, to start)
• quilting needle
• straight pin
• curved, quilter's safety pins
• 5+ years

Using fabric scissors or a rotary cutter and mat (which makes life so much easier), cut your muslin into squares.  I use a 5 1/2" square, which ends up making a fairly small window, but this is America, and you can make your cathedral window quilt any size you want.  This is why my ancestors immigrated here, I'm sure.  

Take your square and find the center of it.  Fold all the corners of the square to the center.  Iron your new, small square to press the folds permanently.  

Take your new, small square and find the center again.  Fold all the corners of the square to the center.  Iron your newer, smaller square to press the folds permanently. 

Careful you don't burn the ever-loving $#!^ out of your fingers when you're doing this ironing step.

Make a cross-stitch through the four center corners to secure them.

{You'll end up with these squares, shown here flap-side-up}

After you've made a handful of these squares, line them up and place them flap-side down.  Do a simple whip-stitch to bind them together.  Turn them over and you should see this...

You are building the base of your quilt.  Make it as small (crib-size) or as large (king-size) as you like.  Just a dozen squares would make a lovely pillow. 

{This is the finished back-side of the quilt.  If you would like to add extra thickness, add a layer of batting and a backing piece of fabric when you're completely done with the quilt top.}

Cut your patterned fabric into 1 1/2" squares.  With the flap-side-up, and using curved safety pins, secure your patterned squares to your quilt base.

Now, for a bit of magic: fold over the muslin edge surrounding your patterned fabric and secure with a straight pin, as shown below.  When you do, it curves, giving you the cathedral window shape.

Finally, sew along this curved edge.  Continue with the same pin-and-sew process until all your windows are complete.

If you try this quilt, send me the pictures so I can see, too!