Backseat Adventure - Glamorgan Bakery

When you return to the memory of tastes it is easy to be disappointed. Too often the memory is linked heavily to the event or the circumstances of the taste. The brioche aren’t as rich as they seemed when they were a luxury in your days with a limited student budget. The meringue cookies you cherished on your bakery visits are more sweet than blandly crisp, more cloying than any adult should enjoy. Then there are the dinners, marked by romance, birthdays, or trips that can never be replicated. But sometimes, just sometimes, something is as good as you remember.

My brother-in-law, B, and I had this discussion over the weekend. A birthday present for my mother-in-law brought Hubby’s family to Banff for a weekend of eating and laughing at the children, with some swims and a hike thrown in. With a need to get my girls out of the house I decided to take them to Glamorgan Bakery, to stock up on B’s favourite cheese buns for the weekend.

Glamorgan Bakery is a Calgary institution. Since 1977 the owners have been churning out buttery goodness to Southwest Calgary. Hubby’s family grew up a relatively short bike ride away and took advantage of that quite regularly. It wasn’t until B and his then girl-friend and now my preggo-sister-in-law came to visit us shortly after we moved that I was properly introduced.

All I can remember B talking about was the cheese bun. How it was filled with cheese and butter to such an extent that the bread dough involved seemed superfluous. For a man who practically survives on any variety of cheese on bread – pizza, grilled cheese, melted cheese on bread dipped in ketchup – the Glamorgan Bakery cheese bun was his idea of perfection.

Then came the sugar cookies. We came for the cheese buns and we will return again and again for the sugar cookies. He says that he remembers eating them as a child, although I find that hard to believe because my mother-in-law is a fantastic baker. But then, fueled by a childhood memory, he went back to bakery and tried the sugar cookies, . Shockingly, they were better than he even remembered.

The Monster was enthralled by the selection of the bakery -colorful cupcakes, the overwhelming scent of butter and chocolate, and too much selection in the cookie department. I went straight to the counter for the cheese buns and she went straight to the sugar cookies. More precisely, the brightly coloured dinosaur cookies. How can you say no to a happy 2 year old? She got her cookie, promptly sat down on the floor, and took a bite. And then another and another. Two men were enjoying their coffee at the tiny counter for that purpose, oblivious to the joy of a sugar fueled toddler at their feet.

The dinosaur cookie was bigger than the Monster could handle so sadly I had to help her finish it. Let me rephrase that, I thought the cookie was too big and too good so I forced her to share it with me. Seriously, these are the best sugar cookies I’ve ever had. Not so much cookie as sweet butter that someone like Ferran Adria or Heston Blumenthal decided to serve in a crispy form. So I went back yesterday and bought more. Some for me and some for a girlfriend who was hosting us for tea in the afternoon as Little Miss Sunshine and I escaped the mess at home. By the time I got to her house the butter had stained the brown paper bag they came in and one cookie was missing. Good thing I bought more for dessert.

Will I Make It?

I'm referring to more than getting the baby quilt done on time, although I am making progress on that.

The renovations have bathed the house in a fine layer of dust and a not so fine layer of mud. Hubby is working so hard to get the basics done so we can actually finish the basement. At some point in the future this space will be my sewing studio. At some point...

Back to the quilt. I went with triangles. And some circles, of course. Are you surprised? I'm trying to work on it in the midst of the mess. Not in the basement - the state of that space means I'm even afraid the laundry isn't getting clean - but in the dining room. That's the joy of a baby quilt, it doesn't take up much space when you are working on it.

A Break

Because this is what my house looks like right now. Because this picture hides the 8 foot moat surrounding the house. Because the mud is filling my house as we make our way in and out. Because our lives and house are topsy turvy at this moment. Because this week was filled with sleepless nights, sick kids, city hall, dog walks, and driving to and fro. Because of all this I have not been quilting and not able to get to my tutorials.

Hopefully next week...

Bindings - Attaching, Mitering, and Hand Sewing - A Tutorial

You've got your quilt squared up, you have your binding pieced and ironed, now is the time to attach the binding. First, by machine, and then by hand to finish.

To review, I use a double fold binding. Simply put, I iron a strip of fabric in half - wrong sides together - sew it down by machine on the raw edge, flip it over the edge of the sandwiched quilt, and stitch it down by hand through the fold. I do not do a continuous binding. Rather, I attach each side individually and mitre each corner once all the binding is attached.

In this tutorial I will show you how to attach the binding, especially at the corners, mitre the corners, handstitch the binding, and finish the corners and binding. Sit back and get a thimble, this one's picture heavy.

1. Sew down your binding, from corner to corner. Overhang the binding by at least an inch at the top and bottom - check your length before you start sewing. Line up the raw edge of the binding with the edge of the quilt top. Start sewing 1/4 inch from the top edge, thus leaving 1/4 not sewn down. Backstitch for a stitch or two. Using a walking foot or an even feed (like my Pfaff has) sew down with a straight stitch, using a scant quarter inch seam allowance. I don't pin the binding before I sew, preferring to hold it down and line it up as I go.

Stop your seam 1/4 inch from the bottom of the quilt top edge.

2. Go around the quilt, sewing all the bindings down. To attach a new piece, take the already attached piece and fold back the end at a 45 degree angle.

Pin the new piece to be attached, with overhang, on top of the folded back piece. I like to put the pin in at 1/4 inch from the edge so I know where to start sewing.

Start sewing 1/4 inch from the top and 1/4 inch from the edge. Sew down the binding as you did your first piece.

Finish the final seam the same way you started. Fold the underneath piece back at a 45 degree angle and sew to 1/4 of the edge.

3. Mitre the corners. Measure from the folded edge of the binding to the seam. This measure will change from quilt to quilt depending on the thickness of your fabric and how large you cut it. Divide that measurement in half and make a mark. Don't worry about what you mark it with because these marks won't show. Well, don't use black felt on a light coloured fabric, but otherwise don't worry about it.

From that mark measure the same distance straight up. By up I mean perpendicular from that first mark towards the dangling ends of your binding strips. Mark this spot as well. For example, my overall length was 9/8 of an inch. I made the first mark at just over 1/2 inch. From that mark I measured and made a mark at just over 1/2 inch up.

Now, draw a line from the folded edge of the binding, in line with the seam, to the second mark you made and back to the seam. It should look like a right angle triangle.

This is now your sewing line. Stitch on this line, backstitching for a stitch or two on each end. When you get to the point of the triangle stop with your needle down, lift up your pressure foot, and pivot the quilt. Be sure to fold back the quilt itself so you don't sew through that.

This is what it looks like when you're done. Repeat with all four corners.

4. Handstitch the binding down. First, thread your needle. This is the best way to do it, leaving you with a single strand thread on your needle. The goal of your first stitch is to hide the knot underneath the binding. I make the stitch inside the seam line of my binding - the straight stitch in the picture below. (The zig zag stitch is from squaring up the quilt).

Pull the stitch through the fold of your binding. First stitch done!

It goes without saying that you should pin your binding down. Do not pin the whole way around, rather pin a few inches at a time. Move the pins as you go.

Here is where it might get confusing for some. I do my hand stitching (and hand applique) backwards from most. I sew right to left. I was taught left to right, but it never felt natural to me. If you are having troubles with handstitching try switching directions and see if that helps.

Put your needle in the backing fabric, at an angle, just catching a few batting fibres. Come out in the fold of the binding. I keep my stitches small, so they are about 3 millimetres apart. Start the next stitch directly below where your previous stitch ended. In other words, right below where the thread lies.

Continue around the quilt, moving the pins as you go. I like to have at least an inch pinned down in front of where I am.

5. Sew down the corners. First, trim the excess fabric. I tend to trim to about 1/8 of an inch seam allowance. You want to minimize bulk in the corner.

Now you need to turn the corner right side out. I take my small applique scissors, but anything with a blunt point will work, like a pencil or a stick. Place it in the point of the corner and push it through, turning the fabric right side out. Use your turning object to ensure all the fabric is flat and the corner is as sharp as you can make it.

Pin the corner down and sew down as you've done the rest of the binding. I put a few extra stitches right in the corner.

6. Last stitch. For the last stitch - and every time you finish a length of thread - this is what to do. It hides your knot yet is quite secure.

Start your stitch as normal. Before you pull it through wrap the thread around the tip three times.

Pull the needle through, holding the thread against the binding fold. The knot should end up snug against the fold. Clip the thread right next to the knot and it will end up being virtually invisible.

And you're done! Personally, I find putting to the binding quite satisfying. The quilt will still need a label, but it is effectively finished at this point. Beyond the relief of finishing a project, it is about realizing the vision I've had and the excitement of passing it on or snuggling under it that night.