"Let's Do Something Fun!"

That was Tessie this morning....I was trying out the new machine and Tessie was watching my frustration with it. I have been sewing on various machines since I was about 7 years old. That was on my Grandma Daisy's treadle from 1903. I still have that one and it still runs. Unfortunately, the new one was not as good.....

I unpacked it and set it up. I started trying out all of the new stitches. Some were working well, however, every once in a while when the stitch involved zig-zag motion, the stitches would skip a beat. I re threaded the needle and made sure that the bobbin was set right. It would sew along for a while and then it would start skipping again. Then it started looping thread where it should have been tight. I re threaded etc. once again. The third time, it started pulling the bobbin thread up and bunching the fabric. It was a mess.

I thought maybe changing the needle would help.....The set screw for the needle placement was in so tight that I suspect that it had been done by machine at the factory. Maybe twice. No matter what I tried, it wouldn't give. In fact, I was afraid that I was going to mess up the drive on the machine if I pushed any harder....There was definitely something screwy(pardon the pun).

I got fed up. I packed everything back into the box and took it back to the store. They were very nice and refunded my money.

Anyway, when I returned, the tree hideout was empty. That worried me a bit. No Tessie, no Zar.

I went into the computer room and there they were messing about with a couple of big circuit boards that Walter tore out of a connection box for an old computer system that we no longer have. He kindly thought of Zar and his experiments and gave them to him.

I am not sure if that was a good idea or not. Who knows what bizarre ideas Balthazar will come up with to use the parts.

What was even more scary was the grin on Tessie's face. I do believe that she is assisting him. She kept saying "More POWER!!!"

I went back into the family room and that's when Tessie suggested that we do something fun.
She spotted the red and white poly clay on the table and immediately yelled "Candy Canes!!! I want Candy Canes!!!" I might have guessed that the something fun would be to her benefit.


As I started rolling out the pieces that we needed, she kept trying to add just a little more every time I looked away. If you have ever made miniature candy, you know that a very small starter cane will make lots and lots.

I started with the pieces that you see above. The round core piece was about 3/4" long and 3/8" diameter. I rolled out pieces of red and white with the Wilton banded rolling pin. It allows me to roll out pieces that are exactly 1/16" every time. Those little rubber bands on the ends are a real time saver. It also makes a nifty place for Tessie to sit when not in use.

After the pieces were rolled out, I sliced strips from both colors and alternately applied them to the center cane.

Then I simply started rolling out the log into tiny snakes. I twisted them for the barber pole effect.

I had to cut them in half every once in a while to keep them manageable.

As you can see, Tessie still has half of the cane in her hands. That part is uncooked. The other half of that tiny starter cane in on the tile. It made 11 candy canes, lots of peppermint kisses and six of the jumbo sticks that we used to get when I was a kid. I always liked those best. They were about 9" long, 3/4" thick and lasted for a week. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't eat the whole thing. I wonder what happened? Santa doesn't seem to be making those any more. He also seems to have pretty much given up hard Christmas candy for chocolate now. Bad Santa!

I might just have to search the net and see if I can find any of the old stuff.....I don't mean stuff that was made when I was a kid.Yuck! I mean new candies, old recipes.That should keep me busy for the rest of the day.

"Tessie! What did I tell you? You can't eat all of that at once! It will make you sick!" I have to go hide the rest of the candy now.

See you tomorrow.