Cinnamon Star Bread, more progress on all quilt tops!

BG and I spent a good bit of time Thursday morning (3/2) watching quilting videos on YOUTUBE.  Of course we got totally sucked into them and now want to make at least 10 new quilts (on top of the hundred quilts we already have in our heads  :~).  We finally settled back into sewing....I wanted to show you our set-up....BG has our 2 machines facing each other on the same table, so we can sew and talk all day long:

By lunchtime I had 2 corners on 10 new snowball blocks (of course with the now ubiquitous 1/2 square triangles):

and BG had made a good start on a new Christmas quilt:

We stopped for a great lunch of grilled cheddar/onion sandwiches on FABULOUS rye bread:

before heading back to sewing.  By late afternoon I had all of my snowball blocks done.  Since we were making such good progress on everything, we decided to take a break and do something else we both love to do....BAKE!!!  BG and I both love any yeast bread recipes...and we're forever trading them back and forth.  I saw this fabulous recipe for Cinnamon Star Bread a couple of months ago that I've been dying to try.  She looked at it and also liked it....so that's what else we did Thursday afternoon.  We made the dough: 

let it rise, portioned it out:

then rolled it out and started to stack the layers:  

each round of dough went down

to be brushed with egg, then sprinkled with cinnamon/sugar

a second layer

a third layer was added, then the final fourth round of dough was placed on top:

After that we put the 16 cuts in:

Did the twists:

Let it rise again for 45 minutes:

And then brushed it with beaten egg and baked it:

OMG!!!  I think it looks spectacular and tasted even better!  Both of us can't wait to make it again.  

By dinnertime I had sewed all of the squares I had made together:  

and was totally out of crafts!!!!!  Me, the doyenne of "pack crafts first" ran out of crafts 2-1/2 days short of the end of the trip :~(.  In my defense I do have to say that I had too much to do in the week leading up to leaving on my trip (and was also slowed down by a large lack of energy due to my cold), and by the time Monday late afternoon came around I was SO TIRED, and that was when I finally started packing my crafts...I should have started much earlier in the week....but luckily, BG had some striped fabric and we both wanted to make it into a pattern that Janice first made at retreat....so I got to work on that :~).  We had a wonderful dinner of turkey meatloaf and asparagus 

before hitting our sewing machines yet again.  I have to tell you...BG is working me like a DOG!!  By bedtime, she had several rows of blocks done:

her beautiful focus fabric

Once again, I fell into bed, exhausted, at 10 PM.