Friends, I wish you could smell what I am smelling now. My sister’s home is redolent with the yeasty smell of cinnamon rolls that just came out of the oven. We wasted no time in seeing if they tasted as good as they looked. (Boy howdy, did they ever!)

And guess what? Diane and I made them together. It was a first for me. I’m not much of a baker, although I surely do love baked goods. We began the process last night by making a sponge of flour, water, and sourdough starter she received from a dear friend in Maine:

By morning the sponge had doubled in size. Our proofing station was a stack of cutting boards arranged close enough to the undermount cabinet lights to get the necessary warmth for the sponge to rise.

This morning, we got the baking center prepped . . .

. . . and proceeded to transform the sponge into a ball of dough by adding flour and kneading . . .

. . . and kneading some more:

After 25 minutes of kneading, the ball of dough was finally glossy. We rolled it out into a 12″ x 24″ rectangle . . .

. . . and started to embellish it:

Here it is ready to roll. Rolling, rolling, rolling:

Once we had a 24″-long log, it was time to cut it into 12 pieces — with string! Take a look:

Then it was time for a second rising under the warm light . . .

. . . until they were ready for the oven:

And finally, this beautiful sight:

So that’s it for the baking.

And what about the making? Well, between countless games of Scrabble and Diane’s and my discovery of the PBS series Poldark, progress on home dec for Diane and appliqué for my Hazel’s Diary Quilt has slowed. Not to a standstill, however. Look for an update in a couple of days.