The Big Circle

In honor of Earth Day we had soup last night and used mostly things we have grown and stored here.  P wanted potato soup but, alas, we finished the potatoes a couple of weeks ago. She will have to wait until late summer for potato soup. But, when we do have it again it will be a treat.  Most of the foods in last night's soup have no miles on them.

Our onions and carrots have been stored in our unheated basement since last fall. The carrots have been in five gallon buckets of moist sand. We just pull them out as we need them. They have started to sprout a little in the dark but are as moist as ever. The onions have been stored in mesh bags or old panty hose. They are also starting to sprout but are still quite firm.

I added some chicken broth and green beans from the freezer and canned tomatoes from the cupboard.

I added a few not from our garden ingredients (beef, barley, and celery) to finish it off but I think we did pretty well to keep it local.

We are well on our way to replenish the food in storage. Our onion plants are in the ground and the carrots have been planted. We already have pea and radish sprouts. I think we will plant the potatoes this weekend.

An Apple a Day or How I set aside a stressful project and start something new that will use tons of scraps and help clean my sewing room the slow way

Remember this project? the apple cores? It was driving me nervous. I have cut back to something like an apple a day. Each day I sew two pieces together and then move on to my daily sewing. Maybe someday, years from now I will finish it.

Sarah sent me a big bag of scraps and I was eager to start using them.  I have been wanting to make a scrappy spider web quilt and this was just what I needed to get me started, new scraps.

This is what the basic block will look like. Please excuse the thread bits. They were everywhere. Scrap quilts are a messy business.

When the blocks go together a spider web design starts to appear.

I have eight triangle sections finished and many others in the works.

This is the perfect project for me now as it can be sewn in tiny bits of time which is all I can get these days.

The Perfect Spring Day

I feel like spring has FINALLY sprung here. Our rhubarb is up, the small bulbs are in full bloom, and the daffodils have just started opening.

P and I took full advantage of the warm sunny day yesterday and walked the half mile to deliver eggs to the neighbor. P carried a big elephant puppet the whole way there.

We stayed and enjoyed tea and delicious apple cake before walking home.

We tried some jump shots but never did quite get the timing right.

We had afternoon stories on the back porch and played with chickens and worked in the garden.

It was a perfect day.

I hope you have a great day too.

Developing Her Sense of Style

P is developing her own sense of style and has started to take control over how some of the things in her room look.

P has chosen her own bed linens for her bed; she snagged this vintage sheet before I could get it into the sewing room after a trip to the thrift. It had been used as a paint drop cloth and has a few paint spots on it but she loves it. She has to have her bed made with her quilt folded back so that the flowers are not covered up.

She thinks this "too cute" to be Ugly Duckling from Kim looks great on the bed.

Future blogger?

Oberlin - The College Tour

Friday we took a road trip to Oberlin, Oh. We are gathering information for D's college choice.

Oberlin is a very small town but reminds me a bit of Blacksburg, where I grew up.

There is a Ben Franklin with a used/new bookstore in it on the main shopping street. A store where you can buy used books, fabric, games, and school supplies! Is there anything better than that within walking distance of your school? Another shop has a great selection of Easter treats.

They have a great art museum with works by Picasso, Miro, Klee and more.

The Conservatory of Music.

There are some great student housing facilities like this,

and this.  There is a lottery for this most desired building. It is filled with lucky upperclassmen.

Oberlin has the best campus food I have ever eaten. There are also nine food co ops here.

We were impressed with the student faculty ratio and their new science center. Since there are no graduate students the undergraduates have the opportunity to do research with the faculty. Many have their own labs and publish papers with the faculty before graduating.

University of Michigan campus tour last week scored low in the campus housing and  food categories. It does score points for being the most affordable of the three choices.

This week,- Cornell. I can't wait to see the pictures D and B bring back. They plan to eat at Moosewood tonight.

Thoughtful Sunday

"There she stood in her funny country clothes but none of the other four Easter Bunnies laughed, for they were wise and kind and knew better."

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, DuBose Heyward, 1939

Limbo Socks

I mentioned earlier that I am on a mission to use up a lot of the yarn I have on hand. Since I started knitting socks about eight years ago I have made quite a few socks for B out of Limbo yarn. I hadn't been able to find any for a few years and only had one ball left. I was very excited when A found a ball of this yarn in her yarn stash. Each of us made a quick utility crew sock and- voila- another pair of socks for B. It was nice to add another pair to his sock pile as some of his socks have recently needed darning.  I need to find some other yarn that he will like as well as the Limbo.Next up in the two make a pair project - monkey socks.

Sewing Reduces Stress

I am sure you have heard it. There have been numerous studies to prove it. Sewing reduces stress.

Just what I need right now.

I found the apple core pieces right by the sewing machine. The perfect project for some quick no prep sewing. They were all cut and stacked there just waiting.

P looked through them and matched some pairs up for me to sew. This is to be a scrap charm quilt so I don't really care which ones go next to each other.  I was happy to sew her choices together.

The thing with these pieces is that the outer curve has to be sewn to the inner curve.

Curved piecing.

I have my doubts that this particular kind of sewing reduces stress.

I need to find another project to work on for now.

Gardening in April

We have been spending some time in the garden. Last weekend B and the boys tilled and planted peas. Lots of peas. This weekend we added a few more rows to the garden.

We planted carrots, radishes, beets, and parsnips.

Everyone helped.I love that P gets herself "dressed" for all occasions. And yes, her shoes DO match. They are both red!

I am not sure when we will actually see any sprouts.

Today was a snow day. No school - in April!

M's track meet was cancelled for tomorrow- something about snow on the track not being good...

Thoughtful Sunday

"Maybe it sounds peculiar to say that dirt is clean, but I think new-plowed dirt's the cleanest thing I know of."

Miss Charity Comes to Stay, Alberta Wilson Constant, 1959.

A Slower Pace

I have had this small basket quilt pinned and draped over a chair in the living room for days now. I have been trying to decide on the quilting pattern. I kept telling myself that if I would just decide something I could quilt it quickly on the machine and have another project finished.

I looked through my books for ideas but still did not have a plan.

Then, I cleaned a bit in the sewing room and unearthed my basket of perle cotton.  That did it for me. I knew I had to hand quilt it. The quilt is small after all.

I do enjoy hand quilting.

I still don't have a complete plan for the quilting.  I am currently working on outlining the baskets.  I can decide about the background quilting as I go along.

Slow progress is better than no progress especially when it is enjoyable.

Waving Lace Socks

I got a package from A in the mail today! New socks! I have been having such a busy time lately that I had forgotten about the one I made!

The pattern for these is Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn A. Clark in Favorite Socks by Interweave press.

The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot Lupine. 60% Superwash wool, 25% mohair, 15%nylon.  I know they will be toasty warm next winter.

They were a great pick me up today! I needed it as our freezer in the basement went out and we lost everything in there including the rest of our frozen pie fillings, 25 jars of jam, and three gallon bags of blue berries.

Thoughtful Sunday

(view from Pont du Gard, 2007)

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling, 1997.

Tie Dyed Eggs - again

We dyed a dozen more eggs today using old silk ties.

These are so fun to do. I like seeing the result when the fabric is pulled away from the egg. Sometimes the dyes transfer in unexpected colors.  That brown tiger stripe design looks so much more vibrant on the egg than in the original tie.I also think the stripe designs look great on the eggs. My favorites of the day are the red and blue stripe, the half paisley half dot, and this red and aqua one.

Wetting the egg before wrapping seemed to help prevent air bubbles.  I think I'll try hollow eggs next so that we can save them.

The directions we followed are at Our Best Bites.

One Step at a Time

It seems to be that busy time of year for me. There are lots of activities with the schools and kids - concerts, fundraisers and the like. It seems my sewing time has all but vanished. I am able to work a few minutes here and there with P's help.  We recently basted one of the quilts from the fall (2007) Beaver Island Quilt Retreat.

It is not a large quilt so we could pin it quickly.  I still have not come up with the quilting design but at least the quilt will be ready when the inspiration strikes.This is a not so great photo that I took after retreat in 2007.

I am feeling so tired lately that instead of trying to get lots done during P's nap, I take a nap WITH her.  I am eager for spring break next week.

Tomorrow we will be dying some more eggs.

Thoughtful Sunday

"You have to stop when you're lonely and listen."

If You Listen, Charlotte Zolotow, 1980.

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring!

I love spring. I love the excitement of new flowers, new growth, the earth coming back to life after the long winter.

The egg has been a symbol of rebirth of the earth for more than two thousand years.  In honor of the first day of spring we decorated these "Tie Dyed Eggs" last night. It was easy peasy to get these fabulous designs. We used some old thrifted silk ties and the easy to follow tutorial at Our Best Bites.

I only had five white eggs on hand so we only dyed five. I'll be saving up the white eggs and dying more.  I think they turned out great. Next time I will try starting with wet silk fabric because I think there were some air bubbles that kept the dye from transferring properly in places.

I picked up a few more 25 cent silk ties today! I think we'll have an egg dying event later this week!

Try it! You will love this project!

Play Capes

Last week I made four new play capes for P's preschool. It was a great way to use up some fabric I had gotten at garage sales and it helped clean out the sewing room!

My original plan involved doing a little tutorial to post with them. I tried taking pictures as I was making these but the pictures didn't really show what I was doing very well.

I can share my pattern and a description of how it goes together.

These are really fun to make as you can use almost any fabric. You can make them short like a capelet or long and flowing to the ground. I like that they can be used for many kinds of play.

This is the pattern and how it should be placed on the fabric. If the selvedge edge of the fabric looks nice, place the front of the hood on the selvedge edge of the fabric and there is no need to hem.

The length of the cape is determined by the height of the child or the length of the fabric on hand. The fold edge of the pattern goes from the neckdown the back of the cape.

1. Cut out as shown above.
2. Sew the two hood pieces together on the curved edge.  I use a flat felled seam for better looks and longer wear.
3. Hem and add any desired trim to the outside edge of the cape (all except the neck edge.)
4. Gather the neck edge of the cape and sew to the bottom of the hood. I either stitch the seam allowance to the hood or cover the seam with bias tape for longer wear.
5. Sew velcro tabs to the edge at the neck seam and embellish with a fancy button.

Here is a cape I made for P last year.

(please do not sell items made from this pattern)

Magic Science

A few days ago one of P's friends gave her a sprig of baby's breath. P wanted her flowers to be pink. Her brother seized the moment and told her that he could turn her flowers pink.  Her preschool teacher does "magic science" at school so she let him proceed. 

He got out a small glass and filled it with a strong concentration of red food coloring in water. He put the flowers in the glass. He explained that the flower would "drink" the red water and change color.  He told her to wait and watch.  At preschool magic science happens quickly so she was not impressed. He told her it would take time and she would have to check back later and her flowers would be pink. She went to play and came back and the flowers were not pink. She watched and nothing was happening. She carried the flowers to the living room so she could look at them while she played.

When we sat at the table for dinner she had the little glass of pink flowers as a centerpiece.

M, quite impressed with how dark they were, said, "see, look how pink they are now."

"Yes, I dipped them to make them pink."

I guess P taught her brother how to make white flowers pink!

Thoughtful Sunday

"The blues seemed to come from the deepest part of the ocean, the whites from the northernmost snows, the greens and purples from the abundant wildflowers, the reds, oranges and pinks from the most wonderful sunsets."

The Quiltmaker's Gift, Jeff Brumbeau, 2000