Progress on the Cobwebs

Spring cleaning in the house has been mixed with bits of progress on other projects. I have finished the spider web quilt top.

The blocks ended up about 10 inches square. If I were to do this quilt again I think I'd try for larger blocks. Mine ended up this size because the triangle guide was made by cutting a forty five degree corner off of an 8 and a half by 11 inch piece of paper.

When it is flat on the floor it doesn't look puckery like it does hanging on the line. I think all those bias cut edges are a little stretched and saggy in the photo.

I am pretty happy with it. It is pinned and ready for quilting.

Kim suggested that I make this couch size so that is what I did. P now says she wants this for her bed. She says she NEEDS another quilt, and this one has pink in it!

After graduation I may fix a little tutorial on how I made the blocks. They are not foundation pieced.

Spider Web Quilt WIP

The spider web quilt blocks are made and ready to be pressed.I had the quilt all arranged on the floor before the triangles were sewn together but it was too dark and the photo was no good. You will have to wait to see more.

P, however, was impressed with the stack of blocks waiting to be pressed.

"That stack is SOOOO big. It goes from the bottom ALL THE WAY to the TOP!"

She keeps me in stitches.

Stash Busting Crew Socks - or Bench Monday Socks

New socks on a Monday can only mean one thing, modeling the new socks while standing on a bench.  I got up this morning, put on my new socks Adele dropped off yesterday in a surprise visit, dragged out one of the new chairs I bought at the preschool garage sale, and took some photos.

The ground in the garden is very soft. Luckily I managed to stay on the chair for the timer count down

The socks are quick crew socks in K2, P2 ribbing. The yarn is Trekking XXL from my stash.  They were an easy knit for hectic days.  And, again, Adele did a super job of matching stripes all the way to the toe! Thanks.

After the photo shoot I thought I had killed three birds with one shot as they say.
1. Photos of the socks for the blog.
2. Self portrait of the dayI
3. The Bench Monday shot of the week.

Well, P really likes Mondays. This is the conversation from last night:
me: "Do you know what tomorrow is?"
P: "no."
me: "Monday, what do we do on Mondays?"
P: "Take pictures of ourselves standing on things."

yeah, it's what we do.Soooooo, this is what happened when P got up.

She stole my shot. You only get to have one photo a week in the Bench Monday group.

So. She got the Bench Monday photo and I got my photo shoot for the blog.

I hope you all had a great Monday

Thoughtful Sunday

"I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down at the bottom we, too, should have rights."

“Yertle the Turtle," Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, Dr. Seuss, 1958.

Tending the Gardens

The boys are off at the Alma Highland Festival this weekend. I think the House Orchestra has five shows plus the parade! M was also running in the 5K race there this morning. I am sure they will be tired when they get home. Since the weather was so nice and we knew the boys would be away, we worked last evening getting the black beans and corn planted.  It goes fairly quickly with three planters. B picks up these planters at garage sales.  The area at the far end of the garden is the black bean area. These rows are the heirloom corn.

P loves to help too.

This morning after dropping the the boys at school at the crack of dawn B did a lot of weeding in the fenced garden.  This evening we planted some sunflowers. P did a little cake and brownie making too.

We pulled a big bag of radishes that were marking rows of carrots, parsnips, and beets. P and I are the only ones in the family who eat radishes so we shared most of them with the neighbor who will juice them.  I have also read that you can pickle radishes. We may try that with the next batch just for fun.

Our lettuce is off to a good start and the first of our peas are flowering.

How does your garden grow?

42 Pounds

D's college choices this spring were University of Michigan, Oberlin, and Cornell. He visited and liked all three schools. Cornell was a favorite for all of us but was just not affordable.  The University of Michigan gave him a good scholarship so he will be staying close to home for college. He will live in the dorm but will only be a half hour away.

I always thought he was pretty brilliant. But, you know, I'm his mother.  I guess some colleges thought he was smart too. Over the course of a year he got FORTY TWO POUNDS of college recruiting mail. Yea, he saved it. We weighed it. We're weird like that. We are a family of data collectors. We weigh our garden harvest. We just can't help ourselves.  Some of the brochures had really interesting pictures and nice papers. I saved a big box of them for crafty projects.

With all the information that is available on the internet now I am not sure that sending out so much stuff in the mail is a good method of student recruitment. Many of the letters and brochures were never opened. D could tell that many colleges outsourced the recruiting materials to the same marketing firms as many of the mailings followed the same format.  After the applications were submitted we used much of the mailings for starting fires in the stove this winter.

We opted not to order the terribly overpriced graduation announcements or invitations from the company suggested by the high school. (nor any of the other graduation souvenirs in the catalog.) So, I think you can see where I'm going with this... I made D's graduation announcements out of the college recruiting brochures.  I "fussy cut" to get splashes of color, texture, and bits of interesting things.  No one will know that they are from college brochures unless they are blog readers, but they make me happy.

I am glad that I didn't have very many to make.

Garlic Mustard

I may have mentioned before that B is the steward for a nature preserve in our area.  It is a wooded area and the trees and wildflowers there are different from what grows on our property. One of the jobs of the steward is to try to control the invasive species on the preserve.  We went out there on Sunday to pull dames rocket and garlic mustard that can crowd out the native plants.

Many of the spring wildflowers were in bloom.

Some areas were carpeted with large patches wild ginger and trillium.

We filled bags with the garlic mustard plants because if they are left on the ground they will continue to make seeds.

The day seemed even more worthwhile because garlic mustard is edible.Yesterday, we made pesto from one big bag of the weeds. It was quite good and we were able to freeze enough for five more nights.  After tasting the fresh leaves I thought the pesto would be strong but on the pasta it had a stronger smell than taste.

I feel like we have gotten a two for one deal here. We helped free the native wild plants from an invasive weed and have gotten some good, nutritious mustard greens for us to eat.

I promise to have a non forage food post tomorrow!

Thoughtful Sunday

"Misery is when you heard on the radio that the neighborhood you live in is a slum but you always thought it was home."

Black Misery, Langston Hughes, 1969

More Morels

This seems to really be the week for morels! We have picked several times and had another  mushroom feast last night!

Today P and I went out again and found even more that had sprouted since yesterday.

P is good at hunting and picking them.

I think we need to look up some more recipes.

Foraging for Food

I hear it is a good year for morels around here.

My neighbor and I went foraging and found some.

We actually found quite a few.

Morels seem to be quite the rage with Michiganders and after living here over twenty years I thought it was time to give them a try.

Mother's Day dinner last night included neighbors, a morel pasta dish (fixed by the neighbor), and fresh baked bread. All good stuff.

Don't ask where we found the mushrooms.

If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

Thoughtful Sunday

"A startled or surprised look from one of you when I spoke sharply rebuked me more than any words could have done, and the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy."

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, 1868.

Mother's Day Lunch

P's preschool class worked for three weeks preparing for our Mother's Day lunch yesterday. They chopped onions, shredded turkey,  grated carrots and cheese, and mixed muffins for our lunch. The tables were set by the children before the moms arrived.  We had a three course lunch served by our children. The first course was our choice of broccoli cheese soup or applesauce. Next was a choice of turkey salad croissant or kid kabob served with a muffin and fruit tower.

Dessert was a lovely flower in a pot. The children made the cookie flowers yesterday morning. The flowers were served in a cup of ice cream with chocolate sauce.

The children had also made lovely gifts for the moms. The vases were made by gluing tissue paper circles onto a vase and then mod podging the whole thing. They gave us each a lovely flower for our vase when we arrived.The husband of one of the teachers took photos of each mother and child and had them printed and returned with them before the end of the lunch.

I enjoyed listening to the songs they had prepared and also visiting with the other moms and children.  The children were so proud of all the work they put into the event. It was a wonderful lunch and I didn't have to lift a finger!I hope you have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Monkey Socks

I am quite happy with the finished Monkey Socks. I think they turned out great. It is a pretty easy pattern to knit. The pattern we used is Monkey by Cookie A.

The yarn A chose is Heart and Sole by Red Heart.  I tried to match the stripes but it was not clear until I had knit a fair amount of my sock that the two skeins of yarn were wound in opposite directions. If I had knit my sock starting with the outer end of the skein the stripes would have worked out.

Otherwise, they were a fun pattern to knit.  I finished knitting my sock this morning and had the pair photographed and in the mail to Adele by noon. I have already started my next sock.

It is a sickness.   You probably already know that.

It is a good feeling to know I am writing to an audience who understands. You do understand don't you?

Fire

Yesterday we had our annual prairie fire. The back field is usually a slow burn. I do enjoy watching the swirling flames.

I find it fascinating to watch the fire crawl across the field. We try to burn into the wind so it stays more in control and burns more thoroughly.

The lower field has taller and thicker grass so the fire here is usually bigger.

It is exciting to watch the fire get to the thickest parts of the dry grass.

The flames can get quite high,

and also very hot.

The fire stops when it gets to the mowed path next to the field. We do have buckets of water and wet towels ready just in case. It was a great day to be outside together.

We are careful not to burn all of our native plant areas in one year. That way we don't kill all of the butterfly eggs and other natural things living there. Now we watch the native prairie grasses and wild flowers grow.

As I uploaded the pictures this morning I was thinking about having the fires every year. D and M have been a part of this their whole lives, as has P but not so long. I think as the boys have grown they have gotten something different out of the experience each year. They have learned a lot about a wide variety of things. Not just how to help with a controlled fire and taking wind and air currents into account but also a lot about why we planted the native plants. They have learned about invasive species,  butterflies and ants, pheasants, rabbits, groundhogs and other burrowing animals, hard work and how to work together, how to make work more fun, gathering our own firewood, being responsible, working together, seeds, how things grow, where "amber waves of grain" came from, and lots of other things I haven't thought about.

And to think, we just wanted to grow native grasses and wild flowers. Who knew at the time that we would nurture all that other stuff too?

Thoughtful Sunday

(origami creation by Joel Cooper. Seen at an exhibit in Oberlin, OH)

"The life of a Marionette has grown very tiresome to me and I want to become a boy, no matter how hard it is."

The Adventures of Pinocchio, C. Collodi, 1883.

Home Made Yogurt and Chocolate Scones

Yogurt is popular in this house. We eat it with fruit, on cake,  and also use it in baking. After reading about other people making their own yogurt we decided to give it a try. We used this recipe and used the oven set very low for incubation. It was easy peasy lemon squeazy! We made a gallon of yogurt in just a few hours. I know this is something we will continue to do as it will save a lot of money and also since we make it in quart jars there are no plastic containers to throw away!

This morning I made one of our favorite yogurt using recipes -Double Chocolate Scones.

Cut together the following ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 pound (1 stick) butter
add
1 egg
1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt
1 cup chocolate chips

Spread on floured cookie sheet (I use a preheated stone)
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

I make these on weekend mornings to keep the teens from  sleeping too late. Everyone gets up quickly to eat these fresh scones.  I hope you enjoy them too.

Thanks to my sister who shared the recipe with us several years ago!

May Day

April showers truly do bring May flowers.We have crab apples, apples, and red bud all blooming now. P is enjoying all the pink.

It was a warm sunny day so I played with my new camera.

I finally figured out the macro setting.

We have made jelly from our crab apples before. It is a lot of work as the fruit is very small.

The apples, however, are used every year.

May brings promises of good things to come.

Spider Web Update

I thought I'd share the progress I have made on the spider web quilt.

I am wishing I had made them a little bit bigger. They will shrink a bit when they are sewn together. Still, I am happy with it.

Ugly Duckling's New Friend

P got some fun mail this weekend - a package from Kim, a woman whose generosity and talent know no bounds.

Kim had given her this Ugly Duckling and book when we visited in February and told her that she would make a book cover with a bed on the front.

While we were there Kim let P choose a vintage embroidered linen for the bedspread.

The book cover arrived this weekend with two new friends for Ugly Duckling. The cute, pink, little mouse can snuggle in the bed with Ugly Duckling.

I am amazed at the detail Kim put into this project.  There is a little fairy quilt on the bed with the polka dot sheets turned down.

The pillows are made of pink ticking and have pretty pillowcases with rick rack and lace trim.

Needless to say, It was a big hit.  Thanks Kim!

Since the little mouse had not seen the book yet she had to show it to her.  She says she is not good at reading the words but she could show her the pictures.

P rearranged the things she had stored in her nesting suitcases so thatthe friends could have another place to live. As she says, "They can'tstay in bed ALL the time."

I think Ugly Duckling's other new friend was sleeping in P's room during the photo shoot.

Thoughtful Sunday

"The mother duck let them explore as much as they pleased, for green is good for the eyes."

The Ugly Duckling, Hans Christian Anderson (adapted from translation by W. Angeldorf), 2006.