greenjewls

spring busy-ness

2007-03-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

i attended the introductory beekeeping class yesterday and today I am scouting a good site for my hive. We have a huge ceanothus, aka California lilac, in full bloom now and it is covered with happy bumblebees. Presumably these are the same girls who live in our birdhouse. They are constantly in motion and it took me a while to get a decent shot. Bees are incredible animals.

thrift thursday: WIPs

2007-03-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

I think growing your own food (to a point) is thrifty. so I am a big believer in backyard fruit production: we have blueberries, raspberries, apples, pears, elderberries, crab apples, pomegranate, a lame cherry, guavas, currants, gooseberries and hawthorn. My bareroot order from One Green World just arrived, alas, minus my persimmon, since the website neglected to mention they cannot be shipped to California. Too bad, I was hoping to get a really exotic cultivar not found anywhere here locally (I know, because I called every nursery I could think of). But my medlar and quince did arrive. I have wanted to grow my own quince ever since high school when we studied John Keats poem, The Eve of Saint Agnes:

And still she slept an azure-lidded sleep,
In blanched linen, smooth, and lavender’d,
While he from forth the closet brought a heap
Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd;
With jellies soother than the creamy curd,
And lucent syrups, tinct with cinnamon;
Manna and dates, in argosy transferr’d
From Fez; and spiced dainties, every one,
From silken Samarcand to cedar’d Lebanon.

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so here my sticks from oregon, the one on the left is the quince, the right is the medlar, which has already taken its place in the hedgerow with a currant, hawthorn and crabapple. I love hedgerows, so Beatrice Potterish and vital to beneficial insect forage and cover.

here is another wip, the persimmon tree I picked up at a local nursery. talking of thrift, the bareroot season is almost over, so this jiro was half off. Another long stick.

it is hard to believe these trees will ever amount to anything. But look at this:

the first fruit tree we planted fall of 1997, a cox orange pippin, and here it is the first spring with us. Steve has been pruning it and it has become a beauty. He follows open vase method over central leader.

this what she looks like today. Delicious apples and it also serves as a living trellis for clematis texensis "Pagoda".

It reminds me of Ben's homework last night...a family tree, also a wip.

I rarely go to Sebastopol, which is where the bareroot persimmon was, so I try to make a day of it and visit other west county attractions.I finally made it to the Legacy craft thrift shop. Amazing! I could have spent hours there, but had 30 minutes. I left with a brown grocery sack of cloth...all for $12. They sell fabric for $2 a pound. I picked up some really sweet, already made quilt blocks I am assembling for the newest member of our family tree: sweet little MacKenzie Clark. Good work Mike and Sherrie! here it is, definitely a wip.

Honey, I'm home!

2007-03-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

See this wonderful oven mitt made for me by redheaded snipit? see the cute honeybee perched on its thumb? See the brunette honey bear with local honey? ok you got three hints...what am I thinking?

yes, I am contemplating the next step in the eat local food lifestyle: keeping bees. I attended the most amazing, informative symposium this past weekend. Wow, eye opening. I was aware of the bizarre phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder and just this past week KQED did a show on forum, describing it as a whodunit with no smoking gun, no bodies even. Spooky, all these bees just disappearing. No common denominator, except perhaps unusually hot dry weather last fall and pollen with little to no nutritional value. So malnutrition perhaps. But is more? GMO pollen, high fructose corn syrup made from GMO corn, some new fungus, virus, bug. aliens form space? Anyway, it makes a person a trifle respectful of insects and how under appreciated they are. Did you know that about of third of what we eat is tied to bees (both native and honey bees) for fertilization?

I came away with a conviction to keep bees. My neighbor Denise already does, and she lost both her colonies this winter to CCD. Fortunately we have beekind here in Sonoma county and they are the source of all things melliferous, including queens all ready to get their groove on.

The symposium was really for hobby beekeepers looking for better answers to the dreaded varroa mite than miticides and other more ecological methods for making bees happy. We saw traditional skeps from Germany and more humane hives. We saw a wonderful slideshow on all the beautiful native bees (we have over 250 native bee species in California alone, mostly solitary as opposed to colony forming. I also learned just about everything I care to about tracheal mites and varroa mites Did you know one method to control varroa is to shake powdered sugar over your colonies every week during prime drone brood season? There, now you can sleep better tonight knowing that. I know I will.

Sunday evening Steve and Ben where making the rounds of the birdhouses, making sure they were clean and ready for their new tenants and wouldn't you know, one had become home to a colony of bumble bees! Steve bravely rehung (with nary a sting) the birdhouse in its same spot as the sweet little ladies were rather confused as to where their villa had disappeared too. I feel honored they have chosen to take up residence here. I think it is a good omen.

Busytown Bakery

2007-03-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

What I thought would be a ho hum field trip was two hours of pure, fermented fun! The Franco American Bakery in Railroad Square Santa Rosa has been continuous operation since 1903. It has been owned by the Bastione family since 1928. Frank, recently handed over the business to his son, the third generation to run things. But Frank loves to give tours to schoolkids and he was such a gracious, delightful and informative host. He clearly loves bread. Their sourdough starter is older than him he proudly boasts. The kids LOVED every minute and got to see the whole process, plus knead and shape their own loaves that came home with them) plus a real loaf). Talk about building product loyalty. You can see more pictures here.

The best part to the day for me was discovering that Frank was best friends with our neighbor (now deceased). They met in grade school and were lifelong friends. And the family we bought our house from was also a friend, having sold Frank all his paper goods for 40 years. In many ways Santa Rosa is still the small town Alfred Hitchcock chronicled in Shadow of a Doubt in 1943. I love that about Santa Rosa.

I know has a teenager I couldn't wait to leave my home town of Omaha. And now it is has changed so much and grown so large it has lost that small town feel I remember. But SaRo still has it, if know where to look: the cobbler on Mendocino who took over for his dad, the burger joint that hasn't changed in 30 years, the neighborhood cemetery with family names you recognize. I know change is really all you can expect, but bread in some form (tortillas, buns, loafs) will probably be around all long time.

of bread and mushrooms and salad greens

2007-03-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

my salad garden...

here it is a week later, and this photo is a week old already.

and the cup fungi are blowing my mind...they are everywhere in my yard

can you believe alot of these mushroom types are edible?! But most sources say, don't bother. This must be what comes in those mysterious cellophane packages at asian markets labeled "Fungus". I actually like that stuff in hot and sour soup.

But the real gem, although i am still awaiting the neighborhood mycophile, Sam, to give his blessings before we eat it, are morels found growing in our very backyard. We also found a few chanterelles on the hill behind us, not enough to actually cook something though.

where does the bread come in? Tomorrow I have the extreme pleasure of chaperoning 20 second graders to the Franco-American Bakery. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for Able Baker Charlie.

the latest in wool

2007-03-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

I feel pretty scattered these days: work, home life and the crunch of getting my schedule C up to speed so I can meet with the tax guy. I gotta say, one of the bennies of being self employed is going to the tax guy is a legitimate business expense. So even though you have be on top of all your paperwork, he takes the pile and turns it into a lovely grey foldered, tax return for a very reasonable price. I see him once a year and admire the picture of his kids (who of course are now one year older) and we chitchat for a few minutes, go over his checklist and I leave feeling about 50 pounds lighter. In a few weeks I get a phone call from the secretary and exchange a check for that nice,neat grey file...he even electronically files for us. I love my tax guy.

Oh yes, I did finish this blue blankie...already in the mail for its new owner.

Auction raises $1200

2007-03-05T06:21:00.000-08:00

Wow, that was fun! The treasurer of my son's school 501c3 for arts education wants to do a similar auction within our school community and I also offered to organize on for Jane's Imagine bus project sometime thi summer, but again, a more local effort. Ebay and paypal make things incredible easy (for a small fee that is) and the Internet makes communication nearly effortless, especially if you have good typing skills. (But people who receive my emails know I need some help there.)

Huge thanks for all the wonderful aritsts who made things!

Sunday: Auction musings

2007-03-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

it has been an interesting week...getting my name in two local papers three times this week (something I am shy about really) has caused lots of people to call or stop me and say "Hi!, great idea, so fun to go look a the website!" I even got called by an old Scottish dance friend I have not see in 6 years. SO I know people here in Sonoma County are hearing about the auction, but still a few lovely things have no bids (but i can see several people are watching the auction, so that bodes well.) If the auction ended this minute, the auction will have raised $1000 dollars...which is way more fantastic then the little $50 check I would have written to the memorial fund myself. The actions of many working together is always more powerful than the single voice.

Thanks to all the wonderful women who contributed their time and energy to make beautiful things!

chinoserie

2007-03-03T07:31:00.000-08:00

some thrifted porcelain china, hanging over the porcelain white toilet. i love the accuracy of the pine, like a botanical etching and the more fanciful intrepretation of the bottom plant..not exactly bamboo...but suggestive of it.

have a good weekend. we are catching up on stuff around the house (tax paperwork, garden, entertaining) and I am officially retiring tressy's litterbox and food dish. maybe we will have a little memorial service too.

she's baaaack

2007-03-01T06:34:00.000-08:00

my long winded response to first seeing amy's kaffe fasset a whole year ago and being blown away by it.

If I am having Vandy of Pumphouse quilts to machine quilt my baby, then I want to end up with a reversible number..so I assembled these for the back, half thrifted half bought (amy butler and the like)

I see my next sewing project involves a hand needle and thread.

blue monday: life is good

2007-02-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

the auction is live, my desk clear, phone calls returned, hometwon boy Levi won the Tour, fire crackling, Ben at school, yo la tengo playing and it is pouring outside. I can just put on another layer and putter with my sewing machine and felted woolies. I even know what I am making for dinner before 5 pm (tofu dumplings)! Sigh, now if only tressy would show up, life would be perfect.

Blue and Gold Goodness

2007-02-24T08:02:00.000-08:00

so what is a 5 foot tall volcano doing in our garage? Steve volunteered to make it for the annual Boy Scout Blue and Gold dinner. This year the theme was "aloha". We started out trying to paper mache this behemoth, but quickly went to Plan B which was covering it in cheap acrylic felt. We have stressed to Ben the importance of always having a Plan B, good advice for life.

here are some more glimpses:

the cake...can you tell it is supposed to be the big island with Maui, Kauai and other small islands floating in the deep blue sea? Each den makes a cake for judging, then it becomes dessert. We won first prize for "geographically most accurate". Other categories included most pristine beach front, best use of multi-headed animals, and most likely to be used as a set in an action movie. I wish I had pictures of some of the other cakes, they were great.

Here is part of the den admiring the cake.

the skit, suitably goofy for such an event.

a sad day

2007-02-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

our rabbit Tressy has been missing for over two days now. We discovered Sunday night she had dug a hole under the fence and our neighbors saw her in their backyard, unfortunatley they did not alert us and she probably left their yard for the greater neighborhood. As we are surrounding by open space she ahs probably met with a hawk or owl. We are all pretty misty eyed here at times, especially Ben. I keep looking out the window expecting to see her nibbling grass in the backyard.

Tressy lived with us for five years and was a special family member. She was more like a cat: a litter box trained house rabbit who would come when you called her (especially if you said "treat"). She loved sitting in your lap and getting rubbies and was a wonderful playmate for Ben and all our young friends. She was always included in Sunday morning snuggles in our family bed. I keep hoping she has found a paramour and is setting up housekeeping in some blackberry bramble on the edge of our neighborhood. She could still turn up, so keep your fingers crossed. If not, she helped some beautiful wild animal survive. I guess in the end that is a good death.

tressy in the starring role of "Attack of the Giant Mutant Rabbit!"

Amgen excitement!

2007-02-20T11:46:00.000-08:00

we went downtown Monday afternoon to see the pelaton race finish. 100 miles of varied terrain from Sausalito to Bolinas onto Bodega and then into Santa Rosa over the coastal mountains. We took up a spot on a grassy knoll under cherry trees in front of Federal Bankruptcy court. We had a view of the pelaton coming down Sonoma Avenue, cornering the intersection with E Street and then up E. Very exciting. T-mobile owned the lead the first lap, but the second lap we could see something had happened because the pelaton was broken up with the breakaway group a full minute ahead the rest of the pack. Turns out a big crash. you can go see here....

so this morning they came by our neighborhood!

we went out early and dodged cars to write greetings to hometown boy Levi Leipheimer, and cutie George Hincapie who both ride for the Discovery Team. My son's school is also two blocks from the race, and all the second and third grade classes are walking up to Bennett Valley Road to see the race flash by.

here comes the breakaway group, Christophe Laurent for Credit Agricole, Omer Kem for Priority Health, David McCann for Colavita.

It is really hard to get a good picture when the pack comes thru...I watched the riders and not my viewfinder, so i got some road rash pics

after they all passed...we heard sirens from an ambulance and one of the helicopters kept hanging on....it turns out one block down, my neighbor, who is a professional photographer had been paying more attention to her camera to where she was standing on the road, and she got knocked over by a Priority Health rider. The news is she is fine, but will probably be on the evening news. oh my. I see from the live cam action that same rider was involved in a crash coming down the trinity grade . I guess it is not his day.

I can see I am not going to get anything done today..thanks to the live cam. But how exciting!

enjoy the day

2007-02-18T08:30:00.002-08:00

we are having early summer weather here. I spent most the day gardening. Tressy is my assistant.

the cardoons in butter-olive oil-garlic-anchovy sauce (bagna cauda) were delicious, by the way.

garden textures

2007-02-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

corsican hellebore

i forget the name of this one

a true geranium

new zealand flax

the inscription on the towel reads: "the faith to move mountains is the reward to those who have moved little hills....." Hmmm, sounds like a tag line for real estate "developers". the plant is miscanthus sinensis "gracillimus". It badly needs a haircut.

and here are some freshly harvested cardoons. This is the first time i have grown them. So easy in our climate, but i needed a nudge. A sister to artichokes, you eat the blanched stalks of the cardoon. I wrapped the stalks back around Christmas (a little late actually) and just unveiled them. This is probably about a 1/3 of the stalks on the plant, enough for several meals. Tonight i am going to try bagna cauda. And tomorrow cardoon gratin with gruyere. I let you know how it goes.

friday faves: human being vs. human doing

2007-02-16T06:49:00.000-08:00

yesterday I had time to lay on a blanket in my front yard and look at the trees, waiting for the school bus. It was so warm...75 maybe. You can just see the buds beginning to swell on the dingleberry trees (sweetgums actually).

have a wonderful weekend everyone! I hope all have time for being admist all the doings.

happy belated valentines day!

2007-02-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

Especially to my dad, John, for sailing through knee replacement surgery. (now the hard part has come, dad....physical therapy) And to my mom, Marianne, for being his nurse. And to my brother Mike for shoveling the driveway and being major domo. Sigh, i wish i lived closer.

another blankie

2007-02-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

I found some really charming sweaters last week, and emboldened by my recent success with front panels, I added two complete squares from the fronts of two garments. The pink-red square and that cute grosgrain ribbon edging and wool covered buttons...it puckered so nicely I just had to include it. And the wool crewel accents on the navy blue sweater were crying out to be included. I removed the zipper from the navy one, and sewed the enclosue shut. The red square relies on the buttons to keep still.

I also added a small light blue ribbon embellishment around the perimeter...very easy to add with zigzag.

friday favorites: ayoc

2007-02-09T06:49:00.001-08:00

I have so enjoyed Amy's group the year of color. I don't always manage to submit a photo each week, but it is fun to run thru the slideshows each week and see what everyone comes up with. This week is "scarlet".

thrift thursday: rain

2007-02-08T06:13:00.000-08:00

thrift noun

1. Wise economy in the management of money and other resources; frugality.
2. Vigorous growth of living things, such as plants.
3. Any of several densely tufted plants of the genus Armeria, especially A. maritima, having white to pink flower heads with a funnel-shaped scarious calyx.
4. A savings and loan association, credit union, or savings bank. Also called thrift institution.

Until yesterday, Sonoma County was experiencing the driest winter since official records have been kept. We really needed a good soaking rain, and now it looks like we are getting it..rain for 5 days is forecasted. I was so happy to see it. We get our water from wells, and some neighbors down the road had some dry days when their well went dry last summer even after a winter of record rainfall.

We manage our water carefully here. I wish I could say the same for our neighbors. We are all on the same well system and pay the same lump sum monthly but there is no metering. I am on the Water Board this year, so I am lobbying to change that. Sadly, even if we were to be thrifty in our use, we are surrounded by vineyards that water their grapes all summer long. Sigh.

At least our winter rain will help these.

Valentine hearts

2007-02-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

making valentines from scratch has become a yearly tradition here. I need a hook to get Ben interested and the allure of gluesticks used to be enough.

One year it was traditional red construction paper and doilies. Another was feathers and origami paper. Last year we made rebus valentines with self carved stamps. But this year I was inspired by gardenhoe sara.

Ben loves a good excuse to use the fancy stitches on the sewing machine. He even told me he was going to write "I love you" on Alyssa's. I guess the other 19 kids in his class will just get a scrawled "BEN". At least they'll have a felt heart too!

posting over at carlos fund

2007-02-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

I know, what is a picture of an agave doing here...well, i am rushed for time so it will have to do.
I began posting photos and descriptions of the donations for the auction. The pictures of things are so wonderful, I am going to want to bid on everything myself. go see. 1-3 more each day will go up.

Ben is eight!

2007-02-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

this is ben twenty minutes after he was born. you can sort of see me in the background, my midwife was making me drink water. yes, it was one of those crunchy granola homebirth kind of things. It was an amazing experience I will never forget. I am woman hear me roar! Look at those cheeks willya?

I can see from the time stamp it was 12:05 am on Sunday January 31st, 1999. SuperBowl Sunday. Thank goodness we are not big football fans because he always ends up having his party the weekend of the superbowl.

So here is my wonderful boy (with his shirt on inside out I see) blowing out his candles. I am also glad to see his face has caught up with his cheeks.

He wanted a mathematics party but we broadened the scope and called it a science party. Dry ice, Science scavenger hunt, snowball phase change relay and these activites:

molecule building....don't they look like a fleet of UFO's coming in for a look? everyone got a ribbon...my favorite category "most environmentally benign".

and pin the tie on Bill Nye was a hit too.

I took these when all the kids ran outside to blow off steam, I promise there were actually alot of kids at my house this weekend. A big hand goes to my in-laws, Ellie and Gerry, for being such a big help. And of course to Steve for always being my right hand man. Ben declared it a big success, and judging by the fact no one seemd to want to leave, I guess he was right.

Also congratulations to the Russoff-Armstrong family on the birth of Baby Violet!

friday favorites: felted wool lap blankies

2007-02-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

here is a work in progress...I promise everything gets washed and pressed after it has been on my layout "wall". These felted wool blankies are so fun and relatively simple to make once you have thrifted the sweaters and felted them. This was a commissioned piece for my good friend Deborah. She is an amazing printmaker and we are trading art.

here it is finished. She loves the gees bend vibe so that is what I was going for here. I think this is my favorite blanket I have made so far. I will cook up a tutorial if anyone is interested.

I have on my bedside table this book. One of those gorgeous coffee table books with lots of pretty pictures. But the text by Paul Arnett is wonderfully written and very good at provoking design ideas. I highly recommend it. I have a bad habit of only looking at pictures in books and not reading the actual contents. Gee, I guess you miss alot that way. Yes, information, it is a valuable addition to our modern lifestyle.

here is what I choose from Deborah. Sorry it is not the best picture.

Deborah Solomon is one of the participating artists in the Carlosfundauction. I promise pictures will start being posted there nest week.

thrift thursday

2007-02-01T06:37:00.000-08:00

I finally found a wee globe, a pencil sharpener.

I can not imagine what thsi was supposed to be in real life...a bottel chiller/ice bucket I guess.

donation for carlos fund auction

2007-01-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

here is what I made this weekend for the carlosfund auction.

some more views:

I intentionally left the border uneven (but not in an unfinished, ragged way but in a purposeful quirky way). you can see how some of the seams are ripply....that is due to nylon content that makes the felted wook stretchy. the only way to make perfectly flat seams (or at least flatter seams) is to not use felt with any nylon content...but so many lovely sweaters at the thrift have it! IT would probably help if I had a better sewing machine too.

here you can see the pocket detail and and a close up of stitching.

Christian Flores Carlos

2007-01-25T21:49:00.000-08:00

On Friday, January 20th a family was sitting in their car in stop-and-go rush hour traffic. Tragically, an inattentive driver crashed into them at 70 mph. Five family members died and 5 year old Christian is in critical condition with severe burns. You can read more here or here.

I have been so moved by this story, but surely I can do more than write a check to the memorial fund? Christian is without his mother, brother, grandmother and aunts and is facing a lifetime of pain. I know money is a poor substitute for what he has lost, but I feel it important to do something, anything.

I was so moved by Lisa Congdon, Gerrie Congdon and Stephanie Barnes' organization of an auction for the Kim family, I thought to do likewise. I understand they needed to turn away many wonderful handmade donations for organizational reasons. Now could be the time, if you were unable to donate an item. Please consider donating. email me at greendoc@sonic.net if you are interested.

If you would rather donate money, Nina Mehta, chief executive officer of NeilMed Pharmaceuticals, is establishing a memorial fund at Exchange Bank in Santa Rosa. She said contributions made out to: "Memorial Funds for Edith Carlos Medina" can be sent to NeilMed Pharmaceuticals, 601 Aviation Blvd., Santa Rosa, CA 95403.

Edith Carlos Medina was Christian's mother, she died the day after the crash and had just begun training for an assembly job at NeilMed.

Please go visit here and bookmark the site for the upcoming auction. I am still working out the logistics for/with ebay and paypal to establish a givingworks auction.

thrift thurday

2007-01-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

I could not just sit and watch a movie yesterday so I tried to process this pile of thrifted cords. they will become a quilt top eventually.

And my inspiration is something like this:
Kansas limestone walls

They will become the front or back to this, remember this cutie?

unfortunately, the umbrellas of Cherbourg is a french film with English subtitles. All the dialogue is sung too. A great doomed love story with amazing cinematography, very cool color schemes. Lots of pink and orange, turquoise and green with blood red! You must see it sometime. So nothing got processed, as I needed to read subtitles which made for dangerous scissor wielding. I gave up quickly.

Anyway, I did some major housecleaning, laundry, putting away all sorts of things while stuffing Kleenex up my nose and using the antiseptic handwash every 30 minutes not wanting to leave germs everywhere to infect the boys. Thank goodness for Kleenex with lanolin.

Here are some past thrift finds for your edification and jollyment.

I love that green hen bank. And the numbers were par of set 1 thru 4. I seem to have lost 2 and 3 over the years.

And I love picking up these empty Chinese gift presentation boxes. Great for craft storage. I use the view master box for my glue gun and gluesticks.

who killed the electric car?

2007-01-24T09:15:00.000-08:00

ok these have nothing to do with WKTEC by Chris Paine. But they are pretty and I feel like I am coming down with the flu and I want to look at soft cozy things while I lie on the couch blowing my nose and moaning to myself.

But instead of being pathetic on the couch I am calling all the auto manufacturers and asking them to start building good, affordable electric cars. And then I'll write the Califonia Air Quality board and demand they re-enact eh zero-emission vehicle laws. You can too, just go here for details.

Anyway we saw the movie last week and I can't stop thinking about it. Makes one want to become a conspiracy theorist. or even wear a tshirt with advertising on it.

It turns out, after raving about it too my walking buddies, that Liz's mother-in-law just got a letter form the director Chris Paine. Teh story goes that Mrs. Landreith taught Chrisin third grade where she had all the kids make 35 mm movies about California History. Apparently Chris was thanking her for inspiring him to become a film maker. how cool is that?

ok, so maybe after my activism I will go watch the Umbrellas of cherbourg, it is only been sitting on my shelf for 3 weeks gathering dust.

ayoc: carnation pink

2007-01-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

go see all the spring pinks at ayoc

finally.....a tangible result!

2007-01-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

Made for my good friend flora as a belated birthday gift.

and this was her christmas gift.....that is a map of the cinque terra where she went with her honey this fall. also lots of personal reference, the most obvious her love of cooking and feeding people. making collages for people is a an old past time of mine I am rediscovering.

thrift thursday

2007-01-18T06:33:00.000-08:00

I not a "ruffly" person per se, prefering tufts or pleats, but the fabrics here are so fabulous! Tehe top is hand stitiched/pieced and the pillow top is machine sewn. I would say late 60's to early 70's. That upper right corner square (yellow with red flowers) i swear I had a grannie pajama gown made from that exact pattern.

2007-01-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

after a weeks worth of hard frosts, I decided to go see what was happpening in the garden. I used to be in zonal denial and nurse tender darlings thru these hard spells, but no more. things have gotta survive on benign neglect come winter. ALthough we really could use some rain.

daffodils poking up thru the currants

you can call it harry lauder's walking stick, you can call it contorted filbert, you can call it corkscrew hazel, you can call it corylus avellana contorta, just don't call it late for dinner.

the name of this rose, I kid you not, is crepuscule. pretty gross. umm, I guess if you spoke french and had a nice accent it would sound more romantic.

I forget the name of this cutie. but it is a totally easy, totally tough as nails Australian native. I have a picture on one of those aussie dishtowels. but it is in the wash.

wee narcissi? narcissuses?

corylopsis spicata or spike winter hazel. this has amazing pale yellow cascading bells in the late spring, but mine does not get enough sun to be very floriferous.

David Austin "charlotte" I am gaga for his roses: so easy, so healthy, so blowsy, so gorgeous.

winter crabapples for the birds. no takers yet.

japanese anemones. no one told these party girls the party is over.

cornus "midwinter fire". Indeed. apt name.

for the love of chickens

2007-01-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

here are the girls:

from left to right they are
Tingalao, Wyatt, Featherball and Pearl

chickens make the most soothing sounds, especially when they are contentedly scratching about the yard. I let them free roam alot in the winter when there is less potential damage to the garden. I do have some wnter veggies under row covers for some cut and come salads. But as long as they stay covered the girls steer clear.

they can still leave a discernable footprint...they love to take dust baths (a normal, vital activity for birds) and leave little depressions in their favorite bathing spots. They will leave calling cards on the patio, etc. but they make great moving lawn ornaments. Our rabbit does more damage for sure. We let Tressy free roam during the day too if the weather is nice. She is even getting trained to come to the door at dusk to be let in if we have not already scooped her up for the night.

I have been obsessed with this book. that explains the row covers. Check out his winter garden! My brother in Tennessee, jack, just got a small greenhouse, so we must be on the same wavelength.

My obsession with self sufficiency got fanned by attending a Peak Oil conference last fall. I was exposed to peal oil as a geology major in the eighties when Hubbert's American peak prediction had already came true. Lots of experts say the worldwide peak is on the horizon. Now I been reading from this list and reconsidering all sorts of choices. Don't worry, i have NO intention of ever buying a gun. But goats? yes.

my last piece

2007-01-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

the last hurrah from ceramic class. I had originally intended to give it away but Steve liked it so much (as did I) that it is living in the bathroom. it will inevitably become a catchall for yarn, or some sort of crafty raw material. beats tp.

odds and ends of christmas past

2007-01-13T18:06:00.000-08:00

aren't these fun! I got the idea form a lovely mary engelbreit chicken wire vase project, combined with alicia's lovely bird cagelets. Sorry if the mary link does not work, i suspect unless you are a subscriber you may be prevented from accessing her archives.

here is another:

quick and easy to make. I gave the first away, but the dove stayed with us in her wire dovecote. Now I need to find a way to safely tuck her away till next solstice.

I have been a very busy girl in all sorts of productive ways, unfortunately blogging has not been one of them. But my resolution was to tackle things i have been avoiding, a common theme of mine I realize, as this blog is one way to avoid the things i am avoiding. Those things are getting down and some of them even involve crafting..so stay tuned for them to make an appearance here.

My my, I have not even mentioned our travels. Steve, ben and I made it back east to met new baby Jaden, play with cousin Emily, and of course hang out with grandma and grandpa and Aunt Tammy and Uncle Eric. We even managed two days in NYC where we saw the Museum of Natural History, caught a great Picasso show at the Whitney, checked out ground zero/WTC, Grand central Station, Empire State Building, Rockfeller center and went skating in Central Park. It was unseasonably warm: I saw ornamental plums blooming.

phew, I think I will not overdue it my first post back after such a long absence. happy 2007 to all!

Happy New Year

2006-12-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

Hannukah and Christmas celebrations aplenty...that is what has been happening here. Lots of butter and simple carbs interspersed with visiting with old and new friends. now we are off this evening to visit family on the East Coast. See you sometime in early 2007!

oh, yes, that is the finished birdcage project....thrifted cage, a bird ornament from grandmother Julia, a copper tree bought from an artist in Jackson Square New Orleans many years ago. I made the ceramic bottom piece recently with Penny.

thrift thursday: linen dishtowels

2006-12-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

I always snag linen towels at the thrift. linen dish towels absorb 1 1/2 times their weight in water. and nothing is better for polishing glassware. Some sort of rip in the space/time continuum must hav opened in Santa Rosa this past week, because I found these 3 australian towels at three different thrifts. the one on the left has all the lyrics for Waltzing Maltilda with scenes, the middle is the great Barrier Reef, and the right one is Australian flora and fauna.

ayoc: cerulean blue

2006-12-13T22:11:00.000-08:00

cheer up time

2006-12-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

it's been cold, rainy and dark here.

the weather must know something. so here are my mood lifters:

thanks for the inspiration alicia.

a bunny lounging by the toasty fire.

more sad news

2006-12-08T13:59:00.000-08:00

I was really crushed anew to read a colleague's son had died, an apparent suicide. Please add the Field family to your prayers. Rest in peace, Jonathon.

eye candy for the soul

2006-12-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

I noticed we all cope with sadnews in our own ways. I woke up in the middle in the night and could not fall back asleep worrying about the kim family. I see this morning that alicia is posting pretty photos as a distraction. I have run out of wreath materials, so photo posting is as good a distraction as any.

this is by meg hitchcock, a local artist I discovered as she was moving to new york. I took an immediate liking ot her and her her work. Too bad we did not connect earlier, I think she is very talented.

a silkscreen by another local artist, lisa congdon, equally talented! I was lucky enough to have coffee with the lovely, vibrant and thoughtful lisa last weekend. I now have even more excuses to get me out of sonoma county and into the city more often.

the other reason I went to the mission....to finally score paul's amazing day of the dead carving.

he is an incredible carver...I should frame this one.

sad news

2006-12-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

james kim's courage and love will be remembered. blessed be james kim.

ayoc: gray

2006-12-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

tuesday: wreathmaking

2006-12-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

when I am worried, i make things. so in order to keep from checking the kim family website for updates all day...I spent the day outdoors. Garden cleanup: harvesting the last tomatoes to make sauce, and then pulling the plants out and composting. I let the girls out to roam and they had a wee of a time taking dust baths and working over the old tomato bed.

then I began gathering greens for my annual wreathmaking. I made 6 in two hours...while listening to the confirmation hearings for mr. gates. Making wreaths is actually quite easy once you get the technique down. You need a wire or straw wreath frame, paddle wire, wire snippers, your trusty felcos or reasonable facsimile, and greenery. And patience, ribbons, dried flowers, nuts, whatever.

here you can see the paddle wire ready to wrap a new bunch of greenery to the frame. This is dodonea and cedar. I also made a magnolia wreath, another dodonea both for neighbors.

this is my favorite, variegated myrtle and nandina.

the seeded eucalyptus turned out well too.

sigh, but after all that, they still have not found james. please pray.

quilt monday and solemn thoughts

2006-12-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

the amy butler inspired.thrifted back is done. I decided to have it and the kaffe fasset front machine quilted as a reversible single quilt since it would probably take me ages to do it myself.

on a more serious note, i have been watching the candle on my mantlepiece that I lit 4 days ago grow lower and lower and still no word on the kim family.

although I do not know them personally I feel like I do...that is what a connection to the crafty blogosphere does. Their disappearance rubs salt in the lingering wound of all families everywhere that go missing be it Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Chile or our own backyard.

weekend tea parties

2006-11-26T21:33:00.000-08:00

well, actually we had coffee and an early lunch. This is a alice print, hanging in the bathroom at our favorite breakfast place, The Tea Room, in Petaluma. It is the closet thing to a Portland style breakfast spot we have found in Sonoma county. (If you know portland, think Cup and Saucer, Tabor Hill, Bread and Ink, etc.)

here are the boys, sorry I did not think to use a flash or take the photo with the window to my back. Owned by two artists, the ambience is really wonderful. I tried to get a shot of an incredible gothic assemblage frame with a peacock and other assorted stuff (made by David Best) but the reflections outdid me.

If you look at the top of the above photo you can just see the bottom edge of three large mirrowed letters that spell out T E A. And of course, on the opposite wall are 3 more identical mirrowed letters that spell out E A T. The large framed pictures are original artwork by David ....and they show quirky Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions involving the pouring of tea.

Here is another fun corner:

What really makes this place (besides the good food) is the space: a large, high ceilinged old building with a sunny southern exposure. The light is great and the accoutrements fabulous...like that great raven and teapot tower. There is no table service here...you stand in a line, place your order, grab a table. They give you a playing card on a metal clip to display on your table as a landmark for the food servers. We actually had the jack of hearts this time. Being a fan of Alice in Wonderland the whole thing is great for me, you half expect to fall thru the looking glass.

Along those lines, another Patrick Amiot Sculpture:

Happy TeaTimes to all!

friday favorites: eighties alt rock

2006-11-24T09:10:00.000-08:00

mushroom hunting was a bust....if you only consider bringing home edible mushrooms. But if you consider a hike with loved ones on a beautirul crisp fall day and seeing lots of dubious mushrooms...then it was a complete success!

I finally got out to see Marie Antoinette and had a major flashbackduring the the opening credits: Gang of Four's Natural's Not In It. Whoa. A very interesting soundtrack: Cocteau Twins, Bow Wow Wow, Siouxsie, The Cure, New Order. The soundtrack of my college days. unfortunatley the movie was rather tedious and dragged on and on. Then I saw Stranger Than Fiction: a soundtrack from my present life (Spoon) (a good movie too) until the Jam showed up with That's Entertainment.

The universe was trying to tell me something. So, I unearthed the very last vinyl LPs form the garage. I have about 30 left...I used to have so many more..but after a dozen moves, a rabbit who gnawed covers, a flood...only a fraction survive, I only kept the more unusual things. Here you see some Cocteau Twins, God4, This Mortla Coil, and Mission of Burma. SOme ral calssics. To me anyway.

I have not even listened to these albums in ten years...we don't even have a way to play them anymore since we long ago gave away our turntable. I see it is possible to actually transform vinyl into mp3 files or you can pay others to do it for you. I see I need to add this to the list of projects. But maybe I sreally should get my weddign photos in an album first...that was in 1994 after all. Here is to finsihing projects!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

A native american and a gobbler....compliments of the wonderful artist Patrick Amiot.

If you live in the Bay Area you can go visit...but you must follow these clues and you can get a letterbox in the bargain.

We had a sit down dinner for 8 last night...in honor of our neighbor Flora and Evan and the fact they are travelling to San Diego today for a soccer tournament on Friday. I just could not let her go without a turkey dinner. So the table was set and we had turkey, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn souffle, green beans and biscuits. And three kinds of pie (I did not make any of those!)

Ben and I were busy crafting too....soaps made in Ikea ice cube trays.

they turned out nice, oui?

and this wreath from Martha

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today we get the day off and only need bring mashed potatoes to another neighbors, The Landreiths, for turkey dinner, part two this evening.

We are off to go mushroom hunting!

craft monday: those felted leaves

2006-11-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

malcolm gladwell would be interested in the spread of these felted leaves across america. I was tipped off by Blair, who saw it at Shanna's. And Amy got in the bandwagon, too. I am sure others as well. Did you?

I have fond childhood memories of golden clouds of cottonwood leaves from my autumn days in Nebraska, so I made a cottonwood template. Here in Santa Rosa, we have many ginkgos that turn a similar gold and even have a similar shape. We have liquidambers in our front yard ( a type of sweetgum)....unfortunately ours turn sort of yellow and lime green..not a deep red or burgandy like some others in the neighborhood. But across the street we can admire some gorgeous red and orange japanese maples and chinese pistache. Fall is finally here, pull out the sweaters!

thrift thursday: thrifted goodness from the southern hemisphere

2006-11-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

A wonderful package arrived from New Zealand yesterday. Oh. my. goodness! SO many wonderful things, barkcloth, fabric, a small handmade coin purse, a fabric flower, handmade cards, books, earrings, seeds, two CDs (Sufjan Stevens' Illinoise,,hurrah!) and this fantabalous apron, just in time for Christmas entertaining. Thank you so much Melissa!

ayoc: red

2006-11-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

mail goodness

2006-11-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

i recently received all these fun things from michelle! she knows i have a soft spot for growing things and eating local and even more wonderful than her button goddess cards, are the past issues of root: a seasonal journal from Marquita farm of which she was (is still?) art director and co-editor.

I have finally gotten thru some onerous, work related reading and now have time to curl up with these fun newsletters and read beautiful articles on food and its cultivation and all the related issues: social justice for farm workers, connectness to the earth and seasons. And at least one recipe per issue that sound yummy. I loved asian garlic chili escarole....any bitter green works for me. If you have never tried escarole or other radichios you should. Don't be afraid! If you like coffee and dark chocolate then you will probably love these too.

It doesn;t feel right to reprint a recipe from Root, so here is a recipe I know by heart...I consider recipes as guidelines only...so no exact measurements.

In a large-ish saute pan, saute some garlic and onion in olive oil. Meanwhile, plump up a small handful of raisans in some hot water and toast another small handful of pine nuts in a dry skillet. Add a few anchovies to your garlic/onion and saute, breaking the anchovies up with your wooden spoon. Drain the raisans, add to garlic in pan. Add one large head of washed escarole (water still clinging) that has been roughly chopped. (you could also use spinach or kale) Cover and steam saute several minutes unitl the greens are wilted, stir to incorporate garlic/onion/raisins. Sereve with a drizzle of anchovy oil or olive oil, red pepper flakes, toasted pine nuts. It makes a great pizza/flatbread topping as well.

Thank you Michelle! now , I need to decide whom to send one of your lovely cards too!

quilt monday

2006-11-13T08:11:00.000-08:00

busy weekend of fun: exploratorium, dry ice, creekside wanderings, the environmental discovery center and pips return home from business travel, hurrah!

some progress however as you can see.

sustainable sunday: growing things

2006-11-12T07:13:00.000-08:00

before and after pictures fascinate me: transformations are such fun to see. It adds the element of time to making pictures. Here is the wonderful native shrubby dogwood, cornus stolonifera, a cultivar called midwinter finre.

this was march:

this is how it looks in November:

thrift thursday: the wihte collection

2006-11-09T06:44:00.000-08:00

this is a new collection: inexpensive milk glass randomly collected in the last 6 months. i have not been thrifting at all last few weeks. I realize it was starting to become a way to avoid the serious work I must get accomplished. And which I was wanting to avoid.
So i have been good and stayed closer to home and work to get things done. This arrangement is one very small example...it is fun to go around and edit/collate/massage your collections. So that is what I have started to do and still am avoiding some of the more dreary paperwork, but even some of that is getting finished. What do you avoid?

wednesday: ayoc: yellow green

2006-11-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

yellow green is Ben's favorite color...so I let him submit photos this week. It was fortunate he had a camera when we stopped at the fabric store...the lines for the cutting table were very long and he amused himself making photos.

this is a detail form an amazing mural of califonria poppies along our downtown creek that has been rehabilitated for spawning steelhead and pedestrian traffic.

quilt monday: WIP

2006-11-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

Firstly, a big THANKS to everyone who stops by to read this little blog. I go visit everyone who visits me, if they have a blog, but unfortulately Blogger is really lame at easily returning emails to visitors. In fact blogger is lame at alot of things, like nonfunctional spellchecker, no way to archive posts via topic/category, days on end when you can't access the site.

But it is free, and I learned my chops on blogger and the idea of starting over at typepad or wordpress is depressing.

But i digress, i wanted to say how much I appreciate and am touched that anyone would stop by let alone leave a comment. Danke!

I also wish I had the talent and time to write beautiful long posts like alicia.
or the graphic sensibility of lisa to post lots of lovely photos, or the cleverness to make wonderful plush softies like stephanie. or the amazing productivity of amy to make quilts.

but, now it is time to wake a 7 year old for the morning routine and school.

Friday favorites: line drying

2006-11-03T06:31:00.000-08:00

now daylight savings and the rains have started the dryer is in use again. Sigh. I really love hanging my things to dry . There are so many good reasons to hang your laundry to dry if you can. I think my love dates back to childhood when my sister and I spent most summer mornings hanging laundry to dry. We had alot of fun (alhtough there was grumbling too) arranging the sheets to make tents, or somehow making a game of it.

Now it is more like a science for me. I have gotten good at throwing a load in the wash right after I wake up so I can have time to hang it before I leave for the day. And while dinner is cooking i can step out the back door and take down a load. The folding and putting away often eludes me for a few days though. We live in an older neighborhood where there are no CCRs that disallow laundry hanging. I couldn't see myself living somehere that does not permit such an act. IT's crazy where we live in a country that celebrates free speech but homeowners can be taken to court for hanging their laundry to dry.

I am lucky enough to live in a climate where you can hang laundry almost year round. Almost. If I had a cleaner garage I might try hanging a line in there for the winter rains...but I suspect it would take a long time for clthes to dry...the air is so moist already.

I wish I had taken a close-up of these sheets (from my mom, thanks!). pussy willow buds on a pale yellow background. They are 50/50 poly/cotton....dating from the 70's I am guessing. I needed to replace the elastic on the bottom sheet, but otherwise in great shape.

Does anyone else share my passion for air drying?

ayoc: yellow orange and some late halloween goodness

2006-11-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

also a good halloween veggie: all warts and bumps!

maybe more orange than yellow...but I like the textures.

isn't that little mummy just precious? It came home from school the day after halloween. what a great, easy craft idea for kids, using recycled tp tubes. teachers are so clever that way. So little mummy hung with the pumpkins and gruss aus Aachen roses for a night and then it is off to the Halloween bin for long term garage storage.

well, the rains started today. we had a little rain almost a month ago...but that was just a brief patter to dust things off. It is funny how halloween seems to mark the beginning of the rainy season here and also true when I lived in Portland. This is also the first day in weeks it seems I have no where to go, no responsibilites outside the home. I can sit by the fire and sew all day if I like..andI think I will! Happy rainy day projects to everyone!

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

I had this gingerbread spooky shack kit for years. And finally brought it out for assembly this weekend. Stev and Ben surprised me with their enthusiasm for the project. They added the noose, the skeleton, the barbed wire and the latest in spooky mansion accoutrements: the acid waste pool complete with finger. (It's that thing rising out of the pond of cheese whiz looking substance).

As you can see, Ben is intent on starting a new trend in backward shirt wearing. he is a stylish fellow.

Be safe trick or treating and have a great one!

yes, quilt monday

2006-10-30T14:11:00.000-08:00

i have changed gears to make another wool blanket, this time for our dear neighbors, the Fortains (Evelyn, Andre, Sammy and Sophie), who are moving to Asheville, North Carolina this Thursday. We are so sad to see them go! We have been neighbors for almost 9 years and they have graciously included us in their extended family. We feel so fortunate to have known them and wish them all much luck in their new home!

And to cheeer myself up while contemplating this woeful news, I am posting some before and after photos of our last big house project: the home office transformation. I wish I could say I singlehandedly was behind this magic, but can only claim ownership of the painting. Our handy carpenter friend Eric made them out of this recycled, formaldehyde free MDF board.

i think you can tell which is which

an early quilt monday?

2006-10-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

I have been a neglectful proprietor of this blog...but only because I have been trying to get caught up on other areas of my life that have also been woefully neglected...like getting a mammogram . And I am opening a Coverdell ESA today for Ben's college expenses. And trying to rebalance my portfolio for retirement (EEEK!) And still trying to get our will finished! And some other stuff, always other stuff. All things I would much rather avoid.

I would so much rather be sewing these lovelies into the backing material for my chevron stripes quilt. It will look kinda of like this. The fabrics in the manila folder (great idea from here, program 34) are mostly thrifted. The others are from the local quilt store, which unfortunately carries only a few Amy Butler fabrics. But I think it will all come together. I am really very taken with the idea of double sided/reversible objects. I think it came from a reversible poncho I had a child, or the reversible stole my mom made for Barbie: look two outfits in one!

Or it could have been this toy my cousins had...I thought it so clever and fun!

I hope to have the long stripes of rectangles line up with the the rows on the chevron side..so the quilting will compliment both sides. Yup, thats the plan. We will see how it goes. DO you think it will be too busy? should I make two quilts out of these....hmmm.....

thrift thursday: dishes

2006-10-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

with only 10 minutes on the parking meter I checked out the women's junior league thrift shop lastweek and saw these dishes: johnson Bros Dorado pattern (1973-1978). A whole service for 8 minus a plate, few saucers. It came with three platters, an oval side dish bowl, salt and pepper, and a gravy bowl with drop catcher. Al for only 50 dollars. I felt very fortunate, if it wasn't for Blair, I don't think i would have had the courage. . But I love them!

Here is the dishwasher after I brought them home...I have Never had a load a dishes look so uniform in my whole life!

ayoc: tan

2006-10-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

see the year of color pool for more eye candy!

quilt monday: little quilts

2006-10-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

on my trip back home this summer I spied this quilt in our old dollhouse...now belonging to my niece Lauren. I had forgotten all about it, but it came rushing back..learning how to piece and sew one summer and making this for the dollbed out of scraps. That red seersucker was leftover from skorts my mom made for my sister and me. The dollhouse was made by my German master carpenter grandfather Frederich. Unfortunately it has seen alot of rough play and some of the best furniture is gone or broken.

I also saw that same trip the small quilts in Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Road made by Jane Bolton

and these two are from Aesop Fables adapted and illustrated by Tom Lynch.

i also scoped out this lovely book by Ms. Bolton,

isn't her work jus tprecious? I have always been a fan of naive/folk art that is not too predictable or mass produced.

of course I have admired from afar the quirky, fantastic little quilts by Amy Karol.

Here was my first effort and I feel many more little quilts in the wings waiting to be born over the rainy winter.

thrift thursday: custom sheet set

2006-10-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

I recently demoted an organic cotton sheet set off ben's bed..the original set I got when he graduated to a big boy's bed at age 2. a new set would set me back$70, and feeling betty budget, I've been searching the thrifts. Over the last few weeks I have picked up these unmatched things: two twin fitted sheets and one twin top sheet for about 6 dollars. Yesterday the star sheet becames the new trim for the yellow cotton top sheet and two new pillowcases. Lots of nice straight seams, my favorite kind of sewing project.

ayoc: goldenrod

2006-10-11T06:33:00.000-07:00

a very late quilt monday

2006-10-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

having the spousal unit out of town has its benefits. namely I can take over the home office floor for quilt layout. I am going to start sewing this baby tonight.

fall house cleaning

2006-10-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

steve left for a week' s work in Orlando Sunday. Se while Ben played with the neighbor boys (unravelling a 99 cent huge ball of pink cellophane twine and running around the house playing tag), I rearranged small vignettes around the house. I also played curator and moved all the framed art around my house so I can "see" it again and appreciate it.

that small white canvas is my recent acquistion by meg hitchcock. We went to her open studio show Saturday night and I fell in love with her stuff. just a small piece but sweet. We had a date night and felt so grown up...dinner in a restored deco-ish pullman barcar (the farro and mushroom risotto was divine). And there was an amazing musician at the opening playing a theremin.

looking at these I see virtually everything is something I or someone else made by hand or was thrifted. that chest of drawers I got years ago at a neighbors garage sale and then I painted it to look like malachite (sort of). oh yes, mother nature had a hand in the fruit design! That amazing print is by the New Zealand artist, Jo Ogier. It is on handmade NZ flax paper (harakeke) made by Bruce Cochran.

thrift thursday: sachets

2006-10-05T10:51:00.001-07:00

it is a the first rainy day of fall and good for sewing. I am using up some thrifted and leftover scraps from other projects to make lavender drawer sachets. I have oodles of lavender, so eyepillows with flaxseed is the next project.

In case you are wondering....the best way to seperate flower heads from the stalk is to place in a pillow case (not flannel), and roll on a flat surface. Then you can use the stalks, now denuded, to tie in bundles...you can toss on the wood fire or use as kindling.

ayoc: brick red

2006-10-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

the pool of ayoc photos is joy to peruse, try to spend some time there. thanks Amy for birthing this idea.

a san francisco doorway for my contribution:

quilt monday: chevron update

2006-10-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

everything cut and pieced..now comes the fun part, how to arrange all those diamonds?

another view

these are only about 2/3 of the blocks. I need to find my larger flannel for layou: there is a piece under there..just not big enough. And make more space to really see what is going on. If only I had a ballroom....

sustainable sunday: eat local update

2006-10-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

Autumn means apples, pumpkins, asian pears, the crush and grazing the fall rasberries. Fall also means grape harvest parties and tomato sauce making. Steve spend the morning helping his friend Mike process 3 tons of grapes and came home with a case of Mike's wine...200s Rosita Ridge Ranch Merlot.

He also picked up a loaf of our favorite Bennett Valley Sourdough and picked a lug of plums tomatoes to make sauce.

Here he is seeding them into our handy dandy compost drawer. I highly recommend this system: plastic bin with tight lid....in a drawer under the countertop where you chop veggies. Just swipe the trimmings into the bin and replace the lid. Of course empty frequently in your outdoor compost, chicken coop or worm bin. Steve also has a handy dandy food mill to deal with the skins. So much easier than blanching the tomatoes, which is how we used to do it.

Then all late afternoon and into the evening you get to smell the heavenly aroma of simmering onions, garlic and tomats. like so...

the sauce was not ready for dinner so we had wild boar pasta sauce, lovingly made by our friend Kurt from boar hunted by a friend of his. We had green beans too.

Steve and Ben made the noodles from scratch....a family tradition we are trying to instill with Ben, along with the tradition of sit down family sunday supper (although this was saturday night!) We also had our first marshmellow/smore dessert at our gravel garden fire ring...with our wonderful neighbors the Fortains. A beautiful crisp fall evening that required donning wool sweaters!

Eating local has become a way of life here. We have local pork and beef in the freezer..when more room, probably goat and lamb will join in the deepfreeze. We get a weekly bag of produce from our CSA. Our garden is full of apples, raspberries, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, basil, even artichokes, but I am leaving them to go to seed for the birds. I am shopping at trader joes again...mostly for dairy, cereal and school lunch items, but have really cut down on. Of course, it is a journey of many baby steps but I feel less like a toddler and more like an accomplished walker.

friday favorites: cradle to cradle

2006-09-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

I have been on a candy diet of books lately: The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde and now The #! Ladies Dectective Agency. Both fun reads, but not deeply nourishing, more like popcorn or licorice.

So I finally got into the meaty tome Cradle to Cradle by Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart. Click around the links and read some of the articles about a new paradigm, sustainability, urbanism.

Lets clone these guys: smart, articulate, committed, visionary! Lets arrange some kind of one way vulcan mind transfer to Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and crew!

It helps keep me slogging away at the administration of Ben's school. I am trying to bring the school to a more eco groovy place: institute a real recycling program, invest in some solar panels(Thanks Arnold), begin a school garden, start a walking bus.

i met with the principal and district superintendent this week and they admit freely there is more they can be doing. I am happy to take it on, but without the buy in/support from the leaders I do not see how a greening of the school has any chance. It is certainly an ongoing process....and I should be writing a grant proposal for monies to help finance this paradigm shift instead of blogging. But let me leave you with some still lifes from thrifting. I realize I have been running into these blue cherry blossom tins...enough so I have a collection:

I also seem to have some karmic debt to pay with these faux wood green metal filing/storage boxes from the 60's? I keep runnig into them at the thrifts...over months that is...and I can't leave them behind.

ayoc: turquoise

2006-09-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

the bubble juice at the exploratorium

chairs at an architectrual salvage place

the blue bauble tree at cornerstone

quilt monday

2006-09-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

here is the quilt for Emmy's new brother..due in November. I think it turned out very well.

and with that done I have turned my attention to those Fassett shot cottons I got way back in June. I finally decided on chevrons...

of course, since instructions are more like guidelines in my book, it will be different colors, different block size and different bed size. And reversible with some sort of amy butler backside. Maybe something like this.

This is extremely easy to cut out...just square after square that you bisect diagonally.

I only got this far this weekend..but have time to sew today. yippee! after i do my volunteer stint at school, hang laundry, unload the dishwasher, make beds, vacuum...yadda, you all know the routine.

and here are some views of Ben..he really does own clothes that are not camoflauge.

I let a zucchini get really huge just for fun every summer. When Steve was doing a post doc years ago at Batelle Labs, one of the other postdocs, as a practical joke, brought a huge zuke into work and left it in a desk drawer. Then it got passed around to various labs, and was finally kidnapped and held for ransom. (some veiled threats about zucchini bread if no one was willing to pay.) It eventually was returned and then secretly slipped into the original perpetrators backpack during a hike in the Wallowa Mountains in Washington State. I think it was several hours and lots of complaints later about heavy the pack was when it got discovered. Oh, the carefree days of summer....

a late thrift thursday

2006-09-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

wool sweaters for felting
some kid books for Ben and a serious book for altered book projects

catherineholm teapot (cracked lid and a little rusty inside)
hammered aluminum bowl
china platter with umbel rim design
fabric
mushroom plaque

hammered aluminum trays for Kate
a milk glass plate for me
a nice california pottery serving bowl (small rim chip)

everything in these three photos Grand total: $12.71

I had an errand in Sonoma, can't even remember when I went thrifting there. The Salvation Army is going out of business, the landlord raised the rent, so everything 75% off. I saw the teapot from across the store and could not believe it was there. (Since the huge store was almost empty and the sale had been going on for over a month.) But it was so covered in sticky, rancid grease I can see why no one took it home. At one dollar the price was right.

crafting for down under

2006-09-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

It is september, and one year ago my dh had the courage to walk away from a secure (but emotionally, mentally and physically challenging ) job that left him with little energy for our family our himself for that matter. It took a lot of gumption and I thank the gods and goddesses everyday that he did it. I am happy to say after a false start he is now in a very wonderful job that feeds him (and us!) in lots of ways. Looking back a year later perhaps the most wonderful apsect was the gift of time. That combined with his prodigious airmiles, a passion for fly fishing, and the fact we had this free time in an October to December time frame, lead us to choose travel to New Zealand where it was spring going into summer.

Fast foward to today were I find myself getting all nostalgic about our 6 weeks there. Remembering the gorgeous scencery, beautiful water, friendly people, the wonderful wooly crafts. I owe this blog in part and my rediscovering of all things good and crafty to that trip. I also just stumbled upon a ten pound note in a pocket of a jacket I had not worn since our return.

Since I have become an avid reader of tiny happy it only made sense to send it on to Melissa.
But I couldn' tjust send an envelope...so here are some shots of things traveling to Nelson, South Island on a slow boat from the States. It will take 6-8 weeks melissa!

a wee quilt

clothespin bag

thrift thursday: using what you have

2006-09-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

I know several women having babies! my sister-in-law, Tammy, who is due in November, expecting a boy. And my friend Rebecca, due in January with what she thinks will be a boy.
I realized when my niece Emily was born 3 years ago I was not crafting like I am now, so I have gone thru the stash to find all my pinks. I hope she likes it.

And a more gender neutral one for Rebecca's newest to be:

using up what I have feels good, and actually being able to sit down and sew again feels great! Ben is in his 4th week of school already and yesterday was the first time I got something accomplished at ole' Kenmore.

ayoc: silver

2006-09-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

have you been looking at the year of color group on flickr? Amazing.

this is my favorite silver so far....good work spychic..I see you must travel with your spy camera all the time.

quilt monday

2006-09-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

I have made little progress towards repairing the pastel log cabin. But I did find a nice faded vintage pillow case that will make good fabric, everything else I had in my stash looked too new or loud or bright.

I also decided I needed to wash and air this quilt, a beauty from my brother, before storing it for the winter. Fall is in the air and I unpacked the down comforter. I saw my friend Laura Friday night and got to to breeze thru some of her photos of laundry on the line. She has been taking photos of her clothesline for ten years now and has a line of photo cards she sells at a gallery. Very inspirational.

And it is time to get a back pieced for this creation. I have a bag of thrifted cords in the white/cream/beige/tan family ready for deconstruction. I had planned to do it last night while watching this movie. But it was so riveting and with subtitles to boot...so I just decided to enjoy the film and not do any multitasking.

and other weekend goodnesses included making more elderberry creations. I got out my copy of Euell Gibbons' Stalking the Wild Asparagus and reread the elderberry chapter. I was inspired to make my own pectin from crabapples from our tree and mix with elderberry juice for jelly making. I boiled it for what seemed forever not sure if it was passing the jelly spoon test and added a 1/3 of sure gel package to the pot just in case. It set up just fine.

someone emailed as to how i removed all the stems. I do it quickly by rubbing the umbels over a piece of hardware cloth which makes quick work of it.

friday favorites: fractured fairy tales

2006-09-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

This is a page from the delightful book: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, A Tale Moderne by Steven Guarnaccia. I spied it at the library yesterday and brought it home, even though Ben is sadly more of a Captain Underpants fan these days. I love children's books that adults can enjoy and have some style/hipness to them. The endpapers of Goldilocks have drawings of all the legendary designs by icons of midcentury modern classics: Eva Ziesel dishes, Charles and Ray Eames chair, etc. sprinkled thru the book:

Sigh. My boy is turning into a big boy fast. He still loves cuddling and being read too however and we like to revisit the classics from our collection and fractured fables are my favorite. It all started with this book:

A great cautionary tale of the perils of shopping and the joys of cooking/entertaining.

Since then, we found the hilarious work of Jon Scieszka. Squids will be Squids cracks us both up.
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is quite good, butI think The Three Little Javelinas even better. There is another version that grandma owns...where the three little pigs build a concrete and razor wire bunker to outwit the wolf who comes bearing dynamite. By a female british author I think. Please let me know if you do!

The children's librarian turned me onto Ella's Big Chance: A jazz-age Cinderella. She even marries the poor boy after the duke offers his hand, because she knows she will live happily ever after with her true love.

I will leave you with one of our favoirte children story characters: rabbits. We just finished Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson. A newberry winner from 1944 . Let us know your favorites.

tressy eating clover

thrift thursday: thrift challenge

2006-09-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

My friend penny got a commission to make two felt baby blankets, yah penny!
So she invited me to the holy grail of thrifters: the Lytton Springs Salvation Army Transfer Station to look for wool sweaters.

I should mention this is the first time I went to this place and it was a very interesting adventure. I have driven by it many times in the freeway..and I always thought it was a winery it is that pretty. But it is the Salvation Army's campus: there is a dormitory/living quarters for people going thru the clean and sober recovery program. Plus, five buildings each with a different emphasis: clothes, furniture, collectibles etc. I skipped them all except for clothing because just regular SA prices.

But the transfer station is a large open air area called the yard sale. It had an apocalyptic feel to it....lots of people rummaging thru bins and congretating around delivery trucks bringing fresh stock. Reminiscent of refugees mobbing aid workers handing out food.

Long rows of tables with blue and green plastic tubs filled with stuff. You just wander up and down and poke thru the bins. At first it seemed like alot of junk (and most of it is) but you can find some real gems if willing to paw thru the dross. I was a little put off at first, but then I found a yellow dansk bowl and I caught on quickly.

There are no prices on anything..you just pull together your stuff and take it to an attendant who writes you a slip of paper with a single price. everything you see in the photo was $7. I could not believe it!

I could see there were several professional people working the piles.....one guy I recognized from an antique store I stop in occasionally and another guy took his prizes to a truck emblazoned: www. deadpeoplesstuff.com.

It was sad because if any thing had not been securely done up before it was donated then it got trashed during this process. I saw one really nice rollerblade...but not its mate and then about 20 minutes later way across the area found its mate in another bin. All sorts of games: boxes open and parts falling out. Broken glasses, etc, etc. It seemed so wasteful. But we live in a disposable society and I am one of the gleaners.

my $7 cartload from the Salvation Army Transfer Station

Starting upper left corner
red like new zippered lunch box (Ben really needs one!)
chinese fabric covered box, porcelain cherry blossom sushi plate
two 50's TV trays with great patina and turquoise and green colors

Middle row top to bottom
yellow dansk 14" serving bowl
white pottery bowl nested inside ( I have 3 others same shape, different sizes already, the beginning of a collection perhaps?)
small egg basket with very well made wooden clothespins ..the new ones are so cheaply made hardly worth buying, so excited to find these vintage ones hardly used.

right row top to bottom
copper birdcage, nice and clean....I hung a small crewel bird piece inside, also found same day.
a wonderful blue fiberglass vintage tackle box...for my sewing supplies.
a cast iron dutch oven..no lid
and a 9" skillet...both need a good clean and then to be cured.

a great birdcage...perfect...unitl I DROPPED it! GAH! now it is a little bent in one area.

after some hand cleaner, we moved on a piece down the road to have lunch here:

I love the dining patio. We had some divine curried zucchini soup and a jicama/mango/pineapple slaw with jalepeno and lime dressing.

A great day out and my first entry in the thrift challenge. Thanks Selena for the little push I needed.

catching my breath

2006-09-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

three loads of laundry later and I am happy to say I am mostly caught up after a great weekend camping. Steve's birthday is September 3rd, so we usually get of Dodge Labor Day weekend so he can persue his passion of flyfishing.

yes, he is the sort that has a "catch and release wild trout" kinda guy. Fortunately we all love spending time on cold, clean mountain streams so defintley a win-win all round. Happy Birthday Pips!

here are some other highlights:

breakfast crepes

lordee...you'd think I would have made a felt coffee cosy for this press by now!

water play

some wildlife

some art (thanks mr goldsworthy)

and our last morning, the boys were wrestling, and steve accidentally knocked out Ben's snaggle tooth which had been hanging on by a thread. (very convenient, I might add since it spared us the despair Ben goes through before bed thinking he will swallow it...which did happen with his first exiting baby tooth)

its good to be home and I also got the garage cleaned out. yippee!

friday favorites: pressure cooking

2006-09-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

this is my wonderful aeternum pressure cooker . IT was a weddign gift from my groovy macrobiotic friends Wendy and Bob and it has graced my kitchen for 12 years now. In the beginning I used it rarely, scared off by mom' s horror stories of exploding bean pots and terrified of the hiss. But the last few years it has become one of my favorite kitchen tools along with my slow cooker and the ohsawa pot.

With the ohsawa pot and pressure cooker you can have great brown rice in 20 minutes...a few more minutes for steam fluffing. And presoaked beans take 10-15 minutes. This handy guide shows you cooking times for most grains and beans. I used to own Lorna Sass's book Cooking under Pressure but I loaned it out to someone and never got it back..It was another great cookbook, maybe I need to re-invest.

Cooking with these tools vastly reduces the amount of natural gas/and or electricity needed to cook food. Pressure cooking helps to tenderize cheap cuts of meat and cuts down on the amount of time in the kitchen. Unfortunately I have never seen a good pressure cooker at the thrift. This is definitely one tool that is worth the splurge.

I finally got chicken lady and her base united. I think she turned out well. I decided not to put her head back on (it fell of during firing) and was going to leave it at her feet, but I like the negative space. Plus it leaves you wondering what happened to her head. That is what I think sometimes about my head.

have a great holiday weekend everyone! We are off this evening to Lassen to hike, fish, swim, camp, roast marshmellows, turn over rocks, botanize, stargaze, etc. etc. Wish us luck setting our tent up in the dark!

thrift thursday: those dishes with pickles

2006-08-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

Not alot of thrifting this summer but Ben is back in school and today my friend Penny and I are making a pilgramage to the legendary Salvation Army Collection Center in Healdsburg. I have heard grand tales of it..but never been myself. It is a good 30 minute drive from my house..so it violates my 15 minute thrift drive rule. But Heladsburg has alot of great spots to check out, and there are two of us after all..so half the gas mileage? We will probably grab a sandwich and coffee here. And I like to see what is growing in the gardens here and here.

And the cukes are coming on strong. We made refrigerator pickles last night...quick and easy recipe here.

i did find these two plates of the famous Blair pattern recently. anyone interested in a swap? Please spread the word if you know someone who collects this pattern. WOW! That was fast..the dishes have foudn a home! Thanks!

ayoc: lime green

2006-08-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

a wonky door at the exploratorium, to keep up the kids/science museum theme.

another museum, SAC, with Ben at the controls. I like how the first photo is in focus..but looks as if it is not due to the optical effect the artist employed. And how the second photos is clearly blurred. Operator (that would be me) error.

quilt monday: deciding on a pattern

2006-08-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have a wonderful pile of Kaffe Fassett striped cottens, woven in India and Guatemala.

I bought them here while visiting my sister in Kansas this summer. Thanks to Amy, I would never know about this place without her, or the wonderful Optical Squares quilt.

Anyway, there is progress on patching the log cabin and I am thinking it is time to return these library books: Glorious Patchwork and Passionate Patchwork. So I need to make up my mind. But what pattern to choose? The stripes lend themselves to what seems like infinite layouts. Here are some possibilites:

venetian tile

burgandy tents

handkerchief squares

optical squares

There are even more in the Book Quilt Road, Chevron Stripes comes to mind. But my public library does not own a copy and I am feeling to bargain betty or simple sue to actually buy a copy. OF course, I could come up with my own unique layout as well.

I like all the above, what do you like? And what are you working on?

friday favorites: putting food by

2006-08-25T05:22:00.000-07:00

for those of you who followed my progress in the eat local challenge last may, you might remember a mention of elderblow and bumper crops. Sounds rude, but it is actually a delicious chance to make jam from these. The sugar is not local however...not even organic. I was reminded of Alisa's dilemna of trying to turn 26 pounds of local strawberries in to jam using local honey and ending up with syrup. I also remember the month after Utne Reader republished that blogpost, a free trade sugar farmer from Hondurus wrote to say she regretted they had not considered using fair trade sugar. So I failed miserably on that angle...this white powder came from Safeway.

elderberries, or sambucus canadensis, was a common wildfood almost forgotten by modern suburban mortals. i was not familiar with it growing up...we picked chokecherries for jam making in the hedgerows around omaha. But once I moved to the Pacific northwest I grew to recognize it right away and used its berries in the occasional pancakes.

This particular plant is "variegata" a yellow-green variegated leafed cultivar. Extremely easy to grow. I also have a "guincho purple" with dark burgandy foliage...very pretty and "madonna" a smaller chartruese variety that has minimal fruit set.

I made cordial once..but you have to use a ton of sugar. elderberries have medicinal properties, most notably as an anti-viral for influenza. And I never made elderblow fritters...not into the deep frying thang. Euell Gibbons has a great chapter on elderberries in "Stalking the Wild Asparagus". The elderberry-sumac jelly is supposed to be divine, but I don't grow sumac....yet.

I shudder at the thought of all the sugar that goes into jam. WWMD? I ask myself. (What would Ma [Ingalls] do?) i always use the reduced sugar/pectin recipe for freezer jam. And still the results taste way too sweet for my liking. But it is dynamite on pancakes.

These beauties were made by Ben...at least the little ones were. He likes making pancakes for his imaginary friends: two mice named "meese" and "mice". They are a gregarious pair: enterpreneurs who own all sorts of power plants and factories. Meese is a gourmet. Mice is a little bit stupid. They are both accomplished world travellers who must look after their various industries.

I am very sorry to say that meese and mice have been so busy letely they rarely show up anymore for breakfast. It makes me sad that Ben is growing up so fast he no longer has his imaginary friends over to play.

thrift thursday: editing

2006-08-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

So much has happened in teh week since I last posted...visiting in laws who enabled Steve and I to go spend a night in SF sans child...the FIRST time since he was born almost 8 years ago! We had a blast, more to come.

Ben started school on Monday... a big second grader now. So I have been scrambling to get the house under control. No more thrifting until I edit and refine and organize what I already have.
Solemn promise. The two last areas to get under control are the study.den.home office aka the dumping grounds. And the garage aka known as jungle. I am showing you our underbelly in hopes it kicks me in gear. I also ordered two pallets of these to heat our home with this winter,,so i gotta get cracking if I want to have room.

I am going to install wheatstraw board shelves along this brick wall for all our books.,reaarrange furniture, purge stuff and find a place for everything that is left. Pass along all the outgrown toys, clothes to folk who can use them. Make up the last pair of drapes that have languished 8 months now. help keep me honest and pester me for updates.

Ah, the garage. Can you tell we have alot of outdoor gear? I am happy to say it is all stuff we use weekly depending on the season. Camping, backpaking/hiking, biking, kayaking, flyfishing, cross country skiing.

And then of course, there is the mid century modern furniture collection that began when I inherited my mother's teenage bedroom set. I could furnish a nice little studio apartment with what I have. And that is my plan someday.... to build a strawbale homeoffice/studio/guest cottage in our backyard. Or maybe go prefab like this. Just thinking about it gives me shivers.

ayoc: orange

2006-08-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

contemporary glass from the de young

mural art in the mission district

thrift thursday: umbelliferric or umbellicious?

2006-08-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

This post is for you, Blair, for the inspiring clutter cleaning and these dishes. And Amy for every little thing.

Ben really dislikes going to thrifts, or any store in fact, unless it involves toys. So not alot of thrifting this summer and I must say it has given me pause. To really consider why I thrift. Originally it was just to find materials for crafting. But slowly over the spring it morphed into "gee there is some really great stuff out there, shouldn't I bring some home?"

It did not help that my friend kate, who is mother of two and recently adopted two foster children, has taken a booth in an antique consignment shop to help earn money for the kids' college funds. I pass a good many finds onto her so she can make more cash. It is a worthy cause and enables me in my habit.

Did i just say that? yes, dear readers, I LOVE to thrift. I guess that means I love to shop. just not at the mall. I have never been a mall rat, but I was raised going to thrifts and it is in my blood. I do sometimes find them depressing or dreary or downright dangerous, but on the whole I think they are fascinating....to see the sheer number/type/variety of things that people give away is breathtaking. I feel like Margaret Mead or Henry Chapman Mercer. And it is the real world: the sow's ear side, not the silk purse.

Anyway back to my confession. I don't really collect anything except for creamers/pitchers. And it is a modest collection: 16 to be exact. I love linens and dishes..but it is hard to find a complete set of anything at the thrift, so it is a self limiting obsession. But I am thinking of beginning a collection of Franciscan "it's a breeze".

I only have this one wee pitcher. And a serving bowl. Which by todays portion size looks like a large soup or cereal bowl. (No, not the catherine hold lotus metalware bowl ..I found that and the sheet set the same day) but a nice simple white bowl, not in the photo shoot. I just checked ebay dinnerware. Out of almost 146,000 pieces only two of them are of this pattern. Waiting to get a whole set thru the quirky luck of thrifting will take me a lifetime. But it would be a great hunt and make them more meaningful. The immediate gratification thing is so hollow and superficial. Or so I tell myself to rationalize the sting of knowing I can't just out and buy a set of these NOW! Maybe that is why I avoid the mall.

But I never signed up for a china pattern when I got married. I have a service for 8 of cream colored stoneware dishes my mom got for me when i left for life on my own. And I am still using those dishes. I don't need dishes...but I want dishes.

But back to my confessions of being an addict. I try to keep by hordeholic impulses in check. I have gone thru large chunks of my life where I could fit almost everything I owned in my car.
I have parted with many, many things and never given them a second thought. And to tell the truth I could do so it again (but i think I would miss the quilts I made myself). Things really aren't important , but a modicum of nice things you made yourself or have special meaning to you does enhance the journey. But in moderation.

I checked out this book from the library: Weird Rooms by Alexander Vertikoff/Mal and Sandra Sharpe. Almost every single room is filled with a plethora of things. So does a sheer number of things, anything, make a room weird? And the absence of things make a room normal...Van Goghs bedroom comes to mind. How many things are enough?

a grotto room

aaah, the collector's touch at work

here I think it may be running amok, but at least you can always go ot for dinner

yes, I could see myself living like this if not on a 12 step program

creepy

ok, so those last two roooms really are weird, it is just not the fact they are filled with lots of things, they are strange things. I view this book as a cautionary tale, to keep myself from going over the edge into weird territory.

I feel claustrophobic looking at many of these rooms, but I understand the impulse to have, to own, to possess. but i don't want to be owned by my things. Duane Elgin says it well, thanks worsted witch posting his words.

ayoc: hot magenta

2006-08-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

this summer one of our distractions was this 1000 piece underwater scene. Ben lost interest once the creatures were assembled which left me to figure out all the blue water bits. But I loved it...great hot weather activity. Growing up in the midwest we always did a winter puzzle in the basement. Along with the never ending monopoly game we would start over Christmas break.

It occured to me I have not spoken much about eating local recently. We have been getting wonderful produce each week from our CSA. And since you can never have too many peppers, potatoes or tomatoes we also put in our own garden, which also has basil, thyme, oregano, fennel, zuchini and cucumbers. The raspberries are in full swing, the elderberries are ready for jam making, the lawn is loaded with weeds and I started my wildfire season clean-up. Stay tuned for more garden musings.

I see our hot magenta oleanders are capping off the back row too!

restoration monday: vintage quilts

2006-08-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

well the bathroom is mostly done, time to consider a new restoration project! Inspired by angry chicken and tiny happy I am going to focus on a small project this monday: quilt repair.

During the heat wave a few weeks back, we spent alot of time indoors near fans. I pulled out some old Marthas to peruse...it seems I have been subscribing to MSL for ten years now, and think I have almost every issue. Two years ago I passed on about 10 years worth of Smithsonian and Utne Reader via freecycle, butI could never part with MSL. Not that I ever cook, bake, sew or make anything out of it. I just like looking. But I realize in the ten years of looking, some of thsoe issues I skimmed over. And now it is like gettign a new magazine all over again to pour over. I feel like Ma and the girls memorizing every detail in the Godey's ladies book .

Here is a wonderful log cabin variation gifted to me by my brother Jack.

here are some close ups

but as you can see it needs a little help

martha covered quilt repair in the August 2005 issue. Sadly, they are not archived at her site. And you probably cannot read these

but here some other directions

i started a flickr group, quilt restoration, if anyone would like to post before and after shots.

sustainable sunday: whistling in the dark, or what lies ahead

2006-08-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

I was reading the current issue of Utne Reader the other night and came across this passage:

“In terms of energy usage alone, (which is) a convenient measure of environmental impact, the average Ethiopian uses 310/th of what we use. So when An American couple stops at two kids, it’s like an Ethiopian couple stopping at 620.

-Les Knight, founder, Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, SF Gate.com November 16th, 2005.

whoa, I knew our western living footprints were way bigger than other countries...but I was sleeping soundly, dreaming that it was more like 50-100 times more. But 300! Eeeek! what a nightmare!

I made it my personal mission ten years ago to wean us off the PGE grid. And although we currently use 1/6-1/10 of what the average PGE consumer in our zip code uses, that means we probably use 30-50 times more energy than the Average Ethiopian family. And goodness knows we are still tethered the PGE grid.

So what is sustainability all about anyway? Should we all just stop having babies and let ourselves go extinct? Sounds a bit defeatist. Should we not even care and just keep on living our lives blithely oblivious to the impacts are choices cause? That seems pretty lame too. reuse our shopping bags? nice start, but too little, too late?

should we eat local, turn our thermostats up (or down, depending in the season), drive prius’s sparingly, stop buying consumer goods and wear the same dress everyday? It is GREAT start in my opinion. Just think... if everyone did it, we would have more time to figure out what fuel source to use once oil runs out. And maybe, just maybe, it would help effect climate change a tiny bit. At least you are trying.

But I am also a realist, and a trained scientist who has a fondness for nonlinear dynamics, better known as chaos theory. We do seem to be moving of our island of relative climate stability that we have enjoyed the last 150 years or so. We are actually overdue for another ice age (geologically speaking a warmer ocean, creates more rain, which in the polar regions falls as snow which begins a cycle of ice building that follows our current ice melting and the switch flips to another ice age.) Actually no one knows for sure. Computer models will spin out various scenarios: some warm, some cold, it all depends on your starting data.

So where I am going with this...not sure. Just letting you know what goes on in my mind at night when I feeling guilty for not being more radical to help stop the consumer juggernaut,
or help protect the environment or make corporate evil doers more accountable.

Or I can just keep reading that issue of Utne: The New Capitalists: Making your money make a Difference. Aaah, some balm of gilead to soothe my troubled psyche. shopping at Walmart may actually help the environment. Or maybe we should all stay home and repair our weather-stripping. But the media knows what we Americans like best: shopping, so that is what we hear about. So go out and buy (green) stuff and they will laugh all the way to the bank.

addendum: the photo at the beginning of this rant is of a wonderful stained glass window by Richard Posner entitled "Dream Chart of a Four Gone Conclusion". It is one of 4 windows installed at the San Francisco Exploratorium as part of the artist in residence program.

thrift thursday: rescued quilt blocks

2006-08-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

these are 4 examples from a group of 24 quilt blocks of simple nine patch variation my dear brother Jack in Tennessee mailed me for a birthday gift. He saw them at a garage sale and the owner mentioned she was going to throw them away! She could not believe anyone would be interested in them. They were in pretty bad shape (meaning needed washing, looked like rags) and she wanted 35 cents apiece.

They look like the work of a beginner...handstitched, not the work of a very tiny stitches practitioner, but more like basting stitches. And everything is a bit wonky and uneven. The block are all different sizes and the fabrics look like 30-40's era, some of them worn quite badly. It really does look like it was made from threadbare castoffs. But I find them charming.

And since I have never hand quilted anything in my life, I think this will be my new project. Although it is fourth down on the list. I am getting a quilting frame from a friend at the end of the month hopefully.

Is it worth it? Any advice? Anyone else interested? Give me a shout out.

ayoc: chestnut

2006-08-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

a bit dark perhaps for chestnut

restoration: the paint, she is dry.....

2006-08-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

And pretty darn white too. Actually it is Dunn-Edwards Semi-gloss Eco-shield Swiss Coffee. We had almost a full gallon leftover from painting the ceiling of our other bathroom last fall. So in the spirit of use what you have, that is what we used. It seems overwhelmingly white...I probably would have gone a tad creamier, but once artwork up, etc. it should be just fine.

I harbor no allusions that "eco-friendly paint" is just that. Even the really high end stuff you can buy at fancy places called "natural" paints are not natural. They are still made from petroleum by-products. The best you can hope for is zero to very low VOC paint that is scrubbable and durable. And that the compnay practices sustainable manufacturing principles. The milk paints probably come closest, and I have used them on furniture, put they don't pass the "young child/i need to wash often" test. What is the point of buying a green product if it does not stand up to use and needs to redone in a year or two? Not very efficient use of resources. So we like the Dunn-Edwards brand. Consumer Reports ranked it very high in scrubbability/coverage/etc. and I can say having it in our kitchen for 3 years now..it is good paint. Plus the store is right down the road, I don't need to drive 80 miles round trip to buy a gallon of "green" paint.

As you can see, I am not done yet...the baseboards have yet to be re-installed. Steve graciously removed them for me and I sanded, filled holes and repainted them. Only two small pieces broke during removal but fortunately we had some FSC certified baseboard leftover from the original job with which to cut two replacements. we must borrow a mitre-saw before the baseboards can go in.

I am sort of a militant when it comes to saving odd bits of leftover wood, fabric, food. I hate to see anything go to waste. Having chickens and a compost pile has helped with the leftover food bits. Owning a older home in need of some TLC helps with leftover wood stashes.

here is the before shot, pretty dark eh? Also in the spirit of use what you have, don't buy anything during the month of August I hope to use a thrifted dress to make new curtains, and a shower curtain from hemp I bought 4 years ago for the same purpose but never got aroudn to making. Anyone interested in the old curtains for their fabric stash?