Sunday snippets

Suppose you gave a Crafternoon and no one came....

Well then while you were waiting, it might be a good time to make some lemon marmalade. After all, there were those beautiful homegrown lemons that pal Emily brought back from the Bay Area. Last year there was no marmalade made at all, there was no strength to lift the pans and jars, and the pantry was missing a vital component all that long hard year, but this year is, our plucky heroine hopes and prays, going to be a better one. So, there will be some small jars of sweetness put up, sweet with just an edge of bitter, because that is not only tasty, but that is truth. Used my tried-n-true recipe, and while there may never be the kind of stamina of my younger days, there are nine jars put up to store and to share...

I've also some red grapefruit, and some blood oranges waiting in the queue, for this is actually the tail end of the citrus season, and there is no time to waste. The next canning project will also be where the reuseable jar lids will make their debut. My friend Maeve sent me some to try out, just before I got sick last year

:::

Every year, just after the ornamental plum trees in the front yard are almost done, the ornamental pear trees up on Lombard start blooming. They are city trees, bred to endure and have no fruit, but for one or two weeks they are clothed in beauty.

:::

There were pink-red rhubarb in the produce department here yesterday, next to the huge but almost flavorless strawberries shipped up here from California. I know better, having lived once in North County and tasted the ones that they don't ship, the ones that are too tender to be boxed and bundled and trucked and sent far... and barring that, and barring having had the foresight to plant some of my own, there are good farmers market berries in the freezer here at Acorn Cottage, that will come out and play when the local rhubarb is here. When citrus season is done...

The only preserve I like better than marmalade is strawberry-rhubarb. I thank my pal Mr Dawson for that one, for the time when he was re-doing the foundation on his homeplace; he cooked lunch each day for the folks working with him on that project and I came over every day to cook dessert. One day there was a demand for pie tomorrow, for strawberry-rhubarb pie... well, I'd never been much of a pie baker, so off to Joy of Cooking for the recipe, and the store for supplies, and it was quite a production, but the next day was it's own kind of revelation. Years I wasted not ever tasting strawberry-rhubarb! I had thought rhubarb was nasty, since it never appeared in my child life save as an odd sour stringy/slimy grey/green stuff in a bowl, that the grownups ate... but choose the deep red stalks, and combined with strawberries, and season with a little cinammon and grated orange peel, and it is a whole different animal.

every dog has his day

Finished the dress I've been working on in fits and starts for the last two weeks:

Since there was not enough of either of the two primary fabrics for a whole garment, this seemed like a good solution to the dilemma. It is still not quite warm enough here to wear just a dress though...

...so most of the time the dress will be worn as an "underdress" underneath one of my pinafores. I really like how the combination of fabrics works together not only with the new SWAP/6PAC pinafores, but with all the other previously sewn ones in my wardrobe, like this grey corduroy from October 2010. For me, at least, the benefit of choosing a limited palette of coordinated colors seems really obvious.

:::

highlighted clothing is completed...
(SWAP sewing closes on April 30th)

springtime 6PAC		2013 SWAP
	pinafore	black vertical pique
black denim	pinafore	black denim
	top	black reverse applique
	top	grey/black knit
black floral print	top	black floral print
apron	bridge/third layer	apron
indigo denim	pinafore	indigo denim
	top	brown knit
indigo knit	top	indigo knit
brown/indigo	dress	brown/indigo

Tuesday tidbits

A phone call last night led to a change in plans for today, as my intrepid artist pal Bill Dawson was heading south and would be able to lend a hand on some projects around the homeplace. Way back in 2009 there was something very special left on my doorstep... it was not a babe in a basket, but a wonderful hand-forged pot rack from my dear pals at White Hart Forge. Today the pot rack has pride of place in the Acorn Cottage kitchen.

Slow and steady will get there in the end, and thanks to the generosity of my friend Nicole for the oak support beam and for the helpful efforts of my fellow artist Mr Dawson for the structural work that attached it to the east wall. It really was not a one person job! I love my friends...

:::

The other project slated for today didn't quite turn out as hoped for, which is often the case with minor electrical adventures, particularly in a somewhat older house that has seen work done by folks that were not Bob the Builder... and, of course, our plucky heroine is not an actual contractor, nor does she play one on TV.

I did have the brilliant idea to add an outlet to the bathroom via the one directly on the other side of the wall in the room next door. However, I neglected to actually measure the comparable distance inside both rooms, and that outlet is at about the same distance from the wall as the bathtub is - definitely not a good plan! So, switch to plan B, and add an outlet to the wall next to the light and fan switch...

A careful opening was sawed in that wall, in what looked like an appropriate spot, and lo and behold, the wall is full of sheetrock patching and a whole mess of wire spaghetti. Bleah! That was sorted out, the excess removed and a modest amount of fresh wires and actual wire-nuts took its place. The problem was, that the way things were wired it was not actually possible to safely add an outlet there.

However, the scary mess of wires and junk is now gone, and the nice clean wires and nuts are properly encased in a covered access box. No need to wonder what the former homeowners were thinking, since they were not thinking at all... remember, these are the same former homeowners that thought assembling the bathroom sink plumbing using only putty was a good idea... There was talk about what plan C would entail, but it was getting to be time for Mr Dawson to head north again, so any further electrical adventures will be put on hold for the time being...

:::

Saturday two of my friends came by to celebrate the turn of the year towards springtime, eggs and chickens and such... the result was dozens of dyed hardboiled eggs. Playing with the colors was so much fun that it seemed like a good idea to also use a few empty eggshells, since HB eggs have a limited lifespan, and seasonal decorative bits add a nice touch to the entry shelf. This red egg, covered with little plus signs, is my wishful symbol that this year be balanced towards the positive.

:::

Have been making slow but steady progress on the brown dress for SWAP/6PAC. The last remaining bits unfinished are the pockets and the sleeve edge bindings...

The hemline band was attached in a kind of bound seam with homemade bias tape:

First the band was layered atop the wrong side of the skirt panels, (wrong side to wrong side) and then the bias tape laid over that (right side to right side), then the whole thing stitched together with a quarter inch seam.

Quite a bit of pressing to get everything smoothed back into order, with the hem band at the bottom, and the bias tape covering the raw seam edges and folded in half to enclose everything neatly. Once that is stitched down however, you have a seam that has no raw edges at all on either side, very nice indeed for a hemline band.

The pockets for this dress will use another patch of the Japanese native dogs fabric, this one with an Akita motif:

The patch is stitched down to the pocket fabric, and additional handstitching textures the background in a similar way as the Akita puppy* patch on the center back. This led to another idea, to copy the silhouette in reverse on the other pocket, just as an outline in light color running stitch.

In the interest of using what I have, I traced the design on a piece of kitchen wax paper with a sharpie marker, made sure the marker ink had dried, and turned it over, pinned in place on the other pocket, and then stitched over it. This technique is fast and easy, and the wax paper is very easy to remove, particularly if you score along the stitching lines with the tip of your sewing needle.

I intend to line the pockets, since there is quite a bit of thread on the insides, and pockets are on dresses and pinafores to be USED, don't want things getting snagged on the back of my embroidery... but that is a task for another day

* our plucky heroine does not read kanji, alas... if someone can read the words next to the puppy image, I would be grateful. I know that the bottom kanji is "inu" which means "dog" but the upper ones are a mystery. I do know that the kanji on the larger panel is aki-ta-inu, that being pretty much the sum total of my word recognition other than "tea"

Monday musings

It was not a dark and stormy night, but yesterday evening, whilst in the middle of sewing, the power went out. (Still, I wonder if I am the only one who thinks, each time, what if the power doesn't come back on...) Our plucky heroine was grateful for the pocket flashlight that lives on my EDC keychain, as for some unknown reason the closest candle lantern was without the requisite tea light, and the spare candles are not stored with the lanterns. Not to worry, since they are stored in several places round the house, and fairly quickly there was light enough to navigate. One lantern set in the bathroom and another was easily carried with while various needful tasks were done. This is actually the first long power outage since moving here, they were much more common back in OlyWa.

Various electrical things turned off, the computer shut down and the cords unplugged; oh, there was bone broth burbling away in the crock pot... Not okay, meat soup cooling down overnight is a germ farm by morning. So unplug crockpot, pour broth + meaty bones into a pyrex dish that has a lid, set on granite trivet to begin cooling down. Move things off the top of the chest freezer, and rearrange contents enough, while holding lantern in other hand, to make a flat place to set the pyrex full of soup... I am glad that the freezer is a chest freezer, the cold mostly stays put when you open the lid, unlike the fridge...

That done, there is not much else to do here in the dark, the candle lanterns are not really bright enough to read by. Went out for a tiny walkabout to see if it was obvious how large the power outage was... hmmm, three streets on one side looks lit, the other direction is all dark, but the other side of the river is lit up as usual. There is one house on the street that has all their lights on, I wonder if they have some sort of internal emergency power? a generator in the basement? A few houses also seem to have found their emergency candles. The moon is full, which means that there is quite a bit of light outside, and returning to Acorn Cottage I see that at least one of the solar path lights is functioning. Aha, that will work nicely for a bathroom nightlight! Once that was taken indoors and set on top of the medicine chest there was nothing left of the evening but a horizontal visit to dreamland....

The whole small event showed me several obvious gaps in my emergency preparations, and living on the Pacific Rim, such preparations are a necessity...

a taste of springtime

The year wheel turns to spring, with the obligatory equinoctial storm. We have had sunshine, and showers, driving rain, blooming flowers, and hail, all within a few days. I love it almost as much as my best beloved autumnal equinox. A few friends will be over here later today to celebrate with hen viewing and egg decorating and such. Had been thinking about getting some cut flowers to make the house pretty for guests, when I realised that the ornamental plum, currently turning my front yard pink both in the branches and scattered across the sidewalk and pavement when the wind blows, would not be harmed at all by a few judicious snips with the pruning shears...

As tasty snacks with tea are not quite obligatory but very nice indeed, our plucky heroine rose to the challenge of finding something with neither eggs or dairy, gluten, or beans... Whilst bacon would definitely meet the criteria, somehow, a sweet nibbley-bit seemed more appropriate, and the idea of candied orange peel came to mind... I have made this confection before, and posted the recipe, since my dear father is quite fond of it, and has passed that particular appetite down to me as well.

Here it is drying out after being rolled in granulated sugar. For them what like such things (which does not* include present company), it can also be then either drizzled or dipped in chocolate for additional decadence...

* some folks have disputed that our plucky heroine is actually really a girl, since the supposedly required obsession with appetite for chocolate is almost entirely absent. I prefer my confections to be fruit flavored, and while I will eat chocolate, it is never my sweet of choice.

well, imagine that...

Well, it seems someone heard me muttering about a visit to "freezer camp"... look what was in the henhouse when our plucky heroine got home from work today!

Monday musings, or can this project be saved?

in which our plucky heroine confronts a dilemma...

Life can get equally unbalanced if there is not enough home time to take care of ordinary tasks and chores as if there is not enough time to have fun and be social. It was a very social weekend, and while that was good, it left me feeling rather odd.

:::

My current SWAP/6PAC sewing project, the brown/indigo dress, is not being at all cooperative. The "dress" when initially stitched together, did not feel at all comfortable, probably because rather than do all the measuring and layout to figure out how to cut the small amount of available cloth, I simply took the measurements that I'd written down earlier and used those. From probably at least fifteen years and x number of pounds ago. Not the most clever thing to do, and now am trying to salvage the already cut and stitched material to make into something that is wearable, because the fabric is wonderful.

Instead, have done some serious frankenpatterning with my other various TNT patterns, to come up with a bodice and sleeves that can make use of the already partially stitched together pieces while wasting as little of the fabric as possible. The bodice and sleeves required piecing together bits of the remaining fabric, and making a virtue of necessity, the new design will use more of the taupe/indigo fabric for the sleeves and a hem band; the style is a sort of faux pinafore + underdress.

Several years ago my pal Stacy brought me a gift from her trip to Japan, a small length of fabric printed with all the native Japanese dog breeds. I decided that since the colors are a wonderful accent to this project, including a few small decorative patches would be fun; the main fabric of the dress is also Japanese cotton.

First the patch is stitched to backing fabric, then the backing fabric is basted behind the center back, then additional bias strips stitched down from the front to anchor the whole shebang. The bias strips will also be used to bind the neckline, sleeve details and hemline.

:::

currrent SWAP 6PAC progress

The black denim overall pinafore is making me very happy, it is comfy, has large enough pockets, though it could always use a few more... Twice in the two days I have worn it, strangers on the street had positive things to say to me about it.

I am currently working, in my spare time, on a dress to be worn either by itself or underneath the (various) pinafore(s). This Japanese cotton, in wonderfully subtle brown/black print has scattered among the various bird and foliage motifs, in very tiny writing "balance of nature in all weathers" and "rain or shine" I'd not noticed that initially, but it seems very appropriate to the biome here. The accent fabric is another Japanese cotton in a variegated taupe with indigo motifs. Rather that fuss with new pattern development at this stage, instead the plan is to use a modification of an ancient design, the Finnish "Eura dress" so as to get the maximum use out of the small amount of fabric. Our medieval and earlier ancestors were very frugal and clever with how they used fabric, since if you make every bit of it by hand starting from raw fiber, there is great incentive not to waste any...

 

highlighted clothing is completed...
(SWAP sewing closes on April 30th)

springtime 6PAC		2013 SWAP
	pinafore	black vertical pique
black denim	pinafore	black denim
	top	black reverse applique
	top	grey/black knit
black floral print	top	black floral print
apron	bridge/third layer	apron
indigo denim	pinafore	indigo denim
	top	brown knit
indigo knit	top	indigo knit
brown/indigo	dress	brown/indigo

love child

in which our plucky heroine realises that her new pinafore appears to be the love child of carhartt and crinoline...

The style of this pinafore is rather industrial blue collar, between the heavy black denim, tack button fastenings and riveted pockets.

The skirt shape, however, due to the same heavy black denim, and exacerbated by the multi-layered hand stitched trim which is acting rather like horsehair braid, is quite reminiscent of mid-century New Look, or of young Kate in The Good Master in the chapter where she puts on traditional womens clothing. I am rather charmed by the resulting dissonance.

Lil Nina continues to prove her value as a member of the household, as gradually the various possibilities in the machine become apparent. There are six buttonholes in this pinafore. Nina not only has an automatic buttonhole function, but the brain to keep the settings in memory and continue stitching each one to an identical length until told to stop. Whoo Hoo! This is a big improvement over my former regular machine, which did make buttonholes, but had to be guided through the process each time. (that was, in turn, a huge improvement over making buttonholes by hand, which takes me at least a half hour per)

Completing this has the black/grey half of my SWAP complete, and leaves me with four or five additional garments to finish before 30 April; it also has my springtime 6PAC halfway done, with an additional three garments. Fortunately, my plans are that the same pieces will work for both. One more pinafore (indigo blue denim), one more top, and probably a dress rather than an additional pinafore and top.

My current thinking is to do something make a dress with these Japanese cotton fabrics, and to use the Eura dress pattern layout to make a loose dress reminiscent of some of the clothes in Japanese pattern books. That layout is entirely zero-waste, which is good since there is not very much of the fabric, and it will be an easy thing to have it fit me, since former SCA undergowns were made in the same style.

:::

first heard this song probably over 40 years ago...

incremental

today is all about wire bending and enameling, so not a lot of online time...

Last night saw some progress on the overall pinafore, the hemline trim had all the edges half-bound, and then was stitched in place just an inch above where the hem edgebinding will be. The last remaining steps will be that hemline, and the buttonholes and tack buttons. For some reason overall-style garments always take longer than any other, but by the end of this coming week it should be possible to move on to the next thing.

3¾ yards of homemade decorative trim

I am beginning to wonder if I will be able to complete SWAP by the deadline of the end of April, it will require completing at least one entire garment a week. If I substitute a more simple (knit?) top for the brown/blue Liberty shirt, and use TNT pinafore patterns, it could be possible. Our plucky heroine has a tendency to elaborate every garment, perhaps more than needs must. Maybe some simple basics (for now) will be both doable and useful foils for the more decorative elements.

highlighted clothing is completed, black denim pinafore is half done...
(SWAP sewing closes on April 30th)

springtime 6PAC		2013 SWAP
	pinafore	black vertical pique
black denim	pinafore	black denim
	top	black reverse applique
	top	grey/black knit
black floral print	top	black floral print
apron	bridge/third layer	apron
	pinafore	brown twill
indigo denim	pinafore	indigo denim
	top	brown knit
indigo knit	top	indigo knit
brown/blue + Liberty	top	brown/blue + Liberty

overall pinafore hemline trim stitched down

Great Big Sea comes to town

make new friends and keep the old
one is silver and the other gold

Somehow, good things uncommon have a more intense savor than everyday wonders. In truth all treats are to be savored, but those that come rarely into a life are memorable in a different way than the daily beauty of the sky and the daily joy of wakening still breathing...

It has been long decades since there was anything like disposable income in my pocket, and live entertainment is one of many luxuries that have needfully fallen by the wayside. The rare occasions that our plucky heroine can enjoy the treasure of enjoying the ephemeral artisanry of those who give their lives to that particular perfecting discipline shine like gems in my memory. 2013 has already given me one such, and this Thursday night was another...

My new-last-year friend Dayna gave me, for a combination birthday/holiday gift, tickets to the Great Big Sea concert. She picked me up after my acupuncture appointment; there was just time to head over to Good Food Here and pick up some delicious lefse wraps at Viking Soul Food. The akkevit cured smoked salmon with dill cream fraiche, pickled shallots and watercress was some of the best takeaway food this girl has ever had, and made waiting for the show into a picnic. The lingonberry ice tea was not too shabby either...

Though Portland has been my home for the last eight years, I'd never had the chance to see a concert at the Aladdin before, though riding the bus past there and reading the renowned names on the marquee has been dreadfully tantalising. Well, last night it was my turn to stand outside with friends new and old and wait for the doors to open...

Though this was the band's twenty year tour, somehow I'd never found their music before G and I spent time together; he introduced many new things into my life and the Great Big Sea CD/DVD set was in heavy rotation during my convalescence last year. Their music just lifts my heart. If you've not heard them, this is a good example

The concert was amazing! This is the view from the back of the hall...

and this is the view from where we were sitting, as the concert started...

Alan Doyle



Bob Hallett



Séan McCann



Murray Foster

To have the kind of energy and sense of fun that was obvious all during the show, after twenty years of playing together and touring, is pretty special! (Towards the end of the evening, the band brought out a birthday cake that had been made, and passed around plates and forks and pieces of cake to the audience; never in all my days have I seen the like!) It was a most memorable evening, and will shine in my memory for years...

20 year anniversary tour shirt

fondant

back in 2010 our plucky heroine knitted some wrist-warmers from yarn she unravelled from a thrifted merino sweater that was the color of bittersweet chocolate... Since Ravelry gives you the option of nameing your projects, they were called "ganache" in honor of their color and the lovely rich softness of the yarn.

The white mohair that was a holiday gift from Marian has been gradually turning into other presents and so the gift continues moving. Since my dear Mother is both very fond of mohair and lives in the Boston suburbs where it is far colder than here, a warm soft cowl went home with her after the parental visit here, and now another pair of wrist-warmers will travel east by post to complete the set. In keeping with the former name, this new pair is named "fondant"

almost finished, just needs the top edge bound off

slip sliding away

I made a slip, by combining two thrifted garments. The skirt had wonderful hand embroidery (probably from India) and the most unusually uncomfortable bunchy "yoga pants style" waistline ever; it seemed like the appropriate thing to deconstruct a simple ribbed tee and convert it into a bodice, thereby adding warmth and subtracting discomfort.

I cut the tee off at my natural waistline, which gave enough extra fabric to allow for cutting several 2" wide strips to bind the neckline and armholes. I first cut away the neckline to more or less the location of my bra, bound that edge, then cut away the sleeves of the tee. When I did that, it was obvious that the tee-armscye was looser than would be appropriate for a slip, so I added in some small bust darts by the simple means of pinching out the excess, pinning in place, and zigzagging along the line and cutting away the excess. Not couture, but this is a rather more expedient type of garment, and since most knits don't ravel, it was as easy as pie.

The other thing that the skirt needed help with, aside from the waistband, was that the hemline, in this cotton jersey fabric, was inclined to roll up like a windowshade, not all the way of course, but enough to obscure some of the nice embroidery. Adding another band of jersey to the bottom edge, with the curl of the fabric in the opposite direction, took care of that issue, by both counteracting the curve and adding a small bit of weight to the hem. This will allow the embroidery details to add a bit of additional embellishment to the hemline area of my everyday pinafores, at least while it is chilly enough that an extra layer is needful.

:::

Gathering supplies for finishing my black denim overall pinafore. These are "tack buttons", the oh so easy to use type that are commonly found on some kinds of blue jeans and jean jackets. Aren't they spiffy, and look... the design on the buttons is actually a tiny Laurel wreath!

and these are the small basic rivets that Oregon Leather had in stock. I could have waited longer, and ordered something more decorative online, but the overall-pinafore is designed with a fairly utilitarian aesthetic, and using what is available locally makes all kinds of sense.