Yours 'til Niagara Falls

Natural Dye Day at Raveloe

I had the time of my life dying yarn and roving today with a group of fellow travellers at Linda's shop Raveloe. A good time was had by all.

 

 

So... we had pots and pots of colors from which to choose.  Dahlia, black-eyed Susan, logwood, black walnut, osage orange, madder, onion skin were simmering away.  The star of the show, as far as I'm concerned, was indigo - both fermented and fresh.  We were all really pleased with the beautiful, strong colors. The event was held outside because some of the natural dyes can be pretty smelly.  Indigo has a strong smell because it needs a fair amount of chemicals in it to work.  Back in the old days before the chemicals, fermented urine (preferably produced by pre-pubescent boys) was used.  That's when indigo was really smelly.  The black walnut was also pretty rank having fermented for a year.  We had a pretty good start on the project when... the sky opened up.  A lot of the fiber had been taken out of the pots and was hanging on racks.  Well, they had a very good rinse because it poured.

 

I am really happy with the eight skeins of yarn and two lengths of roving I came home with.  I kind of lost track of which is which, so I'll have to bring them back to the shop and have the experts identify them for me. 

 

Here's another project I've been working on this summer:

 

Don't judge me.

Lattice Smocking

This is really shaping up to be the year without a summer.  I did spend a little time outside looking at my garden.  I was able to observe a bee going from blossom to blossom with the pollen sacks bulging on her legs.  It gave me such a sense of serenity.  There really is something to gardening that I didn't understand before.  I also sat by the river and re-read a chapter of Animal, Mineral, Miracle.  By 10:30 the weather began to deteriorate and I went into the house to work on a project.

Years ago I had tried to do some smocking.  I remember seeing throw pillows on the couches of old ladies who were competent with a needle. I couldn't figure out how it was done, but I knew I wanted to learn the technique.  I purchased a Dritz Smockruler when I was newly married.  I had no luck with it.  That ruler was lost somewhere in the hum of the cosmos.  On Sunday I went to a church rummage sale and lo, there was was another smockruler waiting to go home with me.  Later on Sunday I took my aforementioned trip to Joann Fabrics and bought some pretty red velveteen because I made up my mind to teach myself how to do lattice smocking.  And, TA DA!

 

This is a view of the backside of the work.  The blue object is the plastic Dritz Smockruler.  I have to say that the technique took a lot of concentration.  The ruler is used to mark the fabric with dots and then using a needle with heavy duty thread the dots are gathered together in the proper sequence.

I think I was inspired to work with such lush fabric because I have been looking at the costumes as I finished watching season two of the Tudors on netflix.  This is a picture of Dame Judy Dench in her Oscar-winning performance in Shakespeare in Love.  Notice her sleeves.  It is lattice smocking! 

My husband, who is not enamored of British royalty, feels my work closely resembles coffin lining.  We actually had a discussion about combining our skills (he is a carpenter) and building coffins for ourselves. The finished caskets could, we reasoned, be used as coffee tables until we need them. 

Cherries Preserved in Brandy

You will need:  1 1/2 cups cherries, one cup brandy,1/2 cup sugar, pint canning jar (a twist top type would work just as well as this rubber gasket type), scissors

Trim the stems to about a half an inch.  This also gives you a chance to inspect each cherry for blemishes.  Use only perfect fruit.  Put the cherries in the jar.

Glug,glug, glug in goes the brandy.  No need to use the good stuff.  Average stuff will do just fine.

Pour in the granulated sugar. Put the lid on the jar and give it a gentle shake.

Stash this in the fridge.  When you think of it you can pick it up and give it a gentle shake.  In the fullness of time, the sugar will completely dissolve and the liquid will turn an exceedingly beutiful red color.  They will be ready to enjoy by Thanksgiving.

Willow Workshop

I spent two days at a doll making workshop.  Susan Walker of Prim and Proper Folksheld a wonderful two-day workshop.  It took place at Woodlawn Beach State Park in a pretty Adirondacks style building.  The park was fairly easy to get to - just a few minutes south of downtown Buffalo. 

Anyhoo... a group of twenty dollmakers spent the weekend making some very charming dolls.  A couple of techniques were presented.  Susan's dolls require that you paint the entire doll with acrylic craft paint diluted two parts water and one part paint.  The face is then painted in using a wet-on-wet technique which makes for a pretty blush and effective shading.  After leaving this to dry overnight, details such as the eyes and boots are completed.  I really wanted to have a Colonial Miss vibe so that guided me in my choice of fabrics.  Here are some pictures:

 

 

The best part of the workshop, by far, was spending time with like-minded friends Linda and Dianne and stitching and chatting and having a few laughs.  I could kick myself because I didn't take pictures of other people's dolls.  Evey-one was very successful and went home with charming little companions.  There were four little girls in the class, each one sweeter than the next.  Although this particular dall pattern required a lot of work, they each, working with their moms, ended up with very cute dolls.

Susan had another great technique, this one for the hair.  She taught us how to use a handy-dandy felting needle to root the hair.  I was the lucky recipient of some beautiful mohair locks from Linda (the owner of Raveloe, a wonderful local fiber shop). 

I have a few finishing details in mind I plan to add some accessories which might emphasize the colonial theme.  Here's a close up shot of the dolly I have named Miss May.

 

Last Friday was fun, too.  I spent the day in Toronto with Friend Donna.  The Textile Museum of Toronto had their annual Not-Just-Another-Yardage-Sale.  That is a fundraiser for the museum.  Friends of the museum purge the things they don't want and fill a tent with books, fabrics and needlework materials at rock-bottom prices.  We then proceeded to the St. Lawrence Market where we proceeded to enjoy the most massive eggplant parmigiana sandwiches known to mankind.  We also bought the obligatory   butter tart to bring home.  Our food purchases also included a large box of assorted pastries.  As we left, I snagged a sour European rye bread which makes toast that's better than birthday cake.

As I wax poetic about foodstuffs, I am happy to note that tonight's dinner was completely influenced by Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Julia wants us to cook our trimmed green beans by dropping them into a pan of boiling water and cooking them for eight to ten minutes.  After a copious amount of unsalted butter and a sprinkle of salt and pepper, you have green beans fit for royalty.  I also made a lovely pan sauce for some steaks.  I think I'll be a French chef in no time!  Seriously though, the book makes you consider taking an extra step or two to turn pedestrian ingredients into really delicious food.

Tomorrow I will post something really swell in the food department.  Stay tuned.

Little Lamb Change Purse

I made this using a pattern from one of my all-time favorite craft books Felt Wee Folk by Salley Mavor.  Look at all those French knots, will ya! I love working with felt.  The snap closures are pesky to install, but make the project look very professional.

An Earth Day Craft

I went to a workshop with a recycling theme.  Brilliant Linda, the owner of a sweet fiber shop named Raveloe, did her usual great job instructing a group in an interesting technique.  Using pages from a magazine, we all learned how to use the gum wrapper technique to make a chain.  The finished chains can be sewn together to make purses or vessels. Here is my first effort:

  

I never learned how to make these when I was a kid.  Maybe it was because my favorite gum was Bazooka Joe bubble gum.  I love how it looks like rick-rack.  The scotty dogs?  My most recent favorite thing - licorice candy from Trader Joe's.  Mags the traveller was kind enough to supply me with these.

It's Good to Learn New Things

Tonight I attended a workshop at Raveloe and learned to make this:

  Isn't it pretty?  It's a pastie!  The kind burlesque ladies wear.  There's actually a lot to know about how these babies are constructed.  Sizing is one consideration.  Using a pleasing balance of trimmings is another.The instructor, Emily, did a great job teaching us the ins and outs of pasty making.  We were all pleased with the finished projects:

 

It's good to learn new things!

Did I Really Need Another Broom?

I guess I did, because I attended my third broom-making workshop this morning.  This particular form is called a hearth broom. Again, our instructor Karen did a wonderful job making sure that each participant was successful.  My new broom:

    

See why this broom is special?  It has a face carved into the handle!  To me the face looks like the man in the moon.  It's my favorite one so far.

In estate sale news... a few days ago, I went to a sale which gave me pause.  The lady of the house loved dishes as much as I do.  There had to be at least fifteen sets of dishes for sale.  That could be me.  I bought a few items.  I love the pyrex refrigerator boxes.  When I got them home, I discovered that that they had been nested together, probably for years, and were stuck tight.  I tried the "Ice in the top, bottom submerged in hot water" technique to no avail.  What finally worked was a strong he-man I keep around the house.  The pretty blue bowl is Fireking, from the 1950's like the refrigerator boxes.  I also scored two unused non-stick madeleine pans.  I cheat when I make madeleines.  I use a boxed pound cake mix (*gasp*).  But... I grease the pan with a brown butter and flour mixture.  My own version of semi-homemade.  And Proust was right, a madeleine with a cup of thea is a profoundly wonderful thing.

 

Happy Crafternoon

Two years ago, armed with the April 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living cousin Bridget went to the craft store.  She got all the supplies for several of the Easter crafts described in the magazine.  Life got in the way, and just recently she unearthed the bag.  She kindly invited my mother and me over for an afternoon of crafting and a fabulous early dinner.  Here are the eggs and baskets we completed:

  You've got to make a little mess to make something this cute:

   

Directions for these projects are here.

How to Make a Broom

No one needs to explain the irony of leaving a squalorous house on a Saturday morning to go make a broom.  What can I say?  I am a complicated person.  Anyhoo... I participated in a wonderful broom making class at Raveloe Fibers this morning.  The instructor was Karen Koch.  She's been making brooms for a number of years and she's extremely good at instructing a group of broom-making neophytes. 

The first thing one needs is broom corn.  This was grown in Mexico. Karen mentioed that broom corn can be grown here in Western New York, but a 90-day growing period is better achieved south of the border.  The plant does not, in actuality yield ears of corn, but the tassel-ly top is the part which is harvested for this purpose. 

Each member of the class chose sprigs of the broom corn from the box.  It has a pleasant scent which reminded me of sweet grass.

   

Using a knife, the stem of each piece is trimmed in half.  The stalks are then soaked in water.  While they soak, we chose handles made of alder wood.  Karen had pre-drilled holes through which we threaded a bucksking thong that would be the hanger for the finished broom.  We also pounded a tack on the opposite end of the handle.  Then we wound a braided nylon string on a foot-long dowel to use for the actual binding.

    

       

Tie the twine onto the aforementioned tack.  Place an odd number of the trimmed stalks of corn around the handle.  The nylon string which was placed on the dowel is tensioned by placing it on the floor and stepping on each end, which is a pretty neat trick.  The nylon string is wrapped around the corn very tightly.  Then you can begin to plait, that is, go under and over the stalks of corn until you get tho the spot where you want to wrap again and cut the thread.  Doing this and maintaining the proper tension is a little tricky.

    

   

About eight inches down, the broom is bound by wrapping and then sewing.  We then used our new brooms (actually billed as "cobweb catchers") to clean up the floor of the shop. There is a class being offered on whisk broom making in mid-January that I plan to take.