Preparing for Winter

 A quick update. . . I did indeed add an emery cushion to my Victorian sewing bird. It's a bit of a cheat in that I took a prefabricated strawberry cushion--the type that comes attached to those ubiquitous tomato pin cushions--and covered it in the same fabric as used for the pin cushion, and glued it to the button. It was necessary to use a drop of glue to adhere the button to the bird, but I can live with that.

Here it is put into service while I work on Benjamin Bunny, one of nine ornaments I'm making for the Christmas tree:

(As always, click to enlarge.)

Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle Duck, Jeremy Fisher, Mr. Tod, Pigling Bland, Squirrel Nutkin, Tailor of Gloucester, Tom Kitten, and Peter Rabbit. Characters from the wonderful tales of Beatrix Potter. I bought the patterns for these from The Cheswick Company (they can be found on Etsy) last year.

I am sewing these entirely by hand because I think it adds a lot of meaning. (Soapbox: Nothing makes me sadder than the sight of $20K 'embroidery' sewing machines, which seem to be the rage. They're available now from every major sewing machine manufacturer. This is not craft in my opinion, it is production. Push a button to start the machine, it stops now and then to tell you to change the thread color... congratulations, you have become a machine operator. IMO, the results are not satisfactory. Give me imperfect hand work any day.) Here is Benjamin Bunny, I just finished him:

Winter Prep

It's that time of year when the turn of temperature and color of leaves forewarns of colder days to come. It turns the mind's attention to the issue of fuel and the desire for warmth when the thermometer dips below 40, 30, 20, 10, and beyond. To that end, 2 additional cords of wood were delivered this past week making my total store for the winter a little over 5 cords. I don't think I will require it all if years past are any indication.

One cord is stacked. Four are not. There is work to do. Two cords are on the other side of the yard. There is more work to do.

Another brain storm hit last month when I realized that the 'garage in a box' which I purchased several years ago and which has sat in the grass unused since I got the garden shed 4 years ago, would make an excellent cover for my stacked wood. So I gathered the pieces and re-constructed it in the upper garden. I'll purchase some tarps to cover it and hopefully that will solve the winter long struggle of keeping the wood dry, and safe from inclement weather.

I truly love the holtz hausen stacks I've been building these past few years, but throwing a tarp over them turns into a headache mid-winter. For starters, tarps don't protect the sides of the stacks and that wood gets wet. The stove doesn't like wet wood and physics demands that creosote will be the result. Additionally, trying to shovel snow off the uneven surface of a holtz hauzen is impossible. A shovel is too stiff, a broom too weak. So some snow settles on top and it melts when the sun comes out and the result freezes into ice and before you know it there are 6-8" ice puddles on top of your wood and the struggle is real. And stressful. But not this year if all goes well.

Other News 

The broken Subaru left the yard today and I'm very happy to see it gone. It saddened me to see it all the time. 90% of it was in good, useable shape, everything from the chassis up. A shame that it was all rendered useless because of a rusted out under carriage. It's nice to the have the drive cleared.

Speaking of the drive, I decided to move the hexagonal flower bed and fountain to the other side of the walk and that leaves an alley that will allow vehicles to drive right up to the house if need be. I won't be  using it as driveway, but it's available just in case. I will probably make the entire area where the hex bed is now into one large cottage garden. The bed and fountain in their new location, the almost cleared emergency driveway to the left (yes, my little wagon had a flat tire and needed some attention):

I got a new bird ... a very old new bird

I found it in an antique shop in an area of VT known as The Northeast Kingdom. I was in the area to pick up an old portable wind-up phonograph that was in shop for restoration. I'd purchased it from a local antique place this summer for next to nothing but the spring was broken. Before heading up north, I had set myself a budget for antiquing: $0 . . . unless I found some small sewing related implement, then I'd get that.

Poking around a tray of brooches I found a Victorian sewing bird. I couldn't believe it! I've wanted one for a while. The fact that the price ($95) was somewhat outside the budget I'd set myself seemed to fly right past me and I picked it up immediately. Rationalizing the purchase was easy-peasy, no struggle there. It was missing the pin cushion and emery cushion (a small cushion used for sharpening pins), but I suspect that's quite common for these old ones. This one is clearly from the era which can be ascertained by the way the beak closes clearly and tightly all the way down the neck. Reproductions, from what I've read, show a large gap in the neck area.

I cleaned it up a bit with Gojo hand cleaner (the one without pumice!). Gojo can be purchased at auto parts stores as it's often used by mechanics. It works wonders for removing dirt and grime from old materials. (Always test!)

I was going to make both a pin cushion and emery cushion as you will see in the video, but in the end I decided to make just the pin cushion for now. I'm not sure I can pull off the emery cushion, and it looks fine without one. However, the emery cushion will probably get crafted at some point.

The main function of these birds is to hold one end of your working fabric in it's beak while you sew--like a third hand. Very nifty, and what's not to love? Sewing! Bird!

. . . I just planted this rose over the summer and it's ending the season with a bang . . . (clicking on picture enlarges)

Making a fabric book

I have become interested in making a fabric book. That is a book where the pages are fabric instead of paper, and they are decorated with dye, slow stitching, embroidery of all sorts, fabric paints, drawings, etc. The sky is the limit. They seem to be quite popular in the stitching community at the moment.

For a theme, my book will be 'favorites from the garden' and will be a compilation of favorite quotes, and observations from my garden: birds, flowers, and all things nature. I just finished my first page last night.

I don't know where this page will fall in the book; I do not yet know how many pages I will make and in what order they will ultimately end up. I'm working very impromptu and informally on this project. I want it to be full of of joy.

My first page began as a piece of white cotton fabric on which I made a cyanotype print using bits of flowers and grasses from the garden. It's the first time I ever make a cyanotype print. I made the print earlier this summer with the intention of using it [in some way] in my book.

I purchased the two cyanotype chemicals (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide) online, pre-diluted to the correct levels so that they can be easily mixed 50/50. I should have taken notes on my process because now I can't remember if I mordanted the fabric before making the print! Oh dear. (To be fair, I did not know I'd be blogging about it.) I'm pretty sure I didn't because I had to order some aluminum acetate and the package has not yet been opened. A pretty good indicator I think. Aluminum acetate is a mordant for cellulose fibers; when preparing wool (a protein fiber) we use aluminum sulfate (aka Alum).

So quite likely I ran my first experiment without a mordant. The process for making a print starts by painting the fabric with a mixture of the 2 above mentioned chemicals. This needs to be done in a darkened room. I found that my upstairs bathroom makes an excellent darkroom since it has no windows. The fabric then needs to dry 24 hours. The following day, I foraged for some foliage and flowers to use for my print. The dried fabric was placed on a flat board, the bits of nature arranged on top of the fabric, and a sheet of glass placed over all to keep everything in place. I used clothes pins around the edge to secure the layers. All this done in my 'dark room'. This preparation was then brought outside and placed facing direct sunlight. I exposed the fabric for about 15 minutes, maybe a bit longer. The print was then brought back inside, dismantled, and the fabric rinsed well in tap water several times over. The image develops over the several minutes and hours, but when in a hurry, a splash of hydrogen peroxide in the rinse water will act as a catalyst and produce quicker results.

My print came out quite satisfactorily and I was well pleased.

I wasn't sure how I would use the print, and that came to me only recently. There is a poem/prayer in an old book I purchased at a thrift shop this summer. The book is entitled "Riley Songs O'Cheer" by James Whitcomb Riley (c) 1905. It's a beautiful book of poems and illustrations which ends with "The Prayer Perfect". It's a lovely poem and I decided to embroider it over my print, but since it is too long for one page, I will need to use two pages. The second half of the poem/prayer was worked over this cyanotype. I will work the first half of the poem/prayer on the previous facing page, when I get that page designed.

To get the letters on the page for embroidering, I used a product called "Transfer Eze", purchased from my local quilt shop; 8.5" x 11" sheets that can go in the printer. When printed, the backing is peeled off and the sheet adhered to the work. When the embroidery is finished, the sheet is removed by dissolving in water. It's weird and cool. Under the water the sheet turns to a gel which dissolves, leaving just the embroidery.

The completed page:

Late summer flowers and a fabulous chutney recipe

I took a quick stroll around the garden the other day where some surprises are in store for this time of year. The usual late bloomers such as Allium and Heliopsis are gracing the garden with their flowers, but a few roses also popped in for a final greeting even though they are usually done in mid summer. And quite a late Hemerocallis shines brightly in an otherwise winding down bed of ochre and brown foliage.

The Heliopsis helianthoides var. 'Bleeding Heart' is a favorite of mine. The coloring is striking and changes over time from bright orange to rusts. At the moment I have only one of these plants and that needs a remedy, I should have at least three. It grew quite sprawling this year, much to my delight, with more flowers than ever. The bed-to-be wherein it is situated is in a sad state at the moment but with all this summer's rainy days and other projects, it didn't get attended to. Oh well, next spring it is then.

This stand of Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) was one plant about three years ago! I'm amazed at how it is flourishing. There is enough here to start a whole new bed somewhere... hm. I'm thinking about it.

I'm quite sure this is a Helianthus of some sort (it was given to me and I don't know the exact name). It's a vigorous spreader underground and also pops up remote from the original clump via self-seeding. Luckily, it's pretty easy to pull it back, something much needed almost every year. But a lovely burst of yellow late in the summer.

This Daylily (Hemerocallis) is sharing the spotlight with wild, self-sown Goldenrod, whilst all it's relatives flowered in July/August. A special surprise at this time of year and a fun encounter.

Crabapple berries and rose hips. Really looking forward to harvesting the rose hips. I will make either a syrup or a tea. They are big and bright red this year.

I thought this Rose was done a month ago. How gracious of it to come again.

An annual Sunflower (Helianthus), a towering beacon of lemon yellow. A happy sight.

The Hollyhocks rose to phenomenal heights this year; way, way past my height. It's been exciting to see them reaching for the stars.

Back at the deck, I have this Easter Lily that I purchased at, well, Easter. After it had finished blossoming, I set it outside to soak up the sun over the summer. Much to my surprise, a new shoot appeared and look at it now! Easter Lilies in September! It is a bit disorienting to smell their distinctive, sweet fragrance at this time of year.

Roasted Tomato Chutney

I have to pass along this stellar recipe for roasted tomato chutney. I found it on Kate's second channel (The Last Homely Garden), so I'll post that and you will find the link for the written recipe in her video discription. It's absolutely scrumptious! I made a batch this afternoon, and even though the recipe states it is better after a week, I couldn't wait. Had some with a wonderful aged Irish Cheddar and crackers. Oooh, oooh, ooh. Yum! I'll be making this a lot. (I put olive oil in the roasting pan, and drizzled a bit on the tomatoes so they wouldn't stick.)

Hand quilting

I am getting ready to hand quilt a top I finished in July. It will be my second attempt at hand quilting. The wool applique top I made in 2018 was the first. After many starts and stops, I finally settled on "big stitch" format for that one, and once it got going, I was surprised at how quickly it quilted up. That is this quilt:

(The images will enlarge if you click on them)

My current top was finished in July. It took a year of hand stitching the turned applique in cotton. The pattern is called "Woodland Creatures", designed by Quilt by Rosemary.

My take on it (almost the same as original):

It was a very enjoyable project. Lots of motivation the first 3 or 4 months. I worked the blocks before working the inner top and bottom borders, followed by the side borders, and finally, the outside top and bottom. I can't say there was ever a lack of motivation, but by the time I reached the side borders, I was slowing down a little, maybe. The borders are long (quilt is 80" x 100") and each border is mirrored from the center, and mirrored from the opposite border meaning that each motif is repeated four times. I was relieved to get beyond the side borders. But never a dull moment.

Like I mentioned, I'm going to hand quilt it and want to get finer stitches on this one. To that end, I watched a series of very good videos on YouTube by a woman who grew up Amish. Her name is Esther Miller. The 6 part series starts here:

I especially like that she is conscientious of the possibility of hand/wrist injury (something I'm always aware of). I ordered one of her needle slides and a thread puller, and I'm using a thimble (that almost fits) that I found at the thrift shop. I may end up forking over $$ for one of her custom sized thimbles.

So I've been practicing small stitching and it has--up till yesterday--been majorly frustrating. I recall the week/week-and-a-half of frustration when I was learning to spin wool (I learned on a drop spindle), and saying to myself many times, "If ... can do this, I'm confident I can too!" And by end of the week two, I'd pretty much gotten it. Learning small stitch quilting is worse than that. Oh my goodness, it's been hair pulling frustration. But perseverance is paying off.

Something happened yesterday by 'accident '--after many, many attempts--that shed some light on the mystery. I discovered that where my needle is placed against the thimble makes all the difference in the world, and it opened the door to more successful stitches. Yay! Now I'm practicing on consistency and feel I'm almost ready to start on the quilt. But first, I also need to practice quilting in different directions. Right to left is proceeding well now, curved lines are OK'ish, Top to bottom needs a little practice. I haven't practiced Bottom to top but suspect it will be a challenge similar to top to bottom. Left to right is awkward right now.

Also, before I start quilting I need to decide on a pattern(s)!

In this photo of my practicing, I've circled the latest bit of stitching and it is in the color I will use on this quilt. It's been good to practice with contrasting thread, though. It really highlights inconsistencies! (Ignore the mess on the far right, I was practicing an embroidered bullion stitch--quite unsuccessfully.)

With my set of tools: