Angie: October 2008 Archives

When I have dirty eggs I don't bother to wash them. I set them aside and once a week we crack them and along with a quart of buttermilk the pigs get a treat. I have a little kitchen helper that automatically cracks these eggs for me.

Wanna see my handy dandy egg cracker?

Do you have a kitchen accessory that comes this cute?

My budding chef.

He is very intent on his job when performing master culinary skills.

He can crack them one handed, too.

Most often he doesn't make a mess either.

Careful with the shells.

Wipe off the hands when finished.

All done.

No shells in the eggs either. I have even been known to let him crack eggs when I am cooking. Of course those times we wash all the eggs any way. He cracked a fair amount of eggs and was quite pleased with himself.

"No more pictures."

"Me say, "No more pictures!"

Some of you may remember when I started piecing together a quilt.

One year and seven months later I put the final stitches into this huge project. It is made to fit our king-sized bed or to be used as a snuggly warm quilt for watching movies and cuddling by the fire.

The pattern is a simple nine-patch. The quilt top fabrics are 100% cotton. The quilt batting is 100% natural cotton fibers. The backing is 100% cottom muslin. I chose the color pallet based on a more masculine preference so as not to be girlish because after all it is a quilt for Steve.

A new quilt is a little too perfect for me. Can you see how very smooth and pristine the fabrics look? It doesn't look inviting and wonderful to my eye. I have a technique I use to age the quilt so it starts out looking as if it is older and has been used and loved for many years.

When starting a quilt top I always wash my fabrics first. Then iron them nice and cripsly. For the backing I don't wash it. I leave it as it. Once the quilt has been finished it is stiffer than I like and too much like it has been starched. So I wash it. The backing, having not been pre-washed will then shrink. Inside the batting fibers will also shrink. This pulls the pre-shrunk top into lovely soft puckers and wrinkles. Now it looks aged and loved and is super soft and feels more warm.

Most importantly the quilt is labled. This is the very last step for me. Creating a message to make the gift personal and more intimate. This is also a very large part of documenting the quilt hould something hapen to it - be it lost, stolen, or destroyed. Loosing a hand made quilt can be like loosing a friend. If you are searching for a lost quilt you can list it with Lost Quilt Come Home. Hopefully someone will find your quilt and return it to you.

I try to photograph the quilt in progress so that I have the story of its creation. The journal entry will also be a permanent document of this quilt.

I would love to hear from other quilters. Anyone out there?

Not just another day.

At 8:30am the power went off. Didn't come back on until after 1pm.

Grace has been struggling with a cold over the weekend which set off her asthma. At the doctors office yesterday at 11:30. Five prescriptions later we got back home at 4:30.

By 6pm I felt like I had been up 4 days straight and could barely function.

The frightening thing about having a child with asthma - the emotional stress of watching your child struggle to breath and there is NOTHING you can do about it but wait for the medications to begin to work.

Thank you , God, for the medications available to help control and prevent asthma attacks.

I wanted to show you more of the bottles in my kitchen that I use to hold oils, vinegars and other items I like close at hand when cooking. For those of you that might have missed it Part I of my series on decorative and engaging vessels in which to store potions and notions in your kitchen can be found here.

This is one of my favorite bottles. It is for Sinclair's pure cottonseed salad oil. I have never seen pure cottonseed oil available on the store shelf. If I did I would buy it and run home rejoicing about the soaps I would make with it. Not so sure I would eat it but I would absolutely make soap with it. I know nothing of the company that produced this oil. I have Googled and hunted and so far come up with nothing. If anyone has any clue about this oil and the maker I would love to know. The bottle reads "Sinclair Oil Salad Pure Cottonseed Oil". The outer ring of writing reads "Bottled by Tillman & Bendel, Inc. San Francisco".

Next on the counter top is a White House Vinegar jug. For as long as I can remember my Grandma and my Momma only used White House vinegars. It is a name I know. Those things familiar from my childhood, even a lowly vinegar name, evoke such huge emotional repsonses in me. I can smell and see the bowl of cucumbers and onions marinating for dinner on my Grandma's kitchen counter. I know the scent of bowling vinegar used to pickle peppers and cukes and a steaming hot summer kitchen. Vinegar also invokes the memories of years up years of easter dying with the colored tablets, tablespoon of vinegar and a small cup of cold water. This bottle was a must have.  

The last bottle is another bottle that I haven't been able to find a clue as to what it was originally intended for. It is a bottle that is representative of George Washington. I know this because it is imprinted in the glass at the bottom "Washington".  I wonder if George was a novelty to sell distilled spirits. So far my research has turned up nothing whatsoever. For now George is overseeing the pouring of balsamic vinegar.

So, you can see, I have some odd delights and uses for bottles. I figure you can't shove everything into a cabinet. If you have to leave it sitting out it may as well be useful but above all it should be pretty, engaging, novel and a conversation starter.

I have had many people comment on my bottles. At first they appear nondescript and just a part of the kitchen clutter nestled near the stove top. Then someone pays a bit closer attention to what is really there. I have never asked, nor looked, but I do wonder how many people go home and look for something interesting to store their oils and vinegars in.

If you are not a registered voter ...

SHUT UP!!!

You don't count. I don't want to hear your flapping and whailing.

If you don't vote in the Presidential election in November you don't get to voice your opinion afterward either.

So just SHUT UP already.

Are you registered to vote?????????????????

Are you??

Yes, you! I am talking to you!

We went to the Fall Fiber festival and Sheepdog Trails at Montpelier this weekend.We did not get as much time to watch the dogs put through their paces with the sheep but we did see some and those dogs are amazing to watch.

Colby and I were drawn there by our desire to work with the wool fibers our sheep are currently growing. We want to sheer it, prepare it, spin it and create beautiful things with it.

We saw sheep sheering demonstaration. I am certain we can do this with our ewes. Only we have hand sheers and not electric one. This scottish blackface was sheered in just a couple minutes.

The alpacas are tempting! Of all the fiber I handled the baby alpaca for me was the finest, the pinnacle of luxury.

I had my own little pack animal to haul my loot out of there.That bag contains 5 ounces of alpaca fiber for felting my homemade goatmilk soaps. Mmmmmm. Luxury.

Speaking of luxury. I bought 1.2 pounds of mohair, hand spun, dyed with natural english walnuts.I have never had this fine a yarn to work with. It is fabulous!

For those who may not know mohair is the fiber from angora goats. The goats this fiber came from are from Virginia not too far from me down in Charlottesville. I like the idea of keeping things simple and processed and provided close to home.

This big bundle looks like a giant dredlock. It really doesn't look pleasing to the eye at all. It is fantastic to the hands and a close eye inspection.

I couldn't wait to get started. Can you see how fine the yarn is when cast on my wooden crochet needle? This is the most amazing fiber I have had a chance to work with. I am making myself a shawl. This is the kind of luxury that will spoil you if you give in to the urge to use what nature provides.

Next spring when we sheer our ewes I will be spinning and crocheting and knitting with my own wool.

Who knows, I may even have my own alpacas and angora goats by this time next year.

I already got me an angora rabbit from a nice lady at the show.

His name is Peter. Peter Rabbit. Hopefully he will sire me quite a few lovelies for harvesting their fibers. These animals grow a super thick coat. They thrive in cold temperarures. He will be clipped periodically and his fibers processed and stored away until we have enough to actually process a 10lb batch.

Steve asked if I wanted a spinning wheel for Christmas.

Sigh.

He knows me well.

I am living my dreams.

Steven has asked for a 'tractor bed'. Which in two year old speak means a quilt. Which, in turn, I can only hope, means he is getting himself mentally ready to make the move into his own room and his own bed.

Some of these fabrics I could only find on ebay.

BTW, if you see the snow fabric on ebay being offered for some ridiculous price (6.99) for on fat quarter and the seller thinks you are trying to rip her off when you make an offer to purchase by the yard - make sure you tell her for me she missed out on the chance to sell me nearly 40 yards in combined total John Deere fabrics and missed out a HUGE lump sum purchase paid for in cash.

Hey, Nancy, if you are ever reading this - greed never pays in the long run. It could have been you spending my nearly $500 in cash. Instead another nice lady on ebay has reaped the benefits.

With all this said, it is my son who is the real winner.

Woot! Tractor Bed!

And bed skirt, and curtains, and pillow cases, and shams, and etc., etc., etc ...