Hot Cross Blocks

I didn't really have anything to blog about today, until the nebulous time in between coming back from the park and dinner, when I sat down and started putting together five 5" blocks from a back issue of Quiltmaker that I picked up at the thrift store for a quarter.

(Yes, I know I have this pattern in the Addicted to Scraps book, but that's packed somewhere.  And I had a grab bag of small scraps to play with.)

Now to go and cut more strips and squares for more of these.  Or possibly iron and cut fabric for Niecelet's Christmas quilt.

Easy Peasy Wood Reconditioning

So a couple days ago I gave a link to the spoon butter recipe I use.  I use it to keep my wooden kitchen utensils looking happy, and I've also been using it for rehabbing the wood pieces I've found at thrift stores.  I thought I would show you a couple of the bowls and stands I've acquired.

Here's the first one I bought.  I don't have any pre-rehab pictures, but look at all those lovely stripes!  Imagine it as dry, though, with white spots and gummy bits of stuck-on stuff.  And now it's all pretty!

Here's a before picture of another bowl.  Parched looking, with crayon marks.  I buffed out the marks with a dry sponge, then rubbed spoon butter on, inside and out, with my bare hands.

And here it is post-treatment!  I use a paper towel to wipe up the extra spoon butter.  There's not much color change, but the bowl looks much happier now.  Less parched.

And its final (for now) home on the counter, holding some potatoes and onions.  Much nicer looking than just having them sitting there in their plastic sacks from the grocery store. 

I've no idea if these pieces are artisanal hand-made or if they came from Target.  Well, except for the little bowl on the left above, it has "Wild Cherry" hand-written on the bottom.  So that one's probably craftsman-made.

The Window Gardens

First, the dining area window:

Left to right: peppermint; basil just sprouting; oregano; a baby spider plant; and pothos.

The kitchen window:

Left to right: geraniums rooted from cuttings I brought up north; an owl jar I found at the thrift store that amused me with its 1970s kitchen witchiness; an unknown succulent that a coworker gave me years ago; a couple jade plants rooted from ones that were growing at Greenwood when we bought the place; one of the jade plants upgraded to its own pot; a fancy grated cheese shaker that amused me at the thrift store; and the spider plant I brought up north.

Hmm, looking at this now, maybe I should switch things around so that the herbs are actually in the kitchen??

Canning, Cooking, Indoor Gardening

Well, I may not be posting much, or sewing, but I haven't been entirely useless (says the mother of two small boys).  Over the past month I've nudged back into canning, putting up a few jars each of strawberry-rhubarb jam and blueberry-rhubarb jam.  As well as baking a rhubarb crumble.  The very first things I've ever made with rhubarb.  And I'm 42!  But those culinary experiments (as well as the fact that rabbits apparently don't eat it, possibly related to its poisonous leaves) have made me determined to grow rhubarb at the new house.

Other culinary experiments have included Blackberry Black-Bottomed Pie (which I shall definitely repeat once blackberries are in season) and, today, Zucchini Bacon Cheddar Scones (also a repeat-worthy recipe).

I have also slowly been expanding my three little garden spots (kitchen window, dining area window, patio) with mismatched thrifted pots, a few deep plates under them for when they get watered, and a couple of wooden probably-supposed-to-be-fruit-bowls to give the pots in the back some height.  Actually, I've been enjoying looking for nice but beat-up-looking wooden objects (bowls, fruit stands) when at thrift stores.  I made up about a cup of spoon butter and it does an amazing job at revitalizing abused wood.  With the mismatched pots and stands, my little indoor gardens are slowly looking more and more boho chic.  Pictures tomorrow, maybe?

No Sew, Go Slow

I haven't stitched anything since my last post.  We're in the process of buying a house, and that's absorbing most of my mental focus.  It needs a bit of love, fortunately more on the outside than on the inside, and is on an acre of land.  An acre!  That's more than five times as big as the lot our last house was on!  (And the house itself is twice as big.)  So I'm doing a lot of garden dreams and plotting, and researching ways to foil the local wildlife, since when we were there for the inspection three rabbits were hopping around the yard.

Things other than rabbits I need to adjust my plotting to: a different climate.  We're now in zone 8b, where before we lived in 10a or 10b.  Cooler, wetter, actually freezes in winter.  If I want citrus (and I do!), I'll need to have them in pots and haul them into the garage or shop each fall.  That said, the property has a couple blackberry bushes on site, and three mature (if overgrown) fruit trees, two of which I'm pretty sure are apple.  The third one I'm not sure on.  Peach?  Quince?  Its fruits are fuzzy right now, so who knows.  I do want more fruit trees, though, and blueberry bushes, and I think I can plant them away from the septic field.

I also to take out a good deal of the severely overgrown landscaping around the house and spruce it up with new.  Half-dead hedges and rhododendrons that are probably twenty years old?  Those gotta go.  It's a blue house, so I'm thinking yellow and white roses and lavender plants would be pretty?  And a picket fence in place of the hedge?  I also want to add beds around the house in the back and make them mixed flowers, herbs, and veggies.  Maybe a border of garlic chives all the way around might help deter the bunnies?

Next year, hopefully, we could put in a fenced veggie garden and maybe a chicken coop?

For right now, though, I'm dreaming and reading and researching and sufficing with potted plants in the apartment's two deep windows and out on the tiny patio. ^_^

A Bit of Progress

Today, after we got back from house-hunting, I bought my (and my boys') plane tickets... me for Costume College, them to have a few days with Nana and Gampa while I'm at Costume College.  And Wonderful Husband to have a week of peace and quiet while we're gone.

That said, I still haven't heard back from my theoretical roommate (I've texted her and left her a voicemail) so I currently have no idea whether I'm staying at College or driving back and forth to Fountain Valley and crashing on an air mattress at my parents' house each day.

I'm definitely not doing any costumes for College this year (big shock, I know).  My fabric and patterns are all buried in the storage unit, and I have no oomph with which to do that level of sewing.  That said, I did finally sit down for another spate at the sewing machine today, and finished off the last three green string blocks, for a total of thirteen:

Now I just need to decide what my next batch of sewing will be....