Flower Shoppe Day for Daisy

Daisy has long dreamed of working in a flower shop. Thanks to a church friend who is both 1) understanding; and 2) a flower shop proprietress, that dream came true today. I dropped her off at 9:30 with a lunch and took off down the interstate to tend to my post-surgical mother.

When I came back for Daisy, she was loaded down with a beautiful bouquet she had made for us, and an even more beautiful bouquet in a basket, for the neighbor.

She made them herself. And also inflated a lot of helium balloons.

But Flower Shoppe Day wasn't over yet. Later I found this set-up in the kitchen. A "Great Big Daffioodle Sale" was going on in my very own house.

Faithful Purple Orchid

This faithful purple orchid blooms again, maybe the third year in a row. These are such great plants to have around. They're always doing something--blooming, or recovering, or sending out roots in unexpected directions.

Springing Forward

Springing forward like many of you, I'm sure. These are baby kale, parsley, and cilantro plants my neighbor started, then ran out of indoor room for. If I keep them watered, and keep Fitzwilliam from lying on them, I'll be rewarded with good things for my garden.

Rock Collection Table Runner

I've been rolling through unfinished projects and found that I set aside this table runner pieced, but not quilted. It didn't take too long to put it together with batting and the good parts of a pair of monogrammed linen pillowcases for the back (sorry I forgot to photograph that part!).

Hand-quilting around each block took just fifteen minutes total and made all the difference. 

My color inspiration was this box, for the piecing.

Greek Salad

Scratching the Greek salad itch--a bed of romaine decorated with feta, cucumbers, peppers, avocado, and broiled chicken breast strips.

Notable that Daisy did *all* the chopping and prep except for the meat. That girl is getting big.

Daisy Goes Out Calling

Suddenly keen to recreate the chapter in Little Women where Amy and Jo go out calling, Daisy outfitted herself in correct calling clothes, stocked her little bag with her calling cards, and headed out to the lady neighbors.

She had made herself some notes regarding correct calling etiquette (what to say, how long to stay, etc.) and that may by why her visits were so successful.

Or maybe the success was due to something else. Like her bonnet.

An Alabama Chanin Bolero with Wild Embroidery

Elbow-length bolero I made to top a matching sleeveless dress. This is the "June's Spring" stencil from Natalie Chanin's Alabama Studio Sewing + Design. I don't see this stencil used much, and it is different from many of the others which are more botanical in nature. This one's got the odd tree shapes and a bunch of circles.

I kind of cut loose, doing some reverse applique, then taking the circles I had snipped out and applying them in their turn. I used several shades of steel blue thread, and both bugle and chop beads. It felt more improvisatory than most of these projects, which was fun and Bohemian. See an empty space, fill it up! About ten hours of that happened last week when I had to sit for continuing education--I made my hay while that sun shone.

A Last Look at the Snowbird

Hoping that yesterday was the last visit of this snowbird. 

May it all melt, and spring come soon!

Partly Cloudy Log Cabin Quilt Top

Shades of blue and white, with a little bit of gray and yellow slipped in there. 

Streusel Cake

Baking again from Vintage Cakes (of course), this time the Plum Streusel Cake. Jane Brocket carefully explains that streusel cakes aren't actually vintage in Scandinavia because they've never gone out of fashion. They've always been in style at my house too, and taste just as good as if they *were* vintage.

The cookbook directs you towards plums, but I used giant blackberries I picked and froze this summer. Also, I've taken to putting all these round cakes into the springform pan for easy removal and serving. 

Brown Paper Bag, Sort Of

It's meant to look like brown paper. It's really a linen blend from my stash.

And I wanted it to look like Daisy had glued on a paper flower--so I used a vintage applique (with "cut here" lines around the design) and machine-zigzagged it on.

For that little bit of scallopy texture at the top of a paper bag, I just did a handsewn running stitch. They aren't actual scallops but they do break up that top line.

This one was a commission, and won't go in the shop.

An Alabama Chanin Rooster for Felix

Although posing on my ladies' mannequin, this tee is indeed for Felix. He left me one of his Uniqlo V-necks to work on, and I stenciled and stitched him the classic rooster. I did this same design several years ago on a yellow jersey for a pillow and somehow it seemed like the biggest deal and took forever to finish.

I guess my thousand hours of practice are paying off--after the paint dried this took me just a days' worth of sewing to quilt and then cut. On a busy day, too, with plenty of baby-sitting.

This was quite possibly my favorite project of all time to work on . . . because the shirt smelled like Felix.

A Glamorous Vision for Stew

"An artist in New York is famous for her dinners. And they are all based on stews! She has collected stew recipes from all over the world, and her friends collect to enjoy them. Anyone who feels that a stew should be presented with an apology should try one of these 'stew dinners.' First the stew itself, with Puffy Dumplings, bubbling hot in a big tureen. For the next course a mixed salad in a great bowl, with crackers and cheese of various kinds; after that comes an ice-cold fruit cup. And last of all the demitasse with little crisp cookies."

 --Ida Bailey Allen's Money-Saving Cookbook (1940)

Sourdough for a Smaller Family

When I first started baking sourdough bread (wow, over two years ago!) I had feeding several more people and baking several times a week. These days I generally just need one baking a week, so have been slacking off on keeping up with my starter.

Using the scientific method I have found that I only need to feed it once a week. The science part is where I forget to feed it for a whole week, then feed it and it still works. That's an experiment! And I'm passing my knowledge along to you. Keep it in the fridge, go all week without touching it, then feed it the day before you want to mix up your poolish (Sunday nights, around here, just when you're starting to think ahead for the week). I actually hate the word poolish but there it is. It's the thing after the starter, before the bread. It gets started the night before.

Wow, it sounds complicated, but it's not.

Apple Twigs

 A chunky vase full of apple tree clippings--and two twigs of bridal wreath. The buds are fatter every day, inside and out.

Zinnias Going to Seed Log Cabin Quilt

Pieced at the end of summer and just now quilted. My mother is calling this one of her favorites. She did the quilting, and for some reason did the rows so close together it took her a long time to finish.

Also, this quilt wins the Most Appropriate Backing Award. I had three yards of this sweet print that looks like--wait for it--zinnias going to seed.

Sadly, I think this was the last of the gorgeous Italian cotton twill I bought for a dress for Clara. It has served me well. 

You might think I have a lot of quilts now. I do. I can no longer bear to part with them except to give them to my children, so good thing I have five.

Baby Speed

Today moved at Little Baby Speed. You probably know that tempo--it's the way time moves along when you're caring for very small children. We had a friend's five-month old daughter all day and my, she was very sweet. Never fussed a single peep. 

Lots of talking in the rocker by the fire, walking around and looking out windows, shooing the cat away from her bottle, and plenty of lying on a folded blanket in the sewing room playing with Daisy.

Quilt with an Inscription

In my last bout of quilt-buying I found this gorgeous finished quilt, quite old and in great condition. What I really liked about it was that the squares were separated by solid strips, because I was looking for a quilt to embroider words on.

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety."

It runs down the length of the quilt now. I just embroidered freehand, though you could chalk some guide letters in.

It's a beautiful quilt anyway. Beautiful concentric half-squares of quilting, like you see above. She started in one corner and worked her way outward.

The back is beautiful faded brown, pieced from several fabrics. Much of the quilting is done with black thread.

Some fabric details--great faded, cool tones.

Blackberry Cobbler for a Crowd

Blackberry cobbler for thirty tonight (church dinner). These two pie plates, plus two big rectangular dishes. An excellent way to use up the fruit before summer rolls around again.

I usually stand by a cobbler made from sweetened fruit and topped with biscuits, but today I turned to the simpler "washday cobbler" traditionally made on Mondays in a busy household--butter melted in a pan, topped with a flour-milk-salt-baking powder batter, then topped with sweetened fruit. It sorts itself out during baking.

Here is a similar recipe.

Daisy's Harmonica

First the stilts, now the harmonica. If she gets a coonskin cap we'll have done an entire 1950s childhood. 

We stopped at the very old-school music store downtown today. They had a whole case of harmonica choices behind glass. The Little Lady was too tiny, but the Pocket Pal came home with us.

Kimono Quilt Finished

This beauty is finished and spread on a bed! It just took a week because I didn't put a lot of quilting in it--just outlined the squares, and then did a little diamond in the blue intersection squares.

I bound it with a black and white print.

But let me turn your attention to the marvelous piecing. The artist who did this alternated her nine-patch blocks between solids and string-quilted squares. But the string-quilting was often done in a very deliberate way (see above) to bring even more linear interest into the pattern.

These pieces are miniscule. The two-inche-square piece above has SIX strips sewn together, some just a sliver. I would have liked to have met this lady. I feel like I know her now. And I'm happy to have my hands on her quilts.

Dogwood Blossom Utility Quilt

I've always known this type of blanket as a utility quilt. I think another name is "whole-cloth quilt." The top is all one piece of fabric, and it's tied to a back. I got this one last week at a wonderful antique store where the textiles are painfully cheap. 

The print is of dogwood blossoms, in two colorways, and the back is that sweet lavender. It's tied with green floss, and it's currently airing over the front porch rail, before I fold it up on the foot of my bed.

Valentine's Day with Coffee-Walnut Cake

It's a treat to have Felix and one of his roommates here for the weekend. And why? Because they eat cake. This time I made a coffee-walnut cake (from Vintage Cakes, of course) and Bella made a cheesecake.

This morning they put on bow ties and suspenders and went out working for my florist friend as flower delivery boys. I'm sure they made a lot of ladies in offices very happy.

Then they dug out the old box of Pokemon cards and taught Daisy to play, and it's like we've travelled back in time to 2001. Apparently Daisy is very fierce with the cards, too.

I gave out Pop-Rocks for Valentine's treats around the house, and the Composer distributed flowers, and everyone is happy.

A Quilt Like Kimonos

I started quilting the third and last quilt top from the series started back in December. I found this top to be the least compelling of the set--until I got to know it better.

Then I saw that its structure asked for a grid of quilt lines, rather than parallel horizontals. And that it had been so thoughtfully pieced, with squares alternating between solids and strip-quilting. And that somehow, the modest fabrics were suggesting a Japanese kimono.

Malt Loaf

Malt loaf from Jane Brocket's Vintage Cakes. It's sweetened with three syrups--molasses, malt syrup, and sorghum (my take on dark syrup), and filled with my choice of dried fruit: dates, apricots, and the last of a packet of cranberries.

Like many other Vintage Cakes recipes, it has a thoughtful finishing detail. Here, after baking, the loaf is brushed with a syrup made by simmering a tablespoon of sugar in three of water for a few minutes. After it thickens, it's brushed on the hot loaf, leaving a beautiful crackling glaze.

A Jersey Doily

An "Eyelet Doily" is a very doable way to dip your toe in the water of hand-stitching jersey. I made mine from a little white jersey--it's just a tee shirt's worth. Simple cutting and construction, and then the fun of adding embroidery embellishment to your own taste. You could even bead and sequin this--but then you might not want to put a big bowl with a bird nest on it.

You can find full instructions here at the Alabama Chanin Journal. Have fun!

Cold View of the Sitting Room

Here are all our coats, which accompany us for every outside moment, unlike during other winters. Other years, we'd just dash to the car, knowing it was warm from all the sun pouring in the window glass. Ho, not this year!

In fact, we almost need a coat to be in the sitting room (above). We've all pulled back into the center of the house around the stove, away from the windows and the walls. Little piles of books and stitching all around the fire, cats everywhere, scraps of bark on the floor.

And where, seriously, are the daffodils?

Uncommon Beauty

I happened to pick up Uncommon Beauty at the library this week. Two things: the title has nothing to do with the content, and also, I am not in the middle of a medical crisis with a family member.

But if I were, this book would be a great resource. It's written for parents of medically-fragile new babies, but the information on navigating a hospital, accessing care, managing insurance paperwork, and advocating for your family member is really good stuff for anyone who has to interact with the medical system in a serious way. 

That could be any one of us, at any time, so these things are good to know. Find it here on Amazon if you're interested.

Morning Ice

Ice, again, but still beautiful.

Daisy on Stilts

Pretty much the whole time she's awake. I like best after bath, when she's in her flannel nightgown and her sleeping cap with a pompom, and has her blankie tied around her shoulders because she doesn't have a free hand.

Felix in the Fog

Felix came home with a housemate this weekend, which is always a treat and something I like to bake for. They ate two cakes and a bunch of butternut squash at dinner, and bought lounge sweaters at the thrift store. 

Also, they went hiking in the fog--Jonathan took this photo--and accompanied Daisy to see the new baby goats at the neighbors.

Small Church

We go to a small church. We used to feel kind of apologetic that it wasn't bigger. 

Not anymore: I'm actually excited about it. We've been thinking about who we are, and we're a Small Church. Yes!

NewSmallChurch is fantastic writing about Small Church. Even if you go to Big Church.