A New Quilt Stirs in the Sewing Room

The first thing we do is pull out all the pieces that are looking pretty today, and put them in a stack.

A Baby Quilt in Almost Black and White

If Emma and Eliot want it, this little quilt will be for the Stone House baby in November. It's very neutral, although the centers are actually dark charcoal gray and then very dark green.

Then there are some pale grays and some neutral linen.

The Stone House baby is going to have a sophisticated palette, everyone knows that!

Sunday Dinner: Carnitas

Fed a crowd after church Sunday with:

Pork carnitas

Corn tortillas

Guacamole, cilantro, salsa, sour cream

Sliced peaches

Fried okra

Green salad

To prepare the carnitas before church, right after breakfast I diced a good-sized pork loin into stew-meat sized chunks. Put them in the pressure cooker in a single layer with plenty of salt, pepper, and cumin, and browned them. Added a little water and sealed it up. About ten minutes at 15 pounds, and they were deliciously tender, and still had their brown crust on them. These went into the fridge until after church, and were reheated at lunchtime.

Stewed Tomatoes

A big batch of stewed tomatoes made from a big garden haul. I had enough tomatoes for about 10 pints--it was two big colanders full. I used two bags of Cajun-style mirepoix, which got sauteed in olive oil. I peeled and quartered my tomatoes, then added them to my veggies to stew with two teaspoons each of salt and sugar.

Then I canned them, which made me very proud. They are the best soup base ever.

Dog Days with a Cat

We're in the dog days of summer now, and the cats are spending much of their time indoors in the air conditioning. We do our gardening very early or very late, and we swim at least once a day. A month of summer life left before school things kick in.

Vintage Inspiration for a Mature Woman's Wardrobe

(Let's hope she likes neutrals!)

* a silver-gray silk--"she had white hair, and the effect was beautiful"

* a black silk dress

* white dresses--"that's what my chum's grandmother used to wear when I went visiting in the summer"

* real lace collars, to go with the gray silk

* half a dozen plain collars for everyday wear

* a gray voile dress, very simple and elegant, lined with gray silk and trimmed with lace dyed to match (reduced from sixty dollars to thirty)

(hopefully she likes neutrals!)

* a coat and skirt suit of fine soft black taffeta, for traveling

* a handsome black cloth coat for cool days

* a black and white dotted swiss dress

* a white linen suit

* a handsome black crepe de chine dress

* a black chiffon waist (blouse)

* filmy, dreamy, white shirtwaists, simple and plain in design, and exquisite lace simply applied, fine handmade tucks and finer material

* white linen and white lawn for morning wear at the seashore

* two white linen skirts

* several pairs of silk gloves, black and white, undergarments dainty enough for a bride, a dozen pairs of stockings

* a black lace bonnet on a foundation of white roses, with a drapery of fine black lace which swept around the roses and tied loosely on the breast

* a lace wrap from the cloak department

* a plain black bonnet

* a sweet little gray bonnet

*  a fine silk umbrella

* a lot of pretty belts and handkerchiefs

* some shoes and rubbers

* a handbag of cut steel

Grace Livingston Hill wrote Aunt Crete's Emancipation in 1911. It contains an exhaustive description (this list is verbatim) for a dream wardrobe for a woman of mature years.

The Cobbler of Deep Summer

Cobbler for our Sunday dinner crowd this week was peaches and blackberries. Biscuit topping was added moments after this photo was taken.

Always remember: heat your fruit on the stovetop (with a little sugar and a little flour) until it starts to release its juices and the juice starts to thicken. *Then* you can put it in the baking pan and put the biscuits on top, ready to go in the oven.

Not Everything Has Changed

Daisy's got some sophisticated taste in birthday cakes now--this is Nigella Lawson's Christmas-Spiced Flourless Chocolate Cake with a glazed almond and fresh orange juice topping. I sent pieces home with Elliot and Emma to the Stone House. "Eat it when you can concentrate."

But not everything has changed. She still loves fried okra,

just like when she was littler.

July Is a Domestic Month

I typically find myself feeling quite domestic in July. The summer heat starts to keep us more indoors, the rush of school and early-summer travel is over, and somehow I just want to clean and rearrange.

This week I mixed it up in the living room, moving furniture that hadn't been shifted in years! Well, we move it out for special events, but then we put it back in the same place. This time, I decided that during the summer, our seating should be focused around the front windows, rather than the woodstove. This has never happened at the Schoolhouse before.

But we all love it, and I'm especially loving my new view as I come down the hallway (see above). The whole room seems larger and more full of greenery.

I've also been deep-cleaning my room--washing quilts, curtains, rugs, windows, flowerpots, polishing silver, rearranging the dresser, and all that . . . . also Daisy is at band camp AND turning thirteen, so I need some distraction.

I Finished Another Embroidery Project!

This dresser scarf was an awesome project--because it was 80% done when I pulled it out of the bag. I fished some almost-matching floss out of my stash of embroidery thread, and dove right in.

Modernizing a Dated Embroidery Project

My step-mother passed a big bag of sewing goodies to me which had belonged to her late mother.  I found quite a few new-in-the-package sewing kits--embroidery and crewel work. 

The crewel work--it is what it is: harvest gold mushrooms and olive green flowers. Clara may work them up for fun some day.

I appreciate the nice quality of some of the printed projects--these guest towels are on 100% linen, fun and mindless to cross-stitch. And they fit in my purse. I brought them into this decade by throwing out the bright color choices, and doing them in a monochromatic pale seafoam green.

Study Shelves Seemingly Everywhere

You know how the last 10% of any project can be the hardest to get done? We're still working to finish out the Stone House study and a couple of projects in the Stone House kitchen. 

I have an enchanting vision of built-in white bookshelves and a desk surface for the gorgeous dark green study. And the bookshelves are finally getting done! But there's nowhere in the Stone House to paint them, so they're taking up my sitting room for part of the week. 

A Shawl of My Own Devising

I've made a handful of the Alabama Chanin ponchos--they're the simplest thing you could ever sew, and they are nice! Useful!

 But I'm not a huge fan of asymmetry and I don't want to have to be constantly monitoring accessory placement. So I tweaked the design and put the seam in a new spot (and stenciled it with a little bit of the Magdalena stencil):

Just right for the symmetrical shawl-wearer.