I bought this shirt this summer. Well it wasn't like this when I bought it. It was fairly plain, with two small buttons on the bodice. It was a comfy shirt. I made the mistake of cooking in this shirt without an apron. I splattered grease on the front. Then I forgot to put grease or stain remover before I put it in the laundry basket where it sat for a few days. Of course, the spots didn't come out when I got around throwing it into the wash, and became permanent in the dryer. I was annoyed with myself. I hadn't had the shirt that long, then I ruined it. Well, it would be good to wear for painting or something. Several months ago I looked through Alabama Stitch Book, by Natasha Chanin. It was so inspiring! The beauty and simplicity were amazing. I put her ideas on my future "to do" list. Now, I thought, this would be a great shirt to try out Chanin's techniques on. I thought that if I didn't like the outcome, I wouldn't be out anything.

First I painted some leaves and stems onto the shirt. After the paint dried, I slit the center of each leaf. Then I sewed some light weight green knit to the underside of the shirt as a lining. I used pearled cotton to sew around each leaf and stem. Then I cut the center of each leaf out, leaving the paint at the edges. Then I sewed down the center of each leaf to add a little dimension. I really liked how it turned out. I want to try some projects in Natasha Chanin's book and am excited to see her new book coming out in March 2010.

Now I need to get the house into shape for Thanksgiving.

Sophia is not much help. She is a darling all curled up in the stack of old wooden bowls and leaves.

The house is getting that cozy look, when I bring in large dried bouquets of dried flowers in the fall. This is Sea Lavender, filling a corner of the living room, next to an old pew filled with wool pillows. I'll be doing more of this to prepare for Thanksgiving. Along with turkey, stuffing, relish, rolls, pie................

Too Much Basil?

Did I plant enough? I knew I wanted lots. Two plants last year just didn't make enough. Back in May each plant was so small. Twelve plants, two different kinds. That should be enough to dry some and make pesto, I thought. Maybe I should have gotten one more six pack of plants. Ha!This year the plants are sooooo much bigger. They are growing and growing. Maybe it is do to the chicken contribution. I've cut bunches to dry. Yesterday I harvested more. I made 18 batches of pesto to add to what I made earlier. The basil plants are still healthy and growing. I'm sure I will have much more in the end. Did I mention, there have been basil give aways too. There will be more. Anyone live close by??

Then there are the cucumbers. I haven't made pickles in years. I unearthed my old recipes and "put up" a few jars.

The green beans are still going strong. 32 pints. I made a few pints of dilly beans too. The peaches are yummy! Quarts and quarts of peaches are waiting in the pantry for the time in the winter when we want to bring back the taste of summer. Then I've made peach jam and syrup. Maybe I'm doing more this year because most of the kids are gone. Wow, they took up a lot of energy! There will be food in the pantry when they come visiting.

I've been enjoying "putting food up". Each day I've wanted to do something has been a cooler day, in between our heat waves. So it has been enjoyable. There is still lot to do in the garden. It's satisfying.

Warm Hellos!

I know. It's been a while. I don't really have an excuse........ Well.. the computer did die, we finally gave it complete transplants and revived it. It has been working well for some time now.....but then life has been ...... well...... life. I've missed you! While I've been gone things have been busy! One daughter and one niece have been married. A son-in-law has graduated from nursing school. Now he and my daughter are moving across the country. Another daughter is moving to Panama with her husband to teach. My oldest son, wife and two grandchildren were visiting from Quebec most of the summer. I finally got to play with my youngest grand kids!!! My youngest son just went off to Marine Boot Camp. (I'm proud and sad). Now I have one daughter left at home. She is into distance running. By the time cross country starts next week, she will have run 300 miles this summer. That's just a few high points. Meanwhile....I'll share a little of what has been going on in the gardens. The top picture is our side entrance in late June.

This is a view from the same entrance looking towards my mom's garden. She is soo talented! Her garden always looks fantastic!

One of my favorites in the back is "Love lies bleeding" aka "Kiss my over the garden fence". It's not what you see in every ones garden. The color is so vibrant. It also dries well.

We have gone from mostly shade in the back to almost full sun. This tree in the reason.

We spent a couple of days in spring cutting it down. It was such a lovely tree, shading the house during the summer and keeping it cool. Unfortunately, it had rotted inside and was mostly hollow. So it had to come down before it fell.

Now we are using the wood for evening fires outside.

Matilda was loving having the garden to herself. We thought she needed some company. And I know I need more eggs. So we have a total of five chickens now. They are almost grown. For the longest time they stayed away from the veggies. Then one day I went out and almost all my greens were gone, and damage to other veggies. I didn't want them to spend all their time in the coop, although it is very roomy.

I took lots of sticks from the tree we cut and pushed them along the edges of the beds. They were easy to move when I needed to work in the beds. It actually worked keeping them out. There were enough bugs and other yummy plants for them to eat in other parts of the yard.

Now I'm harvesting broccoli, cabbage, and beans. It's a busy time canning, freezing, pickling, etc. It's something I really enjoy. I'll share more.

Oh, of course we've had some time camping and enjoying my favorite beach, Oceanside too.

Springtime Pillows

It's time to change for spring. In springtime I get restless about changing things around. New furniture is out. The easiest and most inexpensive way to change and give a new look is to change pillows. I have been playing around with a few designs in my head for several weeks. I finally put it in cloth. I wanted to do something in wool. We think of wool for winter, for warming us up. So I wanted something with bright color, lots of punch, to give the look of spring, still keeping an organic feel. This is what I've done so far. This one with the white flowers is my favorite.
I cut the base for the pillow fronts, then cut the shapes for the flowers. I sewed the flowers on by hand with pearled cotton floss. I use a random length straight stitch. Some of the petal points lift slightly and help give the flowers a look of movement.
Then I made two tulip pillows. The tulip on the yellow is flat.
The tulip on the tweed is sewn on in pieces. The tips of the tulip lift away from the pillow for a 3d effect.
Each pillow is a different size. I cut the size and shape on a whim. The backs of the pillows are pieced together. One in pieces of one color and one in random colors. They are not the size of pre-made forms. I make a form by making a "bag" out of muslin, and stuff it with stuffing. I like my pillows plump and soft. I like the bold more modern look of these, still keeping an organic, traditional concept. It was fun and very quick to make. I have a few more designs taking shape in my head.

Making Butter,Facial Scrub Toutorial, and Painting

Finally! It was the computer again! Does anyone have as many problems as we do??? I still seem to have something lurking. We've worked through several problems, some that were hidden by the technicians working on this beast last time. They could not fix the problem, so tried to bypass, that worked for a while until.........Now there seems to be a conflict between our anti virus and our server..........I run on while I could be writing about some fun stuff.
I've been buying our milk from a farm nearby. The milk soooo yummy! One fun thing is that it comes with cream. If you look carefully, you can see the line between the milk and the cream. I whip some of the cream to have on mocha's and hot chocolate. I use most of the cream for butter.
Right now, I'm making it in the blender. I know, sure way to burn the motor out. I'm hoping to find a small churn soon.
I like making fresh butter. It's a relaxing process. "Churning" the cream, washing the buttermilk out, then adding salt. I know what the cow ate and how the cow is cared for. I know that my family is eating dairy that is pure, no gmo's, no hormones or additives. I like that. I also have been making yogurt, cream cheese, and other simple cheeses.
I made a gentle face and body scrub. I use oatmeal for the base. Then add dried roses, calandula (pot marigold), and lemon peel.
First, I grind the oatmeal in a small coffee grinder. It's a grinder that I use only for herbal things. I don't want my herbal things to smell or taste like coffee, and my husband doesn't want his coffee to taste like herbs. I grind the oatmeal to a powder. Oatmeal is very nourishing to the skin and is a gentle exfoliate.
After putting the oatmeal in a jar I grind small roses saved from last summer. I pull the petals off. In the center are small seeds that I add. Then grind.
Then I add some calandula to the jar. You can see about how much I add. I don't measure too closely. On top of it all I add about 2T of ground lemon peel. This is anti bacterial, cleansing, and exfoliating.

Now it's time to mix it all together.
When You want to use it, just scoop out about 1 1/2 T. I have this cute little soap dish I put it in.
Then I add a little warm water, and stir it around with my finger. I scoop a little up with my fingers, and rub it onto my face. I gently rub my face all over, then rinse it off with warm water. Then rinse again with cold water. It's refreshing. I love the way my face feels afterward. I have very oily skin. This really helps without making the cells produce more oil. Again, it's something very natural and gentle for me. No additives. I can say the name of every ingredient.
I also started a larger project. Look at this horror. It's a large closet that we have used as an office. Lots of years ago the kids wanted to paint it the way they wanted. They wanted to have fun with it. I let them. Every wall was a different, bright color. It suited them at the time. Now they are gone. My husband wants to use the space for his at home office. One daughter is back home for a short time. A HA! She gets to paint the base coat of paint. With that done, I get to have some fun with the walls.
I'm sponging on some greens and copper, and making some swirls in antique bronze.
It's very random. It's hard to see in these pictures. When I get the room (closet) finished, I'll see if I can get a picture that gives you the feel of the whole room. It has an old world feel. I don't usually use white or off white, but with no windows, and small space I went for it. It's called Primitive White by Dutch Boy. It's kind of fun to rub and swirl paint on here and there. The walls in our home are lath and plaster. All the bumps and ridges that you see are really there. Painting a more modern look wouldn't would look out of place. It's great to finally change this wild look.

Treating the Winter Bugs With Herbs

I'm an herbalist. I know I've said that before. I guess I say that again because it is one of my passions. It's part of who I am. I love to work with the plants. I love to watch how they interact with humans. Plants meet us on so many levels. Think of the smiles you give when you see a flower, or smell the wonderful aroma. Your favorite foods wouldn't be what they are without the flavor plants add. Plants added to bath salts help ease your muscles and you mind. I could go on, but you get the idea. This week the winter bugs hit our household. So, I was reaching for my favoirte medicinal plants to ease my family.
I made decoctions to gargle. Teas to drink.
I brought out some dried elderberries from the depths of my herbal closet to make this sore throat and cough syrup. It is really yummy and effective. All you need to do is:
Add 4 oz. of dried elderberries to 3 cups of water.
Simmer for about 30 min. Reduceing to about 2C.
Squish the berries while they are still in the pan.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer.
Add 3/4 - 1 c. of honey. Stir til honey is well blended.
This will keep in your frig 3-4 months.

I was busy taking care of everyone. I was sorry that they were sick, but I was having fun making herbal remedies. Then I decided to make something we could all use.
I gathered ingredients for some body cream. Melting oils and some beeswax together. Then pouring them into a blender and letting them cool to room temperature. Mixing aloe vera gel, secented water, lanoline, a few drops of essiential oil, and a few drops of vitaman e, letting them rise to room temperature.
Pouring the waters into the oils as the blender runs on high. In a moment, the mixture turns into this beautiful white cream. Kind of the same process as making your own mayo.
It is the best body lotion. A little goes a long way. I know what all the ingredients are, nothing I can't pronounce or reconize. Dealing with illness doesn't need to be a hardship. I enjoy using the plants for healing. It's an amazing process to watch and be involved in.

What Hat?

It's Monday. The day I draw three names out of a hat to give away three feed sacks. But which hat???? There are piles of knit hats around.
Should I use ones of these? There are many others to choose from.
Lets have a look.
Maybe this little black hat, with feathers and netting. Or.....
This black and white with a huge black bow and netting. Or....
This wedding hat. It also has netting and tulle down the back. Mmmm, I seem to have a likeing for netting. Maybe this would do:
A summer straw hat that I like to wear on picnics. Or the blue wool.......
There is this hat, given to me by my girls on my XXXX birthday. It's rather outlandish.
How about this little straw garden hat?Perfect! And the Names ARE..........
Denice from Look beyond the Picket Fence
Paula from The Fraker Farm and
Kim from Up On A Hill

Congratulations. Please E mail me your address so I can send you your feed sacks. Let all of us know what you do with them. I love to see every ones ideas.