Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
An autumn quilt in time for summer.
As part of my spring cleaning, I have been tackling my unfinished object pile in the sewing room. Some things ended up going in the garbage right away, but others – like this quilt – went back into the finishing basket. Until yesterday! When I took it out, finished quilting the damned thing and put a binding on it. This quilt is full of problems, but now that it’s done I can move on. This is a twin-sized quilt, made from scraps and quilted on my Pfaff. I started it over a year ago and abandoned it when it became apparent it wasn’t going the way I wanted it to. But perfectionism is the enemy of done as they say – and I would rather be finished with this quilt than self-hating about small details.
Rhubarb ketchup and other recipes.
It’s rhubarb time and I have been bit by the canning bug for another year running. As always, I don’t do things in half measures and if I’m going to get all that boiling water going in the canner I want more than 3 jars at the end of it…. so this morning I am trying three new recipes:
So far I can report that 1) the marmalade looks stunning and 2) the ketchup tastes like store-ketchup. Since I just threw the onions into the cast-iron pan, I have nothing to say about that recipe at the moment except that I’m excited by the concept of having canned caramelized onions around as a condiment.
I still have a boatload of rhubarb coming in out back (and there will be another crop by fall), so besides a rhubarb chutney/victoria sauce I plan to make at the end of the summer, I think this year might also yield a rhubarb liqueur.
Also mentioning that I made this rhubarb cake yesterday and it went down very well among my visiting lady-friends.
THe Urban Crow: Before and After
After a period of particularly hard work, it’s important for me to step back and acknowledge that in just three years, we have done a hell of a lot of work to our home and garden. Here are some before and after pictures of the new paint job and front fence, but first for comparison – this is what the house looked like when we bought it three years ago:
And now!
And just for fun – how about the backyard before and after?
First fabric stencil…..
First the dreaming. Then the learning. Here is my first stencil – cut and inked three times on some hemp-rayon jersey that arrived in the mail today. It’s my practice fabric but I’m hoping I can do some stencil layers and turn this into a scarf…..
A charming little house isn’t it?
I’ve been wanting to do a big-ole house brag all week, but because of the weather it hasn’t been optimal for photographing. Here is a photo from last weekend’s painting job – which is getting itsfinishing touches today. We’re quite pleased with these colours even though the “summer sage” turned out to be a bit mint-ier than expected. It’s a far cry from the fading, peeling blue it was two weeks ago!
This weekend promises some union education, gardening, textile work, and some lady time which I am looking forward to. What I am not looking forward to is the fact that Brian is away taking a hunting skills workshop this weekend and there will be no one to bring me coffee in bed (or to read to at night!) I’m a tad co-dependent these days…. which shocks me after so many years of living alone. I thought I would be all over having three days to myself! (Though I’m sure I’ll make fabulous use of the time – in particular, I look forward to working on my stencil-cutting skills!)
I’ve been on the meh side of things this week. Exhausted mostly and feeling a bit overwrung in between job cuts announced in my department and the amount of work we’ve put into the house recently. I’m hoping this weekend alone will prove restorative as I focus towards the positive: creation, friends, and taking care of myself a little bit. It’s time for a deep breath and to let it all go – knowing that all difficult things shall move through and out in no time.
Red Cedar 