The Garden at Twilight

I'm home.  Jet-lagged and fatigued, but home and unpacked.  The trees are sighing outside my window and the sky is deep grey - I think a storm is coming.  See the raised beds from my window?

The white disc on the tree is one of my washlines.

My husband pulled the last of the lettuce tonight to make space for a few more tomato plants.  A conoisseur would say the lettuce was bitter and bolting, but we are jubilant:  $2 for a packet of seeds that provided microgreens in March and abundant salads for April, May and a little bit of June. 

The green beans, nasturtiums, and raspberries are up, the dill heads are forming.  There are two pepper plants.  We now have a total of 15 tomato plants.  May they all grow as well as the lettuce!

Packed

By the time you read this, I will be in the air, heading to a convention for work. 

I've left my family a full batch of yogurt, several loaves of bread in the freezer, and a gallon jar of granola.  Inasmuch as housekeeping is never really done, I folded all the laundry, caught up on the ironing, and vacuumed one more time.  I like to think of this as one way I love them, smoothing their way through the days a bit.  Sure, my husband can run the house and wrangle the kids and find dinner. . .but. . .

I'll be back at homelife soon.  I'm ready to show you our new rooms.

Sleep Pants with Roses

My French sleep pants wore right out from love and hard use, so I used this pattern again to make another pair.  My husband told me the sheet fabric looked like pajamas to him - which made me a little shy about wearing the dress (I'm over it), but pleased to make pajama pants from the remnants.

I was careful with the details.  Instead of an elastic waistband, I added a section of elastic to the blue drawstring.  I tacked it down in the back with a tag of my favorite ribbon.  I love sleeping pretty!

Rosemary Raisin Scones

I cannot get enough of these scones. The combination of buttery scone, piney rosemary, and a kick of sweet from the raisins is irresistable to me. I eat them straight from the oven with black coffee.

I got the idea from a library cookbook, but adapted the recipe to use my favorite scone recipe from Recipes from the Old Mill.

Rosemary Raisin Scones
Mix in mixing bowl:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried rosemary
Cut in with pastry cutter:
1/4 cup cold butter
Add:
1/2 cup raisins

Separately, mix together until frothy:
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
Add milk mixture to dry ingredient mixture.  Mix briefly until the mass comes into a soft dough.  Press together with hands as needed to make a uniform dough. 

Divide into 2 portions. Place each portion on a well-greased baking sheet.  Use your hands to press each portion into a rough disc, approximately 7" in diameter.  Use a knife to make an X, making each disc into 4 wedges.  It will seem as if the dough isn't really cut, but you will be able to break the scones off after they're baked.

Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes.  Break into wedges. Eat hot or warm.  Scones, like biscuits, freeze well.

Good morning, Ben.  I love your sober face in the sunlight.

A Skirt with a Real Waist

The chocolate brown skirt that I made wasn't working so well.  The flap wouldn't stay nicely, and the fabric had a few snags.

I took a brown linen tablecloth in my stash and made a new skirt to replace it.  I didn't intend to make the waist so high - at first I kept trying to tug it down, but Rebecca laughed at me.  She told me I don't remember that we used to have waistlines at our real waist.  She's right!  I'm so used to my shirts not staying tucked in, to waistlines hitting me below the belly button, that to have one up here makes me feel funny.

But I'm keeping it.  It's remarkably slenderizing and modest.

I did try to add side-pockets to the yoke seams.  That was a mistake.  The pockets pulled and gaped too much.  I firmed up the yoke with some interfacing, which feels good.  I also, at Rebecca's suggestion, finished the hem with bias tape (maroon when I ran short of brown).

I can't believe I'm wearing and loving Crocs!

Let's hope this skirt turns out to be a workhorse in my wardrobe, unlike the other one.

A Little Discussion on Quilting Styles

Recently, my friend Marilou announced that she cannot make quilts because she is clueless about colors.  I argued with her, knowing that she is a pragmatic person, that quilts can be made from a functional standpoint, too, not just a color scheme or to match a decor.

I've been reading lots of back-issues of Threads, given to me by Rebecca's aunt.

I don't like to see quilting defined as a hobby requiring special tools, clubs, and matching fabric.  People like Marilou and me get confused and give up.

Threads:  Af-American quilt

When I look at the Gee's Bend quilts or other African-American patchwork, I can work again with confidence.  These quilts are so beautiful to my eye because the quilter was using what she had and making beauty within that.  I can do that, too! 

that quilting pattern

I recognize this approach from my grandma and other Mennonite grandmothers.  I can't imagine Grandma Weaver carrying around swatches to fabric stores to get exact matches in order to make a quilt to a color scheme.  She used what people gave her or what she found in the second-hand shop where she worked.  My sister has a weirdly beautiful yellow quilt to prove it.

Threads:  Af-American quilt

I admire the technical prowess in planned matched quilts with intricate quilting, but they do not move me.  Whereas, when I see a quilt made from real odds and ends, my heart melts.

2 vintage quilts - love the quilting patterns

I'm working on a wallhanging right now, something I swore I would never do because most quilted wallhangings I have seen are too cute or too clumsy.  Either commit to a whole quilt or just hang a darn picture on the wall!

vintage quilt

However, I acquired three orphan quilt blocks in the Mennonite-Grandma-Weaver style that needed to stand alone as art.  I'm adding some stitching, embroidery actually.  I'm eager to show them to you next week, after they accompany me on my travels for work.

Perfect Green Salad in the Brown-Bag Lunch

When I pack salad for a brown-bag refrigerated lunch, I don't dress it in the morning (it would be a disgusting slimy mess after a few hours).  I don't put the dressing in a separate little container either (which usually leaks; plus, most of the dressing seems to stay in the container when I try to pour it out). 

Instead, I pour the right amount of dressing  down into one corner of the plastic container I'm packing the salad in.  At lunch, I just mix up the salad and dressing and hey presto!  a crisp home salad for lunch.

Is this a trick that everybody knows?  It was a new thought to Rebecca, too, but maybe the world is made up of rolling epiphany waves and we're just on a different one from the rest of y'all.