Wordless Wednesday Weaving

The note card holds the pattern for Bob's (my uncle) baby shawl.
This was done just weeks before he was born! (He's my age)
The photo of the card is taken on
simple weave dish towels that I'd done years ago

I know I usually do Wordless Wednesday; however, when I share the back-story, you will appreciate why I found the need to include my “preamble”.

So many interesting things I was given to go through!
This photo is taken on a simple weave buffet runner that I'd done in 2007.

Late last summer I had a visit from my Mother’s cousin (my second cousin). I hadn’t seen him for almost 45 years-because of living locations, not family feuds!  J  

Gorgeous fine linen cloth. 

Anyhow, he brought with him some of his mother’s (my great-aunt as well as my namesake) weaving and textile items. 

Just beautiful
The threads -refers to how the loom is threaded
The treadle- refers to the way the harnesses move;
Thus, creating various patterns.
Oh, I would have loved to have "played" on the loom with her!

It may not have seemed very exciting to others looking on (a metal card file box with index cards); however, he may never know the treasure I see it as! The cards all held patterns or samples of the completed patterns.

Before doing a large piece, it helps to see how the yarn/strings work together, how colors blend, or how it just "feels". Small sample pieces help the weaver decide BEFORE doing a large piece!

This was a card pattern my great-aunt had done for my great-grandmother!
I feel connected to a group of wonderful and creative women!!

Black and White, so dramatic!

For several weeks now, I have been scrutinizing the files carefully and am planning to make one of her patterns in the near future.

Fall Festive!
Love it!

Very fascinating!
The reed hook is what is used to thread the loom.
Totally cool that she was given this for attending a workshop 54 years ago!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing these old patterns as much as I have. 

Threads were so delicate.
So different from my wool runner that the pattern card is resting on.

Another day we will explore weaving in more detail and I'll share some more things I've created. 

My aunt used to make her own "fabric" and then makes clothing from that.
Example: skirts, coats, suit jackets, etc......incredible!!
Wish I could melt the years and have spent more time with her.

                                    I am still in the learning stages, so don't judge!  (smiles)

Certified, "Kentucky Proud"!

A Felted Wreath from Wool
shorn from my sheep and llamas.
~created on my farm~

Last Friday, HeartFelt Baskets & Gifts received its certification from Kentucky Department of Agriculture to be considered Kentucky Proud! This isn’t a complicated or difficult process, but it was exciting to receive nevertheless.

Felted Wool bag
(shorn, felted, and sewn)
~created on my farm~

I had filled electronically earlier this summer, but something must have gone haywire and they didn’t have the application. 

Hand Spun Yarn from Voyager,
one of the male llamas
~created on my farm~

When I hadn’t heard back from them, I decided to send another electronically and follow up with a hardcopy application.  

Wet Felted Eyeglass Cases
~created on my farm~

That did the trick and just a few weeks later I was thrilled to find the approved packet in my mailbox.

Hand Spun Yarn from Serendipity,
one of our female llamas
~created on my farm~

All the items that HeartFelt Baskets & Gifts sells are grown, harvested, processed, and created  right here on the farm.

Strawberry Jam
My brother loves to say, "It's the best in the world!"
~created on my farm~

Wheatweaving
Simple ornaments created from braided wheat
~created on my farm~

This won’t be a long blog, but wanted to make this status public.  Help spread the word.

Felted Hearts
Shorn Wool and dyed
~created on my farm~

Going Green in the Bluegrass!   

I will display the Kentucky Proud logo!

Biscotti d'Italia! (Italian Biscotti!)

Island of Spargi
in the Archipelago of La Maddalena, Sardinia
Our umbrella is the watermelon one!  

In celebration of my birthday today, I thought I’d share one of my favorite Biscotti recipes.

I spent a few years during high school living in Naples, Italy.  Then I returned to Naples for another year or so in the mid-1980s, and then finally spent a few years on the Italian island of LaMaddalena, right off the coast of Sardinia (Sardegna). I loved Italy….almost everything about it.  Well, actually, everything about it -- the food, the gorgeous vistas, the crazy drivers, the tiny and charming shops, the beaches, the markets, the earthquakes, and the people.  It took me some time to get used of the “haggling” over a price/item, but after my time in high school and learning the “ropes” from my Mom, I became an awesome haggler.  (Side story- I bought my guitar in Music Alley, in downtown Naples, for an awesome price AND with an awesome case thrown in!—at least it seemed awesome to this girl, who was 17 at the time!  J    )

On the ferry to Corsica, France. Not very far from
LaMaddalena, Italy

My experiences in Italy varied over the years, but I loved talking with the locals in Italian. It was such an adventure just to get information exchanged. Of course, the people love children and mine was no exception. They loved my oldest daughter, who was 2 yrs old at the time. In LaMaddalena, we would head downtown to the Piazza every evening for “la passeggiata” (stroll). Sometime we’d see folks we knew, other times not.  It didn’t really matter.  They eat supper late, and would spend time mingling in the Piazza (square) before going home to supper.  We frequently ate early, and then would head out to the Piazza before returning home to put Kristin to bed. There was no TV there, so reading or spending time with friends was how leisure time was spent.

Once they've baked, slice them and turn on their sides

One of my favorite snacks that I loved to get was the Italian graffe (sugar donut). We would occasionally get one on Saturday morning when we headed to the Piazza for a morning passeggiata!  J (In typing this I’m realizing I did a lot of walking!  I also ran around the top perimeter of the island everyday with Kristin in the jogstroller!  No wonder I was able to eat all that great food and not really pay the price! Ha! There’s that, and I was younger!)

Now to the point of the blog – Another favorite of mine was Rococo, an almond “biscotti” type cookie that was featured mostly during the Christmas season. I loved it in high school so much that Mom remembered, and sent me a care package when I was at college in New Hampshire (late 70s)! It was called Rococo, because it was almost like a rock…..twice baked sometimes has that tendency!

They are awesome dipped in chocolate
AFTER the second baking!

So, in honor of Rococo, I will share with you my Biscotti recipe.  It’s not hard like a rock, but it still brings back memories of happy times, not happier time, just happy times!  I hope you enjoy it, too.

Biscotti

1/3  cup salted butter/margarine

2/3 cup sugar
2 cups egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Blend in the egg and vanilla.  Mix flour and baking powder.  Stir in the orange zest and almonds.  Chill for 10 minutes.

Divide the chilled dough in half and roll each half out into a slab about 2 inches thick.  Place the slabs on lightly oiled baking sheets (or on parchment paper without oil) and flatten slightly.  Bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 275 degrees F.

Charlie on the wall around our patio. A fierce day in November,
with storm clouds building over the islands of the Archipelago.

Let the slabs cool for 10 minutes, then cut each slab into 1/2 inch wide slices.  Place the sliced biscotti on their sides on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until crisp and dry, 8 to 10 minutes.  Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container, where they will keep for several days.

As an exciting extra touch, melt chocolate in a double boiler or microwave and dip in one end of each biscotti slice, approximately 1/3 of the way up the slice.  Let chocolate harden on wax paper. Then store in container.

Wrapped and ready for finishing touches.

Count Your Blessings, and Your Sheep!

Yerba
Icelandic wether

We have a small flock of sheep that are more pets than anything else. Their crazy antics bring comic relief to stressful days and their fleeces provide me with a hobby. I have been thinking about adding a few more sheep to the flock and for me that is more involved than simply purchasing a few, driving them home, and opening the gate.  Health, breed, disposition, and fiber qualities all play a factor in my selection.


There is more to the definition of animal husbandry than simply "concerned with the production and care of domestic animals." We cannot show interest for a fleeting moment when we purchase an animal and then never again.  Anything in our care must require constant and diligent attention, concern, and maintenance.

Mate`
Icelandic twin sister of Yerba (Hence YerbaMate)

Unfortunately, that means getting up early and feeding everyone even on a "day off"!   Like the lyrics from the hit song by Toby Keith and Willie Nelson, "Whiskey for my Men, Beer for my Horses! (Well, maybe not the best example!)

A few of my flock are Icelandic, and although I may seek another breed, I wanted to showcase Icelandic sheep today for those who may be interested in their background information.  Much of the information that I am sharing is from an excellent resource book, The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook, by Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius.

Mate
February - weeks away from all that wool coming off!

"Vikings settled Iceland between 870 and 930 CE.  They brought sheep with them and added a few more a short while later.  Since then, it's been illegal to bring in more sheep (to Iceland).  Developed in almost total isolation, the Icelandic breed is one of the world's purest livestock populations..... Although sheep are grown primarily for meat in Iceland, the breed is best known elsewhere for its fleece."

A scarf out of spun Icelandic yarn
is just one of the many things you can do with their wool.

All the Icelandic sheep in North America are descendants of Yeoman Farm in Ontario, Canada.  In 1985, they brought the first Icelandic sheep to our continent followed by another flock in 1990.


Icelandic sheep are double coated, meaning they have an outer and under coat.  The outer coat is called tog and is anywhere from 4-18 inches, 27-31 microns.  The tog's long fibers may be worsted when spinning and may not be so comfortable to wear next to your skin.  Believe it or not, the fiber will feel and handle differently if shorn at different times of the year.  What may not feel nice next to your skin one year, may feel entirely differently with next year's fleece.

Batting for a quilt is an awesome
application of the wool! Ahh, sweet dreams!

The thel, the under coat, is usually 2-4 inches in length, 19-22 microns.  The thel should feel wonderfully soft next to your skin and should be woolen spun.  You don't have to separate the two coats to spin.  I have spun them combined and also separated.  It just depends what you will be using the yarn for that determines how you spin the wool.  The terms tog and thel are applied to all double coated animals, such as llamas, sheep, or others, but originated with Icelandics.



Icelandic sheep come in a wide range of color - White, tan, brown, grey, black, and mixes.  One of the most interesting conversations I have had about sheep, happened last year at the Kentucky Wool Festival while talking with the farm owner of Flat Creek Wool and Pottery . www.flatcreekwoolandpottery.com  Her booth was right across from mine and in between customer visits, we talked about sheep color genetics.  I was so fascinated!

Wool can make beautiful decorations for the home.

Leader sheep -
"Within Icelandic flocks, especially intelligent individual sheep play important social and protective roles in the flock, alerting the others to hazards like predators and storms.  Called Icelandic Leadersheep, they are specially identified and bred. In 2000, the Leadersheep Society of Iceland was founded to conserve them."





Whether you choose a sheep, dog, horse, or any other animal, please remember that your selection is a long-term commitment. Don't make a whimsical decision at the expense of a creature that is dependent upon you for food, shelter, nurturing, and safety. That being said, animals bring a special element to our lives and I wish you well in your quest.

If you aren't ready for the commitment,
perhaps a yard ornament would work better (smile).
allisonsconcreteky.com

A Stitch in Time, Saves Nine

Friends' Quilt top that I am talking about.

As a very, VERY young child I had contemplated and analyzed that expression over and over. When I think back about it, it makes me shake my head and smile.  I had wondered how one stitch could equal nine stitches? So I rationalized that the stitch size would have had to be different! Even before I realized it was referring to nine stitches, I thought it was saying I had to sew something before 9:00 and I would have saved the day! I’m sure this related to my learning to tell time when I was 4 years old, and at that point in my development, I was obsessed with clocks and numbers. Now, remember, I did say YOUNG child!  J  Of course, later in my elementary years it dawned on me that it meant fixing something, before it got worse, would be beneficial.  (ounce prevention/pound cure type thing).

Pinwheel phase!

Well, I’ve gotten totally sidetracked, but what sparked this whole blog passage, is my involvement with helping a friend preserve a memento from the past. Last year, a sweet friend of mine had mentioned off-handedly that she has a quilt top that her grandmother had made for her about 26 years ago, tucked away in a trunk. 

Ohana making herself comfortable
on one of my daughter's quilt.

Her grandmother has since passed away, her mother isn’t sewing any more, and she doesn’t sew at all. I knew that her grandmother had passed away, but the other two tidbits of info, I didn’t realize until recently.  

I remember thinking it was so sad to have a quilt just tucked away; but, we were with a group of people at the time and I didn’t follow up with additional questions.

Jelly Roll quilts, not yet assembled.
Super easy for beginners!

A few weeks ago, I was sharing a quilting story with her, and she mentioned the quilt top again.  This time I followed up with her!

In a nutshell, I am going to help her get this quilt top out from her trunk and completed it so it can finally be used. I picked it up from her office last week and we laughed how the colors she’d loved and chosen as a teenager were not going to look so dashing in her master bedroom!  J  I am going to try to bring in some darker colors and prints to use as borders and backing, to make this appear a little less girlie….  J

Working different patten layouts
for Log Cabin quilt. Other daughter's 

There is just something “special” about wrapping up in a quilt.  My grown daughters call quilts “mama hugs” or “burritos of love”. I guess you must be getting the visual of how well they wrap themselves!  They are both away from home and have their quilts with them.  They’ve both said that whenever they’re having a rough day, crawling under their quilts just seems to make the problems lessen and them feel closer to home. 

Another look with same blocks.

I’ve chronicled the quilts I’ve made by various patterns for various years.  It’s amusing to see my “pinwheel” or “log cabin” phases. 

I’ve loved every quilt that I’ve made and have found “homes” for each of them. 

Knowing that a quilt I’ve made and given away to comfort someone when they’re chilled, sick, tired, stressed, or just in the mood to feel “cozy”, makes me feel as though I’ve achieved that “stitch in time!”

A more "toned-down" version of
the Christmas quilt.

If you don’t sew or quilt, I hope you’ll realize it’s never too late to learn. And what a great thing to pass on to someone, be it the skill of sewing or the quilt itself!

May the Circle be Unbroken

Doesn't really pertain to the Blog,
but thought it would bring a smile to your face.

An exciting norm of our society, for women at least (although some include men), is our ceremonial ritual of a bridal shower. As adults, we’ve realized that the young couple will be heading out on their own, and consequently without the resources of their parents’ garages, cupboards, and attics we host a “shower” to bestow upon them gifts we know they’ll need!  With so many of the young people that we know getting married, an interesting dinner conversation occurred in our house a year or so ago, but has stuck with me.

Quilt and Afghan
Things you need for your home!

My oldest daughter, who was getting ready to leave to serve out of state in an AmeriCorps position, asked why don’t we have “showers” to celebrate young people just heading out on their own. Her points were valid as she brought up the fact she was going to need most things that a young married couple would need.  She’d need the tool kit to fix items in her home, lawn mower to take care of her yard, dishes to eat on, pots and appliances to cook with, towels for the bathroom, lamps for the living room, bed to sleep on, dresser for her clothing, etc., etc.,

Rite of Passage to receive your set of tools!

The conversation then transitioned to how differently the paths are today from previous generations.  A generation or so ago, couples married right out of high school; they went from parents’ homes to their home. Then it seemed the norm was to complete college and then be wed, with the couples still not actually “on their own”.  Going from dorm living/dining hall living to your own home still wasn’t really experiencing self-reliance.

Present day couples seem to come together with two apartments worth of “stuff” that they must now find a way to mesh together.  Suddenly there may be 2 toasters---whose is better? Now as we buy wedding gifts, we are beyond the need to furnish them with the basics, they have that. 

So, back to the dinner conversation……….

Extra quilts and blankets for the bed

We debated what few items someone would actually “have to have”.  I KNOW this is will be different for different people; however, these are the TWO items that my daughter had to have: 

1) DeWALT battery screwdriver/drill   

 2) Family recipes! Doesn’t quite seem to be what   the average 25 year old would ask for, does it?  

       J 

(Although, I use my DeWalt almost every day, so I understood her feeling that she couldn’t possibly live without one.)

Gentle breezes (and gale force gusts) help
create the beautiful sounds from the wind chimes

Knowing that we could easily provide both of those items (and we even threw in a beautiful sounding set of wind chimes that she could hang near her window to remind her of the sounds coming from the porch at her home many states away), my youngest daughter and I started putting together a cookbook of favorite recipes. We did it in “scrapbook” style with family photos included to bring back memories whenever she cooked. 

A recipe that my mother had written
 to put in my book over 30 years ago!

We hand wrote each recipe card and included heartwarming family trivia on every one of them. We covered breakfasts, casseroles, dinners, desserts, breads, hors d’oeuvres, punches, salads, holiday recipes, soups….you name it, it was there.  

What was even more special about this task was that many of the recipes that we were copying to put in her book, were from recipes that MY MOTHER made to put into MY book back in 1980! This gift to my daughter was just another way of keeping the generations connected.

Large Gingerbread House that I made 

As a family tradition, each year at Christmas I bake MANY gingerbread houses.  We assembly them all and then decorate to give as gifts to friends.  Of course we keep one or two for our house, too!  

Her Grandfather and Great-Grandfather
decorating mini gingerbread houses that
I'd made for a family Christmas party 20 years ago.

On the page where I included the gingerbread recipe, I also included a picture or two of friends and family decorating all those houses through the years.

I baked mini gingerbread houses for both daughters'
classrooms each year and the students decorated them.

Needless to say, she loves her DeWalt; however, even though she has a camera, smart cards, and flashdrives full of photos, she says she loves to get out the cookbook, hold it, and think of home.

I hope this prompts thoughts of ways that you can help make the young people you have in your life adjust a little easier to life on their own, while still keeping the connection there for generations to come.