herbs and toads, and earth day

I was in a bit of pain this past week, so I wasn't up to posting. It's better, but I don't have the energy I had before that. The return of the cold doesn't help, but I'm hopeful.

A steaming pot of chicken and dumplings I made during the week. This is one meal on which we agree :). I've been making this at least once a week for the past few months. it's comfort from the cold.

One pot recipe follows:

(Use a 2 quart pot, serves 4)
Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken breasts, rinse in cold water and cube.
Olive oil
Fresh or frozen chopped vegetables- carrots, broccoli, total of two cups (500 millilitres)
Seasonings--(Use fresh if you have herbs growing)
Chopped basil, thyme, minced garlic, onion, a pinch or two of salt, oregano, a pinch of sage and some parsley.
A quarter cup of cream or a cup of milk

Dumplings:
(The same basic recipe as homemade pasta.)
1.5 cups flour (375 millilitres)
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon to half cup water ( 125 millilitres) ( amount depends on flour absorption)
How to:
Stir fry the chicken in a little olive oil, about a tablespoon (15 millilitres) until golden.
Add seasonings and



Add three cups water, partially cover ( you want evaporation), and bring to a rolling boil; stir often.
Add another cup of water, then add vegetables. Bring to a boil again.
In the meantime, make the dumplings--
Mix the first three ingredients together, add the water a little at a time until the mixture holds together.
Choice-- Do not over work it, but roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to quarter inch thick, then cut into square dumplings (remember, they double in size when cooked) and drop into boiling pot OR just drop by rounded teaspoon full into boiling pot. Stir well.
Let it come to a rolling boil again until dumplings puff up and float on top, then add the cream and stir well. Turn the heat to low, and let simmer; stir frequently until the sauce is well blended and just begins to thicken. Remove from stove, and let sit for a few minutes to cool slightly if you can (This dish can be made a few days ahead if you refrigerate after it cools, I don't know if it does well frozen, as it's never lasted that long in our house ;))
Serve with a tossed salad and scones and jam if you like. Enjoy!

Earth Day
This is one of the two white pine saplings I planted the day after Earth Day in honor of two dear friends. One sapling is near the property line, and one down by the front of the driveway:

A few plants I bought at the green house last week: pansies, lemon thyme, basil and chamomile. I put them out on those warm sunny days we had last week, but it is too cold now. They say the weather will improve in a few days.



I went pick up the pieces of a small pot knocked over by the winds on Friday, and found a toad taking shelter there, so I left it alone. He was gone the next day. We usually see many in the course of the spring and summer, often disguised as part of our outdoor furniture :)








A partial view of my crafts shelves, and a bit of the adjacent pantry shelves on the right. I've been using my own handmade baskets there to store the things I use most often. I rarely make baskets any longer. It's not one of my favourite past times, but I did study under a wonderful teacher and friend about 25 years ago. I was her assitant for a short time, and I have fond memories of our professional and personal relationship.
I keep my sewing machine on the pull out cart on the right when not in use; I sew either on the work top, or here in the den. The recycle bin is below that.
The cupboard I keep mentioning, conspicuous by it's absence, will be on the far left of the crafts storage. adjacent to that is my work counter, where I have my bulletin board.
What's on your crafts bulletin board? Mine is a temporary resting place for knitting swatches and for quick sketches that have not yet been pasted to my art journal, as well as photos of things and people who inspire me.

Unseasonably warm and windy

On Wednesday I scraped old, loose paint from the little side porch , and yesterday I painted its landing and steps. I had just a bit of the floor boards on the side and a bit of the railing left to do, so I finished that today. (My vitamin regimen seems to be working, I was not as sore as I thought I would be afterwards. :) )
The door there leads to my studio/workroom so the little porch is a good spot to sit have a cuppa or lemonade, enjoy the the songs of the birds (and toads, they have been in fine voice *lol*) and let my imagination fly. Only minutes after I finished painting yesterday, a bird left a little present :)

My little herb garden is next to those steps, so hopefully, this weekend I'll be going to the greenhouse to get some annual herbs and flowers. I have some potted geraniums growing in the house, (I was able to save about half of the plants from last summer) but will only put them out during the day for now, as the nights are still too cold.
How does your garden grow?
Visit my MyCraftivity friend Debra's shops here and here. she makes beautiful jewelry.
I cleaned the ashes and the glass of the fireplace yesterday, which I do at least once a week in winter. I would like to delude myself into thinking I’ve cleaned it for the last time for the season, but I know it’s not so. I expect cold, damp rainy days to come; It is April after all, and I do like a warm fire on those damp days. Propane just doesn't give the same warmth :)

I've been making mini accordion art books lately. This one, bound in Indonesian rice paper, is available in my Etsy shop



Happy Friday, and Happy weekend to you.

Spinning, not passionate about it, still

It's been nice seeing and hearing the birds again. This morning we had wrens, chicadees, a bluejay, and small and large woodpeckers at the feeder. And it is sunny after a rainstorm on Friday and a damp, dreary wekend.
Since it is still too cold and windy for and outdoor BBQ , but hubby wanted ribs and bangers for Sunday, I made some in the oven, along with chicken for me. All, along with side dishes and green salads, more than enough for a few meals.































Spinning...
Last spring I set out to teach myself to spin. I made a spindle, bought a book and for a few minutes a day for nearly a month, I worked at it (the spindle on the left). I was able to get a couple of ounces of yarn spun, but was never comfortable with it. In September, I went to the wool and fibre festival, I took an empty spindle (on the right) and some of my roving and a kind expert gave me a brief lesson. She suggested I thin my roving, which did help (spindle on the right) and renewed my enthusiasm, but I‘m still not there yet.
I would still like to be proficient at it and would like having more lessons, though I’m not sure where or when. I know I don’t need to learn to spin; it’s just one of many of the ancient crafts in which I’ve always been interested . I will pick it up again, of that I’m certain. I welcome suggestions.















Also last spring and summer, hubby and I built a spinning wheel using instructions from a vintage booklet I found a long time ago. We improved on it by doing research online. It works, though some adjustments need to be made, and it needs a proper leather belt. But since I’ first need to be proficient in hand spinning, it will be a while before I’m ready to use it, though I have tried it out. I have to learn to better use the foot pedal. Barefoot seems work best.















It is time to sew more pillowcases. I bought a few yards of this fabric this weekend, and I have a few yards of other cloth I can use up.

It’s been an ongoing project for years now. We donate to an umbrella foundation for children, and they are in turn donated to a children’s hospitals. There are lots of other wonderful women involved in the project, and thousands of pillowcases and other items have been sewn and knitted. I’m also happily involved in other aspects of the foundation.
Here are a few cases I’ve made previously:

Visit Island Sweets shop at Etsy, her work is on my favourite's list .

I meant to upload this photo the day of Grand opening of the new shop. The package with the new circle punch arrived that afternoon, so I straight away made my first medalion for the bath salts on the right:

The size is right for several projects.

Talking of projects, I hope to upload somethings to the shop tomorrow.

I'm off to get a few projects, and laundry done.

bow tied art journal/mini scrapbook tutorial

The weekend weather was lovely. we raked the yard and garden a bit, and got a lot of little jobs done in and outside the house. Our microwave oven went kaput! last Wedensday, so we we went shopping for another, Hubby missed making popcorn! He also bought a new kitchen faucet, and a new desk chair. I think he has spring fever! We both do.
Today is very windy.
Tutorial :

This is a small no frills art journal/scrapbook, but you can personalize and make improvements. Since many of the materials used in bookbinding are specialized, I wanted to use materials which are easy to find or that one may already have on hand. Suggestions for improving and personalizing will be added at the end. Please ask if you have questions.

Supplies
Drill with quarter inch bit ( hand or electric)
Needle tool or small awl, or large, sharp sewing needle (all optional)
Pencil
Ruler
White glue
a brush for spreading the glue (optional)
Paper cutter if you have one or
Utility knife
Kraft paper
wax paper to protect sorfaces and the work.
C-clamp (optional)
Large paper clamps
or clothes pins
A heavy book to use as a weight.
Cloth tape, (optional) or masking tape
A 2 x 8.5 inch piece of cotton or linen cloth, cut straight on the grain.
Tapestry needle
Crochet hook size E (4mm) or larger or devise a hook tool from a piece of heavy wire
½ inch wide ribbon--- grosgrain preferably
24 sheets of card stock in your choice of colour, 8.5 x 11 inches

Mat board for front and back covers. (I buy leftover pieces from a framing shop for a minimal price.) or similar weight illustration board.

How to: (Please remember to protect your work surface )

Cut two pieces of mat board 8.5 x 9.5 inches (20.5 x 24.5 cm) also,
cut a separate piece of cover board precisely 8.5 x 1.5 inches (20.5 x 5 cm).
Draw a line down the center of this 1.5 wide piece, mark the center, then mark 1 inch (2.5 cm) in from each end on the center line.
You will be using this as a template for drilling holes, to aid in
making the covers hinges, folding your pages, and for protecting your cover when drilling the holes.


Using the template as a guide to the width, take each card stock piece and fold and crease one of the 8.5 sides 1.5 inches. Fold all of your pages this way.
These folds are the spine and they face up in this way when you put the pages and cover together.

Again, use your template to draw a line down one 8.5 inch side of both the front and back cover pieces on what you chose to be the wrong side.
Align the ruler with the line. Press firmly on the ruler and use the utility knife to cut with even pressure.
This right (or out facing) side of my back cover piece shows the cut more clearly:



On the wrong sides of the boards, align the top and bottom, and add a space of two board thicknesses between the two pieces. Use small weights to prevent them from shifting, then use a piece of the cloth tape or masking tape to secure either side of the two pieces while maintaining the space between the two boards.
Glue four 1.5 inch lenghts of the grosgrain ribbon as hinges:
Repeat for both covers. Let dry.

Glue the 2 x 8.5 inch piece of cloth over the hinges and up to the edge of the board. Use a heavy book with a piece of wax paper between the book and your work for protection and let dry.

Putting the book together:
Place the back cover,(wrong side up) the pages,(folds up) and front cover,(right side facing you) together, make sure they are even at the spine and at top and bottom ( the covers will be slightly longer than the pages at the opening edge). Use paper clamps to hold them secure. Then align the template with the spine and use more paper clamps to secure it. If you have a C-clamp, use it to secure the whole to the counter. Here I have protected the countertop with a wood board and clamped the counter, board and book together.
Drill the holes as marked on the template with the quarter inch bit as straight as possible. Almost finished.

Cut a piece of the grosgrain ribbon or cord of your choice three times the height of the book ( in this case, 3 x 8.5 inches). Fold it in half and
Use the crochet hook to pull the loop through the center hole, about an inch (the wider the ribbon the more difficult it will be to pull through). Using the crochet hook as a barrier to prevent the loop from coming out, pull the ribbon ends through one outer hole each. You can thread each end through a tapestry needle for each side.
Then, pull one end of the ribbon through the center loop, then the other end, crossing it over the first end. Pull the ends in opposite directions until the loop is snug, but not overly tight. Tie a bow, trim the ends. You are finished! Suggestions for improvement are below:

To improve and personalize, you can glue a picture to the front cover or before tying the book together, cover the front and back covers with decorative cloth or paper.

Cloth cover, heavy cotton:

Cut the cover fabrics at least an inch all around larger than each cover.
If using paper as your cover, spread glue on the front of the cover board to paste it down, then do the hem and corners as follows:

Cut the corners of the cloth at a 45 degree angle from the corner of the cover board, leaving about a quarter inch, or at least two cover board thickness of fabric at the corner. Using the following photos as a guide, dry fit the corners and the hems before gluing them down.
turning the corners and hems is one of my favourite bits:
Use needle tool or something similar to “iron” the first fold down and up against the board’s edge. Fold a miter at the adjacent side, iron it down with the tool or your fingers then fold down this hem. Now open up the folds and hems, paste them, re-fold and crease as with the dry fit.

Your corners should look like this, smooth and flat and at 45 degrees.



Use a big book as a weight, with a piece of wax paper between, to hold the cover flat while it dries. Do both covers in the same manner.
End papers : Cut 2 pieces of paper (I used brown Kraft paper) one eighth of an inch smaller than the cover all around. Glue it down, being sure to smooth out air bubbles. Let dry.

Use small sharp scissors to cut through the fabric to open the holes for the ribbon, place a dab of glue on the cut to prevent fraying, let dry, then restring as before.

Finished art journal/scrapbook-

Below, on the cover of the journal I made during our trip to the southwest, I drew a version of the flute player ( a native American symbol) directly onto brown paper, then I did a faux leather finish, and used leather string ties and beads for an antique look. The pages were also made from brown craft paper. You can also make your pages from whatever is most useful to you, watercolour, drawing papers, etc, or a mixture of both. You could also gesso the pages.

Grand Opening!

I'm pleased to announce the opening of my second shop on Etsy, Natural Soothers. I hope you will visit, and thanks for your support.
I think overall, things have slowed for most sellers at Etsy, so it may not be great timing on my part, but I'm optimistic. I figured since there was a lull, I had the time to do the new shop.

Coming Soon---I have wanted to do a tutorial here for a while, but I wasn't sure if it would be a craft or cookery. well, crafts won and I promise to post a demo of an easy project my next visit.

Brrr, it is getting cold here again. The winds started last night and it now about 18 degrees F. I look forward to the much warmer weekend weather that has been predicted.