November - Time to Hunker Down for the Winter

With Halloween in the rear view mirror, the last piece of miniature candy devoured, the floor littered with their tiny exoskeletons, it's time to settle in, pack on the winter weight and prepare to hibernate for a couple of months. Time to drag out all those little indoor projects that can be accomplished during the shorter days, days when energy is lagging, motivation and attention span is absent altogether. Or better yet, finally settle down to a marathon of movies you couldn't get to during the busy warmer months, snuggle on the sofa with a cup of coffee, a warm fluffy blanket, and a pile of books.

November and its darker days always mean sewing and odds and ends projects for the holidays. The bright studio lights make the short, darker days, less so.  

But not this year! The weather has been INCREDIBLE. No rain or snow, and temperatures much above normal, into the 70s for many days.  It took well into November for us to even see our first frost/freeze and we haven't seen many nights below zero at all.  So plans changed to take advantage of the extended outdoor season.

November 1st I was able to purchase two 7.5 pound cushaw squash for Halloween clearance price, as here they are used as decorations and not as food.  They are one of THE premier pie and eating squash on the market.  I snapped these two up for $2 each and took them home, seat belted into the front passenger seat of the truck like two orphans.  In years past, I have cut them in half, seeded, roasted, scooped the meat out, and simply froze the puree in bags. Last year, my Ziploc brand freezer bags leaked all over the freezer.  What a sticky mess.  It was time to change tactics and experiment.  This year I made the puree and then loaded the silicone sheets of the dehydrator and let it do its thing for a ridiculous number of hours. I then powdered the sheets and vacuum sealed the powder in jars.  From 15 pounds of squash I managed 1 qt of powder.  To re-hydrate, I simply add hot water to Tablespoons of powder until I get the consistency I want.

Another unexpected clearance find was at the hardware store. The heat apparently didn't put many in the decorating mood near the end of the month, and the plethora of mums left on display were showing signs of the one freezing night we had had, as well as just being tired, past peak bloom.  I had stopped at the hardware store for a new bolt, and saw one of those 4 foot square palette boxes in the parking lot greenhouse overflowing with pots of mums.  I asked the manager if they were headed for the distributor for credit, or if they were headed for the dumpster.  He said they were dumpster bound if I wanted them, it would save them room. DEAL!  I loaded up all my truck could carry. These were huge, in 10 inch pots and were about 18 inches across and mounded, every color imaginable.  I placed them on the brick wall at home and let them go to seed, harvested seed and trimmed them down to 3 inches.  The dormant plants I placed in the workshop to keep cool and watered through the winter for regrowth next spring, and the trimmings went to the front ditch where, HOPEFULLY, they'll self seed me some plants. 

Lots and lots of baking goes on this time of year, but as we are trying to behave a little more, I've cut back on that.  I did manage to finally perfect my soft, fluffy, bakery style, 100% whole wheat cinnamon rolls. Yes, I know, cinnamon rolls aren't healthy, but 100% whole wheat makes them a little better, plus after we all had one, I individually wrapped the rest and froze them for later.  That way we didn't eat the whole pan over two days.

More time outside meant more photography and painting this month too.  I cleaned my studio desk out and found some missing inks, and a second gorgeous paintbox from The Little Brass Box Company This one is filled with more earth tones for landscapes.  Miss MoneyPenny , bos #007,is my first box and is filled with primary brights, and is suited for all around painting. The newest box is #1007 and has been dubbed My Precious. Just look at those color samples. ::Drool:: These boxes are individually, handmade in true croft style, by one man, out of brass in the UK.  They are the ultimate gift for the serious hobbyist or professional artist. They are a lifetime purchase and are heirloom quality. I can't say enough about these amazing paintboxes or the workmanship that goes into each and every one of them. (not paid to say this.)

Along the lines of art, kind of, I'll move onto the sewing room.  The new giant cutting table has been a God send. (remember she's from a church LOL)  Having a huge table that if fully covered in cutting mat, that is the right height and I can move all around to work has been amazing.  I'm still working on the body double sewing dummy from bootstrap, kind of.  I finished the first one, made from pique knit, and the measurements are correct, but even as low stretch as the knit is, it is too soft.  I don't feel like the padding is solid enough to dress the dummy and get any quality support out of it.  The bustline also didn't look right and the shoulder height certainly wasn't.  SO back to the drawing board.  I redrafted the pattern and sewed it all over again with cotton duck cloth.  The zero stretch of duckcloth will allow me to stuff the dummy and achieve the correct measurements for draping garments. (no photos yet)

 

I also completed several holiday gifts which, I'll show in December, after they're opened.  No spoilers. haha.

On a trip to the little thrift store I purchased two wool coats for $4 each. Yes, that says FOUR dollars.  They were on clearance as no one wanted them for the month they had been on display.  They were both from the 50s, Edinburgh. Both were pristine, inside and out, but the thread holding them together had dry rotted.  I brought them home and deconstructed them for their wool, which I have been making mittens from.  I couldn't let that vintage Scottish wool go to the dump!

With glorious weather I also took the opportunity to finally install a clothesline.  I've wanted one since we moved here. I just didn't know where to put it.  I finally remembered that my great-grandmother had hers right out the backdoor, running along the sidewalk to her garage.  Deal.  Good enough for her, good enough for me.  Two 4x4x4s, 4 bags of concrete, two deep holes, and some paint later and, tada!, it's a clothesline. 

Of course with a new clothesline, I needed a pin holder.  My mom had one that was made from a small hanger and a baby dress of mine that was stitched across the bottom, it still hangs in her laundry room, unused.  For lack of usable baby clothing, I made my own. BACK to the sewing studio. I traced the hanger for the top part of the bag, and drew straight down and made box corners at the bottom.  I also lined the bottom with a piece of stiff cardboard.  The hole was traced with a saucer, and simply sandwiched between some thin bias tape, top stitched. A fast and easy project. 

November critter report

Suzie is finally as up to speed as she'll ever be. Her back knees will always be weak, when she pulls on a leash or slips, she just sits down. The downside is that her months of lower, recovery activity put the pounds back on, even with being on prescription fat dog, dog food.  So now she's on the same food with no treats, and even tinier rations.  A beagle on a diet is such a joy, but she's getting the hang of it. And with the lovely weather, she and I have been able to take ridiculously long walks to both the state park to check to make the sure squirrels are still up all the trees, and to snort down every ground squirrel hole in our own pasture.

The hens are finally in full molt, but the weather is warm.  Usually they are naked and pin cushions and braving freezing temperatures.  Here is Delmar, sporting a partially grown in, partially falling out hairdo.

With the lake still in liquid form, the bald eagles are still here fishing.  Here is a lovely one above the house, looking down at the laundry, fresh on the line.

The cattle are due to leave at the end of the month, or maybe in December with this weather.  This years calves look great, even Butterscotch.  This was a great herd, no escapes, and they only knocked the electric fence down once, at the end of the month, when the urge for sweet green grass (mine) was stronger than the voltage from the fence.

As for the noodle necks, they're doing their thing.  They eat, sleep, dust bathe, fight, sleep, and keep us constantly entertained. Their fleece is now at the mill and should be back by February.  I love this unfiltered shot.  The red maple was fully in its late Autumn colors when we finally froze.  It lost all its crimson coat in one morning.  We hope you are all well. Thank you for visiting again. Until December (Just WAIT until you see what follows me home in December.)

Odds and Ends

 The cold snap and the effort and energy it took to get through it was insane. While you would think all that free time inside would afford a great deal of opportunity for project completion, you would be wrong. Everything took extra time to do, which burned energy and motivation to accomplish anything more than just making it through the day, quickly dwindled.

Smiling Angus

Even small things removed from the 'to do' list felt like major achievements that required celebration.

Delicious

The alpaca yarn for weaving was done at the Fiber Mill, so I drove out and picked that up. It turned out to be a lovely day, albeit a long drive. One bag of seconds, we decided to turn into batting or felt, for other projects. I'll go out and get that in a week or two.

The sewing table has seen it's use the past few weeks.  A set of 18th century pockets filled one snowy afternoon. Another was dominated by up-cycling an old quilt into a late 19th century quilted petticoat. I came across a full 9 yard bolt of woven plaid for a 1840s working dress and ordered the pattern to create it.  (I still need a nice contrasting fabric and 16 buttons.)And I made up another pair of aprons and another linen skirt.  Of course, another round of masks needed to be made. (I would never have guessed a year ago we'd still be wearing them, but here we are.)

The sewing list is no where near gone, but it is smaller.

The old knit dish cloths finally ran their useful lifespan, so I've been spending the quiet hour or so before bed knitting or crocheting new ones. Handy little things.

On the tape loom, I have 6 yards of cord in progress for my 18th century stays. The stays are a lovely bark brown and I chose the same brown for the ties with the addition of a deep mustard yellow.  It's quite nice.

On the baking front, I finally became annoyed enough with the NutriMill mixer and bread dough. I think the problem is the plastic bowl. It is so slick that the bread dough hooks grab the dough, but the dough has no purchase on the bowl and instead of getting kneaded, just slides in circles around the bowl. I found a dough machine that is usually used for making Chinese dumplings, but works just as well for bread. It not only mixes the dough, but also has a fermenting/proofing cycle that gently warms the bowl and allows for a great rise. This is awesome, as it frees up my microwave, which I was using as a proofing box. I am getting far better gluten development from this mixer than any other I've owned. Think of it as a bread machine, but without the bake cycle. (NO affiliation or profit. I bought it on my own.) It is the The Bear Dough Mixer I even used it to make whole wheat croissants! They were AMAZING!

Cold Doesn't Even Begin To Describe It

 We knew it would be coming. You can't spend all of a Central Plains winter working and being outside in nothing but a T-shirt and windbreaker, or a sweatshirt. At some point you KNOW you're going to pay for that. Usually we get brutally cold for a few days, five at the most in mid to late January. Sometimes we get a warning shot across our bow for a couple days in December. But for the most part, as cold, miserable and windy as the storms are, they are quick to pass, and normal temperatures creep in and let us enjoy winter without considering moving the whole farm to a warmer climate, like Greenland.

The snowfall this year hasn't been funny either. Instead of coming down one or two inches at a time, melting off the roads shortly after we plow, and then off the grass a couple days later. This year it has  come down down by the mountain load. And it has stayed, in one case a dump of 14 heavy,wet inches.

Now has come the cold. It started a few days ago with temperatures dipping well below freezing and it's stayed there, day and night, and it will for at least the next 10 days. (17 days below freezing is what it ended up being.) In fact, our temperatures will be below 10'F as a HIGH temperature for the next 7 days. Wind chills will be dropping us to -40'F this weekend. Luckily, the animals are kept out of the wind and we spend as little time in it as possible. (Our lowest real temp was -31 and wind chill that night was -45'F.)

The alpacas can handle the cold out of the wind. They have thick rubber mats on their stall floors and a DEEP layer of hay/straw on top of that to snuggle into at night. They have full access to inside the barn, which does stay a few degrees warmer than outside. They get extra food rations, and have heated water at all times. Yesterday, I wrangled them and put their coats on them. That will make them even happier. They do get bored, and when the sun comes out, they do wander down the pasture and have some hay in the shed, wrestle, or just go for a run.

Don't fret. The hens are just fine too. Nights are brutal, but their well designed coop and run are draft free, and the clear panels allow heat to build on a sunny day. Today when the temperature was only 6 degrees at lunch, it was 24 in the coop. I'm sure we'll have a couple end up with frostbite on their combs, but that happens every winter. They too have heated water and get extra feed, to include warm veggies for breakfast and dinner.  They've been as low as -18'F before, so I'm not worried about them. Merriweather, at age 6.5, has been put in the 42 degree workshop. She's old and gets a pamper spa week. 

So if I'm not outside, what am I doing? Last week I had a ball being the weekly host at @smallholdingsUK on Twitter. If you twitter, check it out.  It is a group of small land holders, originally only in the UK, but now all over the world. We share what we do, where we are, and how we do things. It's a great way to travel and meet new people and get new ideas without stepping out the door. :::Waving to all my new friends.:::

I've also snuck down to the sewing room. I can't sew while Doc is working in his office, so my pile of work has been waiting for me. I had a small project I could work on while he was upstairs working on non-school things. 

A few weeks ago I found a yard of very high quality flannel at the local charity shop for only $1. At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but it followed me home anyway. I found a list of things online that you can do with bits of flannel. I passed on the washable swifter type dusters and found someone that was making re-usable/washable 'paper' towels that snapped together and rolled up. What a great idea! I decided to forgot the cute snap idea and just went with the quilted rag idea.

I purchased a yard of grey terrycloth with my coupon for $5 and set to work.

I washed and dried both to mitigate shrinkage. I placed the flannel on the terry and pinned it all over. Wrong. Wrinkle planet. Wrinkles everywhere. That wouldn't do at all. I removed all the pins and put the flannel UNDER the terry and pinned- much better. 

Then I simply used the machine to sew a diagonal line across the whole thing and then mirrored that line about every 2.5 inches to quilt the two pieces together. Then I figured the best cut size to minimize waste, which turned out to be 11 inches square with only a tiny bit of loss to square the piece up.

I ended up with 12 quilted rags. They needed the diagonal that goes the other way which was faster and easier on an 11 inch piece than a giant panel. Then I simply finished off the edges with the serger. 12 nice mop up rags or dust cloths for only $5 and two hours at the machine!

Another treasure at the charity shop. a 12 ounce glass peanut butter jar full of pins, old sharp sewing pins and long hat pins, as well as tailor pins. The BEST treasure this time was a roll of pale lilac table cloth. It is 44 inches across and started as 100 foot long. There is at least 50 feet there as it almost filled it's original box. It feels like percale cotton. I'll test it. If nothing else it will be GREAT for pattern mock-up. If it's cotton, then a matching historic 1840 skirt/shirt set it is! How much was it. Well it was on half price sale. $2.50 yup. So check your charity shops !

The Purse

I had every intention of getting up first thing this morning, the sun shunning, rooster crowing, scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, and sit down at the sewing machine and work on the purse.

That is until the alarm clock went off at 7am, and it was cloudy, and cold.  With that, my dreamy hot morning breakfast turned into a cold bowl of fruit flavored Cheerios. (Which are amazing by the way, if you haven't had them yet.). So since my whole day was thrown off by a non sunny day, I decided to toss a load of laundry in the machine, prop my feet up on my new stool, eat my Cheerios, and catch an episode of Raising Hope.

THEN I wandered down stairs to get some more stabilizer and get to that PURSE!  But I was distracted, it happens SO easily. But honestly, how could THIS NOT catch your attention?!

The little boogers have figured out that the house is a giant abode, and that the downstairs door is the giant pophole that The Boy comes out of. The Boy, of course, means food.  Therefore by the transitive property, the giant door means food. After a 5 minute goofy conversation with a plate glass window and clueless chickens that don't speak English, The Boy did indeed pop out of the door, with food.  Huh, it worked.

Back to my task.  My machines, yes machines - multiple, are starting to take over the dining room.  One, the Bernina, has migrated to the kitchen island.   Janome is on the linen cabinet, and the Viking is on the dining room table.  So far, all of the countries are getting along and behaving.

JUST as I sat down with my stabilizer and purse pattern, the phone rang.  Telemarketer.

Back to the purse.  The embroidered portion was completed last night and still had its heavy stabilizer attached.  I decided that to give the purse more body, I would leave the stabilizer on, and even add some to the back piece as well.

I use sulky's adhesive stabilizer.  I highly recommend it.  You hoop the stabilizer and simply slap your fabric onto the adhesive.  No messy sprays to gum up your needle or hoop.  No hoop marks on your fabrics and no stretched fabric and puckered applique.

I trimmed the stabilizer to match the shape of the purse front and its matching back to the front.  This way your purse is lined.  The larger back panel also has a back piece so that the entire purse is lined.  I decided to place a piece of stabilizer between the two back pieces as well.  (sorry for the blurry photo)

So The front embroidered piece has a front, center and a backing AND the egg shaped back piece has a front, center and back.  Got it?

Each one of these sandwiches was attached together with the server to keep all three layers together.  I then dug out an old supply of deep red, double fold, bias tape.  I folded the tape gently along the top edge of the front panel and topstitched it in a matching thread, gently easing it around the curve.  Then it was trimmed to match the edge of the front panel.

The front panel was then set on top of the back panel and they were serged together. 

I then flipped the purse over so that the back was facing up.  I opened the bias tape and stitched it near the edge.  I then gently teased the bias tape to not only fold along its natural fold, but carefully around the curves.  This looks ugly, and scary, and messy.  It's one of those points during a project where you can feel the disaster that can ruin the whole project up to that point.  I didn't stop to take a photo.  I didn't want the bias to sense my fear.

After the bias tape settled flat, I realized that I'd been holding my breath and let out a big sigh.  I then topstitched the edge of the bias tape with a straight stich, and then a decorative stitch.  GIANT SIGH.

I decided to attach it to the skirt with an intricate silver filigree button.  This would require a buttonhole in the purse.  I chose a keyhole style of hole.  Who needs to breathe?  Back to the machine.

In this photo, the button is simply sitting in the hole so you can see what it would look like attached to the skirt.  I think the set is lovely!

Next is the red petticoat!