Recycling

Posted on April 2, 2012 by entwife

I grew up learning to be frugal. My grandparents grew up during the Depression, which affected how my parents were raised. Mom said her mother told her never to throw anything away. As evidence of this we found a large steamer trunk full of old grocery receipts while cleaning the old farm when I was a child. I’m talking two-inch long strips of paper absolutely stuffed in the trunk and thoroughly preserved with mothballs. I’m still trying to get the horrible smell out of the trunk, which is now mine.

Now, I do not go to that extreme. I’m perfectly willing to throw away receipts or other unusable items and regularly make donations to local thrift stores to donate items still in good shape but which I no longer use.

The problem comes with the in between items. For example, towels with perfectly good centers and completely shredded edges. I’m talking a good inch of fraying. Fortunately I’m a crafter and a quilter. My trusty rotary cutter and ruler made short work of cutting out the perfectly fine middles (about 20.5 x 34.5 inches). A simple binding of double fold bias tape added around the edges and I’ve got four lovely new bathmats! I still have large strips of terry cloth to figure out a use for, though.

 

Now if I could only corral all the terry cloth fuzz migrating around the house. It’s as bad as cutting fake fur!

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March Love/Hate

Posted on March 5, 2012 by entwife

I admit I hate February. It’s cold, snowy, and dreary. March is more of a love/hate relationship. Today the weather in my area hit the mid sixties, the sun is shining, and I got to play outside. Today I love March. Snow is predicted for tomorrow, so I may hate March tomorrow.

One of the odd things about gardening on the porch is the microclimate it creates. I hate cutting things down for the winter because they keep producing. Last fall my snapdragons bloomed until a few days before Thanksgiving and the sage still had edible leaves until December. So I leave everything in place until it freezes or goes dormant on its own. Which means everything on the porch had been dry and dead looking for months because at that point it’s just too danged cold to go out and cut everything back.

Today that was perfect. It gave me the excuse to go dig around in the dirt before it’s really warm enough for planting. All the dead plants have now been removed, and I did get to start a few Lily of the Valley bulbs that were an impulse buy at the grocery store. I hope they do well; I love Lily of the Valley.

I also soaked every pot thoroughly. Mostly I do this to get the perennials going and see what’s going to decide to sprout. Other than the snapdragons. They come back on their own every year. Judging from their proliferation in migrating to every pot on the porch, as well as the lawn below I rather suspect these are not ordinary Earth plants anyway but alien invaders. Since they are pretty and have not attempted to suck my brain out my ear, I have no objection to their invasion. Although if they do have brain sucking capability I’d be delighted if they opted to snack on politicians. Just a suggestion if they happen to be following the blog.

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Is It Embroidery, Cross-Stitch, or Needlepoint?

Posted on February 1, 2012 by entwife

I get a lot of people asking me questions while I’m at the local yarn store where I pick up a lot of my embroidery supplies. Just because I know all the staff by name and which product is stocked where, people assume I’m an employee.  I’m starting to think I may spend too much time hanging out there. Hmm.

The question I get most often from people staring in confusion at the displays of kits and patterns is what is the difference between embroidery, cross-stitch, and needlepoint. Put simply embroidery is decorating fabric with thread. That’s it. Any form of embroidery can be used for quick, simple projects or elaborate, complicated designs. Deciding what project to work on really depends on what kind of stitches you want to work with.

Cross-stitch uses short simple stitches, which cross over each other like an X to create the design. Simple outline stitches can be used to add accents or definition to the image. The finished design is fairly flat without much texture. Usually cross-stitch is done with cotton embroidery floss or silk threads. I love this for quick gifts such as bookmarks, but I’ve also done quite a few large, complicated pieces.

This is my current cross-stitch project.
The title Mushroom Tabernacle Choir appealed to my sense of humor.

Crewel embroidery is what most people think of as embroidery. It uses a large variety of stitches to create the design and can incorporate a lot of texture as well as color. The thread used ranges from wool, cotton floss, silk, linen, or even metallic threads, changing the look of the finished piece. It’s a great way to add personal touches to clothing, as well as traditional wall hangings. I have to admit that I get completely lost in the project when I do crewelwork. As in I sit down for five or ten minutes and look at the clock to find I’ve been working for three hours.

This is my current crewel embroidery project.
It looks much better on my frame than in this picture.

Needlepoint starts with a canvas grid, which is then covered with thread. It generally uses yarns or wool thread, but small grid canvas can also use cotton embroidery floss or silk thread. Traditionally it was used to cover chairs or furniture as the canvas made the finished piece durable and a bit stiff. I’ve seen some hand painted canvases coming out in recent years, though that are absolutely fantastic.

 

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Beauty or the Bad Rap

Posted on January 12, 2012 by entwife

One of my favorite hobbies (and I have many) is embroidery. I love working with the colors, how the thread feels as it slips through my fingers, and watching a textured picture developing as I work.

Unfortunately embroidery gets a bad rap in the U.S. Part of this is because it takes time. “What, I won’t finish this tonight? Or even this weekend?” Which is a silly reason not to try something. Not that I’m completely opposed to quick projects, I frequently do quick projects, but why shouldn’t creating a work of art take some time?

The other reason I hear people demeaning embroidery is the image of ladies sitting around in extravagant and hard to move in gowns, trying to find something to keep the busy while the men were off crusading and having adventures. Which is silly and just shows that history is not being taught properly in U.S. schools.

Granted, embroidery was an occupation for wealthy women, but that was due to expense of materials. Once upon a time – hundreds of years ago – they didn’t have machines to spin thread or weave cloth. It had to be done by hand, taking months to create enough cloth for one set of clothes. So even plain fabrics were expensive. Dyes were also hand produced and many had to be imported from far away places, which made colored thread or fabric even more expensive. A person had to be pretty well off to afford a piece of fabric and colored thread to create something just to be pretty.

The other thing the wealthy had was time. The time to do something so frivolous as working on something just to be looked at. Hundreds of years ago most women started their day before dawn just to be able to cook breakfast. They carried in wood for the fires to keep the home warm, spent hours leaning over a wood stove or open fire to cook, hauled water in from outdoors, scrubbed floors on hands and knees, and washed clothes and dishes by plunging their hands into nearly boiling water – no nice rubber gloves to protect the skin. They tended animals, pulled weeds, and preserved food to get through the winter months without starving to death. Any sewing or knitting the middle or lower class women or girls did was done between other chores, or in the winter months by women who knew that they’d be picking out thorns or scrubbing out fish scales every laundry day until the garment fell to bits. Not to mention what all those woolen socks must have smelled like after being worn for hours of work in the fields under the hot sun, or to muck out animal shelters.

Of course every female during that time dreamed of having servants to do the scrubbing, weeding, hauling, and hard labor so she could sit in a comfortable, well lit room, working with soft, finely spun thread and fine cloth to stitch something that would be cherished and cared for.

So much for a boring occupation for ladies sitting around while the men had adventures.

 

 

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Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2011 by entwife

I love Halloween. It’s a complete kid holiday – dressing up in public, pretending, and getting treats. All no only allowed, but mandatory. As a kid I loved dressing up, running around after dark with friends (normally forbidden), and wondering if the bush that was moving was going to jump out and grab us. Of course, if it was giggling, the question was who was hiding. Then there was finding a good spot to jump out on other groups of kids. And trying not to giggle and get caught. High school pranks were much more interesting, but since I never got caught I’m not ‘fessing up to anything now.

Even though I’m past the age where I can do any of this, playing tricks is just part of Halloween. I don’t fill the yard with spooky things because 1 – I don’t have a yard and 2 – the preschoolers are just too cute to scare away. I will trick the trick-or-treaters though.

No, I do not do dreadful things to the candy. I also reserve my tricks for the kids who should know me by now, like the ones I’ve taught on Sunday or who’ve been my neighbors for years.

How it goes is this – they say “Trick or treat!” I yell “Yay, trick!” and snag something out of their bag. Not so easy with the kids just starting out and carrying pillowcases. That’s a pretty deep snatch. Some kids are so confused by this that I have to dip in there two or three times before they catch on.  The confused looks on their faces are simply priceless. Especially from the kids I’ve done this to three years running. I did say these kids should know me.

The ones who really crack me up, though, are the ones who grin and start negotiating. “Ok, you can have the peanut butter cup  (pause) but I want two pixie sticks and a bag of skittles,” or “Drop the taffy, but you can have the dark chocolate in exchange for Starbursts.”

I love Halloween!

 

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Flowers Amuck

Posted on October 26, 2011 by entwife

One of the things that fascinates me about plants is their unpredictability. Yeah, okay, they’re stuck in the ground and don’t move around much. Which means they don’t shed all over every thing and I don’t have to chase them down to give them food or water. But they do unusual things. Take my snapdragons for example. Last year I had two varieties, an orange and yellow multi-colored one, and one that was flame red.

I saved the seeds and planted them in my purloined flowerbed. Although it’s not as purloined as it used to be. The building was sold and the new owner has warned the gardeners off my flowerbed and invited me to take over others.

Anyway, this year I ended up with white, yellow, pink, fuchsia, red, and a variety of multi colored snapdragons.

No clue how all these colors sprouted from the original two. The red and yellow multi-colored snaps make sense, but the pale pink – no. Not to mention how they are threatening to take over every one of my herb pots. I may have to be rather severe with them next year and actually pull some of them up to give other plants a fighting chance.

 

I also have some fantastic clumps of bachelor buttons and flax. There’s also baby’s breath that has exploded in the last few weeks, but I can’t get a good picture of it.

 

I’m not sure what this one is. It was from a wild flower mix and spread from one plant last summer to over a dozen in a clump. I love the little bell shaped blooms.

This is the view from the front.

Yeah, I know. That’s why I can’t get a good picture of the baby’s breath. People keep asking me why on earth I planted the sunflowers in front. I didn’t. Last year I had sunflowers neatly around the edges of the bed, against the building. Clusters of little songbirds would land on them, tilting the stalks, and munch down the seeds. These all grew underneath where the birds were feeding. The sunflowers I planted last year were hybrid mixes so when they started to sprout I was curious to see how they turned out. They started blooming at only a foot high this spring, so I figured they’d stay small.

Whoops!

 

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A Completely Productive Day

Posted on June 16, 2011 by entwife

Today I had planned to be highly focused and productive. I even sat down last night and drew up a schedule, accounting for everything. I even included checking in with a friend to see how his date went last night. It went great, right until 10:30. That’s when a couple of guys showed up who’ve been hired to paint the metal railings at my apartment. No problem, they really need painting.

Well, one problem. My porch garden was in their way. So, half my plants are now pushed up in two rows along the building. The other half of the large dirt filled pots are now in my living room. The guys said they’d be finished tomorrow. I can live with it for that long, right?

Except …

They have to sand off the rust before they can paint. Which means power tools, which I can cope with. Until they hit the metal and make it screech so that the back of my neck tenses up like it does at the dentist’s office. Not really coping anymore. Then the sanding tool moved up the posts and the entire railing started to vibrate, making the metal scream like it’s being held down and tortured. Which it may be, I mean it’s not like the railing can say, “Hey, that sander really hurts. Knock it off,” now can it? At any rate, that’s the sound that made me bail.

I packed up my computer and headed for the park. It’s just up the canyon and the day is perfect for loafing around with a book, but I’ve decided I’m not going to let this interfere with my productive day.

Oooh, daisies! When did they plant those?

Anyway, just because my schedule has been thrown off doesn’t mean I can’t be productive.

Squirrel! I wonder if he likes grapes. Uh, no, and while I don’t speak squirrel I’m pretty sure he’s using words his Mama would wash his mouth out with soap for using.

Back to work. Oh, dang! The Battery’s low. There must be an outl…

 

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Spring Longings

Posted on June 11, 2011 by entwife

Being a true Entwife my thoughts turn to gardening every spring. I can’t wait for the weather to warm up and the sun to start shining (which has been pretty late coming this year) so I can get my hands into the dirt then watch things grow. My mouth waters at the thought of that first ripe tomato, straight from the vine, or a yellow summer squash cooked less than five minutes after being picked. I roam greenhouses looking for just the right flowers to make things interesting. No standard petunias here, I want what the neighbors don’t have.

The catch?

I live in an apartment. No yard, no garden space. I do have a porch, though. It’s about eight feet by four and a half feet. Not much to work with, still, everyone finds my place by looking for the plants. The weather this year has been cold and rainy and my little porch garden is not yet thriving but this is how it looked last summer.

The gap between pots in the middle is essential. Let’s just say that tripping over a pot of herbs with a watering can is not a good experience. Bruising and bloodshed were involved. Thankfully, pictures were not. Watering before the neighbors are up has benefits. Good with living things – yes. Graceful … not so much.

The door on the left is mine. This little stand is great; the rosemary, thyme, and oregano love this spot. Plus if I brush anything on the way in, it smells fantastic.

Last summer I also commandeered a flowerbed in front of the building, although tenants are not supposed to plant anything. It was choked with weeds and looked horrible. I have to walk past it every time I come home and couldn’t stand it any more. The neighbors loved it,

especially the sunflowers which were over six feet tall.

 

 

 

 

 

The building was sold over the winter, to an owner who is putting a lot more into the place. He was a bit skeptical at first when I told him that a lot of those little plants weren’t weeds, but now that things are starting to bloom he invited me to take over the flowerbed that opened up when he pulled out some manky shrubs. I take this as a compliment. I’m thinking snapdragons.

 

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