Merry Christmas to all of you and my very intent wishes for all of us to have a fantastic and wonderful New Year!

I have had my hands full this past month, but I have a special project all lined up to share with you that I think you will like.  Stay tuned for my next blog on how I made these French script candles....

When Does One Equal Three?

XO Gallery bracelet by Kelly Conedera

For some time now, I have been in awe of XO Gallery jewelry artist Kelly Conedera's drop-dead gorgeous creations.  I adore the uniqueness, boldness and freedom of her jewelry designs.  Her use of color and shapes and textures and mixed metals just amazes my beginner's brain.  Although I like my own jewelry babies very much, I am still growing and developing my own style.  I want my jewelry to be more expressive and make a statement.  No run of the mill stuff will ever do for me.  My dear hubby used to buy me fine jewelry for occasions and I was always properly grateful, but they sit on their boxes never seeing the light of day.  ...Or night for that matter.  I get my thrills wearing artsy, rustic, natural pieces that have a personal meaning for me.  Wrap an uncut diamond in a rusty, soldered bezel and hang it from a piece of driftwood and you may turn my head.  I leave those cut and polished gems for the rest of you jewelry lovers!

I have been studying what Kelly's "Jewelry With Soul" has in them that makes them so wonderful in my eyes.  It has always been the case for me that I learn best by observing, and my builder brain will run construction forward and backwards figuring out how to DIY something I want to make.

In this case, I am pushing myself with this project as I am not working within my own comfort zone, but attempting to do this in XO Gallery style.  It forces me to use color more boldly and look at the texture of beads and how they interact in a way I am not used to doing.  These are the techniques I am guiding myself with:

•  Bold colors
•  Bold clasps
•  Dangles near clasp
•  Mixing metals
•  Large and small beads used texturally
•  Seed beads in strands
•  Large hole beads to hide wire end connections 

 This gave me a new learning challenge that was exhilarating and freeing.  The main beads are colors that I am not used to exploring:  yellow and black.  These yellow beads have been around for years, and I think they were part of a macrame purse that wore out decades ago.   I have thrown in some turquoise and red beads for accent.  Initially thinking of blackened silver metal, the decision was for antiqued and shiny brass instead.  This piece turned out to be a stunning one if I do say so myself.  It was often a struggle and a stretch as each element was tackled.  


 SO, ...to give you the answer to the question, when one equals three could really be turned around to "when does three equal one?"  ...And the answer is a stack-able bracelet set!  It was supposed to be one bracelet yet as work proceeded it made sense to be three instead.  Here is my stack-able creation

*****...And, as an added bonus, I have a finger-saving tip for anyone out there fighting the "flying jump ring" battle.  As a beginner, I am still working with rudimentary tools.  Jump rings are cut with flush cutters and filed into shape so the ends meet.  It is a grueling job and hard on fingertips.  I discovered that if I use a tiny scrap of paper around the jump ring to protect it from gouges, I can use the front oval of the crimp pliers to hold the jump ring while I file away.  Not only does it save my fingers from bruising pain (that happens when you love chain) but it holds very securely and keeps those rings in place.  It even works wonderfully for fidgeting those jump rings into closed position.  
 

Pumpkin Waffles in Clouds of Cream Cheese and Fruit

Oooooh this was soooo gooood!

While doing my thing on Pinterest this past Sunday morning, a search turned up this recipe for pumpkin roll pancakes on Holiday Cottage.  My current favorite dessert recipe for the holidays is a pumpkin roll and I was hooked.  I was intrigued by a brief glimpse of chef Anne Burell on the Today show doing up a recipe using pumpkin and ricotta cheese and I had been drooling ever since.  Thing about it is this:  I wanted to make a recipe for waffles instead of pancakes.  I much prefer the crispness and bite of a waffle over a mushy pancake.  Knowing changes would have to be made to the basic recipe, I found this link which was very helpful.

As a rule, I am trying to cut sugar out of the diet.  For years I have been trying to loose a few pounds, and they just haven't gone anywhere.   Recently I was VERY pleased to discover that not having my usual honey in tea or coffee or a sweet snack made all the difference.  Pounds began shedding as if by magic.  After dumping six, I have sort of plateaued, but I guess I might have to work at it to get more off.  Anyway, I did not want to use more sugar for a crispier crust, so I actually reduced that in the recipe.  After all, there is plenty of sweetness in the topping and you could always drizzle this with maple syrup if you have a sweet tooth.  Ricotta didn't make it into the batter, but I did use buttermilk.

Pumpkin Waffles in the Clouds

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2. 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3. 2 teaspoons baking powder
4. 1 teaspoon baking soda
5. 1/2 teaspoon table salt
6. 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
7. 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8. 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
9. 3/4 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
10. 2 Tbsp brown sugar
11. about 1 cup buttermilk
12. 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
13. 2 tablespoons  melted butter or safflower oil
14. 1 egg, separated
15. 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 

1. Pancakes. Mix together flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Make sure to break up any clumps of brown sugar. In a separate bowl, whip the egg white into the soft peak stage.  And in yet another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vanilla, oil, egg yolk and pumpkin. Combine wet ingredients with dry and gently combine until mixed. Now, gently fold in the egg white mixture.  Do not over-mix.  The batter will be quite thick, but still easily pourable.
2. Heat your waffle iron to medium-high heat. When hot, use a nonstick spray to coat the grill. Drop 1/3 cup batter onto the grill and cook until the steaming stops and waffles are nicely browned and slightly crispy.
3. Serve with a dollop of cream cheese topping and a sprinkle of chopped pecans and perhaps a drizzle of maple syrup.
4. Makes about 6 waffles.

Sauteed Fruit

1. 2 Green apples diced
2. Handful of raisins
3. Handful of dried apricots, chopped
4. 2 Tbsp butter
5. 2 Tbsp brown sugar
6. 1-2 tsp of Cinnamon

Melt butter in frypan over low heat and add apples.  Saute a few minutes until apples begin to soften and then add raisins and apricots and cinnamon. Add sugar and enough water to cover the bottom of the pan and allow it to simmer over low heat and it develops a syrup.  Don't let it get too dry!  This can be used alone for topping waffles of pancakes as a healthier alternative to syrup.

 Cream Cheese Clouds

1. 4 ounces cream cheese
2. 2 Tbsp butter
3. 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (or as needed for consistency)
4. 2 Tbsp pumpkin puree
5. 1/2 cup of cold sauteed fruit

 Prepare whipped cream by beating cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.  Fold in the fruit. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Far Far Away

I was flying off into the distance (and yes that is a propeller!) this past week to a place I hold dear sitting deep in the mountains of Pennsylvania.  Family business called and so I went for the first time in over a decade to join with all my cousins.  I had never seen the new lodge that has replaced the family cabin that burned down.  It was a fast and furious weekend filled with the weight and pressures of many issues, one of which was wondering how adjustments from passing years would have changed us all.  Well, we all have gotten older, so that was a gentle impression all around. 

Old lady aches and pains paid me a visit and so I was not up to rambling to places I wanted to visit, but I did manage to take some small walks and do just a little foraging, and I took lots of photos to share.  As I walked the creek, I was hoping to find a small piece of driftwood.  For years I had one that I used as a shawl pin.  It slipped out on a trip to the grocery store about a year ago, and I do miss it.  Sorry to say I did not find one.

There are always flowers for filling vases, whether they be day lilies, Queen Anne's lace, bee-balm, daisies, forget-me-nots, yarrow, and many others.  I did not have time this visit to forage for wild herbs, but on other visits I always did.  The woods and fields are abundant with natural remedies, but they didn't help a young girl named Mary who died of rheumatic fever nearly one hundred years ago.  This sad "ghost" story never ceases to intrigue the generations and there is always someone who wants to see her grave.  Rest in peace Mary.

So many memories of so many good and nurturing times.  Some things are just so simple, like waking down the old road and feeling the powdered dust of the clay ooze between my toes.  Now however, the road is covered by a layer of small gravel and bare-footing there would be just a little too uncomfortable.  Such is life, enjoying what we have when it is within our reach and then letting go once it is gone.  Changes are inevitable and we must make adjustments continually.

Just like this new "old" stove which has its place next to a modern electric one and the microwave heating my cup of tea, above it, transitions ought to be subtle.  I loved the real old stove we had there and used it whenever I visited.  There is absolutely nothing like "cabin toast" made from homemade bread and toasted over the dieing coals, spread with real butter and homemade jellies.  Add to that crispy fried scrapple, sunny-side up eggs, sausage and bacon, and sometimes flapjacks if Uncle Jim was cooking.  In the Fall, night temps went down to the forties, and I would wake at four something in the morning and rush downstairs to start a fire in the stove.  Getting back up at seven, the cabin was warm and cozy with the stove hot to cook on.  Oh, those really were the good old days!

BedSack Frock

Yay!  I am making progress on the BedSack painter's style frock that I started a few weeks ago.  I was in a holding pattern for a while due to decisions regarding design.  I was really trying to keep in the neutral color range and colors just kept intruding into my plans.  Here are some photos and a few things I have done so far....




This is the frock with sewing done except for buttonholes.  You can see a little discoloration but this will not be an issue after I do some over-dying.


In this second photo, I show a close-up of the tall skinny pocket I added just for my reading glasses.  I have patched in some fragments of lace trim and leftover quilt scraps to make it a little more fun.

 

 

If you iron the shiny side of freezer paper to the back side of the fabric it will adhere and stabilize  so that you can paint of draw or write verse as I have done.  This happens to be a poetic sort of thought I had years back as I gazed out over a small mountain meadow as dusk was settling over the valley.  I thought I had enough room but got too expressive toward the end of the last of it and so it is not so perfect..

"Like bubbles in a glass of champagne, fireflies arose from the tall grasses of the meadow and twinkled away into the dusky twilight."

To complete the thought, I added machine and hand embroidered grass, and some rhinestone sparkles to simulate fireflies.  Here is the hoop I used for both the machine and hand work.  It is essential to keep the fabric taut so the stitches will not pucker the fabric.  There will be more updates as I move along with this garment, but I do not expect to be in a hurry with it.  I think it will be a work in progress for a long time to come.

Semi-Circles

Just a quick update for those of you readers who may by some remote reason be interested, here is an evolution of what the Bloom knitting is doing...

These semi-circles will be for the hem edge and I think that I will be using strips sewn together for the body.  So, I will knit these upward in straight rows until I get to the length I want, and then they will be pieced together.  I am planning the body to be all green, but one never knows until it happens!

I just came from the fabric store a little while ago.  A touch of cool weather reminded me that my loved too much quilted silk jacket is going threadbare in oh so many places.  I picked up some fabric to trim over those bare spots and keep that jacket going for maybe another 11 years.

Out of the Fog

What can I say about blocks to creativity that has not already been said?  I have been in a funk for a few months now.  ...Too many cares, too many others to see to.  That is often the way of it for caregivers.  ...Issues of change, ...getting older, ...not enough rest or "ME" time.  Well, slowly I have been pushing up and out of the fog of oblivion and grabbing back some of myself, and what better way than to make something fun to wear?  I love clothing and adornments.  It's not so much about how many clothes I can squish into my closet and drawers, because I certainly have plenty, but it is about a love of color and texture and how I express myself.  I guess you could say that I am like a chameleon (except that I am certainly better looking), feeling it's necessary to change with my moods ad surroundings.  Anyone that knows me well can see at a glance how I am feeling at the moment just through a look at what I am wearing.  Years ago, when my first marriage ended, I spent colorless months in browns and gray and black.  Ugh!  Now I am much more fond of whimsy and bright colors.

Jane Thornley's Bloom

Getting back to knitting!  Last week I started a new shrug (I think).  ...Never quite sure of what something will turn into!  The pattern I am using is Jane Thornley's Bloom.  Jane's last few patterns have all been based on those wonderful free-range semi-circles that seem to shout out happiness and whimsy to me.  I do better with shrugs than wraps however, so shrug it will be.  I am feeling very limey and have almost nothing to wear in lime and greens.  That's a good excuse to make something don't you agree?

  

Sewing too!  I have had a "too much thought" period and I had to burst out of that too.  Too much mentalizing over a project can kill it deader than a doornail.  The project in question is the tunic top with the embroidered fabric.  Anyone who has done serious sewing knows that there is often a fear of cutting into a precious piece of fabric, and this has had its grip on me since I conceived the idea.  I have to keep reminding myself that if I don't go through with this project, the fabric will be back in storage and who knows what will happen to it?  Anyway, to get up my scrapping/patching courage, I have begun on a less invested piece of work.  I had an old bed-sack of still good muslin, and for some time I have bee wanting a painterly kind of frock.  Going through old patterns, I found just the thing for a Lagenlook style frock.  I am sure that I will be making all versions before I am done with this pattern!  I have combined the bottom middle one with the top right.  Mine will be center front opening but with closed ruffles in the skirt.  ...Or maybe it will open all the way.  We will see.  All the pieces are cut, and I plan to add applied design that will have a theme of some kind.  I am currently in the mood to keep the colors in the close natural hue of the muslin, but that can change.  Really, nothing says "paint on me!" like an empty canvas!

Next time be prepared for a mantel surprise!