Tag: self sufficiency

Suds and Sweets

Nope, not beer, though I have been known to make it too. I realized that my homecrafted soap was nearly gone and as it takes 3 to 4 weeks to cure, I knew that I was going to have to get brave and make a batch or two on my own without my mentor’s help. I have made two batches in her kitchen and only one here alone. I have been procrastinating but realized that if I didn’t get over my reluctance and accept that I am still a novice and it might not be perfect, we were going to run out. Summer is not a good time to run out of soap. Sure, I could go to the grocery or the Farmers’ Market and buy some, but that goes against my nature.

Yesterday, the soap making box was hauled out. I quickly realized that I didn’t have the exact oils that the recipe I selected called for, but know that you can substitute some. I quickly forgot rule #1, that in soap making, everything is weighed and I measured out the water for the lye mix in liquid ounces. I measured the oils by weight though. The recipe that I selected only filled my good mold about halfway, but I covered it, wrapped it in old towels and put it aside to saponify. Today, when I pulled it out, it was a bit softer than the soap I made with my mentor, but the 6 bars are curing for use in a month. Since the recipe only made 6 bars, I resupplied on the oils that I was missing yesterday so that I wouldn’t substitute and followed a new recipe to the letter. When I added the essential oils to scent it, the soap seized and it is crammed and packed in the molds, covered to saponify. It won’t be pretty, but it will be soap.

Batch one curing.

Batch two about to go under cover to saponify.

Today’s raspberry harvest brought me up to the 4 cups I needed to make jam. Mind you, I don’t need any more jam, still having blueberry and blackberry left from last year, peach that I made a week ago, but I grew these raspberries and I want to savor them all winter. So down came the pots and jars, the berries mashed, the sugar added and jam making round two for the season begun.

Jam cooking while the jars heat beside it.

Six one cup jars ready to for canning.

Six jars cooling on the counter, as I listen to the satisfying pop as they cool and seal.

The rest of this year’s harvest of raspberries can be eaten as I pick, put in yogurt, and frozen for treats during the winter.

Lovin’ life on our mountain farm.

June 22, 2014
Sew Pretty

My baby girl (well, she a big girl now with two kids of her own, but she will always be my baby girl) and I text back and forth often. Short little conversations, just keeping up. Oh course we talk on the phone too, but not daily.

A couple of weeks ago while shopping at one of our two natural food stores, I found the blue market bag on the left in the top picture. It is a One Mango Tree bag, made in Northern Uganda. One Mango Tree provides sewing training, steady jobs, a daily meal, school fees stipends for children, bicycles, etc. and the bags are eco-friendly and fair trade. I texted a picture of it to my daughter. She at some point had purchased one off of their website to use as a purse and decided it was too large for that purpose. She asked me how big mine was as it was sitting on the back seat of my car full of groceries and I measured it when I got home. It is about the same size as hers, but has a matching fabric strap where hers has a braided handle which she says hurts her shoulder when it is full of market goodies. I asked her what she was looking for size-wise to use as a purse and she gave me the dimensions she was seeking and told her the style of bag would be so easy to make, that I would make her one.

Last Wednesday on my way to knit night, I stopped at the fabric store and selected fabrics in the colors that she likes, taking photos and texting them to her (we live 850 miles apart). Once the outside fabric was selected via text message, we started on the lining and the questions about whether she wanted it stiffened with Pellon. She didn’t know what Pellon was but did want it stiffened to use as a purse. On my way to get bias tape, which I didn’t use, I found a card of buttons that matched perfectly. The sewing supplies sat in my spinning chair for a week. I haven’t spun or sewed all week, though I did start a knitting project and read two books, worked in the garden and yard.

Yesterday, I did make a pattern out of butcher paper and added it to the pile. Today after lunch, Jim went out to do a bit more with the weed wacker and I set about to make the purse. About an hours worth of cutting, ironing and sewing and my baby girl has a new purse. A few texts back and forth for her to see it compared in size to the other bag and to decide whether she wanted the button and if so as a decoration or functional and she is happy. I have plenty of the fabric left and think I will make her a matching market bag them mail them off to her instead of her having to wait for us to visit much later in the summer.

June 11, 2014
Make It Better

As I sold all of my interchangeable knitting needles and ordered fixed circular knitting needles, I needed storage. Interchangeables come in clever compact cases that hold the tips and the cables, but fixed circulars come in individual packages and when they arrive, I will have 2 lengths of 10 sizes, a potential snake’s nest if put in a basket. I have spent a couple of hours searching through Etsy looking for a solution. I know what I want, something that resembles a CD case and I was willing to pay someone else to design and make it, but I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t either a roll or much larger than I desired.

My other desire was a means to make my favorite go to bag more organized.

This bag is a leather tote from Duluth Trading Company, it is my travel tote, my knitting bag, carries my wallet, tablet, notepad, small case with lotion bar, lip balm, comb, pens, camera, and a shawl or scarf. The bag is 12 x 4 x 13.5 with a zipped top. Because of its size, it swallows my tiny wallet and keys. One of my friends used to have a business making bags and she put a liner in them that had pockets around the perimeter. I sew, but my machine isn’t heavy enough to sew through the liner and the leather. After approaching this friend, she agreed to help me sew the lining in if I made what I wanted.

Today turned into a craft day as I tackled these two problems after some planning last night and a trip to the fabric store today.

First, I tackled the liner. I bought a firm drapery fabric, measured twice, cut once and formed just what I wanted. It is temporarily basted into the bag until I can get with my friend to sew it in place.

The other project was accomplished with quilting quarters, scraps from the bag liner, and a few inches of synthetic leather. I still need to sew the button and leather loop on, but it is colorful and I think will fulfill my needs. The supplies for both projects ended up costing less than a needle case on Etsy that would have been less satisfactory to me.

February 21, 2014