homesteading, in the kitchen, Seasons

Harvest Time: Apples!

 , , ,

The apple tree in the back yard has gone bonkers this year. I’ve made a first run at the apple harvest, filling this box more than half way. The apples are small and slightly underripe (read: pleasingly tart) and bake into lovely things. Like this yeast-based apple bread, which smells amazing when it’s baking and goes wonderfully with cheeses (we’ve tried chevre and cheddar so far; brie would be delightful). Or these apple muffins. I may have made 6 batches of these for a neighborhood End of Summer community event, and my neighbors may have eaten every single one. And …

Caitlyn

Summer Journal: Trapeze Lesson

 

At the beginning of the summer, Caitlyn decided she was ready to check out the flying trapeze at circus class. She took three swings and declared herself ready for a full lesson. Unfortunately, it took all summer for all the right pieces to fall into place for that lesson. And by the time it arrived, she’d gotten herself worked into a state of simultaneous fear and excitement: wanting so badly to fly and terrified to take that first step off the platform. (Not that I can blame her. As much fun as flying looks, I know I’d be scared silly …

field trips, Seasons

Summer Journal: Wandering in Canada

 

Back in July, we took a two week road trip to break in Caitlyn’s passport. I mean, Canada is right there. How is it that we hadn’t gone yet??? So we raided the library, mixed up some gorp/trail mix, loaded the car and embarked on a trip that turned out to be mostly about boats, trees, and swimming in everything possible. Here are a few highlights: Caitlyn sights Canada. We enjoyed an afternoon tea at Butchart Gardens. Food and setting were lovely. I felt underdressed (but then anything short of Lady Grantham would have left me feeling underdressed). Our smallest …

quilts

Tutorial: Blackford’s Beauty

 

Over at Stash last month, we held a little Christmas in July event. One of our activities was a Block Challenge: make a block (any block!) from any of our Christmas fabrics, bring it to the shop, and vote on your favorite of all the blocks on display. We announced our winner in early August. ‘Course, none of us who work there were eligible to win, but that didn’t stop us from making up some blocks of our own. And because I seem chronically unable to pick the simple project, I made up a complicated block called Blackford’s Beauty. Had …

quilts

Shattered Glass Blocks

 

I didn’t really want to but I had to take a break from Sew.Quilt.Give. in July, despite the call for any star block I might want to make. I love star blocks and star fabric and stars in general. One secret ambition: to make a starry night quilt, something that’s sort of a mash up of Van Gogh’s painting and those deep space nebulae photos. Yeah, someday… Anyway, August blocks! These Shattered Glass blocks come from this tutorial from the Undercover Crafter. These are a lot like theses blocks I made for the Craftsy 2012 BOM (which I’m still working …

in the kitchen, Seasons

Pesto Time

 ,

I admit I have a tendency to over-stock. I routinely add extra fabric to whatever I think I’ll need for a project. I like to have extra time to get from here to there. My idea of what is “enough” food to have on hand is frankly a bit ridiculous. I keep a pantry like I imagine someone might if they lived on a tiny forested island where the nearest grocery store was 100 miles and a boat ride away. If we ever have a real zombie apocalypse, I know of several people who plan to come camp at our …