Category Archives: Play

Tiny Fabric Baskets

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The other day Jenny over at Elefantz posted a tutorial on making cute little fabric baskets.

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I was immediately smitten and I HAD to make one! No…two! Three!

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The first one was easy. Too easy. Is there even such a thing as too easy? Yes, because it makes one careless. It was so easy that I decided to NOT follow the pattern for the next one.

I decided that it was too much trouble to sew a binding onto such a tiny little basket. It would be so much easier to attach the wrong side of the lining to the outside of the basket, and then turn the whole thing inside out. Which I did, and which worked reasonably well considering I was making the whole thing up as I went along.

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So then I decided that it would be fun to make a basket with a fussy-cut band around the center. Which I did, and which worked…sort of. But the lining was too small to do the “sew-and-flip” liner thing. Which meant I had to do a binding.  And then I made the binding too narrow. Argh. Not so good. I was too sure of myself. Cocky. You see what happens when things are too easy? Crookedness happens!009

I’m going to keep at it…I’ve got a few more ideas. I’ll let you know.

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The first one was the best. Maybe I’ll go back and follow the directions next time.

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They are so sweet! What would you store in one?

update: I made the little sewing machine basket as a gift, and couldn’t bring myself to give it in that crooked condition…so I fixed it!

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In the Spirit of Play (or how I spent my April allowance)

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Last January I posted my about word for the year: PLAY!

So, in the spirit of that resolution, I spent almost my entire April allowance on playful inspiration: books!

013I want to knit something bigger than a sock or a hat, but I know myself…I will make the front of something, or a sleeve, and then put the project away. Why? Because I just hate sewing the seams. I actually have an entire knitted sweater – front, back and two sleeves sitting in my basket. It’s been sitting in my basket since…um…gah! I am embarrassed to say it: about 1998. Needless to say, it no longer fits. But the yarn is good! It was expensive! So I’m in the process of unraveling the entire thing so that I can make something lovely with it. Knitted tops with no side seams! Yay!

012Prairie Children and their Quilts because I love anything to do with history and story-telling, and I’ve also become fascinated with miniature quilts. AND Mastering Quilt Marking because I want to expand my hand quilting beyond using purchased templates. I’d love to quilt some of the beautiful, intricate feathers & fans etc. I have the skill to do the hand quilting, but lack the technique of how to get the markings onto the quilt top. Maybe I can practice on a miniature quilt! Boo yah!

014Bread from Sourdough to Rye because I’ve been given the wonderful gift of heritage Yukon sourdough starter (read all about it here – it’s a cool story!) and I’ve been experimenting with baking bread. This book also has breads from all over the world, from challah to chapatti! And The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook by Jaden Hair because I follow her blog, which is all about yummy Asian-style cooking. (And Jaden is also a quilter, so duh….)

015And then BONUS! Look what my extraordinarily fabulous son of mine sent me for Mother’s Day!

All the indoor rainy-day bases are covered! Over the next couple of months I’ll be saving my allowance for outside play…new hiking boots and a day pack.

A spending allowance is built into our retirement budget.. I’ll post about it soon!

How did you spend your allowance last month?

Sourdough!

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Kelly had the opportunity to spend 10 days in Whitehorse earlier this month, so I took the opportunity to have him bring home some authentic Klondike sourdough starter.

014It came in a jam jar, well wrapped in plastic and carefully stowed in his suitcase. Good thing, too, because it had started to grow on it’s journey, and had overflowed the jar and into the wrappings when it arrived. I fed it and transferred it into a new jar.

015The cool thing about this starter is that it has a very venerable genealogy! It was carried over the Chilkoot Trail in the late 1800s by a member of the Honorable Ione Christiansen‘s family on her mother’s side.  Ione Christiansen was the first woman to be named as Justice of the Peace for the Yukon Territorial Government, the first woman to be elected Mayor of the City of Whitehorse and the first female Commissioner of the Yukon. 

AAHistory-book-idea-pic-pg-4It is in the nature of sourdough starter to be shared, and a long time ago Ione Christiansen’s family member shared her starter with Charlie Taylor, of the Taylor and Drury family of merchants.

Taylor_C1929Charlie and his wife Betty shared some with their friend Millie Jones of Carcross, Yukon.

 

Millie JonesAnd Millie shared some with me! Millie Jones is a long-time Yukoner and is the mother of my friend Heather, who carried the jar of starter from Millie and delivered it to Kelly last week. Below is a pic of Heather creating some beautiful art (check out her website)

Foxy HeatherMore than four generations of Yukon history came to me in that little jar of sourdough starter!

It’s sort of like a sacred trust, you know?

016I have never baked with sourdough before and I was excited to give it my first try. So yesterday I made a loaf of bread.

033Oh my goodness! It is good, good, good! Especially the toast the next morning!

I had some left over, so I split it (saving half for future use) and we had breakfast for supper last night: sourdough pancakes made with Betty Taylor’s dad’s sourdough pancake recipe.

031The batter was thinner than the “regular” made from scratch batter that I usually make.

028The pancakes were very light.

029Delicious with butter and real maple syrup.

030Afterwards, I fed the starter again and then split it into two. Half went back into the jar and into the fridge, and half went into a bowl to grow overnight so that I can bake another loaf of bread today. And maybe some muffins.

I lived in the Yukon for 26 years, so…
no matter where I go,
I will always be
a Sourdough.

And now I can eat some, too!

🙂