darling and deer

I love embroidery!

I remember cross stitching with my friend Katie when I was young. This was during our Little House on the Prairie phase.

So fulfilling and fun.

I finished one project so far from Posie Gets Cozy's 'Walk in the Woods'

Cute, yah?

I stuffed her with the bits of cut felt, but actual batting would give a rounder rump.

A trip to the crafty store will be in order, as I didn't get a very diverse spectrum of felt the first go around. My plan is to make a few more, and to work on the bff cardie, over the holiday.

Can you see that? Good background choice, oops, but I have only one more (added by me) cable pattern section before it gets to the sleevie part. I do hope to finish it soon, as my wool -washing club membership has expired due to carelessness leading to felting. Sad.

christmas preparations

I admit it; I walked into December quite the grump.

But the holiday preparations- shopping, trimming gifts and trees, getting in touch with friends, putzing in the kitchen and picking out recipes, reconnects me to that little sparkly place that can simply let wonder in.

I am so glad to have splurged on the winter issue of Mary Jane's Farm. I have already made her applesauce ornaments, which look so warm on the tree and fill the whole room with spice. I also followed her cranberry relish recipe.

I went to an art fair to see my friend's work, and left having met a new favorite etsy seller. Which goes hand in hand with having become, in the last week, even more of an etsy addict. Do try the Long Winter Farm soap, will you? I want to show you what I've been purchasing but that will have to wait until recipients have received.




I used my fall 'squirrel', 'acorn' and 'oak leaf' cookie cutters for the ornaments. I made my own applesauce for this; if you do the same, make sure it is smooth. Chunkier pieces make it a bit easier for the ornaments to break apart.

My Thanksgiving

Autumn light through copper leaves


Hedge apples found in plenty during country walks




Dried pods in fields.

Warm and sunny fall days, perfect to take long walks through pastures. Most of the cows didn't mind. One was worried, and galloped over to her cow friends. Cows are faster than you would imagine.


Cow skull in pasture

seventies cake!

This was fun.

My friend got thrown a surprise 70's party. I made the cake, and 'Watergate salad'. I had a blast shopping at Playclothes.



Although 'Pineapple Upside-down Cake' is a popular 70's dessert, my friend's favorite cake is chocolate. So I let simmer the different ways I could present to her a slice of the 1970's. I love looking at this site.

I baked 4 layers of cake and let cool (yes, boxed cake mix, I know! I will make a from scratch cake soon!)

As I frosted between each layer, I added chopped up peanut butter cups, as well.



After the cake was assembled and frosted chocolate, I glazed the top with a delicious peanut butter frosting (from scratch, yeay). This glaze was so good, I think I'll use it in the layers rather than peanut butter cups next time.




To get a fun 70's retro look, I made flowers out of Reese's Pieces.


Voila!

PS. I loved the 'Watergate Salad', and remember eating it at formal family gatherings as a child. Some people also shared this nostalgia, but others were like, 'Ewww Gross!'

I ask you, can you 'Ewww Gross' something made with these fine, gourmet ingredients?

oology

When a baby bird is ready to hatch, you cannot assist it in breaking the shell, or it will die. It must break out of it's shell by itself.

'The word in French for hatch is éclore, which also means to blossom, come out.'

windflowers, j w waterhouse

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice—

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world determined to do

the only thing you could do—

determined to save

the only life you could save.

mary oliver

black apples and steak au poivre

Hello,

I was in the kitchen for hours last night and loved it. Little short stack was totally underfoot, though, willing me to drop things!

No McIntosh apples were to be had at my grocer this weekend, sadly, but there were 'Arkansas black apples'. How exciting. I'm eating half of one right now. The skin is indeed very dark red, its taste is U - Pick - Em farm tart and green, very dense. Likely candidates for caramel apple-ing.

I followed Martha's recipe for Steak au Poivre, from the October Living issue. How simple! One of my cooking goals was to be better at meat cooking, as I don't feel I know how to cook it at all. This was essentially browning and roasting. I can do that. Served with button mushrooms sauteed in butter, it made a warming Sunday evening meal.

The rest of my weekend was calm and rewarding. I rode bikes with my friend on Sunday afternoon, which felt like being 14 again, when we'd rollerskate to the store to get Snapple. I stole a couple of paperbacks from her paperback swap collection, heheh. 'The Historian' and 'The Middle of Nowhere'. I hope they are good reads, I've fallen off of the wagon again!

In crafty news, I found myself on an impromptu artist's date. Joann's didn't have a very diverse felt selection, and I am thinking about getting the pattern PDF of at least one of Posy Gets Cozy's felt ornaments. Maybe I should just 'invest' in some nice wool felt? I've been saying I should get some for one entire year.

What are your fall/ winter crafting and cooking goals?

ode to the mcintosh

Talking to my sister in the wee hours of post daylight savings, she said she likes to look for silly, 'kid' jokes online to cheer herself up. What a great idea, and cheaper than online shopping.

I've been enjoying the quiet morning time this week, getting up and ready with time to enjoy a cup of tea and calm. Making little lists of things to do: Go to bank, go to post office, see if there are still McIntosh apples at the market.

My favorite apple to eat is the McIntosh.
Little tingles on my tastebuds and fingertips come every fall when I see them in the grocery store. Alas, as unannounced as they arrive, they leave again, and all too quickly.

My Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple tea box says this:
"Whenever you feel the need or wish to cheer yourself, think about all of the good qualities of those who are around you- the energy of one, for instance, the modesty of another, the generosity of a third, and some other gift of a fourth. For nothing is ever so cheering as the images of the qualities shining through in the character fo those who live with us... Have these images then ever before your eyes". Marcus Aurelius

This is an exercise similar to the joke finding and telling. Maybe after I think of all the reasons I love my friends, I should call them and tell them my hilarious new jokes.

And to say this about the McIntosh- You are crisp and sweet and not too tart. You are shiny, taste like autumn, and somehow feel better in the palm of my hand than any other apple. Cheers to you, McIntosh.

Because shopping is fun, things that stay fresh longer than a few sweet days that I'd like to taste and smell and feel and use:

Macintosh Apple Bliss Candle (already in etsy cart)

Jeni's Red Hot Apple Cider Sorbet, Rooibush Apple Strudel Tea, MacIntosh Yankee Candles, Candy Apple handspun, an apple cozy, Macintosh Apple soap