The Life and Projects of An Avid Hobbyist

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Meet Mary Lucy

This is my grandmother's family. She was the youngest child of a proud West Virginia family. Her mother, my great-grand Mary Lucy (seated on the right), in addition to being the matriarch of a large brood kept house for a prominent family in the area. By all accounts she was a woman who understood homestead living. And was master at her craft.

Redman Clan

I never met her. I only know her through stories that my mother and grand mother have told me through the years. I feel a kindred with her, although the times in which we live are so different.

I also know her best through her life's work. I own her (now 100+ year old) Singer sewing machine which I hope to fully restore. I own her Household Searchlight Magazine Cookbook (1938) with all of her notes and recipes glued into the covers.

This is one of my favorite recipes of hers. I love that it is tattered and stained and absolutely delish. I substitute the canned pumpkin for 3 cups of fresh pumpkin puree whenever I can. I also sometimes add 1/2 tsp of cloves...just for kicks.

Recipe

The proof is in the tasting. ~ksp

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Sunday, February 8, 2009

I Have Buzzard's Luck*

*Can't kill nothing, and won't nothing die.

I have been totally swamped lately. I rang in the new year on the road and since then, I've gone on several out-of-town business trips, I went to the inauguration and in the 8 day stretch that followed, I clocked 97 billable hours. I haven't unpacked all of the luggage from the trip and I am down to wearing my granny panties 'cuz I haven't done laundry (hey, it may be tmi but at least I'm wearing any at all). At this point, I barely know my own name and my mojo left me.

I took a day to not work, and do some quasi selfish things for me. The selfish part is that it was crafting, and after slogging through datasets and missing variables, the idea of making something with my hands really appealed to me. The un-selfish part is that I am making many items as gifts for up-coming weddings, and babies and like.

While I was in Florida I went to the most Rainbows End Quilt Shoppe. It was huge (reportedly the largest in Florida) and the ladies who worked there were nice and knowledgeable. I wish I had a mega-quilt spot w/parking near my house (I love ya City Quilter but parking is a drag).


While there, I blew the Christmas kitty on lots of great swag and I also got this jelly roll quilt book because at about this time last year, I joined the Moda jelly roll of the month club here. I thought the book would help me tear through the now-huge jelly roll stash.

I picked a pattern in brights-mostly oranges and greens-for a baby quilt. This layout of the square demonstrates how wrong my execution was. There is still a question of exactly where I went wrong. I have been to Acme Fabrics once already for guidance. My failure to execute is hardly their fault.

Wrong Star

I'll go back as soon as I can see straight again and get some major help...again.

Totally defeated, I pulled out some fat quarters and this tutorial to make a small bag for my PSP. Although I am a seasoned sewer, I was a bit dense when it came to the directions. I like the finished product. Oh, how I do love polka-dots.

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Who says polka dots and stripes don't go together?

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At least something worked. ~ksp