Day: October 15, 2017

Turkey Tracks: Fall Chores

Turkey Tracks:  October 16, 2017

Fall Chores

Look at this empty porch!

All the wind chimes and flower pots and hanging baskets are down and stored.

The bags you see are full of daffodil bulbs and garlic–and as I write, they are all planted.

Is this the last mow?

Time will tell.  The mower is actually useful to mulch up fallen leaves.  That is much easier than raking or blowing them.

Look how the light has changed now.  I took this picture around noon the other day.

The Blue Hubbard squashes  are harvested and are living in the garage for the moment.  They are small this year, due to the drought, but I hope good.  Even small they are a LARGE squash.

The Cosmos keep blooming…

So beautiful and cheerful.

But the garden is all cleared out now–which was not true when I took this picture.

Betsy Maislen told me that one could strip out all the basil leaves in the fall, pack them in a jar, cover them with olive oil, and enjoy them all winter.  She swears they stay nice and green.  If basil works, why not mint??  So I picked mint tips too.  At the very least, the oil will be great for flavoring and salads.  I LOVE a hint of mint in sautéed veggies.

I still have mint in the garden I want to dry for winter teas.  And maybe I’ll try some rosemary dried for tea and freshly covered with olive oil???

I am off to a quilting retreat, so that will have to wait until I get home.

Still no hard frost at my house.

Turkey Tracks: Another Top Made, Another Outfit to Wear

Turkey Tracks:  October 15, 2017

Another Top Made, Another Outfit to Wear

I love this top!

Don’t ask me what the material is because sewing clothing is a whole new learning curve for me, and I don’t know the fabrics.  Yet.  But this fabric is so soft.  You just want to hug it.

I’m wearing it now over a t-shirt and an LLBean jean skirt–and with navy leggings.   Next summer I’ll wear this top all on its own–no t-shirt.

It’s “100 Acts of Sewing,” Shirt No 1.

I love the patterns that are out there today as many of them show you multiple ways to sew a garment and make some attempts to teach beginners.  Since I have not made clothes in 40 years, that’s a good thing!

I’ve mastered threading the serger now.  The above fabric was very prone to raveling, but I made French seams instead of trying to serve the seams.  Next I have to experiment with setting the tensions for various fabrics.  I love learning curves!

Turkey Tracks: Camden Juried Craft Shows

Turkey Tracks:  October 15, 2017

Camden Juried Craft Shows

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I rounded a corner of a grouping of booths in the Camden Juried Craft Show a few weeks back.  The booths spread out over the library amphitheater and on the green hill that overlooks our beautiful harbor.  This booth was tucked into a grouping of booths in the amphitheater, and close-by were two other booths I really liked.

My dad used to make his own fly-fishing lures when I was a little thing.  He grew up fly-fishing out west and tried to teach his three girls how to fly fish as well.  We used to practice on the grass front lawn.  My dad loved all sorts of fishing, and he married a woman whose family all loved fishing too.  Family vacations–that was back when people could take month-long vacations–always included fishing.  We fished lakes, swamp bream beds and bass holes, streams, rivers, and bays and oceans.  If it was wet and had fish in it, we were all in.

So, these beautiful handcrafted lures made me catch my breath and long for an idyllic time long gone.  John and I thought we would fish up here in Maine, but the fish are tainted by mercury or no longer exist in places where we would have looked for them.  We soon gave up the fishing idea.  People do fish the lakes and streams, but…

Heirloom Lures, handcrafted by Christopher Augustus, Seal Cove, Maine

heirloomlures.com

 

Kathleen Farnsworth, Searsmont, Maine

Sewing A Notion, sewinganotion@fairpoint.net

Kathleen makes beautiful handcrafted items:  from fiber to buttons.

These little goodies are jewelry holders.

See?  The colors are delicious!

There is a button story which you can read on her blog.

Look at this beautiful little bag.

As you all know, I love bags of all sizes and shapes, so I stood and admired these for quite some time.

Very high quality workmanship here.

 

Jennifer Butts, Brunswick, Maine

Scenic Fabric Collages, Maine Hill Studio, mainehillstudio.com

My pictures did not come out too well as my camera picked up reflections in the glass.  Jennifer has a good gallery of her many beautiful products on her web site though.  Take a look?  There are some great gifts here.

I am awed by her beautiful work–these pictures are not cut from paper.  She cuts fabric to make her collages.  I can only think that she has tiny, tiny scissors to make such beautiful sharp edges.

Clever, clever artist here.