Month: February 2022

Knitted Work Using Fabric Selvages

Turkey Tracks: February 4, 2022

Knitted Work Using Fabric Selvages

It is a really ICKY day here today—raw and wet and icy.

It’s a great day to stay home and sew. And I have that lovely and healthy soup to eat. I added in some cooked broccoli yesterday. Today maybe I’ll add some cream or cheese.

Northeast Wildlife came yesterday and closed and wired all the places up high on the roof where the flying squirrels got in—along with any place where they might try to enter. There may be some bat entries too, but we’ll deal with that in the spring as that requires caulking entry places. The squirrel solution is elegant—there are traps places in the entry holes that allow egress but not entry. Meanwhile, all my bird feeders went home with Northeast Wildlife.

Margaret-Elaine, a local quilty friend here, commented on yesterday’s post by noting the placemat upon which my bowl of soup sat. She thought I had woven it with, I think, the old-fashioned hand-weaving looms I have—and I have made a lot of rugs and placemats with the two sizes I have. The frame is rectangular and has nails at the top and the bottom where one strings the ”woof” base.

But these placemats have been made by knitting (garter stitch) the selvages from quilting fabrics.

When I get a long enough strand, I just add it into the ongoing project. The pieces are linked together by making slits in each end one wants to attach and looping them through the ”mother” ongoing strip. You can see the linking knot in the picture. It works better to keep the ongoing strand length to 2-3 feet as it twists as one works. And it is easy to add a new strand when needed. If it is short, it just takes a little time to ”update” the project.

I like using selvages as they don’t shed like cut fabric would. I have wondered about using the looms to make something with these selvages, but that requires A LOT of strips AND one has to lay in a base on the hand loom around which one plaits the added strips—so one has both the woof and weave parts. This knitting method is already pretty thick.

I have saved my “warm” selvages (orange, red, pink, etc.) as I think I have one more selvage quilt in me. I do like them. I gave away all the cool and black/white/grey selvages. After I make the ”warm” selvage quilt, I’ll be done I think.

For this current selvage-knitting project, when I get a big enough central piece, I’m going to stop there, pick up stitches along one side, and create another “patch” or ”block.” And then, when I’m done there, I’ll stop and move to another side. It might take…years. LOL.

Here are some of my selvage quilts: a ”cool” one and a star one.

Have a great day everyone!

What To Do With the Roasted Lamb Shoulder?

Turkey Tracks: February 3, 2022

What To Do With the Roasted Lamb Shoulder?

Soup, is what one could do.

Start by putting the shoulder into a pot and covering it with water—and let it simmer until you think all the ”good” has been extracted from the meat. I can’t do that for long as long-cooked bone broths (12 to 24 hours) acquire too many histamines for me to eat. So I simmered the roast for 40 minutes while I prepped the veggies and some ground lamb for the soup. Skim the broth as needed.

I sautéed the ground lamb in beef tallow and assembled some ORGANIC frozen veggies I had on hand. The ground lamb is local and came from Hope’s Edge farm. I get a whole lamb every year.

Next, I cut up and sautéed in beef tallow a bunch of other veggies I had on hand in the meat pan—which I didn’t have to wipe clean—sometimes you have to if anything has burned in the pan: onions, garlic, carrots, red bell pepper, some cauliflower, some celery. Add in some herbs. And, of course, salt.

You want to sweat out these veggies, turning them frequently, until they begin to turn golden. Do not burn then, but you want some of the brown ”grunge” that forms in the pan as you cook them down. Be patient, and don’t cook the veggies on heat that is too, too hot.

At the above point, I added some liquid from the pot of broth so I’d get all the goodies in this frying pan into the soup. You could add the meat back at this point too.

At this point I moved what was in the frying pan into a larger pot and added in all the frozen veggies. Heat until the soup is all hot and bubbly.

Then make yourself a bowl of soup.

It doesn’t take all that long at all to make a soup or stew like this one.

I froze a portion for a meal at another time.

And that left me with two lunches and two dinners at a minimum—but there will be more.

Remember that you can add things to the soup that make it taste a bit different: heavy cream, a bit of cheese on the top, or the bottom of the bowl, that will melt down into the soup, more herbs, and so on.

We are getting another storm tonight—an ice storm likely—so it’s nice that I have these meals all cooked. I have done all my weekly chores, so I will have lots of time to sew today and tomorrow—which is good as I have…sewing projects. For sure.

Playing With The Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society Stash

Turkey Tracks: February 2, 2022

Playing With the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society Stash

I’ve had so much fun making this quilt. It’s a ”Pot-Pourri” of Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics—all in my stash.

It’s ”eye candy” for a child I think. And for me, apparently.

It’s been quilted now, and the binding is on and getting sewn down at night. Can I just say it is yummy to have on one’s lap. And this one is meant to be dragged around and loved and washed and USED.

Here’s the backing—again pieced from my stash. I lost the bottom green strip in the quilting. It’s ok.

AND I’m making a baby quilt with the Churn Dash block, which still ranks as my favorite. OK, the Radient Beauty block is also a favorite.

I started these blocks before Bonnie Hunter launched into making them as well. I was inspired by her making then ”scrappy” though. And I’m wondering how she will set hers.

I like they way these blocks look butted up to each other. The secondary pattern is interesting. BUT, one would have to plan to sew the seams so they will nest—so that is hard with scrappy blocks that get moved around before finding their permanent homes.

So, I am setting mine with narrow sashings and corner stones. I have no idea about what binding will work.

Today and tomorrow will be RAINY—on top of 18+ inches of snow. And on Friday, our temps will drop again and we will get more snow.

It is winter.

All my cleaning/laundry jobs are done for the week. There is some cooking to do today. What I thought was a small leg of lamb was actually a shoulder piece—which I realized after I roasted it yesterday and after trying to slice off the meat around the central bone—so there will be a broth made today to be used in a soup or stew. And maybe I’ll take a ride in the car so AC can get out for a bit. He’s not getting nearly enough exercise.

I mailed a baby quilt yesterday. So, more on that quilt after it arrives at its forever home.