silent sunday - 12/30/12

say hello to my little friend

i've been accused of owning too many sewing machines. but i simply couldn't resist adding one more to my arsenal. i have always wanted one of these little singer featherweight machines but just never seemed to come across one that i just couldn't live without (i.e., one that was actually affordable!). then one day i was lurking around the back alleys of ebay when i found a little beauty that was still sitting at $150 with only 8 minutes to go. sure, he was a little dirty (but hey, i have lots of elbow grease for that) and he was missing a few of his attachments (a quick excavation in the treadle machine's drawers turned out quite a few 221 attachments) and he still have 8 minutes to go. if you have ever travelled through ebay, then you know a lot can happen in 8 minutes. so, with nervous fingers, i punched in a bid of $175.52 and held my breath.

okay...so i didn't actually hold my breath. i walked away and assumed i would not get it since most of these machines sell for upwards of $350. imagine my surprise and delight when my smart phone dinged and informed me that i was the proud new daddy of my very own little featherweight!

he arrived today and i quickly set to work with that elbow grease and got him all spiffed up. he runs like a dream, so no adjustments were needed there! i look forward to a long and adventurous relationship! now i just have to figure out his name...

namaste'

happy holidays

whatever the holiday (or holidays) you celebrate, 

this is my wish that you find it filled 

with love, joy and peace!

namaste'

as the snow flies

there is nothing quite as disconcerting as crawling under the quilts for a few hours' sleep in the afternoon and waking up to find the entire landscape has changed. it's as if one had spent a few moments in summer-filled fairie and come back a hundred years later to snow and ice. where once there were roads, now there are great swaths of powdery snow. where the air was crisp and clear, it is now frosted and filled with flurries of white. for those around these parts who wanted a white xmas, prayers have been answered. with great abandon!

namaste'

silent sunday - 12/23/12

solstice pie

what better way to celebrate the turning of the sun's journey through the season than by baking a lovely raspberry pie! the berries, picked fresh in the fullness of summer and frozen until this morning, remind us of warmer days beneath a redolent sun. nestled deep in a flaky crust and bubbling happily from the oven, this is sure to please the mouth and warm the belly. a truly wondrous break from the day's activities!

now, raspberry pie can be a dicey proposition when keeping others in mind. some think of a jammy, super sweet concoction, while others, like me, long for a summery pucker! but since this pie is being baked with myself in mind (anyone else dipping into it will just have to enjoy it or leave it behind for the rest of us) i've opted to pucker the palate.

classic raspberry pie


1 recipe pie pastry, enough for double crust
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons minute tapioca
1/2 lemon, rind and juice
4 cups raspberries, whole (fresh or frozen and un-thawed)
1 tablespoon butter

preheat oven to 425°F and place a rack on the bottom of the oven. line a 9-inch pie plate with your favourite pastry and pierce in several places with a fork. instead of a top crust, you can use a small cookie cutter and cut out shapes to be placed on top of the filling before baking, but i like a nice, full crust myself.

combine sugar, flour, tapioca and lemon rind in a large bowl. add the raspberries and toss gently, being careful not to squash the berries. spoon the filling into the pie shell and sprinkle with lemon juice. dot with butter (please, oh please, use butter! margarine has no place in the kitchen). place the pastry top (or cutouts) over the filling and flute the edge (unless using cutouts). don't forget to pierce or cut the top.

bake the pie on bottom rack of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. allow pie to cool. serve warm or room temperature with vanilla ice cream. i recommend you eat this pie the day it is made...like that’s gonna be an issue!


perfect pie pastry


2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold
12 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water

in a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar. add the shortening and break it up with your hands as you start to coat it all up with the flour. add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands or a pastry cutter. work it quickly, so the butter doesn't get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse cornmeal. add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. bring the dough together into a ball.

when it comes together, stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape. wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. on a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.

of course, you may use your own favorite pie pastry recipe (just don't tell me if you buy that frozen, pre-made stuff...i'd rather not know!)



namaste'

hearing silence

today was a quiet, listening sort of day. it is strange how the quieter we become, the more we are able to hear. after dropping the saint off at doggy day care (to give her some time with other doggy types), i spent the better part of the day just observing and learning from piper. learning about silence. about nurturing oneself. about resting. about seeing what does not appear to be there. it is an exercise i have not partaken of lately. one that i realize i sorely miss and highly recommend!

namaste'

silent sunday - 12/16/12

fragments for chanting

ah! it feels nice to be stitching again. i've pulled together some fragments of linens, silks, and hand block printed cottons together to manifest this little cloth. everything has been tacked down and is now waiting for some serious needle chanting to commence. perhaps even some beadwork will be in order. i'm still listening to its whispers. those organic bits on the sides may become wings. perhaps extend some of the stitching on the silk sleeve hem that cuts across the length of the cloth. some texture will need to be added as well. so many possibilities!

namaste'

snow!

more of the heavy, white stuff came fluttering down with a thud during the night! wish i were stitching by the fire at home instead of at the cottage, but what are ya supposed to do? at least i get to stop from time to time and watch it fall outside the window before continuing on with stitch and cloth...

it is very quiet here tonight. i can almost hear the snowflakes sighing as they reach the ground.

namaste'

time to get back to stitching

that fabrics are piling up and the whispers are beginning to flow once again. time to pull out the needles and start stitching!

namaste'

lest you think my hands are idle...

while i may have not been in a stitching mood these past couple of weeks, my hands have not been idle. i'm learning a new blues piece so there's been the moody tones of metal strings playing counterpoint to the crackling fire. i'll record it soon and post it here.

it's odd how sometimes creativity chooses one channel over another for its preferred expression.

perhaps thread and needle will chant again soon. my fingertips miss the familiar whispering...

namaste'

a little de-grinching on silent sunday

at the hermitage

we got more snow these past couple of days. though i've not been out to look at it much. i seem to have pulled in to some place deep this week. having little interest for anything but sitting by the fire and reading books that i've read a thousand times before.

a plethora of ideas run through my head, hungry for manifestation. but my fingers are interested in little more than the crisp pages of yet another book. it must be a combination of the holiday season where family and friends come into sharp focus while i find myself in this vast wilderness with all of mine living elsewhere, and my finally reducing my work week to a "normal" one, leaving me with four days a week to remember that i  have spent my past several years working every moment of each day, leaving no room to socialize and make new friends. for all the family and friends and good will at this time of year, it can be a very lonely time of year for some.

perhaps i can coax my fingers into partaking of a little needle chanting tonight?

namaste'

fragments of word and cloth

i have a mind to embark upon a new journey. a journey of cloth. and words. i am done with attempting to coerce myself into completing cloths that simply don't have their heart in being completed. that's not to say that they will never find themselves finished. it just means that i am tired of beating myself into submission to try and finish something that isn't ready to complete its cycle of metamorphosis. to this end, i have designated my great-great-uncle's old steam trunk as home for wayward cloths and will continue to visit, live with, and work on (as they allow) on my various creations of cloth and fibre, have pulled my travelling boots on and pointed them in a new direction.

i have an extensive collection of thoughts and words. my own. those of others both known and unknown. while sitting by the fire and allowing my shoulders and neck time to heal this past week, i had a thought or two that ultimately lead me to an idea. one where fragments of word and cloth come together and instill deeper thought by their seemingly incomplete natures.

there have been many whispers bantered about in mind with regards to what will be done with these fragments. incorporate them into something more? or simply allow them to remain in remnant form? i imagine the answers to these whispered wonderings will emerge at a much later time...

in the meantime, the fragments will flow and manifest and simply be allowed to be what they choose to be. transforming a seemingly impossible situation into a very possible one!

namaste'

silent sunday - 12/2/12