Make It New Monday 7/7/14... What Do You Do With Felt Scraps?

It's the first Monday of the month so that can only mean one thing-- Make It New Monday!  Well, it could mean a lot of other things, too, but that's what it means here at My Not-So-Empty Nest.  If you're new around here, let me explain a bit...  On the first Monday each month I host a link-up where we share our re-used, re-cycled, re-purposed projects.  They can be small and simple to huge and complicated and everything in between as long as it starts out like "this" and ends like "that".   There is no pressure to be perfect (I would be disqualified otherwise) so even if the project flopped, let us know what you might try differently if you were to try it again.


The project I will be showing you this month starts with a box of felt scraps that were my Mom's.  Much of the scraps were left over from when she made me a set of pixie dolls when I was a little girl.  Here is a picture of the dolls that have survived...

Some of them are a whole lot shabby but they were often played with, moved around the country, had an invasion of bugs, and packed away for many, many years.  They all had complete outfits in the beginning.  Who knows where some of the bits were lost?  My favorites were the fairies...

So I had a box of felt scraps leftover (loved-over?).  Why?  Can you ever fully explain why such insignificant things seem so important at the time you are disposing of your loved ones' earthly possessions?  Maybe it is because in the recesses of my mind I knew that it would bring me such comfort to run my hands across something that my Mom had handled while she was thinking of me?  Perhaps.  Or maybe I was just desperate to cling to any bit of her that I could.  I really don't know.  But I think she would be very pleased by what I did with what she had left in that box of felt scraps.

I stumbled across this picture on Pinterest.  The link took me to a photo only.  No directions, no ownership that I could find.  Nothing but a photo.  So whoever did this, thank you for the inspiration.  I'd like to give them credit for their work...

Photo credit: unknown

I'd never done any needlework other than cross-stitch so I took my materials with me to Florida to visit my Aunt Betty for her to show me how to do the embroidery. (YOU can visit her through her blog... My Crazy Quilt Life)  She was a very patient teacher, and very encouraging.  She has more of an artistic way of looking at things than I do (my inclination would be to line those birds up like proper soldiers!) so I knew she would help me be a bit more random.  Intentional randomness.  Oxymoron, anyone?

Aunt Betty allowed me to take over her dining table...

I pinned and stitched one row at a time so as to avoid excessive pin stabs...

I gave it my best shot to finish sewing on all the birds while I was in Florida but I had to finish up after I came home.  Not perfect, but a good first effort if I do say so myself.

And here's the finished product...

My sewing was a little wonky on one side but I didn't notice until after it was all finished.  I'm not like my mother and my daughter.  They would've taken it apart and sewn it again.  Not I.  It is finished.  I have enough shapes cut out to make another pillow.  I will make an effort to be more precise, but I think I will put it on a white background.  If I get around to it. 

I used to have this notion that unless my abilities exceeded someone else's abilities they were without value and when you grow up in a family where the women are extraordinary at most everything they do, well that's just a crippling notion to have.  So I have decided to give up that notion.

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent

if no birds sang except those that sang best.

~Henry van Dyke

Okay, now it is your turn to show us what you've been up to!

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Not a Recipe, But a Story About a Recipe

Grandma's Sugar Cookies. Mention them to anyone in my extended family and they know exactly what I'm talking about. My Grandma, Lena Yoder, probably made more batches of these Amish church cookies than all the batches of all cookies that all of her daughters made... combined. And she had 9 daughters!

When I say "sugar cookies" most people think of a crisp cookie decorated with either colored sugar or icing. These cookies are not like that AT ALL. Grandma's Sugar Cookies are soft, only slightly sweet, with raisins throughout. Think of the top of a very large muffin.

My mother, Joy Courtney, carried on the tradition of making Grandma's Sugar Cookies for family gatherings. This is how my children came to love them, as my grandmother had passed before they were born so they never had any made by her. One of my young cousins calls them "Aunt Joy's Cookies" but even so, we all know what he means!

I started making Grandma's Sugar Cookies at Christmastime when my children were young but since the dough is so very... temperamental... I never had consistent results. Talk about frustrating! But since they always TASTED good, I'd make them despite their unacceptable texture. I've had results similar to large 'Nilla Wafers to ones that spread over the whole pan, dripping off the sides, and everything in between. Some family members (even in-laws) have perfected the recipe long ago and with fewer flubs than I have. What can I say? Comparison is the thief of joy so it is perfectly fine that I am a bit of a straggler!

This year the result was different. My Grandma's Sugar Cookies came out as close to perfect as I ever hope to get! I am not ashamed to admit that I did a happy dance when the first pan came out of the oven. I could hardly believe my eyes! And then when I lifted them off the pan, I think I may have said "YIPPEEEE!" more than a few times. Exciting stuff!  (Note: click on the pictures to enlarge them)

 

I am pretty sure these results were due to 3 very new circumstances:

#1 I got a special tip, along with a short story about how Grandma made them, from one of my aunts. It was so successful that I wrote it in on my recipe card so as not to forget! As my daughter watched me make the cookies, me telling her the story, I felt as if I were creating a touchpoint for her, us, that connects us to our rich heritage.

#2 I used the very same cookie cutter that my grandmother used for so many years. I "won" it at the family auction last year. Family auctions can be such fun. And sad. But that's a story for another time. Back to the cookie cutter... It is the perfect size for the cookies to bake evenly, creating a lovely butter-toned top and a lightly browned, crusty bottom. Mom and I used to laugh about her saying "The key to these cookies is having a crusty bottom." I sure do miss her sense of humor!

#3 I am now a Grandma. Yes, something special happens when you become a Grandma. "Grandma" should be listed as a superpower. It makes everything more fun, more thoughtful, more real. I can't explain it. It just happens. At least that is how it has been for me. I hope it is for you, as well. I am overjoyed to say that the twins had their first taste of Grandma's Sugar Cookies and loved them! 

You may be wondering why I'm not sharing the recipe for these wonderful cookies. Well, it isn't because they are a family secret or anything like that. I'm not sharing the recipe because the results are as much about the feel of the dough as it is the list of ingredients. It would be irresponsible of me to just give you the recipe only! You just can't separate the ingredients from the "how to" with these cookies. So, if any of my close-by friends would like to learn how to make them, I am willing to provide the recipe AND demonstrate how it is done.     (Edit: One of my aunts just made Grandma's Sugar Cookies for the first time today. She nailed it! Go figure! )

Just as we can only get the desired results for Grandma's Sugar Cookies with both the list of ingredients and the experience of working with the dough, so too must we have the completeness of God's Word to bring the desired result of our soul's salvation. 

I am only recently learning about how truth and grace cannot be rightly separated so if I fumble with the concepts, I hope you are gentle in your correction. I grew up learning a lot about truth. Stifling rule-keeping was what I learned. I don't say that is what I was taught because I could've been exposed to the grace component and it just didn't sink in. Then in an effort to balance that, I jumped on the grace wagon where I didn't concern myself with much truth at all. I slowly learned that that wasn't true grace that I was reading about in scripture, it was just man's efforts to feel good about himself and his sins. Again, my experience. There might have been some truth being taught but it didn't register.

I don't know if it is a condition of humanity or if it is just me and a few other people that I've encountered, that when we seek balance, we end up over-compensating, hoping to find relief from the negatives of one extreme only to find ourselves smack in the middle of another extreme. It is the frying pan v. fire syndrome, I suppose.

Scripture tells us that Christ came to earth full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Why would He need to be the embodiment of both? Because neither truth nor grace can really stand on it's own. Christ's example for us is FULLNESS, not balance. Truth cannot be diluted to accommodate grace and grace cannot be set aside for truth. In short, what truth requires, grace provides for.  Still learning, still leaning. 

31 Days of October: Day 17... Memories of Autumns Past

Fifer's Fruit Farm. I remember a long driveway, lined with fruit trees and a huge white building where I'd go with my Mom to buy apples. Lots of apples. She made the best apple butter, apple pie and apple dumplings I've ever had! I'm sure the local apples helped make these things taste so yummy but I'm sure that she was just good at what she did! I don't ever recall her saying that she loved to cook and she didn't really enjoy eating so I am inclined to believe that she really, really cared about whether or not the people she served liked what she made.

Then there was my Dad. He liked to eat. He especially liked to eat my Mom's cooking. He bragged on her cooking all the time but in later years he would fuss that it didn't taste like it used to. I don't know if the quality of the ingredients was lower, if Mom was doing something differently, his taste buds were somehow altered or if his memory exaggerated what he formerly experienced. Who knows? But when he'd say "I'd really like an apple pie", Mom would bake one.

Back to Fifer's... I had forgotten all about Fifer's until a cousin of mine posted pictures on facebook of a trip their family took there. So one day last week when we were out running errands, my husband and I decided to go waaaaaay out of the way to visit Fifer's. Long driveway lined with fruit trees? Check! Huge white building? Check! Apples? Check!

We bought some apples, apple cider doughnuts and spiced cashews. Yu-ummmm-my! Did they have all that "other" stuff when I was a kid? I don't think so but it is certainly a place I'd like to make some memories with my grandchildren.

Memory... It is an awfully tricky thing. How accurate is it? Probably not as much as we would like it to be. It is altered by time through filters of pain, joy, circumstance and perception. So how do we know what is real and what is distorted? That is a question too big for me to answer on my own so I go to the source of my faith which says...

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Philippians 4:8

For me, this takes a lot of effort. It doesn't happen as easily for me as it seems to happen for some people so it is something I have to choose to do. It may not change the memories from times long past but it will change how my future self remembers today. Pursuing thoughts of the whatevers in everyday living!

31 Days of October: Day 9... THE Quilt

Fall temperatures have arrived!  I sure was chilly last night but it is just too early to turn the heat on.  That can only mean one thing... THE quilt.  Yes, that's right.  THE quilt. 

I grew up around quilts.  My Grandmother, Mother and some of my Aunts were/are quilters.  I wonder if anyone ever counted how many quilts my Grandma Lena made.  It wouldn't surprise me a bit if that number was well into the hundreds.  I have two of those hand stitched beauties, one is my baby quilt and one is full-sized.  My Mom made quite a few, too.  I can still see her in my mind's eye, bent over a quilt frame, fingers flying from stitch to stitch.  I have a couple of those, too.

As much as I love having those reminders of times past, none of them are THE quilt.  They are delicate and pretty with embroidered flowers and it was taught to me at a young age that they should be handled with the utmost care, so I am hesitant to use them.  Breaking even a single stitch on one of those treasures would cause me a great deal of anxiety so I am saving them to pass to my children after I'm gone.  I hope they will put them to good use.

No, THE quilt is something quite different.  THE quilt is a heavy duty blanket, dark and sturdy, made from denim and flannel and tied with red string.  As much as it weighs, one might think that it is lined with lead.  It feels almost as heavy as the vest the dentist puts over your body when he takes x-rays of your teeth.  We are talking serious coverage (pun intended)!

We acquired THE quilt several months after we were married, after my husband's great-uncle passed away.  We lived in his old farmhouse with him after our marriage until it was time to dispose of his belongings.  One of the few things that we brought out with us was THE quilt.  We don't know who made it (probably Uncle Lee's mother) or how old it is (probably made in the early 40s) but those things aren't important when that blanket is keeping us warm!



THE quilt still has wrinkles from storage but they'll hang out eventually.

When THE quilt is pulled out of summer storage there is always the question of whether we should put it on top of or under the lightweight cover that is on our bed all year long.  It is not a bad-looking blanket but I consider it to be functional rather than decorative but in reality it could be both!  We almost always decide to put it on top "for now" and typically rearrange the order of covers when I wash sheets that week. 

Yes, THE quilt keeps us warm on cold nights but it also does something else. I helps me sleep more soundly.  THE quilt is so heavy that it keeps me from tossing and turning all night.  I'm such a restless sleeper!  THE quilt reminds my sleeping brain to be still by gently but firmly keeping my limbs from taking over and flailing about. It is that heavy! I doesn't immobilize me but it keeps me still. 


Until THE quilt is put on the bed, it does no good to stave off the chill or keep me from tossing and turning.  It is kinda like THE faith (you knew that was coming, didn't you?).   My spirit grows cold without an active faith.  Until I take it out of storage and PUT IT TO USE, it does me no good.  Its storage allows my spirit to be restless, flailing around looking for a place to rest. My heart remains tired and unrepentant, becoming hardened by selfish motives, blind to the things of God.  Been there, done that, making every effort to never go back. My faith, just like THE quilt, still has wrinkles in it from storage but they'll  hang out eventually.   

31 Days of October: Day 4... Making the (Raised) Bed... part 1

We've decided to build some raised beds in our back yard, mainly due to the fact that I was craving kale.  Yes, KALE. The leafy green stuff that everybody is making into chips and health drinks.  I'm curious about the kale chips but NOT the health drinks.  Ick!

A couple years before my Dad passed away he grew a big patch of kale in his huge garden.  That was the best tasting kale I've ever, ever had.  It was mild and tender and so very abundant!  I cooked it several different ways but my favorite was just straight up steamed with salt served with a side of bread and butter pickles.  I am salivating just thinking about it.

The memory of my Dad's kale from nearly 15 years ago is what prompted me to prompt my husband to help me build a raised bed garden so that I can eventually grow my own kale.  Note to self:  Things that may seem insignificant to me may one day, even 11 years after my death, influence my children to do something that they will blog about.  Behave accordingly!!!

We are choosing to build this bed in Fall so that it will be ready to plant as soon as the soil is ready. Our ultimate goal is to have all our raised beds in a potager-style layout. Potager gardens are basically kitchen gardens that combine English function with French styling.  In order to keep our soil contained we temporarily place cinder blocks.  They don't decompose, can be placed to create almost any shape bed and are fairly easy to store.  They are heavy and take a while to move but we felt the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Here is a picture taken from our back deck.  The shed looks awfully small in this picture but it is fairly large, 12x24.  You can just see the cinder blocks to the left side.  This is the north end of the shed so anything planted there will have to require little sun.  As we expand the garden area we will be able to accommodate different levels of sunshine needs.

Next is a closeup of our intended bed.

Layering cardboard to kill the grass beneath.

The picture above is a view from the garden area toward the back deck.  Next we layered ash, compost (see the eggshells?) and the leftovers from different bags of potting soil that I had used for containers last year. 

Next we set sections of perforated pipe.  Think of these as mini-composters.  When the soil is finally built up around them, compostable kitchen scraps can be thrown in and nutrients will leach out.  We will cover them with something that can be easily lifted and replaced, probably with upside-down clay pots.

At this point it started to rain so we decided to put all our tools away and do a couple quick outdoor chores before going in and cleaning up.  It was a good place to stop anyway since we need to get more ingredients to build the soil.  I'll continue this story another day!

Read part 2 here.