For the last 15 years or so my husband and I have celebrated the feast of the rutabaga. It is essentially a long running gag based on the fact that once upon a time I had never cooked rutabaga and my husband had never even seen one, but really liked the sound of the word. […]
Read more "Feast of the Rutabaga"Those of you who follow me will know that I occasionally write about medieval foods, the preparation of which is one of my hobbies. Today I’m posting about a different kind of history, a personal one. I have enjoyed baking since I was a teenager. It was the one culinary art my mother had not […]
Read more "A Different Kind of Historical Recipe"So June, four years ago, I finished my very first quilt. I had made pillows before, but this was my first quilt that you could put on a bed. It was for my son who was at that time three years old, and still sleeping in a toddler bed. He is now seven and […]
Read more "First Quilt Expanded"I am going to give up on apologizing for long lapses in posts. This time, my excuse is very good… Just a career change and move slowing me down. But never fear, I still find time for crafting. Last month, during Christmas break, I took the kids into downtown Greensboro to visit a local yarn […]
Read more "Spider-Man Yarn"So this is something a little different from my usual fare. My husband is planning a new Warhammer army. This one has a Lovecraft theme. This is the new Cthulu model from Reaper’s new Bones line of miniatures. I wish that I had taken pictures of the model before I’d put the polyurethane finish on […]
Read more "Painted Monsters"The plan of this week was to check out how to make shrinks dinks from #6 plastic. The shrinking worked fine but the sharpie didn’t stay (possibly because I used Goo gone to get rid of a sticker) so more on that at a later date. Before I could test the procedure, I needed a […]
Read more "Squirreled Again (and again, and again)!"Once the felt had been made, and was mostly dry, I cut out a large circle. Using my teapot, I carefully steamed the center of the circle until it was too hot to touch and then stretched it over the hat form, pulling it evenly on all sides. Then, since I did not purchase a […]
Read more "Mad Hatting Part II: The Hat"I collect spoons…yes, the cheesy, old fashioned things that you find mostly in airports and schlock shops the world over. It’s an old fashioned hobby, but it is something of a tradition in my family, and I have kept it alive. The problem is, I have no way to display them. I admit that I […]
Read more "De-frumpifying the Frumpy"Every once in a while I run across a craft that is both stupid simple and very lovely. I am always torn when I have found such a craft. They are the perfect sort of thing to give as gifts, but if I brag about how easy they are, or worse, post a tutorial, then […]
Read more "Stupid Simple"The problem with knitting, for me anyway, is that it is a cold weather activity. I never think of starting a knitting project until after it begins to get cold (not cool, cold). And since, I start most knitting projects by spinning the wool, and I am not a particularly fast knitter, I never finish […]
Read more "The Problem with Knitting"