bee creative

keeping busy, with breaks

Some more playing with pigments:

This piece of brick was soft enough that I could use a rasp to powder it.

Added a little stone fruit gum and I had paint.

Dots are always good.

I also spent some time canning and loading up the dehydrator this weekend.

This made me smile. 

And there was some sewing.

With breaks.

Everything that fits together has been sewn together, but some of the squares just are not cooperating. I am basting those squares to a 3 foot by 3 foot section of the backing fabric.  Where the edges overlap neatly they have been sewn down.  In other areas I am going to have to put a "filler" piece. And in some areas I will applique a strip over the edges to cover where there would be a raw edge. 

To borrow a phrase from Jude, I think this could be called

"design mending..."

 

prepared for the week

 

"No Timber, you can't have my lunch."

Broccoli, potato, cauliflower, spinach (added last so that it would stay bright green), some spices, chicken broth, water, topped with paneer. Inspired by a recipe in Wholesome Bowls by Melissa Delport, currently checked out from the library. There are a few more things I want to try before I have to return it.

"Or my dinner."

Quinoa Patties (the recipe is all the way at the bottom), corn and pumpkin seeds and cherry tomatoes from the farmer's market.

"And certainly not my desert."

Apple Zucchini Cake. It's not healthy, there is a ton of butter in it.  Well, a cup.  The recipe is in Nigel Slater's book Ripe.  I spend a lot of time reading his cookbooks once I start browsing, they are lovely.

 

from the garden, making things

This fits the weather...

It's raining, after a mostly gray day. 

The fabric isn't quite true to color.  The dark is a dusky plum made from black hollyhocks.  That layer of color plus the little dots (from sumac) was made last year.  It wasn't quite what I wanted so it went it the walnut vat last week.  It's much better and is now under construction.

One of today's projects...damson plum jam which really is more the consistency of a caramel because I was distracted and cooked it a bit long. 

Mom and I both got trees a few years ago.  This is the first year that we both had a good enough crop to make things. I am flavoring vodka with the rest.  And maybe a crisp...

And now I am considering the rose hips on the dog rose....
 

good things when it's hot

I might need a new category:  things you can put on vanilla ice cream.  It's my favorite flavor because it can be eaten so many ways.

I bought an ice cream maker which makes this all so much more possible...tonight, plum jam.

Another good thing, coreopsis soaking in water.  Might get hot enough tomorrow that it doesn't need to be heated. Today's high was 88F and it's going to be hot again tomorrow, at least hot for us...

things I will do again

Smashed boiled new potatoes + corn + zucchini paste thinned to a sauce + scamorza cheese + basil.

Definitely doing versions of this again.

I am stitching an edge on one of my shirts so that I can crochet a lace edge on.

Linen is such a lovely fabric to work with.

abundance

It's that time of year when there are so many yummy things to get at the farmer's market... My favorite find of the day was lemon cucumbers.  There are some in the garden but they haven't quite ripened. 

This afternoon I finished the charcoal ink I'd started a couple weeks ago. 

This image is two photos layered.

And this one has a filter applied.

Charcoal ink is "waste not" project number four.

I really do like mulling pigments....

emergency chocolate sauce

Approximately 1 tablespoon cocoa powder + 1 plus a bit more tablespoons of honey + a teaspoon of water.

in season

Zucchini butter recipe here.

something to celebrate

Can't remember the last time it rained.

Since I could bake without overheating the house I made cake...sorry Mom.

 

top of the world

For Gibson anyway....

Other things today:

Toasted cheese sandwiches with bread from the farmers market. I smash them with one of my pots to make them flat.

It's becoming a Saturday tradition.

This week's peas and last week's carrots from the farmers market as well. 

Back to my garden, I spent some time in the rose bushes.

I don't know what kind of rose this is.  I bought it unlabeled because I loved the color of the bud.  It was in the rugosa section at the nursery.

They smell good too.