bee creative

making things, growing things

Salve making:

Olive oil (about 1 cup) that  calendula petals have been steeping in + beeswax (about 1 tablespoon).

I usually dry any plant matter before adding to the olive oil.  This keeps it from molding.

I have a dedicated jar that I use for melting the beeswax in and use a frying pan as a double boiler to heat the oil and the wax.  Once the wax is melted, it is poured into the heated oil and stirred (I usually use a wood skewer).  If you try this, be careful with this step and don't walk away. 

The salve will solidify as it cools. 

The proportion of wax to oil will impact how hard the salve is.  My proportion makes a fairly soft salve that can almost become a liquid on a really hot day. 

Sewing:  This was dress length.  I never really wore it much and it's been sitting in a "re-do" pile.  Today I cut it to just above knee length and am now hemming it.  I will probably make a bag with the fabric I cut off.

Growing: 

The ginger has sprouted! I will put it in a planter and give it a good dose of fish fertilizer (recommended by a local farmer who grew it to sell at the farmer's market for many years).

The cherry, plums, pears and one of the apple trees are blooming.  This cherry has never set fruit.  It's supposed to be self-pollinating but I don't think it is!

Eating:

Pasta + homemade ricotta + sorrel (garden) + oregano (garden) + asparagus (garden) + hazelnuts and hazelnut oil (local, farmer's market) + parmigiano reggiano (from far away Italy because I am not perfect and I love it so).

Listening to:  Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman.  Interesting, sometimes funny, political, and seriously concerned about the state of our world. He sometimes seems to go off on a tangent, which might drive some crazy, and he has what I would call a "potty mouth."

I am not quite done yet, but am pretty sure one of my favorite things he discusses is about how disconnected we become from our  environment and what it means to be a community, when we are only consumers... 

random thought

Earlier this week I was wondering what the world would be like if we put flowers in unusual places more often...

And, over the last couple days I've been working on this

 

and this

Enjoying a quiet moment here and there.

#2 learn something new

Today I learned how to make hand stitched button holes.  It was the last segment of a class I signed up for last year. 

Button holes are going to take some practice.

2022 will be the year I started hand sewing clothing.

I also finished a shirt I've been working on for a few weeks.

The pattern is random on this fabric but I see roses everywhere.

Thinking about...what would I like to learn this year? 

and some other things

It's going to get cold again (snow probably) so blanket mending seemed like a good idea...my assistants were up for the job.

I have two wool blankets that Mom gave me that had moth holes.

  She thought I could do something with them.

I washed them and put them on my bed. :)

They got washed a lot when I had dogs so they are pretty much felted at this point and one has some pretty big tears.  The torn one was cut into strips for mending holes in the other and to extend the length of the blanket that is still in pretty good shape.

I have plans to do more with this blanket but this will do for now. 

The other project I am getting some assistance with is knitting the sleeve on a sweater. 

They did let me make this star without help (directions here).

It's a little fussier than the last star I shared earlier and is going to take a bit of practice. 

And there was one more batch of ink:

 

Made without assistance on the porch.

A real to-do for tomorrow:  clean up the studio (porch) before everything freezes...

web making and rabbit holes

Instead of making a to-do list and in addition to the ta-da list, I made a web of my favorite things.  I tried not to overthink it and stopped when it felt right.

I realized as I webbed that my favorite things aren't the same as what I value.

It was interesting when I found patterns. 

I wouldn't even try to prioritize these things. 

Making, color, local:

Color, garden, connection:

The pigment that I ground last night...brick from the alley.

Garden soil...I can't say how much I love this. 

Another kind of field note.

Reading, thinking, writing:

It started with the newsletter for Poetry Unbound.   I went to read an essay by Matthew Bevis, "Unknowing Lyric."  Which led to a short podcast on Poetry Magazine (10 minutes) with the author about the essay.  One of the topics discussed is the importance of not knowing, to leave space for wonder. 

That podcast led to another with Ross Gay, Nikky Finney and Adrian Matejka.  There was a discussion about time and artifacts. Artifacts, thinking about that...

And then when I was done listening and making I went back to reading Ways of Being and found:

"Time has always been an imaginary concept, and it matters who imagines it."  

I always find it fascinating how it can be that when something is being considered (Jude), it just seems to keep coming up. 

And now, where next...?

breathe

The brown shirt is done and includes a secret message on the inside of the hem:

I need to remember this.

Hearing them, looking up and watching the geese shift positions. Imagining...what is it like to fly like this? Their wings glinting (what made me think of that word?) with sunshine. 

I didn't get as far as I wanted, but it's a start.

Reminds me of making mud pies and mud stew on the porch as a child. The browns are soil from the garden, the pink is a sample sent as a supply for class.

 

good reading weather, good stitching weather

Gusty and wet.

It seems like the leaves are falling all in one storm.

Tomorrow I will need to get out and pick the last of the tomatoes...we are supposed to be below freezing for a few nights next week.  Snow is still in the forecast, mostly mixed with rain.

It's really good weather for reading, knitting or stitching.

Still working on the hem on the brown shirt I started last weekend.

 

A few weeks ago I was thinking about this book, read many years ago after a recommendation from Jude, and ordered a copy. It arrived today and is as beautiful as remembered.

I am just about done reading Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Talents.  I can't read it at night because it is too disturbing.  While both Parable of the Sower (finished about a month ago) and Parable of the Talents are well written books, they fall in the category of "I am glad I read them and...." What is truly terrifying is that these are considered Science Fiction. 

And I have just started reading Ways of Being by James Bridle, as a recommendation from the On Being newsletter.  It's about intelligence, human and "more than human" and so far is an interesting book.

Reading multiple books at the same time is normal for me.  This morning's newsletter from Austin Kleon shared some advice from Ray Bradbury.  The advice is to read one short story, one poem and one essay every day. 

I just might have to try this, or a version of it....maybe a new challenge?

 

feeling like autumn

Soup for lunch with a few last things for the season:  Onions, tomatoes, dehydrated celery leaves cooked in olive oil + a splash of vegetable broth and then a trip to the blender with a few basil leaves added. Plus cheddar cheese.

A few more quince from the garden, more visible now that leaves are falling. A hat makes a good basket in a pinch.

I need a few more shirts for work that are easy to layer. This is the top from Sonya Philip's book The Act of Sewing. I really love this pattern.  Linen fabric from the stash, hand stitched using the Mantua-makers seam...so much fun to do!

on the line

As a phrase it means, risk and danger.

When the phrase came to me I was really thinking about what was on the laundry line.  That was before I had to get Gibson down; he was dangling by his paws after climbing up the fabric.

I think it's the clothes pins he's after. 

Then I thought of the line I stitched today.

And of writing a line of...poetry? 

I made notes right on the fabric during a class today.

Mantua-makers seam.

All of this is not to be confused with a train of thought.

Which might be derailed.

 

not quite but another kind of good enough

There was so much I wanted to do this weekend that didn't get done....

There was a lot of this.

I guess it was what was needed most.

And some of this.

I am finding I much prefer hand sewing.  

I also finished the first sleeve.

So now quite what I planned but good enough.