Sharing my thoughts on sewing, crafting, recycling and life as someone who makes stuff (mostly messy stuff).
Showing posts with label Musing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musing. Show all posts
Made in America--Kinda
Why is a Jeep Commercial so heartbreaking? I saw this ad and the words made me cry. I don't give a rat's backside about Jeep, they are cashing in on a moment, a realization that as a culture we have lost something.
We all have our soap boxes and I realize mine is a bit shaky. For all of my buy local, support the arts and grow your own foodism--I feel like a hypocrite, in a very big way.
This holiday as I make make make our gifts I realized that even if I am making the final product, many of the components are not made in America (MIA), they are made in China (MIC) or Japan or some other country far away. Since the ones MIC don't have a disclaimer, they were probably made by children and prisoners.
This leaves me in a quandary, do I abhor all things manufactured outside of the USA? I think I allow myself to temper that thought with the fact that there is not a MIA option. As an artist, crafter, educator and local/online shop owner, I support the making of things. The things I make and sell feed my family, not feeding my family is not an option.
Thinking sucks.
Food Allergies & Fermented Foods
So fast forward my life, married with kids, and in charge of feeding and watering, but there is a glitch, my youngest is allergic to milk and wheat (Dairy Free/Gluten Free are we!) and apparently so am I. I was not before I had Arabella, I ate bread and cheese all the time, was I tired, cranky, yes probably but many would say I still am, so how did I become "allergic" after I had my second child. Here is the story:
Making Hooch in a Hotel
Okay, I am not actually making hooch. I am making Jun, which, I think, is just fancy Kombucha. I received a mother scoby two weeks ago at the Food for Life event at Sequatchie Valley Institute. As soon as I got home I made a batch of strong Green Tea & added honey. I let the brew sit overnight so that the chlorine would dissipate from the tap water. The next morning I carefully placed the scoby into the room temperature tea / honey mix and thus started my first batch of Jun. I was told that this mother scoby was different from a kombucha mother scoby because it needed honey for food and not white sugar. I can't really speak to that, this is my second experiment in fermented beverage (first is the mead we also made that weekend).
Anywho, I left for the Quilt Symposium of Alabama in Cullman three days later, leaving the Jun to do whatever it did. I arrived home on Sunday, kissed the kids and checked the hooch (the mead and the Jun). The mead looked good, the Jun scoby, which was floating peacefully on the top when I left, was all kattywampus. My beloved stirred the wrong concoction. Oh NO!!!
No fear! I would see what the Jun tasted like after a week and start a new batch. I was happy to discover that even thought the Jun had a rough week, the mother scoby created a daughter scoby and the mixture had a sweetish fermented / vinegary smell. Using CLEAN hands I scooped out the scoby and placed it in a clean container, decanted about 80% of the Jun into another clean plastic container and put it in the fridge.
Drum Roll Please!!!
After chilling the Jun for a few hours we had a taste test. And the results are:
Daddy - Yum!
Red 1 - Supper Yum, makes her feel as good as an hour of Yoga. Drama much!
Red 2 - Yuck!
Mommy - Hmm... This taste like really tart unsweetened carbonated tea, not sure I can swing it with out some juice mixed in.
From what I have read and what I was told this mixture could be carbonated (ours was), should still be kinda sweet after only a week (ours was not) and should have a very low alcohol level (did not perceive any alcohol reaction).
So you might want to know where I came up with the title of this entry. Well, I am getting there.
Double fermentation, I read an interesting article at Food Renegade that had you pouring some fruit juice into a mason jar, adding your kombucha and closing up the jar for another 48 hours. I figured it might be better for me than adding straight up sugar to the Jun and it should work cause I kinda think that Jun & kombucha are the same basic process. Using a mason jar, I added a cup of Cherry juice and then filled the the jar with Jun. Then I tossed it in the car and drove it to Ohio for a quilt show. My mason jar full of Cherry Jun got an odd reaction from my other mother and super quilt helper. She smelled it and tasted it and promptly decided I was brewing hooch. If you have consumed homemade kombucha or made it yourself you know that once you separate from its mother it get lonely and grews a new mother. Not really, it just continues to do whatever fermenting it was already doing and a scum forms on the top that will become a new mother. Still not a darling image.
How is it that I am fermenting Jun in my hotel room? I had a glass of Jun the first day, on the second day I realized that I would run out of Jun before I returned home to my stash, I mean the new Jun I started before I left. What to do, go without?? Well I have only been drinking it for 3 days so it would not be a super tragedy. OR I could go to the free breakfast buffet and make a cup of super strong green tea and get a glass of cranberry juice (which might have been a bad choice cause I think cranberries are antiseptic) and add it to my mason jar of hooch, I mean Jun.
So we got home from the quilt show this evening and I checked on my Jun, it is well on it way to making a new mother and it is very carbonated. I will check it in the morning and see if it is palatable.
Just for the record, I think I am actually just making carbonated juice and it probably has very few of the esteemed and oft lauded wonders of the miraculous kombucha (maybe aka) Jun.
Anywho, I left for the Quilt Symposium of Alabama in Cullman three days later, leaving the Jun to do whatever it did. I arrived home on Sunday, kissed the kids and checked the hooch (the mead and the Jun). The mead looked good, the Jun scoby, which was floating peacefully on the top when I left, was all kattywampus. My beloved stirred the wrong concoction. Oh NO!!!
No fear! I would see what the Jun tasted like after a week and start a new batch. I was happy to discover that even thought the Jun had a rough week, the mother scoby created a daughter scoby and the mixture had a sweetish fermented / vinegary smell. Using CLEAN hands I scooped out the scoby and placed it in a clean container, decanted about 80% of the Jun into another clean plastic container and put it in the fridge.
Drum Roll Please!!!After chilling the Jun for a few hours we had a taste test. And the results are:
Daddy - Yum!
Red 1 - Supper Yum, makes her feel as good as an hour of Yoga. Drama much!
Red 2 - Yuck!
Mommy - Hmm... This taste like really tart unsweetened carbonated tea, not sure I can swing it with out some juice mixed in.
From what I have read and what I was told this mixture could be carbonated (ours was), should still be kinda sweet after only a week (ours was not) and should have a very low alcohol level (did not perceive any alcohol reaction).
So you might want to know where I came up with the title of this entry. Well, I am getting there.
Double fermentation, I read an interesting article at Food Renegade that had you pouring some fruit juice into a mason jar, adding your kombucha and closing up the jar for another 48 hours. I figured it might be better for me than adding straight up sugar to the Jun and it should work cause I kinda think that Jun & kombucha are the same basic process. Using a mason jar, I added a cup of Cherry juice and then filled the the jar with Jun. Then I tossed it in the car and drove it to Ohio for a quilt show. My mason jar full of Cherry Jun got an odd reaction from my other mother and super quilt helper. She smelled it and tasted it and promptly decided I was brewing hooch. If you have consumed homemade kombucha or made it yourself you know that once you separate from its mother it get lonely and grews a new mother. Not really, it just continues to do whatever fermenting it was already doing and a scum forms on the top that will become a new mother. Still not a darling image.
How is it that I am fermenting Jun in my hotel room? I had a glass of Jun the first day, on the second day I realized that I would run out of Jun before I returned home to my stash, I mean the new Jun I started before I left. What to do, go without?? Well I have only been drinking it for 3 days so it would not be a super tragedy. OR I could go to the free breakfast buffet and make a cup of super strong green tea and get a glass of cranberry juice (which might have been a bad choice cause I think cranberries are antiseptic) and add it to my mason jar of hooch, I mean Jun.
So we got home from the quilt show this evening and I checked on my Jun, it is well on it way to making a new mother and it is very carbonated. I will check it in the morning and see if it is palatable.
Just for the record, I think I am actually just making carbonated juice and it probably has very few of the esteemed and oft lauded wonders of the miraculous kombucha (maybe aka) Jun.
Getting Ready
Well the damage to our wallet is fairly substantial and to add to it hubby wants to replace our "vintage" toilets with super doo per fancy new ones. They have the name eco in the title so I am sure they will be great. ;-)
I am not hanging in my studio right now, there is an issue of smell. The Super Sundial guy was here today and they are starting tomorrow am. Ya Team. He did not ask me to move anything although I probably should. Yuck. I am exhausted just thinking about it.
We just cleaned the play room/tv room to prepare for the TREE! A is beside herself with excitement, even though she just decorated her Oma's tree.
Ya !! Daddy & Sister are home we can get started!
I am not hanging in my studio right now, there is an issue of smell. The Super Sundial guy was here today and they are starting tomorrow am. Ya Team. He did not ask me to move anything although I probably should. Yuck. I am exhausted just thinking about it.
We just cleaned the play room/tv room to prepare for the TREE! A is beside herself with excitement, even though she just decorated her Oma's tree.
Ya !! Daddy & Sister are home we can get started!
Sewage - Really
Yikes and Yuck! We knew there was a problem, we even got an estimate but we were hoping to put it off until after the holidays. NOPE!
I got home from a visit to my mom's and the Sugerloaf Craft fair only to discover that the sewage pipe above my husband's den was dripping on my grandmother's sofa. Drip Drip Drip... of the stinkiest red water, it looks like cool aid and smells like vomit. The only light in this tunnel is that there are no bathrooms on that sewage line, only the kitchen.
Hopefully our wonderful plumbers will be in today to repair and replace the cast iron in the basement. Happy Holidays to us.
On a crafty note, this weekend at my mom's I cut out 30 of those Singlit Shopping Bags I posted the link to earlier last week. Hopefully I will be able to get to my sewing room since the pipe of imminent repair runs through it.
I got home from a visit to my mom's and the Sugerloaf Craft fair only to discover that the sewage pipe above my husband's den was dripping on my grandmother's sofa. Drip Drip Drip... of the stinkiest red water, it looks like cool aid and smells like vomit. The only light in this tunnel is that there are no bathrooms on that sewage line, only the kitchen.
Hopefully our wonderful plumbers will be in today to repair and replace the cast iron in the basement. Happy Holidays to us.
On a crafty note, this weekend at my mom's I cut out 30 of those Singlit Shopping Bags I posted the link to earlier last week. Hopefully I will be able to get to my sewing room since the pipe of imminent repair runs through it.
Happy Thanksgiving
Today is my favorite day of the year.
I love Thanksgiving: it is a wonderful day to reflect on your life in a positive and loving way, it is filled with amazing smells and an overwhelming amount of food and it is for family and friends.
I love Thanksgiving: it is a celebration of the fall which is my favorite season, my birthday falls on it ever 7 ish years, it does not require gifts or imaginary icons to lend it validity.
I love Thanksgiving.
I am thankful for more thing than I can list in this post my family and friends are at the top of my list.
Thanksgiving is like New Years for me. I spend a lot of time thinking about where I want to be this time next year (which will be "a BIG" birthday). What are my goals and how will I achieve them. Here are a few that I am already working on:
Sew, Craft, Make cause it is fun and you love to do it.
This might seam like an easy goal but about 3 months ago I took a Indie Craft Class and I realized that if it was not for the store or I could not see a way to use it to promote Some Art Fabric, I was not longer doing it. That made me sad. I changed the name of the blog to just Some Art Talk and I started to include my photographic images and the images of photographers I adore, along with a bunch of other crafty things I do.
READ
Another pleasure that has been eclipsed by life. What could be better than slipping into someone else's skin and living a different life for a few hours.
I just reread Breaking Dawn, I think this is truly the finest of the series, I have yet to see the Twilight movie. I might slip away later today. As far as Vampire books go I really love the House of Night series by the mother / daughter team: P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast. The dialog take some getting used to, if you don't hang out with teenagers all day like I do, but what a fun idea, a finishing school for young vampires.
Buy a Bike
I am not huge on exercise of any sort but I used to love riding a bike, it was freedom unlimited when I was younger. So my older daughter and I will be getting bikes very soon. (Maybe even tomorrow if I can find a sale at the local bike shop).
Pray - Meditate - Sit in Silence
My world is very loud, a few years ago during lent I started a morning ritual which involved contemplative / centering prayer. If you are not familiar with it, contemplative / centering prayer is very big in the monastic life and similar to meditation. You have a word, you repeat it over and over again in an attempt to block out your head noise. The word is supposed to be short but I use the word immaculate. Silence is a precious gift and I miss it.
Start Making my Handmade Christmas YIKES!!
Thanksgiving is the trigger that starts this race for me and I better get cracking if I think I will be hand making jack squat. December the blog with be chock full of links to cool quick gift ideas and tomorrow we start a huge Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sale.
Off to my sewing room.
Peace OUT! :-)
I love Thanksgiving: it is a wonderful day to reflect on your life in a positive and loving way, it is filled with amazing smells and an overwhelming amount of food and it is for family and friends.
I love Thanksgiving: it is a celebration of the fall which is my favorite season, my birthday falls on it ever 7 ish years, it does not require gifts or imaginary icons to lend it validity.
I love Thanksgiving.
I am thankful for more thing than I can list in this post my family and friends are at the top of my list.
Thanksgiving is like New Years for me. I spend a lot of time thinking about where I want to be this time next year (which will be "a BIG" birthday). What are my goals and how will I achieve them. Here are a few that I am already working on:
Sew, Craft, Make cause it is fun and you love to do it.
This might seam like an easy goal but about 3 months ago I took a Indie Craft Class and I realized that if it was not for the store or I could not see a way to use it to promote Some Art Fabric, I was not longer doing it. That made me sad. I changed the name of the blog to just Some Art Talk and I started to include my photographic images and the images of photographers I adore, along with a bunch of other crafty things I do.
READ
Another pleasure that has been eclipsed by life. What could be better than slipping into someone else's skin and living a different life for a few hours.
I just reread Breaking Dawn, I think this is truly the finest of the series, I have yet to see the Twilight movie. I might slip away later today. As far as Vampire books go I really love the House of Night series by the mother / daughter team: P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast. The dialog take some getting used to, if you don't hang out with teenagers all day like I do, but what a fun idea, a finishing school for young vampires.
Buy a Bike
I am not huge on exercise of any sort but I used to love riding a bike, it was freedom unlimited when I was younger. So my older daughter and I will be getting bikes very soon. (Maybe even tomorrow if I can find a sale at the local bike shop).
Pray - Meditate - Sit in Silence
My world is very loud, a few years ago during lent I started a morning ritual which involved contemplative / centering prayer. If you are not familiar with it, contemplative / centering prayer is very big in the monastic life and similar to meditation. You have a word, you repeat it over and over again in an attempt to block out your head noise. The word is supposed to be short but I use the word immaculate. Silence is a precious gift and I miss it.
Start Making my Handmade Christmas YIKES!!
Thanksgiving is the trigger that starts this race for me and I better get cracking if I think I will be hand making jack squat. December the blog with be chock full of links to cool quick gift ideas and tomorrow we start a huge Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sale.
Off to my sewing room.
Peace OUT! :-)
Anniversary of Strength
This week marks the second anniversary of a painful time, not a horrible day or a tragic day, just many painful days, months really.
October is breast cancer awareness month and this month, in 2006, my mother underwent a bilateral mastectomy.
October is breast cancer awareness month and this month, in 2006, my mother underwent a bilateral mastectomy.
Her cancer was not diagnosed with a mammogram, she noticed one of her breasts was growing. She went in to see her general practitioner and she asked about it. They did a biopsy and confirmed malignancy in her mammary glands. She started her first of two rounds of chemo. After the surgery she also went through 2 rounds of radiation.
I am so lucky that my mother-in-law is near and could help care for my two young children. I also thanks the powers that be that there are laws that protect your job during times when you truly need to care for your family.
Cancer brought us closer and pointed a strong light on our priorities. We realized that we needed each other, that we were there for each other and that made us both stronger. In the past two years we strayed back into busy lives. This month is the time for us to pull ourselves up sharp and remember. To remember the fear and the joy.
Please take time this month to be with the women you love and take the time to care for yourself so that you can be there for the ones who love you.
Promiscuous Crafting
Have you ever felt unfaithful to your craft. I am easy and I love it. This year I attempted to maintain a monogamous relationship with sewing. Staying faithful to one craft is beyond difficult. I wander occasionally (weekend affairs) but I try to bring it back to fabric quickly (or at least fiber). This week I fell off the wagon in a big way. I may have fallen earlier this month but was in denial until I found myself paying for 12 new ceramic molds on ebay yesterday and new die cuts for my Accucut on Monday. Some of my promiscuity is the fault of my Indie Craft Teacher, Shannon and some of it is returning to school and getting excited about sharing new stuff with my students. Who ever I am blaming it on, no one was forcing me to spend hours looking for a doll molds and ending up with 3 owls, two angels, a Buddha, two virgin Mary, a chess set and a couple of other ceramic molds.
What in the world am I doing? I am making Holiday gifts and creating 2 coffins for the Day of the Dead show at Young Blood Gallery. Also, in my lame defense, there are 10 boxes of stone ware slip in my storage unit and I need to use it up. So yesterday after paying way more for shipping then the actual molds (there were mostly under 5.00 but they all weigh about 20 pounds each). I went out to the shed and opened up a new bag of slip to make sure it was okay. It is a bit lumpy and thick, I may actually have to sieve it! Super Pain! All 10 boxes are there waiting. I am embarrassed to say the slip was originally purchase in a different decade, so kudos to the packaging, since it is still usable.
I think it is difficult for me to be monogamous to one craft because, well the first line says it all. I am a promiscuous crafter. I started crafting early, my family made those weird dolls as part of a home employment network (ours was a couple of folks in a hot air balloon). In high school I made very cute items that my teachers loved to buy and I did cross stitch for a local publication. I left CRAFT behind to become an ARTIST in college. My first degree is in Photography, my second is in Art Education with a minor in Ceramics & Printmaking. I am now a crafty artist, I am beyond rehabilitation but I am usually in the program. Stay tuned for updates on my ceramics folly.
What in the world am I doing? I am making Holiday gifts and creating 2 coffins for the Day of the Dead show at Young Blood Gallery. Also, in my lame defense, there are 10 boxes of stone ware slip in my storage unit and I need to use it up. So yesterday after paying way more for shipping then the actual molds (there were mostly under 5.00 but they all weigh about 20 pounds each). I went out to the shed and opened up a new bag of slip to make sure it was okay. It is a bit lumpy and thick, I may actually have to sieve it! Super Pain! All 10 boxes are there waiting. I am embarrassed to say the slip was originally purchase in a different decade, so kudos to the packaging, since it is still usable.
I think it is difficult for me to be monogamous to one craft because, well the first line says it all. I am a promiscuous crafter. I started crafting early, my family made those weird dolls as part of a home employment network (ours was a couple of folks in a hot air balloon). In high school I made very cute items that my teachers loved to buy and I did cross stitch for a local publication. I left CRAFT behind to become an ARTIST in college. My first degree is in Photography, my second is in Art Education with a minor in Ceramics & Printmaking. I am now a crafty artist, I am beyond rehabilitation but I am usually in the program. Stay tuned for updates on my ceramics folly.
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