Of This Place

After an embarrassingly long absence, I'm baaaack !

I've been wanting to write a post about my entry into the 2016 eCouture Wearable Art Fashion Show since April, so here goes, better late than never.

This was the hat that I made, based on a beautiful design from one of the First Nations baskets that I love at the Powell River Historical Museum.  I wanted to pay tribute to and honour the long tradition of making the baskets, as well as the women whose hands skilfully wove them.The original basket was woven by Mary Peters, a renowned cedar weaver from Tla'amin.

I have explained more about the process here, (and here is a link)

Continuing here, (and here is a link to the second page)

And last page here, 

What I didn't explain here was that two days before the event I didn't have a model for the hat and wrap. It was getting a little desperate I must say, but, sometimes, things just happen as though they were meant to be. My friend Brandon contacted me, who is the original weaver's grandson. He said that his niece Mala would model Of This Place at the show for me. I can't tell you how special this was and how grateful and  honoured I am to Mala and the Peters Family for making this happen. When she bravely stepped out onto the catwalk I had a few tears, I must confess.

And this is how beautiful she looked.

We only got these few pictures of her, for which I will forever be sad, but it was a fabulous event which will remain with me as a very special memory.  Thank you Mala !

An Experiment With Ink

This is one of the things I did today.

I have wanted to try making ink or paint for a little while now and today was the day to make a start !

I used beets that I cooked and strained. I added vinegar to try and prevent  mould. I would use white vinegar next time and cook the beets in it rather than adding it later..... Oh well, trial and error !

 I'm planning on trying black walnuts next.

Bunnies Beating The Heat ......

.... With fruity frozen Popsicles 

 Banana, strawberries and pineapple zipped up in the blender and frozen. The boys love them. 

(Eric apologizes for his grubby nose, not enough spit and polish from Ernie this morning, obviously !)

First Colour From The Dye Garden - Coreopsis Tinctoria

I haven't posted for ages, very remiss of me I know ! 

I was so excited to get these great colours today I just had to tell you about it.

Here's a little montage to show how cute the coreopsis flowers are in the garden and what beautiful hues they gave me in my small scale experiment. 

Looking forward to MORE colour on a bigger scale soon.

Boat Trip To Haywire Bay, Remembrance Day

It was such a beautiful afternoon we made the most of it and took the boat up to Powell Lake.

We launched it at Mowatt Bay and didn't go too far, just over to Haywire Bay.

We stopped at this beach and went for a little hike. I even found some Cortinarius mushrooms, good for colour so YAY !

I think even Fleur had a good time although I have to admit it was a ewe bit chilly !! 

Weaving .... With Rags, Sticks and Cedar Strips

I recently finished some weaving.

I made a couple of placemats with the turquoise rags, then decided to use some sticks to make a couple of mats.

Here they are, off the loom.

I must say this is my favourite. I used some beautiful cedar, given to me by my friend Ivan, (to test for colour with mushroom dyes, but I couldn't resist !)

And last pic. The obligitary-cat-sitting-on-finished-weaving-shot !

Food Preserving Factory

That's how it's been around here lately.

This was the last couple of days results !

At the top is the beautiful apple sauce I made using our amazing Kitchenaid attachment. These apples came from our friends, Chuck and Valerie's orchard. In the middle on the right, it's in the jars. With the leftover skins, cores etc I made a big jar of pectin to use in jam making. That's the bottom right picture. I had to try the pectin out so I made a couple of jars of blackberry jelly with left over blackberries from the Christmas Blackberry Brandy we made this week. 

(A Periwinkle tradition !) and the jelly set up great so I'd definitely be calling that a success. Also in that pic is some yummy fruit leather with MORE of the berry juice and the awesome apple sauce.

Lastly are the hop yeast cakes. These still need a bit of work I must admit ! I first found some recipes for hop yeasts in an old book at the museum. I think it must have been this one https://archive.org/details/younghousekeeper00corn

It's still in the experimental stage. These cakes are made with the hop yeast and cornmeal. They are dried, ( I dried them in my dehydrator, which is not really how it happened in 1859, but still), and then can be stored in an airtight jar.I

 also watched a youtube vid from a prepper lady, 

https://m.youtube.com/user/BexarPrepper. 

She also makes the cakes to keep in the larder.

Feeling very productive !