Musicians of Bremen & Knitting

Do you recall the Grimm Brothers' fairytale of  "The Musicians of Bremen"?  Need a refresher on the story?  Go here to read yourself a little bedtime story if you are so inclined.

Found this novelty and placed it in the bath to give visitors a laugh, or else wonder what in the world this was doing on top of the toilet!

 

According to most renditions of the Musicians of Bremen story, there was a cock, a hound, a cat and a donkey.  So a bit of literary license was taken by the crafter who put together the animals doing service as the musicians.  You could say there were several morals to the story, but I'll go with the one that speaks of not letting your imagination get away with the facts of the situation.

 



These alstroemeria are beauties that last two weeks if you regularly change their water.  The hub brought them home from the grocery store the other day.  He did a good job!

This ground cover is coming up in the back right now.  Aren't the little blue flowers pretty?  And grape hyacinths too!

 One of our first daffodils:

 

 

And finally, I finished that cowl called Leafy Wreath Cowl (pattern found here on Ravelry).

 

Looks like I was asking the husband a question, or scolding him.  Anyway, here is a close up of the cowl:

It hides a multitude of sins on that double chin!  It was a bit of a challenge knitting this up (cables and lace), but it feels soft on the skin and is warm to boot.  Yarn is by Quince & Co.  Details here.

Making Double Sided Napkins

Tiring of my used and chipped dinnerware, I replaced it with Fiestaware in a turquoise/bright blue.  Newly painted dining room and kitchen walls are in a light peach color.

And did I tell you how much I like the Behr paint with primer?  Why yes, I think I did back in a post here in January.  So more Behr was added to walls and baseboards, not only in the prior color of Indulgent Mocha but also in a peach color for the kitchen.  Thusly:

Now to go with these blues in my Angry Birds and Fiestaware, I needed coordinating cloth napkins.  (Yes, there is a trip to Good Will scheduled soon with used linens.)

This tutorial told me everything about sewing double sided napkins.  Thank you, FiberFantasies.

A few of the steps are here in print form.

 Peachy and turquois-y fabrics sewn together (squares were about 18" before seaming) and turned inside out.

Oops, I see a bit a thread that needs snipping 

The magnets were a gift from my sweet daughter Julie.  Don't they just add a bit of zing?  And just to mix it up a bit, stair-stepping fabrics for a unique one:

Fun to make, with just a bit of cursing involved in machine sewing.

Linking to Tami at Finished Objects Friday

A Knitted Sweater for Baby

There is a niece in the family who is ALL THINGS BRONCO. 

Not only is she a Bronco fan, but she is also in her third trimester of pregnancy with a BOY.

Bronco colors of orange and blue are pretty common in Colorado, home of the Broncos, but not so much elsewhere.  You would not think it so difficult to find orange and blue yarn, but it was.  I found some sock yarn from the Stray Cat Etsy store and it came in a cute orange box with a cat on it.
 

That baby boy, Jackson, will need a sweater next winter, so this pattern was the one chosen; got busy knitting with that self striping yarn from Stray Cat in New Zealand.

Accessories include grosgrain ribbon and buttons in coordinating colors:

Using the ribbon both behind the buttons on the button band and behind the button holes makes the knitted fabric more sturdy, stabilizing the buttons.

 This video explains in detail how to apply the ribbon.  It is on Vimeo, courtesy of Jasmin and Gigi of the Knitmore Girls.

Visual Featurette- Grosgrain Ribbon Tutorial from Jasmin & Gigi on Vimeo.

The top buttons, the ones that you actually see when looking at the garment buttoned up, are orange.

And the buttons on the bottom of the orange buttons, making the top buttons more secure, are blue:

 

 

Finished!

 

 

Enjoy, Baby Jackson, due June 5!

 

Linking to Finished Objects Friday.  And linking to Fiber Arts Friday.

 

Let's All Share One Tutorial

It is so much fun to learn something new.  And it is just as rewarding to teach others what YOU have learned. Most of my crafting, decorating, cooking and painting ideas and efforts have been taken from what others have already done; when the person has explained the process so others might take advantage of that knowledge it is even more fun.

The Challenge that Inspiration Avenue is presenting you this week is to share a video, or any "How-To-Do-It" method as it relates to just about any creative effort.  One of my favorite sites on the web is How TO Do Things (just about any and every thing is covered there with clear directions).  Also eHow is a good resource.  Any and all tutorials are welcome.

Here are a few tutorials to put the Challenge wheels in action:

Grosgrain Ribbon Tutorial on Vimeo by Jasmin and Gigi of the KnitmoreGirls:


Visual Featurette- Grosgrain Ribbon Tutorial

This tutorial shows how to make a watercolor chart.  Ian McKendrick did it so well!

source

Have you ever tried to paint on silk?  Betty the Wood Fairy shows a tutorial here:

complete tutorial on Betty's blog: http://betty-thewoodfairy.blogspot.com/2011/09/tutorial.html

Perhaps you might like to sew a double sided flannel baby blanket?  Look here for a tutorial from Nancy's Arts & Crafts. Two sided blankets make for easy play on the floor with baby, or as a nursing cover.

Maybe you or a friend has need for a comfy bra insert due to a mastectomy.  This tutorial is quite renown and is a free pattern from Crystal Palace Yarns.

 

Not quite so glamorous, but a constant annoyance to many of us, is when the "toilet runs".  Don't laugh. Don't get mad.  Instead go to this tutorial to learn how YOU can fix that flapper!

After the Challenge of the week is over, I plan on putting a listing of ALL shared tutorials on my blog sidebar.  The more the merrier!

Be sure to go over to Inspiration Avenue and share your tutorial and link up with Inspiration Avenue via Mr. Linky so we can all benefit from what you have found to be of interest.

What is Happening Today

1.  Corneal abrasion two weeks ago on Libby Sweetpea's right eye with emergency call visit.  Not healed yesterday, so 2nd vet visit.  A plastic lens on the eye to hold in strong antibiotics with an Elizabethan Collar of Shame that has to be worn for four days.  But OUCH, out came the plastic lens in the middle of the night, and a 3rd visit to the vet again this afternoon for another lens stain and abrasion.

2.  A baby sweater being knitted up for Jackie who is in her third trimester with Jackson.  Jackie is a huge Denver Broncos  football fan, and I am sure she will be ensuring Baby Jackson will be also. This is almost finished:

Orange and blue buttons, of course, with a contrasting grosgrain ribbon to back the buttons.  The self striping sock yarn came all the way from New Zealand, hand dyed by Stray Cats.  The shipping was costly, but where else have you ever seen orange and blue sock yarn?  The pattern is Beyond Puerperium, by Kelly Brooker and is an ingenious little knit.

3.  An outdoor decades old rocker that needs a re-finish.  Sanded and ready for new stain:

The stain mix: an ounce of oil paint, a scant cup of turpentine, a scant quarter cup of boiled linseed oil.  Stay tuned.  A previous post here explains it all.  Also this post gives a true recipe for wood stain.

4. Chicken Tikki Masala for dinner. The hub will grill the chicken and likely make the recipe if I can convince him that I am still refinishing that rocker.  (He does NOT like painting.)

Linking up with  Tami at Work in Progress Wednesday

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday is the day commemorating the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples.

The word "Maundy" refers to he ceremony of washing the feet of poor persons or inferiors, performed as a religious rite on Maundy Thursday in commemoration of Christ's washing the disciples' feet at the last supper.

Jacopo Bassano (1542)

Jacopo Bassano's Last Supper, painted in 1542, is one of the masterpieces of 16th century Italian painting. Instead of the elegant grouping of figures in Leonardos' painting, which inspired it, this dramatic scene features barefoot fishermen at the crucial moment when Christ asks who will betray him, and the light passing through a glass of wine stains the clean tablecoth red. Recent restoration has only now revealed the extraordinary original colours, which had been heavily painted over in the 19th century, when the emerald green and iridescent pinks and oranges were not in fashion.

Here is an interesting fact about the dog at the bottom of the painting:

The themes painted by Bassano are predominantly religious but in the Mannerist style he includes many every day articles, rural people, barns and farmhouses. His work is devoid of the grand temples, the silk and furs of his contemporaries; Bassano’s depictions are of normal people, undertaking daily tasks. Many of his works are Franciscan in content, full of nature and animals, the focal points of his pictures are often surrounded by detailed images of farm animals, dogs and cats. His painting Two hunting dogs tied to a tree is credited with being one of the first animal portraits in Western art in existence.

We remember this day in the liturgical calendar as the day that Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples.  Our church will have a noon service today with communion as we remember Jesus' Last Supper.  Some congregations wash the feet of communicants to further signify Jesus' teaching of humility.

Scripture References: Matthew 26:17-30; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20.

(this is a partial repost from April 2011)

Last Week in Lent

Stanley Spencer, (English painter, 1891 – 1959) Driven by the Spirit

"And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness." Mark 1:12

After Jesus was baptized, he directly went into the wilderness where he was tempted for 40 days (called the Lenten season) where he prayed constantly.  As we near the end of the Lenten season and await Easter Sunday, our church had a beautiful Palm Sunday service yesterday.  It is always one of my favorites services during the year, with palms waved high above and palm crosses worn by parishioners.

Next we celebrate Maundy Thursday with communion.  An excellent article entitled "Living into the Banquet Feast" can be found here and is definitely worth the time to read.

Now we also await Good Friday, and three days of contemplation commemorating the time before Jesus' resurrection.

source

Thanks to Floss for hosting A Pause in Lent again this year.

Easter Terrarium

Do you want to get your hands into dirt, but your evening temperatures are still too cool to allow seedlings to germinate?  That was my thought.  So I looked into planting indoors with small terrarium plants that could be tended indoors.  At our local nursery I found green Irish moss and a wee little plant called "goldfish" because when it blooms, it supposedly looks like a goldfish.  Go figure.

source

The above picture shows a bloom from the goldfish plant and below is a close-up of its foliage:

 

I so hope I can keep it alive until it at least blooms!  Armed with irish moss, also available at nurseries, I planted a terrarium using some other ferns, other dried moss, two small plants culled from existing house plants, along with various glass stones and two crosses symbolizing the Easter season.

 

Thinking I should add some mushrooms, I got out my Fimo clay (after two years, it was still easy to work with) and made some little 'rooms with a toothpick inside each for ease in sticking them into the terrarium dirt.

Looking at Sara Midda's mushrooms as examples, here was the process.

Forming the mushroom shapes with white clay:

Baking the figures in rice to ensure the tops would not be mashed.

Painting the figures to resemble mushrooms.

A wedding present from 1990 was used as a topper for the terrarium.  Yes, it is a glass cake cover and a very heavy one at that.  There will be no mushroom escape from this device!  A 9 inch cake pan was the base of the terrarium, painted green with acrylic paint.  Then I found a mirror with a turquoise frame, about 10 inches round.  That is the holder and base of the entire terrarium.

Here it is uncovered.

It was lots of fun to make.

To read more about how to consruct the layers of a terrarium, this post from March 2008 describes the process in detail.  Who knows, I might make a few more!

Chicken Curry from the Hairy Bikers

BBC2 runs "Mums Know Best" and features the Hairy Bikers on many episodes.  Sadly, in the US, we are unable to access that programming.  But you can keep up with the Bikers on print media.  And they have at least a dozen excellent cookbooks, one featuring curries.  This is their website: HairyBikers

The hub and I made one of the favored recipes for chicken curry.  The recipe can be found here.

The spices make the dish perfecto!  (add salt and pepper, of course)

 

Served over rice, it was very tasty.  This will be a repeat.

 

Next on the menu docket is chicken tikka masala, one of my favorite Indian dishes.  You can find the recipe here for an easier version.  And if you really want authentic, a naan recipe can be found here.

 



(Source: Food Network)



My Father: Charles W. McCarroll, Jr.

Charles Wilson McCarroll, Jr. (1919-2013), my father, died yesterday at the age of 93.

As a late stage Alzheimer's patient, he was sometimes aware of his surroundings.  My desire is that he knew he was loved.  His wife of 39 years, Pat, was a caregiver for him in his later years and was truly a steadfast mate.  They weathered many a storm together.  My brother John was always there to lend a helping hand to Dad and Pat, expecially in their later years.  John wrote Dad's obituary:

Charles Wilson McCarroll, Jr., died March 4, 2013 in Georgetown, Texas, following a brief illness.

He was born May 2, 1919, in Miles, Texas, to Charles Wilson McCarroll, Sr., and Ethel Lee Motley McCarroll. He attended all 12 grades in Junction, Texas, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1941 from A&M College of Texas (now Texas A&M University).

Charles McCarroll entered the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1941 and served as a ferry and test pilot, leaving the service as a Lieutenant Commander. An especially memorable event during his service in World War II was successfully parachuting from a doomed airplane in 1943. The plane was a FM2 Wildcat fresh from the factory in Linde, New Jersey  that he was to fly solo to its new station in Trenton, New Jersey. Once airborne, cables controlling the elevators snapped, rendering the plane inoperable. Naval investigators later determined that a factory saboteur was responsible for the destruction of this and several other aircraft before being discovered.

From 1946 to 1956 Charles McCarroll served as a vocational agriculture instructor with the Veterans Administration, teaching in Ballinger and Paint Rock, Texas. Veterans returning to their West Texas farms and ranches from World War II and Korea attended night school under the G.I. Bill to learn about modern advances in agriculture. He also operated the family’s successful demonstration stock farm at Mereta, Texas.

Charles McCarroll entered the electrical supply business in Odessa in 1957 and later became business manager of the Odessa Chuck Wagon Gang. He moved to the Dallas area in 1970 where he was a home builder.

He was an avid fisherman and enjoyed flytying, travel and family gatherings.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother Arthur Lee McCarroll of Midland. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Patricia, of Round Rock.

Other survivors include sons Chuck McCarroll and wife Karen of College Station; John McCarroll and wife Charlotte of Georgetown; daughter Nancy McCarroll and husband Gene Kinsey of Grand Junction, Colorado; and stepdaughter Pam Turner of Austin. He also leaves behind seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

To give tribute to my father, I am republishing an article he wrote in his memoirs from 2001 recalling the day he was born in Miles, Texas.  To say the least, things were different almost 100 years ago on a Texas dryland farm.  This is his recollection.

How Things Were on May 2, 1919

The drought of 1917-18 affected the farmers on the Lipan Flat as there were no crops. Charles and Ethel McCarroll (sic, his father and mother) and the Ed Roberts family moved to San Angelo to a house owned by Pa McCarroll to find work. Uncle Ed drove a delivery wagon for a wholesale grocer. Dad worked in the Gulf Gas Station on the northwest corner of Chadbourne and Harris. This Station operated until the l970's.

Aunt Lula was visiting her mother and father at Mereta when they heard that Ethel had a little boy at Aunt Lillie Boykin's house in Miles. The rains were so heavy that the roads were nearly impassable. She managed to get to Miles in a buggy to see the new nephew. She laughed and said "good thing it is a boy, Ethel could not have made girl's dresses".
Aunt Lula was going back to San Angelo on the train but could not get across the flooded creek to the depot. They had the train stop for her near Aunt Lillie’s home on the west edge of Miles, Texas.

Dr. Herndon was the attending physician when I was born. Sickness and births were cared for in the home and doctors made house calls. The horse and buggy was the transportation and the black bag was about all that they carried. The roads were makeshift and through pastures and down fencerows of the farms and ranches. The automobile was scarce in the early 1920's because the roads were primitive and cars were not dependable.

The railroads were the means of moving freight and livestock between cities, but the wagon and team were still used for delivery. The newspaper, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, would reach San Angelo early in the morning with news and stock and cotton reports. The mail and papers were thrown off the mail car at each station. Telephones were in each city and town. Western Union was the way to send messages, delivered by men on bicycles. Railway Express was used for small packages and fast delivery. The railroad operated the Western Union and Railway Express. Telegraph was sent over wire in Morse code and was used to give information used by the railroad systems.

San Angelo became a health center in the early part of the century. Tuberculosis, a lung disease, was treated in a high dry climate. Because it was highly infectious the patients were isolated. Several sanitariums were constructed and operated in and near San Angelo. There was one in northeast San Angelo that consisted of many small houses, but large enough for a bed and a porch. Patients were cared for in these isolated units. There were several medical clinics and hospitals in town with many doctors that made San Angelo popular. The city became a business and transportation center.

A typical day on the farm in 1919 was busy and tiring. After the rooster crowed announcing a new day, it was time to remove the several quilts and touch the cold linoleum, light the coal oil lamp and the fires. The cook stove got the first attention, the fire must be warm enough but not too hot, the stoves were fueled by wood or coal. Water was carried in buckets from the cistern and heated for the morning meal.

With no inside plumbing, we had to use an outdoor privy. This was a little house about four by four feet over a pit. The toilet was located some distance from the dwelling.
There was no refrigeration, and the summertime called for an ingenious cooler made of sheet metal consisting of about four shelves. The top and bottom shelves were about four inches deep filled with water. The middle shelves held the food. Cotton cheesecloth was pinned to the water pan and surrounded the cooler. The water wicked onto the cloth and the evaporation caused cooling. This unit was placed on the shaded porch that caught the breeze.

The livestock must be cared for and feeding was the first chore of the day. Since this was a family farm, the cows were milked first. Other livestock were hogs, horses, and sheep or goats. Horses were essential to the farm as they pulled the implements and the wagon and buggy.

The man cared for the stock and crops, and the wife cooked and kept the house. The garden and poultry may have been the responsibility of the wife and children. Most of the farms on the flat had another family or some young men to help. Everything was done by hand and it took people to make the crop.

The first machine was the thrasher for wheat and oats. It took many people to cut shock and bring it to the thrasher on a wagon. Milo maize heads were cut off and tossed into the wagon which was pulled by a team, then carried to a barn. Cotton was hand picked from the burr and put into a sack pulled along the row. There were many cotton pickers and the pound of cotton weighed in the sack paid them.

The family farm at Mereta was about 320 acres. About 100 acres was cropland, 100 acres of pasture and the rest used for house, barns, garden and such. The planter, cultivators, harrows, and horses or mules pulled wagons. Thinning rows and weed control was done by hand.

An early mechanical tool was the row binder, which cut feed crop and tied it in bundles. These bundles were shocked; a dozen or so were placed upright and allowed to cure in the field. They were tossed onto a wagon and carried to the feedlot and carefully stacked until fed to the livestock.

The washing of clothes was done by hand. The tools included a big black kettle on short legs. A fire was built to heat the water. Large galvanized tubs on a bench with a rub board were used to wash the clothes. Homemade lye soap got the dirt out. Washday was usually on Monday. The clothes were dried on a clothesline strung between posts. Wooden pins held the clothes on the line. Ironing was done the next day with irons heated on the wood stove and almost everything had to be pressed (sic) since cloth was natural fiber.

Most of the food was produced on the farm and prepared in the kitchen. A process of baking bread and cooking. The food was fresh and plentiful. Taking care of the milk was an every day chore. Baking ingredients were the bulk of groceries that were bought.
The McCarroll farm is just northwest of the town of Mereta which is located 10 miles south of the city of Miles and 18 miles east of San Angelo. In 1919 Manse McCarroll lived on this farm. He bred Percheron horses and purebred hogs.

Loraine, the youngest daughter, said Pa built his stud-breeding chute west of the barn so it would be out of sight of the ladies.

The town of Mereta was a thriving community with two Cotton Gins, a general mercantile store, blacksmith, cafe, barbershop and post office. Mail routes were to San Angelo and Miles. The Tabernacle was open edifice, replacing a brush arbor, for church and community activities. The school was a four room wood frame house just west of the town and across the lane south of the McCarroll place.

The people of the community were of mixed European origin, friendly and cooperative. . It seemed that each individual had some talent that another family could use. Trades that were used included: windmill repairs, carpentry, butchers, well drillers, fence builders, and even 'Watkins' drummers. There was always someone to call when a farm animal was sick. Most of these talents were a trade-out: your day for my day. Money was rarely exchanged.

May of 1919 was a time of change, the terrible drought was broken, world war one had ended and the veterans returned. It was the beginning of mechanization farming. "Ford in every garage" would call for new roads and bridges. So, I was born at the beginning of the good times that lasted about ten years.

(excerpted from "The Way It Was..Recollections and Reflections of Charles Wilson McCarroll, Jr."  -2001)

August, 2012

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever."  Psalm 23:6