Happy Hallowe’en Roundup

Happy Halloween!

So where’ve I been?  Well, two days after I wrote my last post, Jeff and I were standing in our living room and decided we needed to do “a bit” of fall cleaning. We’ll go through all the closets, we said. We’ll rearrange the furniture, we said. … A week and a half later, I found my computer again …

I was comparing last year’s Halloween craftiness to this year’s. In 2007 I made an October candy calendar, 3-D Halloween cookies, and Halloween costumes: a ladybug for me and candy corn for Audrey and Callie. I also crocheted a ghost-and-pumpkin set last year. This year I made the quilt for my Halloween swap. That’s a lot by itself, right? I’m still happy I did that quilt, because I finally proved to myself I could do something like that I have a habit of not believing I can do things.  So my Halloween craftiness has been limited this year, only because I was working mostly on non-Halloween craftiness on the side.

Gingerbread Pumpkin Cupcakes

I did make gingerbread as my 2008 Halloween treat. It’s my pumpkin-ey decorated take on a recipe from a Denmark cookbook - that is, Denmark, Iowa where my grandparents live. Many years one of the women’s circles of the town church (there’s just one church, the town only has 300 people) puts out a cookbook of recipes from cooks in the community. The first recipe book was put out in 1949 - my grandma still has an original, which is very “well loved” and held together with a rubber band, as you can imagine. I have a reprint of that cookbook put out a couple of years ago, and that’s where my gingerbread recipe comes from. It’s the recipe my grandmother recommends from the mother of one of her friends.  (The one issue with this cookbook is that it could really use a Table of Contents or an Index!)

As my special treat fer ya, here’s the recipe for Ginger Bread by Mrs. Arthur Meyer (it’s awesome).  I will note that if you make cupcakes out of this, it takes about 20 minutes to bake and makes 12.  Her recipe doesn’t say how long to bake things.

• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 1 t. soda
• 1 t. ginger
• 1 t. cinnamon

Sift flour, soda and spice.  Mix in order given, beat thoroughly.  Batter is very thin.  Bake 350.  8 servings.

Halloween Costumes?  What are You Going To Be?

I am not technically making a costume for myself this year, however I am going to be someone. This is probably only funny to me, but I’m going to be Chris Knight from the movie Real Genius. Yes, I know I’m female and he’s not, but Chris is absolutely my favorite funny, irreverent character from my favorite movie (1984, yeah!), and in some senses, geekdom is really universal, isn’t it? I had such a huge crush on Val Kilmer for such a long time. I’ll be rocking his I love Toxic Waste t-shirt and sparkly head gear from his job interview (”Why are you wearing that toy on your head?” asks Dr. Dodd. “Because if I wear it anywhere else, it chafes,” replies Chris) and of course, bunny slippers (”May I take this opportunity to compliment you on your fashion sense, particularly your slippers”). If you’re familiar with the movie, you will find this outfit and these quotes hilarious. If you are not, you now think I’ve lost my mind.

As a side note, Callie has been with us a year. It seems like just yesterday we brought home a ball of fluff barely the size of my hand, and now she’s pretty fat, has a 6-foot vertical leap, is ridiculously fluffy and is sort of … I don’t know, I guess slightly on the side of demonic.

See what I mean? When did she learn to drink from a cup?

Flour Sacks

In my blog reading, I see a lot about people reusing things, making dresses out of pillow cases and bedsheets, exchanging clothing, and many other such thrifty and recycling-oriented occupations.  I’ve even seen people make things out of nothing but selvedges!

I was reminded of this when I was in Iowa, adding my blog to my grandparents’ email. This little poem about flour sacks was on the screen while I was doing it.  Flour sacks are incredibly useful (so are feed sacks and coffee sacks), I still use them when I find them in stores (antique stores, usually). Indeed they are a part of “Americana” - you can get pillows made from them at the Sundance Store (left) and some people have amazing flour sack material collections, and you can get bags made out of them too.

Anyway, the poem made me laugh, and it was a nice slice of life and history, and I hope my grandma doesn’t mind that I borrowed it.

1930 flour sacks
by Colleen B. Hubert

IN THAT LONG AGO TIME WHEN THINGS WERE SAVED,
WHEN ROADS WERE GRAVELED AND BARRELS WERE STAVED,
WHEN WORN-OUT CLOTHING WAS USED AS RAGS,
AND THERE WERE NO PLASTIC WRAP OR BAGS,
AND THE WELL AND THE PUMP WERE WAY OUT BACK,
A VERSATILE ITEM, WAS THE FLOUR SACK.
PILLSBURY’S BEST, MOTHER’S AND GOLD MEDAL, TOO
STAMPED THEIR NAMES PROUDLY IN PURPLE AND BLUE.

THE STRING SEWN ON TOP WAS PULLED AND KEPT;
THE FLOUR EMPTIED AND SPILLS WERE SWEPT.
THE BAG WAS FOLDED AND STORED IN A SACK
THAT DURABLE, PRACTICAL FLOUR SACK.

THE SACK COULD BE FILLED WITH FEATHERS AND DOWN,
FOR A PILLOW, OR T’WOULD MAKE A NICE SLEEPING GOWN.
IT COULD CARRY A BOOK AND BE A SCHOOL BAG,
OR BECOME A MAIL SACK SLUNG OVER A NAG.
IT MADE A VERY CONVENIENT PACK,
THAT ADAPTABLE, COTTON FLOUR SACK.

BLEACHED AND SEWN, IT WAS DUTIFULLY WORN
AS BIBS, DIAPERS, OR KERCHIEF ADORNED.
IT WAS MADE INTO SKIRTS, BLOUSES AND SLIPS.
AND MOM BRAIDED RUGS FROM ONE HUNDRED STRIPS
SHE MADE RUFFLED CURTAINS FOR THE HOUSE OR SHACK,
FROM THAT HUMBLE BUT TREASURED FLOUR SACK!

AS A STRAINER FOR MILK OR APPLE JUICE,
TO WAVE MEN IN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD USE,
AS A SLING FOR A SPRAINED WRIST OR A BREAK,
TO HELP MOTHER ROLL UP A JELLY CAKE,
AS A WINDOW SHADE OR TO STUFF A CRACK,
WE USED A STURDY, COMMON FLOUR SACK!

AS DISH TOWELS, EMBROIDERED OR NOT,
THEY COVERED UP DOUGH, HELPED PASS PANS SO HOT,
TIED UP DISHES FOR NEIGHBORS IN NEED,
AND FOR MEN OUT IN THE FIELD TO SEED.
THEY DRIED DISHES FROM PAN, NOT RACK
THAT ABSORBENT, HANDY FLOUR SACK!

WE POLISHED AND CLEANED STOVE AND TABLE,
SCOURED AND SCRUBBED FROM CELLAR TO GABLE,
WE DUSTED THE BUREAU AND OAK BED POST,
MADE COSTUMES FOR OCTOBER (A SCARY GHOST)
AND A PARACHUTE FOR A CAT NAMED JACK.
FROM THAT LOWLY, USEFUL OLD FLOUR SACK!

SO NOW MY FRIENDS, WHEN THEY ASK YOU
AS CURIOUS YOUNGSTERS OFTEN DO,
‘BEFORE PLASTIC WRAP, ELMERS GLUE
AND PAPER TOWELS, WHAT DID YOU DO?’
TELL THEM LOUDLY AND WITH PRIDE DON’T LACK,
‘GRANDMOTHER HAD THAT WONDERFUL FLOUR SACK!’

Travel Craft

My biggest source of confusion and packing disorder for my week-and-a-half long trip was what crafting projects to bring. It was a difficult decision. There was very limited space, you see.  I could take just two small bags, and I had to bring clothes.  Seriously, I considered mailing myself some supplies.  That’s sad, isn’t it?  A little compulsive, maybe?

I eventually elected to bring a new crochet project, a shirt I wanted to embroider and a pattern and materials for a skirt.  So in went my yarn, my box of all-purpose crafting goodies and tools that I like to carry with me, and a bag of stuff to take to my Grandmother.  Have I mentioned that yarn is bulky?  Yes indeed, Jeff did laugh at me stuffing balls of yarn into an overstuffed suitcase.  I also got rather cross when I couldn’t find my small scissors.

The skirt pattern I took was one I purchased a number of years ago.  I will publish the fruits of that labor soon enough (when it’s entirely done, I have to make adjustments).  I wanted to reap the benefits of my grandmother’s years of sewing expertise.  I mean, I can probably read a pattern, but there’s a lot more to patterns than the reading of them, although I did struggle with the quite irritating waistband of the skirt that I just couldn’t make sense of.  Plus with patterns there’s mostly the fitting of them.  Standard patterns aren’t exactly drawn to fit the Everyday Woman.  Or at least not this one.  I needed help.

I also took a bit embroidery as a nice little set of hand-work to do, but I really didn’t get much done on it.  The shirt needs some adjustment to fit properly to begin with.  Why can’t manufacturers EVER put in bust darts, I ask?  Almost every shirt could benefit from them, but they’re never added.  Anyway, this is a summer shirt, and it’s October, so it predictably didn’t hold my attention.

My crochet project got a lot accomplished by the end of the week.  I’m kind of impressed.  I’ll show you that soon, too.  I’d have thought I’d have gotten less done, because it’s not exactly bulky yarn and it’s only crocheted in half-double-crochet (a denser fabric, thus requiring more stitches and yarn), but I really kept at it.

As you can tell, though, I had a pretty good time just pointing the camera lens out my window on the train.  I’m fascinated by all the things you can see on a train - it’s not always the most picturesque way to travel, but you learn a lot about the places you go through when you travel that way.  I find you learn more about the ways that people actually earn their bread and butter, the things people do on a daily basis and how they live.  Of course, you see a whole lot of train yards, too.

If you’ve ever taken Amtrak from Washington, DC to New York City, you know just how ugly places can get.  Elizabeth, New Jersey by train is one of the most godawful places on the face of the planet.  It’s dirty, and sooty, and it smells funny, and you just know that they only reason the place doesn’t fall apart is that it’s being held together by its own grit.  But in other places you just see the industry they have, which is interesting and not always too gritty - agriculture, dirt and rocks, the rivers and highways, steel melting, petroleum refining, and who knows what else that I didn’t even recognize.

I had a great time on my 11 days of freedom and leisure.  I love the Midwest - I love my family, and their way of life up there, and the first days of crisp weather and fall, and getting out of a city into pasture and fields.  I was lucky to be able to go to the harvest festival they call God’s Portion Day in the town of 300 people that I’ve been visiting all my life, and see old friends and extended relatives.  It was hard, hard, hard to come back to the heat and the city and work and getting up at 6:15 to go run at the gym.  ARGH, I tell you.

I was entranced with the textures and shapes I saw on my 28-hour train rides from Austin to Chicago, and I hope you enjoy them as well.  I talked about them more on Flickr, if you’re interested.