- Day 1: Starting a woven cloth pillow

I took a deep breath and started to tear my dyed cotton sheet into strips for a pillow. It was a radical departure for me: I didn't measure anything.

Instead, I loosely wrapped some harem cloth around the pillow base to get a rough idea of size, then laid ten lightly pressed strips of dyed cloth in a random pattern along its length.

Using Jude Hill's cloth-to-cloth weaving technique, more strips of cloth were woven across the width of the harem cloth. After pinning down the ends, I took a quick picture ...

then basted everything down around the edges. Here's a second shot, taken in lamplight ...

Since this is my first second try at cloth weaving (the first was the Sew/Sow Peace flag), I may regret starting with a 22x38 inch piece, but so far so good.

Stay tuned ...

- Extra, extra read all about it: Local quilter and natural dyer in the Statesman

I was delighted to read about an up-and-coming quilter and natural dyer in the Austin American Statesman this morning

... and while you can't get the full content online, the next best thing is to go to Maura Grace Ambrose's Folk Fibers website or check out her blog in the KINDRED SPIRITS links to the right. 

- Lindeheimer's Senna (NOT Acacia pods as first reported) join the Love Potion #9 dye test

[Note: Red addenda were added in 2015] After finding no persimmons left to harvest I googled acacia pods, which we do not have in abundance. Learning that green and/or yellow dye might be possible, I gathered up Lindheimer's Senna (Cassia), which I mistook for acacia. Then I picked out the least successful attempts from the round of tan sheet dyeing and bundled them up in canning jars with used tea bags and boiling water. As with the first round of tan sheet dyeing, I'm trying a copper wire batch, a steel wire batch (haven't gotten steel wool yet, but I shook in some rusty nails for good measure), and an alum batch. The results were awful ... both color and rank odor.

They are now waiting patiently alongside Love Potion #9 (the first jar on the left) and color is most definitely happening.

- Updating a classic dessert: Cream puffs

Cream puffs were my Mom's go-to for a quick, easy dessert that always got rave reviews. She would make a batch of 8 large puffs, fill them with a vanilla pudding/whipped cream mixture (recipe here) and top them with hot fudge sauce (recipe here).

1 vanilla/ganache cream puff and 2 pumpkin/rum sauce cream puffs

Recently I've gotten rave reviews from Griffin and Jackson ("mmmmmmmm") for an updated take on cream puffs featuring mascarpone filling and ganache topping. I make the puffs much smaller, which is better for little hands and makes it easier to stage a variety of fillings. However, when I went to make the latest batch today, I remembered I never did get around to putting cream puffs on the blog (except as a gougere recipe).

So here they are ... updated for the 21st century.

Cream Puffs (serves 4 adults plus one grandchild)

1/2 cup water
4 Tbs. salted butter
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs (preferably from pastured chickens that get to eat bugs)
pinch of salt

Bring butter and water to a boil in a small saucepan, then turn off the burner.
Stir in flour and salt with a wooden spoon.
Add one egg and beat like crazy with the wooden spoon until fully incorporated.
Repeat with second egg (don't try to beat both eggs at the same time).
Using a small scoop or a teaspoon, place 20-24 balls of dough on parchment paper.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Continue to bake until golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack

Mascarpone Filling

8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 - 1/4 cup sugar (I start with 1/8 and add more to taste)

Beat until stiff (time will depend on how firm the mascarpone is to begin with ... recent purchases of a new brand have required a lot more time since it is quite soft)

Divide into multiple batches and flavor with:

• Vanilla (for little ones, 1 or 2 tsp. vanilla extract)
• Espresso and Drambuie (for more adult tastebuds, about 1 Tbs. espresso powder and 1 Tbs. Drambuie in a half batch of mascarpone filling)
• Pumpkin and Barbancourt (tried for the first time today in a half batch of mascarpone filling mixed with 1/3 cup canned pumpkin, 2 tsp. finely minced fresh or sushi ginger, 1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg, 1 Tbs. Barbancourt rum)
• Freestyle with whatever spices, flavorings, and/or alcoholic beverages you have on hand

Beat each batch to combine, taste and adjust as needed, being sure to go easy on the sugar since the toppings add a lot of sweetness.

Ganache Topping (recipe here)

Best with vanilla or espresso/Drambuie fillings
Optional: garnish with toasted hazelnuts or almonds

Butter Rum Sauce Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs. butter
1/8 cup Barbancourt rum

Combine brown sugar, cream and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Keep at a slow boil for 3-5 minutes, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes. Stir in rum. Note: this sauce may crystallize if it cools before using ... be sure to heat and sample before serving.

Best with pumpkin filling
Optional: garnish with toasted pecans

- Impressions of New Mexico: Collaging our thanks

Inspired by Saskia, I decided to create fabric collage thank you notes for our B&B hosts in Santa Fe and for our daughters, who gave us the trip to New Mexico as a combined birthday gift.

I selected two of the photos that were taken during the rainbow/thunderstorm/sunset that occurred on our last night at Ravens Ridge. Printing them on commercial computer printer fabric, I knew the fabric would be too tough to handsew, but figured the sewing machine would be easier on the paper card backing in any case. And as I sewed, I found myself echoing the outlines of adobe buildings ...

I ragged-cut the edges of the photos to mimic my grandmother's travel albums from the early 20th century. And since several of the recently dyed cloths had edges and colors that reminded me of mountains, I layered them behind the photos ...

The lichen-dyed/kantha-stitched edges of an abandoned project reminded me of the 2500 miles of highway we traveled over two weeks, and therefore ended up on the bases of several cards ...

In the end there was something to like and something to second-guess about each composition. With no most or least favorite, I'm just going to let it go and trust that each has its own story to tell of five wonderful days in New Mexico ... and the cloth that patiently awaited our return home.

- Refurbished: A wooden stool gets a New Mexico makeover

I've mentioned our favorite antique store, By the Bridge in Wimberley many times ... with good reason. Jill Jones has an ever-changing array of funky stuff priced to sell.

Case in point is this stool I got for $15 ... it wasn't much to look at, but it fit perfectly under the vanity in the master bath that we use as a painting station because it gets such great light.

Upon our return, Don decided to sand it down, restain the legs, and milk paint the top in some of the colors that washed through the five days we spent in Santa Fe.

He also burned Zia sun symbols into the edges ... perfect reminders of the sunrise to sunset good times we had at the Ravens Ridge B&B (thanks to our daughters, who came up with the best birthday present ever).

- Time lapse: Watching cochineal develop

I tried something different today: sequentially adding pictures of my cochineal dye experiment to document progress in (sorta) real time. This final top photo is where I ended up ... which will be all for today. Tomorrow, after all the cloth has thoroughly dried, I will wash it and post the results. In truth, the colors are very pastel, and I do have some thoughts about that ... but I'm very pleased with this first attempt at homegrown cochineal dyeing.

One final pass
Second dye trial with "tired" cochineal tea and freshly mordanted cloth (alum + tap water)

2 hours after immersion
Top half: #1 Alum (unrinsed)
Bottom half: #2 Alum + cream of tartar (unrinsed)
Note original scraps of cloth on the mid-left edge of picture

2 hours after immersion
Top half: #3 Alum + lemon juice
Bottom half: #4 Alum + steel wire and rusty nails
Note original scraps of cloth on the mid-left edge of picture

1 hour after immersion
Note addition of new cloth to the right mordanted in alum and tap water

30 minutes after immersion
with recent addition of rusty nails to #4

5 minutes after immersion
#1 Alum only
#2 Alum + cream of tartar
#3 Alum + lemon juice
#4 Alum + steel wire
Original piece of yellow linen used to collect cochineal beetles (unmordanted)

Recap of how it was all put together:

I removed the alum mordanted cloth (still wet) from the canning jars and staged it in bowls. Then I mixed up three additives:  1 tsp. cream of tartar in distilled water, 1/2 lemon freshly squeezed, and steel wire in distilled water. I also cadged a metal sink strainer from the kitchen ...

After heating up the cochineal tea (which had an indescribable, but not unpleasant aroma), I strained it into each jar ...

then added the cloth and mixed in each additive (leaving the first jar unadulterated as a control) ...

5 minutes after immersion
#1 Alum only
#2 Alum + cream of tartar
#3 Alum + lemon juice
#4 Alum + steel wire
Original piece of yellow linen used to collect cochineal beetles (unmordanted)

Color happened immediately, but the steel wire jar didn't seem to be doing much, so I looked around Don's work area for some rustier stuff ...

Grody metal thing found on our road trip ... too big

Assorted Junkology bits, tempting, but ...

That's it ... in the upper right hand corner ... tiny rusted nails!!

Success! Now I'm going to do some housework to keep me occupied so I stop messing with things. Whenever I get the urge, I'll post the most recent result at the top of this post.

- Meet the beetles: Cochineal dyeing

I need to say up front that tiny cochineal beetles did lose their lives in the pursuit of this latest natural dye experiment. Encased in waxy white webbing and tiny in size, it was easy to pretend that I wasn't doing anything untoward ... especially since their habitation was ultimately destined to be burned ...

But it did feel a little creepy. However, putting aside my moral scruples I read up on how a local blogger gathers cochineal beetles and then made up my own way (after all, when have I ever followed a recipe?)

Taking a vintage knife with a flexible blade and a bit of linen, I went out and started to scrape little bits of white off of prickly pear (Opuntia) cactus pads. The beetles were well protected, usually hunkered down on the underside of a cactus spine, presumably to deter birds from eating them.

As I repeatedly wiped the blade off on the linen, the potency of cochineal as a dyestuff became abundantly obvious. Unsure as to how much would be needed, I filled one side of the cloth, folded it over on itself and was halfway to filling the next side when a snake and I scared the heck out of each other. 

Don't ask me what kind of snake it was ... a sorta big snake is all I know. Big enough to convince me that I had collected quite enough cochineal beetles, thank you very much ...

Having read that cochineal is particularly sensitive to mineral content, I decided to use distilled rather than tap water and heated it to a simmer in the hot pot I used for tea at my last job. Fortunately, the hot pot is no longer needed for that purpose.

I dropped the beetle smeared cloth into the water and color happened within seconds ...

An hour later, I had to fish out the cloth for a look as it was no longer visible in the darkened brew ...

Still, having watched the Dharma Trading dyeing tutorials I decided to give it time to steep overnight (with thanks to KINDRED SPIRIT Dee Mallon for pointing the Dharma Trading info out to me) . 

Next I pulled together four batches of cotton and linen cloth scraps for pre-mordanting ...

putting them into canning jars with 1 tsp. of food grade alum and 1 cup of boiling distilled water ...

The plan is to do four jars with ...

• Alum alone
• Alum with cream of tartar
• Alum with fresh lemon juice
• Alum with steel wire

So tomorrow morning I will warm up the bug juice, strain out the solids, and pour it into the canning jars in equal measures.

Then I will cap the jars and wait. 

How long will I wait? I haven't a clue. Suggestions anyone?

- Love potion #9: Red onion and alum

Note: that wonky bit of weaving is from Jude's Considering Weave workshop

I'm thinking if I document my dyeing trials online I'll be less apt to open the canning jars before their time. So for the record, here's what I put into canning jar #9:

• 1 tsp. alum dissolved in hot tap water
• 4 used tea bags in the bottom
• 8 pieces of muddy dyed linen wrapped around slices of a tiny red onion
• 1 piece of muddy dyed linen wrapped around dry red onion skins
• 4 used tea bags in the top
• Boiling tap water to fill
• 1 limestone rock and 1 block of wood to compress
• Cap loosely and put in the sun

I can't possibly wait two whole weeks, so I'm scheduling this one to be opened in ten twelve days on November 9th.

Addendum: And what if I added a limestone rock and a block of wood to compress the contents? What alchemical magic might ensue?

- On the learning curve: More lessons in dyeing

I'm calling this a good first pass at dyeing experimentation since there were a lot of lessons learned, chief among them: save a piece of the original cloth for comparison (or look back at this post to see what the tan sheeting looked like ... or look at number 9, which did a whole lot of not much).

Photo taken mid-morning under an overcast sky
Note: the colors in the photos are somewhat less intense than in "real life"

The four cloths in the top row were wrapped in copper wire. I particularly liked the avocado pits, which almost look like they discharged the tan, leaving a pale lavender/pink in its wake ...

The red onion also did well with the copper, leaving soft greens and peaches ...

The cloths in the middle row were wrapped in fine steel wire, which left its mark along with the avocado peels ...

Likewise, the iron in the steel brought out stronger colors from both the yellow onion skins ...

and the red onion skins ...

The cloths in the bottom row were treated to a dose of grocery store alum, which did virtually nothing with the avocado pits and peels, but provided the most dramatic yellow onion skin results ...

and red onion skins results ...

I was less successful with my last minute stew of acorns, windfall lichens, tea bags, onion and avocado skins in a copper pot with a selection of vintage white cottons and linens ...

To my eye, they are a pretty unappealing lot, with the exception of a tiny patch of lichen orange ...

So it's back to the drawing board ...