a list.

Things have been just a wee bit crazy on the homefront recently. We've painted a portion of our house and are waiting for new carpet. I have pictures to show but no time to download them yet. I've stitching to show but no time to take the pictures. How is it that time is not linear? It bunches up and slows down and I can never keep up.

Found this on a blog I like to visit. I am the complete opposite of this person, which is so interesting. I had the hardest time with #16. It's a satisfying list.

If I were a month I’d be April.
If I were a day I’d be Saturday.
If I were a time of day I’d be quiet and still early morning.
If I were a font I’d be bacon font.
If I were a sea animal I’d be a jelly fish.
If I were a direction I’d be West.
If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a comfy leather recliner.
If I were a liquid I’d be water.
If I were a gemstone I’d be amber.
If I were a tree I’d be a brooding pine tree.
If I were a tool I’d be vice grips.
If I were a flower I’d be a pussy willow.
If I were an element of weather I’d be light fog.
If I were a musical instrument I’d be a clarinet.
If I were a color I’d be cranberry.
If I were an emotion I’d be wishfull.
If I were a fruit I’d be a wild strawberry.
If I were a sound I’d be a sigh.
If I were an element I’d be Oxygen.
If I were a car I’d be silver and small and urban.
If I were a food I’d be satisfying.
If I were a place I’d be the space between mountains.
If I were material I’d be repurposed.
If I were a taste I’d be layered.
If I were a scent I’d be subtle.
If I were a body part I’d be a long graceful neck.
If I were a song I’d be acoustic.
If I were a bird I’d be a heron.
If I were a gift I’d be handmade. And late.
If I were a city I’d be miserable.
If I were a door I’d have a window.
If I were a pair of shoes I’d be sandals.
If I were a poem I’d be by shel silverstein.

Gluten Free doesn't have to be Expensive!

Posts around the interweb today have got me thinking. Thinking about gluten.
Thankfully, it’s only wheat that bothers me, and not gluten, but I end up eating close to gluten free as a consequence. And when I say bothers, I mean BOTHERS, friends, not a pretty sight, so I’m pretty motivated to stay away from the stuff.

I keep having a conversation with a friend about how expensive it is to eat gluten-free. I vehemently defend the point of view that it doesn’t have to be expensive – it just depends on how you do it! For example: For breakfast today I had plain yogurt with frozen berries, a dribble of maple syrup and some pumpkin seeds. Yesterday for breakfast I had cheeze, rice crackers and a couple of strawberries. Lunch was leftover chicken, brown rice and leftover broccoli with apple cider vinegar and olive oil dressing. Supper was homemade hamburger helper with rice noodles. No special expensive ingredients here.

I was recently at a specialty gluten free bakery. I paid $8 for 2 pizza crusts and $3.50 for a coffee cake. One tiny serving of coffee cake. $3.50. And that was the best darn coffee cake I had ever eaten. For someone who doesn’t get cake often (ever) boy that was good stuff (and you can bet I’ll be back). But can you imagine how much you would spend if you ate there on a regular basis? Save it for a treat.

So, my advice to you if you are trying to avoid gluten – avoid the specialty shops and specifically gluten free items. They ARE expensive. Because they can be, it’s a niche market. Eating gluten free is easy when you cook from scratch.

I make pizza crust at home from spelt flour (not gluten free, but you could easily use a gf blend) and baking soda which probably costs pennies. We eat a lot of potatoes and brown rice. I make a big pot of brown rice, leave it in the fridge and serve it with everything. Spaghetti sauce, tacos, everything. When the rest of the family has noodles and breads I have rice or quinoa.

Anyone else with me on this one? Do you find eating gluten free to be expensive? Comments and discussion welcome.

Here are some interesting resources I just discovered – there’s a gluten free carnival going on at kitchen stewardship this week, so I am looking forward to seeing what else comes up. Plus there's a giveaway on there right now from some coconut flour that you won't want to miss.

Also, simply sugar and gluten free looks like a good site for resources. It’s making me start to wonder if I should try quitting sugar for a while, too… but I’m just not sure how to drink coffee without it.

And I have to leave you with Gluten Free Girl’s delightful blog which asserts that she is not missing out by eating gluten free. Just look at the pictures – she is definitely not missing out!

handstitched mama...

As promised, here are screenshots of the two treasuries I made this week on etsy.

This one is on handstitching. Inspired by Alabama Chanin, my current obsession (can you tell). This one was actually tough to do. I was looking for projects inspired by, not copies of the style.



And this one I really do love. I was thinking Mother's day. Maybe that's obvious. All of these selections are so expressive to me about what it means to be a mother. I especially love the little girl with the frown. She's got a bee in her bonnet about something. Some days are like that.

By some stroke of luck I managed to get two treasuries today, within minutes of each other.

Here is the first one, on motherhood.

And here is the second one, on handstitching. I was thinking about the Alabama Chanin books I recently purchased when I made this one. It's amazing how little is handsewn for construction these days, even in a handmade marketplace.

I will put up screen shots in a few days.

DIY Revelation – Starting a Yoga Personal Practice

I have practiced yoga since 2001, so 8 or 9 years off and on. Off mostly when my babies were born and then on again when I returned to work. But this winter I just couldn't get into the class.

My brain was moving too quickly and I needed to modify or skip so many of the poses that the class became, for me, disjointed and unfulfilling. The class failed to meet my needs anymore. So I stopped going.
And stopped moving.
Not moving is bad when you sit in a chair barely moving all day anyway.
My body started to feel stiff and still and I knew I had to do SOMETHING. Anything.

Suddenly, one day it dawned on me that I already knew everything I needed to practice yoga on my own. Call it a DIY revelation. After 9ish years of practicing, I had learned a thing or two. So I did a little research and came up with a plan and have been practicing in my little office twice (more or less) a week for a couple of months now. I thought it might be beneficial to share the journey a little. Because starting a yoga practice on your own is easier than you think (though I do think you should take classes to begin, yoga can’t be learned by reading about it).

I have always practiced ashtanga yoga and I always enjoyed the classes that most closely followed the traditional ashtanga series. I don’t know why it took so long to figure out that all I had to do in my own private practice was to use that series as a starting point and then branch out from there. Easy. Before I figured that out I would meander from pose to pose, not exactly knowing what I would do next. Finding my foundation was key to a good personal yoga practice. I can deviate from there, but at least I have something to start with.

In my next post I’ll tell you about what poses make up my personal practice, and then I have a third post in mind with tips and hints to get you started and keep you going.
And don’t be shy posting a comment – I love to dig deeper.

TAST - Beaded Hedebo Edge

Here are a couple of pictures for Take a Stitch Tuesday from Sharon B. Check out her blog if you are at all interested in stitching, it's a great resource.

I have to tell you this wasn't my favourite stitch. I don't normally carry beads around with me in my embroidery kit - and I didn't have many ideas for doing different things with this stitch. I like the challenge of doing as many things as possible with a stitch. It is a very pretty stitch, though, and I can see using it in little girl's clothes a lot. It is quick and easy to work up and, as you will see, quite dainty.

You might have noticed that I didn't use beads, but substituted french knots.

I also tried putting it on the edge of the fabric which I'm not actually crazy about, but it was worth the try.

and a close up:
And another close up. This one is actually the front. Next time I would stitch it so that this is on the back.
And that's all I have to say about that.

Friday Links

Links to interesting things I found on the web this week:

An inspiring story about people making a difference in their community. I love the simplicity of the story and the huge grass-roots impact. There's a lesson to be learned here. (OK, and the pictures! I so want white hair like that when I am older!) I've been thinking a lot about the doing that has a bigger impact than just our small lives. Any other ideas, readers? Cause I'd love to see them.


Food Links:

A waffle recipe using soaked oats (and bonus - no wheat!). I wonder if we can make pancakes out of this recipe... perhaps the perfect use for the whey I'd like to make out of this recipe for whey and cream cheeze. Oh, I'm going to be so healthy! or at least well fed...

And, finally, a link to bacon font for Jessica, my fav. bacon foodie friend. I love being your daily sanity call!

I'm working on a new project this week that I am totally enthralled by! I can't wait to show you. I don't even have a sneak peek teaser for you, bad blogger, I know. It's inspired by Alabama Chanin, but a pattern I made myself.
For the gardeners out there I've got something new in my shop. I imagine people giving them as gifts to their mothers and grandmothers. To me something personalized and specific like this says that you recognize and appreciate them for who they are.