A Woman A Day

You’re giving Mom flowers for Mother’s Day?

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Lisa Yarost

You’re such a jerk.

Just kidding…

Happy Mother’s Day to Everybody!

Posted in Art, drawing, Humor | Tagged cartoon, comic, cut flowers, Drawing, flower, Flowers, funny, gift, Humor, Mother's Day | 1 Comment

Pesto Pestival

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Rebecca Fox

Garlic Mustard and Cilantro Pesto on Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery Bread

Over the weekend I was gifted a bag of cilantro and a bag of garlic mustard. I say “gifted” because I’ve recently learned that both plants have great potential to help me in my continued healing from MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities). Yes, I’m holding out hope for a complete recovery.

I spent part of yesterday afternoon processing the greens for pesto. I omitted the cheese usually found in pesto recipes because I try to avoid dairy. I can add it later if I desire. For the cilantro, my ingredients were olive oil, onion, garlic (2 cloves), sun flower seeds, a few dashes of Food for Thought’s Righteous Chipotle Hot Sauce (yum!), salt and pepper. For the garlic mustard the ingredients I used were olive oil, garlic (2 cloves), sun flower seeds, salt and pepper. I squeeze a little lemon juice on top of the pesto once I have it in small jars in an effort to keep it from oxidizing and freeze any that I won’t use right away. I didn’t use a specific recipe because I used ingredients that were on hand and, well, pesto isn’t that tough. A basic recipe goes like this: 3 cups greens (basil, cilantro, arugula, garlic mustard, etc.), 1 cup oil, 1 cup nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, pepitos, etc.), 1 cup parmesan cheese (or romano), 2 cloves garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Rinse the greens and pick out the stuff you don’t want in your pesto; dump all ingredients in a food processor; blend until it’s a consistency you like. If you don’t have a food processor, use your blender.

For those of you who don’t know what garlic mustard is, it is a pest. It is an invasive plant that is the main course at many foodie events geared toward eradicating and identifying the plant. Please look at Zester Daily for a little more information, photos and a garlic mustard pesto recipe. The entire plant is edible including the roots but you might not want to eat the stem for textural reasons. I was told by an herbalist that garlic mustard contains all the health benefits of both garlic and mustard. You can find more information concerning its nutritional benefits at Edible Wild Foods.

Garlic mustard is easy to identify but if you’re thinking of harvesting your own, a word of caution: Be careful where you harvest it from since chemicals are often used in its eradication. Breaking out in a rash at the first whiff aside, there are many reasons I oppose the use of chemicals not the least of which is the fact that chemicals upset the complicated synergy of the soil. One of the reasons that this plant has popped up in whatever location it happens to be in may be because of a chemical upset in the soil. Adding more chemicals will only upset the balance even more. Also, there is a theory that invasive plants are actually growing where they are in an effort to restore the ecosystem and us. If you wish to explore this theory, please read “Invasive Plant Medicine: The Ecological Benefits and Healing Abilities of Invasives” by Tim Scott. Bon appetit, mes chers!

Posted in Food, Green Living, Recipes | Tagged Food, green living, invasive species, pesto, recipe | 1 Comment

Juki and Me

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Lisa Yarost

I recently bought a used machine quilting frame, complete with a quasi-industrial Juki 98E. It has a longer throat space than my Bernina has, and it sews much faster. Unfortunately, it was missing bobbins when I bought it, so I had to wait to use it until I could find bobbins for it. Done!

So, first things first. When you get a used machine, you clean it. I’m not talking about taking canned air to the bobbin area (which is inadvisable, but I am guilty of doing this as well). I’m talking about taking the bottom off, removing the throat plate, and getting in there with brushes and lots of machine oil.

Juki had quite a collection of lint, along with a whole lot of thread that was wound tightly around – I don’t know the name, but I’ll call it a drive shaft. After all was cleaned, I ended up with this:

I think I’ll name him Bob.

After all of this TLC, I asked my long-suffering husband to load Juki into her rightful place on my machine frame. Funny thing about putting a sit-down machine onto a frame: It’s darned awkward to get the bobbin case seated properly. Unfortunately, when you use a fast machine, it’s kind of like driving a fast car. The going is great, but the accidents are disastrous. This is what happens when the bobbin case falls out of a Juki going at top speed. This is also what happens when you forget to put the presser foot down and then start a Juki at top speed.

Yes, I crashed twice within an hour.

There are words I refuse to publish in my blog. I used them all. This is a twenty-minute cleanup job, using pliers, screwdrivers, and seam rippers.

After all I’ve done for her, Juki is not about to give me any slack. I’m getting very good at pulling thread nests out of this machine. While this is certainly user error, it indicates that one should hang it up for the night.

Sleep well, Juki. I’ll be dealing with you later.

Posted in sewing, studio | Tagged bad day, Bobbin, Juki, sewing, Sewing machine, studio | 1 Comment

Plumber Belly

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Rebecca Fox

6:10 Decide that it’s time to replace the leaking faucet and realize this could take several days. Got consultation at http://www.plumbers-portsmouth.co.uk/.

6:15 Ask sweetheart–who is busy building a sauna–if there’s anything I need to know about replacing faucets since I’ve never done it.

6:16 Annoy sweetheart who thinks he ought to be doing this for me and told that it’s really hard to fit under the sink and that this task involves a lot of swearing.

6:20 Discover that I fit really well under a sink. Piece of cake.

Before. Yes that's vet wrap (aka: horseman's duct tape) covering the leak.

6:35 Call brother since dad isn’t home–so as to avoid annoying sweetheart again–to see if he has any clever ideas for removing difficult faucet nuts.

6:38 Lots of hammering followed by some swearing.

6:45 Take break. Feed horses.

7:00 Hammering followed by some swearing. Wishing the basing wrench would stop slipping off the nut.

7:05 Cursing the practices of previous homeowner, the engineering of ridiculously thin nuts and the slipping basin wrench

7:15 Drink beer and search internet for a better tool (there isn’t one, but found this interesting site Tom Sondergeld Plumbing instead, lots of useful things)

8:00 More hammering followed by some hallelujahs. Install new faucet.

9:00 Check for leaks and clean up a little.

9:30 Drink beer and decide that cleaning can wait until morning.

After. My first new faucet. The sprayer is also a novelty.

Posted in Humor | Tagged DIY, Humor, plumbing | 2 Comments

Room to Grow – Seed Starting

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Rebecca Fox

I have wanted to start seeds since beginning to garden oh so many years ago. I’ve made a few lame attempts that ended in failure or, more often, I just don’t get around to it early enough. I also have never had a dedicated shelf area for starting the seeds and of course I’m all about self-sufficiency and didn’t feel I should purchase shelves when I have the tools, materials, and know-how to do it myself.

Under much scrutiny from those around me who know I’m capable of shelves myself, I took a get-‘er-done attitude and bought an Ikea shelving unit (I’ve never been to Ikea and, had someone told me what the Ikea experience was going to be like, I may have opted for making my own. I mean, some guy almost sat on my head while I was there and he didn’t even think it was funny.). The shelves still required some sanding and several coats of canary safe finish with Land Ark Wood Finish. They’re not beautiful but they’re useful and efficient and now hold trays of planted seed. Hopefully next year I’ll be able to purchase grow lights to aid in the process.

Seed Starting With My Trusty Assistant, Izza Lizza Puss

It was a blessing to have my friend, Kim, in from Colorado to help start the seed. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon with a friend I hadn’t seen in several years. In two days a morning glory greeted my upon waking. The bonus is that a week later, I arrived home one evening to find thirty sprouted tomato plants welcoming me home. Life just keeps getting better.

Tomatoes!

Posted in Food, Green Living | Tagged gardening, Plants, seed starting | 2 Comments

iPhone use #463

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Lisa Yarost

Proving to the cashier that your books are supposed to be 40% off.

The folks at my local JoAnn fabrics are great. They are always friendly and helpful, despite not-so-great hours, not-so-great pay, and not-always-so-great customers.
When my book purchase rang up at full price, I excused myself from the checkout line to snap this photo of the merchandise display. It was proof enough for her to adjust the prices on my books. Yay iPhone and yay Cashier!

Posted in Humor | Tagged consumer rights | 4 Comments

My first “jelly roll” quilt

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Lisa Yarost

There is a fun quilt technique I learned about at the quilt shop the other day. Excuse me for being behind the times, but when I heard about the 1600 jelly roll race quilt, I had to try it.

You see, I am all about care, craftsmanship, and artistry, but I needed a quick quilt top on which to practice with my new frame. The most important rule when it comes to practicing on new equipment is to never be emotionally invested in your practice piece.

So, I made this quilt. I am too frugal (cheap) to purchase actual jelly rolls, so I made my own by cutting forty 2.5″ strips across the width of my fabric. I had ten different fabrics that worked together, so it turned out to be four strips each. The more the merrier!(Fabric width is nominally 40″.)

Then I cut thirty-eight 2.5″ squares of fabric with which to join the strips. Most people choose to join their strips with a bias seam, but I love the little blocks. I wish I could tell you where I saw that first, but I’m afraid it’s lost in the recesses of my memory.

Join all the strips, end to end, either using a bias seam or the joining blocks. You will end up with one long strip, measuring about 1600″.

Choose your least favorite end and trim about 18″ off it. This is important for aesthetic purposes!

Sew the strip together from the ends
Toward the middle, right sides together, until you have a strip that is 800″ long. Cut the fold so that you can open the seam flat. Do not press until you are finished with the entire top.

Sew your resulting two-strip-wide length right sides together, from the ends toward the middle, creating a four-strip-wide piece that is 400″ long. Cut the fold to open the seam flat.

Repeat this process three more times until you have a quilt top that is (more or less) 50″ wide x 64″ (32 strips) long.

Add whatever borders you see fit.

I wondered when I first saw this whether there was an easy way to make a twin-size version. It turns out that if you use sixty strips, plus fifty-eight squares, you can make a quilt that is about (getting my calculator out) 64″(32 strips)x75″. In this one, of course, the strips run vertically, and one would want to add borders to it to get the length and width just right.

If you would like video instructions, there are plenty on YouTube.

Have fun!