Shawl Project plus Martha on Hallmark

Well I finally finished the shawl I start a year ago. It was one of my Tasha Tudor projects, not her pattern, but an easy pattern. I wasn't sure the buttons were going to work out, but they actually turned out pretty cool. The only thing I would do differently is make it a little wider. Now I can get back to my crocheted lap robe.

I've been watching Martha Steward's new programing on Hallmark channel today. I haven't watched her for a long time because I didn't like her current show, but the Hallmark shows are pretty good. I especially liked Mad Hungry and Everyday Food. Martha doesn't host these shows, but people that work for her do. Did anyone else see the shows?

Linda

Tasha Tudor Day

I've been re-reading the books I have about Tasha Tudor's life this week. I was hoping to get inspired again, like I did last year, to do some new projects. What I really got out of the reading this year was just how skilled and knowledgeable she was and what passion she had. I want to build on some of the skills that I already have and continue to gain knowledge about the things I'm passionate about.

I started a shawl last year and got side tracked by other projects, so I'm working on finishing it and I'm almost there. It's not a Tasha shawl I felt that was beyond my basic knitting skills, but some day I hope to make one.

I decided, to celebrate TT day, I would make something out of her cookbook. I would love to bake something but I'm dieting right now. I decided to try her meatloaf because I don't like my meatloaf and she does something unusual with it. She bastes it and then makes gravy from the drippings.

The last thing I gained from reading about her is that she was never idle. She kept busy. I have such a sedentary life style that I would like to become more active and productive. Limiting my time on line is one step in the right direction.

I've joined a yahoo group Take Peace that I read about here. She also give the link for the TT web site. They have a newsletter that comes out occasionally and I want to buy one of their prints.

Edit-Wanted to add for any new people a link to last years Tasha posts here

So Tasha continues to inspire me I hope she does you too.

Linda

How Tasha Influenced My Life in 2009

Well I start this blog in April and on Tasha Tudor Day I started my Tasha Tudor series. This was the highlight of my year because it caused me to do some things I haven't done before or hadn't done for a long long time. Below are the links to the series. I may add to it in the future, but I think it did what I intended in my life.

• Part 1 Afternoon Tea
• Part 2 Idle Hands
• Part 3 Bulbs
• Part 4 Aprons
• Part 5 Herbs
• Part 6 An Hour a Day
• Part 7 The Shawl
• Part 8 Soup
• Part 9 Garden Books

I'm still working on the shawl. Today I cleaned up my craft room so I can start sewing again. The bulbs have sent up green sprouts. The herbs are still alive and I used some in my Christmas gifts. The last soup I made was a delicious split pea soup with ham hock, see my kitchen blog for recipe. I have my garden books out but haven't started to read them yet. The one I haven't really kept up with is the hour a day on my needlework, too many other things to do and I don't always remember to have tea on Sunday afternoon, but do use my fancy tea pots and cups often.

All in all I'm happy with what my blog has contributed to my life this year and I hope that 2010 will be have even more to look forward to.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle Pt. 9 Garden Books

I remember reading that Tasha had an attic room that she kept all her garden books in and she use to go up there and read them. It sounds like she had a lot. I think I remember seeing a picture of that room somewhere. I know she loved her plants and knew a lot about each of them. Also during the winter months she read them and catalogues and planned her next years garden.

I have a collection of garden books. I keep mine in my amour. I keep telling myself I should read them and this year I plan to do that. I want to redo my back garden space and I would like to read and plan instead of just going to the nursery and picking our plants. So I hope to educate myself this winter by reading my garden books and maybe ordering some catalogues too.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle Pt. 8 - Soup

We all know that Tasha loved soup. She considered herself a very good soup maker. I agree with her I love soup too. The last few years I've started making more soup, it's frugal and as I get older there are times I want something light. Also I can make a big pot and freeze part of it for another day.

I made pumpkin soup. This is not one of Tasha's recipes. I think I Googled pumpkin soup and used the recipes for inspiration. I knew I wanted it to be savory, not sweet and brothy not too thick. So this is what I did-

Preheat oven to 400. Cut sugar pumpkin in half and take out the seeds. Put water in the bottom of a cookie sheet (with sides) to about 1/8" deep. Place your sugar pumpkin halves flesh side down on the cookie sheet and bake for about 50 mins. or til soft when pierced with a fork.

Clean seeds and put on a cookie sheet drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for about 20 mins. or til brown and crunchy, but not burnt. Reserve these to garnish your soup.

Cool pumpkin. When cool clean out any seeds left and stringy stuff. Take out the pumpkin flesh and puree (I used a food mill, but you can use a food processor). In a large soup pot, saute 1 sliced onion and 1-2 cloves of garlic minced, til starting to soften. Add 1 quart (4c) chicken broth and the pumpkin, a pinch of two of thyme, salt and pepper to taste and simmer about 30 mins.

Garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds. I also saw a recipe that added grated cheddar cheese. I would like to try that some time. In the photo the soup looks brown, but in reality it was a nice pumpkin color.

I love cooking with these sugar pumpkins. Another day I made a pumpkin custard, which was basically a pumpkin pie filling without the crust. It was delicious. The fresh pumpkin tastes so much better then the canned.

This would be a good time to freeze some sugar pumpkin ready for pies, custard, or soup this winter.

I also found I like leeks as a base for a soup, they have a wonderful taste and I like leek and carrot together.

Last week I used the Nourishing Traditions recipe for chicken broth in which you cook it until the bones fall apart. Very nourishing and a good way to rev up your immune system.

I always get the flu shot, but I don't really want to get the swine flu shot, so I'm looking to other way to build my immune system. I'm starting to use coconut oil and I'm going to start taking cod liver oil. If you don't know about coconut oil, read Nourishing Traditions.

Edit- I made the soup for Thanksgiving and it wasn't it good. I had to blend it because the texture wasn't right and we had to add a lot of seasoning. It never really came together. I'm not sure why, but it was ok, just not as good as the first time I made it. I need to work on this recipe.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle Pt 7 The Shawl

Tasha's shawl is in practically every picture I've seen of her in the cooler weather. She learned to layer to keep warm. I'm knitting a wool shawl, not the Tasha one, but one I saw in Mary Jane Farm this month. It is easy for beginners. It basically is a rectangle with a button hole and 3 buttons. I've also bought smart wool socks and fingerless gloves. I hoping to be very frugal with my heat this year. My gas fireplace really is expensive, so will keep it for special occasions.

When I have more confidence in my knitting I'd like to try a Tasha shawl I know the pattern is on line. I also have a friend that made a shawl that is also a long rectangle and you attach the end to the side of the other end and it become a poncho. I would like to make that one if I can find the right kind of yarn, hers is made with yarn she spun it's very fluffy and she used bigger needles.

When I first moved up here to the pnw I wore long underware made for being outside in the snow. I might look for some more. We lived in a draft old house at that time, my present home is new and not drafty but my legs and feet can get cold if I'm sitting around. We sometimes have mild winters, but the last few years we have had lots of snow and it's windy around here so I should be prepared this year to keep warm if it's cold again.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle-Pt 6 An Hour a Day

Tasha said that she spent a hour a day working on her flax weaving. It was a long tedious job. I don't weave, but I do do these large counted cross-stitch projects and this one has been sitting there all summer so I'm going to follow Tasha and try and spend time daily working on this. I don't know if I can do an hour right now, but I want to start with 15 mins. and more if I can. I will have to work up to an hour. It's that taking a little bite of the elephant concept. Eventually it gets done. This cross stitch also has beading which I haven't done much of before so I'm sure that will be slow going when I get to it.

Tasha was an amazing weaver, not many people can weave flax and make it look good. I have been doing cross stitch for many years, it was the one craft I was successful at, but it takes many many hours to finish a large project. The flax weaving was the same way. Tasha seemed to be a very disciplined and practical person. She always said her art put bread on the table. Her dd said her mom had a hard life, but Tasha loved it all. She was always busy and very skilled at a lot of different crafts.

It sounds like she had a loom in almost every room and she would take any extra minutes she had to work on them. She was creating cloth for her clothing and her home so she had to keep working. I was surprised to read that she designed and made some of those fabulous dresses she wore for dressing up. I knew about the dolls the doll house and the marionettes. Wasn't the sparrow post a wonderful idea. I hope I will be inspired in the future to try some of these other crafts. I'd love to make some minitures.

For now I'm busy knitting, more about that later.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle Pt 5 Herbs

Tasha had an herb garden and she also grew herbs in her greenhouse for the winter as well as drying them in her attic. Apparently she used herbs a lot for cooking and she made salves and creams. I've been wanting to do more with herbs and I read an article about growing them indoors. They had some suggestions about the easiest ones to grow inside. Yesterday I got garlic chives, regular and Italian parsley and curly mint. I have a rosemary on my porch that winters through. I'm thinking about bringing in my other herbs that are in pots, Greek oregano, sage, pineapple mint. I usually just leave them out and they die back, but come back in the spring. So I'll experiment. I'm leaving them out until frost.

Keeper of the Home is doing a year of herbs and I want to join her in learning more about herbs this year. My best resource for that is I Refuse to Recede. He does wonderful posts about herbs. I will be looking for other resources too, any suggestions? I'm going to start a list on my side bar for easy reference as I find web sites or blogs.

So I plan to try and find out how many ways I can use each herb. I would like to learn to use them in homemade cleaners as well as bath and body products. and medicinal use. I noticed that Tasha uses mixtures of herbs in most things that she cooks and made up her own herb tea blend. Her mixture is chamomile, spearmint, rose petals, rosehips, and blue malva, pretty as well as tasty. She does everything so well, I don't plan to try and emulate her, but just use her as inspiration. I don't have room for a big herb garden and so I think I may buy some dried herbs and medicinal herbal teas. I also have some essential oils in lavender and rosemary and lemon to use in the cleaning products.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle Pt 4 Aprons

Tasha always wore an apron. I never do, but I thought it is such a part of her that I should give it a try so I made myself one. It was kind of fun. I haven't done much sewing in several years, but once in a while I do a little. So it turned out pretty well and I think I will make some more. I made this with fabric I already had.

The cover of the book shows Tasha using her apron to carry some cuttings. She used her apron to carry whatever she found in the garden. I remember stories about how women use to always wear aprons and used them for all kinds of things. I wonder why we stopped using them. I know I usually have jeans on and they don't need protecting like a nice dress. When I was younger I remember wearing an apron when I was dressed up and in the kitchen. I guess I don't dress up anymore. Maybe I need to do something about my wardrobe. I stopped wearing dresses quite a while ago. My dd and gd's have been having dress day and I may just have to make myself a skirt.

This project with Tasha is making me think about a lot of things that I don't do anymore and I'm wondering why. You always see the homemaker in those vintage photos wearing an apron, that should have been my mother, but it wasn't because she was a small business owner. My grandmother often wore an apron, she also wore what was called a housedress. She always dressed up when she was going out. Her dress up clothes all had to be dry cleaned while the housedress was cotton and could be washed. I guess we are more casual now and fabrics have come a long way. There is a book called "The Apron Book" by Ellyn Anne Geisel that talks about the apron and how it brings back so many memories for a lot of people.

I'm spending a lot more time in the kitchen now and so an apron makes more sense. It's the uniform of the cook. Professional cooks wear aprons and chefs jackets so they definitely have a purpose and usefulness. Tasha's lifestyle was very different from mine and she was doing a lot of things that could stain and ruin her clothes so the apron was a practical way of protecting her clothing. A lot of that clothing had been woven and made by her so I'm sure she valued it a lot more than I do my jeans.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle Pt 3 Bulbs

Tasha planted thousands of bulbs every year. Her method was to dig a big hole or a trench and fill it with bulbs. She also had a lot of them in pots so that she could move them around and bring them in the house.

I haven't planted any bulbs in my current garden, but in honor of Tasha I decided to get some this year.

I'm planting mine in a pot. I don't have a very big garden and the soil is hard to dig in. I have a book called "Beautiful Bulbs" by Georgeanne Brennan and Mimi Luebbermann. I look in there for directions. I got a variety pack of Trumpet and Double Narcissus. So I'm putting them on my front porch in a protected place until they start to grow. Then you are suppose to put them in the sun.

Tasha loved her bulbs and was always fighting the voles who liked to eat them. She had some beautiful parrot tulips and made beautiful bouquets in her house to paint and enjoy.

Because of allergies I've not been able to tolerate most flowers in the house for long. I do enjoy seeing them on my back and front porch. Bulbs are so little work they really are one of God's gifts.

The farm house we lived in several years ago had tons of tulips previous owners had planted and various other small bulbs. It was always a surprise to see what was going to come up each year and by some miracle new ones would pop up, don't know how they got there, some critter possible.

I will think of Tasha every time I look at my pot of bulbs.

An update on my workbasket. I've finished one dishcloth. My knitting isn't perfect, but I'm hoping by the time I finish a few more it will be better. I'm enjoying the process. I haven't been feeling up to par and so I've been laying on the couch in the afternoon and have had ample opportunity to knit. I had to tear out and restart the first one several time, but I think I've got it now.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle Pt 2 Idle Hands

I'm having fun with this so I decided to make a series out of it. Tasha's hands were never idle. She was busy all the time.

I have 2 bad habits. When I want to take a break I jump on the computer and the 15 min. break ends up being an hour. The other one is when I sit down to watch a dvd or tv I want to have something to munch on.

So I thought it was time to keep those hands busy and I decided to create a work basket. It keeps your knitting, crochet or handwork at hand and also any mending that needs to be done.

With my budget constraints now I'm not buying clothes very often and I think I'm going to need to know how to mend and repair things. So there is a lot I could be doing with my hands.

I'm starting by making knitted dishcloths as many others have done. I've been wanting to do some more. I would also like to start some embroidered dish towels.

The main thing if finding useful things to do, but it is also fun.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Lifestyle Pt 1 Afternoon Tea

I spent Saturday, the day after TT day rereading the books written about her life. I read Tasha Tudor World and Forever Christmas and I'm reading TT's Garden. I was looking for inspiration. How can I bring some of her world into mine?

I quickly realized many of the things that many of us are trying to do to save money are very much in keeping with her lifestyle. Simple and frugal living. Making as much of your stuff as you can. Raising food, if you can. It was all done with an 1800's aesthetic. She was lucky enough to have many treasures passed down in her family.

But it was her passion to have this lifestyle that really made it happen. Many of us have had the desire, but not the passion to make it happen. I'm never going to live like she did, those days are gone for me. Also I have tried some things and decided it wasn't for me. So what can I take from her life?

One small thing that I decided on today is that Sunday would be a good day to sit down and have tea from a real tea cup and a tray with all the accouterments. I drink tea a lot but I usually have it in the biggest cup I can find because I don't want to have to keep filling up a small cup. Another words I don't want to take the time to keep refilling my cup. That doesn't sound like I'm really savoring that cup of tea, so at least once a week I want to sit and savor and enjoy at Tasha's pace.

I hope to come up with other inspiration but for now it's Sunday afternoon tea.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Day

Read more about Tasha on my daughter's blog. I didn't think much about Tasha until we read the books about her life and lifestyle. The above picture is from the garden book. We were so impressed by the way she lived. I wanted her garden, it was a fairyland and I wanted to live the way she did. What was it?

I think it is very romantic to live a life without all the modern conveniences and being an artist she made the most of it. We've read about other people, like the Amish that try to do this, but Tasha did it in a beautiful way. Stepping into her world would be like stepping into a world of all your childhood fantasies. I'm sure the reality had some dark places but if it did I don't want to know. I want to just immerse myself in her lovely garden, play with her doll house and imagine having tea with her when she was still with us.

I think I need to think about how I can bring some of Tasha's world into my own.

Linda