a sunday afternoon

Sunday morning I was in a fog.  It was one of those mornings, and into the early afternoons, when I really didn't have much to do and at the same time could have come up with a long list of things that needed to be done.  But my soul seemed a little sad and ignored.  I haven't felt crafty in a while, or in tune with nature, or at one with my kitchen.  Everything has seemed so routine instead of fun lately.  I decided to go online for a moment which thanks goodness can be full of inspiration.  Luckily, I found it.  A small weaving project that luckily I already had all the ingredients for... I just needed to go outside for the stick frame.

I found a couple of sticks, in the shape of a Y, pretty close to the house.  Honestly they just didn't seem sturdy enough for what I needed them for.  So I searched on.  

Kate and I went towards the woods and to my delight our path was no longer grown up and was very walk-able.  I guess all those evenings of taking Black Rose into the woods paid off.  So we trotted on.  It was pretty muddy so we ventured to the left instead of the right that would lead us down to the creek.

 I suddenly knew why we made a left.  Not only did we find a great branch with lots of Y's but also the little persimmon tree told us that a lot of her fruit was ready to be picked.  I tasted one off the ground and after looking up decided I needed the four wheeler to stand on for the rest.  We headed back to the house.

I quickly looked up a recipe or two to get an idea of how many I needed and if we may have enough.  I came across a recipe for persimmon bread.  At this point I remembered the baskets of apples and pears that Uncle Randy brought me and Granny last week.  I decided to try out the recipe for apple bread instead that I mentioned to you a couple of weeks ago.  

After the bread was in the oven, and needed an hour to cook, Kate and I snagged the side by side and headed back to the persimmon tree.  I stood in the back and wound up picking a maybe two cups worth which isn't much enough to make anything with.  I decided to freeze them and go back next weekend to pick more when the rest are ripe enough.  

We got back to the house and I finally sat on the front porch in one of the rocking chairs to work on my weaving project.  It was so nice to relax and work with my hands for a bit surrounded by my friends, Tommy, Kitty, Kate and Cotton... who came running across the front yard to join the fun.  

I finished my project after supper and Shaun and I enjoyed the apple bread for dessert.  It turned out delicious and I will say that Shaun isn't a huge sweet eater but had two pieces of the bread!  

My soul at last felt good and full too.  I tapped into my craftiness, nature and the nourishment of working in my kitchen to create something delicious.  

Inspiration for branch weaving from freepeople blog

Inspiration and recipe for  the fantastic apple bread found on Mommycoddle.com

sunday afternoon

I much enjoyed my Sunday.  We slept in.  I made baked brie for breakfast/brunch that I didn't make on Christmas morning.  I got laundry done.  I canned black eyed peas, black beans, rattle snake peas, white beans and a mix for the chickens for extra protein.  All the while I listened to tunes. 

HERE's a post on canning dried beans and peas.  So easy to do if you've got the right equipment.

And HERE's my post on baked brie.  So delicious. 

Chicken Mix - kidney beans, white beans, black beans, barley and lentils.

Black eyed peas for New Year's day.  I even went ahead and added the smoked ham, salt and pepper.

Rattle snake peas that grew in our garden this year.

One of my favorite songs and bands that I listened to while I canned today.

Afternoon Crafting

It is amazing what one can do sitting on the porch on a warm spring afternoon... besides doze off.  I am loving my church pew being on the porch.  I cannot wait to sit on it to shell peas, break beans, chat with friends and spit watermelon seeds over the porch rail.  Today I decided that I needed a couple of pillows for the pew.  I dug around in my fabric stash and found a piece of vintage scenic fabric and some velvety upholstery stuff and got to work.  I only had one bag of stuffing and one of the pillows was going to be fairly big.  So I cut up a bed pillow that no one really uses anyway and used the stuffing from it for all three of the pillows.  Then I started working on my other pillows.

 

My Uncle from Florida gave me a bunch of shot bags on their last visit here.  They are too cool.  I have made a pillow or two out of shot bags in the past for our rocking chairs on the back porch.  They are super simple if you know anything about using a needle and thread.  If you don't, I made a few to sell in my Etsy shop, ShotgunsAngel.  So I used some of the bag of stuffing to stuff these little cuties.  They really add a bit of character to the seat and they aren't very big but will offer good support to you lower back.  I think all church pews should have them!  I have sat many a time in church with my arm or a hymn book behind my lower back.  Those sermons can get long!

 

If you want one of my pillows and are local, give me a holler and we could probably do something about the shipping charge... the shot shell pillows... not the other ones... sorry.  I know they are going to be in hot demand too.