for the love of muscadines

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, dear readers. It's been a crazy busy summer, capped off by two weeks of out-of-my-comfort-zone events, and a dreadful cold on the heels of that.

But nonetheless, the muscadines are ripening and had to be either picked or lost. So we've set about doing that the last couple of days; picking the ones from the vines we can reach, and the ones we can't, we have to pick up when they fall on the ground. (Understand that our muscadines are wild, and grow all through the tops of the trees.)

There was one particularly tempting cluster just out of reach, and I've pondered and schemed to try and find a way to get to them. But in the process of that, I looked up, and over my head was the motherlode; a vine had grown probably 35 feet tall in a tree, and hung thick with clusters of muscadines. They were so ripe and ready that they would fall to the ground with every breeze, hitting the leaves of the underbrush as they fell as if to taunt me. I could not get to them - the growth was too thick. They'd just have to lie there and rot.

Then I got angry. Those were my muscadines, growing on my vines, in my trees, on my land. So I did what any (crazy) person recovering from a dreadful cold would have done: I went inside and got the sling blade weed cutter thing and hacked away enough of the brush to get to the muscadines as they fell.

It made me feel like my great-grandmothers, grandmothers and mother a little bit; strong, resourceful, stubborn women who saw something that needed to be done and did it. I hope I resemble them, anyway.

Was it worth it? I'll let you know when I taste the jelly. And when I see how much poison oak I have from this little adventure. ;)

can i just say?

It's been a good year for food preservation around my house. I was working on these canned peaches today, and started figuring it all up:

I've made 40 half-pints of jelly, and 11 pints of peaches;

I tried to figure up how many quarts of blueberries, blackberries, corn and peas in the freezer, but I lost count;

I did not pay a dime for any of that food - I either grew it myself or it was given to us (mostly given to us);

Every single batch of canning I've done has resulted in more jars than expected - I think it's miraculously multiplying, because I'm following the recipes, but there's just MORE;

And every single jar I've canned has sealed. Every. one.

And summer is not even over yet. Could we chalk it all up to good neighbors and family, and coincidence? Maybe. But I'd rather give God the credit for it all. That's just too much coincidence for me, and who gave me my family and my neighbors, anyway?

4 He has caused his wonders to be remembered;

the Lord is gracious and compassionate.

5 He provides food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

Psalm 111:4-5

frodo speaks

*snif* mommy gave me a baff. *snif* sed i had fleas or somethin'. i hate baffs.

i'm just gonna take a nap wiff my mowsie from Papa. 'cuz Papa loves me and doesn't give me baffs. Just mowsies.

little guys for the little guys

As part of the final preparations for the pool party, I've made these little guys. We have invited a few baby cousins and friends who will be too young for the regular goody bags, so I made these more baby-friendly toys for them. They were so fun to make! The bear, puppy and frog patterns are from K and J Dolls on Etsy, where they have so many other cute patterns too! And believe it or not, K and J Dolls offers the Hello Kitty pattern for free on Ravelry (but you'll need to be a Ravelry member to view it).

When things slow down, I may have to order the pattern for baby dolls with animal caps… or the Pucca and Garu dolls… or the Little Girls… wow, I'm going to be busy.

Note: Here's another place where the "Tiny Kitty" pattern is offered, and you don't have to join anything for this one. Also, Sayjai was so sweet to link to this post from the K and J Dolls blog! Many thanks!

cute backpack alert!!

Update:  See a more complete tutorial here.

Our annual pool party is coming up, the one where the girls ask for school supplies for needy kids rather than gifts for themselves. This year, I've seen several blogs with tutorials for school bags, and I was inspired to make some myself, to go with our donation! This is the first, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

I modeled it after a couple of backpacks we have around here, where the drawstring from the top is attached to the bottom corners, forming the straps. They are very comfortable to wear and easy to deal with.

I had some old jeans lying around, and thought they would make a good, sturdy backpack. This one is made from one jeans leg cut open and laid flat, and one back pocket. Therefore, you could get two backpacks from one pair of jeans. I added wide casings at the top, made from a cotton dot print. The floral across the front is actually a big pocket, with a zipper at the top. The pocket is as wide as the whole front, so it can be sewn into the side seams for the edges. Then the pocket from the back of the jeans on top of that.
Below you can see the strap/drawstring; I took 3 lengths of nylon cord and braided the middle section for the drawstring. Then I tied a knot and braided the now 6 strands together for the remainder of the strap. Then I stitched it tightly into the side seam. You'll need one of these for each side, of course.
This one only has the front pockets, but you could easily add more on the inside. It could also be lined if you wish.

Here's what you'll need, if you'd like to make one:

A rectangle of denim, cut from a jeans leg, large enough for the front and back of your backpack. (It will be folded in half, and the fold line is the bottom of the backpack.)

One rectangle of fabric for the front pocket, as wide as the front portion of your backpack, and almost as long as the front portion only.

A back pocket from the jeans.

Two rectangles of fabric for the casings, about 6" x the width of the backpack.

Zipper, at least as long as the width of the backpack.

Nylon cord or other material for the drawstring/straps.

Order of assembly: (Be warned - this assumes some knowledge of sewing! Sorry these are so sketchy!!)

Turn under ends of casing pieces and hem.

Turn under top edge of large front pocket. Stitch to one side of zipper.

Stitch back pocket from jeans in the center of the large front pocket.

Turn under bottom edge of front pocket. Place the pocket on the end of your large denim rectangle that will be the front of the backpack, lining up the unstitched side of the zipper with the top edge of the denim. Stitch the lower edge of the pocket in place. Baste the unstitched side of the zipper to the denim.

Fold casing pieces in half and stitch to tops of backpack front and back. (Remember, since you hemmed the ends, it won't go all the way to the edge) Finish seam, flip up the casing and topstitch.

Braid the middle sections of the cords and run through the casings; tie a knot and continue braiding to the ends.

Stitch the side seams, securely catching the ends of the cords at the lower corners. Finish seams and turn.