That New Machine and the Blueberry

I've had time to use my new industrial sewing machine and I tell you, it's a night and day difference! Look at the difference in stitches from the old machine to the new machine. Look at the top; you can see that the stitch length starts out the same, but then when I hit layers it all heads south.

I'm still using the Pfaff machine for light-weight materials like when I build the lining part of a purse. But anything that is even a bit thick goes to the new machine.

I've been making mini-wallets, but I didn't like the fact that I could only make one wallet per necktie. I got to thinking about other designs. Lucky for us there is now a Goodwill in town. I took at trip over there and picked up a men's wool suit. Look at how I can now use the rest of the tie and still make a mini-wallet!

First I make a whole necktie wallet from the biggest part of the tie, and then I take the smaller sections and place them on the outside fold of the wallet with the wool suit as the background. Perfect!

I had been contemplating becoming a vendor at the Blueberry Arts Festival in Ely at the end of July. The festival usually draws about 20,000 people. I pondered it on and off for several months but kept having this vague anxiety about how much inventory I would need. I thought I would just start making stuff and see how far I could get in a month. But that made me even more anxious. Where to start?

Then I said, "Sharee, come on. You know how to figure this out." So I made a spreadsheet. I listed the things I'd like to sell at the Festival and then I made a guess about how many of each of those items I should have in inventory. Once I did that, I added a column that estimates how many of each item I can make in one day. I ended up with the total number of days it would take to make that inventory. If I work five days a week, it will take me 4.91 months!

After some more thinking, I added another calculation. This one said, "How many items might sell in one hour, given a brisk sales day?" Once I knew that, I knew how many items might sell over a three day fair. That number was less than the total number of items on my inventory list. Yeah! It's doable.

Now it's just a matter of work ethic. I have submitted my intentions to be a vendor. I won't know for sure if I'm in until about April. Meanwhile, I've been very, very busy.

Skijoring (aka Careening Death Ride)

This thing called "skijoring" is where you tie a sled dog (or more) to your waist and let them pull you on skis. I've been tying dogs to my waist for a long time now. I used to tie a rope around my waist with a knot, that is until I discovered that the only knot I know how to tie is a slip knot. As soon as the dogs pulled, I got cinched in there pretty good. No breath. No way to shout, "Stop!"

Years later and now much wiser, I've learned that I can use one of Steve's belts around my waist and put the handle part of the extendo-leash through the belt. This appears to be a much better method, however, there is no way to "let go" if things head south. I guess one could purchase a real skijoring belt that has a quick release.

Here is Tansy all harnessed up, hooked to me, and waiting for me to open the gate.

Did I mention that she is young (not quite three) and extremely fit? She's also smart. Here are the three things she knows for sure:

     1. There are deer on the lake
     2. She can pull me when I'm on skis
     3. I can't stop when she pulls me on skis

The other day we were skiing along as if the world was our oyster. The snow was fast and sparkled like diamonds as the sun slanted in its early morning rise. Then we rounded the top of an island. She stopped. Stopped dead and stared into the woods. I looked, too, and saw two deer staring back at us. They bolted. Tansy bolted. Guess who got to go for a FAST ride? It's a wonder I stayed upright.

I've been wondering if I get enough of a workout when Tansy pulls. I have now discovered this muscle group called "SUDF" which is short for "Stay upright, don't fall." At least I was alone out there with no one watching.

Later I stopped at the Fat Chicken to get my mail. Adriane is a neighbour who lives across the lake and she was also getting mail. She said, "You were sure moving out there today. Luckily you stayed upright and didn't fall."

Here's a friend skijoring with TWO dogs. I imagine these dogs aren't quite as knowledgeable as Tansy (i.e., they don't know that they don't have to stop if someone yells at them to stop). I also notice a much shorter leash. Hmmmm.

We went out again today. We did come across two deer, but I saw them before she did and was able to put some control on the run. At one point she stopped dead and stared into the woods. "Oh no," I thought, "here we go again." It was only a squirrel eating a big pine cone. My first "careening death ride" was from a squirrel at a bird feeder by Packsack. They have a webcam. Maybe you'll see me flying by one day.

A Long Ski and Parmesan Crackers

We were out fishing last weekend in the boundary waters. This year has been great for fishing because the snow isn't too deep. Normally we're hindered by either unplowed roads to the entry points or snow so deep the going is really slow.

We brought our neighbors along for the day. They brought their skis because they are planning to ski the Birkebeiner ski race and wanted to do a practice run. At around 2:00 they left us and headed out to ski home. They had to break trail most of the way and made it home in about six hours. They went through Jackfish, Pipestone, Newton, and Fall Lakes (for those of you who have maps and know these waters). Part of the way was after dark, but the moon has been so bright that they were almost able to read the map by moonlight. They had a pack with a first aid kit, compass, map, extra mittens, matches, food, and water.

I had some hot fish chowder and rosemary focaccia bread waiting for them when they knocked on the door to let us know they were home and safe.

Tansy was acting a little funny and I wondered what her issue was. I finally figured out that she was guarding the grill because she wanted to lick the grates and didn't want anyone else to get to it first. She kept herding us away from the grill area. Little stinker.

I made these "crackers" the other day for a pot-luck. They are a savory cracker that are fantastic as a little appetizer nibble with cocktails. You can make them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to slice them and bake them. You can also freeze the log and slice and bake as needed. So handy! You can switch the type of cheese and herb (try an aged cheddar, try fresh thyme, etc.).

Rosemary Parmesan Crackers


1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
4 ounces freshly grated parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Use your electric mixer to cream the butter for a minute. Add the parmesan, rosemary, salt, and pepper and combine. Add the flour and combine until the mixture is in large crumbles, about 1 minute. If the dough is too dry, add a teaspoon or so of water.

Dump the dough onto a floured board, press it into a ball, and roll into a 9-inch log. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for up to 4 days (or freeze if you don't plan to bake it soon).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the log into 3/8-inch-thick rounds and place them on a sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 22 minutes, until very lightly browned. Cool and serve at room temperature.

Cutting Wood and Easy Cream Biscuits

We ordered eight cords of wood from a local guy. He delivers them in eight foot logs. Steve has been cutting the logs down to the size that will fit into our wood stove:

After Steve cuts the chunks, they need to be split so that they can be stacked to dry. This load of wood should be dry by next winter. Here is my wood splitting station. That yellow thing is the electric wood splitter. It's way easier than splitting by hand with an ax!

Here's my pile after the first round:

It was Steve's birthday this weekend. One of his favorite treats is biscuits and gravy! I got up before he did on Saturday, made coffee, got the wood stove stoked and made homemade biscuits and gravy for breakfast. The recipe is at the bottom of this post.

After that, we took a drive to Duluth to get out of town and poke around. Steve found a new restaurant to try.

The restaurant is situated right on Lake Superior. This was the view behind my seat - we were seated on an enclosed porch looking down and out across Lake Superior. There were floor to ceiling windows!

This is looking down from where we were sitting at our table. It was a gorgeous day so everyone was on the lakewalk walking their dogs and pushing strollers. We loved seeing the water because all of our water has been frozen now for months, and we have months to go before it turns back to liquid.

Later a train went by and we got to look down into the train boxes as it went by. We think it was hauling taconite from the mines (it looked like coal, but taconite is more likely up here). Our food was wonderful! We had a prosciutto, Gorgonzola and fig jam bruschetta appetizer. Then we both had pasta dishes (with enough left over for supper) and finished with a shared scoop of gelato. I'd highly recommend giving this restaurant a try when you are in Duluth.

Super Easy Cream Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream plus extra for brushing prior to baking

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the cream and stir just until it holds together. Put the dough on a board and knead four or five times. Pat the dough into a round and flattened shape about an inch thick. Cut rounds out of the dough with a cookie cutter or anything else you have that is round. Place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet (or use parchment paper on the baking sheet) an inch or so apart. Brush the tops with cream. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Jewels, Sledding, and Cranberry Beans

I've been busy in the studio working on some new pendants. I ordered fused glass cabochons (also called dichroic glass) from a woman in New York who hand makes them in her kiln (Pink Glass Palace is the name of her store). Look how gorgeous they turned out!

I have a couple more in my Etsy shop as well. These were so fun to make!

Our neighbor had a birthday sledding party on Sunday and we tagged along. We were sledding at the "Monsters of Mud" hill by the Longbranch. We could sled on our hill down to the lake, but this hill is bigger.

It's actually steeper than it looks in this photo. Of course, once you go down, you have to run back up (well, some of us just walked back up).

And even this little baby had his first slide down the hill - he's four months old! Really cute family photo with his mom and dad!

I haven't given you a recipe in a while so I thought I'd tell you how I made a big batch of cranberry baked beans. Great for lunches all week or bring them to a potluck! I made a huge batch, but you could make half easily.

Cranberry Baked Beans

2 lb cranberry beans (or great northern or navy would be fine, too)
water to cover
1 can of frozen 100% cranberry juice or combination of cranberry/raspberry, cranberry/pomegranate, etc.
1 package fresh or frozen cranberries
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 can tomato paste (or use the whole can if you have more water to thicken)
1/4 cup brown sugar (more if you like sweeter beans or add a little molasses or maple syrup!)
2 Tablespoons fresh grated ginger
3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
Salt

Soak the beans overnight or do a quick soak (bring to boil then turn off heat for one hour). Drain soaking water and rinse beans. I like to pressure cook my beans for a few minutes before finishing the rest of the cooking. If you do that, put water to cover the beans in a pressure cooker and add the frozen juice. Bring to pressure and cook about 5 minutes. Release pressure and do not drain!

Saute the onions in some olive oil. Add the beans cranberry juice, cranberries, and water to the pot. Simmer very slowly until beans are beginning to get tender. Then stir in the tomato paste, brown sugar, ginger, and mustard. Continue simmering until beans are tender. Add salt to taste.