Spinning!

 I confess: my latest addiction is spinning. Be it traditionally with wool or with fabric leftovers. Fabric stripes and a whatsoever cone yarn make an absolutely gorgeous designer yarn. Good to upcycle some worn out clothes!

Spinning with wool is much more challenging, but I still like my first handspun yarn. So much that I crocheted it into a cap with ... uhm, a certain character... ;-)

Welcome Fall!

My garden is blessing me with oodles of fresh veggies ... what a bliss! That means a lot of colours, fun and a lot of time in the kitchen.See below (clockwise):
Apple sauce and pickled zucchini - vegetable casserole with potatoes, tomatoes and green beans - soup with cauliflower, pumpkin, potatoes and zucchini - very chocolatey cake.
Yum!

Crafting Space Makover!!

Yes, it was time... This used to be the darkest spot of our home and I felt so ashamed when vistors lurked through the curtains. So after two years of feeling too worn out and tired to do anything to make this space usable a sunny saturday gave me the force to begin what was a herculean task. This is actually not the realy "before" picture, because piles of books and mags have already been taken out, plus a sewing machine and a huge spinning wheel!
So I cleared the space completely and wiped the winter garden from floor to top. It took me hours.

Then I finally took care of this small dresser, which was standing abandoned on the street. It had be sitting in the basement for years waiting to be loved again. Initially I thought of spraypaintng it. But it turned out very ugly, probably because I had no idea for what size of surface the tin would be sufficient for. Luckily I found a leftover of white acrylic paint that had to do the job (it was sunday, all shops closed). So next time, insted of wasting a tin of spraypaint I should invest on new acrylic paint. But finally I like the outcome, with distressed edges for some shabby chic.
But after hours of wiping and polishing I am really happy. And even the spinning wheel found its place :-)

 The beads and supplies are all neatly organized in screw top jars or translucent boxes. The shelves used to carry the ever-growing piles of books in my student appartement - now they have a new life.

 A reading corner with books and dictionaries for my PhD thesis...

 

 What a fatigue! But it was worth it...  Now I have a new sacred space for creativity and ... only myself (oh, yes, my daughter got a small share of it. A little box with mixed beads that she can play with whenever she likes :-))
How did you (re-)arrange your creativity space? I'd love to see it!

Kalbelia Costume I: Needs a lot of Patience...

For an upcoming workshop of Kalbelia dance I threw myself into sewing a costume.

The skirt is the central piece as the dance is full of whirling and spinning (see the first picture).













With a readymade dance skirt from Hongkong purchased from here, lots of ribbons from my stock and some fabric to recycle the adveture began:

 
 


  The diamonds are cut out from the fabric and basted. A narrow white ribbon will cover the edges later.

Many many hours later: lots of greens and blues. Red, yellow and white will follow....

Zucchette sott'olio: Pickled Courgettes South Italian Type

Hey, the harvesting season in the garden has already begun and the first courgettes (zucchini) are ready to be picked!
(The pics from the following recipe are from last year and I never managed to post them)
 When I studied in Padova, Italy, my house mate from Bari in Southern Italy used to bring the most delicious pickled vegetables from her trips home. Since then I have been dreaming of the yummy taste of olive oil, herbs, garlic and vinegar. Now that I tried it it turned out to be quite easy and a good alternative to freeze the vegetables when you harvest a lot of them every day. You can even use those that have grown too much and tend to have a rather stiff peel.
Ingredients:
1l vinegar
salt
spices as you please (pepper, chili, bay leaves, and garlic are the base. You can add whatever you like)
olive oil
sealable jars

1. Peel the zucchini and cut them into thin slices. Salt hem abundantly and leave them for 2-3 hrs in a colander. They will loose a lot of water.
2. Mix water and vinegar half and half. You can add bay leaves and some aceto balsamico for taste. When the mixture is boiling, add the zucchini and cook for 2-5 min. They should not be completely cooked.

3. Let the zucchini dry on a towel, then fill layers of zucchini and spices alternately into a sealable jar. Add olive oil until it covers the last layer of zucchini. This is absolutely important, otherwise the vegetables will rot. Leave it for 3 weeks before consumption.

The pickled zucchini last several months without any problem. Just make sure they are always covered with oil.

Tutorial: Kabyle Wool Belt

 The process of learning a new folklore dance is not completed for me without making an authentic costume for myself. This usually includes a lot of costume research, fabric and jewellery purchases from the originating country via internet or in persona, and often the making of a whole costume with all of its regalia.
Fortunately I share this passions with my lovely dancing colleagues Lenajaan and Melanie and our newest treasure is a dance from the Kabyle (Berber) region of Bedjaia, Algeria.
I brought the costumes from our last visit at our in laws, but then I felt that somehow something was missing.
Flipping through pictures of other dance groups I frequently saw woolen belt with pompons and tassels and finally I also found a specimen I thought I could imitate (picture credit: here)

So here comes the process; not particularly difficult but quite time consuming.

I collected wool from my stash in the typical colours white, black, red, yellow and turquoise. Make a couple of tassels and pompons.
Measure the length of the belt generously. Calculate that you will like to have the tassels dangling in front of you and / or sidewise.
Cut 20 sections of yarn of the desired length of the belt.

Start decorating the belt with wool straps securing them with a knot at the desired place and winding it around the belt creating contrasting sections.

You can also braid  some sections using contrasting yarns. Then add tassels and pompons.






Here are the belts for the three of us:

 

And here we are "in action": :-D

(its me on the left)

 

Sunday of the Frugal Housewife

Partly probably due to my Svabian ancestors (they are the Scotsmen of Germany when it comes to parsimony), partly due to vital necessisty in the years I have perfectionated my habit of never ever throwing away anything that is still good, exspecially regarding food.
So today we have an extraordinary frugal Sunday with homemade marmelade from garden strawberries and a cocktail of very ripe fruits from the kitchen:

 

Yum!

 

Venetian bread cake with apples. A recipe from my mom who taught me never to throw away bread ... "because the child Jesus ("Gesù bambino" is a very common figure in Italy that sees Jesus Christ predominantly as a human being. Its the poor little boy that was born in the hut, a very well known situation in after war Italy) climbed down from his donkey just to pick up a tiny crum of bread." This used to be told to children that (quite naturally) refused to eat bread from the day before.

Additionally the women of the Padan Plain, once a very poor region where my mom comes from, created a lot of delicious ways to use day-old bread. One of our favourite is the bread cake:

You need: 

day old bread cut in cubes (as much you can put in a salad bowl

1 liter of milk

3 spoons of sugar

vanillia essence

3 spoons of butter or vegetal oil

3 eggs

3 peeled and diced apples

raisins (if you like them. My kids are unfortunately rather picky with them)

Heat the milk until it begins to boil. Be careful to stir it while heationg, otherwise it tends to stick on the bottom of the pot. Add sugar, vanilli essence and butter in the end. Then pour it on the bread dices and cover the salad bowl with a large lid. Leave it while you prepare the apples. Mash them with the bread that should have absorbed the milk by now and add the eggs. Butter a casserole and bake for 25 min.

With vanillia sauce it makes a whole meal!

 And finally some pasta al forno, an absolute classic for reusing leftovers from the previous day. Mix them and add eventually tomatoes to make a sauce. Cook some pasta, add the sauce and cover everything with a bechamelle sauce. Done! Super quick and easy.
And how do you celebrate frugality? I'd love to know!
Have a great sunday!