Basil Pucks

I don't remember where I learned this technique for preserving fresh basil for use all year round but I tried it for the first time last summer and it worked great. We grew 3 huge basil plants this year and I've already harvested a big batch.

Yesterday Skip brought in most of the rest of the basil. I got to work processing it.

First, remove all the leaves from the stems, rinse, and dry.

Fill the food processor with the leaves. Begin processing while drizzling about 2 Tbsp of olive oil down the tube.

The bottom will process quickly. Push the top leaves down the side and continue processing until it's chopped up but not pureed.

Press tablespoon-loads into mini muffin tins or ice cube trays. 

Freeze. Then pop out of the molds, put in freezer bags and store for use throughout the rest of the year. Some folks just make a big sheet of the basil and freeze it in a freezer bag, then break off a piece as needed.

Whenever a recipe calls for fresh basil use one of the 'pucks' or part of one. They're great in pasta sauces, soups, and any recipe calling for fresh basil.

Blackwork StitchALong Update - Week 32

I completed this week's flower in the Steady Thread Blackwork SAL. It was a very quick stitch because it was a smaller block and only one colour. DMC 552. Wild Garlic is in the centre diamond.

I'm itching to do more blackwork. Peppermint Purple and Steady Thread have some intriguing charts.
 

Really Scrappy Helix Socks

I knit another pair of helix socks. I ran out of the dark colour so used scraps of other dark, leftover yarns. 

The lighter colour is from the same ball of KnitPicks Chroma sock yarn in the Lollipop colourway (now discontinued).

Had I used the same yarn for the heels and toes, I could have made them look more like a fraternal twin pair like these.

But I didn't, so they don't. People with OCD should just scroll on by.

There are some lovely things in the garden lately. The echinacea are past their most beautiful stage but the bees are still loving them.

Many of them have pollen stuck to their hind legs.

The butterfly bush is also very popular with butterflies. This is a mourning cloak. Pretty drab closed up.

Quite striking opened up.

Beyond monarchs and red admirals, I'm not very knowledgeable about butterfly species. I have to look them up all the time. It often involves going page by page through my butterfly guide.

Monarch larvae feed exclusively on milkweed leaves but the adults like the nectar from many bright flowers. Red admirals are frequent visitors.

Skip is growing beautiful zinnias again. This one is almost perfect. I love the ring of star-shaped pollen florets ( I had to Google that ). He grew them from seed again this year and they're spectacular.

A little opossum was crouched down in our garden. He didn't run away until I was almost right up to him. These guys eat tons of ticks, bug, etc. We're very glad to have them.

I just got a news flash that Gov. Cuomo has resigned. I am so annoyed that in this day and age - 40 years after awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment was publicized very widely - superiors (usually men) are still imposing themselves on people in the workplace (usually women) and elsewhere. Cuomo was so 'presidential' during the first couple of waves of COVID. He would have been a formidable candidate for president in 2024 but no, he had to go and let his groin direct his actions. And now he's a pariah. Disgusting.

Haven't Picked This Up In A While

I needed to grab something the other day to take to the park to stitch. A lot of my projects are finished or at a spot where I needed more concentration than I could muster whilst stitching socially. I did a bit of work on my Newcastle Bouquet which I abandoned quite a while ago.

This is my second attempt at this piece. The first one got started too far to one side and I ran out of fabric before reaching the border. In this re-start, I haven't completed the border. I just plug away on parts that I don't have to count in social situations. I think I'm going to outline the white blossoms just to make them pop a bit. I now wish I had used the called-for hand-dyed floss for the red in the bird's breast. The other red is hand-dyed (Cayenne). 

I can't just sit and watch TV - I have to be doing something with my hands. I also went back to this linen stitch scarf project that has been sitting on my desk for months. I'm using my handspun. I think I cast on 350 sts to knit this lengthwise scarf, leaving a long fringe at each end which I'll twirl into a nice fringe when the knitting is done.

My spun yarn isn't the most consistent but will make a nice, cozy scarf if I ever finish it.

Upon request, I made another Beauty and the Beast cross stitch clutch. I had to fussy cut quite carefully as there wasn't much fabric left but it worked out OK.

I need to add the zipper pull.

Yesterday I whipped up a knitting project bag. 

The pattern name is 'grab bag' but because of its shape when you tuck the long handle into the short one, I call it a 'dumpling' bag. These are so handy when knitting while standing in line, on public transit, or in a car. Just put your hand through the long loop and your yarn is contained yet you can still knit and there's nothing to catch your yarn on,

For once, I didn't make a bunch of mistakes that I had to fix for this. 

Skip and I actually ate dinner indoors at a restaurant on Friday. We hadn't been to our local Mexican place since January 2020. I do love ordering adult beverages and being served a nice meal. And then walking away without having to clean up afterwards.

That being said, I made chimichurri sauce yesterday for the first time. I had it the first time while visiting friends in San Antonio 3 years ago. Authentic chimichurri sauce from Argentina or Uruguay doesn't use cilantro but I love cilantro so made mine with both flat leaf parsley and cilantro. I also used fresh oregano from the garden. I went a little heavy on the garlic (note to self) but the resulting sauce was delicious. It keeps for about a week in the fridge and a month or so in the freezer. 

Chimichurri sauce can be used as a marinade or as a sauce with cooked meat. It would also be good with grilled veggies. I'd even put it on hamburgers.

We have a lot of basil ready in the garden again so I'll be making 'basil pucks' again soon. Right now Skip is making 'kale pucks' using a regular sized muffin tin to shape them. He'll use the kale in soups and other dishes in the winter. I don't like the taste of kale and and don't like the smell of it cooking. I usually only eat it if the taste is overpowered by another flavour. 

August 9 is a date I always remember. My mother died on that date 60 years ago and her mother died on the same date 55 years ago. I was just a little girl when my mother died. Because she had been ill and in hospital a lot of the last two years of her life (children weren't allowed in hospitals back then), I really don't have a lot of memories of direct contact with her. I do remember visiting her in hospital. I also recall her putting rouge on my cheeks for my rhythm band performance in the local music festival when I was in Grade 2. I also remember her combing my hair before my Grade 2 school photo.

This is one of the last photos of my mother, older siblings and myself about the time she was diagnosed with cancer.

Fussy Cutting

I made another cross stitch clutch this morning. This time I fussy cut to feature the main element of the fabric.

I made so many mistakes: wrong colour thread; inserted the batting incorrectly; basted before putting the snaps on; use the wrong colour snap at first; not sewing stuff down properly so had to glue some areas, etc. etc. It probably took double the time to re-do things done in error. What messed me up is that both the buckram (stiff, woven interfacing) and batting were fusible so I screwed up fusing things to other things. Oh well.

Fortunately I had an appropriate colour of felt for the needle holder.

The sewing is not perfect but I give the overall artistic impression a 9 out of 10.

The front and the back look the same and are centred. It wasn't that hard to do as I am now pretty comfortable with the pattern and the sizes of the pieces. Normally, directional fabric poses a problem for folded items but it's fine for this project because the pocket divider that covers the other side can be oriented to go in the right direction. 

I found appropriate beads for the zipper pull.

These clutches are so cute!

I have another one to make but I won't get it done by the deadline (her birthday). Better late than never.

Another Jolly July Finish

 Yesterday on the Zoom chat with my stitcherly friends I started this ornament - 'Poinsettia' by Punochka from the JCS Christmas 2020 issue.

I had all the cross stitching done by the time we ended the call. Last night I HotFixed the clear 'jewels' onto it where the individual white cross stitches were to go and added the Mill Hill gold beads called-for in the pattern.

My pile of FOd ornaments is growing. FFOing is in my future.

Today during my Monday morning Zoom call I began stitching this week's Steady Thread Blackwork SAL flower - thistles.

I had to pick out my first attempt where I had started one stitch to the right of the middle. I picked the same colours as someone else did on the Facebook page DMC 553 and 3815.

Its little section of the garden:

What I've completed thus far:

Only 17 more flowers and I'll be done. We have 20 more weeks of them and I have a couple in reserve from the outer border that I could modify to fit one of the inner areas.

Once done, it could fit into a 12 x 12 frame. 

A bunch of us are meeting up at a local park to stitch over lunch for a few hours this week. It will be so nice to see people in person other than dropping things off at peoples' homes or having quick visits when they drop stuff off at our place.

I need to get another stitching project going so I'll have something to work on at the park.

Bling Update!

After finishing blinging up the snowflakes, I realized I could also add some beads and a button to jazz it up some more. So I hauled out my new stitch ripper and picked out the single stitch stars and the big stitched star. Then I added Mill Hill petite gold beads and the star button - all from my stash, of course.

Just a little more bling! I'm going to finish this as an ornament. I'm sure I have an appropriate fabric I can use on the back and will make coordinating cording for the hanger and around the edges.

Today during my afternoon Zoom chat with my stitcherly friends I did all the cross stitching on another ornament. It, too, will be decorated with HotFix jewels and Mill Hill beads. Stay tuned.