Eggs from the past
Looking through images I found these from 2009. We put rubber bands around raw eggs, then hard-boiled them with onion skins in the water.
There will be more done this way in 2011, also with other colours.
Harvesting…
Last fall was a very busy time, so much happening, so little time and then the ground froze on me. I panicked, as I didn't have a chance to harvest our Jerusalem Artichoke. I thought that maybe we would get a January thaw, but no such luck.
On Thursday, I saw a squirrel dig in the grass and decided to see what's happening in the back yard to get it so excited.. lo and behold, much of the ground is thawed. So I pulled on the sunchoke plant (they are annuals), and it came easily out of the ground, not many artichokes though. When I pulled out the next plant however, I found a few chokes in the soil.. I went and got the shovel.. and here my dears is my harvest:
I haven't weighed it yet, but I guess it's around 3kg.
This is from 6 plants. I had put them in the middle of the garden. Not knowing how exactly they would do in my space (it was my first time trying them), I regretted that decision, as they blocked all the light from my swiss chard harvest (i.e. there was no swiss chard harvest last year). This year they are going against the back fence, to block the view and to let them have fun and expand.
My husband was worried if the chokes would taste okay after being frozen in the ground, and they did. It was after reading in many places that once you plant them, they are very hard to get rid off, that I decided that the tubers must likely be okay to stay in the ground during the winter.. now on to preserving and cooking them.. yummy!…
If you cook with them and have a favourite recipe, I would love to hear about it.
The Olive Sparrow Child — Charlene
Charlene is the first of my dolls that I have sold through my etsy store. My client asked for a couple of additional pieces of clothing, which was a lot of fun to create.
Gotta still keep the typing minimal, so here are pictures of Charlene (31cm, 12"):
Charlene wears a green satin fabric tunic (up-cycled from some Isaac Misrahi sheets). I've free-hand machine embroidered a sweet heart onto it, as well as a bit of decoration at the neckline. Her pants are a very finely striped linen (from an up-cycled shirt). Her hat is knitted from a wonderfully soft alpaca wool.
She is quite a small doll with a lovely dark mocha skin tone. Her hair is hand-dyed by me and I also created a bit of curliness in it, so she has waves and highlights – a very stylish combination.
Each doll is made up of the following materials.
Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread
Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing, wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.
Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible.
Casting about…
The cast is not supposed to get wet. I am therefore working on some projects other than my paintings too. Long, long overdue ones.
Today's task: prepare the pattern for the Chippys I made back in 2009.
There was some pattern drawing, some test knitting, some introductions:
There was also some procrastination where I spent time decorating my cast (inspired by Frieda Kahlo, but on a bit a smaller scale)
The finger feels a lot better, but I need to see the hand therapist twice a week to change the cast and tend to the skin under it. Huxley and I were horsing around tonight and the finger got a tug on it… wow.. that was not good!!!!!
Back to the chippies:
I'm not satisfied with the body shape of the one above and have re-drawn the pattern and re-knit the next "hide". Most of the work in these sweet little chippies is in the sewing up and embroidery. Once I have the pattern finalized, I will need to write up those instructions, then look for some test-knitters to see if my instructions make sense.
Knit in 100% Alpaca, on 2.5mm needles.
I also went to the wool store and got some white angora to make bunnies.
The Olive Sparrow Child — Rima
Rima is the name of one of my best friends Undine Jewellery and after I created the Olive Sparrow Child I am introducing today, I thought of Rima with every picture I took.
Rima, the doll, is about 38 cm's tall (just shy of 15", and was planned to be 35cm) and was a custom doll for a client here in Toronto for her daughter's birthday this weekend.
(it is very difficult to type with the finger, so I'm instead giving you a whole lot of pictures… (I hope you don't mind)…
Each doll is made up of the following materials.
Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread
Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing, wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.
Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible.