Out With the Old...

and in with the new...to me. This is an excerpt from an email I got from a friend of mine, concerning the demise of her sewing basket:

"The subject was to be : 'I guess I'm all growed up now.'
    It was a sad day when I finally had to discard the only sewing basket I've ever had...
I've had this little purple basket since I was 9.
Actually, I knew I had to do something when Rob described it as 'brown'.
Well, men tend to be colorblind, so that wasn't enough for me to dump this still functioning memento.
    Over time I have rewoven & glued the 'straw' back in place, glued & stitched the straps that prevent the lid from opening too far,
there is a safety pin holding one side of the handle to the lid...
   Still useful...
   What finally set this in motion was a cat knocking over a Spider plant that was rooting in water.
Landing, of course, in the open sewing basket. When I dumped out everything, I saw how torn & stained the lining was.
Help me say goodby to a dedicated, loyal, trusted friend who, over the years, stood by silently, ready to serve...
Whew - I need a moment..."
AW! She also went on to comment that her brother has a replacement for her.  "I haven't asked why he has a rose colored sewing basket in his possession, but you know my brother." Ha, I do know her brother and that makes it quite a bit better!

This all made me think about my first sewing basket, which was a gift from my grandmother when I was quite young. Maybe five? I still have it and it is a little tattered, too. I rediscovered it packed away at my mom's a few years ago. It no longer contains sewing materials, just a few oddball mementos of my grandmother. It sits on a shelf in my sewing room.

At a yard sale in 1985, I picked up a NOS hatbox style sewing box from the 50s or 60s. I seriously chiseled the lady down on it (I was so poor back then!) and it has been my box ever since. When I pulled it and my first box out for photos I realized for the first time what my friend had discovered: they're kinda icky! It's funny how we think they are so precious that we'd never want to let go of them. Someone else would probably find some of the contents of interest, but, not much else.

The image at left is part of my Christmas haul: my husband purchased these old needle cases for me. How awesome is that? Things like this are not expensive and I am sure the sellers aren't retiring to Hawaii off of the profits. But, it's nice that they came up for sale rather than hit the curb.

I always find it is interesting what people do and do not value. As an avid yard sale/ flea market/ junk shop/ garbage picker, I do appreciate the fact that some people understand that some things have value to others and pass them on in a usable fashion, rather than destroy them. Case in point: I made mention today of a stellar vintage mink-lined rain coat that I garbage scored in the 80s. I was glad to get it for free. But, if I hadn't been there, it could have easily gone to the dump.

My husband also picked up this Singer Puzzle Box. It is not in the best of shape and it is missing many of the attachments. I think it's condition is fine and I was especially interested in it because it contains a gem: the item to the far left of the second compartment down is a shuttle for my Singer 27. I now have a spare and that is a great thing! I've also ordered a reprint of the 1906 Singer Attachment Manual, so that I can begin refilling this box. :)

For Christmas, I also received this intense jello mold of Liberty Lighting the World.  Seriously, short of a winning lottery ticket; it doesn't get much better than this. I hope Santa was good to you, too!

More photos are here.

Chocolate Dipped Cashew Crescents.

Today, I decided to get my Christmas cookies done.

Last week, we carried out our 4th Annual Cookie Swap at work and I made Chocolate Dipped Almond Crescents; they looked identical to these. In preparation for that baking session, I asked Eric to pick up some nuts for baking. I asked him to get almonds and another type of nut, maybe pecans. He brought home a pound of raw cashews, in addition to the almonds.

So, for today's cookie, I decided to use the cashews. I toasted them in the oven, then ground them into a meal in the food processor. I stopped them just at that point where they were about to become paste. I make my own nut butters, so, I've already met that point of no return. if you haven't ever tried this, it is the point where all of the nut meats stop rotating in the bowl and suddenly press up against the wall of the processor, spilling over at the top.

I decided to make some changes to the Almond Crescent recipe I had found online and this is what I came up with:
1 c. unsalted butter, plus 2T, room temperature
2/3c. granulated white sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Cream these together, then add:
1 1/2 c. cashew meal (approximately 1/2 lb raw, unsalted nuts)
1/2 tsp salt (I grind mine very fine in a mortar)
 2c. white flour
Cut together until you have a moist meal that holds it's shape when pressed together. If your room is very warm, you may have a dough with a soft texture and that is fine, too.

Working with clean hands, roll balls about an inch in diameter, then roll out, shaping the crescent with tapered ends. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, with at least an inch between them, as they will spread a bit. How many cookies you get from this recipe depends on the size of cookie you make. You will get about 4 1/2 dozen with these instructions. I made larger cookies last week, resulting in 3 1/2 dozen per batch and did not have to alter the baking time.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the bottoms begin to brown. Let them sit on the sheet for a minute, then slide the entire sheet of parchment onto a firm surface and allow them to cool before handling.

Melt your chocolate over low heat in a double boiler. To help it dip smoothly, add about a T of vegetable shortening for each bag of chips used. I'm a fan of Ghirardelli semi-sweet for dipping, but, you should use whatever you like best.

Dip your cookies at least half way, I think of the end as a little handle. I sprinkled some of the nut meal on top of the wet chocolate on some of the cookies and I thought that was a nice touch. You should probably have a baking assistant for this, though. I found the chocolate was getting hard by the time I could get to it, myself.

Melt your white chocolate in the double boiler over low heat, also. Transfer it to a pastry bag fitted with a fine tip and pipe the tops of all of the cookies in the design of your choice. 
I worked in shifts, transferring pans of cookies onto the (unheated) porch to cool. While I was out there I saw this! But, it didn't amount to much; the grass is still green.

At the outset, I thought I might like a Cashew Crescent better. Cashews have a higher fat content than almonds do and their flavor is so subtly sweet. I wasn't disappointed! I doubt that I will return to the Almond Crescent after this; I may even try pecan and hazelnut versions.

Photos are here.

Look What I Got! II

I've been shopping.
I'm a bit of a sucker for old sewing notions.

Recently, I decided that I needed to get a buttonholer for my Singer 27 and went on a bit of an internet search for one. I did some research to find out what ones would be compatible with my machine, then I was all over Ebay and Etsy, looking at different ones. I almost went for the "Jetson's" model. But, I found this one from 1930 or so and bought it instead. I like the fact that it doesn't attempt to hide it's mechanical nature, you make the needed adjustments yourself. I also like that it is more in keeping with the vintage of my machine. Of course, since I was paying for shipping anyway, I bought a couple of other goodies from the same seller that will end up framed in my sewing room.

These buttons strike me as especially funny. Of course I think the card is amusing and is a great companion to the Swagger Pearls. But what is really funny to me is that the buttons are of terrible quality and horribly mismatched. Perhaps the seller attached some buttons to flesh out the card? Maybe she got it that way, herself. They could've came from the store as a cut-rate product; there is absolutely no manufacturer information on them. It's not that I feel ripped off. I paid five dollars for these with an eye to the image and would never consider using the buttons. So, it's all good.



This embroidery base is actually not on a card, but, a flimsy piece of paper. It's amazing this stuff survives at all. Since it has no printing on the back, I'm likely to mount it to a heavier piece of stock to stabilize it for framing.

I remember looking at stuff like this with my grandmother in the five and dime. They were in drawers with a sample stuck to the front and you'd look through and get the one you wanted. Sometimes they were in little glassine  envelopes, sometimes they weren't. You couldn't market anything like that now; it would get torn up.


All in all, it's been an exciting mail day, here. A total of three packages arrived, all containing notions. One of the packages contained the magnetic snaps I ordered for my Minoru jacket. So, I officially have everything I need to get underway with that project!

More photos are here.