Heart for Homemaking

The Afternoon Read

by Paul Fischer  (Denmark 1860-1934)

I would like to draw your attention to Leslie's blog in England., where she has written a homemaker's newspaper today. She included one of her marvellous poems, also and it is so perfect in thought, rhyme and rhythm.   Heart for Homemaking.

Fog Fashion and Tea

Fog at Haceta Head, picture from Allposters.com

Hello, and welcome once again to fog days. My little home sure looks fogged in, from the outside, doesn't it?  One good thing about the fog is that it hides from sight all the yard work  and the house painting that needs to be done. The house looks kind of elegant, through the fog.  

I have sewn another fleece cape,  from an old pattern (1995)

however there are versions of it still available in the current pattern catalogs.

Capes seem to go well with fog; case-in-point: Cape Shank, Cape Byron, Smoaky Cape, Sandy Cape, Cape Townshend (Australian Capes) and, Cape Cod, Cape Disappointment, (rated the foggiest), Cape Cheerful (that's an Alaskan cape), Cape Augustine (American Capes). If I had the time and money I would make a cape for each cape that I liked. I was rather insulted that Cape Disappointment was rated one of the most miserable places to live, especially since I have spent several posts undoing that misery-theory about fog. 

I did not want to buy buttons this time, and so I found out how to make those fabric flowers that you coil, twist and glue, and made four large buttons for the loops on the cape. There are many tutorials online for fabric roses, if you want to see how these are made.

I do not know if you have ever seen the flower called "snowdrop," that grows in cold climates. I have made 6 snowdrops from the same fabric as the cape, and fastened them with pins in various places in this messy up-do, great for fog, which wreaks havoc with some hair.  

This is what the snowdrop flowers look like up close. I first made a center and then hot-glued them into a 3-petal base, gluing down some of the petals to open the flowers a bit.

The sun came out for a whole minute today, and my young photographer got a picture of the cape and the new hat I made, which is similar to the one in the previous post. 

Here is the pattern. I chose view C and made 4 loops and buttons instead of 3.

I originally wanted something like this, from Cloaks of Ireland.

This is the fascinator-hat made from the same fleece fabric, following instructions for making fabric roses. I made various sizes of roses and several rose buds. 

I hot-glued them on to a wide head band I bought at the Dollar Tree. Sometimes there are two for a dollar, so that makes a very inexpensive base for a hat, and it makes it exciting to make them.  I am already planning  what the next one will be.

You might be able to see where I dabbed bits of hot glue to make dew on the roses. The cost of the fleece for the cape was a total of $11.00, and the head band was a dollar. It was such an easy pattern that  I cut out the cape one day and sewed it the next, and still got my dishes and laundry done.

After the cape-walk in the cold fog, there was hot tea in the dining room,

...made from frozen strawberries and hot water, poured through a strainer.

I am using the Prairie Rose tea set from Alberta, Canada.

I bought this cookie from a bakery because it looked like it would match the tea cups.

Some of the bakery products are works of art. 

A ceramic spoon

and a beautiful heart-shaped tea strainer  makes the 

experience so delightful, and there was someone standing by, after

the photographs were finished, waiting to eat the blog food.

For a collection of heart (Valentine) crafts and things, go here and be sure to follow the older posts after that page, as there are quite a few of them with the heart theme.

Foggy-Chic Fashion

I once believed that if you had seen one fog picture you had seen them all, and then, I found there was river fog, as you see in the picture, above, 

mountain fog, 

farm fog, 

and small town fog. I am looking forward to seeing beach fog soon.

This light blue, soft fabric expresses the fog fashion season. I have  constructed a coat from the cheapest fleece I could find, and made it for a total of $12.00. 

The nice thing about  having  a  fashion show in this weather is that you do not have to use a fake fog machine.

The back belt or tab was made by twisting fabric and adding a button.

A generous ruffle cascades in the front, and there are no buttons in the front. 

This was the pattern I used: 99cents at Walmart, designed for thin knits. I extended it to a long coat. To give it a "frustration rating" from zero to five, I would say that an inexperienced sewer would find it a five. It was fast to make, but had a quirky back neckline. The front is a long piece sewn around the back piece. I would not recommend it if you are not a confident sewer. I have done this type of thing before with a bolero jacket, so I was familiar with it.

 Also, it is good to note that fleece is not always stretchy all ways, like knits. The kind I use only stretches form east to west, not north to south.  I got the idea for these fleece coats (I've made a pink one, previously) from seeing what the manufacturers are doing with fleece in the sportswear catalogs. It is being made into jackets with hoods and many outdoor things, including gloves.

The sleeves have been made longer and altered quite a bit from the original pattern.

For those who do not live in a foggy climate, this is what it is like: it feels like a soft, moist air on your face, finer than the lightest sprinkling of rain and more gentle than mist.

With a wide headband, I made a fascinator-hat. It was done with a combination of sewing and hot glue. 

I did not have the foggiest notion how to go about making the kind of hat I had in mind, so sewed a strip of fabric into  graduated sized loops and twisted and glued them on to a wide headband.

I have altered the back band, to make it more comfortable,

and have made blueberry tea using frozen blueberries,

served with blueberry bread,

on a table cloth made of some of the leftover blue fleece fabric,

and have sprinkled the table with the violas that are peeking through the fog. They have a candy-like scent.

Fresh Fog Afternoon Tea

The Fog is not as close to home as it has been this past month, but we are still enjoying the special "Fog Tea" to celebrate fog days. It has been a source of anticipation each day. I look for photographic opportunities to capture the different colors of fog in various times throughout the day.

To dispel some of the darkness today I "lit" a led tea-light in my lantern and made up a natural "white tea" with fresh ingredients.

This natural white tea consists of chopped cucumbers, mint leaves and grated lime peel, as you see in rows in the bowl, above.  Try each ingredient alone, or the combination.  

The mixture is placed in a strainer that sits inside a tea pot. These can usually be found in a kitchen store or a tea room that has a tea shop.

Hot water is poured over the mixture, and after a few minutes, the strainer is removed. 

It is not really a tea, since tea leaves are not used, but it makes an interesting hot drink and it is different  and interesting in flavor. Spiced, berries, herbs, fruits and vegetables and a few other foods make delicious "tea."

This is a delicious little salad with par-boiled, or "blanched" broccoli. The broccoli is steamed only until it is bright green but still crisp. The salad greens are curly endive, radicchio, spinach and varieties of lettuce.  It is served with a dressing made of mild olive oil and rice vinegar. If you have never tasted rice vinegar, I highly recommend it, as it has a pleasant taste and not too strong, as are many types of vinegar. It can be used on its own over salad, without the  oil. Tasty chunks of mild white cheese are sprinkled over the salad. Mmmm.

Fog Tea aned

One More Foggy Day

The sun has been appearing off-and-on, with dark blue fog in-between, all day long. I know that the fog-days are going to be fewer now and I wanted to make the most of it before it is over, so I have snapped another fog picture and made more fog tea. I have been busy with other things, as well, and have not had time to address some of the requested subjects for this blog, but am still hopeful that I can do that in the future.

Today I'm serving an extra white foggy tea called "White Cucumber" made by an American company called Tazo,  I like this cucumber flavor, which  has a hint of lime and mint. The new Tea Time Magazine for Jan/Feb has a write-up about white teas, with a "gentle reminder" on page 12 that these white teas should not be steeped in boiling water, so I just bring the water almost to the boiling point, or else, let it stop boiling for a minute before filling the teapot.

With this foggy-morning tea I've prepared a cucumber/Monterey Jack cheese sandwich, buttered on both sides, on slices of those little loaves of bread I made for one of the other fog-teas. 

 I use a quick bread, nut-bread or muffin recipe minus the sugar and the nuts. It is a much quicker way to make bread, and you do not have to worry about it rising perfectly.

The sandwich was given a great review from the children who came to tea, and the one that was left was called "blog food," which was easily given away.

Using a small loaf pan makes the bread easier to cut into tiny tea sandwiches, and you do not have to cut off the crusts; they are soft and delicious.

A special foggy pudding crowned the whole event: heavy whipping cream swirled into lemon pudding (or lemon curd) and served in tiny dishes. There should be no danger of anyone gaining weight with these small servings.

Just a few sips and bites makes this foggy day so exciting. Now, I've grown interested in foggy photographs and foggy art work, as well as foggy fashion shows. So, you don't know what you will see on this blog as long as the fog holds out. I'm almost disappointed to see the sunny days come.