Appleton Dance

On the day before Thanksgiving, Alisa and Sandy and I had a pie-baking workshop, to brush-up our pastry skills. The results were yummy. Pie crust (makes two nine inch rounds): Fill a two-cup measure with ice and add water to just cover, set aside. In very large bowl combine 3 cups flour and 1/2 tsp. salt. Cut in 1/2 cup good quality solid vegetable shortning (Crisco) till consistency of cornmeal. Cut in another 1/2 cup (1 cup total) shortning till combined coarsely. (Do not overwork.) Sprinkle in about 1/3 cup of iced-water and combine with a fork; add iced-water till dough sticks together but is not mushy or wet, tossing with fork continually. Discard any extra iced-water. Do not overwork the dough. Dump dough onto a sheet of waxed paper or freezer paper and use paper to form into a ball. (Do not touch dough with hands.) Put in freezer (no longer than 45 min. to 1 hr.) Wipe out bowl and set aside for apples. Streusel-topped Apple Pie (makes 2 nine- or ten-inch pies) For pie fi...

Shorter days -- Leaves pile in the paths. Labyrinth

The concrete, Chartres-style labyrinth at Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina, was built by Robert Ferre of Labyrinth Enterprises, LLC . I attended the UMMAS fall retreat Sept. 9-12 at Kanuga where the retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong spoke on four separate occasions. Based on his remarkable research and insight into the nature of the human experience, Spong joins Jimmy Carter and Fred Rogers in my personal list of people I admire for living honestly. Spong's book Jesus for the Non-Religious covers much of his philosophy according to my knowledgeable companions, Virginia and Robin. Spong's mantra is: "Live fully; love wastefully; be all that you can be." The view from the "rocker porch" at Kanuga Lodge across the tiny mountain lake inspired lovely day dreams. The Kanuga Knitting and Quilting Retreat will be held January 15-18, 2009. Among other delights, Jean Ann Wright will lead a workshop on her "Rock 'n' Ro...

After lunch on August 7, we walked to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi where I wanted to see the paved labyrinth in the cathedral garden. Before leaving for Santa Fe, I had looked up local labyrinth sites and found 19 cited on the online Labyrinth Locator . Alisa discovered the cathedral labyrinth and told me about it. I'm so glad she did, it's really beautiful. We did not have time to walk the labyrinth, but I took some pictures to use in the labyrinth workshop I’m giving from 9 a.m. until noon on Sept. 27 at the Bennett Recreation Center for Howell Recreation Authority --activity #6754.300

This tote was inspired by the clever MUJI tote my friend Rosey got from her friend in New York. The original was made of one layer of ripstop nylon with flat-felled seams. This one is cotton with a lining. You can order shibui MUJI products online at the Museum of Modern Art . Directions for MUJI-homage tote Make your pattern out of medium weight interlining fabric 31.5-inches long by 15 inches wide. 1. With the pattern's long, straight edge on the fold of the fabric, cut four pattern pieces: two of exterior bag fabric and two of lining fabric. I used cotton for both exterior and lining. (If you wish, you may cut pattern pieces from four different fabrics, as I have in this demo.) You will need a 7/8-yard (31.5 inch by 30 inch) cut of fabric for each of the four pieces cut from your pattern. (If you wish to interline, cut two interlining pieces and baste to wrong sides of bag exterior pieces. You will need two 31.5 by 30-inch cuts of interlining for each bag.) NOTE: ...

This project was inspired by a coin purse fashioned from a cardboard juice box that my friend Robin brought back from Merida this spring (above). It will also hold business cards, credit cards and/or gift cards. Materials: One 12-1/4 by 7.5-inch piece of lightweight top fabric, such as a cotton print One 12-1/4 by 7.5-inch piece of lightweight inside fabric (or two pieces of the same fabric, if desired) One 12-1/4 by 7.5-inch piece of fusable web (such as Heat & Bond Lite iron-on adhesive) Cut a pattern as indicated in the diagram below. Directions: 1. With iron, fuse web to wrong side of top fabric. Peel off paper. Place inside fabric, wrong side down, on top fabric. Fuse. Place pattern on fused fabric. Outline pattern on fused fabric with pencil or chalk. Cut out along marked outline. 2. Top stitch, zig-zag, or decorative stitch, around entire perimeter of fabric. 3. Crease each side flap from top to bottom; press, and topstitch along crease. 4. Using a ruler and X-acto knife, cu...