vintage cooking – Amy's Axons

Hello! I bet you didn’t expect to hear from me again so soon, did you? It’s been a while since I did a “week in my life” sort of blog, so…I did. Let’s see, when I last wrote I believe I told you I had finally tested negative for Covid 🎉. I was still sick, though. I started some antibiotics for a bacterial sinus infection 5 days ago and am happy to report that I am doing much better. I still have a cough, but I’m hoping it will continue to dissipate with time (and another 5 days of antibiotics 😉).

Surprisingly, my MS hasn’t been too bad this week and I was able to putter around the house with reasonable rest breaks between activities. This has been a HUGE blessing to me ☺️!

Anywho, I’ve been sewing up a storm and enjoying myself thoroughly this week! As a matter of fact, in the pictures you’re about to see I think I’m wearing four different things I either finished up or made this week. (There’s more sewing stuff a bit further down too 🙂.)

Covid wore me out and I hadn’t cooked for over two weeks, we survived on freezer meals I had squirrelled away. I finally found the energy to get in the kitchen again on Tuesday. I made a huge pot of beef barley soup, enough to last us several days. I also decided to get out my Mom’s high school Home Ec. cookbook and made a couple loaves of our favorite bread. Mom’s book has seen better days, but it is very special to me and has some great recipes.

Oh, and I made some chocolate chip bars on Thursday from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Cookbook. 😋. I love lots of chocolate chips but Hubby only wants a few, and the itty-bitty ones. So, I compromised and put half the normal amount of my chips and some of his tiny chips into the batter and they actually managed to please both of us.

I hadn’t cleaned my sewing room for several weeks, it was really bad. I cleared the decks on Monday and gave it a good going over. I don’t know how I didn’t end up at urgent care with 23 pins stuck in my feet! YIKES 😬! I also gave both my sewing machine and my serger a good service and cleaning.

I spent a couple hours cutting patterns out last Saturday, here are a couple.

Today (Friday), I cut out the Moire Blouse by Wardrobe by Me from this lovely double gauze from Beyond the Pink Door. I’ve had this in my stash for a while trying to decide what to do with it. I ❤️ double gauze, it’s so comfy.

I wear special gloves when I use my rotary cutter so I don’t cut myself. Rotary cutters and MS don’t jive, precautions must be taken.

Every Sunday afternoon at 1:00 I always try to catch the Live Sewing Chat with Andrea at Beyond the Pink Door. She has some of the best fabrics I’ve ever sewn and, despite having to ship it from Ireland, it’s quite reasonably priced. And I really like Andrea ❤️

I’ve started keeping a bullet journal, mostly for sewing projects. I was having a hard time keeping straight what patterns I had made and the alterations, if any, for each. Oh, and I kinda like stickers. Yes, I’m seven years old.

The next few photos are random.

Every morning I enjoy solving a couple of cryptograms while having breakfast.

Laudy is my constant shadow. She sat on my shoulder Wednesday as I ate lunch.

This has been pretty typical of the last few weeks – a cup of hot tea, cough drops, Vaseline lip balm, and iced tea close at hand. I’ll save you the visual of snotty hankies.

I really enjoy watching Horse Plus Humane Society YouTube videos. They rescue horses from the slaughter pipeline as well as any and all animals surrendered to them as the Humane Society in Tennessee. I’ve learned a lot about horsemanship and horse care.

Of course I watched the birds this week!

Carolina Chickadees and a female House Finch

Lastly, I’ll share some of my favorite moments of the week with Pip and Laudy, my constant companions.

Laudy helped me solve a cryptogram on Wednesday…

Pip and I watched the birds on Thursday.

Monday night snuggles with Pip while watching TV.

Laudy helped me during my Bible study Monday morning.

Thursday morning parrot imitation practice.

Laudy snuggled with Hubby Tuesday evening.

Thursday night snuggles. Are you seeing a pattern yet?😉

I was trapped under cats after lunch today, it took 2 hours to get free. 😻😻

Thanks for joining me this week. May God be with you. ❤️, Amy

I rode my scooter around our neighborhood this past week. Autumn is my favorite season and, despite a later than usual start, trees in our neck of the woods are glowing with color.

The last of our neighbor’s summer roses.

Our River Birch leaves in the throes of death.

A couple of obligatory bird photos because, well… I love birds ❤️.

I’ve been seeing a lot of this female downy woodpecker lately.

Friendly carolina chickadees are frequent diners at the feeders.

My Dad has slowly been giving me a lot of our family pictures and genealogy material this past year. As I looked through the latest batch I found a small book of “receipts” in the Edmunds Cookbook, compiled in 1909. Edmunds is a town in Indiana where my great grandparents lived in 1909 as members of the local Quaker community. I thought it would be fun to try to make a cake from the scant directions provided.