Monday, June 16, 2014
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Fort Chadbourne Living History for 2014
On May 2 and 3 of 2014, Fort Chadbourne near Bronte, Tx slipped through a portal to return to life. Enjoy the movie.
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Monday, May 26, 2014
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Victorian Blouse Inspiration
I found these directions on making a plain button down shirt into a Victorian blouse. Keep the trim and fabric true to the era (1870-1890) and you can eliminate the tedium of basic sewing.
"Lace and gauze can turn the plainest shirt into pure Victorian femininity. Use this technique to add some interest to any button-down shirt you have hanging in your closet. . . . You can also switch out the original buttons for some with filigree.
Read more at
Make it simple with minimum trim and you can replicate this dress from the Civil War.
You can also use a white shirt and modify it to make a corset cover.
Other examples...
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
School of the Victorian Lady Conference, March 8, 2014, Fort Concho in San Angelo, Tx
The Frontier Women Living History Association March 2014 conference was a great success. This was the 10th annual conference that included learning about the women who were part of making Texas the state it is. The speakers, Ann Dixon, Donna Hector and Stella Gonzalez talked of women important in this area of Texas. Julia Putman gave a presentation on Camp Cooper while Margaret Hoogstra told about the Texas Forts Trail book. Larry Garrett taught and assisted the ladies in making market baskets. Arnie assisted ladies with crochet and knitting projects, while Sharon taught collar and cuff embroidery. Mitch Baird talked about the world events during the 1850-1870s that affected the US. As usual, it was a very fun event with time to visit with old friends and make new ones.
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Friday, March 21, 2014
Crochet Chain Fringe
When you are making a shawl, you need to finish the edge with some type of decoration. Lace crochet and picots were popular. Some shawls had curly-ques on the edge and others had fringe. Standard fringe requires cutting individual strands of yarn and latching a certain number of them in each stitch desired on the edge of the shawl. The technique pictured below is another way of creating a fringe using single chains. To my way of thinking, it is much easier and creates a more finished edge. The fringe can also be created and sewn on garments. Godey's Lady's book has a photo and similar directions for this craft. The tutorial below is much easier to follow.
Get an illustrated step by step tutorial at this website.
Friday, March 14, 2014
ARNie's Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
I wanted to thank everyone for such a lovely weekend during the School of the Victorian Lady, and your patience with my migraine. I enjoyed meeting new friends, and re-connecting with old friends.
At the Tea, I brought a couple of things, but the Flourless PB Cookies were the big hit. This would be a great recipe for a child's first baking experience, since there is no leavening to affect the timing, and with only three ingredients, the process is quick and easy.
For veteran bakers, the recipe is simple, but your ingredients can drastically affect the final product, because there are only 3.
I used a course granulated 'turbinado' sugar...HEB has the Central Market Free Trade Turbinado (on the baking aisle with the sugar.) Sharon Baird had 'Sugar in the Raw' for us on the drink table, and it is a turbinado. These sugars have a flavor similar to brown sugar... which is what my traditional PB Cookie recipe uses, and Jiff actually adds molasses to their peanut butter.
You WANT those large sugar crystals, because they add a light crunch to this recipe, and it allows you to use less sugar. You get that burst of sweetness when you crunch down on a sugar crystal.
I used a 'natural' peanut butter, so there was no added sugar or salt or molasses or -most importantly- no added oils. My batter was very stiff, even with a jumbo egg, unlike the source recipe which was soft enough to use a piping bag.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of smooth peanut butter (but I guess you could use chunky, if you'd like)
1/3 cup of course granulated sugar- I used turbinado, but other versions are available
1 egg
pinch of salt (if your peanut butter doesn't have any)
Combine the peanut butter and sugar. Stir in the egg until well mixed.
With a tiny cookie scoop, maybe a melon baller tool, or just a plain old tea spoon, make small dough balls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I got the entire recipe onto one institutional sized cookie sheet.
This is another critical element of the recipe, these are really 'dense' and can have the effect of eating a spoon of peanut butter... so the smaller size minimizes this effect. Keep the cookies to the size of a quarter, for the best results.
Make the traditional Cross Hatch by rolling the tines of a fork over the dough balls. If you just mash the fork into the dough, it breaks apart.
Bake at 325F for 15 minutes, or until the dough is dry to the touch... I usually know when to check them, when I begin to smell them.
After they are out of the oven, I carefully slid the parchment paper with the cookies onto a cooling rack. I got around 30 quarter sized cookies.
For the original, and other recipes, including gluten free, check out this YouTube account:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqPOdhc0E74&list=TLS0ovjnsJBc1O2k-dT8cyzhR_V4u-45Fi
At the Tea, I brought a couple of things, but the Flourless PB Cookies were the big hit. This would be a great recipe for a child's first baking experience, since there is no leavening to affect the timing, and with only three ingredients, the process is quick and easy.
For veteran bakers, the recipe is simple, but your ingredients can drastically affect the final product, because there are only 3.
I used a course granulated 'turbinado' sugar...HEB has the Central Market Free Trade Turbinado (on the baking aisle with the sugar.) Sharon Baird had 'Sugar in the Raw' for us on the drink table, and it is a turbinado. These sugars have a flavor similar to brown sugar... which is what my traditional PB Cookie recipe uses, and Jiff actually adds molasses to their peanut butter.
You WANT those large sugar crystals, because they add a light crunch to this recipe, and it allows you to use less sugar. You get that burst of sweetness when you crunch down on a sugar crystal.
I used a 'natural' peanut butter, so there was no added sugar or salt or molasses or -most importantly- no added oils. My batter was very stiff, even with a jumbo egg, unlike the source recipe which was soft enough to use a piping bag.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of smooth peanut butter (but I guess you could use chunky, if you'd like)
1/3 cup of course granulated sugar- I used turbinado, but other versions are available
1 egg
pinch of salt (if your peanut butter doesn't have any)
Combine the peanut butter and sugar. Stir in the egg until well mixed.
With a tiny cookie scoop, maybe a melon baller tool, or just a plain old tea spoon, make small dough balls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I got the entire recipe onto one institutional sized cookie sheet.
This is another critical element of the recipe, these are really 'dense' and can have the effect of eating a spoon of peanut butter... so the smaller size minimizes this effect. Keep the cookies to the size of a quarter, for the best results.
Make the traditional Cross Hatch by rolling the tines of a fork over the dough balls. If you just mash the fork into the dough, it breaks apart.
Bake at 325F for 15 minutes, or until the dough is dry to the touch... I usually know when to check them, when I begin to smell them.
After they are out of the oven, I carefully slid the parchment paper with the cookies onto a cooling rack. I got around 30 quarter sized cookies.
For the original, and other recipes, including gluten free, check out this YouTube account:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqPOdhc0E74&list=TLS0ovjnsJBc1O2k-dT8cyzhR_V4u-45Fi
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