2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar

Mix ingredients into your zip lock to take camping. 
Once ready to make your bread, pour your mix into the bowl and add water to combine into a sticky dough.
Don't use too much water - you can always add you can't take away. 
Once firm enough to handle, make your dough snakes and wind onto the stick!
Patiently bake the bread near the coals of your fire - you will have needed your fire to be burning an hour or more to get that nice high roasting heat to make this a success. 
Once the bread has a firm crust, it's getting close- don't burn the outside of it. 
Serve with butter, Nutella, jam, or eat plain!

2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil - recommend a high heat vegetable oil 
2/3 cup milk

Heat oven to a high 450F.
Mix all ingredients with a fork - as to keep air in the dough and not over handle things.
Ensure all ingredients are well combined- no kneading necessary.
Flop onto a floured surface. 
Pat down to 1- 1 1/5 inches thick. 
Cut out your shapes!
Recombine the dough with shape scraps. 
Arrange on cookie tray greased or lined with parchment. Love parchment!
Bake for ten minutes until the tops are gently browned. 
​Enjoy hot!

​The road of transition between having one to two children hasn't been easy. When my first born was little, she took glorious 3 hour naps, allowing me to keep my foot firmly in the realm of artistry, giving myself the time I needed to be a mom, and to be a heathy individual.

They say the second child is never the same as the first. They are not wrong. We like to say my second born is the sun, and my first born is the moon. She runs rather than walks. She does not nap. She is fierce! She is becoming my greatest teacher in patience. Far more than gardening, hand quilting, or any other endeavor I've taken on in life. 

While I continue to balance the twirly dance of raising my daughters, being a wife, keeping a home, home educating my oldest daughter, working as a part time writer, and holding onto my craft and my work, I have struggled with how to take care of myself. In the smallest of ways. And we know that when mama ain't happy, the house falls to pieces.  

It's all too common among parents the feeling of burn out and not practicing self care. How do we take care of ourselves first so that the rest of the family falls into rhythm as we want it to?

These are questions I've been asking for the last few months. I have a few ideas. 

Bathtime Foot Soak
When they take a bath, stick your feet in. A ten minute foot soak does me a world of good. I'm on my feet most of the day. It's nice to sit and watch them play. And do nothing more. 

The Fun in Hair Brushing
Not their hair, yours! Put a brush in their hands and let them have a good 20 minutes of fun. Make sure you brush your hair first. I love having my hair brushed, and my little Yvonne is quite the good little stylist. She has fun, I feel pampered. Win win. 

Park Time, My Time
My kids are out of my hair when we hit the park. I used to just sit there and watch them. Not anymore. I bring my ankle weights and do some leg lifts while they fly down the slide. I do squats, jump ups, donkey kicks, anything that I can to get my exercise in. They run, I workout, those endorphins hit us both, we go home happy. 

Create, Together
For me self care includes creating and making. Art, gardening, craft, baking. I've learned to have Yvonne beside me while I work on small projects and she works on her own. It may only be a 15-20 minute stint, but it sure does feel divine. Light some candles, put on your music, and create together side by side. 

Yoga, Horsey
I'm finding yoga is as important in my day as drinking water. But I don't have the energy to get to a class. 20-30 minutes on the mat stretching into poses that my body needs is what I can give it. Yvonne joins me doing her own poses. She loves to climb on my back and pretend I am a horse. No, it's not a yin yoga class, but it's what I can get. I'll take it. 

Nature Cures All
When the girls are cranky, and I am cranky from work deadlines, a filthy house, a sink full of dishes (we love to cook and have no dishwasher), we venture out. No need to explain why this is so good for us all.... children need the outdoors, the contact with weather grounds us, we discover light, pattern, form, magic. It just heals. We all feel taken care of after a nature walk. ​

I love the indigo hillsides of bluebonnet season, but its the sunrise fields that come after bluebonnet season, that I most adore. The reds, ambers, blacks, whites, greens, and wheat blonde flowers, both blooming and crunchy, ready to drop seed, are my favorites. We took a walk along one of our cities bayous to capture what is in my daughters time, and the spring season in Texas, ephemeral. Our quilts go with us, always. 

I hosted a beginner's Indigo Shibori Workshop here at my home in Downtown Houston this past weekend. It was a wild and windy day, but that didn't stop us from enjoying each other's company, and discovering new ways to wrap, fold, clamp and dye!

We started inside by sharing what brought each of us to the workshop, and where our interest lies. We had an origami artist in the group, an engineer who weaves and has had experience dyeing before, but not with natural materials. We had a special education teacher who is also a watercolorist. I loved the idea of her interest in watercolor crossing over to into natural dyeing, there are so many connections there with water and pigment. And then there were a few curious seekers, who left the workshop ready to start their own vats!

We covered two shibori techniques which were invented in the mid 19th Century: itajime and arashi. With regards to an art form whose earliest samples date back to the 8th century, these itajime (fold and clamp) and arashi (pole wrapping) methods are modern in the realm of art history. We worked with a protein and a cellulose fiber: a 35" x 35" silk scarf and a linen dish towel. 

I was amazed at how each student took the process and folded their scarves a certain way, to achieve such varying results with the arashi. Triangular, on a diagonal, straight forward and wrapped very tightly.... once we had our materials bound we went outside and began the first of five dips. The first dip is always my favorite, watching that teal green transform to deep blue before my eyes. Once we got into the rhythm of the dipping, I made herbal tea and coffee for everyone, and we enjoyed a lemon slice and shortbread in the warm sun. 

When the dipping was done and we rinsed the shibori, the excitement in everyone was as high as the sky. It's so satisfying to see the results of things that you've worked on for the last three hours, especially a process that is new to you. I look forward to seeing my students wear their silk scarves, and enjoying their new tea towels at home. 

I offer 3-5 beginners shibori workshops each year. It's limited to 6 students per workshop- we get lots of one on one time! 
For workshop information please visit www.campfirequilts.com

Living in a house with no central heat, and a wood fireplace as a main source of warmth, cold winters days are best spent in the kitchen, with the gas flame on low, slowly reducing a soup or stew throughout the day.

This Winter Stew is hearty, flavorful, and great for boosting the immune system. I like to use the scraps in my veggie drawer. What I mean is, the leftover baby carrots that have turned all dry, or the sad lonely potatoes strewn across the drawer.

My recipe has turned into a watercolor painting, so it is high time I archive this beloved recipe, and share it here.

What does this have to do with quilts? It all has to do with staying warm.

WINTER STEW

1/4 c olive oil
2-3 lbs lean stew meat (I like mine heavy on the meat side, nothing worse than a bowl of beef stew with no beef...)
6 garlic cloves, minced
6 c beef broth
1 bottle of good stout beer
1 c red wine
2 tbs tomato paste
​1 tbs thyme
1 tbs worcestershire
2 bay leaves
6-8 medium sized golden potatoes, skin on
1 large onion
2 cups carrots chopped, skin on

Chop your onion and fire up a medium sized pot.
Brown onion and beef in olive oil.
Add all sauces, stock and seasonings.
Allow to simmer for an hour and a half.
Now add veggies, simmer for an hour on low.
I have learned to put my veggies in much later after the stew has reduced, so that they remain intact, and don't turn the rest of the stew into mush.
The stew should be quietly, gently bubbling.
Test potato tenderness with a sharp knife, when soft, stew is ready.
Serve with hot, fresh bread!