I’ve had a rash of questions from readers and I’ve not been able to help a one. Hopefully you can.
Laurie: “I just finished reading My Appalachia, A Reminiscence by Rebecca Caudill. On page 6 she writes, “we tacked carpet strings by the mile, it seemed to me, and then admired the multicolored balls when they were rolled up and ready to be woven into a new carpet.” Do you know what she means by tacking carpet strings?”
Kat: I have a recipe question. My Grandmother was born in 1920 and we sadly lost her at the age of 94 in 2014. She made a recipe called set pone. She would make a dough recipe and add in “extra sugar and baking powder.” She would cover the dough and set it in the sun to rise from breakfast until lunch. We would eat it after cutting her grass with fresh tomatoes and butter. No matter what I try I cannot duplicate the taste from Granny’s house. I have searched online and found biscuit bread recipes that I add in extra sugar and baking powder but not like Granny’s. Do you know of any such recipe? Thank you in advance if you can help me.
Lenora: Heard a saying yesterday that I’ve never heard before – “__________ has more wrinkles than the preacher’s Bible.” Are you familiar with that saying?
Last night’s video: Favorite Summer Cupcakes.
Tipper
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Happy Monday to all! Randy, your comment on your grandmother’s bread pudding brought back memories. Using leftover biscuits was the only bread I knew of using until I was grown and married. In our house that was all you used. Then she’d make a white cream sauce to pour over each serving according to one’s taste. Of course when I lived in south Louisiana the french bread was used. I don’t make it myself because I rarely have biscuits. Oh, and it always had raisins in it too. Thanks for the memories!
Lauri when my mama had me ‘tack a quilt’ all I did was tie knots in strings that were purposely hanging out of the top of every piece of the quilt…..Lenora I have heard the wrinkles quote but it was long long ago so I no longer remember what the context of the saying was (but I have heard it and I am an Okie born and raised
My Great Aunt Gert and Granny used to tell me about “tacking carpet strings” they said they sewed random pieces (strings) of cloth together on the ends to make one long piece (string) of material which they would then roll into a colorful ball. They would make these into rag rugs. Not sure if this is what she meant or not, but this is what my Granny said way back. She passed away in 1983 at the age of 82.
Tipper and Everyone Who Posted a Reply: Thank you. Your words provided a respite from the ongoing work here in Kerr County, Texas. May God bless you, One and All.
For Sadie and others, I complain a lot about the deer in my area of SC. Unless it has recently changed, SC has the longest deer hunting season of any of the other states. It will open on August 15th and go through January 1st. Some of this time will only be for archery or primitive weapons. I think the yearly bag limit is ten if hasn’t changed and maybe a few more if you will buy the tags, the tags are free for the ten. It is not uncommon to see herds of deer, many times I see 15 or more together. My son deer hunts and has pictures of a herds like this on my property within a few hundred yards of my back door. It is entirely possible to sit on my deck and shoot deer. I don’t deer hunt, it does not appeal to me, at the risk of hurting feelings, I care nothing about climbing in a stand, waiting and watching for a deer to walk out on a food plot or feeder from which I have been feeding him from for months. I grew up hunting squirrels, rabbits, and my favorite, birds- bobwhite quail. Now, except for squirrels, rabbits are scarce and quail are extinct. I got a lot of joy and happiness just from watching my dogs. They were no deer in my area in the earlier years of my life.
Randy, we have Bib White quail. I love to be in my garden and hear them talkin across the way. The littlens are so cute running around.
Our daughter gave us one of her Purple Martin houses. For years I have wanted them to come and they did this year. They love us to be out working the garden. They just cut a shine when we’re out there. They just talk to us and sing! God is so good to bless us with them.
There was a lady in our hometown that would sew long strips of fabric together and then using a big hook, she would crochet a rug.
I’m still thinking about the recipe with “extra sugar and baking powder”. Does extra mean it already had them in it? Was it a recipe she already had that she added her own “extra touch”? Could it a sweetened sourdough or maybe doughnut type dough? Setting it in the sun would be for it to rise, I presume. I’m thinking it could something my people call “sweetbread”, which unfortunately I didn’t get the recipe to. Ours, I think, was sweetened with sorghum syrup.
I’m rambling now.
I was thinking of saying I had heard as a child growing up. I remember grown-ups saying “I’ll tell you how the cow ate the cabbage.” When they were going to tell you how things really were.
Can’t help with any of these but I love the quote about wrinkles lol.
I have heard the saying Lenora asked about, but only recently, when someone posted it on a Nextdoor site. Kat, I wish I had information about the recipe, as it sounds like something I would like. Grandma most likely created it while looking to make a treat with the ingredients she had on hand. My ex would have paid a thousand dollars for a recipe he remembers his friend’s grandma made. During his search, Grandma’s family told him it was just something she threw together. It was a candy-like peanut butter frosting that I was never able to duplicate.
Laurie, tacking was a popular method used to bind two or more pieces of material together, often used in quilt making. I wonder if they secured more than one string together by tacking them for extra strength.
could she possibly mean tacking pieces of rags together to make a rag rug?
Hi everybody! I wish I could help, but I have no clue to any of the three questions. But I’m eagerly watching the comments since I’m really curious about the carpet making. I like the saying about the preacher’s Bible!
Praying for all in the heat! ❤️
Tipper, I do hope you’re feeling better & don’t take a backset.
Laurie, could be reference to backstrap weaving. Years ago I took a class taught by an instructor (Janie) from Berea College in KY. Sorry, not too much help. I’ve added this book to my reading list for winter.
Youins’ care & try to stay cool. I’ll be off to put the last load of vegetable soup in the canner.
I’ve not heard of tacking carpet strings but I’m wondering if Laurie’s question about “tacking carpet strings” pertains to making rag rugs, where strips of fabric from either new fabric or from clothing no longer worn, are sewn together, made into balls of “yarn” and then crocheted to make the rugs. I haven’t a clue to either of the other two questions.
I think the carpet strings referenced “weaving” a carpet. The string from the colored balls was then woven over and under the tacked-down strings. The ends of those strings became fringe at the ends of the carpet. Just a guess.
Error! Error!
Not “I’ve” but “I’ve seen”. Big difference!
I’ve preacher’s bibles that were dog eared on about every page. I wonder if that could be something similar to what Lenora heard.
When I was a kid the old lady next door made rugs out of what she called looper clips. Looper clips as I understand it are created when the toe of a sock is sewn in. The sock is clipped off and a loop of fabric is left. The loop typically discarded but someone discovered a way to make a “chain” out of them then the chain into a spiral that ended up as a rug. I might be totally off the rails but that’s nothing new!
PS: I’ve seen preacher’s Bibles that were stained and swelled from all the slobbers, sweat and tears that dripped or were slung into them while they lay open. You know, like when a book suffers water damage but this builds up over years and even decades.
Sorry can’t help with the questions but I’ll certainly use Lenora’s quote at church Sunday..all in fun of course!
Our choir from the Senior Center is going to a nursing home today to bring some joy in song for the less fortunate. Hopefully we can fill their hearts with some happiness today.
Everyone have a great day!
I’m no help on any of the questions. I do wonder if the carpet strings are about rag rugs. If so, it sounds to me as if the “strings” are about the warp and the woof (is that right – the grid of fibers in weaving?). As to weather, about to get into the “garden doldrums” when age, heat and dry weather slow or stop productivity (except for weeds). Squirrels ate my peaches and cream corn before it could make. Then they started on the cantaloupe. I caged 10 watermelon to save them. Of course now I can’t get to them either. Now I have a question for any or all: ever heard anybody say “outwent”?
I think tacking literally means taking a big, long nail (or several) and wrapping back and forth like you lay a straight line but keep going until all you’re out of yarn. That’s my idea anyway. The other stuff I have no idea about. Randy, I do hate hearing of the terrible wreck the dead deer caused and it’s certainly terrible when human lives are lost. Here in WV, the deer are active all day and night traipsing through the yards and streets. I had a black bear walk right by my patio the other day. I thought it was a black Great Dane, but that second look was doosie as I saw a black beautiful male bear who must’ve just got kicked to the curb by his mama. He was the prettiest bear I ever saw and he looked at me and I looked at him, but he kept going and I never breathed a sound nor did he. I had a raccoon baby get up on my patio door and hide in the curtains. I found him when I went to close the door and the door wouldn’t close. There was big lump which turned out to be a really tough strong big toothed baby raccoon. This year I’ve had coons, a bear, and deer right up close and personal. I wouldn’t change a thing and much prefer them to scary city slickers and strangers lurking ‘round. I say get out there and get a deer the best way ya can and put the critter in jars or the freezer, but however you get it, it’s the best meat you’ll ever eat! I’d mug ya for deer cubed in a jar or a nice deer roast… oh yeah, it’s done turned hot (89 and humid) again here so compared to over 100, it’s better at 89…
I haven’t heard any saying about carpet thread. No idea about what kind of bread takes extra sugar or baking powder Never heard the quote either. I’m not sure if the blank is for an object or a person’s name. These answers will be interesting to learn about.
Hope you’re feeling better Tippet! Our local news station in my NC area is calling for three digit temperatures starting tomorrow and all next week with no rain in sight. It’s already been mid to high nineties this past week but the humidity made it feel like it was over 100. Now it will actually be in the 100’s so I’m guessing the humidity will make it feel even higher. I am ready for fall!!!
The blank can be for either a name or object.
good morning Tipper, I can’t help with any of today’s questions, God bless everybody
Spell check got me, instead of Kay is should be Kat
Not so much a question, but a comment similar to Kay. My Grandmother Kirby would make bread pudding when I was a child using her leftover biscuits. I have ate bread pudding from restaurants and tried making my own (even this week) and have never found any that was as good as Grandmother’s. I did come close one time at a local mom and pop restaurant, it was hit or miss item on their menu, not an everyday item.
Now for Sadie, please box me up some of your “fall in the air” wind from Wind Tunnel, VA and ship it to me. The next 7 day forecast for the Greenville, SC area…Today 97 degrees, Sat. 98, Sun-Wed. 100-102 before cooling down to 98 on Thursday, with feel like temperatures of 105-115 degrees each day. There is only about a 10% or less chance of rain each day. Today will be 34 consecutive days of temperatures above 90 degrees, the record is 38 days, looks like we will break it. The wooly worms are naked and the chickens are laying hard boiled eggs. For once the three local tv channels weather forecast are pretty much in agreement on this forecast. This old man is laying low except for doing a few necessary things from about 6 to 9 o’clock in the mornings. I no longer care about being “tough” but have settled down and enjoying being spoiled with my air conditioner. Seriously two farmers that have hundreds of acre as of corn planted, along with the ones that have tried having gardens have lost everything. Along with the heat there has been very little rain since early June. Some have been watering their gardens but can do nothing about the heat and this is on top of the deer problems. Three vehicle wreck yesterday involving a motorcycle hitting a dead deer in the road, one dead and several more injured. But according to the SCDNR, there can not be enough deer, they are their “bread and butter.”