mangomerle

I Swoon for... Artful Stuffed Toys

2011-10-09T18:00:00.055-05:00

I love toys, especially stuffed toys. I really love all the beautiful work being made by the newest generation of toy artists such as Abigail Glassenberg, Jantze Tullett, and Violetta Testacalda. Below are a few outstanding examples of artful stuffed toys taken from one of my Pinterest boards.

the happy couple by fogandswell

Little Doe by Pentip

flies by s'mockery dolls

pretty pleated bird by crystal A suh on Flickr

unicorn by zooguu

I Swoon for... Contemporary Jewelry Design

2011-09-11T18:00:00.005-05:00

I love contemporary jewelry. My art background is almost entirely self-taught via trial and error with the exception of music and studio ceramics. I have no formal background in design and therefor no real vocabulary to discuss this kind of art, but I absolutely love it. This morning's Pinterest login brought an especially swoon-worthy collection of pieces by some of my favorite designers. All three of the artists below make gorgeous work with great textures and judicious color use. I pinned and re-pinned a lot more than these, but you will have to go to my Pinterest board to see for yourself.

Ramón Puig Cuyàs - Brooch

Enric Majoral - "Sand Jewels" Ring

Mari Ishikawa - Brooch "Blooming"

Sand and Starfish Super Sale!

2011-08-17T11:02:00.001-05:00

Octopus applique from Sand and Starfish on Etsy

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I forgot about it last night, but there is a pretty awesome sale going on over at the Sand and Starfish Etsy shop right now. Last night I purchased several appliques I have been eyeing for a while, including the brightly colored octopus above. I have really been dragging my feet the last few months about pretty much everything, including making stuff for my new niece, Rachel, and a couple of other adorable little ones with whom I have not spent nearly enough time. I chose 2 sting rays, 2 seahorses, 1 octopus, 1 jellyfish, and a small constellation of mini starfish. I plan to use these appliques on an ocean-themed playmat for Rachel; something akin to this, but with a larger mat and more overall portability.

Stephanie also has a wonderful blog I have been subscribed to since almost the beginning of Sand and Starfish. She's a terrific person and her posts are often inspiring, are always something I can relate to, and are usually filled with color (just like everything in her shop).Sand and Starfish is also on Facebook and there are sometimes posts there about shop happenings before they are broadcast into blogland, so if you like her stuff and are already on Facebook I say you should consider going and liking the fanpage. Stephanie makes a lot more than just appliques and I really like her bags and purses and the fabric choices are phenomenally pretty. The prices are great to begin with and right now there is a 50% off coupon code available for use so go check it out!

Mini starfish appliques from Sand and Starfish on Etsy

I Heart Clay

2011-08-17T01:37:00.002-05:00

Various polymer clay gauged earrings and plugs arranged on a baking pan awaiting a final baking session so set the acrylic finish.

I've been doing some claying. It's just polymer clay, but still clay nonetheless. These went in the oven earlier this evening; some for shop orders, some for fun. I'm trying to get back some normalcy after this extended hiatus and all of the stuff in the last post. This is mostly working, I think. Being back babysitting again and getting shop orders so money is coming in is helping immensely as are the comments and emails I have received since the last post. Thank you all for the kind words and supportive messages. I am ok, just struggling on multiple fronts and not sure how to overcome all of these things that seem like separate entities but are actually closely related. What I am sure of is that doing so will involve some form of artistic endeavor as part and parcel of how I process information and ideas.

I have considered removing the last post but decided that, even in all of its erratic, unedited, unabashed messiness, it should stay. It is a record of exactly what was going on in my world at the time and I refuse to apologize for it or edit it for palatability. I want to write in more detail about some of the things covered in that post including why I am so staunchly pro-choice, politics of reproductive health, gender, fat, mental health, my own struggles with self acceptance and self love, and why just being me is so fucking radical and political sometimes that I can't stand it. My last large project took almost two years to complete and was spurred by my younger sister's wedding. It involved family and what it means to me and how I relate to the concept. It also had a lot to do with a sort of slow cloth process, hand work and its relation to my family history. I have no idea right now what form the next large project will take, but I am willing to bet that it will have to do with the things I mentioned earlier in this paragraph as those are the topics I an grappling with so much right now.

I am going to continue to post here exclusively. However, there are going to be posts some people may not enjoy reading and that may very well challenge some people to examine or confront aspects of themselves they may not like or that they may not even know exist. Some of these posts may contain information and language that is not safe for work or that could be triggering for certain individuals depending upon their own life histories. These posts will contain notification of such via the acronyms "NSFW" and/or "TW: (insert topic here)." I hope to resume regular posting soon including Mosaic Mondays, Link Love posts, notification of giveaways I have entered and think are really great, Recipe Fridays, etc. In the mean time, below I have listed a few links I have found particularly informative or entertaining recently.

Grilling Season: How to Pit Fire Pottery Using a Good Old-Fashioned Charcoal Grill by Sumi von Dassow from Ceramic Arts Daily

Artist and blogger Jenni Horne is a little bird maker

There are loads of really awesome tutorials over at Michele Made Me

Claire Maunsell does absolutely gorgeous, amazing polyclay work and her blog has had some really nice tutorials lately about packaging and achieving the kinds of textures (I really love rough, craggy, aged textures) I've been wondering how to make in polyclay.

Even with the published corrections, I found some of the instructions for this crocheted halter top unnecessarily vague. I think I figured it out well enough that I got a wearable item, though. We'll see what happens after I wash it and block it.

I'm dreaming about what outfits I could put together from my wardrobe to show off something like these leg warmers. I haven't done the measurements or math, but I don't think the pattern will fit me as published so I'll probably have to do some hooking improv to make them work for me.

The sudden, renewed interest in crochet has been instigated by a charity yarning challenge over at Startled Octopus in which I have decided to take part. (please note before exploring the site that some of Startled's posts contain trigger warnings and are possibly not safe for work)

I found this article pretty interesting reading even if the site format screams 1990s: A Natural Age of Weaning by Katherine Dettwyler, PhD Department of Anthropology, Texas A and M University

Glass Attic has a metric beiberload of awesomely helpful and interesting tips, tutorials, and information in general about polymer clay. If you're at all interested in polyclay you should go check it out and bookmark it.

Basically

2011-06-06T10:58:00.001-05:00

the best 55 seconds available on YouTube right now.

Also, I will be having some self-imposed little-to-no internets time for a while. Probably a couple of weeks, maybe longer; don't really know yet. I will be around, just need to eliminate a time-sink or two and get some stuff done. Any posts, if they happen at all, will be sporadic at best.

Also, also, I can't find the camera and that has been a primary reason for no recent posts. Yes, again, sorry. I am confident it is here somewhere. Precisely where, though, is the question and the process of cleaning/organizing/purging hasn't yet been completed so location is anyone's guess.

So. There's that. Have a nice life for now while I try to get stuff sorted out and gain some grounding.
Until later,

Wordless Wednesday: Lucky, Lucky

2011-05-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

May 2011 FNSI

2011-05-18T21:30:00.000-05:00

This month's Friday Night Sew-In is in two days. Click on the button below to go to the sign-up form. Don't know what the sew-in is about? Check out this post by FNSI founder Heidi.

It doesn't feel like it's been an entire month since April's sew-in, but I guess busybusy makes the time fly by. Though busybusy with what exactly I'm not entirely sure as it seems like all I've really gotten done lately is a lot of housework and some mending. I don't know how people with kids do it, I seem to require a lot of quiet, sitting outside, me-time lately. I have been doing some reading lately, though, and while it isn't visible accomplishment it is something I need to start doing a lot more of again. I currently have three books in process: Jean M. Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear, Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel and Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire. Three because I'm notorious for losing books part way through reading them and right now the only one I can readily locate is Desert Solitaire. I also picked u a copy of Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera at the public library's book sale recently and I'm looking forward to starting that soon because I was pretty well blown away by 100 Years of Solitude. The library also has a copy of Gabriel García Márquez's Memorias de mis Putas Tristes that I keep meaning to check out, but then I get distracted by all the neat sewing, quilting and crafting books available on the second floor, like this one and this one. Oops.

Wordless Wednesday: Nashville Trip Edition

2011-05-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

Tuesday Love Links

2011-05-17T06:00:00.031-05:00

Cool and interesting things found around the net this week.

Bowl of beads by Penny Berens from Tanglewood Threads

Rainbow cake in a jar from The Family Kitchen

Pretty cake sprinkle 'embroidery' (pattern from Polka and Bloom) and yummy looking raspberry cake details over at Clockwork Lemon

Beth Terry learned about replacing laptop screens and has some information and suggestions about what to do with the old screen over at My Plastic-free Life (formerly Fake Plastic Fish)

lotion tutorial from Life with Monkey

Win a One-Month Subscription to Green Kid Crafts from Crafting a Green World

Please don't hate me, but Nyan Cat was just too ridiculous!

Productive Monday, Oh Ya!

2011-05-17T01:03:00.001-05:00

29th birthday fun times. I bought myself a set of glow-in-the-dark practice poi and the guys gave me a bag full of gummy candies and wax mustaches.

Today was one of those days that makes me feel like a real life, responsible adult. One of the ones when you get up and you go places and do things and get shit done. In addition to the items detailed below, I also got four loads of laundry washed and hung on the line to dry (1/2 of which was dry before sunset), cooked lunch, spent a bit of time with Corey and Zombie, and reloaded the dishwasher after putting up the clean stuff. Of course, this all means tomorrow will probably be a wash, but whatever. I'm going to briefly revel in my productive day before I get back to sewing up cute baby things. Cute baby things because I'm an aunt now and I've put off making things to find out if I was going to be getting a niece* or a nephew and also because I haven't much felt like sewing for a while aside from hand stitching. I'm also listening to Episode 21 of Stitching-n-Junk. I <3 just about everything about the podcast and Bridget's laugh kills me with its cuteness and frequency.

So I bought a half dozen new bobbins from the local sewing center for my sewing machine this morning. I've been looking for new bobbins ever since I got the machine and every package I find says specifically on the back not to use in any Bernina. Crap. I totally love my machine, but this bobbin situation has been killing me. It came with four of them, but that just isn't enough. At least it isn't for me, anyway. I toted my machine (which still needs to be named, now that I think of it) into the shop and it turns out, they're just regular old class 66 plastic bobbins despite what the back side of all of those bobbin packages claim. At 50¢ each at the sewing center, problem solved for just $3 and some change. Huzzah! And now I don't have to reload bobbins all the time, something I hate doing; such a waste of both time and thread.

Since the bobbin situation was so easily and cheaply rectified, I decided to check out a nearby thrift store that seemed to pop up out of nowhere a few weeks ago. This thrift store boasts 99¢ Mondays wherein all white tagged merchandise (or maybe the tag color changes from week to week, not sure, didn't ask) is 99¢ if under $19.99 or 50% off if over. I didn't really expect to find much since every other thrift store I have been to here has been really pricey or has had virtually nothing to offer for fat people. All of my jeans are either completely worn out, in desperate need of mending (blast you, cheap, faulty zipper!), or rather ill-fitting The few dress pants I have left are in basically the same condition. My dress clothes collection has been dwindling a lot since I quit the box office back in STL and that's kinda horrible since it was never a huge collection in the first place and dress clothes are kind of required for job interviews and sometimes for just running around town doing everyday errands. I went in the store with a vague idea that I'd look around to see if I could find some pants or dress shirts and a rough spending limit of $15. I didn't really stick to that limit, though, because I found so much great stuff. I totally made out like a bandit, y'all!

*Two pair of great-fitting blue jeans, long enough for my height, with a wide enough cut to the legs that they don't strangle my calves, cute stitching details, nice thick material and almost no signs of wear; less than $9 combined. The jeans were most of my total spent, but good jeans are hard to come by no matter who you're asking, let alone someone with 56" hips and a longer-than-average-but-not-quite-tall-yet inseam.

*Two pair of awesome dress slacks, one solid grey (I really love me some grey dress slacks) and one black with tiny red pinstripes; 99¢ each.

*One pair of ridiculously comfortable, long, flowy-legged, black dress pants; less than $2.

*One 70s-inspired sunset-meets-circles-and-geometrics black/white/red print short-sleeved dress shirt that looks great with the pinstriped pants; less than $3.

*One pinafore-style, tweedy brown dress in need of some reconstruction work as it doesn't really look great on me at all in its current condition but does fit and should look pretty cute when I'm done with it; 99¢. I had thought about getting this one a few weeks ago when we first went into the store just to see what they had to offer, but the original tag for $4.98 was too much for something in need of recon-ing and I need more sewing/crafting projects like I need a battery-powered spin-the-bottle game. For 99¢, though, 'tis worth it to me.

*One sleeveless, short vest in the perfect style for which I have been searching for a pattern for ages; less than $3. One caveat, however; It doesn't quite fit. It is so close to fitting, though, that it really is ridiculous. I will let it out a bit, tuck in the little pointy-down-y bits under the bust, and copy a pattern from it.

*One pair stretchy, white tricot, size 6x bloomers with lacy edges; under $2. I am nowhere near a size 6x, but with some new elastic added to the waist these will be a summer staple under skirts and dresses. Added bonus: they're large enough that I can trace a pattern from them and the resulting pattern pieces cut from non-stretchy fabric will make bloomers that will still fit well, but without any weird crotch-al gusseting like in previous attempts at making my own bloomers.

I spent a lot of time in the dressing rooms today, but it was worth it to get some cheap, new clothes that fit. Overall, it's a pretty neat little thrift shop, similar in feel to my beloved Value Village back in STL. They're also accepting applications for employment so of course, I snagged one to fill out and turn in tomorrow. Crossin' my hoofies that I get an interview opportunity and can get a regular job so I can feel like a real life, responsible adult more often by being able to get some student loan bills paid regularly. I'm also heavily considering going through the medical transcription course from here figuring that even once I do get a job, it would still be pretty nice to be able to do that to bring in some extra income. I'm no firecracker typist, but I'm not slow, either, so it shouldn't be tortuous. Any of you know anything about or have any experiences with Career Step or any other similar school/program? I'd like to hear about it if so, whether positive, negative or neutral.

New niece is named Rachel and is, contrary to all of my past experiences/opinions regarding babies, adorable, with a huge head (14.2" holy cats!) and super chubby cheeks, looking every bit her father's child in facial structure.

Mosaic Monday: Favorite Contemporary Fabric Designers

2011-05-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

1. fabric: June Song Birds design by Nicole de Leon for Alexander Henry Fabrics
apron: Boojiboo on Etsy
2. fabric: Under the Sea (or Nautical Sea Life) from Isso Ecco fabric collection by Lecien (I can't find a designer's name for any of this collection despite hours spent on Google searches over the last few weeks, sorry. I think the entire collection is great, though.)
tissue box cover: Head To Toe on Etsy
3. fabric: Millefiore by Kaffe Fassett
child's dress: il filo logico on Etsy
4. fabric: Splashy Rose in persimmon design by Sandi Henderson (Meadowsweet 2 Collection) from Michael Miller Fabrics
knitting bag: erin.lane bags and more on Etsy
5. fabric: Golly Bard Woodland Collection by Holly Ward Bimba, available from Spoonflower (she also blogs here and has an Etsy shop here. Go check them out, her art is gorgeous!)
6. Full Moon in Ivory from Gypsy Collection by Felicity Miller for Free Spirit Fabrics

Vintage Dishware Sale

2011-05-15T10:14:00.001-05:00

I am having a sale on all dishware in my Etsy shop. Shipping prices are a little higher than other shops, but I package my dishware orders very well, with insurance and delivery confirmation. Listings all expire in 3-4 days. After that, I will probably be keeping a lot of them for myself. So if there's something you like, be sure to grab it soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Backyard Fungus Edition

2011-05-11T06:00:00.003-05:00

Tuesday Love Links

2011-05-10T06:00:00.033-05:00

More fun and awesome from around the net.

Homemade Cheez-Its from Instructables user kazmataz

HUGE cosmetic giveaway at Blushing Noir

Toolgrrl on Etsy has some terrific, pretty art dresses including this one called Pneuma

I LOVE this DIY glass travel mug with steel straw from Carissa's Creativity Space Awesome way to implement the 3 R's

Julia deVille -Bird shoulder piece - Starling, Gold Leaf, Sapphires, Leather


Julia deVille - Claw With Lilies brooch

Taxidermy jewelry with Julia deVille , a Melbourne based jeweller. Both via Bijou Contemporain Jewelry

Your argument is invalid, here is Teddy Roosevelt riding a moose. via Wikimedia Commons

Phelan has a great post about corn over at A Homesteading Neophyte (Hint: It isn't always the evil it's made out to be)

Sew Mama Sew is gearing up for their next Giveaway Day. Check out this post for more info and sign-up guidelines.

Mason Bees, Our Native Pollinators

2011-05-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

Western Blue Orchard Bee, photo from Crown Bees

It's a little late here the south central US to start on housing for mason bees, but it's about the right time in the more northern US states and Canada. And it's really as easy as drilling holes in boards.

Mason bee is a common name for species of bees in the genus Osmia, of the family Megachilidae. They are named from their habit of making compartments of mud in their nests, which are made in hollow reeds or holes in wood made by wood boring insects.
Species of the genus include the orchard mason bee,Osmia lignaria, the blueberry bee, O. ribifloris, and the hornfaced bee, O. cornifrons. The former two are native to the Americas and the latter to Japan, although O. lignaria and O. cornifrons have been moved from their native ranges for commercial purposes. The Red mason bee, Osmia rufa, is found across the European continent. There are over 130 species of mason bees in North America that are active from spring through late summer.
Spring mason bees (blue orchard and hornfaced) are increasingly cultivated to improve pollination for early spring fruit flowers. They are used sometimes as an alternative, but more often as an augmentation forEuropean honey bees.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_bee

Encouraging mason bees in your yard can purportedly be a great alternative to keeping honey bees, especially in an urban environment ass they are even less likely to sting than honey bees. some day I will have honey bee hives, but I think I will still get a mason bee house going this spring and see what happens. The boards I have out back are 2x4s and not very well suited to making a mason bee house and I never got to the hardware store to see about getting something larger so I never got a house made. Subsequently, I have missed the chance this year to get some orchard mason bees because they only have one generation per year, but since there are varieties active throughout the summer I may still have a chance to get my own 'hive' going. For more information on mason bees and making housing for them, check out this pdf from University of Arizona. Interesting fact: Mason bees are being cultivated in the southwestern US to help combat invasions of Africanized honey bees because the honey bees cannot live in the same type of housing.

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Flowers Edition

2011-05-04T06:00:00.002-05:00

Tuesday Love Links

2011-05-03T06:00:00.011-05:00

Time for this week's round of fun and interesting things I've found around the interwebs.

<3 this print by Etsy seller Gayana


Gussy Sews and Little Alouette Giveaway - enter at both Amy Turn Sharp and Gussy Sews

Lo uise Bourgeois, Ode à l’oubli, Fabric book with hand-embroidery and lithographed cover, 2002 via MoMa

Cigarette Card Elephant pseudo-tutorial and pattern from Cami's Art/Life World

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Jacobean Embroidery, by Ada Wentworth Fitzwilliam and A. F. Morris Hands

Alice at FutureGirl Craft Blog has some handy info for sewing vinyl or plastic

I love contemporary jewelry and I think the use of the cocoons here is really neat. Efharis Alepedis - Necklace, 2010 - red patent leather, silk cocoons, epoxy resin, silver - Charon Kransen Arts via Bijou Contemporain Jewelry

Free Pots for Plants Mexico Style from Gardening with Mo Gilmer

Mosaic Monday (on Tuesday)

2011-05-03T00:26:00.000-05:00

I've been plotting how to fix an organizational issue in our bathroom using only what I have immediately available. Thing is, it requires some sort of framework or box and I don't seem to have much around that would work for that and not look really cheap, tacky, trashy even. Except maybe sticks. I can gather a lot of sticks in fairly short order taking a walk around the neighborhood, especially after all the stormy weather the last couple of weeks. And depending upon how I secure them to one another they could look pretty sweet as a semi-permanent shelf or hamper I think. Looking around Pinterest got me more than enough inspiration for using sticks and branches to give me the necessary motivation to give it a try. Now I just need the weather to cooperate long enough to gather enough sticks and branches of requisite lengths to get the job done.

Kinda late today. Oops. All images found via Pinterest this week, credit listed when available. If credit is not listed and you know who to credit, please let me know and I will update accordingly!

1. Live Wire Farm Hooks via Remodelista
2. Ginette Lapalme via Poppytalk
3. stick drive, unknown via weyoume tumblr
4. my colors; kirstievn
5. Starburst Twig Wreath; Kristine at The Painted Hive
6. branch decoration; Linda at Itsy Bits and Pieces
7. branch weaving; Linda at Natural Suburbia
8. tree branch curtain rod; Keith Scott Morton via Country Living House of the Year 09

Happy Friday

2011-04-29T05:52:00.000-05:00

No photos this time, sorry. I'm currently watching the kid and using tiny laptop at his house. Forgot to bring my camera with me, but I do need to do a photo dump from there some time very soon.

I'm happy to be having sunshine again. Nobody around here has basements to speak of. Some houses have crawl spaces and I think I've seen maybe external two storm shelters in the last year we've been here, but there is an overall shortage of what my grandfather would have referred to as 'hidey holes.' Staying up all night watching the weather warnings for the last week has left me really, really tired but thankful that what we got here was nothing compared to what they got further south in Alabama. We had some power outages, downed trees and the like; oh, and the rivers got to flood stage this time around, but unlike last year the people managing the rivers around here were aware of how much rain was coming and started shutting down dams further upriver starting almost a week in advance so th3ere was no flooding to speak of.

I will be contacting giveaway entrants within the next week about shipping info. There ended up only being three people interested, but if you are interested and missed the original post I can still make up a couple more packages. Just let me know by leaving a comment here or on the original post.

Tuesday Love Links

2011-04-26T07:42:00.000-05:00

Here are a few cool, interesting, fun things I have found over the last week.

Faux Leather Sketchbook tutorial from Keepsake Crafts

Really awesome tutorials from Maggie Makes

Origami paper box tutorial from Pinecone Camp

Sewing book giveaway from Lark Crafts (open until 9pm EST May 3rd)

Rad scrap projects from Burda Style (I love the little birdie wings and needlebooks)

I am totally loving this hanging book shelf and can see it being very useful for sewing and crafting supplies and projects.

Monday, Muddy Monday

2011-04-25T06:00:00.005-05:00

Yes, that was a U2 reference in the title there. I'm not a huge fan, but I liked the sound of it. This is a radar image from about 6pm yesterday.We had a very rainy, very windy and watchful-for-tornadoes Zombie Jesus Day here and it's supposed to continue like this for another 4-6 days. No delicious chocolate bunnies or prettypretty decorated eggs this year; too sick with flu/headcold to think about much other than sleep, keeping up with the laundry and dish washing, and making sure everyone is fed and watered properly. The only real celebratory activity was eating a bowlful of ice cream with homemade dandelion syrup (ooh, it was delicious! will be posting a recipe soon-ish) and watching some of Stephen King's The Stand via Netflix with Corey. I've never been much of a fan of King's writing (multiple false starts to reading several of his works and The Eyes of the Dragon has been the only one I've finished), but I figure I should at least watch this series since I have the chance. One of my best friends in St Louis references it no less than every few hours when anyone around him is sick so I figure at the very least I'll have a better understanding of what he's talking about when he's telling me to keep my Captain Trips to myself. Plus it only seems fitting with all the sneezing and snot and lack of ability to breathe that's been happening here lately.

I do have a kind of funny story about Easter, though, and it involves mud puddles. I remembered it this afternoon during a break in the rain when I took Zombie girl outside for a brief run around the yard and saw the huge puddle taking up literally 1/3 of the yard.

I absolutely adore jumping in puddles, muddy or otherwise. I did not know about this joy, however, until shortly after my 3rd birthday when Dad took me out to the end of the driveway at our house on Gennessee Road. It was early in the morning on Easter and we had just finished checking the oil and other fluids or something like that on Dad's truck. At the time I was an only child and spending time with Dad was the absolute best thing ever. Being that I was largely self-sufficient and super well-behaved (my parents were spoiled having me as a first child), I got a lot of Dad time in the form of working on his truck and even hanging out at the construction site with him at work and using the lumber cutoffs as building blocks. Mom was awesome and I loved hanging out with her, but Dad would do things with me that Mom would never have, like playing in mud and letting me ride the mastiff - named Bumper - at the junk yard. How much cooler can things get when you're 2 or 3 than getting to ride a giant dog around a junk yard!?

We had just gotten done doing something to Dad's truck and he instructed me to stand back while he closed the hood. I don't know if 1985 was an especially wet spring, but I remember not being allowed to play outside for a few days because of all the rain and mud. Mostly because of the mud I think. I really liked making mud pies and Mom really disliked all the laundry this activity could generate. Dad knew about this love of mine (heck, I'm pretty sure he was the one who first showed me how to make a mud pie) and when he told me to follow him I happily obliged. Normally I remember things like this in great detail, but this one is one that is a bit fuzzy. I don't recall the exact details of how Dad taught me to jump in the puddles at the end of the drive, but I do remember how amazingly awesome and fun it was!

The feel of the mud between my toes - I never wore shoes unless I was forced to, still don't - and the huge splash I could get were pretty much the most fun ever. I had soaked my clothes in fairly short order and splashed most of the water out of the puddle when Mom called to us that we needed to come inside and get ready for church. I'm not one much for organized religion, but at the time church was not something that was optional. I had to go and I had to be dressed up to do so. Most of you can probably see where this story will end from here knowing this.

Dad and I trudged up the drive and back into the house to shower and put on our Sunday Best. This week it really was Sunday Best for me, too, as I had a brand spanking new white Easter dress with lots of fluffy frills and trim and matching white patent leather dress shoes. They were the first dress shoes I ever remember owning. I used to love dressing up in frills and shinies, girly as all get-out. For a brief period of time prior to and including part of my kindergarten year of school, it was actually the only way my parents could keep me clothed. Except for shoes. They came off as soon as physically possible. Mom chose these particular patent white dress shoes with this fact in mind and they had buckles placed in such a way that I could not get them off by myself so once they were on I was stuck with them. Bummer.

Once we were all dandied up it was time to get in the truck and go to church. I don't recall what exactly happened or how, but I ended up heading out the door first and I think Mom asked Dad to help her out with getting a huge crock pot of something delicious out to the truck to take with us for a supper after the service. As I stood next to the truck unable to reach the door to get inside, I looked around the yard and spotted another mud puddle next to the back door. Now, at this time, we had the chicken coop right next to the house at the back door and the location of this puddle meant that it undoubtedly was made up of a good percentage of chicken poo and not just good old dirty mud. The fact that this was a chicken poo puddle and not an actual mud puddle did not occur to me; it was a puddle and Dad had just taught me how to jump in puddles for fun.

I don't think I have ever heard Mom scream with quite that much disappointment and confusion. I was standing there in utterly ruined brand new white dress and shoes now almost completely covered in chicken poo water and stained beyond repair. Boy howdy, was I proud of myself! The fun lost a bit of its awesome, though, when Mom started asking me why I would do such a thing and in a brand new dress at that. I was truly confused why she was mad because "Dad showed me how and it's fun, Mom!" He forgot to tell me that jumping in puddles was not something to do in good clothes or while wearing shoes. I ended up going to church that Easter Sunday in a regular frilly dress that was stained from mud and earthworm collecting and Dad got an irate lecture about giving me all of the rules beforehand. Eventually we decided that mud puddle jumping was something I could do only if I wasn't supposed to be wearing shoes and I continued with lots of happy puddle jumping for years following using that rule, but Dad still has not lived down the time he taught his little girl how to jump in mud puddles but forgot to tell her about not doing so when all dressed up.

April 2011 FNSI Results

2011-04-16T14:28:00.002-05:00

People will be here any minute now, but I need to post photos of what I did last night for the Sew-In. So, here they are. In all their unedited glory. They're pretty self explanatory, but people are here like, right now. So I'll come back later and caption all the photos.I am also having a giveaway, so be sure to go there and put your name in the hat for a package of handmade and crafty supplies, jewelry, and a whole bunch of other possibilities.

Crocheted bikini top parts sewn together and button added.

It is plastic, but I really love the imitation tagua nut type look of this button.

Didn't get very far on this one before embroidering lost its appeal for the night.

Got a few more hexes added. It's slow going, but progress is being made and this will an absolutely amazing quilt when I get it finished.

Collage of some mending done to mouse-chewed pillowcases that my mom had in storage for almost 30 years (since she was pregnant with me). They're high-quality, super soft cotton and she says she forgets what she had originally planned on doing with them, but that she no longer had a use for them in their state. I think they're prefect for Found, Stitched and Dyed and will likely submit them there in the future after much more stitching and appropriate photographing.

It's giveaway time. Who wants a crafty/handmade care package?

2011-04-16T00:41:00.003-05:00

I have accumulated a lot of stuff lately and I haven't been able to use things up or get them listed in my Etsy store. It's perfectly usable and pretty and nice stuff; and a lot of it is supplies-oriented. But right now I am basically drowning in crafty supplies with neither the space nor the inspiration to actually use them myself. I have a lot of eco-dyed fat quarter pieces and threads, handmade by me antler buttons, vintage fabric yardage and remnants, beads and buttons, batting and stuffing both natural and synthetic, ribbons and trims and tapes and cords galore, and commercial clothing and craft patterns that I don't think I really need anymore. (And Mom, if you're reading this, no, I am not talking about the patterns I borrowed from you. Those I will use and hopefully soon.)

The most sensible thing to do would be to list it all in my Etsy store and try to get some $ out of it all. Etsy, however, is a humongous time-sink as far as listing things, though, and I just don't have the patience for it right now. I'm also not happy with where Etsy seems to be going lately in privacy-policy land and actually taking care of its users, both sellers and buyers. I loathe the ubiquitousness of Facebook and its total disregard for security/privacy/etc. and Etsy seems to be using an identical business platform lately. So, ya, there's that, as well.

I think I need to get rid of some shit both literally and metaphorically in order for my crafting/creating life (and life in general) to get back on track. I am not willing, however, to just throw it all in the gar-bahj to get rid of it as it is perfectly usable, pretty and nice. I also, apparently, need to work on straightening out some sort of karmic imbalance as this week totally sucked for me. Here's where *you* come in. I am willing to pay shipping for up to five $5.20 flat rate USPS boxes (small box - 8-5/8" x 5-3/8" x 1-5/8") filled with a variety of crafty supplies to be mailed some time next weekend to awesome people who comment on this post. I will use Random.org to decide upon the winners depending upon how many comments I get here. All included items will be washed, clean and relatively neat and orderly (as in not a knotted, rolled up, wadded mess that you have to sort, but also not overly tidy unless I really get a bug up my butt about fitting as much stuff as I physically can into each package). I make no promises that any included fabrics will be pressed before mailing, though.If you are one of my friends who reads via my Facebook profile feed, you can also enter the giveaway by commenting there. Commenting both places will not garner more entries for you.

Items may include but are not limited to:

Completed jewelry, polymer beads and pendants, pretty jewelry bits (I have some pretty awesome mokume gane technique, cosmic looking beads and pendants I have never photographed but love to bits)

Embellished and/or dyed strips and pieces of fabrics similar to those below

Hand-dyed and naturally-dyed fabrics

Ceramics I have made (I may actually give away one or two of these as larger packages and stuff the vessels with odds and ends as well as the rest of the box, but it depends upon finances.)

Handspun fabric yarn

Possibly some handmade by me clothing items and/or accessories depending upon your style and size

Pretty fabric yardage both vintage and contemporary

Pre-cut patchwork quilt pieces

Butter-soft sueded leather pieces

Glass, wood, brass and bone beads

Old-fashioned, big cones of sewing thread

Sheet music and other paper ephemera

Various shells and bones and sticks and stones I have collected magpie-style over the last two years

Vintage dishware similar to what is currently available in my shop (heck, I might even pull some things from there to mail to you I am that unhappy with Etsy right now and that desperate to get things out of the house)

A lot more things that aren't readily coming to mind right now...

Seriously, this isn't just crap stuff. Which is why I won't just throw it away. But I need to get it out of my house, out of my headspace, and into the world to some other person(s) who will actually use it or just enjoy having it around. If you leave a comment and have a blog, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest or whatever-else I can use to pseudo-stalk you I will try to tailor what I include in your package to what I see that you like and use.

Oh, also, each package will contain at least one hand-written, handmade thank you card or letter or postcard of either paper or fabric.

Lotsa love y'all, I'm gonna go try to get some sleep.

April Friday Night Sew-In

2011-04-15T20:21:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the April 2011 Friday Night Sew-In. Sign-ups are still open and if you are feeling at all stitch-ily inclined this evening, I encourage you to head on over and put your name down. There's also randomly-awarded prizes involved, too, if that's the kind of incentive you like.

After the week I have had some quiet sewing and movie-watching or loud-as-the-speakers-can-handle music-blaring is definitely in order. Without going into all the details, but still enough to get the point across - mouse traps with weak springs suck and mice can cry tears, bashing fat mama mice over the head with a serving spoon to put them out of their misery pretty much sucks ass in every horrible way possible, 3-4 hours sleep per night takes a tremendous mental and physical toll (how the hell did I manage to do that in college!?) and especially so when one is recovering from a cold/sinus infection, my body and brain react horribly to hormonal birth control (luckily this one will be remedied getting an IUD later this month), the dog is alternately sitting at the front window whimpering and waiting for Corey or Duncan to pull in the driveway or is constantly underfoot and cuddling me so hard I cannot stand/sit straight, she has also become so super paranoid that she bays/barks at cars pulling into driveways 2 houses down and people walking in the trailer park across the road, I accidentally left a load of towels and washcloths drying on the line overnight, said towels got rained on as did Corey's old comforter and the gajillion spools of thread and fabric scraps I had set up on the folding table while I was sitting outside chipping away at the mending said comforter needs. Practically a laundry list, I know, but still not even close to all of it. Seriously. And on top of it all I feel super selfish and super guilty for wanting Corey were here with me instead of visiting family and friends in MO (ideally I'd have been able to go with him and 1/2 this stuff wouldn't have been an issue at all, but my life doesn't work like that right now).

It hasn't all been dead rodents, crying and horribleness this week and, despite the overwhelming crap-itude, I'd be remiss not to mention a couple nicer things to balance out some of the above. I really do try to be an optimist, I swear, but this week kicked my ass big time.

1. This post from my sister's blog. My sister is gorgeous and awesome and smart and I miss her a lot. Like whoa. I wish I could be in MI when her child arrives.

2. This post from Beth Terry earlier today about free Glass Dharma drinking straws for writing to restaurants about plastic waste from straws and getting restaurants to stop giving out plastic straws automatically. I've been wanting a glass or steel reusable drinking straw for a couple of years so this is totally awesome and you can bet yer sweet bippy that I will writing to at least a couple of places.

3. Finding Hannah Hart's My Drunk Kitchen on YouTube. lmao @ "Ok, cheese is trapped. So you can't have cheese."

As far as the Sew-In, I will be working on either baby items for my sister's due-any-day-now little one or embroidering a risque/profane phrase and image onto a fabric doily as a surprise gift for a certain awesome blogger, fat activist, pop culturist, and PhD student whose personal (some posts NSFW, so fair warning before you click over for this one) and academic blogs I really enjoy reading.

Also, I will be desperately attempting to get the house in enough order that I don't die of embarrassment if/when people come over. And they will as I am sitting the child tomorrow and with no transport to his house (other than a bicycle, but the roads around are dangerous and totally shit as far bike-ability, even by my standards), he will be coming here. /sigh I hate needing to have a car to do anything. I also hate this week and need it to be over with already, kthxbai.

until tomorrow,

Glitter Fun Time

2011-04-12T14:44:00.000-05:00

Cheap and childish though it may seem, I love glitter. The holographic kind is so much fun. Corey absolutely loathes glitter, though, so I can't play with it around him. He's visiting family and friends in Missouri for a few days so I have the house pretty much to myself. Lots of cleaning, organizing and (hopefully) experimenting to come over the next few days.

Any guesses what's happening in this photo? Probably not what you may think, though is will hopefully end with pretty, glittery jewelry bits on the cheap. You can't really see it, but there is a nondescript grey powder in there under the glitter. I'll post an update this evening or tomorrow with more info and photos.

Mosaic Monday: Awesome Stitcheries edition

2011-04-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Awesome Stitcheries; see below for sources

Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
1. Rainbow Sea Horse by carrie_76
2. Kali Pony by Valued Sony Customer
3. The Anatomy of Identity by LynetteA
4. hatfield craft fair by kateslotover
5. Dark by Amanda Panda Pants
6. More of the beading and gold chain stitch by fattycrafter

Recipe Friday: Orange Salad

2011-04-01T06:00:00.001-05:00

Orange because it's orange colored, not because it's made of oranges (though there is one of those in there).

This salad is really easy to put together; took me all of about 20 minutes from gathering the ingredients to putting it in the fridge for later. It's also easy to adjust the spices and seasonings to your own preference, although it is a fairly sweet salad (due to the main ingredient being carrots) so it may not be to some folks liking solely because of that. It is a favorite of mine since I was a kid and I like it with lots and lots of ginger added (way more than what I've added here today), but since I was making it for everyone in the house I had to tone down the ginger use.

I recommend making this at least an hour before you want to eat it as the ginger flavor doesn't really start to come out until then. Toasted sesame seeds make a good garnish at serving time. It's also really good with raisins or sliced almonds added in addition to (or instead of) the seaweed and ginger.

Orange Salad Ingredients

Ingredients:
3-6 carrots, shredded or finely julienned (super easy to do with a mandoline!)
1-2 apples (one if large, 2 if small)
1 orange
seaweed (soaked, rinsed and otherwise prepped for consumption)
pickled ginger (I used salt pickled ginger; not the sweet pickled ginger for sushi)
honey
lemon juice (fresh or concentrate)
vinegar from the pickled ginger (or plain if you prefer)

mayonnaise
plain yugurt
salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Get out a big bowl and shred or cut up your carrots into it. I started with a box grater (which works out just fine) but then decided that I wanted the texture of my carrots to blend more with my ginger in the hope that maybe the guys wouldn't recognize right away that there was ginger in it. FYI: it didn't work.

shredded carrots

2. Peel your orange with a knife. Cut through all the pith straight to the juicy fruit part inside. There is a fancy term for peeling your oranges like this. I don't remember what that term is.

peeling the orange

Set the peels aside for later and cut up your orange into small-ish chunks, squeezing some of the juice into the bowl.

cutting up the orange

3. Peel and cut up your apple, adding it to the bowl.

apple, peeled and cut up, added to bowl

4. Cut up your prepared seaweed. I used about 1/2 cup of prepared seaweed for this salad. This is also a good shot of my most favorite knife. I should write up a love poem blog post about this knife some day, I really love it that much. Thank you, thank you, thank you for gifting me with this awesome knife a few years ago, Missouri Gun Guy.

seaweed and knife

5. Measure out and add pickled ginger. I used about 2 tablespoons, which is what is shown on the cutting board in the photo.

pickled ginger

6. Now comes the fun, messy part; making the dressing. This is also the part where measurements become a little more important. Gather together the remaining ingredients and a small bowl for mixing.

dressing ingredients

7. Measure out the following into the bowl: 2 tablespoons honey (see bottom of post for a tip if your honey has sugared), 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon vinegar (from pickled ginger for more gingery goodness, or just plain if you prefer less gingery), 1/4 cup mayo, 1/2-3/4 cup yogurt, sprinkling of salt and pepper, zest from orange peels. It should look something like this:

dressing ingredients in bowl, with name diagram

8. Mix that all together. Taste for salt and pepper and acidity, adjust accordingly and mix into shredded carrot to make your salad.You can eat it straight away or refrigerate it until meal time. Be sure to taste it for salt, pepper and acidity before serving as the flavors do change a bit after it sets for a while and these may need adjusting.

finished salad

This salad is already vegetarian, but can be made vegan by making appropriate substitutions for the yogurt and mayo. It will keep for up to 3 days if refrigerated, but it never lasts that long around me; especially if there's extra pickled ginger available to add to it.

Bonus sugared honey tip:
If you are anything like me, your honey rarely has an opportunity to sugar before it gets used. I love the stuff and absolutely will have an apiary of my own some day. I do sometimes purchase honey that is a little older, though, as it does crystallize before I use it up.

sugared honey

Simply leave the honey in its original container. Remove the lid and place the container in an appropriately sized pot or pan. Fill the pan with water up to the fill line of the honey in your container. Place this on the stovetop on a low, simmering setting until your honey re-liquefies again. It probably will not stay liquid for very long since it has already sugared once, but this should give you a day or two to use it before it does. Sometimes you can do this in the microwave, but I always end up with really super hot honey when I do that so I do it on the range instead.

sugared honey in pot of water for heating

Hello Again

2011-03-31T14:23:00.000-05:00

I have been busy lately. Lots of going and doing and sleeping; not incredibly interesting, really. I have a nanny/babysitting position 4-5 days per week now and the boy I care for is perpetual motion personified. So far we have painted, read books, done some drawings, more painting, played with my camera (as shown above), cartoons almost always on in the background, played battleship and destroyed my sock poi. All within a week. After bedtime I can do whatever I like, though, and it usually entails stitching on something.

paper mache with fabric; bowls

I thought about making paper mache boats. However, I have exactly zero experience with paper mache. Seriously. None. How did I manage almost 29 years of life and not play with paper mache ever? I decided I should try it ut myself before we do it together. I printed out a boat pattern from Ann Wood's blog and made that up. Then I got the idea for bowls and added fabric instead of paper. I really enjoyed it and will likely continue making things with this technique in the future.

stack of improv paper pieced blocks

I did some improvisational paper piecing with my (vast) scrap stash and printer paper. This is as far as I've gotten with them, but they will be a quilt sooner or later. Still deciding if I want to just use the paper pieced scrap blocks or add a solid sashing between and around everything.

natural dyed linen scarf

This piece of linen is currently one of my favorite things. It was gathered shibori-style with stitching and painted with an egg white wash (the darker yellow stripes between the stitched stripes) before going in to an onion skin dye bath. Then I tied twine around the egg wash stripes, leaving the stitched ares intact, and dumped it into the walnut bucket for a couple of days. Some of the deeper coloring washed out after laundering, but most of it stayed intact and I will definitely be using the egg white technique in the future for dyes that are more protein-reactive (like onion skins).

Easter Eggs

2011-03-13T16:13:00.008-05:00

This photo added for those reading via RSS. Final product photo :)

Sorry for the delay. Dogs need walking, you know. We also lost power for a while. I think a transformer may have blown as there was an exploding sound and my computer screen immediately went black,

My eggs are simmering in their pot right now, all snugly wrapped in fabric strips and greenery. Wrapping up 10 eggs took about 20 minutes, including tearing the fabric into strips. Your eggs do not have to be pre-boiled, but that might not be a bad idea if you are doing this with children or are kinda clumsy. The boiling gives an end product that is less tender than steaming, but most people are not very particular about their boiled eggs in my experience; especially if they are sliced up into salads.

Wild strawberry leaves, dandelion and wild carrot greens, violet blooms and leaves, wild mint, pansy blooms, red and yellow onion skins and one daffodil bud. Please note that I will not be consuming the egg colored with the daffodil as daffodils are poisonous (I forgot to mention this in my last post but have updated it with this information).

Carefully place your botanicals against the eggs and wrap securely with your string, ribbon or fabric. make sure it is snug against the eggshell for good printing.

Keep wrapping, carefully, so as not to drop the eggs, until all of your botanicals have been covered and are snug against the shell. Tie your ends together to secure and place in your pot.

Keep going until you have as may eggs as you want wrapped up or until you run out of space in your pot. I was able to fit 10 in mine in a single layer. Cover with water, bring to a boil for 10 minutes, then remove bundled eggs to a colander to cool.

I will come back 20-30 minutes for the unwrapping and to see what patterns and colors came out.

Update - 4:45PM

Some of your bundles (like the one above with read and yellow onion skins) will show colorful proimise right away. Some will be much more subtle and delicate as with the wild carrot below.

This is the daffodil wrapped egg. The print turned out lovely. I said this in a previous post, but neglected to put it here until someone said something about it. Daffodils are not edible and you should not use them on eggs you plan to consume. This one has been living in my kitchen window for a few days just as decoration. The brown areas on the eggs are because of extra yellow onion skins I added to the boiling water to ensure everything got a nice overall patterning of color since I knew I could rely on the onion skins to do just that.

All of the gorgeous (edible) printed Easter eggs. The blues are from violets and pansies; browns, yellow onion skins; greens, plant leaves. That lovely chartreuse color in the bottom right actually came from a piece of red onion skin. Weird, but really cool.

That's all i have for the real time cooking today. I hope you've been entertained or learned something and if you haven't, my apologies. I will be returning to a regular posting schedule tomorrow. Right now I am totally ready for nap time x.x

I'm linking up this post over at Free Pretty Things for You's Whatever You Want Wednesday!

Rice Cooker Steamed Custard, post 6: final

2011-03-13T13:44:00.001-05:00

I took this photo about an hour after I turned the cooker to keep warm. I opened up my cooker to see what was happening. Not overly encouraging, not particularly discouraging. My custard will likely remain a little soupy in the center because I tried to make too much at once.Let this serve as a lesson I will leave it on the Keep Warm setting for most of the rest of the day, however, as the moisture will continue to cook off, albeit very slowly, and we will have it for dessert this evening instead. The sides (and, I assume, bottom) are set up really well so at the least we'll eat those parts as dessert tonight and maybe save the rest for an improvised bread pudding type of dessert tomorrow.

A little soupy in the center, but it's still delicious. All-day Keep Warm slow cooking should help solve the excess moisture issue. Please ignore that I forgot to wipe the remains of last night's dinner of pork- and pickled plum-filled rice balls from the inside rim of the cooker base. Sorry.

And that's the magic of eggs in a custard. Everything goes from sloshy, slimy, eww to gelled, aromatic, ooh. See, eggs are protein and protein does this sort of coagulation thing as it cooks and the protein chains change shape. Think of egg protein in its raw state as little spirals, with tiny connectors holding it in shape. A mental image of DNA would be rather apt here. When the proteins are heated, their connectors stop holding together the spiral shape and the proteins unwind. So now there are all these unwound proteins floating around. Except the connectors still want to connect and hold things together so they grab onto the closest thing they can, another protein chain. This unfurling and reattaching forms a 3D network, making your custard firm. And helping to keep your cakes from falling. The same principles are what make eggs such an important ingredient in many baked goods, both as a binder and structural support.

This custard "guide" is not my favorite way of going about custard. My favorite way, in terms of end product, is with the same number of egg yolks as whole eggs and baked, in containers surrounded by water, in a 325F oven until done. This method is really simple, though, and even if you forget about it, it won't end up being burnt. So if you're like me and frequently wander about forgetting to have set a timer, it's almost foolproof. The texture ends up a little more liquid than baked custards. This can be countered a bit by adding additional egg yolks with the whole eggs or using slightly less milk to begin with. And also by making in smaller batches than my behemoth 6-cups-of-milk version seen here.

I have my materials gathered for the next installment of real time cooking, but Ive decided to implement a change in reporting. The sheer number of posts I will have sent off to RSS readers today would be enough for me to unsubscribe from reading me if I kept this up. I will be making one single post for the next guide and editing it as I progress, thus limiting my RSS feed postings. This also means, however, that you will have to check back on the post later on your own if you are wanting to see what gets posted as it gets posted as the RSS will not notate that the post has been edited.

The next real time cooking project will be colored Easter eggs.
Materials:
eggs - somewhere between 6 and 20, which is the most I've ever cooked up in a pot at once
cooking pot - large enough to hold at least 6 eggs for boiling
string, ribbon or strips of fabric - for wrapping and holding vegetal matter against egg shell (if yo uuse fabric strips, those will be colored as well as the eggs)
onion skins - yellow and red for variety's sake, or whichever you happen to have around
various weed leaves from the yard - make sure they're not poisonous weeds, though, and if you have any doubts at all about a plant, please do not use it
flowers - violets, pansies, daffodils (these are not edibles, only use them if you will not be eating the eggs you color with them!), roses (lucky you, if you have roses available to you around Easter time!)
tree leaves - if available; if not, no big deal. oak, apple, birch, hickory/walnut will all leave dye marks. dried works, too, for some, most notably oak and hickory/walnut

Rice Cooker Steamed Custard, post 5, in which I get too impatient

2011-03-13T11:04:00.002-05:00

At this point, my custard is KEEP WARM -ing away nicely. I have noticed, however, that my stomach is terribly empty and complain-y. I'm also feeling light-headed and shaky, most likely due to the fact that I have consumed only green tea sweetened with honey thus far in my day. My custard will not be ready for quite some time though so I will be frying up a couple of eggs instead. Rest assured, as soon as my custard is done, I will be reporting back with more photos and bit of explaining about the scientific principles of eggs we just put to use.

I will also be collecting the materials for today's next real time cooking project during the interim. It, too, involves eggs. And magic. Or science. Whichever term you prefer to use. It also involves water and plant parts and lots and lots of string or fabric. Any guesses?

Rice Cooker Steamed Custard, post 4

2011-03-13T10:58:00.000-05:00

Now we enter the hurry-up-and-wait portion of our custard-y endeavors.

Close the lid, select the steam function, and press start. Whatever you do, DO NOT WALK AWAY! If you walk away, your cooker will continue with the steaming process and you will have runny, lumpy, custard soup instead of the lovely vanilla-scented pudding-esque solid you're after. You do not want custard soup. All it is good for is mixing with pre-cooked rice and baking as a dessert and even that is not really very good.

Instead, stay there with your rice cooker until you hear faint bubbly-type sounds. This sound indicates that the heating element beneath your bowl is finally up to temp to actually cook something. Once this happens, hit the off button and then put your rice cooker on its KEEP WARM setting. Keep warm does not have enough heating power to actually cook our custard, but it does keep the heating element engaged enough to finish cooking our custard once it has been thoroughly heated via the STEAM setting. Now, whatever you do, DO NOT OPEN THE RICE COOKER. This allows all the heat and steam to escape right out the top of your bowl. You don't want that. If you do that then you have to close it, set it back to steam, stand there again until you hear the bubbling, turn it off, and put it back on Keep Warm. It doesn't have any negative impact upon your custard to do so, it's just bloody boring standing there again for 12 minutes while the contraption reheats itself.

Once Keep Warm has been engaged you can walk away to wherever you fancy. Go do some laundry. Play with the dog. Take care of clean dishes. Covertly harvest yourself a bouquet from your neighbor's daffodil bed. Whatever. Just leave the custard undisturbed in the cooker for 30 minutes to an hour. Or longer if you're forgetful like me. Check on it every 30 minutes or so (yes, I did just say not to open the lid, but you have to go through the steam/off/keep warm dance every so often to ensure things are moving along appropriately) to check the consistency of your custard. It almost goes without saying that the less the volume of custard you are making at once, the shorter the cooking time. I am making up a LOT of custard this round. Usually I only use 2-3 cups of milk so this is like a double batch. As such, it is kind of an experiment in a way and it may fail horribly due to the extra volume. I hope it doesn't.

Rice Cooker Steamed Custard, post 3

2011-03-13T10:34:00.000-05:00

Got your sieve? If not, have a clean fork or slotted spoon? Ok, good.
Got your bowl/pot of milk and sugar? Good.
Have a pitiful looking dog staring in the window at you wondering why you don't come out and play? No? Well, I do. I'm going to go let her back in. And rescue my drying rack from certain toppling as she has her leash wrapped around the base of it.

All set now? Good. Things will move a bit more swiftly here for a few moments.

Ok, materials gathered, dog and laundry rescued, I'm ready to sieve some eggs.

Pour your eggs into the sieve. See all that gloppy stuff in the bowl? That's unincorporated egg white, the stuff you'd remove using your fork or slotted spoon if you didn't have a sieve.

Just pour it in and let it set a bit. It will go through fast at first, but as egg white gets caught in the mesh, it will slow down and sometimes even stop. This is when you get out a spoon and scrape it along the bottom to loosen up some of the egg white and allow the remaining liquid to go through.

This is whaat I had left at the end. About 1/2 an egg I'd say. I could put it back in my whisking bowl, add more of the milk and sugar mix, and re-whisk it, re-sieve it, etc. I am not going to do that; see earlier posts regarding Daylight Savings related crankiness.

Gently stir everything together. Try to not make bubbles in it. Bubbles will leave pock marks on top of your custard. Unsightly, but nothing to really worry about as far edibility.

Add your vanilla and stir it in. No measurements, just to your own taste preference. I happen to really love vanilla and so I add a lot, probably about 3 tablespoons in this instance. If you don't love vanilla that much or don't want to use that much of your expensive Moroccan vanilla extract, don't use as much or swap out all or part of it for the immitation stuff. There's no shame in it. I use the imitation stuff all the time. in fact I've used up all of my real vanilla so all I have is the big bottle of imitation that you can get from Gordon's Foods.

Also, in the spirit of real time updates, I am neither editing nor retaking any photos. I'm using the point, snap, done, now go upload it photography method.

Carefully pour the mixture into the rice cooker bowl. If you're a stickler for appearances, remove any resulting air bubbles from the top. I am not. So bubbles. Because bubbles. And I don't care.

Rice Cooker Steamed Custard, post 2

2011-03-13T10:08:00.000-05:00

Crack your eggs into an appropriately-sized bowl for whisking. You'll need to whisk them really well. A fork works, also. How many eggs do you whisk up? Well, that depends upon your personal preference. The more eggs added, the firmer the final custard. I don't like really runny custard. It makes a fabulous base for ice cream, though. I also don't like super firm custards like most of the savory custards I've had before. I like mine somewhere in the middle, but I don't have an exact, preferred thickness. I like to go somewhere around 1/2 to 1 egg per cup of liquid, usually closer to a 1:1 ratio. Today I am using 6 eggs.

Whisk them really well. Like to within a few seconds of your wrist falling off from exhaustion well. Then add some of the milk and whisk them even more. You want to get as much of the whites mixed in as you possibly can. Unblended white bits floating around will leave unappetizing, possibly rubbery-textured bits in your finished custard.

When you have them all whisked up, either skim the foam and superfluous bits of egg whites out with a fork or slotted spoon, or do like me and pour them through a sieve. but before we get to that part! Make sure the sugar is all mixed up in your milk. Unmixed sugar will leave a gritty, super-sweet layer at the bottom of your otherwise awesome custard. Yuck. So go do some more mixing. Of both the eggs and the milk. And find your sieve if you have one.

Rice Cooker Steamed Custard, post 1: the start

2011-03-13T09:54:00.000-05:00

All my materials are gathered.

Into a (I think) 3 quart sauce pan I have added approximately 6 cups of milk and 3/4 cups sugar. I say approximately because that's exactly what it is, approximate. Unless you work in a professional kitchen or bake stuff, exact measurements are really necessary. This is, I fee, supported by the fact that we measure our ingredients almost exclusively using cups and spoons instead of grams and ounces. Once yoiu get used to cooking based on principles instead of recipes and exacting measurements, you may find that measuring takes away part of the fun of general, day-to-day cooking for yourself or your family. At least, I know it does for me.

About 6 cups milk in saucepan. I measured it using that jar in the photo. I now have that jar rinsed and filled with jasmine green tea and honey. Mmmm, sweet, floral, caffeinated goodness.

Pouring in the sugar, which, contrary to the fact that I used a measuring cup, was roughly eye-balled and then double-checked against the measurement on the side as I am practicing being able to tell how much of something I have added based on looks. This skill, when honed, will come in handy for future Recipe Friday posts wherein I will share recipes of my own invention or from my memory.

My assistant; who is not so much habout the assisting as she is the insisting that I take her out to play. Compromise: dog gets tied to chair on 20 foot leash, outside, while I watch from the warmth and kitchen-y-ness of indoors as she romps and chews on sticks. (I should probably get a dog anchor. Or a mobile home anchor; those hold trailers down, there's no way she could pull one up, right? Unless my dog can exert the equivalent of tornado-force winds, in which case the anchor is basically useless, both for holding dogs in place as well as trailers.)

Ugh, it's that time of the year again? Srsly? (Wherein I loathe DST, admit that I curse like a sailor in my mind, and commit to real time cooking updates)

2011-03-13T09:15:00.001-05:00

I have been up since 4:30 this morning when Corey got a call from work stating that they were out of trash bags and he would need to stop and get some before he came in today. This was actually 5:30 if Daylight Savings is taken into consideration. Screw Daylight Savings. It makes me want to bash my head into rocks every year. I have enough ducks to keep in rows. I have no brain-space for your politically-motivated and definitely not "designed with farmers in mind" Daylight Savings. No daylight is being saved. Let's put up solar collectors on every street corner and store up all the energy in gigantic batteries so that when intergalactic emergencies occur, we can use them to power lights so we can see. Or something. Then I could possibly get behind something related to daylight savings because something is actually being saved.

So. 4:30. In the morning. For bloody damned trash bags. All because someone can't count or say something when there's only one bag left in the storeroom. (Yes, I do realize I just used curse words. sorry. I'm typing this in the kitchen using Corey's laptop and I'm lazy. And a poor typer in general. I can't be bothered to use the backspace or delete button even thoguh I do see several instances where it would likely behoove me to do so from an editing or reading perspective. The keys on this thing are tiny, my fingers are not particualrly nimble at this point in time, and, truth be told, curse quite a lot on a day-to-day basis. My internal monologue has a lot more of them a lot more frequently than my spoken or ttyped dialogue does. No, I don't parrticularly feel like discussing this aspect of myself or what it means to my overall wellbeing.)

In honor of Daylight Savings (personal opinions of the political and brain-bashing aspects aside), because I like food and eating, in honor of Easter coming up soon-ish, because I like eggs, because I haven't posted anything for Recipe Friday in months, and because I love ya, today I'll be bringing you two recipes. That's right, two. In one day. Presumably with the curse words replaced or removed as I will have had my tea and/or coffee by then and will also have had time for the circadian rhythm bashing-ness of DST to have lost a bit of its eedge, though I make no absolute promises at this time. Still, two recipes, huzzah!

Well, to be fair, they're really not recipes, per se. More like guides. Don't get me wrong, I love a good recipe just as much as the next kitchenly puttering-inclined person. And I have at least one legitimate, measurements and everything kind of recipe I need to do a write-up on for Friday. But I don't feel like spreading these ones out. They're both egg-related and I feel like eggs are really kinda misunderstood by a lot of kitchenly putterers. Understanding a little bit of basics and how certain things work like they do has helped me out enormously in my kitchenly putterings. Especially where eggs are concerned.

On my stovetop right now are three cooking pots. One is boiling away making paper pulp for sculpting experiments. I made the wheat paste yesterday and it has been chillin' in the fridge since then. Please excuse the pun. Paper pulp and wheat paste are on the docket for Recipe Fridays. I just have to, you know, clear the headspace for blogging again and type things. Another pot is cast iron and contains the remnants of a resoundingly successful gluten-free cornbread experiment for which I will totally be giving you the recipe for. It's every bit as good as my regular, tried-and-true cornbread recipe which ahs lived in my head ever sicne I was a teenager. The last one has a mixture of milk and sugar in it in preparation for the first recipe I will be sharing with you today. Rice Cooker Steamed Custard. It will also be my breakfast. The ingredients list is terrifically simple: milk, eggs, sugar or honey, vanilla extract. If you wanted a savory custard a la that Japanese restaurant you went to once upon a time, the ingredients list can be as simple as milk (or broth) and eggs and that's it. I, however, have a sweet tooth and alsso feel no shame in eating for breakfast what most people would generally see as dessert. (Case in point being the day I realized I was an adult and could have ice cream and cookies for breakfast and no one would scold me. I'm not advocating doing so. I'm actually not generally a fan of sweet things for breakfast. just saying that when I do so, I refuse to feel shameful about it. )

So go find your rice cooker, gather your ingredients, and have a real time cooking day with me. I don't actually know how many posts I will end up with today. I will tag them all with "real time cooking" I'm also going to go turn on some Jon Spencer so I can try to either shake off the ugh-ness I'm feeling or revel in it in an appropriately loud and disheveled manner, whichever.

What's the SPF for bone dust?

2011-03-03T14:47:00.000-06:00

I kept asking Dad questions about what kind of blades and saws and bits and such to use for certain things I want to make. He said to get in the truck and we went to the hardware/home supply store up the road a ways to get some new bits and such for the Dremel (which Corey was able to fix well enough for it to work, with minimal finagling. Thanks, love!). So the afternoon was spent drilling and sawing and grinding antlers and bones into discs (for buttons) and pretty shapes for pendants and earrings. I ended up covered in bone dust, but apparently the SPF isn't very high as I still got sunburned. I learned some new stuff about power tools and what bits/blades/etc. to use for various items and now have a small bowl filled with soon-to-be buttons and jewelry.

Also, power tools are freaking cool!

Some things going on. Left: rusty old bucket along with various tools, bowl full of antler and bone bits and pieces, rust dye project involving old can and cotton needlepoint thread. Top right: rust and walnut dye project using nylon lace and a rusty 'cat hook' as Dad called it. Bottom right: inside of the bucket filled with deer bones and skulls I scavenged from the farm over the holidays.

Open Letter to Representative Anthony Weiner

2011-03-03T10:52:00.003-06:00

It has come to my attention that a blog post without a picture is 'kinda boring' so I've edited this post to add the above photo. Please enjoy this grasshopper in the flowers version of heartwarming nature crap.

I am not generally altogether fired-up about politics, government or governmental processes, but the recent slew of anti-woman legislation over the last few months has just been too much for me to handle. I promise this is not and will not be becoming a political blog. I just need to get some things off my chest so I can continue with my day. My sewing, job applying, dog feeding and walking, cooking, cleaning, blogging, embroidering, singing-along-to-the-radio, self-loving and self-respecting and otherwise radically subversive day of being a woman in the United States.

Rep. Weiner,

I recently watched "GOP Attacks Women; Weiner Responds" on your YouTube channel. I know that you are a busy individual representing your own district, but I wanted to take a few moments to express my profound admiration and gratitude for what you have been doing and saying in support of the women of this country. Specifically, I want to thank you for the things you said in response to Rep. Johnson regarding expansion of the Hyde Amendment and redefinition of rape. Despair is the only word I have to describe my feelings lately about being a woman in the US, especially a non-wealthy woman. (I also admire your acknowledgment of multiple forms of privilege, of which some of your colleagues seem to be oblivious, during the stated exchange.) Your speech is literally the best thing I have seen or heard in the past several months during the GOP's "women aren't human" policy push.

Thank you for standing up for me (even though I am not one of your district constituents) and letting me know there are still representatives who believe in my rights to bodily autonomy and my own agency. Thank you for standing up for the fact that my uterus is mine and belongs to me and not anyone else including my partner, my family, my neighborhood, the church or the government. I wish more lawmakers were as outspoken about such blatant misogyny as you. Thank you so very much for standing up for women, because my elected representatives won't.

Sincerely and Gratefully,
DK

February FNSI Results

2011-02-19T18:36:00.000-06:00

Hello from whatever forever it's been since I've added anything here. Probably a couple of weeks or something? ::looks through blog history:: Eesh, it has been about a month. I have been making things and doing things and being generally productive in some way or another, promise. I just haven't had time to do much here.

Still looking for a legit, full-time, part-time, whatever-time, paying job. I recently read a post at The Time For Change wherein she spoke of 'new and exciting opportunities' and the associated feelings thereabouts regarding being unemployed. Duncan is back home now, though, so that does make me feel better. I missed his silly face and comments.

Camera is nowhere to be found at the moment, but I'll leave you to imagine a drying rack full of wool, silk, cotton and denim in various stages of mordanting and dyeing, sitting atop the chest freezer because it's too windy and rainy to leave them outside. I went on a dyestuffs collecting walk a few days after the snow all melted here (we had snow for real for once, 6-9 inches) and have had a pot or two going on the stovetop ever since.

I did participate in this month's Friday Night Sew In. In lieu of photographs, here is some stuff I did piled onto the bed of our scanner. Top: white linen with rows of running stitches in preparation for a multiple color dye process involving onion skins and walnut husks. Right: Nylon lace dyed a great burnt-orange color after simmering all day (oops, forgot about that crock pot for a while) in a crock full of ground annatto (achiote) seeds. Bottom: Edge of Corey's very well worn comforter/quilt repaired in boro inspired style using leftover bits of threads and yarns and the remains of fabrics past (in the form of small and sometimes not-so-small scraps).

February FNSI results

Scraps and Hexes

2011-01-22T22:07:00.000-06:00

Sorry the pics are in such poor light. Corey and I cleaned a lot today and I've been enjoying his company on his day off instead of doing what I had said I would do. So I just now took these pics -with the overhead fluorescent in my bedroom- to go with the story below. I've also been proto-typing a pincushion design, but I'll show/tell that some time later. Below is a quick snap of the progress on my hex quilt. It's shown atop another hex quilt (hope it isn't too horrible to differentiate the two) that was made by Corey's grandmother.

Hexes on hexes. Mine = 1 inch sides, Corey's Gram's = 2 inch sides

One of the things I took back home with me to work on while I was there is the Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern hexagon quilt top I am hand piecing. Great-Gramma saw me stitching away in a corner of the table, talking to everyone before Christmas dinner at her house and commented that she and Gramma had once made a quilt in that same pattern, only their hexagons were a little bigger than the ones I was working. She asked if she could see it for a bit. I handed it to her and she handed it back after looking at the stitches and paper pieces left in reinforcing the edges and said "I like that pattern, the flower garden." I didn't think much of this exchange at the time; it was just like handing my work over to any other fellow crafter or stitcher for them to get a closer look. I replied that I liked it a lot, too, and that the paper piecing really doesn't feel as tedious as I had thought it would.

scrumptious scraps. some new, some old, all perfectly terrific :)

Several days later I got a call from Gramma saying that she had something for me from Great-Gramma that I would need to come over and get before I left. Now, I know Great-Gramma is getting up there in years and is around the age where people generally start to get rid of things, but Great-Gramma is not really one of those people who has a lot of stuff lying around to give away. Sure, she has some knick-knacks and a lot of older family photos on her wall, but those things are hers and they are things that she really enjoys. Imagine my surprise when I went to visit and was handed a small bag of perfectly sorted and arranged scraps just the perfect size for my hexagons. Did I forget to mention that my great-grandmother was a professional seamstress and quilter in a past life? (And was her stuff ever great; tiny stitches, perfectly turned collars and binding corners, the whole bit.) Apparently she was so impressed with what I had been doing that she decided these little fabric sweets needed to go live with me. They're leftovers from old quilt tops and clothing she'd made years ago. Call me a sap, but it was all I could do not to cry right then and there. The scraps she included are so very pretty and most of them are not things I could have gotten any other way. There was some debate before, but now I know that I will definitely be keeping this quilt for me.

Shop Re-Opening

2011-01-18T23:39:00.003-06:00

Today was the official reopening of the Etsy shop. Everything posted today was vintage glassware and dishes, mostly Corelle and Pyrex. Describing things for posting takes more time than I recall. But, then again, I apparently have no realistic idea of how long most tasks should take and frequently fail to allot enough time for completion. My "To Do" lists and constant rearrangement of tasks on my Google Calendar can attest to this. Ah well, thus is life.

Here are a couple of my favorite item postings from today:

Corelle Corning Meadow design cup and saucer and sugar bowl with lid.

This cheery pattern was the first one posted today. I smile every time I look at it.

Cat-Tail design porcelain bowl by Universal Cambridge

This pre-WWII porcelain bowl is the sole survivor of a dinnerware set. It has lots of crazing to the glaze and scratches on the decorative decals, but oh, the stories it could tell. The only living person I know who would have stories to compare is my Great-Gramma on the Beech side of the family.

Speaking of Great-Gramma, I have a short story to tell about some fabric bits. I'll save it for tomorrow when I can also take some pics to go along with it. Sweet dreams and see you tomorrow.

I'm sorry, Basia Bulat, I have a new music crush.

2011-01-17T10:03:00.001-06:00

Her name is Adele and she's the reason I haven't been listening to you lately. I think she's sexier - hello, gorgeous, curvy and perfectly put together - and her voice makes me swoon, but in a very different way than yours. She's taken a page straight out of R&B history here with Rolling in the Deep, very Stax-esque sounding. I even like her previous, non-bluesy, works even if they are a bit moody and piano-heavy. But I'll be back; nobody can work an autoharp like you, love.

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/107358025

This link is my favorite version of Rolling in the Deep from the ones I've found. It's live, which I generally find more interesting than other videos, but she's not sitting in a chair and you can see how she portrays the music both physically as well as vocally. I've said a bit before about how physical music is for some people and, according to the videos I've seen, Adele is one of those people. This version is not available foe embedding here in the US, however, so you'll have to click it or go to her MySpace page to see it. My peeve with the version that I am able to embed, below, is that the director has her seated through the entire video, which detracts attention from her figure and dampens a bit of her physicality in singing, leaving her with primarily her hands alone for expression. Not that she's failed in that realm at all - even seated - but, come on, seriously, she's gorgeous! There is no need to be hiding her figure by setting her in a chair. Although she is also wearing a shapeless poncho-type garment in the live video so maybe she's a bit self-conscious about her figure also. Or maybe it was just cold there. At any rate, I've made it clear I'm smitten. Also, she writes her own songs. *love*

Oh, the Dishes!

2011-01-15T20:37:00.000-06:00

Mikasa Sachets pattern tea set, in use.

Care for a spot of tea?

Mush is what my head feels like right now. I took a two hour World of Warcraft break from photographing dishware (for close to five hours today) and my head still feels like it's full of syrup. I thought I had gotten absolutely all of the dishes photoed, but I forgot a few on my desk near where I normally photograph things. All of today's pics were taken atop my brother's gorgeous oak table in the kitchen. A dark, vintage tabletop seemed like a great backdrop for all of this bright and shiny vintage glass and ceramic. I'll have to get the last few finished up tomorrow morning before I start in on the scheduled bias tape making and polyclay creating for the day.

Corning Snowflake Blue patterned tea set including two hook-handle cups, hook-handle creamer and sugar bowl (without lid).

Y'all, I drank so much coffee today that I feel like I can almost see forever. Seriously. I'd say probably 2/3-3/4 of what I have are teacups, saucers, tea sets, or coffee cups and, really, what's the good in photographing those without tea or coffee occupying them. Hm? I think they look even more beautiful and appealing in use and filled with caffeinated bliss than they do just by their lonesome. I am a sucker for functional ware, though. I'd rather use it and take the chance that it may get damaged or broken than have it sitting on a shelf somewhere just for looks; that's what museums are for. I know there are many more people collecting these things who disagree, but that's how I feel.

Autumn Bands - Turquoise by Pyrex

Look at that pretty, translucent milk glass. Oh, I just love it. This was taken in a cloudy moment when it looked like it would really pour down this afternoon or else this plate would be even more ethereal looking. Despite the brain mush feeling, I enjoyed myself very much today taking all these photos. Vintage dishware like this Pyrex plate really does gain a lot of character over its years of use and spending a few minutes with each piece today felt like meeting new people. There was a lone Pyrex mug in the mix that didn't match anything else; same turquoise color as above but in stripes around the top. Mom handed it to me, along with a few other Corning cups and Pyrex mugs, at the last minute while I was packing up all the dishes for the trip back. I think I may keep it and, quite possibly, name it as well. Alright, so, I'm weird. I know. It's ok.

Flower Dance by Royal (USA)

As far as thrifting goes, I also have an affinity for 60s-style floral designs like the dinner plates above. They're so delightfully graphic and block-y in nature. I had a holy $#!^ moment, though, when I finally found a reference to the pattern name and manufacturer. These dinner plates sell for $8-17 each at Replacements.com depending upon condition. One of mine appears to be in superior condition with the second and third having minor cracking/crazing of the glaze on the underside or small chip out of glaze on the surface from use. I had originally purchased these as replacements for larger plates of Corey's that have been dropped and broken over the last few years. I will definitely see if I can sell them, but I'm going to be contacting a china replacement specialist company or two before they're listed in the shop to see if I can get a definite sale on them instead of possibly having them sit in the shop for weeks.

Mikasa Sachets pattern tea set: 4 cups, 4 saucers, creamer, sugar bowl with lid; only minor chipping of glaze in a couple of places on cup rims, no major damage.

Speaking of lovely 60s-style floral patterns, isn't this set just the bees' knees? The sugar bowl was the first piece I spotted and I actually did not get it on the first trip to this particular thrift store as it looked really stained and grubby; the kind of dirt that doesn't just wash off. However, the second trip yielded the matching cups and then I set about looking for the rest of the matches. A little bit of Barkeeper's Friend (that stuff is seriously awesome and useful) on a soft cloth took care of the grubbiness straight away and they look good as new. I ended up with 2 more saucers than I have cups for and I'm debating what to do with the extra pair. Do I include them as part of the set and make the total 4 cups, 6 saucers, creamer and sugar bowl? Do I keep them for myself? List them separately? Turn them into freaking amazing pincushion trays? The drilling in the last option there does make my eyes go all buggy out of my head, though, truth be told. I don't think I could do that to these saucers, they seem like they're way too special to take a drill to. I haven't done any research yet on this pattern and so I have no idea how rare it is or what price a set like this could fetch. Mikasa in general has great resale value and, even without the name Mikasa being attached to them, this pattern is very attractive in and of itself.

Arighty, I am off to sort through the fabric collection for yardages that would make great bias tapes and then getting my polyclay station set up on the kitchen table again now that it is no longer full of dishes.

It's The New Year Now

2011-01-14T14:44:00.001-06:00

Happy belated new year to you. My New Year's Eve involved Friday afternoon thrifting (show and tell later), Koegel's pickled bologna and gov'ment cheese with some of Mom's gluten-free pretzels for dinner, some book reading while researching Corelle dinnerwear patterns on farmhouse dial-up (not recommended as it's dreadfully dull) and falling asleep by 10pm after having forgotten there was an entire cabinet of alcoholic deliciousness at my disposal. Oops. I made up for it the next evening with a green tea, strawberry daiquiri sorbet and peach schnapps concoction for dessert ans it was equally as spectacularly delicious and awesome as the previous evening was uneventful.

I don't have photos of the gifts I finished up while I was home, but Derek got 8 pair of boxers in various fabric types, colors and designs and Dez got a sweet sundress-turned-apron with completely adjustable ties that will fit her throughout the remainder of her pregnancy. I did get a quick pic of a baby shower gift Mom and I collaborated on. She made the blanket and burp cloths; I decided on the colors and painted the designs on from iron-on transfers and Artex paints.

gender unknown baby shower gift

I've been back for a couple of days now and I would like to publicly state how awesome my mother is for spending an entire day with me here creating a new, functional organization system for my sewing/creating space. The rest of the house was awesomely clean and organized, but neither Corey nor I had any clue how to tackle that area. If you're reading this, Mom: Thank you! Since then I have been purging and reorganizing certain areas of the house to fit in all the dishes, fabrics, metal shavings, deer antlers and bones and other sundries I stuffed the car with on the return journey. Currently I am listening to some Iron and Wine and taking a break from photographing all of this:

Corelle, Pyrex and Mikasa dishes

I've been considering trying out re-saleing for a while and wanted to make sure whatever I decided to try it out with would be something I would be delighted to own myself if I couldn't move it and decided on Corning/Corelle and Pyrex. There's some Mikasa stuff in there, too, as I loved the designs and colors when I saw them. I've been partial to Pyrex since childhood. Something about the weight and feel of Pyrex makes it wonderfully tactile and the translucency is a treat in itself, not to mention the supreme durability of it. Everything you see in that photo cost me less than $30, I kid you not. Our thrift store is incredible. And I love every piece. Not so very much that I can't part with it mind you, but enough so that I would still be happy were it to go unsold. They'll all be added to the shop over the next few days along with some new jewelry, notions and handmade toys. I have taken the shop out of vacation mode in order to start listing new items and everything that was there before the holidays has been put on sale, but the official reopening date is still Tuesday the 18th.

I even have a few pretty hook handled cups and saucers; they stack together like nobody's business. One design even has the matching creamer and sugar bowl!

The deer antlers and bones mentioned previously are for making buttons and beads (also have a necklace idea but not sure how it'll work out) once we get a soldering iron and repair the Dremel as Zombie chewed the cord off at the butt end of it before we found out she was a big time chewer. I also have a shopping bag chock full of oyster and clam shells and crab claws and shells that have been awaiting similar treatment since before Halloween so this Dremel fixing business needs to happen soon. There's half a ribcage, some vertebrae, a couple of skulls and 4-5 separate antlers sitting in an extremely rusted steel bucket in my shower right now. It was in the kitchen, but it had to be moved to make room for the new chest freezer that can be seen in the background of the photo above.

I spent a hefty chunk of time surfing around the net (after I got back, dial-up is the pits for research) trying to figure out what size freezer would be best for us and what the best deal was. It's a frustrating process when internal measurements aren't given in anything but cubic feet. I have no experience with this type of measurement to be able to estimate how large something is, but one reviewer on the Home Depot site put everything into perspective for me about the 7.0 cubic foot freezer when she stated "It held the whole elk plus more!!" Elk-sized. Sweet! That's a measurement I can relate to.

I have some earrings to make and mail ASAP and now that the freezer has arrived and everything else is pretty much where is goes again it's time to "make some hay" as Gramma might say. Time for me to go back to photographing dishes so I can clear the table and have some work space. Huzzah!

See You Next Year

2010-12-23T04:44:00.000-06:00

Finishing up very last-minute gift sewing and waiting for my ride north. Thought I'd post a few pics of what's been going on around here. Some of these were started months ago, some were made in the last few hours (well, hello, scented hand warmers tutorial). I now have a stack of blueberry-scented and a stack of eucalyptus-scented hand warmers to hand out in addition to the cedar-filled sachets I made last month. There are a few things that I won't make until I get there; brother's boxers and sisters apron namely. I want to make sure I'm making the boxers the right size and the apron just because I'm very tired and don't want to mess it up. My Wednesday was spent hand sewing a couple cute things, tying in loose ends on crochet, and going over my packing list repeatedly between watching episodes of season 3 of Lost on Netflix. I need a shower and to pack a few stragglers into boxes before my ride gets here. Here's to a safe and warm holiday break and I'll meet you here in the new calendar year.

The Awesome-est 3yo Ever worked on painting this piece of cream satin for better than 2 months. I tied it off with a funky green knit fabric as a batting, bound it with plain muslin bias tape and now it's a quilt. I love my Jacquard textile inks. They're a really awesome way to turn everyday play and painting into something different and a lot more permanent than paper paintings. Mom and I helped out on occasion. Hey, who doesn't love playing with colors and brushes and stamps occasionally?

Mom's pillowcases came out wonderfully and I also figured out the jellyfish attachment problem. Not sure yet exactly who gets the brooch; I think I want Dad to have it, but I'm shy one Gramma-worthy gift as of this moment. We'll see.

This piece went off to its new home in Holland, MI where it is being displayed beautifully stretched on a canvas in a customer's home. I had never considered displaying any of my fabrics as art in and of themselves before, but the pic she sent with the feedback has me rethinking the concept.

This last one is just for my own entertainment, really. See, the eaves of the house do not drain properly and birds come to drink out of them after rain/snow. If I'm cautious about it in the morning, I can open the door stealthily enough that I don't scare them all away and then my reward is getting to watch fluffy bird butts bob all along my gutters. Ya, I already know I'm weird, it's ok. It makes me happy. :)

Tuesday love Links: Holiday Printables

2010-12-21T01:39:00.002-06:00

Mori gift tag from Chubby Hobby
Birdie gift tags from Ann Wood (love her little birdie sculptures)*
Pretty pastel gift tags from Little Paper Dog
I like these winter-related printables from teAch-nology (there's lots and lots of other subjects available, too)
Gift wrap, gift tags, Victorian Santa Christmas cards and printable lists from All Things Christmas *
Very pretty gift tags from Going Home to Roost (these are what I'm using this year)
Also Stag Noel printable cards and several printable gift wraps from Going Home to Roost
Gift tags and last minute DIY gift ideas from Crafting a Green World
Birds and squirrels gift tags (cute with a slight bit of creepy) from Andrea Zuill (I'd be using these if I didn't have the others all printed and cut out already) *
More pretty gift tags from Design Sponge

* = denotes pictured in mosaic above

Giveaway Winners and FNSI Results

2010-12-18T14:24:00.001-06:00

Giveaway winners have been selected via Random Number Generator.

Congratulations to mamafox for winning the toy pattern! She has a wonderful sewing and vintage site that I've been enjoying this afternoon over at Sadie Fox. Go check her out!

Congratulations to nanaandpapa1 for winning the fat quarter dyed fabrics! She also has a wonderful blog full of sewing and quilt-y goodness over at Camp Nana that I have been gawking at today. I especially love the colors and contrast in this Sunset & Shadows one.

Congratulations, ladies! I will be sending out emails requesting postal addresses shortly so I can get them shipped out before I leave in a few days.

Last night was another Friday Night Sew In. I made several brooches and a couple of hair pins for gifts. I decided to make my sis an apron from a completely different pattern than I had previously planned, and I got some pillow cases cut out for Mom (they're not sewn yet, the main part is in an onion skin dye pot as I type) as well as spent a lot of time claying and jewelry making.

Flower brooches and hairpins for sis. The rectangle one at top left isn't one for her. It's an experiment and I'm puzzling out how to make and attach a jellyfish or three to it. The apron pattern (here's the PDF link) I settled on to go with these for the gift is a reversible half-apron from Celebrate Mag that I got to from Going Home to Roost. It has far fewer bits and pieces to cut out than those in the pattern I bought.

Commercial cotton print (tiny black polka dots and what looks like boxes to me) soaking in a hot and steamy dye pot.I have it folded up on itself and tied in three places with twine in hopes of getting s tie-dye effect, but I couldn't get the jute twine to tie exceptionally tight so we'll see in about an hour.

How cute are these hens!? I got them at JoAnn's when we took a sojourn to the location in Nashville a while back and they were in the red tag fabrics. This is the accent fabric to go with what's in the dye pot right now for Mom's pillow cases. I may give the chickens a quick dunk in the dye pot to even out the tones between the two fabrics, but I haven't decided yet.

There was also a lot of this going on last night. Not sewing, I know, but there's still some jewelry ideas bumping around up in my noggin needing to get out and come to life. I'm not entirely happy about the feather impressions I got running a feather through the pasta machine with my clay slabs, but I'm not entirely unhappy about them, either. I'm thinking I need to paint over the feather before I remove it from the slab and that may help with definition. Then again it might not and this may not be a technique that is very well suited to polymer clay. I'll try it next time and see.

I Like Lists

2010-12-17T13:27:00.003-06:00

Making a list and checking things off of it makes me feel accomplished. And I keep lists for virtually everything, not just groceries and packing for trips.
Some list titles from this year include: Things to Clean around the House (this one get remade and reordered frequently despite never getting everything on it crossed off before its next incarnation), Things and Stuff I Want to Dye Other Things and Stuff With, Gifts I Need to Make and/or Mail to People (I'm kinda horribly about mailing things on time, especially if I'm the only one who knows it's supposed to be mailed. It's something I'm working on.), How I Want to Rearrange the *insert room of the month here* For Better Use and/or Easier Maintainability, As Many Jewelry-type Things I Can Think of in 10 Minutes to Make Out of Sticks and Rocks, Healing Gear Upgrades from Heroics, Things I Could Make for the Shop, Furniture-type Things I Want to Make out of Sticks and Branches So I Don't Have to Buy Them From the Store, Delicious Things to Cook and/or Bake Right Now, Stuff I Want to Blog About, Things and Stuff I Want to Learn How to Do and Make, My Wardrobe (in which I listed every piece of clothing I have and decided I needed to simultaneously downsize and get more of certain kinds of items, namely bloomers, pretty skirts, tights and nice blouses), etc.

See, I told you, lists for virtually everything. However, I haven't made a list to reference for this year's holiday gifts as yet. I know there's only like a week left or something like that, but keeping up with the list in my head is beginning to make me a bit mental recently, and overly scatterbrained from not wanting to forget anything. So here is another list, immortalized on teh interwebs so I can cross things off of it and not forget anything when it comes time to head back to Michigan in a few days or so. If you're reading this and one of the gifts is for you, well, too bad, I'm not so good at the secret keeping and it isn't like you couldn't figure it out anyway since I've probably told everyone but you what I'm making for you and most of them are not good at the secret keeping, either.

Things I Need to Make Before I Leave and Who They Are Going To
sister - brooches for work, apron
sister's hubby - beer steins and beef sticks
brother 1 - boxers, beef sticks
brother 2 - quilt top
Dad - embroidered quilt top
Mom - king size pillowcases, maybe an apron
Gramma G - apron
Gramma K - handkerchiefs
The Awesome-est 3yo Ever and his Mom - quilt from the fabric we painted on for 2 months
Zombie - fleece coat so she doesn't freeze and so I can find her in the woods

Some of these are already done, some are in various stages of not quite done yet but almost and some have not been begun. Self-imposed deadline of Tuesday for finishing up anything gift-like that will be going to Michigan with me.

I cleared off the table yesterday, cleaned the house, cut out patterns and generally anticipated having a major sewing day. Then I got an idea in my head that had to be purged before I could continue. I've been wanting a super cheap way to make domed shaped from polymer clay and came into possession of two spent incandescent bulbs. Huzzah, problem solved! They just needed bases added and then one thing led to another and I spent the evening claying instead of sewing.

P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance at some of my fabric and a vintage reprint Simplicity toy pattern. I'll draw winners late tonight and announce them tomorrow morning.

Mmmm, coffee!

2010-12-17T11:17:00.001-06:00

Spices in the brewbasket this morning: 1 star anise, couple tablespoons cassia chunks, white cardamom pods thrown in on a whim and not measured in the least. Combine brew with creamer, vanilla and raw cane sugar, sip all morning long while cleaning and crafting. mmmmm

I'd planned on posting more throughout the week, but cleaned the house and completely rearranged the living room for better use and ease of cleaning. Now the shoes have a place to sit and be shoes instead of booby traps to trip you up constantly and I have a sofa to sit on when I'm using the computer instead of a wobbledy, painfully pointy chair with worn out thin foam cushion. When I finally get to play Cata, I'll be leveling in style; feet tucked up on the warm cushy couch, keyboard and mouse in easy reach, sipping on some spiced coffee. I wonder if I have enough time between now and when I leave for Michigan to get the Winter Veil achievements. They're pretty much the last ones I need for the year-long meta-achievement. hmm...

P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance at some of my fabric and a vintage reprint Simplicity toy pattern.

It's Sew, Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

2010-12-13T10:14:00.004-06:00

Reprint of vintage Simplicity sew pattern including 4 different toys and gift bag for giving. This is the pattern up for grabs in the giveaway and is currently out of print.

Hello to visitors from SMS Giveaway Day! I jumped on the bandwagon a little late, as in last night. See this post for more explanation as to motivation for that. I wasn't completely sure I wanted to have my giveaway right away after finding this pattern again even though I was planning on having a giveaway for it months ago. As such, I only have the pattern ready right now. I need to collect a few pieces of my hand dyed fabrics to photograph and add to this giveaway, but that will absolutely happen before noon CST so no worries (it will be naturally dyed fabrics, probably mostly rust-dyed). At this time, I plan on two winners. One fabric winner and one pattern winner. However, if there is overwhelming interest/participation, I will certainly consider poking around my other sewing/crafting-related collection boxes to see what I can find and very possibly making some additional handmade by me something(s) for additional winners.

Here are the rules for my giveaway this time 'round.
1. At this time I can only afford to ship within the US. My apologies to international readers, but the finances just aren't there for it right now.
2. Each comment to this post will be considered an entry, but need to be answers to the question prompt I will pose to you here in a few moments.
3. Constructive comments to other posts here will also count as entries. (For example, if you read a cooking post and know of a better, faster, or tastier way to accomplish the same or a similar dish.)
4. You can enter as many times as you like as long as each new entry is a relevant comment following the two points above.
5. You do not have to be a follower or subscriber to participate, but if you like what I have going on here I would love it if you would do so.
6. For the sake of my sanity in deciding winners: The pattern winner will be chosen solely from comments to this post answering the question below as it is baby/child-related and the pattern is also. The fabric winner will be chosen from constructive comments to other posts. (So if you only want to win one or the other, please keep that in mind.)
7. On Friday, December 17, I will most likely use random number generator to choose winners unless there are only a few entrants.

And now for the question prompt. I need help figuring out what cute things to put on baby items, please. My sister and her husband are expecting their first child in April. I am told recently that it is a girl, however, I know these two will be having more children in the future and so I am wanting to keep most items relatively gender-neutral. I do not have money to buy cute, baby-related fabrics and so all of the cute details included on the onesies, diaper covers and blankets and such I make will have to be embroidered or painted on by me. The couple is, I suppose, your average educated, religious couple, well-versed in gaming and Internet culture as well both being hunters so I would like the decorative elements of items I make to reflect such (gaming and/or Internet culture, hunting, not-too-cutesy animal and general baby stuff, general geekery, books and reading, pirates, ninjas, etc.). Ideas, please?

Fabrics available for giveaway. All organic cotton fat quarters, natural dyed by me. From left to right: walnut dye, rust with walnut overdye, very light rust with very light walnut overdye, rust dyed.

And these are the fabrics available. They are all organic fat quarters, 4 in total, dyed by me. The only one of these that could possibly be reproduced is the far left with a strong walnut dye, the others are all completely one of a kind, never to be repeated. I am especially fond of the patterning on the far right piece, very detailed and intricate.

Good Mornin'!

2010-12-13T09:33:00.002-06:00

I'm usually not coherent enough this time of day to post much of anything. But we got snow yesterday (squeee!) and it drifted all over last night so it's nice and bright outside this morning, not to mention cold. My favorite online weather site tells me that it is currently 12F outside and that's without taking windchill into consideration. So really, it's like a big ol' slice of Michigan winter right here in the middle of the country and letting the dog out to do her business this morning was plenty to wake me up! Brrr

Actually, Zombie dog didn't even want to go out the door herself. I'm thinking maybe I need to make her a winter coat. Now that she's pretty much grown it would no longer be an exercise in futility. I have a little under a yard of hunter orange fleece from when I worked at the fabric shop in Maryland. And bright orange sure would be beneficial to keeping track of her and preventing hunters from thinking she's a deer when I take her home for Christmas in a couple weeks.

Today is going to be my own, daytime, version of FNSI. I have gifts that need making. Real sewing things with patterns and everything. These projects include items from the two patterns shown later on in the post. The menswear pattern was purchased specifically to make boxers for my brothers. When Derek was here visiting this weekend, I posed the question to him of what he would like for Christmas prefacing it with I already pretty much knew what I would be making him, but I wanted to know if he had any other ideas.

Derek: Well, I could really use some new underwear. I only have like 5 pair anymore that fit and aren't worn out.
Me: HA! Good! Guess what I was gonna make you anyway!
D: Really? You were gonna make me underwear for Christmas? Cool!
M: You got a pair with you I can use for a pattern?
D: Uhhh, I only brought one other pair with me other than what I'm wearing. Will I get them back?
M: Ya, same day. I only need 'em for like an hour. Then you can have 'em back.
D: Really? Cool, sure.
M: They're boxers, right?
D: *looks right* No. *looks left* Yes. *looks down* No. *looks at me with evident confusion* Well, kinda.
M: Kinda? Are they made out of cotton or a knit? If it's a knit we need to go to the store and buy a pattern that will fit you, 'cause the only other pattern I have I already tried to size down to fit Duncan before he left and it was not entirely successful.

So we took a trip to the store of pattern buying and because McCall's was on sale I now have 3 new and extremely useful patterns. The apron one will be used for gifts for both Grammas, Mom and my sis who has wanted a frilly apron for years. I know she reads this blog and this post will spoil part of the surprise, but she will be no less happy with it. And making it public like this helps me not chicken out on making all those ruffles. The third pattern is a men's shirt pattern for Corey. I won't be making that before Christmas, but he's been asking for some nice new button-downs for a while. I kept saying I can dress him in some really nice new shirts already without buying any new patterns, but he wasn't too keen on wearing pirate shirts to work and most especially not if they had any ruffles. Spoilin' all my fun, I tell ya.

While I was rummaging through my box'o'patterns I found a duplicate that I had planned to have a giveaway for months ago and forgot. This brings me to the topic of my next post for the morning. I have signed up for the Sew, Mam Sew Giveaway Day event. I will be posting a photo of the pattern (really reprint of a vintage Simplicity toy pattern) and giveaway rules in my next post in a few minutes so stay tuned!

"Sorry I Disappeared" and Friday Night Sew-In Results

2010-12-12T15:45:00.002-06:00

Heya. Sorry for disappearing for almost a month. >.<

I don't want to be *that* blogger. You know, the one who regularly apologizes for disappearing off the face of the Internet for weeks on end. I had a calendar all printed out and had arranged all sorts of things on it at regular intervals that I wanted to blog about, but that challenge in October kinda burnt me out on blogging. I had to fight with myself for everything that got posted in November and it just wasn't fun for me. So I've concluded that that kind of regular blogging is not for me. I'm really good at planning, just not so good at schedules and deadlines; even when they're self-imposed. Hell, my senior thesis for undergrad wasn't turned in until the day we were supposed to walk across the stage. And even at that it was turned in while I was wearing my cap and gown on the way to the auditorium. See there? Not something I'm particularly proud of and probably something I should work on, but this really isn't a new development.

So. Where does that leave us? Some kind of unfortunate craftyblog limbo I'm sure. I want to still share recipes and links to sites and things that I love as well as photos of things I've made.The overall feel and tone of what I write and post about will not be changing. That is, it won't be changing as long as I'm not changing myself or my personality as that's where all of this comes from. I like making things and cooking and writing and reading and life in general and sharing all that kind of stuff here. I just want that to occur in a no-pressure, happy fun time, no deadlines sort of way.

The only content change I anticipate is that some posts in the future will be possibly not safe for work or objectionable to certain people. Thus far I have kept the blog G or, at the very most (though I can't think of any posts offhand that would qualify), PG 13 rated. I have ideas and sketches for things that I want to make and share that would probably be considered inappropriate for family viewing by part of the general populace and I don't really want to maintain another blog so that I can share those things, though I may ultimately decide to do so. For those reading this right now and thinking about dropping me from your reader or clicking on un-follow, please know that these posts, if they happen here instead of another blog I'd maintain, will be very clearly labeled and have page breaks included so that you can make the decision to view them if you want and will not just pop up without warning; that would be inconsiderate and just plain rude. I have yet to make the ultimate decision, however, if I will be posting those here or elsewhere and if you by chance have an opinion about such, feel free to say so in the comments or in an email to me. I will definitely take your statement about the matter into consideration.

Alrighty, now that all that is purged from my thought train and in print so to speak, we can get on with the fun stuff. Yay! :) I loves me some fun stuff! And photos. I love those, too. Guess what!? I have both below. Woohoo! Happy fun times! Enthusiasm! Ya! *coughcough* Anyway...

I signed up for and participated in Heidi's Friday Night Sew-In this week. I was supposed to post the results yesterday (Saturday) but my brother brought my pseudo-Dad into town for pseudo-Dad's son-in-low's deployment to help out his daughter with childminding and housework duties before she moves back home and I would much rather have spent all the time I could with them instead of being on the Internet not matter how much I do enjoy blogging and sharing with you all here. There's another FNSI the 17th and I feel so awesome about how much I got done this round that I've signed up for the next one, too. It may not seem like I got that much finished from the photos, but keep in mind that everything I did was completely by hand, no machine in sight.

It is not sewing, but I started making a lap blanket for Great-gramma's holiday gift. It's a huge granny square crocheted with what I think it a size P hook using 2 strands held together of random acrylic yarns from my stash. I still have to work in all the yarn ends, but the boy had a blast choosing which color yarn to use next and helping me by cutting the yarn to change color. I just have to remember from henceforth to lock the scissors back up in the Starline case I use for a sewing box in the future as he woke up the next morning and started cutting up threads, yarns, glasses cleaning cloth, leftover fabric bits, etc. Luckily he stuck to cutting my sewing materials and things I've allowed him to cut before and nothing else in the house.

Crochet granny square lap blanket. Arcylic stash yarns, colors chosen at random by the most awesome 3yo ever.

My tootsies have been freezing lately, especially during raids. This is partially precipitated by my overall perpetual coldness and partially from my participation in Crunchy's 2010 Freeze Yer Buns challenge as the living room has a space heater keeping it generally in the mid-60s while being separated from the rest of the house which I set to 55-58 depending how I'm feeling on the thrifty/energy-conscious vs. cold scale at any given time. I cut up a wool skirt that was accidentally felted and put the finishing touches on these awesome house shoes. No more painfully cold toes. Even though I have solved the painfully cold toes problem, I won't be going below 55 on the thermostat.

Black wool from an accidentally felted skirt, turmeric dyed wool yarn, wool felt-covered button fasteners and a tiny heart-shaped button on the heel of the left foot.

The boy (aka most awesome 3yo ever) has been asking for an elephant for months. I thought it was just a passing request while we were painting one day and he would soon forget about it. Nope. Every time I visited he would ask if I had made his elephant yet. So on Friday I dug through my pattern collection looking for a collection of ziploc-baggied pattern pieces organized by animal; a collection of various zoo animal stuffies from a pattern I got from Gramma G way back in junior high and somehow still predominantly intact save 2/3 instruction pages and maybe 1 or 2 of the 7-8 original animals. The boy chose a fabric from the collection of commercial and self-dyed fabrics I brought with me, helped me hold the pattern pieces onto the fabric as I traced them, very carefully placed each and every tissue-y bit of pattern back into its ziploc and then asked every 30-45 seconds during the hand-sewing process if his elephant was done yet. I forgot to bring my polyfil with me so he had to wait ever so impatiently for me to go home the next day and finish sewing up his elephant's tummy so the insides wouldn't fall out. FYI - it's a boy elephant and his name is Jumbo; the big-eyed bat is a girl bat and he hasn't chosen a name yet for her

Unbleached cotton, organic cotton sewing thread, tiny mismatched button eyes, cotton thread braided tail and embroidered heart on butt. The boy absolutely loves his new elephant.

Tuesday Love Links: DIY Doggie stuff

2010-11-16T18:33:00.000-06:00

Zombie has been with us for several weeks now and is officially a member of the family. While I have not yet made anything specifically for Z, I have been doing a lot of research since she first came to live with us and today's Love Links post is a variety of dog-related sites and projects from basic training to crafts and DIY treats.

Crafting
Scrappy Dog Bed Tutorial from Urban Crunch *
No Sew Dog Bandanna also from Urban Crunch
Dog Bone Shaped Cookie Cutter from Instructables user Doggie Stylish (lots more from this user, too)
Biscuit Mix in a Jar from Bella Online user Sandy Moyer (good quick and cheap gift for someone with a dog and has a printable card/instructions)
Penelope Cake at The Bark has a few neat tutorials for canine accoutrements
As usual, the folks at Martha Stewart have a bunch of great-looking dog crafts (most are for smaller dogs, but could easily be altered for larger breeds) *

Cooking
Peanut Butter Dog Treats from Sugarlaws
Homemade Treats from Craftzine
Homemade Dog Cookies tutorial from Instructables user basilicious
Diabetic Dog Treats from AllRecipes user barb Maxwell *
Homemade Dog Food from AllRecipes user BKBISHOP
Guide to Making Your Own Dog Food at Home from Gourmet Sleuth

Training and Behavior
LOTS of behavior and training information articles available here on The Bark
DIY Agility Course from Canine Crib (this one could have gone under Crafting as well, but overall I think it falls better into the Training and Behavior category)
The Walk from Dog Breed Info Center (Also has LOTS of other articles ind information regarding training and behavior and how to help fix or eliminate problem behaviors. This site has become invaluable to me as I work with Zombie learning verbal and visual commands and learning what to expect from a labrador/beagle mix.)

* denotes shown in photo mosaic

Happy Friday Links and Inspiration

2010-11-12T16:50:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday to you! It's been busy here so I'll keep this short and sweet; just some links to items I have found extremely interesting or inspiring lately. Have to take Zombie to the dog park and wear her out for both our sanity. Last weekend we all took a short road trip to Nashville to go to JoAnn's for some fabric shopping. Got pretty much everything needed for awesome holiday gifts, both surprises and requests, and a bolt of unbleached cotton to use for dying for the shop. Some time next week I'll have a photos and progress post up about that. I'm planning on a daily sewing/creating schedule in order to get everything done with plenty of spare time this year so look for that. I figure if I share it with the entirety of the world via the Internet, I'm more likely to stick to it and not slack so much. Should mean better gifts for everyone. And also gifts in general mailed for a few people I have really been meaning to mail things to for birthdays, etc. Enjoy your weekend!

Elida Kemelman - Collar 'Espuma' - Neckpiece - Telas antiguas, plata 925, plata 1000, polímero/Antique fabrics, sterling silver, fine silver, polymer. Modelado con textiles, construcción/Modelled in textiles, fabricated

Love, love, love this new contemporary jewelry design blog I found: Bijou Contemporain Jewelry.

Malaïka Najem - necklace, Camouflage, 2009, shibuichi, 18ct gold, yellow sapphire

Most of the posts are in either French or Spanish. I find that even though I have no one with whom to practice conversation, my reading and comprehension in Spanish are still great and actually not that much slower or worse than my reading and comprehension in English.

Maria Brossa - Earrings, gold and paper - 2009

But really, with quality eye candy like this I am certain anyone can enjoy this blog no matter their language abilities. As a warning, however, some of the images are possibly NSFW. There is nothing at all of a pornographic nature, but depending upon your workplace some of the gallery showing advertisements and art itself may by deemed inappropriate.

Kyokechi Boards from Sri Threads

There is a wonderful post over at Sri Threads about itajime dying and traditional, hand carved resist boards. Lots of beautiful images and great information as always.

Jude Hill shibori on silk

Jude Hill has been doing a small bit of dabbling with natural dyes and got some absolutely wonderful results.

I will be trying this can wrapping technique myself soon and also unwrapping a few little cotton bundles of leaves and twigs to see what prints I can get from them. The native flora is so different here from any place I have lived before that I feel like everything I do with it is an experiment and I have absolutely no guarantees of results at all. I can hardly wait to move back to some place where I have roots to fall back on; culturally, environmentally and creativity-wise. That is a long way off, however, and by the time it comes I think I may have begun to put down roots a bit here. We'll have to see.

Arlee Barr - naturally dyed and eco printed cotton, available

Arlee Barr has also been doing natural dye and eco print experiments in "The Dyeing Dungeon" and getting mixed results. But the ones that are good are really, really good don't you think? I've admired Arlee's work for a very long time, but only recently thought to have a looksee if she has a blog. Answer: Yes, she has been blogging for over 6 years! Sometimes I just feel like kicking myself. for not thinking to investigate things sooner.

Joy Tanner - The dinner and lunch plates were a success, with nice flashing marks!

I've been a fan of Joy tanner's ceramics and pottery work for years also. However, I found her blog early on. Still in love with her colors and use of texture.

Tueday Love Links: 2011 Printable Calendars

2010-11-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

Make Your Own owl-themed 2011 Calendar from My Owl Barn* (free and with 30 different artists/images to choose from)
No-Nonsense Customizable Printables from Calendar Labs (free)
Print and Cut Nature Calendar from Blue Tricycle
Psychedelic Printables from Valentina Design*
Cute Cartoon Images from Homemade Calendars (free)
Origami Animals from Missus D*
Bright Florals from Valentina Design
Pretty, Feminine Colors and Classic Design Elements from STRUTH design
Scenic Images from Homemade Calendars (free)
Cute and Colorful Options from 123NewYears

* = featured in photo mosaic

One-Pot Breakfast

2010-11-06T07:11:00.003-05:00

They both have to be brought to a boil for 10-12 minutes. I figure why not boil them all together and save some dish washing, right? Added salt and pepper to boiling water. Turned out with perfect potatoes and pre-seasoned boiled eggs that I didn't even have to salt. Awesome.

Recipe Friday: Crispy Hash Browns

2010-11-05T21:57:00.002-05:00

I must start this Recipe Friday with an apology. I teased you last week stating that this week's recipe included honey and roses and it really was supposed to. I was going to make honey-sweetened, rose-flavored ice cream. And I tried 3 times, but it isn't happening yet. My freezer has stopped getting cold enough to properly freeze the bowl of my ice cream maker and so it isn't freezing anything. I am still making it right now in the freezer using a different freezing method, but you will unfortunately have to wait until the next Recipe Friday for the recipe and photo instructions. I am sorry. Instead, here is a recipe and instructions for what was for dinner the other night: hash browns!

I tried for years to figure out how to make delicious, crispy hash browns in my own kitchen. I would get all sorts of yummy, delicious fried potato sides and flavor combinations, but they were never crispy enough. I wanted them to be like the hash browns I got at the Waffle House on Natty Bridge when I went there with Doc to talk about band stuff and student government stuff and life in general. After trying and trying and failing and failing I figured it was just some sort of potato trickery and people weren't supposed to get crispy hash browns at home. Kind of like you can never make McDonald's fries at home; they're not really potatoes, there's a bunch of other stuff in there, too. Then Corey made breakfast and succeeded in making the best hash browns I've had since those Waffle House days with Doc. Apparently it has nothing to do with the type or condition of your potatoes, how hot the oil is or how how long you cook them. The only thing that matters is the moisture level of the shredded potatoes and not crowding the pan.

P.S. - I have learned that there is this contraption called a potato ricer made specifically for squishing the liquid out of shredded potatoes (or mashing cooked ones also). It sounds like it would be pretty neat, but crispy hash browns can definitely be accomplished without another kitchen contraption.

Crispy Hash Browns

Ingredients

potatoes - whatever kind you like or have on hand
butter or oil for frying
salt/pepper and spices to taste

optional: onions, peppers, cheese, mushrooms, whatever else you like in/on your hash browns

Instructions

1. Select your potatoes and scrub the leftover dirt off them. Peel them if you're that kind of person. I am decidedly not that kind of person. I cut any black or growing bits out/off, but I'm not opposed to eating potato skins.

2. Prep any add-ins you want (dice onions, slice mushrooms, etc.) and shred your potatoes.

3. Place shredded potatoes onto an absorbent surface such as a small, clean towel or lots of paper towels. If you choose the cloth towel route (really, it would take a LOT of paper towels so I do suggest going the cloth route), be advised that potatoes do indeed stain. I did not know this beforehand and have some lovely grey markings on various items of laundry 'cause I just tossed the used towels on the pile.

4. Squish the heck out of your shredded potatoes and get out all of the moisture you can. Multiple towels may be necessary depending on the condition and moisture content of your potatoes.

5. Get your pan and oil/butter ready.

6. Add your shredded potatoes. This is also the time to add onions and such if you want to make sure they get cooked. Or you could cook them separately. I was really impatient and put my potatoes in all at once. Granted, I do have a huge frying pan. The hash browns were still crowded and didn't get as browned and crisp as they could have. So for the best result, do smaller batches.

7. Cook without stirring for several minutes, until the bottom layer is crispy and golden. While that side is cooking, add your salt/pepper and spices to the top side. I prefer my hash browns without a bunch of other stuff in them, but if you like stuff in yours, now would be the time for other add-ins such as mushrooms. I added salt/pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika to mine. I also decided shortly thereafter that I needed more butter if I didn't want them to stick horribly.

8. When the underside is nice and crisp, go ahead and turn it all over (Or, if you prefer, stir them up instead. I prefer so that's what I did) so you can cook the other side.

9. Keep turning or stirring until everything is all crispy and golden and so delicious looking you just can't stand it any longer.

Giveaways

2010-11-02T19:44:00.007-05:00

rotting logs, Forest Park, St Louis, MO

Here are a few giveaways I have entered recently with links to enter yourself if you would like, in order of ending date.

Bushel of Apples Garland from What. No Mints? at What. No Mints? Blog - ends Nov 8, 2010

Microwavable corn-filled heat pads by Corn Warmerz from Momma Told Me - ends Nov 10, 2010 (I have a tutorial planned soon for making this type of corn-filled hot/cold pack)

"My Other Ride is a Unicorn" bag by Sick for Cute from Momma Told Me - ends Nov 10, 2010

Lasercut fairy tale puppets by Isabella's Art from Momma Told Me - ends Nov 12, 2010

3D Clock by 3DTdesign from Momma Told Me - ends Nov 12, 2010

Collar and Leash set by Diva Dawg from Momma Told Me - ends Nov 12, 2010

Rainbow Bird Ornaments from KhaliNouveau giveaway at Adore By Nat - ends Nov 13, 2010

Barefoot Contessa cookbook giveaway at Bo's Bowl - ends Nov 14, 2010

$65 CSN Stores GC giveaway at Miss Organic's Kitchen - ends Nov 14, 2010

$65 CSN Stores GC giveaway at Great Blog Giveaways - ends Nov 14, 2010

Bold Rugs giveaway at One Bored Mommy Blogspot - ends Nov 15, 2010

Happy Day of the Dead!

2010-11-02T19:19:00.000-05:00

Today is Day of the Dead and it's been a great, if cloudy, fall day here. Halloween is my favorite holiday, followed closely by Day of the Dead and other similarly celebrated and death-related traditions. I also love skull imagery and art so today I took some time to ogle a few DotD related crafts and photos and arranged my favorites here in this mosaic. Number 5 is a sugar skull necklace by artist Lorena Angulo and she is having a giveaway for it on her blog. She also has a lot of other beautiful jewelery so go check her out.

left to right, top to bottom

1. Genka skull and flower - gwenboul
2. Pin Cushion Queen inspired doll - Toshworks
3. Zombie Skeleton Musician Guitar Solo Metal Sculpture - Zed's Zombie Ranch
4. Scary Skull Scarf PDF Pattern - JudesCreations
*5. Sugar Skull Necklace - Lorena Angulo
6. Sugar Skull hair Flowers - sugarcoffin
7. sugar skull cupcakes - rockamandy
8. Santa Muerte altar talisman - magickshop
9. Skull and Bones Cake - Empress Eve
10. calaveras de dulces - GeeJo
11. OfrendaColonMixquic - Thelmadatter
12. Quijote - José Guadalupe Posada

Blogtoberfest and Hang 'em Dry Challenge Wrap Up

2010-10-31T10:11:00.000-05:00

tiny, gorgeous moss growing on rocks at Forest Park, St Louis, MO

It is the end of the month and subsequently the end of the two challenges I participated in this month. I did not do as well on the blogging one as I did on the laundry one. The clothes dryer was in operation approximately 8 hours for the entirety of the month, not bad when I figure that our dryer normally takes over an hour per load to get things dry by itself, 1.5 hours if it's towels or sheets. At 2-4 loads of laundry per week, that time adds up fast. If I used the dryer for all of the drying I'd end up with an average of about 5 hours of drying time per week or 20 hours per month. That's 12 hours less drying time per month and, since my dryer is not energy efficient, a nice bit of savings on our electric bill. I will definitely be continuing the air drying for most all laundry done. The exceptions will be bedding because it takes way too long to dry without a proper outdoor clothesline (which is not an option in our treeless yard) as well as any clothing items that need to be washed and ready to wear ASAP for work or anything like that.

I missed 10 days of October for blogging, fully one third of the month, despite having a total of 25 posts. I am not necessarily unhappy about the blogging I have done, but I do not believe I will be participating in any similar blogging-type challenges in the future. I think the content in some of my posts this month was lacking and I'd rather just not post for a few days and have something pretty or interesting to show you rather than a bunch of DIY type links without having made even one of the items or crafts linked myself. That said, I have been crafting, just nothing very exciting or picturesque. To illustrate this ststement, I've got a couple of lists going on below.

Crafty and creative things in various stages of completion around here that are not really all that photogenic or just weren't photographed for a variety of reasons:
~recycling large cardboard boxes into small packages for mailing Etsy orders
~wrapping rusted metal pieces up in an old pink shirt for rust dying
~tying knots in ropes for bird toys
~fishing dead and dying wasps out of the walnut dye bucket/vat
~dying bits and pieces with said vat
~collecting onion skins for dying
~painting fabric with the 3 year old (I don't have paper paints, only fabric ones, so all the paint-type art projects I do with him are on fabric and I need to figure out what to do with them all at some point)
~pumpkin carving with the 3 year old
~roasting seeds from all the pumpkins carved and eaten recently
~making dog lead/leash (I do plan on making a tutorial for this one)
~ongoing cleaning and reorganization of crafting and sewing space and supplies
~more hexagon making and attaching
~endless dishes from cooking and baking and making up recipes (multiple Recipe Friday posts in the making)
~making another batch of homemade laundry detergent

Things that I would like to be doing and photographing but haven't had time for recently: ~collecting colorful leaves and berries before it is no longer autumn and they all turn brown and icky
~wrapping up fabric bundles with said collected items and steaming them to dye the fabric
~cutting wood pieces and boards and clamping fabric between them to do some itajime dying
~sorting fabric stash according to fiber content and weight so I can take stock of what is left and use it for holiday gifts
~making a couple of wigs with the duffle bag of yarns I have (to be added to my soon-to-be-started costume collection)
~making quilt tops for siblings' holiday gifts
~writing up and sharing my recipe and method for making hot Chai tea at home (listed because my fingers are cold right now and it sure would be nice to wrap my hands around a cup of steamy, fragrant tea)
~walking through what passes for woods around here to see what I can find
~harvesting some of the bright red sumac berries I see ready in a couple of places and using them for dying

I suppose since I have started taking this blogging thing seriously, I need to start taking the planning and creating of posts part more seriously as well and begin scheduling a month or so of posts in advance. Kinda like scheduling study, library, homework, research and test time for school work I guess. I think that's what I'll do today before raid time. We are so close to downing The Lich King I can hardly wait until raid. Also, the Hallow's Eve event is one of my favorites in-game. The screen shot below is part of the reason for this. Fighting evil treants as a skeleton? Awesome. Plus battling Headless Horseman and costumed players everywhere you turn.

Right now, however, I am still very tired and cold and in need of a little more sleep after waking up at 5 with Corey and the dog. I will also have a post with pics of the costume later today once Corey's home and can take them for me.

Wings, check

2010-10-30T14:30:00.001-05:00

Finished wings; just need snap attachments added.

Wings are all cut and stitched together. Color layer order ended up being reversed due to amounts of fabric available and fabric weights. The black is a really heavy polyester and would not have worked as top layer over the mid-weight light color and super lightweight lining fabric of the medium color. I am not finishing any edges on these. If they fray, they fray. I may go back over the edges later on with free-motion stitching to make sure they don't fray into oblivion, but the overall effect I'm going for is a little raggedy. I need to sew on some snaps so I can attach them to a grey cardigan sweater to wear over the slip tonight. Next up: making and attaching feather shapes to the slip. I figure if I don't get to the beak-making part that isn't so bad since I have some vibrant yellow eyeshadow I can can use on my schnoz instead.

Some during the making of shots.

My Totally Last-Minute Costume

2010-10-30T12:35:00.001-05:00

Costume sketch for female Hoots (forgot to draw in alto sax), October 2010.

My costume is totally last minute this year. I’ve been waffling between zombie, vampire, Mad Hatter, pirate, and ghost. And at this point you’re probably thinking wow, indecisive much? This morning I woke up with the idea to be an owl and a plan to make my costume using an old slip and bits from my fabric and scraps stashes. Totally free and recycling. Awesome. Now I just need to get my bum in gear to clear out the sewing machine and get on with the snipping and stitching.

That pic above is a scan from one of my always-nearby sketch and idea notebooks. Drawing took maybe about 5 minutes after I woke up so it's really sloppy and not particularly detailed. I foresee the sewing and crafting area being a certifiable disaster afterward, but my costume will (hopefully) be totally rockin'! 'Cause the plan is for not just any owl, but a feminine version of my favorite Sesame Street character, Hoots. I haven't had the sax out in a while, but I still know my way around a concert E flat blues scale no problem.

Here's one of my favorite Hoots appearances. Enjoy!

Last Minute Halloween Links

2010-10-29T23:56:00.000-05:00

Halloween Paper Bag Bowls * via the long thread
Strongman Costume via the Craftzine blog
Altered Footwear * via the Craftzine blog
Lady Gaga Hair Bow (pdf) via Savers and Value Village (other easy costume ideas and how-to's there as well)
Lady Gaga Red Lace by scoochmaroo on Instructables
Lady Gaga Red Body Suit by Carleyy on Instructables *

Easy DIY Bat Costume
Mason Jar Lanterns *
Instant Ghost Costume via Heartsong Fine Art (seriously really, really quick and easy and cheap)
Spooky Fabric Wall Art via The Graphics Fairy *
Zentangle Pumpkin via Chica and Jo * (lots and lots of very easy and kid-friendly projects)
Bats at the Door from Country Living (really cool effect!)

* denotes project featured in photo mosaic

Meet Zombie

2010-10-28T19:51:00.000-05:00

She was named Ninja when we got her, but she is totally not a ninja. Not stealthy at all and, in fact, just about as much a klutz as me. As Corey said, "She reminds me more of a Beverly Hills Ninja then Shinobi." And she tripped on the curb when we took her to PetSmart to pick out toys. Twice. Both entering the store and exiting. There was no deliberation that went into calling her Zombie, though. The first time I raised my voice to tell her and a friend's dog to settle down I called her Zombie instead of Ninja by accident. We call her Z for short.

*nose smooches*

Snoozin' on the kitchen floor.

Waldo Hat

2010-10-27T18:58:00.000-05:00

While I was in St Louis this last time, a friend was lamenting that she had not been able to find the right hat for her Halloween costume yet. I asked what kind of hat she was looking for and was informed that she was looking for a Waldo hat, as in Where's Waldo. I immediately said that I could make her one and promised it would arrive in time for Halloween. So this weekend I improvised a pattern for the two-colored hat and made a fun pompom for the top. Below is a photo of me proudly wearing said hat outside the post office before mailing yesterday, courtesy of Corey and his new phone. (I think he secretly left his old phone in the pocket of his dirty jeans and threw them in the laundry just so he'd have a reason to get a new phone.) I think he took it using some sort of effects thing or something but I'm not sure.

In other news, we made an addition to the household this weekend. We have adopted a lab mix who was rescued from an abusive situation by friends. She's fitting in pretty well and aside from a couple of easily-remedied dominance issues (namely pulling while walking and begging for food), she's great. Photos to come. I will also have that recipe write up from last week's Recipe Friday ready for you tomorrow.

My Review of Accordion Drying Rack in White and Natural

2010-10-27T10:11:00.001-05:00

A while back I reported that I had won a giftcard for CSN Stores and used it to get a drying rack and a digital kitchen scale. I have since been asked by CSN Stores to review said items and below is my review for the drying rack, which I have been using to participate in Crunchy Chicken's Hang 'em Dry Challenge. (There's still a little time left in October and you could join the challenge here if you're interested. Better late than never and all that jazz.) The kitchen scale will follow in a few days. I also won another CSN giftcard from another giveaway and used it go get a heated perch for my old man bird and that review will be forthcoming in the near future as well once it gets cold and we start using it.

Originally submitted at CSN Stores

Features:

Accordion Drying Rack
Combination of white and natural finish
Wood construction
Adjustable height
Folds flat for storage
Prevent snagging and slipping with a top shelf that's great for air drying sweaters
Can be use...

Great Little Drying Rack! Very Happy

By DK from Western KY on 10/24/2010

Pros: Easy to store, Simple Instructions, Easy to Use, Lightweight, Efficient
Best Uses: Travel, Home, Dorm, Keep In Laundry Room, Cleaning
Describe Yourself: Renter, Housekeeper

This is a great little drying rack. Lightweight, easy to use and store, no little plastic bits to break after a couple uses.

The only real con to it is that after a few uses and having set it outside for use to take advantage of breezes and sunlight, the joints start to loosen a bit and the unit begins to sway a little. It also doesn't do so well with multiple pairs of heavy denim work pants.

But these are in no way completely unexpected as it is made of wood and wood bends and warps with moisture and pressure. The bars on which laundry is hung, however, do have some sort of plastic coating to help prevent this from happening.

All in all a most excellent product at a great price!

set up outdoors

Tags: Picture of Product

in use outdoors

Tags: Using Product, Picture of Product

(legalese)

Recipe Friday: Savory Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

2010-10-22T18:52:00.002-05:00

Around this time of year here in the US, small sugar pumpkins are readily available and reasonable priced (mine was 67 cents per pound!) This is the recipe I said I'd made for you last Friday but was too sick and headache-y to write. I am going to be making Recipe Friday a bi-weekly event. So no recipe tomorrow, but there will be one next Friday. Here are some ingredients from next week's recipe: honey, dried rosebuds, cream. Any guesses?

mmmm, gooey insides

Savory Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

Ingredients
1 sugar pumpkin, ~3-6lbs.
~2-3 cups cheese(s), shredded or cubed (I cubed mine and used smoked Swiss/cheddar blend, sharp cheddar, and regular Swiss)
~2-3 cups shredded bread (day old and stale work wonderfully here)
herbs and seasonings of your choice (I used smoked paprika)
2-5 cloves of minced garlic or equivalent dried and powdered
2 eggs
~1/2-3/4 cup cream or half and half
salt and pepper

Instructions
1. Cut the top off your pumpkin and remove all the seeds and stringy insides. Save seeds for roasting, which can be done at the same time as baking the pumpkin.

2. Shred bread and cube cheese(s).

Now you have a choice to make. You can either layer everything into your pumpkin as I did or mix it all together in a separate bowl, mix it all together and then put it inside the squash. I'll continue with the layering method as that was my choice and what I have pictures for. If you choose the bowl method, grab a bowl and skip to the egg part.

3. Layer ingredients inside pumpkin until full. My strata were like this: (bottom) bread, cheddar, powdered garlic, salt and pepper, bread, smoked Swiss/cheddar blend, smoked paprika, bread, powdered garlic, salt and pepper, smoked paprika, Swiss, garlic powder, smoked paprika.

Smoked paprika is my favorite savory spice. Just the thought makes my mouth water.

4. Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk with cream, salt, pepper, and garlic until well blended. It will be a little thick and will coat the fork or whisk.

The mozzarella was just for snacking.

5. Pour mixture into pumpkin cavity (or bowl) over other ingredients being sure to get everything a little wet with it. Then put more paprika and pepper on top.

6. Replace the top you cut off earlier. This holds in all the steam so the pumpkin get cooked and everything gets all gooey and delicious without drying out. Put it on a lined baking sheet or inside a dutch oven (with no lid) if it's really large and the sides would need more support as they cook through.

Middle rack to ensure best all-around cooking.

7. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to an hour or until sides of squash can be easily dimpled when pushed on with a wooden spoon.

8. When done, remove from oven and let rest 10-15 minutes to allow temperature to lower slightly and prevent the insides from drying out, kinda like a good roast.

9. After rest period, remove pumpkin top and admire the gooey, wonderful smelling insides.

mmmm, gooey insides

10. Cut into serving sized pieces and plate or scoop out everything and mix it all up. I chose to just plate 1/4 pieces of the whole thing because it was all there was for dinner.

All in all this recipe is exceptionally easy to make and really, really ridiculously good tasting. There are so many variations that can be done also. Rosemary and thyme would be great herbs to use here. Or basil. Any number of spices or seasoning blends would be equally delicious. I personally think nutmeg along with smokes paprika on every layer would really make it top notch. This is also the kind of recipe that you can make as the main (or, in our case, only) course or mixed all together as a side. It also refrigerates and reheats really well, especially if you have it all off the skins and mixed up. If you try this recipe, let me know what you think and if you did anything different with it.

Happy Friday to You

2010-10-22T17:09:00.000-05:00

Fridays are supposed to be recipe days around here. And I did make something for you. I just have one heck of a sinus headache and ridiculous cough and would much rather curl up and sleep. I made a baked sugar pumpkin filled with savory bread pudding and cheese. It's really good. And I did take photos. So I will get that post written up later this weekend for you with photos and step by step instructions. I really do need to make up a month or 2 of Recipe Friday posts and auto-schedule them so this doesn't happen. Sorry.

In other news, I found someone else who is using rusted, rotted and naturally dyed fabrics for embroidery grounds. The piece below is an example of Lindsay Joy's work from her Flickr photostream, where she is known as forestine. I like it quite a lot. She also has costumes and process photos of dyeing, embroidery and the costume making. I love the various naturally dyed scarves and cloth bits, but that's pretty much a given, right? I wish I could get some of the pieces I have stashed outside to rot so well as some of hers, but I think in order to do that I would have to pay more attention to them and water daily or something like that instead of just letting nature do its thing.

New (to me) Book Ordered

2010-10-21T08:46:00.012-05:00

I first saw Barbara R. Call's The Crafter's Devotional when I was working at a Borders in Maryland. I don't talk about working at the bookstore much because I was only there a few weeks and, well, it pretty much sucked. The only redeeming factor was that the place was filled with all manner of books and I got to learn about new authors, titles and genres every day while I tried to clean up several months' worth of neglected dusting and mis-shelving by other, non-temporary, employees. I just can't stand it when a retail workplace is not clean and orderly and have it on good standing that the place is still ridiculously filthy and unorganized under the same manager. But that is neither here nor there. On one of my evening cleaning and re-shelving sprees I found an attractive-looking, turquoise-colored hardcover shoved between unremarkable tomes of coin identification and baseball card collecting. It was far too pretty and non-stuffy looking to belong with the books about collecting things. I leafed through it and decided that I wanted to take it home with me, but I hadn't been an employee long enough for the employee book borrowing program to have kicked in yet and at ~$25 it was way too expensive for me even with the employee discount. So I re-shelved it where it rightly belonged with all the other bright and colorful craft books and added it to the ever-growing list of Books I Want to Own Some Day.

Yes, that is a real list I keep. At the very tippetyy-top of that list right now is India Flint's Eco Colour, but not all that farther down is Crafter's Devotional. Or, rather, it was. Until I decided how to spend a $10 Amazon gift card I recently received for participation in a Sharing Economy Study over at Latitude that is. I just ordered a used copy in like new condition for $4.90 plus shipping. Even if it is more worn that the seller states and isn't quite like new, that's a pretty stellar deal for a new hardcover book from my list to add to my personal library. I have absolutely nothing against used books or other media. Keeps it out of a landfill and costs less than new. Rockin'! I am totally looking forward to using this new book and sharing the projects I make using it.

y = -A((e^(-x/B) + e^(x/B))/2)+A = STL Edition of (Not Really) Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-20T19:49:00.001-05:00

I'm back from St Louis and over the next few days will be catching up on responding to all the comments left here as well as Etsy conversations that I did not gt to at all over the weekend. The wedding was wonderful and I am so happy I got to see my friend (who I am convinced is one of the absolute best people on the face of the earth, for many reasons) get married and catch up with other good friends at the reception afterward. The photo above was taken on highway 64/40 westbound coming into the city. A few minutes before I took this while driving I had caught a glimpse of the archtop between two business buildings and gasped in surprise. Somehow I had not realized I was that close to my destination and was taken aback when I saw a sliver of the iconic structure. These short trips have made me miss the city more and more, but we have the beginnings of a plan to move back in 5-7 months or so. No offense, Fort Campbell, but I don't particularly like living here; you're kinda boring.

That equation in the post title came from my high school AP Calc class. We had to find real life applications for various functions and equations and my group had the Gateway Arch of St Louis. I do not recall now what most of those letters stood for or why. I can't really even tell you why I remember the equation 10 years later, but I can tell you that is an equation for a flattened catenary curve meaning it is thinner in the middle than the ends. This structural design basis for the symbol of my most beloved city also helps create the illusion that it is taller than it really is when observed from the ground. Isn't calculus fun!? Well, I think it is anyway, even if I don't remember even 1/2 of what I originally learned about it. I feel the same way about physics, too, and especially particle physics. So cool! I find the simultaneous simplicity of nature and multiplicity of solutions involved with equations a very attractive concept, but mostly I think I just like the rearranging of things from side to side to solve for variables and the fact that you can do whatever you want to them as long as you do it to both sides and it's still all perfectly balanced and, oh, did I mention they can be used to make drawings, too? Holy crap is that ever awesome! I <3 Math. I'll stop babbling now and let you see more pictures.

gorgeous outdoor ceremony

The bride's father makes really good wine. I re-corked it a little too well before it was finished off.

photogenic as always. too bad the cameraman missed the instructions to get my camera to focus. oh well


Hey, hey, the gang's all here! I love these folks. They are awesome beyond explanation.

More pics later as my connection is not cooperating with uploads right now.

Tuesday Love Links: Jewelry from my Wists

2010-10-19T19:43:00.061-05:00

Continuing a series wherein a share from my extensive bookmarks, Wists and StumbleUpon favorites.

Crop circles XL two tone hoops - E191 from noracatherine on Etsy

Yasha Butler Turquoise Tinted Porcelain Earrings from Tilde Shop

Rusty Orange Tulip Blossom Copper Vintage Style Earrings from ForTheCrossJewelry on Etsy

BIB-Statement- Necklace fabric/peacock from larisa71 on Etsy

Circular Tagua Necklace - Colombia on Amnesty International

Pachamac Earring from free people boutique online

Juniper Cuffs pair by choklit on Etsy

Everything but the kitchen sink neckwarmer from ninja_knitter on Craftster

Five Flying Fireflies from BlueTerracotta on Etsy

Care Package Tetris

2010-10-16T10:39:00.001-05:00

Back in February I made a short post about one of my brother's deployment overseas. Duncan's been home for R&R already and is now back overseas. He called last week and asked for snacks. Primarily he wanted nuts and salty things, but a mixture would be nice. I think this is the 4th or 5th time we have sent packages to him and I like to think I've gotten pretty darned good at playing "Snack Tetris" and getting as much as I possibly can inside the size large flatrate priority mail boxes. Mom and Dad send boxes filled much the same way and when I was living back home during Derek's first deployment I used to make silly little drawings and origami animals to include in his packages. I feel badly that I never sent Derek any packages during his last deployment partly because I did not have his address and partly because I could hardly afford to feed myself and buy gas to get to work while I was in Maryland. I'm thinking a surprise package will find its way to his doorstep soon and I feel certain that he will love it even though he is no longer in the Army.

Box 1 of 2. Crackers, jerky and puzzle books wouldn't fit so there will be a second box soon. Contents listed below.

2 hardback novels
4 pots Armour vienna sausages
1 17 oz can mixed nuts
2 8 oz jars powdered coffee creamer
1 Betty Crocker Warm Delights bowl
1 18 oz jar peanut butter
1 9 oz can smoked almonds
1 15.6 oz can Pillsbury Funfetti frosting
1 12 oz honey bear
1 3D wooden puzzle toy
1 16 oz tub Hills Bros French Vanilla flavor Cappucino drink mix
1 7.2 ox bag sunflower kernels
1 5.25 oz bag ranch flavored sunflower seeds
1 3.5 oz bag cashew pieces
2-pack 2 fl oz bottles vanilla scented hand sanitizer
13 Wyler's Light single serve drink powder packets
2 2 fl oz 5-hour energy type drink shots
1 5.5 oz bag Sugar Daddy candies
1 6 oz bag Crybaby bubblegum candy
1 5 lb bag assorted Halloween candies

Recipe Friday: Cheap and Easy Frozen Mousse Dessert from Pioneer Woman

2010-10-15T13:11:00.002-05:00

I read this cooking and food blog called Pioneer Woman Cooks. She has all sorts of other sections to her site, but the cooking one is the only one I have on my reader. Earlier this week she posted a recipe for Chocolate Almond Frozen Mousse. I know there are some people who would never touch it because it's made with Cool Whip, but let me tell you it is pretty delicious. And easy. Seriously. All you do is thaw your Cool Whip, stir in some cold coffee (and maybe extra vanilla if you really like the taste of it like I do), melt a chocolate bar and stir that in, put it back in the freezer until later. Or serve 1/2 of it for dessert after breakfast like I did. 'Cause sometimes breakfast needs a dessert. Or maybe it's just me and I'm mistaken. Right or wrong it's still tasty. And about as close to ice cream as I can get lately. Stupid dietary intolerances.

I took pictures while I was making it, but neglected to take even one of it served up in a dessert bowl or wine glass even though it is kinda pretty. I'm not going to steal the recipe for here even though I've already told you exactly what goes in it and how to make it. Head over to PW's post for the actual recipe and awesome photos (Seriously, hers are more awesome than mine ever would be) and tips for making your own batch.

**Edit 10/28/2010** Some photos of the deliciousness after being refrozen and served up after my return from St Louis.

As far me, I am finishing up packing for a quick trip to St Louis for a dear friend's wedding that I wasn't sure I'd be able to go to. Overjoyed! Even though I don't have a proper wedding gift as such, I want to be there with all my most awesome uni friends to celebrate, cry, and celebrate some more. I'll be making the couple a handmade blanket/quilt of their own and hopefully I will finish it before it ends up being both a wedding and anniversary present this time. So stay tuned for that. I will also probably post a photo or several from the trip while I'm there, but posting is not a guarantee so enjoy your weekend fully and I'll see y'all next week!