Wednesday, August 8, 2007
McKenzie
A baby girl is coming!!! My cousin Kelly is expecting the first girl in the family in almost 19 years and I couldn't be more excited. The five little boys born in the past few years are wonderful and as sweet as can be but pink and ruffles are sooo much fun. This little one is going to be met with lots of handmade love at her baby shower this weekend. The hat is from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms and the I found the bib pattern free online!
I also spent the morning working on some sewmuchthyme bags to send off. Here's the one I just finished...the only clue I got to help pick out fabric was that the girl likes "bright colors."
Now I need to finish a secret quilt for a secret friend who is coming into town this weekend for a visit. Maybe it will be done....maybe.
Until then, I really want to make this. It would be perfect to hold my neurophysiology text book this Fall....
Sunday, August 5, 2007
A Conversion
I have converted "The One." Who is the one behind the sewing machine???? The Little Wowzer, who until Saturday would have rather gone out to a movie with her friend then sew all night long. But then something happened. And she and Catherine sewed for hours making each other flannel pillowcases (which are now on my craft list).
Meanwhile, I've been busy cutting and sewing Sewmuchthyme bags for some 'customers (!!!)'. Look who helped:
The Wowzer, again.
Monday, July 23, 2007
JAMboree
Check out the awesome market flowers...I couldn't resist being the annoying person taking a picture!!
On Saturday morning, Nicole and I headed to the Public Market for some quesitos and coffee before a morning of berry picking at Whittier Farms. After a quick lesson in raspberry picking (I can't believe I made it this long WITHOUT picking these yummy berries!) we picked away while working on some nice sunburns. Shortly, we had 8 quarts of berries and headed off for some emergency sugar, just in case we ran out.
We went to work cleaning and smashing berries, boiling berries and measuring sugar all morning long, when we realized we picked enough for not two batches of jam, but four. Good thing for the emergency sugar.
After a brief shopping break we headed back for some more jam making. Nothing is more satisfying than listening for the little 'pop' when the jars finally seal. By the end of the night, 30 jars of raspberry and tripleberry jam were made and we were exhausted.
Here's a CHEERS to Nicole's new kitchen, complete with enormous white cabinets and a big gas stove...there will be many baking and canning experiences here!
(A couple of months ago, I was garage sale-ing and found these vintage canning lids (a la the ones that are not gingham). Even though there were only three that had not been previously used, I couldn't resist buying them. I think they add a taste of 'kitch' to jars!)
In fact, the berry-picking/jam-making was such a blast (was it the process/experience or the company???) I took Caroline and Camryn this morning out to Schutt's Cider Mill to pick black raspberries for lunch. There are no pictures because we got especially berry-covered and needed to take a dip in the pool before heading inside.
The jam is sooo good, I've already finished about a jar and had raspberry jam at every meal... hopefully I'll still have some left for Christmas presents as planned or else I will be picking again come the fall harvest!!!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
I Wanna Party With You!!!
CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Vin Diesel, 40; Martha Reeves, 66; Paul Verhoeven, 69; Nelson Mandela, 89
Happy Birthday: Communication, travel, education and uprooting yourself, if you must, are all in the picture this year. Getting away or learning something new will lead to a host of ideas, directions and greater stability in the end. A chance to make a difference to someone or something you believe in is apparent. Your numbers are 1, 12, 15, 31, 40, 42
Sounds telling....what will this year bring??
All my love and happy birthday!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Smells like campfire!
On the crafting front, Nicole and I have embarked on a market bag making-fest. Combining going to the Public Market and sewing has worked out well for us. Over Memorial Day weekend on retreat in an old farm house in W. Walworth we sewed up a bunch of bags for ourselves and friends and family have put in some requests. More details on the bags, how one can get them, etc. later. I have used the bags as gym bags/library bags/work briefcases/grocery bags for the past couple of weeks and I love 'em.
When I haven't been sewing or knitting (which seems to be a lot of time these days) I've been working around the gardens at my house. There's been a lot of annual planting, weeding, mulch laying and coffee ground spreading. Apparently, coffee grounds keep the aphids away from rose bushes and they generally make the gardens happy as well. And who can blame them, I enjoy a good cup ( or 2 or 3) of coffee now and then (or every day by 9 am). Last summer, I saved my coffee grounds every morning and put them around the most sickly rose bushes in the back. A couple of weeks ago, when getting my daily java I noticed Starbucks gives their "pre-enjoyed" grounds away FREE for anyone who wants them to put in their compost or around their gardens. Now, I'll do most anything for something free so I was in for the free used coffee grounds. As much as I like to support the local coffee brewers, I do go to Starbucks every once and a while and I do love this initiative.
Apparently, my roses love coffee as much as I do, because they are going crazy. They haven't bloomed this much ever.
Here's the before: (yes, this is how I feel when I don't have coffee, too)
And the after:
This bush hasn't bloomed yet, but when it does just imagine how fantastic it will be!
And a token black and white photograph, because everything is better in black and white:
Other big things have been happening besides market-bag sewing and blooming roses. The Wowzer is getting ready to graduate (hence the intense gardening and annual planting). Here is the Wowzer with the origional crafter who taught me how to sew and knit and cook. (She's the one not in prom wear).
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The Lupine Lady
Today I read my students my favorite childhood book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. If you ever have to read a book to any child at any age this is the book. Alice Rumphius, the Lupine Lady has three goals in life: travel to faraway places, live by the sea, and make the world more beautiful. This strong female character achieves her goals and makes the world a more beautiful place by planting lupine seeds where ever she goes. Even my inner-city kiddos, who are literary critics in their own sense, loved this book!!! Yay for passing on a love of literature!
In crafting news, the stripey sock is coming along quite nice...Hopefully this long weekend will allow for lots of crafting productivity.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Crafting Duldrums
Anyways, as Nicole says that our individual crafting style is reflective of our inner peace my style is starting to show. As careless or carefree (depending on the day) as I am...with everything, if I cannot give 110%, I often don't give anything. A la my stripey socks. There is now a heel and half a foot on the previously mentioned sock. However, its taken me about a month to get there. Normally, I can get socks (2!!! socks) finished in a week or so. I must, I must get on the socks basically because I have 2 feet and one will be seriously cold if I don't get a-knitting.
When Highland Park is full of thousands of lilac-smellers and festival-a-goers, the Arboretum offers its blossoms to...well...basically only you.
And here are some lilacs to enjoy sans crowds:
Years back I remember the beginning of the Arboretum...I took a science inquiry class there when there were a few flowers and trees and this new pond. Now the new pond isn't so new, but it does have some new inhabitants:
The goslings are quite cute and the momma and daddy are rather protective. I must get going and working on those socks.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Socks and Blooms
Speaking of sweet sights for the eyes, I ventured down to the Village of Fairport for the Perinton Historical Society's house tour. It was the perfect sunny, warm day to walk around the village, enjoy period houses and eat ice cream on the canal. In fact, we were the first ice cream customers at Lickety Splits, a great ice cream shop on the canal. Nothing inspires me more than looking at other people's crafts and there were some beautiful quilts in the houses. Perhaps I will be fabric shopping soon for a little something to make for me...
I have certainly spent a lot of time in fabric art these days with the birth of the Butterfly Garden quilt, that I put my fiber on the back burner. The other day I spoke to Amy, the knitting-extraordinairre who taught me knitting in the round over many cups of tea in Hemlock, NY who asked me what was on my needles these days. Sadly, nothing except the Trinity Christmas Scarf for my mother was in progess. With new found excitement for the garter stitch and some sock yarn from my birthday in November, I began to make a little something for me.
It's knitting up quite fast and I'm about to turn the heal, which is clearly the best part of knitting socks. Hopefully, I don't come down with the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome... If I don't I have a whole slew of other socks to start making from my most favorite knitting book ever Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. My fingers are crossed that these Spring Fling socks will be done in time for Amy and my Knit and Tell and yarn shopping extravaganza in a couple of weeks!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
You say "Potato," I say "Potato"
So here's the recipe:
- 2 lbs. red baby potatoes (you could get white potatoes, but why?)
- fresh or dried rosemary
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- fresh ground pepper
Put your oven at 450 and remember to put parchment on your baking sheet
Ok, quarter your potatoes so they look like this:
Then add 2 tbs. of dried rosemary (remember that dried rosemary has a stronger flavor than fresh...so adjust the recipe accordingly), 4 pinches of kosher salt and a good amount of fresh ground pepper. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and seasoning and stir.
Finally put on your baking sheet. Roast in the over for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are that dark, roaster color and your house smells like rosemary...which ever comes first.
Put the potatoes in a dish and enjoy!
Monday, April 16, 2007
So you wanna know about: Salt
The ancient world used Salt as a currency at various times and places. In Ancient Rome, salt was so valuable, soldier were often paid part of their wage through it. Originating the Latin-derived term meaning a payment, it is the root of the word "salary". A natural preservative, salt eliminated our dependency upon the seasonal availability of food, allowing travel over long distances.
In terms of variety, Salt has two main sources. Sea Salt, which is distilled from sea water and rock salt, which is found in crystalline forms in the earth. So you may be thinking, well...salt is salt. What is the point of this?
Well, to the discriminating taste bud, salt my friends, is not just salt. Pumped full of sodium by all the processed food Americans eat, very few actually understand that there are different salt with different tastes, meant for different things.
Kosher Salt, is one of the most commonly used varieties of salt. Kosher salt, unlike common table salt, typically contains no additives, like Iodine. Kosher salt has a much larger grain size than regular table salt, and a cleaner, brighter, more delicate taste. it also dissolves faster and the flavor disperses more quickly. Kosher salt gets it's name because of its use in making meats kosher by extracting the blood from meet, not because it follows the guidelines for kosher food as written in the Torah. When substituting kosher salt for table salt, the basic rule is twice as much kosher salt by volume to replace table salt.
Table salt is refined salt, nearly pure sodium chloride. It usually contains substances such as silicoaluminate, an anti-caking agent as well as a very small amount of sugar to prevent discoloration. Table salt is often iodised with a small amount of potassium iodide to reduce iodine deficiencies. Iodine is important to prevent the insufficient production of thyroid hormones, causing goiters, cretinism and myxedema. Table salt has a hard, nearly metallic taste.
Sea salt is obtained by evaporating seawater. Due to the higher expense of processing sea salt, as opposed to mining it, it is more expensive than other salts. It is often considered superior to other salts for its taste and texture. There are many different varieties, including grey salt, and Himalayan red and pink salt.
So, how do you know what to use and when? It's all about taste. I almost exclusively use kosher salt in my cooking. I tend to prefer the softer, more delicate taste it offers. I have sea salt, given to me as a gift that I use sparingly for special occasions. Salt will never go bad, though it will absorb moisture, so it is best to keep it in a dry cool area. If moisture does leak in, simply break up the caked salt or dried in the oven with no harm.
Other uses for salt include curing, canning, brining and many house hold uses.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Butterfly Quilt is BORN!!
and this:
Butterfly Garden Quilt
I started this quilt, with the help and guidance of Jess as a kind of outlet for emotions. Almost like a journal you come back to when you need to release some emotions, creative arts can be a way to express yourself. Creating a quilt as a way to mourn a loved one may seem strange, but imagine wrapping a quilt around you, sewn with a year's worth of love and memories and changes. The finished product, like a flag of battles one and lost in the war you fight with yourself, loving and living with the ghost of someone lost.
Specific detail on how to make this quilt, our process and modifications from the original pattern are to follow in another post, but here's a little Craft Porn, as we call it, Cousin to Food porn, something any blogger might be familiar with. Enjoy!