31.5

D has a late December birthday that is always a bit difficult to A) celebrate properly and B) separate from Christmas. So, we decided that we would try a new tradition of celebrating his 1/2 birthday.

I made him a carrot cake using this recipe and it's pretty heavenly if I do say so myself. I also got him a mandoline (the slicing kind, not the musical kind). I can't wait to have potatoes au gratin and all things julienned!

Happy 31.5th (?) birthday, D!

Grillin' Like a Villain

D is my grillmaster.


We bought a big bag of eggplant at Berkeley Bowl (the REAL Whole Foods) for $1. D doesn't even like eggplant, but he grilled me the entire bag. Is he not the greatest?

Amazing how many veggies I can take down once they're grilled. I dipped them in a little lemony, garlicky, yogurt sauce (Greek style) & I don't think they even lasted 3 days. Yipes. Oooh, so good. Can't wait to go back.

Inspired Stripes

Someone said these magic words the other day, "lemonade in a mason jar" and immediately, I wanted to build our entire wedding around that very image. Whether or not that actually happens, I was inspired to make this quilt with those colors (the green is the mint sprig in the lemonade, duh...or maybe it's a mojito).

I've been in a stripes phase, and I'm not sure I'll get out of it, but I can't help but feel like my quilting has regressed a bit. Whatever, I like fast, simple projects. I still need to find a proper back for it, but surely I will show you the finished product.

Doesn't it make you want to sit on it with a big ol' icy lemonade? Aaahhh.

Miss Maile is Two!

This little stinker, lover of "toffee" and "popo titis" (coffee and a purple blanket called titi), had a birthday last weekend.

She got a new birthday outfit to wear when not in her birthday suit...so that means she probably won't wear the outfit most of the morning.

I made a simple little skirt with matching appliqued Old Navy shirt. I replaced the belt on these Old Navy capris with the same coordinating fabric. Muy cute-a!

Happy Birthday Maile!

Making Mozzarella

I know I've been pretty absent lately - and the truth is there's been very little crafting (nothing crafted = nothing to blog). Mostly I've been working, visiting family, nesting, and obsessively researching wedding stuff. No plans of yet, but... stay tuned.

I did make a little time this morning to make some mozzarella. Once you get your hands on some rennet, it's quite simple. (I found mine at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco - otherwise, buying it online costs 5x the cost of the actual product...so instead I drove around for ~5 hours looking for the stuff to avoid a $6 shipping fee. Possible exaggeration.)

The book from whenceforth the recipe did cometh (look it up, it's totally proper English):

stir and warm up your milk and citric acid (yes, something I actually had lying around):

It will start curdling a little, but nothing compared to the clumping that happens once you add the rennet:

You actually don't have to stir fast and furiously, this is just how it looks when you turn your flash off:

See such clumpage?

You ladle it out, squeeze out the water, microwave it, squeeze, stretch, repeat until you get something like this. Wear gloves, it's hot!

Voila! His and hers mozzarella balls. Mine is the twisty, D's is the roundy moundy.

It was a little rubbery and not salty at all. Next time, I'll do a little less squeezing/pulling and a lot more salting. But a quick, satifying activity always makes me happy.

Miss B's Baby Blanket

My friend is having a baby girl! So I made her a girly blanket to curl up on, make a fort under, turn into a "boat" along which she can line up her stuffed animal passengers and save herself from hot lava....you know, the usual.


I'm in a stripes phase right now - can't get enough.


I can't wait to meet her!

Helado

I moved this past weekend (world's worst activity), and so I thought it a great time to accumulate another bulky appliance - an ice cream maker! I had wanted one for so long...


And while I should have been packing boxes, I decided that it was much more fun to make brown butter salted pecan ice cream (I made that up).

Anyhow, I used up excess ingredients in my pantry, so, it was sort of like packing.

Guess What?

It's a breathtaking view, isn't it?

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Onions...It's What's For Dinner

Yes I did just eat 9 onions for dinner...but they're called "calçots" and they're my new favorite thing. We first learned about them on the Spain - On the Road Again series. And now I've noticed them on menus all over the place. (I never did see or eat them when I was in Spain, however)

Basically, they're grilled green onions (I broiled instead). I'm sure they taste better dipped in aioli or romesco-esque sauce, but I just used olive oil and salt and pepper and they were delicious. And while I ate them as my main, they're more of an appetizer.

As a sidenote, the onions came from our friend, Bill's, garden. He has this giant garden that my mom and sister (and I, when in San Luis) raid on a regular basis. This year, we decided to "sow" what we "reap" and so we spend the morning helping Bill in his garden by raking and tilling and staking and trellising and shoveling and maybe eating a couple strawberries and learning alot about making a garden (not that we were total novices, but...). Already growing were artichokes, onions, brussel sprouts, sweet peas, and strawberries. I got a big bag of fava beans from Bill's father-in-law, which I forgot in San Luis (drats!! I know my dad will do me proud with those beans).

Man, it was fun, rewarding work. I can't wait to see what we did to his garden - yipes!

Savannah Sites

Some of my favorite photos from Savannah:

Maybe this one will turn into a quilt someday...

Back in the Saddle

My absenteeism is due to an awesome east coast adventure to NYC, Philadelphia, DC, and Savannah. Photos forthcoming (maybe).

It took me a couple days to get back into the groove of life. Luckily, I still haven't had to go back to work yet so I have some time. I only started sewing again today.

Firstly, my little train-lovin' guy is turning 4 in a couple days! He needs a proper shirt for the occasion, especially since it happens to be National Train Day and the party will be at the train station. Remember when I got this fabric last time I was in NYC?


And while we were in Savannah, I was inspired to make this:


The town has recently been overrun (in a good way) by the Savanna College of Art and Design. They had this store just for the students to sell their art. I was inspired by these pillows, which have hand-embroidered chairs on them (got the ol' wheels turning, that's all I'm sayin'). And I was going to hand-embroider the bicycle, but For whatever reason decided to try machine free-motion embroidering instead. I kinda like it. Of course, it's not in a pillow form or anything at this point - I just got excited to blog about it.

It needs something though...like tassels dangling from the handlebars or a basket with flowers or something. Ideas? Maybe I'll make a few more. It literally took me 10 minutes to make. Gotta love that.

Ok, nap time. Stay dry out there!

Pillow Revision

These pillows are much better than my original attempt/vision. Well, these don't even really look like my 2nd vision either. I start out with one idea and the end product is usually quite a bit different. I banned rulers (a challenge for me) and pinning (not so much) from the initial piecing process.



I think I got the reddish/rust color right this time. I found it in some napkins I intended on embellishing from Crate & Barrel 100 years ago (they were never actually embellished).

I love how they turned out! I feel so Gee's Bend about the whole thing - using a mix of already-have (red, chocolate, linen, and teal corduroy) and new (white linen/cotton). I hope she likes them too!

Cinnamony-ish

This was intended to be a gift, but I got the color wrong - too much brown, not enough red. I'll make another with the right color. But since I don't know where this is going, I can't decide on a backing. Hmmm...I'll probably just let it sit in my UFO pile for a few months.

My favorite part is the two different whites - kona cotton and some linen from, you guessed it, the Anthro bedskirt. What?! I just keep finding pieces of it!

Uh-Oh

What have I begun?

Cozy Bundle

The baby blankie/quilt for my sister's friend is all done! I had a special request for a "cozy" blankie, and it is cozy indeed! I am so in love with the top that I might just make several more like it. I had envisioned binding it with a contrasting color, but as it turns out, the blue backing peeks around the edges so it looks like binding and achieved the look I was going for.


I quilted together the top and the batting (no backing). Then I sewed the soft chenille-ish backing to the top and topstiched around the edge. I prewashed it because it's been all over the floor. Plus, then you know how it's going to look after its loved (theoretically).

Stripey

This idea came to me while I was riding my bike. Random fact. I pedaled extra fast to get home to assess my inventory, then went right over to Peapod to get my stripes on.

I am so impatient.

Should be done soon...

Dinner

Someday, someone will tell me this is not an appropriate dinner.



Until then...bon apetit!

Mission Accomplished

My less-expensive, but more time-consuming interpretation of this blanket is all done! Yay!


This was supposed to be a simple, quick, easy quilt. But then I went ahead and decided to piece the top - as in, cut up a perfectly good stretch of fabric to then sew it back together again...you know, for visual interest. And then I tried to be "green" and "resourceful" by using a leftover duvet cover as the backing, which I'm not sure was cotton, that stretched and wrinkled and puckered all over the place - it's sort of a disgrace, really.

Yes, this is the top - big and simple (or, as we would say in our house, "big ole, simple ole" or "biggly ole, simply ole"...and "wrinkly ole!"). And you can't see my "visually interesting" patchwork, but it's there and really interesting. Trust me.

The back:

sidenote: I did utilize my 11th grade clothing and textiles skills to burn the fabric to try and figure out the fiber components - I think the white backing is 100% cotton after all.

Long story long, the top of the quilt turned out exactly as I envisioned it (despite all my perfectionistic whining). The back of the quilt, well, should probably never be seen. But is definitely soft, and 100% made of fabric I already had lying around, of which I am proud.

How long do you suppose it will be before I start cutting a new quilt? I think probably tomorrow...

Etsy-Bitsy Baby Steps

I actually posted something on Etsy!

Since I don't know how this whole thing works, I just started with something small (I'm talking really small). I am a low-risk kind of gal, if you haven't noticed. If all goes well, perhaps I'll up the ante (no pun intended).

A horizontal and vertical version:

I couldn't sell the owl ones because I borrowed the design, Fooey!

...but yay!

Red Doors

I have a little thing for red doors. I just love them.


Apparently this has been going on a while, since I made this back in college. I was going through a little amateur watercolor phase. I never got beyond amateur...if that.

Happy Friday!

Home Stretch

I think basting a quilt is my least favorite part. Probably because I lack the space to properly lay it out. I also realized I don't have enough pins (and now I have puckers on the back). This is the biggest quilt I've tackled on my own (somewhere between a full and queen) and because I'm using a linen/cotton blend, this sucker is heavy!

I'm keeping the quilting simple with horizontal stripes at different intervals. I hope to have it complete by the weekend. Yay!