Saturday, July 31, 2010

Good intentions, Fulfilled

Almost a year ago, I wrote this super-lame post. I remember having a bee in my bonnet (surprise!) that day and, well, the motivation was short-lived.

Now that I have no wedding to plan, I keep getting canceled from work, and all my baby gifts are made, I had no choice but to take care of unfinished business. My original intention was to make a lap quilt or even twin-size, but I settled for a baby quilt. But I truly love it!! Simple and modern with a traditional pattern, and I tried to go unisex...not sure about that one.

all washed and crinkly:


the back:


Today, you get real photos! Yay! But that's only because I had semi-decent light. It's 50" x 40", backed with an Anna Maria Horner print.

If you were a baby boy, could you rock this quilt? Or do the flowers push it over the edge? Maybe it's better for a girl who just isn't the tutu type.

I think a high kick is in order. *high kick*

Friday, July 30, 2010

5 Minute Ice Cream

Thinking in my car is usually a pretty dangerous thing... not dangerous for drivers, but you can be sure I'm brewing a plan in my head that must be executed immediately upon my arrival home. Naturally, I threw down my bags, fired up the double-boiler, and went straight to work. In 5 minutes, I was done.

Yesterday's drive home inspired this: Machine-Free Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream (Marilyn, this one's for you)


Which literally took me 5 minutes to make. I had made this Banana Chocolate ice cream a couple days ago, and I was pretty pleased. I substituted Kahlua for the Bailey's, which didn't freeze so well because Kahlua has a higher alcohol content than Bailey's. And so I simply ended up adding more milk, which helped it better solidify. But the taste of alcohol was quite pungent. Drunky Monkey Ice Cream, we'll call it.

On this second go-around with the raspberries, I used Frambois, which has similar alcohol content to Bailey's. The taste of alcohol is much more subtle, and since I was too lazy to blend up the frozen raspberries, there are little chunkies, which I prefer.

As far as ice creams go, this one is fairly low-fat (if you worry about that sort of thing). Only 2 oz chocolate chips and regular milk will do. The rest is just alcohol and fruit. And the great thing is, since there's no machine involved, you don't need to pre-freeze your ice cream-maker bowl! So, it's total instant gratification - that is, if you can wait the 4 hours for it to freeze. Do yourself a favor, make it before you go to bed, and then it will be ready first thing in the morning. I like to call that multitasking!

The yield is smallish, so if you don't like it, no worries! But if you love it, you can experiment with lots of flavors without all that commitment. :) Enjoy!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

My Girls

Well, they're not MY girls, but I like to call them mine. :)

And I'm especially proud when they wear the things I've made them.

Here's Maile in her way-too-big-for-her skirt and her 3 shirt. "Maile, how old are you?" and she hold up the OK sign with her little hands.


And Malia, who built her whole outfit around the headband I mad her (mom). *Snif* this makes me so proud.


I'm not yet done with the hipstamatic and polaroid photos, so just ride this thing out with me, ok?

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Get Me Some Honey, I Have a Pot

We bought this. We had to. We had no choice.

You can see why. Now we need some honey.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Shirt Factory

This blog is one of my all-time favorite sources of inspiration. Every quilt is perfect, her photos amazing, her ideas genius. And so prolific...sheesh.

And again, I was so inspired by a shirt she made (seen here), I had to make it right away! I even uesd the same fabric (embarrassing!), I thought it was so fabulous. I don't make myself clothes very often as they look so, well, homemade. Which I guess is sort of coming back in, but still...


And I love it!! I used my little owl stamp to make a "tag"...which is nothing more than tweed ribbon stamped with an owl, duh. Clothes look so much less handmade with a tag, don't they?

I made a practice shirt first, the first version of which was WAY too small (is that why they put measurements on the back of the pattern? To actually measure yourself by?) And so it's been gifted to a petite friend of mine :)


I've actually worn both shirts on more than one occasion, so I suppose that's a good sign. I got the purple fabric at Peapod (both times). The blue fabric at SuperBuzzy. Pattern is simplicity 3835 (measure yourself before buying fabric and cutting up your pattern).

Monday, July 19, 2010

Missing Three


She insisted on wearing just her bathing suit with Uggs and water wings - even though it was going to be a couple more hours before we hit the water.

This might be my favorite photo of all time.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Going Places


I went on a bike ride today to one of my favorite San Francisco destinations, the Warming Hut, appropriately named. It's a cozy little coffee shop/gift shop right next to the Golden Gate Bridge. Today it was icy cold and foggy, but I found refuge (and a little inspiration) in the Warming Hut.

I bought my friend a passport cover made with a recycled map of her SF neighborhood (can't seem to find it online, nor can I find the maker). And I got inspired to make one for Darren and myself.


I used iron-on vinyl because there was no matte contact paper within walking distance...and when you have a bee in your bonnet, you just go with what you've got. It seemed to work out just fine. I used some clear (non-adhesive) vinyl for the tiny interior side pockets (to keep your passport from flying out - pun totally intended). And I sandwiched magazine response cards between the laminated maps to stabilize the whole thing and give it a center crease.

Darren got one with NYC and I made one for myself with San Luis Obispo. I have maps lying around because I like to wrap presents with them, but you could probably use any paper subject you like. Maybe I'll try fabric next!

Not sure when we'll need our passports next, but when we do, we'll look pretty rad.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Burp Cloth Factory


Remember the 12 girls at work who are pregnant/have had babies in June, July, and August? Well, the burp cloth factory is officially open.

I tried my very hardest to use fabrics I already had in my stash - and I think I did pretty well (yay for using up stash, and there was actually some pretty great stuff in there - glad I looked!). However, I couldn't resist the Jay McCarroll tomato print for the I'm-not-sure-what-we're-having crowd. I think it's pretty gender neutral. Also, I might have accidentally purchased too much of the blue dots (woops!), so I had to use that too. Most of the girls are having baby boys, so that works out.

I'm going camping for a few days, so the factory will have to close for now. Don't worry, camping = time to think up new projects. Mwahahah.

Sunday, July 04, 2010

4th of July Sewing

Enjoying the morning off, I made my niece a belated birthday outfit (bad, Auntie).



The polka dot fabric is my new favorite. I bought it on sale yesterday at Peapod. I might have to buy more in every color.

Happy 4th of July! I'm going to have a one-man BBQ now.