Hold Everything & Roast Tomatoes

This year hasn't been so good for tomatoes in California, but my mom had a nice little backyard crop. And thankfully, they're still plentiful in the farmers markets.... because you must make these immediately!


It will take you all of 4 minutes to prepare. You do have to roast for 3 to 4 hours, but when these puppies come out of the oven, you will thank me. You will, I'm telling you.

Juicy, sweet (I mean, like candy sweet), and healthy (did that kill the appeal?)! They're better cold, but I am totally not discriminating.

Here's how you do it:

• Preheat your oven to 275F
• Cut your medium-sized tomatoes in half (cut top to bottom)
  
• Toss them with a little olive oil
• Put them on a cookie sheet, cut side UP
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper
• Roast them in the oven for 3 to 4 hours
  
• Take them out when they're wrinkly and a little syrup-y
• Send Sara a thank you note

So easy. So delicious.

Dry Spell

I've had a bit of a dry spell. We've been traveling and not much creating has been going on around here. I did make a baby quilt for my friend's new little girl, but did I take a photo before sending it off? No. I forgot. But, I have another one very similar, so once that's complete, I'll show you that one (does that sentence have too many commas?).

Because I am so awesome, I break the dry spell with reusable snack bags (!) that I will probably not use (or reuse). Not that I'm opposed to it - these particular ones are just a bit too juvenile for me to bust out in the nursing lounge without having to defend... Anyhow, I made them with a former nursing friend in mind. She dislikes (and doesn't use) plastic snack baggies, so I'm going to send these to her for some testing out/feedback. She and her two little ones can try them out.

Enough talking, here are the bags.


Some new orange polka-dot fabric, lined with royal blue ripstop, and Velcro to close it up. It would have been awesome of me to make them sandwich-sized. Woops - next time.


I got super fancy on my first attempt with iron-on vinyl and a peek-a-boo window...


However, there was a major design flaw...


Pretzels falling out the back when shut is no bueno. I should have made the inner flap shorter than the outer, and put the Velcro on the outer flap. But I hated the black binding, it was too labor-intensive, and now I have a reason to can the design.

More Pre-Travel Projects

Speaking of pre-travel sewing, I made these before our trip last month to New York.

They're coffee cozies, in case you were wondering.

I have been eyeing this butterfly fabric for a while, and now it's my Peet's-size coffee cozy. (I have an assortment in my purse for various sized cups)


And a little piggy cozy for our friend, who some affectionately refer to as "Pork" - I don't get it, don't ask. I just go along with it :)


Are you almost sick of this fabric? Hopefully not, because I still have some left. Bear with me.

Pre-Travel Sewing Project

Often times, I feel this strong urge to make something just before we leave for a trip (We're going to Thailand and Singapore, by the way - last-minute idea). It doesn't necessarily cut into packing time, or make us late, but it just is part of the packing process.

Today, it was imperative that I try out my ability to make zipper pouches. It just was. I used my funky new hot pink fabric I bought at Bolt in Portland.

Here's the little money purse I'm taking along as my wallet. It's a bit silly-lookin', but it gets the job done.


And here's the little upgraded boxy pouch that is now my makeup holder.


And now we can depart :) See you next week!

Malia's Birthday Duvet

My little baby niece turned 9 today!! How did that happen?!

My sister and her family just moved into a new house, and she got a nice new bedroom which she is decorating in a beachy/ocean theme. So, naturally, she needed a new duvet cover to go with the room.

This give me an idea!

I chose "beach glass" tones of Kona cotton - blues, greens, gray, and cream.


I backed it with a sheet in the same hue.


If I was super-awesome, I would have made it into a quilt, but... I might have needed 2 more months to wrestle that beast into a quilt. But I love the way it looks, just as it is. Rumor has it, it's already on the bed! Yay!!

Happy Birthday, Malia! I love you.

Buried Treasure

I'm in use-it-up mode right now, trying to simplify my life/home. I found some leftover quilt squares from this quilt hiding in one of my "crap baskets." And lookie - enough to make a little bitty baby quilt!



I pieced the batting , backed with natural/grayish linen, quilted horizontally, and bound with the fabric originally included in the quilt kit (but never used). Everything was already in my stash. Nothing was purchased. Yay!

This quilt kit was so extra awesome because there was enough leftover fabric to also make 2 of these quilts! (I gave one as a baby gift, and now he calls it his "Sara Cano blankie" - it's pretty much the kind of thing I live for).

I think this quilt kit is oficially dead. I'm OK with that. We had a good run.

So, now instead of quilt squares in a ziploc baggie hanging around the house, I have a whole quilt hanging around instead :)

F Pillow

I had a more creative (read: racy) title for this post, but I'll keep it clean...

Almost a year ago, I made these pillows to match our then-new sofa. I had a third pillow form that I've been hemming and hawing about since then. I made the top earlier in the year, but couldn't figure out what to back it with (not enough blue corduroy). I would bring out the top, get frustrated, and then put it away.

So, while I was looking for fabric for a different project, I came upon the red/pink and knew instantly that it was the one (I'm talking like I found true love or something of actual importance)! It tied in perfectly with the other two pillows. Plus, it matches my inspiration board that also hangs in the room (inconspicuously). And it happened to be the perfect amount of fabric required.

F stands for Fiore (our last name)

the back

I feel like it needs a little red accent on the front, like a little appliqued heart. But then D reminded me that I'm not big on hearts. Oh yeah.

Super high kicks for this project. I love it, I love it, I love it!

Blueberry Jam

We needed more jam like a hole in the head, but I had a bee in my bonnet, and you know how this story ends.

The recipe was found in this most awesome book. It took about an hour to make and yielded only 4 jars of jam, but I'm fine with that. It's so delicious and thick and pretty!

Marshmallows, First Draft

Canceled from work again, I have to find ways to keep myself busy.

What better way than to try my hand at marshmallow-making?


I used this* recipe and Tahitian vanilla from our honeymoon. What I loved about this recipe is that it required no candy thermometer. Next time, I'll mix it up with some different flavors. But for now, I have about one million marshmallows to finish up first.

And yes, of course I tried them in s'more form. They browned and melted quickly, but they made for a pretty decent s'more....and I know my s'mores.

*a couple notes on this recipe.

1. I know it sounds weird, but the gelatin smelled kinda funky (it was brand new from the store). The funk was enhanced by the heat of the sugar mixture, but did go away once the marshmallows cooled. I still think I smell it a little (could be in my head), and for this reason will probably add a stronger flavor in the future.
2. These set up quickly! You won't be able to make two flavors at once unless you separate out the ingredients at the beginning. And BTW, I needed a 9x13 pan to fit all the fluff.
3. Do yourself a favor and lightly dust the plastic wrap with powdered sugar after putting it in the dish, and before dumping in your fluff. I had a sticking situation yesterday, but fared OK in the end.
   

Another Bib

I simply couldn't let those blue polka-dot scraps go to waste, could I? I love this bib. So much so, it makes me want to start drooling and eating pureed peas.

Kidding.

The colors are a bit distorted, but trust me, it's a good one. I also used leftover scraps from the backing & binding of this quilt.

See how it matches the burp cloth I made? A little gift set!

And my favorite part of all is the binding. I bought it last year at the SF Quilt Show for $.50. I hadn't used it since this post, but I knew it would come in handy. Turns right into binding with my handy little bias tape maker.

Wee!

Manly Baby Bib

More free time + giant scrap bin =

back:

My favorite part is that the blue bit is corduroy! Can you stand it? And someday it will be crusted with rice cereal or something pureed like that...But I'm OK with it.

By the way, there is no "baby"...in case you were wondering...
I just like small projects, that's all. Making a bib for a grown man is just too big an undertaking.

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*

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!

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?

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.