angry chicken

happy almost new year!

I love holiday food. Like the kind you only eat during that particular holiday. I tend to cook whichever traditional food sounds the best to me at the time, but I do always make certain things no matter what, like the Swedish braid bread every Christmas. We usually have black-eyed peas New Years day, but I actually don't really dig it too much. This is odd because I love all beans a ridiculous amount, even lima beans, but black eyed peas are my least favorite. So, how about fried donuts, olie bollen, instead? Apparently these are traditional in Holland, practically the same thing!! Pete also just remembered the New Year's cake in Madeline's Christmas, with something hidden inside, but I couldn't find the book in the house, (he now claims he might have made this up, trying to get me to make a cake, no doubt) but here is a Greek version, vasilopita, eaten on New Year's, with a coin baked inside.

Okay, I hope everyone has a safe one and what out for those crazy drivers!

 

no longer in hiding-2

This bugger has been hiding until it's recipient had received her-and Sarah did open this early, completely ignoring my instructions to wait until Christmas eve. and, for the record, I waited about 5 minutes before I opened my package from her, so I am both impatient and a liar, at least she actually told me she cheated.

This is inspired by the sewing basket from this magazine. I knew Sarah wanted to make one and when I was out holiday shopping I found all these ribbons at a shop and then with some vintage trims I put this together. I had purchased these wonderful handles a bit back, and they were perfect. I lined it with cotton flannel and then used a creepy super stiff fusible interfacing that made it crazy stiff on the bottom only, so it holds it shape.

I also mated and framed this hand screened print from lovely design for my in-laws and my brother. They loved it, and I was so sorry to not hang one in our house. Maybe I will have to get one for us anyway. Oh! I also was able to mat frame up the Jen Corace watercolor-pure heaven, will photograph that soon. I think that is all for the top secret hiding projects, at least for now. I know someone has a b-day coming up. . .

no longer in hiding

We had a busy, jam packed, very lovely Christmas, and the girls made out like bandits. They also were little helpers making gifts for the grandparents. This little birdhouse has Sadie's hand-print on one side and Delia's on the other. I think I might finally working through my red and white obsession, but only slightly.
The Russian dolls were very well received. really. And I was sort of surprised, because they got a lot of toys,a whole heck of a lot, but they really got into the nesting dolls and Sadie sleeps with hers-which really is so sweet it makes me tear up. There is a bit of drama in the morning finding all the the parts, because it comes apart in bed. So incredibly satisfying because these took so long to paint and I loved mine so much from when I was little, I was really trying to play it cool and not get my hopes up too much if these never got any attention, so happy they are a hit!

I did get this-thank the lord. (and thank you, nice husband.) I will have to try it soon and report if it is really as life altering as I think it will be.

it's almost here!

Happy almost Christmas!

I little reminder for all of you who have extra time on their hands. . .ha!

Don't forget to make a holiday apron for Tie One On this month. Of course, you can make one after this weekend, but if you want to cover your holiday finery on Christmas day in style, grab some fabric (or a holiday tea towel) and sew up your apron. There have been some nice submissions already, which will be up in the gallery January 1st. This great Father Christmas image is from here.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and drive safe!

angry chicken meets super eggplant

I got to meet up with Mariko of super eggplant fame today and what a very nice visit it was! Mariko is sweet, down to earth and very easy to hang out with. I predict many a crafty get together and some general up to no good adventures in our future. The weather thwarted us the first time, but we finally got to exchange the goods and I walked away with some yummy cookies-ginger snaps type contraband with crystallized ginger and I think, pepper? and yummy toffee/cheery cookies, they both are gone now, and homemade hot coco mix, with a baggie of mini-marshmallows. yummy-pants..

The girls were not really in the mood to hang out so Pete sub-ed in a bit, thank you nice husband, and I reveled in the adult time-in person, not on the computer-which hasn't happened in way too long. . .

more mish-mash

I have been doing a lot of framing this year, especially recently, and finally framed a tiny showcase print and am so thrilled with how it turned out. I really love cutting mats-but it was a long haul to get to this place. I hated framing for so long, but had to learn when I started doing monoprint and working exclusively on paper. Framing a show would cost so much $$$, I had to learn to do it myself and fortunately I found the best mat cutter ever and have had it for a few years now, and it always does right by me. It's hard to explain in detail why this mat cutter is so great, but it has a system of pegs, so there is no real measuring, if you can imagine that. There is a jig, of sorts, and unless you use the wrong peg, it's impossible to screw up. It's also cheap, compared to other mat cutters, and if you have 5 pieces to frame, it will pay for itself. I also have to use museum board (4-ply, white) for my mats. I get very fussy about this-no paper mats, just rag. Sorry for the boring particulars, but framers will know what I mean,another reason I cut my own.
This lovely print by Catia Chien was a very belated b-day gift for a dear friend and framing it has motivated me to frame my other tiny showcase prints (but I haven't yet.)  I get my frames here and they include Plexiglas, which is great for shipping, but not so great for cleaning. But I do think the benefits outweigh the lamess of this material. I have more framing info here. . .

cookie report

Okay, the cookies are done. After a last minute burst of energy (oatmeal raspberry bars and the blondies) I decided enough was enough and pete and I and the small helpers packaged them up yesterday and popped them back in the freezer. Lats year I didn't keep them in the freezer and they got a bit goopy by the time they were all distributed. This year we have:

apricot jam thumbprints
raspberry oatmeal bars
blondies with almonds and dried cranberries
chocolate espresso pepper cookies
ginger pepper almond cookies
classic ginger bread men (and other shapes)
snicker-doodles
Russian teacakes

the sugar cookies didn't get rolled out and baked-I think the girls and I will do that this week and keep them for ourselves. I did just one batch of all the above and have about 14 bags (3-4 of each kind) with some left over. pete is hoarding the chocolate espresso and I am hoarding the thumbprints and the Russian tecakes.

whew. so, now we have snow here in Portland (which means mass hysteria here, everything shuts down and people stock up of water and batteries, and god knows what else, pizza??) and I have to keep myself away from all these cookies.

random bits

This is the best cat ever, Lionel. (no offense to his brother, David, who is not a laid back cat, but more of a pissy cat. but we love him very much anyway.)

I am a bit exhausted and have hit my head twice this week (I rock.) so I will post in list form because my narrative writing skills left with my most recent head bonk, which was about 2 hours ago-

1. I made these blondies and added dried cranberries and almonds. yummy and a bit gooey.
2. very much enjoying these posts:
    -why we blog, (scroll down) from lisa solomon, and hope to contribute soon.
    -eggnog recipe and writings from travelers lunchbox
    -thimble's great press on her wonderful needle cases
    -this amazing pattern from knitty by kay and cristina.how funny and dang cute are these?
    **there are more I am trying to link to, but typepad is suffering from head injuries as well, so I am not able to get to some posts.
3. I am making gifts like a mad woman, but the recipients read this blog, so I can't show what I have been up to.
4. I am super bummed that these, which I ordered, are out of stock. I really wanted them for the girls unpainted. why, I'm not sure, but you know how it is.
5. I am so excited to go to saint cupcake, thanks to super eggplant, I now know about these places in Portland.
6. pete and I ordered Camilla's calender and can't wait to see it in person.
7. I am trying to establish earlier bedtimes for the girls. But, they sleep in until 8 or 8:30am. every morning, so it's hard to complain. However I am wishing they slept about 15 hours a day lately. I mean this in the nicest way.(ha!)

my ears are so happy

I am now the proud owner of the perfect winter hat. Casey was kind enough to take me up on the hat for art swap and I couldn't be more thrilled. And holly cow, was she fast! We e-mailed a bit trying to decide on the perfect yarn and color blue and ended up deciding ivory was the best choice in Debbie Bliss 100% merino wool which is lovely and soft and showcases the stitch pattern so well. Look at how similar it looks to the hat I posted! Incredible. She seems to have a bit of pom-pom insecurities, but I love the pom-pom, and don't know what she is talking about.
 

on my head keeping my ears toasty. . .

The generous, very funny, and talented Casey gave me the pattern to post. She said it was a bit by the seat of her pants. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it makes sense. if you have questions, just post a comment and Casey and I can help you (I may not be much help) Thank so much Casey! **and I know I do have a pretty small head. Pete's is even smaller and the doctors have really noticed the girls tiny heads. hmmm.

Amy's Hat

Materials:

2 balls Debbie Bliss merino aran (100% merino wool, color 101, 78m/50g, 24 rows and 18 sts to 10cm) Note: manufacturer recommends 5mm/US 8 needles. I used 5.5 mm as the pattern stitch is dense. I do not know what my gauge was but I believe it was 6 st/inch.

Pattern Stitch:

Hat is knit flat (because I could not figure out how to make the pattern stitch work in the round!), using the plaited basket stitch from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. Requires an odd number of stitches.

 
Row 1 (right side): K2 * insert needle from back to front between first and second stitches on the left-hand needle, knit the second stitch, then knit the first stitch, then slip both stitches from the needle together; repeat from *, end K1

 

Row 2: P2, *skip next stitch and purl the second stitch, then purl the skipped stitch, then slip both stitches from the needle together; repeat from *, end P1

 

The hat:

I made the ear flaps first, starting by casting on three stitches then increasing two (on each ear flap) on each knit row. I made them at the same time, using both balls of yarn, mainly because I didn't know what I was doing and knew I wouldn't be able to repeat it. I increased every other row until I had 19 stitches for each ear flap, which was conveniently almost 3 inches long (had it not been, I would have ripped it out and increased every third or fourth row). The flaps were knit in the pattern stitch as best as I could accommodate the increases. Next I did something stupid: I tried to use a cable cast-on to cast on the body of the hat while the ear flaps were still on the needles. I probably should have cast-off both flaps, then cast on the body of the hat and picked up stitches along the top of each. But, whatever, it mostly worked. I picked up stitches like this:

 

CO 21---[PU 19 ear flap]---CO 42---[PU 19 ear flap]---CO 22

 

That totaled 123 stitches, which worked for me because I like a snug hat (123 stitches at 6 st/inch (which I am pretty sure was my gauge) is just under 21 inches—Amy told me her head was 23" (and I tried not to dwell for too long on how gigantic my melon is by compare), so I figured around 21 inches was good, given the stretch of the wool and the flexibility I found in my pattern swatch).

 

So, then I knit the hat flat in the pattern stitch for about six inches or so. The cast-off was another adventure, since I wanted to try to keep the decreases in the pattern stitch as best as I could. So I did two K2tog on the last row before the decreases, to get down to 121 stitches (I figured I needed an odd number for the pattern stitch, but that was very close to 120, which is divisible by six). Then, I did K1, then *K4, K2tog and repeated from the * around. I did a normal purl row (no deceases) but had to fudge a little to get into the pattern stitch ( i.e. I think I started with one purl stitch instead of two or something). On the next knit row, I did K1, *K3, Ktog, etc. I went on in this vein until I was just doing K2togs, and had about 10 left. I cut the yarn, threaded it through, tied it off, etc. I made the braids, a (lousy) pompom, and finished it up with a study mattress seam. I blocked the bottom edges of the hat, to keep them from curling up.

toys for small friends

I try to make easy and inexpensive toys for our small friends every year for the holidays.Last year it was silk scarves, which I bought in white and dyed (this was so much fun, I need to make make more, it was really easy and very cheap and the kids *loved* them) and this year I made these music/ rattle/wand/hippie things. I am so happy with them. They are straight out of the Renaissance fair.

I bought wood dowels (I like bass better than balsa, if you can find them, it's a bit harder wood, and splits less) drilled tiny holes with this superb hand drill, threaded thin wire through, added the bells and wood beads, and the twisted the wire around and then added the ribbons. This project is in this book,  The Children's Year . What is nice about this book is it has really basic illustrations and not a ton of instruction, more of an idea book really, so you can come up with your own variations/look easily.

I am really getting into the wood dowel toy thing. But, I have to report the bead at the end of the magic wand fell off. I think I need to either drill and screw it in, or skip it. And I wanted to add painted stripes to these guys above, but I know too many beaver children-like my own, who look at a stick of wood and think it's food. (what is up with that?)

folksy fabric

after a summer of japanese book binging, I realized I needed help. so, I subscribed to cotton friend, and then promised myself I would only go to the japanese book store when it came in (4 times a year) and I was even extra special good this time, because I had grammie pick it up for me so I didn't even get to look. She, however, didn't fair so well, and left with at least 2 new books for herself.

The cotton friend featured these wonderful folksy prints that are making me crazy/nutty.

here are some of the prints as dolly clothes. note the great kerchief and apron. I love the fabric hair.

this fabric wrapped basket is really wonderful (click for a big view). I have to try this very soon. baskets with lids are getting a ton of play around here since little red riding hood came out on halloween. Now Sadie is also using them to play Sal, and fill them with "blueberries" (which are wool felted beads. am I dying here, or what??) Sal is new for her, the last week or so she had been mostly Jane.

don't think I would have chosen that sweater with the above outfit, but that's just me.

I would just hang this on the wall as well, just beautiful.

 

more holiday and fabric gossip

I made these last year, a few weeks before miss Delia was born. I knew I would have time to make matching stockings with a new baby. They came out yesterday and are up, on the wall, because we have no mantel (or fireplace) but we can pretend we do. These are a total hable construction rip-off, in wool felt, I added a little letter, so we can put coal in the right one (that would probably be mine). I was debating about the "a" and "p"-should it be amy and pete or mom and dad? We decided on the first names. Sadie just really learned my name in the last few months. She has been yelling "pete" for a awhile now, Only when she really want him to play, which is very funny.

On the fabric gossip front, I got wind that Amy Butler is not doing anymore lines with Freespirit and her new collection will be with Rowan (home to Kaffe Fassett's line) I think this is pretty widely known now, but was new to me when I heard it last month. And for those of us who like to sew and sell stuff, there are some changes brewing out there about the legality of this. Kim brought this up a bit back-something to be aware of.

And Denyse Schmidt's new line, "Flea Market Fancy", with Freespirit, should be out soon-maybe early next year? I hope, I hope. There are 2 colorways and 34 prints. No solids, but a lot of monochromatic prints. I am very excited because I had thought her new line was going to be mostly solids. I am WAY more excited by the idea of new patterns. Very very excited.

holiday activities

We did the gingerbread house kit thing this weekend (nope, not making it homemade this year, that would require meds) and it was a huge success (as was the outfit for the princess party) I had never even noticed these kits before and it was so much fun. I ditched the plastic tray it came on (design nazi) and used masonite instead, then covered it with the icing. Sadie was so precise in her placement of the candy, very funny. And she's not a candy eater, just chocolate, so this this didn't cause any problems. The candy kind of problems. . .

There some amazing holiday ideas floating around right now, all so inspiring and lovely. I printed out this wonderful gift list by seamripper,(a free download under the "fun" category) and smile ever time I use it (via the small object, thank you.) Alicia has a beautiful chrtistmas village set up, and some amazing gumdrop wreathes. Hillary's tree is truly creative (dishtowel garland) and Stephanie is blowing my mind with her simple soft conical christmas trees. Amanda has great holiday kids book recommendations, Craftlog has wonderful felt yeti ornaments (yes, I said yeti.) and Thimble is linking to some really great things right now of the crafty gift variety. very cool. red current is linking to a crazy amount of crafts right now,most lately of the clothespin variety, brilliant.

With any luck, we will get the tree up and decorated in the next few days. The lower half will be bare, Delia is officially walking.

a dang good book

I bought this book, 52 projects, by Jeffery Yamaguchi, over the weekend and absolutely love it. It's poignant, honest, inspiring, and Jeffery is a great writer. It's not too sweet or self-helpy, just funny and real. This is the kind of book that is hard to write about because it's more like an event than a book. Or a way to look at life a bit differently. It's big (like big ideas, big) and it's one of those books where, even if you read just a few pages, you will remember what you read for a long time. It's all about projects. Creative projects like:

#19 write down the story of the best night of your life.
#27 take a picture of a kid you know, make a postcard out of it, and mail it to to the kid.
#41 create something during the time you are doing your laundry.
#22 write in the margins of your books.

Really great ideas, thoughts, and writings, just on how to live a creative life though these various projects. Also, I think it's really touched upon something very personal for me right now (especially with the holidays approaching- making gifts and selling gifts) which the notion that so much of what defines successful craft and art is the sale of it. Like if I sell a bunch of paintings, I am a good painter. Or if I sell a ton of quilts, or notecards, whatever. It's hard not to feel like the selling is the measure of the talent and of the success (or perceived success) of an artist. Also, in a practical sense, people who produce a lot of stuff (me) need to get it off our hands, so we can make room to create more stuff, but again, then there is usually an implied value to all this stuff even if it's traded or bartered. . .not just creating for the creating. Or creating just for the documenting of life-which is so important to being a participant in life, to me anyway.

Which is why I love this book and the website so much, it's about art in such a pure form to me. Not that other ways are unpure by any means, (or that it's a bad thing to make a buck from your crafts/art, which it most definitely is not, and I am continually grateful I can make a buck from mine) but when you create something you can't sell, or never intend to sell, it takes on a whole new artistic identity-and it's a different experience producing it. At least it is for me.

And I love the idea of collecting data, of any kind, and putting it into some kind of format, and then seeing the result. Organizationally, I find it very pleasing, and many of these projects involve this type of activity.

There is a wonderful interview with Jeffery Yamaguchi on this great site crafty pod. It's a podcast. I have read a lot about this book, and I think this interview is my favorite, and really sums up the ideas about it the best. Plus, I love listening to things. It's hard to stay focused long enough to read in depth on the computer with the babies crawling up my leg.

so, yes, another early gift for myself, but this is a really good one!

amazing kitchen wonders

This summer I was so excited by my pineapple cutter I got a bit nutty. My very good friend, Erin, told me her favorite life changing gadget around that same time-the apple peeling gizo, which is officially on my Christmas list (gross, I know, to actually post about items on my list, like a hint on the phone isn't good enough, but hey.)

So, Erin swears this changed her life, and I believe her. She and I take our apple desserts very seriously. The thing I didn't realize,she explained, is it actually peels, cores, and slices. The slicing is what got me. So, then, right into the crisp/pancake/pie it goes. Oh, modern technology can't improve upon this. And it's so old timey and off the grid, I love it. This one here is from L.L. Bean. I'm sure it's available in a shop here in town. I love hearing about life changing kitchen gadgets. My kitchen-aid is pretty high on the list, as is the french press.

hat help? trade?

It's supposed to snow today in town and I try to walk everyday with the girls (this is sometimes a horrible idea) and realized that although I have many hats,I don't have the right hat. my ears get really cold, I think they are super sensitive. I usually wear ear muffs way into April and keep them on in shops which is funny to me and keeps all the noise at a very nice low muffle.

I was making a Christmas list and found the exact hat I want. But it's at j.crew. which is fine, really, but I feel I should knit a hat. But, really, there is no way I'm going to knit a hat for myself right now. And I am a newish (and very slow) knitter. So, is anyone willing to do a trade? I would very happily trade 2 packs of my quilt cards and an animal print (unframed-take a peek at king pod to see these, also, I would trade 2 animals prints as well, if the cards don't float your boat-we can discuss) for a hat in soft wool-I understand there may be variations. The main important features here are the shape (ear-flaps) pom-pom, color, and the braided tails. I also love the texture-but can you amazing knitters just make something like this by looking at a photo? I have no idea, really. I am definitely a pattern only knitter and I looked a bit for a pattern like this and have found none, so now I am even more obsessed with this hat.

If anyone is interested in this-please let me know, Is this possible to do in a a week or so? like before the holidays? Or am I on the drugs? thank you!

**the swap is on! I felt a bit like an a-hole after writing this post. you know, asking for a gift FOR MYSELF to swap, but, I need a hat, and dang-it I just can't buy a non-handknitted one. Thanks for the offers and suggestions and tips. once again, hooray internet!