angry chicken

playing librarian

We were reading a used book at bit back and the girls asked me what the card in the back was for—it was from a school library, back when they used library cards. They have been playing librarian since they were little but always used a pretend scanner, 'cause, you know, that's what they use now. But the cards are so cool. And the official stamping of the cards is an activity that can't be beat.

Then I forgot about all this and went on with life. Later, in an art store, I saw a pack of blank library cards and pockets. I didn't buy them, but pointed them out to the girls. Again, we moved on. But then they asked about them later that day. And then again. By this time I also was getting excited about them, because they are exciting.

I'm going to have to design some, I thought. But laziness reminded me to check the internet first. There must be something available free online—and there was. A whole heck of a lot. So, I printed these out using a free template (thank you Creature Comforts) and now they are playing librarian and actually lending books to friends, and I am playing librarian, too and putting them in my craft, sewing, and cookbooks, which I do lend out occasionally. I know I could use bookplates, but then I couldn't play librarian. And collect overdue fees.

I love the internet.

Pake (that's a pie inside a cake)

This pake was made for a recent event by mariko and when she told me she was bringing pake I thought it was a typo for cake, but no—it's a pie in a cake. It was very tasty and brought up several turducken references. I think she used a recipe similar to this one, but it basically was a small cherry pie cooked in chocolate cake mix and frosted with a whipped cream cream cheese frosting.

So wrong, yet so very right. Cutting into it was absolutely thrilling, I have never seen so many iphones in action so fast.

pudding cake of honey, cinnamon, & plums

This is the first thing I have made from Ripe, and it was really good. I made this a few weeks ago. I baked it about 15 minutes longer than it called for, but besides that I kept to the recipe. I even had golden syrup, thanks to Cost Plus. We ate it with stiff whiped cream the girls made by shaking it up in a jar. It was almost butter actually, but I'm not complaining.

Unrelated:

• I am really in love with this dress from Suno. With these shoes.

• The Rhinestone Cowboy aprons are due soon for Tie One On—August 1st. Bedazzle it!

summertime vanilla lemonade

The girls asked if they could make lemonade and I said yes. We hadn't before, which I realized was weird. We always have lemons. And sugar. And two of them like to drink it. It was really fun! It actually kept them busy for a long time. I let them cut the lemons (with a small serrated knife) and juice away. They made the simple syrup in the microwave and then we added about a tablespoon of homemade vanilla extract, which was soooooo good. We used this recipe and just added the vanilla to taste. It makes it taste like a cream soda. Outstanding.

Sadie asked if we could have a lemonade stand and I was smirking at what we'd put on our sign "artisanal hand-crafted organic lemonade with fair-trade Madagascar vanilla beans steeped for 6 months—locally made and brewed in Portland, OR." Portlandia skit fodder. I'd have to figure out a way to make it bike-powered. Maybe a lemonade stand by bike? On bikes we built ourselves.

We grew up making lemonade with a scoop of Country Time and water from the hose, right? And that's how you make a profit, baby!

two DIY books that I really like

I just bought two smallish and very pleasing books put out by Microcosm Publishinng that are making me extremely happy. Fix Your Clothes, by Raleigh Briggs is a super handy book about mending, repairing, and extending the life of your clothes.

Much of this helpful information I already knew, but for a new sewer, or for someone who doesn't do a ton of mending, it's so helpful. It's small (and short, 50 pages) portable, and very nice to hold. And it's ideal for thrifters, vintage clothes collectors, and anyone into not tossing their clothes because a button pops off or a zipper is stuck. There is something deeply pleasing and satisfy about mending and making clothes last.

Bonus—it has a small section about waterproofing your fabric, which i find so fascinating and slightly bizarre. I have to try this. And like her other books, this one is all hand lettered, which I love more than I can say. I got all crazy about her other book, Make Your Place, a couple years ago, and I still use that book all the time and still buy it for friends. Since then I have bought all her books and zines— I love everything she has done.

I'm also into this book, Homesweet Homegrown, by Robyn Jasco. It's about how to grow, store and harvest food. Both books have information that can be found in other books, online, etc, but they present these ideas in such a pleasing easy-to-understand way, like a friend talking to you, that I just keep going back to them. They both have that great combination of giving you enough information to do it, but not overwhelming you with too many details, or trying to make it perfect. There's cooking recipes in here, too.

The "make" section is where I hang out the most.

There's a handy list of edibles with grow times, spacing info, etc.

And I am totally going to do the plant-in-a-bag. Not the most visually pleasing planting method, but there's a simple directness and pragmatic quality to this I find very amusing, so I have to try it.

I need to give Microcosm a big shout out here—they publish and distribute zines, books, magazines, and also sell patches, buttons, t-shirts, and all the things I get worried will go away eventually, but I sure hope they never do.

maid costume research

Some formal maid costumes have been requested for some time now. I have started one and am facing the reality that I will have to make three. These images I printed from Downton Abbey have me a bit nutty, they are so lovely. This head piece is killing me. I am using Simplicity 2843 for the black maid dress. It's a simplified version of view B.

I love doing this so much. Well, I love swing the first one, but the second and third versions get a bit tedious, especially when they are so similar. I will have to mix it up a bit. As much as maid costumes can vary, anyway. I try to get thrills where I can.

They want the 5-year old to be  "tweenie" and I was laughing that they even knew what that was, but they do, from a book about Victorian servants I got them a bit back. I had to look it up. They love every book in this series.The illustration style is not what they usually are into, but there is something about these books that they can't get enough of. Maybe because they are filled with very interesting and gruesome facts.

baked goods at an ice cream shop

The lines at the NW 23rd Salt & Straw have been pretty insane since they opened. We keep trying to go and keep leaving before we can get in. And then we talk about how it would be funny to buy a bunch of bad ice cream bars and try to sell them to all the people waiting in line. Salt & Straw makes pretty fancy ice cream, but ice cream isn't my favorite dessert, so it hasn't been a huge bummer for me. But then, a very trusted source told me that the NW location has baked goods that are outstanding. I was intrigued.

When we noticed last week in the middle of the day that there was no line out the door, we dashed in and were so overwhelmed with ice cream and topping choices (artisanal, super-fancy, flavors here) that in a panic we option for just baked goods and a double shot of espresso. It just wasn't ice cream time for any of us, but no one in my family will say no to a baked item. Ever. There were so many choices, all baked in house. The simple cinnamon sugar doughnut was perfect and the sweet (and slightly salty) orange filled donut almost made me cry a little bit. Now my plan is to only go when they open, early in the morning, and get coffee and the baked items. They sell pints of ice cream so I can always take some home.

I'm excited by the amazing sounding toppings. I like toppings and sauces more than ice cream and the idea of one of their toppings on some cake or a fruit dessert sounds so good, I wonder if I can just buy the toppings to take home? Or ask them to put a topping on a baked item I order. That might be a little weird, but I bet it would be so tasty! Actually that would be so wrong and funny—if I ordered a donut with a topping. I am totally doing that next time I go in. "Can you please just pour it in the hole. . ."

more about thread

I finished up this cross stitch after taking a 4-year break from it. It was the perfect project to finish at the beach. I used dark teal floss on a light brown linen. The pattern is by Mary Riggs inspiried from Quaker samplers. I can't find the pattern online, but it's from her Sampler Ornaments 8, if you want to ask your local needlework shop about it.

There are a few mistakes and some lazy thread floats on the back, which you can see through the linen, but I still love how it turned out. I have already started a similar pattern with red thread which I have messed up in a bout of over-excited stitching and am now taking out. Or plan to take out, but haven't yet. I really have mellowed with my cross stitch angst. I usually don't do well with projects sitting for any length of time. I need to get them done. With this new one, I know I may not finish for 4 more years and that feels just fine. If I only work on my stitching at the beach or on vacation, so be it. It might not fit into everyday life right now. That makes it even more special in my mind.

Like with knitting, the wanted to do this after watching me. And, similar to knitting, they had tried cross stitch when they were younger, and it was too hard. Now seem to really enjoy it. I made sure to pack a little project for the older girls to take to the beach just in case they wanted to try. The 5 year old uses sewing cards, the hard cardboard kind you sew with shoelaces, which she loves.

My knitting has cooled a bit. The sock class I took in April, while so interesting, kind of burnt me out. I just don't do well with knitting homework, especially on size 0 needles. But I have some projects in my brain. And I certainly have a lot of yarn.

unrelated-

We saw Brave and liked it a whole lot and Pete and I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild, which had some beautiful imagery—but overall I was disappointed. I think I read too many "this is the most amazing film ever" type reviews.

knot, thread, stitch

cross-stitched buttons by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

a project by Kate Bingaman Burt

A portrait by Delia Matern of her Dad (machine-stitched by me)

I am really proud to be included in this wonderful new book by my friend, Lisa Solomon, Knot Thread Stitch: Exploring Creativity through Embroidery and Mixed Media. I have known Lisa and admired her art and online presence since my very first days of blogging. Her work with thread has always blown me away. I love Lisa's down-to-earth and friendly writing voice. You can read about her own thoughts and the process of making this book here. (scroll down.)  This book is close to my heart, it's all about working with thread, and the projects take you to unexpected places. Totes, t-shirts, shrinky-dinks, pet portraits, sashiko, it's wonderful. Very fun and very happy. It's a happy book. The whole thing makes me smile.

My contribution was stitching a free-motion portrait that Delia drew of her Dad, which is the last photo here. The dots she always draws on his face are his whiskers.

Congrats Lisa, it's amazing!

Florence

We had so much fun last month working on a Florence Nightingale theme. I think they were into it for about 6 weeks, or maybe longer. We read everything we could get our hands on from the children's/youth section at the library. I put everything on hold and it all comes in really fast. There is so much, both non-fiction and historical fiction about her, I was really surprised. One of my favorite parts about doing this kind of learning is that we are always discussing how the biographies differ—what is left out, or over-simplified or conflicting information. Florence had a pretty troubled relationship with her parents and sister and the pressure to marry and this was fascinating to learn about for all of us. As was the concept of nursing being an unfit profession for a lady at that time.

All three girls get into the themes in different ways, but they all were intrigued by the filth and horrible conditions of many hospitals at the time of the Crimean War. There was much discussion of rats, raw sewage, and hand washing.

We did a play at the end of this theme. Well, not really a play but, what do you call this—live role paying? Sadie appeared in costume as Florence Nightingale and explained all about her life and answered questions from the audience (which included her parents and Grammie) while her trained nurses administered medicines and treatments to their injured soldiers.

We made the costumes up super fast. I wanted to sew new costumes, of course, but I didn't want to lose the momentum we had going and it's pretty fun using what we have in creative ways. So they wore prairie dresses I had sewn them last year and added nurse caps. Florence wore a long skirt of mine pinned in back and a velvet blazer she had—it's all about the hair and lace cap with Florence anyway, and the lamp, which her dad made from paper about 2 minutes before the show.

Before the performance Sadie took notes and thought about what she would say about her life and I told her the types of questions we would ask. She was so great off-the-cuff and her ability to remember all the details about Florence's life was pretty impressive. Delia corrected her a few times, which was cool to.

It made me realize how much learning we do by talking. All day we talk about what we are learning, and discuss specific details of who we are learning about. They are really comfortable talking about the facts of history and also about how the people we learn about may have felt. We talk a lot about emotions and reenact a lot. It's pretty amazing to watch this kind of learning unfold.

that pygmy goat

4th of july and a special relationship with a dessert

We had a lovely 4th of July with family at my Aunt and Uncle's annual archery contest up in Sandy, near Mt. Hood. I was not shooting my best, but the food was delicious. The patriotic dessert table was a highlight as was holding newborn babies, bringing home 2 dozen fresh eggs, and falling in love with a pygmy goat.

I made this red white and blue trifle. I bonded with it and now am thinking about endless variations. Even though I am a huge tiramisu fan (or maybe because of that?) anything with ladyfingers. It feels so magical—layering ingredients, chilling, and voilà, it becomes a cake! It reminds me of the thrill I get making zebra cake.

I gave a lot of thought (too much, some might say) as to what I should bring to this event. I always bring a side dish and a dessert, usually a buckle, pie, or cake. They travel welI and are always popular. But, I was itching to do something different. I also wanted it to be red, white and blue. And it had to travel. There were issues. I decided putting the finished trifle (while still in the pan) into a cold cooler was key. It's a long drive.

The benefits of the trifle were many—it was super fast to make the night before and required no baking. Serving it was easy. It sliced into tidy pieces because it was still cold, so it never looked pre-chewed the way some desserts look when sitting out too long being hacked into for hours. It also used up a lot of hoarded berries making room for berry hoarding this year.

I stuck to the recipe. A spring form pan is crucial. I used a mix of frozen berries that I had and didn't worry about making one layer red and one blue. It was all good.

I did use purchased mascarpone but next time I will make it myself from this wonderful book because (A) I can. (B) I had to buy heavy cream for this, so why not just buy a bit more? 'Cause that's all mascarpone is — cream and vinegar and some time. And the almost $5 for 7 oz. was irritating.

As much as I loved the clean and simple flavors of this dessert, after eating it, I felt a strong urge to add chocolate. If fact, the next day chased a piece with chocolate chips and it was even better. At least in my mouth it was. I love berries and semi-sweet chocolate, so I think a chocolate ganache drizzle between layers would be lovey, or maybe chocolate ganache served on the side to drizzle on top. That would be perfect. So there's a choice to chocolate-it-up, or not.

Let's pretend I am hitting a bullseye here.

message to myself

 

"Message in a bottle" is not just a pirate movie cliche. It's a form of communication that has been used throughout history for serious purposes. England's Queen Elizabeth I even appointed an official "Uncorker of Ocean Bottles." And as recently as 2005, a message in a bottle saved the lives of 88 refugees adrift in the Caribbean Sea on a damaged boat. Glass, it turns out, is an excellent container for carrying sea-born dispatches. It lasts a long time and can even survive hurricanes. In accordance with the astrological omens, I nominate "message in a bottle" to be your metaphor for the rest of 2012. One way to apply this theme is as follows: Create a message you'd like to send to the person you will be in five years, perhaps a declaration of what your highest aspirations will be between now and then. Write it on paper and stash it in a bottle. Store this time capsule in a place you won't forget, and open it in 2017.

-My horoscope (gemini) this week from Free Will Asrtrology, by Rob Brezsny.

rose garden & links

This was taken by Sadie at the Portland Rose Garden on summer solstice. We had a picnic dinner up there to celebrate and the weather was perfect. Unlike now. The weather is bad and rainy, rainy, rainy.

A few links:

• I just found this beauty mecca site, Beautylish, and it is totally overwhelming to me. I have set my timer when I visit so I don't stay there way too long. Maybe you all know about it already. The video tutorials alone could take me days to go through. Delia is rocking the nicest Dutch braid now, thanks to this one I watched last night. This reverse gradient nail color technique has me excited.

• Another reason to love Bill Murray. 

• I want to make this dessert for the 4th of July. It's so elegent and simple. Unlike nail art, but whatever.