We are learning about Greek Mythology right now and the girls have taken off like wild fire. It's ridiculously fun to see. We are reading a ton, and have started the Percy Jackson series, but this book, Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders, by Michael Townsend
This site has been keeping Sadie busy for reference, she's drawing all the Greek Goddesses right now. I have so many other books to recommend on this topic, but I had to post about this one right away.
I have been wanting to try some needlepoint for a bit and feel closer to actually starting a project. My mom stitched a footstool for her mother in the 1970s and was telling me about it (sadly, it's gone now) and I want to make one. I don't think I'm going to start with a footstool, just a small swatch to begin with. I found this book at Powells, used, and it's exactly what I was hoping to find. I'm reading it before bed like it's a mystery I can't put down.
Unrelated:
We focused on Alexander Calder for art class (at home) recently and had a really good time. They loved working with wire and I had some in a small enough gauge that the girls could sculpt with it without hurting their hands. I used the same book in this post, it's my go to book for art projects and learning about artists. I have posted quite a few of our projects and try to make sure they are all in the Learning category on the blog, so you can see them all. I need to go back and add some more probably.
Earlier in the week I had them look at Calder artwork, we read about him from a few books and watched an animated biography about him I got from the library, Alexander Calder (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists).
To make these, they drew pictures and twisted the wire flat on the paper and either stuck it into styrofoam blocks or wood blocks we drilled tiny holes into. The cut out paper elements add wonderful movement. The kitty is ridiculously cute and modern at the same time—it cracks me up.
I have learned that this all goes so much better if I do a art project, too. I don't usually finish it, and that's fine. Working along side them and being able to stop and help them is perfect. It keeps me busy and quiet so I can leave them alone and not suggest too much. And it's fun, of course.
I feel like the most rebellious thing I could do right now is work on these cross-stitch ornaments. I've been so busy baking, stuffing cookie bags, making flavored salt, sending cards, and sewing up a storm for the girls' nutcracker production that taking the time to stitch these seems crazy. This one took a day, I know that isn't very long, but still. The stitching was slow. The linen thread count was too tiny for me, my eyes are changing, and the silk thread was lovely, but slippery, so there was some swearing. I am so happy with how it looks. To finish, I glued some felt on the back. I had plans to make many of these, but so far only one has been made. I might start another soon. I needed an extra light and my glasses which I couldn't find, and when I did, the case was stuffed with floss and needles from my last stitching project. I also was trying to find my headlamp, which looks ridiculous and really kills the whole jane-austen-stitching-lady look. Not that I stitch in costume, but I might. At least I have a cup of tea near by. The mark the headlamp makes on my forehead stays way too long. But now that I am imaging it, stitching in a empire style dress with a headlamp on would be an outstanding thing to do.
I found free snowflake cross-stitch patterns here, I think I used another site in the end, but google images "free cross-titch snowflake" will set you up with a ton of options.
And, I'm happy to say I got a great gift for my hard-to-buy-for-husband— this book
It was too hard this year to choose just a few books for the gift list, so here's just a book one. I focused on books that I think would make nice gifts—mixing up crafty, fiction, and non-fiction. Some of these are new titles from this year, some have been with us a bit. All of them are very popular in our house.
This book, written in 1921, was given to Delia (9) from her grandmother a couple years ago and it's one of her all time favorites. It's a wonderful nature story that's very magical. The language is old fashioned, but easy to read—It feels very other worldly. The black and white drawings inside are delicate and lovely. This can be a difficult book to find, they also have it at Chinaberry, both hard and paperback.
Q & A a Day for Kids: A Three-Year Journal
This is the kid version of the journal I got a few years back. My 11 year old LOVES this and I do too. I don't know what she has written in hers (it's a journal!) but she always has it out. The prompts are great and the format is very pleasing.
Yellow Owl's Little Prints: Stamp, Stencil, and Print Projects to Make for Kids
This is a brand new craft book by the super talented Christine Schmidt. It has a ton of great projects to do with your kids (or for you to do for your baby) and the carving kit that Yellow Owl sells is the perfect way to start a project. It comes with blank stamps to carve and a carving tool. That's what we have and I was going to show a project we have done printing on fabric with stamps the girls carved, but I haven't gotten it together to blog about yet. Yellow Owl's site is a mecca for gift shopping and is total visual candy.
Dream Animals: A Bedtime Journey
This stunning picture book is authored and illustrated by my dear friend Emily Martin, and we all love it so much. I blogged about it already—her dream world is so beautiful it almost makes me sad, in the best way.
Sorry I Barfed on Your Bed (and Other Heartwarming Letters from Kitty) Paperback
There are many of these types of books out there (animals writing in first person about their neurotic traits) and I think we have them all. This one is our favorite. Sadie (11) loves to read these aloud and this type of book just cracks her up so much—it's pretty funny, both the book and her reaction to it.
Guinness World Records 2014
Okay, not the most literary choice, but I tell you, they have spent HOURS pouring over last year's 2013 book so this 2014 will be purchased this year. Kids LOVE this book. I remember being obsessed with the old paperback black and white ones when I was little. It makes dinner conversation pretty dang funny. I swear they can remember every fact in there. Who knew skin could get so stretchy?
Animals Dancing with an Elephant, by Lydia (6)
The Giraffe Gymnast, by Delia (9)
Zebra Staring at Tea, by Sadie (11)
Art class at home: We had a ton of fun grabbing some magazines to cut up and printing out random photos from the internet to assemble these colleges in a surrealist style. I had images of Salvador Dali's work to show them and read the related project in Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters, a book which I have blogged about so many times and they had a blast. The absurdity is perfect for them. I especially like the upside down umbrella with rain coming out of it and the use of cutlery.
The girls have been reading Dream Animals
Emily is having a book signing event this Saturday, November 2nd, at 3:00 at Land here in Portland. Yippee! She has all the details here along with more images from the book.
We all loved the video for the Dream Animals, it has really nice shots of the artwork and shows her sketches. She talks about concept for the book and tells about a childhood nightmare that made me laugh outloud. Congrats Emily!!
I keep going back to my favorite art idea book, Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
Using the Discovering Great Artists Book, these boxes were inspired by the artist Louise Nevelson. Her wood box scupltures. She would use scrap wood and found objects and then paint the sculpture one color. The girls gathered up bits and bobs from the house and outside. Then we got out the glue gun and some epoxy for the rocks and got to work. They really dig them and have them up in their rooms.
We have done triptychs from this book too, along with so many other projects. It's great for when I am having a "what are we doing today?" homeschooling moment and I can tell we need to get our hands dirty.
Then, if the stars align* and I am not dealing with a paint emergency, we talk about the historical context— was there a war happening? What were other artists up to at this time? What were some of the major themes in the artists work? What was happening musically at that time? I stream music from that era while we work, or later while we are cleaning up. Pete's music degree comes in handy here. It's a great way to thread history together while we are gluing and painting.
*Sometimes we only talk about what we are going to have for lunch, the ideal vacation, and tell fart jokes.
It's been a crazy-pants week around here—we are all nursing low-level head colds which I hope will slow us down a bit. This week we had some house construction. Each girl has their own bedroom now! We also start Nutcracker rehearsals this weekend. This year all 3 girls are in it, with 5 parts between them. Gah! But the big news is Grammie got a pug puppy, Toaster, a little boy, 8 weeks old. He's trouble—so funny and cute. Our 7-year old pug is so sweet and patient with him, it's just hard to do anything with a puppy near by. The girls are exploding with love for this little fellow, which is nice, but also makes me happy we can leave him at Grammies, you know what I mean? Lots of intense love boarding on mania.
. Susan has contributed so much to crafting, sewing, and creating over the years—both locally and nationally, her books are always solid and this newest one is no exception. All the details about this event are on her blog, the book is not quite out yet (I got an advance copy—I am a lucky duck!) so this is a great way to see projects and ask Susan about it before you buy it. It looks like it will be available in the next week, so Amazon says.
Over the summer, while I was on a morning walk, I was thinking about books in our house. I had just finished read The Great Gatsby. I read it on the kindle. I knew I could find a used copy, but at the time instant gratification won out, so I downloaded it. I wish I had bought the actual book. It's a classic—a wonderful read and one I plan to suggest to the girls at some point, but not on the kindle. Seeing books on our shelves is becoming so important to me. I still look through Grammie's bookshelves and we often borrow books from her, ones she has had on her shelves for more than 20 years. I just don't see how this would happen on an e-reader. I love my kindle, but I am thinking long term, and the nature of an e-reader feels very short term and inherently private to me, not to mention the books are impossible to loan out.
My first thought was to formally start our own library, inspired by Grammie's. One for our house, that our kids and future grandkids could enjoy. I started to think of all the titles I wanted in it but then I realized I didn't really want to be the only one involved. Homeschooling is such a joy. It also comes with the reality that Pete and I control so much of what the the girls are being exposed to. We want other influences in the house, not just books we chose, but special ones family and friends want to share with them to read and enjoy.
Trying not to over think it, I quickly sent out an e-mail to a few friends and family telling them about this project and asking for 1 or 2 book selections. Few people could stick to one, which was wonderful. Many people added or changed titles, some wanted to know about duplicates and then changed again. I made it clear I was buying these books, I just needed recommendations and a few comments about why the book meant so much to them. It was that last bit, the thoughts about the selections, that was the most meaningful part, but at the time I didn't know it. I was more excited to see what titles they selected. Then the selections came back with the comments about why that title was chosen and we were so moved.
I asked for fiction, high school/college level, and it didn't have to be considered a traditional classic. It was so fun to guess what would come back. Who would select Austin? (A few.) Would anyone choose Moby-Dick? (Yes!) We knew my father-in-law would choose Dickens, but which one? (David Coperfield) Both my husband and his sister selected the same author (Murakami) and I selected not a book that is my favorite, but one that really changed the way I thought when I read it, 1984.
I designed book plates with a space to fill in who selected the book and the reason they selected it. I have been slowly buying and adding these books to our shelves for the last few months. There are some duplicate choices, which is not surprising. When this happens, I just add both names and the comments of each person on one bookplate. I'm not in a hurry, it's not that type of project. I love fussing about which edition to buy and how the book looks. In some cases hardback doesn't make sense. There are some very nice softback editions. Most are used. I have many more to collect and more people to ask. And then there's poetry and non-fiction and graphic novels to ask about. It's amazing how this has a life of its own now, I just collect the suggestions, buy the books, and add the bookplates. It's so satisfying to see it develop.
We have sold back many books to make room for this. We have a collection that makes sense now, one that reflects what we want them to see and pull off the shelves over the next decade or so. The comments that came with these titles are so personal, poignant and thoughtful. Feelings about being different, being empowered, being understood, seeing the world in a different way—they told me personal things about my friends and family that I had never known. Each book is now connected to a person who means so much to us and has given a part of themselves to us in the form of a book. It's priceless.
The third coat is done. Liddy wanted something comfy and fluffy and she wanted white trim. I used the same pattern for Sadie's coat. This is becoming a favorite pattern. It's McCalls M5743.
This white fluffy trim was sort of crazy and hard to sew with. I think it's minky, or something like it. It sheds and stretches like crazy. To use as a trim, I sewed it into a long tube first, so there were no raw edges to deal with. This made attaching it so much easier, and also a lot thicker, which was fun becasue it makes the coat flare out a bit. The purple is polar fleece, not my favorite material, but she loves it and I couldn't find cotton sweatshirt-weight jersey in a purple.
She likes to come inside and keep it on and nap in it—which I think means it passes the comfy test.
Since finishing Delia's sweater I have not re-found my knitting groove and I miss it.
I'm in between books right now. I finished The Straight Man
Early in the summer we were thrifting at the beach and I found these two cookbooks. I love vintage cookbooks from food companies, like Jello, Betty Crocker—that kind of thing. The one on the right is older and full of really funny and helpful entertaining advice. I could pull quotes from the whole thing, it's just so well written and wry, but also crazy and dated. Like how to entertain and cook for your husband's boss when he and his wife come over for dinner. That type of thing. A friend also pointed out that the tag line on the cover makes it sound like you are planning to eat your guests.
Anyhoo, I got all nutty and preoccupied with the other book on the left (So Quick with new Bisquick) when I realized that I actually had never really used baking mix at all and what a clever thing it is. Once, I bought a Trader Joe's baking mix when we were on vacation, but besides that, I never used it. I have no clue if my dad used a baking mix to make pancakes and waffles (grammie, did he?) so I don't even know if I had it growing up. I have always just baked it from scratch, mostly because I love baking so much. But this book was so addictive because it has about 7 basic recipes you can make from your mix: pancakes, waffles, biscuits, shortcake, coffeecake, that kind of thing, and then a ton of recipes with a variations. Some of which sound fantastically horrible. I immediately thought I needed to make my own mix, but not with white flour or shortening.
I did a bunch of online and cookbook searching and found so many recipes. I ended up making two different mixes and I love them both. This is the coffee cake I made from a mix #1.
and I made biscuits, too (recipe #2)
We also have made shortcake, waffles, pancakes, muffins, and cookies. I love having these at the ready and the efficiency I find so pleasing, especially early in the morning when I am not fully awake. The girls love using them because they are so simple, so much of the work is already done. But, they do like to measure, pour, and mix so going fast and speedy with very few ingredients isn't necessarily what they like about baking. I do love that I can mix 3 ingredients together and have muffins, however. There are a lot of limitations cooking with these mixes, but I still find it fun and thrilling.
Awesome title page from the book.
Here are the two recipes I made.
Recipe #1 (adapted from the King Arthur Flour recipe)
Chop the oats in a food processor until fine, dump this in big bowl of a mixer (I use my kitchen aid and it fillis it to the top) and add the other dry ingredients and slowly drizzle in oil. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.
Recipe #2
Mix all the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until it's finely mixed in. I do this with about half the amount of flour in the food processor and then mix the rest in a big bowl distributing the butter throughout. Store in the refrigerator of freezer.
To make all the different items, I used my vintage book, but online you can find a lot too, there's a ton of recipes at the Betty Crocker site using Bisquick. I have found that across the board, the whole grain makes a much drier dough, so I always add more liquid. Sometimes a lot more. I definitely go with what looks and behaves like a typical dough or batter for what I am making rather than rely on the recipe. Also, Mix #1 has a lot more texture and flavor, with the ground-up oats, so I save that for hearty baking rather than anything I want fluffy—like shortcakes or biscuits, which is better with #2, because it's also got the butter.
I was showing Éireann around Portland while she was here and took here to Cargo, one of my favorite Portland shops. I didn't know there was a location in Astoria, which we were delighted to find recently. My middle child was thrilled because she was out of wax lips, so those were purchased and worn immediately.
I have been sewing a bit and not knitting but really wanting to. I am almost done with Delia's sweater that I started in the spring—I just need to knit the collar. My latest cooking excitement is making homemade bisquick mix, which I have made (2 kinds) and baked from for the last 2 months with freakish enthusiasm. I need to write about this with recipes.
This link (the 25 best websites for literature lovers) is making me happy and is an epic time suck. I haven't even come close to looking at all these links, but I like knowing it's there. I thought I'd only look and read one link every two weeks. That's my goal, so I don't get all click-crazy and forget everything I have read and where I read it.
Mulit-talented writer and artist Éireann Lorsung, who I have blogged about before, is coming to Portland for a few days and is reading at PNCA. I am so thrilled to see her in person again. The first time I met her I only had two girls—that was more than 6 years ago. It was a wet and dark day in the park and we chatted about being creative and watched my girls play. I have seen her vision grow since then and she has gone on to do so many wonderful things with her passion and energy. I can't wait to hear her read from her newest book of poetry, Her Book, which is not out yet, but will be in August 2013. Here are some details about the reading directly from the PNCA site:
Monday, July 29, 2013
6:00pm until 7:30pm
CT+CR Headquarters
1241 NW Johnson St.
Portland, OR, 97209
This event will take place in CT+CR Headquarters, room 204 at the main campus of the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
PNCA’s MA in Critical Theory and Creative Research (CT+CR) welcomes poet and editor Éireann Lorsung for a reading from her new book “Her Book,” published by Milkweed Editions.
Éireann Lorsung’s luminous voice is distilled through multiple unnamed female speakers in her second collection. Full of youth, wonder, and imagination, “Her Book” crosses distances and generations to celebrate the lives of women, their individual and shared experiences, and the bonds that bring them together. This is also a book about translation (of experience into art, of knowledge across time and space) and conversation (with, for instance, work by Kiki Smith, widely known as a feminist artist). Lorsung writes additionally about her time spent in England and friendships she formed with women there. Together, these poems comprise both her book (Lorsung’s), and her (encompassing all who identify with that word).
and here are some links about Éireann from her blog and all she is up to, which is a lot.
I was thrilled to discover The Elements of Style Illustrated
As the girls get older, we are working on building an adult library for them (and for us) full of classics and our personal favorites. Real books, both fiction and non-fiction—a collection that is considered and not just old college textbooks, random fiction classics, and obscure music and art books, which is what it is now. It's been fun to think and talk about. It feels like a good way to spend my money and time, you know what I mean? Sometimes, at the end of a week, I scratch my head at what exactly I am buying. My purchases often feel dumb and unnecessary later (I will happily blame the girls here, but I did buy the ceramic spoons) but buying a wonderful copy of Pride and Prejudice for an at home library that our children and future grandchildren can enjoy? That feels great.
I was sent this review copy of Martha Stewart's Favorite Crafts for Kids: 175 Projects for Kids of All Ages to Create, Build, Design, Explore, and Share
There are so many great project ideas on Pinterest, but nothing beats a book or magazine for me. The girls love looking at this book for project ideas and it's off the computer. They can carry it around, put it on the craft table, take it to bed, take it outside—it's making me appreciate physical sources for us all even more now that they are older.
I feel good about saving all my magazines, books, everyday foods, etc, over the years. It was such a drag to move them so many times since college, but I'm so glad I kept what I did. The girls look at them all the time. I remember how much my parents' books, magazines, and albums lying around had an influence on me growing up. I wonder about all the e-reader books and digital music we have in a clould—if that's all we had, how would kids browse a collection in their home? There is nothing to look at. No book covers or album covers lying around. I'm not anti-digital for media. I use my kindle all the time, but I do think about this a lot. I have slowly been reading more e-books and getting more music online over the last few years have realized while it's nice to have less stuff in the house, it sort of removes it all from the rest of the family. Which is fine— I don't need or want to share everything. I'm not saying I need to do it differently, it's just something I think about and try to make a conscious decision about it when I buy a real item versus a digital one.
We made some postcards out of packing tape a bit back. And then we mailed them. They were received without any issues. So exciting!
We got this fabulous idea from All About Collage
We put the stamp over the tape and everything else was sandwiched in between. Liddy even got the brilliant idea to add flowers inside of hers. Mail art makes me (and the kids) so very happy. I want to send a can again.
recent books I have read:
I am almost done with Some Kind of Fairy Tale
I am so obsessed with the book list you all helped me with, I can't thank you enough. I've read 4 books from that list already that I never would have found (I think some titles were in the comments, too) and Pete has read Dog Stars. Thank you!
Last week we made some photo blocks. We glued the photos to wood scrap and/or toy wooden blocks with YES paste and then covered them with 3 coats of gloss Mod Podge. Then the sides were painted.
We got this idea from my mom, who made a bunch of lovely photo blocks with family photos and beeswax using Courtney's video. Ours were done spontaneously, we didn't even take the time to melt beezwax, we just used what was in the craft cupboard. The girls used photos from the instaprints we just got. I am so happy I got these, they have already been mailed, altered, and traded, so I probably will not order them as magnets just so they are more versatile. For this last block, I used Maui photos printed from my printer and gave it to Grammie on mother's day.
Unrelated:
The girls have been making some pretty amazing fairy environments in our yard. They got some resin pieces for gifts and have been adding homemade touches almost daily—which are amazing. A clothesline, a toilet, (of course) and lots of other cute things.
Thank you all so much for your book suggestions!
I will list them all in a post soon so we can all refer to that without digging through the comments. I downloaded about 6 samples on my kindle— I love real books so much, but the ability to read a long sample of a book before I buy (or get from the library) is so worth it to me. I already am hooked and well into Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore.
We picked up a few of these pet-manga books, Chi's Sweet Home
In other news-
This is the Berry Long Cake with Ginger Crumb, from the Vintage Cakes book. (The recipe is here, scroll down) I have a backlog of desserts I have made from this book to show. This is that wonderful combination of not-too-sweet-berry-good-for-breakfast-type of dessert I love. My changes— I added less berries, because mine were frozen and I didn't want them to make the whole cake too wet, and added about 10 minutes to the cooking time. Delicious.
We have a child in the house turning 8 today. Big stuff! Her Dad took her ice skating, which is awesome. I take them roller skating, and he does the ice skating, so it works out. I love the idea of ice skating, but feel like my shins are going to explode when I actually do it.
I have been sewing a lot, but weird/funny things like 8 pairs of stretch pants in jewel tones for a dance recital. I did sew a skirt for myself inspired my this beauty at Boden and am knitting hat #2 of the season. And I bought yarn for the sweater—I am that much closer to starting it. But then I went to the needlework shop today and decided to start some cross-stitch ornaments (in my mind) and so now that the 8 pairs of jazz pants are done, I got busier (in my mind). And there's our first b-day slumber party part coming up this weekend, and also I got called for jury duty next week, which is a special challenge as a homeschooler (that excuse was denied, I'm tempted to take them with me) so there you go.
This photo was taken a few weeks ago when it was still warm. It's officially Fall here now, we have had hot cocoa, I am wearing tights everyday, and most of the summer dresses have been put away for the season.
about books:
I finished Beautiful Ruins
For a while now, I have been loading up my e-reader with book samples. It's how I keep track of what I have been meaning to read. Then I just start reading a sample, often not remembering why I wanted to check it out in the first place, I just have faith there was a reason. What I like about doing this is I start to read the book with no idea what it's about. I just have to start it. I can get so caught up in what the back of the book says, (or what reviews say) but what is that? It's actually such a weird way to decided to read a book—by the little paragraph on the back. Or by what someone else says about it. So, I read the samples, which are free (thank goodness) and they are long—way more text than I would ever read standing in a bookshop trying to decide to buy a book. I love bookshops, and holding real books, nothing can beat that, but being able to read a sample of a book, at home, at any hour, is pretty wonderful. Sometimes, I then buy the real book, and not the e-version, based on the free sample. Because then I can sell it used! I love buying/selling used books at Powells.
about Halloween:
We are headed to a couple Halloween parties this weekend and early next week, so I need to finish up some details: a mini-oscar statue, Pete needs to finish his cardboard double-neck guitar, and I need to work some magic with 2 cheap wigs.
Here's a shout out to Gretchen and her new book, Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing: A Modern Guide to Couture-Style Sewing Using Basic Vintage Techniques
I received this book from her publisher late in the summer and was so impressed with the detailed taloring directions, the absoultely fantastic illustrations, and the depth of information about sewing vintage style clothes.
I haven't made anything from the book yet, but have read the whole thing. Gretchen's writing voice is so great—funny, down-to-earth and silly, it's a pleasure to read. I'd recommend this book to any fashion sewer who is a bit more advanced, has a serious interest in vintage sewing techniques, and some time on her hands. This is not down-and-dirty sewing, but studied and time consuming. Which is awesome.
Over on her always entertaining blog, she is hosting a sew-a-long, along with her normal sewing-radness topics.
This is the Halloween costume for the middle child. She saw a costume very similar in a catalog and wanted it. I used McCalls 5499, which has quite different lines, but I love this pattern and had enough yardage.
I'm not sure why I already had this crushed stretch velvet, but I did. In three colors, no less. The stretchiness makes it very forgiving. The real fun for me was the head piece. I found super big cotton cording and covered it with fabric and wrapped it with trim. It was like working with huge noodles. Or intestines. In an art installation kind of way.
It's sort of a weird feeling copying janky costumes from catalogs to make for them. These catalogs are not my favorite source material and it's unlikely if it's less expensive to sew them. But because I already had the fabric, it feels like it's free. Especially since I can't remember buying it. This one turned out really pretty and it doesn't itch at all, unlike the catalog ones. The next one I am finishing is a Movie Star costume, also copied from a costume catalog, which is highly questionable and definitely tacky. But whatever. It's been fun to make, too. I need to finish the fur stole, which again, is probably cheaper to buy. We did purchase one costume this year, for the 5 year old— cheerleader outfit. It has sequins, so, you know, it's an extra fancy cheerleader outfit. I got blank stares when I asked "who wants to be a maid?!"
Unrelated, (but in a way related to everything) I just read this quote from a book I am loving.
". . . once you begin to respect what you do —not in an egocentric way, but with appreciation and self-worth—then any activity becomes meaningful. Life is to be respected, appreciated, and lived full—instead of chastised or rushed through.
—Running with the Mind of Meditation, Lesson for Training The Body and Mind, by Sakyong Mipham
I didn't take this book home of course, but read it several times when we were in Sunriver. It was outstanding. I love looking at cookbooks in vacation houses or rentals. Not like we are in a ton of rented vacation homes, but you know. It feels different than the piles of cookbooks at a thrift shop, because these were put there for a reason, they have been collected and used. They might not be an A-list cookbook, but they still have been kept. I love the emphasis on International here.The cover is pretty great. I also have a soft spot for self published group cookbooks, so I did buy one at the High Desert Museum, put together by its members. Also in this house there was a cookbook based on episodes of I Love Lucy. The Vitameatavegamin was appropriately boozey. Classic.
Unrelated ATC excitement!
Remember long ago when wise craft and house on hill road did that kids ATC swap? Well, I didn't know it, but it has been carried on and now is organized by bright eyes + blue eyes. We are signing up now! Ages 4-12! I can't image the work that goes into organizing this, so thank you for doing it, ellie and abby. And outside of the USA kids are especially encouraged to join-up, too!
While finishing dinner last night I read that Michael Chabon would be having a booksigning and reading from his latest book, Telegraph Avenue: A Novel
Sampling of items discussed in the Q & A:
Vintage Cakes
Julie co-wrote Rustic Fruit Desserts a few years ago and it is a book dear to me. She happens to craft the exact type of desserts I love. I think I have made almost all of the desserts in Rustic Fruit Desserts so when I saw she had a new cake book coming out, I was excited, but also nervous. How could it live up to my dear Rustic Fruit Desserts book?
Here's my version of the Ozark Pudding Cake
After the tasting I had no worries, just crazy baking excitement. The recipes are so good. There are so many kinds, both rustic and homey, and fancy and special—for this book she mines historical/vintage cakes and provides a back story on their origins, which is really interesting. And fun! These cakes are fun to make.
I have made 4 cakes from it so far, each deserve their own post. My friends and loved ones who have eaten these cakes all have given me the "oh-my-god-what-is-in-my-mouth" reaction. They are very good. This one I just made for a brunch, the Ozark Pudding Cake, which has pears, almonds, and dried cranberries. Heaven. Here's a great interview with her and at the bottom a link to the table of contents and quite a few complete recipes (provided by the publisher) with the pretty cake photos.
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.
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 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.
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
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!
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.
I received this breathtaking book from a dear friend for my birthday, Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard
So, in that funny way of things converging at the same time, a friend of mine last night at dinner was talking about her love of toast as a food group (I concur!) and then asked if I had seen the movie Toast, made from a memoir. No, I have not, but it sounds good, I said. And then she mentioned that it's a biography of Nigel Slater and I said I didn't know who that was because see, my brain is a sieve, and now I see that I do know who he is—he wrote this amazing book I have been poring over. Ha! And now I plan to read Toast and see the movie and check out all his other books, too. Perfect summer research.
I used to keep a journal faithfully. I started in college and continued until Sadie was born. About 12 years. Then I stopped. A couple years later I started this blog. I thought for a little bit a blog would suffice, but it's totally different. That's fine. I still write, and I like writing, whether in a journal or on a blog. I do miss my own handwriting and the act of writing by hand, just for myself.
I spotted this journal, Q & A a Day: 5-Year Journal
I did get a lovely question based journal, Keel's Simple Diary
Getting back to the Q & A Journal, the questions are simple, but sometimes not so light. There's not enough space to complicate or qualify every answer, which is perfect for me right now. And I haven't used it every day, hence June 5th being blank. I'm trying not to be all crazy-perfectionist about it. I love seeing it on my desk. It's small and thick and very pleasing to handle. I have a special pen I use too, which the fairies haven't squirrelled away yet.
Sadie and I picked up this book, 642 Things to Draw
I was just telling Pete the other day how much I miss drawing regularly. But what to draw? What if I don't want to come up with some big concept, or something to sell, you know? Sometimes I just want to draw a rolling pin. Or a bottle of glue. But I stall, forgetting I can draw these simple things for no reason at all. Brilliant!
These are all Sadie's drawings.
We were learning about bridges a bit back (Portland is a mecca for bridges) and made a truss style model, which we covered with paper and turned into a covered bridge. We used the directions from a project in Bridges: Amazing Structures to Design, Build & Test
It's so cool when we drive across a bridge here and the girls know which one it is. I also bought and framed this amazing Portland Bridges poster
Here's a really fun video to watch on making a Popsicle stick bridge and then a pretty thrilling contest at the end. There are quite a few rad videos here at WonderHowTo. (Warning, While very intriguing, not all of these topics are family friendly.)
A covered bridge tour would be fun to do this summer, there are a quite a few of them in Oregon and maybe we could combine some camping.
I've received a few homeschooling e-mails lately, mostly asking what curriculum we use. I answer this very breify in my FAQ, but we don't use a formal curriculum. We use a ton of resources: supplies, books, workbooks, the world, people, all that—but I didn't pay for a formal curriculum to cover grade 3, for example.
Here's a great interview (thanks Carolyn!) that provides a personal example of unschooling. It's wonderfully titled, Meet Kate Fridkis, Who Skipped K-12 and Is Neither Weird nor Homeless. It is so cool to hear about homeschooling from the child's perspective (who is now 28).
We love this book. When we decide on a new theme to study, it often starts with a biography we can look up and then grows from there. This book, Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought)
A few in here are new to me as well, which is wonderful.
Not the typical list you might expect.
The illustrations are clever because they show little bits and pieces of details in the text. And the writing is good—not just the typical facts but some dirt too, which makes them so much more interesting to read. I read these biographies out loud, usually during lunch when they are quiet (sort of) and all in one place sitting down. Captive, one might say. It works pretty darn well.
Unrelated-
Thank for you apron submissions for Tie One On—they aren't due until tomorrow and I will get the new gallery up this weekend. So you have an extra day or two anyway. They look amazing!
I put together this photobook (from Shutterfly, it's the Travel Snapshots theme) and it took forever. Not in a bad way. But it was not planned. I was all set to just upload the photos and place them on white backgrounds and be done with it. That's what I do for our family albums, which I make once a year, usually in January, so then if I lose my photos I still have the album. But then I saw this cool theme and couldn't resist. I actually kind of got weird about it and it was sort of exhausting, so I was thrilled when it was done. The cover photo was of a menu board at the Milk Bar—many of the great photos in it are taken by the insanely talented Amy Sly during my visit.
Years ago I used Blurb for an album. It was fine, but there were almost too many options. But I think I should look at Blurb again, it looks like they have a matte cover option. I have never used Pinhole Press, but I love the way the covers look. I wish Shutterfly made matte covers. What do you all use?
We were so excited to buy our copy of Oddfellow's Orphanage
The artwork is interspersed between the text in soft pencil. The book itself is so pretty, the cream paper with the brown text is understated and such a special detail.
And the girls love the chracters and their stories—especially Ollie, the onion-headed boy. And Delia, of course. And the cheese sandwich eating sea monster. And baby bear.
And Sadie took it up to her bunk and read it all night with her flashlight. Bravo, Emily!
I checked this great little book,The Usborne Book of Art Skills
The girls look through it, pick a technique they want to try, and then we just go for it. Here's a great way to use white pastels with paint to make a cityscape and then cleverly use a rubbing technique to make the reflection in the water. They are so excited when they can learn art tricks like this and I love to have a way to introduce new materials to them and have them see the potential. This is book is great for adults, too. It's got some very cool ideas. Lots of collage, too.
So, yesterday all three of them were into making a picture of birds stamped from a potato.
They all loved it. Sadie (9) is careful, focused, and quite interested in learning the specific art skill. Which is wonderful.
Delia (7) is all about trying it out, and then moving on to do her own fabulous free-style thing. Which is also wonderful and often surreal and very funny. Liddy's work (4) is not represented here, but she lasted the longest, just stamping with the potatoes over and over again.
We also are still loving our other go-to art project idea book I have blogged about here.
And speaking of art and creative stuff, Craft Wonderland is this weekend, for all you Portland folks!
Last year I posted about gifts we have bought or have been given to us over the years that have been solid gold with all three girls, so I thought I'd continue the tradition this year. It can be overwhelming for me this time of year with the click-click-buy-buy all around, so putting this list together actually helps me stay focused when I buy for them and look at what we have that's been popular, what hasn't worked, and what seems too repetitive. It's fascinating what they gravitate towards over and over again. I especially love it when I see the 9 year old go back to the toys for the 4 year old—I always loved playing with toys for younger kids when I was that age. It felt rebellious and thrilling at the same time.
So here's a new batch of hits in our house—
Sticker Dolly Dressing Around the World
Every sticker book in this series is insanely popular here. They are inexpensive, have great graphics, and after the putting all the stickers on, the girls keep them to look through and draw from. I have a few friends with daughters obsessed with this series.
Usborne Illustrated Stories from Dickens
This abridged and illustrated book came for Sadie a few years back and she still can't put it down. It's a great early primer to Dickens. It's bleak, depressing, and perfect for her morbid interests.
There is a girl version of this too. It's really well made. The pieces can get lost, so we keep it in a ziplock. The parts are realistic, which means there is much discussion when they get to the naked level, of course! It's been a huge hit with all the kids.
Every book in this series (there are quite a few) has been great for us. We have read about 5 so far. I read them out loud, but my 9 year old can read them alone with no problem. The biographies are well done, they don't gloss over dirty details, making them much more interesting.
The girls fell for these juggling sticks at da Vinci Days. The tend to work better outside or in a big room. There is also whacking potential, but they are still really fun and addictive to use.
Topsy Turvy Doll Little Red Ridinghood
I bought this years ago for my eldest girl and all 3 girls have loved it. It's only one doll, a Topsy Turvy doll, and they love telling stories with it. There are other characters as well by the same company. This definitely will go in my "save for my grandchildren" box.
Most of these toys I have bought at small independent toy shops here in Portland over the years (shop local!) I haven't seen them in any big chain toy stores. I've linked to them on amazon, but you can try calling your local toy shop first to see if they have them in stock.
We covered and collaged on top of white hardback blank books for an b-day party craft project. It was perfect for the 7-9 year-olds and appealed to their fairy/dreamy/glittery taste. And mine. These 12 x 12 papers and stickers were part of a set sold at Michael's and it was on supersale, so a ton of sheets, stickers and an album (which I haven't used) were all had for under $8. The blank books I already had squirreled away. This particular pack I don't see anymore, but it was in a set similar to these. I am so happy I snatched it up when I saw it. I had no clue what I was going to do with all the papers/stickers when I bought it 6 months ago and now we have covered about 8 books and 10 small gift boxes with the sheets and still have some left.
I have another b-day party this week (for the almost 7 year-old) and need to figure out a craft project. Like right now. And it needs to come from supplies in my art room, because I just have too much stuff to not use it up. I need some coffee to think about this, I am still a bit sugar high from last night. Perhaps I should have more candy with my coffee.
Unrelated, I have some sewing projects finished (the dress for the Black and White Gala!) and some to start— but now I am distracted by sewing something like this nightshirt for Husband for the holidays. I find it particularly attractive. He is dubious, but game. It's amazing what a guy will wear if they know you think it's hot.
Here it is and it is a mighty tome. It's HUGE—and so jam packed with wonderful ideas, it's hard to believe. It's The Bust DIY Guide to Life: Making Your Way Through Every Day
I am so proud to have a couple projects in this book, like this one here—how to take a band t-shirt and make it into cute underwear. This book isn't just sewing projects, either. There's cooking, gardening, fashion, hair/make-up, you name it. Can I just copy a blurb I read online about it? Because it says it all:
"more than 250 of the best DIY and craft projects from its 15-year history. Organized by category—beauty and health, fashion, food and entertaining, career, finance, travel, and sex—and written in BUST’s trademark brazen and witty style, this quintessential DIY encyclopedia from the quintessential DIY magazine is eclectic, empowering, hilarious, and downright practical, truly capturing the spirit of women today."
Another example of radness.
And here's my deodorant recipe.
I love this hair style so much.
There's an interesting behind-the-scenes making of this book on the publisher site for those of you who are craft book/publishing nerds and find the process fascinating, like myself.
For all you local folk (they have online sales, too) Powell's has this book at a discounted price right now and there's an upcoming booksigning event November 5th. You can pre-order a signed copy, too. Here's a list of the upcoming book tour, go see Debbie and Laurie in person!!
Thanks for making such a great magazine for 15 years, Ladies!
all images from Weekend Handmade
Kelly Wilkinson of the inspiring blog, make, gather, grow, sent me a copy of her new book, Weekend Handmade: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Crafting
In this video Kelly does a great job of describing the book, how it's organized, and showing what's inside. Also, Kelly is having a blog tour which you can read about over on her blog. Congrats Kelly! It's awesome.
Here's a stack from earlier this summer. I found that it's easiest for me to just photograph the spines rather then write all the titles down that we have liked. I am so visual, I can remember what the books were about much better from seeing the spines rather than from reading the titles on paper. After we return them to the library, we buy a few favorites for each topic we cover. I can find almost all of these books used, so we can keep revisiting these topics as they come up, which seems to be all the time. It's so fun to see what they keep pulling out: books about the Titanic and anything related to Charles Dickens and maids/servants are extremely popular.
But the surprise book of the summer that we LOVE is Great Big Book of Children's Games: Over 450 Indoor & Outdoor Games for Kids
I was touched to be asked to contribute to Amanda and Steve Soule's newest book, The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasons
Thank you for asking me Amanda and Steve, and congrats on this lovely book. It's very special.
With the-not-so-summery weather, we stayed in and did some art projects from the fablous book, Discovering Great Artists, that I have written about here. This time we looked at Seurat (I printed two examples of his work for us to study and talk about) and learned about Pointillism. This now has me wanting to watch Sunday in the Park with George, which I haven't seen in about 20 years.
Unrelated: So many new issues of incredibly cool online magazines are out! I am a little late seeing some of these, but the nice thing is they don't sell out. Some are free (with ads) some charge (and are ad free)
The new Fall issue of Stitch magazine is out and is full of great sewing projects—complete with patterns and directions.
I was flattered and so excited to be featured in the Sew Inspired column, which appears on the last page, about my sewing process and what keeps me going. And it's double triumph to me to have a photo in a magazine wearing fake hair.
I love this quilt project designed by Kevin Kosbab and there are directions for how to make it! You can find Stitch magazine at local fabric shops—both independant and chain shops, I believe. You can also get it direct from Interweave. Looks like they have good prices on back issues, too.
Unrelated:
Random family quotes of the week:
Me, talking in the car:
Oh, it's one of those things I just know I'd be good at. Like poetry or roller derby.
Pete, upon waking up this morning:
I was terrified of the buzzer on Family Feud. It was too loud.
