Inspiring Things

I love little glimpses into the past. Over this past year, I inherited a notebook. It contains all types of clippings from newspapers and magazines grouped into related collections. My father and I are guessing that it was done in the 20's by relatives in Canada (possibly Victoria) and sent to my grandmother. Here are some of the beautiful images....




How about these rabbits and images for Easter...



... definitely some softie inspiration... as well as some great ideas for little dresses.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a lovely St. Valentine's Day and not over indulging on the chocolate. The above picture is from my last year's Valentine's gift. It is from a book titled "Appolonia's Valentine". It was published in 1954 and tells the story of a girl who tries and tries to make the most beautiful valentine. The pictures are wonderful.

I just returned from a wonderful and sunny three days in Las Vegas. Since Chinese New Year is in full swing the Bellagio had their conservatory all decked out.





There were more orchids than I have ever seen outside of Hawaii! Bunches and bunches on them everywhere....

A Little More French Cooking...

I'm really, really trying hard to stick with this seasonal eating idea. Martha Stewart's book Healthy Quick Cook is arranged by season. So I flipped through the Winter section and picked Pot de Feu or Pot of Fire, which is browned meat cooked in chicken broth with seasonal vegetables.



Everything looked so pretty simmering away in my new red enamel cast iron pot... a Christmas present from my parents. I love it! It is extremely heavy and can go from the stove top into the oven. Retains heat like a champ.
The Pot de Feu smelled so good cooking. I used parsnips, carrots, celery, and leeks for the vegetables. I don't think that I have ever cooked with leeks before. They are so good! I have a recipe for a leek and onion tart. I think that one may be cooked up soon. The final result was really good. I served it in a bowl with mashed potatoes.




... and of course, Miss E didn't want to eat it. She does not like cooked carrots, she informed us. Odd, that used to be her favorite vegetable. I'm sensing some Kindergarten-style-vegetable-non-eating advice from some of her classmates. We made a bargain, and actually got the kid to eat some veggies... in return, we made CUPCAKES! I used the More From Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. I have actually been to the bakery in New York, and yes, the cupcakes are good, and yes, there is a line out the door even at 11pm at night. However, something went very wrong with all the "help" from the children and me not letting the butter soften enough, or the full moon, or the really cold weather. This is how my batter turned out...



Which was very thick, almost the consistency of mousse or buttercream frosting. So I spackled it into the cupcake papers and hoped for the best. I know I have made this recipe before, but didn't recall this type of batter being produced. They baked up beautifully and tasted like a dream. The texture inside was fine and soft.



Of course it always helps to have spatula assistance from a blue-eyed, one shoulder wearin', handsome little man...



We added a "healthy" dollop of buttercream on top (of course made with butter.. no shortening in this house). I ate one and my cupcake craving is satisfied. We still have 20 left.

Craft and Project Update

I haven't posted any crafty things lately. Mostly because I keep forgetting to take pictures of things... or it has been so grey in Portland and the light is so bad that nothing photographs well. We have had 3 days of extremely cold but sunny weather, so I have no excuses.
Last year the spouse bought me the Naughty Needles knitting book. And I fell in love with these gorgeous ribbon laced mitts...



and this winter I finally knitted up some (please note the sunshine in the photo):



They are made of lambswool that I ordered from Ami Ami who apparently does not have a Canadian (meaning English) site anymore. I hope they bring it back. They have beautiful yarns.

The other big project has been finishing that laundry room. Here is the way it looked over a year ago when we were getting ready to start the basement remodel... and yes, this is what it looked like when I used it.



And now... look out Martha, I have a cool laundry room too!



ooooo.... SHINY! and CLEAN! with extra shelving behind the door. And a cool carpet square rug from FLOR. Eventually that little green shelf will hang above the sink.



And then... I finally put together a frame with some natural linen in the back to display my lovely enamel pins!



It almost looks like one of those crewel-work embroideries. I love it!

A little French cooking

We watched the movie Ratatouille yesterday. We, being myself and Miss E. Mister e sort of watched... mostly in 1 minute sections. I'm not sure how much he retained. Any hoo, Miss E was very curious about the actual dish of ratatouille. So we found a recipe and walked to the store and loaded up on fresh vegetables. Ratatouille is a French country vegetable stew, but instead of doing it in the traditional chopped vegetable style, we decided to make it exactly like Remy does in the movie.

So Miss E taped this to the front door....

... and we were in business.

Thank goodness for the food processor. We didn't have to slice all these veggies on a mandoline.. or worse- by hand!



Miss E was very excited about the whole process. We made a separate tomato sauce which she stirred on the stove.



We put the sauce in the bottom of the dishes and then layered all the vegetables on top: summer squash, eggplant, onions, red and yellow pepper, and parsnips...



They really turned out pretty with all the overlapping layers of color...



And then into the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and the finished product...



We used a baked version as the base recipe from Chocolate and Zuchini's cookbook. The cookbook is wonderful, and I've been wanting to try something out of there.
Of course, after all the shopping, prepping, cooking and excitement, Miss E decided that she didn't want to actually eat the ratatouille for dinner. Too bad, it is very good. And like several recipes state, it IS better the next day... after the flavors meld.

A Little Redecorating

I don't usually set New Year's Resolutions, because there are so many things that I need to do to improve that I keep adding things to work on all year long. But I have been wanting to learn Photoshop more, so with that in mind, I did my own fancy banner and updated the colors on the site to match. Always good to spruce things up a bit this time of year...

The Wreath

Here is a slightly dark picture of the finished wreath.



I'm still working out the exposure and the ISO settings (which I just recently discovered) to try and get good pictures in low light. If I turn on the overhead lights or use the flash, you loose the glowing color. On the mantle, you can see the spouse's collection of plastic figures. They are the kind that you put a small light inside and they glow. The santa on the left is really glowing... to the point where you cannot see santa, but more of a santa outline. You can get an idea of the style by looking at the non-glowing figures on the right.

And speaking of finishing projects, here is Miss E's art space in the basement.



We scored the table two years ago at the giant Laurelhurst Yard Sale for $10!!!! It is solid oak and heavy as all get out. The iMac is an ancient computer that we bought almost 10 years ago. It has been upgraded as far as it can and no longer performs for us, but is perfect for some educational software for E... and she is thrilled to have her own computer.. and I am thrilled to not have her asking to use mine every ten minutes. She received boxes of art supplies for Christmas, so we made a quick trip to IKEA and purchased some storage containers to keep everything tidy. We also bought the chair for $19.00 which adjusts to adult height as well as kid height... so it will grow with her. When we did the basement, we put up lighting tracks around the perimeter and bought these two pendant lights as a test. We didn't know where to put them and they have been gathering dust in the shop for the past 6 months. They work perfectly over her work space.

Another project done! Whew!

Christmas

Here is the status of the sewing area just after finishing 5 days of sewing...



I did some tidying up... but there were thread and snips of fabric everywhere... and tons and tons of down! I remade another old down pillow into a small pillow for Mister e and no matter how careful I am with my sewing there is still loose down when I cut off the excess.

My main project was four sets of pyjamas and matching night caps for the kids. For now they all think it's cool to get pyjamas from mom/auntie... I'm sure there will be a day that it won't be so cool. For now, I'm taking advantage of it.



I always wondered what exactly a night cap was when we would read "A Night Before Christmas" as a child, so I thought I would make my kids and my niece and nephew night caps (with tassels) to match their new pyjamas. They opened these on Christmas Eve and all changed into their pyjamas for a reading of "A Night Before Christmas" by Papa... and they all put on the night caps! In fact, my niece insisted on sleeping in hers and became greatly distressed if it came off. She still had it on Christmas morning!

There was a lot of sledding. Even little Mister e had a go.



Then the night before we left to drive back to Portland, we had a blizzard...



About 10 inches of snow fell. We had to do some digging to get to the van in the morning, but we made it home safely. I will post more pictures of the Christmas goodies and project materials later... as well as a picture of my finished glass ball wreath with looks magnificent on it's perch above the mantel.

I love my daughter but....

... my serger dials are not to be used to contact Space Command or guide a boat into dock..... it took me a half and hour to sort them out.....

Glass Ball Wreath

I have loved glass ball wreaths ever since I say my friend, Mo's. I have collecting glass balls for a year to make this bad boy. Look at how they sparkle and shine in a pile. This picture is my computer desktop for the holiday season... sparkly....


So I worked away for an hour or so in my studio, wiring these balls onto a styrofoam wreath. The floor in the studio is concrete. You get one good bounce, surprisingly, and on the second hit it makes that pop and breaks. So if you are fast enough, you can catch it on the first bounce. I was not so fast, so there were a couple of casualties tonight...



This is as many as I can wire on. Tomorrow we are on to the hot glue phase.



I'm going to glue the balls together at key locations to give the wreath a little more structure and to keep some of the balls from popping off. Then I will fill in with some smaller balls. I think I need to scrounge up some little guys.. about 1" in diameter would be perfect in gold or green.... hmmm... time for a Goodwill run.

Mister Judy Sale!

My sister and I have a childrenswear business named Mister Judy, and we are having a sale! 25% off all clothing through the end of the year!




Come and check everything out!

Pillow Project

I have a few old feather/down pillows that don't stay fluffy anymore. I run them through the dryer with a trio of tennis balls, but after one night of sleeping on them they deflate. So I have recycled them into throw pillows for the couch.
First I shift all the down to one side and pin it in place:



Then I sew along the pins and eventually serge the edge too, so the down doesn't escape:



Then I make a lovely pillow cover for my "new" down form:



In this case, some lovely Amy Butler fabric. The pillow is a little smaller than I planned... I had an accident with the serger, and it caught a bit too much fabric.

Goodies from my father-in-law

Look at what my father-in-law scored at a yard sale!



I have a pretty good sized collection of vintage ric rac and seam binding, so this is a welcome addition. He got the whole bag for $2.00!!


The vintage colors and so much nicer than what is available currently... and they are 100% cotton too.

Last Color of Summer

I'm going to miss my flowers when the cold weather really starts.



It is a beautiful, clear day here, but very cold. I walked around my garden this morning and cut whatever I could find that was still blooming. I have one purple dahlia that is still struggling to put out blossoms... although the shape and color and a little unusual.



They add a burst of color to the kitchen which is starting to get that lovely winter light.

Halloween Update

This is Mister e's first piece of Halloween candy....



He received it at the second house we went to and would not let go of it. I held one hand and one wrist (that hand was holding the candy) and helped him walk for 2 blocks... which is a long way when you are not really walking yet. He held that peanut butter cup the whole time. When we came back to the house, he still held onto it while I took his costume off; and then continued to clutch it for the next hour. He loved Halloween and all the people that came to the house, and he become very attached to his first piece of candy. About 4 days later he discovered that you could actually open the wrapper and eat the contents. He wasn't too impressed with the candy... I think he liked the experience better.

Cinderella and Gus-Gus

The inspiration....



... the finished product...






They are a squirrely duo so it's hard to get a picture with both of them in focus. Mister e likes the mouse suit just fine and would have preferred to spend the rest of the day in it... but he was turning red.