glittergoods

much better

So far this month:

A trip to Bainbridge Island with friends

including a stop at Esther's for some odds & ends



which for some reason was less interesting to the children than the ferry ride.

(Obligatory  Seattle-from-the-water shot.)

Saturday was our first pre-kindergarten playdate, which went very well without actually forcing me to deal with the fact that my baby is starting kindergarten. 

 

Then I got a new bike.

I have been wanting something cushy but functional for a while now, for errand-running without getting sporty, but with enough oomph to take a hill or two.  I love it so much.

Yesterday we took a picnic to watch a production of Alice in Wonderland at the park, hurrah free park theater.  (A couple of our preschool teachers were in the play -- Kirsten got a great shot of the action here.)

 

And then I took another obligatory Space Needle shot.  It's like a disease.

Today, though, it's down to business:  I'm working hard getting things ready for Saturday's show (Rock, Paper, Scissors at the Henry Art Gallery, 12-4pm, free to members or with museum admission), the kids are working hard making sure that no piece of playmobil is left unplayed with.  Well, except for that quick bike ride around the lake.  But we're working NOW, I swear.  Just as soon as I finish this blog post.

June, zoom

The last half of June:

We made a little art for Father's Day.  Tiny canvases, tissue paper, cardstock, mod podge, sharpies.  I put a little glitter on mine, later.

I baked five dozen cupcakes for a first grade graduation party. 

I pieced, marked, & basted a new quilt top.  Still working on the quilting.

He's been spending a lot of time doing this.  We love the new skate park.  Our neighbors probably love that he has somewhere else to go besides the sidewalk out front.

Meanwhile, she is an official preschool graduate.  In a Liberty print/Ottobre pattern dress, which will get its own post, but for our purposes here I would just like to note that at the graduation picnic she managed to avoid frosting, berry, & grass stains -- while still having fun -- but got marker on it within 5 minutes of arriving home post-party.  (I got it out.)

Today I tended to my sick girl, pacified my stir-crazy boy, made popsicles, ate a lot of watermelon, started planning the Great Jedi Robe Summer Project.  Bring it on, July.

fairy factory

Yesterday was my first visit to Home Cake.  I went in for sugar flowers, came out with a plan involving fondant butterflies.  All of the Seattle blogs that marvel at that place are not kidding.  It's like a magical baking junk shop, from back before junk shops became "antique malls."

When I got home, though, I decided to wait on the fondant & make the tiny tortillas instead.  We have a Mexican food tradition at my Cinco de Mayo baby's birthday parties (which also gives us a good excuse to stand around drinking sangria while watching the kids play), but of course this year all the food has to be miniaturized.  For fairies.

And then I had to take a few moments with the last of the light to try a shot through my second TTV camera, which arrived yesterday afternoon.  As soon as I get out from under this party, I am working on my TTV setup so that I can do something besides plant myself & awkward camera situation on the front porch in order to take pictures of the sky across the street.  I do like those wires, though.

Anyway, then I made some fairy heads.  I couldn't resist this Klutz book, but since the girls are too small to manage the fiddly bits, I am pre-assembling the bodies & heads, then we'll put them together & add faces & flower skirts at the party.  I am not even kidding myself about this part:  I hope that the girls will love the project, but it's mostly an excuse for me to set up a satisfyingly tiny & fussy assembly line.

Speaking of tiny & fussy!  Today:  fondant! 

begin as you mean to go on

I'm not much for resolutions, but I do like the idea of setting the tone for the new year.  I can think of worse ways to start than with freshly washed kids, in new pajama pants, in a freshly painted room.

Happy New Year, everyone.

long weekend in pictures

Leftovers,

family time on the couch,

more fingerless gloves, size small,

playing with colors,

a pair of new pillows ("inside out" & "what the outside would look like").

Miscellaneous:  in the mood for new music & having finally fixed the problem with my computer speakers, I have re-discovered the KEXP song of the day podcast, which led me to download the Laura Veirs album Saltbreakers (it's much folksier than I usually like, but I dig her matter-of-fact singing), which led me to discover that iTunes finally has liner notes.  Finally.

lately

Lately it looks like this here.

I, however, have been deep underground in chilly basement studio doing things like:

trying my hand at some colorful pillows,

taking eighty zillion photos at the last outdoor soccer game of the year, in which my kid proved that all that time he spent begging to watch The Soccer Channel actually had some real-world payoff (note that I said outdoor, his first indoor season game is on Saturday because we are apparently those kind of soccer people, though I think I might be on duty with his sister then at the girliest birthday party place on earth),

making another Simple Tote from Bend the Rules for a birthday present (though not for the upcoming uber-girly one) -- the enormity of my love for this bag is matched only by the inevitability that I will screw seriously up at least once in every attempt, this time being putting the inside pocket on (with plenty of cunning partition & detail stitching) upside down & then sewing the top edge topstitching with bobbin so out of whack that the bag was practically filled with loose loopy thread when I was done,

& then tucking the tote into a be-princessed gift bag,

making an excellent geeky birthday shirt for my excellent geeky husband,

& then cooking him a birthday feast, including but not limited to vegan carrot cake cupcakes with "cream cheese" frosting.  (We also had roasted squash soup, salad, fancy goat cheeses with good whole wheaty bread, individual seitan pot pies with biscuit tops, & pumpkin ale, but I was too busy eating to take pictures.)  I have probably mentioned before, but I think it's worth saying again that the Real Food Daily carrot cake recipe is the best vegan carrot cake recipe I've ever tried, & also, if I may digress into the world of vegan frosting for a moment, here is my tip for very easy, very tasty vegan cream cheese frosting:  1/2 container tofutti better-than-cream-cheese + 2T or so buttery stick creamed together thoroughly, then beat in enough powdered sugar to make a nice spreadably stiff frosting.  If I'm remembering correctly, the recipe in Vegan Cupcakes has a higher margarine to cream cheese ratio, but I prefer the flavor this way.

I managed to finish the second of the cowhand costumes today, at the last of the last minutes, though I still have two treat bags to finish.*  Simple Tote, I'm coming for you again!

*On top of working full steam ahead getting ready for the Queen Anne Artists Trunk Show!  It's going to be good!

slow Monday

Saturday, muddy.

Sunday, pillows.  I love these two.

Also yesterday, we (kind of reluctantly, oh, Ikea, where has the magic gone??) went to Ikea in search of a pillow display.  I love these shelves because they are airy, plain, (cheap,) & will tuck nicely into my booth space; my husband loves these shelves because they give him an excuse to get a new power screwdriver.  Also, this is a great case study for mocking up your display before a show, because as much as I wholeheartedly embrace the color gray, seeing the pillows all together sent me directly to the brighter end of my fabric stash spectrum.  Well, as bright as I get, anyway.

I also want to talk about this package of marzipan, which I unearthed while sorting out my baking cupboard on Friday (in service of cupcakes that would turn out to be both disappointing & boring).  Its expiration date is 10/31, which means that I have discovered it just in the nick of time, phew.  I was just admiring those gold-plated marzipan pumpkins in the latest Martha -- & those pumpkin & apple cupcakes are tempting, too.  Then there's one of my all-time favorite Martha cakes, the garden one (though it's more delightfully Peter Rabbitty in my memory than on her website).  And, yes, this is a true fact about me:  given the excuse, during the busy run-up to my busiest season, I will spend a lot of time thinking about things like spending a lot of time making tiny tiny vegetables, just because it's possible that I could.

3 green recipes for blog action day

1.  Whether or not you are a vegetarian, eating less meat is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint.  Here's my recipe for Brown Tofu, which is one of my top three all-time proudest tofu achievements & which I use in all sorts of things:  over brown rice, with brown gravy; chopped & mixed with mayo + pickle for tofu salad sandwiches; tossed into any sort of asian noodle salad; tossed with cooked curly noodles, diced avocado, & Annie's Goddess Dressing for easiest pasta salad ever.  Basically, my family will eat it at any temperature, at any time, in any dish.  Maybe yours will too.

Brown Tofu

• 1 20 oz package vacuum-packed extra firm tofu, cut in 1" cubes (I use Wildwood extra firm; you can use as little as 16 oz tofu without having to adjust your liquid amounts).
• 1-2 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 c Bragg's Liquid Aminos (can substitute soy sauce, though the end flavor will be sharper & saltier)
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 3/4 c water

Over medium-high heat in a nonstick pan, heat the olive oil & then add the tofu cubes, stirring occasionally until the tofu starts to turn golden.  Meanwhile, fill a glass measuring cup to the 1/4c mark with Bragg's, add 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, & then fill to the 1 cup mark with water.  (If you're going to make tofu salad, you can add 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning or 1/2 tsp Spike to the liquid at this point).  When the tofu has some good golden color, add the marinade & simmer, stirring now & then, until all the liquid is gone -- then keep cooking, stirring more frequently, until the tofu is as brown & crispy as you like.

2.  Around the time I got pregnant with my first child, which not coincidentally was around the time that my normally sensitive sense of smell became ridiculously epic (like the worst superpower ever), I started having a really difficult time coping with the chemically perfumed or bleachy smells of conventional household cleansers.  Happily, my nose & I were saved by Better Basics for the Home, which is a fantastic book of natural recipes for home cleaning & maintenance.  Since then, the selection of readily available "green clean" products has just exploded, & while these days I often just grab a bottle of Method off the shelf, lately I've been noticing that some of their scents are starting to weigh a little heavily on me too (I love the new "go naked" line, though).  I haven't quite committed to mixing up all of my own cleaners again, but the soft scrub recipe from BBftH has been my favorite for years.  You can find the official recipe at that link; I find that starting with 1/2 cup baking soda produces more cleanser that I can use at one time, so I usually just put a few heaping tablespoons of baking soda in a bowl, then add enough peppermint Dr. Bronner's to make it the consistency of stiff frosting.  Sometimes I add a drop or two of lavender oil, sometimes I don't.  Use this anywhere that you can rinse off -- sinks, counters, tubs, tile.

3.  Also around the time of my first pregnancy, I came across a magical diaper wipe solution recipe in a parenting forum (if you are wondering if nesting turns me into a kind of DIY anti-chemical commando, the answer is yes).  When my son was a baby, we used this exclusively, with homemade flannel wipes.  By the time my daughter was born we were overwhelmed by the number of tiny bottoms in our care & started using packaged wipes, but still kept this mix around for "freshening up" & also as a truly excellent anti-rash spray.

Diaper Wipe Solution

• 1/2 tsp liquid Dr. Bronner's baby soap
• 2 drops tea tree oil (anti-fungal)
• 2 drops lavender oil (soothing, anti-bacterial)
• 1 1/2 cups distilled water (you can use regular water, but distilled is better for long-term storage)

Mix everything together, store in a spray bottle.  Use freely on bottoms in need.

(Inspired by Blog Action Day: environment)

bits of today

Today we hung the much-anticipated peg rail.  We'll be running another length all the way behind the door, when we get the right hardware.  I thought that a whole wall of pegs would be enough to let me do some little peg-rail installations of arty hanging stuff, but I appear to have underestimated the amount of stuff that needs hanging around here.

I worked some on a scarf for my girl, though I'm not convinced it's a keeper.  It's much easier to sew random pieces of fabric together & get the look I want than it is to achieve a similar effect with yarn.  I do love the bobble rib, though (orange), plus there's alway something invigorating about knitting with a discontinued Rowan yarn (Cork).

Made a trip to Pacific Fabrics for another giant pile of fabric some batting.  We complain about the lack of exciting, Bolt-esque fabric stores in Seattle, but I have to say, PF's offering of modern designer lines is really coming along.  (I go to the Northgate store -- other locations cater to a more traditional quilting crowd, I found out today.)

I do not have a picture of the sheriff's badge I did not manage to get this afternoon, since when I got to the store there was a big LOT FULL sign up & I'd just finished at the fabric store & it was 4pm & all I wanted to do was go home.  I'll try the display & costume store again when it's not late afternoon on an October Saturday, how about?  Gave me a good idea for a t-shirt, though, since that's a pretty good summation of  how I often feel:  LOT FULL.

scattered

Lots of lazy little things going on around here this past week or so as summer rushes to a close.  It's cool & greyish again here this morning, though we did just have two hot days (which is rare enough this year that everyone is walking around talking about how we just had two hot days).

First-ever attempt at a jacket.  Sleeves turned out surprisingly decently; have stalled out at crucial moment of zipper installation.  Maybe today.  This project has served as a reminder to me to never show the pattern packet to my girl, who got very shouty that I was not making the pretty pink ruffly one as pictured.

Playing around with hand-dyeing cotton twill tape.  I'm finding the process incredibly satisfying, though I suppose at some point I should take a break from process & think about what I'm going to do with product.

Been spending some time poring over the book I got from Sally's tag sale, Basics for Girls (ISBN978-4-579-11147-3, more pictures on flickr).  It's exactly that, charmingly basic, with several variations on each pattern, (ie, dress with short sleeves, no sleeves, long sleeves, & "formal" versions).  I'm not sure there's much here that I couldn't find with a good dig-through of fabric store pattern books, but of course I love the styling (& not having to imagine what the pattern could look if done up in fabrics more to my taste is nice, too).

When there are two kids, you can't make just one space helmet.  My boy & I got into papier mache the other day, an excellent cheap messy morning of flour paste, a local free paper, & a balloon.  He's hoping it's dry enough to paint today, I'm hoping that I didn't over- or under-estimate his head size too badly.

I was never very impressed with this mirror ball dot fabric on the bolt, but on our perfect trip to Portland a while back we were at a quilting store (Fabric in the City) & there on the wall was this big amazing modern quilt made using all of the colors together, & it was the color combinations that got me more than anything else.  I ordered this fat quarter box after looking longingly at it for months, & I love seeing it on my shelf so much that I don't know if I'll ever be able to cut into it.

The Great Wall of Tomato is finally paying off, & we're getting cherry tomatoes by the double handful every day (these are Sungold, the Matt's Wild Cherry are just starting to ripen).  I have been ruthlessly cutting back still-growing vines & blossoms in hopes that if the plants would just focus, there will be enough time to ripen up all of the full-size tomatoes before the weather turns.  We have been laughing all summer about how maybe we won't put in quite so many tomato plants next year, wouldn't it be nice to be able to see the dahlias?, but this harvest part is pretty well worth it.