angry chicken

homemade vietnamese iced coffee

Occasionally, I like to get a vietnamese iced coffee. It's usually too sweet for me so I have to be in the right mood and also willing to pay $3.99 for them. I find this irksome because that's more than the Bánh mì sandwiches are I eat when drinking this usually too-sweet beverage.

The internet told me all kinds of things about making this at home. Which coffees to use, which condensed milk to buy, and what type of pour-over filter to get. Also, it explained the difference between Vietnamese and Thai iced coffee, which doesn't explain why I dislike Thai iced coffee so much*—they are very similar, so I'm thinking it's just too sweet. I bought this can of coffee at Uwajimaya, displayed on an endbase, along with quite a few interesting coffee drink type beverages, and bought sweetened condensed milk. I did not buy the special filter. We have so many coffee/espresso contraptions in the house I couldn't justify purchasing another one until I tried one we already have, so I used our stove-top espresso percolator.

 

The result is fantastic. This is a dear friend drinking my concoction, and wearing stellar nail polish and a lovely blouse. She declared it very good.

The only problem with this is now I can drink them whenever, just how I like them, which is making me very jumpy and hyper. I should switch back to shrubs. Or homemade chai.

*My own search feature scares me sometimes. My blog is an interesting archive of my brain and it's predictable loops. Along with enthusiastic misinformation (Jade Teahouse serves Vietnamese iced coffee that I raved about, not Thai, because um, they are a Vietnamese cafe. What? I am insane. Also, I had no memory of ever researching this all before, which I did, albeit Thai iced coffee, but it was 5 years ago, so that's better than last year, right? Whateves.)

poems, bookbinding, & bookmaking videos

We were inspired to make some blanks books and fill them with poems after learning that Emily Dickinson would take notes throughout the day and then later, copy her poems onto small pieces of paper. She would then sew these into simple soft cover books. The girls loved the idea of having a small stack of books they could tie up with string and tuck away somewhere special. We used blank paper inside and newsprint for the covers. The girls copied some of their favorite poems of hers into the books and added their own. The almost 7-year-old copied a short one. So sweet.

Related to this, we have gotten into bookbinding and are learning to make one style of book a week. Usually on Fridays. I try for a simple style, one that we can finish in one sitting, but the older girls are also interested in more complicated bookmaking, too. So far, were are working with non-adhesive book binding—lots of folding and sewing. Instant books, accordion books, (mini modular origami) and that kind.

Delia mentioned she wanted to make a book with a leather over, all Hobbit style, with a coptic binding and all that, which I know how to do, but it's been a while, so I looked around and found not only a wonderful tutorial for making a leather journal, exactly the kind she wants to make, but a plethora of professional and easy-to-follow bookbinding tutorials over at Sea Lemon, on you tube. They are so good!

This one here is great for showing a simple saddle-stitch binding. It uses up a single spiral notebook to make 4 smaller ones. Here's a link directly to her bookmaking project videos, she has even more, but this is a good place to start. I am really excited to have found her videos.

She also has a whole lot of craft projects, too. We already made a mess with the homemade slime. Lava lamps are up next.

 

Orcas Island, WA

We just returned from an amazing week on Orcas Island, in Washington. It's not all that far from Portland, but a lot of travel time. A drive from Portland to Anacortes, then an hour ferry ride. We didn't miss the ferry in either direction. If you drive on, they fill up fast, so they are easy to miss, which can set you back hours. We stayed over a night north of Seattle to break it up and also stop at the American Girl store.

We stayed in a house about 4 minutes from Moran State park, which was a nature Disneyland. Lakes and hikes, camping and falls, and then more hikes. It was breathtaking. The weather was perfect the whole week, sunny and no rain. Orcas Island is really down to earth. It's a resort town and that's in it's history, but it isn't kitschy or tacky at all. For local people, it's more like Manzanita, not like Seaside.

In town, Eastsound, we found an amazing bookshop, Darville's Bookstore, delicious chocolates, Kathryn Taylor Chocolates and a bakery, Brown Bear Bakery that made me cry a little it was so good. There was a brand new furniture shop (it was open air, and just stunning) with amazing pieces made from local wood— Orcas Workshop. The Orcas Island Historical Museum was excellent, and they had a local vintage quit show up that was very moving, with researched information about the quilters.

We sea kayaked (all 5 of us) at Deer harbor—we loved our Shearwater guides, they were a great company to work with. We saw 3 herons, a harbor seal, and 2 eagles.

I could have posted about 100 more photos. It was such a great place for a family vacation. I think in the summer it gets pretty busy and the ferries can be a nightmare, but off season, like now and fall, it's idyllic. It was so beautiful and calm and relaxing yet exciting I felt like were were in a movie version of a vacation. Like the deer in our from yard eating mushroom was fake. But it wasn't. The girls found sea glass and are planning to make jewelry from it.

This island is so well documented, history wise, it made learning really fun. There are some fabulous old structures still standing, lots of historical photos and books about Orcas, and all the hikes and the state parks had lots of posted information about the local plants, wildlife and habitat, and there's a large amount of history on the construction of Moran State Park which was built during the 1930s.

This last photo documents how weird it gets on roads trips on the way home. Pete ate it, and said it was good.

greek mythology play

Crack-ups and chaos were the theme when we performed a play of Greek Mythology stories before we moved on to our next learning topic, Emily Dickinson. Greek Mythology was a big subject for all of us. We stayed on it a long time, 3 months. It just never seemed to fizzle out. This is what I love about learning at home, we don't have to move on before we are ready, we can really run with a topic as long as we want, and conversely, move on if a theme isn't super engaging for us. Along with learning Greek myths and arts and culture, we read all the Percy Jackson books and are onto The Heroes of Olympus now. We are listening to these on audio, and I think they are perfect for this. Unlike the Harry Potter books, these have vocabulary and plots that are simpler, so I dont' feel the need to stop and discuss as much, which is hard in an audio book.

The plays we performed we adapted from our favorite Greek Mythology Book that I blogged about, using the comics as the script with a narrator on the side. It was so funny. Props were made, the two pugs were in every scene and my brother was a featured performer as both Zeus and Hades (with a little of Hagrid and Eddie Van Halen mixed in.) Grammie narrated and we all took turns in the audience. We performed Pandora's Box, The Capture of Persephone, and Arachne Gets a Big Head (also starring Athena), each girl getting a lead part and choosing what stories they wanted to perform.

Here we have from left Hades, Persephone, a small Pandora, Demeter, Hermes, and a Deadkins (an Underworld helper of Hades. She also played Arachne) and the Pugs were a two-headed Cerberus.

 

sajou catalog and educational videos for kids

I got the Sajou catalog and have been poring over it with lots of sighs and oohs. I received a few items for my birthday, a tape measure and a needlebox—both of these are so nicely made. The boxes they come packed in are lovely.

Unrelated-

I was looking online for some information about Emily Dickinson and found a short analysis of her work by Crash Course. It was a bit advanced for the girls but enlightening to me, and the girls liked it a whole lot despite not quite understanding all of it. There are a ton of videos by Crash Course. A whole bunch. I haven't seen very many, but what I have seen I really like. Again, I think they are a bit advanced for all 3 girls (6, 9, 11) but they are great for me and I am surprised at what they enjoy. I watch them all first alone, to get a sense of what topics come up, especially for the 6-year-old. They are jam-packed and move very fast because they are only about 11 minutes. I often pause the video to explain subjects before moving on. I'm pretty excited to watch more, especially the US history ones.

I do feel a little like I've been under a rock, here. These courses are made by John and Hank Green and I had never heard of either of them. After typing their names into google, I see they are famous and John Green is hugely famous. He's a New York Times best selling author, (YA books) and I now realize I have seen his book cover in every store I have been in the last year or so. I sure like his content in these videos. I am very curious about his books. I haven't watched any videos with Hank yet. I'm out of it! But I can tell you all about hand-dyed thread and the Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch.

chocolate

For Mother's Day (and again for my birthday) I received some chocolate from Pete. He bought them at Cacao in Portland, a wonderful little shop selling fancy chocolate bars and delicious drinking chocolate. I loved everything shown here. I am a huge fan of dark chocolate but find most of it too chalky. I like the taste, but not the texture. These are all so smooth and wonderful to eat—the Patric being my favorite. It is so sophisticated and has so many flavors in one bite. I just loved it. He talked with the sales folks quite a bit and they told him these were all delicious and they were right.

Unrelated:

• I am super happy to see Bil Nye has a channel on youtube with a ton of full episodes of his shows, including the series The Eyes of Nye, which is nice for older kids.

• I have been telling friends that want to learn to knit about the amazing (and free!) projects  designed just for beginners over at Tin Can Knits. It's called The Simple Collection. It's new to me and seems so wonderful to learn from these designs that are specifically meant to teach basic knitting skills simply and clearly. The designs are lovely, as well.

new needlework on the wall

I finished the kit from Tristan Brooks Designs a bit back and have it up on our needlework wall. It was a great project. I have since started another crewel work project and then got agitated and took a break from it. I was using different wool thread and fabric than what I had used in the two kits and the materials are vexing me. I don't think I will scrap it, but I do need to give it a rest. I am now onto a new cross-stitch project and it's going well.

Sadie finished her first Calendar Girl from Little House Needleworks.

She collects these patterns and I wasn't sure if she'd be up for doing a project with this many stitches, but she went for it. There was some frustration but she stuck it out and I'm so proud of her. And she is of herself. She keeps saying she can't believe she finished it. She has since finished two quick and small projects to avoid burnout. I'm not sure if she will do another calendar girl, now that she realizes how long they take.

My mind kind of broke (again) in researching samplers. I discovered darning samplers, which I never knew existed and I can't even look at the pinterest board I found for more than 5 minutes before I get overwhelmed. I haven't even scrolled down to see what is on there, I'm still stuck on the top few rows.

• I'm super excited because my birthday is coming up and I plan to buy a bunch of needlework books and word has it grammie ordered a cake for me from one of my favorite bakeries, which now has a dedicated cake baking storefront, The Cakery. This name makes me so happy.

• We are headed to Oracs Island soon and I am so excited to be outside and on an adventure. Hopefuly the weather will behave somewhat. I can't believe we lived in Seattle for 5 years and never went there.

• We are studying Emily Dickinson right now and I am giddy with all the materials available at the library and online. I will cull them all soon. I am learning so much about her, I knew very little and once again I love discussing how conflicting/different biographical materials are with the girls when we learn about people and history.

 

pug crawl 2014

On the sidelines

Shark-pug

A Ghostbuster with Slime

A pug as a Tauntaun

The Hulk

A small Minion

We went to the Oregon Humane Society 2014 Pug Crawl last weekend and it was amazing. The costume theme this year was Comic Con. Angie (our pug) and Toaster (my mom's pug) went for simple matching capes in fake fur with red initials. All the above photos are from the Crawl. There were easily over 100 pugs there. They all had the same look on their face and were not too excited by the rain. There were only 2 barking pugs, and somehow one of them was not Toaster. We had to leave before we could do the crawl— torrential rain, thunder, and the threat of lightning was too much so we ran to the nearest cafe for hot cocoa and laughed at this great link from my mom, which I now can't find but is similar to this one, which is also very funny—35 naughtiest dogs.

grammie's quilts

It was such a fun time seeing Grammie (my mom) show off her quilts to family and friends at Modern Domestic yesterday. The sun came out and so many people came to see her work. She realized, when thinking about it, that over the years she has probably made over 200 quilts. None of these were for sale, they were made for family friends, babies, herself—just for the love of making quilts. There are about 12 in this show, such a small sampling.

Here's Grammie in the pink sweater with a dear friend, a woman who I have known all my life. You can see an amazing quilt of grammies behind them. The one thing people kept remarking on, besides her amazing piecing skills and choice of colors—is how much her machine quilting adds texture and dimension to her quilts. They are so amazing in person, a photo just can't show the level of detail.

This one in the forground is a log cabin made of 1/2" strips. The machine quilting on it takes it to a whole other level, it's hard to even see that it's a log cabin until you are up close.

The quilts are going to be up a few more weeks, so please take a look if you are in the neighborhood. And thanks to all my ladies and friends who came to hang out and hear Grammie say funny stuff, she didn't disappoint! We love you, Grammie!

meet grammie & see her quilts this saturday!

I am so excited that Grammie has a quilt show coming up!

Grammie has been quilting for so long, for herself and professionally, and this is her first show. She has showered her family and loved ones with quilts over the years—my daughters, my brother, my husband, my grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, we all have quilts that have been made by her hands and they are all so special to us. I think she will have about 10 quilts in this show, a fraction of what she has done over the years. She has pieced and machine stitched all of these. There are probably are some quilts with appliqué and hand-quilting in this show, too. All of the work done by her. I couldn't be more proud. Her show is at:

Modern Domestic

1408 NE Alberta Street, Portland

The reception is from 1-3, Saturday May 17th 

Grammie and I will be there with cookies and inappropriate jokes. Please come by and say hi!

Alberta is such a fun area to shop and eat. It's a maker's heaven with Bolt, Close Knit, nearby.

Cosmic craft stars are aligning! At Collage (across the street) my friend and fellow Creativebug instructor Courtney Cerruti will be teaching a workshop from 2-5 on the same day as Grammie's reception, you can catch both events! Creative Correspondence -- Combining Image Transfer + Washi Tape to Create Mail Art & Small Original Works with Courtney Cerruti. 

 

A great book for learning about presidents!

After countless readings of the Greek Mythology book by Michael Townsend, we bought Where Do Presidents Come From?: And Other Presidential Stuff of Super Great Importance.

I can't say enough great things about his books. They are so funny, absurd, and dry. The 11 and 9-year-old understand all the humor and information completely and the almost 7-year-old just loves the the hamsters and bunnies. It's not just about presidents, it's about the whole presidential process—what presidents actually do, how they are elected, and the history behind all that. It's got so much information with dinosaurs thrown in. I am sure crossing my fingers he writes more of these.

Unrelated: I made super easy and fast dinner last night— shrimp with whole-wheat couscous and 3 out of 5 of us liked it a whole lot! (2 adults and one kid.)

another crewel kit started

I started another crewel kit I found in my stash of supplies. This one has been so much fun. It's made by Tristian Brooks Designs and it comes with everything you need except the hoop. I love being able to use different threads. For my first kit I used Appleton thread, which I liked, but hadn't used anything else to compare it to. This kit comes with Heathway crewel wools, Gumnut Poppies (silk/wool blend), and Pearsall’s silk. I have been pretty immersed in reading and learning about threads, fabrics, and stitches for crewel. I also have been assessing my thread stash and needlework organization and wanting to clean up and clear out and display some items that are so lovely to look at.

Two days ago I had what my Mom calls a "Hello Kitty freak-out" when I rediscovered the Sajou webite. I had known about Sajou and bought (from a now closed needlework shop) a really amazing book by the historical company years ago, but hadn't really gone back to look at what they had in they last few years, and when I did my brain kind of exploded.

The complete catalog is online and there looks to be a few distributors in the US that carry some of these items. The sewing boxes got me all twitchy as did the scissors, ribbons, wooden supplies, and thread holders. I don't even know what to buy, I just had to look at the catalog for hours. This is what my mom was talking about. When I did have my "Hello Kitty freak-out" I was about 9 and found a Hello Kitty store and couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't actually buy anything, I just had to look. For hours. And she let me. She just sat and waited, telling me there was no hurry. I finally calmed down, and then left, empty handed and exhausted. She didn't say a word and was amazing.

Oh, this is turning into an unexpected Mother's Day post!

Speaking of my wonderful Mom, (Gayle Karol of Tilie Studio fame and known as Grammie on this blog) she is having a quilt show at Modern Domestic and the opening reception is next Saturday May 17th from 1-3. I will write about this more soon. I can't wait. Her quilts are so stunning in person.

3 warm days in portland

We had 3 amazing days last week, one was in the low 90˚s and the other two were in the 80˚s and the town went crazy. Now we are back to rain and the mid 60˚s and have forgotten all about it. I wore head to toe wool yesterday.

Unrelated:

• I made a huge batch of daikon and carrot pickles a month ago from Simply Recipes and have been enjoying quite a bit. My girls suggested that I open the jar and eat it outside because of the smell. There's a similar recipe at Just Bento.

• I can't stop visiting this Professor Fox doll by Mimi Kirchner.

•  The Letter Writers Alliance is such a great blog/project/mail-art headquarters and informs me about fabulous things like the World's Smallest Postal Service: DIY kit.

 

secret squirrel —crewel work project

 

I finished my first crewel work project a few weeks ago and I have fallen hard for this type of embroidery. This kit is by The Crewelwork Company. It's called Secret Squirrel, and sadly, is hard to find and not made anymore, but some shops still have it. I bought it a long time ago and tucked it away and then a swift 6 years went by and rediscovered it along with quite a bit of other needlework items I bought around that time. My favorite shop went out of business and I bought everything I could, knowing I would be happy later I did, and I sure am.

Here's a close up. The color is a bit off, the color above is much more accurate.

I feel like I am in a race car stitching crewel compared to cross-stitch and needlepoint on canvas and the painter in me is giddy over the ability to mix color and directions and make marks with the threads. It's so much fun. I have started another kit and then I am onto my own designs. I really am happy I am taking the time to work from kits now, to get a sense of color, learning different stitches, and working on precision without have to make design decisions along the way—but I already have drawn my own designs and they are waiting in the wings. The amount of research about fabric, wool threads, and browsing the vast amount of amazing books about crewel has been so fun to dive into. I have to be careful and back away from the computer, because you know, I could also be stitching instead of researching. I have been looking at books over at The Mad Samplar, and reading about crewel technique over at Needle n' Thread.

On the opposite side of this type of work, I have been madly stitching for the girls' ballet recital coming up, Alice in Wonderland, and it's been a lot of sheers, feathers, fake furs, hat making, glue gunning, serging, and tons of fast, furious, and loud sewing. So, my embroidery will have to be on hold for a couple weeks.

unrelated:

I was told to watch Mortified Nation on instant netflix (thanks sarah!) and oh, man, it's so good. It remnds me of This American Life, at it's most cringy. In the best way.

wise craft—the book

I have known Blair Stocker a long time, since our earliest days of blogging, and am so happy to have receieved a review copy of  Wise Craft: Turning Thrift Store Finds, Fabric Scraps, and Natural Objects Into Stuff You Love. Blair's blog, wise craft has always been a great source of inspiration and this book has all that wise craft love in it. She has a great eye and knows how to have fun with creating, which I really appreciate.

This project will have me crocheting. I mean it.

Blair is so good at using found/thrifted items in her projects.

The chapters are by seasons, which I love. I wish more craft books did this, it works so well in cookbooks, it's genius to have a craft book organized this way. This is the Spring chapter. So minimal and pretty but not too serious—that's wise craft all the way.

And becasue Halloween is my favorite holiday, I zoned right in on her fall projects and love them to death.

Zombie barbies. I don't need to say anything else.

Of all the blog people I have met over the years, and I am so happy to have met so many, Blair is probably the funniest. I mean, crazy, stand-up comedian style funny. I wish she lived in Portland, but I shouldn't complain because Seattle isn't that far, really.

delia's needlepoint and portland bakeries

Delia finished her first needlepoint recently. She was happy doing cross stitch but when she saw me try needlepoint, she was eager to start. She chose this pattern from a book and picked out her own colors, and off she went. She's now back onto another cross stitch project and heavy into making rainbow loom charms. She learns them from this you tube channel, Made by Mommy.

Unrelated:

I recently went to Frice Pastry, an amazing bakery new to me, and was so happy I made the stop. I found quite a round up Portland bakeries over at Under the Table with Jen.  I am glad to see I've been to almost all of them, but there's a few I still need to check out. Research! It's a great list.

I ate this at Frice and took home many other items. This was so amazing, but I can't remember the name of it. I bought another to take home to Pete. It's got an almond filling with a puff- pastry crust. it's not too sweet and the texture is as light as air.

Also, unrelated:

I finally updated my website. It's been about 8 years, so this feels pretty good. It's got all my shenanigans in one place and it's much easier now to get to all my videos on creatvebug. Yippee!

chocolate cereal nests

We spontaneously made some chocolate cereal nests yesterday. I had 3/4 of a box of very unpopular shredded wheat cereal, unsweetened, and didn't want to get rid of it, so I melted a bag of chocolate chips and stirred it all up. I had made these before years ago and it was fun, but kind of a mess and hard to shape. These were so much easier and fun to make.

I used the food processor to make the cereal fine and crossed my fingers that one bag of melted chocolate chips was enough for about 3/4 of a box of finely chopped cereal. After a lot of stirring, it was just fine. Adding shredded coconut to the mix would have been good, too.

For shaping, we used cupcake liners in a tin. I had the girls scoop in the mixture, press with their fingers to make a little indent, and then chilled them until they firmed up. They keep fine room temperature after that. This amount made 12 nests in a standard muffin tin. They make the nests a bit more uniform and less natural, but were so much easier to handle and shape. The paper came off just fine and they are so tasty.

Unrelated-

I have taken a break from my shawl (pattern and yarn here) to start on a crewel work project and am having so much fun. More needlework excitement! I have been buying/collecting/ needlework kits and books of all kinds for years now and only recently have been able to dive in. I have been shopping in my own closet and bins and can't believe what I have stashed away that I had forgotten about. My tastes don't really change at all, so what I have found, I love. I am so happy I snatched things up when I saw them on sale years ago.

tulips and zip lines

We went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm over the weekend and the tulip fields were amazing.

There were plenty of other activities as well. You can go just for the tulips (parking is $10) but everything else—the food and activities, add up real fast. Zip lines, paintball archery, rock climbing, and this crazy jumping thing. The hippie in me wanted a little less of all this extreme un-tulip like activity and a little more nature craft, but the girls had a blast. Watching people totally eat it on the the mechanical bull was very funny.

Angie thought it was lovely.

the last few days

• Dinner at Tilt with the Ladies. I can still feel my biscuit sandwich a day later. The pies were very good.

• I streamed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with the Bee Gees, while I was sewing for the girls' upcoming ballet show. I loved this movie when I was little and now that I watch it again I marvel at how it got made. It's so bad, confusing, boring, and wonderful. Peter Frampton's white overalls are outstanding. How could I have forgotten Steve Martin was in this movie?

• I am knitting my first shawl and really digging it. The idea of grabbing a yarn and needles, casting on, and then stopping when I am out of yarn is thrilling to me.

 

embroidery wall—newest additions

 

I finished my first needlepoint project and am so happy with how it turned out. I used a pattern from this book and just stitched until it felt done. The frame is 8" x 8" and the mat opening is 5" x 5". This is stitched in hand-dyed silk. Next up will be my first crewel work project. I'm really excited.

Here's how our needlework wall is looking. I'm prepared for the fact that the girls might want to have their pieces in their rooms eventually. For now, they are happy to have them up here, which I love. It's the first wall you see when you come in our house.  All these pieces make me so happy.

more poem resources-

Another poem-a-day feature at the Poetry Foundation. This huge site also has a wonderful phone app, lots of audio and great teaching/learning resources.

knitted item for a neck and poetry month

This was a quick knit made with malabrigo rasta. I used 17 needles and knit a big rib until I ran out of yarn and then seamed it up. It's a belated birthday gift for a dear friend who lives in a climate that is too warm for this right now. But, you know, It was so fun to work on. Mindless and huge. It was a nice change from my needlepoint that is tiny and a bit eye straining.

It's poetry month!

We have been reading a lot more poetry around here the last few weeks, and I didn't even know poetry month was coming up. Recently, the girls and I have been reading these wonderful postcards from MIEL evey morning, discussing the artwork and the text written on them. There is something magical about the words not being in a book, but on a cards, to pass around and study closely. I show some photos of these postcards here. We also still use this book.They want to write some poems on small cards and leave them in public places, which I fully support.

I found myself spending a lot of time on Poets.org. It's a huge site for writers, readers, and educators. I signed up for the poem-a-day (which is e-mailed to me) and I love it. It sends me poems I would have never found on my own.

charcoal drawing

Delia (9)

Delia (9)

Lydia (6)

Sadie (11)

Lydia (6)

I thought it would be fun to do some drawing with the girls using only charcoal so I rummaged in my old drawing box and found some teeny tiny bits of vine and compressed charcoal that I had from about 20 years ago. They did the trick but I need to get some more. I had them draw with the charcoal only, using the sides and the tips and just filling up newsprint with different types of lines and marks, so they could see what the medium can do and how different it is from crayon and pencil. Then I had them smear with their fingers, cotton swabs, and tissue, and then erase to add white, highlights, and clean-up around the edges. We fixed them with hairspray and I was instantly transported back to drawing class—that chalky feeling on my fingers and black smudges on my face. 

They weren't quite prepared for how messy charcoal drawing is and kept wanting to wash their hands in the middle, but I told them not to bother, and to use the extra charcoal on their fingers draw with. I could see them sort of click over into art mode and forget about the mess and just create. It was very cool. They were so proud of what they drew.

I would love to make some vine charcoal, has anyone done this? I didn't in school mostly because I preferred compressed charcoal because it can really go black, vine always left me wanting more. Regardless, I think it would be so fun to make some homemade vine charcoal, other than just burning the end of a stick and drawing with that.

hotels

Pete and I saw the Grand Budapest Hotel last night and were thoroughly entertained. The images, especially in the first 10 minutes, were so beautiful. I wanted these images up around me all the time, so I printed out my own postcards on matte photo paper to put up around my desk. Google images has a ton of lovely stills from the movie, including this amazing grouping of ephemera which has me all excited. I opted not to print a postcard of Harvey Keitel's excellent tattoos, although Pete wanted me to.

Hotel related—I laughed out loud when I saw the videos at the end of The Rumpus Interview with Jacob Tomsky. They are at the bottom of the interview. I haven't read his book, Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality, but it's on my list and it looks really good in that cringe-y way. When I was doing commercial interior design I worked on a lot of hotels and heard a lot of crazy stuff from the managers, and even crazier stories from the staff. I almost don't want to read this.

I do want some vintage hotel stationery now.

homemade fire starters

Delia wanted to make some fire starters. She remembered that it was a skill on DIY she could earn and is always looking for a reason to play with fire or melted wax, which is understandable to me. I was sort of a firebug, too. There are so many recipes and methods for making these. We read a few recipes and then just used what we had around on hand and what seemed safe to burn.

She gathered newspaper and dryer lint. She busted out the cutest elephant paper shredder in the world to shred it. I got this for the girls a few years ago on a whim and they love it and use it all the time. So do I.

Then she poured in melted soy wax that we had left over from our candle making. I love soy wax so much.

She wrapped them in wax paper to make an easy wick for lighting. Also, it makes them look like little candies, which she finds very pleasing. We used these in the fireplace, and they worked—but we learned a lot. Using a lot of wax is fun and pretty, but it just melts like crazy and covers too much of the material inside, so it didn't burn right away. Next time less wax would be better. Or, just using the egg carton method, but she said they weren't as cute. I understand.

Once the wax melted away and the paper finally ignited these worked great. There are many recipes for these out there, most of which seem great, some I'd worry about breathing in the fumes of what they were burning, so I feel good about these we made. Next, I want to make a tinderbox from an altoid tin, like I saw demonstrated at Fort Clatsop. Also, I really want to put together this Altoids Survival Kit 2.0.

peg dolls

During the hustle and bustle of the holiday madness we bought this book— Making Peg Dolls by Margaret Bloom, at the wonderful Portland toy shop, SpielWerk Toys, just for ourselves. Sadie and I fell in love with it immediately. It has so many adorable peg doll ideas with patterns and directions, all organized by the seasons. It took us until now to start projects from it. These were made in about an hour, the paint on them dries really fast. I helped Lydia with the stitching and the face painting on her birds. The girls know their way around making peg dolls and clothes pin dolls—Delia even helped me teach a class on making some over on Creativebug.

This might be my favorite page, but the halloween one is pretty outstanding, too. There are some great tips in this book. The only thing that I find vexing about felt is gluing it to itself. Felt on wood is fine, but felt on felt can be really difficult.

We got our unfinished pegs from Casey's Wood Products which shipped really fast, even though they are across the country from us. This was serious business—the sorting and dividing of the wood dolls. Lots of lists and notes and math.

oregon tide pools

We were able to sneak away for a few days last week to the coast and whiled we relaxed we worked on some projects for the homeschooling science fair the girls are doing. It was stormy, sunny, wet, windy, and warm—changing constantly. Awesome oregon coast weather. We love the tide pools so much and found a ton of critters to research. This site is helpful for identifiaction.

I stitched on my needlepoint until I ran out hot pink and then switched to knitting a hat. Sadie started and finished a little cross-stitch by SamSarah. She loves these charts in their Pearls series because they work up fast and she gets to add a little button.

We got through book two in the Percy Jackson series and I discovered, from a library book that my 6-year-old checked out, that you can make any box cake into cookies by mixing the cake mix with 2 eggs and 1/3 cup oil or melted butter and any mix-ins you want. Trashy baking excitement! It was perfect for travel. We made spice cake mix cookies with chocolate chips. They were delicious. We came home to some garage flooding and cat barf.

space, islands, & music. books I have bought for pete.

I just got this book, The Martian, by Andy Weir last week for Pete for our 16th wedding anniversary and he read it in two days. Giving fiction is always tricky, especially as a gift and especially having not read it myself, but I got a very enthusiastic recommendation from a bookseller at Annie Bloom Books, here in Portland, who said it was wonderful. He said it was like MacGyver being stuck on Mars. Sold. Pete said this was so stressful and exciting to read—the most fun he's had reading a book in a very long time. I love the cover.
How Music Works, by David Byrne. He hasn't read it all, but really likes it. He keeps going back to it. He's not a hardcore David Byrne fan, but is a music major, and is facinatined by these essays. I see this book out often, he's had it about a year. It's also very pleasing to look at. I do buy books for their cover.

Atlas of Remote Islands, by Judith Schalansky. I bought this for him years ago and again, I see it around a lot. Reading reviews will help describe it—it's beautifully crafted (which is why I bought it) and he says it's fascinating. Especially for someone into islands, which he is.

I haven't read any of these, but would like to, or more precisely, I like it when he talks about them and then I feel like I have read them and can get back to my historical romances and werewolf stories. I read legit stuff, to, but you know what I mean. I need to find a historical romance with a werewolf in it. There must be one, surely.

knitting for babies

Taking a break from my more ambitious knitting projects, I have been fitting in some smaller projects, like these booties and a hat. You can see them on my ravelry page, but I kept really bad records, the yarn info is long gone. The booties pattern is legit, the hat pattern I made up. I've been knitting booties from this pattern for many years. I think this is my 6th or 7th pair I have made. These were made for friends expecting little ones soon, very exciting!

I was in a spinning mood last night, which is unusual for me. I'm not a night person, I wish I were, but I am not at all. I am a morning person. At night, I'm not worth much, but I can do certain things that require little of me, like winding yarn and winding embroidery floss onto little bobbins. The paper things, you know what I mean. Spools? Anyhoo, I wound many, many little hanks of crazy messy embroidery floss onto spools, and then about 7 hanks of different yarns I had bought, stashed, and had not used yet, because they were still in hanks. It was so pleasing and mellowed out my crazy brain a bit. I am now looking for more to wind around the house.

Has anyone worked with Weeks Dye Works thread that comes in 2-3 strand floss? I find the idea of not having to separate strands thrilling, and so would my daughters. Pattern-wise—I was tipped to this site in the comments that has insanely cute cross-stitch designs that the girls now love, The Frosted Pumpkin, and these at Satsuma Street are unlike any I have seen before, the colors make me so happy. The girls also love the patterns in I am not a doll. We keep visiting Alicia's patterns and Hillary's patterns, too.

Random:

I just saw Francis Ha on netflix instant and liked it a whole lot. I have been watching movies while working out on the elliptical trainer in the mornings and have seen so many over the last few months. I have to watch them in about 3 sessions, depending on the movie, and I really like breaking it up this way. I get to think about the film between workouts. It's sort of the opposite of binge watching, I guess. Francis Ha was not at all what I thought it was going to be.

embroidery wall

We have moved all of our framed needlework pieces to one wall, instead of hanging them all around the house. Even since taking these photos Sadie has added a new framed piece. So exciting! I have dated and named them all on the back. Some are mine, some are the girls', and the stunner floral crewelwork was done by my aunt. She gave it to my mom probably 30 years ago, and two years ago my mom had it framed and gave it to me, knowing how much I have always loved it. It's one my most favorite things. Liddy is working with plastic canvas, but recently has started her first knitting project and her variegated yarn is so pleasing—stripes without the work! We have been doing all this while listening to Percy Jackson, the audio book, which has been really fun, and then I get to do some needlework, too. They told Pete he should start knitting, which I think is a great idea.

Needlework has a special place in my heart because it's the only thing I have been doing recently that is non-utilitarian. I can get all brain-busy when I make things for a purpose—like garment sewing or knitting clothes, because I can usually make it for less money, or for a specific need, or whatever. It's fun but it's not exactly artistic for me, although it is creative for me. Only when I make things that I can't use do I feel—that feeling. Maybe it's that feeling of doing something artistic and working through any guilt that I could (should) be doing something more useful, like sewing for the girls or knitting a sweater for someone. I fall into a trap thinking I need to be able to use what I make, or if i can't use it, at least sell it, for it to be worth doing and this is not what I really think at all, but it's how I behave. It wasn't until I started doing needlework just for fun and wondering why it felt so different that I start to think about why it felt different.

pumpkin bread

I have been tinkering with pumpkin bread/cake recipes again. I have posted a few in the past and keep making changes here and there. This one is currently my favorite and I think it will be for a long time. It's from the excellent Grand Central Baking book (recipe here) and I changed 3 things:

• I used white whole wheat flour instead of white and sadly,
• I never have buttermilk so I used yogurt instead
• I made it in a bundt pan (and increased the cooking time) instead of two loaf pans. The second one I made last week I added chocolate chips to.

Unrelated:

• We are teaching the girls computer programming—we just heard of code.org a bit back and have been doing it for about a month now. It's pretty amazing. Pretty, swear-word amazing.

• I have been getting looser with my knitting rules and now have 4 projects going on at once. Look out! Really, this is huge for me. When I sew, it's one project at a time, and always has been so breaking of out of this mindset has been huge for me with knitting. I had to come to terms with my knitting burn-out and that it's often because I have been working on one item for too long. If I focus on taking pleasure in the knitting (process) and let go of the need for a finished item as quickly as possible (product) I tend to enjoy it a whole lot more. So, I might cast on this tonight. Make that 5 projects.

 

funny greek mythology

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 is what has them riveted at the moment. It's very funny and the drawings are even funnier—it appeals to their absurdist sense of humor and love of comics so much. It's a great first book for them on this topic—the short versions of the stories introduce them to Gods and Goddesses that they can have in their back pocket as we go on. It is perfect for all 3 of them, 6-11.

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.

snow!

we got snowed in the last 4 days and the girls have been:

• Reading a ton—we finished reading Tom Sawyer and started To Kill a Mocking Bird (from our Family Library)

• Working on their DIY skills with intensity. Also, they were sledding a whole lot and we realized we don't have a lot of snow gear, like real gloves. Oops. We used socks instead.

• Working on their books—for a couple months now they have been writing and illustrating their own stories on StoryJumper. So far, they are just online, we haven't paid to get the actual book printed yet. It's been so fun. Sadie uploads her original artwork, Delia is learning so much about grammar, and Liddy is writing an amazing story about an elephant that owns a candy shop and Medusa makes an appearance.They are learning so much about writing along with basic graphic design on the computer—using scale, layers, placement features and formatting text. It's amazing to see and I had no clue when we started this how much they would learn on the computer side. We always make our own books (with paper and staples and draw everything) but they just took off with this in such a different way, it has been great to see it develop. StoryJumper provides a little outline for them to use first so their story doesn't get too off the rails as they go. It's also free (unless you want an actual book sent) and you can read other books written by kids, which are pretty swell.

• I ran out of sugar and we couldn't get to the store in all the snow, so I made cookies with sweetened condensed milk instead. Who knew? I had no idea you could do this, but you can. They were so good and really made us all very sick.

needlepoint

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:

• the girls and I are having fun watching the short movies on BrainPOP. We have only seen the free ones—they are pretty funny and well done.

• How to fold a paper box, over on the Creatvebug blog. We are snowed in here, this will be perfect for today.

chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

Pete had a birthday last week and we made him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. I used my go-to cake recipe from my PDF that I have on my fridge.

For the frosting, I used a half-batch of this recipe. Next time I'll add a little salt to the frosting. The peanut butter I used was a natural creamy kind, which is very tasty but needed a little salt to balance how sweet this frosting was. This cake was very well received with a little vanilla ice cream on the side. It's super-rich and wonderful, a little goes a long ways. I didn't have any peanuts to garnish the top, so some raw sugar got sprinkled on instead for a nice crunch.

Unrelated:

• I was looking for simple and easy valentine's day crafts and saw a bunch of nice ideas on this pinterest board by cratfy magazine that look fun and aren't too over-the-top cutesy.

• I have both hearts and needlework on the brain and I found this lovely image of hearts that has me itching to start a new piece.

 

finished hat (first color work)

It felt so good to finish my first color work project, this fair isle hat. There are a ton of mistakes in my chat reading, but I love it anyway. If you repeat a mistake enough times, it's a design feature, right?

I'm back onto Cypress now, I project that has been on hold for about a year. I am having fun getting back into it. I'm not sure if I will wear it, it's a bit hobbit for me and I only feel hobbit about 15% of the time. I'm thinking it might look nice with a sheer blouse under to lighten the look a little. Then I'm onto this Icelandic sweater, which will be epic for me.

unrelated:

I have been exercising a lot lately, I was during the holidays—and then got sick and took a break. I have started up again and feel so much better. This exact time last year I had a horrible herniated disk and was helping Grammie though awful chemo treatment and I just remember how hard it all was physically and emotionally. It all feels very different this winter. I feel so grateful everyday to have my body back—strong and healthy, and that Grammie is doing better.

I have been doing cardio every other day, but was nervous to go back to yoga, because so much of what I do involves bending forward, which isn't good for my back even now. I got a tip from a few friends about Barre 3 online workouts and love it so far. I signed up for the 15 days for free deal. I do the 10 minute workouts in the mornings and they make me pretty shaky, in a good way. I plan to tack on a 10 minute workout in the evening, but so far I haven't. I was doing the 7-minute thing but I do worry about injury and the micro movements of the Barre 3 workouts just feel a little safer for the way I move. I also tend to get in laughing fits with the 7-minute workout thing if anyone is in the room, which they usually are. This is why I don't take classes at a gym. When I have, with friends, it's pretty disruptive. I just can't keep it together at all.

easy brunch and some links

I made some chocolate-chip scones and raspberry-cardamon-oatmeal muffins last weekend for a brunch date. Fruit and almonds were on the side along with coffee and juice. The scones were plain, I just added chocolate chips to the dough and cinnamon-sugar on top. For the muffins I used plain white flour, but I decreased it by 1/2 cup and added 1/2 cups oats, about a cup of frozen raspberries, and about 1/4 teaspoon cardamon. Not too much of that spice— I love it, but the kids don't. Well, they do, but only in small amounts. These muffins were a winner for sure. I was going in to use whole wheat flour for both of these baked items, but got all crazy and went for the white flour because it was a brunch date. I'm living on the edge.

Two things made me laugh out loud over on the Rumpus this week-

Buddhust Nun Pema Chödrön Rewrites the Classics, by Kristy Eldridge

I read a lot of Pema (too much?) and I thought this was so dang funny.

Ted Wilson Reviews the World #213—Monster Energy Drink

The Ted Wilson column makes me laugh really hard every time I read it. I usually read it out loud and never know when I will crack up and lose it and have to stop reading but I always do.

 

knitting with color

One of my knitting goals that was brewing last year was to try fair isle knitting. I then proceeded to not try it, knitting two sweaters instead, and then turning back to cross-stitch at the end of the summer. I recently got all excited about trying a Lopi sweater and knew it would be unwise to try color work the first time on a sweater project. So, while I wait and plot my sweater, I am working on this hat—the pattern is from the excellent class over at Creativebug.They reduced their monthly fee for unlimited classes, very cool and very affordable!

So, the hat is going well. Except that I totally messed up the pattern, but more on that in a second.

My knitting history: I tried to get serious about knitting a few times, the first when I was about 18, and then again at about 20. I knit a few hats. In my late 20s in Seattle I took a real knitting class and the wise teacher (seeing I hadn't really clocked many hours knitting) taught me to pick and told me to knit that way. I was throwing until then, but because I was never serious about knitting, switching to picking wasn't a big deal. She told me one day, I'd be happy I knew both. Especially for color work. Thank you wise knitting teacher!

So, holding two colors in two different hands is not a big deal. My tension needs work, as does my concentration, because I have since totally screwed up this color work pattern, but you know what? I'm not taking it out. Because it's still pretty and I am proud of it and I just think it will still be a great hat, just not a perfect hat, and that's just fine. It's a practice project that happens to keep a head warm, it's a win-win as I see it.

I am very tired because last night I went down a knitting rabbit hole and have still not come out the other side. I found The Fringe Association, by Karen Templer. I am sure I am the last knitter to know of this site, right? But wow. I love it so much. She has a shop, and interviews, and wonderful taste, and a ton of info and some free patterns. This Beginning to Knit series had me up all night.

art class - Alexander Calder

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). This is a great series by Mike Venezia, for not only artists but presidents and scientists, too. They are short and fun—good for the younger kids.

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.

hand pie brunch

Four different types of hand pies were served for brunch with my brother yesterday. I made a double batch of dough earlier in the week. I rolled out, filled, and baked them when I had time. They are perfect for leftovers, the fillings can be almost anything. For brunch I made a ham and cheese, an apple sausage and cheese (just grated cheese and chopped meat, that's it) and a cinnamon apple. I cooked chopped apple, butter, and cinnamon sugar a little first. I also made a pies filled with a super thick caramelized mushroom cream sauce that I had made for a different dinner earlier in the week. These pie work best with no more than about 1/3 cup of filling—which is perfect for me because I like to save even the smallest amounts (too small for another full meal) perfect for a hand pie filling. The recipe for the dough I used is in the last post, but I made 8 pies with that recipe, not 10.

I like to bake them right way, then freeze. To serve these for brunch I took them out the night before and heated them for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven Sunday morning before serving. My brother was smitten. I noticed he took some home, too. The girls enjoyed these filling much more than the quiona ones I made first, but I like those, too.

I have starting knitting my fair isle hat, after two attempts failed—the yarn kept breaking! I am working from my stash and don't really know what I am using, but I just feel good using something up. However, breaking yarn is not cool. I am also stumped a new sewing project. I have too much clothing as it is. I love all my clothes and don't even get a chance to wear what I already have, which is why I love sewing for the girls, so maybe a quilt, next? Or something for Grammie.

Anyhoo, I am going to focus more on teaching the girls to sew, I think. They do a little already, (especially with Grammie) but now they are old enough to start and finish a project on their own, with help, and I think teaching how to actually finish something is huge. It's so satisfying to complete a project. A long project, something that takes more than a day. Sewing often is much faster than that, but you know what I mean. The two older girls just finished their first cross stitch and they are so proud. They started them over a year ago. I framed them and hung them right away. Seeing them focused on their little hoops with a needle and thread in the evenings breaks my heart in two with joy.

hand pies

I was compelled to make some handpies after seeing Erin's on Instagram. The recipe is here, from Mad Hungry. I didn't make the chicken pot pies this was used for on the Mad Hungry site, but instead stuffed them with quinoa, garbanzo beans, and a cabbage, fennel, kale, carrot slaw, heavy spiced with garam masala. The pastry recipe says it makes 10, but 8 seemed better to me. The dough is so easy to work with. Not healthy, mind you—butter, cream cheese, and white flour, so I tried to make the filling a little more nutritious, to my daughters' dismay. Any filling would be good in these I think, savory or sweet. I baked them and froze them and Pete takes them to work. The girls have requested a different filling next time.I think they are delicious.

I'm feeling a strong urge to bake, It's dark and wet out. Right now, an oatmeal batter bread is rising and a knitting project is starting—a fair isle hat, to get me started on color knitting before my big project, the Icelandic sweater. Last year I went from never having knit a sweater to knitting three. This makes me very happy.

happy 2014!

Happy after the holidays!

We made it through. It was a lovely but tiring December—6 Nutcracker shows with all three girls dancing this year, and then the holidays and then a bad violent bout of the norovirus that hit all 5 of us at once. It was pretty terrible—the house just sort of shut down for two days, but we recovered. We then went to the Oregon coast after we all felt better and it was so warm, sunny, beautiful and relaxing. We all needed it so much.

The girls just chilled out with some needlework they hadn't worked on in a long time and I finished a cross-stitch piece that I started last year, which I am very excited to have done. Delia learned how to make balloon animals which was really fun and so her. Taking them all home was cumbersome and I have no idea where she stashed them in her room now, but you'd think I'd know where over 20 balloon animals would be in the house, but I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to.

I spent some time thinking about new projects I want to try this year and I realize I can't think very far out, only what I want to do next. I really want to try and knit with multiple colors this year, and am very excited to try a Lopapeysa sweater. I went back and read all of Kay's great posts on her lopapeysa sweater obsession. I try not to bug her too much about knitting, but knowing I can makes me so happy. It's kind of like knowing a superhero, it just feels good to know she is out there when I need her. With a cape, knitted of course. Or a shrug. Or, duh—a cowl, what was I thinking? Of course it's a cowl. I think I will try this wonderful free pattern here.

Portland knitters, does any LYS sell Istex wool for these sweaters?

happy solstice and see you in 2014!

Sadie and I brought home these fabulous items at Crafty Wonderland last weekend. I was doing really well, not spending too much and just looking around until I saw the E is for Ethel booth and sort of lost it. There was so much glitter, sparkle, and magic crammed in, I felt but elated and overwhelmed. I bought these items, but I think I could have reached at anything with my eyes closed and been happy.

Happy Solstice! We are getting ready to celebrate with almond cake, the lighting of candles, shadow puppet shows and a late night of fun. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and New Year's and see you in 2014!

knitted wristwarmers

I knitted these wristwarmers for a gift. I think I knit them this month, but it might have been in November. It's sort of been a blur. They are super easy and don't require much yarn or brain activity, which was exactly what I needed. I am so sad I didn't have super cute nail polish on when I shot this, like they do on the cover of Learn to Knit, Love to Knit, by Anna Wilkinson, which is where this wonderful pattern came from. I was sent a review copy (the US version, the original UK version came out in 2012) and LOVE it—this is all I have knitted from the book, but I have my eye on a hat pattern next. I love it that Ravelry has all the patterns to look at.

I have been baking. A lot. And have had some baking fails this month—forgetting the flour in a cake. What? Granted, it is a very wet cake batter even with the flour, so it's not as crazypants as it sounds. But still, a bit crazy. It boiled over violently and the oven with filled with chocolate magma. There was also a disastrous coconut macaroon episode. I'm still not sure what happen there, but they were way too wet, again ruining the bottom of the oven.

These apricot ginger shortbread squares saved the day.  They call them apricot crumbles, but it doesn't really describe them enough in my book. I make them every year. I bake them, freeze them in the parchment-lined pan, and then take the whole thing out frozen and cut into perfect squares. Then thaw. They are so good and so pleasing. I just made another batch with raspberry jam and chopped pecans.

cross-stitch ornament

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 and this (bought at the grocery store) to go with it. Excited!! I know he will love it.

peppermint hot cocoa

I got this idea (I'm surely not the first) while I was baking and craving hot cocoa while I also happened to be handling mini candy canes.

My girls don't like peppermint hot cocoa (criminal!) so I never make our hot cocoa mix minty, just normal. I use the recipe on the can—sugar, cocoa, and milk. Sometimes I add a little cinnamon or other spices if I am crazy and it's not for them. I wanted a mint flavor and mint extract gets too strong— especially in one cup. I grabbed one mini candy cane, pounded it lightly with a rolling pin, added it to my mug before I added the hot cocoa mix and then poured in the hot milk and stirred like crazy. There were no bits of candy, it melted, and the peppermint flavor was perfect. Just the right amount.

Ideally this post would have included a photo of the finished hot cocoa with whipped cream on top and a light sprinkle of more crushed candy cane, but that didn't happen. In my mind it did and it was beautiful. And we were also out of marshmallows. So I didn't show what it did look like, because, you know, it looked like brown liquid. But it was delicious.

Unrelated:

I am SO HAPPY I found this list— the 100 best movies in Netflix Instant over on Paste. This will save me much precious time. There's nothing I dislike more than having just a little time to watch something and then getting stuck trying to figure out what to watch. Maddening! And now triumph!

jamaretti cookie

I just made these cookies from the MSL site. I had seen the video and noticed almond paste was called for. I love jam cookies and love almond paste, so if I can combine them, I will. I used to make these, without the almond paste, and called them Ribbon Cookies. These are called Jamaretti Cookies. I'm not sure what I think of this name. Is it made up? It sounds like a jam band name. Jamaphonics. Actually, Jamafonx. Like maybe from Eugene.

Oh wait!! it's jam and amaretti combined! Okay, I get it now. Anyhoo, they are delicious.

Giving Tuesday

So many resources and links and sites to look at!

As a family we have figured out a system that works for us for giving during the holidays—we adjust it every year, but the framework is the same.

• Local: We like to look in our newspaper or weekly guide and choose a local non-profit we can give to. There's a yearly Season of Sharing Wishbook the Oregonian puts out, and Willamette Week has an very easy to navigate annual Give!Guide.

• World: Then, we like to give to an international charity—it might be related to something we are learning about or towards a recent disaster. We talk about it and discuss it, do a little research, and try to see what charities have good ratings on one of the many rating sites online.

• Personal Connection: The girls really enjoy going to an actual wishing tree (like at a mall) and buying a gift for a specific child. They love talking about what this child would want to have. We also round up coats/clothes or buy toiletries/food and donate to a local shelter. This year I have about 4 coats I really don't wear anymore I can take in. I like to have us all drive this in and drop it off, because the online money giving, while so important, is not as personal.

We don't try to do this all by Giving Tuesday, but fit it in all month. We all talk about it at dinner, usually it starts to come up before Thanksgiving. It's becoming a really special tradition, which makes us very happy. I'm sure it will change, too. As they get older, they may want to help more on their own, and individually choose how and where to help, but right now, the family effort fits for us and using this system stops my spinning brain and my over-researching tendencies.

woodland friends

I have had a bee in my bonnet about making these for about 2 weeks now. I was looking at the Martha Stewart December 2012 magazine and saw these centerpieces. I would link to it, but the MSL site is making me crazy rght now. They are called Glittered Tree Stumps on the site. I have had these ornaments for years (and recently received a pug one which is most excellent) and they were aways a bit big and never seemed to make it on the tree. I thought the centerpieces would make lovely gifts. We are keeping three, but the girls are okay giving the rest away.

I ordered the birch pots (I took out the plastic liner and turned them upside down) and started going through our ornament box, pulling out what I had. I was in my happy place making these. I love working in multiples, loving using what I have, and especially love it when unnoticed items get a new focus, because things can just get lost in the holiday decorating rush and there's nothing like a little birch stump to elevate the preciousness of something. I'm now thinking of Portlandia skits.

The whole time I worked on these I was listening to Foreverly, (I streamed it from Rdio) which is so very very good. I like Billie Joe, Norah Jones, and the Everly Brothers a whole lot, so it is a win-win-win.

favorite kid books, 1st edition

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.

The Day the Crayons Quit

We just got this book—It's a picture book that's imaginative, has really nice illustrations, and is very funny. It's funny in a dry, witty way, which my girls love, and so do I.

The House Above the Trees

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 poring 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?

 

favorite kid gifts, 4th edition

I already have holidays on my mind, so this list is coming a bit earlier this year—

Here's our round up of favorite gifts we have gotten over the last year or so. These have brought us a ton of fun and have all been thoroughly enjoyed and played with. Here are the previous lists: 2012, 2011, 2010 which are still rock solid. This year I am planning a separate favorite books list, which I will post in a few days.

Loopdedoo Spinning Loom Kit

There are quite a few bracelet makers out right now and this one we love the best. It makes really nice bracelets very fast. These are rewarding to make without tying so many little knots, which is admirable but also can be frustrating. My 9-year-old got this for her birthday, the 11-year-old now wants one, and the 6-year-old can use it with help. The how-to video is really helpful, much more so than trying to read the directions.

Magic 8 ball

Okay, this gift came for my 11-year-old from my brother and is very important in this house and has been used by everyone for all sorts of questions. I had one growing up and feel sheepish I didn't get one for them before now—a true classic.

K&Company Smash Journal Gift Set

This is a scrapbook/journal gift set—All 3 girls really like using photos (and pictures from magazines) to fill scrapbooks, but starting on a white page can be intimidating, which is why this book is so great. This set was given to my 11-year-old and she LOVES it as does the 9 and 6-year-old. It's nice to have all the goodies with it. If you have never watched the SMASH video, it's pretty dang cute, the girls sing the theme song all the time and it helped them see the potential of the book without me talking their ear off and getting all up in their creative space.

Dixit

This family game was given to us a bit back and it's just so incredibly good—I feel it's a must have for every family. Everyone can play, there is no reading, our 6 year-old usually wins. Grammie loves it too. You can read about how to play it here, it's easy and wonderful. The beautifully illustrated cards can be used as story telling prompts just on their own, which is a great way to get them writing stories.

Fiskars Manual Rotary Craft Drill

I bought this hand drill for myself, way before kids, and we only have one in the house which is crazy because it is by far the most popular tool we own. My girls were all using it as young as 4. Delia made some great projects with it last summer. With just some scrap wood or even with nice wood blocks—they will drill for hours. You can use this to drill through popsicle sticks too, if you go slow it won't split them. We use mini clamps for thicker wood and we also now work on top of a scrap piece of wood so our table doesn't get even more holes. oops.

Moonlight Gel Ink Pen Set

Gel ink pens are big in this house and these are even more special—they work on white paper but are made for black or dark paper and they are just striking. They are better for outlining and writing, not coloring in. There's nothing like fresh pens and with a stack of black paper, or a blank skecth book with black paper—it's a magical gift.

Okay, a favorite books post will be coming soon. I hope this helps with gift ideas! I know many of these items can be found locally, I've linked them to amazon, but you can call around. We buy all our board games at our favorite local shop, Cloud Cap Games (you can rent them there, too) and around the corner is Collage (the Sellwood location) which has wonderful art supplies, black and colored paper, and many other tempting items.