angry chicken

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.

my little surrealists

Animals Dancing with an Elephant, by Lydia (6)

The Giraffe Gymnast, by Delia (9)

Zebra Staring at Tea, by Sadie (11)

Art class at home: We had a ton of fun grabbing some magazines to cut up and printing out random photos from the internet to assemble these colleges in a surrealist style. I had images of Salvador Dali's work to show them and read the related project in Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters, a book which I have blogged about so many times and they had a blast. The absurdity is perfect for them. I especially like the upside down umbrella with rain coming out of it and the use of cutlery.

knitted shrug

Sadie requested a ballet shrug and after I finished Delia's sweater using the Raglanify phone app, I wanted to try it again. So far, I have only made kids' sizes with this sweater generator, so some of the issues about it not having a place to enter chest dimensions didn't really affect my projects—so far, I really do love using this. You just enter in key dimensions and your gauge and then knit from the top down. To make a cardigan, I didn't join in the round and did the V neck option. It worked out great. All the details, yarn specs, etc. are on my Ralvery project page. I used this site, too, when I was knitting Delia's sweater, and found they worked out almost exactly the same, but Raglanify was much less work for me.

I finished it with a toggle closure. I actually snipped this toggle off of a sweater that was headed for donation. I was looking for toggle at the button shop when it donned on me, I had already had some really good ones in the garage on sweaters the girls have outgrown.

Unrelated:

cat sushi.

I would like to make Brussels Sprouts with Kimchi for Thanksgiving, but I don't know if anyone in my immediate or extended family would eat them. But I would eat them all.

Does everyone in Portland already know about Eater 38? I found out about it this summer and use it all the time for figuring out where to eat.

I am making these very soon—gingerbread pancakes with orange blossom maple syrup. I actually have some orange flower water in the fridge right now.

autumn in full swing

We got through Halloween and another birthday (my middle child is now 9!) and now I feel like a can take a break and chill out a bit until Thanksgiving. I am feeling all autumnal—lots of tea, apple cider, gingerbread, raking leaves, and knitting around here. I keep laughing every time I walk by this customized metal sign we received from Personal Creations. They were kind enough to offer me something complementary from their catalog and I when I found the Rustic SIgns page, I knew what I had to choose. It's making us all very happy and is now a neighborhood favorite.

in other news:

• I am loving this Wes Anderson horror movie spoof that I know made the rounds a bit back, but is new to me (thank you so much Emily!)

• I just finished reading Tuck Everlasting to the girls and they loved it. I had never read it before and it was a good book to read out loud with plenty to talk about. I have not seen the movie but now I am curious. Pete is reading all the Harry Potters out loud in the evenings, we started back in June on a road trip, and are now on the 6th book. This was a nice break from that world.

• I clicked right over to Heidi Kenney and Amanda Kruger's new project A Very Merry Advent and was agog and thrilled discovering what my $12 got me! The content in the jammed-packed-craft-filled-fun-making-advent PDF thingy they have put together is just crazy-wonderful. The downloads! My girls are freaking out. We might be starting this before December 1st.

crafts using artwork from the Rijksmuseum

Over the summer I decorated this box using artwork from the Rijksmuseum. I had read about their Rijksstudio in this NY Times piece, which encourages anyone to use images from their collection at a very high-resolution for personal use. It's pretty amazing. I created a personal collection and then printed some pieces out on my everyday printer and glued them to this wood box I got at Michaels (I think) and painted the edges blue. I lined the inside with patterned paper. I think this would make a sweet sewing box. There are three boxes in a set, each one is smaller than the other, so I am thinking about a clever set that would have special meaning—with one fitting inside another. Something with a pun maybe. Or some kind of riddle.

I'm sure there are a ton of cool projects using Rijksstudio all over the internet. This site was also featured in Flow magazine, which I also picked up last summer and now want to get all the English back issues of. I love that magazine! I found my copy at Barnes and Noble and I need to get it back from Grammie, who has borrowed it. I suspect this is all very old news—both the museum site and Flow magazine, but it's all so cool that I have been meaning to write about it. I also am running about 6 months late with everything so in my world this is breaking news!

Dream Animals, by Emily Winfield Martin

The girls have been reading Dream Animals, By Emily Winfield Martin, pretty much everyday since we got it—pouring over the beautiful paintings loaded with whimsical details. It's such special book. It's the type of book that rewards careful observation, which my girls love. It has a dreamy, magical feeling—perfect for reading under the covers with lots of pillows and a flashlight.

Emily is having a book signing event this Saturday, November 2nd, at 3:00 at Land here in Portland. Yippee! She has all the details here along with more images from the book.

We all loved the video for the Dream Animals, it has really nice shots of the artwork and shows her sketches. She talks about concept for the book and tells about a childhood nightmare that made me laugh outloud. Congrats Emily!!

hood river, oregon

A few weeks back we went apple picking in Hood River. I love it there. We drove around, parked, and then walked in the neighborhoods, had some great espresso, found some sweet parks and shopped. We picked apples at Draper Girls Country Farm. I noticed this is their last weekend for picking. On the way there we stopped at Multnomah Falls, which is always so impressive to see. I hadn't been there in years and the girls never had. We kind of went apple crazy—I made a lot of apple dishes and some apple/raspberry sauce, which is delicious. Seeing Delia wear the sweater I knit for her makes me want to finish Sadie's shrug, which is one-sleeved at the moment.

 

my newest video class at creativebug—make a pillbox hat!

I'm super excited to have my newest class over at Creativebug! I teach how to make a simple pillbox hat (no-sew!). You can see a preview by clicking on the photo in the link. I hope you dig it!

assemblage art boxes (Louise Nevelson)

I keep going back to my favorite art idea book, Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters, which I have been using for a few years now with all three girls and I still marvel at what they come up with. They draw and paint almost every day, but when I take the time to really put an "art class" together and we read a little about the artist each project in the book is inspired by and I show them some photos of the original pieces online, (the books doesn't contain any photos of actual pieces) it really is special. I know they get excited about the formality of it all—they are so free to do their own thing, that's the norm for them, so something prepared with some parameters really excites them and forces them to try new ideas and techniques that are unfamiliar to them. I help, so they don't seem overwhelmed/frustrated, especially with the 6-year old.

Using the Discovering Great Artists Book, these boxes were inspired by the artist Louise Nevelson. Her wood box scupltures. She would use scrap wood and found objects and then paint the sculpture one color. The girls gathered up bits and bobs from the house and outside. Then we got out the glue gun and some epoxy for the rocks and got to work. They really dig them and have them up in their rooms.

We have done triptychs from this book too, along with so many other projects. It's great for when I am having a "what are we doing today?" homeschooling moment and I can tell we need to get our hands dirty.

Then, if the stars align* and I am not dealing with a paint emergency, we talk about the historical context— was there a war happening? What were other artists up to at this time? What were some of the major themes in the artists work? What was happening musically at that time? I stream music from that era while we work, or later while we are cleaning up. Pete's music degree comes in handy here. It's a great way to thread history together while we are gluing and painting.

*Sometimes we only talk about what we are going to have for lunch, the ideal vacation, and tell fart jokes.

grammie made me a quilt

Grammie is really back in her groove quilting and taking care of her new puppy. She told me she wanted to make me a quilt using this pattern she was excited about and asked me to pick some fabrics. We decided to use almost all solids from her stash—a sunset-colored range that reminded us of her Mom, my Grandmother Jean, who was a great lover of orange. She was a true modernest. This quilt feels like it was made for her, really, and it turned out stunning. Grammie machine-pieced this zig-zag pattern and machine-quilted it with an organic design which compliments the bold lines of this beautifully. She has been busy machine-quilting for Tille Studio, but was able to sneak this one in between jobs, lucky for me.

One of the photo stylist is on the run.

a puppy & other exciting things

It's been a crazy-pants week around here—we are all nursing low-level head colds which I hope will slow us down a bit. This week we had some house construction. Each girl has their own bedroom now! We also start Nutcracker rehearsals this weekend. This year all 3 girls are in it, with 5 parts between them. Gah!  But the big news is Grammie got a pug puppy, Toaster, a little boy, 8 weeks old. He's trouble—so funny and cute. Our 7-year old pug is so sweet and patient with him, it's just hard to do anything with a puppy near by. The girls are exploding with love for this little fellow, which is nice, but also makes me happy we can leave him at Grammies, you know what I mean? Lots of intense love boarding on mania.

• Last night we went to the opening of Emily Winfield Martin's art show at Land here in Portland. Her paintings are so beautiful and impressive—you can see them online, and in person they are even more stunning. The show will be there for a bit, it's really worth checking out. One of my favorites is this one.

• This Sunday, 4:00PM October 13th, Susan Beal is having a book event at Powells for her newest book, Sewing for All Seasons: 24 Stylish Projects to Stitch Throughout the Year. Susan has contributed so much to crafting, sewing, and creating over the years—both locally and nationally, her books are always solid and this newest one is no exception. All the details about this event are on her blog, the book is not quite out yet (I got an advance copy—I am a lucky duck!) so this is a great way to see projects and ask Susan about it before you buy it. It looks like it will be available in the next week, so Amazon says.

 

building a family library

Over the summer, while I was on a morning walk, I was thinking about books in our house. I had just finished read The Great Gatsby. I read it on the kindle. I knew I could find a used copy, but at the time instant gratification won out, so I downloaded it. I wish I had bought the actual book. It's a classic—a wonderful read and one I plan to suggest to the girls at some point, but not on the kindle. Seeing books on our shelves is becoming so important to me. I still look through Grammie's bookshelves and we often borrow books from her, ones she has had on her shelves for more than 20 years. I just don't see how this would happen on an e-reader. I love my kindle, but I am thinking long term, and the nature of an e-reader feels very short term and inherently private to me, not to mention the books are impossible to loan out.

My first thought was to formally start our own library, inspired by Grammie's. One for our house, that our kids and future grandkids could enjoy. I started to think of all the titles I wanted in it but then I realized I didn't really want to be the only one involved. Homeschooling is such a joy. It also comes with the reality that Pete and I control so much of what the the girls are being exposed to. We want other influences in the house, not just books we chose, but special ones family and friends want to share with them to read and enjoy.

Trying not to  over think it, I quickly sent out an e-mail to a few friends and family telling them about this project and asking for 1 or 2 book selections. Few people could stick to one, which was wonderful. Many people added or changed titles, some wanted to know about duplicates and then changed again. I made it clear I was buying these books, I just needed recommendations and a few comments about why the book meant so much to them.  It was that last bit, the thoughts about the selections, that was the most meaningful part, but at the time I didn't know it. I was more excited to see what titles they selected. Then the selections came back with the comments about why that title was chosen and we were so moved.

I asked for fiction, high school/college level, and it didn't have to be considered a traditional classic. It was so fun to guess what would come back. Who would select Austin? (A few.) Would anyone choose Moby-Dick? (Yes!) We knew my father-in-law would choose Dickens, but which one? (David Coperfield) Both my husband and his sister selected the same author (Murakami) and I selected not a book that is my favorite, but one that really changed the way I thought when I read it, 1984.

I designed book plates with a space to fill in who selected the book and the reason they selected it. I have been slowly buying and adding these books to our shelves for the last few months. There are some duplicate choices, which is not surprising. When this happens, I just add both names and the comments of each person on one bookplate. I'm not in a hurry, it's not that type of project. I love fussing about which edition to buy and how the book looks. In some cases hardback doesn't make sense. There are some very nice softback editions. Most are used. I have many more to collect and more people to ask. And then there's poetry and non-fiction and graphic novels to ask about. It's amazing how this has a life of its own now, I just collect the suggestions, buy the books, and add the bookplates. It's so satisfying to see it develop.

We have sold back many books to make room for this. We have a collection that makes sense now, one that reflects what we want them to see and pull off the shelves over the next decade or so. The comments that came with these titles are so personal, poignant and thoughtful. Feelings about being different, being empowered, being understood, seeing the world in a different way—they told me personal things about my friends and family that I had never known. Each book is now connected to a person who means so much to us and has given a part of themselves to us in the form of a book. It's priceless.

coat for Lydia

The third coat is done. Liddy wanted something comfy and fluffy and she wanted white trim. I used the same pattern for Sadie's coat. This is becoming a favorite pattern. It's McCalls M5743.

This white fluffy trim was sort of crazy and hard to sew with. I think it's minky, or something like it. It sheds and stretches like crazy. To use as a trim, I sewed it into a long tube first, so there were no raw edges to deal with. This made attaching it so much easier, and also a lot thicker, which was fun becasue it makes the coat flare out a bit. The purple is polar fleece, not my favorite material, but she loves it and I couldn't find cotton sweatshirt-weight jersey in a purple.

She likes to come inside and keep it on and nap in it—which I think means it passes the comfy test.

Since finishing Delia's sweater I have not re-found my knitting groove and I miss it.

I'm in between books right now. I finished The Straight Man (good, but I was frustrated with the characters and I found the book more stressful than funny) while we were in Sunriver and The Giver I read over this last weekend. I had never read it before, it came out when I was in college and was not on my radar. It was good although it did have that heavy-handed required school reading vibe to me. I do appreciate the discussion potential and ambiguous ending. I'm trying to figure out when the girls should read it. Early in the summer I read Holly Black's Modern Faeire Tales trilogy (Tithe, Ironside, and Valiant) which were absorbing and fun in that it-sucks-to-be-a-teenager-with-a-lame-mom-and-now-I-realize-I'm-a-pixie-but-I-didn't-know-it kind of way. I was a bit confused at times, but that could have been me needing a nap.

11!

I can't believe my first born is 11. Unreal and so much fun. She had a cosmic bowling party that was insane. I had never done this, it had been a long time since I had bowled, apparently. It was so crazy, fun, loud, and hysterical—it was perfect. She has the kindest heart, the most generous spirit, and a wonderfully absurd sense of humor. I feel so lucky to see her grow.

candy corn in a jar

We somehow ended up coming home with a bag of candy corn mixed with peanuts. I've never really liked candy corn, but with peanuts, it's not bad. The girls love it with popcorn and m&ms. I love making these cookies with candy corn. We were looking for the right candy dish and remembered these great jars with little animals glued on top that Gramme had made with Lydia. They are perfect! The mouse popped off already by accident (don't twist the mouse, twist the ring!) but it was easily repaired with some hot glue.

new coat for delia

I finished Delia's coat last week. It ended with a bit of swearing, the fabric was hard on my serger and I just felt very done with it before I was actually done. Despite everything the coat turned out really pretty and now the frustrations are a distant memory, party because I am working with some new fussy fabric on Lydia's coat, which is also almost done.

Delia designed this coat—she wanted a tie, and she picked out all the fabric. I didn't have to line this, the backside of this textured light blue fabric is slippery, so there was no need to line it because it already remedies any sleeve drag, which all kids seems to loathe. All the buttons for all the girls coast this year have come from their Great-Great-Grandmoher Birchie's button tin. I used Simplicity 2534, again (I think this might be the 5th coat I have made from this pattern) and once again, I just love this pattern to bits.

After Lydia's coat I'm on to Halloween costumes and am also going to try and finish this vest I started knitting last spring.

We just got back from a short trip to Hood River and picked apples and ran around outside. The weather was on our side, which was lucky. Tonight there will be apple crisp, a fire, and hot cocoa to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox. And possibly a game of Kingdom Builder, which Pete and I like more than the girls, but we still try to get them to play.

And unrelated, I was asking about buying owl pellets for the girls to dissect when we were at the nature center in Sunriver, and they told me about Acorn Naturalists, which is a big big website with all kinds of wonderful supplies, books and resources. Time suck alert! It's pretty wonderful.

end-of-summer vacation

We have been making a tradition of going to Bend and Sunriver, Oregon right after school starts for a few years now. We get a great deal on lodging after Labor Day and the crowds are completely gone. The kids can take their time in the Nature Center—we are often the only ones there. This year we met an angry swan. I love this part of Oregon so much. The quality of light when we are riding our bikes on the endless trails just give me goosebumps in the best way. It's magical.

Thank you so much for all your oil orders! I am getting most of them sent out in the next few days.

new items in the shop!

I have been testing these all summer, and so has Grammie and some friends and I am so excited to be selling two new oils, a Treatment Oil for Eyes and Cuticle Oil. ($12 each)

Both are made using only organic oils and both are in the handy roll-on bottle. Easy to use and they smell wonderful. I am also selling a Customized Box Set (two for $$22)—You can select any two of my roll-on oils (there's the Lovely Floral Perfume and the Tension Relief Oil, also) nestled in a sweet little gift box and save a few dollars. These make really sweet gifts. (Please treat yourself!)

I have a long write up about the details of these oils over in the shop, but in a nutshell, they, like everything I sell, were created because I wanted them. I also didn't want to pay what the high end natural lines are charging, which is a whole lot. I used some fantastic oils in these blends— evening primrose, hemp, and avocado oils (just to name a few) are so lovely and beneficial for skin.

I needed this Cuticle Oil for a long time and it works wonders on my nails beds and hangnails. The Treatment Oil for Eyes was created because I knew the healing and medicinal properties of the oils would be wonderful for adding hydration and nourishment to my wrinkle lines without creepy chemicals. I don't want to look younger, just not as tired. And I want to take care of my skin. The more I looked at the chemical laden eye serums and creams the more sketched out I was, then after researching the more natural lines, I realized I could make something similar, sell it for much less, and be confident that I was making a health decision for my body. And these are only $12 each, which is really 3 times less than what most natural lines are selling similar products for.

The Facial Oils and Fortifying Oils are still available. You can read about how these were developed in this blog post. I have only come to love them more in the last 2 years and I have had many re-orders, which makes me so happy!

A quick packaging note and last year, a few of you reported some disintegrating droppers that come with the Facial Oils (a natural reaction with the rubber and the oil) and I now ship these bottles with a cap, include a dropper, and advise that you don't store your dropper in the bottle, but use it only for application.

I hope you all enjoy these! I can't tell you how much I love developing and creating these products.

sadie's new fall coat

I sewed this coat for Sadie from McCalls M5743. She had more design input for this one than the one I made her two years ago. I made that one big so she wore it two seasons. This one is made with sweatshirt jersey, mostly cotton, and it's unlined except for the hood. It has a formal look, but is super cozy, which was requested. The cuffs and hood lining are printed polar fleece, so there is no itch. It's been so warm here that she hasn't been able to wear it yet. She's modeling this in 80 degree weather because she is a trooper.

This sewed up really fast and was very fun to make. Delia's is almost done and it's completely different. There is some real texture going on with that one. And fake fur. It should be an interesting challenge. Lydia has been unclear about a new coat, she might want Delia's old one. It's hard to pin her down, that 6-year old, she has been obsessed with her new jean jacket lately, so that might be all she wears for a bit.

I know I have written this before, but I love, love, love sewing my girls' coats and nightgowns/robes/pjs. Because they wear a coat and pjs everyday, I get to see those so much more than other types of clothes I sew for them and it's so satisfying.

lifting fingerprints, a camera obscura, and a poem

It's pretty awesome when Pete comes home and asks what we did today and the girls say they lifted fingerprints, (for the detective badge) made a camera obscura, (for the photographer badge) and wrote a poem (for the writer badge). We are continuing to have loads of fun on the DIY site. The only thing that is a challenge for me is to slow them down. They get all crazy and I feel like I am chasing Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3 around trying to keep up with all the supplies, requests, and energy. It's rad, exhausting, and really tears the house apart.

We were waiting for the real embroidered patches to become available and now they are! This is Sadie's Baker patch. They come in this cool rigid mailer with a DIY window cling. I'm shaking my head here that this site is free and the patches are only $5 once you have earned them. Go internet! And DIY!

a finished sweater for an almost 9-year old

I finished this sweater for Delia that I had started in April. I put my Cypress on hold because I wanted to knit something colourful and stripy so I switched to this project using a fabulous yarn Delia selected that is self-striping. All the info is on my ravelry page.

The pattern was generated from a phone app, Raglanify, which is pretty great to use. I really like choosing my yarn first and then using a pattern that is customized to my gauge. This my second sweater, I was all accessories and small project before now.

Fall is coming. It rained the last two mornings. There is a hustle in the air with all the back-to-school energy in the world that we watch but doesn't affect us, being homeschoolers. We still do the exciting stuff—the girls buy school supplies because that is just so much fun and the prices are so good. I also have finished Sadie's fall coat (I will show this soon) and am about to start Delia's. I love sewing their coats so much. This year they have had a lot more interest in the design, so animal prints and faux-fur are making an appearance.

I just finished an Ann Tyler book, Searching for Caleb I always like her work. It's poignant, quirky, and relatable.

We just saw the newest Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine. It was good, but it was heavy. Not really date-night material. We saw it at Cinetopia, (groupon deal) and watched it while eating food. You can order from a menu from your lounge chair, with your feet up on an ottoman. We ending up sharing the Nacho Supreme and a brownie. There was an opening musical act, a guy who was really good. He was playing accordion and singing. The last song seemed pretty personal and I wondered how many people were listening to the lyrics.

homemade baking mix with whole grains (mostly)

Early in the summer we were thrifting at the beach and I found these two cookbooks. I love vintage cookbooks from food companies, like Jello, Betty Crocker—that kind of thing. The one on the right is older and full of really funny and helpful entertaining advice. I could pull quotes from the whole thing, it's just so well written and wry, but also crazy and dated. Like how to entertain and cook for your husband's boss when he and his wife come over for dinner. That type of thing. A friend also pointed out that the tag line on the cover makes it sound like you are planning to eat your guests.

Anyhoo, I got all nutty and preoccupied with the other book on the left (So Quick with new Bisquick) when I realized that I actually had never really used baking mix at all and what a clever thing it is. Once, I bought a Trader Joe's baking mix when we were on vacation, but besides that, I never used it. I have no clue if my dad used a baking mix to make pancakes and waffles (grammie, did he?) so I don't even know if I had it growing up. I have always just baked it from scratch, mostly because I love baking so much. But this book was so addictive because it has about 7 basic recipes you can make from your mix: pancakes, waffles, biscuits, shortcake, coffeecake, that kind of thing, and then a ton of recipes with a variations. Some of which sound fantastically horrible. I immediately thought I needed to make my own mix, but not with white flour or shortening.

I did a bunch of online and cookbook searching and found so many recipes. I ended up making two different mixes and I love them both. This is the coffee cake I made from a mix #1.

and I made biscuits, too (recipe #2)

We also have made shortcake, waffles, pancakes, muffins, and cookies. I love having these at the ready and the efficiency I find so pleasing, especially early in the morning when I am not fully awake. The girls love using them because they are so simple, so much of the work is already done. But, they do like to measure, pour, and mix so going fast and speedy with very few ingredients isn't necessarily what they like about baking. I do love that I can mix 3 ingredients together and have muffins, however. There are a lot of limitations cooking with these mixes, but I still find it fun and thrilling.

Awesome title page from the book.

 

Here are the two recipes I made.

Recipe #1 (adapted from the King Arthur Flour recipe)

• 4 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white flour
• 3 1/2 cups old-fashioned or rolled oats
• 3 tablespoons sugar (optional)
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Chop the oats in a food processor until fine, dump this in big bowl of a mixer (I use my kitchen aid and it fillis it to the top) and add the other dry ingredients and slowly drizzle in oil. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

Recipe #2

• 5 cups white whole wheat flour
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 4 tablespoons flour (optional)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup butter, cold

Mix all the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until it's finely mixed in. I do this with about half the amount of flour in the food processor and then mix the rest in a big bowl distributing the butter throughout. Store in the refrigerator of freezer.

5 Cups All Purpose Flour (I used unbleached)

3 Tablespoons Baking Powder

2 Teaspoons Salt

1 Cup Shortening

- See more at: http://www.themakeyourownzone.com/2012/05/homemade-bisquick-baking-mix-recipe.html#sthash.f2Zozz6R.dpuf

5 Cups All Purpose Flour (I used unbleached)

3 Tablespoons Baking Powder

2 Teaspoons Salt

1 Cup Shortening

- See more at: http://www.themakeyourownzone.com/2012/05/homemade-bisquick-baking-mix-recipe.html#sthash.f2Zozz6R.dpuf

5 Cups All Purpose Flour (I used unbleached)

3 Tablespoons Baking Powder

2 Teaspoons Salt

1 Cup Shortening

- See more at: http://www.themakeyourownzone.com/2012/05/homemade-bisquick-baking-mix-recipe.html#sthash.f2Zozz6R.dpuf

To make all the different items, I used my vintage book, but online you can find a lot too, there's a ton of recipes at the Betty Crocker site using Bisquick. I have found that across the board, the whole grain makes a much drier dough, so I always add more liquid. Sometimes a lot more. I definitely go with what looks and behaves like a typical dough or batter for what I am making rather than rely on the recipe. Also, Mix #1 has a lot more texture and flavor, with the ground-up oats, so I save that for hearty baking rather than anything I want fluffy—like shortcakes or biscuits, which is better with #2, because it's also got the butter.

color at cargo

I was showing Éireann around Portland while she was here and took here to Cargo, one of my favorite Portland shops. I didn't know there was a location in Astoria, which we were delighted to find recently. My middle child was thrilled because she was out of wax lips, so those were purchased and worn immediately.

I have been sewing a bit and not knitting but really wanting to. I am almost done with Delia's sweater that I started in the spring—I just need to knit the collar. My latest cooking excitement is making homemade bisquick mix, which I have made (2 kinds) and baked from for the last 2 months with freakish enthusiasm. I need to write about this with recipes.

This link (the 25 best websites for literature lovers) is making me happy and is an epic time suck. I haven't even come close to looking at all these links, but I like knowing it's there. I thought I'd only look and read one link every two weeks. That's my goal, so I don't get all click-crazy and forget everything I have read and where I read it.

the 3-minute cake (also known as cake in a mug, but we don't use a mug)

Delia made this cake last night. She makes it often and cuts it into 3 slices, covers it with powdered sugar and serves it to her sisters. It's this cake in a mug recipe, which I have ever so slghtly changed over the years. We don't make it in a mug. We mix it in a bowl first and then microwave it in this small dish for 3 minutes and it works like a charm. I remember how much I loved my easy bake oven, and this is just like that, only better.

I know a microwaved cake sounds gross, but this one is not—it's just not like a cake baked in an oven. The texture is very similar to a steamed pudding. I remember the boxed microwave cakes and brownie mixes you could buy in the 1980s and how horrible they were, this is nothing like that (pete swears these mixes were really good if you didn't eat the middle). It's lovely with whipped cream on top or a scoop of ice cream while it's still warm. Caramel sauce is good, too. And it's the perfect amount for them to split 3-ways. The quality of cocoa powder and chocolate chips make a huge difference. I also use melted butter, not oil. And if it's for me, I add 1/2 tsp. of instant espresso powder.

The best is watching them make this all by themselves. Once they made it with quinoa flour by accident. It was so foul, and I couldn't figure out why the kitchen smelled like wet mushrooms.

Here's how we make it:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla and instant esperesso powder (if desired)
• small handful of chocolate chips 

It's so easy, just mix everything together and add the chocolate chips last. Then microwave at full power. 3 minutes is perfect for us using a shallow dish with a very old weak microwave—so it might take less time for a new microwave. It should cool just a bit before you cut it and eat it, but not too much, it doesn't keep well.

my new workshop over at creativebug—magic wands

Sadie, Lydia, and I had so much fun shooting this class for creativebug on paper mâché magic wands. You can see a little video preview here, just click on the photo. It was an action packed messy production, I was sweating in that wool cardi, I tell you. But it came together really well. The technique I teach for the basic paper mâché wand form, glueing, and finishing can be used for any shape you can think up, all with newspaper and tape and stuff you have in your recycle bin. Sadie is 10 and Lydia is 6— it was fun to see how they did this project differently. It's great for all ages. Now I want to make some paper mâché black cats, ghosts and pumpkins for Halloween and then a turkey and some Christmas decorations, too.

Susan Beal and her daughter Pearl made some clothespin dolls from a creativebug class I shot with Delia and she is giving a little doll kit away to make your own dolls! Head on over there and leave a comment to win it—and she has a code for you all too, that is good all summer on a discount for creativebug classes. Thanks Susan!

a day and night in Astoria, Oregon

The Astoria Megler Bridge

We spent a day and night in Astoria and its surrounding areas and it was so fun. We hadn't been there in over 10 years, never with kids. We all loved it. There is so much history in this town, the old buildings are really special. This bridge heads over to Washington state.

Delicious food and cake at the Astoria Coffee House and Bistro

The Lightship Columbia, which we were able to tour

Great hands on fun at the Columbia River Maritime Museum

Crazy good espresso at Street 14 Coffee

 

Looking up, the amazing view of the Astor Hotel Lobby, all decrepit and beautiful. The hotel closed long ago (it was built in the 1920s) and was vacant for years and is now low income housing above and retail below—this is Vintage Hardware, and incredibly, it's in the lobby of the historic hotel, but it has not been restored in any way. I had a little heart attack in here, it was so cool to stand in the lobby of this incredible hotel, which has been run down since the 1960s. Here's the way it looked in its prime.

I did my thesis project in college (B.A. in interior architecture) on the renovation of a historic movie/vaudeville theater in Albany, Oregon (the Venetain)—this kind of thing is very close to my heart. The kids weren't quite aware of how amazing it was, but that didn't stop me from talking about it. I didn't make them go to the woman's restroom of the outstanding Astoria Post Office, which I was told is untouched and wonderful. I will save that for next time. I'm laughing at the idea of Historic Bathrooms, now. That would be quite a theme vacation.

And so much fun at Fort Clatsop, where I asked a ton of questions about tinder boxes and flint and steel. I was also quite enamored of the buckskin pants, of course. My family was interested, to a point, and then very patient. There was a ton to do in this area—we have to go back and also explore Long Beach next time.

berry picking with grammie

On one of the really hot days last week we went back to the berry farm to get even more raspberries and blueberries which have gone crazy this year. It's been such a great year for berries here in Oregon. Gammie came with us and she is doing so much better, it's such a relief. She is in remission for her breast cancer now—she finished her last radiation treatment about 7 weeks ago. She is doing so well and I am so grateful that I am so close to her, emotionally and physically. This would have been unbearable to go through long distance.

She has been a busy bee, she already made jam from her raspberries berries and has also finished 3 machine quilting jobs in the last month. It's making her so happy to work and quilt again. If you need a top machine quilted, she is back up and running, you can find her over at Tillie Studio. Go Grammie!

She wants me to mention that this is a wig (there have been quite a few wig jokes and one wig singeing incident with the oven) and she is greatly inspired by Judi Dentch's pixie cut, which she plans to rock when more of her hair comes back.

stuffed animal and doll hospital intake forms

We have a lot of handmade dolls and stuffed animals in the house, some of them made by the girls, some made by me, many made by friends, and they often need extra love and a little bit of repairing. A pile was developing with long descriptions about what needed to be repaired and I suggested making an Intake Form for the hospital, which is on top of my ironing board in the sewing room. All the patients are lined up under a "heat lamp" waiting for triage, an exam, and treatment.

I created these forms for the girls to fill out and leave with each patient. It's been a huge hit with all ages in the house (6-10). Using the templates in pages (I think microsoft word has them too) is a great love of mine. We make brochures, business cards, signs, and all kind of things with very little effort and the girls like them because they look so official. I love them because I can customize them instantly.

There's a spot to draw since writing can be hard for younger folks. Anyone can be the doctor or can help with the intake paperwork and process. Often an extra (unplugged) phone is involved. How great is having an extra real phone, not a cell phone? They love playing with it. These forms were used for both real injuries (stitches that need to be re-sewn) and made up ones. Sadie just filled out one for her dog's anxiety issues. I'm prescribing tea, meditation, and long walks as a treatment.

Here's the form to play with and customize.

I saved it as a word file (not a PDF) so hopefully you can open it and customize it for your own needs. It's written in a serious/funny way, which is our sense of humor. I printed 5 and then had to print 10 more. They are kind of heartbreaking after they are all filled out. As the doctor, I date stamp them and fill out the rest of the form and when I finish I fold it up small and tape it to the patient. I also try to add a little something, a cape, new collar, or a ribbon to spruce them up—I think a photo attached would be great, too, if they are so inclined. These forms are keepers for sure.

Éireann is coming to town and reading from her new book

Mulit-talented writer and artist Éireann Lorsung, who I have blogged about before, is coming to Portland for a few days and is reading at PNCA. I am so thrilled to see her in person again. The first time I met her I only had two girls—that was more than 6 years ago. It was a wet and dark day in the park and we chatted about being creative and watched my girls play. I have seen her vision grow since then and she has gone on to do so many wonderful things with her passion and energy. I can't wait to hear her read from her newest book of poetry, Her Book, which is not out yet, but will be in August 2013. Here are some details about the reading directly from the PNCA site:

Monday, July 29, 2013
6:00pm until 7:30pm

CT+CR Headquarters
1241 NW Johnson St.
Portland, OR, 97209

This event will take place in CT+CR Headquarters, room 204 at the main campus of the Pacific Northwest College of Art.

PNCA’s MA in Critical Theory and Creative Research (CT+CR) welcomes poet and editor Éireann Lorsung for a reading from her new book “Her Book,” published by Milkweed Editions.

Éireann Lorsung’s luminous voice is distilled through multiple unnamed female speakers in her second collection. Full of youth, wonder, and imagination, “Her Book” crosses distances and generations to celebrate the lives of women, their individual and shared experiences, and the bonds that bring them together. This is also a book about translation (of experience into art, of knowledge across time and space) and conversation (with, for instance, work by Kiki Smith, widely known as a feminist artist). Lorsung writes additionally about her time spent in England and friendships she formed with women there. Together, these poems comprise both her book (Lorsung’s), and her (encompassing all who identify with that word).

and here are some links about Éireann from her blog and all she is up to, which is a lot.

 

the elements of style, illustrated

I was thrilled to discover The Elements of Style Illustrated, which I didn't know existed until a few weeks ago. It was on sale at Anthro. It's so exciting to me that it's illustrated! The Elements of Style is so smart, simple, and easy to read, I forgot how amazing it is. I realized we didn't have a copy in the house. The copy I grew up with is still in Grammie's bookshelf, as it should be, so it was time to get one for us. This version has artwork from the fabulous Maira Kalman, who I am obsessed with, so it's a real win-win. And now I want to check out this book, too.

As the girls get older, we are working on building an adult library for them (and for us) full of classics and our personal favorites. Real books, both fiction and non-fiction—a collection that is considered and not just old college textbooks, random fiction classics, and obscure music and art books, which is what it is now. It's been fun to think and talk about. It feels like a good way to spend my money and time, you know what I mean? Sometimes, at the end of a week, I scratch my head at what exactly I am buying. My purchases often feel dumb and unnecessary later (I will happily blame the girls here, but I did buy the ceramic spoons) but buying a wonderful copy of Pride and Prejudice for an at home library that our children and future grandchildren can enjoy? That feels great.

each time it gets better

After discussing this comedy sketch a few nights ago I had to watch it again (and again) and I just can't believe how funny it is. It's so funny I can't laugh. It's less than 4 minutes and every line is golden.

Around the World in 80 Plates - from Portlandia.

oatmeal excitement!

I like to make a big brunch at the house at least once a month for my brother. He's easy to please, appreciates good food, and is a total hoot. He also doesn't mock me when I photograph these brunches, which is kind of him. I have made so many now—waffles, pancakes, egg dishes, you name it, and this time I wanted to do something different. I realize not everyone is excited by oatmeal, but I am, and in this case, I think I even surprised myself with how delicious and fun this was. I made an oatmeal bar. My brother is a big fan of participatory food. I'm going to point out the details here that made me so happy. In this shot it's the tiny creamers, for everyone to have their own milk to pour in. I love these things, we use them all the time. This oatmeal here has a homemade plum-apricot-orange spiced compote on top which will get its own post because, dang.

The muffin tin of toppings. This is what made me so delighted. I won't tell you how many ways I thought about displaying the toppings that was both pleasing and practicable. I am thrilled with the muffin tin solution. And who knew buying small handfuls of toppings in bulk was so fun? This was all without kids, buying anything in bulk with kids makes me crazy. A wonderful cheap thrill. To serve, I just ladled in the hot oatmeal (Bob's Scottish Oatmeal) and then passed the tin of toppings around. The girls loved it, too.

In the tin: there's a tropical dried fruit and nut mix, dried cranberries, brown sugar, flake coconut, pumpkin seeds, and chopped pecans. That ceramic spoon broke during the clean up. Who would make ceramic spoons? (Anthropologie.) And who would buy them? (Me.)

My pleasing bowls, which were stacked like this by accident, but how photo worthy. Also from Anthro recently, on sale, and they are making me so happy.

I also served fresh fruit and hard cooked eggs, juice, and coffee. The hard cooked eggs— my brother said he had never eaten one before. For real. The things is, I believe him. I ate them all the time growing up, and we did grow up together, but I don't recall him ever eating hard cooked eggs. He ate one at brunch, but I don't think he loved it. I mean, if he hadn't of had one by now, I think there's a reason why. But who has never had a hard cooked egg? I think this is really funny.

I've been making lists lately of things I do that make me really happy and gluing stuff to paper and making brunch for friends and family keeps coming up very high on my list. This last weekend reminded me of that. I didn't glue anything on paper, but still.

I also have been writing down everything I do that I find really lame, or tiresome, or frustrating, or just low-level depressing. Some of it I can't avoid, but much of it I can delegate or get help with. This was a challenge to do honestly— I feel guilty focusing on what I don't like (always telling myself to stay positive, don't complain, be grateful) but then I never really admit what really makes me grumpy. Like wearing shoes that hurt, or going grocery shopping, or using my phone to read the news. But now that I just admit that there are things that tend to bum me out, I can avoid them if I can, or at least know when I do these things, I tend to get grumpy and plan accordingly. So simple. What's interesting is how often I do stuff with my extra time (out of habit) that I don't really like to do, like read the news on my phone, and how seldom I glue stuff to paper. I plan to make some adjustments.

washi tape frames for photos

The girls love their Fujifilm INSTAX MINI Film Camera so much. They also fell hard for the special film that has colored frames and the super cute stickers you can apply to the photos. We have run out of both and only had the standard white framed film left. Although I love all the stickers and cute films packs, they add up and are a lot more expensive than just getting the standard white packs. So we made our own.

We got smart and realized washi tape would work perfect to decorate the frames. Oh, washi tape. And there is no shortage in this house, it was just a matter of finding all the rolls I have squirrelled away.

It's very forgiving and easy to use and reposition—any misalligined strips are unnoticeable.

We just laid it out and folded it over. I know above it looks like she is trimming, but we found that not trimming, just folding, worked best. Sadie mixed more than one tape pattern on a single photo and it was really cute.

4 days at the oregon coast

new book—favorite crafts for kids

I was sent this review copy of Martha Stewart's Favorite Crafts for Kids: 175 Projects for Kids of All Ages to Create, Build, Design, Explore, and Share a couple weeks ago and it has been close at my side since then. I have all the martha Kids magazines (RIP) and all the Baby magazines (RIP)  and pretty much all of the MSL magazines stored away in my bookshelves. This pulls projects from all those issues, plus (I was told when I e-mailed them to ask) there is some new content as well. Even if there weren't, seeing all these craft projects in one source is pretty thrilling. I have since loaned it to Grammie, who is loving it as well.

There are so many great project ideas on Pinterest, but nothing beats a book or magazine for me. The girls love looking at this book for project ideas and it's off the computer. They can carry it around, put it on the craft table, take it to bed, take it outside—it's making me appreciate physical sources for us all even more now that they are older.

I feel good about saving all my magazines, books, everyday foods, etc, over the years. It was such a drag to move them so many times since college, but I'm so glad I kept what I did. The girls look at them all the time. I remember how much my parents' books, magazines, and albums lying around had an influence on me growing up. I wonder about all the e-reader books and digital music we have in a clould—if that's all we had, how would kids browse a collection in their home? There is nothing to look at. No book covers or album covers lying around. I'm not anti-digital for media. I use my kindle all the time, but I do think about this a lot. I have slowly been reading more e-books and getting more music online over the last few years have realized while it's nice to have less stuff in the house, it sort of removes it all from the rest of the family. Which is fine— I don't need or want to share everything. I'm not saying I need to do it differently, it's just something I think about and try to make a conscious decision about it when I buy a real item versus a digital one.

a big bag of postage stamps

We were at our neighborhood thirftstore yesterday and found a goldmine—which has taken up hours of our time already. I love these kind of surprise crafts.

For $1.99 I found a huge bag of stamps still stuck to letters. I mentioned to the 8-year-old that I loved to soak off stamps and save them when I was little. I didn't know if she would know why I did this or if it sounded fun to her, but she immediately got it. I shouldn't have been surprised, this is the same child who collects corks, string, and bits of recycling which she crams under her bed.

We soaked them in water for about 10 minutes and they slid off easily. I don't think I have done this since I was 10. I loved do this so much.

They dried in about 10 more minutes. Not totally, but dry enough for her.

And we found a blank book. She wanted to put them in right away.

So fun! We have so many left to do. The BEST part is we found a whole envelope in the bag, with a typed letter inside—it's like a nancy drew mystery! The girls are so excited. It is from Spain, written in english. The stamps come from all around the world all addressed to the same couple, but so much is torn off the address, it's hard to know, which makes the mystery more fun.

I want to show them craft ideas with stamps too, like these shoes. I especially like mounting the stamps grouped by color, and this drawing with stamps is also wonderful. I know just gluing them in books is pretty satisfying too, so I will try to back off. Or get my own pile of stamps.

our new girl

After talking about getting a dog for about a year with the girls, and researching Boston Terriers and  Pugs, we adopted one last week. The girls were hoping for a black pug puppy, I was hoping for an older pug which needed a home. Pete was game for whatever. We found an older one, and we all love her so much! I am so glad to both help an adult dog and not have the crazy puppy vibe in the house right now. I love puppies, but you know what I mean. Maybe a pug puppy in a couple years. I love her fawn color, she really is so cute, and I am not just saying that because she is ours. I was willing to adopt an adult pug with issues but fortunately she has none and was very loved at her old house. Her previous owner is elderly and her health and limited mobility was making pet ownership really hard.

She came with the name Angelina, which of course we have kept. The girls added the middle name of Meatloaf. She is 7 and has the sweetest personality. The cats are displeased, but are coming around. She doesn't know they don't like her, I have to break it to her gently. They are slowly meeting each other under my watchful gaze. Cat's claws and pug's bugling eyeballs are not a good mix. She's used to cats (and other pugs) sleeping with her, so she's game. I do think the cats will sleep with her at some point. Maybe.