angry chicken

small needlework gifts

I stitched these little gifts last weekend. They are framed in 3" hoops. I didn't stitch them in this size hoop though, it's too small to work with. To finish them, I glue a felt circle on the back. Then I sign and date them. Sometimes I accidentally write the wrong year on one of them, like "2004".

The designs are heavily inspired by the book Mariko got me from Japan, which I have blogged about already. I just can't get enough of the combination of wool and silk in the same piece. And working on 3 or more is so fun for me. I work so much better when I am doing multiples of things, then each decision I make doesn't have to be the only one. I was sad when these left my wall.

gift factory 2014

Last weekend pete bought whole spices in bluk, toasted them, and ground them up to make garam masala. We found the little spice jars at Cost Plus, and magically, quadrupling the recipe filled all 9 of them perfectly. The recipe calls for rose buds, which we left out. I really like to give a non-sweet gift item every year, along with all the sugar stuff. Having said that, I think I'm going to use this today to make these garam masala oatmeal-rasin cookies. This spice blend is also great on popcorn and hashbrowns.

We use this blend at home for the red lentil soup we have made almost weekly for a few years now. 3 out of 5 of us love it, and the 10 year old eats it for breakfast. It's so easy I always feel like I'm forgetting something. The recipe is from a friend, and I'm not sure where it came from originally. I've probably made some changes along the way, but here it is:

Red Lentil Soup—super easy and delicious!

• 1 chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 cans (16oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 1/2 cup broth or water
• cilantro, chopped (optional)
•  juice of 1/2 lemon (not really optional)

Saute the onions and garlic and then add the spices and cook for about 2 minutes, add the lentils, coconut milk, water, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer (give it a good stir now, the lentils like to stick to the bottom of the pot), cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the lemon juice and chopped cilantro. I love this soup.

Unrelated:

This hysterical piece in the Oregonian by Jamie Hale is the most Portland-y Portland story I have read this week. A brief summary—

"This is not just a story about drunken Santas roaming Portland bars. This is a story about a secretive society, riot police, fake protests, legal battles, Chuck Palahniuk and, incredibly, a rivalry with people dressed as bananas."

the low-pressure cookie party

The low-pressure cookie party was a huge success, like always. There were many yummy cookies to eat, and it really was low-pressure—one guest came with two bags of oreos, and another with a purchased bag of delicious shortbread after a baking fail. It's all good. There was much swearing, eating, a little smack talking about high-pressure cookie parties, and delight taken in the host's heated toilet seat. For real. It also had a light.

The little brown guys there on the left with sprinkles are pretzel shortbread cookies and were a favorite. I need to try making them, I love cookies with salt. They were perfect for breakfast this morning with coffee.

 

a christmas gift for the girls (really, for me.)

 Anne of Green Gables

I stopped in my tracks when I saw this copy of Anne of Green Gables and had to buy it immediately. We already have a copy, and are almost done reading it, but this one, in hardback, with the cover illustration by Rifle Paper Co.'s Anna Bond, was just too lovely to not own. There a Little Women and a Heidi, also with her cover design, that I will need to pick up. The end papers are really sweet. I might pick up a copy for my niece.

Unrelated, but still about books:

I'm almost done reading the Tenth of December, by George Saunders, and it, coincidentally, is the 10th of December right now! This was not planned and is exciting to me. This book of short stories comes with very high praise. I have been so curious about it. I have been trying to read from only our bookshelves, and not check-out/buy more books until I get through some of the ones I have waiting to be read.

I have never read anything by this author and this book is nothing like I thought it would be. Each story is a complete surprise. I have mixed feelings about it so far. It has me riveted in that, what the heck is going on in this story? way—which I like, although I know some people find this very frustrating. Sometimes all I can say about a book is I am reading it. Or, I have read it. There is so much to say about most books it's hard to start writing about them. This makes me miss my book group.

I was once in a great book group in my mid-twenties in Seattle and we had this rule, that you couldn't actually say "I didn't like this book" or "I loved this book" until the very end of the meeting. It was brilliant and it made our discussions so much better. We realized that it was so hard to have a good discussion about a book when people felt defensive that everyone "hated" a book they liked or vice versa. The meetings would spiral into defending why the book was good or bad while trying not to offend poeple—and someone was always offended.

The interesting thing was at the end of the discussion, we would go around and say whether or not we liked the book and it was always a surprise who liked it and who didn't because the observations and critiques weren't burdened by arguments defending a "like" or "didn't like" stance. This rule really changed the vibe of the whole group.

I was in another book group later and when I joined I noticed the the first thing people would say when the discussion started was "I loved this book!" or "I hated this book!" and then things could get weird and uncomfortable not in a good way. I think I brought up this rule of my old book group, but now I don't remember if we adopted it, it was between babies and I don't remember much from that time.

apricot ginger shortbread

I bake these cookies every year for the Low-Stress Cookie Party I attend. it's a win-win, you just come and eat cookies. You can bring some you have made, or not, all you have to do it show up. Then, if there's some left, we split them up and take them home. It's genius and we have been doing it for many years now.

I always think I will branch out, but then I don't, because these are so good and I only make them once a year. They use 2 sticks of butter for a 8" square pan, so you know. I know I have blogged about these before, but since I am repetitive, so is my blog.

Real Simple calls them Apricot Crumbles, but I have renamed them because they have ginger and they are a shortbread.

I'm trying to make sure I take the time to do fun holiday stuff right now—bake, make little gifts, wrap stuff, use too many stickers, that kind of thing. There's been a whole lot of driving and errand running with the 3 girls all in the nutcracker this year, so our days have been spent in a minivan suck hole, which is not my favorite. My brain is working over the whole— what do I have to do, vs. what do I want to do, and then deciding I should do what I want to do so I don't resent what I have to do, thing.

pompoms

I snatched up quite a bit of free/very low priced yarn this summer and have a big bag staring at me in the sewing room. Mittens and other items have been made from this stash, but I have had the most fun making pompoms. The girls have made them, too. We used cardboard forms we made ourselves, pinterest is full of ideas, and we used a really nice tutorial on mr. printables.

I discovered I can get a little weird with the trimming. It's hard to stop, and when I think I am done, I find more fluff to trim. So I have started timing myself, working only for a few minutes and then moving on. I have enjoyed making these much more since I have set a trimming time rule for myself. It's the little things.

We plan to tie them to gifts and make key chains to clip to bags and zipper pulls. I bought a pack of these Metal Swivel Clasps on a whim and have used them for so many projects. They will be perfect to attach the pompoms to—making them easily clip-able.

Unrelated:

• we have been watching the 16 Holiday Life Hacks over on mental floss, and laugh every time. We adore all the life hack videos over there and use uncooked spaghetti to light candles all the time.

• I love these delicately illustrated free prinatble holiday gift tags by Kelli Murray

 

thanksgiving trifle & learning geography

I made this for Thanskgiving—it was the first time I have used this amazing trifle dish Grammie gave me for my birthday. It was a raspberry, gingersnap, mascarpone trifle. It looked amazing, and in theory, was amazing, but in reality, was a fail. But I have not given up hope. The big mistake was using gingersnap cookies instead of gingerbread. There wasn't enough body in the cookies. They got mealy and grainy in the liquid, so instead of being a trifle, it was more like a sauce. A delicious sauce with a very grainy texture. It's like it should have been on top of another dessert, and for a bit I thought about serving it on top of pie, but I didn't.

Unrelated:

The girls have been really enjoying these geography quizes. This first link is fun with some sense of geography already, but for learning from scratch, this site is better, because they can learn little bits at a time. This second site also has the US state capitals. I like to follow up with a blank print out they have to fill by hand periodically in so they can practice spelling. Then I can use all the stickers I have stashed.

winter needlework

I stitched this for Grammie for christmas. I gave it to her early so she could hang it up now and enjoy it all winter. It is stitched with wool yarn and silk thread. I was so thrilled to get this book, Wool Stitch, from Mariko. She got it for me in Japan and it's been an endless source of inspiration. I love the combination of wool yarn with the silk or cotton thread in the same color. This was also thrilling because it all came from my stash, no purchases needed, even the frame. I have all kinds of ideas and sketches to stitch and what's so great about this, with the yarn, is it's pretty fast as needlework projects go, making it reasonable for gifts.

Unrelated:

• I find myself spending a lot of time looking at pencil blogs. Blogs about pencils. There are so many! And then all the ones about pens, which are different. There are a few blogs about both, which is handy.

• And also knitting blogs. I'm very excited by Yokes, a new book by Kate Davies. Wow, the sweaters are amazing. I love her color combinations.

• I got a burst of energy last night and cleaned off my desk in anticipation of the arrival of this adorable Moleskine 2015 Volant Color-a-Month daily planner box set. It's a box with 12 little planners tucked inside, a different color for each month. I can't wait for January to start! I might have to get some new pencils. And pens. Because I don't like to play favorites.

favorite kid books, 2nd edition

My Milk Toof: The Adventures of Ickle and Lardee

Last year, I realized our favorite books needed their own list, so here's the 2nd edition. Here's the 1st edition.

This book was given to us a few years ago and is always near by. It's not really a story, but little vignettes depicting the adventures of these adorable teeth. Inspired by this, all the girls have made their own teeth out of sculpey to play with. So flippin' cute.

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #1: Wolf Brother

This is a surprise hit for us. I was looking for fiction while we were studying the stone age and found this series and the girls are in love with it. The first book is about a boy and a wolf and the wolf narrates some of the chapters. There's so much wonderful research in here. It's like taking a wilderness survival class from the sofa. We are in the middle of book 2 now and will surely read the rest. It's not funny or light at all— the drama and tense survival challenges they are thrilled by.

11 Birthdays

A neighbor friend told us about this book, and my 10 and 12 year-olds have read it repeatedly. I have not read it yet, but know it's about a girl and boy who have to repeat their 11th birthday over and over again. There are other books in this series and this one is their favorite.

Manga for the Beginner Chibis: Everything You Need to Start Drawing the Super-Cute Characters of Japanese Comics

All my girls draw a whole bunch and this book (and all the manga books by christopher hart) are very popular around here. Chibis rule the roost however, because who doesn't love cute adorable chibis!? There is a section on learning to draw chibi animals, too.

 
The Buddha's Apprentice at Bedtime: Tales of Compassion and Kindness for You to Read with Your Child - to Delight and Inspire

I read these short stories aloud to my girls and they love them. The illustrations are really lovely and the stories are simple and have a lot of issues to discuss. I wondered if it was too young for my older girls, but it's not, they ask for these stories almost every day at lunch time. Then we talk about them at length. I think they like the discussions afterward even more than the stories.

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

This book disappeared the day I got it. My eldest is a huge Percy Jackson fan and so this went into her bed and rarely comes out. I have heard her read it out loud to her sisters, and it's funny and interesting, but again, I don't see it much. She assures me it's super great. It's also big and impressive in hardback.

 

Kids Are Weird: And Other Observations from Parenthood

I bought this for myself because it made me laugh so hard and reminded me of Will and Abe in the best way, but now I can't get it away from the kids. They think it's so funny—because it is. It's all direct quotes from the author's son, and they are priceless.

There are more books that mean the world to us I have already blogged about this year, including:

• Day Dreamers
• Making Peg Dolls
• Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders

 

favorite kid gifts, 5th edition

It's that time again! Here's the 2014 favorite kid gifts list. Some of these we have had for years, some we have gotten recently—all of them are very popular with our family in a way that stands out.

Here are the previous lists: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010. I love all these gifts, too. And just like last year, I am planning a separate favorite books list, which I will post next.

 

 

Kingdom Builder

We like board games in this house, and this one is pretty great because each time you play it, you draw cards to define the rules, so it's different every time. It's more complex (I'd say ages 8 and up), but our enthusiastic 7 year-old can hang just fine. Scoring is at the end, which is nice because there isn't that sense of losing the whole game while you are playing it.

 

Elenco Electronic Snap Circuits, Jr. Kit

This circuit set is played with so much. It's pretty basic, so it's time we got more advanced ones, but the girls still go back to this one. They have many different kinds and come with complete directions that are very clear and easy to follow. For tinkerers, makers, and kids that like to see how things are powered and work, Snap Circuits are really cool.

 American Girl Crafts Art Kit, Julie Albright String Cards

All my girls have a few of these craft kits from American Girl and love them. They have all been very well made with clear directions and nice materials. This one is the favorite right now, but we haven't had a bad one yet. They are easy to find and at Michaels and Joanns, can be scored with a coupon, which is very helpful because these are a higher quality of craft kit, so the price is higher, too.

IQ Fit

Our eldest (12) takes this into her bed at night and plays it until the wee hours. It's a puzzle where you match the shapes to cards that show different patterns. It's simple and comes in a very pleasing box and is easy to pack in the car or in a bag. Which she does, often. This company makes quite a few games like this for younger kids too, which look very cool.

 Wreck This Journal

I think this book, along with tape, pencils, markers, and scissors should be given to every kid and adult. It's just that great. My girls have several copies and each one they do differently. They instantly start wrecking, drawing, tearing, and experiencing this book in a way that is so great, I just can't say enough good things about it. There are prompts on every page telling you how to wreck it, so all you need is the book and some gumption.

 Lincoln Logs Classic Edition Tin

A classic. We have had this big tin in our house for about 8 years now and it still gets played with by all of them. They love it for their Calico Critters, but they also just love to make the cabins.They also like to put in the tiny battery operated tea lights for a fire inside.

butter keeper

I am very happy with my on-the-counter butter storage of late. Over the summer, I was looking at my butter and was getting disturbed. The girls are cooking more and the butter looked like it had been attacked by a fox. I have used the butter keepers with the water in them, but I never knew how much butter was left and there was always that awkward moment of putting it back in the water without chipping the top (which is now chipped) so on a whim, I grabbed a weck jar and dropped in half a stick. I realize a normal butter dish might work for most people, but it gets gross in this house. The lid always hits the butter, and the ones you can't see through make me mad.

See? No lid hitting the butter. Now I cut a whole stick in half and just fit it in. The genius here is that the girls can dig at it and if it gets to messy, I can just switch the lid. It's stack able in the fridge and I can see how much have left. I don't bother with the clips. And the cats can't get at it, which they tried to do before. I have been using my weck jars so much without the clips and rubber rings, like vintage Pyrex, it's very liberating.

Unrelated:

• I made smitten kitchen's cauliflower cheese. It was good, the girls sort of liked it, Pete and I loved it. I am thinking of it as a side dish for Thanksgiving. I added a few chopped pecans on top and I'd be tempted to sprinkle on a little blue cheese.

• I'm looking for yarn crafts for the kids for the holidays. I have a lot of gifted yarn on hand. I love this tassel/pom/pom image from pinterest and this yarn font has me excited. I'm amused by the idea of making pom poms with a fork. These multicolored ones pom poms are making me crazy.

new items in the shop!

I'm so excited to have these new items in the shop before the holiday madness starts.

I designed this sweet little Floral Gift Enclosure Card Set. I love making homemade cards, but so often I need something fast and easy to tuck into a bag or on a gift and these are just perfect for that. There are 8 in a set, 2 of each design, with room to write on the back. That out-of-focus one there in the back says Happy Birthday.

I have been testing this Organic Blemish Treatment Oil for a bit now and it's really done the job. It's blue! But that fades immediately, I promise. My eldest girl likes it too. It was a bold scent for her at first, but she's used to it now and it's not too strong for her sensitive skin.

And for the men in your life, Organic Beard and Hair Oil—this is a favorite of my bearded husband and was created for him last year and he has been telling me to sell it ever since. It's also great for dry skin anywhere in the hair line and on eyebrows.

My newest scent, Organic Green Forest Pefume. I have been wearing this for about a year and only now have made it to sell. It's got a real pine-y earthy base note, but the rose top note rounds it out. I love this oil. It smells more like fall/winter to me than my other one, Lovely Perfume which I associate with summer/spring.

red & white mittens

I knitted these earlier this month and they got worn yesterday in our weird freezing-rain-very-light-snow storm. We lost power for a good 15 hours and it was cold! Good thing Grammie is close by. We headed over there with the pug and got all cozy for the day with her pug. It was a pug day.

I am still enjoying knitting mittens. I love the classic red and white. And again, they are great stash busters. Here's the project page on ravelry.

Unrelated:

• I have yet to put anything unusual in the waffle iron. I keep thinking about it, but it hasn't happened yet.

• I am scheming about what my homemade holiday gifts will be this year. I have been making cookies/candy/seasoned salts and spice mixes for a few years now and want to try something new.

• I have been busy putting some new items in the shop, which I will blog about in detail soon. They are available now and I am so happy to have the new perfume, blemish oil, and beard oil in there before things get too nutty around here.

• I was looking for some folk-holiday items and love everything in this etsy shop, work on paper studio, especially these felt ornaments.

Good Mail Day (an art show I am in)

I have four pieces of art in this wonderful show over at artstream studios. This show is curated by Lisa Solomon and Susan Schwake. All the pieces (by more than 60 artists) are available for sale online and are 4"x 6". Postcard size! All the artists contributing (there are some pretty big names in this show, I was flattered to be included) were asked to make these 4" x 6" in size, using any medium (original art, not copies or prints) and priced any way we wanted, which makes them very affordable. There are quite a few pieces here I'd like to buy. The size makes them so easy to frame. I'm getting a little twitchy trying to decide.

You can see them all here and my 4 are right here. It's hard to see online, but mine are painted with metallic watercolor/pen & ink. I had so much fun painting these. Thanks for asking me, Lisa!

mittens and waffles

I knitted some mittens. I have never knitted mittens before and really enjoyed it. These are knitted flat (the pattern source is on my ravelry page) and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm going to try another pair in the round, but maybe with the magic loop method. I get a little panicky with DPNs because I have to start and stop so much and I'm freaked everything will fall off my needles when I have to put it down.

I am on a "only using yarn from my stash" kick right now which is great—perfect for hats, mittens, baby booties, and small items. It also means I sometimes don't know or remember what I am knitting with, hence the lack of yarn info on my ravelry page.

Unrelated and about waffles:

I was getting a pedicure with Grammie yesterday morning and while she was talking about Thanksgiving menu ideas I was trying not to be distracted by the large flat screen behind her head that was showing two women putting an alarming amount of unexpected food items into waffle irons. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It was muted of course, and because I was listening to Grammie (I was!) I don't really know what was going on, but I'd like to think I now know enough to try some waffle related disasters here at home. I feel so unadventurous using my waffle iron for normal breakfast waffles after seeing its possibly misguided potential.

I have one non-veggie eater in the house and while she will try anything, actually consuming veggies is pretty hard for her. (Very sensitive gag reflex.) We have our go-to staples, which I am grateful for, but I'm always looking for new ways to prepare veggies. The zucchini fritters have worked in the past, but the oiliness isn't popular, so I am now looking to try something like these zucchini Parmesan waffles. And the latke waffles at Smitten Kitchen look very good. Maybe I can try it with sweet potatos?. Or corn. I found a review of this book, which I want to check out, Will it Waffle? There's a cooking fail that is specific to using a waffle iron that I find pretty horrendous (I usually have to leave the room and Pete gets to deal with the fallout) but if any of these work out, I think there's fun to be had.

a pretty big deal

day 6

This is all about nail polish.

I love having nail polish on, I love color, and I love having nice looking hands/nails. I have always had a lot of polish. Then kids came into my life and I stopped painting my nails. I little to chemically and impossible to find the time. Then I started again as they got older, but was so put off by the long dry time and the chipping, I lost interest. After a renewed polish interest a few years ago (so many low chemical options!) I stopped, again. I used nail skins for a bit (no dry time!) but they were a novelty and hard to take off. Then I got a few gel manicures (expensive!) so I bought a home lamp and kit and did gels myself, with mixed success. There was still the creepy light, and horrific removal which destroyed my nails, the chemicals, and the fact that could not use all my old polishes, they weren't compatible. BUT, it had everything else I desired, no dry time and long wear. Ultimately, it wasn't worth it, so I stopped again.

Then, on my way back to from Santa Fe, in the Seattle airport, I was told about butter London Patent-Gel Top & Tails at the butter London store they have there. And, it's a big deal.

 
day 7

This is base and top coat set that dries instantly. I mean it. I don't mean sort-of dry, I mean, after 5 minutes, completely dry. Just like a gel. I followed the directions and it worked like a flippin' miracle. I was nervous at first, so I was not moving until 10 minutes after my top coat was on, but then on time I waited 5 minutes, and then washed my hair—not a single ding or smudge. I do recommend giving it about 3 min. before you use the top coat, to have the color set.

So, for dry time, I give it a 10. For durability, on me, no chipping at all. It slightly wears off the tips after day 6 or so, but it's not noticeable. I have kept it on as long as 12 days and it still looks great, except for some grow out. So, a 10 for durability. The removal? I swear it's easier then normal polish, you can use a normal remover. I use low chemical polish and remover (Zoya) and this has worked great. This also means my back stash of polish I have been keeping, and sadly not using, can now be used again. It's like christmas and my birthday! I have had a fellow nail polish addict/guru try product this as well and she also is very happy with it. I waited for 3 complete color changes to blog about this, because I kept thinking it was too good to be true.

Things I want to mention:

This set is expensive ($40) but worth it to me in every way. If anyone has tried a similar gel-like top coat that dries instantly and wears like this, I'd love to know about it. It's not as shiny as a gel manicure. Also, the reviews are pretty all over the place. It's a miracle product for me, but other people have said the exact opposite, which makes me think that the polish you use might matter, and that people have different natural oils on their nails, and I know most nail products just don't work for all people across the board. I'd buy this where you can return it after trying. I know Nordstrom sells it and accepts returns, (I think Sephora does, too?) and at this price, it's important to be able to return it if it's doesn't change your life.

cake in portland

My ladies and I went to Palace Cakes recently for some serious cake eating research. They were all divine. It's the same talent behind Two Tarts, which is my favorite place to get cookies in Portland because they are so small—you can get so many different kinds! It's very celebratory. Palace Cakes, like Two Tarts, serves good french press coffee, to help you get through the cake. The storefront is very small, only two tables, so you might have to wait to sit, or eat the cake at home, or in your car.

These were all delicious. One of us got all weird (in a good way) about the chocolate cake, I loved it, but was also very pleased with the lemon cake. There was a lovely carrot cake cupcake with citrus that meant a lot to me.

Unrelated:

• I have been having a lot of fun looking at all the hand-picked beauty tools/products over at Reed Clarke. I have that brush cleaner in my painting box right now! Of course I should use it on my make-up brushes. Genius!

• I'm really interested in reading Wolf in White by John Darnielle after reading this review over at the Rumpus. I have been a fan of The Mountain Goats for a long time. I do agree with the reviewer that being a fan of his music is irrelevant to reading his novel, however I sit right up and notice his creative output, whatever the medium, because I love his music so much.

 

very small Stonehenges

We are studying the Stone/Bronze/Iron Age right now and had a lot of fun making small Stonehenges.

We got this idea over at the BBC website in the Hands on History section. There are so many great resources on this site, I spend a lot of time there. There's an interactive game where you can built a fire, bake bread, and spin wool in the Iron Age. It's really fascinating. I'm going to try and have us do these activities for real, but I sense disaster. It should be fun. I need to find some soft-ish rocks and do more research.

I printed some out-of-scale grass for the ground. We decided the too-big grass was an nice artistic touch. We had a gluing mishap—air dry clay and hot glue are not friends. They totally ignore each other and don't stick at all. So, the white glue came out and it worked just fine. We have been using flashlights to cast shadows on these after learning all about Stonehenge and how the stones aligned with the sun on the solstices. We really enjoyed this video, BBC Operation Stonehenge.

I had to try and find the scene in This is Spinal Tap when the mini-Stonehenge gets lowered on the stage and couldn't find the clip, but did find this—Nigel Tufnel on why aliens didn't build Stonehenge which killed us! I had no idea these clips existed and they are really funny.

Sante Fe Trip: Food

 

Thank you all so much for your food tips in Santa Fe. It was a wonderful city to eat in and one of the perks of traveling alone is I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. The downside is that I couldn't sample what everyone else was eating, experiencing more of the menu. Hardly a thing to complain about, but you know what I mean. This lovely blue corn waffle was one of the amazing breakfasts served at the B&B I stayed at, The Madeleine Inn. They served a delicious hot dish daily, along with fruit, homemade granola, and tea breads, all of which were outstanding. I was able to eat outside every morning. I loved my room, the other guests, and everyone that worked there. It was the perfect escape.

This amazing drinking chocolate was from Kakawa Chocolate House. I went for the darkest and least sweet one, with a lot of chile. It was so good—hard to even describe. This was after a long day of looking in galleries. I remember my feet hurt and the chocolate made it all better.

This was one of my favorite meals—from the restaurant at the spa 10,000 waves, called Izanami. This was one of the only times I was sad I was alone because I wanted to try everything on the menu and had no one to share with. I thought it was funny that I was having an incredible Japanese experience in Sante Fe, and then I found out the chef is from Portland. Ha! I spent 3 hours soaking, being scrubbed and pampered at the spa, and then hung out and ate outside for another hour. Heavenly!

Here's another amazing breakfast from the Madeleine Inn. Bread pudding with bacon.

La Boca is where I landed my first night out. It's tapas and was so good. This was a spicy shrimp dish. I was able to get in pretty much anywhere without reservations by sitting at the bar. I got some great tips that night on where to go from the super nice bartender.

Everyone said to go to Cafe Pasqual's and I am so glad I did. This was an amazing squash blossom salad.

Not pictured:

Fish tacos from La Choza, which were very tasty. I also ate at The Teahouse, which was good, but I was having walking mishaps on the deep and loose gravel.

Eating out alone (not just at a cafe or a casual place where you order at the counter) was really interesting. I refused to look at my phone (except to take photos) and just hung out. I think most couples there thought I was eavesdropping. I was. But I also chatted it was so great just talking to everyone. I was also a pleasure just staring off in to space so many times during the day, talking to no one at all. There are so many other places I wanted to try and didn't get to. Another a trip will be planned, for sure.

papier-mâché ghosts

We made these papier-mâché ghosts last week and finally got around to putting on the faces. I know I could type paper mache, but it's not as fun.

To make these:

• We made a paste (flour, water and white glue) first and made forms to cover to get the ghost shape.
• For the forms we crumpled up balls of newspaper and set them on a drinking glass.
• Then we covered all that with cling wrap.
• Then we draped that with newspaper wet with the glue/flour/water mixture, making the ghost shape, and finished with a glued-up layer of paper towels and let them dry.

These take a long time to dry because the paper towels hold so much moisture. After 2 days, I took them off the forms, they were still damp but could stand-up, and baked them in the oven at 200° for a few hours. I love how the paper towels give the ghost texture and also flare out at the base. When they were dry, we painted them white (we probably could have left them as is) and then drew on the faces. 

We still have the bones we made years ago and love them, and somehow they have still held up. I just saw these bone meringues I made in my archives, I should do that again!

fun with infographics

So, making these was all I was thinking about today.

I found this site, Piktochart, this morning while looking for a timeline of the stone/bronze/iron age (which is our new theme) and went on a brief detour. This took about 7 minutes to make. I was very focused. Now I want to make them for everything. This template was free, there is a pro version with a lot more options, but it's not cheap. Using the drag and drop graphics and text editor is addictive. I know I could do all this in Illustrator, but this is so easy! The girls can totally use this program, so I am thinking about having them make their own for various topics. Book reviews, history timelines, to-do lists, illustrated recipes, you know—all the stuff you can show with infographics. Pretty much anything. Their graphic design enthusiasm/interest might not match mine, I realize. Maybe I will chart that next.

a bear and a link

This is one of my favorite photos from my Santa Fe trip. It's from the Brasil and Arte Popular exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art. It's a bear costume for Carnival. There was some information about how the bear is part of the celebration, and why. I think a fairy tale is involved. Now I can't remember what the deal is and my 5-second internet search gave me nothing. But I know there is a story behind it.

Unrelated to bears:

The whole family is riveted by these series of short animated videos teaching art history basics by Ydraw over at Khan Academy. They are drawn while they are narrated, which is mesmerizing, and are full of great information. And they are funny.

needle book

I stitched this little needle book for a friend's birthday back in August and was finally able to give it to her recently. I love small cross-stitch projects like this. I also love stitching monograms and letters with a small additional element, and kind of designing it as I go. I do need a chart for the letters, but the other element I kind of just make up . It's very freeing and these quicker projects give me some energy to go back to my longer ones. I might just work on needle books for a bit, I love the small scale. These over at mmmcrafts are outstanding.

On the boards— I have a desire to knit some mittens, which I have never done. I have some Halloween accessories to work on, but nothing major. I have some ideas for a new art print I want to make available in the shop, and I would like to start sewing a coat for myself. And new oils for the shop! Thank you for all your orders, I am testing the blemish oil now, along with the others.

Unrelated:

Over the weekend, we saw Beaverton Civic Theater's production of Into The Woods, and had such a good time. I think it's playing for one more week.

 

3 fish tacos of varying quality

This is a fish taco from my kitchen. I used fish fillets (from a box in the freezer) and then greens, my daikon/carrot pickle, a sriracha-crema drizzle, and salsa. They were delicious. I'm not above using fish sticks. Especially the fish fillet ones. I heated the corn tortilla (wrapped in a wet paper towel in the microwave) before making these. Over the years it took me awhile to figure out how the make the corn tortillas hot/moist enough and this works great.

These fish tacos are from Uno Mas. "Mojo de Ajo | Fresh Rockfish with
Garlic Lime Marinade". This description was taken from their menu. These are some of my favorite fish tacos in Portland. They are a bit more than their regular tacos ($3.75 instead of $2) and very tiny. I ate these a little too fast and was talking to a friend at the time so I can't remember just how good they were right now, but I know I liked them.

These are my favorite fish tacos at the moment, but the worst to eat. It's a favorite in concept only. They are the "street style" fish tacos from our neighborhood Safeway. It writes itself. You can get 4 tacos for about $5.50 or so. There are two different kinds here—the fish and the chicken. The fish taco used fish sticks (not a good kind) and had so much mango salsa it was hard to taste anything else. The chicken tacos were fine, but I wonder now if that was only contrast to the fish. Pete said they were good, but he was starving. I was thrilled to be living on the edge by ordering these. Nothing bad happened.

me = podcast interview on While She Naps

It was 6:00am my time when we recorded the podcast interview over at While She Naps. I'm on the left there, looking sleepy. (Photo by Amy Sly.) Abby interviewed Ellen Luckett Baker and me for episode #31 and I didn't even swear once. You can listen to the podcast by clicking here at the bottom of the page. Abby and Ellen have been blogging a long time and it was sure nice to reminisce with them about the good ol' days. Abby's epsiode list is pretty great—I'm flattered to be included in such good company. Abby provides so many great resources on her blog and has contributed so much to the sewing/crafting/business of things over the years, it's amazing. This piece on How to Get Started Podcasting is next on my list to read.

Abby also has a feature on her blog where she asks artists and designers what book or pattern changed their life and I got all verklempt when Melissa Quaal said, for her, it was my first sewing book. This warmed my heart and made me smile all day.

facial oils for changing seasons

Fall is here and I am noticing my skin is drinking up the facial oils I make. I don't need them as much in the summer, but right about now, I just soak the moisture up. I have been selling these oils for a few years now (you can read all about them in this blog post) and they are rock solid. I'm really proud of them. I had a wonderful facial recently and the esthetician was very complementary of my skin and asked what I used— I was so happy to tell her it's what I make.

For my skin, I like to switch between the Restorative and the Nourishing blend. For my hands, I keep an extra Cuticle Oil in my car, which is when I notice how dry my nails are. I'm not sure why. It also makes the car smell nice. The car doen't always smell nice. And I keep a bottle of the Tension Relif Oil in my bag, for that out-in-the-world tension which seems to come up.

This Treatment Oil for Eyes has been a multi-tasker lately. I have been using it not just under my eyes but on my eyelid where I had a little dry patch. It cleared it right up. My Mom uses this between her eyebrows for dry patches she gets in the fall and it works like charm.

Another use for an oil— when Pete was growing his beard, he was getting ingrown hairs and bumps and he got obsessed with the Fortifying Hair Oil using it as a beard oil (it also has  a nice woodsy smell which guys dig) to condition his facial hair and help with skin sensitivities. He said it was amazing and got instant relief with skin itchies while softening his beard. Beard is such a funny word.

I think about adding more products to this line, but to be honest, I'm so happy with what I sell and have been using it for so long, I just don't know what else would be needed. There are three products I use but don't sell that I really like: a roll-on blemish oil (this was developed for the girls to be extra gentle) a cleansing oil, and a facial mist. And now I'm thinking of making a dedicated Beard Oil, (I'd just push the Fortifying Hair Oil but the label has a lady on it, which is probably not the best marketing for a beard oil.) I also wear a wonderful perfume oil that I've blended that I could sell which is so very earthy-hippie—I just love it.

Any thoughts? Would you all be interested in these?

 

 

delia's fall coat 2014

This is the coat I sewed Delia this year. Like previous years, she picked the fabric and the lining. Her personal style in everyday clothes has changed a lot the past 4 years, but her taste in coats has not. She likes them formal and old fashioned. This thrills me. I used the same pattern I have for years, good ol' simplicity 2543 and made this one with even more room than last year's because she outgrew that one in the arms and shoulders by February.

This fabric, a super soft brushed cotton with a nap, was purchased at the Mill Ends in SE portland. The buttons are vintage and the collar is a piece of felted light blue cashmere sweater. I collect any old cashmere I can for this type of thing. Or for stuffed animals. The lining is a light blue satin that looks like water. Very nice.

I don't have too much to say about this. I think it's the 4th or 5th coat I have sewed from this pattern. I love it to bits. I was going to start this dress once I finished this coat, but now I'm not so sure, it might wait until spring.

unrelated to all this:

• I am so happy to report that Greensleeves, the book that I read from the Secret Books list, is on its way to its 3rd reader, as part of a snail mail book group. Very exciting!

• I am currently reading Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, loaned to me by a dear friend. It's riveting and breaking my heart and making me comforted and sad all at the same time. I just read a little bit at a time. It's so—life.

• I have been enjoying An Idiot Abroad a whole lot. I can't get enough of Karl. It's on instant Netflix.

museum of international folk art—santa fe, nm

Here are some of my favorite images from the Museum of International Folk Art. This was one of the highlights of my trip. When I was planning this solo trip I knew I wanted to do things that are hard for my family to do with me, like stay in one museum all day, which was the case with this museum. I was there all day, shed a few tears just from how amazing it all was and then pulled a total Amy by getting lost on a trail between the two museums (it was over grown!) and then after swearing, sweating, and back tracking 4 times, jumped a wall, only to land awkwardly in front of a tour bus driving by in the parking lot. I found the other museum (by car) and my ankle was sore. This event gets funnier as time goes by. I realize my impulsive nature is often curbed by my husband or children, and traveling by myself, it came out many times on this trip. I felt very much like me.

fish taco from an airport

This came from the Anthony's at Sea-Tac airport on my way home from Santa Fe. I think this falls under the category of impromptu fish taco. It was grilled Alaskan rockfish with mango salsa, on a flour tortilla. It was very good, if a little overpriced. The idea of a fish taco from an airport seemed both funny and ill advised, but this was very good. I was pretty hungry when I ordered it. Then I had some fun at the Butter London nail salon while drinking a delicious Caffe Vita Coffee americano. The Seattle airport is pretty great!

some photos from santa fe, nm

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

Double Take

Museum of International Folk Art

Banderlier National Monument

The solo trip to Santa Fe was amazing. I will post more photos and write about all the inspiring sights, funny experiences, and wonderful food soon—but right now I'm going to unpack and take a vacation from my vacation. Thanks for all the tips!

Unconventional & Unexpected

 

A review copy of a book I was sent recently completely knocked my socks off—Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000 by Roderick Kiracofe

This is a beautiful book. Big, heavy, and thick, showcasing amazing quilts and fascinating essays by various quilt and textile historians, makers, and museum curators. There are essays by Natalie Chanin, Denyse Schmidt, Kaffe Fassett, to name a few. Janneken Smucker writes an interesting piece about the myths of the history of quilt making, challenging the commonly held belief that quilts were always made of scraps and came from a "make-do" mentality.

It took me awhile to actually read the essays because I was so mesmerized by the quilts, which are all from Roderick Kiracofe's collection. This books makes my heart skip a little every time I open it. I love quilts that are "off" and all of them have this quality. There is so much inspiration in here—I can only look at a few quilts at a time. It's a very special book.

pretty packages

It's new book season already and I was so excited to receive a review copy of Sally J Shim's new book, Pretty Packages: 45 Creative Gift-Wrapping Projects. Sally and I have been friends for a long time now (I wish you still lived here, Sally!) and she is a really wonderful person who loves life, travel, food, and design. And she has a great sense of humor. As a designer she has a keen eye and a sophisticated minimal style and this book captures all that perfectly.

This book is so HAPPY. It makes me smile looking through it. The girls ripped it out of my hands when it came. These are some of my favorite wrapping ideas from her book. It's full of simple, easy to reproduce ideas with a less is more style that is really lovely. Here's a project from the book, super cute!

sunriver, oregon

We had a lovely time in Sunriver, Oregon recently. There were no swan encounters. We saw one, but she was not aggressive with us. There was lots of bike riding, swimming, and canoeing. We like to go after school has started—it much quieter at the pool and on the ike trails. There is this magic quality to the light during early September. It's not quite fall but not summer either.

Delia started knitting hand warmers while we were there. Super easy, no pattern. I will show it soon. She knit a swatch long enough to fit around her wrist, counted the stitches then knit a flat piece with a little ribbing at the top and bottom. She sewed it up, making a tube, and left an opening for a thumb hole. She's finished one, and wears it. Just the one. It's black yarn with reflector thread in it so it glows in the dark. Perfect.

fish tacos in Bend, Oregon

These blackened cod fish tacos were from the Sunriver Brewing Company. They were very good, a bit soupy, but that's often the case with fish tacos, it's not a complaint. They offered these with flour/corn blended tortillas, just corn, or no tortillas, which I thought was funny. A fish taco without a taco shell. I went for the corn. From the menu:

"pan seared blackened cod, shredded cabbage, chipotle aioli, pico de gallo."

I was really hungry when I ate these which means they were delicious. It was just Pete and I and we talked about the Murakami books we are both reading right now and got all weirded out discussing them.

These fish tacos were from Worthy Brewing Company in Bend and made with delicious blackened steelhead. They were made with flour tortillas which bummed me out. Again, I forgot to ask if they could use corn. I was quite pleased each taco had their own lime wedge. I love lime and never have enough. These were hard to eat with being gross, but the awkwardness of the avocado was well worth it. Fish tacos are not date food. The mango salsa was good. There were a lot of TVs in this place.

get them while you still can!

Sarah Neuburger, my dear friend and the genius behind The Small Object is retiring her stellar ready-made rubber stamp line. This created a small panic in our house. I looked in every box and drawer to make sure we had them all—now is the perfect time to snatch them up! They are 50% off until she no longer has any left. Perfect for holiday gifts and stocking suffers. You can find them here! They are selling fast, so some of these might not be available anymore.

Day Dreamers, By Emily Martin (and an event!)

Emily's newest book is out, Day Dreamers, and it's so beautiful—it's been on heavy rotation at our house. It's a companion to her equally stunning Dream Animals, and I love how these two books look side by side. I was thrilled to see her sketches before they were painted in her blog post for this newest book. There's a masterful loosness to her work in this newest book and that makes me sigh and smile. I love how she draws movement, so fluid and light.

Come celebrate with her! (And make her sign stuff!)  She is having an event in Portland for Day Dreamers at Green Bean Books on Saturday, September 6th, at 2:00.

pickled veggies

Pickled radishes

Pickled beets

When I am cleaning out the fridge and getting anxious about veggies not being eaten, I pickle them. Right away. It takes about 5 minutes and then I feel so much better. I have been using this basic sweet/salty vinegar recipe from the Momofuku cookbook for a few years now. I memorized it, or something similar that works for me, and I use it for everything. It's pretty forgiving. There's one here, but I use much less sugar. Here's my brine:

• 1 cup water
• 4-6 TBL sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• kombu (optional)

I heat the water and sugar until the sugar dissolves and pour it over the cut veggies and add the rest of the ingredients. To prep the veggies, I slice them in the food processor with the slicing blade, which is my best friend. The radish one stinks to high heaven, but not as much as the daikon and carrot one I made, which makes the girls scream and run out of the kitchen every time I open it. Pete just said it's hard to capture the smell in text. I love the way it tastes so much. Especially on fish tacos!

Unrelated: Books I want to read soonish

The Empathy Exams, by Leslie Jamison

The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell:

There's a fascinating piece about him here.

the Fish Taco Project

I love fish tacos. I sometimes forget this and then when I remember I get excited because they are so easy to find. They remind me of pizza—there is much variety and quality in this one dish. Fancy, fusion, good, bad, bad in a good way, so-so, and gross. They pop-up in unlikely places, which makes them even more exciting and at times questionable. Recently, I had 3 different fish tacos three days in a row (I only thought to photograph these two) and I felt the need to start this ridiculous yet delicious project.

These aren't really reviews of fish tacos exactly, more like descriptions. I can't really give them stars. That would be too difficult to figure out. I try to avoid any that are terrible, but when it comes to fish tacos, I'm not very picky. I find my enjoyment of a fish taco is directly proportional to how hungry I am when I'm eating them. I love how small they usually are, so I can grab one as a snack. I've had so many around town I thought I'd start to list them and take photos for fun because it's a blog so, you know, I can write about fish tacos.

Now, when I am out and about if I can find a fish taco nearby (especially if it's new to me) I feel I have completed a special mission. My family is patient and supportive. As I eat my fish tacos, I will add them to my new fish taco category. These are all in Portland unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to add your favorites in the comments.

These salmon fish tacos are from Fishbox, which is a cart on Belmont. They were delicious, spicy and very good. I do like corn tortillas better than flour, that's my only quibble. Maybe they can make them with corn tortillas, I didn't ask. I think this was grilled or blackened salmon. And I did say spicy, didn't I? These are a fusion type thing—I think some wasabi was in there. I liked them a whole lot, but the spiciness of the sauce kind of overpowered the salmon taste. Pete got the salmon sandwich which he said was amazing. 8/2014

These Baja fish tacos came from Salvador Molly's and they were very filling and tasty. They were so filling I couldn't eat the rice and beans. They have battered fish with a garlic-lime aioli crema and picked onions. They were very good, but heavy. I felt a little sad later, but I think that's because I don't do well with fried food in general, no matter how often I try to deny it. 8/2014

upcoming sewing project and random things

I bought this very lightweight printed linen at Jospehine's Dry Goods over the weekend. Josephine's recently re-opened in a new location and I hadn't been there yet. It's such a lovely shop. The very small shop is beautifully merchandised and the selection of fine garment fabrics is outstanding. They have more Liberty than I have ever seen in one shop before. They also carry lovely wool suiting. I also bought this sewing pattern by Sew House Seven (local talent) and am eager to sew it up. I almost didn't find the shop—the entrance to the store is through a lobby, look for signs, it's right next to Koi Fusion on Division. Right now I am sewing Delia's fall coat, I'm hoping to get that done before I start this dress.

Unrelated:

• I have started a ridiculous but delicious research project—trying the best fish tacos in Portland. The best might be debatable, really. I'm just trying them anywhere I can, whether it be a place I have gone before, or by making a special trek to try an unfamiliar fish taco. After 3 days in a row, I have taken a break, but will resume soon. Photos and thoughts are forthcoming.

• I am taking a vacation (alone!) in September to Santa Fe and am terribly excited. If anyone has thoughts, tips, or suggestions for activities, food, sightseeing, l'd love to hear about them.

how we pick what to learn about (themes)

I have been getting some questions lately from local people and online about how we pick our themes and how we learn about them together with multiple ages. I received this e-mail a bit back, which has better wording than I have right now in my brain, so I'm going to just quote it—

Handmade book with Emily Dickinson poems, by Sadie.

" . . .I was wondering if you could share a little about how you and your daughters choose topics to study. I'm homeschooling a 9 year old and an almost-4 year old and I think it would be a lot easier if we did some multi-age unit studies together; rather than two separate "grade levels" at once. For instance... Do you just ask your kids what they're most interested in or do you choose? Where/how do you go about picking resources? How do you move on to the next topic? . . .you seem to be able to engage your children of different ages at the same time under whatever topic you're studying . . ."

This is such a huge subject that I sat with this e-mail unanswered for over a month. I mean, I can just tell you what we do— we lay around on the couch, bounce ideas off each other, pick themes. Some seem to be good, others not as exciting. I usually have a few suggestions based on books I have already found about a theme. Then we pick one and just go for it. They never argue about it. I don't know why. I think it's because they know we don't know what we will find; it's a treasure hunt and they are curious to find out what it's all about. Plus, they trust that if it's not super engaging, we will move on. They aren't worried about getting bored. The process usually takes about 4 minutes. My research is ongoing. I often have squirreled away books and lists for theme ideas that I know have really good material. Sometimes I have no clue what we will find and that is fun, too. We tend to focus on people to start the themes, not abstract theories or events. Issac Newton and Florence Nightingale lead us to the theory of gravitation and the Crimean War.  We also like mash-up themes, like Picasso and cheese. I write a bit about this process in various posts in the learning section of this blog, but it's kind of buried in the posts and the comments.

We all work on these themes together, but the ages and personalities take them in different directions. When learning about Emily Dickinson, Sadie (11) loved reading her poems over and over, and I think even acted them out in her room, but I'm not sure. The door was closed. Delia (9) was really into the bookbinding that Emily did and started down that road and Lydia (7) loved Emily's botanical research and explored flower and plant pressing and identification. We started all these topics together, but then each girl went off down their own path, which I helped them with individually for several weeks. The paths would wind and change and I would just change with them. This whole time I was reading aloud her poems and a historical fiction book with a young Emily Dickinson narrator.

I was telling someone the other day (my mom, or husband?) the specific theme we decide on isn't terribly important for us. Choosing themes is fun, but it's the surprises when we start researching that is so exciting. Many of our favorite themes that we stayed on for months were unexpected—like Dickens, or Mythology. And who knew about Mozart's wildly talented sister?

I have no idea what will grab them at first, and neither do they, but they know it when we discover it and it just takes off. I just have to be ready, recognize when it happens and respond with resources, supplies, and most of all, energy. I feel a little like a juggler, but not in a bad way. I don't worry about having them remember all the details of a theme. Teaching them to learn, that's my goal, and that seems to be what works best for all of us. Having said that, they all love to be "tested" on dates and hard details, which cracks me up and is so NOT what I thought they would want to do. But I'm so glad they told me. They are proud of what they learn and like to have a sense of mastery before we move on to a new theme. We usually just do this verbally, sometimes written, and there is much fanfare. There might be a time when the girls will want to run with a theme just by themselves, completely separate, and that will be fine, too.

Right now we are learning about the Russian Revolution and Anastasia. I found a ton of books from the library and looked online a bit. We were just finishing up watching Fiddler on the Roof, which gave me the idea for this theme. Yesterday, after printing out images for our wall where we put our theme photos, they got obsessed with the history around Fabergé eggs, so we are learning about that this week and making eggs and I am trying to gather materials for that. When I suggested Anastasia, I didn't have a Fabergé egg component in mind, but here we are and it's awesome.

They are all different in the way they learn. Sadie is all about data and lists, so she is making her own Fabergé book with all the images she can find and classifying them with the dates, titles, descriptions, etc. Delia and Lydia want to make their own eggs, and are interested in jewelry making. There are books on making Fabergé-style eggs, and I think it might even be covered in an old Martha magazine? I'm pretty sure it is. I need to look this up.

During all this I am reading to them both non-fiction and fiction about the Russian Revolution, in bits and pieces and threading it all together. I keep touching base with the theme we are studying and also reminding them of what we have already learned historically and how it's related to WWI, and I connect how Downton Abby season 1 and 2 was around this time, and what was happening here in the US in 1917. They are well versed in all the historical American Girls, and this is Rebecca's time, whose family came from Russia.

When we are done with a theme (sometimes a month, usually 2-3 months) we keep all our images and projects in a big blank sketch book, so they can flip through it and talk about what they remember from each theme, which is pretty great. We have been homeschooling always and doing more formal themes like this for over 5 years now, so there there's a lot in these books to look at.

One thing that really helps them connect with this material is starting with a story rather than just facts. Historical fiction plays a big role here. For instance when we talk about Thailand now, they all remember the book we read about the little girl in a refuge camp, which made a huge impression on them, even if some of the details of Thailand are forgotten.

This is only a slice of what we do during the day. They have a lot of free time dancing and reading on their own and playing music, working on their own projects, often from our theme ideas. I realize the question was about picking themes, not about what our day is like, but, of course it's all related so it's hard to extract one part. This process was a little different for us when they all were younger, but I have always used books as a starting point—various fiction, all the American Girl historical books, and when they were really little, The Magic Treehouse series and the corresponding research guides. I still read those with Lydia and she loves the research guides especially.

Okay, I know this is long. I'm going back in the tent now, which has been up in our backyard for a few days. There's something pretty great about 3 kids and a pug in a tent.

crewel with some cross-stitch and a bit about Greensleeves

I stitched this birthday gift for a friend recently. I am 99% done with my latest cross-stitch, but I needed a break. I used Renaissance Dyeing wool thread on linen fabric, backed with muslin. It's my own design, a bunny perched on top of a huge strawberry. Right after I finished this piece I saw these small animals stitched by Chloe Giordano, and oh my word. She uses thread. Sewing machine thread. You have to look.

unrelated:

I finished Greensleeves, which came up on the Secret Book post, and loved it so much. It's very hard to find this out-of-print book and it's such a good read, I'm going to loan it out to any of you who want to read it. It's already headed to someone, and I hope to get in back in a couple months, so if you are interested and don't mind waiting, I will put you on the list. Just e-mail me. It would be super swell if you want to add some notes/thoughts in the back, or maybe we can have a small book to write in to go along with it? Or a sheet of paper tucked inside? We can make it like a traveling book group. Tia, I didn't mention this when I sent it your way, so let me know what you think. I have also attached a book loan check-out pocket with a stampable due date. This is a high school library copy, so has it has it's own pocket and date-stamps from 1969 on up, which is charming to look at and ponder about all the high school kids that read it.

making textured paper (super easy)

I'm not sure when I learned how to make this easy textured paper, I think it was in a box making class in college. I was obsessed with it for a while and made stacks and used it quite a lot in various projects and then moved on and tucked this knowledge into the back corners in my brain for years. Lydia wanted to make a treasure map recently and we thought distressed textured paper would be prefect, and my brain remembered this easy technique. Go brain! This might be super common knowledge, but it just came back to me, so I'd thought I'd share.

This works great with text-weight everyday printer paper. I also love using brown paper bags from the grocery store. I had the girls crumple it up in a tight ball and then un-flatten it, about 5-8 times. It gets softer and softer and seems to shrink. Making a tight ball is important.

This is after the crumple-flattening about 5 times.

Iron it with a hot dry iron. They love to iron!

Done! This makes wonderful decorative paper for making cards and envelopes, and  for covering boxes and wrapping gifts— if you use brown, it kind of looks like leather. For treasure maps we use grocery bags and rub in some dirt and and rip it up a bit and burn a little bit in the middle and on the edges, because who doesn't like to burn stuff!?

 

current cross stitch project

I am close to finishing this cross stitch project. the pattern is by Stacy Nash Primitives and it's called Basket of Flowers Pinkeep. I want to get back to some crewel work. I have enjoyed doing this, but I get a little twitchy when I stitch so many X's.

I'm reorganizing (mostly down-sizing) my craft/sewing room, focusing on the two huge bookshelves. It's taken two weeks, but I am almost done. I plan to "shop my craftroom" for the next year (I could for probably do this for 5 years) and try to lay-off adding more craft books and supplies, now that I can see and organize what I actually have. It feels good, but it was so hard to stick with it—I was willing to do anything to avoid working on it, including cleaning out the fridge and the freezer.

I am almost done with Greensleeves, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. It's so good, I am loving every page of it. This book was mentioned a few times in the comments of my Secret Books post, and I was so happy I found a copy, because it seems pretty hard to find. My mom (Grammie) actually met Eloise and owned signed copies of her books. Who knew? Grammie was a newspaper reporter and editor, and so was her mom, so it's hard to keep track of all the Portland people they all knew over the years. She didn't have a copy of this book, however. I found one at good ol' Powelll's books.

I'm a big fan of figs.

This morning I had my figs with ricotta, honey and pistachios. Delicious. I love this combination so much, but searching for fig recipes on Pinterest has given me many other ideas.

Some random links:

• I just saw this from Powell's Books, a list of 25 books "to read before you die". I had only heard of a few of these books. It's an interesting list.

• I haven't really done much weaving, but if I get into it, especially with the kids, this tutorial over at HonestlyWTF is really helpful. I do get a little creeped out by some weaving like this. I always am afraid of finding bugs and bug eggs hiding in the loose wool. If it's tightly woven, I'm okay, but once it goes puffy, I get the willies. Surely not rational, but I can't help it.

 

chillin'

We are in full summer mode in Portland now, with lots of hot days and we are feeling it! We have no AC. We live in the shade, so it's not so bad, and I love actually feeling the seasons. This is what I tell myself at 6pm and it's not possible to think about cooking and I'm starting to have a mommy moment.

These internet items are making me so happy:

• Crazy cool sticker mandala at Honestly WTF (via: I don't remember, but from somewhere—not me.) This looks so amazing. And funny. I love seeing the random football or hot dog. It also looks not inexpensive. I would love to try this with rubber stamps.

• I can't wait to try these make your own embellishments from pine is here. I love pouring liquid plastic on anything.

• Mexican Ornament from Hello Sandwich.This looks like it's a class, but I just like looking at it. I'd like to make one similar, with found paper and bits and pieces from around our (hot) house.

 

small books (by a young Brontë)

We are learning about the Brontë sisters right now and one of our favorite aspects of their lives are the imaginary worlds they created—complete with handmade books. Very, very small books. I jumped out of my chair when I happen to read, on the internet (but I don't remember where) that many of these books were scanned and are available to print. I printed them immediately. They were a hassle to print, they are enlarged, so you can read them, but to print them at the actual scale they were written (impossibly small) they need to be reduced. I fussed around for a long time wasting paper until I got them close enough. This one is 11 pages, the front and back cover are printed at 12%, the inside pages at 17%. This makes them almost the original size, just about 2" tall. I love the internet! The girls freaked out when I showed it to them. They never thought they would see what one of these books looked like. It's a little piece of magic. This one is by Charlotte, she wrote it as a child, and it's just amazing. I asked the girls if they wanted it printed larger so we could read it easier and they were adamant it be printed the size she wrote it. Here's another article about them. The link to the PDF of this book, and others, is at the end of this article.

We are are skimming Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, (we can revisit these and read them all the way through in a few years) and learning a lot about the lives of Charlotte and Jane. We are really enjoying the book, Always Emily, which is a great read, especially after studying so much about the Brontë family. We like the Crash Course on Jane Eyre, too.

finger knitting

Lydia had a blast at her week-long day camp at Trackers Earth last month. She promptly taught her two older sisters how to finger knit. She learned a few other things, too. She milked a goat, made cheese and butter, and "picked up chickens and did animal stuff." The finger knitting has been very popular and kept the girls busy. I don't even know how to do this, I need her to show me how. They all know how to knit with needles, but this has been really fun for them.  They like to make longs scarves, for dolls and themselves, and I think there is a rug being started, but I am not sure. What a great way to use up yarn from my stash!

Trading Card Creator

Sadie is very into stats and lists filled with lots of characters and detailed information. She has made her own trading cards and they are so creative and have such a wonderful handmade charm, I was almost reluctant to show her this very handy and easy to use Trading Card Creator. It's pretty great and she is very interested. I like that there are different questions to fill in based on what you choose to make the card for— people (real or fictional) places, events, concepts, or totally custom. They are easy to print, and are double sided with more room for information on the back. This makes her happy, because even though she has microscopic and tidy handwriting, the typing allows her to fit in even more information. And it is free, along with other good resources and ideas on this site, ReadWriteThink. This will be really fun to use for our themes, too. We are working on Brontë Trading Cards now. Hooray internet! Lydia wants to make some Goat Trading Cards, which will obviously be amazing.

I'm sending a big warm and fuzzy internet hugs to all of you who told me of your secret books. I was blown away, and got really emotional about it. I'm working on an art piece now, using all the covers I could find printed very small. It was so amazing to read about all your secret books, most of which are new to me. Thank you so much! I put the whole list on Goodreads (a great place to easily see all the covers) but can't figure out how to make that shelf public yet. If I can I will export the list of all the titles so I can post them all here.

the american local (a portland restaurant)

 

We got some babysitting last sunday (thanks grammie!) and drove to SE Division and parked and just walked around. There are so many restaurants there we figured someplace would have a table. The American Local was right ahead and I had remembered that some very trust worthy foodie friends had given this place a bigs thumbs up. We agreed wholeheartedly. Fresh, simple, but unexpected. Here's the dinner menu.

This is a photo of the cumin roasted carrots/avocado/yogurt/cilantro/sunflower seeds and the fry bread/sheep’s milk cheese/mushrooms/herbs. They both were delicious. I want to try everything. It's all meant for sharing, which is my favorite way to eat. We ordered more, but the I was too busy eating to take photos. I can't say enough how much I loved this place.

Here's the banana hazelnut cake. It came chilled in a weck jar. Come on!

 

my favorite book series (as a kid)

We finally got some more bookshelves in the living room. I keep trying to get a handle on our books, but it's hard. I'm not even going to discuss my craft/sewing book collection right now.

With the extra room, I was able to take these out— my childhood copies of "The Dark Is Rising" series by Susan Cooper. They were my all time favorite. I started them in 5th and read them repeatedly until 8th grade, always starting "The Dark is Rising" in the fall. Later, I only found one other kid who knew about them. They were my secret and I felt like they were written just for me. I had never heard of them and bought them on my own. I actually remember the bookstore I got them in (no longer around, a shop in John's Landing in the 1980s) and went back to buy each book in the series. My memory of this experience is so unlike the world of Harry Potter and other books for kids right now, where they seem to seep into our collective consciousness and have big marketing behind them. That can be fun too, but it is powerful to have a series, or even just one book, that feels like your own secret, even if it's actually not. Of course, it's much better for the author if it's not a secret. You know what I mean.

These books are well loved but not in the best shape. I have tried to read them to my girls and they have not taken to them. Yet. But I'm not giving up, I'm just trying to be casual about it. Even if they don't ever dig them, I think it's important for them to know what books meant a lot to me growing up. I plan to torture them with my college albums soon as well. While looking for new copies of these I kind of freaked out. I saw the edition that Folio Society has and the artwork looks amazing. With slipcovers! I never loved these original covers and I always wished they were a complete set—the first one is a different publisher. Did anyone else read these? I need to re-read them. I remember them being magical and epic, as well as humorless and mildly boring. In a good way. I learned a lot of Welsh from them, I remember that. Did you all have secret books no one else seemed to know about? Please share! I love hearing about this kind of stuff.