So Many Options

Have you been noticing all the great new fabrics recently? I have and it’s got me thinking about how I can justify buying up a bunch of them. My answer: that stack of napkins on my handmade list. The way I see it, with just half a yard of fabric I can make two napkins. That means for a week's worth of napkins I’ll need 7 half yard cuts. I should allow for some realistic delays in laundry though. Perhpas I'll need 8-9 half yard cuts to be safe, right? The hard part could be narrowing it down!

{from my kitchen} baguette with anchovy butter and radishes

There is something to be said for keeping it simple and this little nibble illustrates why I should keep it simple more often. Slices of French bread slathered with a flavorful anchovy butter and topped with crispy radishes and a sprinkle of sea salt were awesome and paired perfectly with our negronis. Add in several hours of watching the Kentucky Derby coverage and it was a rather nice way to spend an on again/off again stormy Saturday afternoon. Our picks to win the race came up short, but oh well. We had delicious food and drink to ease the pain.

Weekender

So, so long ago I alluded to the fact that I had made a weekender bag. And then I never told you about it. It may have been because I needed space and time and healing after that project. It was a doozy to put together. There was laughing, crying, swearing, and a little bloodshed. At the end of it, though, I had a gorgeous weekender bag ready for trips here, there, and everywhere.

Though truth be told I’m too afraid to take it on an airplane. It could get filthy in the overhead or under the seat in front of me! After all the work I can’t bear the thought of my masterpiece ending up covered in grease or grime or spilled beverages. This bag is now the official bag of road trips. I’m wondering where she’d like to go this summer?

A Contender

Hunting for the perfect chairs is hard, very hard. I’ve been to thrift stores, consignment shops, and flea markets. You might find one great chair but what I really want is a pair. Which leads me to think I might need to go retail. The above example is right up my alley. It is classic with a bit of flair. Just like me.

But I'm not willing to throw in the towel just yet. Brimfield is next week!

(Image from Ballard Designs)

Progress Report

I have a finished quilt top and I love it! It looks just like the picture I had created in my mind. It is huge though. Little Miss Lou could crawl underneath it and not be seen for days. It measures 72” wide x 84” long which is an appropriate size for a twin sized quilt according to the internet.

I’d been a little stumped about what to do for the backing so the quilt top has spent the last few weeks folded neatly on the back of my sewing chair. I was leaning towards something quiet and calm since there is a lot of color and pattern on the quilt top. I finally decided I'd do a band of patchwork with the leftover bits from the quilt top with a wide swath of white above and below. However, as I put together that wide strip of patchwork it all went wrong. Somewhere amdist all my piecing something became horribly stretched and no matter what I did my patchwork strip would not lay straight. It was shaped more like a patchwork rainbow with a huge bump in the center. I could not continue with that! Instead the backing became the very simplest it could be: all white.

But all is not lost. I think the plain white backing will work better with my original plan to quilt it on the diagonal along the prints. If the patchwork strip had worked out I think I would have wanted plain vertical quilting and that just seems a little boring next to all those great half square triangles!

The quilt is now sandwiched, pinned, and the quilting begun. I hope to get the quilting completed by the weekend and then I can sit back and stitch the binding while Netflix keeps me company.

{from my kitchen} homemade pasta

Can there be anything wrong with homemade pasta? I didn’t think so and my latest kitchen experiment, thankfully, proves I’m right. What started out as a few eggs, some flour, salt, and a bit of water turned into the silkiest, most delicious pasta I’ve had in a long time. Maybe ever.

I tossed all that glorious pasta in a simple sauce of prosciutto, orange, and cream and found myself near heaven. As I melted into my first bite I couldn’t help but think of it as the ultra-sophisticated cousin of an alfredo, but even that sells it a bit short. I have to admit I am feeling pretty smug about the perfection of this meal.

Go, Granny, Go

Remember waaaay back when I fell in love with a granny square afghan? I attempted to find some decent, I mean dead simple, instructions on the internet. And they had to be dead simple since I was, and still am, a complete crochet novice. Luckily, Posie came to my rescue and wrote a simple pattern for me. Except it wasn’t quite easy enough for someone who had never read a crochet pattern before. I’d only made it up as I went along before.

That’s what yarn shops are for though. They happily take a rather small bit of money and help you through your pattern reading troubles. After my first “class” with a group of terribly fun, and funny, ladies I was well on my way to creating my very own granny square afghan. (It also greatly helped when the instructor pointed out my crochet hook was crap and with the simple spending of $4 I was crocheting like I knew what I was doing.)

Posie’s pattern is baby sized so I’m upsizing it for an adult, something I can hide underneath while sprawled out on the couch for some movie watching. When I did some math to figure out how many squares that would be I started hyperventilating. It’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 – 200 squares. With one here and one there though I already find myself with 96 centers done. I’m saving up all the gray borders for when I need a project while travelling. Taking one ball of yarn is so much easier than 9 balls!

Best of Charleston

My mom and I met up for a girls’ weekend in Charleston recently. I highly recommend you plan a trip to Charleston as well. The city, which is surrounded by water, is pedestrian friendly and very European in feeling. The spring weather is phenomenal, the locals friendly, and the food amazing. As to what to do, Charleston is filled with historical sites, old plantations and homes, and tours galore. We spent five days but could have easily spent five weeks.

As we sat at the airport waiting for our respective flights home we played a little game of “Name Your Favorite”. But we quickly had to sub-categorize and re-categorize in order to give due recognition to all the things we loved in Charleston. Without further ado, our best of Charleston list.

Best Hotel: Fulton Lane Inn
True, we only stayed at one inn during our stay, but this was top notch without costing top dollar. Continental breakfast is delivered to your door, the rooms are clean, and staff is wonderful.

Best Breakfast: Toast! Of Charleston
Go for the Eggs Meeting Street which is a fried green tomato topped with a crab cake topped with a poached egg. Served on the side were the obligatory grits and biscuit.

Best Lunch: Hominy Grill
A very popular restaurant but turnover is quick and service is great. Be sure to check the specials board which is where we found our soft shell crab po’boys. You must save room for the coconut cake.

Best Dinner Overall: Cru Cafe
Don’t judge the exterior of this restaurant or you will miss a real gem. Each and every course was spot on.

Best Standout Main Course: 39 rue de Jean’s lamb shank
This is course that my mom dreams of and will be talking about for years to come.

Best Restaurant Vibe: Husk
Each and every ingredient right down to the salt and olive oil is sourced in the south. The menu varies each day depending on what is available. They have also turned the old kitchen building into a fantastic bar. We suggest you start your evening there.

Best Historic House: The Nathaniel Russell House
You will not believe the amount of detail put into this house when it was built. The whole house is wonderful but the staircase and music room are amazing. The story of the man who built this house is also pretty great too and is fantastically told by the knowledgeable tour guides.

Best Tour: Ghosts and Graveyards
A rich and colorful storyteller guides you through graveyards at night. It will send shivers up and down your spine. By the end of the night you will believe in ghosts.

Best “Get your Bearings” Tour: Charleston Strolls
Start your trip with this tour. It is the perfect way to see the city on foot and figure out where everything is.

Best Gardens: Magnolia Plantation
Located 10 miles outside of Charleston this former rice plantation is rightly known for their gardens. Azaleas were plentiful and in full bloom. Also plentiful was wildlife including alligators, snakes and birds.

Best Way to See the Water: Sailing on Schooner Pride
If forced to pick only one highlight from Charleston it would be our 2 hour sail. Beginning on the Cooper River you head to wherever the winds take you. We ended up on the Atlantic before returning to dock. Sun, wind, and water, it was a perfect combination.

More Pictures of Charleston: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5

We all scream for ice cream

When I first bought the ice cream dress pattern I was really only interested in making the blouse. (I have to admit I thought the dress with the pockets and contrasting yoke and hem band looked a little like an old lady’s housecoat.) But as I finished my first blouse I kept thinking how cute the dress, as view B, would be done in bands of solid.

As I bounced my idea off my favorite partner in sewing crime, we veered off in the direction of using what is already in the fabric stash. I already had white and pink solids. Being an excellent enabler she pointed out that all I would have to do is buy a bit of brown and I could make a Neapolitan dress. Get it? An ice cream dress done as Neapolitan! I loved it!

So I made two. One for Little Miss Lou and one for her partner in crime, Little Miss Bee. I cannot wait to get my hands on some pictures of these girls side-by-side in their ice cream dresses. And in that picture I think they should be eating ice cream cones. Neapolitan, of course.

A Birthday Recap

Birthdays are the best. It’s the one day of the year that belongs completely to you. You get to spend it however you want. And that’s what I did on my recent birthday, exactly what I wanted.

It started with a laid back morning on the couch with a stack of interior design books and a breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. Oh, and a mimosa, an absolute must on any birthday.

From there it was a Mediterranean inspired salad with roasted shrimp, peppers, cucumbers, olives and feta before I headed out for a massage and facial.

A quick stop at home after the spa gave just enough time to change into my party clothes for a night on the town. We started the evening with some browsing time at the ICA, the first time either of us had visited that museum. I’m not sure it was really my kind of art but I’m glad we gave it a try.

As if the day couldn’t get any better we walked the few short blocks to Drink, my favorite cocktail bar, for a pre-dinner libation. And dinner, holy cow, was at Menton. We dined from the 4 course menu but with all the wonderful offerings they seamlessly deliver to your table between courses it was more like 8 or 9 courses. After 3 hours of fine dining we were stuffed and completely satisfied. I fell asleep on the ride back home and by the time we got there it was no longer my birthday, which is exactly when you should get home from a birthday celebration.

It was the best birthday yet.

A Contender

One of the items on the nest list is finding a super cool new (or not so new) china cabinet/pantry for my kitchen. The one above fits all my criteria: closed on the bottom, glass on the top, lots of adjustable wood shelves, and the doors slide to open. Best of all it would fill the intended space perfectly. Now if only it were 20% off, no sales tax, and free delivery.

(image from Crate & Barrel)

Rainbow Bright

Rainbow colored pencils all lined up in a row makes me happy.

A finished pencil roll makes me very happy.

It's the middle bits of this story where the sad part lies. It was being stooped over my kitchen table for what felt like hours and hours cutting 60 – 1.5” wide strips after ironing 20 bits of carefully chosen fabric that had me feeling sad. Then on top of that there were the pockets, the pocket linings, the exteriors, and the flannel linings. So perhaps it was my insane decision to make three pencil rolls at once that contributed to my unhappiness. My reasoning was that if I was going to suffer through all that cutting I might as well have three items to show for it.

I know I can’t be the only sewer out there who suffers from this logic, right?

Hello? Spring?

Around here spring seems to be having an identity crisis. It’s barely made it above 40F for more than a week and it's snowed…twice. This is not the spring I was hoping for. While mother nature makes up her mind, I’m beckoning her with a bit of spring and summer sewing.

First up, a set of playsuits for Little Miss Bee. Being fresh off a set of six playsuits these came together in no time at all.

And second, an ice cream blouse for Little Miss Lou. It was my first time with this relatively new Oliver + S pattern and I’m now smitten. In fact, it resulted in the first addition to the handmade list since I first rolled it out. Make an ice cream dress with solids for Little Miss Lou.

Now, how about some warmer weather?

Project Report

Huge, huge progress has been made on the half square triangle quilt. When last I left you I was hoping to get all the squares cut apart and ironed by the weekend so I could start the (re)assembly of the quilt top. Not only did I do it, I got two of the blocks put together. Since then I have completed two more.

This weekend brings the completion of the final two blocks. And if I’m really ambition I might even sew those six blocks into a completed quilt top. But that’s something like 120 feet worth of seams to iron so that may be more than I’m up for. Perhaps daydreaming about what the back will look like is more my speed.

What’s on tap for your weekends?

Headlines

Magazine covers make all kinds of impossible claims. Walk off 20 pounds by tomorrow! Look ten years younger with one simple trick! Best brownie ever!

It seems they may have gotten that last one right. Bon Appetit proudly proclaimed they had the best brownie recipe ever inside its February issue. I like to judge these things for myself so I made a batch. They were right.

My Shame

If any of you were big fans of the show Friends you’ll understand this analogy. My fabric scrap basic is like Monica’s secret locked closet of junk. You see, Monica and I are very tidy people but we have a little secret we hide behind a door. Her secret involved the inability to get rid of anything but mine just involves the inability to get rid of any little scrap of pretty fabric. Until it got completely out of control, that is.

See that photo up there? It doesn’t look so bad. What I’m not showing you, though, are all the piles that had found their way to the bottom of the closet floor. As a tidy person with a tiny house, it was driving me crazy!

I had to be ruthless. I pulled every scrap bit out of the closet and onto the floor and set myself in the middle of it. (It was a totally rockin’ Saturday night.) If I didn’t absolutely love it, it went into the garbage bag. What I ended up with was a totally manageable basket and nothing on the floor. The sweet success of a bit of organizing!

Now to find projects that use up my best scrap pieces. I’ve been thinking about making some doll quilts and maybe tackling some paper pieced hexagons. How do you use the bits you can’t bear to toss?

Number 8 on The Nest List

Mary Poppins

At the end of last year my mom surprised my grandma, sister, and oldest niece with an afternoon at the theatre to see Mary Poppins. Each enthusiastic review, from the youngest to the oldest, ended with you MUST go see it. It immediately became an item on the list of experiences.

But before I get into that, let’s start with how our evening started, dinner. We went to my favorite French bistro style restaurant, Gaslight, for their restaurant week menu. Overall, the meal was a solid B, a bit below previous experiences. The appetizers and French bread were great. My main was a bit of a misstep with the unfortunate appearance of some canned artichokes atop my perfectly cooked cod. The dudely’s main course, however, was phenomenal, out of this world. I had a hard time keeping my fork on my own side of the table. It was being magnetically drawn into his braised beef cheeks. But, oh, how sad was dessert? Sad! How can a French bistro make crepes that taste like rubber? Oh, Gaslight, thank goodness for your appetizers and beef cheeks. You saved yourself from a flunking grade because I hate losing favorite restaurants.

Onto the main feature: Mary Poppins. I cannot say enough good things about this show. From the acting to the music to the costumes to the sets, everything was amazing. I found myself leaning forward out of my seat, singing along with the music throughout the entire production. I guess that could have been annoying to my neighbors but everyone was doing the same thing! Mary Poppins is such a classic movie and the stage version managed to honor that while adding different bits to the story.

As Mary Poppins would have said, “Practically perfect in every way.” But Mary must have been modest. It was absolutely perfect in every way.

Number 8 on The Experiences List

Birthday Suits

It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since the Bean, the Bear, and the Bandit were welcomed into this world. Wow! One minute those teeny, tiny babies are being wrapped like burritos and in the next minute they are standing all by themselves. Again, wow!

I tossed a few different ideas around in my head as to what I should make to mark such a significant milestone. The only idea that kept coming back over and over again were the Oliver + S playsuits. I kept picturing three little girls toddling around the backyard this summer sporting coordinating playsuits. And that mind’s eye picture was all I needed to convince myself that not only was it the right present, it was the perfect present.

The girls may have been more interested in the ric rac and fluttery pennant I made for the front of the gift than they were in the playsuits inside. I think it is safe to say, though, that their mommy and daddy were more than a little smitten.

Happy Birthday, sweet girls. I wish you hours of blissful play.

I Heart Coconut

Exhibit A: Triple Coconut Pie

It wasn’t until my sister pointed it out to me that I realized just how much I love coconut. We were talking about some baking I had done recently and two out of the three things I mentioned prominently featured coconut. Hmm, I guess she’s right. Any recipe with coconut piques my interest.

Exhibit B: Classic Coconut Cake

So it didn't take long after I saw the Classic Coconut Cake recipe in this month’s Bon Appetit before it was sitting in my pretty cake stand. I’ve been slowly working my way through this awesome cake. However, if the dudely has anything to do with it the cake will be gone by tonight. If the slice of cake doesn’t serve at least three people it just isn’t big enough for him. I guess my love for coconut is more like infatuation while his is a true love.

The Half Square Triangle Quilt

My obsession with half square triangle quilts started after the doll quilt. I adored the crisp white with the pops of colors and the precise geometric arrangement. I had to make a human sized one.

It just so happens that my need to make intersects with Little Miss Lou’s need for an Auntie made quilt for her newly decorated big girl room. Of course, that big girl room prominently features her favorite color orange along with doses of white and turquoise. Sounds like the perfect quilt combination!

I had a few oranges and turquoises already in my stash and the rest came as a result of a 40% off sale at Joann’s. Then came the backbreaking part: cutting out 378 squares, each measuring 4 and 7/8 inches with the goal being a finished block size of 4 inches.

I am now deep into the block assembly process. All the squares have been stitched together and I am spending evenings at the ironing board. I alternately snip them apart into their half square triangles and then iron all those seams. (Oh, how I wish I could hire out the seam ironing!) The plan is to get all this done before the weekend so I can start on the fun part, the layout and quilt top construction!

Wish me luck.

No. 4 on the Handmade List