Thursday, May 17, 2012

From This to That


Spring semester 2012
The past few months of my life in one big stack...

I *finally* finished my semester last week and am thrilled to be able to divert my attention to other things for a while without feeling guilty...even just being able to listen to whatever I want on my laptop as I type without getting distracted is completely freeing! I really enjoyed my classes  and feel I've found the right path, but have been eagerly awaiting the freedom that the summer months offer to a student. Between the gallery and the historical society, I am still working a ton but at least have some room to breath a bit between projects now and am geared up to spend as much leftover time as possible sewing up a storm and getting my etsy shop ready for the holidays so that I don't have to worry about it once the fall semester starts up in August.

domino
Curling up with all good things in the falling light
(ahem, yes that is the new special edition of DOMINO!!! Hark, do you hear the angles singing?)

Since submitting my last research paper, I've been indulging in so many of the things  I love that I haven't gotten to enjoy much of these past few months...lots of extravagant cooking, a weekend camping get-away to the cape, a little lot of fabric stashing, and staying up late with my favorite magazines, embroidery, and darning work, while curled up with my cats, husband, and several seasons of How I Met Your Mother. The rewards in life certainly are so much sweeter when you know you've earned them several times over!


A little bit of this, a little bit of that...some yardage and fat quarters of AMH's loulouthi velveteen, cotton laminate,
and quilting cotton, Heather Ross' FFAIII in the  pink colorway, some Liberty of London from my Purl Soho trip,
AMH's pastry line and rare centerpiece, and a whole yard of Michael Miller's Vintage Stroll

Ok, so yeah, the above stash hoard is a bit more than I was planning on when I began picturing the reward I'd planned for myself upon the completion of a successful and utterly crazy semester. Luckily I was able to hunt down some sweet deals and it is lovely, ya?! It pretty much just has me smiling every time I look over at the freshly piled stack on my worktable and all I want to do is fondle it and ignore all other responsibilities. THERE, I admitted it!

Soupe å l'Oignon Gratinée
   Soupe å l'Oignon Gratinée

One of the more elaborate cooking adventures we've managed as of late was Julia Child's recipe for cheesy onion soup, or Soupe å l'Oignon Gratinée, if you're feeling fancy. It's the third recipe I've tried now from her classic "Mastering The Art of French Cooking" and every single one has been superb..of course. The other two were the ratatouille and the riz a l'orientale, which is basically a rice bowl (but o so much more than that and my favorite so far)—who knew such a thing as French comfort food existed and was so completely amazing? Umm...ok so probably lots of you but yeah, I'm learning here folks.

I'm looking forward to being able to blog more often again now and hope to be sharing some finished pieces with you soon...until then, wishing you all just as many good things to be distracted by!

7 comments:

Teresa Kline said...

it is something about "our stuff"" we luv...lol..hope you have a wonderful weekend!

enjoy *~*

AbderianLaughter said...

mmmmm....did you end up liking the soup? I made that recipe for Derek's birthday (french onion soup is his favorite food)and he always wants it now...I had only had it from a restaurant previously and was convinced I didn't like - her recipe made me adore it too!

Glad you guys are back safely from the cape!

Christina said...

Yay for yummy foods, crafts, and fun! :)

Meeling said...

Yay on having some time to yourself and not having to feel guilty about it.

I'm totally envious of your stash - looks amazing. Can't wait to see what you come up with and make. :-)

cabin + cub said...

oh, is domino back?!!! i have not heard! angels are singing! ;)

...Nina Nixon... said...

That cheesy onion soup looks gorgeous - it is one of my favourites I have to admit.

Nina xxx

millefeuilles said...

How wonderful to land on your blog... where have I been all this time?;-)

Congratulations on enjoying your well-earned freedom. I know exactly how you feel. Each time I would hand in a thesis chapter I would feel so virtuous and so very, very happy to be able to splash around in metaphorical. Your list of reading material appeals to me enormously and strikes me as being rather similar to the stuff I enjoyed/had to read for my studies. It never leaves you afterwards.

Enjoy. enjoy. Enjoy.

Stephanie