The Story of Kat

The Figure 8 Scarf

2012-01-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

Figure 8 Scarf made from Anna Maria Horner Velveteen and voile from her "Innocent Crush" line
(the earrings are from CoffeeandCream, another lovely little xmas gift that just happened to match perfectly)

I'm kind of in love with these ridiculous big scarves. Maybe they are already cliche...I don't know, but my internship is in an unheated library basement where there is no heat and I love these because they instantly dress up any old outfit and help to keep me o so warm. Since I've always had low-blood pressure, I can get that icy feeling pretty fast and am always on the lookout for accessories and such that make keeping warm not completely unfashionable!

The above is actually the second one I made using Anna Maria Horner's free Figure 8 tutorial, having gotten the fabric for Christmas (you can get kits here of velveteen and voile). The tutorial is clear, quick, and easy to follow, especially because of all the helpful pictures. Just be careful on the part where you are joining the ends together and hiding the seam. It takes some visualization, but then the technique makes perfect sense and is such a neat way of doing it!

Figure 8 Scarf made from double cotton gauze by Nani Iro and a solid voile from Anna Maria Horner

This is the first one I made before the holidays and it is o so soft in the double gauze and voile. It's a bit lighter and with more practical colors so I will probably get a little more use out of it. There is something to be said for getting to wear your favorite fabrics in such an effortless way I think! I might need to make one in every colorway I can think up...maybe some plaids in a soft flannel next?

Back At It

2012-01-20T14:55:00.000-05:00

Back in the shop: hand embroidered Valentine rose-filled sachets

I feel that whenever a blogger has been absent for a time, they start the post out by apologizing and promising to not do so again. But alas, I am not completely sorry (insert mischievous grin here). I am incredibly human so I may very well do so again but don't give up on me because I will always be back and have indeed missed the community here in a big way!

I've been using my break from classes this month to get acquainted with my new routine of job and internship, prep for my second semester of grad school which starts next week, work on several custom orders for my etsy shop, and even cross off a few crafty projects from my own list. It's all a big adjustment, but one that brings with it a very dear sense of purpose, direction, and belonging to me and while I cannot always summon the focus needed to write a coherent post, I find that most nights I can't quite bring myself to sit idle on the couch either. I get so restless if I do not have something to stitch at as it allows me to feel useful while letting my mind zone out in the repetitive peacefulness of each little flick of the needle. In doing so, I've managed to gather together a handful of things that I'm excited to share with you soon—enough to keep us all agog even as I buckle down to work for what I expect to be a very intense semester!

So stay tuned for...
...a review of the AMH Figure 8 scarf tutorial and kit
...a "choose your own adventure" chili recipe
...a finished twin size quilt (did you hear those gasps of awe in the distance?!)
...a bit of DIY couch upholstery

(Oh and HEY! Did you notice those pretty little sachets up there? I've got them back in the shop just in time for Valentines and filled up with with 100% cabbage rose from India. They make a great little gift for Valentines so get them before they're gone if they spark your fancy!)

To Grandmother's House We Go...

2011-12-26T08:08:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely little Christmas here and I hope you and your family enjoyed your holiday celebrations as well! We are off to visit family in Michigan for the next week and will be sans internet so I just wanted to pop in before taking off and thank each and everyone of you for being a part of my blog and my life this past year. It has meant so much to me and I am looking forward to sharing much more with you in the new year.

One last project for 2011 though before I go: homemade marshmallows! I tried a new recipe this year and really love the way they turned out more so than the first ones I made last year. I love melting them in a mug of hot chocolate although they are so good, very springy and fluffy, that you might end up just eating them one by one...not that anyone in this house did anything like that! The taste is so much more incredible than store-bought which I don't really go in for much. I got the recipe over on Smitten Kitchen and it's got great step-by-step instructions and insight which I found really helpful since I've only been dabbling in candy making for a year or so. Last year I made caramels all wrapped up in wax paper and decided to continue the food giving trend with these—a sweet and simple gift that, for me, speaks to what the holidays are really all about. And on that note...

Wishing you warmth, health, happiness, love, hope, peace, and all awesome things now and in the new year—see you back here in 2012 friends!

All Quilted Up

2011-12-22T16:05:00.006-05:00

Once I get the binding done, I'll post a photo of the whole completed quilt!

I've finished the quilting on my FFAII quilt! A very exciting day for me, indeed. I did some simple outline quilting using my machine and was surprised by how quickly it went, having never worked on a quilt of this size before (a twin size for my niece). I am happy with the pink thread contrasting against the deep eggplant color as it lightens it up a bit and brings the whole thing together.

I do think I have some practicing to do on my machine quilting skillz though...I'm probably being more critical of my work than anyone else, but there are a couple places where the fabric bunches up or my stitching isn't quite straight. I suppose practice makes perfect, right?!

I also finished the embroidery on the back and now just need to bind the whole thing off and put it through the wash. One sticking point...despite my best efforts, I didn't quite manage to line up the embroidery with where the lines of quilting have ended up so I've got to make up my mind as to whether I should just go right through it and not worry about it or quilt around it and then tie off that area. I was planning to do some tie-offs in the middle of each big square anyways, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad....what would you do?

(see the full quilt top here)

CH CH CH Changes

2011-12-16T20:44:00.003-05:00

Quite the eye-popping pair, eh? I just finished them this week and really enjoy working with the bold colors on these shoes.

But what else have I been doing? Where have I gone off and disappeared to this whole time? WELL, let me tell you all about it...

A couple weeks ago, as I was knee-deep in trying to finish my first semester of grad school, I went in to do some volunteer work with one of my professors. I ended up having an interview instead and wound up with a part-time internship and a part-time job managing an art gallery that needed to open the very next week! Very exciting, but also a tad nerve-wracking to have so many big changes to my life and schedule made in the course of one day after and hoping and waiting and wondering for two years of searching for work and purpose.

Now this will mean that I will have to take care of etsy and my blog in whatever bits of time I have in between weeks filled with two days of internship, two days of classes, and two days of work. My etsy shop and blog mean a lot to me so it may take longer to complete custom orders next semester, but I'm still game so I hope you do not give up on me. Long term, my plan is to create more and more embroidery patterns so that each individual piece in my shop is not so labor intensive, leaving me more time to blog about my own projects, pursue my degree and related work, while still allowing me a creative output for etsy—an outlet that I am addicted to and love!

I'm not sure how everything will pan out just yet. The good thing is I'm done with my first semester (I aced it!!) and am on break until late January so I have plenty of time to get all my ducks in a row before the storm rolls in, so to speak.

I hope you are each having a wonderful holiday season so far and am eager to stop by your blogs and catch up soon!
xoxo

A Little Christmas Spice

2011-11-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

Now available in my etsy shop!

I am almost free for the semester and have been able to spend some blissful time working in my studio as of late. I have my list of christmas gifts that I need to work on and have organized all my supplies for those but I couldn't help but put in some time on something that is for us! As a result, I am almost done now with my "Whoville" quilt top. Well, that is what I decided to call the quilt because the colors and style of the fabrics remind me of the animated version of Dr. Suess's The Grinch. For some reason, when it comes to Christmas, I am ALL ABOUT the older, vintage, slightly gaudy retro decorations. You will find none of those "frilly angels sighing dark red velvet with gold trim" type decorations at my house, no sir.

As I was going, I decided to use some of the leftover fabric for some pillows in the shop that are inspired by our quilt. I resized them (insert brief but mind-numbing confusion over how to enlarge a LeMoyne Star from an 8 inch block to a 12 inch block without a pattern...) and used some bright white cotton as a counterpoint to the cheery colors of Michael Miller's Christmas Spice collection fabrics. I love that the LeMoyne Star in the red and lime is appropriate both as a Christmas star and as a poinsettia and I think I'll be making a couple to complement our quilt too so that I can change out our usual pillow covers for holiday ones soon!

P.S. Did you notice the fancy schmancy new favicon above and facebook/pinterest/etsy/flickr buttons on my sidebar? Check those shiny suckers out! My husband, who is in a web design program as he transitions from graphic design, made them from scratch for me and I am o-so-proud of him for figuring out how to do it for me. I should also perhaps mention how patient and calm he was as I tried to describe the exact watercolor look I wanted for the buttons. He is just a good man, what can I say?!

Holiday wishes from Chewie and me.

2011-11-25T12:23:00.004-05:00

If you want to go right to my shop news about Black Friday or Cyber Monday, just scroll right to the end of this post!

When I first saw the pattern to make this little guy on pinterest, I knew exactly who it'd be perfect for—our friends just had a little boy three weeks ago and we wanted to do some small special thing for them to welcome him, although I would have made it even if they'd had a girl because we are all equal opportunity nerds around here! We were lucky to spend a relaxing and delicious Thanksgiving with these friends yesterday and I think he was a hit, despite perhaps that the little guy will appreciate him a whole lot more after he discovers where his own hands are. Phht, small detail you know.

He was pretty easy to make which was a relief since I'd never made a plush doll before and the PDF was well put together and easy to follow. There's just a few things I'll mention as a quick review of it in case you've stumbled across this post in search of pattern errata:

1. Most people who've made plushie dolls would get it, but since it was my first time, I did not realize that the wholes for stuffing the limbs could not be along the straight edge at the end of each one. You will need to leave those open AND another 5cm space along the length of the limb so you can stuff each one individually at the end.
2. This guy is kinda big. He measures something like 50cm tall which seems appropriate for a toddler but in hindsight, I would have printed the pattern to fit the page (US page that is, the PDF is a slightly larger standard UK paper size).
3. I skipped the flocked nose and glass eyes and went with the suggested felt for the face instead to make this Chewie more baby friend. In addition, I found some heavyweight nylon webbing to substitute for the ammunition belt as I didn't think the duct tape on grosgrain ribbon idea was going to hold up or be safe for a child. The webbing trim I found had the great little silver lines along the edge so we still got the desired effect I think and now, pre-washed and all, it can get slobbered on and carried around without worry.
4. To make the face a bit easier, I put each piece of felt down with a little Fabric-Tac glue and then hand-stitched each one with a backstitch using regular old mercerized cotton thread. SO much easier!

I hope you all also had a delicious and relaxing Thanksgiving! Here's a little thank you from me to you:

**Black Friday–Cyber Monday Etsy Shop Offer**
And before I go, I just want to let you know that there is FREE SHIPPING on domestic orders (not applicable to embroidered shoes or any other custom order) in my shops from today through Monday. Just enter the coupon code (FREESHIP11) upon checkout in any of my three stores:
the story of kat
gechichtenvonkat
purls and lace

Weekend Projects

2011-11-12T15:13:00.001-05:00

My new blueberry colorway

There's been gorgeous autumn light streaming in through my studio window this morning and it was enough motivation to get started on a slew of pillow making for the shop. So far, I've got my Liberty of London patchwork pillows back in stock and now the design is available in a raspberry and new blueberry colorway. I've got enough for a few of each so if you love this tana lawn as much as I do, act fast.

Ok, ok, enough shameless self-promotion. What does this weekend find you working on? Anyone out there starting in on holiday projects? I could use some motivation in that department but for the time being I'm going to force myself to finish a midterm assignment and then whip up some indian for dinner tonight before we settle in for popcorn and a movie at home (popcorn on the stove of course which has my mouth watering already...). I find it's always good to have a reward to look forward to after devoting precious weekend time to productivity!

A Little WIP

2011-11-09T10:19:00.000-05:00

pattern from isewcute on etsy

A peek at some embroidery I've been working on here and there while taking the train into Cambridge for class. Like most commuters, I'm in the habit of keeping to myself with my Ipod or book but since I've been working on this, I've had all kinds of people just start talking to me about their grandmothers—a little strange at times, but there was one older gentleman with pink hair who was especially kind and I think it's those kinds of encounters that make me love being in a city the most. Who knew the power of handwork extended to getting steely city subway commuters to open up about such personal subjects?!

As for the embroidery itself, I've really enjoyed all the different stitches and the variation in floss thickness to show some depth, but I'm still not sure how I feel about the color scheme. For my first embroidered face ever though, I'm just going to be satisfied with it on the whole though since I now realize just how hard it is to get an expression to be rendered in a pleasing way with floss!

Snow Before the Frost

2011-10-31T17:53:00.001-04:00

mums on ice

Happy Halloween friends! In the words of one of my favorite Halloween specials from the 1980's (old school Garfield of course), I hope you are enjoying, "candy! candy! candy!"

From my studio window, I can see porchlights flickering on as if by magic for all the little trick-or-treaters. I hope they stay warm as I can also make out the snowy ~~climes~~ ~~steppes~~ sidewalks of our neighborhood where we have about four inches of white stuff still melting off from our surprisingly chilly nor'easter this weekend! I've experienced early snowfalls before but two snowfalls before the first frost? I wasn't sure that was even possible. Our friends in the western reaches of the state actually got an entire foot and two days later, many areas are still without power. Though shoveling our driveway was not something I expected to be doing pre-Halloween, the combination of snow, fall colors, and autumnal sunlight certainly has been disarmingly beautiful.

Alas, *sigh*, cold weather does require indulging in so many of my favorite things: bulky knitwear, mountains of blankets, comfort food, hot drinks, more days inside for crafting cozy things, and hopefully some cross country skiing before too long! Anything that heralds the arrival of all those things can't be so bad after all so tonight we will start it off by hunkering down with caramel apples, Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin, and cheddar ale soup. I think we finally found the perfect pale ale to go in/with this soup at last and you can sneak a peek at it here as I couldn't bring myself to post flash food photography on the blog. I know, I'm such a snob sometimes, good grief :)

How to: Quick and Dirty and Transfer Method

2011-10-24T11:47:00.001-04:00

What better way to avoid finishing my eight page paper than to write a blog post instead? Sounds like perfect sense to me as this way I can get something important done and procrastinate at the same time plus I really am still writing so it's not completely unrelated...right? I feel like I have just discovered a loophole I shouldn't have and it is awesome, muahahaha!

But foreals now, the paper is pretty much done except for some editing and due tomorrow so I feel good about it and find that I am relishing my time blogging and crafting ever so much more these days as it is time that has become all the more rare and precious to come by.

One of the things I've been working on a bit each night is this embroidery that I am doing on the back of the FFAII quilt for my niece (seen here, here, and here). Of course the thought occurred to me just as I was about to start quilting the thing and the only quote that seemed perfect was this rather lengthy bit from the song in Disney's Cinderella...a perfect lullaby for a fairy tale themed quilt I thought and I placed it so that she'll see it on the edge of the underside every time she pulls it up around her. If I can't be there in person, at least this will be!

I copied it out using my own handwriting, scanned and adjusted it a bit on the computer to make sure it was lined up and would fit in the desired area, and then transferred it the quick and dirty way using wax free transfer paper from Seral (it's the best wax free stuff I've found and works on wood, paper, and metal too, but I'm dying to try the non-chalky carbon type). Now I will admit this is not my absolute preferred method but it was already dark out at the time so tracing was not an option for me (someday I will have a lightbox...) and I just didn't feel like working in the pristine way needed for the permanent iron-on transfer pen. In such cases, it's the fastest and simplest method I've found. Here's how:

1. Place the textile or whatever item you are transferring to on top of a flat hard surface as this will ensure the clearest and darkest marks. Then line up your design where you want it and place the transfer paper between them, colored chalk side down.

2. You can use a pen or pencil to trace over your design but if you're concerned about being able to use it again, use a tracing stylus. A knitting needle is also a much cheaper and handier option that I have found to work quite well!

3. The more you're able to keep your arm up off the paper, the less chalky marks you'll end up with although they will disappear as you start handling it. If your design is small or you're going to be finished with it quickly, you're done at this point.

4. If your design is larger like mine and you're going to be working on it over a period of time, I like to use a water soluble fabric safe marking pen (Dritz makes a variety of them) to go over my design which gives it a bit more definition and gives you something more lasting to go off of as the transfer paper marks fade. As you can see in the very first photo of this post, I like to adjust as I go and any of those extraneous blue marks come right out with a bit of water when you're done.

Quick embroidery tip: after wetting your finished embroidery piece, ALWAYS allow it to air dry and ALWAYS iron it from the back side only. It's a simple precaution to take but will ensure a longer life and will keep the iron from crushing down the stitches you just worked so hard on.

When it Rains, It Pours

2011-10-19T21:08:00.000-04:00

An embroidered pair of kid shoes I did recently for a birthday boy with his initials and the logo from his favorite cartoon.

Well, it is raining here. A lot. Usually I am a big fan of moody thunderstorm type days but I was wishing it would let up just for today as I was driving out to the Berkshires to see another museum for my class. It was incredibly beautiful out there as everything is decked out in the finest wardrobe of fall colors but the torrential downpour I was driving through did put somewhat of a damper on me getting any fabulous vistas to share with you. Drats, I've failed ye.

On the up side, not everything pouring in lately is wet and dreary though, thank goodness: perhaps there is something in the water, I'm not sure, but I was asked recently to do an interview for a feature on Little Wed Hen, a very lovely wedding inspiration website! I don't know where it's coming from all of a sudden (this just after my big magazine debut, omgoodness), but it's quite exciting for my little business and I'm flattered to be able to share it with you all! If you remember my own wedding and some of our handmade elements, then you will understand how much I love LWH's refreshing and meaningful approach to all things wedding without all the expectations—what an honor to be included on their site!

Back in the Studio

2011-10-15T13:39:00.001-04:00

I decided to make a simple pillow of scraps to go with the FFAII quilt and now just need to attach the back. I like how it turned out with additional bits from Anna Maria Horner collections and some scrap sari silk.

I've got my work cut out for me this weekend. Well, literally in some cases. In the first time in a long time, I have one whole day to work on personal projects (goodgravyhoorayfinally!) so I am revisiting the Far Far Away II quilt for my niece that has had to take a backseat to so many other projects this year. It's embarrassing really as it has been sitting in a corner of my studio all this time, silently taunting me from it's perch and reminding me I could be working on it if I would just stop stretching myself so thin. Well, no more! At last it is all ready to be quilted minus some last minute embroidery I decided to add on the back. More on that part later, for now, let's just revel in the first sight of fabric to grace this here blog in way too long:

Is it possible to lay out a quilt sandwich without having furry little helpers coming to judge your handiwork? Zoë approves *I think* but is a brutal task master.

As I work today, I am already thinking of the other projects that await me on the horizon: A couple items for friend's that have had babies recently/soon and some pillows for our own living room (A project I get to keep?! someone see if there are pigs flying outside your window, quick!). I've made some progress on a few pillows for us but my thoughts on the final look have changed a bit since then in terms of color and we need more than originally planned due to a new (rather massive) couch.

So many plans, so little time! I should get back to my sewing now because tomorrow I'm off to visit another museum for a paper that needs to be several pages longer than I care to think about at the moment. Sigh...it seems I must learn to embrace moderation and not just admire it from afar. Do you have a laundry list of grandiose things you'd like to make? Maybe we can each pledge to finish just one of them by the end of the month! I know I'm just the kind of person who's going to keep biting off more than I can chew so I'm all about making lists and enforcing manageable timelines on myself that include downtime. What kinds of things do you do to keep yourself productive but sane?

Colonial Embroideries at the Boston MFA

2011-10-12T16:43:00.002-04:00

I could just kick myself for not jotting down the attribution for this piece, but it is silk and metallic hand embroidery on a silk apron if I remember correctly. A metallic embroidered pheonix from the colonial period—pretty friggin rad right?!

I've been spending a lot of my spare time at various area museums lately in order to write papers for my first graduate course and was delighted to see an exhibit of hand embroideries from colonial Boston featured in the MFA's Art of the Americas wing. It was just a little room tucked away in the basement of the museum and I think anyone who might have walked in on me would have thought I was some crazy woman on a sugar high or something, I felt so lucky to have stumbled upon them!

It always makes my heart feel good to see such exquisite historical textiles not only professionally conserved, but taken seriously and displayed in a museum of such stature. I'm afraid my photos from within the low-lit exhibit (gotta protect those delicate fibres) don't do them justice at all, but hopefully they are enough to give you a taste for the rich history of the art form and an idea of what the exhibit offers. It will remain up until June 3, 2012 so I highly recommend seeing it if you're going to be in the Boston area before then!

Embroidery attributed to Catherine Woods Brigham, American, born in 1733

Petticoat Border, Boston, Massachusetts, Mid-18th century, Linen plain weave, Embroidered with Wool

It was amazing to see all the individual stitches of a Jacobean style embroidery up close and in person for the first time and the tree of life motif from the border of this petticoat was my absolute favorite. Can you just imagine having that peeking out from your skirts?! Most of the pieces are attributed to Boston school girls and I just stood there wondering in amazement at the incredible articulation of the medium, let alone the idea that these magnificent works adorned everyday items like aprons, seat covers, and petticoats.

Now I've just got to find time to go back and see another exhibit there that just started on the role of vintage textiles from the home front of WWII Britain...is it just me or does that sound pretty much awesome?

Crafting Food: Grandma Sorenson's Kosher Dills

2011-10-10T13:24:00.008-04:00

At the tail end of August, I made two batches of pickles from some farmstand cucumbers and they've finally set up long enough to be taste tested—lordy lordy, do these pickles have zing! Seriously, my eye twitched a bit longer than was socially acceptable, but I have a growing fondness for food with a kick so now it's all I can do to try and make them last us through the winter.

I made one batch using this recipe for Triple Dill Pickles (but made them into just double dill and they were still great) and one batch of my Great Grandma Sorenson's Kosher Dills (see below). Both were good but I prefer the spicy notes playing off the standard dill of the family recipe. I've made just a couple small changes, mainly leaving out the alum (it was used to add crispness back in the day but is now believed to be cancer causing so out it goes.)

The raw pack method

Grandma Sorenson's Kosher Dills
Makes 6–8 quarts

Ingredients:
20-25 pickling cucumbers
1 quart vinegar
1 cup pickling salt (you can use kosher salt)

Per quart:
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or 1 hot red pepper
1 tsp black peppercorns (my addition)
1 tsp whole mustard seeds
1 clove garlic
2 heads fresh dill
1 grape leaf

Directions:
1. Prep jars and canning equipment according to the Ball Blue Book or other book on preserving.
2. In a large pot, boil together the water, vinegar, and salt
3. Meanwhile, wash and quarter cucumbers lengthwise into spears that will fit your jars. Place peppercorns, pepper flakes, mustard seeds, garlic, and dill in the bottom of each jar.
4. Pack in cucumber spears tightly, enough so that they cannot move much but still with space for pickling liquid.
5. Pour in pickling liquid and be sure to leave 1/4–1/2 inch head space. Place one grape leaf just at the top of the water line (optional). Process in a hot water bath—no pressure cooking required for these pickles! Do consult your preferred canning book on how to execute a proper water bath though. I found it time consuming while I waited on all that water to reach the boiling point, but it was otherwise surprisingly easy. As someone who was paranoid about the possibilities of botulism, I'm pleased to announce it all went off without a hitch!

Make sure all your lids pop and re-process or eat right away if they don't. For those that are successfully processed, allow to set up for 4–6 weeks and then enjoy as long as they last! Store in a cool dry place and refrigerate once opened.

Recipe Tip: I highly recommend trying these pickles out on a Double Onion Turkey Sandwich via Real Simple. They were so good that I forgot to put the turkey on when we made them a second time round for leftovers and didn't even miss it. What can I say, the genius within strikes again.

The grape leaf trick: My Grandmother's recipe calls for the age old trick of placing a grape leaf at the top of the jar to help keep the pickles crisp. I couldn't resist trying and am sad to report that I didn't notice any difference between this jar and the others without, c'est la vive!

If anyone has tips for crisper home pickles without using alum or the pre-packaged "Pickle Crisp" stuff (since I can only seem to find it mixed with lame-o pre-packaged spices), I'd love to hear your tips!

Canning Resources:
Ball Blue Book (tried and true, don't can without it)
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (got this for christmas a while back and love it!)
The instruction manual for your pressure cooker (I inherited mine from my mom and she handed it over with the words, "don't blow yourself up Katrina." Sigh, she knows me so well.)

And last but not least, I've gathered several vintage inspired canning labels (plus all kinds of other free printables) on a pinterest board for you so have at it!

The Improper Bostonian

2011-10-04T13:02:00.001-04:00

Remember the top-secret box that I sent off a couple weeks ago? Well, I can finally let the cat out of the bag...

Amidst the mad rush before our trip, I completed a pair of my embroidered chucks to be featured in the October 2011 weddings issue of the The Improper Bostonian! It's a regional glossy lifestyle magazine so if you're in the Boston area, you can pick one up for free on newsstands city wide or click on over to see the web feature that went live just before the weekend. My husband kindly raided a newsstand for me yesterday since I wouldn't be getting into the city until later this week and I'm tickled pink to see them in print.

I've got to say I am deeply flattered but also intimidated to know my shoes are on almost every corner in Boston right now. They have about a half million readership and this is my first ever non-blog press so it's difficult to gauge what the response will be. It really does feel like my designs and creations are my children—sending them out into the world and not really knowing how they will be received is a bit scary and exciting all at once.

The request came out of the blue and I was so frantic to get them done prior to the deadline for their photo shoot so that we could go on the trip without worrying about having missed such a big opportunity. It's definitely safe to say I was feeling stretched thin: I wasn't yet done with the chuppah and in the midst of writing my first paper for grad school (I recently found out I got an A on both papers I've written so far!). PHEW is all I can say! I am so glad that parts over with and now you know why I haven't been my usual bloggy self. Soon (I hope) my head will stop spinning as I really can't wait to have a day where I get to be still, enjoy the fall weather, and get some time in the studio.

Leaf Pie: Q & A

2011-09-29T08:34:00.002-04:00

A long time ago, and far far away, I shared this little number amidst the depths of winter as part of a "scenes from a weekend" post. It was just something I happened to do that weekend and while great times were had by all I'm sure, it never really occurred to me to explain more about it. Then came along Pinterest.

I was stoked when I found out that a colleague of mine from where I used to work in DC founded the site (he was always one of the best researchers to work with and good things should happen to good people!) and then even more stoked when I saw just how popular this little pie had gotten. This seems fitting for me as I used to bake pies for my researches when I had to work on the weekends since baked goods have a way of getting people to not keep you in your cubicle for all hours of the night on a Saturday. Well anywho, I was never the popular girl at school (teenagers who are into baking pies and working at antique stores so often are not, alas) but it's several months down the line now and I am still fielding questions about it so I thought it was high time I posted them here for all to see! Let's get right to it, shall we?

How did you get those leaf shapes?
I used these cool little pasty cutters from Williams-Sonoma that make the indented leaf shape. I believe they make different shapes according to the seasons and I got mine as a stocking stuffer. Cuz, you know, my husband knows I am way too cheap to buy them for myself.

You could use cookie cutters but the nice thing about these is they have a spring mechanism that helps press the dough out without smooshing them (yes, smooshing is my technical term). And as anyone who's made pie knows, the key to a good one is handling the dough as little as possible.

Hint from my Nana: Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough as soon as you get it all mixed. After 15-20 minutes, place the dough on your floured surface and roll it out with the plastic wrap spread out between your rolling pin and the dough. This will ensure it handles better and that you touch it less. The refrigeration will also give the dough the "umph" it needs to sit out and play nice while you cut it up.

How did you stack these leaves in the pie? Is there a top crust too? Did you use an egg wash to make them stick to each other?
The leaves you see are the top crust, there is no dough underneath supporting it and no egg wash. I just went at it and started placing them in ever smaller concentric circles that slightly overlap, beginning from the outside in. I think the key is in just having them barely overlap like they are here as too much overlapping would create a whole heck of a lot of dough. Also, you can see I left some spaces at the first layer and there are some more little spaces between each layer due to the barely overlapping placement—this leaves air vents to make sure that your innerds gets cooked all the way.

How long did it take you?
Not that much more than a usual lattice crust (so, like 10 minutes?). I think the pie probably looks intimidating but it really didn't take that long. Lots of folks end up buying store bought because they think pie crust is hard, but you don't have to hate on those who make pie because it's actually super easy once you get the hang of it. I just wouldn't lie to you about something like pie!

What kind of pie supports that crust?
I have always used the Basic Pie Dough recipe from my hand-me-down 1980 copy of The Joy of Cooking. That said, I rolled the dough out a bit thinner than usual for the leaves (app. 1/4 inch), so the weight of the thing did not even cross my mind at the time and I think you could get away with just about any fruit/mince meat type filling as long as it was not too runny. In that particular photo, I used an apple filling from scratch which gave it that nice crested shape.

How messy is it to serve?
Mine crumbled a bit when we cut it but not to the extent that anyone cared. Because, well, it's pie that you made from scratch and everyone is just really excited about how cool it looks and how awesome it's going to taste, you know? Embrace the crumbles!

Good luck and happy pie making! If you've got anymore questions, just leave them in the comments section on this post and I will answer so everyone can see.

P.S. If you want to follow me on pinterest, I'm over here.

Tis Finished!

2011-09-27T11:32:00.000-04:00

Finished at last

I'm about to head out to conquer a busy day, but I wanted to be sure and post the final pictures of the finished chuppah that I made for the wedding of a friend which we recently got back from in DC. I've discovered that it's difficult to fully appreciate a piece this large in a photograph, but hopefully these give you an idea of how it turned out! I am so relievedhappycontent to have finished it at last and to have seen it used and loved. That is, after all, what makes working on something like this worthwhile.

Disheveled from dancing I think, my husband and I on the right with the bride and groom

I have some pretty big ongoing quilt projects, but in terms of hand embroidery, this is definitely the biggest I have ever done and probably ever will do at 6 x 6 feet. I couldn't take photos during the ceremony but got this one afterwards and am eagerly waiting to see what the official photographer got.

After the beautiful ceremony that was right on the Potomac River

The chuppah uses my own drawing of the "tree of life" motif and incorporates the style of havdalah candles and the groom's celtic heritage in the spirals of the trunk. All elements were coordinated with the wedding colors and outlined in hand embroidery: the leaves in a full stranded split stitch, the berries and text ("I am my beloved and he is mine") in full stranded backstitch, and the roots, trunk, and branches and a double stranded stem stitch using two different colors of floss. I was surprised that the stitching on the trunk was as quick as lightning but those leaves took me forever because of the need to constantly rethread and take smaller, more intricate split stitches.

The bride, a former graphic design colleague of mine, did all the letterpressed invites herself(!) to coordinate with my tree of life drawing so of course we had to get a photo of that too. You can just see the debossed tree and foliage gracing the edges of these and I love how well they complement each other—gotta love continuity in design!

You can find info on making your own chuppah, read more about this one, and see the entire year-long process that went into creating this piece here:
Big Plans
How to: French Seams
Preparing the Canvas
Stitch Progress

Our DC

2011-09-24T15:18:00.001-04:00

When I first moved to DC, I would spend my weekends exploring museums and bookstores by myself (this was before I met my would-be husband) along the mall and up into Dupont Circle and the U street corridor. If you're ever in the area, don't miss Second Story books, Kramer Books and Afterwords Cafe, Red Onion Books, the dutch renaissance wing of the National Gallery, Dumbarton Oaks, or CakeLove...just to name a few of my favorite places!

We're back and several days later, ahem, I've got some purdy photos to share with you...no thanks in part to my computer that needs a day and a half to process each photo edit I make lately, sheesh! I think I ended up with a handful of good ones out of the hundred or so that my trigger happy fingers took as my goal was to snap some artsy fartsy images for memorie's sake that I wouldn't have normally thought to take when we lived there—funny how that works eh?

Although DC's Chinatown has pretty much been taken over by chains, there are still some hints of soul and the area holds a special place in my heart as it's where my husband lived when we met.

It can be strange to be back in a place that feels so familiar and start seeing it in a new way. For us, this past weekend felt like we almost never left and were able to pick back up with friends and places as if no time had passed. I felt this pang of heartbreak at one point when I had to forcibly remind myself that we couldn't just walk the couple blocks it would take to get back to our old place in Dupont!

Vintage shopping in Old Town Alexandria before the wedding and capping off the day with mai tais and pad thai back on the other side of the Potamac that evening.

All in all, it was a great trip but very much of a whirlwind so we are glad to have been able to satiate our cravings for all the things we've been missing but also glad to be home and relaxing. I'm so thankful that I now have grad school to come back to, a purpose that makes having to leave a place that feels so much more like home very much worth it at last.

Goings On

2011-09-15T13:11:00.001-04:00

Super top secret surprise

So much going on here, so little photographic evidence to prove it!

After turning in my first paper for grad school at the beginning of the week, I felt like a weight had been lifted and moved on to finishing the chuppah. There are just a few leaves left now (insert massive sigh of relief here) and boy could my fingers use a break. Yep, that's me...I'll always make my deadlines but I'll always be working right up to them because I've got a bevy of projects going on at once and want to do it all.

We're off to DC for the wedding this weekend and I can hardly believe it's been two years since we moved....really, how did that happen? I miss our friends there and all the places that became a part of our story more than knew I would. It will be a busy weekend where we get to run from one group of friends to the next in order to make up for the fact that this is the first time we've been back and that we currently live in the bermuda triangle of our social circle. I've got to say, I am chomping at the bit to get there and and see as many people and places as possible that we've been pining for.

In the middle of everything that's been going on, I've completed a pair of my embroidered Converse for a super secret client that I can't reveal just yet. A courier is coming by today to pick them up though and I'm giddy to tell you all about it when the time comes so hold on to your hats for that one...

I hope to see you here once we get back with lovely travel photos and a slew of crafty seasonal things that I'm looking forward to completing now that I can devote more time to other projects. Sounds good, ya?!

A Finger Food Smorgasbord

2011-09-06T13:41:00.002-04:00

Easy Smorgasbord: herbed olives, summer sausage, feta, proscuitto, baguette, and cold mint tea

We didn't have any travel plans this past holiday weekend, so instead I decided to overdo myself around the house and we embarked on a major cleaning/baking assault including making a batch of stock out of leftover vegetable bits I've been freezing for the soups that I feel are right around the corner, my first bagels ever, and some peanut butter fudge that turned out looking horrible but tasting brilliant (and I am not really a fudge girl...I know, weird). In between all that I managed to get groceries, read a big hunk of my readings for class (out of a couple hundred+ pages assigned from the first class...), get a section of the chuppah completed, and finish two custom pillow orders for the shop. Yowza, I just want to collapse now and nurse the cold that I seem to have picked up along the way. I haven't had a weekend of such massive productivity in a while so I feel good but rather exhausted and feeling the need for some balance between my tendencies for procrastination and overachieving (hehe). I guess we may be using that stock sooner rather than later!

The best in finger foods

In the midst of it all, we sat down for a rather blissful lunch together. I had picked up a few odds and ends to make use of the last of the olives we'd splurged on at whole foods a while back and it was the perfect antidote of simplicity (but lots of tastiness) to all the cooking I was doing. There was even enough to make two lunches out of it for the weekend, so all in all, not too shabby!

Stitch by stitch

2011-09-04T17:23:00.000-04:00

I'm using a full thickness of floss to outline the leaves in a split stitch and the berries in a backstitch. The tree limbs are done in a blended stem stitch using two full thicknesses of two different colored brown flosses.

Just popping in to post a sneak peek at one of the completed sections of the chuppah over this busy little three day weekend (my hope for you is that you are out reading this on a mobile device while communing with the last days of summer sunshine!). I'd say I'm about halfway done embroidering the whole thing and can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel which is kind of totally rad since we started planning the project about this time last year. It is a joy to work on though, such a good project to completely zone out on, getting hooked into the rhythm of the stitches and wishing that each stitch will count for a day happiness for the bride and groom that will be married under it (I do believe the number of stitches is stretching into infinity at this point...).

One down, one up.
One down, one up.
Repeat until the movie is over.
Put in another movie and move on to the next branch.

I'll spare you anymore posts of very similar looking branches, leaves, and berries as I finish though so the next time you see this chuppah will be when it's completely finished and in use a couple weeks from now!

Crafting Food: Prickly Pear and Papaya Freezer Smoothies

2011-09-01T12:02:00.000-04:00

Cheers to the last days of summer

I like to fill out a summer meal with a fruit smoothie as they're cool, refreshing, surprisingly filling for a drink, easy on a weeknight, and a healthy alternative for that ice cream craving. The challenge is that fruit can be expensive, difficult to keep fresh for whenever the craving hits, and a pain to chop up on a busy hot night. Because of this I wholeheartedly rely on the freezer method as it streamlines the whole process (and frozen ingredients create a better smoothie texture anyways). It's all about the prep work beforehand so I wait until fruit goes on sale or when it's super fresh at the farmer's market, chop it all up right when I get back home (which is manageable if you make some time on the weekend), and freeze it in individual sandwich size ziploc bags. Each ziploc contains an equal mix of fruit so I can just pull a frozen bag out when I need it, toss a couple other items in the blender, and wahlah: two large (or three tumbler sized) smoothies!

My go to version is the classic strawberry/banana/orange juice combo but recently I found some discounted and unusual fruits at our grocer. They don't come in stock often and make for a great flavor combo, so I made my move. If you can't find these at your grocer, fill up a bag with whatever combination of fruit you like and add the other ingredients listed below, changing up the flavors (but not the amounts) of the yogurt, sorbet, and juice ice cubes to complement them.

Prickly Pear and Papaya Freezer Smoothies
(makes 4 ziploc bags full/8 smoothies)

1 Papaya
(remove skin with potato peeler, scoop out seeds with a spoon, cut into big cubes)
4 prickly pears
(remove skin with paring knife, quarter and scrape off seeds, slice into big chunks)
4 bananas
(remove peel and slice into 1/2 inch medallions)

Divide the papaya equally among 4 sandwich size plastic bags. Add in 1 banana and 1 prickly pear to each, seal, and freeze. These can be frozen for up to 8 months but I don't think we've ever taken that long to use up our smoothie ingredients.

The inside of prickly pears can be yellow, orange, or deep red like these.

When you are ready to make some, take a bag from the freezer and let it thaw just until the fruit begins to separate from each other. Most days, I just zap it on defrost mode in the microwave for 10–20 seconds so that it's still frozen, but not as hard as a rock when it goes into the blender. Once ready, add to the blender:

1/4 cup yogurt
(Avoid those fake sugary ones—I like Glen Oaks drinkable low-fat yogurt with probiotics for smoothies as they have a ton of complimentary flavors but you can use just about any.)
1 cup mango sorbet
(which is naturally fat free!)
3-4 guava juice ice cubes
(you can find affordable tropical juice flavors in small cans in the Mexican grocery isle. Just freeze it in your ice cube trays, transfer to a ziploc, and pull some out whenever you need them.).

Blend thoroughly and serve immediately. Pad yourself on the back for making friends with your freezer and revel in how delicious being thrifty, organized, and healthy can be!

A note on prickly pears...
Also known as cactus pears, these little guys have a ton of antioxidants in them and are crazy good but they are full of seeds. You can scrape them off the flesh, some will break up if blended thoroughly, and they are completely edible if you just swallow and do not try to chew them...it's up to you. The fruit tastes so incredible and is such a fun food that I don't mind dealing with them one way or another. If you get them from the store, they will likely be removed of any prickly outer thorns (hence the name) but be careful if you are harvesting them from the cactus itself!

Back to the Books

2011-08-30T11:35:00.001-04:00

Where o where has this blogger been? Well, August has turned out to be unexpectedly busy and full of some big new changes for us which have managed to keep me busy and distracted (not to fear though, I have a few posts up my sleeve that are on their way). In the meantime, I have some exciting news to share: today I am starting my first class in pursuit of my Master's of Museum Studies at Harvard! I am thrilled and nervous as this is a dream come true that's been a long time in coming.

First things first, I will still be blogging and running my etsy shop (in fact, it's time I started building up inventory for the big shopping season that's coming up so expect to see some new listings over the next several weeks!). I'll be balancing part-time school with part-time work so that will make for a rigorous, but definitely fulfilling, new schedule and pace. It may take me a little to get my head wrapped around being a student again and learning to balance that with work and a social life of some kind (I hope...), but I really am looking forward to the challenge and hopeful that my etsy shop can help me see my way through so that I do not have to try and balance work on someone else's schedule as well. Time will tell I suppose so my fingers remain crossed.

I expect to always continue with my etsy shop and this blog on some level as it is as much a part of me as anything. I love the work that both allow me to do and the outlet it has become for me but the longer I am away from museum work, the less whole I feel. With a double major in art and art history, I knew my life would always involve both creative hands-on work and scholarly pursuits within the world of museums and art history. Questions of how and if I would be able to manage both within a career have been quite another story though and I am feeling a huge sense of peace and purpose now knowing that I am the kind of person who needs to keep a hand in both worlds and that I don't need to continue to deny one in order to pursue the other wholeheartedly. My husband has always been so gracious in giving me time to work through this and so we had always planned on getting him settled in a stable job he loved before I went back to school but it's been many years of moving and waiting for that to happen with this economy. We'd even started looking into making another big move to a city we love but that isn't panning out at this time so we decided together to finally make the most of what we have here and stop waiting for outside factors to change the things we aren't happy about. This particular program is the one that I felt best fit me all along and I'm glad the stars have finally aligned in such a way as to make it possible, even if it's not how we originally planned it.

I guess that's how dreams from one's bucket list often end up entering the realm of reality, eh?

P.S. We were very lucky and thankful to have made it through Irene's visit intact here just north of Boston. We had a couple lengthy power outages, a downed tree in an intersection by our house, but otherwise are doing just fine and grateful we live on high ground in an area that was more affected by wind damage than rain. Many others were not as lucky though and you can visit here to help.

Chuppah on the Brain

2011-08-16T11:55:00.000-04:00

My sister headed back to PA a week ago now...I can't believe it's been that long already and seem to have lost track of time a bit. I was the lame big sister tearing up (and laughing at the same time) in Boston's South Station as she caught an early morning train home and then balling on the drive home. After picking myself up and having a good laugh at myself, I got to work straight away and have been immersed in The Chuppah Project ever since. Finally...I am in the embroidery stage!! To get to this point though, I've been tracing, moving furniture, hanging, and painting while my husband carted home a mac friendly projection unit he was able to borrow from work...totally saved the day as I wasn't having any luck locating one.

Here are snippets of the process from the past week as I tried to document along the way...

My totally glamorous self, tracing the design onto the chuppah.

Mixing colors was my favorite part of several college painting courses. I loved the challenge of creating an exact shade with unusual combos. This was done using Versatex silk screening paints for permanence.

We had wanted to try some fabric applique but went with all fabric painting in the end due to the herculean effort that would have required on a piece of this size with the time constraints given. I decided an opaque paint on the leaves and berries could help them to still stand out in a similar way and did the trunk in a watercolor—very tricky to apply on fabric but a nice effect.

One days work...almost there!

Painting trees on chuppahs in the living room...that's how we roll around here.

Not the best shot, but I've been finding it quite tricky to shoot the entire thing at once. The embroidery will outline text in the bottom panel and each berry and leaf in different stitches and colors to accent each element and add a lot more depth and character to the trunk which looks a bit drab here without it. I am really happy with the stitching I've done on it so far and how much definition it is adding though. Once I get a chunk of it done, I'll come up for air and share again!

P.S. Alas, I have decided it's time for watermarks. I strive for all original content on my blog and after a slew of incidents that made me think a bit more about protecting my photos/work and hearing from customers again and again that they were seeing my work but were having a hard time knowing where to find me, it seemed the best route to take. I've tried to make it as unassuming and unobtrusive as possible and hope you don't mind as I take this step to bolster my content.

The Summer I've Been Waiting For

2011-08-04T23:44:00.003-04:00

A three mile dune hike in early August to get to one of the most beautiful/empty/remote beaches on the north shore
...one heck of a workout but totally worth it.

seesters

Me and the man in Holyoke, MA...it's not summer without an outdoor concert.

The summer sun setting amongst the pines...I can never get enough of that.

The Decemberists + Sara Watkins....so so good.

And to legitimize this post and top it all off: my sister's first sewing project! I promise there was no coercion involved and she is enjoying it...so stinkin proud, I mean look at those neat little stitches!

And now, this disappearing act will continue for just a bit longer as we take off for a camping trip on the cape. Hope you are all enjoying some summer adventures of your own and to see you back here soon!

Introducing: World Traveler

2011-07-29T14:43:00.000-04:00

my sample stitching

It's here, it's here! After many revisions, I am finally satisfied with my "World Traveler" embroidery pattern. With summer vacations on the brain and an abiding love of classic design, I wanted it to showcase a handful of special items from the golden age of travel so you will find an old leather suitcase complete with destination stickers, a ticket stub, binoculars, a medium format vintage camera and a roll of film, an iconic Lockheed Electra plane like the one flown by Amelia Earhart, and last but certainly not least, a "par avion" airmail envelope complete with postage!

The pattern can be used to embroider any number of items ranging from passport covers and bags to quilt blocks and luggage tags. It is available in the shop ready for you to stitch it up on the project of your fancy—check it out here to see more photos.

Cute Overload.

2011-07-28T13:57:00.001-04:00

When these shoes arrived in the mail, I couldn't help but ooo and ahh and generally fawn over them as if I was someone's crazy aunt, known family wide for her cheek pinching penchant. What is it about little one's shoes that trigger seemingly uncontrollable googly eyed reactions in us?! If that wasn't enough, they became doubly adorable with the embroidery I did for this customer—one pair for her flowergirl and the other for her ringbearer. I can only imagine how nervous or weirded out a kid might feel walking in formal clothes in front of so many people and think these shoes are the perfect little gift to kickstart their confidence and comfort level on such a big day!

As I worked on them, I got to thinking that they'd also be a fabulous fresh take on those bronzed booties of old, embroidered with their name and birth date and hung in the nursery or handed down as a keepsake.

Ok, I think that should cover any cute deficiency anyone may have been experiencing. I declare you cured and encourage you to check out more pictures of these shoes here and here if you experience any relapses.

P.S. Today marks 273 posts and 173 followers—thank you!

Full Steam Ahead

2011-07-27T18:36:00.001-04:00

a sneak peek at the ongoing work for my next embroidery pattern "world traveler"...coming this Friday!

I'm a tad stressed out right now, I can't lie.

My sister is going to be spending some time with us and will be arriving tomorrow so I've been trying to get as much work taken care of as I can in order to clear a bit of vacation time for myself while she is here. I suppose not having anyone to cover for you while you're "out of the office" is a bit of a downside to having a one-woman shop. Because of some bigger ongoing projects, I know that in reality I will need to keep working on things while she's here but darnit, I'm determined to be able to enjoy some time with her since it's only the second time this year I've seen her, or any family for that matter.

Sigh, I do love this work so darn much though and here's what's been keeping my fingers dancing:

6 x 6 feet in cream cotton sateen, complete with french seams, grommets, and corner ties

I finished the chuppah for my friend's wedding and am all set to begin transferring the design and placing it in the quilt frame to work on. Expect to see a few posts about this in the coming month as I will be embroidering the bajeebers out of it (you heard me right, the bajeebers).

a custom yo yo pillow with AMH voile for a customer who wanted something that reminded them of their grandma

Custom orders seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately and have been keeping my very busy away from the blog. This must be what it feels like to be an adult with your own mildly successful business, eh?!

matching pairs for the bride and groom

Stay tuned...tomorrow I just have to share two other pairs of converse that I worked on recently that are so cute, they made me want to squeal. And I am not really a giddy-squealy kinda girl.

A Unvarnished Glimpse

2011-07-21T12:49:00.002-04:00

some recent chuppah sewing as the daylight fades

Just a little peek into the studio today. It occurred to me the other day that we tend to see a lot of photos of people's studios and the work that comes out of them, but it's rare to actually see the person themselves at work in there, unglossed and unposed. Since that's what's actually happening there all the time though and what leads to all the pretty things we share with each other, why not show the reality of it off for a brief moment?! Of course it's natural that we all want to see and talk about those finished objects the most, but I think that a window into a person's creative environment "in action" can be really illuminating since it is that unique process that makes everyone's handmade items so special, no matter how everyday it may seem.

Far from the immaculately styled photos we see of people's craft rooms, I'm afraid mine does get messy. Uhm, don't spread this around, but I'm kind of A Piler.

I can't stand having my hair hang down in my face when I work so that goes up straight away and the music gets turned on from my laptop which sits behind me. Sometimes it's an audio book as I find I don't get to read quite as much when my free time is filled with holding a needle and floss.

When I embroider, I sit on the couch in my studio or downstairs in the air conditioning and the netflix q is my best friend when I have several pairs of embroidered converse to work though. Name almost any obscure period costume drama, kid's cartoon, or historic documentary, and I've probably seen it at this point.

This may be weird, I'm not actually sure, but I don't like having shoes or slippers on when I use the presser foot to my sewing machine so those suckas get kicked off as soon as I sit down to it. I'm not sure what it is, but it feels like they are in my way!

If you were to take a photo like this of yourself, what would it capture? How do you work and create? What tools or things in your environment are essential to your process? Are you like me and tend to unconsciously fit a bajillion pins in your mouth as you go only to realize you can't talk when someone pops their head in the door? I'd love to hear and if you want, go ahead and leave a link to a photo of you at work in the comments section!

New and Improved

2011-07-19T18:54:00.000-04:00

new pine and rose sachets

New sachet designs and scents are now in the shop! Having started out with just a lavender sachet, I decided it was high time to expand a bit and include more scents—a fresh and woodsy American balsam fir and a delicately classic pink rose from India.

These sachets are great as they lend their scent to what is around them but not in an overpowering way because they are filled with natural dried plants and herbs, not heavy asthma inducing fragrances. I've selected colors and created designs which coordinate with each of the scents that have their own unique uses and character:

Lavender: wonderfully calming and relaxing, this sachet is perfect for tucking into your pillowcase to lull you, your child, or house guests to sleep. For even more of an impact, try placing several sachets in the linen closet between blankets and sheets so, when in use, they wrap you in their soothing scent. As someone who's dealt with many sleepless nights of insomnia, I've got to say this trick has definitely come in handy.

Rose: gently uplifting, rose is ultra feminine and glamorous with a vintage appeal. What better use than to place a sachet or two in your lingerie drawer or even in your suitcase on a trip to keep clothing fresh from day to day when you may be wearing them more than once before being able to launder them.

Pine: reminiscent of cabins, winter holidays, and summer bonfires all at once, pine is an invigorating and earthy scent that is a great substitute for mothballs as a way to keep clothes fresh that you are storing out of season. Also, since it's not a "frilly" smell, it's gender neutral and can be used to freshen bathroom towels that anyone in the house might use.

hand embroidered sachets from The Story of Kat

In addition to these uses, they can be hung from hangers in the closet, door knobs, or as a decorative element on the wall as each one now includes a matching ribbon loop at the top. See, I told you they were going to be new and improved!

A Mini Tutorial: French Seams

2011-07-15T13:56:00.001-04:00

The backside of a finished french seam.

I've been working on a chuppah for a friend's wedding and since the piece will be viewed from both sides in such a formal setting, I knew I would need to finish the seams in such a way so that no raw edges could be seen.

Enter my new best friend: french seams.

At first they seemed intimidating but once I got my head around the way the fabric should fold back on itself before sewing the seam closed, it was a piece of cake and I can see how useful they'll be for finishing all sorts of items, but especially on home decor pieces such as pillowcase edges and curtains where both sides of the piece are more often seen as opposed to clothing where serging the raw edges of the inside seams does the trick just fine. I made sure to document my process as I always find photographs the most useful for learning a new technique when I'm not able to observe it in person.

1/4 inch french seams, clockwise from top left.

Step one: A french seam consists of two seams, one that encloses another so that no raw edges are visible from the outside. To accomplish the first seam, simply sew as you normally would any seam with the only difference being that you have to make sure that you are sewing WRONG SIDES TOGETHER. Once sewn, trim off half of your seam allowance (see top left photo).

Step two: Once your first seam is sewn and trimmed, fold the fabric at the seam back on itself so that the right sides are facing each other. In other words, this means that the edge you just trimmed will be sandwiched inside the fold and the clean side of the seam will be facing out. Press that seam flat (see top right photo). While I tend to get a bit footloose and fancy free in deciding just how often I need to press my seams as I work, it really is necessary here as you need the fabric to lay nice and flat in order to sew it closed in the next step.

Step three: Ok, take a breath because the hardest part is over and you've just got one more thing to do!

Step four: With that pressed seam as the edge of your piece (your wrong sides are still facing out just as you pressed it, see placement of the pressed seam in the bottom left photo), go ahead and sew 1/4 inch away from that (1/4 inch if you started with 1/4 seam allowance on the first pass or 1/2 if you started with 1/2 seam allowance on the first pass). In doing so, you are effectively enclosing the first seam within the second so that your raw edges are hidden inside.

For clarity's sake, like this:

The second seam coming together and enclosing the first.

Here you see the second seam enclosing the first as it is sewn down so that you have a completely clean, normal looking seam on one side (where the right side of your fabrics are) and on the back, the enclosed seam edges, as seen in the image at the very top of this post.

Some Helpful Hints:–In the above example, I've ended up with 1/4 inch finished french seams for which you need to be sure to allow for a 3/4 inch total seam allowance before cutting your fabric to the desired size. For a finished 1/2 french seams, allow for 1 1/2 inches of seam allowance.
–Pinking shears are a great way to trim the first seam as it adds a little extra durability and defence against fraying.

So now that you've got the the basic concept, why not take your fancy french seams out for a spin? I've gathered up a few projects that make use them in very different ways, both for functionality and for a professional finish:
Pillowcases with Cuff and Trim from Film in the Fridge
DIY Duvet Cover from DesignSponge
Drawstring Bag from WhipUp

(Mis)adventures in Creativity

2011-07-13T16:30:00.002-04:00

The Tart That Wouldn't.

I actually had a great time working on this strawberry-rhubarb tart. There was fresh local rhubarb on sale at the store just as it was going out of season, I had a new tart pan to try out, and I was determined to make up a new recipe on the fly that would combine the two. Well, as you can tell from the photo, it never quite set. It was delicious and I've figured out where I went wrong since then, but alas there is no more rhubarb and no more patience in my head for a do-over if there was.

Do you ever have a dish or project that ends up like that? This miraculous vision in your head followed by results that are so far from it and feel like it may have been a complete waste of time and energy and ingredients/materials? In the back of my mind, I know it is never a wasted effort to make mistakes that one can learn from but it can be hard to listen to that voice all of the time. On the up side, at least this mistake was completely edible!

It seems that I've been working on a slew of different things like that lately, rather scatterbrained but with o so much gusto and good intentions. None of the projects seem to be photo-friendly or quite worthy of blogdom just yet but I keep inching towards the vision in my head for each and find that some days I am really hopeful and giddy and excited about my ideas and other days I am completely stalled out and frustrated that they don't come together justthewayiwantthem. I suppose one's success with creativity would be not half as meaningful if every project came out looking just the way you wanted it on the first try though right?

A Little Slice of Stowe

2011-07-08T14:53:00.004-04:00

The view from our hotel room with the morning fog rolling in over the Green Mountains

We were really lucky to get a complimentary stay in Stowe, Vermont over the holiday weekend which also happened to be our first anniversary (if it hadn't been, we definitely would have been sitting at home ordering a pizza to celebrate)! We were only gone three days but we saved up for a long time so we could have a handful of special meals together and a canoe trip. It was a wonderful trip despite the sunburns we are both nursing now and I think that the best way to sum it up for you is to share a few photos. I tried to narrow it down, I really did, I swear!

A little antiquing along Rt. 100 on our way into Stowe.
Didn't get anything except for a few hankies which I plan to use for the shop!

Fish n' Chips and proper English beer in honor of our honeymoon. Deliciously except for the coleslaw which was just not what it should've been. C'est la vive!

There were beautiful roses in all shades of pink around the lodge where we stayed.

Our anniversary dinner at the Trapp Family Lodge where we stayed...a swiss chalet with gorgeous mountain views, candlelight, and an incredible wine list...It was kind of totally rad, what can I say?! I'm usually the camping type, but I could totally get used to this...

Walking in the gardens at the lodge with everything in bloom.

This is totally cheesy but the sun came out after the rain just like on our wedding day in Scotland
...except the rain fell sideways there that day which always makes me smile to think of it.

I insisted on ordering this for us at lunch...a flight of ales from the Trapp brewery with a local meat and cheese plate. Again, it totally reminded me of the fresh and local cheese and beer we'd had in a little pub in the Lakes District...never thought I would be so lucky to taste something just as good as that again but this was SO.DAMN.GOOD.

Me...stuffed with beer and cheese and very content.

Canoeing on the Lamoille River for the day up by Smuggler's Notch.
We stopped in a few spots along the way for swimming and a picnic lunch that we'd picked up at a farmstand
...this is definitely where the sunburns came along despite drenching ourselves in sunblock.

And home just in time to see the fireworks over the lake in our town from our balcony!

Stitch by Stitch

2011-07-06T12:01:00.001-04:00

Hand-stitched mini yo-yo rosette coverlet, detail

I had planned on sharing some of the photos from our weekend in Vermont but those will just have to wait their turn as I was pleased as punch when I saw how this mini yo-yo coverlet turned out! It was a custom order I received in my etsy shop to be used as a photographer's prop for newborn sessions (love that idea!) and I've been stitching away at it bit by bit over the last week+. The work took a bit longer than I had originally estimated and involved a lot of me stitching at odd moments in the car or curled up under the living room lamp way too late at night:

A little night stitching + the netflix q = total sewing groove

Just try to hide your jealousy at the totally fashionable neon green compression gloves, mmk? Yes, they're a bit dorky looking but they're one of the few things I've found that can limit cramps and soreness when hours upon hours of hand sewing or embroidery is required.

The finished piece (the white is just the background I photographed it on and is not part of the coverlet)

So there you have it, my piéce de résistance for the week and a big part of why I haven't been blogging as much the past week or so. Now that it's all packaged up and in the mail, it's time for me to tackle a slew of new things that I've been wanting to get into the shop. It's a good thing that work involves me sitting down and embroidering or drawing because I need to ~~move a bit slow~~ not move at all due to the massive sunburn I managed to take home from our above-mentioned mini getaway this past holiday weekend (I used copious amounts of sunblock but I guess it was no match for four hours in a canoe). Despite the unwanted souvenir, it was indeed a great trip and I'll meet you back here later in the week with some Vermont-y goodness to share!

Review Index

2011-06-28T11:11:00.008-04:00

Occasionally I find a tool, pattern, or resource that I really love and have gathered up links to all my reviews for you here to peruse. Some are more in depth than others but I always present my honest opinion on only things that I have used personally and will share any errata I may have come across in the process as well as pros, cons, tips, tricks, and value. Enjoy—I hope this will be of help to you in your next craft or cooking related purchase or endeavor!

Tutorials
Fabric Covered Bulletin Board
Made by Rae Spring Ruffle Top on Sew Mama Sew
Made by Rae Lickety Split Bag
Draw! Pilgrim's Star Wars Softie Pattern: Cuddly Chewbacca
Anna Maria Horner's Figure 8 Scarf

Art and Craft Materials
Seral Wax Free Transfer Paper

Art and Craft Books

Independant Business Guides
The Boss of You by Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears
The Anti 9-5 Guide by Michelle Goodman

Cookbooks
Good Food to Share by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan

In Review: Good Food to Share

2011-06-27T14:28:00.001-04:00

A little loot from our belated wedding shopping.

When I first saw this book making the rounds earlier this year, I liked what I read but didn't get too excited. Something just didn't click immediately. Recently though, we made a little trip to Williams-Sonoma to use the last gift certificate from our wedding. Since our first wedding anniversary is coming up this weekend, I suppose it was high time. Some things are best savored, eh?

I'm not in the habit of purchasing themed glossy cookbooks, especially those that feature more of the celebrity chef than they do the food, as I've found them to be mostly just fluffy interpretations of recipes which I can read about in depth in my bibles, The Joy of Cooking or Julia Child. I like the emails I get from Apartment Therapy's "The Kitchn" though, which the author of this book does, so I thought I would at least flip through it at the store. Then I fell in love. I wanted to prepare and eat everything on every single page. I don't even like seafood but even that section looked good. I was afraid the recipes might not do the photographs justice (they are impeccably styled) so I sat myself down on the floor of Williams-Sonoma so I could actually read a few pages and decide it if was a worthwhile addition to my kitchen library. Yep, I'm that person who sits down in stores to check things out.

The writing won me over as the book is chock full of well thought out recipes that focus on the use of quality ingredients and how to show them off for those we feed and entertain in our homes (and in each section a couple pages on selecting and working with different foods so you have enough base knowledge to put your own spin on things down the road). Many are quite simple, but like Italian cuisine so often shows us, some of the best dishes are those that combine simple but unique flavors and not necessarily the ones that showcase complex technique.

The back of the book gives a better idea of what you will find than the front does I think and on the left is
the recipe we tried over the weekend...a salad of radicchio, endive, and walnut, etc. with a buttermilk dressing.

Food and cooking, for me, is one of the most meaningful ways I have of showing my family and friends that I cherish them and so gifting things I make with my hands and feeding them food that is fresh and organic has just always made sense. As a kid who grew up on an small organic farm, it's nice to see people from many different backgrounds finally realizing how important it is to know where your food comes from and this cookbook has so many great ideas on how to make the most of such special ingredients. The number of conversations it has sparked about how we want to entertain as a couple and how our food choices reflect our values and beliefs have alone made the book worth it I think.

The book is of course about entertaining and so the amounts for the recipes are geared toward serving large groups. It makes me a little sad as I want to eat this food everyday. Still, you can make adjustments for smaller amounts to feed just a couple or, like we did, enjoy the same meal two days in a row. We tried our first recipe from the book this past weekend (the salad pictured above which I paired with roasted pork tenderloin) and it was one of those meals where the food was so good that we just sat there grinning at each other. Perhaps that sounds silly, but being able to eat a really nice meal together whether it is at home or at a restaurant, is definitely our favorite indulgence. If that describes you, I'd encourage you to pick this book up or request it and check it out at your local library. It's just one of those books where the pictures do the recipes justice and not the other way round!

P.S. No, I'm not being paid for the reviews I write, they are just books/tutorials/etc. that I have used and admired.

Importing Creativity

2011-06-24T12:37:00.000-04:00

This is where I seem to have left my head...at least it has a good view to keep it occupied

I'm not even sure how I managed to let this many days go by without writing. One minute I was plotting out posts in my head and then next minute it was...Friday. Whaaa?! I think I can trace the source of the matter to this past weekend when we decided to take a little jaunt up to one of the local beaches along the north shore. It's slowly but surely become apparent to me that I forgot to bring my brain back with me because as I worked my way through a batch of embroidered converse this week, I felt my thoughts constantly being hijacked by the sound of evening waves lapping on the shore and kids chasing seagulls and that light salty scent lingering in the air.

Maybe it's time I do something about my nails...

Ye olde Atlantic is still a bit chilly this time of year, especially in the evening, and so we walked along the length of the beach getting our feet wet and exploring among the rocks where hundreds of these little hermit crab men (and ladies I suppose) were gathered in the tide pools.

It wasn't until we got up close to these rocks that I realized they were completely covered in seaweed. Is it just me or does it look like they might be hibernating snuffleupagus' that are going to start shifting and grunting as soon as you look away?

Fishermen at Red Rock Beach

I suppose we're a bit like those hermit crabs, scurrying around in our own little worlds to keep it all together. In turning my artistic interests into a business of my own, I tend to do a lot of scurrying, forgetting how important taking a bit of time like this to replenish my inspiration banks can be and that I don't need to feel guilty about tearing my creative side away from my business side every now and then. It can be a tall order when in business for yourself and difficult to know when it's ok to relax as there isn't anyone else to hold down the fort in my stead or to tell me, "job well done, now here's what you should do next." The ebb and flow of it all is both interesting and challenging for me and I suppose learning to balance the import and export of creativity for the purpose of eeking out a living will always be an evoloving process at the heart of what I do. Not to fear though, I'll have a few more photo-friendly things coming up so the blog will not keep missing out on all the action!

A Bit of Stitching and a Bit of Home

2011-06-17T21:34:00.002-04:00

state flower pattern by Aunt Martha

It's usually this time of year when I am missing home the most. I used to love lying in the backyard hammock as our dog Georgie, an airdale, napped beneath it and I would read there once school got out and watch as my mom planted and weeded her vegetable garden. Well, sometimes my lethargic teenage self was roped into helping out with all sorts of farm chores but I was bound and determined to spend as much of my free time as possible reading in that hammock or in my favorite tree in the lane behind the pasture and sometimes I daydream about how nice it would be to be able to slip back into one of those summer days, if only for a moment.

I thought a lot about those summer days as I stitched up this piece with it's apple blossoms and state banner. It was a project I started long ago and far away and one of those things that's been lingering on my sewing to-do list for quite a while. I know, it's shameful to be finally finishing something in June that was originally going to be a christmas gift but hey, when your job is to stitch for a living, the personal projects sometimes just have to be put on the back burner. The finished pillow will now go live with my parent's in their knotty pine living room—fitting right? It doesn't quite go with my usual style but I do like it and think I might do something like it if I had a cabin in the woods or on the great lakes (definitely on my list of next to impossible dreams).

Can I just add how much I love the stem stitch for outlining organic things like leaves and petals and flames? I find I need to put a little more concentration into it than I do with the backstitch (used on the banner) or the split stitch (used for the veins and twigs), but it is totally worth it for things like that. I also brought the blossoms to the forefront by using all six strands and only three on the elements that I wanted to push into the background. This is a great way to give depth to any embroidered piece as well as more of a dynamic texture.

Ahem....what I do not recommend though is hoping for seams that match up perfectly when sewing with plaid. I ended up using my seam ripper a few more times than I would care to admit and had to settle for getting the lines of the plaid to match up as closely as possible, but not quite spot on in some places. If anyone knows how that is accomplished, please let me know because the darn stuff kind of makesmewanttopullmyhairoutandthrowabonifidetempertamtrum. Ok, ok I did not loose it over plaid (and I suppose I must admit to battling my inner perfectionist) but I was briefly tempted and am thinking that taking a bit of time to read in a hammock afterwards might not be such a bad idea!

In My Letterbox

2011-06-15T11:33:00.000-04:00

Katie is me...if I'm in trouble or applying for a job, It's Katrina, which is my full name.
If you're my family or childhood friend, it's Katie. Otherwise Kate or Kat or Kitkat or K-k-k-kaaaaatie!
I know, it's a bit complicated, but then, so am I.

Dear Summer Vacation,
Could you please be a doll and get your rear in gear? I mean, the weather has been beautiful and all lately, but I am itching for July when I get to take a couple mini-breaks and will actually have some time to be outside and enjoy it all. I am dreaming of skirts, sandals, campfires, dune hikes, Vermont, concerts, my sister, fish n' chips on the cape, salt water in my hair, naps in the sunshine, the smell of pine, cold beer, and grilled food. I trust that you will not disappoint.

Dear Plaid,
You really are the bees knees and I would love to use you in a bunch of vintage inspired sewing projects but you are also wreaking havoc on my nerves and are a real sonofagun to work with...and I am only attempting a pillow with nice right angle seams. Or at least they are supposed to look that way so please start behaving yourself or you're going to get thrown out and banned from this sewing room, ya here?!

Dear Brain,
I know you were kind of on overload last month but it's time to get your you-know-what together and focus again. I know...it kind of stinks sometimes, this whole focus and get stuff accomplished thang, but it has it's rewards I promise. I've been trying to work on new embroidery patterns and blog posts and recipes but I need your cooperation ok? OKthanks!

Dear trusty old French Press,
I just wanted to say that I love you. You + Me = For Always.
You've been a real trooper in helping my brain out (see above notice) and I am forever grateful.

Dear Errands,
Don't get your panties in a bunch—I'm on my way now, I swear!

Pillow Bonanza

2011-06-09T15:12:00.004-04:00

dresden plate + liberty of london tana lawn = o la la!

Those who follow me on facebook or flickr got a little sneak peak at the makings of this pillow before the festival, but here is the final product in all it's glory! I am quite happy and relieved to be able to have a tangible version of my vision (isn't that always the most satisfying thing?!) and am itching to keep one of them for myself...still considering that. Either which way, the first is live and in the shop now though, just waiting for someone to snag it up and give it a proper home.

Why so relieved though? Well, turns out that dresden plate is a DOOZY! As I found out the night before my last day of prep before the show, there are a few snazzy methods (including english paper piecing, needle-turn applique, and raw edge machine applique with fusible webbing just to name a few) that make the whole process a lot easier but found myself with none of the tools necessary and I must confess this is the first sewing project that has made me swear and cry this much. C'est la vie, it happens sometimes right? I finally decided to trim my rounded petals to be triangles and as 2 o'clock in the morning rolled around, I called it a night so I could get up early and take another stab at appliqueing the inner circle in the morning. It's not perfect, but I will remember that I am capable of conquering any scary new sewing project every time I see that slightly crooked top stitch. In my mind, that is exactly what makes handmade so very special and unique: an automated machine just can't allow for such a story and the items made with them don't carry that kind of history.

"The popular name for this quilt, Dresden Plate, reflects the romance of the Victorian Era with it's love of elaborate decoration on household items and décor. Dresden, Germany was a center of 19th century romanticism movement in art, one that included the fine decoration of porcelain. The plates were embellished with elaborate design using flowers, fruits and foliage. The beautiful plates would surely have been admired by women of the early 20th century." —www.patternsfromhistory.com

As I worked on this, I fell harder for the Liberty tana lawn. The prints are the perfect blend of old and new, of nostalgic and fresh. They feel like a very British version of the brightly colored scraps of feedsack that women of the 1920's and 30's in America would have been using when they popularized this quilt block. I ended up using another chunk of it to do a couple patchwork pillows, one of which sold at the show and the other pictured below. All of these are now up in the shop as well:

Clockwise, left to right: Yo-yo Rosette Pillow on White Linen,
AMH Square Dance Pillow (with pastry line on the back!), Yo-yo Rosette Pillow on White Linen,
Liberty of London Patchwork Pillow, AMH Little Folks Patchwork Pillow

So many shiny new things, I can barely handle all the excitement! Now that I am back to focusing on my etsy shop, I can work at a slightly more leisurely pace and I do have a few new things up my sleeve that I'm planning to release this June/July. The feel of summer is beginning to take hold and is influencing my thoughts about new embroidery patterns and sachets, but no sneak peeks just yet. I'm off to get some of these thoughts on paper and will share here as soon as they are presentable...

Providence Art Festival Round-Up

2011-06-06T17:20:00.003-04:00

my booth in the forefront on westminster street for the providence art festival before the crowds arrive for the day

The festival I've been working up to for the past month arrived this past Saturday and I am feeling pretty good about how it went. It was a long day starting with the hour drive down to Providence early in the morning, but the weather could not have been better and we had a lot of fun being a part of such a well-organized event. I would love to be able to do more of them as I had a great time selling my wares in person although I have yet to find any other ones on this scale that are reasonably priced and am still nervous about plunking down the hundreds of dollars that many fairs require as a vendor fee. I did pretty well with this one, not as well as I would have liked, but enough to cover my vendor fee plus some so a definite success, even if one does have to start small!

Lots of pictures to share so buckle up and hang on:

patterns and pillows all set up

draft stoppers, bunting, and sachets—o my!

embroidery patterns to go

When we first got there, I freaked out a little because we had the one and only completely wet spot on the whole street and so we couldn't set anything down without it getting mud on it. It was a nice little spot on one of the corners but was situated in such a way so that we were at the end of a wind-tunnel and nothing we put out would sit still. o the joys of en plein air right?! haha, well all is well that ends well and my nerves definitely died down with some coffee and my husband helping to set everything up. Seriously, the man is quite the trooper.

the lavender sachets were a big hit!

I felt like such a newbie and since I only had a month to churn out all the product I would need, I wasn't able to put as much time and money into the display as I would have liked but definitely want to make some improvements in that area going forward. It was a bit tricky being able to get around to all the other booths but I got to see enough of them that my head is full of ideas on how to improve my display and "set the scene" in a more streamlined way for my products. You live, you learn I guess and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Big Nazo performance group do their thang at the festival (very cool and pretty funny too!)

And what better place to get some experience under my belt than Providence?! I'd been to downtown Providence just once before and have really enjoyed myself on both occasions—it is such a cool little area that is very artist friendly with great architecture, local restaurants, shops, and people. The festival was very well run and chock full of a lot of friendly and creative folks.

vintage suitcases for display—brought from home where they serve as coffee and end tables

I'm going to be listing several of the leftover pillows in my etsy shop this week so if any of these strike your fancy, keep those eyes peeled! I'm particularly smitten with how the Liberty of London dresden and patchwork ones turned out and am planning a little blog post to introduce them formally.

In the meantime, I kind of just want to sit down and breathe after this whirwind! I meant to take yesterday off and did manage to stay away from the computer for the whole weekend (quite an accomplishment in and of itself I think) but ended up working my butt off on Sunday to help take care of so many of the things I'd been ignoring around the house. My etsy shop is clamouring for some attention as well and I'm looking forward to replenishing it and myself as soon as possible!

Crafting Food: Skillet Cabbage

2011-06-02T09:28:00.003-04:00

The cabbage starts out purple but will run to pink once the lemon juice is added—beautiful and delicious
but be careful you do not get pink spots on your tablecloth. Not that I know anyone who did that...

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe, mostly because we've been relying on old favorites and leftovers for the past month so that I could concentrate on getting ready for the show (which is just two days away now! holy rocks batman!). I'm always looking for new ways to make vegetables interesting though and this little dish saved my lunch several days running.

Perhaps the best nutritional advice I ever got was that the more color there is on your plate, the better (that is, not in reference to artificial dyes and confectionery delights) since a wide variety of colors indicates that you are getting a wide variety of nutrients with dark leafy greens of purple and green being the most nutrient dense choices. Since it's so easy to end up with a plate of brown fried/starchy/baked carbo goodness, I've found this advice has really come in handy when it comes to meal planning and making healthy but tasty(!) choices.

So when I was about to get some of my usual brussels sprouts at the grocery store recently and realized they were all out, I decided to wing it and get a red cabbage instead since it seemed like it would have a similar body and crunch once shredded. I almost always steam or roast vegetables but prepared it the same way I do the brussels sprouts (using less butter in an effort to make it healthier) and was surprised once again with how delicious a traditionally scorned vegetable can be with this treatment! Not too cabbage-y-y-y at all but savory and with a nice little kick thanks to the lemon and pepper. Since one head of cabbage can be served as a side for two dinners for the both of us or make up the whole of 3-4 lunches for me, it makes a pretty good showing for a 99 cent head of cabbage!

Edit: it's a large serving but I accompany it with only a cup of rice/pasta for a quick weeknight meal. You could quarter the cabbage into smaller portions for two people or use half the head to serve as a side for a more elaborate dinner of 4-6 people. This will also work with regular green cabbage which is even cheaper.

Skillet Cabbage
1 head red cabbage
1/2-1 TBLS unsalted butter
1/2 fresh lemon
course ground kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

-Divide your cabbage into halves or thirds, depending on how many meals you'll need it for. Shred the designated portion with a large chopping knife or food processor (I prefer the courser bits the knife will give you) and refrigerate the rest. Cabbage, even after being cut, will keep a bit longer than other vegetables so there's no need to worry if you don't want to eat the other portions several nights in a row.

-About halfway through shredding, place your pat of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. If preparing it in halves, use 1 tablespoon of butter. If preparing it in thirds or quarters, use just a 1/2 tablespoon.

-Place shredded cabbage in the pan and quickly toss to coat with butter. Add salt and pepper to taste and turn heat up to high.

-Continue to toss and cook for 1-2 minutes or for desired tenderness. I don't like to go any longer than a couple of minutes because I like to have a lot of crunch and avoid the wilted stewed effect. Remove from heat and in a bowl mix with 1 TBLS fresh lemon juice (about half a lemon). OPTIONAL: sprinkle on slivered almonds as a topping.

BAM! you're done! That was relatively painless right?
Plus, you can't beat cheap + tasty + nutritional so proceed to plate that goodness up and devour.

I'm having the last of mine for lunch today and will then proceed to busy myself in tying up some loose ends for the festival this Saturday (insert much excitement, nerves, and crazy panic here). If you're in the downtown Providence, Rhode Island area I hope to see you there! If not, I'll see you back here on Monday with photographic evidence of how it all went!

Off to College Embroidery Pattern

2011-05-30T18:51:00.002-04:00

Delivered hot n' fresh to you on this holiday weekend: my new "Off to College" embroidery pattern, now available in the shop!

As usual, the designs are my own original artwork and this one's got a handful of quintessential collegiate items such as a vintage street bicycle (based on a combination of my own bike and a Papillionaire), pen, #2 pencil, textbooks, ruled paper, composition notebook (an ode to my obsession with Harriet the Spy as a kid), school pennant, and a typewriter complete with all the keys and a bit of paper that's been rolled in and is just waiting for you (can you hear the tap tap tapping of those slick little keys?).

detail of my pattern sample

I'm a sucker for the nerdy details of each item with all it's bells and whistles but I also like for them to maintain the charm of the hand drawn original with it's slight imperfections. My goal then is to strike a balance in my patterns between technical accuracy and clarity so that each item is at once interesting but feasible for the novice to advanced stitcher. Depending on how practiced you are, you can stitch up each design in more and more complex ways to include as much or as little embellishment as you like.

How would you stitch this pattern up? Have you seen the quilts given at graduation open houses where all the guests write memories and well wishes on blank squares within a finished quilt using a permanent fabric pen? I'd love to see the designs in this pattern stitched up and incorporated into such a quilt to give as a going away gift for a grad's dorm room!

A Little Liberty Fix

2011-05-27T10:03:00.000-04:00

I was tempted to make a bad old man joke with the title and call this post,
"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," and then decided to stop being such a total cheese-mobile, sigh...

When it came to gathering up materials for my upcoming show, I knew it was the opportunity I'd been looking for to pick up some of the Liberty of London tana lawn I'd been pining for. It's going to make some gorgeous pillows (a few of which will end up in the shop after the show so everyone can enjoy!) and fits in with the look I'm going for just right. I can't believe the prices on this stuff so I ended up just getting a mini rainbow bundle from Purl Soho (and definitely planning on stashing some of the leftovers for my own projects...this job's gotta have some other perk apart from working in one's pajamas after all, ya?).

all bundled up

I was not at all disappointed by the quality of this fabric—both the feel of the fabric and the look of the prints makes it some of the most luxurious that I've come across and I can see now why ~~I'd want to roll around in yards of it~~ it's so coveted. The prints that I thought were just so-so in the pictures, I've ended up really liking in person and the prints that I thought I'd like in the pictures, I've ended up loving in person which is such a nice surprise when going through a bundle of several prints from one line. I had never been able to feel tana lawn in person before this either and I would compare it to the delicate softness of voile but with slightly more of a structured drape. If voile is like handling butter, then this tana cotton lawn is like handling refrigerated butter. But not margarine, cuz that would kinda be a drag.

I'm off to go take the scissors to this stuff (the greek chorus standing in the wings just shrieked, i know) and buckle down for my last weekend of work before the show, eeks! I hope each and every one of you has a fabulous holiday weekend with lots of good weather and relaxing and I'll see you back here next week with a brand spankin' new embroidery pattern for you to maul.

My Spring Ruffle Top

2011-05-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

all i need is a milk pail and a goat to complete the outfit
but this german girl would happily settle for a brimming beer stein to celebrate!

I did it! I actually did it!

I've done minimal garment sewing on things like pajama pants and my high school prom dress but this is the first real piece of everyday clothing I have made myself and I am pretty darn happy with it—especially since it's been on my to-do list for a whole year now, I've had the fabric since this past fall, and I've been ridiculously afraid of all that I did not know about garment sewing this whole time. Turns out, I just needed to suck it up and try something simple to start with (smacks palm to forehead).

the pleats and gathering seemed intimidating but i went really slowly, watched a few videos on youtube and BLAMMO!

pleats and gathers conquered!

I used the Made by Rae spring ruffle top tutorial over on Sew Mama Sew which you may have seen before. I came across it this time last year as part of the Made by Rae Spring Top Sewalong and I bookmarked it thinking it'd be a great starting point if I ever worked up the guts to try making my own clothes. Maybe next year I will feel confident enough to even enter a top of my own. Or at least another one of these in all white with some delicate hand embroidery across the chest band.

The fabric is voile from AMH's Little Folks line. Sigh, still my all-time favorite even if it two lines ago and perhaps overexposed at this point. I don't really care, I just love it and am finally glad to have something to wear for myself out of it at last!

I skipped the arm divots but kind of wish I hadn't—you live you learn.

The optional shaping at the end really helped it look like I was not going to give birth to a whole litter of little ones at any moment, without it I'm not sure I would have been so happy with it. I am not the uber skinny girl I was growing up and appreciate this pattern because it is at once flattering and comfortable. Plus, you can add a basic cardigan to it so it can transition to colder months or to hide flabby arms (I totally deleted those photos!).

My new year's goals included learning to make ratatouille and to sew something that I could wear in public and not be embarrassed by—check that one off the list I think! My mom got me a copy of Julia Child for my birthday so I think I can get to work on that ratatouille now...

And the Winner is...

2011-05-25T19:22:00.002-04:00

There were 118 comments on the giveaway...sheesh, that's a lot for my little ole blog! I had my husband pick a random number and so the winner is:

Amy Dame

Comment #94:
oh! oh! the pattern shows all my favourite things too! the glasses, the necklace, the camera! the cat! the lamp! the swimsuit that i will one day make for myself!
i would love to win it, thank you so much for the opportunity!

Congratulations Amy—I've got your email so will send the pattern off to you straight away!

I wish I could give everyone a copy but since that's not in the cards, I can at least give you this coupon code to use in my etsy shop in case you want to get one of my patterns for yourself at a discounted rate (I will have a shiny new one to debut next week so stay tuned)! Just enter in "THANKYOU" as you check out for 10% OFF (edit: coupon code expires June 30th and is good towards your entire purchase, one use per customer).

Thank you to each and every one of you who entered the giveaway and left such kind comments! Having you stop by, take part, and perhaps decide to keep following means a lot and I'm so happy to have you join me here!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day is Here!

2011-05-22T23:40:00.007-04:00

Can you feel it? All across Crafty Blogland folks are waking up to a Christmas in late May—the Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day! Be sure to check out their blog for a list of complete participants and giveaways as it's a great way to get in on some giveaway action and discover new blogs and the crafty folks behind them all at once. If you're new to my corner of Crafty blogland—welcome, it's a pleasure to have you here!

This is my first time participating as a giveaway-er (err...yes, I think that's the technical term) and I'm going to be giving away a PDF version of my Vintage Shop Embroidery Pattern, as pictured above (details about it here in my shop) Since this pattern is in PDF format, it will be emailed to the winner and is therefore open to everyone, international readers included!

In keeping with the spirit of the SMS giveaway, there are no fancy complicated rules to enter: all you have to do is leave a comment on this post.

You don't have to be a follower or anything (of course, if you do want to keep reading my blog and follow along, that's totally allowed and I must admit I'd be flattered). Just one entry person and please be sure to leave your email address in your comment or link to your blog so that I can get ahold of you if you win. The only other bit I should mention is that if I don't hear back from the winner within three days, I will pass the prize on to the runner up. Kapeesh? OK fabulous, I knew you'd understand. That's it, that's all! ~~The giveaway will remain open until Wednesday, May 25th (6:00pm EST) so have at it and have fun!~~ GIVEAWAY CLOSED

P.S. Speaking of Sew, Mama, Sew—I made my first shirt/top/blouse/thing that I will not be embarrassed to wear in public (the terms of my New Year's goal) over the weekend using the Made by Rae pattern at SMS and will be sharing the results here after the giveaway. You'll tell me if you think it looks anything like a success or not so much, ya?

A One-Woman Factory

2011-05-17T18:25:00.001-04:00

28...and counting...matryoshkas, each one sewn by hand

The thing about preparing for a big craft fair is that I'm busier than ever but there is a lot of repetition and all of it has to be saved up for the day of the fair so I feel a bit guilty as I've had nothing new and shiny to add to my etsy shop lately. Instead of making just a handful of each item and moving on to the next thing like I usually do, I'm making 20, 30, even 40 of each item for this festival and am beginning to feel like a one-woman factory of sorts! While the pace and repetition of the work is amplified, it is incredibly satisfying to see just how much one person can create with their own two hands in a relatively short amount of time and even though my fingers might ache, it is the kind of ache that reassures me I am doing something worthwhile (well that and the heavy drugs help dull the pain...i keed i keed!).

Much of the work is done on my machine but some, like these matryoshka sachets, is all done by hand. Perhaps I am a bit old-fashioned, but I think there is something so frank and honest about hand-stitched items that can't be replicated. I can't always justify spending the time doing it for larger items in my shop but, for these little guys, I can and I do because it's lends a simple but valuable charm that is such a rare and beautiful commodity in the world we live in. Is it strange to be really excited about finally interracting with customers face to face and seeing them hold these in their own hands?

matryoshkas sachets waiting to be pressed and filled with lavender

I feel pretty good about my progress so far, especially because I've also been balancing several shoe orders and a wholesale order...phew! I can't wait to share some of the items in the shop as well though after the fair—expect to see some new pillow designs and a new embroidery pattern (it's the "Off to College" theme!) that will be available shortly before or after, depending on how much of my hair I have already pulled out...there are drugs for that too right?

Aaaaaaand we're back! Err, almost...

2011-05-14T13:43:00.000-04:00

...a quiet saturday morning at our house...

It looks as though my blog is one of the many that blogger has bypassed and not restored since the major snafu this week and so my major post is gone with the wind (haha of course it was that post right?)...hopefully only for the time being and hopefully blogger will be more forthcoming with information as to when they expect things to be fully functioning. Things take time, but they take a lot less time and are much easier if you put a little effort into managing expectations (hint hint blogger, if there's anything useful I gained from my time working in Corporate America, it's that). I've never had an issue with the blogger platform before this and so have no other reason to believe that things will not be put right soon...just my own impatience at their lack of communication.

Well anywho, major post here or there, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to each of you that took the time to comment on it! Your kind words meant a heck of a lot to me upon broaching a subject of a much more delicate nature than usual and, as they so often do, your thoughtful responses act as a balance to my own that help me to put a gauge on the direction and tenor of the subsequent path that this blog will take. I'm just half of the equation and I thank you for pulling up a chair to complete it!

I'm off to bury myself in more prep work for the Providence Art Festival...hope everyone has a great weekend!

Why I Blog. (repost)

2011-05-11T13:57:00.020-04:00

5.15.11: Due to Blogger's ongoing maintenance issues, I am temporarily reposting Wednesday's post (5.11.11) until the time when they can restore the original and have included any copies of comments I had recorded in my email.

I've been working on this post for a while now and I'm still a little nervous, but here goes...

There have been a lot of intense conversations going on across the landscape of crafty blogland as of late and I have to admit that I'm woefully out of the loop. I mean, a girl can only stay up so late clicking through the ole internets while still maintaining sanity, right?! I was able to pick up on a couple threads here and here and, for the most part, I'm kind of glad I don't know exactly what blogs the SMS article is referring to because, well, it sounds like one of those infernal internet debates where people just sling mud and hate around at each other and say things they wouldn't normally because they're conveniently hidden behind their computer screens. Frankly, that's just not what I'm here for.

While the comment section got a bit out of hand (don't they always?!), I thought Rachel over at Stitched in Color did a downright classy job taking the lead on several sticky subjects and admire her tact and grace in breaching the matter(s) and bringing her audience through it intact. What I did manage to pick up on there got me thinking a lot...about why I am here, how we can have edifying and meaningful discussion on sticky subjects, and about what I want to offer on my own blog and as a member of this online community.

When I started blogging in 2008, I had just opened up my first etsy shop a few months prior and kept hearing that having a blog was where it was at. I wasn't doing anything new, I was just trying to do anything I could to get my shop off the ground and carve out a niche for my would-be career. It was very much a trial and error process and it wasn't really until the end of 2009 that I felt I had an inkling of a master plan for my blog, that I felt I understood how to fully take advantage of it and use it to become a larger participant in the online crafty world.

The Stitched in Color article could not have come at a better time for me because I've been struggling with a few aspects of blogging lately and it's held me back from moving forward with it, mainly all the things that I sometimes want to say but don't or even shouldn't. Sometimes it's figuring out how to blog when I've had a really crappy day personally, sometimes it's not knowing exactly how to chime in on a big issue as my small little self, but more often than not, it's because I know there are certain people online and in "real life" (from strangers and potential employers to family members who think I don't know that they read this) who may respond with judgement or nastiness. I have no use for stirring up more snarkiness than there already is in the world and do not wish for anyone I might have a working relationship with in the future to misjudge me so I try to be just as respectful and tread very carefully around sticky subjects. Sometimes it's maddening, but if there's something that rubs me the wrong way out there in the blogging world, I've learned I'm a much happier person if I just walk away instead of getting embroiled in a pointless argument with someone who is, essentially, a stranger and I hope that folks will continue to bring the same respect to conversations here.

Art is subjective, as are fabric designer choices and modern vs. traditional quilting styles, and I think there's plenty of room for constructive differences here while fully appreciating each others creative struggles and encouraging the development of sewists everywhere. It's good to have those big conversations, even necessary at times, but ultimately, I am here because I find it cathartic to share what I do in order to bring people of various backgrounds together around their mutual love for creating and leading a creative life. There is so much superfluous ugliness in the world and so I like to think of this humble blog as a place to cull together so many of the things that I find make life beautiful and worthwhile, the things that complete my story. It isn't just a passing fancy for me and I don't have that focus on pretty things because I don't take life seriously—I have that focus here because I DO take life too seriously. Ever since I was a teenager, I've struggled with chronic depression, OCD, and all the anxiety and darkness that goes with it. So yeah, it gets a little too serious sometimes to say the least. I've hinted at that before, but that road is a very personal one for me and while I'm certainly open to discussing it with those I know face to face, it's just slightly awkward to bring it up on a blog about cheery bright things sometimes.

one of my scrappy journals from all those years ago, front and back

What I've heard echoed all around is that many folks who read crafty blogs get discouraged by how "perfect" the work and life of the bloggers seem from the outside in and that it's discouraging. I can only speak for myself, but since I do focus on what's bright and comforting and pretty, I feel I should also be honest and clear on the fact that I'm far from perfect despite what I may choose to keep private and not post. It's a list that could fill up many tomes but suffice it to say, much of it is wrapped up in my battle with depression. With lifelong depression like I have, there are many battles and some you lose, some you win. Mostly, you hope that the war will ultimately go in your favor. When I was a teenager, and first diagnosed, I was admitted to the hospital because I had lost a couple of major battles. I'm not going to get into the details of what made that time so horrible, suffice it to say, I've never experienced anything so dark and so parasitic before or since then and it was very much a turning point in my life. My whole world was turned upside down as I lost my way and I had to drop out of school. A tutor came around to our house for the rest of the year and each day, after I'd finished all my work with her, I spent the rest of the time scrapbooking. It was all the rage back then, a rather new phenomenon and while I never got into the cutesy stuff, it was an incredible outlet for me. I could lose myself for hours on end clipping things out, journaling, and collaging and my mom just let me go at it because really, it was the only time when the house did not ring with my panic attacks (it's ok, it's something I can totally laugh at now!). I've joked before that creating is the cheapest therapy there is and I was speaking what I know to be true from my own life experience. I'd always been creative but had never needed it so much, never understood how cathartic it could be, and have never lost sight of the fact that immersing myself in it allows me to live a healthy and productive life. I tried to be a "real" grown up for a long time, tried to do all the things that people think you should do because they do them and their parents did them, but I am at my best when I embrace the creative process, when I hone in on the marrow of it, share it, and celebrate it. That's why I left three completely well paying but mind-numbingly dull jobs after college and that's why I'm here with an etsy shop and a blog today, very broke but a lot happier.

I'm far from perfect, everyone is, but I try every day to be the person that I want to be and this blog is a reflection of those goals, of winning the war so to speak. Sometimes I need to add in a link to my shop because it's how I manage to support myself and my family while maintaining sanity in a creative life. It's a matter of eeking out a living for the time being but I have come a long way both personally and professionally on this path and I plan to keep on going. I hope you will join me and chime in on that which sparks something inside you as well, whether it be a mutual appreciation or constructive differences! If you've read this far, I thank you most sincerely and look forward to all that's in store on the path that lies ahead.

Taking Shape

2011-05-06T16:00:00.002-04:00

(The blanket was crocheted by my great aunt, the pillows and bunting are both by moi,
the couch is Ikea, the vintage work basket is from Ginger's Girl, and the photo was a gift from my mentor
—an original from the Getty Museum archives of the Parthenon marbles, which I wrote my senior thesis on in college)

You've seen the better half of my home studio here but I never revealed the rest because it was always filled with boxes of supplies and odds and ends that wouldn't quite fit into our attic storage area. Just last weekend though, we got a new couch for our living room (which I think I'm going to re-upholster so stay tuned for that bit of madness...), cleaned in places I didn't know existed as we moved things around, and hauled this little Ikea sofa to my upstairs workroom. I had gotten it when I was working in DC and had a studio apartment in Alexandria, VA so perhaps it is fitting to have it up here now—I'm certainly happy to finally have a place to sit and do embroidery without hurting my back or having to haul my supplies to and from the living room!

I've been waiting so long to be able to bring this couch up here so I could make a pillow out of some of my AMH square dance/pastry line fabric to go with it:

VERY easy to make:
a large panel of the square dance fabric fits a 12x12 pillow (or 14x14 if you've got enough seam allowance)

and then I just made an envelope closure for the back in coordinating pastry line fabric.

I've thought about embellishing some areas of the flowers with embroidery but like it just as it is for the time being. I think having a bit of my favorite fabric on display like this will be a nice bit of inspiration and I do like being able to decorate this room with anything that suits my fancy, in any colors I please since I do not have to go through the process of whether it is way too girly or not. Eventually I'd like to repaint (the blue was there when we moved in), but I'm pretty happy with how it's coming together for now.

Speaking of things coming together, I've made some good progress towards the show as well this week including 20 draft stoppers and 26 yo-yos! The weekend will find me holed up in the studio still so I can churn out a couple pairs of embroidered converse and some embroidery pattern work...I've definitely got my work cut out for me!

A work in progress...

2011-05-04T13:42:00.000-04:00

wip color wheel draft stoppers for the festival

After making three lists of things that need to get done/organized (products, signage, and set-up items), I've dived in head first to all the work that May has in store for me. Why is there so much work to be done? Well, I recently found out that I've been accepted as a vendor for the Providence Art Festival on June 4th! It's a juried festival of 70 of the region's best handmade artisans (from jewelry to home goods, clothing and accessories, pottery, soaps and more) as well as live music, crafty activities for kids, street performers, and local food vendors so you can easily spend the whole day in downtown Providence enjoying all that's going on.

Ever since I started my etsy shop back in 2008, I've participated in a few small-time holiday craft fairs or trunk shows but I've never been a part of something on this scale and I'm really looking forward to challenging myself to work at this level and to be a part of all the day has to offer. That means that these next few weeks are GO TIME! I'm a little nervous but mostly excited and want to produce my best work so that I can be proud to set up with all the other artists as well as make a successful day out of it. If all goes well, maybe more big shows like this will be in my future.

There's a chance I'll get a bit distracted from the blog as I work to prepare for the show but I'm going to do my best to stay connected and hope you'll hang in there with me. Of course, if you are in the area, I hope you'll mark your calendars and come on down to see me!

Needle Nerds

2011-04-29T18:07:00.002-04:00

While I was out running errands today I decided to stop at Goodwill and see if I could find any vintage sheets for quilting. Well, I didn't find any of those but I did come across this gorgeous hand embroidered red silk kimono/bath robe for just $4.99! I was wandering around feeling a bit sad about not getting any instant gratification in the vintage sheet department when I noticed something shiny and red out of the corner of my eye. As soon as I was able to verify that the stitching was indeed done by hand, I picked that sucker off the rack and commenced with the coveting all the way up to the register.

See that bit of white floss on the left crossing over the green of the bird's feathers?
That's what it looks like when you "carry" a thread from one place to another on the back of your canvas
without taking individual stitches in between the areas or stopping and starting with a new thread.

If you're out thrifting, at an estate sale, or just admiring a piece you don't know a lot about, you can verify that it's been done by hand if you turn to the reverse and check for carried threads or knots. Old school stitchers will most likely have not used knots to finish off a piece but I must admit that I do (GASP! more on that later) because, well, I'm paranoid like that.

In other somewhat unrelated news, I'm honored to have made it into Rachel's Top 9 picks for the Blogger's Pillow Party—how cool is that?!

P.S. For all you other needle nerds out there, did you read about the hand embroidered veil and hand-worked lace on the royal wedding dress that folks from the Royal School of Needlework accomplished? I love that this type of technical information was made available and that her dress was classy right down to the methods and materials used for it! Read more here if you tend to geek out about this kind of stuff like I do (it's ok, we can be needle nerds together).

My Blogger's Pillow Party Entry

2011-04-26T15:50:00.005-04:00

Umm...I only noticed how much dust was on the arm of the rocking chair as I edited this photo

...had to laugh at my mad housekeeping skillz!

If you've stopped by my blog before, you may have already seen this pillow from my etsy shop recently but I'm sharing it once again (apologies for the repeat!) so that I can have a chance to participate in the Blogger's Pillow Party hosted by Rachel of Stitched in Color. There's a pretty fab prize this month which I can't resist, I finally have a real live pillow to post (ahem...as opposed to the ones that are just ideas in my head and fabric on the shelf), and I've been enjoying all the other entries so much, especially those by Maureen—I figured, why the heck not now that there's just one day left to enter?! Yup, that's me...always on top of things!

This pillow was inspired by my love of crazy colors and wanting to find a way to use up some of my treasured scraps of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks fabric line. I find that they, or any really colorful or vibrantly patterned fabric, really take pride of place when they are contrasted by neutrals and simplicity soooo after a few sketches, I decided to try my hand at a very simple yo-yo rosette pillow with just a few framed in the center by an unbleached linen. The yo-yos are all done by hand of course and the body of the pillow is machine sewn with an envelope closure.

Fingers crossed! In the meantime, you and I can do a bit of blog hopping to see all the other entries and their bloggy creators here (just scroll down to see photos of entries for each month and click to find out more about each one).

A little bit of spring in your step...

2011-04-25T14:15:00.001-04:00

We lacked in the area of real blooms but these pretty carved tulips were quite festive with our easter feast.
They were a gift from our UK friends and i just wish i knew who made them, very cute!

Spring is finally in full swing here. The buds on the branches are bursting, birds are chirping outside my studio window, and the grass is about 75% green thanks to a few rainstorms and warm days so we're finally able to throw open all the windows in the house. While I do love me some cozy winter days, I've gotta say there's nothing quite like banishing all that stale air and feeling free to put some serious thought into what I want to plant and where I want to hike.

In that spirit, I am now about halfway done with a deep clean of my studio (picture me sitting getting distracted by every material and slip of paper and unknown amounts of time drift by as I think, "O I remember that, maybe I will add this and this and that and that to my project q! O wait, you mean this doesn't actually qualify as cleaning? You mean that this is the part where my mom would poke her head in and use my full name to ask how much I've gotten done so far? well, crap..."). So far there are three less boxes of crapola though, three more to go, a lot more space, newly organized supplies and projects, and a few less stacks of papers.

Once the place is in tip-top shape, I'm looking forward to taking a stab at going through my backlog of personal projects. Quilt tops will be turned into quilts, pillow covers will finally be able to be stuffed, and scrap fabric will be evaluated for up-cyling, among other things on the list. I don't want to jinx it, but it's almost as if I've got my very own working studio here...wink wink.

Have you delved into any spring cleaning yet? Or embraced the weather instead and enjoyed something out-of-doors? I want to hear what's motivating you as we turn this corner in the year!

P.S. There is a great conversation going on here and here. So much of it hits upon issues which have been tumbling around in my head for months now that weren't sure how to work themselves onto the blog....soon, I hope!

A Little Stashing

2011-04-21T14:39:00.001-04:00

New Denyse Schmidt at Jo-Ann

I finally found something worthy of the very last of my christmas money—the new DS Quilts Collection! I'm glad now that I managed to save it for a rainy day as it's been burning a whole in my pocket and I just couldn't pass these ones up, especially since I am still lamenting the fact that I was not quick enough to get my hands on any of her Flea Market Fancy line (that are now going for $40/fat quarter, geez louise!). I had just enough to get a 1/4 yard of my favorite ones although there are a few more pattern/colorways to the complete collection available at Jo-Ann.

The patterns and colors remind me of those found in American farmhouse kitchens from the 30's to 50's so I want to use them for a vintage style apron with trim or perhaps an oven mit, definitely as edging along a flour sack dishtowel. I can also picture them mixed with lots of calicoes and scrap fabric for a very vintage looking quilt although that idea will have to wait since I have ~~two~~ make that three other quilts in progress right now...I just seem to have a knack for zooming through quilt tops and then getting very lazy when it comes to the actual quilting and binding.

Maybe next year I will save up my christmas money for an extra pair of hands, ya? In the meantime, I've already put a little birthday cash aside for AMH's new Loulouthi line due out sometime in May...looks brilliant. What can I say, I have a serious addiction going on here and need a hit every now and then!

An Experiment in Jacobean Crewelwork

2011-04-19T17:20:00.003-04:00

my little faux crewel weekend project

Embroidery started as something I'd toyed with since childhood (sometime I should show you the flowers on the strap of my backpack from middle school...they're terrible but cute) and it has slowly but surely burgeoned into an obsession. Over time, it has simply become a way of life and there's not a week that goes by now when I'm not working on a personal piece or one for the shop.

Mostly, I've worked on modern line-based illustration pieces but I've been getting more and more interested in elaborate traditional styles and their history as an art form. There are so many areas to be explored but recently I've become quite enamoured with Jacobean crewelwork (and spent an entire night trying to convince my husband to move to southwest London so that I could start classes towards a foundation degree at the Royal School of Needlework...someday because now it's on my bucket list). I guess it's the art historian in me, but I love trying to discover the way in which different art forms have come into their own, the way each important piece establishes a dialogue between artists going back and forth throughout history, and how those pieces reflect on the continued development of the art form and the society that produces it.

Jacobean crewelwork initially interested me because it is so ornate and I love that it gives such priority to form and color—no surprise there if you've been following my work for a while. I also love that this type of embroidery is completely inseparable from the visual theme it has always played off of, known as the tree of life (which is also a religious and philosophical belief in the interconnectedness of all living things) wherein the highly stylized florals intertwine and are often accented by animals, vines, and leaves without a formalized single scale or perspective. You can recognize it in many Scandinavian and early American embroidered pieces (edit: as well as in medieval illuminated manuscripts and clothing of Elizabethan nobility when it was first developed as needlework inspired by flora and fauna from "The Orient," as it was then known) and I decided to base my first experiment (in the photos here) on a vintage piece from the 1970's which "riffed" off of the traditional motif but used much more modern and bright colors.

crewel embroidery experiment, detail

Since I had no crewel wool on hand or a pattern for that matter, I drew mine by "eyeballing" the vintage piece and substituted everyday canvas and cotton embroidery floss. I'm a firm believer in learning the "rules" for any art form so that you know how to break them with purpose and style down the road, but I was so excited, I just had to commit something to fabric right away, even if it was very simple and not at all authentic. I spent a good 8 hours completing this miniature work on a 3 inch embroidery hoop (thanks to watching one movie a night for three nights in a row) and have plans to incorporate it into a grouping of items going up our staircase that I want to hang salon style. Unfortunately, that kind of time commitment doesn't really make it something I could sell on etsy (darn you etsy and your constant undervaluing of handmade goods!), but I want to keep experimenting to see if there is a way I can do it because I really enjoyed it and feel it meshes well with the rest of my work while also being something new.

In the meantime, I'm definitely going to save up for some proper crewel wool and this fabulous looking book from the folks at RSN!

You Win Some, You Lose Some.

2011-04-14T13:52:00.001-04:00

You can have as many images as you want on the front with
your info on the back—I decided to use my favorite four from items in my shop.

I just got a free trial pack of business cards from moo.com in the mail this week and am pretty happy with them. I really love their design/checkout process but am not totally impressed with the print quality. I don't think most folks would notice, but having been in the business, I was a little disappointed. That one gripe aside, they're still FREE (+ $5 shipping) and they're going to work just fine as something to pass out when people ask what it is I'm doing with my life these days.

In other news, I'm sad to say my laptop of 5 years is now on its last leg and I'm a little worried about what I'm going to do about it. I am pretty good about not having food and drink around the computer, let alone pop in the house (yes I call it pop), but I did and left the cap off...of course that is the one day the cat decides half the bottle would look great all over my keyboard (they are very lucky I love them so dang much). Thankfully it's still working after my computer geek husband did a thorough cleaning of the insides, but is not in tip-top form and I can't speed through orders and blog posts since all the keys and mouse stick like glue, BLURGH! I'll be the first to admit that it's slightly pathetic, but ever since we moved to this place where I don't know anyone and where I don't really feel welcome or at home, this silly computer has been my lifeline. Not just to my online business but to beautiful blogs and people who do understand me and who do care about the things I care about. It's cheesy and emo, but true so the thought that I might not be able to afford to replace it is, well, daunting. Fingers crossed it keeps on humming until I can!

Introducing Vintage Shop Embroidery Pattern

2011-04-12T16:54:00.003-04:00

Two in a row, as promised! I think this may be my favorite one yet and had a lot of fun stitching up the sample in a variety of stitches and colors. Previously, I hadn't thought how much more detail would be found in manufactured vintage items and it was a bit more of a challenge to translate them into embroidery but I think it really makes for a unique and engrossing pattern to work on in the end.

Included are some of my favorite items from my years of working in an antique/vintage shop after school as a kid: a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, a retro cat figurine, coin purse, mid-century modern upholstered chair, a string of pearls with gold clasp, a 45 record, atomic lamp, a polka dot maillot bathing suit, vintage fan, a tv with rabbit ears, and Brownie camera with flash unit.

stem stitch was used for the upholstery on the chair while the back stitch came in handy for the fan and maillot

I got a bit nerdy trying to make sure each item was as authentic as I could manage and checked my drawings against several photos of vintage items where I couldn't remember details off the top of my head so rest assured you vintage-loving folks, they are as accurate as can be. Plus the PDF includes a color guide, as usual, in case you want to use the same palette as I did in this sample. You can find it for sale in my shop here.

I'm going to take a brief hiatus from pattern making but expect to see the next one sometime in May...I'm still deciding between "World Traveler" (I've already sketched up a mean old leather suitcase with stickers and airmail envelopes) or "Off to College" (think typewriter, pennant, bicycle, and satchel). Which one would you prefer to see first?

P.S. I just got word that my Farmer's Market embroidery pattern was featured on MoonbeamWishes blog today—what a pretty site, I'm totally flattered!

A Mini Respite

2011-04-11T12:26:00.001-04:00

The gorge at Watkins Glen State Park, Upstate New York

I just got back from a lovely few days with my mom and my sister in upstate New York where we rented a little cottage with a big fireplace and a jacuzzi. We had some time at the spa (gobbling lots of cheese and drinks here and there), found a great German restaurant one night, and went for a hike along the gorgeous rim trails of Watkins Glen State Park near the Finger Lakes.

I was fascinated and grossed out at the same time by the jelly fungi on the left (which I thought was a bunch of raisins at first) and amazed at the shock of color in these mushrooms although the detail from the photographs doesn't seem to translate here, sad times. Isn't it incredible what colors and forms nature can come up with?

It was really a beautiful place and I'm told that in the summertime, when the Gorge Trail is open (we hiked the rim trails since it was closed due to a lot of ice that is still melting), it actually looks like Rivendell where you can walk around the punchbowls and behind the waterfalls of the gorge thanks to all the man-made walkways and bridges of stone from when the park used to be a private resort in the Victorian era. We got just a glimpse and wish we could come back to see it in the brilliant greenery of summer:

I love living in the city but, for me, there is nothing like heading outdoors to some place that is a bit wild and miles from the sound of cars and people to make me feel happy and refreshed. It's simple, free, and I don't know anything else that makes me feel as good as getting off my butt and on my feet in the woods!

P.S. rolling out my "Vintage Shop" embroidery pattern tomorrow since I've gotten way more intricate with the stitching than originally planned. I had been working towards getting it out today and was looking forward to it but I think the extra night of work on it is really going to be worth it and hope you'll agree!

Introducing the Farmhouse Kitchen Embroidery Pattern

2011-04-05T13:17:00.002-04:00

The second in my new line of embroidery patterns is complete and up for sale in my shop here (insert me rubbing my calloused finger tips but grinning from ear to ear).

I've been stitching like mad all weekend to get this sample ready as well as the pdf file of the pattern which features so many of my favorite sorts of cooking implements and accessories such as the old-fashioned style cast iron cook stove with silver handles and hinges, wooden utensils, cleaver, creamy white crockery, a colander, and gleaming copper pots including a sauce pot, stock pot, and last but certainly not least, a dutch oven (just think, you could stitch these up for your kitchen to match any color of Le Creuset or Kitchenaid cookware that you have!).

I think they'll complement my other pattern, "Farmers Market" quite well and think they'd make for a great recipe book cover, tea towels, apron, or potholders for anybody who gets geeked about good food and the techniques and tools behind it (I'd love to give a tea towel stitched up with this motif along with a copy of the Joy of cooking, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, or really any good go-to cooking volume to someone moving into their first apartment or getting married).

I'm already half-way done with the next pattern entitled "Vintage Shop" and I think it might just be my favorite yet. I'm going out of town for three days for a mother-daughter weekend and am not yet sure if I'll have internet access but expect to see it for sure on ~~Monday~~ Tuesday (as I decided to go way more intricate on the stitching than originally planned!), even if the blog stays a bit quiet for wee bit.

In The Works...

2011-04-01T12:00:00.001-04:00

new embroidery patterns in progress

Do you ever have one of those days where you just don't have much to say? Times when you are busy investing in your family or work and trying to bring so many good things into fruition for them? Well I had one of those days on Monday and then it turned into a whole week of feeling rather quiet and fastidious in my work...and not blogging about it. I don't want to sound cheesy or lofty (forgive me because i think i might!) but I like to think of this, my humble little corner of the internet, as a haven for the things which I believe quell the din and stress of life, things which can bring people of different backgrounds together and make the world, well, a more beautiful place to be. So, after three years of blogging, I'd much rather have a quiet few days here than just be making a lot of noise about nothing as there's quite enough of that coming at each of us, every day, from all directions. I just wanted to make sure you knew I had not forgotten you and am building up my reserves of focus and energy for all the good things that I'm working on and will share soon!

Now that my first pillows are in the shop, I've picked my sketchbook back up to create more embroidery patterns. I couldn't decide between the top two choices you'd helped me pick, so I am working on patterns for both the "Vintage Shop" (I'm probably too excited about the string of pearls I am going to stitch up in pearlescent ivory with a clasp of metallic gold floss...ooo ahh shiny!) and "Farmhouse Kitchen" (think dreamy french provincial kitchen wares).

O and just one more thing before i skedaddle on out of here for the weekend: I've created a flickr group for my shop, The Story of Kat, where I will share new items or work in progress and where you can share photos of your embroidery projects featuring The Story of Kat patterns, projects made from blog tutorials, or how you're using The Story of Kat handmade items in your home. I hope you'll stop on by to join as it will be a great place to show off your creations (plus it is a little lonely right now with no members and i LOVE seeing where all of my own creations have found homes)!

Grandma Meets Design

2011-03-24T14:32:00.001-04:00

(the two in the background are store bought ages ago and the bear is a handmade heirloom from my husband's childhood)

The first two pillows for my shop are finally here! Can i just say that i am pleased as punch with these? I know, way to toot my own horn there, geez louise. But the idea/design/fabrics/technique have been running around in my head for a while and there is always something a bit magical about having one of your creations take shape and looking all snazzy in its own little Etsy listing, no matter how many times you finish a seam and click that button.

I decided to make up two of the same design with yo-yo rosettes in slightly different fabrics from my AMH scraps—each one sewn, pieced, and attached by hand. What i love most about them is the bright against the sparse, the way they combine a more traditional homespun aesthetic with an overall clean and modern design. I really wanted to take what I loved about quilting and blend it with a contemporary bohemian á la anthropologie look. I might just have to put one aside for my own decor/napping needs...

yo-yo rosettes in two colorways of anna maria horner little folks voile

Each one fits a 14x14 inch pillow form and has an envelope closure with my very own professionally printed labels that I'm pretty geeked about (from mommiemadeit on etsy...i just can't show much with my website on it since i use flickr as a photo platform but you can see them, and specifics on the pillows, here and here).

I want to continue this line with a few more designs featuring other old-school quilt blocks such as the dresden plate, grandmother's flower garden, pinwheels, or perhaps some miniature patchwork. Now if only I could get my hands on a few of those Liberty of London Color Wheel bundles! Did I almost not post that link because I'm afraid they'll sell out again before I can strike it rich? Um, maybe...gosh this fabric addiction might be getting serious!

stitch by stitch

2011-03-23T16:22:00.000-04:00

pictured from left to right, top to bottom:

a pop of orange on teal "i do" shoes, the "grilled cheese" shoes which is a saying between the bride and groom,
a new "you + me" design that is cute all year round, personalizing converse's product red line collection
of pre-printed shoes, a pair embellished chucks with the swarovski engagement rings, a mickey mouse pair
for a bride tying the knot at disney world(!), a yellow pair for a couple's engagement photos, a bright
red pair of converse zip-ups that was so fun to work on, and a simple but classy "mr and mrs" design.

while i haven't been able to be around the blog as much as i had plans to be, i have been getting in several requests for my custom embroidered shoes recently in anticipation of wedding season and i couldn't be happier with the growth of my little business and the work i've been able to do for my brides and grooms. i just got a couple more pairs in this week but i hope that soon i'll also be able to share progress on some new pillows for the shop as well.

in the meantime, here is a sampling of a few of my favorite embroidered shoes that i've worked on so far this year, details on each one right below the photo. some are for brides and grooms on their wedding day, some for engagement shoots and casual rehearsal dinners, and some made as wedding gifts.

the work can honestly be a bit hard on my hands but seeing how they all add up like this and what they mean to the folks they live with now is quite humbling and i'm so happy to see my stitching going out into the world like this.

p.s. don't forget to enter into the giveaway if you haven't yet!

it's giveaway time!

2011-03-21T12:42:00.001-04:00

stitched by hand and filled with 100% organic lavender

it is a somewhat gray and gloomy monday here but i have some fun news to share that should brighten it up: windshield diaries is hosting a giveaway of my matryoshka lavender sachets! it's a blog that i've been a fan and reader of for some time now and i'm thrilled to be a part of it now as a sponsor this month.

you can enter to win here until this saturday, march 26, 11:59pm eastern time. the winner gets to pick two from any of the colors available in my shop so i hope you will hop on over there to enter and check out my sponsor interview in which i hope i was at least mildly interesting..haha, what do you think?

p.s. good luck!

working away...

2011-03-17T15:31:00.001-04:00

"what do you mean this is not for me?"

(frankie decided to squeeze his little self into the caddy as soon as i took it out of the box)

just popping my head in for a moment today as i am still going crazy between shoe orders for spring weddings (insert business growing pains here) and attempting to get a full st. patrick's day feast going with corned beef, slaw, taters, guinness PLUS some dublin cheese and homemade pumpernickel bread so we can enjoy the leftovers for a few days with paninis! my mouth is already watering. seriously, i get way too excited about food sometimes.

but what's this? a vintage sewing caddy from angela over at pickles on pizza! i spotted it from one of the crazy awesome treasure hunts that she shares on her blog and knew it needed to come find a home in my workroom so i picked it up as soon as it went in her shop of vintage goodness. i love the print as it reminds me of my childhood and my yarn has been living in a cardboard box ever since we moved last year from DC to Boston so i figured it deserved it's own pretty home after all that time. maybe this will motivate me to whip my studio back into shape since, as my mom would say, it looks like a pigsty as of late with me flying in and out of it. oops.

scenes from a weekend

2011-03-14T19:00:00.001-04:00

i busied myself with making several yo-yo rosettes throughout the weekend (they go so fast!) from some of my AMH little folks scraps which will be used in some new items for my shop...details and more photos to come as i'm working on them only when i can come up for air in between current orders.

(just ignore that i look rather billowy and marshmallow-esque here..it's a charming aspect of the layered look, ya?)

the sun was out and the temps were up so we went for a ~~walk~~ 1.5 mile hike in walden woods over in concord on saturday afternoon. it was so gorgeous out there, a tad brisk, but gorgeous and lovely and just the thing we needed. i wish we could have just stayed out there, but alas, it's back to reality today.

so delicious.

for the past couple months, i have been addicted to these brussel sprouts and have been eating them for lunch several times a week (addicted to brussel sprouts, weird i know...really would never have predicted that one). now i am finally switching gears to another new favorite which i happened upon from heart of light (a blog i love btw). the photo is from the first time i tried it and i've since found that i prefer it with the avocado cubed instead of mashed and the egg fried instead of poached to cut down on the creamy factor. then i topped it with a bit of hot sauce and some cheapo taco sauce, salt, and pepper and WAHLAH...easy and delicious new lunch obsession!

p.s. we recently tried both of these (separate suppers) and they were both UH.MAZE.ING: cheddar chicken from real simple and spanish roasted potato salad from food52—cannot recommend them enough! well, as long as you aren't on a total health kick ;)

turning of the seasons

2011-03-10T14:39:00.001-05:00

signs of spring: this little geranium started from a seed that floated from the pot next to it last summer
...now i am eager to start it in it's own pot and watch it come into its own out on the balcony once the weather warms.

i'm knee deep in shoe orders and allergies, not a great combination.

as the seasons begin to shift (causing mold populations everywhere to stand up and do the conga much to my chagrin), i start to think about a few of the things that the turning of the calender pages will bring my way:

outdoor craft fairs—i've applied for a big one not far from here that will take place in june and will hear about whether i have been accepted or not come the end of this month. i'm terrified that i won't be accepted as a vendor. i'm a little worried about how to get all the things i need in time like a tent/table/display things if they do accept me. i'm totally excited about the possibility of expanding my business and just need to trust that everything will work out as it should...somehow.

tent camping—my sister and i are attempting to get our schedules to mesh so we can all go on a camping trip together this summer. i want pie-irons, canoes and kayaks, hikes that make you appreciate the simplest of dinners, good conversation around the campfire (and clothes that then smell like campfire), my morning coffee from our lovely blue enamel pot under the canopy of the forest, and i want it now!

renewing my attempt at balcony gardening—i've had my cacti, succulents, and herbs going strong in the house over the winter but i'm looking forward to *successfully* growing some vegetables in containers as well this year...with a little more research and a bit of luck, it might just work this time.

captain frosty's—i know, it's a ridiculous name. but it's my favorite fish 'n chip shop on the cape and it's only open in the summer. actually, it's the only fish 'n chip shop i know of here which is just one of the things i don't understand about massachusetts as you'd think this would be the one place in the US where they'd be ubiquitous. have i been known to suggest driving down for a day on the cape just so we could eat there? well, maybe. it's so good that even i, an avid hater of seafood, will at least gorge on the fried haddock and then crave it the rest of the year.

silly or serious, what are you looking forward to this year?

crafting food: chocolate-hazelnut gelato in chocolate-peanut butter bowls

2011-03-07T17:32:00.003-05:00

chocolate + jadite = bliss

the piéce de résistance of my birthday weekend was this chocolate-hazelnut gelato, spooned into these molded chocolate bowls and golly gee it was the most frigging divine thing i've had in a while!

we had made this same nutella flavored gelato to compliment our pie and coffee at thanksgiving with our handy kitchen aid ice cream mixer attachment and i decided to make it again and spruce it up a bit once i saw these on pinterest (if you have not yet gotten addicted to pinterest, do yourself a favor and get on that).

but the more i read about the ins and outs of making your own chocolate bowls with semi-sweet chips and balloons as molds here and here, the more nervous i got about how sadfrustratingwasteoftimeandchocolate it would be if/when the balloons popped and my bowls right along with them. i also had the designsponge peanut butter cups on the brain while at the craft store when i had the idea to use half dark chocolate/half peanut butter candy melts and jumbo muffin cups as molds, eliminating the need of volatile balloons and taking advantage of the fact that these candy melts are made for melting/hardening/molding. i looked everywhere for jumbo silcone cups but couldn't find any and ended up buying paper cups instead....i was worried but needlessly as they worked beautifully! it turned out so well that i decided to take a few snapshots and share the process with you:

i started by laying out a baking sheet and lining it with a bit of wax paper just to be safe and tidy. then i melted together half of each bag of candy melts (i used dark chocolate + peanut butter but you could do just a whole bag of one or so many other combinations!) in a double boiler and spooned 1 1/2 to 2 heaping TBLS into each cup. this made enough for me to coat 8 jumbo muffin cups (ahem and just a smidge to lick off the spoon when i was done).

working quickly with a decorating brush, pull the chocolate up the sides making sure to thoroughly coat them so that no light shines through (light spots = weak spots). i had about 10-15 minutes to do this so grab a warm body to help you or melt your coating in smaller batches. they should start to set up by the time you are painting the last one but to harden completely, set them in the fridge for at least one hour (i was paranoid and went for two).

to the left is the wrong way to remove the paper cup, to the right is the correct way

once they've completely hardened, pull them out and set on the counter. do not pick one up and start tearing the paper down the ridges as this puts too much pressure on the chocolate (i say this having broken the first two this way). instead, you can gently get use a vegetable peeler to pull just a sliver of paper away from the ridge at the edge of each cup to get you started. then turn the whole thing upside down onto the baking sheet and gently peel the paper in a sideways motion across and around the ridges. i was happily surprised to find that it was easy to remove them this way without worrying about any stray bits of paper getting stuck AND without breaking them.

keep in fridge until you add the ice cream/mousse/pudding/whatever you like and then enjoy!

p.s. thank you to each of you for the warm birthday wishes, you guys are so kind and it means a lot to me! i did indeed have a nice little weekend but also seem to have developed a nice case of seasonal allergies (or maybe a cold? both?) which i'm finally going to stop ignoring. hence, i am writing this from the couch and am crossing my fingers that i will be back in action soon. blurgh.

the birthday girl.

2011-03-04T11:08:00.002-05:00

me on my third birthday, 1985. see the outline of the wooden thing i'm standing in front of?
yep, that's a speaker the size of my little body, haha. dang, i miss the 80's.

today is my birthday and i am turning 29 (yes, otherwise known as "almost 30"). a long way from that little lass in osh kosh b'gosh and pigtails, huh? well, some days...

apart from going out to eat, we're going to keep things pretty chill this year. actually, our budget is keeping things pretty chill this year to put it mildly. but that's ok as i'm looking forward to a weekend of good food and quiet time with my husband, a family get-together, and some homemade ice cream which i hope to share some proof of after the weekend. if i could, i'd share the actual ice cream with you and hang out for a bit with paper party hats but alas, i'm not sure that trying to get all that through the wireless router would be the best idea...silly internets.

i hope that each of you will have an enjoyable weekend too and i'll see you back here monday, photos of chocolate-hazelnut goodness in hand!

p.s. as a little gift from me to you, i'd like to offer you 15% off everything in my shop today when you use the coupon code "BIRTHDAY" upon check out (make sure to type it in and hit the APPLY button when you are in your shopping cart).

the balancing act

2011-03-01T17:30:00.002-05:00

two books i've started to read to school myself on running my own *successful* business

sometimes i get a bit sad that i seem to do more admin work for my little business than i do creative work. i have been sketching new ideas for the shop, longingly wishing i could enter into a few blog pillow contests, running my hands over uncut pieces of fabric that are just calling my name, and drooling over some of my craft books dreaming of what i want to create next. but it's just not happening. instead i sit down to the computer in the morning to answer business emails, create ads, edit photos, create listings, make phone calls, and on and on until i look up and realize the next door neighbor can now see me huddled over my laptop because it's dark out and i forgot to draw the shades. i guess it's all part of turning something you love into something you can draw an income from.

i've had a lot of days like this lately and feel i'm at the point where i really need to force myself to stick to more of a schedule. while i'm almost always being productive, i do wonder if i could be more efficient or just better at balancing the different types of tasks at hand.

being my own task-master is one of the hardest parts of working on my own ("put the cat down, write that email you've been dreading, don't sleep in, and for pete's sake do NOT turn on the tv katrina lynn!"). in an effort to motivate and school myself though, i've begun to read a couple books written for freelancers, artisans, and the DIY generation: the anti 9 to 5 guide by michelle goodman and the boss of you by lauren bacon and emira mears (i've also seen a lot of press for creative, inc. and the handmade marketplace but no personal reviews....has anyone read them/would recommend them?). so far, they are both getting me to think more critically about a lot of aspects of my business including how i work and what i need to do to grow and be successful. plus they show how other women have managed to do all this successfully and so they are powerful motivators!

until i get to the point where i've soaked up all the knowledge i can about running my own small business (with balance AND efficiency) i remind myself that, at the end of the day when the neighbor is peeking into my studio, this balancing act is one i much prefer to the cubicle job of my past that i came home crying from and where i was tempted to knock my head against my computer screen on a daily basis (ok, so i actually did do that once...me + office job = soul sucking experience). and sacrificing for this, though difficult, is also going to be worth it!

crafting food: pasta from scratch

2011-02-25T12:52:00.000-05:00

i spent part of an afternoon last week making pasta. i wish i used my hand-crank machine more often because it can be both delicious and economical but it can also require a bit of time and muscle....two things which i've never had much of. on the other hand, i love how the hand-crank puts you directly in touch with the most authentic pasta there is and it's such a satisfying thing to see the way in which the most humble of tools, our hands, can produce food for the table.

the recipe is simple and while there are variations, the main ingredients have remained the same for centuries:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 TBLS water
1 tsp salt
(i always end up needing to add more water than that to get my dough to stick together but this is a good place to start.)
more flour for dusting as you work the dough through the machine

mix the ingredients together thoroughly and add more water as needed until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. use your hands to finish forming it into a ball and divide this into several smaller ones the size of large golf ball. follow the directions that accompany your particular machine for thinning and cutting the dough.

yummy fresh goodness

once you've got that part done, you can either dry it and it will last for eons or you can freeze it and it will last a half eon (just my rough estimate, ahem):

drying: you can dry your pasta by placing it on linen towels along the counter (if you use towels or your pasta is just thick, you do need to move the it around every so often so that the air is getting circulated), over the back of a chair, or even spread out along the length of a broom stick setting between two chairs. you can use a fancy pasta drying rack or a clothes drying rack. whatever you do, just make sure the surface that the pasta is touching is clean and that your canine or feline friends are kept away from the area as it can take a while to dry completely, depending on the humidity of the room/time of year.

freezing: if the whole drying process sounds a bit elaborate, the good news is that you can freeze or refrigerate fresh pasta (refrigerate only up to a week) so that all your hard work is easily stored for later use. plus, fresh pasta boils in just a minute or two so it's ready to eat in a jiffy. yep, i just said jiffy.

i'm looking forward to eating ours with chicken parmajohn. yes, parmajohn. it's one of my husband's go-to meals for when i just need a night off from cooking and i must say he does a great job. especially considering that when i met him, he was living off of pan-friend steak, subway, chinese take-out, and tortellini salad...o dearie my, sometimes learning about food and putting more muscle into it is totally worth it :)

back from chicago, back to reality

2011-02-22T16:38:00.000-05:00

one of my favorite chicago landmarks, the carbide and carbon building on michigan avenue

well, we've returned from our scouting trip to chicago! i'm kind of wishing we were still there but alas, it's back to reality for the time being. it was a great weekend filled with good food, dear friends, some sightseeing, and a whole lot of getting a better feel for where we might live/work/eat/play as we consider another (permanent!) cross-country move. although we still have a couple other places we want to check out, chicago is definitely at the top of our list because it's so easy to see a future there for ourselves and our careers. that, and we are just itching to get out of the suburbs and back to city living where our friends are. time.could.not.be.moving.any.slower! as we spend the next few months getting our ducks in a row.

inside the chicago cultural center

one of my favorite things about downtown chicago is all the amazing historical architecture from the turn of the 18th century. on a whim, we ducked into the cultural center after lunch on saturday which i'd never been inside of before and was amazed at the gorgeous stained glass dome. there was also a little exhibit tucked away in there on the life and work of the architect louis sullivan who designed so many chicago landmarks. the metal work on display was particularly brilliant (above on right). maybe we can find an apartment that looks like that?...mmm, or perhaps i will just settle for plenty of studio space and natural light...i already can't believe how cheap rents are compared to what i've paid in nyc, dc, and boston. i must be dreaming!

inside the needle shop in bucktown

we got a bit rained out on sunday/monday so our plans for walking around more of boystown (and heading to molly's cupcakes) were a bit of a wash. among other things though, we went walking around downtown on saturday...along the river and millenium park where we did not take touristy shots of the bean/cloudgate, haha. we got to hang out with so many friends we'd not seen in a while, plotted endless moving possibilities with the friends we stayed with over meals (cuban, thai, deep dish pizza, and truffle oil grilled cheese, o my!), and went to one of my favorite museums, the oriental institute (unfortunately i could not remember any of the cuneiform i'd learned from a distance learning class i'd taken there while working as the manager of a georgetown antiquities gallery...so much for my former life!). perhaps my favorite thing though, and what you'd be most interested in, was our trip to the needle shop. it's a completely drool-worthy local fabric shop that i could have dropped our life-savings in but alas, i just got a few things to add to my stash:

my loot from the needle shop including some echino laminate, denyse schmidt,
new AMH quilting cotton, an echino remnant, and some free bits from their scrap bin! ooo ahh

i hope we will be back soon for interviews and apartment hunting but i'm not betting on anything moving too quickly in this economy. in the meantime, we'll just hold our breath, cross our fingers, pray a lot, do raindances, make trips to the other places we want to check out, and send out a bajillion +1 resumes. hopefully that will do the trick :)

my lickety split bag

2011-02-16T13:47:00.004-05:00

i know, the birds are upside down...the red birds on the other side are right side up but i don't like them as much.
go figure, i guess i just have a thing for turning convention on it's head...hardy har har.

i loved the pattern/tutorial for this bag from made by rae. it was really well put together, easy to follow, and produced great results! i definitely plan on making more bags with it, especially since she's got some hints on her blog about altering it to make a slightly smaller version with different closure/pocket details.

as soon as i got this lime echino 2009 fabric, i knew it had to be a bag. the abstracted green bits remind me of a marimekko bag my best friend from hs brought back with her from the year she lived in sweden during college and the lightweight canvas will certainly stand up better to wear and tear than regular quilting cotton.

then i got really brave and decided to pair it with anna maria horner's "mixed signals" print in striking from her new innocent crush line. i haven't completely fallen in love with this new line but i got a bit excited when i thought to contrast this geometric purple voile with the echino lime since they are perfectly complementary colors. it's a bit loud, i know, but to see just a peek of it as lining is just right. the bag is actually reversible so maybe next time i will pick something more suited to that.

the length is adustable since it ties at the top and instead of adding trim, i went with some purple topstitching
along all the pockets and edges (a wee bit wobbly topstitching since i have not practiced it that much i'm afraid).

for now i think this bag will be especially nice in fall/spring with a basic tee, sweatshirt, or even a basic brown coat since it would probably be way overwhelming with anything more than that. i'm glad to have a statement bag to tote around on days when the rest of me might look quite basic though and i'm definitely bring it with me to chicago this weekend, clashing or not!

in my letterbox:

2011-02-14T08:47:00.000-05:00

dear valentine's,
i've been such a bad crafty blogger not putting up any sweetly themed items but, well, i've just always had a hard time getting into this holiday since, apart from married life, i usually spent it very much alone and listening to ani difranco. no offense to all your pink frosting, paper lace, dark chocolate, and dear little garland (seriously, i'm a big fan of the trappings) but i think i still need some time to come around and make nice...just be patient with me ok?

dear chicago,
I CAN'T WAIT TO BE TOGETHER AGAIN! we're going to have a great visit together just like old times and i can't wait to introduce you to my husband as we scout out some neighborhoods this coming weekend because i think you're really going to like each other. yes, you heard me right: i said scouting neighborhoods. you are at the top of our "places we'd consider making a permanent move to now that our post-layoff/get back on our feet and move back home to save money time is seriously wearing out its welcome" list. so get your job offers in a row and let us know what's happening as we are so ready to start building our life together forealsies!!!

dear zoë and frankie,
you two felines are loved beyond all reason but if you continue to steal spools of thread and bound across my unconscious body several times in a row like acrobatic chimpanzees at 6am for the pure joy of seeing how far you can push the limits, i will be tempted to introduce you to something i like to call "mommy's dirt list." you have been warned little ones, you have been warned.

dear purple thread,
where are the bleepity bleep are you these days? i neeeeeed you!

dear made by rae lickety split bag pattern: i've seen you making the rounds on the internets and we've been making eyes at each other for quite some time, don't deny it. then you showed up on my lovely friend emily's blog looking all cute in your bright little prints and i knew we had to be together at last. you are awesome. there, i said it. and pretty soon i'll post you here for everyone to see. um, once i find that purple thread...

a girl can dream.

2011-02-11T15:55:00.001-05:00

i definitely set this to be my new computer desktop

today is one of those quiet fridays that i relish in. i'm baking rye bread, getting all my custom orders organized for a weekend of embroidery, and i still haven't changed out of my pajamas. shush now, don't spread that last part around.

i'm also taking a bit of time to work on my of my own projects (yes, there are just too many that i have going right now...) as this afternoon light fades and, as long as we're on the subject of anna maria horner, i thought i'd share with you my progress on my AMH queen-size patchwork quilt! now, if you remember from my first post on this, i am doing the whole thing by hand...piecing, quilting, binding, the works. i started it back in the fall and i now have six rows done and sewn together which amounts to 126 squares. if all the holidays had not taken place right after starting it, i'm sure i'd be further along but that's ok because it's also something that i just want to relish in. the above photo shows some of my finished rows and some of the next ones that i have planned out.

the voile is so nice to handle and the colors make it such a cheery and relaxing thing to work on...i am really finding that piecing, designing, and planning a quilt is my favorite part! as i work i think more about my overall vision for the design of our bedroom: this folksy and luxurious quilt on the bed, creeky wooden floors, sweet and bright little accent items a la anthropologie, all contrasted by clean white walls and all white wooden furniture so that it's not at all overwhelming or clownish but anchored in peace and calm: very grimm brothers meets anthro meets cape cod meets prairie homestead meets color theory art student....a girl can dream right?!

Tutorial: Double-Sided AMH Scarf (on the cheap!)

2011-02-09T16:43:00.005-05:00

me and the finishd double-sided scarf

as you probably know, anna maria horner's little folks and dance line is my favorite fabric EVAH. all year long i've been saving up and buying small amounts all piecemeal like only to end up hoarding the stuff big time when i realized i still didn't have enough for every single project i wanted to make. yep, i'm in total covet mode and yep, i'm laughing at myself right now.

one of those projects is the double-sided scarf like the one featured in the promo photos for when the line first came out. she's since put out some kits for making these with other voiles from the line (and i'm thinking of getting one of the velveteen kits for the figure-8 scarf for my upcoming birthday...), but not any with the square dance and i thought that, to make my fabric stretch further for more projects, i could make one of these scarves with the the 6 inch squares instead of the 12 inch ones as featured and only 1 fat quarter of the pastry line cut from the width of the fabric instead of the length (double bonus: this way your dobby dots will run the same way on either side too!)...and tada! the double-sided AMH "on the cheap" scarf was born!

you can make a large version with the 12" squares or a smaller accent scarf with the 6" squares as i've done

now the concept and steps are totally simple so even beginner sewists can accomplish a scarf such as this one with minimal tools and experience. materials are as follows:

-1 fat quarter of the pastry line fabric in your chosen color
-1 panel of the square dance fabric in your chosen color
-thread (matching is nice for the hand stitched knot at the end)
-scissors (pinking shears are helpful but not absolutely necessary)
-point turner
(if you don't have one or just lose track of things as i do sometimes, a chopstick works well. o, the wisdom i have to impart!)
-quilter's ruler
-iron and ironing board

first off, you'll need to cut 1 strip of the square dance panels (that's a row of 8 squares for the 6" size) with a 1/4 inch seam allowance going around the whole thing (it may be a smidge tight on the long sides but you'll have a bit extra on the ends). i found measuring exact lengths for this material unnecessary since you can just follow the lines around each square and still be as exact as you need to be.

second, you'll cut two strips from the fat quarter of the pastry line fabric. each strip should be 27 1/2 x 7 inches which will use it up perfectly with some scrap leftover for patchwork projects! your pastry lines should run perpendicular to the length of the strip so that your dobby dots mimic the direction of those on the square dance fabric. even if you have the new printing of these fabrics, which do not have the lovely little dobby dots, i still prefer this placement of the fabric as it shows off the pastry lines quite nicely.

as you can see in the above photo on the right, i've cut and sewn my two strips of pastry line fabric together (right sides facing when you sew) right in-between the lines so that the seam is barely visible when you're wearing it. neat, huh? if you wanted to make one of these scarves that is double the length, you would just do this for two lengths of the square dance fabric and 4 lengths of the pastry line fabric.

now, place the right sides of your fabric together and pin it so nothing shifts and gets wonky while you're sewing such a long strip of slippery material. sew both long sides and one of the ends shut with a 1/4 seam allowance (making sure to backstitch at each corner to secure your stitches). since the amount of fabric on the edge of the squares can be a bit tight, pinking your edges is a smart safety measure to take here.

the voile is a bit more buttery than what i usually sew with and i've learned now to take the tension on my machine down just a tad when working with it from now on.

wah-lah: you've got an inside-out tube looking thing with one open end now...you are going to look great! but better if you follow the last few steps, i promise.

on that last open end, begin to sew as if you were going to close it up like the other end. instead of going all the way across though, only sew about 2 inches in from the corner on each side, still making sure to anchor your ends by backstitching on the machine. this will leave you with an app. 2" opening and nicely uniform corners. go ahead and trim off the corners diagonally to reduce on bulk leaving about 1/8 of an inch between your corner seam and your cut so that it won't unravel on you.

now you are ready to turn it right-side-out through that 2" opening at the end. use your point turner (or chopstick..just nothing too sharply pointed) to make sure your corners are completely turned out.

once that's done, use your fingers to flatten the seam, pressing with the iron as you go. go ahead and also press that opening flat with the seam allowance toward the inside so that you have a straight edge. you can use the ladder stitch to close it (also known as a blind stitch), sewing along the inside of the seam allowance as shown above. the knot is the only thing that will show on the outside so that's why i recommend matching thread. it's great practice and one of my favorite stitches.

when that's done, so is the scarf!

"Farmer's Market" Embroidery Pattern is Here at Last!

2011-02-04T18:40:00.001-05:00

i'm pleased to introduce you to my first embroidery pattern, "Farmer's Market," now available in my new etsy shop The Story of Kat. it includes a green bell pepper, scallions, wooden apple crate, carrot, head of garlic, pint of strawberries, eggplant, potato, lemon, milk bottle, heirloom tomato, and market basket...all inspired by my favorite market finds and my days of helping my mother with the family booth at our local farmer's market! i can just imagine how smashing they'd look on a reusable canvas market tote, dish towel, or napkins.

i put together a 4 page PDF that includes the pattern backwards and forwards (to accommodate different transferring methods), a color chart and guide, as well as some tips on my three favorite ways to transfer the designs onto fabric. i also have plans to post more stitch tutorials here on the blog so that each PDF will include active hyperlinks to each type of stitch used in the pattern.

i've been drawing and brushing up on my graphic design skillz for what feels like forever and am so proudrelievedhappy to have it in the shop at last. i now understand much better what people mean when they talk about a book or some such project being like a child that you've put all this love and effort into and then you watch it go out into the world and get so anxious as to how it will be received. working on this has been a dream come true for me...although i know that sounds really corny. it's the perfect marriage of my stitching addiction and my art degree though so being able to act as my own publisher is very satisfying and i do hope you enjoy it as i get to work on the next one!

speaking of...could you help me pick out a theme for the next pattern? i've narrowed it down to a few from my list that i have almost ready and would love to hear which one you'd like to see the most!
1. off to college
2. cabin in the woods
3. farmhouse kitchen
4. vintage shop

nose to the grindstone

2011-02-03T16:27:00.001-05:00

color theory bunting in my new shop based on some that i made for our wedding reception this past summer

my apologies for being absent from the blog this week, i decided i needed to step away for a few days to really focus on some special things for my shop and the blog! we've recovered from the 4th (or is it 5th?) major blizzard in these parts, i've been able to work through a fun tutorial featuring some anna maria horner fabric that i'm going to share here on monday, AND i've got the new shop opened up (!!) with several items posted, including my color theory draft stoppers and some new color theory bunting which turned out wonderfully. i am feeling so good about the aesthetic and cohesiveness of the new shop which is what i've been thinking about and working towards for so long so it's great to be able to finally share some of that progress here too. i do have several new items up my sleeve which are still in the planning stages though so i hope you will bear with me as i continue to roll them out!

one of those is my line of embroidery patterns and i have just finished up the first one titled, "farmer's market." i've had the file ready but wanted to stitch it up to have an example to show and i have to say that it is something i am really very proud of. tomorrow i am going to list it in the shop and will also share a bit more about it here—can't wait to show you!

packages on my doorstep:

2011-01-26T19:55:00.000-05:00

"big birds" in lime from echino 2009, anna maria horner little folks voile in pink rose,
and anna maria horner "woodcut" in perfect from her new innocent crush line.

i love getting things in the mail, don't you? there is something about a package on ones doorstep that elicits such giddiness which can brighten an otherwise altogether normal day. a few of them have arrived on my doorstep recently and i'm pretty sure they'll be right up your alley too.

above is some fabric i got at roughly half off from whipstitch fabrics. if it wasn't for occasional online promotions, i would have no way to continue stash building right now considering how tight of a budget we are on...thank goodness for small miracles!

i spent part of my christmas money on a few books from amazon, one of them being elizabeth hartman's "the practical guide to patchwork". it's a gorgeous volume and full of great quilting techniques and designs. my only complaint is that it features a ton of flea market fancy prints from denyse schmidt that are no longer available..cheese and crackers vern!!! (what my great grandma gert used to say to her husband vernon because she didn't swear. i'm a little less classy and tend to swear like a sailor in real life...but not here *grin*). maybe we should all start a petition for a reprint of that line, ya?! also, this gave me the idea of starting some reviews of craft books here, sans the cheese and cracker comments perhaps.

more about this hand-embroidered pillow here

and finally, something i wasn't expecting at all but am relishing (and may just be wrapped up in as i type this): a hand crocheted afghan from my great aunt karen which is going to match perfectly with the pillows i've made for my workroom...that is, if i ever manage to get a couch in here for guests as originally planned. everyone who sends wedding presents a bit late apologizes, but personally i love the thought that a gift could arrive at any moment throughout the year!

a chuppah in the making...

2011-01-25T13:09:00.006-05:00

as often happens in life, a loss is contrasted by a rebirth, renewal, and celebration of life. in this case, by the upcoming marriage of a dear friend and the creation of the chuppah for her wedding later this year! it's times like these that i am so very grateful for the skills that have been passed down to me, what better use could they be put to than to aide in the creation of a special object for a friend on her big day that will then be passed down through her and her husband's family? i have to say, i'm completely humbled and honored by the thought!

for those who are not familiar (i myself was a bit foggy on it when i started the project), a chuppah, "is a canopy under which a jewish couple stand during their wedding ceremony. it consists of a cloth or sheet, sometimes a tallit, stretched or supported over four poles, or sometimes manually held up by attendants to the ceremony. a chuppah symbolizes the home that the couple will build together. while a jewish marriage is still considered valid in the absence of a chuppah, a chuppah is still considered a basic requirement for a jewish wedding."

as you can see in the photo above, the bride and i are knee deep in fabric and floss selections, the design (the drawing in the center there, by moi) having been settled upon recently after a few rounds to make sure it was just right. now that the project is really coming together, i am starting to get excited and anxious to see the final result...good thing the wedding is not until september because it's going to be a long labor of love since the finished piece will be 6 x 6 feet! i'm going to be using a mixture of mediums to complete the chuppah, mainly applique (for the leaves, berries, and text) and diluted fabric painting (for the tree trunk), all accented and outlined by embroidery.

just one point i wanted to throw out there to see if i could get any suggestions from you guys: the only method i can think of to transfer an image on this scale to the fabric is those old overhead projectors that teachers used to use like this where they drew on a clear sheet and the image was then projected onto a screen. in my case, i'd just hang the fabric of the chuppah up in place of a screen and trace the projected image onto it. only...where and how does one procure an old projector that doesn't cost a fortune? or does anyone have any other ways they can think of to accomplish this?? your suggestions are most welcome!

crafting food: cheddar ale soup

2011-01-21T13:20:00.007-05:00

so what do you do when you've had a rough week, you've got 20 some odd inches of snow on the ground with 7 more falling, and you don't have the cash on hand to escape to some exotic local? well, um, if you're anything like me, you might do a bit of CARBO-LOADING! yes, the caps are necessary today and yes, something along the lines of carbs! salty! chrunchy! cheesy! goodness! in my belly! sounds like just the thing right about now (me, an emotional eater? bah, what is this you speak of?!)

we made this wonderful cheddar ale soup recently, compliments of williams-sonoma, and it really hit the spot. as usual, i changed a couple things so i will just list them below in italics (the rest being the original recipe, slightly paraphrased in kat-speak).

Cheddar Ale Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 bacon slice per bowl/person (we usually go with low-sodium but turkey bacon would be a great healthy alternative too of course. or, just leave out and wah-lah: vegetarian friendly.)
2 TBLS unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (you can substitute whole wheat flour if you like)

1 cup pale ale
(make sure it's one you really like as the taste comes though quite strongly and i made the mistake of just using whatever we had in the fridge...oops)
1 TBLS worcestershire sauce
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
(you can use stock too, i had some homemade turkey stock i'd frozon from thanksgiving and it really gives it a great depth of flavor! substitute vegetable stock for vegetarian version.)
1 1/4 lb. sharp cheddar cheese
(we used a combination of inexpensive sharp cheddar from the grocery store and some gourmet vermont cheddar....holy awesomeness batman!)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:
in a 4 1/2 quart dutch oven (um, yeah i wish i had one of those..my stock pot sufficed) over medium-high heat (bacon is crispier if cooked on lower heat, i usually go with medium), cook the bacon until crisp and then transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to drain while you move onto other things.

discard all but 2 TBLS of the fat in the pot (that's about all i had actually). reduce heat to medium and melt butter. add the onion, carrots, and celery, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 20 mintes (20 minutes was too much for mine as they got a little black despite stirring. all stoves are calibrated differently so just keep a careful eye out).

add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
add the flour and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes.
add the ale and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes.

add worcestershire, milk, and stock, increase the heat to medium high and bring to a simmer. then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-12 minutes. remove the pot from the heat and puree the soup with an immersion blender until smooth (yes, that would have come in handy but no immersion blender here. i pureed the soup in my regular old blender once it had cooled a bit but it was so full that it was difficult to keep the lid on. next time i will just use the food processor like a smart person).

return soup to pot on medium-low heat and add cheese by the handful, stirring constantly; do not allow the soup to boil. season with salt and pepper to taste and then ladle into bowls. top of with the crumbled bacon and, instead of croutons, serve with large hunks of freshly baked bread to rip off and dunk in your soup! i'm thinking a bread bowl might not be a bad idea next time...

add:
1 part Masterpiece Theatre's Downton Abbey on PBS
1 grandma's quilt
2 sleeping cats curled up around you
=start feeling like maybe the world is not half as rotton as it felt the day before!

edit: i was just reading that tomorrow (January 22, 2011) is National Soup Swap Day...what a neat idea to try sometime or anytime during the colder months! i'm sure you could even work in a charitable component...hmm, must let this one simmer in m' brain for a bit!

life's toolbox

2011-01-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

etched intaglio print that i did of ed in 2005 for my senior art show in college

there was something else i'd planned on posting today, but i got a call last night that changed my mind. my mom called to tell me about the passing of a very special person in my life named Ed and i decided it was something that i wanted and needed to share.

Ed and his wife owned the antique store that many of you have heard me mention before. I came in after school and on weekends to help restore old furniture, research vintage glass, help haul big items at auctions, and dust dust dust (sometimes wearing a vintage hat or apron with the price tag on...just because we were silly like that)! By the time i was working in the shop, Ed's daughter and her husband were running the place, but Ed still had his little workshop in back where he took me under his wing and taught me everything he knew about restoring old furniture from hutches and tables to rocking chairs and lamps. he would loan me one of his grimy work smocks and an oversize pair of gloves and we would work together for hours on end at removing the paint that some not-so-smart person had applied to a beautiful antique oak piece.

ed could talk circles around most folks but when he was in his workshop and focused on the task at hand, he would mostly just grumble and mumble. occasionally, i would head up to the front of the shop to grab something or ask a question of his daughter chris (still in my smock and gloves) and she would laugh as i responded to her with grunts and frowns pretending to be ed. this is how i got the name "little ed" and when he became "big ed."

i've never said much about it here, but when i was in high school, i got very sick and had to drop out for a semester. just before that, i'd started work on a classic Hoosier hutch with ed that i was going to keep (i'd been drooling over them ever since i started working there). i got it cheap because it was in disrepair and needed to be stripped of several layers of paint. once i got sick though, the work ceased. little did i know that ed continued working on it and when my high school open house rolled around, there was ed with the beautiful and lovingly restored Hoosier.

some of ed's tools which he passed on to my husband and i upon our marriage

whenever i went back to michigan for a visit, i would try to stop into the antique store. if i was lucky, chris would have lunch going on the old cookstove and i would be able to find ed in the back mumbling over the latest thing he was tinkering with, even in his late eighties. more than anyone, they had become like a second family to me, and the shop a second home.

just this past summer, when we went home for our wedding reception, i got to see ed one last time and introduce him to my husband. i was so happy that he was able to make it to our party despite being sick and i knew it was something special to have him there with us. he brought with him a blue plastic toolbox and i began to cry when i saw what was inside: he'd taken some of his favorite old tools, cleaned them up and oiled them, and given them to us. i smiled as i caught the scent of the oil and was immediately transported back to ed's workroom and our long talks. i was going through a rough time but we never talked about that; it was just a safe place to work with ones hands and learn about beautiful old things, a place to grow and not think about all the rest. i'm not sure i knew it at the time, but that alone can heal some of the deepest wounds and i will always be grateful to ed for giving me that.

ed's funeral will be this week and i can't get back to michigan. i couldn't feel more horrible about this and that is partly why i felt the need to write this. i wanted to, in some small way, put words to what he meant to me. i will always cherish the times we spent working together and all that he taught me every time i grab a tool out of that box, every time i go searching through the big hoosier to find a dish or mixing bowl, every time i make or repair something with my own two hands.

"it's funny: i always imagined when i was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox, full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of of patience. but then i grew up and found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools—friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty—and said, do the best you can with these, they will have to do. and mostly, against all odds, they're enough."

-anne lamott
traveling mercies

scenes from a weekend

2011-01-18T14:26:00.003-05:00

Thank you for stopping by! I've gotten so many questions about this pie since the original post so I'm just coming back to let you know I've tried to gather them all up and answer them here for you.

Finally got to make use of the fancy new pastry cutters my husband got me in my stocking.
he knows me so well...and also that it would get me to make him lots of pies...

The plowed piles of snow are so high that I can't see around any corners to make a turn without risking my life, forserious. On the other hand, what hasn't been plowed is perfectly awe inspiring.

And what better pairing for a winter's day than my knitting and favorite (full) coffee mug?

snow day!

2011-01-12T16:14:00.003-05:00

the winter wonderland we woke up to this morning

this is out our front door early this morning and you see those greyish drops in the photo? those are individual snowflakes! see that big middle space in the middle there? there is road under there somewhere...

it snowed all night but came down heaviest this morning...we're just shy of 2 feet (for now) and that was enough to keep my husband home from work as there were delays all over the commuter and t lines in Boston. since we were up early to check on the train delays we decided to stay up and have a good breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hot coffee. and what else do you do then but go back to bed?! i really do love napping when the snow blankets the world and sometimes think it's god's way of telling everyone to slow the you know what down and soak in the beauty!

on the right is the snow and wind coming down in the wee hours of the morn

we finally did get out to shovel though and i am always glad for my big red Hunter wellies. i think we got a bit more snow with the first storm we had right after christmas but this was much heavier stuff so we certainly got a workout! by late february, i might complain but for the most part i like snow and always feel like i've done a good day's work once we're shoveled out...it's certainly easier than the hay-baling of my youth!! if i can just remember that, i can always manage to stay positive about the bit of work that so much snow brings.

yes, those piles of snow are what we shoveled out from around the car...crazy huh? another inch fell while we were shoveling as you can see from the car that is once again covered here. i expect we'll have to shovel out again tomorrow a bit more but at least this way it won't be trying to shovel piles of ice.

now it's time to snuggle up in my favorite wool blanket and work on some embroidery projects while we wait for the last of the roads to be plowed. secretly, i sometimes wish we could just not bother with them and live with the pristine snow for a couple more days before going back to reality...

p.s. angela, i totally made a snow angel just for you!

Crafting Food: Garlic Hummus

2011-01-07T12:55:00.002-05:00

I am hunkered down with a few pairs of custom embroidered shoes for the next few days so I thought I would share a tasty recipe with you in the meantime. This is my own recipe for garlic hummus, a middle eastern dip made with chickpeas.

You can cut the recipe in half if you're just making enough to go with a normal meal. I use two cans of chickpeas here as I usually make it for parties. Serve with torn up bits of pita bread, pita chips, or even crostini!

Warning: I am kind of a garlic freak so the taste really comes through here. Try just 3-4 if you prefer less and try a few extra shakes of the cayenne pepper if you like lots of heat as the 5-6 shakes listed here will just give it a bit of a kick. Chickpeas are a great source of protein and can carry other flavors and spices very well so don't be afraid to customize it to your own tastes!

INGREDIENTS:
2 15oz. cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4-6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + some for drizzling
fresh squeezed juice of 1 lemon
3 TBLS tahini (sesame seed paste you can get at the store)
5-6 shakes cayenne pepper
1 tsp. parika + some for garnish
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. kosher salt

DIRECTIONS:
Combine ingredients in a food processor, adding liquid a bit at a time as you go, until creamy. Sprinkle with paprika and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. garnish with a sprig of parsley. Enjoy!

playing catch up...

2011-01-04T17:39:00.000-05:00

this is another christmas project that i wanted to share a glimpse of: a hand embroidered Michigan pillow in plaid to go in my parent's cabin-y knotty pine living room. and no, it is still not done because i am just that on top of things right now!

i had that one week to start and finish all my handmade presents between when shipping deadlines for the shop ended and when christmas actually took place and it was just not enough time to get everything done. i guess i will need to start during the summer for personal christmas projects, jeesh.

i'm not sure i can even think about that right now though, ha, i am just going to keep plugging away at this pillow and my quilt whenever i can steal a moment away from moving into the new shop. just a few items up so far as i am hoping to sell off most of my current stock and start fresh with new designs and items....i'm even planning on releasing some of my own embroidery patterns as soon as i can get the final pdfs smoothed out and looking presentable! so far, i am working on designs for a retro kitchen set, farmhouse kitchen set, and farmer's market set. maybe there will be a tea party set in the future and many more i am sure. i've had this idea brewing for a while but i have to thank my wonderful blog friend angela for giving me a bit of courage by suggesting it in a comment a while back! they need a whole lot more work put into them but i hope to release them in the new shop at the end of this month at the earliest, fingers crossed!

Moving Sale!

2011-01-02T13:45:00.001-05:00

via audreyhepburncomplex

a very happy new year to each and every one of you! i hope you were able to enjoy some lovely celebrations over the holidays with friends and family...we certainly did in this neck of the woods!

and since we have just turned the bend to greet the new year, it is now time to say a fond farewell to my etsy shop geschichtenvonkat as the big move gets underway! i have been looking forward to this move for a while but will also be a little sad to see the ole place go, sniff! i'm not yet set on a closing date but i have opened up the new shop, called the story of kat, and I hope you will visit me there as i fill it up with lovely new items over the next month!

in the meantime though, i am having a big moving sale at geschichtenvonkat to clear out the inventory i will not be taking with me and am therefore offering 40% OFF everything that is left in the shop! you can use the coupon code "CLOSEOUT" to take advantage of these ginormous savings (how much do i sound like one of those crazy big box furniture commercials?!) and i hope you will find a lovely little something for yourself. i will be adding a few "new" vintage items so keep those eyes peeled.

it's back to listing items for me as i sit bundled up on the couch nursing a cold...see you back here soon with regular posts in the new year!

Whoville quilt progress..at last!

2010-12-30T13:13:00.002-05:00

Ok, I couldn't stay away any longer because I couldn't wait to share this with folks that I knew could get just as excited about it as I am! I have a few personal projects that I am bouncing between this week (as soon as i have a bit of time to myself I tend to get visions of grandeur and put way too much on my plate..) but this one is definitely the one I am most thrilled to see the progress of.

It took me forever to draw out a quilt design that I thought worked but I am very happy with how this one is coming to life and how it takes advantage of the all the colors in this fabric collection (Michael Miller: Christmas Spice) and the various size/scale of the patterns themselves.

lemoyne star quiltblock

In particular, I've been a bit giddy about finishing up the first LeMoyne star! I picked it because the star design fit with the central star on the Whoville christmas tree as they all sing around it and with the Christmas theme in general. But as an added bonus, I like how the alternating red and green make it look a bit like an abstracted poinsettia!

I am waiting on a bit more of this fabric to arrive since I didn't have quite as much as I needed with just the fat quarters and seem to have snagged up some just in time as it is getting harder and harder to find on the ole internets. In the meantime, I'm going to get to work on a few other things that I hope to share here as well in the days ahead and the next time you see this, it will be a finished quilt top!