wienerdogs on parade

November 28, 2007 at 6:22 pm | In non-craft | 1 Comment

i would dearly love to post photos of my latest completed project, but i sent it to a friend as a surprise gift, and i don’t want to ruin the surprise. i’ll wait to post about it until she tells me it’s arrived.

until then, i leave you with wienerdogs, from the 2005 Pasadena Doodah Parade.

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on deck and just finished

November 22, 2007 at 2:49 pm | In FO, WIP, crafts, embroidery, knitting, sewing | 5 Comments

after much procrastination, i started knitting a Clapotis scarf last week. i’m using some of that joann’s sensations rainbow boucle yarn and i’m hoping for the best.

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i think it’s going to take me awhile to finish. i’m kind of a slow knitter.

and! i’m learning how to do free-hand machine embroidery. i picked up a cheapie darning foot for my sewing machine and have been playing with it, trying to figure out how to properly do it. f’rinstance:

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and i made some napkins out of some osnaburg fabric that was in my stash:

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my husband drew the little piggyface picture and i stitched it.

a few things i learned:
* make sure the fabric stays taut while in the embroidery hoop
* use stabilizer when stitching thin fabrics, like the flour sack towel
* choose a thread color that stands out
* keep the needle moving at a steady speed
* don’t let go of the hoop while stitching!

i’m definitely going to be trying out some more of the machine embroidery. and with any luck, i’ll make some more progress on the clapotis over the next few days (with little or no frogging involved!).

happy thanksgiving to those who are reading this in the US! to everyone else, hey, have a nice weekend!

hey, how was your, uh, weekend?

November 19, 2007 at 4:07 pm | In food | Leave a Comment

so i walked into work this morning, thinking i’d ask a few of my coworkers how their thanksgiving was.

ummmmyeah, thanksgiving isn’t until this thursday. silly me, i got confused since we had our thanksgiving dinner yesterday, so my mom could eat with us. it worked out really well, too: no grocery store hassles, and plenty of time for prep work the day before.

i made a yummy pumpkin pie:

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and some no-knead bread:

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there’s a divot missing because part of the loaf got stuck in the pot for some reason.

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it doesn’t matter, because the bread was still filled with deliciousness.

i also made cranberry sauce, which is pretty much the easiest thing to make ever. cranberries, water, sugar, boil until they pop, voila.

no photos of my husband’s awesome turkey [disclaimer: even though my diet is mostly vegetarian, i do eat turkey at thanksgiving], but i assure you, it was moist and tasty. our apartment still smells of the onions and garlic that were baking in the turkey roasting pan.

i will share my pumpkin pie recipe (that i ganked from Libby’s, haha):
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
2 eggs
1 15-oz can pumpkin (i used trader joe’s organic)
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
1 unbaked pie crust

mix sugar, salt and spices in a small bowl. beat eggs in large bowl. stir in pumpkin and sugar/spice mixture. gradually stir in evap milk.
pour into pie shell. bake at 425F for 15 minutes. reduce heat to 350F and bake 40-50 minutes, until knife inserted near middle comes out clean. cool on wire rack for 2 hours.

i tell you what, that pie was EXCELLENT. i’ll be making another on thursday. i’m looking forward to a nice long weekend, filled with lots of nothing. and by nothing, i mean sleeping in and naps and knitting and dvd viewing. yup.

yet another pair of $%&#*@! slippers

November 17, 2007 at 2:24 pm | In crafts, sewing | Leave a Comment

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another try at the slipper-making. i picked up this pattern from Marty Stew and used a polar fleece remnant i had hanging around.

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i like a nice argyle.

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the uppers are just one layer – i probably should have gone for two. the sole is two layers of fleece and a layer of jiffy grip for the bottom.

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overall? they’re OK, but not exactly what i was hoping for. that probably has something to do with the fact that they’re meant to be made out of a thick wool felt instead of floppy fleece.

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at the very least, they’re good at keeping my toes toasty while i’m parked on the couch.

new stuff, old stuff

November 11, 2007 at 9:48 am | In FO, crafts, knitting, sewing | 1 Comment

i tried a new project yesterday. since i know so many recently-pregnant ladies, i thought i’d try my hand at Heather Bailey’s Bitty Booties pattern. i pulled out some felt and worked up a very basic version of the booties.

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i think i’ll try something a little more complex next time around.

and the “old”? yet another No Holes Dishcloth, knitted up and ready to go to work in my kitchen.

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i used some sugar ‘n cream cotton yarn that was sitting in my stash. i LOVE these dishcloths. they seem to work best after they’ve been through the washing machine once or twice, and they last a good long time. i’ve been knitting these on size 7 needles, instead of the size 9 needles called for in the pattern. i like the knitting to be a little more dense, i guess.

yet another reason why mark bittman RULES

November 7, 2007 at 8:20 pm | In food | 1 Comment

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oh, happy day!!!

just finished reading page 12, and have only barely glanced at some of the recipes, but i can already tell that this book is going to get a LOT of use.

shadowboxing

November 4, 2007 at 11:26 am | In crafts | Leave a Comment

the big problem with photographing a shadowbox piece is the $#!@ reflection on the glass. oh, and the fact that my camera likes to focus on the linty bits on the glass, rather than the stuff inside. *shrugs* just trust me when i say it looks better IRL than in a photograph.

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statistics:

  • the wooden shadowbox is from ikea. it’s 5.5″ tall, 7.5″ wide and 3.125″ deep.
  • using acrylics, i painted the outside silver, the front black and i used a watered-down purple to stain the inside.
  • the backing is covered with some reclaimed sari trim i bought in little india (the one in los angeles county) around five years ago.
  • the etching of the hands glued to the bottom of the box is a photocopy from a dover book.
  • the tin formerly held altoids. i sanded the finish and rusted it.
  • the portraits are photos i shot at a cemetary in chicago, laser-printed on acetate.
  • i painted an oval of gesso on each side of the tin.
  • when the gesso dried, i poured melted beeswax over it and placed the portraits down, covering them in beeswax.
  • i used a small heat iron and a heat gun to further melt the wax inside the tin.
  • tin is held in place by a piece of phone wire dropped in from two holes drilled in the top of the box.
  • the wire is duct-taped to the back of the tin.
  • the metal heart and key were glued in place.

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i think it’s done. i’m going to let it sit for a few days and see how i feel about it, see if it needs anything added or changed. i wanted to keep it simple, so maybe i should just hang it on the wall and enjoy it, rather than think about changing it… yeah. i’ll do that.

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