What's new?

March 28

Hi! I think I mentioned before that I'm having a booth at The Crafty Maverick's Spring Show toward the end of April. I'm pretty happy with the productive creativity I've been able to keep going out in the studio on almost a daily basis. I hope to have some things photographed soon and share with you here. (It's all baby related items). One thing I wanted to share is a comparison of fabrics used in the same quilt pattern. I've always wanted to do an Eye Spy quilt. I thought that if I did two blocks of each fabric it would cut in half the different fabrics I'd need to find and could also be a Matching Game quilt! Here's one I did in 'boyish' fabrics.

I like it!

Now, I thought the 'girls' version would be even better, as I would get to use some of my White Background/Novelty prints that Kim at True Up referred to as a potential addiction in a recent post. :-) I generally try and stick to the old saying "A true artist knows which ones to show and which ones not to" but I'm hoping someone else will learn from my mistake, so I'll show it to you.

 
Blech! It may be better if I were to sash it in red (as there is red in nearly every block) as opposed to the white, but...blech. I don't even have it in me to finish it off, let alone redo it. I think the only reason I haven't already thrown it away was because I wanted to share the mistake here. The 'boy' one may be the ONLY one offered at the craft sale because that last waste of time took the fun out of that quilt pattern for me!

I had round 2 at the French Macaron making process last week. I have to have a place I'm going that day in order to make them, or I seriously will eat ALL of them! This time I got much better on the size (just went over the 1.5" mark by a smidge) and got a pretty decent 'foot', too.

Can you tell what I still need work on? The filling. I keep trying to make White Chocolate Ganache and both times I've accidentally bought and used whipping cream instead of heavy cream. Tastes delish but doesn't stand up.

Kadence just barely licked the shell of one and said they weren't for her, but for Madison it was a different story!

Here she is finally slowing down on her third one in less than two minutes! I think I'll try again next week for quilt guild. I want to get good enough at them to do a tiered plate full of them in Kate's wedding colors this July. Any better suggestions for filling as opposed to a ganache?

I'm being random as usual, but I'm trying to cover the past three weeks. Here's a cute (to us) video of Madison and Sophie the dog at the beach last Sunday. It's kinda freaky how they both flop down perfectly still at my feet, then at exactly 60 seconds is UP AND AT 'EM!

Melissa saw this and nervously asked, "Uh, Mom. Aren't you letting her get pretty far away?" No...it just looks like that on the video. ;-) We rarely if ever have Madison alone, but Caleb had a couple of friends over and Melissa wanted to give them a fun day without lil sis around. It was a good day for everyone. :-)

John and I are going to take Sophie back alone (hopefully today) so I can video her playing catch. She looks just like an aerodynamic skateboard when she runs!

When I was making the macarons on Thursday I turned to watch Caleb reading aloud to me and was struck by the sweetness of this scene.

See the cat in the ray of sunshine on the table? And trusty Sophie, never far away. It's funny to hear him reading Henry Huggins, which was written in 1950. Henry had to catch over 1300 worms to earn $13. And what was really odd was that $13 is what he needed to buy a football. When a weekly allowance was a quarter? Doesn't quite add up in my mind, but it's been a fun read.

Must get up now and start this day. Hope to be back and chat with you soon!

March 8

Yesterday, in my ongoing attempts to clean some of this stuff out of our house, I sat all day at the local monthly indoor flea market. Two months in a row now, and already I'm starting to feel like a regular. ;-) The coolest thing about being a vendor is being there the night before to set up AND get first crack at everybody else's good stuff! I didn't bring home as many purchases as I sold, but I probably brought home more than most men would have thought sane. Funny story: A seller I didn't recognize had a piece I REALLY wanted. He said he'd take $50 for it. I said I'd have to sleep on it. I go back at 7 am, approach them as soon as they arrive, and say I'm ready to pay the $50. Well, they slept on it too and now they wanted $65! I was kind of taken aback at the price raise so I told them if they changed their minds I was right down the way. After lunch (it closes at 3) I meander down there and ask if they're ready to take $50? Um, well, how about $55 he asks? Okay. I'll give you $55. Well, really it's *her* piece so I'll have to ask. I'll come over to your table and let you know if she'd be happy taking 55. Okay. 3:00 rolls around, we pack up all our stuff, and as I watch them taking the unsold item of my attention out the door my neighbors for the day all but said, "You can NOT chase them out the door and ask for a third time!" And of course, they were right, and I didn't, but I sure can't quit thinking about it. I'm not selling next month but you can bet I'll be going just to see if they're there with the piece. What a big to-do about *junky old stuff*, huh?

Look at these glass buttons from the 1910s - 1930s that I got.

All six cards for only $30. Often just one card of this quality will sell for that!

A good test for glass I learned yesterday was to hold them up to your cheek. In March in a big metal bldg, you can bet glass is real cold compared to how plastic would feel.

Speaking of beautiful old stuff. Here's some vintage wallpaper I've finally decided to resell on ebay.

I wish you could see it in real life. It is so wonderful.

I snagged it during a typical 'vintage wallpaper' search about a year ago thinking I was going to have it professionally installed in our guest room.

Between the wall damage I saw happen after the last earthquake, and realizing how *permanent* such an installation should be (to justify the cost), I think I've chickened out on using it. Took lots of photos today and am planning on listing the four rolls tomorrow.

Have you seen Grey Gardens yet? An HBO movie with Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore? I saw it one night last week. I was so taken with the characters that I woke up the next morning still thinking about them and did a little googling. Come to find out, there really was a big and little Edith Beale (reclusive mother and daughter who lived together forever), and a documentary was filmed of them in their mansion, Grey Gardens, in 1975.  Their unapologetic eccentricity (possibly even mental illness) just fascinates me no end. Of course I hopped right over to Amazon and bought all three hours of the Maysle Bros original footage that is available for sale. It's probably not for everyone, but if you're slightly bent like I am, you'd probably find it fascinating, too :-)

In fact, for a week now I've been able to say, "when I go to the Mary Engelbreit thing next month." wow! I saw these bud vases at the flea market and thought they'd just be super little gifties, for swap hostesses, roomies, etc.

And they would have been perfect, if I hadn't assumed they were ME. Nope. Got home, looked at the bottoms, and found out they're designed by Carol Eldridge.  Drats. Guess I'll have to keep 'em!

I'll close with one more pic of *old crap* that I can't seem to get enough of.

I know--I'm weird! I can't tell you how terribly excited I was to find these birthday cake toppers. And while I am not normally the person who announces "it's my birthday!", well; I couldn't resist but to set up that two digit number in the center to let you know that's what I hit today. (GOD 52 used to sound so ancient!!)

Be back soon! 

March 3

My mom had to call me a couple days ago to make sure I'm still around, so it must be time to blog :-) Have been busy helping Melissa, her boyfriend and the kids move in to a nice larger home. Madison, at almost two and a half, finally got her own room! So that's done, and now I'm left facing my own hovel of a home. I say 'hovel' because that's how a place ends up looking when you go week after WEEK without cleaning it, am I right?  Here's a cute photo I snapped of Madison making cookies one day last week ( I think! I lose track).

Sweet, huh? Around that same time we also had our first ever real 'conversation'. It bears repeating:

Me: I sure love you.

Madison: you too.

Me: Really? You love me?

Maddie: Yeah.

Me: Awww. That's so sweet. Thank you!

Madison: You welcome. (then, realizing we had just had a conversation); hee hee hee. You WELCOME!

We recently walked into a furniture store wanting to buy a bunkbed for Caleb's new room. They were $1200 without mattresses. yikes. I came home, hopped on Craigslist, and a set had JUST been listed for $300. It took a week to finally get in to the home and buy them (after being in that home I felt much better about the condition of mine by the way). Between the condition of the home and the condition of the furniture Melissa was in shock and awe that I actually shelled out the cash and hauled that crap out of there. Here's a pic I remembered to take while I was refinishing them in  her garage.

The girl on the phone had said the kids had "scribbled a bit on the desk top but it'll probably come right off with Goo-Gone." ahem. There wasn't a flat surface anywhere on the two end pieces or the two beds that those kids hadn't gone crazy with felt pens, ball point pens, and crayons. I sanded for a day and a half, and the rest of the finishing went pretty fast. Here's the 'after'.

Caleb is in love with it, and Melissa and Mike joke that they can probably resell it for at least a thou. ha ha. Everyone's a comedian. ;-) We're using the second bed (made to tuck in between the two end pieces) in Madison's room as her first big girl bed. It's very low to the ground and perfect for her...even if she falls out she'll hardly notice.

Since I seem to be doing a grandchild update (I must bore so many of you!) here's a shot taken last month of Kadence.

We were out having one of our not-often-enough girls-only brunches. Me, the two local daughters and their daughters. Kate, Kadence's mom, was saying "I told her dad he needs to stop sending her home in designer earrings. I'm tired of feeling responsible if they get lost!" I asked, what the heck are you talking about?  "Those! Like the ones she's wearing!" huh? At which point Kadence pipes up "they're joo-see!" Oh, my my. Ain't none of us going to be able to keep up with that one much longer!

On the topic of sweet stuff, I like many have become obsessed with wanting to make macarons. Well, really I wanted to taste a macaron, so it was up to me to make them.  In two years of getting Marie Claire Idees magazine, I don't think they've ever had a issue without macarons in at least one photo. So I finally gave it a whirl this past weekend. I will show you the reason I will be trying again soon.

The little raised up base, called the 'foot'. Very promising!! What I did *wrong* was made them too big. I've now made a template with 1.5" circles on it so I can keep them small and uniform next time. See, you really can't go wrong with the taste. It is made of ground almonds, meringue and sugar. Like a Jordan Almond flavored cookie with a light yet crunchy meringue texture. OMG. I ate almost all of them. WITH a white chocolate ganache filling. SO. The only reason I'm not making another batch this very morning is because I know darned good and well I'd eat all of them too! What really helped a lot was watching 'macaron' or 'macaronage' videos on you tube. The key to success or failure is when you fold the almond/sugar mix into the meringue...watching the professionals do it beforehand totally took the mystery out of it.

Want more sweet stuff? I've also been somewhat obsessed with finding the sweet fabric panels by Atsuko Matsuyama ever since seeing this blue quilt (among other things) in her fabulous Pink Book.

I finally found someone in Tokyo who speaks english well enough to reply "why yes, I have that panel in THREE COLORWAYS, and also some coordinating prints."

OH knock me over with a feather! And sweet prints like this, too.

I may have to go find an actual paying job to fund my future shopping with her, ($45 to ship 8 meters) but it'd be worth it! 

Sorry to make a long post five minutes longer, but I've had the video below linked here in draft form for three weeks now and no matter what your politic nature, it deserves at least one watch with an open mind. Actually, it deserves an emmy in my opinion, and so succinctly illustrates why a) Sarah Palin offends the hell out of me "How's that hope-y change-y stuff workin out for ya?" and b) why I LOVE Stephen Colbert. Brilliant comedy. Brilliant because it's the truth:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sarah Palin Uses a Hand-O-Prompter
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations