A Day in the Life

Amy

Driving

Survey

Wetlands

Driving

Dinner on the Porch

Spot of Croquet

Bedtime

Good Day

Making Stuff

This post could alternately be titled: "How I get things done around here"; or, "A Pillow Project, in About a Year".

I finally got the pillows made for the living room couch. The timeline of these projects should be measured in eons, not minutes. I think I started thinking about the pillows and purchasing some sale fabric (and napkins!) last fall, then actually took the time to cut the pieces this July. One lucky napping day on a recent weekend in August, I actually sewed. One is an orange wool (the new color "scheme" sorta of the living room) from a fabric store scrap bin. The next is a little buckwheat bolster covered in Joel Dewberry's faux bois cotton. I need a fastener on this, but they're buried somewhere in a sewing box in the basement. [Actually, I would like to use that buckwheat bolster for yoga and a different cotton one for the couch here, so I may be recovering it anyway. But I won't likely get to that before E goes to Kindergarten.] Then over there on the right, a pillow case made from napkins by Dwell Studio (Target clearance). Both pillows have thrifted zippers and with the zipper instead of a slipcover, I ended up making them a little looser than I like. I may cinch up those seams a little (in the next 2 years or so). Just saying. I'm quite happy with them but Darling thinks we're overpillowed. Do you agree?

Then, one day Oliver was talking all about his car mat at school and how his cars fit right on it just so and how he would really like a car mat for home. I looked at catalogs and there are some super cool ones out there. But we're crafty, right? We have imagination, don't we? Well, we do.

So we whipped one up. I couldn't find my fabric paints (the basement corner of inaccessibility) and decided it didn't need to be perfect anyway, so we just used good old acrylic paint and canvas. It got kind of crinkly once we painted it, but you'll find that doesn't effect its usefulness. Shortly after the last photo was taken, (you can see it gaining speed) the car carrier loader truck went "out of control and had a catastrophe!" So I think it's a smashing success. Pun intended. I'd like to put a binding on the edges, which have already started to fray, but I may save that for the sewn, not painted, car mat which I plan to make and may complete by the time O is done playing with wooden vehicles.

I brought the old sewing machine along on family vacation and tackled some projects [that have been on my list for years]. First, I cut the Kountry Klutter angel fabric off my thrifted knitting tote and sewed up a new cover in Amy Butler Duck Egg fabric. I repurposed this fabric from the original intent of making a nursing cover... for Oliver. So that dates it to a mere 4-years old. Youthful by my fabric stash standards. The interior is a mustard colored knit wool that Auntie Karen wrapped our Christmas gifts in last year. I used buttons to get the fabric back on the frame, but overall this was really easy and fast. All my knitting lady friends want them. Now I just need to find more vintage knitting totes, yes?

In the spirit of the 4th, I put together this banner as well. Last time I made one (for the May birthdays) I used random-sized rectangles of fabric and turned the seams in. For this one, I used standard size squares and pinked the edges. It was much much faster and I thought fraying would actually add to the look that I was going for, which I'll call Vintage Camper to make it sound styley and clever. I used a lot of American Jane Happy Campers fabric and some miscellaneous scraps. I originally intended this to go along the awning of the Airstream (which you may note, we no longer own).

So there you have it! A flurry of activity! Or no? Rather a flurry of photos with a 5-year warm-up. I am well aware of the "blog effect", so I thought I'd just call it out. Next up? The project I put on my summer wish list: the beach blanket, aka Tupperware picnic. I honestly hope to finish this fall.

A Nip in the Air

August has been so amazingly gorgeous. The weather is impeccable. Some rain, some sun, some breezes, some chill. It turns out that I apparently love 70 degrees. You can still go to the beach and jump in, but you can wear a sweater or even socks without pouring sweat. I love it.  But there was a nip in the air today and it was crisp enough to feel like fall: cool morning and oh-so-divine 70-degree afternoon. It's been a great summer and I can hardly believe that it is winding down.

I got to thinking about our summer list and reflecting back on what we've done. Even though we squashed some extra things in (a couple house projects, a couple camping trips!) I found there were also some things that didn't quite get done. Or get done enough. So, we're extending these onto our Autumn list.

hammock hanging

biking

cheese making

picnic blanket making and using

And in the meantime, doing quite a bit of the "hanging with friends and family". Yet we're not checking that off the list, if you know what I mean.

Notes from the Kitchen

Up in the north, we get a pretty short growing season. So we take our fresh produce seriously. And, as I've mentioned before, we signed up again for our CSA this summer. Things generally take a little while to get going, and so the early boxes are filled to brimming with greens. We like our salads and all, but geesh, we can be inundated with greens. And I don't much like sauteeing in the summer. Then we found Kale Chips. Our friend, Jaime, told us about them and I was hesitant. They sounded overly healthy, and undelicious, and Crunchy, like lentil loaf or some other dry health food concept. But the kale pile kept growing and was crowding "real" vegetables like zucchini out of the produce drawer. Action had to be taken.

Even though Jaime explained how easy they are to make, I found a recipe online, and discovered we're Johnny-come-latelys on this Kale chips thing. It's all over the place. I'm sure you all know about it. So then you of course know how crazy good, easy, fast, and healthy they are? I swear O ate about a bowl of them. Now we're experimenting with popcorn salts like Sea Salt and Vinegar or White Cheddar. MMMM good

We've also been living up to at least one of our summer wishes: make ice cream! With my Ciao Bella book by our side, we've made Blackberry Cabernet sorbet, Blueberry Lemon sorbet, and Strawberry gelato with balsamic glaze. Tonight, blueberry gelato.

And, since it's blueberry season in spades, a fresh blueberry pie. We use the recipe from the UP's own Hollyhocks and Radishes, one of those regional cookbooks full of character and questionable recipes. But we've found some goodies in there and that pie is one of 'em. [On a side note, one of Darling's other favorite cookbooks is also a regional one: Chesapeake Bay, by John Shields. We picked it up from the thrift for 69¢ (written in indelible ink on the spine) and it's made it through 3 cookbook purgings. Tasty stuff. I think Uncle Ben and Pap-pap would appreciate it as well.] 

Otherwise in the kitchen, we've been out of the kitchen. We had a big burn one weekend (brush piles and scrap wood) and decided to introduce the lad to mountain pies. [We even found the pie irons on the first try! This is happening more and more frequently as the clutter gets redistributed: ie. burned, sold, donated, put away, gifted, and simply thrown away.] We kept it simple with cheese pizza pies, but a spark was ignited. We're thinking we should haul the chiminea over and make some dinners. Or breakfast for that matter.