making, learning, teaching and sharing a crafty life
Today I decided to embark on a little photo project involving colour. I’m not exactly sure where it’s going to go, but I’m feeling the need to do some colour exploration.
Also, I’ve been wanting to try smocking since I wrote about Tinctory. Now that I’ve found this tutorial {via whip up}, it’s going on the list.
p.s. I couldn’t help myself. I just bought bought this as a birthday treat to myself. It’s not for a couple weeks, but hopefully it will arrive just in time.
The elusive frog in our pond finally let me get close enough to take his photo. Meet Mr. Frog!
I’m just so proud that our tiny plastic pond in the ground has become home to such a cute creature.
Monday = My day off, so I’m planning on making some things. (starting with french toast with pear jam for breakfast & french onion soup for dinner – oh, i didn’t even realize i was feeling so french today!)
I’ve been dying to see this nani IRO fabric in person. It’s double gauze cotton (a soft, loosely woven cotton that is double layered together) and it just arrived with a large shipment of Japanese fabrics. It’s beyond lovely.
I’m going to flip through my nani IRO pattern book for some inspiration for this fabric.
If I’m in love with a fabric, I usually have to wear it. Hence, the need for crazy 13 dress challenges.
p.s. Where the heck is dress #13???!! It’s late, my friends. I can only say that it will be worth the wait. (and it’s still too warm to wear coloured tights)
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Brandy in my shopping tote class. We got to talking and she told me about a spiced pear jam that she often gave away as a gift for the holidays. I’d never had pear jam before, but was instantly intrigued. Especially because I remembered that my parents had two pears trees in their backyard that were laden with more pears than they knew what to do with.
This was my first attempt at making jam, but I was armed with a couple different recipes from Brandy and a huge bag of Bartlett pears from my parents. My mom came over on ‘jam day’ and helped with all the peeling, coring and chopping of the pears. We made two batches and ended up with seven jars of seriously delicious jam. I sense a yearly jam tradition starting up.
CHUNKY VANILLA PEAR JAM
Adapted from “Perfect Preserves” by Nora Carey (Stewart Tabori and Chang, 1990)
Posted in the NY TIMES
5 pounds pears, preferably Bartlett
Grated zest of a lemon
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
16 ounces frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 cups water
This recipe contains no added sugar or pectin, something you’ll find in traditional jam recipes. It uses the natural fruit sugars to give a more natural sweetness. The end result is not as gelled or sweet as regular jam, but this leaves you with something that resembles a thick pear sauce. You won’t believe how flavourful this recipe is, especially with the vanilla bean. I had some of the jam over french toast the other day and it was incredible!
Something very exciting seems to be happening out there, I can feel it in the air … people are wanting to quilt. As a ‘quilt shop’ owner, this is especially exciting. Mostly because from my vantage point I can witness the birth of these creations from the first selections of fabric. Then weeks, months later I get to see the amazing finished results.
I am far from being a quilter myself. I have yet to complete one quilt. Perhaps this seems a bit crazy to you, but when I was planning the workroom, I was planning a place where I could teach you the things that I know and where you would teach me the things that you know. I have known for a long time that quilting was something that I wanted to learn and I hoped it was something that you wanted to learn too.
Claire has been talking about starting her next quilt. Her blue and white quilt was a joy to watch come together. Anabela is planning her first quilt as a wedding gift and picking out fabrics and a pattern. Quilt Sunday is coming up this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s work in progress and new projects.
With all this, I suddenly realized that I actually finished my queen-sized quilt top during the summer, but forgot about it! I pulled it out this morning, ironed it and took some photographs. I love the way it turned out. It’s so fun to see how all the blocks that I spent so long agonizing over came together. Now that quilting season seems to be starting up, I’m going to get going on doing a simple pieced back. I’d like to spend the winter hand quilting this while I watch Gossip Girl. (and I’d like to start working on another quilt, of course.)
Long before I had the pleasure of meeting Melinda Josie, I admired her work. She often participates in Magic Pony’s group shows and I always gravitated towards her pieces. Her fanciful, but realistic portrayal of animals makes me believe in bears knitting and kitty kat picnics. Melinda’s website just went live and I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get a copy of her new print, Fig Newton the cat. He’s the cutest cat I’ve ever seen! My print arrived on Saturday, hand delivered by Melinda herself. I’m so excited to have it framed and hung up in the shop. I know it’s going to make me smile every time I see it.
When did you know you wanted to be an illustrator?
Melinda: I don’t think I knew I wanted to illustrate until I started planning for college, but I always knew that I’d somehow be involved in some form of art. I still illustrate, but also enjoy doing fine art as well. That’s when I can feel truly creative.
You spent your childhood in the Muskokas, that must have been a big influence on your work. Do you enjoy living in the city now?
Melinda: My parents moved my family up to Muskoka when we were very young and I stayed up there until the end of high school. It was a great place to grow up, and really helped nurture my creative side. I moved to Toronto after college and love living here. It was an exciting change for my artwork.
What is the story behind Fig Newton? I love him!
Melinda: I love Fig Newton too! The real Fig Newton belongs to a friend that used to come into the gallery I worked at. She had posted some adorable photos of her Persian kitten on flickr and she inspired the painting, (which is actually tiny! The original painting measures 4″ x 6″). (On a side note: go to her photostream and have a look at this cat! It’s the best cat ever!).
What inspires you these days? There seems to be a domestic theme is some of the recent work I’ve seen.
Melinda: There are a lot of things that are inspiring me lately. I always try to keep looking for more things that inspire. I collect old books of folklore and children’s stories, (like Little Golden Books!). I love Midcentury and Scandinavian design, and collect furniture and housewares. Our house is full of inspiration! And that’s why a lot of my work lately has been related to all things domestic. I also love going to local galleries and discovering new artists. It’s always refreshing to learn about people who enjoy their work as much as you.
To get your hands on your own Fig Newton print (or one of her other pieces), visit Melinda’s website or Magic Pony.
p.s. Melinda gave me a sneak peak of her next project – fabric designs! They are super crazy cute and I’ll be sure to let you know when they are available.
Sorry for making you wait all day to find out who the winners were, but it’s my day off and I got caught up in the kitchen making pear jam with my mom! I’m writing this as my final batch boils on the stove.
Wowee! I was so delighted to read all 113 comments on the Mendocino contest post that I decided to pick two winners. The first winner will receive the eight fat quarters and the second winner is receiving four fat quarters of Mermaid happiness. I went to one of those online random number generators to save time and paper….
Winner 1 is commenter #24 – Charlotte! whose favourite mythological creature is the Griffin.
Winner 2 is commenter #105 – Erin K! whose favourite mythological creature is the Tree Octopus.
As Kim said, “Hooray for Cryptozoology!”. I loved reading all your responses about the mythical creatures you loved. I did a quick tally to see which were the most popular.
1. Mermaid
2. Unicorn
3. Faeries
4. Dragon
5. Phoenix
6. tie between Pegasus & the Loch Ness Monster & Griffin
7. tie between Snuffleupagus & Bigfoot/Yeti/Cabbage Ape
It was really lovely to hear from each of you. I didn’t realize until I started a blog how important leaving comments is to the author. It makes my day to hear from you and know you’re out there reading my ramblings.
I’m wearing my summer scarves and dresses with jeans and flip flops now. Fall officially starts September 22, 2008 at 11:44 am EDT. This weekend I’ll be working hard to make my 13 dress deadline.
I hope you have a lovely weekend!
Look what came in the mail the other day, a hand-stitched leather brooch from Belgium! This came from the lovely Sandrine, who is a super crafty gal. I was really happy to hear from Sandrine, who suggested a swap for this laser engraved brooch I made. This is my first swap, how fun!
Merci beaucoup, Sandrine! I love it and look at the perfectly matched outfit I was wearing the day that it arrived.
I have been collecting photos of people and their brooches. I feel like the brooch has made a really good comeback in the last year and I love seeing all the different ones that people have. It is such a great way to wear a little piece of crafty goodness.
Kim at True Up put up a posting about my Mendocino fat quarter contest. I wanted to say hello! to everyone who is visiting for the first time, I’m overwhelmed by all your amazing comments.
If you don’t already read True Up and you love fabric, then you’ll want to head over there and check it out. It’s a daily read for me, as it is full of great fabric eye candy, information and news.
As for mythical creatures, I spotted a frog yesterday in the pond in our backyard. This might not seem like such a big deal, but our pond is TEENY TINY. I’m not sure where he came from or how he found our pond, there are no bodies of water anywhere near us. Of course, the battery in my camera was completely dead and when I went out this morning to try to take a photo, the froggie was no where to be found. I swear he exists! I’ll keep trying to take his photo.
One last thing, I can’t help but tell you that Rachel McAdams came into the shop this morning. She looked incredible and was super nice. I’m a huge fan, eagerly awaiting her upcoming movie, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”. I L-O-V-E-D the book.
