end of february in my corner

 

Since we're well into seventy degree weather around here, we 

decided to go ahead and start our spring veggie garden.

We've had various garden-related ideas for this plot of land over

the past decade, but this is the first time we've actually done more

than the initial turnover. It's been a fun way to work with the kids

and hang out with our community house as a whole.

As you can also see, I met my camera's aperture

setting last week, and we're slowly becoming acquainted. 

sign painting preparations

 Over 6 months ago, I bartered design services with 

a friend. My end of the deal was to paint a lettered 

sign. Since I have been frozen solid when it comes 

to painting, I spent the past six months procrastinating

on this project. Today, however, I pulled out my acrylic

paints and went to town, combining colors for a series of 

test swatches. The lettering style is borrowed from 

Donley & Singh's book called Hand Lettering.

I think it will make for a very festive name plaque!

lilly plant at crave coffee

glass bottle

watercolor and ink, 2" x 1.5"

Hi, there!

I pulled out my watercolors recently

and have started playing with paint again.

It feels really good.

So I guess we'll get some sketches going 

on this sketchblog! Here's a glass lemonade

bottle from Sunflower Market that we've been

using to keep chilled water on hand.

reversible aprons

 This here is a mother/daughter set of reversible aprons I sewed up 

for my sister-in-law & niece's birthdays, which are this week. 

I used this tutorial from Michael Miller Fabrics and put 

pockets on each side, without the recommended contrasting edge.

The aprons came together easily and turned out just as I had hoped. 

Thanks, Joanna Armour, for a great little tutorial!

finished product

And voila! Here it is.

 As you can see, this is the birdy bag I attempted to 

make a year ago for the owner of Merdeka studios. 

However, at that time I used a freezer paper stencil,

and the birdy (which happens to be the Merdeka logo)

came out all blotchy.  This time around, I printed out

the image on paper, covered the back with graphite, 

traced it onto the bag and painted it in by hand.

While this bag was inspired by Handmade Mommy,

I wound up using the drawstring bag tutorial at

QuiltingBees.org, because I preferred the lining technique.

So there you have it. One drawstring bag a year in the making.

How's that for tenacity?

drawstring bag preview

This here is just a little peek at a drawstring bag

I made yesterday. It's a gift for a friend, and I have

yet to give it -- so the rest of the photo shoot will

come soon. Until then, have a happy weekend!

massaged kale

I didn't think to take a picture of the salad I made for dinner tonight,

so here's what's left of it. Can you believe it?! And it was KALE!!

I've been learning the wonders of kale and other dark, leafy greens

over the past year. But how to incorporate them into my household's

diet and actually get people to eat them? Also, some recipes for kale

require long cooking times. I need something speedy most nights.

I decided to go with a fresh kale salad tonight, but when I pulled it 

out of the bag (thank you, Trader Joe's), the leaves were all dry and

leathery. Enter The Kale Massage. Here's how it works:

1. Cut or tear Kale leaves from the spine (discard spine). Chop to bite size.
2. Add a dash of oil, a splash of lemon juice, and a couple croinks of salt.
3. Squeeze, rub, and otherwise massage the kale leaves for about 2 minutes.
4. The kale will wilt down a bit and turn shiny and tender. Who knew?!?
5. Now, you could leave it like that or add some salad dressing and the like.  

 I did the following (and people loved it... even some of the kids): 

Warm Bacon Dressing --

1. Cook up 5 pieces of bacon. Crumble.
2. In a bowl, mix up 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 tsp corn starch.
3. Add 1/8 cup water and 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. Whisk.
4. Heat the bacon bits in a pan. Gradually add the liquid mixture.
5. Heat to a boil, stirring until thickened (but not too thick!).

Kale Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing --

1. Spoon the bacon bits onto massaged kale and add dressing to taste.
2. Chop half of a granny smith apple into the salad.
3. Sprinkle feta on top. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix.

Okay... so it's not fat free. But it is yummy and vitamin packed! I'll let you know if

future experiments in massaged kale turn up something tasty that's less gratuitous.

dress-up wings

 One of the fun things I had opportunity to make for Christmas

this year was this set of dress-up wings for my youngest niece.

I saw them on this blog and followed the tutorial to make them.

Here they are in action!!

It takes some time to cut out all the layers, but the
actual assembly process is very simple:

I cut lots of different fabrics into varying lengths

of 2" wide strips with my rotary cutter. Then I made

a paper template with 5 scallops (2" wide each) in a 

10"-long strip. Sat down with a cup of tea and started 

scalloping all those strips. I sewed them onto the 

underlying arc of fabric (as seen in the tutorial) with a 

single line of stitching per row, spaced about 1/2" apart.

Added grosgrain w/ velcro attached at the very end for 

cuffs and neckband. Voila!

This may sound complicated, but it would be a good

project for a beginning sewist. Especially if one were 

to follow the tutorial more exactly and just tack the

ribbons on without velcro to be tied in a bow at neck 

& wrists. I just love how this came out with scraps from

all my favorite fabrics! I'm brainstorming what else in my

life might need wings...

eric's garden

3"x5" watercolor

I can't figure out how to get my light greens

(namely the leaves of the top planter) 

to not show up as garish yellows when scanned.

Any thoughts? I've already adjusted for value & color.