silver linings

Busy

2010-10-25T01:08:00.005-04:00

Not to overstate the obvious, but this doctorate sure takes up ALL of my time! I miss this space, though.

I realize that part of why I don't post more often is that I feel badly about the quality of my pictures. Since I usually find myself cooking late at night my lighting is the pits. Not to mention that the form and composition of my photos leave a bit to be desired. But that won't get better without practice, right?

Anyway, Fred and I just had new headshots taken by our most awesome friend, Rachel. This woman is seriously amazing. I love that we have engagement pics, wedding pics, and now these headshots marking every October for the past three years. Quality photos are key, and finding Rachel was such a blessing. So here's the evidence that we are, indeed, alive and well. Till next time.

Peaches

2010-08-25T20:58:00.003-04:00

Did you know that peaches grow well in New England? I seriously didn't. I always associated them with the south. But I've been researching pick-your-own apple farms in the area, and everyone has peaches right now. Peaches, and late season raspberries. Craziness! Naturally, I had to go see for myself what this was all about.

Fred and I picked a rainy morning to head down and try out a farm. Well, we didn't pick the rain, it's been raining non-stop and we're running out of free mornings, so we went anyway. I won't say much about the farm, because it honestly wasn't that great. But indeed, they did have peach trees and we snagged an awesome ton of little peaches.

These guys were all on the small side, and the pits weren't proportionately smaller. Some of them were freestone, but a lot of them weren't. So we spent an awful long time slicing the peaches off their pits. But oh, the smell! Man, I don't know what grocery stores are hawking these days, but they sure don't smell like peaches quite like these did. And the taste! Every sweet juicy bite had us grinning like fools.

And then we made more peach jam than I can shake a stick at. Vanilla bourbon peach jam, to be precise, because with a name like that I couldn't resist. I adjusted this recipe a bit, and while mine didn't come out all beautiful and bright orange like the original, it still tastes like joy.

Here's my recipe. I used Pomona's Universal Pectin, which allows for double batches and way less sugar. This is a rough amalgamation of the suggested recipe inside the box and my inspiration. Note that other pectins will have you add the sugar and the pectin at different stages in the process. Be sure to scale the recipe and follow the instructions from your pectin of choice!

Vanilla Bourbon Peach Jam
(makes about 11 cups)

8 c. chopped peaches (yield from that basket up there)
6 T lime juice
1/2 vanilla bean pod, halved and scraped
pectin as per the instruction in the box
3 c. sugar
1/4 c. bourbon (Jim Beam Black)
2 t. almond extract

Prepare your peaches as you'd like. (We didn't peel ours, and just chopped them roughly as we pitted them. One batch we blended into submission with a hand blender. The other batch we smashed with a potato masher, and later decided to blend partially. Do whatever works for you.) Mix in a giant pot with the lime juice, seeds from your vanilla bean pod, and the calcium water if required by your pectin. Bring this mess to a boil, stirring quickly enough to not get splattered. Next, as per Pomona's instructions, add the sugar and pectin and return to a boil, still stirring carefully. Remove from heat and pour in the bourbon and almond extract. Contemplate as to whether this delicious boozy stew might just be the cure for the common cold. Pour into sterilized jars and set into a hot water bath to boil for 10 minutes. Remove the jars, and listen for that tell-tale ping of sweet success :)

what we eat 2

2010-08-12T17:33:00.004-04:00

I realize this looks like a big pile of potatoes and mush with tomato sauce on top. It's scrambled tortillas from Moskowitz's Vegan Brunch, and even she says it's hard to photograph. Any picture of it at all is conspicuously missing from the cookbook. (Side note - I just found this recipe and about 20 pages of Vegan Brunch on Google Books!)

Scrambled tortillas are basically a pile of sauteed onions, jalapenos and corn tortillas that you cook with blended tofu till it turns awesome, mix with steamed potatoes, and top with a spiced tomato sauce. Yum. As Fred said, it's like getting all wrapped up inside a warm enchilada and then eating it. I could totally see a person making this with a few eggs instead of the tofu, adding other veggies, or topping with guacamole. Although unphotogenic, it's way tasty.

what we eat 1

2010-08-07T23:10:00.006-04:00

Oh hi! How's your summer been? I just got back from a month teaching and coaching and performing and recording at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute with Bala Brass. Man, that was a whirlwind of a time! It was pretty fantastic, but I'm glad to be back in my own home again. Seriously, I missed my kitchen.

I realize my last 3 posts have been at least somewhat about food. This year I've discovered that my love for cooking is way stronger than I ever imagined. It's kind of over the top. Fred says that if I keep it up he's going to die fat and happy. Nothing is quite as rewarding as playing my horn, thank goodness, but cooking is quickly becoming my other first love. There's only one tricky detail. We're dietary vegans. Now this poses no problems as far as I'm concerned, but I realize that "vegan foodie" might come across as an oxymoron. So I thought I would spend some time on the subject.

Fred and I were vegetarians before we met each other, and decided to go vegan between Thanskgiving and Christmas of 2005. We like to say that we eat things that come from the earth rather than listing the things we don't eat. But that being said, we avoid meats, fish, eggs, and dairy products. We eat this way for purely selfish reasons, just because we feel good when we do. It's not an animal rights thing for us so we still wear wool and leather. For that matter, we still eat honey. We try not to proselytize and we certainly aren't offended by others cooking or eating meat around us. When we aren't in control of our cooking we're flexible as necessary, and we're extra flexible when desert is involved. As much as being vegan makes me feel good, sometimes a treat from the coffee shop feels good too!

Eating vegan doesn't feel hugely limiting to us. A lot of foods in this world happen to fall under the vegan heading. Heck, even Oreos are vegan! It means a lot of label reading and a lot of cooking, but it feels good so it's worth it to us. It's also pushed me to be creative in the kitchen, something that might not have happened without the "limitations" of our diet. But we eat some awesome and tasty foods, so I thought I would start to share that here.

Tonight I made my first attempts at a galette. Two galettes, actually. Deb over at Smitten Kitchen made this beautiful zucchini galette a while back, and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. I wanted so badly to make one at Tanglewood. We even lived next to a farmer who sold his vegetables from a stand in his front yard. He always had such a pile of zucchinis. But of all things, our kitchen wasn't stocked with measuring cups. Cheap as I am, I spent the entire month cooking what I could without measuring cups. Ugh. Then when we got home the zucchinis at the grocery store looked pathetic in comparison and I couldn't bring myself to get a single one. But yesterday we were out visiting family in Western Mass, and they were trying to get rid of the extra zucchinis from their garden! Score on the zucchinis.

Then there's the matter of the crust. I'm habitually wary of pie crusts. My mom didn't make a ton of pies while I was growing up, and I've botched a few since then, so I just don't have a great working relationship with pie crusts. But yesterday I was flipping through one of my mom's old Cooking Light cookbooks and I found a recipe for greek baking-powder piecrust. It uses olive oil so it's accidentally vegan, and the book describes it as easy-to-make and convenient. Awesome.

I used the tofu basil ricotta recipe from Veganomicon, added some sliced tomatoes and my zucchini, and here's what we've got. I can't wait to dig into this guy. And the pie crust recipe makes two crusts, so I tossed some leftover farm stand peaches we had lying around into the other one. Instant desert.

So there you have it, the first installation of "what we eat." I'm hoping my posts come more frequently these days, but I'm guessing they'll come with more pictures and fewer words as school starts. I'm going to cook up a storm while I still can!

Staycation

2010-06-26T22:58:00.004-04:00

We devoted yesterday to staycation. First there was a quick shopping trip, then a picnic and swimming at Walden Pond, finishing the first half of a pair of socks, and my first experience with the tennis courts across the street from our new apartment. Let's just say, I'm not a natural at tennis. But cookies afterwards, that I'm good at.

I did go ahead and order the cookbooks I've been hankering after. Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero are my heros, and their Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar is worth every cent. I was skeptical at first; I'm a decent cook and I can handle cookies. But every recipe so far has been unlike anything I could conjure up on my own. These are their Chocolate Fudgy Oatmeal Cookies, complete with dried cherries, and they're phenomenal. We've also made the Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows, Citrus Glitters, and Blueberry Spice Crumb Bars. I think blondies or biscotti are up next. Mmm, cookies.

Hi summer, we're so glad you've arrived.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

2010-06-07T21:16:00.005-04:00

I like asparagus only barely as well as the next person, so when I read the enthusiasm on smitten kitchen over a shaved asparagus pizza I was skeptical. How could asparagus, or ass-pra-gas as we call it at our house, somehow be improved by shaving it? And no, I can't fathom a raw shaved asparagus salad being tasty. Nevertheless, I found myself at Whole Foods the other day, hungry and without a shopping list, and the asparagus called to me. It's hard to go wrong with a pizza, so I tried it.

My crust came from the focaccia recipe in Veganomicon. If you don't have Veganomicon and you're halfway interested in vegan recipes, or any good recipes for that matter, I beg of you to get it. Everything I've made from this cookbook has landed somewhere on the scale between good and amazing. The same could be said for Vegan Brunch and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by the same authors. I'm dying to get my hands on their other two cookbooks, but I haven't figured out a good excuse before Christmas. Those cookbooks have changed my life. All that aside, my crust was as tasty as I had expected.

On top of that I layered olive oil, thinly sliced potatoes and tomatoes, my shaved asparagus, a little more sprayed olive oil, and sea salt. I would have added an avocado if I had one, but I honestly think that might have been too much. Coming from the girl who eats avocados straight out of the peel with a spoon, that's saying something. The combination of the asparagus and potatoes somehow turned out buttery, creamy, salty, and delicious. I don't know how it happened, but this pizza was awesome. Now I'm glad that I still have some asparagus left over to try raw, and more pizza dough if all else fails. Yum.

Apricot Upside Down Cake

2010-06-06T23:43:00.006-04:00

Do you like food? Have you ever browsed the pages upon pages of deliciousness at smitten kitchen? Far too often I find myself transfixed by her photos, and wishing her recipes could all happen to be vegan. No such luck on that vegan detail; curse the miraculous wonders of eggs and butter. Most recently I've been inspired by her everyday cakes, so I'm taking it upon myself to find, modify, or invent some decent vegan recipes.

This recipe turned out quite nicely. I only used 2 tbsps vegan butter, and added 2 tbsps applesauce and 2 tbsps vegan yogurt. She also doesn't say how much sugar to put in the cake batter, so I guesstimated and went with 1/2 cup. I baked it in a 9" cake pan, and the thing totally overflowed and smoked up my poor oven. That was the only pitfall, though. Despite my sub-par photography skills, this cake was bright and beautiful when it popped out of the pan, and the taste and texture were awesome. I'll definitely be making this guy again.

I'm going to take just a couple of lines here and sum up my 6 months of absence. Here goes:

- Some time in January I decided I needed a doctorate, picked a school and found an awesome teacher, applied and prepared an audition, bombed said audition, cried giant tears over my crushed dreams, and then got accepted.

- During the middle of that process, Fred and I were informed that our landlords wanted to sell our apartment as a condo and would not extend our lease. The clock was ticking, so we found a place within a week and moved within a month, all during the busy season.

- Despite my aforementioned love of cake, I've managed to drop a decent chunk of weight in the past few months. Yay for taking charge of my life! I'll say more about it some day if I ever reach "goal," whatever that turns out to be.

- My sister had her baby!

- My Dad and step-mom drove up from Texas to visit with us and then to meet the new baby! They were on the road for a 28 day round trip, and it was so good to host them at our new apartment.

- Base miles have been logged and marathon training has begun so that I might conquer that elusive first marathon.

- We went to see Fred's brother in Minneapolis. I had never been, and now I want to move. We'll see what happens in 3 years, after I finish this doctorate.

- The quintet landed a new tuba player. He landed a job in China 2 months later.

- The quintet landed a new new tuba player. He rocks.

- The quintet's trombone player landed a job in Japan. He leaves in September. We're hugely excited for he and his wife, and hugely sad for our loss.

- The quintet landed a gig as an Ensemble in Residence at Tanglewood this summer, coaching for their Young Artists Wind Ensemble!

- The year has nearly ended, I've wrapped up a significant amount of my teaching and playing to focus on school, and summer is nearly upon us. Thank goodness!

I think that's the most of it, in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to finding center again this summer, remembering how to relax, and exploring new projects. This year has been a doozy, that's for sure. It's a goal to be here more often too. Probably with cake :)

Flowers

2010-01-22T11:41:00.002-05:00

Just stopping in to say hi. I'm swamped these days, so I don't have much more to say than that! But here's a picture for you. We've been keeping flowers in the house for these past couple of weeks, and I'm amazed at what a huge effect such a little detail can have. I like to take apart the cheap grocery store bunches of fillers and put them in a few little vases. I think they look better that way, and they seem to have a bigger impact. Anything to counter the winter grey outside, right?

#2

2010-01-11T13:39:00.003-05:00

My sister is pregnant with her second little girl. We had a bit of a scare yesterday that involved a 3 hour ambulance ride and an overnight at the hospital, but thankfully everyone checked out alright. Phew. Now we just get to sit tight for the next 10 weeks or so. (Funny, where did that phrase come from?) I've been working on this quilt, hoping to get it done before she arrives. Now I'm really hoping I get it done, and really hoping she actually holds out for these next 10 weeks. Fingers crossed, everyone.

List 2010

2010-01-05T20:42:00.006-05:00

Do you call it twenty-ten? Or two-thousand-ten? My vote is in for twenty-ten. 2009 was privy to some of my best times and some of my least best times, shall we say. I'm glad to be done with it, and here's to hoping for a more stable and prosperous new year. It's kind of hard since my season is very much on a September-June cycle and I'm still in the thick of it. But a few things are up in the air that could make for some truly awesome (and challenging) times. I won't know anything till April, but keep your fingers crossed for me.

So here's my list, my goals for the year, in no particular order. It's shorter than last year by a couple, but also more concrete. Oh, and all of those "every day" items have actually happened every day so far!

2010:

1. Eat something resembling a fresh fruit or vegetable every day.

2. Play my horn every day.

3. Go on a picnic. Bonus points for a picnic quilt and a cute dress.

4. Fly a kite. Perhaps whilst on the above picnic.

5. Do something physical and healthy every day.

6. Log at least 500 miles, running or walking.

7. Ride my bike into Cambridge and back.

8. Do something every day just for fun.

9. Relax often and fully enough to maintain a greater hold on sanity.

10. Make my bed every day. Or have Fred make it. Either way counts.

11. Attend wine and beer tastings.

12. Light candles during the dark months.

13. Host a cocktail party.

14. Record a CD with the Bala. This will take a financial miracle.

15. Play frisbee with Fred.

16. Go to the dentist. Ugh.

17. Learn to drive a stick shift well enough to make it into Boston and back.

18. Go swing dancing with Fred.

19. Learn to do the Lindy Hop.

20. Get through the summer with no credit card debt.

21. Summit Mt. Washington.

22. Finish the two new quilts I just started and sew at least 2 more.

23. Go camping.

24. Blog more often.

25. Add to this list as necessary, and check in every so often to be sure I haven't forgotten anything!

Quilt

2009-12-26T16:19:00.001-05:00

Finished. And the cats have already claimed it for their own.

2009 in review

2009-12-21T15:10:00.001-05:00

Remember that list from the beginning of the year? It seems it's nearly time to check in and see how I've done. Now, let me explain how we're going to do this. We're going to stay on the positive side of things and ignore all the items that didn't happen. Cool? I have a tendency to harp on myself for the things I don't get accomplished every day, and I'm finding it's not the healthiest way to go about life. (Stay posted, that's likely to become a goal for 2010.) So here's what I can check off:

1. Marry Fred! - Done, and awesome.

2. Plan and pull off an awesome, personal and meaningful wedding. - Check. Loved every minute of it.

4. Play my horn every day. - Not quite every day, but I'm going to call this a humongous success anyway. I played my horn nearly every day, and it was so worth it.

9. Wear skirts more often. - I did wear skirts more often, and I liked it!

10. Learn to design my own patterns. - Hard core. See #11.

11. Design and sew my own wedding dress. - Yes!!!

12. Let my hair grow out. - This was simple, but I'm pleased.

15. Give a recital. - I played more than a dozen with my brass quintet. That's not exactly what I had in mind when I came up with this goal, but I'm going to say it counts.

19. Make an inspiration board. - I made a wedding related inspiration folder on my computer.This was only a small part of it. Close enough, and really helpful.

23. Take a trip to somewhere I've never been. - Banff, with Bala. Can you tell I spend a lot of time with them? Just wait till 2010!

24. Finish the quilt I got fabric for a year ago. - I'm so close, and I've got a few days left yet! I'll get back to you when I'm done.

27. Put things away a little quicker. (Dishes, laundry, etc.) - Yes again, especially toward the end of the year. More of this in 2010.

28. Go camping. - I did this! Fred and I got a tent and camped out when we hiked Katahdin this summer.

31. Make better use of my extensive driving time. - I'm currently on a Jane Austen book-on-tape kick, and it's lovely.

32. Bag a couple of the local peaks. - Katahdin, in the bag.

33. Blog more often. - Check.

Alright, 16 out of 33 isn't too bad. And I've learned a couple of things in this process:

1. Lists are great, but I have to refer back to them every so often. I totally forgot a couple of items I had listed as goals, so they never had a chance.

2. Some things feel like a great idea in the first half of the year and then totally fizzle during or after the summer. My year still works on a September to May cycle.

3. Goals work better when there's a measurable result. "22. Smile a lot more." is too vague to measure, so in the end you can't really count it one way or the other.

4. Life happens. As my dear friend and superhero says, excuses aren't just excuses. Sometimes they're really good reasons too.

All in all, it's been a good year! 2010, coming up . . .

Christmas

2009-12-20T15:30:00.005-05:00

Christmas is kind of tricky at our house, mostly because it's the busy season. We don't get to prepare for it in quite the same way most everyone else does. I drive by all kinds of cozy looking homes and sparkling decorations and busy shopping malls as I hustle to this or that gig. The gigs are of the fun sort, usually, but by the last weekend before Christmas we're all starting to look a little haggard.

That being the case, Fred and I have decided to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. Come December 25, at least after he plays the one morning service he got called for, we're off the clock for a while. Our Christmas begins on Christmas. We haven't figured out what that means or what we'll do with the time, but I'm seriously looking forward to it.

Nevertheless, I just can't wait till the 25th to put up decorations. We decided not to get a tree because as soon as we put it up the cats begin to take it down. Instead we went with this for an alternative:

Cute, huh? And see, we hung the candle holders in the shape of a tree, get it?

And I made my very first non-graham-cracker gingerbread house! With window panes and a wood pile and everything!!

Forgive me, I feel like I'm short on coherent sentences these days. I'm going to go move my haggard self outside to shovel the foot of snow that blew in last night. (That sounds like a complaint but it's not. I love snow and I'm happy to go shovel it. That sort of work makes me feel more alive, know what I mean?) Anyway, I wish you a merry last couple of days till Christmas!

Morning

2009-12-03T12:19:00.002-05:00

You know those moments when you think God must be smiling at you? The way the sun peaked in from behind my curtains when I woke up this morning made me happier than mornings usually do. Dust motes are lovely, and hard to photograph.

Shop Update

2009-12-02T14:37:00.004-05:00

Prodded by a couple of custom orders (thanks!!) I've decided it's time to open up shop again. This lady was an experiment, made from another felted wool sweater, and she turned out beautifully. I'll add new elephants every couple of days and there will definitely be more sweater elephants coming. I think they're my new favorite design!

Sideboard

2009-11-30T13:15:00.003-05:00

You may have noticed the orange background in a couple of my last posts. Meet my new orange sideboard!

Fred and I found it on the side of the road one day when we were out for a run. It seemed it was previously owned by a teenage girl with a penchant for blue nail polish, white-out, and carving her name in things. Yep, it was a little beaten up. The front panels were originally screens, but they were punched through and I knew my cats would further their destruction had I left them. I think it's an Ikea piece, which is fine by me. It's solid and the price was right!

Inspired by the how-to on poppytalk by the Something's Hiding in Here folks, this thing was a quick fix with some paint and fabric. We re-arranged some furniture and now it's got a spot in our dining room/studio. The storage space really helps, and yay for a pop of color!

Recipes

2009-11-29T17:39:00.003-05:00

We hosted our first Thanksgiving! I feel like such a grown-up. So what does a vegan serve for Thanksgiving dinner?

Peppered Cashew "Goat Cheese" with crackers (this was Amazing.)

Seitan Roulade, Chestnut Stuffing and Mushroom Gravy

Carrots Elegante (a funny name, but tasty)

Hashed Brussels Sprouts with Poppy Seeds and Lemon

Mashed Potatoes (no recipe necessary)

Cranberry Sauce (from our favorite cookbook)

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Pecan and Caramel Apple Tartlets with a Spelt Flour Crust

This was our second Thanksgiving celebration, held on Saturday with my side of the family. We went to Fred's family on Thursday, and they're so wonderful that they had vegan options waiting for us! I think Thanksgiving is my new favorite holiday. It's as yummy as Christmas, has almost as much good family time, and there's none of the commercialism or fuss. All in all we had a lovely celebration, and we have so much to be thankful for. Wishing you all the best!

Wedding Decor

2009-11-27T08:36:00.003-05:00

We were lucky in that we got married at a beautiful park that required no extra decoration, and our reception space stood on it's own really well too. Through choice and necessity, we kept the extra decorations to a minimum. Although what we had added a lot of color and texture, and to me the whole space looked happy.

There was a gallery room that everyone walked through on the way to the main ballroom. The exhibit that happened to be on display had these beautiful and huge watercolor paintings on every wall. We just got lucky with that one too!

We set up a photo table in that gallery room too. We collected wedding pictures of as many guests and family members as we could and put them on display. It was so neat to see all the generations of weddings before us, to see the same people in so many pictures over the years, and mostly, to honor all the marriages that came before us.

Aside from that, the only major decorations we had were the napkins that my family and I made, and flowers that we arranged the day before. My aunt Judy, my sister, Fred's mom and I had made a ton of napkins in advance, but come Saturday morning we still didn't have quite enough. So bless these people, we sat down together and made more. My dad and my step mom ironed, I helped pin, and my aunt Judy sewed. For me, that was a really special moment. It was amazing to have the unconditional support and help, and it felt so good to have my family around to make the wedding happen.

Flowers were a project too. I ordered wholesale from Potomac Floral, and I can't recommend them enough. They're good because you can order flowers by the bunch, not by the box, and that way you can get a huge variety.

My sister and I first put together our bouquets, which meant as much laughing at each other as arranging flowers. Mine was made up of hypericum berries and dahlias, and hers was an arrangement of mums and hypericum berries.

I also made boutonnieres for the guys out of mums and hypericum berries. I didn't do a trial run of the flowers, although I did do some research in advance and I've worked with flowers before. It was great that things turned out as well as they did!

We did make a pomander ball for my niece out of flower foam and mums. It was really sweet. And then we forgot it. Fred and I realized it was missing while we were in the car on the way to the wedding. We were running late enough that we just left it. Everyone says that something goes wrong at on your wedding day, and we figured that was it. Better to get it over and done with and move on! So Audrey stole my sister's flowers. Naturally.

Then my dad and step mom and I put together all the rest of the flowers. Fred and I had collected empty glass jars during the entire proceeding year for the table arrangements. We wanted everything to look natural and simple and fun, and it turned out beautifully.

In the end, it was so good having so much help during the weekend. People say that your wedding day goes by in a flash and all the details become a blur. It did go quickly, although I'm glad to say I have really vivid memories of all of it. But I'm so especially thankful for the time we all had together in the days before too. I'll remember making the projects come together with the people we love as much as I'll remember the actual wedding day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T10:45:00.003-05:00

Because nothing says Thanksgiving like a vegan tiramisu cupcake, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. Om nom nom. We'll see if all the turkey eaters can tell that they're vegan. Have a lovely day!

the dress

2009-11-25T11:07:00.000-05:00

I don't remember exactly when I decided I would make my own wedding dress. The idea planted itself in the back of my head years ago, long before I knew Fred or knew we'd be getting married. And when the time came, I knew there were no two ways around it. Even as I got closer to the wedding and felt desperately behind, as almost everyone around me said I should go buy something, somehow there was a calm about it. I knew it would work, I knew it would be done, and I knew it would be as perfect as I could ever imagine.

My dress wasn't about being princess for a day, or needing to look like a bride. I've played enough recitals and worn (and made) enough recital gowns that I'm all set on the princess thing. I don't need it anymore, it's just not my style. Similarly, Fred never thought to wear a tux. He puts on a tux probably over 100 times a year for gigs. On our wedding day we wanted to feel like us, just spiffed up and extra awesome.

Then there was the issue of a pattern. I've never been keen on the commercially available wedding dress patterns. Some people use vintage patterns for bridal wear, and that's a much better option, but it still wasn't the look we were going for. I had never designed a pattern before, but somehow I got it in my head that that must be the way to go. Brilliant, huh? There's nothing like winging it for your own wedding dress. So I bought a book, Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong. I designed a couple of simple items to get the hang of it, and then I took the plunge. Wedding dress or bust.

Let me tell you, I went through so many drafts that I lost count. I started with the bodice, went from measurements to a pattern, made a muslin version, and then set to tweaking. Then I'd take it apart, put tweaks to paper, and repeat ad nauseum. Almost every adjustment affected every adjacent piece, so everything had to be redone every time around. And then there were the complete design re-dos. Those were the days when I would spend 8 hours trying to make it work, and then realize it would work better a different way but I'd have to start from scratch again. I spent a lot of time developing patience in those final weeks!

When I finally started in on the silk I was so ready to go. I had made that dress dozens of times in muslin, at least in pieces, and I was so sure it would work. It had to work, I was about a week and a half away from the wedding! Fred's brother came into town for our joint bachelor/bachelorette party, and it still wasn't done. He left for their house in Westfield to get the place ready, and it still wasn't done. It was probably Wednesday before I got the zipper in and actually tried my dress on for the first time. And promptly burst into happy tears!

I finished the dress at 10:30 am on Saturday, well more than 24 hours in advance of our wedding. The dress wasn't perfect, but I'm probably the only person who would know. The morning of the wedding I sewed a piece of fabric from my mom's wedding dress into the hem, slipped into my cowboy boots, and at that point it was everything I ever wanted it to be.

laptop cozy

2009-11-17T12:41:00.004-05:00

And I thought I was busy before the wedding. I don't know how it's happened, but the wedding's over and I'm as busy as ever. Honestly, I'm wiped. Gigs are coming in but money is tight. (My car died the week after we got back from our honeymoon. Hello significant and unexpected expense.) So I'm trying to fill up all my extra time with a super flexible "office job" at a music research center that I'm hugely lucky to have. Don't get me wrong, we're doing really well. My family has helped more than I could imagine, this extra job is fantastic, and Fred and I are facing it all together in a way that's more together than we've ever been. Marriage wins.

But in an effort to live my life as a fiscally responsible freelance musician (don't laugh at that), I've all but scheduled "me" time out of my life. That lasted about a week before I broke down. For a while I was thinking I should close down this blog more officially, at least till we found a little more breathing room in our budget. But now I think it best to keep the blog, and keep the crafting for the sake of sanity. I might not get to it every day, and it might not be much. But on those days when I make something pretty, even if it just means making my bed to improve the ch'i in one room, my head feels better for it.

My project today was a laptop cozy. I normally don't like the word "cozy" when used as a noun, but it's the best way to describe this one.

My most favorite sweater in the world just finally gave up the ghost. It was a thick cowl neck sweater from J.Crew, one that my Dad gave me for Christmas probably 7 or 8 years ago. I wore it constantly. I wore it till the yarn at the seams started to disintegrate, and then I wore it till there were actually holes. I seriously wore it out. Then I still couldn't bear to part with it, so I threw it in the wash. It shrank and felted up beautifully, even thicker and more cozy than before. My poor laptop, the one I got about 6 months ago, was still without any kind of a sleeve or cover, and it looked like my sweater was the perfect answer.

Three seams later and I was all set. If only every project could be so rewarding with only three seams. And if only J.Crew would come out with that sweater again, I'd really be a happy camper.

We're Married!!

2009-10-28T12:37:00.003-04:00

The whole thing was amazing. We're both still trying to catch up, so I'll be back with more details soon. But my photographer just put up the first preview of our pics, so head over that way! And one my Uncle Ed took of Audrey...

tee

2009-09-16T14:08:00.001-04:00

This just arrived in the mail. My niece gets to wear it with a tutu for my wedding. That swatch, and pardon the wrinkles, is from my dress fabric. They're perfect together, and what utter cuteness. It's seeing it all come together that makes the hours of planning and listing and stress worthwhile!

Colors

2009-09-11T13:54:00.002-04:00

We just changed our wedding colors. Not all of them, just the colors we're using in our ceremony. Tie colors, flowers, shoes, my sister's dress, my niece's tutu, accessories . . . . Luckily, most of those things are last minute items that we're just getting right now, so it's not like I have a pile of stuff that we can't use anymore. We were going to go with orange and brown, but we can't find orange ties that don't clash with the fabric for my dress. Which is a very light peach, by the way. I realize I hadn't mentioned that before. So now we're going with burgundy and brown, with some peach flowers thrown in to the mix. And the wedding is a month from today. I just might loose my mind between here and there!

Wedding Invitations

2009-09-08T16:59:00.005-04:00

Man, am I sure glad to have our invitations done and out the door. These were a humongous project! I've said a couple times that my cousin would be helping us with artwork. Let me just say, she went above and beyond. Really, her sketches make our invites. One of these days I'll figure out how to repay her awesomeness. Till then, let me show you what we've got.

We went with this vertical booklet layout. It was our original plan to tuck the invitations inside an inner vellum envelope, but we couldn't find any that could then fit into the outer kraft paper envelopes so we scratched that idea. Instead we made a sleeve with a sheet of vellum and these brilliant glue dots and used those as inner envelopes. You can see the back page peeking through the vellum there. Those leaves are on the back of the RSVP postcard, but they make for a cute background for everybody's names too.

Since we're celebrating everything Fall, Susan and I collaborated on this carved tree trunk for the cover page. I love that it's personalized in a non-traditional kind of way. This tree was kind of a kicker, though. It was my original goal to gocco the whole set, but there's no way the tree would have come out well on my little 4" by 6" gocco. So we sent the whole thing to a printer. Having goccoed three sets of invitations before these, I was so excited to finally do my own, but alas. It was disappointing, but it saved me a ton of time in the end and it was worth it for the tree.

Our actual invitation, the ceremony page:

Reception:

My favorite is probably the shindig page. I can't tell you how long I deliberated before I came up with the word "shindig." We're not barbecuing and I don't just want to call it a party or a soiree or a fete or anything silly like that. Nope, we're having a shindig.

Free fonts, how I love thee.

Map:

The compass is my favorite part of the map page.

And like I said, the last page is a tear-off RSVP.

So there you have it! I'm pleased as punch at how these came out, and so glad they're done. And now on to the rest of the list....

Audrey's Backpack

2009-08-29T18:25:00.004-04:00

Today I set aside the whole afternoon for sewing. I've got serious work to do on my wedding dress. We're 43 days away from the wedding, and I've got nothing. (Insert panic here.) Well, not exactly nothing. I finally got it started it a few days ago, but progress is slow. I'm designing the pattern and I don't really know how, so I'm always afraid to screw it up and never really sure of what to do next. So I procrastinate. Obviously.

And so today I made a backpack for my amazing niece's (belated) 2nd birthday. The pattern is Made by Rae, and it gave my pins more trouble than it gave me. This child is going to take over the world, I'm pretty sure of it. And now she has a little pink backpack to help her on that mission. It'll be neat to see her with it when they come down to visit next. In October. For my wedding. Oh man. (Wedding panic returns.)

Sorry I've been MIA for a month. Avoiding this space makes it easier to avoid the dress. Although I have gotten a bunch of other things done. Next up to show you - the invites! They're in the mail as of yesterday!!

Views

2009-07-25T20:36:00.003-04:00

We're working our tails off out here, but it's so good in so many ways...

Banff Scarf

2009-07-18T09:19:00.003-04:00

Have I mentioned yet that Bala Brass is going to Banff for two weeks? There's a big arts center up there. We were invited to participate in their brass ensemble residency, and we've been hustling since December to figure out how to get ourselves there. I won't begin to discuss the hurdles and hoops we've jumped through to make this possible, but now we're going. For sure. Tomorrow. This trip has always been some huge dream off in the distance, and it's kind of surreal that it's actually happening. (I wonder if our wedding will feel the same way?)

As soon as we made the decision to go I started working on this scarf. First I thought I'd want something light enough for summer but useful for when it gets chilly on the airplane. Since then I've learned that the average overnight low in Banff is in the low 40s right now, and this scarf might see a lot of use in these next two weeks. Man, I love heading north in the summer! The pattern is available as a free download. She suggests doubling the yarn, although I wanted to be sure it was really light so I didn't. Now I think the lace pattern is obscured a bit because the whole thing is so open, but whatever. It's lovely and I'm glad I got it done in time. And let me tell you, blocking lace is so rewarding.

I'm so, so grateful for this opportunity we have. Sure, I did music festivals and "band camps" well through college. That's a standard part of our culture in the music field. But to be invited to something like this one, to be invited as an ensemble, and for all 5 of us to be able to drop everything and go for two weeks, that's all pretty amazing. It's hard enough getting our schedules to mesh on a weekly basis for a rehearsal or two. I can't wait to work with the faculty they're bringing in, but I'm excited to just be spending two solid weeks with the guys. And now, back to packing!

101 days

2009-07-08T21:54:00.004-04:00

No, not 101 days till the wedding. I got an email in my inbox today warning me that I've got 101 days till my first marathon. Egads.

Fred and I run casually, infrequently, and slowly. Last summer we saw an ad in the local paper for this particular marathon, and it was just far enough away to think about training and running. Having a goal was a great kick in the pants, so we went for it.

As it turned out, I injured my foot in training so I had to back out. But Fred still ran it. The whole darn thing. I ran the first mile and the last 6 with him, and it was awesome. Well, I thought it was awesome. He's cringing in every picture I have of him from that day, but still.

The trick is that this year the marathon happens exactly a week after our wedding, and starts in precisely the same town where we happen to be honeymooning. We figure we'll make it an annual thing and take a weekend away for our anniversary/marathon. Otherwise we'd never get up to Maine in October, and Maine in October is seriously worth getting away for.

It's cute, Fred registered for both of us, and he registered me with what will be my brand new last name. I'm trying to decide whether to run in a veil, or something silly like that.

If I'm 101 days away from my marathon it means I'm 94 days away from my wedding. That's all well and good. Designing and sewing a wedding dress in 94 days doesn't scare me one bit. (Nope, I haven't started yet, although it's sketched out and I'm pretty sure it'll be lovely.)

101 days to a marathon? Terrifying.

(All pictures taken during our marathon weekend last year. Can you tell I'm completely enamored with the place? I promise, I'll move on to other topics soon enough.)

Cherry Jam

2009-07-06T15:59:00.003-04:00

My inner Martha Stewart is such a happy camper right now. We went to visit the Polish Mafia* yesterday. Fred's Aunt Linda has a sour cherry tree in her back yard, one that's grown from a cutting of another that used to be in her aunt's back yard. (Everything in this family spans the generations.) Nobody usually does anything with the cherries because they're really tart, but Fred and his mom and I decided to have at them. We picked as many as we could stand, and then picked a whole bunch of the black raspberries that were growing around the foot of the tree. So today for the first time I made jam!!

If you've never canned anything, the popping sound that the lids make to let you know you did it right is about the happiest thing ever. I don't know if this will all set like it's supposed to, and I sure hope it tastes good. But it was magical and now I want to can everything in sight.

* Fred's family. Both of his parents have Polish ancestry, and when their families immigrated they settled in a predominantly Polish town as was often the case back in the day. Generations have passed and much of the family is still in the same area. I think this is a cool thing. My family is pretty scattered, and I grew up in a relatively diverse area. Diversity is great, but my town doesn't have much of a unifying identity. Fred talks about the people he grew up going to church with, and almost everyone has a Polish last name. Everyone knew him when he was a baby. Many of them knew his mother when she was a baby! His family gatherings are large, boisterous and happen frequently. It's a little intense. Yes, we're getting married out there. Yes, it will be a little like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" in reverse. Yes, I'm taking his last name and joining the fray. But they are totally awesome and I do love them.

It was lovely.

2009-07-04T00:28:00.005-04:00

There was a preponderance of fog and rain on the first two days, but we did see some sun in the middle of our trip. Then the rain came back on the day we left. I wouldn't have had it any other way, although the rain did squash the camping idea. I love me some Maine fog.

We drank tea and visited with some friends, and drank wine and caught up with others. We went into Bar Harbor to our favorite restaurant and into historic Ellsworth for an afternoon of at our favorite local coffee spot. And we had pie at Ruth and Wimpy's, cause it's just not a trip to Maine without.

We heard two awesome concerts and spent time listening to the brilliant and life affirming lessons of my two greatest teachers. I actually got to play on a concert too, unexpectedly! Someone got sick and I jumped in last minute. Funny, that's actually more or less how I got to Maine in the first place, and how Fred and I met. I'll have to tell you that story sometime.

But mostly we found our peace again in the ocean and the land. We promised each other that we'd buy ourselves a house there as soon as possible. And we left knowing we'd be back, sooner than later.

You're telling me!

2009-06-29T15:59:00.002-04:00

When we pulled in yesterday one of our dear friends said, "Welcome home!" Yep, that's exactly what it felt like to drive down that familiar dirt road. It's raining and cold, but I'm a happy camper.

Rings

2009-06-23T15:17:00.000-04:00

My wedding ring finally came in the mail yesterday!! It's a little big, so we'll have to send it back for resizing. Which is probably good anyway, cause I just want to wear it now :)

Fred's was made by Al, and mine was made by Kate.

Wedding Planning

2009-06-22T12:43:00.000-04:00

Fred and I have ramped up our wedding planning in these past couple of weeks. Things we've recently gotten accomplished, or nearly so:

Fred's ring! We met with an Etsy jeweler. Al was amazing, and made us feel so much better about picking the ring Fred will wear every day for the rest of forever. It just came in the mail, and we're both thrilled with it. You know it's right when you kind of just want him to wear it already.
My ring! Another Etsy jeweler. She's too far away to meet with her, but I'm glad to have found her and I love the ring we've come up with. I can't wait for it to arrive.
A day-of-coordinator. Someone on board who knows more about weddings than I do. And as always, a neat person who we'll be glad to have around us that day.
A band. A totally kickin' rockabilly band, a band that wears cowboy hats and boots. My reception is made. Nuff said.
Patterns for my sister's dress (the halter version below) and my niece's tutu. Because my sister is awesome, and nothing says joy like a 2 year old in a puffy tutu.

Our reception location. We've had it picked and set for a while now, but we actually went to look at it again and meet with the people there. I'm even happier with it now than I was before, and it was good to put a face to the person on the other end of the phone. As much as wedding mags make the whole process feel a bit like a giant factory-produced slide show, I always feel better when I remember that ours will actually be personal.

Napkins! My Aunt Judy and Uncle Ed came over the other weekend to help me crank a bunch out, and Judy even took a pile of fabric home to keep working on them. Last year Judy and Ed came over to help finish my sister's wedding dress in the 11th hour. Not only are they lifesavers, obviously, but I love having them around to share in the wedding process. And now my sister is going to help too!
Wedding blocks, wedding website updating, etc. Not exciting, but necessary and crossed off the list. Love that.
And finally, fabric for my dress. I picked it. It's ordered. Holy cow.

Progress

2009-06-21T09:37:00.000-04:00

Slowly but surely, the pile gets bigger!

Here's a major shout out to my Aunt Judy who's been helping, and another one to my sister who promised yesterday that she'd start helping too. Thank goodness for awesome family!

Swatches

2009-06-20T09:59:00.000-04:00

In an effort to choose a fabric for my wedding dress I ordered 17 swatches of silk from fabric.com. Everything from "iridescent mushroom," which turns out to be fairly horrid, to "iridescent majestic apricot." Let me tell you, this is a really hard decision. And my original color plan won't work as well as I had thought it would. Hmmm......

UFO's

2009-06-19T09:17:00.004-04:00

Unfinished objects. Works in progress. Call them what you will, mine are getting out of hand. First we have the half-made green summer dress that I'm totally uninspired to finish. It's something about the rain and the low 60's temperatures. I'm still wearing jeans and a fleece most days!

Then there's the quilt that I started, um, last spring. I had actually begun quilting it by hand when I realized that I just don't have the patience for it. It was summer then too, and sitting under a quilt was not my idea of a good time. It's lived in a neglected heap ever since. Now I'm working to machine quilt it, and quickly, so I can get it done and put it to use.

And the blue silk, of course, is for a dress that I'll wear to a wedding next week. As you can see it's not moved much since the last time I mentioned it. But I'm still planning to wear it next week.

And that's not to mention the napkins for my wedding or the chair I started to reupholster (demolish) in February, or the scarf I've been knitting....... Man. Does everyone have a pile like this?

Stash

2009-06-03T14:27:00.004-04:00

Hello, my name is Kristen, and I have a problem with hoarding fabric. It's gotten out of control. We have a traditional New England built in cabinet in our dining room, and all the drawers below it are stuffed to the gills with my fabric stash. (This would make my Dad crazy. My Mom had the exact same problem. Her fabric had taken over an entire closet! At least I know where I get it from.) There's the fabric intended for elephants. There's the fabric I got to make who knows what with that's still in there. There's the giant pile that's supposed to magically turn itself into napkins for our wedding. And then there's the leftovers. I hate throwing away the extra bits left over from various projects. Case in point? Fabric from my sister's wedding. From last April.

I ordered 30 yards of silk and made three dresses from it. Two had long trains and bell sleeves, so that used up quite a bit. But I then saved ever scrap bigger than about 6". Come on, it's dupioni silk! You can't just throw that stuff away. Well, today I've come here to tell you it was totally worth it.

Our friends, the ones I made invites for, are obviously getting married and I clearly need a new dress for the occasion. But even more than a dress, I need a new purse to carry with said dress. I'm so bad with formal purses. I own one, and it's light purple. So I found myself some super instructions, bought a purse frame, and went to work.

Step one involved re-dying my silk. My silk was originally blue and white:

Then I accidentally put them in the wash together before I made my niece's dress, and came out with blue and light blue:

I wanted the light blue to be even darker this time around, so I stuck them in the wash again. Shameless, I know. But effective.

And it from there it was simple! I used the dark blue for the purse. The lighter pieces are larger than the dark, so I set those aside to make the skirt for the dress. I'll piece together the rest of the dark blue to make the top. Pictures will come when I, uh, actually make this dress. But for a grand total of $7, I'm now the proud owner of an awesome dupioni silk clutch. And completely convinced of the merits of stashing. :)

Odds and Ends

2009-05-28T13:20:00.007-04:00

Man, it's been a doozie around here. I promise to return to my standard programming in the next couple of days.

This week was my last for teaching private lessons, and as much as I love working with the kids I think we're all ready for summer break. At least it's mutual. Summer for me has grown to mean 6 weeks in Maine, away from all cell phone service and regular internet connections, but we've got different plans this year. It means I'll be working quite a bit more than usual, for better or worse, but there will still be a change of pace from my usual routine. I think I've learned that I find balance like a pendulum finds center. I'm always way over to one side or the other, and just skimming past center on my way to a different extreme. Right now that tiny speck of centered-ness on the horizon is looking awfully nice.

So give me a couple of days, and I'll be right back with you. Trust me, I'm looking forward to it.

One of those days

2009-05-13T23:04:00.003-04:00

I had a lovely morning, and then my afternoon kind of took a turn for the worse. Can it be summer yet? I'm putting up these pictures from my morning to try and end on a good note. And here's to a better tomorrow.

Save the Dates

2009-05-12T13:31:00.003-04:00

We just got the first bunch of these out in the mail. 5 months left!

Travel Themed Invitations

2009-05-05T12:51:00.004-04:00

I've been away from this space for longer than I'd like, so let me show you a bit of what I've been up to!

Our friends, Peter and Jamie, are getting married in a couple of months and they trusted me and my gocco-ing skills enough to let me make their wedding invitations. Peter is one of my favorite horn players, and Jamie works in research with autistic children. They're really pretty fantastic. They met in Germany while Peter was studying there for a year and Jamie was working as an au pair. The two love to travel (they're going to Tanzania for their honeymoon!!) so that's becoming the theme of their wedding. And after a lot of brainstorming this is what we came up with for their invites.

As you can see, they're luggage tags! The cover page is cut from vintage map wrapping paper that we found at the Paper Source and had cut down to size. A friend of theirs drew the great silhouette of the two birds in flight. I gocco-ed the heck out of the whole bunch, and all four of us sat down one night to trim corners and punch holes.

I love all the invitations I've made with the gocco so far, but I think these are my favorites. I like how the travel theme carries through to each page without being campy. They're classy and elegant, while still looking modern and personal and unique at the same time. So congrats to Peter and Jamie, and I'm glad these turned out so well!

Drawings

2009-04-13T14:21:00.004-04:00

I'm supposed to be finishing my taxes right now, but I had to pop in to show you these. I mentioned that my cousin would be helping us with our invitations. Susan is a film maker by trade (you can get her movie from Netflix) but went to school to be an artist. We asked if she could come up with some drawings for us to include on our invites, and having her help has been nothing short of awesome. I get giddy every time she emails me a new bunch of sketches. Like, wiggling and hand clapping giddy! Here's a preview of what's to come.

In other news, I think I might have just found a wedding ring, or at least something in the right direction. And we've passed the 6-month mark! It's seriously time to get my act in gear!

Treasury

2009-04-10T13:50:00.007-04:00

Edited to Add: I've decided to offer FREE SHIPPING in my shop through 10:00 pm on Monday! Go ahead, take advantage of it!

One of my elephants was included in an Etsy Treasury. It's my first one! You can check it out here, although it expires in about 12 hours.

Saturday

2009-04-04T15:10:00.004-04:00

A completely free Saturday is an awesome thing, but a Saturday that Fred and I both have off it's really worth celebrating! We spent the morning at a church rummage sale in Lincoln, MA. It was his suggestion! We've actually never been to a rummage sale together, and I didn't think he'd get excited for it. But now as I think about it, his Mom has run their church rummage sale for years so it's in his upbringing. As Lincoln is one of Boston's wealthier suburbs we figured the pickings would be pretty good. And indeed...

A 1930's handmade quilt.

Two vintage sewing machines, one in a hideaway cabinet!

Some day...

This humongous mirror. I'd paint the frame, probably a grass green or turquoise color, and lean it up against a wall.

A tea cart. What in the world is a tea cart? Did people actually roll out tea on this thing? I'd paint it too. White. And put white Christmas tree lights in a bowl on the bottom shelf.

The tag said this mirror was from the 1850's. Love the patina developing behind the glass.

Glass cake stand.

Strange Moroccan-looking lamp shade.

A hemoglobinometer from 1924. But look at that signature! If I had handwriting like that I certainly wouldn't be buying fonts for my wedding invites!

An artichoke box. The top came off and there was storage inside. Cute, but badly chipped.

And now for the spoils! These three colorful scarves came home with me.

As did these two little dishes. They didn't come as a set, and I don't love the leaves as much as the petals, but the petal bowl is tiny and the leaves give it more weight. The leaves might end up as a candle holder.

I do love the petal bowl, and it's very sweet on my dresser.

Our next stop involved brunch with friends.

I love the rocking use of font on this building!

And we finally have signs of Spring. I hope there's some of that going on where you are today! Peace, and happy weekend.

Buttercup Bag

2009-03-30T16:14:00.005-04:00

I made a new spring bag. The pattern is a free design by Rae. Part of me frets that my fabric is too loud or tropical. Too orange, maybe. But it's cute and happy and springy, and I'll stick with it for a bit. I could use to be more brave in a bold direction. Isn't that true for most of us?

In an attempt to feel more grown up I once purchased a $100 purse. Apparently there's some unspoken social code where you're judged upon having a good purse and a good haircut, and I thought I'd try it. Well thbbbbbbbttt. I've since decided I don't care, and that's that.

Speaking of bold fabric, that outrageous striped lining is actually a vintage sheet, originally destined to become wedding napkins. As there will be no shortage of strong color there, I might as well get comfortable with it now. Bring on the spring!

Weekend

2009-03-28T16:17:00.003-04:00

I made bagels again this morning. Nearly 3 dozen, stashed in the freezer. Sesame seed, spinach, and sun dried tomato. Holy cow, the sun dried tomato are better than I expected! These are so easy to make, and they're way softer and tastier than store bought bagels. Please, please consider making a batch. You'll be glad you did.

(I sprinkled the sun dried tomato bagels with nutritional yeast. If we weren't vegan I might have used parmesan cheese. Nutritional yeast kind of works in its place. Yes, it looks like fish food. We're ok with that around here because it's wicked tasty.)

Also, I'm working on #14 from my list. This is the first one. I'm trying to convince myself to finish the pair before I move on to my next knitting project. Fred says it's an exercise in patience, and I say I'm running out!

And finally, my amaryllis from last year bloomed again! We left it in the basement all fall, which I hear is what you're supposed to do with an amaryllis. I wish all plants were so forgiving.

I have to run off and play a concert this evening. I hope you're all having a good weekend!

Limbo

2009-03-24T00:05:00.002-04:00

{Taken on the Cape while hanging out with my favorite Brass Quintet.}

Not really winter, not quite yet spring. Isn't this the weirdest mid-season bridge of all of them?

Bagels

2009-03-21T21:22:00.003-04:00

Happy Saturday! I made bagels this evening. Recipe found here, on my favorite vegan recipe site, and I just threw in a ton of cinnamon and raisins. This was ridiculously easy with my pretty red Kitchenaid stand mixer. Love that. Have a good weekend!

Oh man...

2009-03-16T21:02:00.004-04:00

{Dell}

I want one. Badly. It's only 9". I hadn't even heard of these little guys till Caroline raved about hers today. Hmmm, pink, green or red?

(Disclaimer: we don't have a TV. These might be all over the place, but I effectively live under a rock. Ignorance is bliss, and keeps me from buying stuff. Until today, apparently.)

Invites

2009-03-16T18:44:00.007-04:00

You know what it's like to get a wedding invitation in the mail. You don't even have to open it to know what it is. If the heft of the swanky envelope didn't give it away then the calligraphy did for sure. So you tear open the envelope with extra care and pull out . . . a second envelope. Round two leads you to a stack of ecru cardstock and vellum wrapped in a contrasting paper band, or maybe a brightly colored pocket fold enclosure, or perhaps one of those accordion fold invites. The couple went with letterpress instead of engraving, you notice. But all the usual suspects are otherwise in place. There's the main invitation, the two names in a swirly script standing out against all the proper small caps. Reception card, travel info, RSVP with stamped envelope, all present and perfectly coordinated. Props to the couple, you think. But you got the save-the-date months ago, you've been to their website to get the travel info, your hotel is even booked already, and they know you'll be there. With bells on, as the RSVP indicates. Oh well, they're still lovely.

Truly, I love wedding invitations. I get all geeked out over the designs and the pretty colors. I do take note when a couple goes out of their way to follow all the highest etiquette rules. But the problem with tradition is that so many invitations end up looking the same! At least, they seem a little too standard for the wedding we're planning. As I gather inspiration for my own invites I'm mostly drawn to those that just look different. My current favorites from Mr. Boddington's Studio:

My cousin is helping us with the artistic side of ours, which totally rocks. I'll save those details till everything's done, but I know that part will be fantastic. In the meantime, I've spent the last couple of days wading through fonts. Thousands of fonts. I want something that splits the line between polished and familiar, something with a lot of personality. Here are some of my current favorites:

{Petras Script}

{Licorice}

{Satisfaction}

{Bayern Handschrift}

{Affable}

And I think I've narrowed it down to 16. Any votes?

toast

2009-03-10T22:28:00.007-04:00

This weekend I was struck down by a bad case of the-worst-timing-ever. More precisely, I was struck down by a bad case of the stomach flu, and it hit head on in the hour before my brass quintet recital. I had to call a friend (who shall forever be known as my Superhero) to come sightread the entire program with no rehearsal, while I listened from my unhappy vantage point in the ladies' room. I was so disappointed. I'm still sad thinking about it. Thank you to all those who sent happy thoughts our way on Sunday afternoon. There was still an awesome recital, my brass quintet is still the bomb, and I'll keep you posted on our next recital. Which, God willing, I'll actually be able to play on.

In other news, tomorrow's my birthday! And Rachel sent me a birthday present!! A felted cupcake pincushion!!! Seriously, I don't think it gets any more awesome than that. Fred brought me the package while I was still very much laid up in bed, along with toast and tea for dinner (again). And heavens, it sure brought me a much-needed smile! As Fred said, "Well now what am I going to get you? I just don't think you can top a felted cupcake pincushion!" And you know, he just might be right. Thank you, Rachel!! :)

Shoes

2009-03-05T12:38:00.004-05:00

A quick update. The J.Crew shoes didn't fit. I'm in between sizes. So I ordered these instead -

I wasn't sure I'd like them. But I do. They're listed as "burgandy" in color, but they lean more towards "plum" or "port." That's what I was hoping for anyway. Pretty, shiny, flat and comfortable, but still dressy. Mission accomplished. So have I just bought something to wear for my wedding?? Eeek, big decisions! Still no progress on a dress. Really, that'll happen this summer. Shoes first, dress later. Makes sense, huh?

Bala 3.6.6.7

2009-03-04T08:21:00.006-05:00

I know I don't usually post about "work" related things here, but this is totally worth the exception. My brass quintet, Bala Brass, is giving a recital this coming Sunday and I've been looking forward to it for months!

First, I love these guys. Fred sometimes refers to them as my other boyfriends. But collaborating with people in an artistic endeavor is intense! Musicians are so committed and invested in our own personal music making that it's sometimes hard to work as a team when we get together. Everyone has to get along and trust each other and somehow manage to agree on the most intimate of details. But I think in those regards I've really lucked out with Bala. We have a blast together, and I think it comes out in the music.

We're delighted to have a couple of friends joining us on this recital (hi Fred!) so we could expand beyond the standard brass quintet repertoire. Our program will be:

Benjamin Britten - Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury
Oskar Boehme - Sextet Op. 30
Ingolf Dahl - Music for Brass Instruments
Giovanni Gabrieli - Canzon per sonare a7

If you're not familiar with these pieces, they're awesome. The Boehme and the Dahl are the biggies. Boehme's sextet is a beautiful romantic piece that adds a cornet to the standard list of players. Dahl's sextet is huge and thick and stormy, and features the horn fairly prominantly. I've had my work cut out for me! These are such tremendous pieces. It's stuff that doesn't get performed very often, and we're so excited to be playing it.

So if you're in the Boston area, or you know anyone in the Boston area and can send them, head on down the green line to Coolidge Corner on Sunday! We'll be at the United Parish at 3. Oh, and there will be a reception following the program. Seriously. I sent Fred to the grocery store yesterday to get 3 pounds of butter and 4 pounds of chocolate and I'll be baking all week. You'll not want to miss this one!

{Pics by the lovely and talented Rachel Hadiashar}

Millinery Flowers

2009-03-02T15:29:00.006-05:00

{bodenusa}

Remember I mentioned this handbag a few weeks ago? I'm still not sure that I can afford it, so the "mend and make do" voice in my head is wondering if I can make one myself. I mean, people make millinery flowers all the time. Half of my Etsy favorite sellers are doing something with handmade fabric flowers. The blog scene has absolutely exploded with their loveliness.

{from Etsy sellers: foundling, frostingcouture, bonzie, houseoftelsa, myrakim, dinosaurtoes, modernromancepdx, deciduoussoul, and modernromancepdx again}

So I tried it. I had the hardest time finding a tutorial, so please chime in if you know of a good one! (If I were selling these on Etsy I wouldn't be divulging my methods either. But in this space I'm all for sharing the diy love.) I finally found this book from the 1930's, Millinery Processes by Carlotta M. Brown, that's online and fully searchable. She has a full section on making fabric flowers. And ta-da!

It's kind of a first draft, but I'm pretty stoked. This one's made from some leftover gold dupioni silk I had lying around. (That sounds kind of funny, now that I say it. Cause who has piles of gold dupioni just lying around? I had bought a bunch at a remnant sale a few years ago, and only used a bit on a dress I was making at the time. I gaze at it happily every time I open my fabric drawer.) I don't know if I'll make a whole purse out of flowers, or if maybe I'll create something to wear in my hair. And there are definitely some necessary tweaks to add to my process. But rock on!

Cardigan

2009-02-26T13:56:00.006-05:00

(Just a side note for whoever may be wondering about my chair. It's coming along. Slowly. I'm still working on step 1. Pulling staples. I swear I'm making progress. But it's horribly tedious. I'll be back with details when something more interesting happens!)

My stepsister got married about a year and a half ago in a beautiful outdoor wedding. It was in June and in Texas, which could have been a disastrous combination. I was afraid we were going to be roasted. But no, the gods went a different way. We woke up that morning to thunderstorms. Now I'm from the northeast. We don't get thunderstorms up here like they do in Texas. Texas thunderstorms are a force to be reckoned with. And these were some hard core Texas thunderstorms. Flood warnings, tornado warnings, major lightening, the whole thing. My poor stepmother spent part of the morning in tears. My poor Dad cursed the day they decided to hold the wedding outside. In the end the storms moved out of the area, the sun came out by early afternoon, and the wedding was really pretty.

Fast forward a couple of years. Fred and I decide to get married and pick a date in October. We plan for a Fall wedding in New England. Every single location we consider is outdoors. (My poor father.) Our park has a rain location on the premises that I really like, so that takes care of that. But what if it's cold? Average high temperature for the month of October is 65 degrees. I figure I'll need a wrap, a shrug, a cardi, something.

{party perfect}

{Once Wed}

Admittedly, I've not done a lot of searching. These are just inspiration pics I've collected along my way. That last one is my favorite, though. And now look what I found at J. Crew!

{J.Crew}

I thought I would attempt to knit something, but we might have a winner here! Love the ruffle around the neckline. Oh, if you go back and check out the inspiration pictures more closely you'll see that the bride is indeed wearing those cowboy boots. A girl after my own heart :)

{Once Wed}

More Paper Flowers

2009-02-23T20:29:00.004-05:00

All with how-tos.

{Martha Stewart}

{Cut Out + Keep}

{Paper Source}

{Something Old, Something New}

Pom Pom Flowers!! {domestifluff}

{craftstylish}

Flowers

2009-02-23T14:45:00.005-05:00

Till recently I had my wedding flowers all figured out. We planned to order flowers, probably from Potomac Floral, and arrange them ourselves in the glass jars our family has been collecting for us. Seasonal flowers, fall colors, unstructured, natural, simple, fun - this was supposed to be a done deal!

{Inspiration from all over! I didn't manage to keep track of where these came from, except that pics 6, 7 and 9 are from Snippet and Ink. If I owe you credit, please contact me and I'll make it right! And note to self: document.}

But today I came across Elisebeth's paper flowers on via Once Wed. And oh my. Simple, elegant, woodsy, and natural. How's a girl to make up her mind?

{elisebeth}

Find the tutorial here.

{Dozi}

I still really like our original flower plans, but there are some benefits to the paper alternative. They'd save us some money, and we could have them done and arranged well in advance of our wedding weekend. Decisions decisions . . .

"Rustic Revival"

2009-02-19T18:43:00.002-05:00

The other day I blamed my yellow and blue plaid chair on a "country-quaint" decorating phase that I have supposedly since outgrown. Well. Turns out I may not have left it so far behind. Enter Sproost, a website that allows you to explore your personal style, complete with quiz. And my quiz results?

44% Rustic Revival
33% Cottage Chic
23% Modern Elegance

"You can take kid out of the country but you can't take the country out of the kid... or is your theme "you can take the kid out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the kid?"

Either way you play it, you are one of the unique individuals who loves a mix of modern and country. The clean lines of the modern softened by rustic/vintage elements is the perfect mix in your mind. And can we blame you? You've taken the best aspects of two popular designs and mixed them in a manner that appeals to young and old alike. A subtle background of white or light colors provides a nice canvas for all the wonderful flea market, eBay, or garage sale finds as well as the classic modern pieces that you love."

Bah.

Chair.2

2009-02-19T17:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I pulled staples till my hands hurt. I think the dude who reupholstered it thought he was prepping the chair for battle. It wasn't done to come undone. Naturally I figured that out as I attempted to undo it!

The good news is that the same dude who stapled it from here till kingdom come also did an awesome job of replacing all the inner parts. I'll reuse everything from batting to ticking to stuffing, even the piping is in great shape. Once I get all the staples out (please, God, help me get all the staples out) I feel like it's going to be relatively easy to put this thing back together. Someone with more experience may be laughing at me right now, but just let me hold onto that happy thought for a bit longer. At least until the rest of the staples are gone :)

Chair.1

2009-02-18T11:59:00.008-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I've decided to tackle a re-upholstery project this week and share my journey with you! I'm pretty sure I've lost my marbles on this one, so feel free to take a minute to wish me luck. But I'm all set with my sad sack of an armchair, a whole lot of fabric that I bought years ago to slipcover a couch we've since gotten rid of, and 5 days with not a lot going on. It seems there's no time like the present, so here goes!

This chair was my grandparents. I inherited it sometime in the early 90s, right smack in the middle of my "country-quaint" decorating phase. You know, the dried flowers, the kitsch, the large plaid upholstery fabric. Yes, I have to claim responsibility for that blue and yellow stuff. I like to think I've come a long way since then.

On top of the poor fabric choice, there may now be a wee bit of cat damage. Here you see Baxter, eating the stuffing through a hole they've worn in the top. Punk. At least I have more than one good reason to recover this thing. So follow along here, and check out the full run of pics over on my flickr. Now I'm going to go start this mess before Fred can come home and talk me out of it!

Shop Update

2009-02-16T23:54:00.002-05:00

Oh, I forgot to mention! I added 6 elephants to the shop, and there are a couple more to come in the next few days!

what you pay for

2009-02-16T22:39:00.010-05:00

Yep, I dropped off the face of the earth. First there were two weeks of triples (musician-speak for having three jobs in one day, often three very different jobs with completely different repertoire, and typically in three very opposite directions). Then I got sick at the end of that run (big surprise there). Now I'm back on my feet, and it's February break! I'm bound and determined this week to have some projecting time, and to share that with you. So we'll see how that plays out!

{via Rachel, via Heather Garland}

In the meantime, a cartoon for you. This depicts an issue I've been trying to come to terms with, although I've not made much headway. So here it is in a nutshell. I'm a working musician. The term "bride" in my house is synonymous with "client," and not infrequently, "client who wants us to do something musically inadvisable, if not impossible, for an unfortunately small sum of money." I'll save the gory details, but we've gotten some amazing requests. (Ok, one good one. Are you familiar with Bernstein's Overture to Candide? Yes, it's an awesome piece of music. But it does actually require a full orchestra, it's quite difficult, it really functions best with a conductor, and no, our brass quintet can't play it at your wedding.) At this point that's all in a day's work, and no big deal. Except that I've recently been described as a "bride." And I think my brain naturally added the "-zilla" tag to the end of the word. Since when did "bride" become a pejorative! Ugh. Me, a bride? I still need to work on that one.

CPSIA

2009-01-31T00:18:00.004-05:00

The CPSC has granted a one year stay of testing and certification requirements!! (Details here.) I don't have to close my shop!!! Man, that's good news for all of us, and just in the nick of time. Hope you're having a good weekend :)

Cape

2009-01-27T23:18:00.005-05:00

I mentioned the other day that I made a cape for our friend and photographer, Rachel. And here it is! Check out her posts here and here for more beautiful pictures. Yep, once again, Rachel totally rocks.

Names

2009-01-24T14:57:00.005-05:00

This sweet thang just landed in my shop, along with a few other additions.

I thought I would post a bunch of the less traditional names that have gone out on my elephants' tails. It must be awesome to have a name like Luai or Fritzna and actually get something personalized. I think Finley might be my favorite.

Cole
Alana
Luai
Zoey
Holden
Francesco
Elias
Emmett
Logan
Fritzna
Brooklyn
Finley
Shepherd

And now, I promise, I'll quit gabbing on about elephants for a while!

Feature and Shop Update

2009-01-21T14:11:00.003-05:00

Wowzers, another feature!!! My shop got picked up this morning by Cool Mom Picks! Check out the post here.

As I clear out my stash in preparation for closing, I'll be posting a large shop update this Saturday, January 24, at 3:00 pm EST. Check back then for loads of (completely non-toxic and lead free) sweetness!

Lush

2009-01-16T22:02:00.003-05:00

I had a friend in my undergrad days, Heidi, who used worked an after-school job back home in a bridal salon. How cool is that? She knew everything there was to know about wedding dresses. One afternoon a bunch of us girls sat around and dished about our dream weddings. Heidi had some amazing dress picked out for each of us. I remember she described her wedding as a dramatic and glamorous winter affair, with hundreds of candles and a dress with a monster train. Funny, she's a professional opera singer now. How's that for glamor and drama?

This cape reminds me of her dream wedding. It's this deep, rich red velvet, lined in ivory satin, and it's intense. The thing probably weighs 10 pounds. The pattern is Butterick 4377, and their picture is just about exactly how mine came out. My pictures won't ever do it justice, so I'm not even going to try. But there's hope, cause someone else's will . . .

I made this sucker for my friend and photographer, Rachel. She's planning an art/bridal shoot, something wintery, snowy if there's snow, maybe a little antique-ish, and this cape is a part of that. I'm glad I was able to help her with this one, and I'm excited to see what she gets out of the shoot! Links to come, when she posts the results on her blog. Her pictures will be worth it!

Featured

2009-01-15T11:52:00.005-05:00

My little shop is featured today over at Everyday Etsy!! I'm so flattered. Thank you Robyn!

Randy and Helen

2009-01-14T14:13:00.010-05:00

About this time last year I made a whole slew of wedding invitations for our friends, Randy and Helen. They just got married on the 3rd in Hawaii, and I realized I never showed you the invitations!

We were working with a "pikake and pearls" theme. Pikake flowers grow in Hawaii, where Randy is from. I've never been to Hawaii or seen pikake flowers, but I hear they smell amazing! So Helen drew the pikakes, and we added tiny stick-on pearls at the flowers' centers. The stripe is this awesome fuzzy flocked paper we found at the Paper Source. All in all there was a lot of gocco-ing, a whole lot of cutting, and a ridiculous amount of pasting involved in putting these together. But I love the way they turned out!!

And now, the most recent news. Randy and Helen play with Waitiki, a group described as "classic exotica and tiki for modern listeners." Go, check it out. They're pretty fantastic. I actually recorded a piece with them a couple of months ago in which I got to portray an octopus. On my horn. Yeah, it was awfully cool. I'll be sure to post a link when the recording comes out. Anyway, they recorded an album to give as favors to their guests. (That must be the coolest wedding favor idea I've ever heard of.) And our collaborative invitation design became the CD sleeve!!

Wow! Yep, I'm pleased as punch. And many congrats to the newly weds!!!!

Wedding Accessories

2009-01-11T22:14:00.006-05:00

Goodness, who am I to post twice in one day? Nevertheless, I just found myself fawning over these lovelies..
www.jcrew.com
www.bodenusa.com

I should mention, my dress is likely to be a golden/champagne color, something along these lines.

www.silkbaron.com

So can I pull them off? Together? And can I justify spending that much on just shoes and a handbag? My dress probably won't cost much more than that! (Ah, the joys of making your own wedding dress.) Hmmmm.....

Final Month

2009-01-11T15:09:00.006-05:00

I've been holding out on writing this post, trying to figure out my best course of action. It turns out that I need to close my shop by February 10.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has enacted a new law, the CPSIA, the next part of which goes into effect on February 10. This law mandates third party chemical testing of all items marketed and sold to children 12 and under. While large manufacturers will be able to roll with this, all cottage industries will have little choice but to close. Etsy will lose a huge category of their business. And we'll all be stuck buying mass produced toys from China, which was a huge source of the problem in the first place.

Luckily, this isn't a huge hit for me. My shop was just an extension of a hobby, and a neat way to share the love. I haven't promoted enough to have any regularity of sales, so the income lost will not be significant. And I have no shortage of personal projects, with my wedding exactly 9 months from today! I'm also not one of the amazingly brave and entrepreneurial people who have managed to quit their day jobs to sell full time on Etsy. (Gracious, I'm a musician, and that's half the point. I don't even have a day job!)

For the record, although it seems ridiculous to say, there are no hazardous materials in any of the 25 elephants I've made to this point, and there never will be. (Wow, I just counted them up. 25!) I had just bought a delightful pile of fabric before I learned of the law, and I intend to use it. There are 6 remaining elephants in my shop, and I'll continue selling through February 9. After that I imagine I'll donate some and continue giving them as gifts. Which is not a bad way to go, as far as sharing the love is concerned.

The gory details:

CPSC
The CPSIA in its full form
Clarification for used products - good news for resale stores
Handmade Toy Alliance
Various Sources of Useful Information and Actions

Napkins

2009-01-09T16:06:00.009-05:00

I suggested in my last post that I might be a wee bit overwhelmed by this wedding process. And I'll be the first to admit that it's my own darn fault. As you may have figured by now, I'm a firm believer in the value of all things handmade. I could expound on that ideology for many paragraphs. But I'll assume that you're on the same page, at least in part, and skip that monologue. For now :)

Which leads me to the smallest, yet most time consuming detail of my wedding plans. The napkins. Even as I write this I'm rolling my eyes over the energy that I'm putting into this minor detail. But stay with me, I'm going to attempt to convince both of us!

It all started here, with these two pictures.

www.purlbee.com

Jen, over at the Purlbee, made cloth napkins for her wedding and later turned them into a quilt. She works at a fabric store, so it was a personal detail. The colors totally brighten up the tables, and a bunch of her guests took them home as favors. Awesome. And have you ever taken the time to notice the average restaurant cloth napkins? There's not a natural fiber to be found in them! They're kind of gritty, kind of sticky smooth, not tremendously inspiring. Real cloth napkins are a simple but sweet luxury. So yes, I've decided to make cloth napkins.

I didn't actually consider how much time this was going to take before I ordered a giant pile of fabrics, but I'm still excited. Every day I find myself flipping through the colorful stack that's growing on my desk, imagining how pretty they'll look at our reception. *Happy sigh.*

Most of what's come in so far is normal (yet fantastic) fabric. But that floral blast-from-the-past on top is a vintage sheet. Half the napkins will be from vintage sheets when all is said and done. They're totally going to rock our modern yet playful fall vibe. Awesome.

Maybe there's a wedding quilt in our future. I do hope guests take some home, lest we end up buried in 100+ cloth napkins. (We're also nixing favors, and this idea brings some rest to the glossy-wedding-magazine-intoxicated part of my brain that worries about that.) But I'm also hoping we can use these as our regular napkins till we get old and grey together. Along those lines, I hope we never buy paper napkins again. And I'm hoping friends and family recognize them when we pull them out years from now and smile, remembering the happiness of that day.

Right, back to the sewing machine.

2009

2009-01-04T23:11:00.006-05:00

2009 scares the bejezus out of me. I haven't even gone back to work yet (that starts tomorrow) and I'm nervous. There's an overwhelming sense of impending . . . something. It's not the work, per say, it's all the other stuff. (Alright, it's mostly the wedding. That's gonna be a major project. We'll discuss that more another day.) So, I've been inspired to get it all out, put it down on virtual paper, and focus on the good stuff. And here you have it, in no particular order. These are my goals, my resolutions, my plans, my coming year in a nutshell.

2009:

1. Marry Fred!

2. Plan and pull off an awesome, personal and meaningful wedding.

3. Run a marathon. On our honeymoon.

4. Play my horn every day.

5. Learn to bike commute into Boston.

6. Run 1000 miles.

7. Read the Bible. The whole thing.

8. Paint my finger nails regularly.

9. Wear skirts more often.

10. Learn to design my own patterns.

11. Design and sew my own wedding dress.

12. Let my hair grow out.

13. Start and finish a sweater.

14. Knit a pair of socks.

15. Give a recital.

16. Put money in savings and leave it there!

17. Take dance lessons.

18. Send (handmade) cards unexpectedly.

19. Make an inspiration board.

20. Stand up straight.

21. Worry a little less.

22. Smile a lot more.

23. Take a trip to somewhere I've never been.

24. Finish the quilt I got fabric for a year ago.

25. Hang out in NYC.

26. Cultivate a yoga practice.

27. Put things away a little quicker. (Dishes, laundry, etc.)

28. Go camping.

29. Wear pretty shoes.

30. Drink water like a fish.

31. Make better use of my extensive driving time.

32. Bag a couple of the local peaks.

33. Blog more often.

Visions of sugar plums

2008-12-15T20:16:00.002-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, sugar plums are for real. I'm aware that this might seem obvious to other people. But I'm the sort of person who was shocked to learn that marshmallows didn't come into the world in the perfectly cylindrical, tasteless, styrofoam-ish form we all know and love. Really, despite being nearly-vegan I sometimes forget that certain foods didn't originate in cellophane wrappers and plastic bags. Granola bars fall into that category too, now that I think about it. Of course, that was before I started making my own granola bars and marshmallows. But I digress.

Sugar plums are for real. Here I am, in the 28th year of my life, and I had no idea what visions of sugar plums actually look like. Well, it turns out they're balls of chopped up nuts and dried fruits. Yep, that's all. On the one hand that's a bit of a let down, as my young imagination had come up with something much more colorful and magical. But on the other hand, they're easy to make and wicked tasty.

I found recipes here and here and adapted them. Basically, I used the ingredients and measurements from the first recipe and added the spices from the second. Mine are rolled in turbinado sugar. Right now they're a bit on the moist side, as my dried fruit was really fresh. (Ahem, and I might have been a tad heavy handed with the Grand Marnier.) I'll leave them out for a bit and roll them in more sugar. Total working time - about 10 minutes. Let me reiterate, they're really good. Yay for new Christmas traditions!

Brrr

2008-12-08T16:12:00.004-05:00

I realized today that I hadn't shown you my fingerless gloves. (Pardon the grainy pictures, we haven't seen the sun in days.)

I made them in September, and I've probably worn them every day since. You'd be surprised how warm a pair of fingerless gloves can be! Something about keeping a pulse point warm, I think. Of course, I managed to not photograph them then when they were all clean and pretty looking. (Or when the sun still came out.) Now they're kind of pilly and well worn, but I love them all the more. Well, I did until today.

See, I just wore them to the post office. (I had to drop some elephants in the mail. Did I tell you that I've sold two of these guys in the past week?) I knew it was cold out - we had our first snow yesterday! But somehow that didn't register.

Apparently it's 20 degrees outside. My thermometer would have told me to wear real gloves, but I didn't consult it before I left. Well, let me tell you, I hustled my tail those three blocks to the post office and back. And it was somewhere along said chilly hustle that I decided I needed to blog about my awesome gloves. And then dig the real mittens out of the closet.

I adapted my pattern from this one on Knitty. Mine are a smidge longer, with a few more cables. They were actually my first cables, worked without a cable hook, and I'm quite proud of them. The yarn is Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, as I recall. I'm a fan. Inexpensive yarn + free pattern = happy me. Yeah, I'm sure I'll still wear them every day. But maybe just not outside.

Just checking...

2008-12-06T22:36:00.003-05:00

...to see if anyone was still here. I am, at the very least, albeit sporadically in recent weeks. However you've gotten here, I hope this finds you well :)

Engagement Photos

2008-10-27T14:31:00.004-04:00

I'm so excited to introduce our photographer - Rachel Hadiashar of Merge Weddings. I found her completely by accident, poking around the wedding blogs one afternoon. There was one post in particular where the couple did a day after shoot at Boston Sand and Gravel. I recognized the location, as I drive over it on the highways at least once a week. Who in the world would be taking such great pictures at Boston Sand and Gravel?

Some sleuthing led me to Rachel's website, and I was totally sold. As she puts it, "If you just want someone to take some nice photos of you cutting the cake, you might want to look somewhere else. I like to think of the ultimate wedding photo more along the lines of when your grandma gets on the dance floor at the same time as your uncle Hamid and starts dancing like she is 22 again. I am an artist committed to bringing out the amazing details of your life and personality. I am bored by mediocrity. I am inspired by life, color, and cultural collisions." To which I say, "Oh pick me, pick me!"

I love that Rachel was a flute player. Artists and musicians typically speak the same language. It was obvious as soon as we started emailing that she was the one for us. Besides the fact that she takes some fantastic photos! I'm not naturally comfortable in front of the camera - that's partly why we decided to do engagement shots - but that afternoon was such a blast.

Since Fred and I play weddings all the time, we know what it means to work with a couple and help create their most fantastic wedding day. There's no life in it if it's just another gig! Now that we're on the other side, we hope that everyone helping to pull off our day is excited for us too. So thanks, Rachel!!! And be sure to check out the rest of her website, she's pretty darn awesome.

Location Frustration

2008-10-24T22:17:00.010-04:00

Fred and I have had the darndest time finding a wedding location. Without going into it, we contacted over 25 locations before we found a place we liked that was willing to work with us. I think this is just obstacle number one in our plans for a non-traditional wedding, and I'm ok with that. Any standard wedding venue would have been easy, but that's just not our style. So where are we getting married? Stanley Park in Westfield, MA.

Great, easy, done! Fred played soccer at Stanley Park when he was a kid. Their herb garden is the perfect balance of unstructured natural beauty. The park has a number of different gardens that beg to be wandered, and we like the idea of our guests exploring the space before the ceremony starts. So we went to visit said herb garden this Columbus Day weekend, one year out from the wedding. And . . . . they mowed it down.

Ugh. That's not to say it won't look beautiful next year at this time, assuming they wait to mow, but I would have felt better seeing it. So the search is back on! Luckily, there are other places in the park we could use. Should we get married by the tree? In the rose garden? By the burning bush? In front of the gazebo?

I think we're going with the gazebo view. Not because we're particularly into the gazebo wedding thing! Hey, from our vantage point we don't get to see the gazebo at all, and I kind of like it that way. But that area looks like I imagine the herb garden might. Lots of texture and structure, but a little undone as it's all gone to seed. It's also one of the more private spaces in the park, despite being adjacent to the rose garden.

There's that long strip of grass you see above, but there's also a break in the garden opposite that gazebo view. Basically there's a T-shaped space where guests can sit (the park only allows 20 chairs) and stand around us. It moves towards the wedding-in-the-round idea that we like, with people on three sides, and I think everyone will be able to see that way.

Maybe it's for the best that we changed locations! Anyway, I'm still really glad to be getting married at the park. Stay tuned for the next segment of "our slightly atypical wedding," when my Aunt Judy and I take on my biggest rival - the puffy white wedding dress. Showdown!

-1

2008-10-12T16:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was our -1 year wedding anniversary! Well, we have the date set tentatively, but we'll nail it down for sure in the next couple of days. As Fred says, we're going to end up with two wedding anniversaries - the actual date, and the Sunday of Columbus Day Weekend. While we're at it, I think we might just take over the whole holiday weekend. Let's hope we have the same amazing weather next year that we've got right now!

Purple

2008-09-24T11:45:00.004-04:00

White vs. Color. I can't seem to decide. My old apartment was an obvious sway in the color direction, but I found myself coveting the tranquil white rooms that are all over my favorite design blogs.

While I still swoon over pics of those amazing airy spaces, three things have happened since. First, I moved into a new apartment with white walls. Ok, apartment-off-white walls, but still. Second, I realized I can't keep my place clean and organized 24/7, and the purest white walls and furniture just aren't going to look tranquil with all of what I've got going on. And third, I started to swoon over the most colorful pictures on those same blogs.

Now this, for better or worse, was my entry way. I love having an entry way for the first time in my renting life, but this sad scene wasn't cutting it. So I did what I thought any self motivated and determined young person would do - I upholstered it. Purple.

Inspiration and starch recipe found here. Yes, this makes a great big pot of goo, but I used a whole lot of it and it's not expensive.

Step 1: Paint a bit of the wall with the starch. I slopped it on pretty thickly. Smooth your fabric up against the sticky section, leaving some overhang at all the edges. (The fabric will shrink as it dries, and you'll go back and trim it later.) Then paint again on top of that section of fabric, all the way to the corners, just to be sure everything is well saturated. I also used a couple of thumbtacks along the top to be sure the fabric would stay put, just because it was going to get heavy.

Step 2: Work your way down the wall in sections, painting the wall first, smoothing the fabric into place, and painting over the fabric. Don't worry if you need to pull up the fabric and adjust in spots. Just keep painting on the starch, and things will stick right back down.

Step 3: Let the whole mess dry. Trim along the edges with a utility knife. Enlist the help of a tall person, if necessary. Use more starch to paste those corners and edges securely onto the wall. It all dries clear, so touching up is not an issue. We had a hard time trimming around the woodwork, so we actually pasted on some extra patches to square everything up a little better. The patches just barely peek out from behind the main piece, and you really can't see they're there at all.

Step 4: Enjoy! The fabric pulls right off the wall when you're ready to move on. Supposedly you can then toss it in the wash and use it again for other projects. All the work involved took maybe 2 hours, from making the starch to trimming the edges, but I did leave it to dry overnight between steps. I bought 3 yards of fabric from Ikea for this wall. Total cost, under $10.

It's Official!

2008-09-13T15:50:00.008-04:00

Remember this handsome guy?

Well, in about a year and a month I'm going to be his new Mrs!!!

Before I go overboard and dish about all of my plans and inspirations and diy's, let me just say two things. First, I have to acknowledge the amazingness of a groom who wants to help plan his wedding. Because discussing color pallets and stationary styles can't be top on his to-do list, but he's my hero for wanting this to be our big day.

And second, we want this wedding to be about people. We're trying to plan an event that honors our families and the marriages and friends we hope to follow and learn from. That, and of course we want all of our guests have to a blast. Yes, there will be much discussion of dresses and the like on this blog. But please, when I stray too far with worries about this detail or that, feel free to send some good sense back in my direction. My Dad's baseline for a successful event is, "everyone got a hotdog and nobody got hurt." Besides the hotdogs and adding a bit about getting married somewhere in the middle there, those are the priorities, no matter what the glossy wedding mags have to say!

Alright, one picture, I can't help it. My niece is on tap to be the flower girl. Or rather, the two-year-old of honor. She's not going to hold the rings, she's not going toss petals, her only job is to get herself up the aisle and look cute. So I think she gets to wear something along these lines...

I forget where I snatched this pic from, but credits and thank you!

Home

2008-09-11T19:09:00.003-04:00

At least, my summer home. Gracious, I miss this place! I hope you all had a fantastic summer, and best wishes for the back-to-school season. We'll be in touch :)

Downeast

2008-06-23T16:55:00.003-04:00

I love how people use "summer" as a verb. For example, "we summer on the Cape," or, "we summer at Martha's Vineyard." I'm certainly not living the lifestyle of those so rich and famous, but I like to say I summer in Maine.

Downeast Maine, to be precise. There's a music festival up here, and by some strange twist of fate (and a long phone chain) they called me to come fill out their horn section three years ago. Every summer since it seems I can't keep myself away. So here I am, summer number four, spending six weeks in Maine. Summering in Maine. And it's such a good thing.

So I'll be in touch sporadically. It all depends on when we get into civilization for internet and cell reception, because we have neither out in the woods. But I look forward to sharing updates on the music, the hiking, the quilting, and the Maine-ness of it all.

Oh, and that there photo up there - that's my back yard this summer.

Finished

2008-05-13T20:58:00.004-04:00

Remember this guy? I think my blog got started with this project! And today I wrapped it up in pink tissue paper and sent it off in the mail!

Truth be told, I've never finished a project so large, and I was sad to see it go. Towards the end I kept trying to find one more little detail to quilt, a tag to add to the back, one more thing to make it just right.

You can see I filled each crazy nine patch square with a spiral. For my next endeavor I think I'll pick a pattern that goes a little faster. I finished by running a stitch-in-the-ditch along the border, and it went so quickly in comparison. Fancy that, straight lines!

And yes, I do mean my next endeavor. Somewhere around block 11/35 I thought the hand quilting would never end, and there was no way I would ever do this again. But I love it. I love the way it turned out, the way it looks all warm and quilty after a run through the wash. I love that it looks handmade, that it is handmade, and that it will hopefully be special to Audrey. The last time I visited my Dad I found a stash of handmade quilts and blankets that had been mine, some I remember well and some I had nearly forgotten about, and I just nearly turned to mush when I saw them. I love that. So my next quilt, my summer project, will also be hand quilted. And, gulp, queen-sized.

Hello Beautiful

2008-05-13T00:35:00.004-04:00

Oh sweet laundry, how I love thee.

Fred and I got keys to our new apartment this morning. That lovely pair is our brand-spanking-new über-energy efficient washer/dryer. I can't wait to move in!

And the projects begin . . . I love this part. How do we best arrange the furniture? What colors should we focus on in different rooms? How about a canopy in the bedroom? Can I find a shower curtain that I like, or will I end up making one? Should we start an Etsy art collection? Can we Craigslist for any new furniture? What about making a new quilt for the bedroom? Yep, I think that one's next!

Tulips

2008-05-10T23:07:00.004-04:00

Cricket...cricket.....cricket.......

Well I obviously needed a break, huh? Between my sister's wedding and that impossible apartment search, I think I burned out. Yes, some time off was in order. Amazingly enough, though, I didn't stop crafting! As much as I thought I'd put away the sewing machine and the gocco after the wedding, I've actually finished some significant projects. More on those shortly. For tonight, I'll ease back in with the simple stuff.

I have an office job, but it's not like that. Sometimes I go downtown to visit my Aunt and Uncle at their offices, and it feels so foreign to me. Actually, offices look like they must be a lot of fun. I mean, what goes on inside those huge buildings? I do neat things with a lot of neat people, so I bet office buildings are brimming with coolness. I think I don't understand, but I like to think that it must be exciting.

At my "office," in a nutshell, I work only with musicians, I pick my own hours, and all we do is talk about music. Really, it's a great gig. So we hosted a conference last weekend, with all sorts of people flying in from across the country. We were about to be stuck in a hotel conference room with no windows for two solid days, and our "boss" (Department head? Fearless leader? Grand puba? Really, he's just Larry) wanted something to brighten up the place. So I volunteered myself for the hard job - flower arranging.

And the results are so happy! Whole Foods came through with some lovely tulips, and the square glass containers are ones I've collected over the years. I'm digging the clean minimalist/modern vibe these days.

It seems appropriate to post these in honor of Mother's Day. For the women doing the most important work in the world. I can't begin to imagine it.

Tomorrow morning Fred and I get keys to our new apartment! For my first order of business - I get to do laundry in my own space!! Oh, and take pictures and measurements and try to decide where the furniture goes. I've been looking forward to this for months. I'll report back tomorrow!

We're Not Homeless!

2008-04-17T18:57:00.003-04:00

It took a month, dozens of apartment viewings, and three solid rejections, but today we signed a lease on our new apartment! YAY!! I don't know if I'm more excited about having a washer/dryer in the unit or having a dedicated studio/craft space. Hmmm, tough call, both favorites. Oh, and clean white walls. And an oven that opens without employing brute force. And real tile on the kitchen floor! Right, and my own studio. And I don't have to spend a month scrubbing it before I can move in! YAY! Can you tell I'm wicked excited?

(For future reference, if some lovely young couple, perhaps a horn player and a trumpet player, come to rent an apartment from you, let me assure you that they'll probably be excellent tenants. Really, the music won't be too loud. You'll barely hear it, and I'm sure they'll stop at a reasonable hour. They're probably really decent people too. Good karma says let them stay. Just for future reference.)

And I leave you with this gorgeous thing. My Aunt Judy got a ranunculus plant, and they're definitely my new favorite. Peace!

Projects

2008-04-14T23:37:00.003-04:00

Finished Projects:

Sister's wedding!

Current Projects:

Taxes
Finding a place to live by May 15

Future Projects:

Return to crafting/pictures/blogging/sanity. . . .

Till next time!

Audrey's Dress

2008-04-01T04:13:00.003-04:00

For my nearly 8 month old niece to wear to her parents' wedding:

The dresses are nearly done. Our dearest Aunt spent the whole afternoon and into the evening on Sunday hemming my sister's so I could work on mine. Bless her heart, I'd be sunk without her! And somehow in the next two days, between teaching and gigs, I'll finish all three. Mark my words!

Curiously, it turns out that this dress is not peacock and white, like was originally intended, but peacock and pale blue. There's a funny story about that, wouldn't you guess. This evening I took all the extra fabric from my dress and my sister's to the laundromat. Audrey's dress is guaranteed to get wet somehow, so I thought it prudent to pre-wash everything. Unfortunately I didn't think it prudent to separate the blue bits from the white bits. Oops. When the water turned bright turquoise I knew I was in trouble. But it turned out to be a lovely color and it works well in the baby's dress, so if anybody asks it was totally intentional. Really, I meant it that way.

Actually it's really cute. I kind of wish I could wear hers instead of mine! Right, so what time is it now? I've spent way too many hours in front of my poor sewing machine for one night. Till next time!

Grand Opening!

2008-03-29T17:42:00.006-04:00

Just popping in real quick to tell you about my new shop! (Note the new side bar to the right.)

peaslee.etsy.com

I'm super excited! Expect new postings and updates often. Please go take a peak, please share it with ~~everyone you know~~ anyone who might be interested, and please let me know what you think!

And now, since this isn't totally out of the blue, I'm going to have to jet. I'd love to stay and chat more, but I'm a seriously behind in the sewing. My sister may have something to wear to her wedding next Friday, but I might not!

365

2008-03-21T16:57:00.003-04:00

tea leaves in the sun

I wanted to point you in the direction of my 365 set on flickr. While my photo-a-day plan fell by the wayside last week (see 14/365), I'm back at it! I won't post those pictures here everyday, since they're not all relevant to our conversation, but you can find them over at flickr if you're interested in keeping up. You'll notice that I'm just picking up the numbers where I left off. That feels about right, doesn't it? That we pick up where we left off? I think I like that.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Oh Dear

2008-03-20T22:02:00.002-04:00

Hello, friends. I didn't mean to fall of the face of your computer screen, or however you'd describe my absence. Last week was a rough one, and I'm still finding my bearings again. I even bailed on my picture-a-day, and I'd been so enjoying that process! But I think I'm ready to pull myself back together and jump start this party again. Sound like a plan?

But fear not, it's not like I wasn't doing anything productive!! Lordy no, just nothing I can show you yet. I mean, I couldn't possibly show you my sister's wedding dress before the wedding! I'm sure that would be bad luck. But let me tell you about it, just a bit.

For starters, my sister HATES wearing dresses. I didn't question her one bit when she first threatened to wear jeans to her wedding. (Really, I don't know how we're related.) But no, we found a pattern she approved of, and somehow she entrusted me with the job of making the most important dress I'll ever make. Egads. So I altered said pattern to her measurements, ordered a length of silk that's longer than my entire apartment, and cut into the most expensive fabric I've ever worked with. We met this past weekend for our first fitting. The wedding is now 2.5 weeks away, and she was just seeing the dress for the first time. Who me, scared? Um, yep. Terrified. And the verdict? She loves it. And it looks amazing. Thank God. Now I only have to finish hers, make mine, and make one for the baby. Right. Speaking of whom, since I can't show you the dress, I'll at least show you what the kid was doing at the time - helping! And yes, I promise, tons of photos in 3 weeks!

And in other news, thank you so much to those who've commented on my elephants. I have been so pleased by the response I've gotten. I mentioned selling them a while back, and that idea may be going somewhere . . . . stay tuned! In the meantime, it's nice to be back. Have a good night!

Fonts

2008-03-04T18:42:00.005-05:00

Smashing Magazine Fonts
Amanda and Kevin
Fontifier

Roses

2008-02-26T21:28:00.003-05:00

Today I went to the Paper Source to pick up a couple of things. I love the Paper Source. I can't keep myself away from all the prettiness. Any day now I'll pick up and move in. Anyway, they had this little ball jar of roses sitting by the register. It seems they had a wedding event the night before, had these roses left over, and stuck them in a ball jar they found in the basement. Lovely, yes, but wait! Let me tell you my plan!

Fred and I collect glass peanut butter jars. Strange, I know, but we go through a lot of peanut butter, and then we use the clean jars to store dry rice and beans and whatnot in our pantry. Now we're starting to use the glass jars for leftovers. They're the perfect size, the lids are interchangeable, and we've never broken one. It's part of our plan to move away from plastics. Well, one day I was scanning a few wedding blogs, looking for ideas for my sister's wedding, and I realized that my peanut butter jar collection would be perfect for the flower centerpieces at my own wedding someday. Maybe wrapped in linen or faux bois, like these? Because I'll be doing my own flowers, naturally. Oh, did I mention I plan to have the reception in a New England barn? Yep, in the fall. But don't hold your breath, it'll be a while! In the meantime, if you're looking for some fun wedding inspiration, look here. These are some of my favorite wedding pictures ever. Ever.

2/365

2008-02-26T21:04:00.005-05:00

As soon as I posted last night about starting a 365 project I began to worry. What was I going to take a picture of? Where would I find it? How would I feel about taking pictures randomly in public? What happens if I get sick and can't take a picture one day? Why did I have to go announcing this plan to the world without thinking it through a bit more? Well, all that aside, here's my picture for today. It was kind of neat, actually, seeing things in my day more carefully. Two down, a bunch to go.

1/365

2008-02-25T22:19:00.005-05:00

I've decided to get on the "365 Project" bandwagon. It was seeing this set today that made up my mind. First, her photos are beautiful. I wondered how it could be possible that every day be so colorful and bright. Well, obviously, we're only looking at one snapshot of each day. Of course it makes sense to post the nicest ones. But on the other hand, it also means that she's found something colorful and bright in each day, and isn't that an exercise worth participating in?

For an added benefit, I like the idea of using my camera more often. I welcome a good excuse to get some practice with it. And sometimes I'm hesitant to take pictures while I'm out and about. It makes me feel like a tourist. But it's high time I get over that silliness, and I think this assignment might do it. And lastly, I've been curious about how this blog fits into my life. Or rather, how my life fits into this blog. It's been my tendency to share projects and crafts and such, but not get into the nitty-gritty of what else I do. But I do some really neat things when I'm away from my sewing machine! So maybe this 365 will open those lines of communication a little more, eh?

So here we go! Fred and I have this plant in our kitchen. I don't know at all what it's called. There's a vegan restaurant in Brookline that has one draped along all four walls! Clearly they grow like mad. Ours is all wrapped around its own pot and growing in knots. Sometimes when a new leaf is about to open up it presents us with a drop of water. Just like that.

Invitations

2008-02-25T12:55:00.003-05:00

Invitations are done and in the mail!

Gratitudes

2008-02-12T13:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I stopped at my favorite local coffee shop for tea and a scone. I've decided to stop going to coffee shops unless I bring my own travel mug. How many people each day get coffee and throw away that paper cup? And cardboard sleeve? And plastic lid? All of which is recyclable, but we toss them anyway? And how many travel mugs do we have sitting in our cupboards? So it's a new rule I'm going to hold myself to, at least as much as possible. Anyway, use your own cup at Starbucks and they'll give you a $0.10 discount. That's pretty cool, but $0.10 won't make a huge dent in my tea-and-a-scone outings. But yesterday, at my favorite local coffee shop, somehow the bill was noticeably smaller. I asked the cool person behind the counter what the story was, and she said the discount for bringing my own mug was a dollar. A dollar! Now that's some serious incentive right there. Obviously those paper cups probably cost more like $0.10 than $1, but I love that they're making it worth my while to create less needless trash. And then, the tea. Blueberry rooibos. My car smelled of blueberry muffins all the way to my teaching gig. Even one of my fourth graders asked about it during his lesson. Yum.

Next up, my red wool tights. Tights make my inner 4-year old really happy. They're the perfect partner to my beloved boot collection, especially during Boston winters. Wool is an added bonus. Red wool puts them over the top. These were found during my last shopping trip to Northampton, MA with Fred. They're great with the perfect black boots he got me for Christmas. And yesterday they went from fashion to function when I woke up to 11 degree weather! Happy that.

And finally, I'm making progress on my sister's wedding invitations. I might be a complete gocco novice, but I love this thing. Mass production is so gratifying in the crafting world of tiny, individual stitches and piece by piece construction. They might be simple, but I think they're going to look slick!

Share and Share Alike

2008-02-07T15:58:00.001-05:00

Fred had pink eye and a cold last week, so naturally I have pink eye and a cold this week. I thought I would get by with just the cold, but my eye was swollen and pink and gross when I woke up this morning. It's not cute. My day has been full of tissues and eye medicine and cold medicine and tea. But look, I managed to make something in between sniffles!

I got a slick new flash recorder in the mail the other day, and decided it needed a decent bag. Given my propensity for dropping things (really, I am an amazing klutz), the flimsy pouch it came with wasn't going to cut it.

This pretty canvas fabric came from Jo-Ann's, of all places. I put on a zipper, stuffed it with batting, lined it, stitched the seams with basting tape, and it's good to go!

Next on my list - new pajamas. I need a new favorite pair to replace that old favorite pair that died. Bumming around in your pajamas all day makes it hard to hide how ratty the PJ stash has gotten. This fabric came from my last trip to Boston's best fabric store. Fresh out of the wash and ready to be cut, I'll have new PJ's by bedtime.

Alright, I'm off to go clean out my eyes and blow my nose again. Hey, it could be worse. Fred popped a blood vessel with his pink eye last week, and the whole eye was completely red for a few days. Yeah, talk about not cute. Stay well, everyone!