my sweet cherry blossom

Brown Sugar Shortbread

2009-11-23T15:54:00.005-06:00

Often it's the simple things in life that provide the greatest pleasure. For me, a plate of brown sugar shortbread is definitely one of those humble delights. There's nothing fancy about this cookie: just butter, sugar and eggs. But the addition of a Tahitian vanilla bean transforms these unassuming little cookies into the sublime. The vanilla infused raw sugar on top is a delicious crunchy contrast to the crumbly melt in your mouth cookie. For a real treat, pair these cookies with a glass of Port. Simple and delicious.

Okay, I was totally channeling Barbara Stanwyck in Christmas In Connecticut when I wrote that. That has to be one of my all time favorite movies. Barbara plays Elisabeth Lane 'America's Favorite Housewife' who writes a popular food column in a ladies magazine. She supposedly lives on a farm with her husband and baby where she makes delicious food all day long. The reality is that she's single, living in New York and can't cook to save her life. It's a wonderfully charming movie that I watch year 'round.

But here's the real reason that I wrote that description of the cookies: Marx Foods, a super cool specialty foods shop had a contest where they'd send you vanilla beans so you could cook with them and photograph the finished product. Or you could just photograph the beans. I got the beans on Friday afternoon with a deadline of Saturday midnight to send in my photo. So I whipped up a batch of shortbread, created a still life and snapped a few shots. Now, I've never entered a photography contest in my life because my photo skills are moderate at best. But I can bake a pretty darn good cookie if I do say so myself.

Anyway, the contest runs until Wednesday November 25th and I am BEGGING anyone who reads this blog to please, please, pretty please vote for my photo. I know that I will not win, but for goodness sakes, I don't want to look like a complete doofus with only one vote!!! The truly pitiful thing is that I totally voted for myself (excuse me while I go to the mirror to check my forehead for a giant L for loser). Another point of embarrassment is that all of the other photos are all foodie/artsy and mine looks...well.... sort of quaint. Kind of like paint-by-number in a room of Van Goghs. Or a chicken pot pie on a table of sushi. So help me out here folks....have mercy and vote for my silly little photo PLEASE!!!!! Let's show the world of fine foods that quaint is cool!!! That knitters don't mind a little fuzz in their cookies!!! (the fuzz thing was in reference to the felted pumpkins in my photo by the way...).

Here's the link. Vote for Pam!!!!!

I thank you from the bottom of my heart....

Oh, here's the recipe for all you cookie bakers out there:

Brown Sugar Shortbread

1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 tsp. salt (if you've used unsalted butter, otherwise omit)
1 tahitian vanilla bean (marx foods vanilla beans really are fabulous)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (I use Penzey's double strength vanilla)
2 cups flour

Cream the butter, sugar and salt until smooth. Slice open vanilla bean and scrape out the flesh and seeds. Add to butter/sugar mixture. Add flour, mix until dough forms. Divide dough in half and roll each into a log about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for several hours. Slice dough into rounds and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes. While still warm, dip the top in vanilla sugar.

I make my vanilla sugar like this:

1 cup of raw sugar plus the insides of one vanilla bean (again, Marx Foods vanilla beans are terrific). I blend it in a food processor and store it in a glass container along with the skins of the vanilla bean. It lasts forever and tastes fabulous in baked goods or stirred into tea.

And don't forget to vote for Pam!!!!!

Autumn Joy

2009-11-02T12:24:00.007-06:00

What started out as a lazy Sunday morning of coffee, music and newspapers turned into a day of outdoor fun. Our backyard was a sea of golden maple leaves in dire need of raking so we decided to end our lazy morning at second breakfast instead of cruising our way through elevenses in our pajamas. While Adrian hauled our first load of leaves to the composting site near our house, I took advantage of the nice weather and took some pictures. This past month I took a break from the sweater that I'm knitting to whip up a patch of knitted and felted pumpkins. They are from a pattern by Marie Mayhew, a local knitter who has some of the cutest knitting/felting patterns ever. The pumpkins range in size from about 7 to 3 inches. They're knit with worsted weight wool yarn and felted in the washing machine. I tweaked around with the pattern a bit to get the different sizes and shapes. I used several different brands of yarn and they all worked great. The brands of yarn all felt up a bit differently which also made for a wide variety of sizes.
My crocheted acorns are an ongoing project that I still work on when the mood strikes. They are as addicting as potato chips and I've made handfuls of them. This fall I've collected a pile of acorn caps for the future because it's kind of hard to scout for acorn caps in the dead of winter with a foot of snow on the ground. The yarn is mostly odd bits of sock yarn lovingly donated to me by my favorite knitting sister Brenda, who has a really excellent knitting podcast called Cast On. You should listen to it, it's terrific. It never ceases to amaze me that the delightful person on the podcast is the same bossy older sister who used to tickle me as a child until I peed my pants.After a long day of raking leaves, Adrian and I treated ourselves to a lovely little bonfire. We settled into our log swing, sipped on Apfelcorn and relaxed in the golden light of the late afternoon sun.

Ribbons and Things

2009-09-30T12:04:00.019-05:00

Holey moley it has been ages since I've last posted anything on my blog! I should get a prize for blogging slacker of the year. And speaking of prizes.....I entered a bunch of my handmade things in the Minnesota State Fair this year....seven handmade things to be exact. Lo and behold, I won some ribbons.....seven ribbons to be exact!
But the most rewarding thing for me was sharing the stuff that I had made with others. The Creative Activities building was packed full of gorgeously hand crafted things: jams, cakes, pickles, quilts, knitting, crochet, carved wooden things, stained glass, doll houses, beading, embroidery, sewing and all sorts of other wonderful hand crafted treasures. I loved being a part of the greater creative community in Minnesota. I loved that so many people were willing to take the time to enter something that they had made so that they could share their accomplishments with others. It was wonderful to be a part of the generations of women and men before me who stayed up late working on a quilt or perfecting a pickle recipe so that they could exhibit something at the Minnesota State Fair.

I think it is a wonderful accomplishment for anyone who takes the time to make things with their own two hands. I truly feel that everyone who creates things should be proud of what they have made. Whether it's a simple loaf of bread, a knitted hat or a quilted masterpiece, anything that is made by hand has value and worth. I also think that sharing those things with others is important as well. It's not about getting your ego inflated or winning ribbons, it's a matter of making that connection with others who appreciate handmade things too. It's about sharing ideas, learning new things, teaching others what you know and exchanging feedback. It's about becoming a part of a creative collective, a group of people who are proud of what they have accomplished and who chose to share their creativity with others.

But enough of the philosophical stuff, let's take a look at the handcrafted goodies that I entered in the fair....
This is actually four of my Bead Journal Project pieces that I grouped in a frame. It won a second prize ribbon. If you want to see the pieces close up, I've got tons of pictures of them in previous blog posts.
I also entered three of my dolls which won two first place and one third place ribbon. The fairy doll from a few posts back won a ribbon as did these two dolls....My dearest lovliest Mama and I made Santa dolls together a few years ago. My Mama made a beautiful patchwork jacket for her Santa and I made a penny rug wool jacket for mine. The plaid fabric is from pair of wool pants that I found at the Goodwill. I ripped out the seams and then washed the pants in hot water so that the fabric would felt up. Santa (or 'Santy' as he's fondly called in my house) also has a handknitted hat, mittens and sweater. In addition to winning a third place ribbon at the fair, Santy also won an American Swedish Institute award for, I suppose, looking like a Swedish Saint Nicholas. After I found out that I was a recipient of a Swedish award, I immediately renounced my Italian/Basque heritage and now consider myself 100% Swedish. I am guessing that I am the only black haired, olive skinned, garlic loving Swede in the state of Minnesota.

This sweet little doll is an antique reproduction Greiner style doll.... She came as a kit that I purchased from Gail Wilson Designs. I hand painted her molded papier mache head, arms and legs and sewed and assembled the cloth body. I also made her clothes which are edged with wee hand crocheted lace. She's a tiny little thing, less than six inches tall and she fits so nicely in the palm of my hand. I am very fond of this doll and was delighted that she won a blue ribbon. Gail Wilson's doll kits are absolutely charming and are a great way to get started with making antique reproduction dolls. The instructions are very detailed and everything included in the kit is very high quality. I've made several of her dolls and have so enjoyed the the process as well as the finished result. Another Gail Wilson doll that I made won a blue ribbon at the fair last year.... She's a reproduction of an early American doll and is named Charlotte after Laura Ingalls' rag doll that her Ma made her for Christmas (I love the Little House books.)
Look who also won a ribbon....
My flock O' felted sheep! The judge wrote that they lacked personality without faces so I was bumped down to a second place ribbon. I happen to love them without eyes, I think that they feel more like folk art without their facial features. I love making these lambs, they're such compact, wooly little treasures. I'd love to add some embellished sheep to my flock. I think one of the little white ones would look very sweet with embroidered silk ribbon flowers, leaves and vines. That might be a fun winter project.
I also won a blue ribbon for this embroidered wool table runner....I hand dyed a lot of the wool myself. I use the 'lazy girl's microwave method' of dyeing wool. It's a piece o' cake and relatively mess free. I used Procion MX dyes with vinegar as the mordant. This punch needle turtle won a third place ribbon.... The judge didn't like the beaded border and said that she found it to be 'disturbing'. That comment kind of stung a bit but Adrian did a wonderful job of making me laugh over the fact that I had created something 'disturbing'. It is now a running joke in our house that many of my handmade things have a disturbing quality about them. I'm okay with that and as a matter of fact, I'm trying to think up something really and truly disturbing to make for next year's state fair. Anyone have any good ideas?

Rainforest Dreams

2009-07-15T15:34:00.013-05:00

This is one last piece inspired by my trip to Kauai last winter. This time I left the sandy shores and took a journey into the lush tropical rain forests. I began my beaded journey by creating a tapestry of twisting tangled vines... Next I created the pink flowers to remind me of this plant... The pink beaded blossoms also remind me of the rambutans that I ate for breakfast everyday ....There was an abundance of unfamiliar plants and flowers to discover on my tropical journey...Each one of those beautiful flowers flourished in my beaded rain forest as well....
Sometimes the vines and branches would part to reveal the unexpected. A cascading waterfall, a giant fern or a humble spider weaving it's web. It was all part of the magic in the rain forest.
I will never forget the time that I spent in the rain forest, wandering and wondering about the beauty that surrounded me. I hope that I was able to convey in my bead work the awesome beauty, overwhelming excitement and pure wonder of the magical days that I spent in Kauai.

Faerie in the Garden

2009-07-15T11:29:00.011-05:00

Look who visited my garden today! She stopped by to rest up after the early morning thunderstorms. She seemed to like the violas....She splashed about in the stream a bit and then leaned against the sweet flag to let the sun dry her off....She flew over to the moss rose.....
to watch the chipmunks eating seeds that had fallen from the bird feeder...I wish that I had an outfit like hers....
Curly magenta hair might be kinda fun too....Sigh...the truth is that even though I'd really like to believe that there are faeries in my garden, I haven't actually seen one yet. Well, I did see a big luna moth once that looked a lot like a faerie until I saw the ugly proboscis tube thingy sticking out of it's head.
I while back I took a faerie doll making class at my favorite quilting store called Colorful Quilts. It was taught by Rick Petersen, a very talented local doll artist. Unfortunately CQ closed down a few months ago which is a loss that I've yet to recover from. CQ was the perfect place to rev up my creative mojo and I learned so much from the wonderful people who worked and taught classes there.
Anyhoo, I took this class, then naturally became completely obsessed with making faerie dolls. The face and body were made from polymer clay and armature wire wrapped with yarn. The wings were made from wire and fused iridescent angelina film. The arms and legs were wrapped with lovely hannah silk and the corset was made from wool felt. The skirt was made from silk flowers and her shoes were painted on. Her curly hair is sheep fleece that's hand dyed by my Seester who is a spinner. So that's the real story of how the faerie came to life in my garden.

Sweet Treats

2009-07-14T10:28:00.012-05:00

Here are a few more handmade wee pastries of the non-edible kind. A while back I wrote about my new favorite Japanese craft book called 'Cakes Made of Felt'. I have to say that making these felt treats is as addictive as eating the real ones. Please help yourself to a tiny tart-let.....I used little fluted metal tart pans to mold the felt for the tart shells. The creamy filling is a gathered circle of satin fabric topped with a puff of organza and a berry or glass leaf. Perhaps you'd like a raspberry cream tart....The berries were made from clusters of size 8 beads. The sugary crust on the tart shell is glitter. Maybe you would enjoy a key lime or lemon cream tart....
The felt cake-let is very similar to the one that I made for my dearest, loveliest Mama for Mother's Day. I used ribbon and rick rack on the side of the cake. Try the cream puff on top, it's delicious.... I am thinking that the wavy edge around the darker pink piece of felt on top of the cake needs some embellishment. Maybe some wee beads or embroidered french knots. Go ahead and pluck a strawberry slice off of the top, they're ripe and juicy...
I love making the little fruits and berries that top the pastries. Currently I'm working on banana and kiwi slices for the next batch of treats. They're the perfect portable project to work on outside where I can enjoy the birds and flowers in my garden. My goodness, writing this post has made me hungry. I think it's time for tea and a snack. I believe I have some ripe cherries in the fridge......Ohh! Felt cherries! I'm definitely making those next!

New Friends

2009-06-30T19:13:00.008-05:00

My friend Carmelita brought her lovely young granddaughters over for a visit today so I had the splendid fortune to spend the afternoon crafting with them. I thought that making wee flower fairies would be a fun craft for the girls so I pulled out my stash of fairy making supplies. Out came the bins of flower petals, acorn caps, wooden heads, chenille stems, embroidery floss and felt. I had such a great time watching the girls select the colors of floss and flowers that they wanted to use. The fairies are modeled after the ones created by Salley Mavor in her fabulous book 'Wee Felt Folk'. I absolutely love this book. I bought it when it first came out in 2003 and since then I have lured almost everyone that I know into to the world of flower fairies. This charming girl is Emma and she is holding the flower fairies that she made today. Emma loves pink. A lot. I love pink a lot too, so we became good friends right away. The purple fairy on the left crashes into things when she flies because she is temporarily blind. (I ran out of painted wooden heads so her face is blank until Carmelita can paint her). This is beautiful young woman is Kaitlyn but I'm not sure that I spelled that right so let's call her Kate 'cause she goes by that too. Kate is an amazing Manga artist. She brought her manga drawings to show me and I was absolutely blown away. I am seriously in awe of her talent and creativity. We became friends right away because we both love the color purple and think the Twilight books are dumb (vampires DON'T sparkle!). Kate's fairy is a lovely purpley plum color and her curly fairy hair is styled into a tiny ponytail.
I am sad to report that I did not finish my flower fairy (and neither did Carmelita!). But I had such a wonderful day crafting with my new friends Kate and Emma that it doesn't matter. I hope that they'll come visit again real soon for another day of conversation and crafting fun.

Shoreline

2009-06-28T14:23:00.012-05:00

This is the second month's BJP that was inspired by my trip to Kauai this past winter. A few of of the shells and bits of coral in this piece were collected as I lay on the beach, idly sifting handfuls of sand through my fingers. I spent hours looking at all of the teeny tiny bits of wonder that had washed up on the shore. There were impossibly small shells , fragments of coral and minuscule broken bits from the invertebrates that had once inhabited the coral reef. I loved the meandering patterns that the waves had made upon the sand. A lacy line of foam followed by a scattering of shells, coral and debris that transitioned to smaller and finer particles of sand. I had such a wonderful time beading this piece, which as a result did not take long to complete. I began by gathering up an assortment of shells and treasures that I've collected from a lifetime of beach combing. I glued down some of the shells to my base fabric which is a piece of batik sewn to light weight card stock. I added the twisty lines of white beads to represent the lacy ripples of foam that wash up on the shore with each wave. The rest was purely improvisation. The limited color palette certainly made things easier. I sewed on pearls and stones and baubles, followed by rows of my favorite size 14 seed beads. I listened to Hawaiian slack key guitar music as I beaded and it kept me in a mellow beachy mood. There was no frustration or indecision about where to sew down the next bead. I just let the blissful beachy memories flow from my mind to my hands to the shells and the beads.
Ahhhh, pure beachy beading bliss....

Oceania Pacifica

2009-06-20T12:02:00.020-05:00

I love the Pacific Ocean. From the warm turquoise waters of Hawaii to the turbulent seas of the Oregon coast. A perfect day for me is being in or on or near the Pacific Ocean. I love the unpredictability of the ocean. It can be calm and inviting or reckless and fierce. I am respectful of the ocean’s power and grateful for it’s gifts.

This past winter, Adrian and I had the splendid fortune to spend time at a beach house on Kauai’s North Shore. While the ocean delighted us with its incredible beauty, it also never failed to remind us of its remarkable intensity. Here are some of the memories that provided the inspiration for my February BJP….We spend our days swimming. We dive beneath the powerful waves and fling our bodies over the smaller swells. I am a confident, capable swimmer and my body feels light and free as I am tossed about in the warm turquoise water. Our good friend wants to go snorkeling with us for the first time. A few years ago, her mom died in a tragic diving accident in Costa Rica. We drive to the other side of the island to a sheltered bay where the fish are plentiful. We all have a wonderful time and I am so proud of my friend for facing her fears. Afterward, as we rest on the beach, lifeguards pull a man out of the water. He had drowned in a shallow bay filled with snorkeling tourists. We drive back to the North Shore in sorrow and silence.I sit in the shallow water watching Adrian snorkel. Suddenly he veers toward the shore, his fins flapping as he swims madly toward me. An unfamiliar fish has swum too close, startling my darling, silly husband. I laugh and kiss him and ask him if he wants me to beat up the big bad fish for frightening him. I return to snorkeling, holding hands with my beloved as we float above the coral reef.There is a roadside memorial decorated with palm fronds, ginger, flowers and fruit. Last year a local boy drowned off of this beautiful beach. He was an expert surfer and the close knit community mourns his loss.One day we snorkel with sea turtles. Graceful and patient, they allow us to observe their undersea dance. I am completely enchanted.The ocean is fierce and wild today. We acknowledge the ocean's power and postpone our beach plans. We go hiking instead, enjoying the endless blue from the cliffs high above. Today the ocean is calm and as smooth as glass. I float peacefully for hours, caressed by the gentle sway of the big blue sea.....

Treasures from the North

2009-06-12T09:20:00.008-05:00

My friend Carmelita and I drove up to Duluth yesterday to attend the Minnesota Quilt Show. We had a fabulous day (as we always do when we spend the day together) and we hunted and gathered some fun new supplies and pretties to add to our stashes. I picked up some fabulous over dyed silk kimono fabric from Laura Murray Designs and a really fantastic rubber texture plate to use with my Shiva paint sticks and polymer clay. Look! The pale pink fabrics has cherry blossoms on it! I also picked up a couple of fun fabric fat quarters, a stencil (another Laura Murray original), some odd bits of fiber and a few packets of embroidery needles from France. This gorgeous rayon ribbon was hand dyed by Wendy Richardson a local fiber artists of exceptional talent. Her booth is a tactile and visual feast as is Laura Murray's booth. Laura and Wendy are such generous and talented artists to chat with and the products that they sell are wonderful. We are lucky here in Minnesota to have such creative people in our community.
I love going to quilt shows. I am always so inspired by the wonderful quilts that people have made and it makes me want to rush home and start creating myself. I'll admit that the shopping is always nice too and it's great to have pretty new stuff to inspire my latest creative endeavor.

Galadriel's Closet

2009-06-10T12:34:00.014-05:00

It all began with a conversation with my gal pal Carmelita Fantastica. She wondered if I had seen the latest issue of Stitch magazine. ( 'Stitch with the Embroiderer's Guild' is an amazing British magazine that never fails to knock my socks off with each and every issue. I am more than willing to drive 25 miles to buy it at the nearest bookstore that carries it, in fact I'd drive further for my bi monthly fix of creative inspiration).Anyway, Carmelita noticed that there were little mini corsets on the front cover of the current issue and she knew immediately that my future would be filled with little mini corsets. She knows me well, that Carmelita. She's experienced first hand my obsession with tiny and impossibly intricate needlework projects. Carmelita told me to get busy creating and that she would be expecting a mini corset ATC by the following week, thank you very much. I've always wanted to try my hand at Artist Trading Cards and this seemed like a good opportunity. I've made lots of fiber postcards and journal quilts, but have never worked with the 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" size of the ATC. Considering my love of all things wee, it's strange that it took me so long to jump on the ATC bandwagon. Right away I thought about creating fanciful corsets that could be worn by diminutive fairies. I tried to imagine what kind of wardrobe I would want if I were a small fairy and the title Galadriel's Closet popped into my head. Hmm, I could create corsets for a fairy named Galadriel....Excellent! But I still felt like I needed a little something else for inspiration.....I absolutely love going to textile exhibits that feature historical clothing. Exhibits with names like "A Parisian Ladies Boudoir" or "Lace from the Closet of Madame Bouvier" make me swoon with delight. So I decided that I would create a series of corsets as if I were preparing to exhibit them in a whimsical fairy museum. I thought I could write up descriptions on the back of the card about where and when Galadrial wore each corset. Like this: "Lady Galadriel first wore this embroidered corset for the Autumnal Equinox Feast and Dancing Gala. It became a favorite outfit of hers when hosting elvish dignitaries from distant lands....".The corset shape is cut from two pieces of Peltex fused together. I covered each of them with fine ultrasuede. I gathered up small bits of lace from my stash and painted them with alcohol inks. I've found that alcohol inks work wonderfully on small bits of fabric and lace. The colors are rich and vibrant and they dry super fast. The pieces that I thought were too saturated with color, I washed in the sink with soap and water. This really helped to soften the colors up a bit. I glued on the lace with FabriTac and added some ruffles with bits of organza fabric and ribbon. Next, I pulled out my favorite size 14 beads and gave the corsets a bit of bling. The card itself is made from silk dupioni fused to Peltex. I zigzagged trim around the edges of the card to finish it off. I printed 'Galadriel's Closet' on fabric and I colored them with watercolors. The corsets are glued to the card with FabriTac.I am in no way finished with my adventures in fairy corsetry. I envision creating a series of corsets using some of my favorite needlework techniques. How about a set of embroidered silk ribbon corsets? Or a set of bead embroidered corsets? Or maybe a set of teeny tiny crazy quilt corsets? I suspect Galadriel's Closet is going to to be expanding very soon.So....now that I've made some ATC's.... does anyone wanna trade with me?

Sweet Treat

2009-05-05T15:20:00.009-05:00

This silly little confection may look pretty, but all you'd taste is fuzzy wool felt if you bit into it. I just finished making this today and I swear I still have a sugar high from creating such a sweet little cake-let.
The inspiration for this came from this incredible little Japanese craft book that I bought at a quilt show a few weeks back. My Mom, Adrian and I road trip to Chicago every spring for the International Quilt Festival. Along with the many wonderful quilt exhibits there is a massive shopping area that can best be described as mecca, Valhalla and heaven for anyone obsessed with all things fiber artsy. The show always lands near my birthday so I usually have a pocket full of birthday cash to spend on wonderful treasures. This year I came across a booth that nearly took my breath away. The company was called Sunfelt and the entire booth looked like a lilliputian patisserie. There were dainty plates of the most amazing felt confections every where you looked and the quirky young Japanese entrepreneurs who staffed the booth were delightful. I immediately purchased one of the books and a lofty stack of really fabulous wool felt. The book is written in Japanese, but it doesn't really matter because there's so many great pictures detailing each step. It's called 'Cakes Made of Felt' and is published by Ondori. The book is a great jumping off place for the ambitious craftster who doesn't like to follow directions that much anyway. I came up with my own pattern for the cake and sort of followed directions for the strawberries and cream puff. The berries I came up with on my own.
This little cake was so seriously flippin' fun to make that I wanted to do cartwheels, tap dance and sing the whole time I was stitching. It's a tiny little thing too, smaller than an average cupcake, maybe the size of a Hostess Hoho. I am going to have to make another one very soon because I didn't get to play with it nearly as much as I would have liked. As soon as I completed it, I packed it up and sent it off to my dearest, loveliest mama for Mother's Day. I hope she is as charmed by it as I am.

Al Fresco Knitting

2009-03-23T10:34:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather we've been enjoying here in Minnesota and carried my current knitting project outside for a bit of al fresco knittery. It was sunny and warm enough to sit outside without a jacket, but breezy enough that the sweater I am knitting felt cozy and warm draped across my lap.
The sweater is a top down raglan cardigan knit from cascade 220 summer sky heather. The lace pattern is simple and was easy to memorize. I had done quite a bit of knitting on it last week so by yesterday I had just three more inches to knit until the sweater body was complete. Unfortunately, one row of a top down raglan takes a long time to knit. Since the sweater is knit in the round, the row consists of the entire circumference of the sweater. This would not take too long if you were shaped like a heroin-chic supermodel, but my body is shaped more like the iconic venus of willendorf and therefore requires substantially more knitting to complete a sweater.
So I spent yesterday afternoon in my lawn chair, enjoying the sun and knitting away on my sweater. I was determined to finish that afternoon and as it turned out, I needed less than two inches of knitting until the sweater was long enough. It was a lovely surprise, finishing early, and if all goes as planned I should be wearing my new sweater by the end of the week.

I Heart Bryophytes

2009-03-13T14:04:00.007-05:00

I was looking at some old photos today and I came across some shots that I took while I was up in Alaska a couple of years ago. I went for a hike in this amazing coastal rain forest. The cedar trees were enormous and the plant life was wonderfully diverse. The fecundity of this magical place was evident by the rich, spoungy, bryophytes that carpeted the rocks and trees and forest floor.Bryophyte is a fancy high falutin' scientific name for mosses and liverworts. I think it's just about my favorite type of plant life, although I am rather fond of lichens as well. A lichen is a cross between a fungus and a green algae and it often grows on trees and rocks. Mosses look much more plant-like than lichens and if you look up close you can see that mosses have tiny stems and leaves. I didn't take this picture of the gorgeous red moss, but maybe this year I'll be able to take a similar one with my fancy new camera and the macro lens that the birthday lizard will hopefully be bringing me this year. Does the birthday lizard visit your house? In my family the birthday lizard always delivers wonderful gifts to all who are worthy. The birthday lizard is kind of like a cross between Santa and the Easter Bunny, but in reptilian form.There's something magical about mosses. I feel like if I look close enough I'll be able to see an entire world that lives within the the soft, spoungy landscape. I'm sure there are tiny fairies living in the moss land. I haven't actually seen them, but I'll bet they are there. I mean, if you were a fairy, wouldn't you want to live in the moss, in a coastal rain forest with enormous cedar trees?

Granite and Ice

2009-02-18T13:00:00.008-06:00

At long last my December BJP piece is finished. I began beading on December 1st hoping to get a head start before the holiday madness set in. I always feel like a crazed lunatic by the time the last bits of holiday craftery are completed and the last package is mailed off to my loved ones. I seem to never have enough Christmas spirit to get me through December and I am always left feeling stressed and exhausted.In an effort to counter balance the holiday craziness, I planned my escape into the bead world of the peaceful winter landscape. One of my favorite things about living in Minnesota is the stark beauty of the winter landscape. The layers of sparkling snow and ice offset by the pale blue sky and highlighted by the cool grays of stone and bark. The land lies in wait under her quilt of snow, drowsy and introspective. She is resting from the seasons of growth. On clear days, the sun warms and the snow melts. If you listen carefully you can hear the whisper of water weaving through the granite on it's way to mysterious destinations far below. At night the water freezes and swells, working it's way into fissures in the stone. Pressure builds until the rock splinters and cracks, reminding us that the landscape is always changing. Quiet and still, the land subtly shifts underneath her blanket of snow waiting patiently for the rebirth of spring.

I Heart Pink

2009-02-17T15:11:00.013-06:00

Last week I returned from a wonderful winter get away. Coming home to a cold and cloudy Minnesota was a bit depressing. I think the gloomy weather had an effect on my ability to get over my jet lag. I've spent the past week feeling moody and tired and sleeping way too much. As a result, Valentine's Day came and went with very little fanfare or celebration in my house. Valentine's Day as a holiday has never really been all that important to me, but I do love the colors. Well, it's mostly about the pink for me. Pink balloons, lush pink roses, fuzzy pink sweaters, cupcakes with thick pink frosting and heart shaped sprinkles. I love the color pink. It's romantic, charming, girly and sweet. The color pink makes me smile. So here's a tribute in photos to one of my favorite colors:

I saw this building in Ireland and fell in love. I wanted to lick the wall to see if it tasted like birthday cake. I wonder what kind of shop it is?
My buddy Sammy and I crocheted these sweet fuzzy bunny slippers for her a few year's ago. I'll bet she's grown out of them by now.
This luscious quilt was made by the featured quilter at the Sister's Quilt Show a few years back. I wish I could remember her name. The quilt was huge, this photo is of the center block. There were Japanese cherry trees in the backyard of the house that I grew up in. In the springtime, I used to lay on the grass underneath the trees and look at the beautiful blue sky peeking though the pink blossoms. It's one of my favorite childhood memories. I ate a rambutan for the first time a few weeks ago. Rambutans are a hot pink, fuzzy fruit that grows in the tropics. To get to the edible fruit, you peel the rambutan like an orange. The flesh has the constistency of a peeled grape. It's wonderfully sweet and tastes kind of like a concord grape or a lychee:
Here's a close up:Last but not least is my fabulous new hairbrush. I about had a fit of the vapors when I saw this in the store. I knew at once that I must have it or die. My sister Sandra does not understand my deep and abiding love of Hello Kitty. But she did manage to swipe my favorite pink shirt that I took on vacation.

Wee Weasley Sweater

2009-01-24T10:00:00.007-06:00

In further continuation with my obsession of knitting and crocheting wee things, I spent some time before Christmas perfecting a tiny top down raglan sweater pattern. Most of the sweaters that I knit for myself are top down raglans. I love how top down raglans fit, how they can be knit in the round and how easily customizable they are. Making one in miniature was just a simple of matter of knitting a tiny gauge swatch and doing the math. I found some lovely dk weight Jamieson tweed yarn in the half price bin at my local yarn shop that I thought would make perfect little sweaters. I am a big Harry Potter fan as are many of my friends and family so I thought it would be fun to create some wee Weasley sweater ornaments. For those of you who are 'non cosciente', the Weasley sweaters are the ones that Mrs. Weasley gave to Ron, Harry, Fred and George for Christmas in the first Harry Potter book. In the movie, the sweaters were lovingly hand knit by Mrs. Weasley in a nubbly tweed yarn and had each boys initial on it. I knit up a couple of sweaters in a variety of fingering weight sock yarn until I had the pattern tweaked. These are my first sweater samples: As it turned out, I got so busy making other things for Christmas gifts that I only had time to make one sweater that I gave away. The rust colored Weasley sweater went to my friend Sue's daughter Andrea who is delightfully obsessed with Ron Weasley. The initial was embroidered on the front of the sweater with sock yarn .
I would love to make myself a full sized Weasley sweater. I'd knit it in a lovely dark plum donegal tweed yarn. But I would have to work it into my busy schedule of making lovely, frivolous things like crocheted acorns and piggy ipod cozies. I'd also like to knit up a stack of these little sweaters in variegated sock yarn to hang in my sewing room on small laundry line with wee clothespins.

Pig In A Pod

2009-01-24T08:31:00.007-06:00

I really have no idea why I am compelled to crochet things like this. What sane person in their mid forties would pick up a crochet hook and some pink yarn and create an ipod cozy that looks like a pig? The answer is the same person who made a purple monkey ipod cozy last year. The insane part is that I crocheted them for myself and not as a gift for a small child. The pattern came from the book The Happy Hooker- Stitch and Bitch Crochet. I used sport weight cotton yarn instead of the worsted weight that the pattern called for, so I pretty much winged it and fit the ipod to the cozy as I went along. Crocheting the ears was the trickiest part. There must have been a dozen little ears in various shapes and sizes strewn across my living room carpet by the time I figured out a pattern that I was happy with. Figuring out the shape of the ear was like working out a little geometry project. Since I happen to like math it was kind of fun trying to work out a shape that would wrap around the corner of the ipod, have a nice cupped shape to it and a little point at the tip of the ear. For the nose, I settled on two crocheted circles stacked on top of each other. One circle was too flat and I wanted the nose to stick out a bit farther. My knitting buddies Beth and Sue helped me select the right size of googly eyes for the piggy. I think the larger sized googly eyes bestows an appropriately insane look to the pig.The screen cover on the back of the ipod cozy is made from heavy gauge vinyl. I punched holes around the edge of the vinyl with a Japanese hole punch. It's this wonderful little tool that punches lovely perfect holes in a variety of wee sizes. I use it mostly for paper and cardboard, but it worked beautifully on the vinyl. Unfortunately, it also worked beautifully on skin as my poor chopped up fingers can attest to. That little hole punching puppy is sharp and is not for those who are dexterously challenged. Once the holes were punched in the vinyl and the Hello Kitty band aids were applied to my fingers, the project proceeded with no further bodily injuries.
My new little piggy will get her public debut tomorrow. Adrian and I are traveling to Hawaii for some fun in the sun. This little piggy that plays music will be my companion on the hideously long plane ride.

Treasured Family Heirloom

2008-12-14T12:23:00.003-06:00

This antique tinsel tree is a vintage family heirloom that has been passed down for generations to the third daughter of the first son of each Ehlers family for as long as anyone in my family can remember. It was lovingly brought from Germany by my immigrant ancestors who traveled by boat to America in search of a new life and new opportunities. Even when times were tough and my penniless ancestors almost starved on the mean streets of New York, they never ever sold the tree. Ahahaha! Gotcha!!! I totally made all that nonsense up. The sepia photo of the 'vintage' tinsel tree is courtesy of Photoshop. I'm not sure who those immigrants are, but I am pretty sure that my ancestors would be the sort of people that would sell not only their tinsel tree but their children as well for a hot bowl of soup. In reality, this hideous lime green holographic tinsel tree was purchased last week at Micheal's. It came pre strung with Grinch green lights and when I saw it, I just about died. Be still my heart, it was one 0f the most hideously wonderful things that I had ever seen and I knew that I had to have it for the kitsch factor alone. Thankfully it was on sale and marked down quite a bit because for some strange reason no one wanted to buy them! It also came in barbie doll pink, put I opted for the grinch green one. When I took it from it's box, Adrian's first words were "Oh......My". But I do think that it's growing on him. When the heat comes on in our house it blows on the tree and the tinsel shimmers and flutters. It's only four feet tall and in no way will it replace the lovely fragrant live tree that we get every year. It's more of an addition to our existing holiday decor. I am not sure how I want to decorate it yet. It completely clashes with my naturey Christmas theme that I have going on in my house. Lime green holographic tinsel does not go particularly well with pine cones, acorns, greenery and mushroom birds. I think it needs a theme of it's own. Maybe I'll make up a bunch of kitschy vintage ornaments for it. It's bare nekkid right now with nothing but a length of neon green 'Cat in the Hat' fabric to adorn it's base. Does anyone have any good decorating ideas?

Christmas Acorn Addiction

2008-12-13T13:10:00.010-06:00

After I completed the last batch of autumn colored acorns I vowed to put away my tiny crochet hook and get busy making my holiday gifts. Well, that vow lasted for about a month until my girlfriend Carmelita Fantastica joined me at my house for an afternoon of movies and crafting. I pulled out my bag of oddball yarns to make her some acorns while we enjoyed watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. By the time all of the brides were married to the brothers I had completed a nice little assortment of acorns for her to take home. Unfortunately, I got addicted again to making what has got to be the crack cocaine of the crafting world. So I spent the next couple of days making up another pile o' acorns but this time in festive christmasy colors. Once again I couldn't stop at making a half a dozen or so. I began to worry when the pile grew to fifteen and by the time I made twenty eight I knew that I had to put away the hook or I'd be lost forever. I do believe that I had even more fun making these ones than the last batch. Probably because it was all snowy outside and the bright festive colors were such a feast for the eyes. The bright red acorns are made from some stunning hand dyed sock yarn that was leftover from a pair of sympathy socks that my sister Brenda knit for me after I broke my neck last year. I absolutely love the socks but that yarn is so incredibly scrumptious. I am going to try really hard to not unravel the socks so that I can have more of that yarn to play with.
This time around I used a darning needle to poke a tiny hole in the acorn cap to add a wee eye pin so that I could hang the acorns.
I never thought it was possible, but I began to run out of acorn caps. I have collected so many of them over the years that I was sure that I had a lifetime supply. Since the ground is frozen and covered with a blanket of snow there will be no more acorn cap gathering until next year. I am not sure what I am going to do when Valentine's day rolls around and I want to make pink and red acorns. And what about springtime acorns in lovely robin's egg blue? I am going to have to find someone who lives in a snow free world and who is willing to hunt and gather for me.So how is everyone's holiday crafting going? What projects are you frantically working on in order to get them done by Christmas? I hope that everyone in having a festive holiday season and is managing to keep the holiday stress level down to a manageable level. I am trying to enjoy more and stress less about the whole thing. So far so good.....

The Unexpected Farm

2008-11-30T22:32:00.016-06:00

Adrian's cold from a few weeks ago finally caught up with me so I spent the long holiday weekend feeling miserable and whiny. By Sunday I was starting to feel a bit better so I spent the day finishing up my BJP page for November while curled up on the sofa and enjoying a Harry Potter movie marathon. I finished sewing the backing on the piece by the time Harry had defeated the dementors, rescued Sirius and rode off on his Firebolt.It seems as if my November page took a very long time to complete. Probably because it's sort of an extension of my beading in October or I should say my lack of beading in October. I was in a terrible blue funk for the entire month, depressed and stressed over the cost of groceries, the economy, the impending election and a whole list other things. I started and abandoned three separate pieces of beading. I desperately struggled to bead about the autumn landscape in October, something that usually brings me great joy. It's my favorite month here in Minnesota and I usually spend it camping and hiking and enjoying the gorgeous fall colors. But my heart was just not into beading about it and by the end of the month I decided to put October's beading away for a while and get a fresh start on November. With the election over, I began to think more positively about the future and I was able to shake the gloom and anxiety that I felt in October. For my November BJP page, I wanted to bead about the farmlands of Minnesota. I was thinking about the harvest and Thanksgiving and gratitude for all that the land provides for us. I envisioned beading a stark oak tree with rows of fields behind it. I wanted to convey a sense of closure of the growing season. So I began my beading and guess what? The piece fell totally flat. It was boring and ugly and I hated it. At this point I began to panic and I was worried that I'd never be able bead anything again and that I'd have to hang my picture in the BJP hall of shame. I know, I can be a total drama queen, but it thankfully doesn't last very long. So I took a deep breath and bravely started over. I laid one bead down, and then the next one and the next one. Before I knew it, my piece was coming together in a most unexpected way. It looked absolutely nothing like what I'd imagined and it seemingly had nothing to do with farmlands or harvest or anything that I had originally intended. But I liked it anyway and I kept at it, adding row after row of beads until one day I glanced at the almost completed piece and there before my eyes emerged something totally and completely unexpected:A crazy, funky beady farm! I saw beady rows of crops and beady barns and strange shiny silos and beady rows of trees. I saw bee hives surrounded by clover, a crazy round chicken coop and apple trees heavy with fruit. It was a birds eye view of a busy little farm! Okay, so maybe it's a farm that you'd see after walking through a field of poppies on your way to Oz, but it's my farm and I love it. It's the farm that I will one day live on and it makes me insanely happy. This crazy funky unexpected farm may not represent any farm that you'd see in real life, it's more like a landscape from my imagination. It's a place that builds and nurtures and grows for the future. A place where you can be thankful and smile with gratitude for all of the wonderful unexpected joys that life brings.

Journal Quilt Class

2008-11-19T14:15:00.009-06:00

Last week I went to my last journal quilt class for the year. It was by far one of the best classes that I've ever signed up for. The class was was taught by Susan Stein, owner of Colorful Quilts and Textiles. Colorful Quilts is my favorite place to shop, take classes and to get creatively inspired. The journal quilt class was held once a month for the past nine months. Each class started with a show and tell, moved into a demo of a fiber arts technique and ended with us playing and experimenting with the particular technique. The idea was to learn a technique and then go home and make a small quilt using that technique. Several class members came up with a theme for their quilts such as castles or stars or leaves. Susan's journal quilts had a wonderful southwest theme that she carried through by using particular colors and fabrics and images. I had no theme and as a result my quilts were all over the place in terms of colors and images and fabrics. Next year I will most definitely attempt to unify my designs. Even if my quilts didn't quite all match, several of them did look pretty good together. The reason for this is my obsession with the color purple and the fact that on any project it's the first color I reach for in my fabric stash. Here are some of the quilts that I made over the past year:I learned how to make silk fusion fabric for this quilt. It involves using silk fiber and textile medium and results in a lovely shimmery fabric like paper. One classmate added feathery seeds from a milkweed pod to her silk fusion. It was fabulous and I must remember to do that sometime.I learned how to print on fabric using texture plates for this quilt. I used iridescent jacquard textile paints for this quilt. I liked the technique so much that I printed up a big stack of fabric and made a long wall hanging that I hung in my dining room.This quilt was made with sun printed fabrics. I used Setacolor paints which are light sensitive. I painted the fabric, laid leaves over it and let the paint dry in the sun. You have to do this on a very sunny day or your images wont be as sharp. The hearts on this quilt are cut out of sheets angelina fiber. Angelina is a shimmery shredded fiber that melts to itself when you iron it. I added a layer of misty fuse fusible web over the hearts and topped it off with a piece of sheer magenta organza. I love the look of organza over fabric. It makes everything muted and ethereal. The misty fuse holds everything in place beautifully. I used the same technique for this quilt:I found a light blue shimmery organza with glittery silver beads in the prom section of the fabric store. I thought it would be perfect for the night sky. I cut out a piece of greenish bluish batik for the aurora borealis and laid it on dark blue batik fabric. I covered the fabric with Misty fuse and the organza and ironed it all together. I cut out the mountains out of the same dark blue batik. All that was left was to quilt the sky and add some snow to the top of the mountains. I love this quilt but I wish that my mountains weren't quite so triangular.We learned a very cool technique in class last week that I haven't worked into a quilt quite yet. This a piece of fabric printed using meat trays and jacquard fabric paint. Yep, you read that correctly. We printed fabric using styrofoam meat trays that hold the ground beef and steaks you buy at the grocery store. You can make all kinds of designs on them using a regular ball point pen or pencil. I decided to use the images and words that were already printed on the trays because I thought it was neat looking and besides, why do work when it's already done for you, right? I scored a few extra lines around the printed stuff so that I didn't look completely lazy and dabbed on some paint. I think it's pretty flippin' cool if I do say so myself. It looks like hieroglyphics or alien writing. I am most definitely going to be playing further with this technique. Dang, I loved taking this class. From the artwork that other classmates shared, to the demos, to the hands on playtime, it never failed to inspire me. I always came home energized and excited to try new things. What a totally fun and worthwhile class this was. I can't wait until next year!

There were never such devoted sisters....

2008-11-18T20:46:00.018-06:00

My sister Sandra emailed me today wondering why I hadn't put anything new on my blog lately. She wondered if I had bloggers block. The answer to that is no not really....maybe....I'm not sure....kind of....or maybe I'm just feeling lazy. How about all of the above? Or none of the above. I guess I'm really not sure why I haven't put stuff up on my blog for the past few weeks. I intended to slack off for a week during the elections and then get right back to blogging, but then that turned into two weeks and now we're heading into the third week. I am thinking that blogging is like keeping an up an exercise routine. If you skip a few days it's very easy to totally slack off. Come to think of it, I've been slacking with my exercise too. Baaaad Pam!!!!! Time to get back on the computer and back on the treadmill!Anyway, it was great to get an email from Sandra. She lives in a small Yupik village in Alaska where it's dark all winter long and you can't drink to drown your sorrows because it's a dry village. A couple of years ago Sandra had someone in the village make me an ulu which is a traditional Yupik knife. I love it and I use it all the time to skin ptarmigan and cut up eels for stir fry. Nah, I mainly use it to cut veggies and herbs like the parsnips in the photo.
Yesterday I received a fabulous package from my other sister, Brenda. She lives overseas so her packages always have a lovely exotic flair to them. Okay, so she lives in Wales, not Marrakesh, but it's still exciting to see the foreign postage on the odd silver plastic packaging. In this latest love offering from the UK there was a big box of tea. Years ago Brenda introduced me to strong British tea and now I am hopelessly addicted. Like any good opportunistic pusher of addictive substances, Brenda knows that I am hooked and will do anything for the goods. This is why I am often running errands for her and mailing packages of things she can't get in rural Wales. She gets her Vogue patterns and seam rippers, and I get my tea. When I opened the package, out wafted the most wonderful smell ever. The scent came from the best smelling little candle tarts in the world. You melt them in an oil burner and they leave the house smelling heavenly. The tarts come from this company called Dame Candles that no longer exists which is tragic. The owner, Wendy, came up with the most amazing candle scents you can possibly imagine. She was seriously olfactory gifted. I am completely in love with one of the scents called Pan. It's a blend of amber, cedar, sandalwood, white lilies, lavender, cloves, patchouli, vanilla and musk and it's to die for. Brenda shared some of her little candle tarts with me which is as generous as you can get. I plan on hoarding these until Dame Wendy comes to her senses and starts making candles again. Hahaha. Get it? A scented candle maker coming to her senses! I crack myself up. Along with the tea, candle tarts and some divine chocolates was a bag of oddball yarn. I love knitting small projects so Brenda sends me her bits and bobs of leftover yarn. Sometimes she throws in some fun hand spun stuff. As I was pawing through the bag looking at the fibery treasures, I came across something bizarre that left me speechless. Why Brenda why? The only logical reason I could come up with was that maybe she suffers from a rare infliction where in the middle of the night she is compelled to knit teeny tiny undergarments in her sleep with no recollection of doing so the next morning. To be fair though, I'll confess to making crocheted bikinis for my growing hair Velvet doll so perhaps knitters in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. So if my sister wants to knit teeny tiny underwear that's fine by me. Plus I've been knitting some teeny tiny things myself this past week. I'll share them tomorrow. I really am going to get back to blogging on a regular basis.

And the winner is.....

2008-10-30T18:30:00.002-05:00

Tracey N. you are the winner of the Cold Comfort Farm contest!!! If you'll email me your address, I'll get a lamb sent out to you. Just let me know which color you want!

And remember...There will always be Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm!

The Church Pew of the Quivering Brethren

2008-10-28T18:26:00.010-05:00

Today was moving day at the casa de cherry blossom. After a summer of restoration in the garage, the pew finally made it's way into the rectory, I mean living room. It's the perfect piece of living room furniture for a lapsed Catholic like myself.
The pew is originally from a church in Ketchikan, Alaska. My friend Cyndy was living there a few years ago and she found it at a rummage sale or something like that. She gave it to me when she moved back to Minnesota last year. It was in pretty rough shape so Adrian and I decided to restore it. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it before we disassembled it. It was was really grungy and rickety. The two side pieces were actually split in two and had to be glued back together. The arm rests were a total disaster so my Dad made me two new ones out of ash. I spent the summer striping the old finish off of it with an orbital sander. What a handy tool that was!
After I stripped the old finish off, Adrian and I stained the pieces. We used an all in one walnut stain/varethane finish. I found out after the fact that it was probably not the best thing to use on old wood. The wood sort of soaked up the stain unevenly so we had some streaking in some places. My clever woodworking Dad said I should have put a coat of pre-stain on it first. Oh well, live and learn. After my initial dismay, I decided that I didn't mind the uneven finish. The pew is handmade and is really old. It has dents and dings and dark spots on it from a lifetime of butts sitting on it. It has tons of character built into it. People pay good money for furniture with a distressed look to it. After we stained the pieces, we reassembled the pew. Of course we dinged it up in the process so we had to apply one final coat of stain to it to cover them up. We finished the pew off with the wooden buttons to cover the screws and a final coat of polyurethane. As you can see on the sides, there is a lighter circle up toward the top. That's where some decorative little circles of wood get glued on. We'll get to that this weekend. We are also going to give the backrest a quick second coat of polyurethane. We noticed some dull streaking on it, probably because it was a really cold day when we painted it. We'll let the wood warm up and paint it in the living room. Maybe if we inhale the paint fumes we will have spiritual visions.So here's a contest for anyone who reads this: Can you name the movie that features the Church of the Quivering Brethren? How about a fabulous prize for the first person who names the movie. I will send the winner one of the lambs from my flock of felted sheep. This contest is NOT open to anyone with the last name of Ehlers or Dayne. The movie is a family favorite and I am pretty sure we could all recite the entire dialog from it.