felt food (and real food)
June 23, 2009 at 11:41 am | Posted in chatty, cooking is crafty too, crafting with kids, oregon | 6 CommentsI just got my package of play food this week from the second swap I did, and wow, it’s amazing!
I loved making those simple little veggie burgers, but I am completely wowed by all the 3D and hand-stitching in the swap mix! I put notes on everything in the flickr picture if you’re interested in a few more details. It all looks so gorgeous in person, Pearl is going to love playing with all this stuff when she’s a tiny bit older. She has already had a lot of fun waving the asparagus stalks around (exactly like she does with their real counterparts).
Speaking of food, we surprised Andrew with some extremely fantastic grilling cookbooks for Father’s Day. The first one, Grill Every Day, is by a Portland author I met at the Oregon Historical Society, Diane Morgan.
With this nice weather, we have been grilling a ton lately — in fact, we made her recipe for salmon grilled on a bed of herbs for dinner that night! It was so good, and so easy to make (thanks to the herb garden flourishing so much, I only had to go about thirty feet to get all the extra ingredients).
Then yesterday I made the Israeli couscous with zucchini and red bell pepper (pictured on the cover) — also so good, and so easy. (Though I have to admit that there was no grilling involved, it was just a regular old stovetop production.)
We’re hoping to do some camping this summer with Pearl, so I also snapped up a copy of Campfire Cuisine, which is by lovely San Francisco food writer Robin Donovan.
I’ve marked a bunch of things I want to try (Robin has included handy extras for adapting her outdoor recipes to your home kitchen, too) and one at the top of the list is the grilled salmon with balsalmic fig sauce — we had so many figs from our tree last summer and I can’t wait to make that one!
A huge bonus is that Robin also offers up some really nice outdoor-friendly sauces (dressings, spice rubs, marinades, glazes, and compound butters ) and sides to go with the tempting main dishes — super inspiring, and super easy.
I found both of these at Powell’s on Hawthorne (the cooks, crafts and gardening annex, if you’re local). As much as I love reading craft blogs online and hanging out on flickr, there is something so amazingly nice about buying a book right off a shelf and cooking from a smooth, inviting page, and these two are gems.
another find from the kitten
June 18, 2009 at 4:16 pm | Posted in chatty, oregon, vintage crafty | 4 CommentsCathy C. came up to visit this week, so Diane and I took her to Bolt and Collage yesterday. And afterwards, Cathy took me and Pearl out to Screen Door for dinner… so nice.
Then, this morning, we met up with Cathy P. for breakfast and a trip to Knittn Kitten and beyond. I found some really good bias tape, a few vintage craft books, some blue corduroy and this absolute treasure of a log cabin quilt top!
Ethel and I guessed it was late 1920s or 1930s — I love the fabrics. The colors and shading of the positive/negative cross pattern are just luminous together.
It was once a finished quilt, but someone took it apart… you can see the tie marks as a set of small holes in each center square, and in some of the strips. But the rest of it is in great shape. I’m excited to bring it back to life! I’ve already started thinking about repairing the center bits (maybe hand-sewing some new fabric to bolster it? or adding some buttons over the damaged spots?) and what to back it with and all those tantalizing quilt things.
We finished off the crafty tour with a stop at Cool Cottons and Vintage Pink. Such a pleasant 24 hours!
update, a little more detail if anyone’s interested… it looks most like a Courthouse Steps variation of intersecting large crosses in the two light and dark color families, and the pattern is arranged with seven squares across and six squares down for a slightly rectangular shape. The fabrics are in good shape (yay!), except for those tie-holes in the center squares (just a few of them are torn more than that, but not wrecked) and the same patterns and colors repeat within the center squares and log strips — but with some curveballs of different ones here and there, which make it so interesting. Some of the prints look like feedsack and some are bigger patterns. Knittn Kitten has some other lovely quilt tops for sale right now, including a beautiful Dresden Plate, so definitely get over there soon if you can.
my favorite color lately
June 15, 2009 at 2:36 pm | Posted in chatty, house crafty | 4 CommentsWe went out this weekend and found some new chairs for the backyard
which I totally love, they remind me so much of the Sunset cover I fell for.
and Andrew surprised me with flowers
to match those sandals I found last week!
Orange has been a total pick-me-up for me lately. I’ve been wearing the sandals a ton with the new retro shift dress I sewed — the combination is perfect for summer. I added a few tweaks and variations to Christine’s original idea and I just love it, I’ve already found the fabric for my next one.
I’m writing a review of Chic & Simple Sewing this week now that I’ve had a chance to sew from it, with lots of pictures from my project (which, believe it or not, isn’t orange and neither is the next one I’m planning — but I did get some of this at Cool Cottons to make a skirt!).
monday’s finds on Hawthorne
June 8, 2009 at 5:16 pm | Posted in chatty, oregon, books and mags | 4 CommentsPearl and I walked over to Hawthorne today and I found the summer sandals of my dreams on clearance at Imelda’s!
I also snapped up this awesome vintage paneled maxi-skirt that I want to make into a dress, at House. Love the animals in the print, kind of like Lilly Pulitzer but even more so.
And I cut out the pieces for the Retro Shift Dress from Chic & Simple Sewing during naptime! The fabric is also a Hawthorne find, but from a few months ago — I got it at Cool Cottons.
Hopefully a naptime or two from now I will be wearing it with my new sandals… and a few naptimes after that, I’ll have another new dress for good measure!
summer of making
June 5, 2009 at 1:54 pm | Posted in art and craft, bead simple, button it up, crafty events, I love to make things..., oregon | Leave a commentI’m very happy to be part of the Summer of Making next month at the wonderful PNCA here in Portland!
The Continuing Education department has put together a fantastic line-up of classes, and they’re offering a very generous giveaway this week if you help spread the word about them…
from the blog:
We have a nice package of promotional items to give away. This includes a signed copy of Susan Beal’s Button It Up, Denyse Schmidt’s Quilt-It Kit, a yard of County Fair, Patchwork Promenade Print by Denyse Schmidt and a Summer of Making Poster. To win leave a comment on the blog, become a fan of Summer of Making on Facebook or mention us on your Facebook profile or blog. You will get one entry for each of these (maximum of 4). We will randomly select the winner June 21.
I am very honored to be one of the teachers alongside some of my favorite crafters. Denyse Schmidt is coming to teach a two-day workshop, which I am so excited to take! Jess Beebe is teaching By Hand: Needlework and Macrame, Sarah Schlosser-Moon is teaching Artful Blogging, Brenda Mallory is teaching Contemporary Fiber Art, and I am teaching Bead and Button Jewelry.
I’m so excited about this class. We’ll have four days to work on jewelry, beading and embellishment techniques of all types, a luxurious amount of time to make things! Bead + Button Jewelry meets Monday through Thursday, July 20-23 from 10-3 in a nice big classroom with natural light at PNCA — all the details are here.
from the website:
In this hands-on class, students will learn and practice a range of beading, jewelry-making and embellishment techniques, including wirework, stringing, weaving, knotting, gluing, hand-sewing, and other craft methods. Bring in your own favorite pieces to design around, complementing them with vintage and new beads, buttons, findings, chain, fabric, and other materials from Susan’s collection.
Aside from the nuts and bolts of practical making, we’ll focus on color, balance, arrangements, and intuitive design – creating a collection of jewelry and other crafts that bring your treasures to life. With four days to work together, we’ll create a collection of instant favorites for gifts or for yourself, while building a strong foundation for designing future projects with your new skills.
The projects we create will reflect each student’s personal sense of style and other favorite elements – instead of a cookie-cutter approach, each designer will enjoy the flexibility to focus on what he or she prefers.
If you want to know more about any of the classes, you can download a syllabus for each one on its page at the Summer of Making site. And if you have any questions about mine in particular, please ask away over here!
One last thing: if you are interested in taking Bead + Button Jewelry, I would be thrilled to have some crafty friends in the class. If anyone who registers mentions that they read my blog or either of my book sites (or have checked out my flickr, or know me through Portland stuff) I will put together a special package of vintage beads and buttons as a thank-you! You can leave a comment here or just let me know the first day of class, and I’ll put something fun together with some of your favorite colors and styles and bring it for you to craft with the second day and beyond.
p.s. I’m cross-posting this announcement on my Button It Up and Bead Simple sites, too, so sorry for the exact repetition if you see it more than once, but since the class ties together techniques from both of my books, I’d like to spread the word in all directions!
hidden portland
June 3, 2009 at 2:28 pm | Posted in books and mags, crafty events, oregon | Leave a commentMy friend Carye Bye, the super woodcut/painting/letterpress talent behind the Red Bat Press line of cards and prints
two of my favorites from a couple of years ago
is going to be unveiling her newest project tomorrow night: Hidden Portland, an art show and accompanying hand-illustrated book about the museums of the city! Part travel guide, part art extravaganza, it’s a limited edition of 125 copies with a letter-pressed cover in full color, and costs $18. You can see some good peeks here.
From her site:
Portland is home to many amazing but relatively unknown collections of art and artifacts and Bye wants both townies and tourists to have a chance to discover these obscure treasures. Collections such as the Museum of Dental Anomalies at the OHSU Dental School, the Portland Police Museum at the Justice Center (featuring a rapping McGruff Crime Dog from the late 70s!) or the Kidd’s Toy Museum, tucked away in an unassuming gray office building off of SE Grand Avenue, which boasts a whopping collection of nearly 15,000 toys, are typically overlooked by conventional guidebooks. But even the bigger museums have their secrets too, such as an exhibit of preserved human fetuses in OMSI’s Life Science Hall, or the 19th century plaster cast replicas of classic Greek sculptures, including the Venus de Milo, in the Mark Building Lobby at the Portland Art Museum.
As a printmaker, photographer and zine publisher, Carye has never had occasion or inclination to part with her original artwork. This show marks a departure for the artist as she will be exhibiting and selling the original watercolor & ink illustrations painted at each museum, as well as dozens of other small original works which will be replenished throughout the month. A limited edition, special debut release of Hidden Portland: The Museums will be available exclusively at Reading Frenzy.
Carye adds:
The art show will show postcard-sized original illustrations from the museums, some of which will be also in the book. These originals will be for sale. There will also be $10 original illustrations of people and places from around Portland that you can buy immediately. I will be adding new little paintings all of the month of June, so remember to stop by often, and who knows, you might be in the show! I’m a sneaky illustrator.
And don’t forget, Reading Frenzy is the only shop carrying a full line of Carye’s work!
If you go:
Hidden Portland: The Museums
Art Show and Guide Book Release by artist/local museum expert Carye Bye
First Thursday June 4, 6 – 9 pm
Reading Frenzy, 921 SW Oak
If you can’t make the opening, check hiddenportland.com to follow this project…
the end of another crafty era
June 2, 2009 at 1:21 pm | Posted in bead simple, chatty, I love to make things..., washington | 2 CommentsAndrew was working on a project in Seattle all last week, so instead of flying down to the Golden State as planned, Pearl and I ended up heading up to the Evergreen State for a couple of days instead. We stayed right downtown, which was fun, and got to visit the market, the big awesome library, Uwajimaya (for browsing craft books and sharing a Beard Papa cream puff), numerous coffee shops, a couple of kid-friendly pizza places, and Szechuan Noodle Bowl (for green onion pancakes – delicious). Best of all, we took the ferry out to Bainbridge Island, which Pearl loved. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I took about a zillion photos, but here are my two favorites… leaving Seattle
and approaching Bainbridge… Mt. Ranier is really something on a clear day!
Meanwhile, Sunday was my last-ever CraftStylish post. As of yesterday, June 1, the site has been restructured pretty dramatically (which you can read more about here and here; update as of June 3, also here and here) and none of the dozen of us who were regular contributors are going to be weekly posters any more. But they’re keeping the archive up, so while I’m sad to lose the freelance job and the chance to design projects over there, I’m really grateful that my work will still be out there — along with all the great projects I want to try from Kayte, Linda, Erika, Lee, Diane, Cal, Jennifer and Jeffery! I may do something else there occasionally later, but for now they’re streamlining quite a bit, and Sunday’s post is it for now. My project posts are all archived over here and I made a flickr set with some of my favorite project photos here, if you’re interested.
So, here are my last two projects — I gave my jewelry-making heart free rein for these. First, I used some of the stellar Crafty Chica paints and imagery to make this simple decoupaged pendant and matching earrings. This is a sweet little project, very quick to do and fun to wear.
And then this week I wrapped things up with an Art Nouveau-inspired pendant using some of my all-time favorite bits and pieces: vintage beads, charms, and shrink plastic.
So, thanks so much to Michaela and everyone at CraftStylish for the chance to be part of it all this last year and a half!
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