What's rocking my world?

Right now...

: Casting on a sweater for me. Coraline by Ysolda Teague. Yarn is KnitPicks City Tweed in "Romance". Why do I feel so guilty knitting for myself?

: Treasuring the time with my littles. I'm realizing how fast they grow up.


: Finally sewing together the blocks of my quilt. I actually had a moment of panic that it would look too crazy once it was put together because of the variety of color and blocks. But no, it's coming together beautifully. (If I don't say so myself!)

Please excuse the bad camera-phone image. It's all I had at the time :)

: Starting the hand embroidery on the quilt. I decided to sew the blocks together until the quilt top is in quarters, then tackle the hand embroidery. I tried to do it a block at a time but now I've decided that having it sewn together first is easier for me. More posts to come about the handwork in the future.

: I'm finally getting through season 2 of Downton Abby...season 3 here I come!

: My favorite thing in the world to eat is the vegetarian matzo ball soup. My husband and I collaborated on this fantastic recipe. I will share it with you all as soon as I type it up!

No, we really don't need to make this many!

So, what's up with you?

–Cassandra

Crafty Resolutions 2013

Another new year and another opportunity to take stock, judge our past 12 months, and resolve to create a new and better life in the coming year.

2012 brought an unexpected job change for me and, along with it, a massive distraction that has kept me from any meaningful crafting for months. My life was upended and the ship hasn't righted itself yet. Things are very out of balance.

I miss being driven to "make". My brain has been so filled with all the new stuff I have to learn (a new industry, new people, new tasks), I've had trouble lighting the creative spark. I need to find a way to bring that back to the forefront - to look forward to what's on my needles or what new craft I can learn.

A very wise friend and mentor told me once that resolutions "set us up for failure and feeling sh**ty about ourselves. The resolutions people make are usually about fixing themselves and their lives, based on “there is something wrong here” or even worse, “there is something wrong with me.”

[Editorial tangent: if you're interested in doing something more productive than just making resolutions, I invite you to visit his blog post entitled "Looking Back, Looking Forward" which is a three-part exercise developed to help you create closure for this year and plan for the next.]

So, I figured it might be a good idea to apply this thinking to my crafting. There are a lot of things I'd like to to with my knitting/sewing/upholstery/etc but I need to be realistic about what I can accomplish, especially considering my current "creative block". With this in mind, here are a few crafty goals for 2013:

There's an app for that.

1. More sewing. Cassandra far surpassed me in the sewing category - from her gorgeous Bernina machines to her amazing foray into quilting. I bought the materials to make an apron and have had my eyes on cool aprons that I've seen in stores. My resolution is to make at least one apron from an original design this year. And maybe start a quilt (although that might be stretching it a bit!)

This can't be too hard, right?

2. Knitting cables. For those of you who have read our blog for a while, you may recognize this resolution from a couple of years ago. Sadly, I STILL (two years later) have not actually knitted cables yet. *facepalm* I cannot begin to express how embarrased I am by this admisssion. So... this year for sure! Maybe something easy, like a cabled hat.

Something like this...

3. Needlepoint. Years ago, a dear friend of mine's grandmother needlepointed new seats for her dining room chairs. I was enamored of the finished product. They were sturdy and beautiful and had the advantage of being exactly what she wanted in her dining room. I'm fascinated with the designs of William Morris and want to do something in that style for my chairs. It's a huge undertaking so my resolution is not to do them all but to find some designs I like and to start one. I'll be learning a new skill so I expect my first to be a bit wonky anyway. :)




The chair that started it all.



4. Finish upholstering stuff. I originally took the upholstery class because I didn't want to pay someone to recover a particular chair. I'm now working on chair number six. Sadly, I thought I was going to have all my upholstery completed by December 2011. Ha!! I took one semester off and I had one project that was a total bear and took an entire semester to finish. However, I have no space for new furniture so my goal is to finish what I've got left by the end of fall semester 2013.



I want a Kenyan Top Bar hive.



5. BEES! I've talked about getting bees for the last three years. I came close last year but waited to long and then it was too late to order the actual insects. I've decided on the type of hive I want so I just need to buy one and get the bees at the right time this spring. Fingers crossed that it actually happens in 2013.

I hope that 2013 brings all of you health, happiness, and success in whatever goal(s) you set for yourself. Just remember, don't make resolutions that make you feel sh**ty about yourself. Set goals that, when you reach them, allow you to celebrate how awesome you are.



Happy New Year, friends.

- Alex

Friday Finds: Film Petit

The supremely awesome Kristin at the Skirt as a Top blog is hosting a project called Film Petit that will blow your mind with its awesomeness. Here are the details taken directly from her blog:

• every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) will sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. our next guest will be shannon from luvinthemommyhood!
• please feel free to add any of your movie-inspired kid sewing to the film petit flickr group. if you sew along with our film petit choices, we’d love to see that too!
• this is a pretty relaxed series, really the only rule is to make outfits for kids based on films you love. if you have any questions, please let either of us know.

Words can't do it justice....check this out:

Moonrise Kingdom

Photo courtesy of Skirt as a Top

Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Photo courtesy of Skirt as a Top

Amelie

Photo courtesy of Skirt as a Top

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Photo courtesy of Skirt as a Top

Psycho

Who doesn't love a gal who has her daughter act like a murderous old lady???
Photo courtesy of Skirt as a Top

Um-hm...awesome. And you can play along if you want to, that's the best part. I'm wondering if my boys need to recreate the characters from Raging Bull?

–Cassandra

Let the Making Begin! (tm)

Pillsbury has always encouraged consumers to "play" with their food. Sure, anyone can pop a can of crescent rolls and have flaky, buttery hot rolls for dinner but, really, where's the creativity in that?

From the Pillsbury Bake-Off to their current ad campaign (Let the Making Begin), the home of the dough-boy embraces its customers' creativity and even rewards it. And, boy let me tell you, it makes me feel horribly inadequate. LOL

The truth is, I've always liked Pillsbury's products exactly the way they are. I know what I'm getting with the Grand Biscuits or the Cinnamon Rolls (ummmmm.... cinnamon rolls). But recently, I stumbled on a recipe that needed to be made and I joined the ranks of the Pillsbury "makers".

See... I had this GIANT rib roast left over from Christmas and I needed to do something with the meat. One can only eat so many Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. So, as you do, I scoured the interwebs looking for something (anything) different to do with my leftovers. Pot pie recipes abound!

My actual, first-ever, rib roast. It was HUGE.

Okay, fair enough, I like a good pot pie but I really wanted something different. Then I found it...

In some forum, a guy posted that his wife had mixed carmelized onion, mashed potatoes, cheese, and bits of diced rib roast and stuffed "puff pastry" with that mixture. BINGO! That sounded right up my alley.

Sadly, I didn't take pictures but, believe me when I tell you, these things were a hit. My son's girlfriend called them a pot-pie calzone.

So, here's what you do:

1 Can Pillsbury BIG (Flaky or Buttery) Crescent Rolls - you need the bigger size
(I used crescent rolls but, if I make this again, I'm going to try biscuit dough - just to see how it tastes.)
Leftover mashed potatoes
Leftover meat - diced and fat removed
Diced onion, cooked slowly in olive oil (or butter) until carmelized
Cheese (I used gruyere on my son's because he doesn't eat blue cheese and gorgonzola on mine)
Herbs or seasoning that appeals to you (I used a bouquet garni blend)

Except for the rolls, mix all the ingredients together and set aside.

Open the can of rolls. Peel off two triangles. Place them on the counter (you may need a bit of flour to keep them from sticking) and press the seams closed. With one of the points pointing toward you, put a generous amount of the mashed potato mixture on half of the diamond-shaped dough. Pull the top of the dough over, encasing the mashed potato mixture and creating a triangle (like a large ravioli or calzone). Press the seams together well. I sort of folded them in on themselves and pressed them firmly together. Using a spatula (your little mashed potato pocket will be heavy!), transfer it to a baking sheet. I used parchment paper to ensure that they didn't stick. You can just spray your baking sheet with Pam if you don't have non-stick or parchment.

Once all your pockets are on the baking sheet, place in a 350 degree oven until the dough is golden brown and flaky - about 15-20 minutes (maybe??)

These were a huge hit at my house and may end up in regular rotation. It's an easy thing to make and even easier to experiement with. I can't wait to try it with other leftovers!

Bon Appetite!

- Alex

Creative Legacy

I have a creative guardian angel. I'm serious. Her name is Mary (Maria on the Ellis Island records) and she was my great-grandmother.

You see, my Slovenian great-grandma Novak passed away when I was 6 months old. She was suffering with cancer and was only able to hold little baby me one time. But apparently once was enough. My mom's pretty sure when she held me, her soul jumped out of her ailing body into mine.

Relatives have told me my whole adult life that I remind them of her. Along with the obvious physical characteristics, we are almost eerily alike in our interests. We were/are both obsessive "makers". Now, I won't even claim that my skills can hold a candle to hers...but I'm working on it!

Sadly, we never got to know each other. I never got to take a piece of her wonderful bread or a bowl of her juha. She was plucked away from me too soon. Luckily, she left behind piles of beautiful lace, knitting, crocheting, sewing, and recipes. From these things I have a pretty good understanding of who she was, because I speak her language. I get it.

For Christmas this year, my mom gave me a quite a treasure. It's a lap blanket crocheted by my great-grandma that was made to grace the back of her couch. It's so warm, sturdy, and beautiful. It's the best gift my mom could have given me. Not to get too woo-woo here, but I it just vibrates with energy from the past.

I consider myself lucky because I not only have the finished object treasures like this blanket, I also have many of her tools. Her tatting pillow, knitting books (with her wonderful notations in Slovenian written in the margins), her rustic wood mortar, etc. Aside from the books, I am loathe to use her things. I sort of view them as sacred relics...like some Saint bone that's been proven to heal the blind. I have plans to make a very nice place for them in my future craft room.

This is a subject I've planned to introduce for some time, it's so personal to me so I think I put too much pressure on myself to do it right. I hope I did it justice. There's more about this lady to come.

–Cassandra

Friday Finds: Growing Up

So... yeah. As of my last birthday, I'm officially "of a certain age". I really struggled with this and am still not entirely resigend to the fact that I can no longer be considered "young" by anyone's definition of the word (except for, maybe, most of the population of Florida).

Weirdly, something shifts when one hits this point in life. Suddenly, retirement isn't just some concept in the distant future. Life insurance actually becomes important to one's financial planning. And, sadly, the body starts to rebel.

And AARP, in some weird confluence of ESP and good direct marketing, manages to send you their membership information ON THE WEEK OF YOUR BIRTHDAY. Wth? Really? Like it isn't already enough of a shock?

One good thing that happened, as a result of my birthday, was that I was asked to help beta-test a new web portal called Next Avenue - owned and maintained by PBS (Public Broadcasting Service (home of Sesame Street), for our non-US readers). I agreed to participate primarily because I have great love for PBS and I'm always impressed with the quality of their projects and content.

The portal is aimed squarely at people aged 50 and over. But, unlike most of the content meant for this demographic, it doesn't pander (much). It recognizes that we're all "younger" at this age than previous generations - but that we're still beset by the same concerns like health, money, work, and (while not part of my life yet) caregiving. I was, and continue to be, impressed by the content and how well they manage elevate being "of a certain age" to a status to be proud of, instead of embarrased by.

So, especially for our readers 50 and over (but also for our younger readers who might be interested in retirement planning, easy to implement health improvements, etc.) I introduce you to Next Avenue - where grown-ups keep growing.

- Alex

Muffatee, 1838

I have had a lot of "have-to" knitting in the past year and a half. A LOT. It is both a blessing and a curse to design knitting patterns. On one hand it's creative and wonderful, on the other hand it's a ton of knitting, and re-knitting, and re-knitting. Add into that list the holiday sweaters I like to knit for my boys and next thing you know there is no time for selfish knitting.

That being said, the day after Christmas I was blissfully aware of my unusually empty knitting bag. It was time for a "me project" on the needles. Rummaging around in my stash I found an adorable knitting gift that was given to me a while ago. My sweet little cousin Levi bought me a kit to make fingerless mitts from Suzy the Shepardess.

If you go poke around at her site you will see that Suzy is both a knitter and historian. She began her yarn company to create fiber that was appropriate for vintage patterns. I got lost on her site for a while actually.

One of the adorable things about her wool is that the sheep who supplied it is pictured on the yarn band. How cute is that? Levi went out of his way to pick out just the right lamb for my wool, his name was Left Ear. Love! This fiber was gorgeous and knitted up beautifully.

The pattern included in the kit was vintage from a book called The Workwoman's Guide, by A Lady. Um-hm..."A Lady". Originally published in 1838 this book is (in it's own words): instructions to the inexperienced in cutting out and completing those articles of wearing apparel which are usually made at home; also explanations on upholstery, straw-platting, bonnet-making, knitting, etc. Go check this out on Google Books. I know Ma Ingalls had a copy of this on the Prairie. She may have knit these for milking cows...but we can still use them today for typing in cold offices!

I wound up the yarn and knitted these simple little treasures in a day. And then I had a thought. My daughter often complains of how cold it is in the student newspaper office where she works. Ugh. Being the good mommy that I am, I let her have my mitts. I will knit myself another pair...when I get a chance :)

–Cassandra