Megan Monday Prints

So We're working on the cookbook

2009-10-18T22:27:00.001-05:00

Really, we are. It's coming along by hook or crook. Lyss steals moments to scribble on loose paper while her boys run around the living room with legos, I steal moments staying up later than everyone to tap away at this keyboard. And to make a few drawings, like the marmalade, above. To use color, or not to use color, that is the question. Thoughts?

Trust Me; I'm a Jedi

2009-10-18T22:14:00.005-05:00

To a boy who loves star wars, from an auntie who has only ever seen "space balls".

Suspended, Impossible Autumn

2009-10-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

This is how we do our autumn walks: A, always looking up, watching light filter through the canopy. Me, always looking down, keeping my eyes peeled for the perfect red leaf. And now F, this time asleep against A in the carrier.

The new yellow, seeing wild turkeys, balancing on a log. Thinking:
Diaphanous.
and then:
the diaphanous gown of fall's canopy,
the arch of a fallen knobby limb
that acts as drawbridge
between this beckoning color and
a girl who never liked to walk alone.

Other sentences; we traded turns making them up, and I don't remember them all now.

But I will remember the eyes of this sleepy boy just waking up
to the yellow all around him
for the very first time.

Foxtrot

2009-10-07T12:33:00.003-05:00

We have a thing for red foxes in this house.
For A, my guess is that it's some transfer from his childhood favorite story, Peter and the Wolf.

For me, I know that I have a pleasure center in my brain for the color red (and it's warm derivations). Strangely, I dislike red when it's the dominant color, but I like it a lot in small quantities. The majority of my shoes are red, for example, but I have no larger red gear, like sweaters or dresses.
I also have a quite large pleasure center for mysterious wild animals.

Finn, who knows. But we assign him to liking foxes until he can tell us otherwise. We did get a red fox puppet for him. Trying to imprint a fox friend memory?

So, Fox, here in our little house? We'll be your friends.

Archery

2009-10-05T11:21:00.000-05:00

A mama sea turtle, perhaps?

2009-09-30T10:14:00.001-05:00

Any other animal suggestions?

4 Months

2009-09-29T20:58:00.009-05:00

It's been four months since f. was born and hence, about four months since I've really checked into this space. The little one is rolling over, teething, chuckling and growing like a weed.

I, meanwhile, have been growing too. In all the early parenthood ways that you would expect. Love, patience, pride. And though most days it doesn't feel like it, I actually have been getting a few crafty things done. I have a few endeavors to share, and will be dolling out the posts over these next few weeks, as a way to ease myself into this discipline again. You'll see drawings, knitting, a few arrangements. But first, I have a chuckle party to talk about.

The above drawings will be printed on canvas, cut into patches, and faux-serged on the edges. They will be the Finn Chuckle prizes, given out at his "The baby laughed" party to anyone who makes Finn chuckle.

The idea for a chuckle party was planted by Midwife Mary when we came in for our 6 week appointment.

When we arrived Mary asked: "Has he chuckled yet?"
We replied in the negative: "Smiles, but no chuckles."
Mary used to work at a Navajo reservation hospital in the southwest, and the nurses would always ask this when parents brought in a new baby for a checkup. The idea is that in the first weeks of life, the baby is hovering between the spirit/ancestor world and our physical world. The baby stays in this limbo until the first chuckle. It's at this moment that the child has decided to fully engage in the world, and to join his/her family and community. The first chuckle is a cause for celebration, and whoever elicits this chuckle is responsible for throwing the family a party! The nurses didn't want to be always throwing parties, so they'd always ask to see if it was *safe* to try and make the baby laugh before they did it!

So who made baby laugh? We did. Right in this very house, where he was born and continues to grow. So we're saddling up and baking a cake for the adults and throwing a chuckle party. Hope it doesn't rain.

Since it's a baby party, these patches are designed to adorn baby carriers or diaper bags. I'm making three: a babe, a pala, and a mama. But what, oh what, animal should the mama be?

More to come. Thanks for stopping by.

Learning

2009-07-21T16:35:00.003-05:00

I haven't known what to post, seeing as how feedings and changings have taken precedence over art + craft projects as of late, but I wanted to check in with a little photo and say that life, at this stage, is sweet.

Balance with projects will come, and you'll hear more from this little space when the pendulum swings. Soon.

(A digital tablet was given as a birthday present; I anticipate drawings...)

2009-06-12T17:31:00.001-05:00

One thing about Freezer Paper Stencils

2009-05-17T09:56:00.003-05:00

is that they are always mono prints. You can't really detach and re-iron on the previously used design- it just won't stick again, try as you might, even if you've managed to carefully pull off your stencil without ripping it. (Which would be good for practicing patience, but not actually all that useful in terms of getting more mileage out of your stencil.)

One way, however, to get a wee bit more distance from your time spent with the Exacto is to use your positive. The one I recommended to just throw away last post? Yeah- that one.

Here I used the positive bird from this shirt. I followed more or less the same steps: ironed it on where I wanted it, and just painted around it this time instead of inside it.

The difference this time, of course, is that the image will be a negative once you paint around it, and you'll have to decide on a shape to contain the stencil (and therefore the paint). I chose a simple square here, so I just cut out strips of extra freezer paper and boxed in the bird.

Just a way to get a little more life out of your efforts.

And ALSO, how very exciting to have had a little moment on WhipUp a few days ago! Woo-Hoo!
I'm honored; they are truly the compendium of craftiness.

Freezer Paper Stenciling Tutorial

2009-05-11T10:55:00.011-05:00

It's likely that if you're reading this, you were either there for the freezer paper stenciling of 2 weekends ago, or you already have read tons of blog entries on the how-to's of freezer stenciling. So now that we're agreed, let's not call this a formal tutorial, but rather some more show and tell, and thoughts on the process.

You see, freezer paper stenciling has been buzzing around me (and everyone else) as a project idea for some time, and I just never had gotten around to it. In fact I had grand ideas of doing all manner of printmaking these last few months, not just baby projects but making "real" prints. I wanted to really dig in while I have the relative quiet and the steady sleep pattern to enjoy.

Well, certainly I could say something about the 'best laid plans'. But instead let's just say it that it took this baby party to get me actually making stuff, and for that I'm glad. Cause after stenciling for the baby, I found that I was still feeling pretty stencil-happy, and so decided to make a gift for a friend. And I hope this is just the beginning of my embellishing days cause this whole freezer paper stencil thing, in case you haven't seen it done before, is relatively pain free and straight forward.

Here's what you'll need:

Freezer Paper
An iron and ironing board
an Exact-o knife
a cutting surface
a pencil
fabric paint (I've been using Jacquard)
stenciling brushes
and of course, some inspiration and something to print on.

You start by drawing your design with a pencil onto the non glossy side of the freezer paper. (Make sure you measure the size of the freezer paper against what your printing on to make sure it will fit!)

Using your cutting board and Exact-o knife, carefully cut out your design in detail. You'll be keeping the negative image and throwing out the positive (unless you use that later for a reverse design, but more on that another time.)
If not all the shapes connect, it's okay- you can iron them into place later:

(as I did here, with the bird eye and the inside blocks of the endless knot.)

Go ahead and iron your cut out, negative design onto your fabric. The glossy side of the freezer paper should be directly against the fabric, and it's a good idea to iron some extra pieces of freezer paper on to block out areas in case you cut your design too close the the edge. This will help prevent those potentially infuriating stray paint marks!

Once you're ironed on, you can use your fabric paint and stencil brushes to tap paint into the open areas. Before you start though- put either extra freezer paper, wax paper or cardboard between any layers of fabric to prevent bleeding.

I found it was best to hold the stencil up to a window every now and again to make sure enough paint saturated the fabric. Otherwise your stencil will look blotchy and not quite filled in.

Once dry (and do wait till it's dry; it's as agonizing as waiting for fresh bread to cool- but otherwise you might smear it), peel off the freezer paper and VOILA! You have your basic stencil design! Depending on the fabric paint you're using, you may have to set the design with some quick ironing at this point. The directions on the paint will let you know if that's necessary.

I decided that my design needed a little something extra at this point, so I took a thin brush and added some hand drawn detail on top with white paint. The alterations you could make are pretty limitless.

Freezer Paper Stenciling

2009-05-11T10:39:00.001-05:00

2 weekends ago, A proved again that he's an awesome partner and threw a surprise baby shower. There was Indian food, there were baby gifts, there was freezer paper stenciling. Rather than the typical baby shower games, we broke out all the blank onesies and everybody got a chance to design their own baby outfit for The Bean.

It was a really sweet day.

Yes those are special ginger cupcakes... I accidentally ironed some crumbs into this particular outfit...

A Forest of Books

2009-04-27T10:49:00.005-05:00

Man, it's been awhile since I went a'blogging.
I even promised to write about Alyssa's and my monthly recipes, and so far haven't.
My excuse, or at least the one I'm using, is that I've been increasingly distracted by Baby Prep. My due date is late May, so there's still about a month till then, (unless the bean is early!) but whether late, early or "on time", I know these last days will go really fast. I've been scheming to make my own mattress (for a discontinued, oddly sized, craigs-listed co-sleeper), buying fabric for bumpers and sheets, sorting clothes from generous friends and neighbors, going to childbirth prep classes, renting a tub, and gathering supplies for birth. In reality it's not a whole lot to do, and we're certainly keeping things low key and collections minimal (no dedicating and painting a baby nursery or buying baby toys or anything like that), but it was a lesson for me to realize that just choosing a carrier or stroller can take hours of sorting through the customer reviews and recalls, not to mention the multitude of options. Guh.

Anyway, one project that I've made time for and can now share are the personalized bookplates I made for A's birthday.

When I met Adam (for the second time), he was 22 and living in CA with very few possessions. Part of that was because he'd simply moved out with little: only a duffel bag and a guitar tossed into his green Tercel (which I still drive). The other reasoning was because there was, I'll admit, some kind of delusional romance to sleeping on the floor in just a nest of second hand blankets and borrowing your nightly reading from the public library, not to mention knowing you could roll all your belongings up into an arm load or two and be off (whether you ever went anywhere or not).

When I entered into his picture, I was the collector. I too moved out to CA in a tiny car, but mine was packed to the hilt with art supplies, music, books, clothes, even my sewing machine made it out. As our lives morphed, our collections grew mostly due to my tendencies. For the first few years A was always diligent about semi-annual purging, but over the years he has picked up one real habit. I don't know whether my pack-rat-isms have rubbed off a little, or if stable life has let his own tendencies grow, but what A really loves to collect are books.

We've affectionately taken to calling him the Book Troll. This can be seen in action if you ever walk into a (cheap) second hand book store or library sale with Adam: he can be witnessed hobbling around with his arms wrapped protectively around a sizable stack of treasures.

Well, last year A lent out his favorite book and never got it back. This was a little devastating for him. Though we don't have a lot of first editions in the house, this one was, and also had a kind of sentimental value, so I decided for his birthday that I would make book plates for his loaners in hopes that they would encourage borrowers to remember from whence the books came. I chose to make a drawing of mushrooms to go along with A's Book Troll persona: it helps me have little daydreams of him as a furry footed book collector, reading amongst the moss and cold stones.

The plates started as a drawing:

And from there got messed around with on the computer:

And finally converted into the final:

I found the fonts here, the rest is either drawn with a pen and scanned in, or shakely drawn with a mouse. I'd really like in invest in one of those digital drawing tablets, but having never used one, I'm not sure if they'd be worth the expense (anybody know?). I'd also like to do more of these. I always talk about starting an etsy shop (one of those non-follow-through things), but if I ever get around to it, maybe a selection of book plates would go in (and thanks for the idea, Lyss).
Ahh...nothing like starting off a shop selling something people hardly ever use!

Oh, and Happy Spring :)

Spontaneous Citrus

2009-03-10T11:17:00.005-05:00

I'm so glad that we manage to keep a bottle of lemon juice on hand at (almost) all times.

Lemon juice is kind of a staple in our house and during the summer I have to restock every week. A blows through our stash by taking straight swigs or often adding a glug to whatever he happens to be drinking (summer means kombucha, mostly). Last summer fetching lemon juice was a very pleasant chore: we lived in Rochester proper, only a short backstreet bike ride to our co-op. I'd swish through the warm summer air on my used (but new-to-me) bianchi, yellow plastic bin attached on back to haul small grocheries, tomato plants, books, and various other summer collections. It was nice.

During the winter a bottle of lemon juice can sit undisturbed in the fridge for months (good thing acids have a long shelf life!), only to be recalled when I cross paths with some alluringly lemony recipe (thanks for the link, lisa), get inspired and jump up to make it. Right now the apt is getting filled with the pleasantly sweet/sour smell of lemon bread baking. (It will make a good afternoon treat for A after his big day of job decision making.)

I had just (barely, but almost exactly) enough sugar on hand to make the recipe. Whenever that happens I agree with lyss, who said: "Having just enough of things feels just right, like I was meant to make just that recipe just when I did."

Speaking of alyssa and making,

We are making a mini cookbook.

Its our self imposed project for the year. One recipe a month, worked out by spending time in the kitchen together brewing away, taking pictures/making doodles of the final products, with the hope that it all coalesces into a nice printed book for holiday time giving next year. We started in January, and now I hope to start a-blogging about the recipes as we go.

In Jan. we made a new years feast of eggs benedict. In Feb. a winter's dream of marmalade. This month we're thinking lemony brioche (we must have lemon on the brain). I'll be back to post about the marm...as it fits in nicely with the recipe linkage I found with the lemon bread.

But right now that lemon bread is smelling done, and when warm citrus treats await, I go.

On Knitting

2009-02-20T10:53:00.003-05:00

If I were to categorize myself, I'd say that in general I'm more of a crochet gal. Crochet is arguably more free form than knitting; it provides more immediate results, it's easier to hide your mistakes, and is less exacting. You can easily make things up while crocheting and don't even have to count stitches if you don't want to.

My mom taught me (and my little brother, who right now is making crazy crocheted costumes out at his grad school) how to crochet. I was in college when I learned and went through a spate of crocheting scarves and wonky looking hats and even one very, very embarrassing sweater where I used all leftover yarn and totally made up the pattern and didn't count anything. It's acrylic and horrid and striped and the arms are different shapes, but I digress.

Though knitting seemed painstaking to me, I always loved the look of smartly knit things. I love the tidiness of knitting. The put-together-simpleness. So though knitting seemed like something I'd never take on, I have been lucky enough to know a few knitters in my life.

You would think that with all the hullaballo around knitting these past years I would know more, but I actually only know three true knitters. Knitters that really are serious about their craft, that go beyond making a hat or scarf once a year and really pull out the big needles. They knit sweaters and bags and garments and they amaze me. The best thing about knowing serious knitters is that they sometimes gift you or barter with you for their sweet and tidy creations. I have a favorite black shrug that was knit by a dearest friend and given to me for my birthday. It is perfect for 3 seasons of nights out that have a little nip in the air (or not); it's consistently commented on and very well made. I have a bartered white knit bag that I like to carry around to the point of it getting perhaps a little too well-used looking. I have a new red hat this winter and cute grey fingerless gloves. Knitted gifts are really the best gifts.

So after all this knit love and lust, Ms. Alyssa (the shrug knitter) decided to teach me how to knit.

The first attempt she made laid the groundwork, but unfortunately didn't take right away. A year ago I knit a cell phone case. The stitches vary in size and the whole thing is way too big and though she left me with my very own pair of wooden needles, they were left in my big basket of fiber project stuff for, oh, the rest of the year.
Then some bug bit. It may be that cliched old thing about pregnant women picking up knitting to make baby things, I dunno, but suddenly I wanted to try again.

A has one of the aforementioned wonky hats from my crochet days. A little too pointy on top, and a crappy blend before I knew any better than to just buy cheap yarn; overall he's been a saint for wearing it all these winters with no complaints. So I decided that for my first real knitting project, I'd knit him a new winter hat.
Lyss was kind enough to jog my knitting memories one day while I was over at her place making marmalade.
Funny thing: I found out that knitting can be almost as free form, make-it-up-as-you-go as crocheting. I am not a real knitter, and I only know knit and purl, but still the possibilities are clear. AND, as any new knitter can tell you, it's kind of addictive.

So I knit A this hat in just a few days. Knitting while watching the daily show online, while listening to radiolab, while in the plane to visit A' s folks. While still on our trip, the knitting itch continued and so thought I'd try to make a matching hat for The Bean. I didn't really know what I was doing, and am accustomed to just making stuff up and trying it out, (sometimes failing miserably, of course) so I thought I'd just try 1/2-ing the stitches (for what will be a much smaller newborn noggin). Those few stitches were too small for the circular needles so I knit it straight with intent to sew it together on a seam. Turned out too small, so I knit a smaller section and kinda grafted it on.
I guess I'm back to my old fudging-it crochet tricks. It's not perfect, and after a few projects I know that knitting is not my true calling. I likely will forever be a one or two projects a year kind a knitter. A hat knitter. A scarf knitter. A knit and purl simple-stuff kind of knitter (but a happy knitter). And that's why I feel so lucky to know the knitters I DO know, who kindly send their knit love my way, and I rejoice.

Just a little housekeeping

2009-02-03T13:36:00.004-05:00

An updated look...
Not quite sure if I'm pleased with this or not, and I might revisit to tweak it more: but I figured change'll do me good, especially mid winter.

So a new banner, a little reorganization, and some modest but overdue link lists.

Belated

2009-02-02T12:37:00.004-05:00

Though its been awhile, here are some more of the holiday era makings:

Our friends Kyle and Lisa have 2 cats.
Lisa says: "Megan, paint us an oil painting of our cats!"
Kyle says: "Can you make it reversible so we can not look like crazy cat people when company comes over?"
Too funny. I thought cat pillows would be a good compromise.

This may be hard to see, but I kept the original drawing up on the windowpane(which I was using as a light box to transfer the drawing to fabric) because it amused me: Looks like Lily (the cat) is staring up at the crow (which is an amazing carved wooden bird by Jason Tennant, btw.)

And then here are more of the hand carved stamp stationary sets I made:

Surprise!

2009-01-29T16:03:00.000-05:00

Omg. What mystery, what suspense! Who, who, who sent The Bean this blue woolen rabbit???
It arrived today with no note besides the card from the etsy seller who made it!
It makes me grin ear to ear and I am filled with suspense trying to track down the thoughtful genius who sent it our way...

winter still, and little joys.

2009-01-28T14:27:00.000-05:00

First off, aren't ice patterns just lovely? I really mean it. I'm not being sarcastic in an I-wish-spring-would-come already kind of way. Sure, it's been cold here for a long time...sure, this has been my first winter with consistently negative temperatures, and sure, there's been snow on the ground since October, but I am still appreciating some of the more aesthetic qualities of the cold.

Like when dusk falls and the fresh snow twinkles as if it's laced with crystal.
Like when the snow is packed just so and it makes that pleasing crunchy squish sound under your feet.
Like when ice crystals form into delicate patterns like little gifts on your cold kitchen window pane in the morning.
They look kind of like lithe ice birds, (or fairies, i guess) don't they?

Meanwhile, again not a baking blog, but I did make very my first 100% white flour (gasp!) loaf today. Per the Peter Reinhart thing.
White flour isn't near as tasty in my opinion, but certainly it's supple and slack and smooth and nice to dough around with.

And lastly, as this is purely a picture day, here are some pretty potatoes cut up as prep for dinner tonight. A vagabond flock that I gathered at the Dane Winter Market. Creamy butter yellow, startling deep purple, mottled plum. So satisfying when your little daily tasks are pleasing to the senses, too.

Just an update for my (very few) peeps

2009-01-22T12:25:00.003-05:00

As the snow falls and we hole up with soups and bread and books, I thought I'd go all personal and wax on about a few things that are going on for us in this brand new year.

A is taking a writing class. It just started yesterday, and runs every other wednesday for a semester. He's working on 2 stories. One is a collection of interrelated shorts about characters who share the same apt building in Rochester. It's called Blossom Towers (the name of the building) and involves a few maintenance guys, a couple cantankerous nosy ladies, a young woman raising twins on her own, and various other sundry characters and how they relate. A lot of the interactions take place on brief but telling elevator rides between the 8 floors.
The other story is about a young boy and his summers spent along the Maine coast with his grandfather. There are interspersing of the boys' dream life with his real days of nature observations and interactions.
A has been really diligent about writing since we moved. He's amped up his weekend morning writing to everyday morning writing. He gets up at 6am and spends an hour tick-tacking at this very keyboard I'm writing on now. (The pink in my cheeks is either pregnancy hormones or beaming pride.)

Also, I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but I joined an art board for a local community center. We (there are 5 of us) are putting together a show currently and will be in charge of putting together shows for the next year or two with a focus on local artists. I'm finding it really fun to sort through submitted work, choose favorites, discuss work with other board members, and eventually (we do the first install next week) meet with the artists and help them realize their show in a gallery space. I think it will be rewarding; and I have to say I really like being on this side of things.

In other Nurturing-Creative-Interests news I just signed on to be "test baker" for Peter Reinhart's next book. (P.R. of the aforementioned cinnamon bread post). He's kind of a big deal bread man, and apparently when he works on a new book he puts out a call to home baker types and gets them to test recipes for him and give him feedback so he can make tweaks before his book goes to print. I think there will be something like 200 home bakers testing things for him. This time I'll be one too.

To close this personal update-y post, I thought I'd share this blog I found and have been enjoying reading: it's personal too (but much more succinct that what you just read) and can be kind of poetic in it's sparse pictures and few words. It's called habit.

Happy late January.

Mami Wata, two unexpected finds, and a feather.

2009-01-11T12:24:00.005-05:00

Last week I finally made it over to the Chazen Art Museum, which is here in Madison and part of the UW.
They had an exhibit called "Mami Wata" on that I wanted to see: it was a showcase featuring various depictions of the Water Goddess within a few different cultures. The focus was primarily on West African depictions, but they also had a few pieces that were Indian in origin (related to the Nagas, I guess? Though there wasn't any information about that on the walls) and also Mami Wata manifested as Santa Ana in some depictions from the Americas.
Mami Wata is apparently quite a polarizing force. Some see her as a powerful goddess that will bring you wealth, prosperity and luck, but if your cross her, Watch Out. There was one painting in particular of a man who seduces (or is seduced by) Mami Wata along a shoreline. Mami Wata sheds her mermaid tail, they make love, and he is afterwards blessed with fortune. But when Mami Wata sees that the man gets caught up in material possessions (there is a panel of the man with a house, car, etc), she kills him the next time he visits her.
Mami Wata seems to be a manifestation of the fierce feminine: she'll give and take in equally dramatic measures. Many depictions seemed to accept this as part of Mami Wata's inherent power and divinity. Others, (and this is where the polarizing part comes in), see her as a manifestation of the 'devil'. She is often depicted as a mermaid, but just as often as a woman with a snake- a kind of evil dominatrix type. Some paintings in the exhibit focused upon that dark sexuality and presented it as something to be feared. There was one painting of a monk in robes in the water warning people of the mermaid, another where someone was dousing Mami Wata with a fire hose.
Even more interesting was when I got to the pieces from the Americas/Caribbean: one in particular was a video from either Haiti or Santo Domingo where a woman was video taped being possessed by a Mami Wata-like snake goddess: the woman was writhing in a chair and spitting her tongue out. She was videotaped next to her altar of plastic catholic-merging-'primitive' icons and candles.

I wish I had pictures of that exhibit to share, but alas, no photography allowed in Mami Wata. So, though completely different, I want to share 2 unexpected finds, also from the Chazen. Before I got to Mami Wata, I walked a little through the permanent collection and saw these two gems. They're by really famous artists but I'd never seen them before:

Grant Wood! You know, the "American Gothic" guy? I have to admit I never looked much deeper into his other work, but really immediately liked this painting. The woman's expression is hard to read; she's holding a plum and a spring chick.

And then this one. I go back and forth on how I feel about Ms. O'Keefe, but I definitely like this simple still life of turkey feathers. Maybe I just like feathers. Case in point:

I'm trying to dress up my maternity clothes with a little funny applique. A felt blue jay feather.

Meanwhile the snow keeps falling and a new exhibit is slated to go up at the Chazen soon.

baking again

2009-01-06T14:51:00.003-05:00

This is not a baking blog, but I'm going to link to one. Peter Reinhart is a bubbly cauldron baker scientist, and can be fun to read. My sister gave me his Whole Grain Breads book for my birthday last year, and that's where the recipe for this bread comes from.

I kind of went on a baking hiatus after my sourdough starter kicked the bucket in November. But the other day I started feeling wistful and was jonsin' for some cinnamon raisin bread. Cinnamon Raisin bread with toasted walnuts, really. And the reason it became blog worthy because this is the most satisfying loaf of bread that I've made in a long time.

For awhile, weekly bread just became One-Of-Those-Things-That-Needed-To-Be-Done, like doing the laundry or making sure you had an appropriate stash of toilet paper on hand. I certainly still liked making bread, but I'll admit there were parts of it that had become somewhat chore-ish. When I first started baking a few years ago I couldn't wait for the bread too cool: I wanted to open it up and see if it had risen evenly inside, or discover how dense the crumb was, and of course I wanted to taste it. But over time, I started doubling the recipes and freezing a loaf, and even refrained from slicing into it for hours, days. Then it got to where I wouldn't eat much of it. It would disappear into A's PB and J sandwiches, and that was just fine by me. Maybe I'd make toast now and again if there wasn't any yogurt around for breakfast, but I was much less allured.

Then I took a break. And I'm not saying I'm ready to go back to Never-Bringing-Store-Bought-Bread-Into-The-House, but I am really satisfied with this loaf. Best toasted, with butter or cream cheese.
Want the recipe?

update: recipe in the comments :)

sharing busy december

2009-01-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

Still can't post all the makin' (it's not done being given), but here is a a taste:

Top left: satiny bag of sea shell treasures for a certain 5 year old who has been dreaming of Florida this winter
Middle top: gag gift for my high heel/pink/bling obsessed sister, a little watercolor of one of her favorite spikes
Top right: some hand-carved stamp cards: the first features a hasselblad camera and magic wand, the second has high heels and a cocktail glass (for sis again)
Lower left: owl sillouette felt wall hanging for brother, weighted with smudge stick sage I grew a few years ago and had saved (on the left there's a needle point my great grandmother made for me when I was new in the world...)
Middle bottom: date pinwheels for my grandfather from his mom's old recipe
Middle right: gigantic bib made from a towel for one particularly drooly babe
Lower right: more cards, these ones were for my mother: a quilting hoop and needle and thread

Happy 2009!!!

Pre-holiday blather

2008-12-18T12:29:00.005-05:00

We've been back from Maine for about a week now, and I've been busy scurrying around trying to get holiday gifts together. I am happy to say that everyone on my list is receiving something handmade this year. (either the whole gift was handmade, or something handmade got included) These were either made by yours truly, or bought at a local holiday crafty event or ordered from etsy, etc.
Oh Drat, that's almost true. I forgot about the nieces and nephews of reading age. Those gifts were not handmade, but were personalized and stamped! Does it count? No? Well, I still feel good about the overall level of craftiness this year.
But certainly all those little things kept me busy.
So, I can't quite post up a storm about those little things I'm giving, but I can share this:

Major ice storm in Maine! The night before we left, freezing rain. I was walking (read: skating) along the sidewalks downtown in Portland where people were falling (with their loaded shopping bags) left and right. The sun was setting, the ambulances were whining down the streets. I needed ice cramp-ons for my boots, no joke.

I met up with A in the thick of it and we meandered on back to the b and b. We were hoping to stay in, but hunger dictated and so we used each other for balance and braved the few blocks to a wood fired pizza place named Bonobo. We are so glad we did. Let me just say that this place was once of the cutest, tastiest little pizza places I have ever been to. (In fact the only one that compares is the original American Flatbread housed in a barn in VT) Mushroom soup! Specialty pizza! Flourless chocolate cake! A great meal pretty cheap. Be still, my heart.

Another thing I can post with confidence is this:

For I know that my siblings-in-law don't read this blog. Those cute owls (by Big Pink Heart) are being given to the nieces and nephews of non-reading age. (You can also see the cardinals in this pic!)

Alright. We're off to FL soon to visit with my grandparents while madison is expecting 8-12 inches!
Happy holidays!

Maine again

2008-12-10T13:16:00.002-05:00

Here in Maine:

I should have taken a picture on one of the first days we were here; it was all picturesque and heavy with snow on the pine branches. It's just that it's warmer now, raining instead of snowing.
This is the same spot in maine, same exact cabin, in fact, that i stayed in just about 8 months ago when i holed up to write my masters thesis: "Art making: critical thinking and the disposition toward truth-seeking". It actually had a somewhat more put together title, it's just that I can't call it to mind exactly right now. How quickly the memory falters. Thankfully the content is still tucked away in my mind.

Anyway, A's work travel is sometimes good to me cause I get to travel along. Nice especially when we end up in pretty cabin-like settings. This one happens to be on an island that lies at the end of a mile long bridge. When I walk across the bridge later today: lo and behold: a cheese shop and a mug of hot chocolate await me.

I've been working this trip too; but this time it's far less academic: I'm making holiday gifts. It's my habit to blog what's being made as I make it but this time
it will have to wait until after the gifts are given!!