Aurora Spitfire

hiccup

2012-01-31T21:56:00.000-05:00

If you squint and ignore the topstitching it's cute, right?

I'm so positive nearly all of the time, but this crown is driving me to near insanity--the worst kind. Toddlers are a lot of work, and so are all of the basic chores around a house (it takes time to scrub the floors, starch my husband's shirts, and bake my own bread every day...ha ha ha...for the record I do none of those things). But seriously, I don't have time to topstitch the same crown SEVEN times! Yes SEVEN!!! Or it might even be eight, now that we're talking about it. Had I know this would get so out of hand I would have saved the thread reject pile. I could probably stuff a pillow with it by now.

It looks like a 5-year-old topstitched this
with an antique hand-crank machine.

In light of how much work has gone into this little number I'm wondering about pricing it in our shop. Should it cost less? or MORE because of all the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into it? Obviously I'm kidding, but sheesh. At this point I'd probably have to charge $100 to recoup my time. Should I sell it at all? It's so darn cute and I've spent so much time with it that selling it might be hard.

Now for the positives that have come from this challenge: I now understand how thread and needle sizes work and their relationships to one another, I learned about topstitching needles and bought some, and I learned that for fabric can get stuck at the back of the walking foot, so you have to pick up your presser foot to keep it from going crazy. Some people would have known all that by now in their sewing careers, but I'm on a need-to-know basis with all of life's endeavors.

I have a decision to make...abandon this guy for awhile or become obsessed with finishing it? There is obviously no in between.

it's finished!

2012-01-30T14:02:00.002-05:00

I'm having trouble with my walking foot and can't topstitch our nearly finished crowns, so in the meantime I finished up the countdown chain! It turned out really well, and now I'm thinking about making more to put in the shop. Making it was super fun, even though it was sort of time-consuming. Now I just have to figure out what we're counting down to. For now I think Charley will probably just play with the links in ways I can't even think up.

Once I finished the chain I decided to start picking out some new crown fabric combinations. Here are a few I'm considering:

I'm not sure if these groupings will turn into crowns or not...I have to let them fester a bit. My mom and I have been talking about some new offerings we'll add to the shop soon! Very excited! I'm off to start something new...what? I'm not sure yet! Happy Monday!

no sew, yes cook

2012-01-26T13:25:00.000-05:00

Well, my sewing machine is malfunctioning, and I can't figure it out, so these crowns are still waiting for the finishing touches. Last night I sewed and ripped out the same seam five times after tweaking various things, so today I'm taking a break from problem-solving. Don't these fabric combinations look great? My mom pieced all three, and I'm in charge of the rest. I can't wait to get them done and in the shop!

On a more productive note, I've cooked a ton in the last couple of days. Yesterday I made Martha's Chicken and Spinach Casserole from our left-over rotisserie chicken. I used steamed broccoli for the spinach, and next time I would add a shallot and use milk instead of half and half. Oh, and I used sherry for the wine. I also used ciabatta for the bread, which worked really well. This is a great go-to recipe because you can assemble it ahead-of-time (you know, during nap time).

Thanks to my good friend Lora, I also made a huge batch of burritos to freeze. I cooked pinto beans, and then sauteed zucchini, carrot and onion to mix in with cumin, coriander, oregano, salt and pepper. Then I put a spoonful in the middle of each tortilla, added some cheese, rolled them up and wrapped them individually in foil. The thought is that I can pull one or two out of the freezer when I need a quick lunch. Here's a great video on how to fold a burrito.

Then today I made some spaghetti sauce to use in Martha's Baked Ravioli recipe. These are the veggies I hope to have successfully hidden in the "tomato" sauce:

I used tortellini, and I'll let you know how it tastes. Little Man just woke up, so I have to run!

flurry of activity

2012-01-21T15:43:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my friends Emily and Bridgette, I've made a ton of progress in the Etsy shop department since yesterday! Thanks, ladies! Now there's a Facebook page and Twitter account, and both are linked to this blog and the shop! Welcome to 2012, Katherine! (Okay, I'm a little behind, but I'm coming along!)

Thanks to the weather, I think the photos finally look pretty good. When we move I'm going to place "good light" really high on the list of criteria, and I'll leave it at that for fear of sounding negative. We had a beautiful snowfall overnight and now it's clear as a bell, so with a little help from my Marimekko place mats the pictures are bright enough to show off the gorgeous colors of our doll kits and crowns.

Now my mom and I need to focus on making more stuff--no more photography for awhile! Oh, and as a side note, the above crown is one of my most favorite ever, so I hope someone really lovely eventually buys it. Don't you just love the fabrics? The colors? Oh man, I hope I don't take it out of the shop and try to hoard it!

Happy Saturday!

learning curve

2012-01-20T07:23:00.001-05:00

Starting anything new is hard! Our little Etsy shop is coming along, and I'm trying to figure out how, um, to sell something. This week it was finally sunny here, so with a little light in our house I retook photos of most items to make them simpler as well as to give the shop a more unified look overall. Here's the difference:

before:

after:

My next step is to find some wee ones to photograph playing with the dolls. There are probably more than a few tweaks that would make the shop more successful, but that's where I'll focus for now. My young friends who have played with these before seem to know what to do, but to get a doll kit in their little hands, an adult in their lives has to see the fun and value in it. That adult also can't be the type of person who says, "We have all that stuff here already! I'll make my own!" You know, like me.

The other change in the works is to add crowns with birthday numbers to the shop! I'm really excited about it, and I think other people will be too. My mom has worked through this and figured out a great way to make them so they're user-friendly and adorable. We just have to get on it! Now that I have the shop in a better place for now visually, it's time to sew!

Oh, and I almost forgot, I'm basically obsessed with color right now (could it be winter in Michigan?)...some places to find it:

Etsy--a colorful treasury I made for fun
this website/blog I stumbled upon this morning
Pinterest--I love this site! Here's my Kaffe Fassett board to cheer anyone up

Go find some color!

two kinds of dough

2012-01-14T15:24:00.002-05:00

During today's extended indoor playtime (in an effort to help my back feel better...I think it's working) Charley and I made play dough! He's only played with it at other people's houses a few times before, and this was the first time he really got into it. The recipe was super easy, and supposedly it will keep for 3 months in an airtight container.

Here are the directions to make as much as you see in the picture:

Mix 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup salt, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 T oil (I used vegetable), and 1 cup water in a pot over medium heat. Stir it constantly until a large ball forms, and then knead it until the texture is like regular play dough (1-2 minutes). I then separated it and kneaded in food coloring. In the future it'd be pretty fun to use vegetable dyes, but that might be too ambitious.

Charley's development is in an explosive period, so this was a really fun activity to do together. He was interested in how to mix the colors, found it hilarious to pretend to eat play food I made, and played with animals I shaped for him.

One thing I really love about him is that whenever we do something new he likes to check it out at his own pace. He didn't dive right in and start mixing all the colors or going to town molding stuff. Instead he first wanted to put all the balls into their own bowls, and then he wanted to pick off small pieces and put those into other bowls with big balls. Anyway, he was having fun doing his own thing, and it was neat to watch.

The other dough was adapted from this recipe for peanut butter oatmeal cookies. The changes I made were to use 3/4 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and then to add a bunch of sliced almonds, dried cranberries and chocolate chips. I found they needed to bake a little longer than the recipe said, but that might just be our oven. Overall, they are delicious, and I actually think they taste better today than when they were fresh. That's a nice surprise!

an unexpected winter slowdown

2012-01-13T13:14:00.003-05:00

I've been on a creative and organizational role lately (yay!), which led to me injuring my back (boo!). You know how they say you should not lift heavy stuff when you're pregnant? Yeah, they're smarter than me. Here's a list of the awesomeness that led to my back hurting though:

* swimming at the Y with Charley, who now thinks dunking his head is the funniest thing ever (wow, that's tiring for me, albeit fun and exciting)

* sorting and selling chapter books on Craigslist (decluttering and making money--double win!)

* sorting C's clothing (more decluttering!)

* making a few tasty dinners (chili, Caribbean Sweet Potato Gratin...if you make that do something different with the topping...the texture was too crunchy)

* checking out the Henry Ford Museum with friends (best place ever to take a vehicle-obsessed toddler)

* prenatal yoga class (you know when the instructor tells you to 'listen to your body?' I'd recommend doing that...)

* playing outside

* working on the count-down chain

I've spent a lot of time resting the last few days which is SO BORING! I did watch Gosford Park and the first Harry Potter (both for the 400th time) so that I was kind of fun, but I would rather being doing something interesting before we're back in the new baby stupor! We'll see if I can find something fun to do while sitting bolt upright on the floor or lying on my side all propped up with pillows besides watching tv/movies. Wish me luck!

sewing! fabric!

2012-01-03T17:01:00.001-05:00

These are the fabrics I cut out to make links for our countdown chain. (I'm using the pattern in Sewing Bits and Pieces that I borrowed from my mom...it has lots of cute stuff!) I meant for them all to be different, so I was a bit surprised to find two patches of Kaffe Fassett's Macaroni in there. Then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I do love it so (and I kind of love him, too. I mean, he's amazing and so cute at the same time). It's probably a good idea to make one link from start to finish to be sure the pattern works, but I'm just going to assume that it does! The only part I'm not too excited about is that each rectangle needs backed with interfacing. Talk about a lot of work! That being said, only two layers of fabric wouldn't be strong enough to stand up to years of counting down. Tonight I'm going to start sewing those I already backed before I ran out of interfacing...wish me luck!

On another happy note, every year I happen upon a sale where the shop owner doesn't feel like counting products for inventory, so they mark them down instead. One year it was some adorable cork votive candle holders, another year vintage Christmas decorations. This year it was fabric! Luckily, there was a one yard cut minimum, so I couldn't go crazy. The above three fabrics are for backing birthday crowns. I was trying to find something to use for boys, since it's kind of hard to come by. You can't really tell, but the one on the far right is awesome--it's kind of Eric Carley-looking with a finger paint feel in bright yellow, green and blue. I haven't checked yet to see if anything in my stash will work with them, so wish me luck!

Then above and below are my fat quarter and eighth finds. I *love* buying scraps, which I'm sure most real quilters would never do. I like them, though. That brassiere fabric is an old favorite of mine that I used a few years ago to make sachets for friends. I didn't save any for myself, which I intend to do this time. Okay, off to sew!

we're back!

2012-01-02T18:04:00.000-05:00

We haven't had consistent Internet access since December 23rd! Did you get that? DECEMBER 23rd! So half of life's normal routines went out the window. Luckily, we had a great holiday, and I'm sure all the time off-line was good for everyone. Luckier still, we're back online!

We're also home after a week visiting family. It was a really fun trip, but as anyone can understand, life with a toddler is easier on your own turf. L'il C, who normally sleeps 12-14 hours a night and takes 3 hour naps, was down to 10 hours a night and 2 hour naps, tops. Needless to say he was getting a little ornery. Today he slept until 10:30 to make up for the lost zzzz's. I'm so thankful to have such a good sleeper.

Being away from home has another benefit: I get really excited to make stuff! Now that we're home I have a bunch of projects in the works. Today I started cutting out the fabric to make a count-down chain. If I have fun making it from start to finish I think I might make some to sell along with birthday crowns and garlands. They'd also make great gifts, don't you think? Have you ever used a count-down chain? What were you counting? I'll post pics of the fabrics as soon as I take some...

Oh, and the photo above is from a fun walk we took together at a metropark in Columbus. It was a beautiful day!

our busy weekend and a winner!

2011-12-19T10:11:00.001-05:00

Well, between having my family in town, the craft sale, and a visit to the Henry Ford Museum, we had really fun weekend! It was a little crazy, but not too insane to draw a winner for one of our clothespin doll kits! The winner was Renee, who was comment number 12. (At least I think that was her comment number...) Yay! Hooray! Yippee!! She's excited, and so am I. So the plan is to head over to the good ol' p.o. to mail her a Christmas kit today.

These little cuties include one clothespin, three pieces of
fabric and three trims. Perfect for on-the-go playing.

My mom was with Lesley and I at the sale on Saturday, which was really fun. We're getting pretty into the whole craft sale thing and hoping that Mix does another Pop-Up Market sooner than later. Everyone shopping understood what goes into a handmade product and the time involved. They were also really enthusiastic to buy local for the holidays.

Our table was super colorful (sorry about the somewhat fuzzy phone pictures...forgot our cameras...again) and right inside the door!

This time my mom made one crown that included a set of birthday numbers, and it sold within about 20 minutes, so our goal is to make a bunch of those and finally...FINALLY...put the crowns in our shop! We had a great time talking to everyone about who they wanted the crowns for and can't wait to share them with more people. Stay tuned!!

another holiday sale!

2011-12-15T15:39:00.001-05:00

Well, Lesley and I had so much fun at the last craft sale, that we're doing another one! It's tomorrow night from 5-9 and then again on Saturday from 11-5. You can read all about it on the Mix Marketplace Pop-Up Holiday Food and Gift Market's blog. We're really excited! This time my mom will be there on Saturday too! I'm really excited about it! The whole "Food Market" aspect of it is pretty enticing too, seeing as I'm pregnant and, well, hungry all the time!

I'll be selling clothespin doll kits, birthday and Christmas crowns, as well as some mini doll kits that at $2 apiece will be the perfect stocking stuffer. They're pretty adorable, I might add. Stop by to say hi!

sew, mama, sew! giveaway day

2011-12-12T21:47:00.001-05:00

Today I learned through one of the blogs I follow that it's Giveaway Day over at Sew, Mama, Sew! Then tonight I thought, "Why don't I do that?" So yay! I'm going to do it! No time to ponder or procrastinate on this either.

I'm going to give away one of my little clothespin doll kits in my Etsy shop since they're fun, cheerful and make me happy. Hopefully they'll brighten your day too! If you're the lucky winner I'll ask you which one you'd like (there's also a rainbow-colored kit not in the shop yet).

Each kit contains 6 clothespins, over 20 fabrics, and over 15 trims to make into ornaments, toys or decorations. They're fun to use like paper dolls, where you change their outfits or you can glue on the clothes and hair, then screw a little eye hook into the top, and voila! You have a cute little ornament or present topper! The choices in fabrics/color options are: Civil War, 1930s, Waldorf (with acorn caps), rainbow, Christmas or flower power.

To win:

- tell me your favorite toy from your childhood and why you love it so. (Mine would probably be Fisher Price Little People, especially the Sesame Street characters.)

- if you would like another entry you can become a follower of my blog and tell me in a separate comment.

Please be sure that I can contact you through Blogger or include your email address in your comment (the name [at] domain [dot] com format will work fine).

I'll randomly choose a winner on December 16 after 8 p.m. EST and will contact you by December 18. I'm only shipping to U.S. addresses this time, but maybe for the next giveaway I'll feel braver and branch out!

Thank you for checking out my blog and for participating in Giveaway Day! Go check out all the fun blogs out there! So much creativity!!

To my 22 wonderful readers...sorry for the silence! I've been recovering from the holiday bazaar a couple weeks ago and preparing for another one this weekend! Hopefully in the new year I'll share more of the fun going on around our house! Oh, and I hope to take some pics of our catalog paper chains. So festive!

happy!

2011-11-22T21:26:00.001-05:00

All this silence equals productivity! My friend Lesley and I got into the Waldorf sale, so we've been crafting and planning up a storm. I think I've finished around 45 clothespin doll kits, which now seems like way more than enough, but once you get going it's hard to stop! Slowly, oh so slowly, folks are finding them on Etsy. I'm hoping that after the holidays are over I'll find some ways to promote the shop online. But for now, I figure the focus should be on creating.

Woodland Kit

Another fun happening this week is that my mom has joined me in the Aurora Spitfire shop on Etsy!! Now it's both of us making stuff, which is great for lots of reasons. One of them is that we can talk sewing a lot more often and another is that when we're together we'll have a crafting goal. Yay!

Christmas Kit

It's almost Thanksgiving, and I can't wait! I'll be eating, sewing (birthday and Christmas crowns...yay!) and playing my way through the long weekend. In the meantime, go check out these clothespin doll kits and see what you think! Happy Thanksgiving!!

the space i'm in

2011-11-12T15:13:00.001-05:00

My little helper parks his trucks anywhere he can reach, which I love.

This week started off with such promise!! I was crafting up a storm all weekend and through Monday, but then by that night I knew I was coming down with something. Well, five days later, I finally feel better and am ready to get back at it. Now that I can return to creating doll kits and crowns for my Etsy shop (and hopefully the craft sale), I'm finding my lack of designated crafting space really frustrating! Sewing supplies particularly hazardous to adventurous toddlers--iron, rotary cutter, pins, scissors--must be completely cleaned up after each session. Those supplies that aren't as dangerous, like fabric scraps, can be left out, but anything within a little person's reach is at risk!!

Future crown fabrics and sustenance

Piles of stuff, including a Stride Rite box of vintage Fisher Price people

Soon-to-be crowns

I'm curious how other crafters who live in small spaces with small children manage their space. Here are a few rooms I found online that could serve as a guide someday when we have a larger room to work with.

from Apartment Therapy

I love the different sized shelves, especially the cute little cubbies on top arranged by color. What a beautiful way to store fat quarters! The only thing I don't get with a room like that is the question of fading. Isn't the resident crafter afraid the thread and fabrics will fade from the sunlight? Maybe they go through materials fast enough that it isn't a problem.

also from Apartment Therapy

My favorite part about this one (well, other than the little cubbies, obviously!) is the bright color palette. A few of the rooms I've seen online stick to only a few colors, which isn't really my style. Judging from the low shelves, I'd say there's no toddler in this house!

They're all from Apartment Therapy, obviously! Best site ever!

This one's charm is pretty clear, right? It's in a cozy little closet! Now that would be a brilliant way to keep out a toddler, if only our main room had a closet to use. I'd definitely paper the back wall and add shelves. Imagine it--shelves!! And the fabric stacked in rainbows again. I love that! (Mine is arranged by color in sweater boxes.)

yes, AT again!

And one more smart way to both keep out a toddler (in theory) and keep clutter hidden.

Maybe after the holidays I'll reorganize my table to see if I can make it more user-friendly. Though somehow, with a new baby on its way in a few short months, I'm not sure that will be a top priority! Do you have ideas about organizing little crafting spaces? I'd love to hear them!

holiday bazaar!

2011-11-05T12:23:00.000-04:00

Anyone who crafts in the presence of a toddler knows that there are additional challenges to the normal hurdles. Charley likes to organize stuff (or move it from one place to another), so I'm sure he thought he was being helpful when grabbing away in the photo above.

I don't normally even try to make anything when he's awake, but there are two reasons that I'm hard at work: my newly opened Etsy Shop (Aurora Spitfire, of course) and an upcoming holiday bazaar. My friend Lesley and I hope that we'll be accepted so we can share our creations with the Waldorf community in Ann Arbor. We're both really excited about it! Our entry has started a flurry of activity in both our homes. The hard part is that they don't inform entrants whether they're accepted or not until two weeks before! The sale is just shy of one month away...whoa!

Today my goals are to sew buttons on the two birthday crowns I finished a few months ago and to iron and cut fabric for more crowns. I'm working assembly-line style, which isn't my normal method at all. I figure Ford was onto something, so I'd might as well give it a whirl.

Since my mom's not here to bounce ideas off of, I thought taking photos of possible fabric combinations would be a good way for me to step back and see what I thought. I'm also trying to use colors I'm not normally drawn to, like yellow. That being said, I own the above fabrics, so I do like yellow--I just don't use it!

Naptime just started; I'd better not waste it! Are you working on anything? Do share!

etsy!!

2011-11-02T22:02:00.001-04:00

Well, I finally did it! Here's my first official Etsy listing!

nearly there!!

2011-11-02T13:46:00.003-04:00

I'm finally starting my Etsy shop (hopefully this week!!) and have found that the only way to photograph anything is outside where there is actually light. (Know any vampires who need a place?) It takes a little more planning but the results are definitely more fun. Here's a sneak peek...For now I'll be selling little kits to make your own clothespin dolls. They're completely fun and silly! This is my example of one you could make (her name's Mabel); she took a break from scrubbing the floor for this photo shoot.

autumn craftiness

2011-10-30T22:11:00.000-04:00

Every year I press fall leaves in books, though I rarely do anything with them. (It's pretty fun to open a book years later and find a leaf though!) This year I made time to use some of the leaves! After many (MANY) failed attempts to iron leaves between wax paper (mine never melted no matter what I tried), a friend shared that she simply used contact paper! So easy! No dangerous iron!

I was also inspired by a couple of mobiles and garlands found online to make my own mobile out of a sycamore branch, acorn tops, tiny crab apples, and pine cones. Hanging it has proven more difficult than constructing it, so sadly there are no photos yet.

Here are the two projects that I liked best:

from Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

from Design Sponge

I've also been wanting to make edible finger paint for Charley, and I came across a lovely recipe where the mom added fall-scented spices! Now we just need to do it! As with most projects, I'm sure I'll have more fun than Charley, seeing as he'll probably wander away. Crafting with toddlers takes an adventurous spirit!

pumpkin patch!

2011-10-23T22:12:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I'm loving this fall more than I feel like I've ever enjoyed it before. I think seeing it through the eyes of a toddler, as well as through my own new eyes--those of a new parent teaching her own child--has made it all the more amazing.

Charley just wants to run these days, but he still pauses every so often to investigate something new. Today we visited the amazing Wing Farms, and my only complaint was that we couldn't stay very long. While we were there, Charley failed to notice the impressive expanse of pumpkins, but he did inspect some crazy seed pods, drum on a pumpkin or two, roar at some cows (he mostly roars when he sees animals, although he says about five other animal sounds too), and imitate a tractor engine or two.

I think this might be a member of the datura species., which were often used in witch's brews, apparently. How appropriate for a pumpkin patch! It might not be the best weed accompaniment for a pumpkin patch, seeing as it's poisonous.

We might actually visit again next weekend if the weather's nice, because it's just that fun! Maybe we'll manage to snap a photo of Charley sitting on a pumpkin if we go earlier in the day before manic mode sets in!

At this pumpkin patch they feed the cows pumpkins! I'm not sure how their stomachs feel about it, but they probably like it better than corn, anyway.

autumnal soups=joy

2011-10-18T14:23:00.000-04:00

The weather is finally fallish here, so there's a breezy nip in the air. Autumnal things going on with me right now: a delicious chicken soup is simmering on the stove, I just finished eating the last of my cream of tomato soup, there are pinecones and other seeds all over our kitchen table, I just harvested a bit more late summer bounty, I have my first cold of the season, AND there's a tiny, no teeny tiny, little beetle crawling all over the table right in front of me. I wonder if he came in on the produce, acorns and such, or me?

So about the soups...being chilly and a bit under the weather, all I want is warm liquids going down my throat. Last night I made us grilled cheese with tomato soup. I was going to take the lazy way out and buy some Campbell's, but I couldn't find one with lower sodium (and did you know there's high fructose corn syrup in there? Now is that really necessary?) so I opted to make my own. Rachel Ray's recipe worked well with a little tweaking. She's so hit or miss, but with the reviews and people's suggestions I felt pretty confident it would be good.

Here's what I did:

Sauteed half and onion until it was translucent and just starting to brown a bit, added a garlic clove and sauteed a minute more. Put that in a pot with a can of no-sodium tomatoes and some chicken broth (about 2 cups?). Added a little Italian seasoning and pepper, stirred it around and brought it to a boil. Reduced the heat and let it simmer for a little while. Then I added a bunch of whole milk and let it simmer a few more minutes. Finally, I immersion blended it and we were all set to eat a delectable childhood favorite!

The soup I'm making today is from The Big Book of Soups and Stews, and it's called "Cheddar Chicken Corn Chowder." Talk about a mouthful! I've made it before and wrote "good/great" in the margin. I also wrote a bunch of notes, including one that says, "You can also make a bechamel sauce and add it." It had me at bechamel. I'm going to add the cheese to the white sauce, because, well, I have a little addiction. I'll probably make too much ~~on purpose~~ by accident so I can eat it on everything tomorrow. Or just eat it with a spoon. Or just drink it. On a healthier note, I used tomatoes and potatoes from our garden. Aren't they pretty? The two peeled varieties were looking a bit rough (seeing as I harvested them weeks ago), but they had beautiful yellow and pink skin before they started decaying. (ha ha ha) I'm making buttermilk biscuits to go with it. Yummy!

I'll eventually share what all the seed collection is about, but for now I'd better work on this soup before my little friend wakes up!

making it last

2011-10-15T06:37:00.000-04:00

This fall has been especially beautiful in Southeast Michigan, I think mostly because we had no wind or rain for the ten days of peak leaf color. It was such a gift to be home with Charley during this time. Since I've lived in the Midwest my whole life, I knew these amazing colors were fleeting and went a little crazy collecting leaves with the intention of doing a few projects "with" C. Hmm, so far they've been more failed Mommy projects (I apparently have trouble making leaf/wax paper thingies...I'll be trying again with some advice from my friend Melody). That being said, I'll eventually think of something an 18-month-old can make out of them, but for right now he's content doing a few things with the leaves: tearing them up into tiny bits, holding one in each hand and twirling and carrying a paper sack of them around the house. It's pretty adorable, so if his enjoyment is ephemeral without any "fall souvenirs" to speak of, that'll be just fine.

Another way I'm preserving this summer is by saving the seeds from our delicious heirloom green beans. They were amazing (when I remembered to harvest them). Luckily, leaving them to grow fat and dry on the stalk was the perfect thing to do so we'll have more beans down the road. Isn't it funny that green bean seeds can be black? So counterintuitive.

Here are a few more leaf photos from the last couple of weeks. Thanks to the bumper crop of crabapples this year we've had a blast watching the veritable colony of chipmunks running all over the place.

I've been cooking some tasty, homey meals lately too, so if I find time (ha) I'll post the recipes. They're pretty easy and chock-full of dairy calories (my favorite kind).

summer...a recap!

2011-10-03T14:31:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess the summer is over, and I didn't really write about it too much on here. Happily, I can assure you that we were living life to the fullest, complete with a super fun, weeklong vacation in Northern Michigan with my family, a road trip for Nana, Charley and I to visit dear friends in Nebraska (we saw a tornado on the way!!), and lots of local outings.

Here's a recap in photos of the past two months:

The view from our house near Glen Arbor

Checking out some wooly thyme in Matthai's Sensory Garden (before pulling it out)

Domino's Farms' tractor has big tires!

Not sure about the hot air balloon that came to our neighborhood for a visit

Raspberry picking

He's good at spotting the ripe ones!

So that's just a snapshot of how we spent our days this summer and early fall. I'm going to try to write more about our adventures as they happen during autumn! Wish me luck.

our most wholesome day ever

2011-07-25T21:57:00.000-04:00

The last two weeks have been filled with good old American fun, so of course I've written nothing about anything we've been up to. That's a good thing, though! Even though I'm sure there's some blogging taboo of writing about old activities, that's what I'm going to do anyway.

Aunt Libby's visit a couple weeks ago was a great excuse for some fun outings and I was itching to go berry-picking. We ended up finding the most charming blueberry patch that I've ever seen. It's small and tucked into a little woods. Finding it was a challenge, and I'll admit that we almost left because it seemed a little risky (let's just say the place didn't look very popular). When we finally did zigzag our way through the woods in our Camry, there was only one other car back there. Luckily, the man was really friendly and told us what to do. The owners of the patch are very elderly and don't really go back there anymore. So when you're all done picking, you go up to their house, the tiniest little lady looks over your spoils and announces how much you owe. Our grand total? $1.50 for half a cake pan's worth. I gave her $2 to cover the cost of all the berries Charley grabbed from my harvest and threw into the field. Stinker.

As you can see, he had a great time and actually did a pretty good job once Libby showed him what to do! I'm not sure that all of his berries were ripe, but he didn't mind. One of the best things about this place was that Charley could safely crawl around because there wasn't any poison ivy in the rows. He did gnaw the flowers off a few plantains before I could stop him, but I figure they just added more fiber to his diet.

When it was time to pay I may or may not have gotten to go into the owners' house. Um, adorable much? It was sort of a cross between hoarders (not in a gross way though) and treasure pickers I guess, and their inviting me in (to see the dogs--5 terriers who only stopped yapping when someone exclaimed "We already know she's here") was pretty adorable. There were some real treasures in that place in the vintage coolness department, seriously. I'll definitely go back to do more picking either this week or next.

After all the picking and naptime, we headed to the pool with play group, and I discovered that all public pools in this town are not created equal. There were fountains and toys galore, which was way more fun than our normal swimming spot which is also connected to the adult pool, so it doesn't feel as fun.

Then later, I made a seriously quick recipe (as in, it didn't take me twice as long as everyyone else to make) consisting of pasta, sauteed zucchini and garlic, feta, olive oil, lemon zest and dill. It combined a recent recipe in the newest Martha Stewart Living (oddly, it's not on their website) with one from Real Simple, and I was quite pleased with the results. Try it if you like! I'll write out a real recipe if anyone wants it. Happy Monday, and please come back soon for more adventures, Aunt Libby!

we need more toys in this house

2011-07-13T09:03:00.000-04:00

Did you raise an eyebrow? I'm kidding, of course. We need nothing (other than sandals for a soon-to-be early walker in a size 4...a good brand...inquire for address) so these are just window-shopping pics. (I'm really good at online window shopping.) Wooden blocks are our favorite (and did I mention that to date Charley has stacked 6 blocks? That's six, people. He's gifted, in case you've not picked up on it before.) Let me share a blocks story.

When Charley was born and I was lying somewhat pathetically on the couch, I was too tired, etc. to even feel excited about opening the presents my family had brought (a tad unusual for me). That is, until I tried to move the one from Lizzy and realized it was some sort of gigantic brick. She had flown from New York, so its heft was a bit surprising. Upon opening it, we discovered she had flown all the way to Michigan with a box of Melissa and Doug blocks in her suitcase. It doesn't end there. She lives in a 5th floor walkup (there's a NYT article for you on the subject, please read it, seeing as I accidentally used one of my monthly freebies when clicking on it), so when she bought said blocks, they were first dragged all the way up to her place, then they were dragged back down, then to the airport....well, you get the idea. These blocks have seen the sights.

While I could go on and on about blocks (about many things, in fact), I'll spare you and get to the point. I like perusing them online. (In person is better, but I can't leave C alone here to go shopping.)

Here are some finds:

First, my favorite on Etsy, the Suburbs Mini Blocks Set.

photo by Fidoodle

Next, the Cars and Trucks Wooden Blocks. I like the potential for mismatching the vehicle parts.

photo by Stack Blocks

Fantastic Blocks by Grimm's Spiel and Holz are fun because they're wonkily rounded (you can buy the blocks here.)

photo by Inhabitots

This sweet little chestnut gnome has many friends and available toadstool abodes to choose from, but for now he is my favorite.

photo by Rjabinnik

These little German village blocks are similar to some that Lizzy and I have. We only got them out at Christmas, for some reason, which made them more special. We didn't have that amazing windmill though. This site has some photos of many wonderful villages and descriptions of how they were made.

photo by Tracy's Toys

Lastly, Haba makes some amazing blocks that would be fun to mix and match with regular blocks to add a little pizazz. My favorites are the various architectural styles (Russian, for example) and the super colorful ones, like Fantasy. The little man just woke up, so happy playing!

williams-sonoma comes through again

2011-07-11T10:02:00.000-04:00

Who would have thought that one baby cookbook (Cooking for Baby) would hold so many great recipes for grown-ups? This weekend I tried two more with great results. First I made oatcakes for breakfast, my only substitution being raisins for the apricots (does anyone have thoughts about apricot preservatives? They freak me out.) They were kind of like an oaty scone...hmm, no not really. They were kind of like a dryish cookie...no. They weren't as good as a scone, but they were way better than a dry cookie. I guess just make them to see what you think. I'm excited to try this other savory recipe. Mmm, fennel seed oatcakes!

Then for lunch I made lentil burgers with yogurt sauce. I took no liberties with the burgers themselves, but for the sauce (since I was too lazy to wander outside to pilfer some mint) I mixed plain yogurt with a pressed garlic clove, some cumin, some smoked paprika (duh) and extra virgin olive oil. I actually took a photo, which makes me proud. When Drew heard this might be on the menu he asked if he could use a veto. I've learned that it's better to calmly say sure (and frankly, I didn't care; more for me). He ended up taking two for lunch yesterday (pure desperation I'm guessing) and said he'd eat them for dinner! This is without any of the yogurt sauce! I probably wouldn't even like them plain. Here's another lentil burger recipe that I might combine with the original to get more veggies in there.

Here's what I did for the lentil burgers:

Cook 3/4 cup of lentils according to the package and then mash them up in a big bowl.
Grind up 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats in a food processor.
Add 3 Tbs grown oats, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tsp cumin, and 1 tsp curry powder to the lentils and mix.
Add 1 beaten egg, a little salt and pepper and mix again.
Using your hands, make little patties and coat them with the rest of the ground oats. (Some thoughts on this: don't put oats on the sides, just on the flat top and bottom. Also, they say to make them 1/2" thick and 4" across, but mine were thicker and smaller. If you can do it their way they would cook faster.)
Chill them for 10 minutes in the fridge. Do the dishes while they're chilling or mix up your sauce.
They fried them in a frying pan over medium-high heat, but I used a griddle--so much faster because you can make a lot at a time.
They say to cook them 3-4 minutes per side, turning them once, but that didn't work for me. I always end up flipping things a million times and cooking them for way longer.

My only 'complaint,' if you can call it that, is that both recipes don't have you make enough. If you're going to all the trouble, you might as well make a ton of them, right? Oh, and I forgot the whole cooking for baby part! Charley loved both of them, which wasn't really a surprise. I think the lentil burgers were probably his favorite, and watching him eat the sauce with raw garlic in it was pretty cute. You could tell the spiciness wasn't lost on him, but he kept eating. Our little adventurous eater; I wonder how long that will last!

I'm really into making cake/burger concoctions I guess, so we'll see what I make next. Some sort of fritters might be on the menu.