{kimmymade}

{grown-up mac-and-cheese}

2011-07-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

This is what's in my oven, to be shared at our friends' potluck BBQ! Happy Fourth of July!

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese with Buttery Crumbs

Ingredients
6 T unsalted Kerrygold butter (divided into 3T and 3T)
3 T all-purpose unbleached flour
2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
16 oz Sharp Cheddar, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
8 oz Monterey Jack cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 T honey mustard
1/2 cup frozen organic peas
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1# whole wheat tubular pasta
1-1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Butter shallow, 9"x13" glass or ceramic baking dish. Melt 3 T butter in large saucepan. Add flour & cook over moderate heat for ~2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add milk and cream, and cook over moderae heat. Whisk constantly until thickened, ~3 minutes. Add half the cheese cubes and cook over low heat, stirring, until melted. Stir in honey mustard & nutmeg.

Meanwhile, cook macaroni in large pot until al dente. Drain very well. Transfer macaroni to baking dish and pour cheese sauce, remaining cheese cubes, and frozen peas over macaroni, mixing until well-distributed. In small saucepan, melt remaining 3 T butter and add bread crumbs.

Sprinkle crumbs over top of macaroni and bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbling & golden on top. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

{designer fabric virtual yard sale}

2010-11-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

i'm getting ready to do a major destash of designer and japanese quilting cottons that are just languishing on my shelves. we can all agree that this is absolutely criminal, right?!?

designers include (in no particular order): amy butler, sandy klop, denyse schmidt, sandi henderson, robert kaufman, farbenmix, heather ross, darlene zimmerman, alexander henry, jennifer paganelli, tula pink, urban chiks, prints charming, joel dewberry, michael miller, yuwa, lecien, decole, shinzi katoh, kokka, and more. lots of these fabrics are out-of-print and hard-to-find.

i'm not kidding when i say that this is a major destash :-)

here are the parameters:
1) a flat rate priority envelope stuffed to capacity, as in bulging costs $20 including domestic S&H, or $30 for international buyers. you will be getting far more fabric dollar-wise than you are paying for!

2) requests by color are honored, but requests for specific designers or patterns will only be honored as available (i.e., better to order sooner than later). hint: it is easier to honor what you don't want than what you do. the contents of your box will be a mystery other than the colors, but you will not be disappointed :-)

3) sizes range from FQs to 1/2 yard to full yards ... most are unwashed and contain their original sizing. some pieces may have cutouts; because i'm selling these for such a bargain, i just can't take measurements since i simply don't have the time!

4) if you're interested, email me (kim dot steckler @ gmail dot com) 2-5 color requests, 1-3 positive preferences (likes, and i recommend limiting them to 1 designer) and 1-3 negative preferences (dislikes). and be sure to send me the email address to which i should send your paypal invoice. once i receive payment, i will assemble your package and mail it to the address in your paypal account. then you will have your package in 7-14 days (possibly longer if international). voila!

{candy corn girl}

2010-10-29T14:00:00.001-07:00

my nearly 4.5-year-old went dressed to her school's halloween parade as candy corn ... and here's a glimpse of her dad trying to coax our usually gregarious girl into partaking in the fun.

and here she is before we left for school, thrilled with the costume that she and her mama planned together. i whipped it up with eco-felt yesterday in about an hour — hooray for fray-free fabric!

{true that}

2010-10-29T07:26:00.001-07:00

i haven't yet mentioned it here, but over the past few months (the same months that it's been dormant over here, come to think of it!) i've been contributing to everyone's favorite source for all things textile, true up. i've been reviewing books, conducting interviews, and writing original content on things like flea marketing. i'm enjoying it immensely, so much so that i'm carving out increasingly more time to contribute even more articles. so, on that note, look out for this year's vintage fabric collector series interviews, and some upcoming articles on vintage fabric!

{feeling dotty}

2010-10-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

beacuse i have nothing better to do than to play around at bighugelabs, i thought i'd create a mosaic of my vintage dotty fabrics. you've gotta admit that it's cheerful, though, right? and that alone should justify the waste of time. achem.

{pop-up general store}

2010-10-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

my husband and i are *superexcited* to have placed our very first pre-order with our local pop-up general store. it's a quasi-underground, artisanal market with rotating, seasonal offerings that meets just once a month. as we easily could have gone crazy with all of the amazing offerings (even for vegetarians), we decided to treat it as an extension of our food shopping and thus restrict ourselves to just one treat (and even that we fudged by getting a half-dozen cupcakes). there's also day-of shopping, though i don't think we'll be able to make that happen with the kids in tow. we feed them early so we can get them to bed early, because our rooster (21-month-old durham) wakes us all up too, too early (anywhere from 5:45am to 6:30am).

here's our shopping list:

* Amy Cakes: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Goat Cheese Frosting
* Ghost Town Farm: Mixed Produce Box
* Studebaker Pickles: Pickled Haricots Verts avec Cardamon
* Mike [the bejkr]: Pain Biologique
* Katz: Rock Hill Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil
* Chris & Samin: Tuscan Tomato and Bread Soup
* Chris & Samin: Mozzarella Curd

this is the kind of thing that we'd have been devotees of back in our childless brooklyn days, but now that we have kids, and all-over-the-place schedules, it's taken us a few months and bit of luck to make this happen. let's hope it's not the last time!

{bringin' back the pb loaf}

2010-10-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

on this afternoon's agenda, courtesy of the metropolitan cookbook, copright 1964. i scored this cooking pamphlet, published and distributed by the metropolitan life insurance company and stamped with the salesman's name (robert l. johnson) and office address (petaluma, calif. 94592), at the alameda antiques faire yesterday. (my substitutions are italicized in parentheses.)

peanut butter loaf
1-3/4 cups sifted enriched flour (unbleached all-purpose flour)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/3 cup shortening (kerrygold butter)
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter (natural crunchy peanut butter)
2/3 cup sugar (organic unbleached cane sugar)
2 eggs, lightly beaten (large organic grade-aa eggs)
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 or 3 medium bananas)

set oven for moderate, 350. mix and sift first 4 ingredients. cream shortening (butter) and peanut butter; add sugar gradually while creaming. continue to cream until light and fluffy. add eggs; beat well. stir in dry ingredients alternately with mashed bananas; mix well; but do not beat. spoon batter into well-greased loaf pan, 8 by 4 by 3 inches. bake 1 hour (50 minutes).

{primary}

2010-07-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

A mix of vintage fabrics in my collection — from feedsack to flannel, from calico to juvenile, and more — featuring primary colors.

{overindulged}

2010-07-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

methink my daughter's bamboletta doll, big sasha, is a wee bit overindulged.

she's wearing a mini courtneycourtney dress. she's resting on a handcrafted waldorf doll bed. and she's getting cozy with a new {kimmymade} doll blanket and pillow set. this doll is living large!

but what can i say? she's less expensive to cater to than anyone else in our family! after all, she doesn't require organic foods or cruelty-free beauty products, a montessori education, or college trust fund. or tennis lessons, or a seat on the airplane, or... well, you get the point ;-)

'sides, doll blankets are perhaps my favorite thing to make. i like my sewing projects of the quick, instant gratification variety, and this one means i get to do something new (different patchwork techniques) while doing something simple (i.e., not a full-sized quilt). and hopefully after one wee one gives it love, it'll be passed on to another to enjoy :-)

{easy come, easy go}

2010-07-06T12:03:00.001-07:00

i am addicted, as my husband will readily point out, to thriftscoring. indeed. no argument from me here. but the rush that comes from that isn't merely in the having of the goodness. sometimes it's in the using. and sometimes it's also (gasp!) in the letting go.

i'm starting to discover the joy of the latter more + more, as i finally realize that (breathe deep) there's only so much that one can have, or have time to use (depsite my best intentions).

here's a recent example — this mint condition, vintage lois long for kaydee bandana-print linen hand towel — of something i just coudn't pass up when i found it during a recent weekend getaway to pacific grove, california. and then after a month's reflection came to terms with the fact that i was never going to use it, either as a dish towel or as fabric in a sewing project. so i listed it on etsy, and within a few hours had sold it. easy come, easy go. and both felt good :-)

{order + chaos}

2010-06-30T13:55:00.001-07:00

i was feeling organic and thoughtful when i walked into the office yesterday, and picked up some linen and a bag of vintage hexagons and circles that i scored (salvaged?) a few months ago at a flea market.

the result is this, my little quilting treatise on the randomness of life and our subsequent attempts to control our environment.

it represents my own efforts -- sometimes sloppy, sometimes elegant -- to organize the chaos in mine, and how life's inevitable little surprises impose chaos on that order. i left the edges raw and unbound to represent imperfection, and the roughness around life's edges that creeps further in when i fail to keep it at bay.

the hexagons and circle were interfaced, and then appliqued onto the quilt sandwich using my pfaff's blanket stitch. the batting is (appropriately) organic, and the quilt is backed with a lovely piece of geo floral feedsack.

{meme mode}

2010-06-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

six names you go by:
1. kim
2. pup/pupper (my husband)
3. kimmy (my dad and sister)
4. mama/mom/mommy (my kids)
5. peanut (my dad)
6. kimmyana (my sister and kara)

three things you are wearing right now:
1. black brooklyn hoodie
2. everpresent eyeglasses
3. my grandmother's wedding band

four things you want very badly at this moment:
1. lengthy sewing time
2. favorable midterm elections
3. elena kagan's confirmation
4. remission for a loved one

two things you did last night.
1. got my ass kicked in gin rummy
2. slept uninterrupted

last two people you talked to on the phone.
1. receptionist at pediatrician's office
2. the husband

two things you are going to do tomorrow:
1. take mr. d to the little farm in tilden park
2. evening get-together at park with friends

three favorite drinks.
1. coffee
2. wine
3. arnold palmer

{a to z}

2010-06-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

a. area code: 510
b. bed size: queen
c. chore you hate: paperwork. dishes. cleaning the showers. i'm not as lazy as this makes me sound, though. i love doing laundry!
d. dog’s name: would love to name a boy dog henry or a girl dog tessa, whenever we get around to having one.
e. essential “start of the day” item: coffee!
f. favorite color: green
g. gold or silver: gold
h. height: 5' 6-1/2"
i. instruments you play: piano
j. job: sahm, freelance writer
k. kids: one 4-year-old girl, and one 18-month-old boy
l. living arrangements: we live in a too-large house that we rent
m. mom’s name: joyce
n. nickname: kimmy, kimmyana
o. overnight hospital stay: 4 ear surgeries and 2 childbirths
p. pet peeve: oh dear ... i'm ornery, so there are too many to mention
q. quote from movie: ".38, .39 -- whatever it takes" mr. mom
r. righty or lefty: righty
s. siblings: one older sister, amy
t. time you wake up: whenever our rooster (that would be durham) awakens! generally around 6am
u. underwear: with skirts
v. vegetables you dislike: none that i can think of; as for fruit, i hate raw tomatoes and all grapefruit
w. ways or reasons you are late: poor time management, though that has improved 150% since david entered my life 10 years ago
x. x-rays: we try to avoid them as much as possible
y. yummy food you make: baked goods are my thang!
z. zoo animals you like: okapi, alpaca

{full of hot air}

2010-06-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

i can't seem to pass up a blank t-shirt at the gap or old navy when it's marked down really low, no matter how many t-shirts hayden might already have. (i like american apparel shirts just fine, but they're not all that cheap unless you happen to be getting them wholesale, and then you're stuck with a huge batch of them.)

so yesterday, i made hayden this hot air balloon appliqued t-shirt. at first she was annoyed because she "wanted to wear it plain!" but then when i said that i'd give it to one of her friends instead, she decided that was even less tolerable than wearing it. you can't buy that kind of gratitude in a store, folks. sigh.

of course, expecting her to wear it and cooperate for a quick photoshoot this morning was clearly asking too much, so ... for your viewing pleasure ... here's a glimpse of her crazy self in action. (and this was actually the best shot of the lot before i had to go chase her brother.)

would you believe that she had an uber-healthy breakfast this morning of yogurt and fresh fruit? she looks like she's on an acid trip. i guess it's just the california sunshine. or being four.

{popsicle buddies}

2010-05-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

need an icy treat to beat the heat? these popsicles are healthy, easy to improvise, and will keep your kids happy and occupied for a good half-hour :-)

easy-peasy tropical popsicles
using an immersion blender, puree the fruit from 1 large mango and 1 large banana with the contents of 1 can of organic coconut milk (or, if you prefer, with either 2 cups of whole milk or plain Greek yogurt). pour into the popsicle recepticles of your choice (such as these or these), and freeze for 24 hours. that's it!

i prefer to use fresh fruit, so our next batch will be guided by tomorrow's haul from swanton berry farm.

for smaller treats, pour into one-ounce ice cube trays (i highly recommend these or these), and after a few hours, insert a lollipop stick and continue freezing until solid. of course, don't forget to save one for yourself!

{patchworking}

2010-05-26T12:06:00.001-07:00

there's been a lot of crafting lately, just not a whole lot of blogging about it. (or any blogging about it, if the truth be told.) i just usually don't get around to taking a proper picture of something i've made, which means that i don't end up blogging about it. but...

i've made over a dozen vintage feedsack twirly skirts, for instance. i've adorned a few american apparel tees for my daughter (who, amazingly, is now FOUR years old). i've made a large beach tote for the kids, and a fabric basket for storing durham's books alongside the cozy chair where we read together. and a few more appliqued notebooks. and i've been selling loads of vintage fabric in the old etsy shop. i also chaired (solo!) a big fundraiser for hayden's non-profit, montessori school, and threw her a big 4th birthday party. and hosted a series of out-of-town visitors, some of whom were even houseguests. it's been a whirlwind start to the year, to say the least! (not that i have any pics to share of any of these things at the moment.)

in any event, i made these just a few days ago, and actually managed (!) to photograph them this morning. the larger, bias-bound square is sort of an oversized hotpad/mini placemat, while the smaller square is a jumbo coaster. on the bigger piece, i mostly used vintage feedsack, but also some vintage yardage and some Japanese linen-cotton repro feedsack prints. the smaller one is entirely vintage feedsack, and both pieces are sandwiched with insul~bright, which reflects heat or cold back to the source. i was playing with some new-to-me quilting techniques, and just went with the flow. i needed an infusion of inspiration, sifted through a pile of crafting books on sunday night, and got straight to work the very next day, utilizing said inspiration before it vanished into the great void of projects-to-be where most of my crafty plans seem to disappear. (thank goodness for babysitters, eh?)

{forty things)

2010-04-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

Borrowed from Janet of Primrose Design.

1. Do you like bleu cheese? Love it!
2. Have you ever smoked? I've tried a cigarette or two, and it just wasn't for me.
3. Do you own a gun? Hell, no!
4. Favorite type(s) of food? Interior Mexican, Modern American, Thai.
5. Favorite type of music? Whichever category Wilco, Spoon, and Ryan Adams fall under.
6. What do you think of hotdogs? Crap food.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Double Latte.
9. Can you do pushups? Sure.
10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My ruby cabochon ring that is set in apricot gold. It's engraved with my daughter's initials and birthdate.
11. Favorite hobby? Baking, sewing, collecting vintage fabric.
12. Do you have A.D.D.? No.
13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Glasses.
14. Middle name? Diane, for my paternal grandmother.
15. Name three thoughts at this exact moment? 1) I'm tired. 2) I wish that I had a cupcake to eat. 3) I love my new blue feedsack that came in the mail today.
16. Name three drinks you regularly drink? Coffee, water, lemonade.
17. Current worry? Whether my vintage fabric twirly skirts will sell well at Kid Dynamo.
18. Current hate right now? Republicans
19. Favorite place to be? Nothing beats adventuring with David, Hayden & Durham!
20. How did you bring in the new year? Who remembers?
21. Someplace you'd like to go? NYC.
22. Name three people who will complete this. I'm not asking anyone, so who knows?
23. Do you own slippers? Nope.
24. What color shirt are you wearing? Grey Anthropologie cardigan over white camisole.
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Blech, no. Gross.
26. Can you whistle? Yes.
27. Where are you now? On the couch in my living room.
28. Would you be a pirate? No. They're not nice.
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Who has the time, with two kids?!?
30. Favorite girl's name? Hayden
31. Favorite boy's name? Durham
32. What is in your pocket right now? Nothing
33. Last thing that made you laugh? Durham, playing peek-a-boo.
34. What vehicle do you drive? Camry Hybrid.
35. Worst injury you've ever had? Broken toe.
36. Do you love where you live? I love*love*love living in the East Bay!
37. How many TVs do you have in your house? One.
38. How many computers do you have in your house? Three Mac laptops.
39. If you changed your job, what would it be? It would be cool to be paid market value to sew whatever I wanted, or to be paid to write regularly about food.
40. If you were granted three wishes, what would they be? Good health, financial security, and long, happy lives for my children.

{my favorite part}

2009-12-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

this is my favorite part of the year, crafting-wise. after stocking up the etsy shop as full as my time, energy, and mental space permits, i've moved on to filling a few custom orders.

and in between that and taking care of the kiddos, there is the best part of all: the gift-making. oh, how i love this part.

whether it's for birthday or holiday presents, i just really, really enjoy making things for people i know. i enjoy this just as much as i do baking things (oh say can you say brownies?) for my loved ones.

it's my little way of giving a hug, of communicating my appreciation and affection. and that i'm thinking about you as i move through my day. because that's how handmade presents make me feel, and so that's how i hope mine make you feel :-)

shop 'til you drop!

2009-11-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

well, not at the craft fair, anyway. (which i was told by the blogosphere to expect, but which i found mildly disappointing nonetheless. though it was still fun, and a wonderful learning experience.) but now that i've started updating the etsy shop with some (mostly) vintage cuteness, perhaps there, instead :-)

and many thanks to cuteable for featuring the vintage hexagon flower notebooks today!

and durham received mr. checks, a 100% woollen bear stuffie, as reward for being so tolerant of mama's non-stop sewing over the past few weeks!

feedsack cloud

2009-11-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

i like to think of these 25 feedsack pillows as one big feedsack cloud :-) each one is a different vintage feedsack print, and is stuffed with a heaping handful or so of pure lambswool and two tablespoons of organic dried lavender. my kids love to cuddle with theirs, and so i thought that others might like to as well.

one print, 3 ways

2009-11-06T08:24:00.001-08:00

i wasn't organized enough to make several coordinating collections like this for next week's holiday craft fair, though in hindsight i wish that i had been. (next time!) these three pieces just happen to be separately conceived things — a mouse stuffie, a doll blanket, and a kid tote — that i made from one of my favorite vintage fabrics, a mushroom-and-cherry print from rondo that i have in several colorways. (and i actually even have it in a fourth colorway, though as part of a vintage quilt block and not as yardage.)

speaking of rondo prints, since i chanced upon this article on fabrics.net, which happens to be an amazing and very insightful ode to vintage textiles and notions, i've been on a quest to locate still more rondo prints. this certainly adds another element of intrigue to the vintage fabric hunt! thus far, i've managed to find this blue wreath print, below.

cranking out the goods

2009-11-02T17:07:00.001-08:00

trio of doll quilts

for the upcoming craft show. there's this trio of doll quilts, plus another unpictured trio. plus others in progress.

i really enjoy making these, and i'm getting better and faster at binding them ... each and every time.

i particularly love using vintage feedsack (see: top + bottom) to make them. and the gingham binding, i think, adds that extra-special touch.

to sell or not to sell?

2009-10-19T08:43:00.001-07:00

cowboy blanket detail

with the upcoming craft fair, everything i make right now really needs to be saved for sales inventory. yet i can't help but want to save this little vintage cowboy-print quilt top for my sweet durham, whose face lit up like a christmas tree when i showed it to him.

granted, he's all of 9.5 months old, and wouldn't know the difference if he should never see it again, not to mention that a piece of scratched up tupperware is enough to make his happy lil face light up ... but when your child shows appreciation for something you've made — that is, when someone you've created likes something else that you've created — you really want them to have it. at least, that's how i feel.

i still need to bind it with some vintage red bias tape. so if it comes out well, and is up to my selling standards, then it will go to the craft fair. and then, if it should make it back home with me, it's his.

'tis the season...

2009-10-16T13:45:00.001-07:00

to start cranking 'em out! in just one month, i'm taking part in my very first craft fair. i'm just dipping my toe in the water, as it's a small, half-day event at a popular, local indoor playspace, but i need to shore up a lot more inventory. so right now i'm working on adding about 10 more stuffies, 10 more doll blankets, many more appliqued notebooks, and perhaps a few more kid totes, most of which will use vintage fabric and trims, the rest of which will have some kind of japanese cuteness. oh, and some felted wool scarves like the one i made for my niece (who sweetly called me on thursday to thank me + tell me that she wore it that day).

i'm keeping my expectations low, and focusing more on the learning opportunity and the fun in making all of this goodness. the last thing that i want is for it to add stress to my life, because that will in turn create stress for my family. and where's the fun in that?

here's a peek at some stuffies-in-progress...

and a look at a custom doll bed set that i made earlier this week for a 4-year-old's birthday, one of the styles that i'll be making for the show...

upcoming upcycling

2009-10-13T11:11:00.001-07:00

below are snapshots of some articles of late 60s/early70s clothing whose fabric — which seems to have a theme of patchwork and strawberries, who'd have guessed?!? — awaits repurposing.

the first piece is a cotton-rayon blend blouse that's likely to turn into my first zippy pouch, among various other things. the second and third pieces are some ankle-length, handmade patchwork skirts that i'll be shortening, and so there will (eventually) be some new vintage clothing to add to my closet as well as some leftover fabric to add to the vintage stash. now that's what i call a win-win :-)