It's Birthday Season (Part 1)

Beginning in July I start to feel overwhelmed with birthdays; both sisters and my brother have birthdays within a few weeks of each other, then my dad, 3 of my close girl friends, then James, and my godson. It doesn't let up until Christmas and then, well, then that's a whole new slew of gifts. 

I've been challenged to use only what I have on hand lately and I'm really happy with what I've been able to come up with...and also a little alarmed at the amount of crap I have stockpiled. 

My friend Jill received the below gifts recently, they seemed to be a big hit and I was quite pleased with myself ;)

Vintage-y compact, rub-on letters, rhinestones...
Background of lettering is a piece from an old watercolor.

How did I have a "J" for Jill button just laying around? It was serendipitous! All are vintage buttons except for the fuschia one. The cork was from a tile that would not stay on the wall.

4 teeny pillows filled with lavender from a long ago project. Finding 4 pieces of fabric in my stash that coordinated this well made me so happy. The leather cord is a belt from a skirt circa 1999...

The whole shebang; the basket once held garlic from Trader Joe's :)

-M

Lots of crafting, not so much with the blogging...

I have been neglectful of this little blog here, but for good reason...I've been crafting up a storm! Most of my crafts end up as gifts in other houses but I was really needing something for my own space. I reworked an yard sale lampshade using the tutorial in Celine Dupuy's beautiful book, "Simple Sewing with a French Twist" (a gift from my sister Kellie). It was a vast improvement from the previous shade which was covered in some scary barky stuff. I pulled this off and just recovered it with some scrap fabric from my stash, hurray for no cost home improvements!
I also made a pillow for the living room using fabric from a vintage apron pattern.  The pattern instructions were printed directly on the fabric. I liked the idea of working the lettering into the actual design and I'm so happy with how it turned out, I only wish I had more of it! The pillow now lives on a chair below our ACL Festival poster, and the colors couldn't be a more perfect match...also fitting is the print looks like little mandolins :) :) :)

-M

The Last Supper (of the summer)

We've had a nice little heat wave this last week and it put me in the mood for something summery for dinner. I used what I had on hand, it was fast, and we have plenty of leftovers...that's the best kind of meal!

Polenta with Sausage, Greens, and Tomatoes

Enough polenta for 2 people (I use the loose grain style) cook and set aside.

1/2 chopped onion, cook in olive oil until translucent.

Enough greens (I used the Trader Joe's 'grab bag') to fill up the pan, toss with onions until wilted.

1/2 can of whole tomatoes, and a few spoonfuls of the juice, toss in with greens and onions. Toss continuously.

Remove veggies and juice from the pan and set aside. Toss in 2 sliced sausages (I used pre-cooked chicken sausage, spicy italian flavor), brown each side.

Dump veggies and juice back into the pan on top of the sausage, cook until everything is heated.

Serve on top of the polenta.

Eat up...and let me know if you try it!

-M

Ooooh Fall!

This is my favorite time of year, despite the fact that my allergies are the most hateful Sept-Nov. No matter though, because I love the colors this time of year, the smells, the food, and pumpkin everything. I had my first grande soy pumpkin latte (2 pumps only please) of the season last week and it was so good it made my knees a little weak. I went to Target the same day and lusted after the wool coats and the dark wash jeans and the stripey cardigans. Grownups get to shop for back- to-school clothes too, right? I restrained myself from buying anything in the clothing section but I did treat myself to a shiny new bottle of 'fall' nail polish in a color called "brick wall". Hurray for small pleasures.

xoxo

-M

I'm back!

It's been awhile but I'm back and I have a lot to blog about! I had a lovely vacation; I got to see my brother and sisters and it really made me wish we all lived closer. I also got to see my niece and meet my new nephew, which made me remember how much I love being an aunt. I went not only to Iowa, where most of my family resides, but to New York City where my youngest sister lives. I basically shopped and ate the entire trip. Thrift shopping in the midwest reminded me that things are still fairly priced outside the Bay Area ($4 aprons...sigh).

Hitting the Hell's Kitchen and Brooklyn flea markets reminded me how much I love living outside a city like San Francisco :) I came away with some really amazing treasures from both places.

It was great to get away from everything and exactly what I needed to feel inspired again.

-M

I'm so tired...but I'm finally finished!

I'm leaving very early in the morning for a flight to see my family - I'm so excited for my first vacation of the year and I've been scrambling to get all my handmade gifts finished. (Please forgive the poor photo quality - the lighting in my house at this hour leaves much to be desired!) My brother just moved into a new apartment, the first one he's never shared with anyone. I offered to help with his decor and his only requests were, "only black, white, and red...and no flowers or polka dots". I hope he approves of the prints I picked! I also made him a multi-media collage using my favorite photo of us from way back in the day. I enlarged it and converted it to black and white and used the same fabrics I used for the pillows. He may only hang it in his bedroom but I think he'll appreciate it :) Since my nephew is just a baby I know he's stocked up on clothing and toys so I made a canvas set for his wall. I had just a little of the vintage nautical-themed fabric and I amped up the muted (and extremely dated) colors by layering primary colors and prints on top. My niece is only 3 1/2 but she loves books so I made a quickie book bag for her from fabric in my stash. I also included a copy of 'Olivia' by Ian Falconer, one of my favorite children's books. I'm so pleased to be finished with all my gifts...now I can pack and shower and possibly take a nap before we have to leave at 3:30 am (ohmygod!)

Signing off until September 2nd...hurray for vacations!

-M

New multi-media collage, "Sisters"

My family and friends are often my guinea pigs when it comes to new projects. My sisters in particular seem to love my handcrafted presents, which of course makes it totally worth it to make things for them! I wanted to somehow use an old photo I found for my sister Kellie's birthday present. I had some copies made of the photo and I played around with some ideas for a few days until I came up with this. I was happy to find colors and prints in my fabric stash similar to what we're wearing in the photo. I hand embroidered 'sisters' onto muslin and then machine stitched the photo to the rest of the material (I totally didn't think that was going to work, how great that you can sew through just about anything!)

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and Kellie left me the loveliest message after she opened her package, she didn't remember the photo so it was an even better surprise than I expected! I definitely want to try this again and think I'll be offering this type of collage as an option on my etsy page soon.

-M