LaVieEnRosie

Rolling into walls...

Not literally.  Figuratively speaking.  

I was doing so well... a couple of posts in a couple of days.  I was on a roll.  And then pfffffttttttt.  I've got to just get back on the horse, right?  And stop mixing metaphors.  

I'm trying to finish this up ~ a quilt made mostly from Blueberry Crumb Cake by Blackbird Designs.  I loved this fabric when I first saw it and got an idea that I started working on.  But life got in the way and now I'm back to finishing it up.  It is destined for "publication" other than as a pattern, and while mine is made mostly with the collection, it is one of those kinds of quilts that will work with anything.  At least, I think it will.  The best part about it is that I think the quilt feels very much like "me" even though one part of it will be a surprise to some folks.  

One of the things I added to the collection was pink -- a reddish-pink, almost a watermelon-sort of pink.  Just a little bit.  The funny part is that five of the six pink-ish prints I'm using are also from Blackbird Designs. 

I'm asked sometimes which comes first -- the project or the fabric?  Do I have a quilt in mind and then find the fabric for it, or do I find fabric I like and then try to come up with an idea for the quilt?  Uh... both.  With this fabric, I loved the fabric and immediately had an idea of how the finished quilt should look.  Somewhat structured but not too formal was my thought process as I thought about blocks, setting, borders and such.  And yes, for most quilts, I usually get a pretty good "picture" in my head of how the finished quilt is going to look before I start.  Not always though, and sometimes it does change.  You don't think every idea I have is a good one, do you?  I wish.  Some of them are really bad and they don't get finished.

And yes, I have published a few that I still like even though I am probably the only person who does.   

So that's what I'm working on right now.  That and "planning".  I spent the other day making lists and organizing what needs to be finished when, and what might be in store for Market.  The good news -- for me anyway -- is that I have ideas for a bunch of new quilts.  Big, small and in-between... some were inspired by fabric and some are in search of the "perfect fabric".  With the Schnibbles, which ones get made will depend on the fabrics and the designs that get made first... meaning, if the first two I make have a straight-setting with sashing, those will be the only two.  I'm a little odd that way but I do think about how similar quilts are when I'm working on new patterns.  For example, I love quilts with stars but seriously, how boring would it be if every other quilt I did had some variation of a star block in it?  Or a piano-key border?  And I mean -- that would be boring for me!  

Two other things have been going on here... I've been experimenting with some new recipes with pretty good results.  My Mom loves stuffed Green Peppers and decided that that was what she wanted for dinner so after searching through recipes online, I found one that sounded interesting -- Green Bell Peppers Stuffed with Tomato Lentil Couscous.  When I couldn't find a package of Near East Red Lentil Couscous at the grocery store, I did what others did and substituted a different variety.  In my case, I used the Olive Oil and Garlic Pearled Couscous mix.  I also used chicken Italian sausage instead of ground beef, and I cut the peppers lengthwise as recommended -- a very nice variation. 

Yes, my next career will be as a food photographer and stylist.  Yeah, right.  Terrible picture aside, the peppers are terrific and we'll make these again.  

Remember those Pinterest recipes I mentioned?  I tried one of those too -- Mac and Cheese with Roasted Chicken, Goat Cheese and Rosemary.  

Not my picture but you probably already knew that.  I found the recipe when this person pinned it.  I made half the recipe and it was still quite a bit, enough for dinner and leftover-lunch for two people.  I used rotisserie chicken, fresh rosemary, cavatappi (my Mom doesn't care for rigatoni pasta.) and a Chevre for the cheese.  From start to finish, this took less than 20 minutes to make and we both loved it.  It's another one that we'll make again.  

But my favorite was the recipe on the side of the loaf of La Brea Sun-dried Tomato Herb bread.  I will happily admit that this isn't the kind of bread that generally floats my boat.  It's nice but I prefer a good crusty sourdough bread.  But since there were five loaves of the Sundried Herb and none of the Sourdough, I picked up the package and decided to see what sort of inspirational temptation the side-of-the-package recipe might provide.  Fried Egg and Mozzarella Open-Faced Sandwich.  Sold.  

Back to the deli section for mozzarella and over to Produce for a few more tomatoes.  Yes, I did make one... okay, two, tiny changes -- I added some sliced tomatoes to the top of the cheese.  I also rubbed the toasted bread with a garlic clove before buttering it.  Then add the grated cheese and broil until melted.  Top with sliced tomatoes and broil another minute or two until hot.  Then add the fried egg and the basil.

If I really was a food stylist and photographer, I would have carefully arranged each piece of basil instead of just glopping it on there.  Next time, right?  Except that there has already been two "next times" and I didn't get pictures.  All you need to know is that this is a terrific sandwich, perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch or whatever.  And the next time I go to the grocery store, they'd better have that Sundried Tomato & Herb bread or heads will roll!  

Since I didn't find the recipe on the La Brea website, I scanned the bag with the recipe and it's included here and above.

One last thing... about Pinterest.  When I started the last post, some of the things I wrote were a little snarkier but I decided to self-censor.  As with many things, the very nature of Pinterest says a lot about our society and culture, and it isn't all good.  But much of it is.  If it hadn't been for Pinterest, I might never have come across these pretty little pumpkins made by Jenny at SeaPinks.  

And that would have been so wrong.  

Happy Monday!

 

 

 

What's in a PIN?

In the past few months, nice ladies from Texas and Michigan have written on their blogs about "pinning" -- Pinterest.  I've decided to weigh in on the subject because I'm not sure they gave you the whole truth -- the plain, unvarnished, "can we talk" truth about this pinning-thing.  

If your New Year's Resolutions for 2012 have led you to take a Vow of Nicety, then I'll bid you good day and I'll hope to see you soon.  But if you're in a mood to release a tiny bit of your inner snarkiness, read on.  

Pinterest is a lot of fun.  As a quilter, you can be inspired and left speechless.

From the Quilts board of Rocky Colavito. 

From quilts to fabric, embroidery projects to crochet -- which, by the way, is hugely popular judging by the number of crochet-related pins and boards -- if somebody on the Internet makes [fill in the blank] and posts a picture of that [fill in the blank] somewhere/anywhere online, it's going to wind up on Pinterest. 

Quotes!  Everybody loves them and they're easily found and in many different forms.  

From the Words for Camp Sloanie board by Pat Sloan.  Artwork from The Wheatfield by Katie Daisy - on Etsy.

By the way, some of the best quotes aren't necessarily inspirational... though I might still deem this one motivational.

Searching for "sassy quotes" boards can be an enjoyable pasttime, especially if you've had one of "those" days.  

Do you like to cook and save recipes?  It's almost like Food Gawker -- a one-stop "shop" for recipes and food blogs.  

Toffee Crunch Cupcakes.  

Ironically, it seems as though some of the best food-related boards are done by people who also pin lots and lots of workout pictures. 

I also think that a lot of people pin pictures of food that looks good without ever reading the recipe.  I want to read the recipe before I pin something -- and on a couple of occasions, I've deleted pins for things I actually made that tasted awful.  Some things look fabulous but if you read that the cupcakes pictured above were made with rice flour, carob and tofu, would you save the recipe?  (Don't worry, they're made with the real stuff, the good stuff.)  

If you're looking for direction and inspiration for your home -- more importantly, for your maybe-someday dream studio, then sit down, get a cup of coffee and get ready to call a contractor.  

And maybe you should turn off the phone because "eye candy" is meant to be enjoyed.  Slowly.      

From Dream Studio by Melissa.  Photo of studio from/by Kelly Lautenbach.

The same is true if you like to shop for make-up / shoes / handbags / clothes / jewelry / accessories.  

That's the upside.  But has anyone mentioned that Pinterest can also be a giant, gaping black hole of time spent doing not a whole lot?  You think you're going to spend 15 minutes... okay, maybe 30.  It will be fun, you'll scout out some recipes... get a little inspiration... maybe even find something cool and wonderful.  Two hours later you've pinned nothing but you've bookmarked twenty-three craft projects, printed out sixteen recipes -- not one of which can you make because you're lacking important ingredients -- spent $150.00 on Etsy and checked flights to Prague, Santorini and Beijing on Kayak.  Or maybe that's just me.

At its best, Pinterest is a giant magazine that you can customize to contain just the things you like.  And the things your friends like.  And the things that total strangers like -- total strangers with really cool taste.  

It is the biggest, best, coolest bulletin board you never knew you always wanted.  And it's filled with great recipes, awesome blogs and more nifty ideas than you have time to process, let alone actually do.

At its worst... it is a business and people use it to advertise, sometimes to advertise themselves.  While most everybody gets into it to create "personal pin boards" of stuff they like, there is no question that it is also a growing part of social media -- the promotional part of it.  Many designers -- interior, lifestyle, personal style -- with blogs as their business, or part of their business are on Pinterest, and much of what they pin comes from their own blog and/or business.  If you click a picture to get more information about a product, you'll find yourself on their blog where you were just tallied as a hit for their traffic numbers, thereby increasing their advertising revenue and so on.  Some are good about linking the picture back to the specific post with the information you were trying to find but many just link back to the main blog address, meaning that you have to go hunting for whatever it was you wanted to find.

But again, if they show a product that you're looking for, you'll be able to find it.  And that's always a good thing.   

But be warned, it can get a little competitive.  I'm not saying that there's a contest to see who has the most pins, boards or followers, or to see who has the best board names -- though really, Monica wins that one in Secretariat-like fashion -- I mean something else entirely.  I think I could be involved in an altercation should I ever manage to find one of these... 

Pretty cool, huh?  I re-pinned this from someone/somewhere and added my own tag, and then when it was repinned by someone else, they wrote that I would have to fight them for it.  Yikes!  I'm a little worried because Rocky has a bat.  

Just so you know, vintage sewing machines are big on Pinterest... actually, vintage anything is big.  Huge.      

A nice lady in Florida pinned this picture of a vintage Rolex today and I can honestly say that I would fight her for it.  Then again, she does know someone whose got a bat...

So in the almost-a-year that I've been on Pinterest, I'm still not a very prolific pinner.  But I am being inspired by what I see though I do seem to keep getting side-tracked into reading recipes and the instructions for craft and do-it-yourself projects.  And I seem to wind up on Etsy a lot.  But its been fun and I'm really looking forward to my wool arriving.

Since I saw this on Tara's Wool board, do you think I can send her the bill?

P.S.  I didn't buy this exact bundle of wool.  It sold back in December.  I bought something else... but I think I'm still going to blame it on Tara.  

 

I spent the weekend cleaning?

It wasn't supposed to be that way but a very nice but somewhat wicked person asked for a couple of "organizational tips" for a project she's got coming up next month, and the end result is that I had to clean and dust and straighten up a bit because her project meant I was going to have to take some pictures.  

Does that make sense?

When I have a little more information about the whens, whats, whos and whys, I'll let you know.

This was supposed to be the weekend I finished up the last of the Christmas presents I've been making and finished stitching the Primitive Gatherings pincushion for 2011.

Pretty cute, huh?  

This is the perle cotton kit I bought to go with the "free" kit.  Yes, I see the irony of this... I spent $35.00 for the thread kit to make a free pincushion kit.  But I'm making extra pincushions and I did share some perle cotton with a couple of friends who also got the kits.  So that sort of amortizes the cost a bit.  Come on... stretch with me here.  

By the way, while getting my pictures together for this project, I noticed a recurring theme.  Do you see how compulsive organized I am?  I have little trays or baskets for each project I work on.  Even though the balls of perle cotton look like they've been casually tossed into the tray, looks can be deceiving.  The balls are usually in neat little rows with the label facing up so that the color number is visible.  And the O-numbers are not allowed to mingle with the M-numbers.  To make it worse, when the project is done, the balls go back into the storage box, the pins go back into the box with the pins and the pattern gets put in a pattern bag and filed away.  I don't know how I got this way but I'm hoping there is a 12-step program of some kind.    

I was also supposed to be working on a couple of other things but since I can't show them to you, I won't tell you about them.  Do you remember the days when being a "tease" was a bad thing?  Now it seems to be de rigueur.  It's annoying, isn't it?

Though it also means that I won't have much to show for a little while.  Except this.  This has been hanging out in a basket, waiting to be cut up into pieces:

Sandi Henderson ~ Secret Garden.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I've had it for a little while but just haven't been able to get to it.  I know exactly what I want to make with it, though I do need to make a decision about background.  I'm considering two options - one is obvious, the other will almost certainly elicit a "that doesn't look like you" comment from someone.  Yes, I do hear that.  I heard it a lot with Fresh Palette and Nine Dots.    

And yes, it was one of the things that I was referring to last week when I expressed some frustration about what direction I want to go with the quilts I'm making.  

I appreciate all the kind comments from last week about direction and risk, and about my quote box.  Though I did have to laugh when I got an e-mail from someone who suggested I had been raised in a monastery and taught handwriting by monks... like I could ever live someplace where folks take a vow of silence?!?  As if!  Can you imagine?

What I was trying to express was this -- I love the quilts I've made because each one has presented a different challenge or fulfilled some kind of whim.  When I first started quilting, I tried almost every style of fabric and color palette, everything was an exploration.  Part of that was because everything was new and different, and I was still trying to figure out what I liked.  But it is also my nature in that I like variety - which might explain why I have Le Creuset pieces in four different colors.  When I started teaching at a local quilt shop, I was given pretty free rein over what I taught so I continued to experiment with different things.  But lately, I feel like I've done less of that, especially with bigger quilts.

So that's where I am right now.  

The scariest part about actually making some of the quilts I have had living in my head the past few years is that I haven't got a clue how I would write the pattern.  

But I'll worry about that later.  I have to go finish that {thing} I'm working on.

 

 

 

 

Friday silliness...

Happy Friday the 13th!

I've mentioned before that I get the funniest e-mails from Ramona.  

I will confess to you that when she first put me on her e-mail list a few years ago and started forward me e-mails, I was just a tad bit annoyed.  There isn't a one of us who doesn't get way too much e-mail... half of it junk.  That is especially true if you've ever had an AOL e-mail account.  

But then I started opening the e-mails... and moved Ramona to "preferred mail" status.  I also made it a point to thank Ramona for adding me to her e-mail list.      

Ramona sent me this yesterday.  She had sent me something like this last year, and after receiving that one, the name and reference on the picture lead me to the blog/website of the man genius behind these creations. Terry Broder of Bent Objects.  He's a funny guy... a little twisted... but in a really, really good way.    

This is what you get when you give someone who is very creative some wire and a few household objects.  

You say tomato, I say tomato. You say potatoes, I say zombies.

Fruit with life experience.

Zombies are nuts about brains.

Modest pear.  

Literary interpretations.

Paper training our little dog, Frank.

These are two of my recent favorites from the website.  

Grim Brulee.  Will you ever look at another creme brulee without thinking about this?

And because it is Friday the 13th...

Children of the Candy Corn.  

Have a terrific weekend.  

 

Gathered thoughts...

Did I say Friday?  I meant today.  Thursday.  

Oy vey.  While I seem to have misplaced a day somewhere, I do remember what I wanted to show you.  

It isn't any secret that I love quotations.  Whether they are from poetry, someone's personal writings or a speech, I have been saving little bits of paper onto which I've scribbled some "words of wisdom" for as long as I can remember.  My Dad used to do the same thing and one of the things I miss were the quotes he would run across and send me.      

Quotations are even part of my quilts.  When I started putting labels on my quilts about fifteen years ago, I included a quotation... just because.  In a few instances, the quotation I used inspired the name of the finished quilt.  

When it comes to saving those "words of wisdom", I'm not alone.  It seems like everybody who is on Pinterest has a board for "words" of some sort or another.  

So when I saw these boxes in a catalog a couple of years ago, it was love at first sight.    

Gathered Truths by Sugarboo Designs.    

On a side note, if you love quotations and words, I hope you know about Sugarboo Designs.  They have created beautiful artwork, frames, pillows, postcards and notebooks using quotations.  

Sundance Catalog had one in red.  One word -- lust.    

The boxes are painted wood and they're filled with 365 cards made from handmade paper, and printed with quotations.  But as much as I really wanted one, the price was a little steep for a box of quotations.  

But fate intervened one fine day last year... a friend had given me cash/money for I don't-remember-what-reason.  A few hours later, with a few extra minutes and dollars, I impulsively stopped into a favorite local shop to find that they had the boxes.  Make that "box", singular.  The last one -- in black.  

Do you know what the best part of it all was?  That last lonely little box was marked down -- by fifty percent.  I think I heard angels singing... or maybe it was just Maria... I must have done something really good that day because things like that never happen to me.  Or almost never.

That's my box.  (Don't touch.)    

As much as I enjoy reading the quotes ~ and yes, I've read them all ~ some of my favorite quotes aren't in there.  So I thought about making my own box of "gathered thoughts".  But I'm not much of a carpenter and I wasn't having much luck finding substitutes.  I have some vintage cheeseboxes that I considered using but I wanted something a little different.  And that's when I found this Farmer's Market Basket at Anthropologie.

I thought about trying to use my computer to print my favorite quotations onto cardstock but in the end, I decided it would take me longer to do that than just to write them out by hand.  So I bought a pad of 140 lb. watercolor paper at Michael's and cut it into cards measuring about 3 1/2" x 4".  Since I love the look of really black ink on the heavy paper, I used my regular Extra-Fine and Ultra-Fine Sharpie pens.  

Even though writing each card by hand takes extra time, I love the look of them.  I know my Dad would have approved as he often asked me to hand-write quotes for him to keep on his desk.  

Just to change up the look of the cards a bit, I'm varying the spacing, the margin alignment, the lines, etc.  

The card is my divider ~ everything in front has one of my quotes and the cards behind it are waiting to be filled.  

So there you have it.  One of the things that kept me occupied over the holidays.  

And with that, I'll leave you with another one of my favorite quotes:

Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow is but a vision.  But today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.  Look well, therefore to this day.  Sanskrit proverb

Toodles.  

Clean slate...

Rosie.  Like you didn't already know that.    

She's a little rough with her toys, especially with the new ones, and she takes "durability testing" very seriously.  It's a good thing I have a sewing machine, isn't it?

I know it's January 10th and I'm a little late with the New Year's wishes but I do have them!  Happy New Year!  Here's hoping that 2012 brings you the best that life has to offer.  Or enough to keep you happy and sane.  

Life here is going well though I'm still trying to figure out some kind of routine or schedule.  Isn't it odd how you don't miss continuity and routine until you don't have it?  And like a lot of folks, I'm thinking about the year past and the year ahead.  

This past year was a bit of a challenge and I felt like I dropped more balls than [insert name of your favorite sports' teams most famous goat].  I became a real-life version of snail mail, and I fell behind with things that really mattered to me like saying "thank you" to folks for their kindnesses.  Diversions I enjoyed fell by the wayside because of time demands, and I found myself being less than patient when it shouldn't have mattered.  But when I think about my whole year - my "balance sheet" for the year -- I'm not complaining.  I promise.  (It's just a little whine.)  I'm still well in the black because I learned that I had friends I could truly count on, and my belief in the wonderfulness of my brother was confirmed when he re-arranged his schedule to come stay with my Mom more than once.  And because of that, I enjoyed a few adventures.    

So life is still good.

And this year... it's time to make some changes.  I've thought a lot this past year about "what's next?"  Direction.  

That's my word for this year.  Or one of them.  As with anything like that, I have a really hard time picking just one.

Another one is "risk".  No, I'm not taking up sky-diving... though I would like to do that at least once.  I think actually stepping out of a working airplane would be the hardest part... but I could be wrong.

One of the biggest challenges I've had is finding the balance between creative decisions and business decisions.  The questions are simple, and the answers aren't easily answered.  At least I haven't found that to be the case.  Am I making the quilts I want to make, or am I making the quilts I think other people want?  Am I challenging myself, or am I just trying to remake something I've already done?  

To keep myself on track -- and to give you an idea of the conclusions I came to -- I wrote a quote on the chalkboard in my workroom.  

I don't know how it will all turn out but no matter what happens, I will survive the process.  As my friend Ginger is fond of saying -- Cinderella had to go to the ball to meet the Prince.  

 (Related to that sky-diving thing... here's another favorite quote -- If at first you don't succeed... sky-diving is not for you.)  

Just so you know... yes, I wrote the little card.  But more on that Friday.  

I dropped that ball last year too.  But it's a new year, I've got a clean slate this year and I can only get better, right?