How My Garden Grows

One of the things keeping me busy the past few weeks has been the garden. I have been craving the ever so elusive Pacific Northwest sun this year more than usual. We've been outside nearly every day planning and digging and planting. Every year the garden and backyard become easier to maintain. A lot of that is due to experience. I've had to move a few things that were planted with no real thought as to the size, shape and space requirements. Lesson learned, don't plant a hydrangea in front of an azalea bush in a 3 foot wide bed.

This year we built two raised beds in the garden bed. I'm so happy with them. They took half a day to build and are already making things easier. I've got pretty much all of my vegetables in and now we just water and wait. The only things I'd still like to have are spinach, brussels sprouts and some peas. This year I'm growing 2 tomatillo plants, 4 varieties of tomatoes (roma, amish paste, carlotta and cherry), english cucumber, butternut squash, pumpkin, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, and butter lettuce. I've also got a little section devoted to herbs.

Busy as a Bee

Here is my submission for Spiralling's Ice Breaker:

1. Jenn's birthday cake, 2. Diesel Fried Chicken, 3. Tamarack, 4. feathers and roses, 5. Flor de Cera!!, 6. Strawberry-Rambutan Boba Tea - Homemade Vegan Mix!, 7. Google Japan Vending Machines, 8. SWEETIE PIE, 9. done!, 10. laundry, 11. Mao~ What a beautiful gal?! CRW_3677, 12. Handmade Love 1
The Questions:
1. What is your first name? - Jenn
2. What is your favorite food? - Fried Chicken
3. What high school did you go to? - North Central
4. What is your favorite color? - Aqua
5. Who is your celebrity crush? - Michael Cera (yes, I know he's technically a teenager)
6. Favorite drink? - Bubble Tea
7. Dream vacation? - Japan
8. Favorite dessert? - Cake
9. What you want to be when you grow up? - Fabric Designer
10. What do you love most in life? - Linen
11. One Word to describe you. - Funny
12. Looked up my flickr name and found something about me - "chetanddot" Several sweet pictures of my handmade stuff (peanut).

And a new friend in the shop:

Back in the Saddle

Hello little blog, how did a month go by so fast?

I haven't been in the mood for crafting for awhile but thankfully the craft fairy waved her wand and I got reacquainted with my darling sewing machine.

Some new pincushions:

A new Friend, Lyle who loves lemonade:

My favorite cookies, Lemon Sandwich, from Everyday Food:


Happy Friday to you!

Happy Earth Day!

I hope everyone is having a nice Earth Day!

I've been thinking about the changes I've made and the little things I do to make our earth a better place and thought I'd share them here.

::I try to use my own bags every time I buy something, whether it's at the grocery store, hardware store or fabric store.

::Reusing packing supplies as often as possible. I recently discovered a local source for used packing envelopes, they're just 25 cents each!

::One of the things I get most excited about is when I can use the back of a letter or junk mail to print shipping labels. I have also configured my printer so that I can print 4 labels per sheet instead of 2 (very exciting)

::We recently started composting all of our food and vegetable scraps, I'm amazed at how much room that took up in the trash can

::Purchasing recycled paper for printing

::Using vintage and reclaimed fabrics and craft supplies

::One of the hardest things for me is trying to drive less and consolidate my errands but I am working on that

::And of one of greatest things ever is paying bills online! I think there are only two that I don't pay online because of the fees.

::Buying local whenever possible

::Using cloth instead of paper towels

::making products that are sustainable and helpful like recycled sweater cup cozies and cloth gift bags.

::Using natural and earth friendly cleaning products and laundry soap, still have a few to get rid of and add in this category

There is still much room for improvement, for example, I'm am planning to switch to using eco friendly fiberfill for my softies as soon as I can find a cost effective substitute, I am working on finding a good replacement hair conditioner for the Pantene I've been using for years, I'd like to have a more productive garden this year and water it with rain from a rain barrel.

What about you? What things do you do to make a difference?

Bread

So I know I promised pics of the bread from this book weeks ago. I'm finally getting to it. I've made probably 6 or 7 different batches of bread and at least 5 different types. My favorite so far is the rye. It is amazingly delicious! The only problem I have encountered is that the loaves are coming out quite small. I just bought some fresh yeast and will try that to see if it helps. Anyway, here is yesterday's bread photo shoot.
Just out of the refrigerator:

After rising right before baking:

Hot out of the oven:

Yum!

For Baby

Hello Hello. I'm sorry for the long absence. I've been sick for a week but am finally feeling better.

My sister is expecting her second baby in August. We just found out it's another girl. This means that I've some sewing to do. This is the first installment of baby stuff. The next batch won't be so pink.

The little hats are reversible. I copied a vintage hat I'd found. I'm thinking about creating a tutorial for them if enough people are interested. They seriously take about 10 or 15 minutes each. Plus, they're adorable and perfect baby shower gifts.
The fabric I used on the hats and bib are actually flannel receiving blankets from the new Dwell line at Target. Adorable, no?





Of course, I'm including some little things for my 4 year old niece as well. I made this little apron from a vintage one I found. It was so easy and I'm really happy with the result. I even managed to sew on the binding on the first try and with the machine. Amazing!

I think I'm going to Gocco print the baby shower invitations and birth announcements. These are some sketches I'm working on. Babies are so fun! I wish they didn't live so far away.

More Gocco

My extra Gocco screens came yesterday! I made my first two screen print. I'm pretty happy with it, though it was quite a challenge getting them to line up.
This is Happy Birthday Hamster:

and of course Happy Cloud:


The only ink I color I didn't get with my initial order was white. I had heard that you could only use Gocco inks and that Speedball and other inks were usually too thin. However, I had some white block printing ink on hand so I used that to mix colors and it worked perfectly. I think the block printing ink is thicker than fabric ink. So, if you're wondering if you can use other inks with Gocco, you can. I'm also looking into thickening some of the Speedball fabric ink I have to see it that will work. I found something called sodium alginate and I believe that will work. I'll let you know how it goes.

On a completely unrelated note, I got this book for my birthday. I was skeptical, how could you have perfectly amazing bread in 2 hours? I'm not quite sure how it works but it does and it's delicious! No pics of this one as I couldn't wait to shove it in my face. I'll get some of the next loaf. I love that right now I have a container full of bread dough in the fridge that I can tear a piece from and bake for instant fresh bread anytime. Magic!

It's still Spring, right?

Spring is here, with it's daffodils, flowering trees, longer days and snow. Yep, snow. It effing snowed here yesterday. See:

What happened to Spring here in the Northwest?

My Gocco came yesterday along with the snow. I wasted no time in making a huge mess and then falling in LOVE. I knew I would. I'm not sure why I waited so long to buy one. Those days are behind us now and it's me + Gocco forever! It's amazing! I drew this little owl and went through the ridiculously easy steps and within minutes had 20+ perfect, multicolor prints of Miss Owl. It only came with 2 screens and I've ordered extras but they won't arrive until next week. I'm not sure I can wait. If only there was a 24 hour Gocco supply store. The new cards are in the shop.

Spring has Sprung

What fun! I am very thankful for the opportunity to share my work with more people and make some new friends at the same time. It was also a lot of pressure being the featured seller on Etsy, knowing that everything I listed would be there on the front page.

We had a delightful Easter brunch yesterday. I made chicken and waffles! Nothing says Easter like fried chicken.

Hopping on, I did get a few new card designs in the shop. I'm really happy with how springy and cheerful they are. Hooray for Spring!




In other news, I finally ordered a Gocco. I have been trying to figure out whether or not to buy one for years and then after I decided that I must have one, it was a question of which one to buy. I think I made a good choice. I would love to have the larger one but it's considerably more expensive and I'd like to start with this one and make sure I love it before investing in the big one. I'm really excited to start using it. What has your experience been with Gocco?

The Cake

I decided that I wanted to make a cake version of my happy/sad cloud plushies. This is what we came up with. The cake was 2 layers of vanilla cake with a strawberry mascarpone filling. It was very difficult to cut into this happy little cloud, but it sure did taste good.

The eyes and mouth were made from colored white chocolate and the rosy cheeks were made by sprinkling pink sanding sugar through a paper towel tube.

The cake was a huge hit I'm happy to say. Hooray for birthdays!

Readying...

The house for my birthday party tonight. We're having cheese fondue and oil for frying. I'm making beer batter and we've got all sorts of vegetables and cheeses for dipping and frying. I even found some big round balloons at Lippman Co. They have a balloon room AND "Inflation Station".

Jenny and I snuck out last night to search the neighborhood for flowers. We found the most lovely cherry blossom tree in full bloom and paired it with some found and purchased flowers for some delightful Spring additions to the house.

Have a nice weekend, I'm off to watch the frosting of the cake. More on that to come...

Bunnies Bunnies Bunnies

The bunnies have arrived! The shop is full of sweet little rabbits of all shapes, sizes and colors. I'll be adding more this week as I seem to have a case of bunny fever.

Spring Fever

The weather has been so nice the past few days. I feel like we've finally said goodbye (!) to Winter here in the Pacific Northwest. Hooray for that!

Spring has definitely hit the shop this week:




My birthday is in a little over a week. I am having the hardest time figuring out what to do. I'm not feeling much like a party lately but I do love the opportunity to bake a cake and it is the greatest day of the year. :) An outdoor garden party sounds perfect, but I fear the weather is a bit unpredictable still. That could very well end in disaster. The only decision I've made is white balloons. I love balloons, especially perfectly round balloons like the ones the car lots have. It has long been my dream to own a giant helium tank. I know, reach for the stars, right? For a time, I wanted to be a paint mixer in a hardware store. I'm happy to say I have since overcome that desire.

The Devil's Workshop and 100

This has been a very difficult week, but I'm feeling a bit better and am trying to stay busy. As they say, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop". I love that phrase even though it's effing weird. It goes through my head a lot and always in a Southern drawl.

If you're waiting on an order from me, I apologize for the delay and it's on it's way, I promise. These are some new Easter friends who have dropped in to the shop.


Also this is my 100th post! I must say that I truly enjoy having this blog. It's so nice to have a
place to share my creations and love of crafts with like minded friends. Here's to the next 100!

Remembering

This last Thursday, we lost our sweet cat, Roly. He was having trouble breathing and we learned that he had an enlarged heart and fluid in his lungs. He was the sweetest boy kitty and our home is not the same without him.

Roly
April 11, 1996 - February 28, 2008

Hello Spring?

I picked up some snap clips last week thinking it was time that I had something other than bobby pins for my hair. Once I got started making these I couldn't quit. They're so fun and easy and make for a perfect -between projects- craft.

These are in the shop.
Here are two failed attempts at making a fat bunny. Now I've got 2 only slightly chubby bunnies. Cute, but not at all what I was going for. These are also in the shop.


This bunny talk has me thinking about Easter, which is just around the corner. I love Easter! It's the best time to find pastels in the stores. Well, sometimes it's the only time to find pastels. Look what I found at Target in the dollar bins, silicone cupcake baking cups 6 for $1, in the yummiest colors. At Michael's they are $9.99 for 8! I may have to go back and buy a few more. I'm thinking they could prove useful for all sorts of things other than baking. I've never actually baked in silicone cups I've used silicone muffin and loaf pans with no trouble. Any idea how these work? They seem like a pain to wash.

I am so very ready for Spring. More so than usual this time of year. This winter has been very wet and very gray and I'm quite done with it. The sun was shining most of the weekend and it was absolutely lovely. The first real sign that Spring is near. Hooray!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sewing machine + paper = LOVE! I think the possibilities for this could be endless.

Hope you're having a lovely day of love!

Let's Sew Something

Crafty Wonderland was lots of fun on Sunday. It was pretty mellow but we kept busy in our little corner. I wish I'd remembered the camera so I could share pictures of our new display pieces, mostly courtesy of IKEA. Display has always proved very challenging for me. It seems I am always struggling to find pieces that will hold a lot of items but will be easy to transport. I don't know how many times I've bought a shelf or table thinking it was going to be the answer only to use it once and decide it's all wrong. On the plus side, I've got all sorts of lovely shelves around the house that I otherwise would never have bought. I think we're getting closer to having it all streamlined though which is very exciting!




I've just put six sewing sets and a few new softies in the shop. I found some lovely new fleece and wool so I'll be adding more new softies soon.

On another note, I am not sure what is the best way to reply to comments. How do you do it? I usually leave a comment on the commenter's blog, but is there a better/easier way to directly reply to comments?

Hello Hello

I've got all sorts of new lovelies for the shop (including the above pictured), which I will be posting next week. I'm busily getting ready for Crafty Wonderland tomorrow. Do stop by and say hello if you're in Portland. It's at the Doug Fir Lounge from 11 - 4. Fun!