Junie Moon

Beach Time and a Monogram

2011-05-16T07:24:00.000-05:00

Summer has begun for me. The following picture shows the beach I lounge about on as though I truly am Chief Mermaid of All the Seas. The sand really is this white and the color of the water is why this section of Florida is called the Emerald Coast.

Anyway, I happened upon a project idea at Let The Tide Pull Your Dreams Ashore blog that looked like fun but also has a rather practical purpose—well, to me it’s practical. Monogram your beach water jug.

After an unsuccessful search locally for a pink ½-gallon Igloo jug, I ordered one from Dick’s Sporting Goods. My green monogram was ordered from 2PreppyGirls. Both items arrived fairly quickly and the project itself took me a grand total of thirty seconds to finish.

Here is my monogrammed jug’s beach debut. The pink-and-green theme is rather perky—which is more than I can say of myself after putting on my swimsuit. Ah well, one of the best things about going to the beach is the feeling that all is well in the world and your troubles can just slip away with the tide.

Resources

Sewing: Kindle Case

2011-05-10T00:19:00.001-05:00

When my husband bought the iPad for me, I gave him my Kindle. The iPad, however, is not a good thing to take to the beach as you cannot see the screen at all out in sunlight. So, I have a new Kindle to resolve the reading-on-the-beach problem.

Naturally, my Kindle needs something lovely to protect it. I used my own pattern to sew a case.

Obviously, I’m still using pieces of that same yard of mermaid fabric from which I’ve been sewing lately. I can milk a yard of fabric to within a millimeter of its little woven life. Thanks to Heather Bailey, my projects are looking suitably summery.

Sewing: iPhone 4 Sleeve

2011-05-09T00:17:00.000-05:00

How was your Mother’s Day weekend? The weather this weekend was gorgeous and I loafed at the beach.

Besides the end of the semester and Mother’s Day, my blessings for last week included getting a new white iPhone 4 to replace my failing Blackberry Curve. I did not realize how fragile the glass casing is on the iPhone as I’ve never had one before. So, I took steps to protect my new connection to the world before running off to the beach.

You are probably tired of seeing this same fabric in my latest projects, but I intend to use every single inch of any fabric already in my stash or purchased in the future.

Erin Erickson’s tutorial was used to make this project. The instructions were easy to follow and the project took a minimal amount of time to complete—much appreciated since I wanted to go to the beach and not spend all my time indoors.

Now my new phone is safe and I found another way to use my beloved Heather Bailey fabric.

Another Mermaid Swam By

2011-05-06T06:10:00.003-05:00

I have finished another project featuring my precious Heather Bailey fabric. This time D.H. Buscher’s Manicure Kit Cover tutorial was put into use, a project I initially found on One Pretty Thing. Unfortunately, the Buscher blog experienced some kind of problem which deleted six months of her work, so I am not sure where you can find a copy of her tutorial. I’m so glad I’d saved a copy in my project binder. Updated 7:04 p.m.: a lovely reader found a link you can use to access the tutorial. Thank you, Anonymous!

Although I’ve not put all my little tools in the pockets yet, I think you get the idea of how the little kit looks on the inside. Just as was done with the cosmetic brush kit, I used a magnetic snap for the manicure kit.

Here are my two projects together, the new manicure kit and the cosmetic brush kit I shared with you the other day. Two of my summer projects done—May is proving to be a lovely month for me already.

Orange Zest Madeleines

2011-05-04T00:25:00.000-05:00

Along with some sewing projects, new recipes have made their way on my must-do-right-away list. One of those recipes is for madeleines. While I’ve made these little cakes before, I thought I’d try yet another recipe version.

Dry, dense, heavy madeleines do not excite me; however, the particular recipe I used this time resulted in a cake that was moist and delicious with a lovely, light flavor as the result of using just the right amount of freshly-zested orange.

I learned three things when trying this new recipe:

Do not over-mix the batter.
Chill the batter in the fridge for at least an hour.
Bake your madeleines the same day they will be served.

Source: Amazon.com

The recipe was published in The New York Times and is an adaptation from one found in The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts.

A batch was made for my knitting group and another for my mother-in-law’s bridge group’s game day. Both batches were eaten in what seemed one heart beat of time.

A Mermaid Swam By

2011-05-02T00:18:00.000-05:00

Hello, May, I’m so happy you are here. May heralds breathing time for me, this year is no different. Oh, the joy of this month! To celebrate, I’ve begun working on my little list of projects with summer in mind.

First on my list was making a cosmetic brush case using two different fabrics from Heather Bailey’s Mendocino line retrieved from my stash. I followed the very easy instructions found in a tutorial created by Juliette Landers of Sewing Republic which was posted on Tipnut.

Heavy-weight Peltex was used for interfacing and a magnetic snap for the closure. The case unfolds to reveal numerous pockets sewn inside.

I have a good set of Chanel makeup brushes, but I love Sonia Kashuk's Hidden Treasure Brush Set—the coral design is so perfect for my ocean-themed project. I purchased the coral brushes at Target a few years ago.

Blessings Friday: Balcony Retreat

2011-04-29T04:31:00.000-05:00

I’m in the midst of giving final exams; the spring semester ends for college faculty on May 5 after we submit our students’ final grades. I am very much looking forward to free time sans essay grading.

Our master suite has a small balcony overlooking the backyard and pool. I’ve installed swivel rocking chairs and a small table. The pottery lamp was a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law and is fueled by a can of sterno—the wee fire is lovely at night.

At the other end of the balcony, I placed a small potted rose.

It’s a beautiful rose, isn’t it?

Five coconut-lined planters were found at Lowe’s and installed on the balcony railings. Since I’m not too sure what plants will work, I simply bought some on sale. We’ll see how they do.

I’ve no idea as to the names of any of the plants other than marigolds, ivy, and rose. This green-and-white plant in my photo is a mystery.

You can see the mounting brackets in this photo along with part of our neighbor’s yard. I’ve decided not to worry about how the brackets appear. My balcony retreat is prepared—I’m ready for the peaceful, lazy days of summer!

Blocking Wires Kit

2011-04-27T00:18:00.001-05:00

My blocking wires are still in Tucson. One of these days, my husband and I will manage to get all my stuff here. In the meantime, I need the wires to block some of my finished knitting projects. Instead of buying a new set, I decided to make my own blocking wires using wires purchased at a local welding shop.

I cut some wires in 36-inch lengths and some 18-inches long. There’s more to the process of making the wires, but you can find free tutorials online and there’s no sense in my repeating someone else’s work. A box of T-pins and a yardstick were added to my arsenal of blocking tools.

In order to keep the wires from getting bent and to provide a way to store them, I sewed flannel bags with a twill hanging strap.

Source: Amazon.com

Interlocking play mats found at Lowe’s work great as my blocking pads. The mats may also be found at Amazon.com.

Pottery Yarn Bowl Project

2011-04-25T00:23:00.000-05:00

I’ve been admiring beautiful pottery bowls being made to hold knitting yarn. Thoughts about purchasing one flitted through my head until it dawned on me such a project would make for a great learning adventure. I immediately signed up for classes in handbuilt pottery at Full Circle Gallery.

This photo depicts me putting clay through a press to get the shape and thickness needed.

One of my bowls in process.

After drawing a freehand spiral, I carefully cut it out. Looking at the picture, I realize the spiral is more like the letter “J”. Hah—it’s a Junie Moon bowl!

The bowl is going on the shelf to await glaze firing.

Here’s my first bowl. It’s a tad lopsided and has a rather wacky rim, but it will work.

More bowls are in process to use as gifts—hopefully more uniform in shape as I gain in experience. Working with clay has proven to be a good way to relieve stress and give me something to do to stay out of mischief.

Knitted Easter Bunnies

2011-04-22T07:10:00.000-05:00

The Knitters Guild at my church has been busy the last couple of weeks making little bunnies. I’ve not made bunnies before, but it was a fun project to do with my friends.

We made simply tons of hoppy little bunnies. Each child attending Easter service will receive one of our little handmade cuties.

Happy Easter!

Project Life

2011-04-20T06:53:00.000-05:00

This year I’m trying to be more mindful of all my activities by making the effort to photograph and document them on a regular basis instead of waiting until the task is overwhelming.

I’m giving Becky Higgins' Project Life a try for 2011 and chose the Turquoise Edition (currently unavailable). I’ve already stashed the Project Life - Amber Editionaway to use for 2012.

The divided photo pages and journal pockets make it easy to quickly record moments in my life I wish to savor. Although traditional scrapbooking is also fun, Project Life has made it easier to keep current as there is no worry about designing special page layouts. I simply print my photos once a week, journal my activities, and pop everything in the binder. Done!

Organizing My Craft Space

2011-04-18T00:15:00.000-05:00

Much of my small amount of free time last week was spent organizing my stash of craft supplies. The huge extra closet off our bedroom suite is perfect for keeping what I consider to be essentials to my life.

I first saw this storage system when visiting my sister’s new house in Tucson during my spring break. She has a wonderful craft room in which these components were installed to organize her stained glass art materials. Thinking it a fabulous idea, I followed suit here in Florida.

The white magnetic board hanging on the wall to the left above my Cricut machine was purchased from my friend Paula Flores, a Creative Memories consultant in Tucson. I also have a smaller version still in Tucson.

The storage modules were purchased at Michael’s in Destin two weeks ago when they were 50% off. The top is still too cluttered with tools for my comfort, so I’m saving coupons to purchase a few more storage units.

Spring Cupcakes

2011-04-08T00:10:00.000-05:00

Our college hosted two visiting poets this week: Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno and Frank X Walker. In addition to events surrounding their work, a reception was held last night featuring readings of works by students published in this year’s college literary magazine.

When asked to bake cupcakes for the event, I envisioned butterflies flitting above flower cupcakes. So butterflies were made using one of Martha Stewart’s punches.

I glued each butterfly onto a 4.5-inch lollipop stick, bending the butterfly wings slightly to emulate flight.

Wilton’s flower cups are lovely, but do not bake in them as the sides spread and lose their form. I baked lemon cupcakes in plain white baking cups and inserted them into the flower cups later.

Vanilla-flavored buttercream frosting was made and piped on using a 1M tip. The color is a combination of Wilton’s Rose and Burgundy coloring gels.

My test cupcake—I quite like how it looks.

The cupcakes were packed in Cupcake Couriers and the butterflies ensconced in a large mug to carry to the event site in another town. I drove over there about an hour before the event, set out the cupcakes, inserted the butterflies, and zipped back to my town to teach a class. I hope the attendees liked my springtime offering.

Sedona

2011-04-06T08:03:00.000-05:00

The last part of our springtime itinerary was visiting Sedona. We’ve been there many times before but always enjoy the gorgeous views.

In 1956, the Chapel of the Holy Cross was built right into one of the area’s mesas on Coconino National Forest land. The site is one of Sedona’s famed vortices. One side of the church features a tall cross set in a glass wall which provides a view overlooking the city of Sedona. The other end of the building has a glass door and windows showcasing the red rocks.

This is the view from the cross-side of the church. The building and observatory tower you see in the foreground is a private home.

I love this little sign seen in the gardens at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It made me smile along with the flowers.

After seeing everything possible in Sedona, our last visit was to Tlaquepaque, an arts and crafts village on the banks of Oak Creek offering the works of amazingly creative artisans of all types. Tlaquepaque means the "best of everything”. This sculpture of a frog blowing a kiss was found tucked into a corner. I appreciated his little kiss as we said goodbye to Sedona and the end of our little road trip.

Canyonlands National Park

2011-04-01T08:50:00.000-05:00

About five minutes from Moab, along Potash Road (Hwy 279—also known as the Potash-Lower Colorado River Scenic Byway), you can find sheer cliffs beloved by rock climbers. We watched a number of people climb for awhile, but I felt myself getting overly anxious for their safety so we moved on to view the petroglyphs in the part of the rocks walls off-limits to climbers because of the carvings.

According to the historical marker, these petroglyphs are purportedly created between 600 A.D. and 1300 A.D. by Indians of the Southern San Rafael Fremont culture. Dinosaur footprints are also nearby; we skipped visiting those as we headed back to the hotel to rest before visiting Canyonlands National Park which is also near Moab.

This photograph was taken at Grandview Point in Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park has two rivers: Colorado and Green River. In this picture, we are standing at Green River Overlook. The beauty and immensity of the landscape are amazing.

The park’s Visitor Center is located at Island in the Sky. After getting the park’s stamp for my National Park Passport, I used their microscope to examine various plants, rocks, and bugs. I’m nosey like that.

Because I’m somewhat weird, I decided to earn my Junior Ranger Badge (generally reserved for children). After getting permission from the rangers, I was issued a book of activities to pursue in the park. If you are over the age of11, you only have to complete 6 requirements. Forget that! I completed every single activity in the book. Ranger Mike Townsend signed my Junior Ranger Certificate and presented me with my badge.

Arches National Park

2011-03-30T10:04:00.000-05:00

After finally making it through the bad storm, we left Monument Valley and headed to Moab, Utah. Our goal there was to tour Arches National Park. While we had visited Monument Valley before, Arches was a new experience for us.

This photo depicts The Three Gossips, one of the amazingly many rock formations in the park.

True to its name, the park has many arches. This particular formation is called Double Arch. My husband is in the foreground to give you a sense of scale. There is a trail you can hike right up and into the arch formation itself which we followed after this picture was taken.

Speaking of trails, you absolutely must obey all of the warning signs in the park to protect its natural resources—which we did.

Here I am in front of one of the arched windows in the park—just so you know we did get actual pictures of us on our adventure. This tree has grown in such a way that it makes a natural chair. I’m somewhat unsure as to whether sitting on it to have my picture taken is considered bad for the park or not.

While touring around the town of Moab itself, we discovered a yarn shop which I promptly entered. Desert Thread is owned by two sisters, Cathy O'Connor and Rosie Boone. This is a very friendly shop and I really enjoyed my visit. The yarn I bought is for a summer project I’ve started. There is also a quilt fabric shop nearby, but we ran out of time and energy after hiking in the park all day.

Monument Valley

2011-03-28T07:45:00.000-05:00

Spring break for me is now over and I am back in Florida. I had good intentions to blog our road trip using my husband’s laptop but forgot my blog password. I just drew a complete blank on that, so I gave up. After flying to Tucson and spending a couple of days seeing my sister and some friends, we started driving to Arizona’s Monument Valley area last Monday morning.

By 11 a.m., we found ourselves in a pretty bad storm near Flagstaff. We watched in horror as cars and trucks slid, jack-knifed, and otherwise involuntarily slid dangerously in directions they did not want to go as the roads turned to ice. In a brief span of time, we saw seven accidents and decided maybe it would be best to turn around and go home.

However, they closed the road behind us and then closed the road ahead of us. We ended up trying a round-about route to get away from the storm and continue to our first night’s destination. This photo depicts ice building on our windshield.

After driving 50 miles on an obscure Bureau of Indian Affairs dirt road, we finally managed to wend our way to our hotel in Monument Valley ahead of the storm we just bypassed. You can see snow in the distance behind some of the rock monuments.

Here is what we saw outside our hotel window the next morning. Although the weather was brutally cold, the snow makes the gorgeous valley seem even more magical.

St. Patrick’s Blessings

2011-03-17T04:47:00.000-05:00

Spring equinox is only a couple of days away. Florida is starting to feel more like—uh, Florida—than I’ve experienced over the last few months. For a purportedly warm state, it has been a cold winter. Or maybe it just feels that way to me since I’m a transplant from Arizona.

Spring also means the inevitable pollens running amok as plants join the animal kingdom in doing the wild thing to repopulate the world with their particular species. I’ve decided pine pollen is definitely not my friend as I’ve been sick with sinusitis for over a week and now have bronchitis.

Other than required English department meetings and my actual classes, I’ve had to opt out of all sorts of other activities in order to try to get well as tomorrow morning I’m flying back to Tucson to visit my husband, sister, and friends during my college’s spring break.

Although I feel as though a huge pine tree actually fell on me as opposed to just sharing its own form of plant pheromones to irritate my allergies, I did manage to bake numerous batches of traditional Scottish Shortbread for my students in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

Yes, I do know that St. Patrick was Irish. However, my shortbread mold represents all of the British Isles, so my baked offering works fine. Each segment of the mold offers the following representation: Thistles for Scotland, Celtic Knot-work for Ireland, a Tudor Rose for England, and a Welsh Dragon for Wales.

Pink Season

2011-03-14T09:11:00.000-05:00

Now that the detritus of winter has been purged, we can enjoy the fresh innocence of springtime as represented by the color pink.

My mother-in-law and I walked around her yard this weekend admiring new growth emerging here and there. She has more than a hundred azalea plants in her backyard; each plant is covered in tiny pink buds.

A few buds could not stand the wait and opened their beautiful petals.

While it is not an azalea plant, I did knit another chemo cap in a color representative of the flowers. The color synchronization is just a fluke as I had not planned it. However, it does give me pause to think about the sense of new beginnings associated with springtime. I hope that whoever receives my azalea-colored cap be given the gift of recovery and a fresh start in life. It’s pink season.

Homemade Vanilla Chemistry

2011-03-09T06:39:00.000-06:00

My homemade vanilla gifts (here and here) this past Christmas were a big success. Based on the feedback and requests from my recipients, I guess this wee kitchen gift is going to be an annual tradition.

Monday found me busy at the kitchen counter measuring, pouring, and mumbling to myself as I manipulated bottles of liquor and disemboweled a copious number of vanilla beans. If my Halloween stuff was not still stored in Tucson, I would have pulled out my witch hat as I concocted my brew.

I mixed vodka with rum, brandy, and vanilla beans for my concoction (sans eye of newt). My erstwhile cauldron yielded four huge bottles (1.75 mL each) of homemade vanilla now stored away in the dark recesses of my pantry. Over the months until Christmas, the magic of chemistry will do its thing and produce vanilla extract which will be bottled and packaged for gifting. Who knew something so simple would be so fun and such a well-received gift?

Knitting for Lent

2011-03-07T09:55:00.000-06:00

Much has changed in my life since moving to Florida seven months ago. Instead of sitting at home bemoaning the fact that my husband and I are living and working many states apart for now, I’m going out into my new community and embracing all it has to offer. For example, I’ve joined the knitting guild at my church.

Although you can work on whatever good-deed project you choose, there is a need for caps for those enduring chemotherapy.

The pattern I used for this cap is Race for Life 2009—Easy Cap which I found on Ravelry. My yarn was Cascade Yarns’ Cash Vero.

Lent starts this Wednesday and continues until April 23. While many people are talking about giving up chocolate or spending money or other such things during Lent, I’ve decided to knit chemo caps as my Lent offering.

Before I forget to tell you, Rachel (see previous post) placed in the top ten at the pageant. We are very proud of her.

The North Carolina Azalea Festival: a Southern Tradition

2011-03-04T11:26:00.000-06:00

My family is from the coastal Wilmington, NC area. Each year since 1948, the city hosts the North Carolina Azalea Festival to celebrate spring and the abundant beauty of azaleas blooming all over the state. This event is so important to North Carolina, the United States Congress honored the festival’s long and important tradition during one of its sessions in 2008.

Source: Wilmington Downtown

As part of festival events, an annual pageant is held in which twenty-one young ladies compete for the title of the N.C. Azalea Festival Princess. The 2011 N.C. Azalea Festival Princess Scholarship Pageant is takes place this Saturday night.

Source: StarNews Online

My niece Rachel is one of this year’s contestants. If crowned Princess, Rachel will receive the Beverly Anne Jurgensen Scholarship Award. If chosen as a member of the four-person court, she will still receive a college scholarship. As she will be attending one of our state universities this fall, scholarship money is foremost in Rachel’s mind.

Part of the selection process involves an interview both before and during the pageant. Here is Rachel trying on her interview outfit.

This photo depicts her pageant dress.

During the festival, the Cape Fear Garden Club organizes a tour of the beautiful gardens to be found in Wilmington. Azalea Belles are chosen to act as hostesses in featured gardens and serve as ambassadors for the City of Wilmington during the festival. Each Belle wears a hoop-skirted antebellum dress to represent southern hospitality and reflect the beauty of the azalea plants being honored. Rachel was an Azalea Belle last year.

Although I cannot be in Wilmington to participate in the Azalea Festival events or witness tomorrow night’s pageant, I can hardly wait for my sister’s call to let us know how Rachel fares. No matter the outcome, we love Rachel dearly.

The Rose Fern Scarf

2011-03-02T08:58:00.001-06:00

For the last three Saturdays, I’ve been learning about fine lace knitting in a class hosted at Unwind the Yarn Shop. We learned to knit The Rose Fern Scarf, a design created by Cynthia Carter of Whistling Beagle Knits. Cynthia, herself, was our instructor.

This was the most carefully planned and executed class I have ever taken. Cynthia thought of everything and organized her instructional material in such a way that we learned, applied our new knowledge, and actually managed to execute the exquisite lace design.

Instead of written pattern instructions, we used Cynthia’s charted pattern—something I had not worked with previously. However, Cynthia included chart reading as part of her class plan.

Along with learning various lace techniques, Cynthia shared the history of lace knitting with the class. I love knowing such details as it makes what we do so much richer and honors the artists.

My sister students and I learned about gauge, choosing yarn for lace, as well as what knitting tools will serve us best.

We also learned how to avoid mistakes and, if we do make one, how to apply simple fixes to rectify the situation. Our final lesson was blocking.

My completed Rose Fern Scarf will be a Christmas gift for one of my sisters. My yarn was madelinetosh's Tosh Sock superwash merino wool fingering weight in a rich berry color.

If you ever have the opportunity to take a class taught by Cynthia, jump on the opportunity.

Playing with Knives

2011-02-23T08:57:00.000-06:00

As my interest and experimental experiences with cooking and baking grow, I find there are gaps in my skills requiring attention. The use of knives is one of those areas in which I am not proficient.

Source: Kitchenique

Interested in improving my technique using very sharp and pointed objects, I signed up for a class in basic knife skills at Kitchenique http://www.kitchenique.com/, a gourmet kitchen store and cooking school in Destin.

The chef and owner, Vicki, made my experience so much fun as did all her staff. We were instructed in the importance of cleanliness and all things associated with the care and use of knives, especially safety. Then the cutting began.

We cut and chopped and otherwise mutilated all sorts of vegetables.

It will take much more practice before my victims (otherwise known as vegetables) are cut in smaller and more uniform pieces.

If it grows, our class was probably busy chopping it.

Vegetables were not our only victims; we also practiced on chicken and ham. Some of the vegetables ended up in the soup pot for our lunch along with our choice of chicken or ham (or even both).

Vicki donates all the vegetables cut in class and not used in our lunch soup to various church soup kitchens. Vicki and her staff kindly loaded my car with boxes and boxes of freshly-cut vegetables which I promptly delivered to my church for our soup kitchen ministry in feeding homeless folks.

My experience at Kitchenique was thoroughly enjoyable and will improve my cooking techniques. I am definitely going to try another class with Vicki soon.

Baking Valentine Gifts

2011-02-16T00:58:00.000-06:00

Heart-shaped Whoopie Pies made great Valentine gifts to offer my students this week. I’ve never made Whoopie Pies before and wanted to give them a try.

After baking, filling, and finishing the final assembly, the treats were packed in boxes found at A.C. Moore. After last month’s baked offering, my students have been asking what I’d bring them in February. So, I took them sweet little hearts.

X0X0X0

2011-02-14T00:45:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine’s Day!

XOXOXO,

Gifts for Sewing: Part 2

2011-02-08T00:55:00.000-06:00

The second part of my gift offering for an event in March I am attending is done.

To accompany the pin cushions made for the other attendees, I created a set of embellished straight pins using tiny beads and E-6000 glue.

The pins were a very messy project because of the glue factor. I’m not good with messy stuff, but I persevered and cleaned up the very second I was done. Each set of pins is mounted on craft felt and attached to a card.

All eight of my gift offerings are ready.

Paper Doll Bridesmaids

2011-02-07T09:55:00.000-06:00

One of my nieces is getting married and asked me to make paper doll chains for her bridesmaids. Paper dolls are something I’ve not done since I was a little girl. A quick Google search netted me a template and out came my art pens, ruler, scissors, large sheets of watercolor paper, and my painting kit.

My big plan to photograph the paper doll chains is not working this morning as it’s dark and rainy.

A shade of purple was requested by my niece for the dresses. Because these are paper dolls, I did not want to get too carried away with the project so tried to keep it relatively simple. I did add a pink waistband and a small lilac-colored button sticker from Martha Stewart.

Julie specified each of her bridesmaid’s hair color and asked me to include their names to personalize the chain. There are six bridesmaids, so each chain has six dolls—for a grand total of 36 little bridesmaids who needed painting and embellishing.

Although she did not say anything about how she plans to present the paper doll chains, I figure she could probably use cards and envelopes, so I made those, too. Since her friends are represented in the chain of dolls, I created a bride version of Julie on the front of the card and modified the dress design. She can tuck each paper doll chain inside a card for presenting to the girls. Despite the gray tone seen in the photo, the card is the same ecru watercolor paper as the dolls.

Unofficial Miami Dolphins Beanie

2011-02-04T00:14:00.000-06:00

They may not be a contender in the 2011 Super Bowl XLV game slated for Sunday, but my husband has always loved the Miami Dolphins. I knit a beanie for him at Christmas using his favorite team’s colors.

Since I could not find a knitting pattern for a Miami Dolphins beanie, I modified Kathy Lang’s Beanies for the Brave pattern found on Ravelry (her pattern may also be found on the web, see Resources below).

This beanie is not approved/endorsed/licensed or otherwise sanctioned by the NFL people-in-charge-of-such stuff. It has, however, been approved by my husband—in the end, that’s what is important to me.

Cascade 220 100% Peruvian Highland Wool (ordered through Unwind, the Yarn Shop) was used in colors approximating those of the Miami Dolphins. You can change the colors to reflect another team—of course, that’s unofficial and my husband wouldn’t like it---shhhh.

Yarn

Color A: 1 skein Cascade 220, color #7812 (“Lagoon”)
Color B: 1 skein Cascade 220, color #9542 (“Blaze”)
Color C: 1 skein Cascade 220, color #2404 (“Atlantic”)
Color D: 1 skein Cascade 220, color #8505 (“White”)

One of the young men working on the remodel of our house saw me knitting the beanie and asked for one, too. So here is Jason’s finished beanie, my thank-you for the hard work he’s put forth to do a quality job for us.

Resources

Kathy Lang’s Beanies for the Brave pattern
Cascade Yarns
Ravelry
Unwind, the Yarn Shop

Boxty Cakes for St. Brigid

2011-02-03T06:31:00.000-06:00

By propping myself up on one foot Tuesday evening, I managed to try a new recipe to celebrate St. Brigid’s Feast Day on Feb. 1, a day also known to most everyone as Groundhog Day. However, since St. Brigid was born in Ireland around A.D. 451 or 452, a long time before groundhogs were celebrated for their shadows, she’s the one I honored.

You can find all sorts of Irish recipes online honoring St. Brigid, but I chose Boxty Cakes using a recipe from fish eaters.

Boxty Cakes

½ pound hot cooked potatoes
½ pound grated raw potatoes
2 cups flour (see my note below)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ cups buttermilk
Butter for frying
Salt and pepper

Drain, peel and mash the hot potatoes. Stir in the raw potatoes, flour and baking soda. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well with enough buttermilk to make a stiff batter. Shape into 3 inch patties about ¼-inch thick and fry on hot, greased griddle until crispy and golden on both sides.

Note: I carefully followed the recipe, but the end result tasted more like flour than potatoes. Next time, I’ll try Rachel Rappaport’s recipe posted on Coconut & lime. Her version calls for only ¼ cup of flour.

Cotton Boll Knitting

2011-02-01T00:21:00.000-06:00

My binder of hoarded project ideas gleaned from here and there came in handy over the weekend to entertain me during my enforced bed rest. One such project was something shared on One Pretty Thing—a knitted cotton boll pattern originally posted on Knitting Daily to hold . . . cotton.

Despite nature’s directives as to the best color for cotton bolls, my choice was Sea (Mer). After a quick bit of knitting, I pondered the usefulness of a cotton-stuffed cotton boll. It’s cute, soft, small, and maybe even cuddly—but what in the world will I actually do with it?

A few wild ideas buzzed through my head, but I finally tamed my wayward thoughts and opted for a simple solution. The adorable little boll of cotton will tuck quite nicely in my toiletry bag for travel or even in my purse.

Resources

Knitted Cotton Boll pattern from Knitting Daily
One Pretty Thing blog
Patons Silk Bamboo yarn in Sea (Mer) color code 85219—purchased at Michael’s

Photo Scavenger Hunt: January

2011-01-31T01:09:00.000-06:00

I am participating in the January Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Postcards from the Edge, an off-shoot of her 365 Project endeavor. Thank goodness I did not succumb to procrastination and had finished the project before injuring myself Friday.

Warning: today’s post is photo-intensive and will take approximately five light years to view.

Source: Postcards from the P.P. blog

Abandoned Building

A tiny little shed/house/something found abandoned off Beal Parkway in Fort Walton Beach. The Spanish moss somehow makes it seem that much lonelier.

Stained Glass Window

One of the windows in St. Michael Catholic Church (downtown Pensacola, FL) designed and produced by Emil Frei who learned his craft at the Munich School of Fine Arts in the 1800s before emigrating to the U.S.

Goldfish

Not a single goldfish is in residence at my house, so I visited a local pet shop to take this picture.

Yarn

Blue Heron Yarns’ rayon metallic yarn in garnet purchased at Unwind, the Yarn Shop.

Playground Equipment

You can find this playground on the beach behind Angler’s Restaurant on Okaloosa Island.

Library

The downtown main branch of our library has a statue of a reading girl in the front yard.

Tombstone Over 100 Years Old

This gravestone is located at the Jesse Rogers Memorial Cemetery in Mary Esther, Florida. I cannot think of a tombstone as simply an item on a scavenger hunt. Headstones mark the passing of a real person’s life—in this case, Ida Rogers, a three-year-old child.

According to my research, Ida was the daughter of John Louis and Mary Elizabeth Watson Rogers. Three other very young children of these poor parents are also buried nearby. Besides the details easily seen in the photo, Ida’s tombstone reads: God’s will be done.

My Front Door

The custom glass insert was designed and created by a talented artist friend of my mother-in-law’s.

Reflective Surface (not a mirror)

Bottle-nosed Dolphins were feeding on a school of fish in the Destin East Pass between Choctawhatchee Bay and the Gulf of Mexico while I was photographing the reflective surface of the water.

Something Out of Place

We discovered the American flag tangled in a tree branch outside the library as the result of a broken tethering cable. My husband notified the library staff.

Nature

Great Blue Herons on the west end of the beach on Holiday Isle in Destin, FL.

Bubbles

I tried an idea posted by Violet, a member of Photographica, for photographing bubbles. Olive oil and water were poured into a glass bowl; then I whisked the mixture and held the bowl over an orange kitchen towel. To send light up and through the bowl, my husband shined a flashlight on one part of the towel and my mother-in-law aimed hers on the other while I took the picture—a team effort.

And there we have it, my Photo Scavenger Hunt for January.

Oops!

2011-01-28T12:40:00.000-06:00

Sometimes you are just not supposed to get out of bed.

At 5 a.m. today, I was jerked awake by super bad leg cramps and tried to leap out of bed to stretch my muscles. I got a little more than you would expect with this maneuver. I became tangled in my sheets and fell—a leg going in one direction, a leg in the opposite direction, and my right foot stubbornly tried yet another point of view.

My mother-in-law managed to get me to the hospital and we’ve just returned home. My impromptu fall caused broken bones, damaged tissues, and the opportunity to forge a relationship with a new orthopedic surgeon.

Next time, I’ll just stay in bed.

Gifts for Sewing: Part 1

2011-01-26T09:35:00.000-06:00

In March I am attending a small event with some crafty friends who love sewing. Part of my gift to each person will be a pincushion. Due to a rather wacky work/life schedule right now, I am trying to think, plan, and work ahead to ensure everything is done in time.

Heather Bailey’s free Square Deal pattern and tutorial is a wonderful resource for making cute pincushions.

The pincushions can be made quickly. Mine are sewn and stuffed with one totally finished. Now I just need to finish embellishing the other five pincushions.

A large doll-maker’s needle threaded with embroidery floss helps to attach the ribbon and buttons (there is a flower button on each side of the pincushion). The floss is actually a hot-pink color and not as red as it looks in the picture.

Part 2 of my gift offering is just about done; I will share that element soon.

Homemade Root Beer

2011-01-24T00:15:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend, I tried Williams-Sonoma’s version of homemade root beer after shopping in their Destin Commons store.

Source: iSi Twist 'n Sparkle ($49.95) from Williams-Sonoma

My first purchase was the iSi Twist 'n Sparkle which carbonates almost any beverage using CO₂ chargers (the kit comes with three, but you need to buy extra as you can only use each charger once). I also bought an extra set of two bottles since the kit only comes with one.

Source: Root Beer Soda Syrup ($16) from Williams-Sonoma

Next was buying the Root Beer Soda Syrup.

Once home again, I gave the bottles a good wash before making the root beer concoction. The latter requires thorough chilling before performing the carbonation magic. A few glass mugs were popped into the freezer for drinking the root beer later.

When everything was ready, I inserted one of the CO₂ chargers in the wand handle and screwed that piece onto the bottle top. It began working immediately as evidenced by a hissing noise indicating carbonation was in process. Lots of bubbles…uh…bubbled (see photo). If you try this, make sure to wait at least one minute after the hissing stops before removing the wand and disposing of the charger.

And here we are—homemade root beer, yummy!

Purchasing the tools and syrup was an expensive venture—a case of canned root beer would be much cheaper and simpler, but not as much fun.

My friend Janel has a recipe I am going to try soon which calls for much cheaper ingredients. In the meantime, homemade vanilla ice cream is in the works because root beer floats are calling me.

Blessings Friday: Cupcake Surprise

2011-01-21T10:02:00.000-06:00

Surprises are lovely things. Yesterday I baked cupcakes and took them to the students in one of my classes.

Part of the class agenda was taking a quiz near the end of our meeting time. As each student turned in his or her finished quiz, I offered a cupcake. Despite the worry over their quiz scores, every student left my classroom with a smile. It’s nice to surprise people now and then, I think.

Clockwork Knitting

2011-01-19T04:56:00.000-06:00

I am told that this winter has been unusually cold here in Florida. Unusual or not, it is certainly chillier than the warmer winters I experienced in Tucson. Cold weather inspired me to knit Stephen West’s Clockwork shawl/scarf.

The radiating columns in the scarf’s design make for a neat visual effect.

I am envisioning the same scarf using solid color yarns and have purchased skeins of cashmere to give it a try in the future.

No doubt, Florida’s cold winter will soon be a thing of the past and my new scarf will have to be packed away. In the meantime, I am certainly appreciating a bit of loveliness keeping my neck warm.

Resources

Stephen West’s Clockwork shawl/scarf pattern ($6)
Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock Yarn, colorway #08, purchased at Unwind the Yarn Shop (850-314-9898)
Malabrigo Superwash Merino Wool, colorway Aguas #855, purchased at Unwind the Yarn Shop (850-314-9898)

One Yard Wonders Sew Along

2011-01-13T05:47:00.000-06:00

Are you looking for a project to do in 2011?

Source: Pink Chalk Studio

Pink Chalk Studio is hosting a sew along to do every single project in One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric!from beginning to end.

My contribution to the book were four simple projects to add a little zing to your bathroom.

Resources

Book: One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric!
One Yard Wonders Sew Along
One Yard Wonders Sew Along Flickr group
Pink Chalk Studio blog
Pink Chalk Fabrics Facebook

A Dog’s Advice

2011-01-11T03:57:00.000-06:00

Right before Christmas, my mother-in-law told me about an expression she heard that she said makes her laugh every time she thinks about it. She couldn’t remember the exact phrase but said it was some piece of advice about dogs and how they handle stress.

I searched online and finally found the quote, although the original source of this interesting tidbit remains a mystery.

She likes basset hounds, so I found a cute black-and-white cartoon of one on the web. The little sketch and quote were printed on watercolor paper I sized for my printer. After adding a modicum of color with watercolors, I placed the little 3x5-inch picture in a magnetic frame for the fridge.

It made for a cute stocking stuffer and has become my mother-in-law’s favorite saying when things are a bit too much.

Homemade Vanilla Redoux

2011-01-10T10:11:00.005-06:00

Revisiting the homemade vanilla project of last May, I made appropriate adjustments to my first effort. No way was I going to let making vanilla defeat me.

Upon further research, I discovered you can get gourmet vanilla beans cheaper online which were promptly found on eBay. After pouring out some of the vodka in both of my large bottles, I added dark rum to my concoction. Clarice at Storybook Woods told me she uses brandy. I didn’t have any brandy but used her hint that rum also works.

A tiny slit was made down the length of my new beans and I inserted five of each bean type into each vodka/rum bottle (two batches were in action at the same time). The whole shebang was stored away in a dark cupboard waiting for the resulting miracle that is homemade vanilla.

The homemade vanilla turned out to be scrumptious with its exquisite fragrance and taste. My bottles of goodness were packed for giving to my family at Christmas thanks to a DIY project posted on Twig & Thistle.

Worrying about whether they’d leak when mailing, I cut up a sandwich baggie and placed a little square of the plastic over the top of each bottle before screwing on the lid. Not a drop leaked in the shipping process.

Resources

Boston Round Amber 4-ounce glass bottles with screw-on lids: Specialty Bottle Supply
Grade A Gourmet Tahitian Vanilla Beans: Vanilla Products USA
Prime Gourmet Madagascar Bourbon Planifolia Vanilla Beans: Vanilla Products USA
Vanilla Tutorial and Printable Labels: Twig & Thistle

Rumor Control

2011-01-07T08:49:00.000-06:00

The spring 2011 semester at my college began Wednesday. The first day of classes is always interesting. Students filter in and immediately look for seats in the back of the room. I can almost see a cartoon bubble flashing fearfully above their heads: “Eeeew, I hate writing; I’m going to fail!”

To help them relax, I made a game out of scrapbook paper and quotes found online. The colors were chosen to reflect the college’s logo scheme. I named the game “Rumor Control”; it is much like “Gossip” or “Telephone” you might have played years ago. The activity helped a lot last semester, so I gave it a go again in my new classes.

This is one of five different quotes I used. There is one card per row of students. The first student reads the card to the next student who listens and relays the information to the next person who writes it down and passes it along. The process continues to the end of the row. When the class is ready, the first person in each row reads the original card aloud and the last student verbalizes the message that he/she received.

The class ends up laughing at some of the absurd distortions resulting from the exercise. Besides the amusing factor, the students learn that communication and understanding changes from person to person. The map to understanding is not always clear.

The imaginary bubble of fear hovering over their heads evaporates. Now my students are ready to learn and I am eager to teach them.