cupcakes are for sharing

I've been trying out cupcake recipes. Actually, just the one recipe (the yellow cake one from Baking Illustrated), and only this one time so far, but it seems I need to get a bit more practice with following directions: I forgot to add the sugar before attempting to cream the butter (I don't know where my brain was at that instant), I only had 4 out of 5 eggs, and I completely forgot about adding the milk until the very end, after I'd already mixed in all the floury stuff. Whoops! With all the things that I did wrong, it's a wonder that these actually came out ok--the texture isn't the best, but they are still fairly light and have a good cakey flavor. And, thankfully, they still look scrumptious, as cupcakes ought.

I used the leftover vanilla frosting from the tub I opened in February, when I made those yummy cinnamon rolls. The container says to use it up within 2 weeks, but I figure that's more of a guideline. I *might* have gotten a little carried away with the food coloring (I was actually aiming for a paler petal pink), but the result is still good--I love the new neon colors that the dyes come in now.

The other thing I learned was that you have to put the sprinkles on BEFORE the frosting dries, otherwise they just roll right off and it will drive you absolutely bonkers trying to get them to stick. Did everyone else know this, except for me? Oh well, I know I am not Bakerella, but a girl can still dream.

tofu tee giveaway!

I have many things that I wanted to give away but which didn't fit into any of the "handmade"/sewing/knitting supplies categories for Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day. So this will be a separate giveaway for this (new with tags) size Small t-shirt. I love green tees (I think the color makes me look more "hip") but have far too many already, so, even though I absolutely adore the sumo-type diapers on the tofu wrestlers, this one is up for grabs.

It is 100% cotton and measures 15 inches across the chest (but of course the material allows for plenty of stretch) and about 24 inches long, from shoulder to hem, when laid flat . The detail shot below provides a more accurate representation of the color--the pink text is not actually as bright as it looks in the first picture. Please leave a comment to enter, and of course make sure you leave me your email or some other way to contact you. Deadline is May 31, 2009--US residents only please. Also, don't forget to enter my other giveaway to score some awesome vintage buttons.

vintage button giveaway !!!

When I heard about Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day, I immediately drew up plans to stitch up something fantastic for you all, but then realized that, May 27th being only a couple days away, and my plate already being pretty full with backyard renovations and closet clear-outs as it is, I'd best be more realistic... so this will be a giveaway for sewing supplies instead--vintage buttons, to be precise--because who wouldn't want some fabulous buttons to add to their stash? I'd been saving these for some special project but have decided that they are too good not to share.


The winner will receive these 11 different packs of buttons--some, as you can see, are incomplete, and some are definitely more vintage than others, but I can assure you that they are all fabulous. I may also throw in some extra sewing goodies, if I can find anything else that's prize-worthy in my crafting stashes.

If you have a US mailing address and would like to enter, just leave a comment before May 31, 2009 (be sure to leave me some way to contact you, like an email address, in case you win), and I will choose a winner at random.

Then when you're done, head back over to Sew Mama Sew to find more lovely giveaways to enter. Also, be sure to enter my other giveaway for this cute t-shirt.

planning and doing

I've been busy, and will continue to be so over the weekend. More details to come, but in the meanwhile, I hope you're having a good one.

backyard plans

allium carmeli, photo by Ori Fragman

I know I've been talking about fixing up the backyard for ages, but with any luck it will really happen this year. We cleared out a long stretch of weeds over the weekend (and by "we" I actually mean H., though I did some of the lighter work). There are tree stumps that will need to be taken out and the soil could use tilling, but after that we'll get some sort of ground cover down, and maybe some companion plants for underneath the fruit trees.

As for the so-called "lawn," I think I'd prefer to scrap the whole patchy, weedy thing altogether. We could replant, and fertilize, and mow, and make it green and neat again, but I want to try to conserve more water.

I would love to create a drought-resistant garden, with a meandering path that loops around the yard, though I don't know if I am up such a big task (the plants will supposedly need little maintenance once established, but the trouble is getting from here to there). I keep checking out all these xeriscaping books from the library and browsing through the recommended All-Star plants from the UC Davis Arboretum, but I am having trouble settling on an actual garden plan. H. seems very anxious to get it done, however, so I guess I'd better figure out what I want to do before he decides for me.

A is for...

coloring page by one of the kids from story time--who knew
that orange and pink together could be so beautiful?

Almost, but not quite. The foot pedal/plug attachment I ordered last week doesn't fit (I must have one of those hard-to-fit "transitional" models), so I'm afraid the cute pink serger will have to go. At least I can tell my mom that I tried to make it work, I really did.

That said, did you notice I passed the 200-mark in my GOODBYE, CLUTTER boxes/large items donated to charity tally? I shall have to celebrate somehow.

aprons for Pino

photo by Daniel Molin

Three aprons go in the mail today for Pino and his sweet donkey friends. Katherine is collecting aprons to sell on Pino Pie Day (June 21st this year--Father's Day) to raise money for a celebration in honor of the work done by hospice workers. Katherine and Pino also spend their days bringing cheer and comfort (in the form of home-baked pie and donkey hugs) to those who need it. I highly recommend that you stop by if you happen to be near that part of Oregon (I could give you more reasons to go, but aprons, pie, and cuddly miniature donkeys seem plenty enough). And if you simply can't make it that day, keep an eye on the Apifera-a-Day blog, where Katherine will post the occasional apron, lavender goodies, and other treats for sale online.

in the kitchen with dinnerware

I reorganized some of the kitchen cabinets this weekend. Here are all the dishes, saucers, coffee mugs, beer steins, etc. that I removed. I figured, what are the chances that we'll need to serve coffee to 20 people at the same time? I don't need to keep all of these cups and saucers on hand, especially considering that our coffee machine only makes enough for two. My mother has left strict directions for me not to get rid of any of her 15+ mismatched sets of dishware, however, so in the meantime I have put these into storage, upstairs in the master bedroom. At least for now.

I started to put back what was left into the cupboards but then realized, with the lovely glass doors and all, I could fill it with stuff that made me happy. So out came the bowls and pretty serving-ware.

I know, I know--you're thinking, That's still too cluttered! But it's still functional--plenty of plates, mugs, and bowls that I can grab easily from the bottom shelves, and it makes me happy to see all those bowls stacked up like that, like so many tiers of a fancy cake. And, according to my decluttering philosophies, I'm allowed to keep things that (1) bring me joy, and (2) I have room to store properly.

Next I tackled the other windowed cupboard, figuring that I didn't need to look at old plastic tupperwares and untidy piles of coffee filters every day. I moved all that stuff to the next cupboard over (which had doors of solid wood rather than glass), so that it would still be readily accessible when H. made his a.m. coffee, but also so that it wouldn't be on display. I took out more unnecessaries (more coffee cups and saucers, less-than-lovely mixing bowls and tupperwares, a plastic reusable Raiders cup that H. had got from the last game he went to) and filled it with pretties:

Finally, a place to put that lovely green mixer (formerly stored, inexplicably, on the bookshelf in the family room), which does actually work but which has a bowl too small for most purposes. I do think that my mother would be upset if I got rid of it, plus it is awfully cute.

Now if only I could get the walls stripped and repainted (my mother, as with so many other things, left the job only partially done), and perhaps get all that wood refinished (I've always disliked this particular shade of orange-y brown--I would love to have them painted a clean white but everyone including H. objects to covering up the wood grain), and oh yeah, some non-makeshift window treatments wouldn't hurt. In the picture below you can see the current state of the kitchen walls, and the previous state of the 2nd cabinet.

This has been the state of the kitchen for many years now. No one can agree on a new paint color yet (the wallpaper had been a faded blue), but it's on the list of things to do.

vintage sewing machine love

Reading Heather Ross' thoughts on vintage sewing machines inspired me to dig this old serger out of the garage (one of my mother's thrift store finds) and find a cord for it. After a bit of research and some price comparison shopping, I located the correct part on eBay and bought it straight away.

If it works, maybe I'll start using it, and then I can return the other sewing machine to my mother. Or maybe she'll prefer the older, pinker SergeMate.

There is also this antique Western Electric machine, but I'm thinking that one will need to visit a repair shop if it is to ever sew again. Perhaps it could just be cleaned up and used as a prop or something? Hmm.

**UPDATE: I've received a number of questions about where to find sewing machine manuals for old machines like these. The only place I could find that sells a wide assortment of old manuals (and replacement parts) is Sew4Less; I've never bought anything from them so I can't vouch for their service, but they may be worth checking out. Another option: if you're lucky enough to have a sewing machine repair shop near you, see if you can find what you're looking for there--if anything, they'll probably at least be able to shine some light on the idiosyncrasies of your machine when it comes to threading and other common issues.

making a home, continued

I placed this old chair and some comfy pillows in the corner to 'cozify' the second bedroom. I think I will replace the pillows with some nice homey quilts, though, because the textures of these pillows aren't quite right.

The chair, which needs cleaning or possibly even reupholstering (hence the pillows to cover it up), has been around since my childhood, if not longer.

The human arm-rest, that's me.

I think a little floor rug or two for the bedroom would be lovely as well, but haven't found anything suitable yet. It looks like I'll be keeping the little twin bed after all, as my sister has found a full-sized one that she will try to cram into her front room. Pictures for the wall wouldn't hurt either--I frequently find myself drooling over the huge selection of gorgeous prints for sale on etsy, but don't know if I want to commit to any style/themes/colors just yet. I feel funny buying art, too, because I know there are already so many extra paintings and prints lying around the house, some of which I like and others which someone else used to like. I suppose giving old art pieces away and buying new ones doesn't exactly make it "disposable" but it still feels strange to me.

I could also use something for the wall of the dining room, which has been taking shape slowly (ten times better since that big steel shelf was moved to the master bedroom). Maybe this would be a good spot for a family photo gallery, if I can find some coordinating frames.

tea party apron

Made from vintage bed sheets (including the one you saw here) and a bit of leftover rick-rack that I got from Alli, using the lovely Lola/Lolita pattern from Sew Liberated. I actually meant to make an adult-sized one, but with the Tie One On deadline coming fast I figured a cute child-sized apron would do--this one fits a 3-5 year old; the pattern also includes pieces to fit a 6-9 year old. All that bias tape takes a long time to make (instructions can be found here, and don't miss this if you don't have a bias tape maker, and also see Amy's "no swearing" tutorial if stitching bias tape on makes you crazy), and plus, I accidentally cut out the wrong-sized side panels, which I didn't want to go to waste.

By the way, you can check out the rest of the "no-$$$" aprons here. The next tie one on theme, if you care to participate, is pie-makin' (apron + pie recipe), and it'll be due July 1st.

Eventually, I'll get around to making the adult-sized Lola as well, and then I'll have a mommy-and-me set that I can send to Pino the donkey and Katherine the artist, who sell aprons and art to help pay for all the good work that they do.

back again.

Spent the week at this marvelous little campsite on the beach. So lovely.

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend.