Happy Halloween

Have a wicked good day!

Handmade Holidays

Perhaps you are like me and continually amazed at how fast the holidays approach each year... For the first time, I'm glad for the reminders everywhere because this year, I've vowed to only give handmade gifts. (The Handmade Pledge from 2007 sparked the interest and I've finally (hopefully?) started in time!) My appologies for directing thoughts to the holidays if you are busy relishing the changing colors and crisp air and enjoying Fall!

Over the next month-ish, I will be sharing inspiration, resources and patterns for making and giving handmade this holiday season. Please join in with your ideas for those tough ones of your list, your tips on modifying the patterns or something that just inspires your creativity. Good luck and good making!

iBite

I got a kick out of this article my mom shared with me about a cupcake decorating contest in NYC last Monday that this pair won with their iPhone apps. Read more at Craftzine. (Photo Credit - Bre Pettis).

Pasta with Grilled Fish & Preserved Meyer Lemon

I finally used these preserved lemons in a pasta dish for dinner last night--The Boy really liked them (translation = a season of preserving lemons awaits me). The texture is really silky and the flavor fairly mellow--it's wonderful. I used ingredients we had on hand for the pasta and it turned out pretty good, although I'd like to try the original recipe (from Donna Hay) sometime too...

Toss together:

• Chopped preserved lemon peel (scoop out the bitter flesh and rinse the peel well)
• Grilled salmon chunks (we used yellow fin)
• Capers (we used olives since sadly I realized I'm all out)
• Flat-leaf parsley
• Dill leaves
• Lemon juice
• Melted unsalted butter
• Cooked short pasta
  

County Fair Weekend

Over the weekend, I finally dug into this pattern and Denyse Schmidt's County Fair fabrics. County Fair is a home dec collection with prints from both her earlier collections. See what Spool Sewing made with some of it!

My other County Fair project was a tote bag. Empowered by a used copy of this book that I picked up at Powell's last weekend, I made up my own design using this tote from my Mama as inspiration. I love how Lotta mixes textures together...

A different type of "Day At The Beach"

I never thought I'd ever blog anything in the "Sewing" Category, but guess what?! Estoy aqui! Yesterday I spent the afternoon in my madre's craft room learning to cut and pin and piece. I've been wanting to make a quilt for a couple years (ever since seeing this exhibit at the DeYoung with my friend Summer), and decided there was no time like the present.
It started last Winter when I got a copy of Denyse Schmidt Quilts. One quilt in particular (A Day At The Beach), looked particularly simple, so I had it in my mind. Then, several months ago I got inspired by my sister-in-law's red, white/cream and blue decorating and went to the Purl Soho Warehouse in Tustin during my lunch break to pick out a few fabrics. I still need to have it quilted and then do the binding, but I thought I'd share a few photos of the progress. The black & white photo is the front, and the color photo is the back (which is not according to pattern).

(Thank you, Mama--would have been lost without you.)

Red Vases

I love these vases and the entire seasonal line. Also, some other things I've found interesting lately...

• A recent project by Denyse Schmidt
  
• A new cookbook from Baked
  
• A new decorating book from Domino Magazine
• A new location for Heath Ceramics--close to home in Los Angeles!
• A new food blog (kind of) - Spain On The Road Again
• A new collaboration (Camilla Engman)
  
• A hybrid watch (look under the "Collections" tab, then at "Lifestyle Rubber")
• A new play on old

Piggy Back - Another Great Desk Calendar

I'm piggy backing on Jamie's last couple posts about desk calendars. Just had to show you this PLANTABLE one too!

Another Great Desk Calendar

If this one wasn't really your style, maybe this one from Paper Source is...