New Additions to the Garden

I got the first two full-grown veggies out of the garden thismorning! Yaaay! These zucchini are going straight into the thai curry tonight. I have been spending a bit more time on the garden this week, just getting it into shape for harvest time. I think in about a week or two we will have more zucchini than we could ever eat. And I have no idea when the tomatoes will be turning red, but I will be canning for days when they do.

Today I finally found some nice, inexpensive plant markers. You would not believe how hard finding these things has been. I looked in every major chain store and specialty garden boutique I could find, and finally found they had a bagillion options at Long's. Geez. And I really do need these, because my roommate can't tell the herbs apart and once put oregano in iced tea instead of mint. Yuck. Anywho...

They are simple copper and silver stakes that you're supposed to write on with a permanent marker. But I wanted something fancier, so I took my metal awl and a hammer and made pierced letters. If you want to make these, be sure to use a jell pen to mark out your letters, not a sharpie, so you can wipe the dots off when you're done. I also recommend using an awl instead of a nail because it is easier to hold and will make more precise holes. Lastly, be sure to put a piece of scrap wood or an old cutting mat underneath your piece of copper so it doesn't bend as you pierce it. Simple and quick, only took me about an hour to make all four, and for $2.50 who can complain?

Also purchased while I was at Long's was a bucket of ladybugs. Honestly, how could I not? I stood there for a couple minutes looking at them in the store until a worker walked by and said, "Set them free!", so I did! When I opened the tub I was instantly covered in ladybugs. It was awesome! And they will hopefully eat whatever has been attacking my pea plants.

I also dug a bird feeder out of mothballs and hung it in the tree to discourage the birds from eating my new friends. And I put a pinwheel by the tomatoes to keep the birds away once they turn red. And I added a mushroom, which needs no justification. I love my happy little garden! I even have a new friend to keep me company...

We just call her "friendly kitty" because we're not sure if she's a stray or if she belongs to someone. I would like to find out because I will adopt her in a second. She's always hanging out in the garden or on our tiny back porch, begging for pets. She's so sweet and friendly - the complete opposite of my current cat. Every once in a while she sneaks into the house and he freaks out while she sniffs around and completely ignores him. It's really funny to watch.

Oh, and on a totally unrelated note, I have a question I am hoping someone out there will be able to help me with: Whenever I hang towels out to dry on the line, no matter how much fabric softener I use they come back scratchy and stiff as a board. What's up with that? Is there some kind of special "line-dry fabric softener" out there? Thanks in advance if anyone knows!

*And be sure to leave a comment anywhere on my blog this month to be entered in my 4th blogiversary prize drawing!

It's getting steamy in here...

Steampunk-y that is! Angela, Dennis, and I are on our way to becoming full-fledged steam punks! Dennis and I bought Nerf Maverick guns and will someday take the time to paint them up all steampunky. Costume designs are being drawn up, and we're trying to use things we already have to construct them. We're starting small, with Angela and me doing a few accessories:

We made this awesome necklace together from an old single broken earring and some chain she had lying around, and a bunch of watch parts my father gave me. He repairs watches for a living so I don't think I'll have any trouble getting my hands on gears for our projects. He sent me 3 old cigarette tins filled with tons of parts. I think the tins are just as cool as what's inside! In return I am sifting out all the minuscule screws to send back to him, as fair a trade as any if you ask me. There will definitely be more jewelry pieces in the coming months, we both adore this one and can't wait to make more. In addition to the jewelry, I have been working on some fabric wrist cuffs and bracelets as well:

I crocheted these ones from some old cotton and added vintage buttons for the closures. I was inspired by one I saw online, and of course now I can't remember where I found it! Durp. If anyone knows please let me know so I can give her credit. It's one of the blogs on my blog roll for sure.

I love how versatile these little snowflake-esque pieces are. You can wear them with the button facing a number of different directions to give you a number of different looks. Dennis helped me stitch the buttons on. *Dreamy sigh*. I made five altogether, one for me, one for Angela, and three for the etsy store. They'll be up in a week or so. And these are just the very beginning, there's much, much more to come, oh yes...

*Don't forget to leave a comment anywhere on my blog this month to be entered in my 4th blogiversary giveaway!

First Quilt Status Update!

Hi there! I'm about to dash out the door to go hang with the most lovely group of people ever at my stitch n' bitch group, but I am so excited I just had to post this:

Halfway there baby! I have never been able to stay focused long enough to get a quilt past the brainstorming stage, and this one is nearly done! I had some help from pre-cut squares. I will go more into what this quilt is made up of as soon as I finish it, and I will throw a pattern and written tutorial up here too. This big patchwork square is all done, and I think I will frame it with white to make it a rectangle and then I will make a pieced back out of the leftover solid colors and some other fabric, which I haven't chosen yet. I am thinking about binding it either with the yellow with grey and black dots or with one of the fabrics that includes all the colors, though I'm leaning towards the yellow because otherwise I would have to buy some more fabric,a nd I'm trying not to. Sorry for the rushed post, but I'm off to crochet my butt off!

*Don't forget to leave a comment anywhere on my blog this month to be entered in my 4th blogiversary giveaway!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, the plans are still up in the air for our day, but I think we will be going out to Dublin to have a family picnic with Dennis' dad and his nieces, whom I absolutely adore! And they let you set off fireworks of your own at a few parks in the area, so I am hoping I can convince everyone to do that. I love little fireworks, we did them every year in Templeton when I was little. Dennis and I are going to go to the farmer's market and get some goodies to make lots of delicious and healthy picnic food. I think I will have to make the green bean salad posted over on Smitten Kitchen, her blog makes me drool buckets. I cannot wait until the garden actually starts producing full grown veggies, right now it is mostly herbs and a little spinach we have been harvesting.

Which reminds me, I never did post pictures of the garden when it was new, but since we started almost everything from seed there wasn't much to look at. I wish I had snapped some pictures of it right as all the seeds were sprouting though. It is such a wonderful feeling to see all the baby plants come to life and to know you had a hand in helping them. But as you can see by these pictures, I am going to have a glut of tomatoes and zucchini/summer squash. But that's why I have been gearing up my canning skills; can you say home made pasta sauce, pickles, and chutney for the next year? Booya. Oh, and the gnome was given to me by Jill and I think he is very happy in his new home. Thanks Jill!

*And be sure to leave a comment anywhere on my blog this month to be entered in my 4th blogiversary prize drawing!

Happy Blogiversary! (Almost.)

Hello everyone! Guess what? This year il bloggo turns four! I can't believe I have been doing this for that long! It seems like just yesterday I was fawning over Hillary Lang's awesome craft blog and my friends suggested I start one. My first post was on the 31st of July, so technically that is my blogiversary. But since I've always been so bad about remembering them, and thusly I have failed to celebrate a single one to date, I am making this a month-long celebration! So here's the plan:

I am going to have a big old give away this month!

There will be 3 prizes, each bigger than the last, and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment anywhere on this site during the month of July. Every comment will get you one piece of paper with your name on it in the hat, so the more you comment, the better chance you have to win! I will select three winners at random from everyone on July 31st at 9 p.m. and post the winners. Bet you are wondering what the prizes are, yes?

Well, I am going to be making them all this month and doing posts about them. In the end I hope to have 3 little gift baskets of handmade goodies and crafty treasures waiting for everyone. But I am starting with some gift certificates as the first item. First prize gets a $20.00 gift certificate to my etsy shop, second prize gets $15.00, and third prize gets $10.00. And I am sure that every basket will contain an eco-friendly plush mushroom which I will be sewing shortly. I will make a large for the first prize basket, a medium for second, and a small for third. I will post pics of them as soon as they are ready! And of course the containers themselves will be handmade, though I'm not sure if I want to make them purses or boxes or crocheted baskets, I guess I'll just have to see where my mood takes me! I have so many little things I would like to make for these packages, and each one will be totally unique. I can't wait to see who gets to take them home!

I am going to try hard to get some new tutorials and patterns posted this month as part of the celebration as well. I have some amigurumi and sewing patterns on the way. So good luck to everyone and thanks so much for sticking with me all these years!

What's on my plate:

I noticed this morning that one of my little felt mushrooms made it into a really cute treasury on etsy. I hope it makes it to the front page!

In other news, a very dear friend of mine has announced that she's preggers! You know what that means, don't you? I have a perfect excuse to sew a ton of adorable baby stuff! And she doesn't know whether it is a boy or a girl quite yet so I get to make both, just in case. She's been coming to the stitch group the past couple weeks and ever since Tuesday I have been sewing non-stop. Currently sitting on my craft table are:

A stack of bibs that just need ironing and their snaps hammered on, which I can't do because it's the middle of the night! I was going to use the lovely free pattern over at Chickpea Sewing Studio, but I knew I would want to sell some on my etsy store so I drafted my own instead. They come in sets of two, and as soon as my friend picks her favorites the rest will be for sale in the shop! I think it will be in about 2 1/2 weeks. I'm sure I will be sewing a bunch more, the pattern I made is really fun to do!

An actual quilt, completely cut out and already being sewn together (more on that one later for sure)!

Bunting! Well, it will be bunting soon. I have a lot of things in mind for by big stash of 1930's reproduction fabrics, and this is one of them. I will make a couple different versions for sure. A couple of quilts are planned for the rest of the stash.

All of these things I have in mind are simple patterns I made up, and I am toying with the idea of making more patterns and incorporating them into a book. But the thought of actually writing a craft book is a very daunting one, and I don't even know where to begin! But I feel like now is my chance, and I really seriously want to do this! So any advice you guys could give me would be very appreciated. I suppose I should e-mail a couple of the publishing companies who put out the craft books I swear by and request some information, yes? I will keep you posted, and thanks in advance for any advice!

*Also, I went to Whole Foods tonight and noticed that they were selling plain organic cotton jelly straining bags for $6. And while they're not as cute as mine, I need to keep prices competitive so I have lowered mine to $6 as well. Whoops! I made them $10 because Farmer Joe's (no, not Trader Joe's) was selling them for that. At least now I know! Lol.

Shop Update!

My etsy shop will be getting an update Saturday morning at about 9 a.m. Pacific time. Featured in this update will be a couple new assortments of items that I have been working on for the past two weeks. First of all, there will be four little eco-friendly plush mushrooms:

All hand sewn, made from eco felt (felt made from 100% recycled plastic bottles), and vintage notions, then stuffed with recycled paper. I have had quite the mushroom fixation lately and these have been so much fun to make, and I love that they are so earth friendly!

The other items that will go into the shop are seven organic cotton jelly straining bags. I made eight of these and kept one for myself since I have been making so much jelly lately (there's a new batch ready to go into the shop next wednesday). The organic cotton ensures that no nasty chemicals will spoil fine jellies, and the cute little fabrics that encase the draw strings make a ho-hum piece of kitchen wear a bit more fun. To wash them all you need to do is soak them in warm water and white vinegar and give them a good hand-washing! See you all tomorrow morning!

*Edited to add: The shop update went off without a hitch!

Let there be light!

Today was quite an inspiring one for me. I drove out to San Francisco thismorning to see how the commute was because I get to work in the new toy store my bosses are opening there! I'm very excited about it, though not quite so enthused by the drive - I think I will bart/bus it out there, which will take a while since it's off the bart line but at least I can crochet along the way. It's going to be on the corner of Lombard and Fillmore in a great little neighborhood that I am absolutely in love with. It's right down the street from a million great shops including Paper Source and Miette, which is my favorite bakery/candy shop.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about things I can do for my etsy shop to make it better. Business has been slow lately and I know it's getting harder and harder to stand out as etsy gets more and more sellers. So I want to do some special packaging for my items and I found everything I needed and more at the little shops I visited today. I got some Cath Kidston labels and stickers at the Japanese bookstore, and at paper source I got some lovely little stickers and velveteen flowers. The pink package is a surprise for a friend so I can't say what's inside, but it is my new standard packaging for soft items and paper goods (the jewelry already has new packaging). Everything I ship out from my etsy store will come wrapped in tissue paper and sealed with a sticker and a flower. And at Miette I got myself some French rosewater and some tiny rose geranium flavored meringues. Lovely little treasures, they make me so happy.

What's that you say? That's a pretty picture? Much brighter and better than before? Why thank you, and also thanks to my brand new home made light box!

I found a tutorial for how to make it here, and for about twenty dollars it is a reasonable facsimile to the one hundred dollar pre-made version. So yay! Now when I really only have time at night to photograph new etsy stuff I will be able to take decent pictures! And I promise, new items are finished, they just need some ironing and photographing.

Blog gets a face lift!

For a long time now I have been putting off switching over from the classic blogger to the new version, mostly because I was being lazy and did not want to copy over all my billions of links. But I sure am glad I did it now, as I think ye olde blogge looks pretty good this way. Anyone else think it`s better? Worse? Beuller? Anyone?


Ah, also I did a bit of an overhaul on my shipping profiles in my etsy shop . Everything will be shipped out exclusively via first class mail, so I lowered the pricing accordingly. It is so much cheaper than priority and really takes about the same amount of time for most of the things I sell. Also I have had a bit more time these days so I can ship things out Saturdays and Wednesdays, as opposed to just Saturdays. Anywho, I thought I would just stop by to say hello, I will be back shortly with some new creations for the shop to show off!

Recycled Fabric Box Tutorial

A long, long time ago I posted some pictures of cute fabric boxes. I've been wanting to make some ever since and I have no idea why I never got around to it until now. I had some upholstery samples lying around and I decided to use eco-felt (made from 100% recycled plastic bottles) for the lining, so they're not only cute but earth friendly as well! The thickness of the two combined makes the box nice and sturdy, no ironing or interfacing needed. My first attempt was an utter failure, but the second box is lovely and I am using it to keep some new fabric-covered embroidery thread bobbins I made, via The Small Object. 

They're just recycled cardboard with fabric glued on, then you sandwich them together. They're a little tough at first, but using YES Glue instead of fabric glue makes it much easier. Click on this link to go straight to the how-to. I think I will be making many, many more of these in the future. 

Anywho, I whipped up a little tutorial on how to make the boxes since it's a teensy bit trickier than it looks, and I think my way might be the easiest after some trial and error. Here it goes:

How to Make a Recycled Fabric Box

1. Since I used samples, the pieces still had paper glued to part of them, which needed to be cut off. Pin the remaining rectangle to a suitable size piece of felt and use pinking shears to trim the edges evenly. My rectangle came out to about 7x10 inches.

2. Mark a 1 1/2 inch square on each corner and cut them out. (If you want a box with more shallow sides, make the squares 1 inch. If you want it to be deeper, make them 2 inches.)

3. On your sewing machine, line the edge of the fabric up with the edge of your presser foot to get a small hem and stitch the top, bottom, and sides of the cross, but don't stitch into the corners you cut out. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of every section. (I found it was easiest to just leave the thread attached and sew it quickly, then I cut all the threads when it was all done. See picture. Quick and dirty, and effective.)

4. Fold the corners up and pin them together, and it will begin to resemble a box. At this point you can either have the felt or the fabric on the outside of the box. With this thicker fabric I like it on the outside.

5. Stitch up the corners on your sewing machine, and be sure to stitch all the way over the ends for a nice finish.

6. If you're like me, spend 5 full minutes picking fuzzy bits off the pinked edges and, voila! Your sweet little fabric box is finito!

One little interesting thing now that I've made a few of these is that I'm left with an increasing stack of little felt and fabric squares. I wonder what I could use these for, I rather like them!

Ammendments!

This morning I spent some time fiddling with my etsy store and here's what I've come up with:

1. All earrings are now $8 instead of $10.

2. All owl pincushions are now $10 instead of $12.

3. All pieces of jewelry that are not exceedingly large now come in handmade origami gift boxes. Shipping went up just a little because now I have to ship them in boxes instead of padded envelopes so they don't get smushed.

4. I have filled out the entire shop policies section with all the necessary info.

Why the changes? Well, business has been very slow lately, and I think there are a lot of contributing factors besides the economy. One of the things that has irked me about the store for a while is the fact that people I know have been telling me I charge too little for the things I sell. So I reluctantly raised some prices, and sales went kapootz. I have changed them back to where they were because I think I am the best judge of what to charge for the things I make. I would much rather see them go to good homes for a little less money than hardly sell anything at all for top dollar. So there! I've made my choice and I'm sticking to it!

Also, I have been wanting to do some nice packaging for a while and I love making boxes and things. Soon there may be some special packaging for the owl pincushions as well! I'll keep you posted.

Busy Busy!

Wow, I can't believe I let that much time go by between posts! I have been up to my ears lately, just running all over the place and doing lots of different things. I have so many things I want to post about, but for some reason I can't seem to get motivated to take pictures of all the stuff. I don't know why - I used to be so into taking pictures. Oh well. I swear I will get some pictures of the garden, it's doing very well. I also have some new steampunk stuff in the works that I will show off soon. And some special crafty collaborations. And some lemony goodness. And I'm gearing up to play in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign (yes, I have played it many times before), and I'm making it swiftly throught a stack of books lent to me from 5 different people. I'm also on a diet, and I'm using this great site called SparkPeople to track my progress. Oh, also, I've added a list of all the other social networking sites I'm on over there on the side bar, in case anyone would like to say hello. Oh, and I chopped all my hair off:

Anywho, I will be back soon with something more interesting to say!

To My Mom!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Thanks for always being there, taking care of me, and supporting me in everything I do. You are the biggest inspiration in the world to me and I am so thankful that I'm your daughter! I love you!

Look Ma, I lived!

So my roommate and I have been trying to eat locally as much as possible lately, and I've always had an interest in wild edibles so we decided to try using wild food more in our home. About the same time I got my new bread book, I also purchased a great book called Edible and Useful Plants of California. It's from the late 1970's but is endlessly helpful in identifying the plants in our very own neighborhood that are good for salads, teas, jellies, etc. Our first big experiment was the pyrecantha jelly, which turned out phenomenally well. So I was walking around our immense back yard, book in hand, figuring out what was what. I noticed we had a huge patch of miner's lettuce so I picked some to make a salad. 

It's a strange looking plant, kind of Lilly-pad shaped with a little tuft of flowers in the middle. In the book it said they had a nice succulent quality but were bland-tasting on their own. I picked some, washed them, tried a bite, and was pleasantly surprised that it had a delightful taste! The texture is kind of like spinach, but it tastes nice and nutty like arugula, almost identical if you ask me! Then I went out into the front yard and picked a little hand full of wood sorrel, or shamrocks, as they are more commonly known. I knew for years that you could munch on the sourgrass - the stalks of the yellow flowers that bloom from the sorrel in the springtime - and they have a wonderful tart flavor, like a really sour grape. But I didn't know the leaves were edible too and have a lighter version of the same tart lemony flavor. They were the perfect accompaniment to the nutty miner's lettuce. I added a tiny bit of tomato, carrot, and celery to it as well and dressed it with some yummy garlic-rosemary dressing I got from Whole Foods, and it was such a tasty salad! I'm hooked on the stuff and I know where there is another big patch on my way home from work, so I might have to stop and pick more. I left the baby ones in the back yard so hopefully they'll be ready in a few weeks, especially after all this rain.

Oh, and that same night I made pink elephant sugar cookies for the meetup group. I was having such a fun day, eating free wild food and dancing around the house while making sugar cookies. I need more days like that!

*Please note: never, ever, ever, under any circumstances eat any wild foods that you cannot identify and be 110% sure that they are perfectly safe to eat. And mom, I do follow that rule, I swear! <3

The Sandwich Saga Part 3

In preparation for the (hopeful) abundance of our recently planted garden (pictures as soon as it stops raining I promise), I have been learning how to make jams, jellies, preserves, and pickles. I have wanted to do this since I was a little girl, and now that I have the time and resources at my disposal, I figured it was time. My first attempt at making jam turned out pretty good, but it was definitely a learning experience. 

Angela, Dennis, and I went around the corner and picked loquats off of a tree growing out of the sidewalk. We brought them home, washed them, and I made jam from them. There are a few things I should have done differently:

1. Chopped them finer - I had no idea how resilient their skins were and assumed they would cook down softly, but they remained whole, which makes for a very chunky jam.

2. Used less sugar - Since I didn't have a recipe for loquat jam I used one for plum jam. I also didn't have as much fruit as the recipe called for, but I halved the recipe to compensate. But the amount of sugar seemed to me to be too much, but I used it anyhow and I think the jelly is a bit too sweet.

3. Not stirred during the final boil - It doesn't say anywhere in any of my books whether or not you are supposed to stir the fruit as you hard-boil it to 220 degrees, so I stirred it now and again. The place where I stirred it the most caramelized much faster, giving a deeper flavor, but also making the color a little muddier. I now know that you're supposed to just let the jelly boil away and not touch it...

Which brings me to my next canning project: pyrecantha-rose jelly. Pyrecantha berry bushes are common as ornamental plants due to their lovely foliage and bright red berries. What many people don't know is that they are also edible, though I wouldn't recommend snacking on them right off the bush as they are horribly bitter and have the texture of a mealy old apple. But I read that they make a marvelous jelly, so I thought I would give it a try. So the gang and I again went hunting for free fruit, and found it right in our own yard. We also thought it would be fun to gather wild climbing tea rose hips and petals to put in the jelly too, so we got those from around the corner. And I added an apple for extra flavor and pectin.

So we went home and I was left to sort and clean the berries, which took for-frickin'-ever, but was made easier by that wonderful fruit and veggie wash from TJ's. It was late by the time I finished, but I wanted jelly asap, so I started boiling the fruits together so I could hang them to drain in a jellybag overnight. I put them on the stove and went in my room, and when it was time to turn them off I came out and the house smelled... Funky. Like really old roses and apples. And when I opened the pot all the fruit had turned muddy brown and looked very unappealing. But I wasn't going to stop now so I drained it and went to bed. In the morning I got up and saw that the juice had a pleasant pinkish color to it and smelled better now that it was cooled. So I strained it a few times to make it clearer, and set to boiling it. All the recipes I found online called for almost twice as much sugar as juice and a whole package of pectin. Having learned from the first jam, I reduced the sugar and pectin amounts. I hate jelly that is so solid you can bounce a quarter off of it.

So there it was, starting to become jelly, and I was so worried that it would taste bad, or look gross, or smell funny, or not set properly. But then, like magic, after adding the sugar and some lemon juice, it started to change into the most lovely jelly ever. The aroma was spicy, floral, and sweet, and the color brightened and deepened to a rosy-orange hue, like the berries but softer. And after hot-water canning the jars and trying some, it set perfectly and has the most subtle, delightful flavor.

The taste of the jelly can be likened to a combination of many fruits. It has a lovely floral note because I added wild tea rose hips to the berries (which are also full of Vitamin C), and added a layer of rose petals on top. The Pyrecantha berries add a beautiful subtle flavor, a combination of grape fruit, pear, apple, and rose, with a spicy note reminiscent of allspice. Needless to say I'm hooked, and as soon as we have more berries to pick I can guarantee that I will be making more.

Oh, and in case you want to try some, I have the extra 5 jars for sale in my etsy store, here. ^_~