wise craft

daydreaming in patchwork patterns

 

 

 

Well, I ended up taking more of a computer break than I intended this week, but I probably needed it, its been good. The scorching hot temperatures in Seattle really zapped my energy, and my studio seems to heat up early in the day, and stay steamy.

I wanted to share these gorgeous images from a book I found at the library over the weekend, 1973's Patchwork Simplified by Alice Timmins. I love the use of color and immaculate piecing. They don't look like what I picture in my mind as 70's patchwork at all, so modern.

I hope you are well. Be back soon.

zapped

I made some progress on Ian's marquee quilt. I'm liking the selection of fabrics I finally settled on (with a little help from a surprise package from Erin back when I started). Very gender neutral is what I was hoping for. He's just feeling too old these days for hedgehogs and robots (which, at the ripe old age of almost 8, is sad, but true). This all feels more in line with what I had in mind. All those 12" x 40" strips will soon be sliced perpendicular, into smaller strips, which will then be pieced into new strips, or, um, something like that, oh, actually, I don't quite remember...its so hot around here I can't think straight. 90's all week (no air conditioning). And anything involving quilt assembly and a steam iron is the absolute last thing I will be able to do. I took this photo just before we shut the house up, vault style, closing shades and blinds, and hanging sheets over windows with no covering. We're like a bunch of vampires, running from the sun. Its dreadful. 

Our niece Kate is visiting us for the week, so we've been showing her the sites around Seattle.

Today, we're going to show her how we run through a sprinkler.

(I'm closing the comments to this post, trying to stay off the computer a little this week. Thanks for stopping by!)

just enough...

patchwork...

tour...

sunshine...

picnics at the beach with friends...

board games...

I really can't believe our summer is halfway over, but that seems to be the case. In many ways, this has been our best in a long time, but for simple reasons. The kids are able to find what it is that they enjoy (reading...drawing...journalling...building tracks for cars...Legos) and have no need the structure that the rest of their lives provide. I offer up opportunities to do art projects or present activities. Sometimes they are all for it. Other times, they just say "no thanks mom, I'm going to keep doing this" and continue playing. So, we eat peaches that make embarrassing messes of our hands and faces, we walk to get ice cream, we fill our shoes with sand that we pour out at the end of the day, we read chapter upon chapter of a new favorite book.

So, please excuse the laisez faire-ness. Our summer is both full and empty.

Just enough, it seems.

I hope yours is.

removable quilt design wall

Our slowish week's end continued into the weekend, I'm happy to say. I got a chance to work on the value quilt, which I am also calling my stash quilt, because I've dug through every bit of it for this one. As I was beginning to put the quilt top together, it was clear that I was going to have a tough time making sure I was placing all the squares the correct way. There is no room in my small studio to lay out the squares, and the dining room table would be too temporary, making me feel rushed. I have always wished I had the room for a full sized quilt design wall, but there is no real wall space in our house to make that happen. But necessity being the mother of invention, I came up with the idea to make a temporary design wall, one that can be easily put up when needed, and easily taken down when not. (For those unaware of what a quilt design wall even is, it is essentially a wall of solid flannel or a similar fabric. Quilting fabric sticks to it temporarily. As you complete a quilt square, you can place it up on the design wall, and the flannel just sort of grabs it and hangs on. Its great to piece quilt squares together, move them around, etc. Here's a large one in Denyse Schmidt's studio to give you an idea.)

I bought 4 yards of 45" cream flannel, cut it into four 1yd pieces. I sewed two of the pieces together, selvege to selvege, then did the same with the other 2 yards, then I sewed those 2 larger pieces together length wise, forming a large rectangle of flannel measuring approximately 88" x 72". (These dimensions fit my wall well, if you have the luxury of working with a bigger wall, you may want to add more fabric.) On one of the 72" pieces, I folded and pressed a 1/4" towards the wrong side, then folded and pressed a 2" hem, which I then stitched close to the fold's edge all the way across. I then applied 10 evenly spaced grommets (I used large ones because that's what I had, but you could use a small size, these kits are sold at sewing stores, I'm sure mine came from Joann's). The part to realize is that you will have to hammer in small tacks (could be tiny, because what they are supporting is not heavy) across the very top of the wall you'll plan to hang this from (you could paint them to match your wall color if you wanted to, so that aren't as visible, but if you're planning to use this design wall in a basement or workroom, it wouldn't matter so much). Use the grommets to hang the flannel on the tacks, against the wall, and you're done. Now you have a space to play with your quilt squares, and you won't have to clean the floor or clear table dishes to do it.

 

Things make so much more sense when you can stand back and look at them fully, don't they? Once I had all these squares up, it was easy to see where the color values of the lights and darks were working best and where I needed to move things around. I don't think I could have seen this easily on the floor. Since this picture was taken, the blocks have been all pieced together and my quilt design wall has been taken down, folded, and put away until next time.

I don't know why I chose summer to work on a quilt. Well, I don't think I chose it, I went with being inspired and just decided to do it, not giving much thought to it being summer (and all the steam ironing I would be doing). If you've never made a quilt, but have thought about trying it, I hope you do. There is a "zone" I get into when I'm in the midst of seeing a quilt come together. Each part of the process (picking the fabrics, planning the squares, finding the backing, sandwiching the layers, basting, quilting, binding, etc) brings such an escape for me. As I sew each piece to the other makes it feel more solid, more real. I am planning to machine quilt this one myself, so the next steps are to choose the backing fabric (solid? not solid?), then baste the layers together. My goal is to not let this one sit idle too long. I usually have one quilt in me a year, I'm really hoping this year I have two.

I should get busy.

five senses friday

Seeing

-the ties that Emma put on our backyard badminton net, just so no one would trip

-leftover baguettes from our Bastille Day gathering (that will become buttery croutons shortly)

-kids still in their jammies at 4:00pm

-a pile of laundry to be washed

-a to do list which never seems to get any shorter

Hearing

-a neighbor's toddler, squealing with delight

-Michael York, telling us the story of The Chronicles of Narnia on the Ipod

-the coffeemaker beeping, ready to help me get through the afternoon

-Ian playing Battleship ("awaiting orders from Player One")

-the hum of our window fans, trying to keep the house cooled down

 

Touching

-quilt squares (all 170 of them) freshly pressed

-Gracie's soft belly, warm from the sun

-brown, dry grass under my bare feet (the same patch that goes brown every summer)

-cool countertop, wiped down for the fiftieth time today

-summer sunshine on my skin

Tasting

-lime popsicles (the kids don't like them)

-cold Perrier (also leftover from Bastille Day)

-fish tacos

-cupcake flavored mints from Emma

-iced coffee

 

Smell

-the kid's lunchtime pizzadillas (Ian's recipe- tortillas with pizza sauce and shredded cheese, baked in the oven)

-fresh sandwich bread, almost ready

-the pine smell that seems to fill our neighborhood, coming through the open windows

-a new candle

-sunscreen

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I was catching up on a friend's blogs this morning and Abby's blog reminded me about five senses friday, I haven't done it in a long time (wow, like not since 2006), so my post for today quickly changed course. Its been a lovely slow day here, easy and relaxing (as summer days should be, but usually aren't, it seems). The kids spent hours playing quietly, and now Peter has headed out for a bike ride before dinner, tired of being in front of the computer. I am playing the window shade dance, putting down the ones on the west side of the house, raising the ones on the east.

I wish everyone out there a lovely weekend, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

bits of our wednesday

Today is first quiet day we've had in a while. I took the kids with me for a quick visit to our accountant's office, which meant a stop on the way home at the really large Goodwill nearby. My kids zero'd in on an electronic Battleship game, then found a treasure trove of 79 cent paperback books. I, myself was browsing through the other shelves and hit the jackpot on a back wall.

 

I have been looking for a full set of The Family Creative Workshop forever, and it seems my patience has finally paid off. For those of you who haven't discovered these, published in the 70's each volume (I believe there are 23 or 24) is full of craft ideas, covering everything from glassblowing to wire sculpture to quilting to macrame (of course) for kids and adults. I am going to have so much fun looking through these. I talked the manager into letting me have them for $1.99 each (usually $2.99 each). I actually didn't bring home every one of the volumes in the set (because, as an example, although I craft a lot, I don't plan on glassblowing any time soon). Only problem is they smell pretty bad, I don't think they have been opened and aired since the 70's! Does anyone have tips on getting rid of that musty book smell?

 

On a less-smelly subject, yesterday I got the assortment of sunny yellows and orange fabrics I ordered from Pink Chalk Fabrics. Its been a while since I bought a lot of fabric (other than the owls) and when I did the patchwork pillows I realized that my fabric purchases tend towards the greens and blues (a lot of the warmer fabrics in those pillows were actually teeny tiny swatches that just barely made a strip, its a travesty, I know). It was easy on Kathy's site to just click on the yellows and the oranges, and now I feel like I've filled out my assortment. These will probably be going into the Value Quilt that I've started (completely Katie's fault), even though I have one quilt started and another one I was going to start. But I have to admit, if you're looking for a quilt to make and enjoy, and have a stash of pretty fabric (or need an excuse to buy some), make this Value quilt. It comes together so quickly and easily, and it gives people like me a chance to use all those fancy, pretty florals that stand no chance around here on their own. It really does make a terrific light/dark pattern to use lots of different, random patterns and colors. I think this quilt will become a family room quilt, the one we use in there is actually a quilt I made pre-blog and its really embarrassing! Let's just say I had huge issues with quilt binding back in 2004.

If you drive by my house, this is what you will hear us playing right now. Off to make afternoon coffee. Happy Wednesday!

planted...

We did some agressive tidying in the front yard over the weekend. We need to do so so much more, but time is short, so we take it in baby steps and try not to make ourselves crazy with the list of what remains undone. Lucky for us, there are many plants in our yard that are well established, like this epimedium, and really don't need much from us. I love their heart-shaped leaves.

Ferns are some of my favorite plants and they do really well here in the pacific northwest. Our yard is full of them, and I find ways to tuck more in everywhere I can. I think of painting that urn every time I look at it, but I also kind of like it the way it is. Its one of those things I've had my whole married life.

A few plants made it inside over the weekend. And I finally made a terrarium, which I've always wanted to do-

As if the front yard were thanking us for the attention, flowers are blooming like crazy since we weeded and thoroughly watered over the weekend.

* I recently did the sweetest Q & A with Nicole of Kirei Nest about memorable gifts for a wedding or new home. It was so fun to remember all those things Peter and I received when we were married 15 years ago, thank you Nicole.
* I also did a little write up on nonchalant mom about finger knitting with Emma and Ian, a fun thing to pull out from time to time.

Tomorrow we are having a Bastille Day Story Trading gathering. We've got the Carla Bruni queued up on the Ipod Dock. I refuse to make snails.

patchwork color study

A few of you clever folks noticed that this menagerie of patchwork became my new summer header.

I had temporarily forgotten how much I love patchwork. Like Goddess dressing to my food, I think everything sewn can be made just a little better with patchwork. Patchwork can satisfy my need to buy smallish cuts of pretty fabric, and it creates a brand new piece of fabric that I never get tired of. Fabric that I only like a little bit on its own is suddenly so much better when grouped into patchwork.

Malka's Tuesday Pillow on the cover of the Spring 09 Stitch magazine set me off on a patchwork tangent that still hasn't quite passed. I follow her blog, A Stitch In Dye, because I love the hand dyed and stamped fabric she creates and love the way she combines them into beautiful quilts and pillows. I misplaced the magazine after I initially read through the how-to for this pillow, so I just did my own thing through most of it, which is why the binding on mine is nothing like her directions (mine came out fine, but different, and I like hers better.) The placement of her fabric strips were based on warm and cool colors, meant to make a "T" shape in one of the corners with the warmer colors. That part I remembered.

To quilt the front, I did a simple straight stitch, starting in the middle of the pillow front, and gradually making larger and larger squares around the pillow front. One day I will plan ahead, make a test piece, and actually give free motion quilting a go. I really like the liveliness of the patterns all together in this one. Ian now owns this one, to prop himself up to read in bed. His room is such an explosion of color, this pillow seems as if it was meant to be in there.

I wanted to try to second version, playing with the color placement a little differently. I cut the strips larger and slightly more uniform for this one, so the log cabin blocks (there are nine of them) came out more uniformly shaped in this one.

And then came the third, just straight strips pieced from light to dark, just me playing with colors. You can see the way I quilted all of these best in this photo (click for larger image).

 Anyone who's been in our house knows that the family room in the back of our house is kid central. Its where toys and art supplies are kept, where the wii is played, books are read, board games are played, beanbags are plopped down on, and puzzles are assembled. The furniture has been laid on and used as a trampoline for far too long, so these pillows will live here, to help to brighten it all up a bit. These are big, 20" x 20" pillows, by the way. Small pillows are meaningless in here. We need big and squishy.

But this is a cautionary tale. If you are thinking of doing patchwork today, beware that your work area will be completely covered in strips of fabric when you're done. Completely covered.

And on another note, I want you lovely people to know that I have been replying to your comments via Typepad Connect recently and just realized on Friday that my comments were not showing up in the comment thread as I had intended (for those who don't know, typepad connect allows me to not only respond to the commenter, but my answer shows up in the comment thread for all to read, which is so great). I contacted typepad and the problem seems to be fixed now.

Just wanted to say I was talking.

Alot.

Like usual.

i know it happens...

they grow...they spread wings...they gain independence...yes, yes I know every bit of that, I always have. But experiencing it as a parent is both thrilling and tugging at my heart. The endless push and pull of little ones, growing.

While Emma was away at camp, she said she wrote me a few letters. She kept forgetting to actually mail them, mind you, but she did write them.

I found two of them in her lake water-dampened clothes which were stuffed into her duffel bag. The first letter was the longest, went on about how "awsome!" (misspelled) everything was... the food, the girls, the counselors, the songs. The second one, apparently written later that first night, when she couldn't sleep, proclaimed "Mom, I miss you more than anything, please take me home now!" (She tells me that was only one night, that it was all much better after that.)

And a surprise third letter actually came in the mail today. I had to pay the postman an extra 78 cents for it and I would have given him a blank check if I'd had to-

A heart shaped rock for our collection.

Such a gift I have.

Brownstone Front Cake

You folks are special. You should know that, because I would not give this coveted family recipe to just anyone. All clever, pun-filled catchy blog titles aside, this is a cake worthy of its own post.

First, a tiny bit of personal history about this cake. Most of the bigger family get-togethers we had when I was growing up ("bigger" could mean 40 people at times) often, but not always, included a Brownstone Front Cake on the dessert table, (and lots of card tables for extra seating, and my Dad's favorite chocolate meringue pie, but that a dessert worth its own post too). There would be side mumblings as we arrived at the house, "did you see that there is a Brownstone cake?". It was actually not much to "see" at that point, usually completely covered with aluminum foil, ominously fruitcake-like in its covered state. Some of us would gauge our servings at mealtime specifically to leave adequate room for a big slice of that cake...or two, if you were sneaky, because there was rarely any left.

My sister-in-law's mom, Doris, was the person who introduced these cakes to my family. Over the years Doris has probably made a hundred of these, each with a zillion layers, sandwiching the amazing carmel-y icing. It assures you'll get the best of everything in every single forkful.

The exact origins of this cake are unclear (some history here), and there are many versions of this cake. The name explains the color, and perhaps the endless layers of the version from my childhood, which is where the recipe I'm giving you today comes from. The "icing" can best be described as a form of caramel, in color and taste. The cake batter turns a beautiful tan color from the addition of the 3 tablespoons of cocoa. There are moments when I was creating this cake, for a July 4th gathering, that I thought I was screwing it up, but the next step always proved I was still on track.

The disclaimer ~ I will not deny, this recipe has a ton of butter. Its beyond rich, as I think cake should be. It really is a once a year cake in my opinion. Its memorable, and its worth every minute it takes to stand over the stove and cook the icing (for there was no "frosting" on my childhood cakes, only icing). My version makes 3 standard-sized layers. You could easily make this 6 layers by slicing each one in half, so you choose.

Brownstone Front Cake

3/4 cup warm water                                        1 tsp. vanilla

3 Tbsp. cocoa                                                 1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups sugar                                                   1 cup buttermilk

1/2 lb. of unsalted butter, softened                 3 cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cocoa in warm water and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well with each addition. Add vanilla to cocoa and water and add to mixture. (At this point, my cake batter looked curdled, but don't dismay, it will change.) Add soda to buttermilk. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk mixture to bowl, mixing only to combine with each addition. I ended with buttermilk, made sure all was mixed. At that point I has gorgeously smooth batter a beautiful golden brown color. Pour equal amounts into 3 buttered and floured cake pans. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before icing it.

Icing

3 1/2 cups sugar (I know!)                               12 oz. Carnation evaporated milk

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (!!)                         1 1/4 tsp. vanilla

Cook sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a heavy bottomed pot on stove top. Bring to a bubbling boil, then lower the heat to a bubbly simmer, stirring often and adjusting heat as necessary. Cook 35 to 40 minutes. Add vanilla, beat mixture in bowl of electric mixture until creamy.*This icing needs to cool down quite a bit before spreading it on the cake, so you could start it while the cake is baking. Spread a generous amount of icing between each of the layers, then spread the remainder of the of the icing over the cake. If icing still seems to be running, put everything in the refrigerator to cool down.

Serve at room temperature.

Enjoy!

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A bit of business, I currently have 10 subscribers through Feedblitz. They are asking me to pay them money each month in order to keep this service and that seems a bit counterintuitive to me. I will not be continuing with Feedblitz and hope that you guys will subscribe to the wise craft feed another way (there are options on the left sidebar and at the top). Sorry for the inconvenience.