May 23rd, 2013
I’m not sure what it says about me that I seem to need to plan what I’ll be eating next while enjoying a meal, but there is nothing I like better than browsing through cookbooks while dining. It is simply the best reading material for the moment. The imagination of my taste buds are on full alert and they are ready to absorb new possibilities. Sometimes my perusing of these culinary manuals is an earnest attempt to figure out what’s for dinner, sometimes to scheme up the next best birthday cake. Other times I just want to revisit an old favorite cookbook to see what I’ve either missed or forgotten, and then there are times I want to read some vintage cookery tome that came to me by way of my mother-in-law just to see how ingredients, techniques, and writing styles have changed. These edible short stories, otherwise known as recipes, never fail to satiate my body or soul.
Now that I am so lucky as to be able to spend my days immersed in my knitting and sewing and hooking and such, when I get home from work my creative impulses are directed towards the culinary arts rather than the fiber ones. This has a twofold effect: First, we eat really well. Second, it distracts me from cleaning. Win. Win.
This is all rather amusing given my previous edible life. Long grueling hours at work left little time for anything else. Friends would leave food for me on my back porch so I wouldn’t resort to eating cold codensed soup directly out of the can (yes, I have been caught doing just that). When my husband and I first started dating the contents of my fridge on which we relied upon for a late night dinner were a carton of coleslaw, brussel sprouts, and a spaghetti squash. Yeah, he didn’t have high hopes in the food department. Yet, despite our humble beginnings, we have turned into Foodies. Grocery shopping has become a tour of the North Shore as we ramble in one direction to the farm to collect our CSA and the complete opposite direction to another farm to collect our dairy. We have all our secret places to buy the best baking chocolate and aged cheese. Our culinary field trips have made us appreciate so much more where our food comes from, how good it tastes, and all the wonderful people who bring it to our table. So now, when I ramble home from work, I open my fridge, I open my cookbooks, I pull out my vintage cast iron pans, and dinner begins.
May 22nd, 2013
This time of year at the studio the ideas keep popping up faster than the flowers.
I love the view outside my studio window. The wisteria is in all its glory.
April 24th, 2013
Recently a local dog rescue, PAWS New England needed to find a home for two deaf and blind brothers, Truth and Argus. Since we have two deaf/blind pups, as well, we reached out to the rescue in hopes that sharing our story would help encourage potential adopters to consider dogs like these. The story of the wonders of our girls can be read in full on the PAWS blog.
Ruth and Maisie, our deaf and blind Aussies, are living it up regardless of their disabilities.
Whether or not our little write up helped to get Truth and Argus adopted, I can’t say, but I am very happy to report that they are in a wonderful new home. And at PAWS you will find innumerable wonderful canines, just in case you are looking to expand your family.
April 12th, 2013
Ruthie seems to approve of her new bed in my office.
Time goes by so quickly and it was certainly a winter of busyness rather than hibernation, but last weekend the wintry nap of flea marketers came to an end. Todd’s Farm Flea Market’s first day was an awakening of old friends, familiar rituals, and great finds. I still need to picture and catalog all the goods we reaped in, but suffice it to say that the studio is brimming with new fodder for our crazy ideas, exquisite pieces will be joining the decor of our home, and our Ruth got herself a nice new napping spot in my studio office in the form of an enormous vintage wooden shipping crate.
Happy Spring!
April 3rd, 2013
A jovial friend.
As you know, I’ve been having a great time with all the critters I’ve been making. While I frequently know what I want to make and seek out the appropriate materials, sometimes the materials talk to me instead. In fact, they can get rather bossy, really. That is exactly what happened in the case of the Big Pig.
I suppose I should be polite and tactfully refer to this guy as the Aran Cabled Pig, but he is big, so I’m gonna go with it. He is a large, cuddly, wonderful guy that shows off some neat knitterly stitching beautifully. When I found the sweater that I made Big Pig out of I knew it was meant for greatness, just based on the scale of the cables. This one was going to be larger than my usual Sweet Critter’s life. I went Super Size.
Big Pig and Mini Me
At the end of the day I always love breathing new life into discarded garments, architectural salvage, the Free listings on Craiglsist, but it is always more rewarding when you end up with a blushing jovial friend in the end to show for it.
March 21st, 2013
Bird with Attitude
Apparently, I have a thing for chickens at the moment. Please do not ask me to explain. This one is a mystery to me, too. Nonetheless, this attitude driven poultry diva has dominated my frame lately. There are still some corrections I want to make and a few details I want to define better, but at this point it is easier for me to step away for a bit, concentrate on the background, and see how the whole starts to define itself.
Stay tuned.
March 19th, 2013
Nothing better on a lazy winter morning than old-fashioned, still warm doughnuts. (Yes, that is a Maple Bacon one you see!)
What are some of your favorite things?
March 8th, 2013
Magnet Board made from Vintage Wallpaper Rulers
A few years back my husband found these amazing vintage wallpaper rulers. Of course, he snapped them up even though we had absolutely no idea what we would do with them. They languished a bit. We’d dust them off from time to time. They’d go back in the corner. And then I was decorating my new office. I knew they would look perfect. And as it turns out they are, in more ways than one. That nifty little metal cutting edge turns these beautiful salvaged pieces into an utterly fabulous and tremendously useful magnet board.
Go forth. Salvage and Prosper.
Repurposed Wallpaper Rulers provide a wall of organization.
