Pinkie Pink Pink - The Serious Business Pencil Skirt

It's finished!  Well, almost.  Here's the second of my pink projects - the Serious Business Pencil Skirt.  This is the Pencil Skirt from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing. 

I still have to finish attaching the lining to the fashion fabric at the back slit and zipper opening and steam the whole garment, but I figured it was close enough to post pics.  What can I say, I'm impatient!

Please excuse the messy craft room.

I had some yardage of some medium weight stretch poly blend fabric I picked up years ago from a clearance table at Hancock Fabrics.  Originally, it was going to be a corset/miniskirt combo with tulle underneath, but I think this is a much better idea.

The back - a better picture of the fabric.  Please ignore the pins.

Somehow, when transferring the pattern markings onto my fabric I failed to notice that there are FOUR darts on skirt front, not two.  Oops.  I ended up having to take in the side seam allowances to make it fit (because I didn't realize the four-not-two error until after I had attached the waistband and I wasn't going to undo all that work).

One of my favorite things about this skirt is the hot pink lining.  I didn't have any pink thread, so when I hemmed it, I added a little black lace trim, which I think is a fun little detail.

Sassy!

I'll be sure to get some pic of it on me and post them.

My next pink project is a jacket from Simplicity's Project Runway collection.

Fancy That! Gorman Farm

With this being the first week of school I've had a lot of responsibilities as both a mom and Vice President of my son's school's PTA, which has not left very much time for crafty projects.  Those that are in the "WIP" stage are nearly done, but not ready to post yet, and my dinners have been pretty ordinary.  As such, I'm starting a new segment called "Fancy That!"  This will basically be a shout-out to things/products/services/entertainment/whatever that I am currently crushing on. 

Let's kick off Fancy That! by giving love to Gorman Produce Farm in Laurel, MD.  Simply put, the food is delicious, the staff are knowledgeable and (more importantly in my book) don't give me dirty looks when my kids act like nutters when we pick up our weekly CSA order. 

My happy strawberry pickers!

Gorman Farm does Pick-Your-Own strawberries in late spring, a farm stand of local produce and other local foods (jams, pasta, honey, pies) during the summer and fall, and a CSA program that runs from the beginning of June through the beginning of November.  If you're local, I highly recommend you go check them out!

The CSA haul the first week

You can give them love on Facebook here.

Craft-o-Mania...or, I'm a Crazy Person.

A few weeks ago, a series of fortunate events led to me striking up a friendship with the mom of one of my son's kindergarten classmates.  She is also into knitting and mentioned an upcoming craft fair in November.  We decided to split a booth/table together to sell our wares or, as I like to think of it, fuel our craft habits.   Now that my son is back at school, I have a few hours in the day of quiet (so nice!) and I'm diligently at work on items for the fair.  My items are mainly beaded earrings, sewn clutch purses/wallets, and knit cowls.  I know it's kind of a crazy variety, but it fuels my crafting ADD.

I am waiting for a supply order for my jewelry, but in the meantime I thought I'd share a couple of one-offs I did while I was waiting, plus a new cowl.

Clearly I've got a red and gold thing going on with my jewelry right now...

You can't really tell in this picture, but there's a dark blue metallic thread that runs throughout this.

Cowl based on the Puckered Cable Stitch

Now, I'll be honest - I'm kind of nervous about this craft fair.  Partially because I have NO IDEA how many people will be attending, so I have no idea how much stuff to make.  Plus, there's the issue of pricing, which is always stressful.  Then, there is that nagging critical voice that keeps telling me my stuff isn't good/interesting enough.  I hate that voice.  I guess the worse case scenario is nobody buys anything (heartbreaking!) and my family & friends end up with handmade gifts.  

Have you done any craft fairs?  Have any insight or advice?  

Pinkie Pink Pink - Everything's Coming Up Roses

Apparently, I've been on a pink kick.  This is rather odd, as pink is not exactly one of my favorite colors.  I just finished one project (below) that is all about pink, have one in progress that's black and pink, and another on deck in burgundy/pink tones.  Heck, I've even got pink fingernails!

A couple of years ago, I got a cake of this handspun yarn by a most awesome friend.

Thank you, Stacey!

It's been sitting in my stash since then, since I was never sure what to do with it.  Last weekend, for some reason or another, I got the sudden urge to make something PINK so I dug it out of hibernation.  A quick search of Knitty's 'Knittyspin Index' yielded the perfect pattern, Grey Gardens, a one-skein entrelac turban.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that before this project, I had never attempted anything entrelac - it looked really difficult!  Although my version is certainly not perfect, I'm pleased to say it was much easier than I anticipated. The only real difficulty I had was that I ran out of yarn with one edge triangle and the four finishing triangles to go.  This handspun was the only pink yarn I had, but luckily I had some yardage of worsted weight Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Wool in Happy Valley left from another project.  I trimmed out the pink bits and used those to finish the project.

The color match isn't perfect, but it was the closest I had on hand.  Plus, it shows up on the back of the turban, and how many people are looking at the back of my head, really?  The biggest downside of this fix was definitely weaving in a dozen or so ends.  Ugh!

Here's the finished (and unblocked) product, "Everything's Coming Up Roses":

The front

The back with the emergency yarn

And here's a silly selfie of it on me.  The color is more true in this picture than in the above ones.  In this shot, I'm wearing it folded in half - otherwise it looks like a fancy bathing cap.

I definitely plan on making another of these, although I'll probably reduce the width by half.  I am excited to try it with a variegated yarn!

EDIT: I forgot to add this link I found to a "universal enterlac pattern."  It's a formula, or recipe, for doing entrelac work.  

What's Cooking? Watermelon Chutney!

Wow, two food-related posts in a row - I'm on a roll!

At last week's CSA haul, I came away with a very heavy bag laden with one red watermelon, one yellow watermelon, and one cantaloupe.  That's a lot of melon!  Considering that neither of my children will eat cantaloupe, and my son won't eat any type of melon, I knew I needed to find a recipe that used a lot of watermelon and had a decent shelf life.  I've heard a lot of people talk about watermelon pickles, but I wasn't really in the mood for pickling.

It's Melon Mania around here!

As I pondered what to do with these melons, I remembered hearing an NPR segment, Cook Your Cupboard, with Nigella Lawson.  She says of chutneys:

"It's a very good way of using up whatever produce you get that's inexpensive and in season. Cook it up with some chopped onions, brown sugar (or white is fine, too), cider vinegar and some apples (the pectin qualities of apples means that whatever you use tends to set). You can put it in jars, and it can last up to a year."

Maybe that's common knowledge, but to me it was a revelation.  I wasn't exposed to foods like chutney until I was an adult, so the thought that it was easy to make at home was incredible.

Having decided that my two watermelons fit the bill for "inexpensive and in season" produce, I looked for a watermelon chutney recipe online.  I found this one from the National Watermelon Promotion Board (who knew such an organization existed?!?)

The recipe, created by Chef Joe Poon, is as follows:

Ingredients

4 cups watermelon, juiced

2 cups watermelon (white part), diced small

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 onion medium, white and sliced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon cloves, ground

1 tablespoon minced jalapeno peppers

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 lemon juiced

2 tablespoons currants

2 tablespoons roasted walnuts

Instructions

Reduce watermelon juice over medium heat to 2 cups. Combine all ingredients, and simmer until almost dry. Chill and serve.

Servings

Makes 1 pint.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am not a stickler to the rules.  Do you remember that line in Pirates of the Caribbean where Capt. Jack Sparrow (my second-favorite Capt. Jack) says the Pirates' Code is really more like a set of guidelines?  Yeah, that's how I feel about recipes.

Here are my edits, additions, and omissions:

Watermelon juice - 2 c. yellow watermelon juice, 2 c. red watermelon juice

Oddly enough, the above do not mix to make orange.  Color wheel fail!

I doubled up on the garlic, because garlic makes almost anything better.
I omitted the mace, because WTF is that anyway?  Apparently, it's not this:

The ginger and cloves were eyeballed, and I added some allspice (maybe 1/2 tsp?) because hey, why not?

I was out of both currants and walnuts - I don't like walnuts anyway -  so I substituted raisins and pecans.

Here it is without the watermelon chunks.  The brown sugar made it really dark.

I added the watermelon chunks in at the very end so they wouldn't get too mushy. 

The red watermelon seems sweeter, but the yellow watermelon is firmer.

All in all, it took me about 3 hours start-to-finish and yielded 1-1/2 pints.  Once the jars were cool enough, I moved them to the fridge.  I plan on using the 1/2 pint tomorrow - I'll be sure to let you know how it turned out!

Watermelon Chutney Recipe created by Chef Joe Poon for the National Watermelon Promotion Board Ingredients 4 cups watermelon, juiced 2 cups watermelon (white part), diced small 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 onion medium, white and sliced 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon minced ginger 1/2 teaspoon mace 1/4 teaspoon cloves, ground 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno peppers 1 teaspoon lemon zest 1 lemon juiced 2 tablespoons currants 2 tablespoons roasted walnuts Instructions Reduce watermelon juice over medium heat to 2 cups. Combine all ingredients, and simmer until almost dry. Chill and serve. Servings Makes 1 pint.

- See more at: http://www.watermelon.org/recipes/Watermelon-Chutney-156.aspx#sthash.qlA6KPWJ.dpuf

What's Cooking? Chicken and Carrot Cake Jam??? (Better than It Sounds!)

At my last CSA pickup, in which I came home with a red watermelon, a yellow watermelon, and a cantaloupe, I perused the farm stand offerings of local jams, jellies and preserves by Olney Natural.  There were a lot of the 'standards' - strawberry, blackberry, rhubarb - but there was also a "carrot cake jam" which sounded both interesting and awesome.  I especially liked the sign accompanying it, which said "Don't let toast have all the fun - try with meats and cheeses!"  Naturally, I couldn't resist picking up a jar.

Friday was a really hectic day for me - my daughter's daycare provider was sick, so I had both kids, I had a make-up arts & crafts club meeting from when I was sick to run, and I just felt tired.  I threw a few chicken breasts, carrots, frozen corn and frozen peas in the crockpot with some stock and just let it go, because that was about all I had energy to do.
When it came time to actually serve the crockpot food (over quinoa - one of the few non-pasta grains my son likes), I remembered the carrot cake jam and heated up a few tablespoons to top off the meal.

The finished product

It was DELICIOUS.  The carrot cake jam added a subtle warm/sweet/autumnal character to my otherwise (admittedly) bland meal.  TMS was totally impressed, so I consider this dinner a success.  I'll be picking up more jams next time I go to the farm. 

A Wardrobe for Autumn

August is, in general, not my favorite month.  In fact, it may be my least favorite month - Mother Nature assaults me with every possible allergy-inducing pollen and I spend the entirety of the month with watery eyes and a stuffy-but-also-runny nose.  The only redeeming feature of August, as far as I'm concerned, is that it means fall is on the way. 
I love fall.  I adore fall. Pumpkins, apple cider, changing leaves, and cooler temperatures - excellent.  To me, there is nothing better than pulling the cardigans and boots out of the closet.  We've had a few cool mornings here, and I'm already geeking out for autumn and all my yummy warm clothes.
My friend Mariah recently mentioned that she was sewing a fall wardrobe - a few dresses, skirts, shirts, and pants - and it got me to thinking about my cold weather clothes.  I don't really have a cohesive non-work wardrobe, mostly I purchase things that catch my eye without much thought into how it fits in with everything else.  I don't necessarily need a TON of clothes, but  I'd love to have a go-to set of casual (yet stylish) clothes that work together, and I think sewing a few pieces would be a great step in the right direction.

I started by taking an inventory of what I already have:

3 skirts, 2 pairs of trousers (1 pair cropped), 2 pairs of jeans (1 pair suitable with heels only), LOTS of stockings & tights

5 cardigans, 2 tunic-length sweaters, 1 dress, 2 oxford shirts, 2 pull-over sweaters.

As you can see, I own a lot of stockings and tights, but not many skirts or dresses.  I also own quite a few cardigans, but very few pieces to go underneath.  Also, I have no fall-weather jacket.  My old jacket has seen far better days and needs to be retired.

So this is the plan: make a jacket, two skirts, a pair of pants and two dresses.  I already have fabric for the jacket and a fabric that could be for a skirt or pants - just not sure which one yet.

I've started a Pinterest board of patterns and fabrics I'm considering for this endeavor.  Check it out here.