Special delivery
My idea of custom cards come from Kodakgallery.com. This special delivery arrived in the mail today from Pam C. She made it herself!
We have known each other since 5th grade and got reacquainted for our 50th birthdays. Though our careers have been different, we have many shared interests. Maybe I can get her to do some guest posts.
Happy Valentine's Day
Happy Valentine’s Day to ALL from Pam C. and Elfcroft!
Last week I posted photos of two of my favorite homemade soups. The rest of the story is serving soup in handmade pottery bowls/mugs. My favorite dishes are basic white Corelle, however I do not like serving soup nor chili in thin bowls. Over each of the last three years, I purchased a pair of pottery bowls at Talbot Street Art Show (mid June). I matched them with department store plates in in coordinating colors.
Stacked mugs
I would like to get a few more pairs of mugs in greens, purple and/or blue.
Eggplant and White Bean Soup
I love this soup! This is a great low-calorie alternative to my long time favorite eggplant casserole made with cheese and stuffing. This soup recipe is very easy, since I have frozen eggplant from Mom’s garden. Thaw the cooked eggplant, sauté one onion and add two cans of white beans. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. I found the recipe on thestonesoup.com. Jules Clancy is a Australian food scientist who has blogged about her speciality for six years. She does an amazing job developing recipes.
“Try it. You’ll like it.” 🙂
Homemade corn chowder, it is not a dream!
Corn chowder
This is the second time I have made this recipe from “Recipes from the Wildwood” published by Whitelick Presbyterian Church for their 160th anniversary. Minced ham is one of the ingredients. The recipe also calls for a cup of frozen hash browns which helps thickening. This is definitely a one dish meal and tastes better as reheated for left overs.
Credit for the inspiration of this post goes to Pam B and Pam C.
Tomorrow morning I fly out on a business trip (for my day job). Following Pam X 2 advice, I have black and white separates chosen. For my long trip next month, I made four black and white checked bags (from my stash) for shoes. No, I am not wearing the bags. They could have been any color. I had five plus yards on hand. I have not decided on an applique….thinking foot print, shoe silhouette, monogram, so these are not ready to fly yet. Suggestions?
Shoe cozy
My trip to the library to scan 35mm slides was only successful in introducing me to discoveries while I was waiting on the scanner. (I need to start over on the slide project.) Last week I mentioned finding Bead and Button magazine. The Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Cloth*Paper*Scissors magazine also got my attention. The content features Mixed Media art, which reminded me of a collage workshop I did at Heart of Art in 1999.
I Ching #10 Treading(Conduct) 1999
What a great way to encourage abstract thinking. Assignment: prepare a collage inspired by an I Ching reading. I knew nothing about I Ching. I Ching intrigued me. I read, studied and prepared more collages over the following two years. This is another favorite.
Grace #22 I Ching 1999
Discovering Cloth*Paper*Scissors not only brought back memories of projects past, but also thru their website I downloaded an e-book that has an interesting journal project using fabric. Perfect! I have many remnants from recent sewing projects. So….patterns and instructions are stowed and a journal is in the works!
From The History of Beads, Concise Edition by Lois Sherr Dubin we learn that prayer beads originated with the Hindus in India followed by Buddhists in Tibet, China and Japan and Muslims in Persia and Arabia. Christians of the Middle Ages also used beads to count prayers. So today, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population use prayer beads. One can say human beings universally value beads as a spiritual necessity and jewelry accessory.
Beaded bracelets and necklaces
For Elfcroft, collecting beaded accessories as taken priority over beading projects. Time to reconsider because I have a tsunami of inspiration. Yesterday, I went to the library to scan 35mm slides into jpeg files. The process is slow. I picked up the February 2012 issue of Bead and Button magazine (which I had never heard of). The number of resources is amazing. These are a few of the websites mentioned.
shophandmade.com artbeads.com zacoo.com pandahall.com gracebeads.com paulabest.com (mixed media fabric)
There was a great story about how agrainofsand.com acquired their inventory of vintage beads.
Time for reflection, evaluation and dreaming. I took time this week to revise my “About” page with highlights from 2011.
It occurred to me today that two years ago I was sitting in a waiting room and discovered Spoonflower. Spoonflower.com produces custom fabrics printed with images provided by individual customers. I did not waste much time to come up with favorite photos to see how the process worked. They require you order a swatch sample to approve of the results. My bill was $61.90. Your designs are designated for private or public availability.
My first Spoonflower order
My favorite sample
My favorite sample image is this close up of tree bark. Dilemma! Now what do I do? The only things I had sewn in the past 30 years were curtains, pillow covers and a difficult slip cover project.
Coincidence? I had an email from Sidney about the sewing challenge Helping Hands, Touching Hearts made to give a handmade article of clothing to each person in a village of 1200 adults and children. Win-Win. I had accumulated a fabric stash that could be put to good use plus I could improve my sewing skills. Elfcroft shipped one large flat rate box to South Africa in both 2010 and 2011.
Maybe it is about time to get back to Spoonflower.com. The Jan/Feb 2012 issue of cloth*paper*scissors magazine has an article on printing custom fabric which features Spoonflower.
Old recipes are new again! We made six batches of Chex mix and have ingredients to make three more. It is delightful to use the microwave which is both quick and easy. This has been a team effort with some experimentation on the flavorings. We decided the prepared seasoning packet was too easy and added Worcester sauce as well as garlic and onion powder. We also added Cheez-its and M&Ms to the pretzels, nuts and Chex cereals.
Chex mix marathon
Add the Chex mix recipe to pineapple-carrot lime jello salad, corn chowder soup and broccoli rice casserole, which have come out of the recipe files this year to bring back familiar aromas, flavors and sights to our dining table.
This contrasts to the new recipes that I have followed from http://thestonesoup.com/blog/ by the very interesting Jules Clancy, Australian chef. New Year’s Resolution: Try more of Jules recipes!
winter solstice 2011
On this the shortest day/longest night of the year, let there be holiday lights to delight and warm glow of fireplaces and candles! Best wishes for peace and joy. Merry Christmas!
elfcroft 