fast food friday

crostini brushed with olive oil and toasted.
topped with goat cheese, fresh figs and caramelized red onions with a dash of blackcurrant vinegar.

crostini brushed with olive oil and toasted.
topped with brie, slices of fresh nectarine and a drizzle of chili-lemon-thyme honey

crostini brushed with olive oil and toasted.
topped with gorgonzola dolce, a dollop of pear-ginger jam and slices of pear.

made these for the torso exhibition opening night last night, but will repeat them tonight, as they're easy and i need to finish up a whole lot of things for our local market tomorrow!

happy weekend, one and all!

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i've never been to sturgis myself during the rally

bringing back finishing friday

it's -15°C, so perfect for staying indoors and reviving the old concept of finishing friday.  i've got a stack of leather that's ready to be turned into iPad cases, some stones waiting for their feathers, a couple of sweaters in need of repair (not pictured), a scarf i'm working on for myself (there will be no way to finish that today, at the rate i knit), and book 3 of murakami's 1Q84. the book has to be back at the library in 10 days (not that it will take me that long to read it), so i fear that the book will win out. tho' it's nice to feel the inklings of creativity beginning to return, so perhaps a bit of sewing or painting will be in order as well.

happy weekend, one and all. what will you finish today?

finishing friday and the week's lessons

since it's friday and i have designated fridays to be finishing friday, i'm working on my nature walk plus quilt today. with the sewing machine breakdown and the market, these beautiful squares have been patiently waiting for me to begin for nearly two weeks! today is the day!

in the aftermath of the market, i've been slowly getting items into my etsy & big cartel shops all week (etsy seriously needs to improve the usability of listing items, lemme tell you). today, the fish went in. if you want small sets of fish, check etsy and if you'd like a whole school, i put those on big cartel. you may find these a little bit pricey in comparison to the clarity birds, but it's due to the fact that they're 100% organic and natural - organic fabrics, stuffed with real wool, so they're a notch above quality-wise, and also environmentally.  my order of heather moore's beautiful cut out & keep line for cloud 9 is finally on its way to me, so items featuring that gorgeousness will soon be available as well! and i'm VERY excited about that. i actually began selling the cloud 9 fabrics because heather's line was coming!

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i thought i'd also take a moment to recap all of the lessons learned over the week, because every week has its lessons...

~ it's really annoying that on twitter there is no way of knowing which tweet someone is responding to. i briefly came out of the closet yesterday (and i'm not even gay, tho' i would totally kiss nigella given the opportunity) because in a tweet response, i mixed up a tweet where i had posted a photo of husband playing angry birds on his iPhone at lunch and one expressing surprise that the american ambassador  to denmark (who is a woman) was from south dakota. and in my tweet, i ended up referring to husband as a she.

~ we had an appointment to go renew sabin's US passport yesterday. the consulate sends someone over to the wilds of jylland twice a year to provide services to those who don't live in copenhagen. sabin's passport expired last monday, so it needed to be renewed. the meeting was in a nice hotel in århus and was very personal and pleasant. FAR better service than you get when you go to the actual embassy in copenhagen, where they practically strip search you and make you feel as guilty as they can for using some of their precious time on your petty requirement of actual services from the country of your birth. in short, a very nice experience.

~ i learned that the current US ambassador to denmark (who we did not meet - it was a vice consul) is also from south dakota. and used to be married to tom daschle. apparently, since she's now an ambassador, she stayed connected to politics after tom ran off with miss nebraska.

~ i spent several blissful hours in the garden last evening. replanting strawberries and helping husband move the rhubarb. and i was reminded how gardening is good for the soul. and that it's the single activity that makes me feel the most grown up. in a good way.

~ husband just called me with a very amusing piece of news that restores my faith in the fact that people do eventually get what's coming to them. and when it happens, it is sweet indeed, tho' sometimes the waiting is rather annoying.

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happy weekend, one and all.

finishing friday - take 3

as per usual on finishing friday, i had to start something totally new. in this case, i invented a chai cake (to be blogged soon on domestic sensualist). i got the idea watching that stupid ultimate cake off show and then went searching for a recipe, but didn't find one that i thought sounded that great, so i made one up myself.

chai cake batter - yummy

after i got that out of my system, i sat down to finish this french press cover. i am happy to say that i did, in fact, finish it! :-) finally- i finished something on finishing friday!

this cover should keep the coffee toasty warm if you don't drink it all in the first go. and it's tall enough to fit even when the plunger is still up. i'm pretty pleased, even if i do say so myself. especially with the quilting - i love how it turned out.

and these pretty little squares are set to be tea cozies. i'm still working hard towards that market april 9.

i've set up a little reward system for myself....i get to start on a new project every time i finish one of the old ones. there are some lovely fabrics just waiting for me to cut into them!!

happy weekend, one and all!

finishing friday - take 2

if you recall, i declared last friday to be finishing friday and i cannot believe it's already here again! this time, i mean business on the finishing (last time may have dissolved into a new soft flannel scarf for me). but this time, i've got to bind this quilt, because it needs to head off to its new home on monday! i've got it all cut out, it's just a matter of sewing it on.

this zig-zag quilt, i backed with the most wonderful mossy green wool. it's soft and rich and lovely. and even better than the minky fleece i used on the other quilt. i will definitely be using these gorgeous wool fabrics as backing for these couch cuddlers again.

i'm hoping to have this old chair recovered soon - it's the first piece of furniture that husband and i bought together and as you can see, it's a bit tired and various cats have used it as a scratching post. i do still love the color tho'. but i think i'll have it covered using the beautiful patchwork i got from heather moore - and which i couldn't bear to leave in the old house. it's not a task i dare to tackle myself, so i guess i've got to find an upholstery shop.

this vibrant pink tulle will be turned into part of a "girly spy" costume that sabin wants to wear for fastelavn celebrations at school on monday. if you're having trouble seeing that, you're not alone.

there are lots of unfinished projects going on here...sorting of beads, making of a bag for the aforementioned spy costume, a tea cozy, some garlands...so much to do on finishing friday, so i'd better get to it.

finishing friday

if you hang around here at all, you know that i've been on a creative roll of late. this week alone, i sewed two dresses for myself, made my first batch of stitched up photos, mended a couple of sabin's shirts, made bread twice, and worked on adding finery to some clarity birds. our dining table is so covered with projects that we can't actually use it.  so i have declared today (and every friday henceforth) to be finishing friday.

i'm doing a handmade market april 9 together with jude and elizabeth, so it's important that i have some finished products to sell at the market. somehow i just don't think people will be keen on buying half-finished works in progress. so today, i will not start any new project, not even this, which is very tempting. especially because it's still really cold outside.

i have no less than 3 quilts to finish and one of them (the sherbet cupcake quilt) you didn't even know about because i hadn't shown it here yet. so, i've been busy. busy starting things and not so busy finishing them.

i leave you with one more shot of the basket of unfinished garlands, tea cozies and clarity birds, just to remind myself that i need to get to work...

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i'm enjoying the photos here. 

and also the photos here and here.