at the end

I finished a quilt last night that has been languishing in the WIP pile for a long time. The first blocks were my fun project during my last summer session at Meredith, in 2009. They traveled back to Indy and sat in a box until this spring, when I pulled them out and started sewing again.

The top came together over the summer, I ordered a free motion foot for my machine and learned how to free motion quilt. Once quilted, the thing sat on the end of my bed for months, unbound but keeping my feet warm all the same.

So I stopped by the super awesome Crimson Tate quilt shop downtown after work one afternoon this week and picked up just enough Joel Dewberry fabric to make binding. Then last night, after work, I cut and assembled all the binding and then ended up finishing the entire thing by machine. My last attempt at machine binding ended in an hour long seam ripping session, so I was relieved that cutting the binding 1/4 inch wider than normal seemed to do the trick!

It feels good to get some stuff done.

I have that printed and hanging over my craft table. It's my new motto.

Looking back on the year has been fun - it's also shown me that I craft a lot more when it's cold outside. I barely knit or sewed a thing all summer but have been churning FOs out for the last two months.

I made a lot of things this year and finally feel like I've hit a groove with both sewing and knitting. I finished three sweaters and two quilts, mastered zippered pouches, boxed corners, and sewing pointy triangles.

I taught myself two-color stranded knitting this week and finished a mitten in three days.  My goal is to knit a Beet Heid tam and Carlisle mittens for myself while it is still cold enough to wear them - madre gave me the gorgeous Brooklyn Tweed LOFT yarn for them as a christmas gift.

I've got lots of quilty plans for 2012 as well, the last of my christmas money from dad went towards a stack of six fat quarters at Crimson Tate last night.  I'm hoping to spend New Year's Day doing something pretty and patchworky with them. I have fabric lined up for a Swoon quilt to go on my bed and I'm halfway through sewing all the strips together for a giant zigzag quilt. I'd love to use wool batting to finish one of them, so I can have a super warm quilt for another Indiana winter.

My plans for New Year's Eve involve a dvd from the library and a big slice of no-bake boston cream pie (the madre used to make this all the time when I was little, so very excited!) and I hope everyone else has a wonderful celebration!

~RLM

last minute handmade gift ideas

I've been doing a lot of making this holiday season. Almost all of the gifts my family will receive have been handmade in some way.  And I love that I've had the time to make that happen - had I been working a regular job, it wouldn't have been so easy.

Now that Christmas is a week away - and Solstice even closer, for those of you that celebrate - there's not much time for big handmade projects.

So I rounded up a few of the ideas that I'm loving this holiday season and all of them take less than 2 hours from start to finish.

Jeni's awesome drawstring pouch tutorial is perfect for anyone on your list depending on what fabrics you choose - I'm making a few of these for my teen cousins.  They would be great for makeup, knitting/crochet projects, keeping things organized on long car rides, or toys for little kids.

Cranberry Almond Bark is something I came up with last Christmas as an alternative to Peppermint Bark.  I use one bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips and half a bag of Ghirardelli white chips, plus half a cup of dried cranberries and half a cup of slivered almonds.

Melt both chocolates in separate bowls in a double boiler on the stove, or in the microwave - whichever method you prefer. Line a sheet pan in parchment paper, I use masking tape to secure the edges so it doesn't roll in on itself. The chocolate will be your base layer, with the white chocolate on top - so you will start by spreading a 1/4 inch thick layer of bittersweet/semi-sweet chocolate on the parchment. Then sprinkle the cranberries and almonds over the top, while the base chocolate is still melted. Then fill a piping bag with the white chocolate (a ziploc bag w/a corner cut off works just fine) and drizzle overtop of the chocolate + fruit + nut mixture. Let cool and break into pieces!

Recycled sweater mittens and legwarmers! I saw this idea in several different incarnations on pinterest and it is super easy! (Go here or here)  My favorite wool/angora blend cardigan was just too old and ratty to wear, so I cut it up. The sleeves became legwarmers, perfect for stuffing into my beloved green Frye boots.

The mittens were made out of the sweater body, I buttoned the front closed and cut one mitten out of each side - through both layers of fabric. I traced my hand on cardstock and added an inch all the way around - mittens need room inside for your hand to stay warm - and for seam allowance. The flannel lining was created by tracing the mitten pattern with an additional 1/2 inch all the way around - flannel does not stretch like knit-sweater, so you need a little more space for your hand to fit. If you want to create a cuff, like mine, you will need to add a few inches to the wrist length. The lining goes into the sweater-outer with the wrong side facing out. Fold the edges over 1/2 inch and press, then fold again to cover the hem of the knit-outer, and then hand-stitch the cuff down.

Hot cocoa mix is one of my favorite things to give as gifts - almost everyone likes hot chocolate and it is usually super easy to make. Last year I used this recipe and layered all of the ingredients in mason jars with crushed peppermint on top.  This year I am obsessed with a new version, using bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate mixed with sugar and cocoa powder in the food processor. It is rich and sweet but not overpowering. I've been using bags of Ghirardelli chips (they were marked down at Super Target this week) - one batch of the recipe will use 2 bags of semi-sweet chips and just under one bag of bittersweet chips. I haven't finished putting the bags together, so I don't have a photo yet, but one batch of that recipe makes 4 pounds of cocoa mix!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, whichever way you celebrate!

~RLM

slow food weekend

Last week was crazy busy, with something different to do every day. Two temp assignments, an interview, a trip to the north side for a doctor's appointment, a full day of sewing bags-for-sale, First Friday, the Winter Market, and open sew at the awesome quilt shop downtown.  It was exhausting - and I've spent the whole day in bed fighting off a cold/sinus infection that's been kicking my butt since Thursday.

But this post is actually about the awesome thing we had for lunch yesterday (and leftovers for breakfast today).  It went together so quickly, and was so tasty, that I might have to make another one.

A giant bag of spinach and new-to-me Smoking Goose applewood smoked bacon from the Winter Market were the inspiration for a crustless quiche. I've been craving green vegetables, so I knew the spinach would be first on the list of things to cook.

Ingredients:
1/3 pound thick cut bacon
4-6 cups raw spinach, ripped into small pieces by hand
1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice
4 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3 tbsp heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste

The bacon was cut into small chunks and baked at 400 until crispy (about 20 minutes). I use a cooling rack on a foil lined jelly roll pan, so that the grease is easy to clean up. Or, rather, easy to pour into a skillet to wilt the spinach. I warmed a skillet over medium heat, added enough bacon grease to keep the spinach from sticking, and then covered the pan to let the spinach wilt. That shade of green can't be beat.

Once the bacon and spinach were cooked, I added a small handful of shredded cheese - I like the parmesan, asiago, fontina blend from Whole Foods - and then salt and pepper, to taste.

All of that went into a buttered pie plate. And then I mixed 4 eggs, a splash of heavy cream, and about 3/4 cup of milk. It goes into the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. 

All the prep combined took less than 10 minutes. I seem to forget about how easy crustless quiches are, but they can be the perfect vehicles for leftovers. I'm imagining this combination would also be fantastic with small chunks of roasted potatoes.

Up next on my list of produce to conquor:

I started pulling the beets from the community garden plot this week. That's our largest bowl, and it's only holding 1/3 of the beets I have to deal with this week.

~RLM

gratitude and good things

I've got a lot to be grateful for this week.

I spent Saturday morning at the Indy Winter Market, buying brussels sprouts and potatoes for Thanksgiving. Madre came with me to the Smoking Goose to pick up our Indiana raised turkey. I ventured out of my little bubble for open sewing night at Crimson Tate, the adorable new modern quilting shop on Mass Ave. I went to the $5 early morning showing of Breaking Dawn with the sister and then spent the rest of Sunday afternoon in the kitchen.

I'm grateful that I have a temp job this week. I didn't realize how much I actually *like* going to work until I didn't have anything to do for 2 weeks.

I'm grateful for the awesome Marion county public library - the new library for kindle system and the stack of food, farm, and craft books that I can have sent to my local brach for pick-up.

The people that work so hard, in so many different ways, to make this city a great place to live deserve a lot of my gratitude. I am so grateful for the people that organize the markets, the handicraft fairs, the pop-up shops for locally made goods.

I'm grateful for my family, that I get to see them all on a regular basis after being so far away for so long.

on to the good things...

reading:

• The Dirty Life "it was like Little House on the Prairie, but with beer..."
• Farm City "will charm even those without the slightest inclination to get up close and personal with their future meals"
• An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace
• Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes - this was so good, I tracked the author down on facebook and spent a rainy evening reading back through her blog
• Plenty - I'm a little late to the party on this one, but it backs up all the reasons that shopping locally is so important - and it's a fun read

listening:

• Florence and the Machine - Ceremonials - on shuffle/repeat in the car, loudly
• A Very She & Him Christmas - I broke my own no-xmas-before-thanksgiving rule bc this is perfect low key knitting music
• James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning - haven't bought this one yet, but I keep obsessively listening to the songs on youtube

looking forward to:

• Small Business Saturday - did you know that Your dollars spent in locally-owned businesses have three times the impact on your community as dollars spent at national chains.
• Handmade Promenade Holiday Pop-up Shop - this is going to be awesome
• Yelp's Totally Bazaar at City Market - also going to be awesome - and very conveniently scheduled two days before my birthday

~RLM

did you know Jesus ate organic food?

I have a lot of pent up rage directed at the way our country approaches food.

So I've decided to start writing about why I eat the way that I do, in the hopes that it will at least shed some light on why I made the decision to change my food system.  Because I also have a lot of pent up rage directed at the people that make fun of me for eating differently.

I don't understand why our society has gotten to the point that people are deemed weird or silly or stupid for wanting to eat food that is good for them - and good for the planet.  I do understand that Americans are busy people and that fast food, up front, seems to cost less and save time. But eating food that will ultimately make your life harder, slower, more expensive (b/c of rising health care costs), and shorter doesn't seem to be all that great. 

My dad and sister joked at dinner tonight that they couldn't tell the difference in flavor between the eggs in breakfast sandwiches from a stand at the Winter Market and the conventional eggs they buy at Kroger and eat at home.  The flavor isn't my motivation - it is an amazing benefit to having sworn off most conventional foods, but it isn't the point.

The point, is that our modern food system is destroying us.

The way conventional eggs are produced is not natural. The way conventional chickens are brought from the dirt to our tables/cars/laps is not natural.

It is horrifying.

I watched Food, Inc one afternoon while I was still working as a nanny. The kids were napping and I had a knitting project to work on. I don't know how anyone could witness that information and ever look at their food in the same way.

I'm not one of those people that believe veganism or vegetarianism is the way to save the planet/end world hunger/be healthy. I'm allergic to all legumes, so most traditional sources of protein for vegans and vegetarians are off limits to me. I can't eat beans, soy, or peanut butter. No soy = no tofu, no tvp, no veggie corn dogs or imitation sausage.

I buy local for a lot of reasons. I absolutely love cooking dinner and realizing that the beef came from my favorite farmer lady, the potatoes came from the cute boy in plaid flannel, and the tomatoes were home canned out of a friend's garden.

I like knowing that the bacon I eat for breakfast came from a farm that let animals live in the way animals were put on this earth to live. They are allowed the diet that is natural to them - not to put too religious a slant on it - but the diet that God designed them to survive and thrive on. The diet that makes their food nutritious to humans. Grass fed beef doesn't taste good because it has less fat in it than conventional. It tastes good because that cow ate what it was naturally designed to eat.

I was raised in the church, taught that we were to be good stewards of the earth. And despite whatever other issues I may have with theology, this makes sense to me:

We are care-takers. "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till and keep it," Genesis 2:15. The Hebrew words shamar and abad, usually translated as "till and keep" in this verse, could be just as accurately translated as "serve and preserve." The word shamar is also used in Numbers 6:24: "The Lord bless you and keep you." God desires that we treat the creation in the same way that God treats us. (from an awesome site about the Bible and the environment)

I like to jokingly point out that Jesus ate organic food. Non organic food didn't really exist until the twentieth century, when the great advances of technology made antibiotics and toxic chemical pesticides and fertilizers possible. Cows have been around a lot longer than scientists and chemicals. So have pigs and chickens and apple trees and carrots and farmers. 

Go read anything Michael Pollan has written. Watch Jamie Oliver's TED Talk. Visit a local market and talk to a farmer.  Drink water instead of diet soda, because the artificial sweetners DO CRAZY THINGS TO PEOPLE. Look up the statistics about this generation of kids - the first generation who will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents because of diet related, totally preventable health conditions.

End rant.

~RLM