Month: October 2012

Pluot Crisp

I’m not a huge fan of plums or apricots, but when presented with the hybrid pluot, I’m all over it. I’m smitten with the orange-pink hue of the fruit and its tart yet sweet flavor.

I adapted Ina Garten’s Pear, Apple and Cranberry Crisp to create a cozy, comforting dessert. I halved the recipe, replaced the fruit with pluots and baked them in individual little bowls. It’s very, very yummy.

That pretty grey fabric is a remnant from a sewing project I’m working on that I’ll share with you tomorrow!

Oh, the color of pluots! So gorgeous…


Wood+Papercuts

When I had an art show a few years ago, I made this series of papercut girls that led to some fun commissions. Each piece is 5×7 inches, and I used an Exacto knife to create the dress patterns. The wood is stained blue, and what I really loved about them is that I didn’t sketch anything out and it felt like each one magically appeared out of the paper without any preformed plan.

Here’s one that didn’t make the cut for the art show. The legs are a little wonky, the edges a little too jaggedy, and I didn’t love the pattern like I did with the others. I like it though — it cheers me up for some reason, and I shift it around the house periodically. Right now, it sits near the dining table on a windowsill.

Wouldn’t it be cool to work on a really big papercut project? Must dig out my Exacto knife…

Jodhpur Pants (more mustard!) and Stripey Shirt

First of all, wow wow wow, Meg of lovely Elsie Marley fame posted one of my images for Day 6! KCWC has been awesome! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

I was able to sew up quite a few things this weekend. I had some mustard cotton left over, so I wanted to make these jodhpur style pants using my trusty Japanese pattern book. The shirt is from this book, but I modified it by removing extra detailing because I wanted the simplest knit shirt possible. It is the softest, comfiest knit ever. We can’t have enough stripey shirts in our wardrobe, I say.

And of course, we need to add a woolen infinity scarf to make the outfit look oh-so-French.

And then we decided to get all photo-shoot-y with her vintage decor.

She loves that scarf.

Detail shots per usual:

Happy Friday + Mustard/Grey Combo

I am loving all the mustard and grey color combinations I’ve been seeing lately. And I absolutely adore my creations: a longish cotton jacket with a fluffy gathered skirt. Such a cute pairing!

I took tons of pictures, and my little model with saggy tights obliged:

I made up the pattern for the skirt (if you can call two rectangles a pattern) and the jacket is from here. Love love love! Must run, K doesn’t have school today and she’s demanding that we work on an art project. Have a happy weekend, all.

Pink-a-licious

Sketches in pink. It’s my favorite color to paint with right now.

Also a nod to October, the month of Breast Cancer Awareness. Last year, I went and got my first ever mammogram, and though there were no indications of breast cancer, the routine blood tests that were part of the mammogram process revealed a thyroid abnormality. Long story short, my health deteriorated significantly before things got better – but it could have been a lot worse if I hadn’t found out about my condition when I did. The toxicity of stress was apparent, and it wasn’t until I stopped working a horribly stressful job and really focused on taking care of myself that my health was restored. I have been very, very lucky and am so grateful that I didn’t ignore that mammogram reminder!