gorgeous table & future/current projects

First off, I just ran across this on Design Sponge. I have a coffee table I ended up with after a breakup, and the top of it is screaming for a renovation. It's not quite this shape, but it's that same 50s style. I'm totally inspired!



In other news: I've been making more baby bibs, a pack of pocket protectors made with old atlases and contact paper, and I've redone my craft space, otherwise known as my living room. Very much looking forward to moving in April and finding somewhere with enough space for more projects!

baby bandana drool bib

I'm obsessed with making these baby bibs, some with embroidery, some with terry cloth backings - all made from thrift store finds or from my closet.

revolution coin purse

We're having our camp volunteer appreciation party tonight. We're supposed to bring a <$10 gift for a gift exchange, and something to eat. Although the total cost of supplies was under $3, I spent a good hour and a half making it. So technically I guess it's not under $10 but once I got started I couldn't really stop, could I? Anyway it's inspired me to mess around more with pinch purses. The leather colors are camp colors, the rainbow is for my queerios, and "revolution" is from a quote from a camper turned counselor at one of the last night campfires, "This is not just a camp, it's a revolution."




(totally hand-stitched, one side green leather and the other a dark blue)(shout out to yogi)

eating wild

How did I not know about this before?

revisiting september

I've been quite remiss in writing over the past several months. The summer was filled with travel for work, going to camp, and enjoying the warm (unusually!) warm Seattle summer. I had a great summer and wanted to make sure to post some of the experiences here.

canning experience #1

I had my first canning experience last night. Last week we were in Southern Idaho visiting C's grandma, and while there we picked probably 10 lbs of plums and a full large box of corn. C blanched, cut-off, and froze 12 cups of corn, and we still have probably a dozen ears left...

Then last night I finally got around to making jam. Plum Ginger Lemon jam. Sounds delicious, right? I followed directions, but I doubled the recipe, which I read later isn't a good idea. We boiled the jam a long long time and it would not get over 215 degrees (it's supposed to hit 220), so we finally just filled the jars with half the jam mixture, boiled them and put them aside. We added pectin to the remaining jam, to try to compensate for the low temperature.

This morning we have half plum ginger syrup and half of what may turn out to be jam. Damn.

Regardless of the success (or not), the experience has made me recommit to the idea of buying seasonally. C and I agreed last night to primarily do our shopping on Sundays at the Farmers Market. We also committed to a lower food budget so we'll see if those two things can go hand in hand.

Either way I'm excited to try it out. And I'm hoping to try jam again in the near future. What a bummer to have so much syrup from SO many plums.