Strawberry Jam

Strawberries were on sale at last week's farmer's market. $10 for a flat. Oh boy!

Work in Progress

Have been running in and out of town for the past two weeks, so the little house is still a wreck.  Today I decided to tackle painting the kitchen table and chairs. Here is a sneak peek.  I went through 5 cans of spray paint and still need to do a final once over.  Hoping to complete the project tomorrow and am still on a search for chair cushions.  Fingers crossed...

Buoy this was fun!

for lady m

Ring pillow made over the weekend to M's specifications.  Have since swapped this flower for a different one.  

Cards for Caroline

Handmade 20 of these postcards over the weekend using markers and stamps.

Weekend Craft Project

Went browsing in a store yesterday and came upon a cute kit for a lavender eye pillow.  I bought the kit- figuring if it worked out, I could later use the pattern to make gifts.  Became caught up in the construction, so I didn't take photos of the process.  Here is the finished product on my bedside table:

Doesn't do the colors justice!

A place for everything

Finally got around to buying two more pieces of wood so I could install the bottom two shelves.  Clearly have left over books... will find a better place for them other than the floor!

Home(made) for the Holidays - Part 2

I knit this scarf for my boyfriend.  Originally, it was flat after steaming but has since curled back up as stockinette is inclined to do.

The very same boyfriend mentioned above helped me wrap a bridal shower gift.  He is a big proponent of crease-and-fold.  Photos of the gift will be posted after the shower tomorrow!

A few friends and I decided to spend a calm New Years Eve together.  We raided the grocery store for Blue Point and Kumamoto oysters, a gorgeous tuna steak, and accompaniments. Having forgotten to purchase oyster shuckers, we used whatever blunt instruments we could find: a screwdriver, butter knives, etc.  They all were opened and eaten with a mignonette sauce.  Afterwards we devoured this salad:

We had a green onion-lemon rice, soy sauce seared tuna, and more champagne than you could shake a stick at.  The overall price tag was a fraction of what we would have spent out on the town, and part of the evenings fun was communally preparing the meal.  We topped it off with Liars Dice and mimosas/walnut french toast the next morning.... great way to bring in 2009!

Home(made) for the Holidays - Part 1

One of my delightful friends gave me some homemade vanilla extract for Christmas... and the motivation to make it myself.  After some web browsing, I found these comprehensive instructions and dove in.  If you choose to try this, I recommend looking at the apothecary section of Whole Foods to buy the Madagascar beans in bulk.  Otherwise you might end up purchasing each bean individually which can be costly.

Above, I have split the beans in half and scraped out the caviar.  Below, the beans are in the jars and awaiting vodka.

 Once completed, I tied pretty ribbons around the lids.  A perfect little gift!

Complete!

If only my photography skills were better...

This will live at my parent's until the day I drive from VA to CA to move into my future new house.  Who knows when that will be!

post holiday project

So Christmas came and went... and now back to all sorts of reality. 

I bought this dresser for $45 when I was living in New York.  I loved it, but had to store it when moving across the country.  Almost two and a half years later, the dresser has fallen apart.  It has traded hands a number of times, been forced in and out of cars, and the structure has given out.  My project for today is to clean it, reinforce the joints, and fix the top.  More pictures later when I've made progress. 

New Planter Project

When I moved from New York to San Francisco, some carpenters built this crate to fit my grandmother's lamp.  My landlords accepted the delivery and nicknamed the crate "the coffin." It sat idly outside my apartment for a year before finding a place on the porch below (upside down, serving as a bench).  I brought it back to my SoCal apartment and am going to turn it into a vegetable planter.  

Step 1- drill drainage holes in the bottom

Step 2- paint the outside (color suggestions welcome)

Step 3- place down a layer of gravel, then fill to the top with potting soil and chicken manure

Step 4- plant away!!  

I may not be able to attack the project until January, but I will post my progress.

Oh... and remember the dead parsley and cilantro I posted about?  One of the plants has come back!  I'm amazed.  It sprouted while I was away this weekend.  I'll have curly parsley before I know it.

Home Improvements

Quick post.  Must dash off to pick up a dear one from the airport.  We're celebrating the anniversary of the end of prohibition tonight (I know, I know... I don't *really* need an excuse) so who knows when I'll get around to blogging tomorrow.

Made my deadline today AND made improvements to a piece of furniture.  What fun!  Bought this little cabinet months ago off Craigslist for $20.  The top was (and is) warped and the finish had eroded.  For a while I draped a piece of fabric on it to disguise the imperfections, but the dining room has started to become too "busy."  So I used glossy black paint to revitalize the surface.  Whenever I do get my country house, I'll invest in a real sideboard, but I'm fairly pleased with this for now.   

My next project might have to be finding a professional to fix the tiny lamp.

Letterpress

I recently took a week long letterpress course at the San Francisco Center for the Book.  The Vandercooks are absolutely gorgeous and have functioned for 50+ years.  In a world of built in obsolescence, these machines are refreshing.  

SFCB has drawers and drawers full of type.  We made a number of different projects.  For the one below, I mixed a few different fonts and used both wood and metal letters for my broadside.  

My broadside was inspired by the birth of my friend's little baby boy.   Typesetting can be tedious but I think the results are well worth the effort.