The Heat Is On

When I woke up this morning, Talah and Lena had overtaken the bed. They're not big but they're definitely not small, and when they lay like this, I end up curled in a ball, and I have to wonder, why am I the one curled up in a ball here? It's just so hard to resist these beautiful faces.

They didn't move when I got up so I got to take these pictures. Our air conditioner has broken. They're fixing it today, but in Austin, it's nearly impossible to find the will to move when you're living in genuine August heat. I find it hard to imagine how people lived here before air conditioners were standard. I grew up in the midwest, where it can get hot, but nothing like here! Even Talah thinks so.



Thanks to some large fans, I was actually able to be productive today. I went to a party last weekend and someone liked my purse. She expressed interest in getting one, and I said I was hoping to sell them in the future, so she 'ordered' one. I just started it. It looks like this:



I'm going to have to figure out some way to make the straps more interesting. Perhaps a ribbon with a pattern down the center of the blue stripe. And also, maybe a pocket on the outside. I put a pocket on the inside but I might have to move it. It's very high up near the top edge of the purse, which seems like a silly place for it to be. It's a nice utilitarian bag. I'm going to have to put a loop over the top, as well, so it has a kind of flap close, and it will hold shut with a big, pink button.

I started this purse, too, which I love:



I just found out about interfacing. Interfacing is what makes a fabric stiff. The kind I got is iron-on -- just iron it to the back of the fabric, and then the sides hold their shape. I've never used it before. No wonder none of my other things were so floppy. It's trial and error when you are learning by doing, which is my game. I like to see something, then use it as inspiration for my own designs. If I could just figure out how to sew on zippers so the tag isn't hanging all over the place, I'd be set. Lena can hardly wait.

Mini-Prep Madness

I made this dish based on a recpie that appears in the August 2007 Bon Appetite magazine. It's amazingly simple - sauteed onion and celery, then simmered with fresh corn cut off the husk in water, served around a crab and avocado ceviche marinated in olive oil and orange juice. Salt, pepper, puree - done. Serve cold. I might add a touch of heat next time (spicy chowders are definitely amazing) in the form of red pepper flakes or a touch of fresh jalepino pepper sauteed with the onion and garlic, and maybe use a vegetable broth instead of water for depth (unless you have perfect corn picked fresh from the stalk, which you would want to really showcase). With slightly less than amazing corn from the grocery store, the vegetable broth would have helped a touch.

And a glass of pinot grigio.

I also have no food processor, which seems absurd. I tried to mix it in my mini-prep, but instead of getting velvety goodness, I got tiny chunks of rustic corn hash-ness. The mini-prep also has a tendency to leak while prepping, and much soup was lost to the floor, counter and walls. Someday, a food processor is definitely in order.

I took these three photos of it. I'm trying to spruce up my photography skills so if you can identify which is the best photo and why, I'd love to hear about it. (I'm partial to the first photo)

Summer Paisley

A new fabric store opened in Austin, and it is full of incredible prints and delightful notions that have been inspiring me lately. I found this paisley with a green that almost perfectly matches my kitchen and made a half apron, then went back and found the irrisistible pink polka dot pattern and the top came from that.

One of my favorite parts of the design process is the evolution of an idea. All it can require is single sight or sound or taste and the idea is born, and over time it develops into something even better than originally expected.



Added bonus: enough fabric was left over to make this purse. Straight lines couldn't be easier. I feel like the purse is missing something, though, so, if you have any ideas, let me know!

About Me

I have a friend who had a book. The book was full of signs, directions and advertisements that had been written in other languages and translated into English... or perhaps I should say, mistranslated. By far my favorite was a picture of a girl, looking into a package with her hands on her delighted face, with the caption, "Inside, the box is full of happy!"

Now that's a package!

With luck, this page will also be filled with happy, or at least happy-inspiring notions.