October 12

Success! This is No-Knead Bread, a perfect weekend project. I started the dough yesterday afternoon and finished it off this morning. Couldn't be easier.

October 11

Another attempt at a manly toiletries bag. I made the bag longer, and the handle shorter. Is it better?

October 5

Christmas gift for a wee one.

October 4

Lots of baking today. I made challah ...
and muffins ...
and fudgy brownies.
And I'm not going to eat any of them.

September 29

Is this masculine? Josh says it's not. Damn. It's hard to make gifts for guys. I thought this would work for a manly toiletries bag, but Josh says maybe, maybe, if it was 1.5 times longer.

Got any bright idea for hand made guy gifts? If so I would love to hear them.

September 28

Do you know what this is? No, it's not a $300 Le Creuset Dutch oven. It's a $60 knock off. I have been craving one of these cast iron, enamel coated beauties forever, and even more so since reading this recipe. But there was no way I was going to spend several hundred dollars on a pot. Especially one made of such cheap materials. Cast iron cookware is inexpensive. Likewise enamel coated camping goods. So why should it cost the earth to put the two materials together?

I haunted the thrift stores, hoping to snag one second hand ... and then someone last week mentioned that they could be obtained for about $85 at Marshalls. I don't have a Marshalls near me, but I do have a Home Goods, which is part of the same group of companies. So I popped in there yesterday and found, yep, not the expensive French brand, but something just as sturdy for a fraction of the price. Yippee!!

Before bed tonight I'm mixing up the dough for the bread. Stay tuned.

September 24

A cape for a super six-year-old.

September 23

Flannel blankies and burp cloths have become my go-to gift to make for new mamas. These ones are for a colleague of Josh's.

September 22

Last year I made a lot of "criss-cross" coasters for teacher/colleague Christmas gifts. This year I might continue the theme. I'm liking this reversible, wipe-clean version, covered with 16 gauge vinyl.

September 21

Man I got a lot done this weekend. I feel like some kind of domestic goddess. After eight (!) hours spent cleaning the house and doing the grocery shopping, I embarked on a cooking frenzy, producing:
~Acorn Squash Bisque
~Creamy Cannellini Bean Soup
~Macaroni with Three Cheeses
~Beef and Vegetable Pasties
~Herbed Salmon Burgers
~Pasta with Meatballs and Bocconcini.
and
~Oatmeal Cookies (which weren't very good. Needed more sugar.)
THEN I started sewing. (Are you tired yet?) I got a bunch of quick-ish projects done. Here's one of them.

Dog leashes, in both morning and evening colours. Into the Christmas Boutique they go.

Just to make you smile.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Even if you've seen it before, it's worth watching again.

September 20

While doing the weekly housework this morning, I determined to Do Something about the mess of chargers and cords that hang about on the kitchen divider. Inspired by this, I whipped up my own version using a cardboard lid and fabric, applied quickly (and pretty roughly!) with spray adhesive. To stop the cords slipping back out, I made an elastic "mouth", attached with brads. It works! Now I'll make me a prettier, neater one. Well, not now. Maybe after Christmas :-)

September 19

My darling sister and I celebrate Sisters' Day on September 17 each year. We picked that date because it was a little distant from other family celebrations, though a few years ago another anniversary emerged the week before. It's turned out to be particularly nice to celebrate our appreciation of each other so soon after the other, sadder day. This year sister sent me this, and I love it! It's made by Michelle from Canberra, Australia, and you can get your own from her Etsy store.

September 7

We're back. Zaca Lake was all I hoped it would be; beautiful, peaceful, a place to just BE. Unfortunately, Josh was very unsettled by all the flies which spoiled his enjoyment. (I'm Australian; I'm used to flies.) Apparently they only arrive in late summer, so next time (oh yes, there will be a next time) we'll go earlier or later in the year.

I {heart} Zaca Lake. More photos here.

P.S. Linn at Cozy Living is hosting a giveaway that you might want to enter. I would certainly like one of those beautiful picnic table covers for my next visit to Zaca Lake. If I don't win hers, I might just have to make my own.

September 4

My honey and I are going to Zaca Lake this weekend. Can't wait. I'll be back with photos soon!

August 31

I just finished Amy Butler's Nappy Bag, which includes a changing pad in its own drawstring bag. It'll go in the mail this week to a soon-to-be-mama who's about ready to pop.

I screwed up when cutting it out; I put the wrong edge of the pattern on the fold of the fabric, happily repeating the mistake for two outside pieces, two lining pieces, two canvas reinforcement pieces and four internal pocket pieces. Ack!! So now all those myriad bits have a seam up the middle, which I camouflaged on the outside with a strip of dotty ribbon.

It was my first Amy Butler pattern, and I found it very easy to follow (the mistake with the fold was completely my fault, not Amy's). The finished bag is pretty heavy (thanks to the canvas reinforcement) which I'm not sure is a good thing for a nappy bag; but at least it's super sturdy.

August 30

My beautiful niece Emma made a flying visit on her way to a wedding. I love, love, love it when my Australian family comes to stay, even if it's only for a day and a night.

August 25

Another birthday dressing gown. It feels weird (and hot!) to be making a cozy robe in the middle of a heat wave, but of course the seasons will turn sooner or later. This one's a request from my brother-in-law, who has two white cats that shed a lot.

August 24

Garden bounty :-)

August 23

Josh and I spent the day in the pretty seaside town of La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya), just north of San Diego. We'd gone with the plan of snorkeling among the leopard sharks, but for various reasons that didn't pan out. After lunch we drove around a bit and came upon this place for rent, that happened to be having an open house, and also happened to have a parking spot nearby, so we went in for a stickybeak.

All very lovely, except for the price tag. This house rents for $10,000 a week in the summer. Um, I don't think so.

August 22

Here's a fun meme. Create a self-portrait using Flickr, by answering the following questions.

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search.
Using only the first page of the results, choose an image. Copy and paste its URL into the mosaic maker over at Big Huge Labs.

The questions:
What is your first name?
What is your favorite food?
What high school did you attend?
What is your favorite color?
Who is your celebrity crush?
Favorite drink?
Dream vacation?
Favorite dessert?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you love most in life?
One word to describe you.
Your Flickr name
(Plus I added one more secret one to balance out how my mosaic was set-up).

Here's what I got. I love it!

1. Hashi rest, 2. A Sunflower of Mangoes..., 3. just a hunk, a hunk of burnin' rock, 4. Beautiful old lady from Darap(Sikkim) village, 5. Redwood Bridge (from raw); A Wedding Day post in honor of my Lovely Bride!, 6. No 2, 7. Moonlit Airlie Beach, 8. Fruit/Star, 9. Prairie Wind, 10. golden days, 11. llibreria - bookstore - Amsterdam - HDR, 12. juego de niñas, 13. tent fabric

August 21

My company picnic was held this week; they closed off Pacific Park at the Santa Monica Pier for three hours for us, and laid on a buffet lunch. Immediate family was invited, so of course I took Lauren. Sadly for her, I'm not one for stomach lurching rides, so she had to ride some of them alone or with my workmates. But I do love the ferris wheel, so was happy to go on that several times.
Rhea, remember the day we rode the ferris wheel with David on our very first visit to America? They replaced it a few months ago. I drive by there every morning, and within a week the old one was gone and the new one was up. Rhea on the Pacific Park ferris wheel, October 1996

August 20

I made a few of these for Christmas presents last year, and loved how quick and easy they are to make, and how ... well ... fun the finished product is! So today it was just the ticket for a quick birthday gift for a young man turning six.

August 19

I'm thinking this would look adorable on a wee girl celebrating her first Christmas. I need to make a little red or yellow headband to match, with a sunflower on it. What do you think?

August 18

Burp cloths! They're all different sizes, because I used what I had in the way of baby-girlish flannel. A new mother can never have too many burp cloths, right?

August 17

At the fabric store yesterday, fat quarters were on sale for 99c each, so I snapped up enough to make napkins, a project that's been on my list for quite a while.

I made one set to match the dining room placemats ...

and other for the breakfast table.

August 16

Another dress for my niece. You can't really see them, but it has big patch pockets on the front. The fabric is one of the $1 a yard bargains I picked up back in March.

August 10

One of my friends is getting married in a few weeks, and I was at a loss for what to make her as a gift. While I know the bride pretty well, I have never really got a handle on her taste, which always seemed pretty random to me. And I've only met the groom once, so that was no help. I looked at their registries for inspiration, thinking I might do what I've done before, and make placemats to go with their chosen dinnerware. Hmmm. Plain white dinnerware. Great. So I looked at their bed linen, and saw they had chosen greys with a very simple floral motif. That was the hook I needed, and the above placemats were born.

I hope they like them!

August 9

Back at the sewing machine again. This child's dress was just too easy!

August 3

I drove to San Francisco this weekend, to see this:and to go here:The weather was gorgeous, the company convivial, and the whole weekend worthwhile. Gotta do this more often.