December views, day 5

Reflections, shadows, grids.

December views, day 4

My guys' hands.

December views, day 3

Workplace shapes.

December views, day 2

At the top of Topanga this morning, I emerged from the cloud and stopped to look back over the San Fernando Valley. Hard to imagine that there's millions of people down there in the fog, taking showers, eating breakfast, driving to work, arriving at school, walking the dog. It could be wilderness. I wish it was.

December views, day 1

Sometimes the blurry shots are the best.
The Malibu tunnel on the way to work all aglow.

My friend Shawna visited me at my desk to sip tea and update me on her Thanksgiving.

The planetary alignment on the way home got me excited. I took this on the evening commute with the camera resting on the roof of the car, but decided I really needed a tripod. So as soon as I got home I gathered up the family and tripod and we went looking for high ground. By then too much time had elapsed; Venus and Jupiter had slipped too low in the sky to be seen from our vantage point.

So I took more blurry shots of the fairy lights.

A good day. Happy December!

November 27

Josh and the kids left town for Thanksgiving, and I got a LOT of sewing etc done, most of which I can't display here. Once Christmas is out of the way I will return to more frequent blogging, I hope. I might even start drawing again. That would be good.

About four weeks ago I gave my family the url for the Christmas Boutique (a fickr site where I posted photos of all the gifts I had made throughout the year), and asked them to select what they wanted. Some folks asked for variations on the color schemes shown, and a few asked for things I hadn't thought to make. This has kept me busy for the past month, but at last I have all the overseas gifts ready to wrap and mail tomorrow (the deadline for arrival in Australia before Christmas, I'm told).

One brother and his kids requested hacky sacks in specific colors, which entailed dying yarn. Always fun!

The O.S. cards have already been mailed; the US ones are going out on Monday.

So now I just have the US family's gifts to complete. I plan to make some baby shoes, a baby wrap, a nursing cover-up, a knitted beret, a quilt, and some fingerless gloves. Better get to it!!!

November 16

Christmas present-ing is proceeding apace. One of our traditions is that I give everyone in the immediate family (including myself) new pyjamas, which we open, and wear, on Christmas Eve. This year I'm making them all. Lauren picked the fabric for hers some time ago on a trip to the downtown fabric district. I was trying to keep her occupied while I browsed at my own pace. I was a little surprized by her selection -- these are not colours or icons (anchors? for a tween girl?) she normally wears. But apparently "Juicy" is a brand she thinks important, and so she gravitated to the wording on this fabric. It's too tiny for you to see, but it's there.

I also completed, filled out, addressed, and stamped fifty handmade Christmas cards this weekend. I have to confess to feeling pretty pleased with myself.

November 9

I'm still alive. A combination of a fit of the blahs, and time spent making gifts that I don't want certain blog readers to see, has kept me from posting. Then we got new carpet last week, which involved removing everything from my studio and putting it all back again. It's MUCH nicer now! I purged fairly deeply, and rearranged, and it's all now clean and airy and spacious-feeling. I took down the ugly vertical blinds over the side window and this morning whipped up a stash-busting set of curtains.Ah yes. Much better.

In other news, the Teen Boy now has a real job.
Yep, he's a Chuck-E-Cheese crew member. Hey, we all have to start somewhere!

October 26

Itty bitty baby shoes.

October 20

A new and improved charging station. Same concept as the other one, but improved execution.

October 19

Mmmmm. Yummy. Chickpea and Apple Curry, Red Lentil Dal and Roasted Curried Cauliflower. You can forget every other way you've ever tried to cook cauliflower. This is AWESOME. So good, that I could have eaten the whole cauli myself. Oh wait, I did. Seriously, it's that good. Try it.

Otober 18

And a teal blue one.

October 14

Green version.

October 13

Inspired by the ever-inspirational Anna Maria Horner, I whipped up a tote-able towel. I'll be making more in different colours for the Christmas Boutique, which will be opening its doors on November 1.

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.