Tasting, tasting …

I broke out the peach salsa and the peach jam I canned.  I was trying to wait, to let the flavors blend, to have a little patience.  Well, that’s as much patience as I have – maybe a month?  I really, really wanted to know if something tasty came of all those hours of work and peach juice dripping from my elbows.

I was not disappointed.  The peach jam is basically peach butter, thick and tangy and sweet, the essence of peach on toast.

But the peach salsa was better than good.  It was terrific.  I’m not much for complimenting myself, but if I could give you all a taste, I totally would.  It made me happy.  If you’re in the area, come on over.  But you should hurry, the first of two jars is half gone.

Who, me?

I turn beet red and develop an embarrassing stammer when people compliment me. I’m just not so good at it! Nevertheless, I must say that I appreciate that Shelly of This Eclectic Life and Jenna of Corgipants and the SwapDex both gave me the Arte y Pico Award some time back, and the time has come to pass it on to some of the folks that inspire me (I’m supposed to pass it onto 5 people).  It’s just too bad those two are out of the running, or they might have gotten it from me!

So here are my awards, and if these fine folks feel as though they would like to pass it on, they are welcome to, but no pressure to do so!!  My desire is simply to compliment some folks that I love to read, and who inspire me in different ways.  Although I try to comment on the blogs I read fairly regularly, I sometimes fail in that, and often I think that the people who blog don’t always know their impact on others and that their effort is appreciated!  So here we go, in no particular order.

I think I stumbled across A Chicken in Every Granny Cart accidentally, but wow! was that ever a happy accident. I love Ann’s blog – her pictures, her food, her ramblings.  Each week her blog is a visual treat of food talk and collections of pictures from her long, long walks around New York City’s boroughs and upstate New York.  And at the end, a delicious recipe from what she’s been cooking.  Ann loves food like I do, and she’s much more adventurous with her ingredients than I.  You should hear her wax rhapsodic about beans, it’s truly inspiring.  I can’t decide about whether I like the pictures or food more, but the combination just makes me happy every time I get a new post.

misshawklet has been my favorite yarn spinner-and-dyer for a while. I am sad that I can rarely buy anything from her since I’m so allergic to wool, but sometimes (like now!) she has cotton as well, in natural and yummy colors.  I can’t quite explain what I mean by this, but I like reading her blog because of her voice, the approach to life she projects.  To me, she always seems so positive and hopeful (even if she doesn’t feel it), and makes her homebody/yarn projects seem fun and easy, and she always seems so interested in everything around her.  I’ve been hoping along with her lately that she can buy the house she’s interested in!

Hanna of iHanna.nu is a favorite because of her approach to creativity, which is a huge part of her life.  Last year Hanna created a book, and this year she’s making daily art cards, but her creativity is expressed in a lot more ways than just that.  Like Hanna I love research and collecting/documenting, so that may be a lot of why her approach appeals to me.  Overall, though, I think that reading Hanna’s blog, looking at what she creates (this is a favorite) and seeing what inspires her reminds me to open up my idea of what “creativity” actually is and where it’s found.

Leah runs a blog and challenge at Creative Every Day is another person who inspires me in the creative arena. I wasn’t ready to join the challenge back in January, but I’ve certainly benefited by reading this blog and watching her create her art.  I’ve thought for a long time that being an “artist” was a sort of mystical, vague, intimidating concept (translation: I had no idea what it really meant to be an artist) .  I’m less vague on the concept and more impressed now, because of what Leah does and how she does it.  It’s hard to pick a favorite of her pieces, but if I weren’t broke I would own this original piece.

My last award goes to Diane Slade of Thoughts from a Seamstress, and if you want to know why I chose Diane, just go read this post which shows her making a shirt.  I would in no way be able to make that shirt, no matter how clear the instructions – not only because of her impressive equipment (serger, double needle sewing?!) but because of the techniques (the gathering gives me the heebie-jeebies)!  Diane is a talented professional seamstress, and it really shows.  I featured Diane’s denim bias skirt many moons ago, and I have enjoyed living vicariously through her talented fingers ever since then.  If she weren’t in Michigan, I’d try to convince her to give me lessons!

So there you go. The talents and creativity of five lovely people I wouldn’t know a thing about if it weren’t for this here lovely interwebs.  Thanks again to Shelly and Jenna, not only for the award, but for giving me a chance to tell these folks how much I appreciate them!

Patience (just like the G’N'R song … sort of)

I really hate to admit this, but I think it’s time I got a new computer.  This one is, as the saying goes, moving slower than molasses in winter, and it’s driving me crazy.  I know it’s the processor, but I just don’t like getting new computers very much, I get all comfortable and familiar with one and then it goes and gets old.  The nerve! I get sentimental – I still have two of my old computers, and my old laptop is currently the file server for my home network. *sigh*

I’ve noticed lately that when I begin a post I start digressing like that even before I begin the post.  This post is reportedly about home furnishings – I have continued to update things around here after we completely rearranged our house in June.  The next step was curtains and a couple of big pillows for my living room out of some nice fabric I got at Ikea.  Still have 2 more pillows to make.

I titled this project Patience because it took me a while to finish them, because I actually didn’t cut any corners on the project.  Everything got properly measured, pinned, ironed, lined, finished and stitched.  This is very unusual because I have zero patience for twiddly details.  It required many, many deep breaths and some shorter work sessions not to just get irritated and slap things together.  But, I really wanted to produce things where I didn’t look at them funny later on.  You know, the usual head-tilted-to-the-side-because-I’m-pretty-sure-that-seam-isn’t-straight look you give something when you start acknowledging maybe you should’ve taken a bit more time with it.  Or does that only happen to me?

Of course, the ultimate test for all my pillows that I make is the Dog Test.  Audrey is somewhat particular about her pillows (think the Princess and the Pea fairytale), and they have to achieve a certain level of comfort in both fluff and fabric in order for her to approve.  I’m not kidding.  She has rejected a number pillows before.  I test for approval by flopping the pillow on the floor and seeing if she climbs on and is happy.  Here are the results of the Dog Approval Test:

Victory!  You can’t see it, but the pillow cover is open along one side.  There’s a flap inside to cover the pillow liner, and then four ties made from the fabric to close it.  This one is lined because my fabric was pretty sheer, plus I wanted to make it extra sturdy what with all the cats and dogs and husband in the house.  I’m going to write myself some directions for them so I don’t forget.  I made up the pattern as I went along (which did require some seam ripping).

The curtains I made were not true curtains, they’re decorative panels.  One thing Jeff requested was wooden blinds, but our windows are an odd square size.  So instead of forking over the bucks for custom sizing, we bought two and hung them side by side and it fit perfectly.  It’s actually turned out well, because kitty sits in one side and looks out all day.  The panels cover the seam between and the edges.  This is kind of an odd view of the living room, but here they are:

These also feature fabric ties (I coordinated with the pillows!).  I took my time with all the seams, and everything is so straight even this OCD girl can’t see the faults.  I am pleased.

I received kind of a compliment on my home furnishing endeavors a while back – someone has asked me to figure out & probably make curtains for rooms in their new house.  It’s a friend of my mom’s.  I’m waiting to see (MOM) if my dear mother will decide to pick it all out before I even get there.  Not that she tends to go shopping and get a little crazy or anything.  Ah, what’s a blog for if you can’t occasionally tease the mother who reads it?