taking the plunge

sorry about the photo quality; it's raining today and I was having a hard time getting the camera to cooperate in the strange light...

I know that drop crotch pants are one of those items of clothing that engenders strong responses: people either seem to love or loathe. I loathed them at first, but I have to say, eventually they began to have a strange fascination for me, the way many aesthetically challenging things do. Now, do I think these lengthen my legs? Heck no. (But who cares? I'm 5'11" with a 35" inseam. I *never* worry about leg length, to be honest; even if I am "shortening"). Do I think they take 10lbs. off my booty? Haha! But if one stops thinking of fashion for a moment as a way to attract a mate (and believe me, Cass looked extremely dubious when I finished these and put them on; I'm not sure he realized what I'd been sewing that night), they're interesting. And personally, I've always loved the look of the zouave soldiers and the pampas cowboys, billowing pants tucked into knee-high boots. The shape of these gives the same silhouette whether or not I tuck in, and that's fascinating to me. I also LOVE the on-seam pockets on these pants and the waistband. I've never made pants before (I was always so afraid of fit), but I have to say, the waistband on these pants fits PERFECTLY along the curves of my hips and small of my back - something I've rarely found in store-bought pants. So, three cheers for the pattern! (info below) I thought I'd be rocking these with heels, but I tried a pair on with them and winced; perhaps another pair will be better, or perhaps I'll just stay in flats with these.

linen drop-crotch pants, McCalls pattern #5858. I will add that I made these in the size 12, though I am definitely not a 26" waist/36" hip these days (dagnabbit, marriage = I've put on 2 inches!). So, if you're intrigued, I'd say, size down. There's enough cloth here that you will probably want to. I made mine from three yards of 45" wide linen, which I ore-washed and dried on high (and so it probably shrank a bit) and there was still plenty of cloth when I was cutting out the pattern. Nice way to use a spare 3 yards!

update from the foraging/canning jam brigade

After the first round of salmonberry jam, I knew I needed to make more. So when we went up to the mountains to visit Cass' folks and spend the day hiking (and setting up a loom for me - more on that later! my first weaving project in over 10 years - and it's gonna be a BEAUTY!), I insisted we bring a bunch of tupperware containers - you know, just in case we happened to stumble upon some berries.

Oh, mama. We did. Just as we left town, I looked down and realized there were tiny wild strawberries EVERYWHERE alongside the road. Twenty minutes of concerted picking by all four of us, and we'd cleared the area. It was enough to make 2 6-oz containers of VERY sweet jam (as Cass observed, it smelled like ihop strawberry syrup - and was probably as sweet, though I only put in 1/4 c. of sugar). These are VERY special this year, if only because in such limited supply. Wild strawberries are about a quarter (at most) the size of domestic strawberries, but their flavour is so much better.
We did also find some more salmonberries and this time I purchased little 4oz jars so that I'd be able to send some of this cherry-and-clove-flavoured goodness on to more of our friends, come yuletide.

I'm also trying out a new pickling recipe, but more on that when it's done - it takes 6 days to prepare, and I'm only 3 days in, so I'll get back to you with pictures and a report and a link to the recipe next week!

making a statement (I think it's "I'm cheap!")

every so often, I like to cruise the "for the collector" section of anthropologie's jewelry. I can never afford any of it, but I frequently find pieces I like that are easily replicable. Take, for example, the fossil coral necklace above, which rings in at - would you guess? - a whopping $598. I couldn't quite believe it myself.

So I went to my local fine fabric store and spent awhile digging through the upholstery trims. I bought a yard each of three trims that I liked together, and pawed through stones at my local bead shop to find this big hunk of agate for $4. These trims come with a bit of twill tape attached to them, so that you can easily affix them along the seam of a pillow or cushion of an upholstery project, but this bit of twill tape (or "lip," as the ladies at the shop called it) is actually very loosely basted on, and can easily be removed with a bit of patience and a seam ripper or some sharp scissors. You just want to take your time removing the lip, so that you don't pull the threads of the trim and end up with an unsightly fuzzy explosion here and there on your trims. All told, I spent about $15, including the big African brass bead that I used as a toggle clasp.

Then it was just a matter of sitting down and following the picture as I stitched the trims together. All of the stitches are between the trims, hidden inside where they meet. I used a heavy dosing of tacky glue to seal the ends up, the wrapped them with leather and affixed my toggle bead and a strip of leather to wrap around it as a clasp. All in all, I'd say this project costs about $15 and takes about 5-10 hours to do, and not too difficult.

Thanks, anthro, for the inspiration!

big day.

So the reason I haven't been posting much in the way of projects lately is because I've secretly been working on a surprise present for my friend Adrienne, who sang at our wedding and who is expecting her first child later this month. Her baby shower is today, and as I mused over what to make (love the "handmades and homemades welcome!" line on the invite!!), I happened to read this post over at Unruly Things, wherein a mother reminisced about the first days back from the hospital and how hungry she was when she was nursing, and how nice it was when friends brought her dinner.

Eureka, that's it!

Since we live in different neighbourhoods not easily accessible to each other by bus, I have made my friend and her husband about 3-4 weeks' worth of dinners, all separated into individual servings and frozen, so that she or he can take out as much as they would like at a time and just reheat.

my friend Samer says "food is love," and I couldn't agree more. Here's the love round-up for Adrienne and Gered and little Aria Vita:

a quart of acorn squash soup with sweet spices (star anise, ginger, allspice), and sesame cream (vegan, recipe from The Artful Vegan)

And then the parade of Italian comfort food begins with homemade vegan gnocchi with garlic and herbs (adapted from the sweet potato gnocchi with garlic and sage in The Millennium Cookbook); we froze on a cookie sheet and bagged individual servings of 15 gnocchi, with a little slip tucked inside each bag detailing ingredients and cooking instructions.

homemade arugula and three-cheese raviolis. Here's where I made one concession to time: I bought fresh pasta sheets for the ravioli instead of rolling my own. But I was just about out of time, only made these yesterday afternoon, so I'm sure I'll be forgiven! They are stuffed with a mixture of ground fresh arugula leaves, fat-free ricotta and fat-free feta and (not-fat-free) parmesan, with a touch of nutmeg and nutritional yeast to provide a nutty counterpoint to the cheeses.

A traditional lasagne with layers of bolognese (slow-simmered for hours on the stove, it drove me AND the neighbours crazy!), noodles, and ricotta (thickened with a bit of egg), topped with a good hearty layer of mozzarella. This photo is titled "no willpower" on my desktop as I couldn't resist tucking in to a small piece as it cooled on my table.

Another lasagne, one I haven't made in 8 or 9 years, but one of my favorites. This one comes from epicurious: Eggplant Lasagne with Parsley Pesto. It also has a garlic bechamel sauce in there, and the pesto has been mixed with ricotta. Not a tomato in sight, but such a wonderful dish, especially in the fall.

And that's it! It all just barely fits inside our cooler; good thing I checked in with her husband to make sure they have room in their freezer, eh? =) This is going to be a fun surprise!

upcoming

buying into the fur trend, but ethically: I just bought some faux fur at fabric.com with these projects in mind. A friend has commented that my animal/animal-esque collection of wearables is becoming impressively eccentric.
Prada's s/s 2011 fox fur stoles. I am on a bit of a budget, so I couldn't splurge on the really bright/long shag fur; instead, I bought one yard of luxury shag in black for the solid side and tail, and burgundy (or is it red? we'll find out when it arrives!) and bright baby blue for the stripes. Should be fun, no? =)

Liu Wen in "Wild Dreams" shot by Greg Kadel for Vogue Germany. Isn't this cape amazing? I wish I knew who makes it, so I could get a closer look. I'm pretty sure this gal is wearing the same one:

I would love to credit this photo, but I've forgotten where I found it, gah. Can anyone help me out? Have you seen this around? And yes, still hoping to figure out who made the cape. I didn't want to buy cloth for the cape, since I have some beautiful heavy wool in a huge blanket plaid pattern in dun colours. I'll use that (though I only have 3 yards, so yes, I am concerned about having enough cloth; I may have to make mine a tetch shorter AND give up on matching the plaids, sigh).

I bought two yards of a polyester faux fox fur and plan to cut it across the gentle stripes so that my fake "tails" have some variation down the length of the tail, like these. And from there, I'm just trying to decide whether I should suspend all the "tails" in a bath of idye poly (red, obviously) or use simply spray upholstery paint.

What do you think? I think I'm leaning toward the latter, because red dye ALWAYS seems to run, and with all of Seattle's rain, I fear all of my pants/socks/skirts/shoes would be dyed pink.

summer desserts: plum dumplings return

another round of plum dumplings, using last year's recipe. Tastes like summer!

perfect!

matcha macaron with matcha-cream-cheese filling. look at the size of those feet! wahoo!