belle epoque

Hello! Thank you so much to the lovely, enthusiastic, attentive people who came to my demo at Bazaar Bizarre. It was SUCH a fun event all around, with a truly amazing array of wonderful vendors. The cuteness was actually a little bit overwhelming! But I’m not complaining. I know I promised those of you who couldn’t make it the tutorial early this week, but I’m afraid it is going to have to wait a bit. What with holiday crafting, shopping, shipping, erranding and travel (I head east tomorrow morning), I haven’t had as much time as I’d hoped to make the tutorial all pretty and post it up. I shall try to do it from my parents’ house, but my mother says her computer is “on the fritz” so we shall see.

In the meantime, let me share with you a recipe for a combination that has been making me very happy lately. Namely, bread and cheese:

This is my version of a mutant Welsh Rarebit (the real thing of which I’ve only had once in a lovely tearoom in Woodstock, outside of Oxford. it was delicious and I’ll never forget it). I’m a big believer in individual servings, particularly of desserts and other rich, yummy things. You get to eat ALL of it (no ostentatiously taking a small spoonful from the big bowl because other people are looking and tsking) plus you don’t have to share. Perfect. Which is why I love ramekins, and the individual au gratin dishes you see above. Anyway, you can make the deliciousness you see there, just for you, by doing the following
Mutant Welsh Rarebit
2 oz sharp cheddar coarsely grated
chives
several generous dashes worchestershire sauce
1 T creme fraiche or sour cream
1 tsp beer (or white wine)- this is optional, as obviously it is not worth opening a beer or wine for 1 tsp. but if you have a little on hand, put it in.
1 egg, beaten
pinch cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 english muffin, toasted and generously buttered
Heat oven to 400.
Mix cheddar, chives, worchestershire, creme fraiche, egg, beer,cayenne, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Place your toasted, generously buttered (yes, really, nothing will make this a diet dish, so just go for it) english muffin half in the center of your mini gratin dish and pour the rest of the mixture over it. Place in the hot oven for 10 minutes, then heat up your broiler and pop it under the broiler for another 5 (or until it is brown and bubbly and gorgeous). Remove carefully (it is hot!) and eat. Yum.

I hope to pop in with the virtual gift of a pattern and tutorial for you before Christmas. But if I’m not able, I wish you all a very happy holiday (be it Christmas or Solstice or just a few days off from work), and I’ll see you in the new year!

First the pig:

Despite everything else I have to do before Friday, I just *had* to make one of these pigs on wheels from the lovely free pattern over at Wee Wonderfuls . As a child, one of my favorite Christmas ornaments was a wheeled cow, so it seems appropriate we have a wheeled farm animal for our tree too.

And now for the publicity!
1. The wonderful Susan, wrote up a very kind review and mini-interview about my book on the Adorn blog. My very nice publisher has sent Adorn copies to give away to five commenters, so if you’d like to be in the running for one, pop over there and comment. If you’re coming from there, welcome and thanks for visiting! Thanks also to the CRAFT blog for mentioning the post too!

2. I will be teaching a sewing demo at Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco this Saturday!
Saturday, December 15
12:30-1:30
Click here for more information and to reserve a spot (no stress about that, though–as there aren’t materials involved, really as long as you can fit in the room you can come). I hope to see you there!

p.s. If you can’t make it, I’ll be posting a pattern and tutorial here early next week so don’t worry.

Confession: I have issues with decorating. I’m unable to commit, I don’t like putting holes in the walls (what if I change my mind?!), plus I seldom buy regular-sized or shaped art and am too cheap for custom framing. So I am very proud of this tiny step forward:

The single decorated corner of my studio, The Bird Corner, filled with my avian treasures: bird tags by Susie Ghahremani (collected over at least 4 years), a beautiful parasol bird by Becky and a lovely nest painting from Lavish (it was a gift and I’m sorry to say I don’t remember the name of the artist)*Update! Thanks to the lovely Molly, I can tell you that the artist is Bishop Lennon. Go to her website, her work is FABULOUS. Oh, and the bird ornament I made from the pattern in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, which is not going to live in the corner but is just visiting for now. I made the display on the right using a blank 8×8 canvas, nails, and the coolest pewter branch hanger from Rare Device, to which I wired the parasol bird. I should, perhaps, have painted the canvas a color, and I may yet, so if you have any suggestions let me know (I’m thinking pale aqua or turquoise).

I’m not done with the decorating by any stretch of the imagination. I have two sweet Jen Corace prints, some wonderful works of art from Abigail of Theo Design, and a few neat Black Apple prints, all waiting patiently for frames and a little bit of courage on my part. But that may have to wait until the holiday rush is over. I only stopped sewing gifts to decorate because I ran out of stuffing and haven’t gotten more yet!

I’ve been busily packaging up the holiday orders from the shop (thank you to my lovely buyers!),

making presents to mail to family far away, like my lovely aunt (who doesn’t read this blog)

and seeing pink elephants!

That wee elephant, from Hillary Lang’s pattern in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, is a birthday present for a little lady I know who is turning 2 years old shortly. I used a piece of glazed cotton that originally came from a shower curtain my mother made years ago. I like using home decor fabric for softies and other unexpected things (like jackets or skirts), and I feel like this petite pachiderm belongs in a wisteria-festooned gazebo at a garden party!

I think this child may come out quoting Monty Python, because for weeks I’ve had the compulsion to do something very strange and anglophilic– make mince pies, from scratch (no bottled mince for us! nope!). I’ve never been a big fan of mince pies or spicy fruit desserts in general (I only like plum pudding with nearly a whole jar of hard sauce on it), but this year the idea of mince pies would *not* leave me alone. Which culminated in literally HOURS in the kitchen, muttering and stirring and making a mess. I used this recipe for the mince, and this recipe for the pastry crust. If I did it again (which is unlikely) I would halve the mince recipe, or be prepared to can some of it, because it made WAY more than necessary.

But look! They turned out so pretty:

Instead of stars or lattice-work, I used my wee autumn leaf cookie cutters to make the tart tops. I think they tasted the way mince pies are meant to– spicy and tart with a buttery crust. Now mince is OUT of my system and I can move on to other things!

It has been all about fits and starts around here lately– a lot gets done at once, and then things languish. But so far the tree is trimmed and a good bit of holiday baking has been baked. I’ll tell you all about that in another post! Today, I want to show you these little lovelies

made from Alicia Paulson’s Santa Lucia Clothespin Doll Kit. I realise it isn’t Santa Lucia’s Day just yet, but seriously, when this thing arrived I couldn’t wait. I want to keep them all for myself and stage a little doll procession every year, but given overestimation of my Christmas crafting speed, I’m afraid one or two will have to fly from the nest to become gifts. *update! Alicia has started a Flickr group for the Santa Lucias, so pop over there if you’d like to see more lovelies*

I am always sort of grumpy when someone blogs about making something from a magical vintage pattern that is impossible to find, or, in this case, a kit that is no longer for sale, but I hope you’ll forgive me because I couldn’t *not* show you these. That Alicia is amazing! They were easy and super-fun to make, and turned out just as I’d imagined (except for the blonde on the far left– she looks peeved. Maybe her candle dripped wax on her hand?). I also really want to know where she finds her calicoes, because I’m completely obsessed with the fabric on the brown-haired doll to the far right– roses AND red polka dots? Swoon. If you’ve seen it before and know where to find it, please let me know!

p.s. Did you see? This is the inaugural project for my brand new scalloping shears- I adore them.

I’ve been wanting to make a Waldorf-style doll for awhile now. I find their sweet, simple faces and squishable bodies so dear. It seems that the online Waldorf supply stores have the nicest selections of 100% wool felt, roving, batting and stuffing at the best prices too (not that I’ve bought any, I’m trying to use up the not-quite-100%-natural supplies I have before I’m allowed to get more). At any rate, today I finally jumped in!

I couldn’t find a nice peachy-colored cotton interlock, so I had to go with white, but I used my fabric pastels to make pink cheeks:

It took longer than I expected to make, and as many of the tutorials online make clear, the hair is the trickiest part (explaining why mine is wearing a hat and has embroidery thread hair rather than loopy yarn curls). I can’t point you to a specific tutorial, as I used bits from a bunch of different ones, but there’s lots of inspiration at the Flickr Steiner Dolls set. It was fun and I see many rag dolls in my future! Or at least one or two more…