labor day creations

I spent part of my holiday weekend making stuff, inspired by my garden.  First came these cupcakes, which were really an excuse to use my first passionfruits in the kitchen.  That's a mango and passionfruit curd you see, right on top of a rich, dark chocolate ganache.  

"Ganache" and "curd" are new cooking vocabulary for me this year.  Exotic, eh?  I also put a little tangelo-pineapple marmalade into the yellow cake, for kicks, so this little guy could become an attempt at a 5-minute tropical getaway.  And, it's a getaway partly grown in local backyards: new heights in imaginary eco-tourism?

My adventure from yesterday involved playing with fruits and vegetables, exploring their printmaking possibilities.  Turns out I really dig the look of limes and onions as stamps.
Slowly, they're becoming napkins and placemats, I think.  I printed them onto pieces of an old duvet from the thrift store.
Here are the stamps I tried.  I wonder what else I could use out of the refrigerator...  

worn

I feel like my garden has gotten out of my control; I've been away too much, and, when here, I've been distracted and busy.  It's been hot, too.  So, I spent some time on Friday evening doing my least favorite garden tasks: tearing out overgrown and dry plants.  There's still a bunch more of that work to do.  

Today, I started some new seeds, which is a happier job.  

And, as if a sign of grace and possibility, the fig tree yielded up some delicious fruits.  I love how figs hide their fleshy beauty inside such misleading, shriveling brown exterior. 

In between a bunch of other adventures (including fashioning 5 veils to make clergy robes look like nun costumes for our Sound of Music Singalong at the church), I also finally sewed a wraparound skirt from an old sheet I got at the thrift store.  It's deliciously soft, and lined with another dangerously soft (and worn) sheet.  

On Friday, I tried to take care of myself a bit: a fresh haircut, buying some watercolors, and a massage; when I was in Santa Fe, I relaxed enough to notice how tense the muscles in my shoulders were.  I still feel tender from having those muscles loosened.  A good, looser kind of tender.  Enough to make me think I should not wait so long next time.

thankful for creation

I'm just back from my week at the Glen Workshop in Santa Fe, and am very happy for a chance to give time and space to creating beautiful things.

Few things embody joyous possibility like fresh, quality art supplies.  So this has been a good week.  And, since I like to think that one of the coolest things about God is the endlessness of beautiful possibility toward which s/he draws us...well, I guess that makes it even better.

It also helped that I got to hang out in the midst of natural beauty and the wide open spaces of the Santa Fe area.  With lovely flowers and a whole lot of beautiful people.

I was a part of a seminar led by Tim Rollins, whose artistic work embodies social transformation and beauty, together.  It felt pretty rad to create things together with him.  

Nearly as rad as it is to remember my own call to be a co-creator of God's kingdom, with the help of the Holy Spirit and the beloved community around us all.

crafty fun

I finally followed through with a long-talked-about plan to invite some friends over and be crafty.  A friend had been wanting to try mosaic, and I had a big, big bucket of tile adhesive left from our kitchen wall.  They just seemed to be begging to go together.  And nothing is going to help me through a busy week as well as a little creative adventure...

I decided I need a tiled post to decorate my garden. 
Fabulous trays, garden stepping stones and a chair were also created.  And boba tea was consumed (see the mostly-empty glasses).  How cool is it that you can make boba tea at home?  It turns out the funny looking market called "VIP Wholesale" down my street sells wholesale to a bunch of Asian restaurants and retail to folks like me who are just looking for a little boba fun at home.  Fat orange straws and all.
I think this could become a habit.  Crafting club.  
Thanks to everyone who played along.  Now we just need a little grout...

thin line

So, I know there's a line somewhere between "eco-chic" and "cheap and tacky," and I aim to find it.

This is what you get when you realize you have 5 minutes to wrap a sizable wedding shower gift, you have no wrapping paper or tape or ribbons (unless you want to go climb into the garage attic), and you spy scattered possibilities: a pile of newspapers waiting to be recycled, your glue stick and some an old sheet from the thrift store. The flowers out of the garden are an attempt to nudge toward "chic" and away from "tacky."  'Cause fresh flowers can't be tacky.

The piece you can't see is that the card is custom-made, too--out of the same old sheet.  God bless the person who figured out that you can run cardstock through your sewing machine and use it to attach fabric.  So easy, and so stylish.

At least one person at the shower said it was "so Anthropologie."  I think that's good.

You decide.

[As a side note, while hanging clothes on my line today, I gave a little prayer of thanks that I live in my, um, diverse and disadvantaged neighborhood.  Hanging clotheslines violates no CC&R's.  Neither does planting your front yard in vegetables.  I love this place.  Except for the children's party across the street that has been playing Mexican Chipmunks music all afternoon.  I didn't know the Chipmunks sang in Spanish.  But boy, do they.  They cover all kinds of music you might have liked before this afternoon, if you lived on my street.]

easter mosaic

Just cause you asked (okay, so just Deb asked), here's the mosaic we made in worship on Easter.  It was fun smashing the old plates, and fun to put them together, too.  

This is the before-grout pic:

And after-grout.
At first, I was kinda bummed that it's hard to make out the cross, but I've grown to think I really like the way the cross is broken apart, sent out, re-made with our pieces.

(We used a water-based liquid-nails-like-but-less-toxic adhesive from the hardware store to glue the pieces on individually, so we didn't have to figure out how to spread mortar during worship, or keep in wet.  I'm pretty happy with how it all worked--remarkably smooth for involving 140 people in creating it during a "regular" hour-long worship gathering...  The lumpiness added significant challenge for my grouting work later, but I don't think it ended up too bad.  It's a bit lumpy, though--so it wouldn't really work well for a table surface.)

colorful, sweet easter treats

Three (seems like a holy number) colorful, sweet Easter treats to share:

1.  work by an artist, Tattfoo Tan, that I'm enjoying: a placemat (and, later, a mural) made of squares of color that were taken from fresh foods--fruits and vegetables--purchased at a market in Brooklyn.  What a beautiful, fresh palatte.  Check his work out.

2.  Success at dying Easter eggs with natural stuff.  I tried onion skins (see below) and red cabbage to get brownish-orange and blue (see further below.)  If I were doing it again, I would have used fewer onion skins (as I got kind of excited and put skins from most of the $1 bag of onions from my corner market in the water) and more cabbage (I used half of  a little head).  The one downside was that it made my kitchen smell like boiling onions and cabbage, but it was a warm day and the open windows cured that quickly enough.  The blue is not quite as subtle as it seems in this picture...

3.  I'm *finally* putting the ice cream ball that Er and Joel gave me (long ago) to good use.  It's fun to make your own ice cream, especially when the work involved is, like, rolling a ball around.  You just put ice cream ingredients in the littler inner chamber, and ice and salt in the bigger, outer green part and then play.  Then, you get ice cream.  What could be better?

That's my cheer for the day.  I'm feeling tired after an intense weekend of church creativity.  I love our Easter Vigil prayer stations.  And Easter worship was a fun trip today, too.  We shattered old plates with a hammer and made them into a swell new mosaic.  You don't always get to swing hammers in church.  ;)  So, it's mostly a really good kind of tired I'm feeling.  I think I'll sleep well tonight--no more clever worship bits to plan.  At least for a few days.

limitations and abundance

I thought dyeing Easter eggs with natural dyes sounded pretty cool.  And, I had this chard languishing in my kitchen; I picked it in a hurry last Saturday, when the garden was being dug up.  I used part of it then, but didn't really have a plan for the rest.  I have observed how the red stems turn my chard-artichoke dip pink, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Just in case you were wondering, chard is not effective as a dye.  Neither the deep green leafy parts nor the garishly bright pink stems had any noticeable affect on my eggs.

Guess I should stick with the plants the recommend.  But hey: now my kitchen smells like stewed chard...

In other news and adventures, I'm feeling pretty blessed these days.  I mean, sure, I'm still dealing with the depression of Matt's deployment departure, but other folks have sure been good to me lately.

First, my obsessive lurking around crafty blogs led me to a fun give-away on Betty Ninja's site--and I won her drawing.  I'm waiting anxiously for the happy hedgehog to appear in my mailbox...  Then, I happened upon Oodles and Oodles' clothespin apron giveaway, and won again.  Now I can hang clothes in style on my new backyard clothesline.  Such a run of blogging grace!

Then, at work yesterday, two women in the office showered me with a magical sunflower basket of goodness--with cookies and a fun t-shirt and music and chocolate and lots more.  Just 'cause they were thinking of me and wanted to cheer me up.

All that's not even counting the carrot-dill bread Marian and Wayne brought by--or their avocado tree which is now planted in the yard.  Or the window and door trim my in-laws installed yesterday and today.  Or the books my brother sent me in the mail.  Or the care package from my mom.

So: today, deployment sucks, but it sure is beautiful to know that I'm surrounded by lots of caring folks and beautiful, thoughtful things!

I'm trying to ride out this wave of happy vibes and see if it will sustain me through an attempt to de-clutter my house.  It'd take a miracle...

creating comfortable things

The last two nights, I've been engaging my crafty side; it feels good to make projects I've been thinking about for a while.

While I was sewing at our kitchen table last night, we heard gunshots in the neighborhood.  I don't think Matt was the only one to call the police.  In minutes, our street was full of police cars and a helicopter overhead; a man was found, killed by gunshots, in the alley on our block.

It felt a little surreal to sit at the sewing machine, stealing glances outside to watch as news crews set up to film in our driveway.  But, I suppose, sewing is a decent response to violence in the world.  Creating, generating, making all feel like fine alternatives to destroying, ending, tearing apart.

Here's half of what I made yesterday--an apron from one of Matt's old jeans legs.  I made him one from the other leg, too (though with less fruit sewn on).  Since we're cooking more, it seemed like maybe we could use aprons.  The binding and ties are from an old sheet I got at the thrift store last week.

And here's what I made tonight: a pile of pincushions, inspired by Betz White's design of a cupcake pincushion.  Fuzzy sweaters and images of sweets--what could be more comforting?
We checked in with the neighbors today; no one knows who it was in our alley.  And we all want to live in communities where these things don't happen.

the pics

I found the camera cord.  It was in the garage all along.

So, here are my illustrations to yesterday's post, and a few more for kicks.

I'm having fun quilting woven woolens.  Here are the first (and only, so far) 2 blocks.

This is the quilt I was given, my inspiration.
And, for fun, here's what it looks like to watch a football game at our house.  Of course, we San Diegans know the big game was 2 weeks ago.  Super Bowl, Schmuper Bowl.
And, we got to celebrate a birthday after watching the game.  To help lift our spirits after our loss.
Good times.

And, apparently the Army has some small amount of reason in some corner; Matt's coming back from NorCal tonight, as they got all the things they needed to do done.  :)

making it

We finally got news of my dear husbands upcoming deployment, like for real.  And, his departure will come at the end of this month.  For the last few days, we've both been moving much slower than usual.  Funny how depression makes you feel so, well, like someone's pressing down on you all the time.  But we're making it.  This weekend, he's off in NorCal, meeting with the group of folks he'll deploy with.  Filling out paperwork and getting shots and all that.  

So, to rally my spirits, I finally got myself to work on some of the crafty project that have been swirling around in my mind for the last many weeks.   Making things has been good for my spirit.  I took pictures, but can't find the cord to download them--I have this hunch that it's in the computer bag Matt took up north.

So, you get to use your imagination.  I make two squares that hope to be part of a quilt of some kind--a free-styling log cabin block, made out of repurposed wool.  Perhaps, if I like the quilt pattern, it might also make itself into a baby quilt for a baby-to-be that I'm ecstatic about.  Also, I had my first mostly-success in remaking a big t-shirt to a fun, fitted style.  It still needs something, but I'm not quite sure what tonight.  Maybe inspiration will come tomorrow.

Really, all the quilt-making inspiration was spurred on by a beautiful gift I received this week.

On Thursday morning, I felt my usual mix of tiredness and uncertainty (amplified by the above-mentioned depression) about whether I really wanted to get myself down to the Rescue Mission for my weekly Bible study with the women there.  And, as usual, when I finally got myself there, it was beautiful and full of grace.  This week, in addition to Bible study grace, there was a kind woman I've enjoyed for a long while now, who gifted me a lap quilt she made.  "For you and your house," she said.  "It's earth tones.  I know you have an old house--I thought it might match."  And, she's right: it's perfect in our house.  It's such a gift to have my hesitance met with overflowing grace, embodied in a homemade gift.

winter harvest

Thought I'd share dinner tonight.  I still marvel that one can grow things in January in this part of the world.  Like, things to eat.

Mostly, the garden's pretty bare, waiting for us to get around to heaping on more compost and things.  But, I couldn't resist starting a few broccoli plants.  And they were yummy.

My question for tonight is: would you wear a shirt silkscreened with an image of broccoli?  Just askin'...

sabbath and (formerly) sagging rooftops

Vacation is a splendid thing.  And, increasingly, I am grateful for time and space to be sabbath-like--no working, no creating, just being.  A long drive and a glorious week in a lovely cabin in snowy Colorado were wonderful for me.  I needed such rest.  The beauty of the Rocky Mountains isn't bad, either...

We came home last Wednesday, and took a look at the work our neighbor had wrought on our garage that day.

Formerly, our roof had been getting worse and worse with this little problem in which its pitch went the wrong way.  So, instead of allowing rain to roll off the roof, it collected rainwater in lovely pools, which then slowly (though increasingly rapidly) came through the roof into the garage.  I blame this on many things, including weak original construction, and the 8 layers of asphalt shingles placed on top of each other, without removing under layers.

Friday, Matt and I began to rebuild the roof structure.  Here's the beginnings, from Friday afternoon.  Since then, it's gotten even better.  It feels so strong now.
All of which is to say that we jumped back into working and creating.  

On the drive home, I began dreaming of crafty projects.  One of which I've actually made.  This vase told me it wanted a new, woolen cover, to help it show off springy blooms from our garden.  The angle is a bit skewed in the pic, but my choices were either a) skew the angle, or b) let you see the mess that is my living room.  Sorry.
Now, I'm dreaming of silk screening.  I have a clever plan.  We'll see if it makes its way into material reality or not.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the intoxicatingly sweet smell of those daffodilly blooms, and giving thanks for how rest makes me feel energized for new adventures.

(I can't say that it makes me feel energized to tackle the nasty pile of accumulated paperwork on the desk in my office at the church, but the more creative bits of work have been fun...)

I'm also very thankful for the Army's lack of certainty these days, as it is delaying Matt's departure for Iraq.  This past weekend, they even uttered the words "or maybe not at all" in reference to his deployment timing.  While that's far from certain, it's also far better than his leaving next week.

So, as always, keep working for peace, and praying for an end to this war.

from our house to yours

We made a gingerbread house on Christmas.  Here it is, along with my prayers for warmth and delight for you.

Heck, for sweetness, too.

We've been busy.  Christmastime is hectic for a preacher, and more so for a crazy one whose family is trying to build a house out of stuff like wood and nails, not just candy. Or who's trying to savor any time she can get with her dear husband, who's fixing to deploy to this insane and immoral war in Iraq (again) at the end of January.  Or so.  The Army seldom really gets their act together about sharing useful details like this.  

In the meantime, we're ducking out of the blogosphere for a big of a vacation together, and some time with my family.

After I preach one more sermon.

it's beginning to look a lot like xmas

I finally decided it was the right time to climb back into the narrow space behind our shed (I use the word "climb" because it requires maneuvering around oddly-placed shovels, a large pick, a wheelbarrow, 2 ladders and the scrap wood that used to be our aquarium stand, plus an overgrown passionfruit vine and the shed itself...) to harvest some of the poinsettia flowers back there.

[I know, I know.  It wasn't really the "flowers" that I was after, but "bracts" just doesn't sound as lovely.  And darn it, those radiant red things deserve a word as nice as "flower."]

Now, our coffee table is decorated very well.  And the lily Jay left with us when he went back to Iowa combines nicely with the smell of pine from our tree and garlands to make a sweeter Christmasy smell than I've known before.

As a bonus, I discovered that I could replace the gaudy plastic wrap around the lilies with a chunk from the sleeve of a sweater I felted.  :)  No sewing necessary--just scissors.

Punctuating this Christmasy goodness are bouts of play of the coolest, most fabulous video game ever: Rockband.  It's a good thing that we don't own the game.  I wouldn't get anything (other than channelling rock stars, with the use fake guitars, microphone and drums) done.  But how cool is it to have a friend with the game--in our neighborhood!?  Rock on.

Now, if I could just get my crafting projects for Christmas done...

needles and pins

When I was a kid, and Mom was teaching me how to sew, she always warned me to be careful that I didn't catch my finger in the needle.  It seemed impossible to me that a person could sew her finger.

After this weekend, I'm a believer.  I hurts a whole lot to sew your finger with a machine.  I don't recommend it.

So, as of this past Friday night, I've renewed my commitment to pinning what I sew.  I will no longer grow lazy and just try to use my fingers to keep things together.  Really.

Crafting can be dangerous.  Darn dangerous.

my monsters

My current obsession with making things from old, felted sweaters continues.  Tonight, these monsters told me they wanted to come out of some sleeves.  (Is making a monster out of a sleeve like having a trick up one?)

Oh, the fun.  It's like a creative wonderland in my living room.  These guys are just the tip of the iceberg (if an iceberg would last long in front of our cozy pellet stove).

Anyhow, the three of us send happy greetings from City Heights.

[Though it's a lovely time of year from gardening in San Diego, our garden is sort-of on hold.  The nice folks at City Farmers Nursery told us that the reason we're feeling frustrated with the growth of vegetables out there is that there are, like, no nutrients in our soil.  We have our list of happy organic amendments to add, but 'til we get our act together to do that, we're just grateful for the one chard plant growing, alongside two scraggly broccoli plants, and some garlic that's sprouted.  I hope the garden isn't jealous that my attention is turned toward felt.]

messes and cleaning up

I decided it was finally time to try roasting the big, orange pumpkin that has been so much fun in my yard and on my step.  But when I cut into it, I found lots of sprouts!

I'm not sure whether sprouted pumpkin seeds mean problems for pumpkins or not, but this pumpkin didn't smell anything like I think pumpkins should smell.  (Not awful, or rotten--just sort of earthy and sprout-like...)  Ultimately, I decided that one of the butternut squashes from my garden would rather be roasted and made into soup.
Crazy. 

And, while I wasn't scooping pumpkin bits into and out of the sink, I thought it'd be fun to try making soap.  Here's one of my first two batches: a honey-oat soap.

Unfortunately for me, I have to wait three more weeks to try it out and see if it's yummy to use.  Ah, the challenges of life.

i *felt* crafty

Last weekend felt fall-ish, and I was feeling crafty, so I decided to try felting. The idea of turning old wool sweaters into cool new things has been tempting me. I gave into temptation.

What fun: a couple of washes in hot water, and knit things become all stuck together. Like felt. (Ok, so they ARE felt. Whatever.)

Here's my first felting project, a little purse made out of an old sweater. I even made a lining with *pockets* out of a cloth scrap I had.
I thought it was so much fun I decided to try more. And, I've been fixated on etsy.com lately, thinking it might be fun to try selling crafty things. So, I went thrift store shopping...and found a few (er, twelve) sweaters I thought would be fun to play with.

(they were such a good deal. i just couldn't resist. and whose gonna buy wool sweaters in san diego, anyhow?!?!?)

Here's my pile of newly-felted sweaters, just waiting to be remade.
Oh, the possibility!!!

Sunday garden tour

I didn't have as much time to spend in my garden as I'd have liked today, but I did stop to enjoy it, just before sundown. Wanna come on a tour?
I picked the first tomatoes today--"Juliet" grape tomatoes. They were tasty. My challenge for the day was figuring out what to do with the rowdy Brandwine tomato that has outgrown its stake and made it fall over. Tonight, it's strung up with twine, tied to the fences. A little sketchy, but mmmmm, those tomatoes are gonna taste good!

And, as you can see, the corn is more-than-knee high, and it's only the first of July, so things are looking good. The chard won't stop growing. The squash and pumpkin are flowering and making fruits...

My surprise is the pot of calla lilies you can see way over on the left (just an edge in the top picture)--Matt planted the bulbs back before Iraq, when we were in the condo. The whole pot looked rather dead, but I decided it might be worth watering. And, by grace, it's in bloom!

Bonus points to anyone who can identify all the edible things growing here. (I counted 11, but I have some advantages. Like I know what I planted.)
The passionflowers on the fence keep blooming--I was afraid they'd quit by now. I like 'em because they don't like to show their faces in the morning any more that I do. (They're an afternoon-opening flower...)
The sunflowers are growing tall--this one's over six feet, and glorious-looking. I love sunflowers.
And, for kicks, I thought I'd throw a craft project (a little bit o' garden art) into the tour. Here's one of my recycled wine bottle lantern prototypes, hanging in the backyard. It's not glowing, but you can use your imagination...
Now I'm back to dehydrating things for our backpacking adventure...