Now that the play is over (it went really well, by the way!), I can get back to my crafty stuff! I'm looking through my sewing patterns, just ordered some fabric, and trying to figure out my next project. I also have a necklace underway which needs completion, so I've got plenty to do!
In the meantime, a couple of pics of Harry...a fairly dignified one:
...and not so dignified (but I love it!):
OK, once again I haven't posted in forever. But here's my excuse: I've been rehearsing for the play I'm going to be in! I'm very excited...I spent my whole youth doing theater, but have only had sporadic opportunities since then. And this one just fell in my lap, and I'm thrilled!
I'm having lots of fun rehearsing, and I've even sewn some clothes for costumes! So I've been keeping busy. My friend Rebecca generously spent some time with me to take my headshot, and I'm so happy with how it turned out!
And I have to include a picture of Harry. Here he is in the living room, enjoying the sun.
Well, back to practicing lines!
It's a nasty, icy day here in Stony Point (ice storms and freezing rain), and I can't get out of the driveway and our road in order to get to work. So, poor me, I'm stuck at home instead! A perfect day to sip my Chai tea and write a post about my birthday, which just happens to fall on New Year's Day.
This year was a biggie...40! So I threw myself a party. With beyond-the-call-of-duty housecleaning assistance from David, and two solid days of baking, I ended up with a clean house and quite a spread of goodies! The party was a real success. Here's some of what I cooked up:
Some little cinnamon-nutmeg cookies from a half-batch of dough I'd saved and frozen from Christmas, and petit fours from Martha Stewart's recipe, which were a nightmare to make! Everything went well until the glazing, when lavender glaze ended up all over me, all over the kitchen, and all over a few other rooms as well (long story!). But not so much on the petit fours themselves. It took a few coatings, and the whole process was such a pain that I didn't coat the whole batch. That, and with many casualties along the way, what you see here was about as many salvageable petit fours as I had. But...everyone loved them! They were a huge hit! There must be a better way to do the glazing. Onto other goodies:
In the foreground is an apple pie using a filling recipe from the King Arthur Flour site (it uses their Boiled Cider...well worth it!), and the Cook's Illustrated pie crust recipe that uses vodka...I believe you have to pay for membership on their website to get to the recipe there, but it can be found many other places on the web. It really works! The crust was easy to make, and came out tender and flaky. In the back is my chocolate trifle, and unfortunately I have no idea where the recipe came from...I printed it from a website and not sure which one. It's called "Chocolate Lover's Trifle", if you're looking to track it down. I made a few changes, but basically it has pieces of chocolate cake smothered in raspberry jam and brushed with Amaretto, layered with custard (which never set, and I had to mix it with whipped cream), raspberries, almonds and chocolate shavings. Really yummy, and another big hit!
But the piece de resistance had to be my decorated cake. Here it is:
I spent weeks learning how to do the gum paste so I could make the flowers, and it took me a long time to come up with a color scheme, and there were all sorts of snafus along the way, but I was very happy with the results! The cake is covered in fondant, which was a new experience for me too (went pretty well, actually), and everything on it is completely edible. Inside is a delicious hazelnut cake made from a recipe in the book Whimsical Bakehouse (which I highly recommend!), with a Nutella buttercream filling. Yum! Cutting into it was a little tough for me after all the work I put into it, but it tasted so good that it was worth it! And at the end of the party, I was left with:
Kinda sad, but well worth all the effort!
Now that Christmas is over, I'm busy prepping for my birthday party. I'll be 40 on New Year's Day, so this is a biggie! I've got grand plans for all the goodies I plan to cook and bake...probably more than I'll actually be able to accomplish, but who knows! I've got Tuesday and Wednesday off before the big event on Thursday, so I do have some available time to get things done...and can't forget the cleaning, oh god! David's already being a big help in that department, although the combination of dog and mud are a major opposing force. It's warmed up and all the snow is melting into a big soggy mess, and Harry is constantly romping in and out. Here he is last week after the snow had just fallen:
Back to my baking plans! I took on the big project of making a cake decorated with gum paste flowers. I've been working on them for a few weeks now, and here's what I've got:
The cake will be covered in chocolate fondant, which is a lot darker than the background here, so they'll look a little different. It's hard to take a picture of them, because the colors shift, and the luster dust I've used to give them a little sparkle reacts strangely with the camera. But you get the idea. It'll be a two-tiered cake, so now I have to figure out how to arrange them.
I have a conundrum: how to attach those little vines to the cake. The fondant will be basically dry, so if I want the ivy vines to climb up the cake, I have to figure out a way to get them to stick. The flowers are easy...a little royal icing piped behind them will "glue" them on well and won't be seen. But the icing would stick out the sides of the vines. If I don't figure this out, they'll have to stay on the flat surfaces of the cake.
Anyway, back to cleaning...the really fun part of prepping for a party!
Finally, I'm getting back to posting! There's no particular reason that I haven't been updating my blog...I've been doing projects I could post about...but for some reason I haven't pulled out the camera. I finally did, so here's one of my latest projects: Christmas gifts for Alyssa and Matt, my friend Barb's kids.
I got the pattern from FreePatterns.com (it's called a Teen Wall Organizer), and it's a little hard to see how they work from the pictures...you hang them on the wall (on a rod or whatnot), and they have pockets, three on the top row, two on the bottom, to organize little goodies. You put a heavy-duty stabilizer in there, so they stay stiff and can hold up to use. I just love the fabrics...it was so fun to work with them!
Well, that's it for the moment...but I'll be back!
Just got back from a visit to see my dad in Dallas, complete with a trip to the State Fair of Texas (more on that later!), but I didn't have a chance to post on a skirt I made before I left. It's Vogue 8499, by Marcy Tilton, who does some really innovative designs (check out her website if you're not familiar with her stuff!). I made it up one time before, but this time used a fun material which doesn't show up at all in the pictures. It's something of a jacquard, impressed with a floral design. Here it is:
Unfortunately, due to the black, it's very difficult to tell much about it (I lightened up the picture in the editor as much as I could to create some contrast!). It's an unusual design, with a sort of bubble hem and huuuge pockets on the sides. The only problem is that it stands out a little bit because of the heavy-ish material, but in a way that's kinda fun, and hey, it sorta balances out my hips!
So, I came back from Dallas ready to start sewing again, and immediately dove into another project. This one was the Lotus Skirt, from the Sewing Workshop. What a wild pattern! You start out with one main, enormous, strangely shaped skirt piece, and it gradually transforms itself (along with a couple of yoke pieces) into a lovely, unusual skirt. This was really meant to be just a (potentially wearable) muslin, or else I wouldn't have made two black skirts in a row...but it turned out nice, so it's joining my wardrobe! But given the black, it's again difficult to photograph. This rendition uses a linen blend, so it has some drape, but I can imagine it looking fabulous in super-drapey fabrics. (It's not really as shiny as it looks in the pics...I think that's a result of the adjusting I did in the photo editor to try to lighten up the picture)
And the back:
What's funny is that I made it mirror-imaged! I intentionally used fabric that was the same on both sides, because the inside shows in this design...and then I used the wrong side. So the draped section, which is supposed to fall on the left side of one's body, falls to my right. It didn't matter one bit in making up the pattern, and I didn't realize my error until pretty far along the way...and I certainly wasn't gonna change it then!
The skirt looks nice on me...I was little worried about that drapey thing emphasizing my "problem areas" too much, but fortunately it poofs in places I don't, and it all manages to work out. It's a little on the dressy side. I'm not sure if it's too "funky/special occasion" to wear to work or not. Maybe depends on what I wear it with...I'll have to play around. I like it too much to save it for way-once-in-a-while wear!
Yesterday I took Harry for a car ride to the bank. The teller at the drive-thru said he looked like the creature from "Neverending Story", which I never saw. I later talked to a friend, who said the teller must have been referring to the Luck Dragon. What do you think? First, a few recent pics of Harry (all looking a little serious, I must add...there was food around):
Now, Falkor, the Luck Dragon:
Any resemblance?
It's been raining on and off today, and I encountered this little guy while I was taking pictures:
He seems to be enjoying the weather.
I've been working a lot in my studio! Some of my latest creations:
Earrings with sterling silver, glass, pearls, Swarovski crystal;
An adjustable necklace of faceted amethyst, hessonite garnet, sterling silver, and Thai Hill Tribe silver;
Another adjustable necklace, this one of rainbow moonstone, glass, sterling silver, Swarovski crystals, and carved quartz;
This one is faceted sapphire, with gold vermeil Thai Hill Tribe beads and finishings. It was a commission, and so much fun to work with materials I don't normally have the chance to play around with! I hope the recipient is happy with it!
In case you missed my last post , I'm giving a little tour of the Co-op in which I live. On to the Upper Square. After a little walk up the hill,
and around the bend,
you begin to see some of the houses to your right,
one in front,
and one to the left (2 pics of that one).
If you head up the staircase (from two pictures ago), on your way you see this:
View from the top of the stairs back down:
And finally, some of the houses of the main Upper Square area:
Last, a little rock staircase leading up to another home.
There's so much more to the Co-op than these homes...there are some studios and outbuildings I haven't pointed out, but then there's the creek running through it, a small waterfall, the many acres of woodland backing up to the State Park, and so much natural beauty every season of the year. More pictures to come, I'm sure of it!
I've had a few requests for additional information about my community, so I thought I'd start out with some pictures. These did not turn out as clearly as I could have hoped. I took them in the early evening, and I think my camera was a bit confused about the lighting. Still, they'll give you a sense of the place.
The first house you encounter is the old farmhouse, which has been around since the 1800's.
A sweet place that's been well cared for. A warning: if you only like traditional-looking homes, just stop here and read no further!
You dare to continue? The rest of the homes are architectural experiments, built mostly in the '50's and '60's.
Here's the one across from the farmhouse (partially obscured by a badminton net, but don't let that distract you!
This one, nestled back in the woods, has been built in stages over the years.
Next you encounter...my studio! Another view:
And then there's the Lower Square, which consists of four houses;
this one (two views, the second also showing "the Dome", which is one of the studios):
the second house in the lower square (front and back, the back being the view from my house):
the third house (there's a lot of construction going on in this one, so I got the only view I could which didn't contain building materials!):
and finally, my house:
Thought I'd take a couple of pictures inside, although you're only invited in if you promise not to comment on any mess or dirt you might see! The camera flash managed to exacerbate certain areas that look perfectly respectable in person. Here's our winding staircase,
and the view out the back.
One final picture for this entry:
Here's the view from the third Lower Square house I showed you, up toward the Upper Square, which I'll explore in my next entry.
Are you getting a sense of why I love this place?
I've been busy having fun in my shop, and am finally getting around to taking pictures of a few of my latest creations!
Chalcedony, poppy jasper, sterling silver, and Thai Hill Tribe silver dangles
All sterling to the left, and bone, sterling, and jasper to the right
Lapis, African turquoise, and sterling silver. The pendant and cool beads on the earrings are Afghani.
A melange of Czech glass, carnelian, turquoise, amber, sterling silver, chalcedony, and God knows what else. The large round silver piece is designed as an eyeglass holder; I'm mainly using it for decorative purposes here, but I guess I could stick my glasses there, too, if the dangly beads wouldn't rub them up too much!
Red agate and sterling silver. The pendant beads are from Nepal...aren't they great?
I've got so many other projects in the works...some half done, waiting on the perfect bead or the strike of inspiration...others just vague ideas floating around in my head. It's such a shame that real life (a.k.a. the job that pays for my beads, my fabric, my studio, and all the other goodies I need in life) interferes with my creative time!
Last Friday my friend Barb and I took the day off from work and went to Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate. We took a special tour that spends a good chunk of the time outside, which also happens to be the only place you can take pictures...here are some of the highlights:
Can you imagine this as the view from the front of your house????
A neat detail from the front entrance.
I think this guy is terrific. Off behind him is the Hudson River.
Normally there's water in this fountain, but it's kinda neat without it...this is Orpheus, and he's hidden on the backside of the fountain away from the main view. He's a special little secret.
I love the way the light was hitting this statue.
One resident of a shade garden.
This guy caught my fancy!
See the Hudson River in the background? Ah, to live with so much beauty all around you!
And isn't he cute?
Hey, somebody reading this blog must know a Rockefeller or two who would like to let me hang out in these gardens sometime, right???
I had to run grab the camera when I saw this less-than-shy butterfly on the neighbor's butterfly bush!
Although these pictures turned out great, I almost had an astonishingly, ridiculously spectacular shot. I had just pushed the camera button and had the lens positioned for the next picture, just waiting for the camera to go through its little between-picture ritual. Then what do you know, a hummingbird came along to take a sip from the very same bloom the butterfly was on! There I was, with the camera pointed at the perfect picture, frantically pushing the "go" button trying to hurry it along. But that &%#$ pause between shots wouldn't be hurried, and the hummingbird fluttered away before a picture could be taken. Argh!
OK, so I haven't written a new post in a while. A major reason is that I've been working on setting up my new studio! It's almost exactly 100 steps from my house (I counted!) and it's the one benefit of the sad situation of my neighbor/partner-in-creativity Kathy moving to North Carolina...I was next in line for a studio here at the Co-op. I'm currently sharing it with another neighbor Janet, a movement specialist/dancer who wants to use it for the open space, which is why everything is pushed against the walls. I'm really hoping this will work out for both our needs...it'll be great if it does! Anyway, there's lots more to be done, but here's the space so far after a thorough cleaning and preliminary set-up:
Kathy told me that this is an antique dentist's cabinet. I think it'll be perfect for beads!
Kathy gave me this old mannequin from an NYC fashion house. I love it!
The exterior of the building has enameled tiles by Paul Hultberg. His son is in the neighborhood and plans to stop by soon and help clear out some of the foliage blocking their view, so hopefully I'll have a better picture soon (I took this one by leaning out the studio window!)
I'm so happy to have this space...I've been waiting for something like this for a long, long time. By the way, isn't the church pew great? Not tremendously practical, but it fits so well in there and I may end up using the seats as bead display areas. The back area looks a little blank, but my main work table (against the back wall) has two more leaves, so I can make it bigger when I need to. I'm looking forward to figuring out all sorts of creative ways to use the space. Yay!
