31-Day Challenge

A couple blogs I read started the 31-day challenge several years ago... well, maybe they didn't start it, but it's where I first heard about it.

One of my favorites was the 31 Days to a No-Brainer Wardrobe last year on Tiny Twig. It was so fun to see what she came up with each day for keeping a wardrobe streamlined. She even turned it into an e-book.

So the challenge begins again this October, and I'M IN! (that's only 2 days away...)

My subject? Something I'm passionate about, and could eat ten one every day... cookies. So I'll be talking about cookies every day for a month. If you share my passion, be sure to check back each day in October. It'll be fun. (and fattening.)

See you in a day or two,

Apples in September

Something about September makes me think apples. Maybe because summer fruit is fazing out of the produce aisle and apples and oranges and pears are back in season; or maybe the start of a new school year brings up the "apple for a teacher" saying.

There are lots of apples showing up on etsy right now. Here are some of my favorites.

1. Carnival Candy Apple (yum!)
2. Vintage Book Apple (clever)
3. Red Apple Fabric (wouldn't that make a cute apron?)
4. Apples Paper Pack (for you scrapbookers/card makers)
5. Apple Necklace (super cute... i'd wear that)
6. Apple Orchard Candle (fill your home with fragrance)
7. Vintage Vera Linen Towel (for my dishtowel fetish)

What are some of your favorite apples?

Happy Fall,

Succulents

 A couple Saturdays ago I got to help Amanda of Delighted Magazine with a photo shoot for the next issue. (It's due out the end of the month... I got a sneak peek, and you won't want to miss it. It's absolutely stunning!)

At the end of the shoot she let me keep some of the succulents she had leftover. In general, I have never been a big fan of succulents--I tend to prefer flowering plants--but she did such a beautiful job with them, I was happy to take them and try working with them myself. And it was fun!

Here's what I did:

Got some old terra cotta pots that I had spray painted white years ago. The paint was wearing off, and I kind of liked the rustic look it gave.

I put a coffee filter in the bottom of each one, covering the hole in the bottom. This keeps the dirt in, but lets the water drain through the hole, keeping the roots from rotting.

Then I filled the pots about halfway with a good-quality potting soil...

...and started adding a variety of succulents to each pot; then filled in between the plants with more potting soil. 

As it turned out, I loved the color variations and the original look of each of the pots.

I love potted plants because you can move them at will... from table, to shelf, to mantle, or wherever you want a little spot of green. 

The bonus with succulents: they don't require much water. 

White for dishes...

My favorite towel for drying dishes is a good quality flour sack tea towel. As a kid, I learned to embroider on those towels. My mom never had plain white, boring flour sack towels. Hers were (and still are) always beautifully embroidered and edged with bias tape.

some actual towels from her kitchen. aren't they beautiful?

When I got married, I followed suit. And then we had kids...

• they came in to wash up for lunch and dried their "clean" hands on those beautiful towels.
• they ate warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies and wiped their hands and faces on those beautiful towels.
•  they spilled some milk, and what did they grab to clean it up? Those beautiful towels.

So we made a new rule: white are for dishes and colored are for hands (and everything else). My kids knew the rule, my nephews knew the rule, I think every kid who entered our home knew the rule.

I no longer take the time to embroider my white towels, but I do embellish with some ribbon or rickrack or a ruffle, and still like to keep them white as long as possible. To this day, nephew Tim (now a doctor) comes to visit and says, "white for dishes and colored for hands," as he reaches for a towel from the towel bar.

Thanks, Tim, for following the rule! (Love ya!)



...and a couple of my embellished towels.

Homemade Granola

This summer I have been addicted to yogurt and granola for breakfast. It began when I visited my aunt and uncle and she prepared a lovely bowl of fruit for each of us, with homemade granola and yogurt to add as we wanted... which reminded me of a recipe I hadn't made for years.

I got home and dug it out. I have no idea where it came from, but it's ok. I've changed it to suit my taste, or whatever I have in the house on the day I'm making it. Which is the fun part: do whatever you want!

Here's what I've been doing lately, but honestly, add whatever YOU like!

First, preheat your oven to 325° F.  In a large-ish bowl, combine the dry ingredients:

4 C old fashioned oats
1/2 C coarsely chopped almonds
1/2 C coarsely chopped peanuts
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/2 C sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 pinch of salt

Stir those together.

Then in a saucepan, stir together:

1/3 C vegetable oil
1/4 C honey
1/2 C brown sugar

Heat to boiling and remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.

Drizzle the syrup over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon. Spread it evenly onto a sheet pan. You'll want to either line your pan with parchment (that's what I do) or spray it with cooking spray for easy cleanup.

Bake till golden, about 25 minutes, stirring a couple times in the middle. I "stir" it by piling the edges into the center with a pancake turner, and then pushing the mound back out to the edge of the pan in sort of a fold, just to be sure it all gets a little crunchy. Here's the mound...

After it's finished baking, let it cool and then break it into chunks, or crumble it. Store it in an airtight container.

In the comments, tell me your favorite granola ingredients. I'm always up for trying new ideas!

Enjoy...

Renegade: the photos

It's been almost a month since the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco. We had so much fun and met some wonderful people. I mentioned last post that we had the best spot in the house, with an amazing view of Alcatraz and the Hyde Street Pier area.

Here are some shots of our booth and our wares.

Amanda and me

Ruffle dishtowels, gray placemats with cross stitch X's (these sold out, but I think I'll make some more... I love them, and so did lots of customers), and ruffle runners.





















Pillows and some paper products... notepads, notebooks and thank you notes with a french knot for the period.


And last... Alcatraz with a little fog hovering around it. Beauty!