Happy 4th of July!  I’m not the most patriotic gal on the block, but I do look forward to some great food, and old fashioned fireworks.  I’m a sucker for letting my kids stay up late, and this year we will be out at my mom’s where we can walk down to the bridge to watch the show, small town style.

Posting this weekend also has me thinking about last year, when I started in on this blog after a false start the summer before.  I started out on July 1st of last year with a little 4th of July craft done with the kids, and 147 posts later, this blog has become a part of my life.  It gives me a chance to write a little every week, motivates me to try new things, and helps me appreciate the things I’m doing.  It also has led me to make some new “virtual” friends, and let some of my far-flung ones in on my life.  Ahh…I’m feeling a little sentimental now.  Just perfect for a patriotic weekend!

And on a less sentimental note…a little bit on the Ribbon Wreath:

The ribbon wreath above was a crafty moment I experienced a couple years back (MS inspired again, I believe although I couldn’t find it easily on their site–did find lots of other patriotic decorations and crafts though!).  Easy enough for kids to do and would be fun to customize for other holidays or celebrations.  You could also handwrite a message, scroll the paper, and stick it in the middle–I do something similar for my daughter’s birthday with a bell wreath I have.  Only materials needed are embroidery hoop and ribbons cut to about 9-12 inch lengths, and spray starch, or other stiffener.

Another version on this theme here at Ducks in a Row

And check out this Halloween version at thelongthread.com

More good ole fashioned fun on today’s agenda. We’re off to the fair! No time for writing, just time for fun with the family. Oh! And lots of love for my husband today. It is our 10 year anniversary. Whoa.
I’ll be back soon with some more summer recipes, and, if all goes well, a couple projects I’m working on. Enjoy your summer day and weekend! I’ll do the same.

Scraps.  That’s all I’ve got for you today.  Not even a picture.  Just scraps.

Well, really I was planning on having a picture, but this week has been too crazy and we are heading out for a family day in the city with my sis and her fam.  This means I don’t even have time to take a picture, download it and upload it here, because I need to go pack our picnic lunch, make sure the kids are getting ready, and double check times for our planned stops for today.  I did have saved some ideas for using scraps that I thought I might share though.  Even without the photo.  Scrappy job, I know.

I have recently been tackling the reorganization of my sewing area, and as part of that effort started throwing the smaller scraps of fabric from completed projects in a box.  At first the box was destined for donation or the garbage but then I saw a couple things that got me thinking about putting these scraps to good use. (I was going to take a picture of aforementioned scraps, but hopefully you have your own pile and you can just imagine that instead).

Scraps for Kids

Reading glittergoods posting on little wooden clothespin doll kits she made for kindergarteners inspired me to rethink my scrap box as potential fashion fodder for whole families of dolls.  

If you have larger scraps then drawstring bags are oh so handy for storing small toys (including decks of cards that never make it back in their box, or jax and marbles [lots of loose marbles in this house, that is for sure]), sewing and craft supplies (just made one for some alpha stamps), and anything else.  I like this tutorial at betzwhite (which is actually for a shoe bag–something I’m not feeling a need for currently, but you never know).

Scraps for Patchwork

Readymade magazine used some bits and pieces from the recently released Patchwork Style book (which I have in the Japanese version) to highlight some nifty uses of fabric scraps through applique and small quilting projects.

Patchwork Bibs- Check out the patchwork one under this chenille bib tutorial from happy things.  I think I would nix the chenille and showcase the patchwork, lining with a flannel or soft knit.

Scraps for Small projects

Potholder tutorial at Craftzine

Eyeglass case Tutorial at amazingmae

Yo-Yo tutorial from Hearther Bailey

Hexagon Coaster at happythings-no tutorial but plenty of inspiration

Fabric Flowers Tutorial from wisecraft

Enjoy your weekend!  Looks like it will be a hot one here!  Next week I’m planning some yummy desserts to share and hopefully (hopefully!!!!) will have my sewing area organized enough to begin my summer sewing in earnest, and share some creations with you as well!

I have mentally compiling my summer reading list for the last couple weeks as I finally find myself with open reading time (glorious, glorious summer!). I know I won’t get through all of these (my eyes are bigger than my stomach, so to speak), but I love  realizing how many potentially good reads there are out there.  Share yours too, won’t you?

1. Vanessa & Virginia by Susan Sellers-one of my books to review, but my love of V. Woolf makes this one extra special
2. Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich- review book, looks relatively light though so I think it will be perfect for a lazy day in the back yard or at the beach with the kids
3. The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz- recommended by three good friends, and my husband
4. Stone Virgins by Yvonne Vera – a  friend of mine wrote a brilliant paper on this book so I think it deserves my attetion soon
5. Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth-another review book.  I tried to start it during my semester, but it deserved my undivided attention so I decided to save it for summer.  It looks promising from what I’ve read.
6. The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith- I have loved her other books but had never heard of this one
7. Love & Obstacles by Aleksandar Hemon
8. Run by Ann Pachett- She seems like the perfect summer read author & a friend recommended this one
9. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain- I’ve been trying to get to this one for a year and was interested to see that a new hardcover edition is coming out this summer
10. something by Julian Barnes–not sure what yet, but I’ve got Something to Declare on hand so that will probably be it.  I read Arthur & George, and Flaubert’s Parrot–1 each the past 2 summers, so I figure it is kind of a tradition now for me. 

I’m sure I’ll be adding others as the months go along.  Especially because I keep coming across great summer reading lists like these ones at NPR. Oh!  I just remembered someone recommended Revolutionary Road to me too.  Ah!  Never enough reading time.

This past weekend I decided it was time to clear off the misc. clutter that had accumulated on my mantle and reclaim it for my own visual peace of mind.  Off came the keys, change, and a huge sheath of pictures that I’d moved from somewhere else, waiting to be framed (or something).  I didn’t go wild, but I did take just a minute to put some mini dried corns, and mini pumpkins up (along with my kid’s pottery).  Then my son got home.

He does not like to be left out of ANYTHING, especially not decorating.  While I wasn’t ready to bring in our few Halloween decorations from the garage, I helped him make some homemade decorations for the mantle.  I drew, he cut and colored.  Black cats, green witches, and 3 little pumpkins (we couldn’t quite make it to five).  He especially had fun with those pumpkins- gluing their stems and leaves on and then drawing his very own jack-o-lantern faces with lots and lots of sharp scary teeth.  

But we didn’t stop there.  We made ghosts.  Kleenex ghosts, and I have to say it was a favorite and he went on to manufacture quite a swarm of them.  He really enjoyed this because he was able to do it entirely by himself once I showed him how.  Scrunch one kleenex really (really) tight into a ball.  Place it into the center of another kleenex, pinch that kleenex around the ball, and TWIST!  Then decorate with abandon.

We are now overrun by this gang of ghosts, and more are threatening to move in (my daughter came home to find these new boarders, and is waiting to create her own this weekend).

Well, I’ve been a bit behind on posting, but thought I’d catch up this week with a few things I’ve been meaning to post.  First up was making applesauce with my son’s Kindergarten class last Friday.

Fall means apples for me.  I start in August making apple butter and then continue on through December, reveling in one of our locally grown fruits.  Many of the old orchards have been pulled out to make way for the vineyards, but there are still plenty around.  It is a reminder to me though that time doesn’t hold still; where I used to drive past orchards as a child, where you could only see trees, there is now rolling hills of vineyards, and the land seems more open and horizon more visible.  

But local orchards still survive and that means I can still capture a little bit of my childhood each fall.  I can remember smelling cinnamon and apples, the scent filling our house as my dad cooked up a big pot of homemade applesauce.  For the next few days we’d eat cold, chunky, unsweetened, cinnamony applesauce from the fridge, but that warm bowl right after it was done was probably the best treat of all.

Well, although I grew up with out a microwave, times have changed and we now have one in our home (although, I have to admit, not much used except for popcorn).  It does however, come in handy if you’d like to make applesauce without using your stovetop, or where there is no stovetop– like at school.

I tried this first last year in both my kids’ classrooms, and it worked so well we did again this year.  The kids all love tasting what they’d made and especially love using the apple-peeler-corers.  Of course, I forgot my camera, so I don’t have in photos to share of the day, but I did cook up some of their leftovers when I got home.  Here’s the recipe if you’d like to try it yourself.

Microwave Applesauce- for the classroom or home!

apples– if you are doing this in a classroom do one per child.  If you are doing this at home, about 10 apples (give or take) can be made in one batch.

1/3-1/2 cup water (or apple juice, but water seems to work just as well)

cinnamon and sugar to taste

(don’t you love ingredient lists this short!)

Peel, core and chop your apples.  We used apple-peeler-corers (loading and unloading the apples for the children and letting them do the cranking (the way the clock goes)), but you can do this by hand as well– I have in the past for my apple butter, and it can be therapeutic and feels a little less like a factory then using the contraption.  Place apples in a medium glass microwaveable bowl.  Have the children (or you) sprinkle cinnamon, and sugar if you desire (I do just to give the children something else to sprinkle), then stir up.  Add the water, cover with plastic wrap (or otherwise cover so that they can steam).  Cook for 10-15 minutes.  If your microwave doesn’t rotate, rotate it every 4-5 minutes.  When the apples feel soft take them out and smash— I use an immersion blender– if you do it by hand it will probably be a bit chunkier.  Let it cook– then eat.

note the small out of focus picture so that you can't see how i scorched it!

Yes.  This is another late night TWD posting.  At least this time I have a reasonable excuse.  My oven has been broken.  I was in fact thinking that I would be trying to do this in my toaster oven, but was saved from this extraordinary feat by my oven being repaired last night.  However, that eleventh hour rescue left me with very little time to attend to this creme brulee recipe.  And that is too bad because I’ve been wanting to make creme brulee for MONTHS! Really.

Sometime last spring I happened into William Sonoma during a sale (maybe after Christmas which would mean this intent to make creme brulee is embarrassingly ancient!), and found on their 75% off table a creme brulee “kit”– torch included! As I’ve mentioned before, I am somewhat overly fond for gadgets, and with a gift card burning a hole in my pocket I decided to spring for this really not necessary at all item.  So when I saw creme brulee slated for this week I was excited to break out this gadget…no… this kitchen TOOL!

And it does rank up there with my power drill.  Something about wielding flame in the kitchen is very satisfying for me.  But as you might be able to tell by the amount of time I’ve spent on the torch, I’m not terribly pleased with my brulees.  It could be that I had exactly 11 and a half minutes to whip up the brulee.  It could be that I might have over cooked half of them, or not had the right consistency (this is my one complaint about this recipe– what should the custard look like before baking, soupy?  ribbon-like consistency like I saw in another recipe?  This detail would have helped me immeasurably.) before pouring it into the ramekins (could the time pressure have gotten to me?).  What ever the reason, half of them didn’t even make it to torching.  The three that did are clearly amateur jobs… tasting a bit more burnt then browned.    However, as this torch has taken up permanent residence in my kitchen I will get more chances to perfect my creme brulees.

See more TWD postings by checking out their website and find the recipe at Mevrouw Cupcake.