It is time for chili. And marshmellows. I do declare!
perspective
Work in progress. Or one to toss, who knows. Weird how a week or even less gives perspective on things and you can toss those “old” drawings in the trash. I am so bad at waiting-to-edit patience it’s a wonder I get anything finished at all.
New class starting this month (Illustrator) and I’m pumped. 
fine things
Today as I was driving home, I saw a bumper sticker that read “Buy Art”.
I think that is brilliant.
There is so much beautiful artwork out there and so many reasons NOT to buy it…but beauty and thoughtfulness always win, right? So here are the works I have been eyeing for some time. Some attainable, some not. Artists listed at the end. I hope you enjoy.
1. Nick and Nadine 2. Retrowhale 3. Mondrian 4. Jen Montgomery 5. Julia Humpfer 6. Melinda Hackett
How to make a shirt: an interpretation
Step 1: Order an Oliver + S pattern and wait for it to be delivered to your door.
Step 2: Once delivered, open package, gather materials, and start reading the instructions. Read that the pattern is for beginners. Put everything on your sewing table and ignore for two weeks.
Step 3: Get out craft paper and trace pattern onto paper. Cut out patterns. Laugh at how easy this will be.
Step 4: Trace patterns onto fabric. Cut out tracings. Forget to transfer most marks onto fabric. Go to bed.
Step 5: Begin following instructions. Understand life and why it exists. All is well. Get halfway done. Go to bed.
Step 6: Begin sleeve construction. Curse all women in your family for not teaching you how to sew. Remember that maternal grandmother did try. Curse yourself for playing with Barbies instead.
Step 7: Text friends. Hold seam ripper. Stare at fabric wad. Go to bed.
Step 8: Continue sleeve construction. Find sewing forums and beg for help. Click “refresh” button waiting for answers. Give up. Go to bed.
Step 9: Summon up all patience and keep following instructions. Start making up your own version of a shirt. Begin asking self deep questions about what the essence of a shirt is, really.
Step 10: Ignore instructions. Keep sewing. Eat pizza. Sew on buttons. You may feel cracked out but you made a shirt! High-five self til you fall asleep.
failures (and exceptions)
Almost immediately after telling the universe that I wouldn’t be buying anything this month, things broke. And other things presented themselves. And then we….well, we bought a car. I also confess to buying a pastry blender while antiquing in Indiana. And fabric. But! I did notice something. When I was able to leave the house alone yesterday, I went straight for shopping. Apparently I don’t know what else to do with time away from the house. So a new goal (in addition to understanding the stock market, learning Russian, and conquering gardening…) is to find things to do that don’t involve money. Enter: our new car. We now have two cars, which means I can leave the house! This is huge. I have been planning so many visits to friends and strawberry patches and swingsets. Huge.
Other than car buying, I have been sewing. Lotsa sewing at night this week, just like I said I would (whoa how I love to say things and then actually do them). Night 1, I made the baby some shorts (jams?). Night 2, a floor pillow. Night 3, I cut out a gatrillion pattern pieces which I used last night to start a top for baby. This top, depending on the outcome, could be his birthday shirt.
If your brain has a hole where your organization skills should be (like me) you should try this: get a 3-ring binder. I swear this is the answer to everything. Get one for every room in your house. Kitchen? Binder for recipes. Office? Binder for bills. Studio? Binder for sewing patterns. I bet even the bathroom could have one for…something. Er. I’ll have to think about that one.
the hours
With a quickness, I am just here to state that I will be taking an hour each day (M-F) this week to create things for a certain baby of mine. You will probably not be doing that exact thing (although he would certainly love any little thing you made him, especially if it involves wheels or hairbrushes), but you may want to visit places where sewing happens more frequently such as this one that taught me how to make pants or over here where I go for unpretentious inspiration. Do you find yourself making things during the summer? Clothes, pies, COLD DRINKS?!
And if you’re not into sewing, well. Maybe you should remind yourself how to kiss with passion! It’s all about helping you out over here, what can I say. I’m here for you.
Here’s a brand new week of heat and cicadas. I know summer’s just beginning, but I find crazy romance in the stick to yourselfness of it. It’s also a great excuse to sit inside and eat cherries while catching up on Nurse Jackie, say. OKAY and maybe mom’s lasagna and strawberry pie entered my belly several times as well. Whatever. Have a good Monday, y’all!
Making do
I would like to say that I am not tempted to buy new things (yellow cardigan I am talking to you), especially things I don’t need, but that is just not the case. I’m able to curb any completely insane wants, like 350.00 boots, but really all it takes is a trip to Target and HELLO SUPER SEXY SHINY THINGS I MUST HAVE NOW I SAID NOW!
“What’s the big deal? Buy the crap out of some new earrings from Etsy and call it a day,” my 20-yr-old self says. Well, for one, I am trying to spend less since I’m not working (for money…I work for sloppy baby kisses I guess?) and for two, I’d like to grow up into a real-live responsible human one day. You know, the kind my grandmother turned into? The generation who lived and breathed prudence and could make a week’s worth of meals from like, a can of beans and a Saltine or two.
So for June, I will not be buying anything new. This is so fifth grade for some hardcore dumpster-diver types, but I have to start somewhere, right? I’m not trying to win any awards here, just trying to take a look at my habits and adjust them accordingly. I won’t even cheat and go to my favorite thrift store. The saying “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” is such a good reminder from the Olden Days. Thank you Olden Days for your clever sayings and tin lunch buckets!
So then. Let me know if you are taking the challenge as well. Maybe we can swap bean recipes?
the Adult graham cracker
Really, you will impress people if you tell them you’re making graham crackers. “Make them? What makes them so Grahamy, anyway?” But you’re in it to win it, not just impress….And making these suckers will definitely be winning, because they are RIDIC DELISH. Yeah that’s right. So delicious you can’t finish your WORDS.
I don’t know about you, but graham crackers send me right back to the acid yellow countertop in my grandmother’s kitchen, dunking and fishing out floaty parts with a spoon. I could (okay, can) shove them in my face for hours.
However, on my new quest to rid my cabinets of “fake foods”, I sought out a homemade recipe for the little guys. However howEVER, if you have a baby under the age of one, you have probably read that honey is a no-no, so I made a special batch for the shortest member of the family.
The recipe I used and tweaked a bit was from the lovely smittenkitchen blog. I used this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand, and, having been craving some Real Graham Crackers for weeks now, that was my only real condition. It turned out to be an amazing recipe! For batch #1 the only changes I made to the linked recipe were: a tad less honey (maybe only 2 tbsp less), and a smidge more salt. I highly suggest just eyeballing the cinna-sugar topping and then sprinkling it on, instead of covering every square inch like I did…
For the no-honey-for-baby recipe, before adding the honey to batch #1, I took out 1 1/2 cup of the dough mixture. I then added 3 tbsp of milk and a dash of vanilla, then wound up adding more flour until the dough was less sticky. I also didn’t use nearly as much of the sugar sprinkling on top.
Immediately out of the oven, the crackers are more of a cookie and quite soft, but give them about 10 minutes to cool and they become the crispier cracker-like dose of delish you are familiar with!
How to begin…
Anything, everything, whateverthing.
oneplumspot 