Doin' stuff

Well, we are, but we're not really doing a lot right now for Christmas.  I don't know, I've been in a bit of a funk that I am trying to pull out-of, but there is a lot to be done on the homefront, a lot to do at work (with people breathing down my neck... not the most effective way to motivate me, I tend to dig in my heels).  BUT these pictures have been sitting here in this blog for a little bit so here we are.

ANOTHER (yes, I haven't stopped yet!) messenger bag!

MORE stamping:  we got some towels together with stamps this year instead of prints.  I think because it requires a lot less set-up, but in the end are a ton more work.  However, this is something I can do when the kids go to sleep for a bit.

The mushrooms are mostly Owen's design, a few he even carved.

An inspired by Jess Brown and various ETSY sellers but there is no way we are putting out $80 for those cuties rag-doll.  Grace goes in different directions between loving and torturing it.  She either carries it around with her, and sets her up for all sorts of lovely parties and she gets to wear clothes (or all the clothes) OR she doesn't get any clothes and get's all tied up in knots because she is weird.  I made the arms and legs a little too skinny, next time, maybe doubled, but the body size etc... all work for me, I love that she is big and huggy, and can be carried around well enough.  Plus after some pretty sack like clothes, I figured out how to put together a respectable dress.

WE DID IT!  Okay, more accurately:  BRIAN, DAD and RYAN (and a little bit of me) DID IT!  Over Thanksgiving, after all the turkey was eaten and the dishes cleaned up and Mom and I took the kids out for a little excursion, the cabinets were raised to the ceiling and we put in a shelf underneath for added storage, removal of dust trap and a little more counter space (shelves are high enough that the kitchen-aid can actually fit underneath!).  We used some "deco" shelf brackets underneath after endless going back and forth.  They aren't my favorite solution, but the solution that both Brian and I could work with.  They are a little bouncy though.  WE still need some caulking and some paint and a little bit of quarter round around the top that is not likely to get done before Christmas, but VOILA!!!

aaaand more stamps and some pendelton wool to make some trivets / mediocre in terms of insulation pot-holders (sorry).

Okay, and that is my procrastination for the day.

mushrooms!

 Val and I went to Opal Creek for a pretty amazing mushroom workshop.  It was a blast!  Opal Creek is the highest diversity of some pretty awesome coral mushrooms that were popping up all over the place!  It was a pretty busy weekend, jam packed with all sorts of new mushroom knowledge!  My brain is totally happily full of waaay more than I thought I would ever know about mushrooms.  Owen is so jealous.

 It was a gorgeous weekend full of sunshine, waterfalls, mushrooms, friendly people, and great food.

 Plates and plates of golden chanterelles

 Val and I found some pretty awesome dyer's polypores that we used later in the weekend to dye scarves bright yellow.

 huge Russulas (gilled, white spores, stem breaks like chalk)

 Many Boletes (Pored mushroom)

 Cortinarious (rust spores, can often see remnants of a spiderwebby veil)  and above our chanterelles l-r black, white, gold.

 Emerging gomphus... pigs ear... see the white spores on the ground around it!

 Bloletus

Hygrocibe witch's cap

 and beautiful Opal Creek!

 Dyeing scarves with mushrooms!  The beautiful gold was from the Dyers polypore!  Mushrooms were just chunked up, and simmered for at least an hour.

Myra added alum (1-2 tsp per gallon) to them (I think)  The above are polypore, but we also tried wooly chanterelles, which were a very pale tan at best, but there was a pretty pink (that she had in her stash), and shoot I forget which other ones... Anyhow you rinse out your fabric (must be a protein based fabric... silk or wool, cotton doesn't seem to work well) in warm water, and then simply soak it in the dye!  When you are happy with the color (up to 5 min) rinse it out with cool water and voila, don't need to heat set or anything.

and fun mushroom gals!  Sally, Val,

darn hippie

So, to add onto the list of weird things that I am trying out....

Salve:  So I have made some solid lotions, and I actually like them quite a bit... about 50% beeswax and 50% oils (usually some shea, oliveoil, etc...) and some e.o.  They are great, but sometimes (esp in the winter) run a hard so I decided to try a salve.

http://campwander.blogspot.com/2012/08/10-ways-to-use-all-purpose-healing.html

recipe was modified slightly:  first-off I just did a half recipe, about 2tbs of beezwax, 1/2 c coconut oil, very nearly 1/2 c olive oil topped off with almond oil, I just heated everything in the microwave (not quite 2 minutes) I added a good 2 tbs of shea butter at the very end.  Into some tins I put a few different e.o.  About 18 drops for a 2oz tin and more for larger.  One of my big tins had some of the thieves oil I put together last year (can't find the recipe exactly but I like it... cinnamon, clove, ginger etc...)  Other blends:
Lemon, lavander, Tea-tree (healing)
Lemon, Peppermint, Frankincense (soothing)
Cinnamon leaf, ginger, peppermint, lemon, orange (dreamy)
more or less copied with some modifications given what I had handy from the above site.

Here's my review:  love them, my hands look really great after using it, the kids love it.  Not an even consistency though... I think when I melted them I didn't stirr it up really well, just sort of swirled it around, two of the tins were really liquidy and the other two are just fine.  I think a wee bit more beeswax and to stir much better.  I"m thinking christmas gifts maybe.  Now, I am not really super convinced that e.o. does much for your health, but it does smell lovely and I'll buy into the antibacterial properties a bit, but sometimes I feel like grasping at straws to keep illness at bay, so I'll buy in a little.

Here's my other hippie tendencies and admission:
I also made deodorant this weekend and tried it through a rigorous Yoga class and walk about town, as well as on a really sloth like day :).  Amazing, actually better than the my conventional dove deodorant that I also like.  Here's what I did:  1 tbs arrowroot, 1tbs baking powder and even amounts of shea butter and coconut oil, about 1 tbs each, several drops of lime e.o. (10?) and tea-tree (one big drop).  I would like to add some hop extract as inspired by the schmidt deodorant.  I smushed it all together until it was a smooth paste and just put it on like lotion in the morning.  I swear, it is surprisingly effective, smells lovely... it is good I swear! 24 hrs before I even notice even mild b.o.  We'll see how it holds up over time, but with winter ahead of me, thought it sounded okay.

(update:  ran out of first batch and everything went well, so I tried it again, but was a little low on coconut oil (less than 1 tbs but soldiered on.  So, this mix (which made a ton... I must have actually done teaspoons last time).  almost 1 tbs coconut oil (melted) 1 tbs cocobutter (melted) 1 tbs shea butter (not melted because I thought it would be grainy) 1.5 tbs arrowroot, 1.5tbs baking soda 30 drops of lime e.o. and a slug of tea-tree oil. and a few drops of rosemary... off hand it makes a full container (old lotion container).  It is creamier feeling yet also grainy.  Last time I didn't melt anything, I mushed the oils all up then mushed in the powder.  You kinda of have to melt the cocoa butter and I wanted to get out every bit of the coconut oil, so that probably actually accentuated the graininess of the shea butter.  However it seems to work just fine, just the texture of the first attempt was much nicer).

OCM:  I wash my face at night with coconut oil.  I have tried olive oil, and an olive oil-castor oil mix... sucked.  I broke out like crazy, but with coconut oil (I even sometimes put a drop of frankincense in it)... works great.  I only use it at night and keep using my regular cleanser during the morning, though when I feel dry I do the coconut oil both morning and evening.  Here's how.  I take a wee bit (less than a pea, maybe 2 lentils worth? ) in my hand and rub it all over my face.  Then I get a washcloth as hot as I can without feeling like I am wasting water warming things up (If I do it during the kids baths/showers I get nice very hot water quickly) and just gently wipe the stuff off.  Voila. I would say my skin never looked better, and that would have been true for the first 10 months I did this, but this summer I started breaking out a little bit more again and the trend though isn't as bad... continues.  alas.

Last admission (ah, diy personal care products)  I have hardly used shampoo in almost two years.  Yep, you heard me, I've gone no-poo.  So, what do I do?  When I had long hair, I only did this maybe twice a week, but with shorter hair, I wake up with all sorts of exciting hairdoos, so do it most every day.  I dump a few tbs of baking powder in my hand, step into the shower, dampen hair and rub it in, focus on hairline.  I rinse it out.  In a squeeze bottle I have some apple cider vinegar, mixed evenly with water and a few drops of rosemary e.o..  I shake it up, squirt it on my hair, uses about a 1/4c or so of the mix.  My hair is looks and feels great!


Why do I do this?  Avoid complicated compounds preservatives, lathering agents, other ingredients that I cannot vouch for (or am too lazy to look up EVERYTHING), sure, but I can't even really convince my kids this is a good idea... once in a while G. will submit to a apple cider vinegar rinse, but rarely and with great suspicion.  They will use the soap, and they really love all forms of lotion, so that's easy.  Anyhow, because I am a hippie, maybe a little bit. Saves money?  It does!  This stuff does require a little investment (e.o., beeswax, oils) but really not too bad., plus I now just tend to have a lot of the relevant ingredients around 'cause I don't make a ton at once.  I will say that salves, handmade soaps that I really prefer and would be totally willing to spend on, are spendy for what they are, but even though I would spend the money on it, they are so easy to make yourself, that it feels much more like an indulgence.    I mostly do it because it is fun (and it feels like pampering), it really is. It also WORKS BETTER, it is EASIER!  Seriously, I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it works better.... homemade deodorant... I'm less stinky, homemade soap... not drying at all, lux lather... homemade salves... noticeably smoother hands that have seen a lot of sun, mud, dirt, seawater that lasts all day! (could be because I actually enjoy slathering the stuff on).   not everything works so I don't work everything I have tried into my practice. For example I have tried putting all sorts of stuff on my face... fail (either works but is to complicated / messy or doesn't really do anything) so I stick with conventional face lotion and sunscreen (well, the coconut oil cleansing method for the night time is very nice).  It is so cool to make things that you didn't really think that folks could cook up in their own homes!  

fringe

Fun fringy crepe paper streemers (via Oh happy day) to celebrate my big girl turning 4!

 and it had to happen eventually... Beer soap!  I used Brian's holiday beer from last year that didn't quite fizz up like it should have and some dried hops from our yard.  Just replaced the water with beer in Mom's recipe, mixed in a good handful of dry hops and some extra sprinkled on top.  SO... because I didn't boil the beer first ('cause it was flat already), had alcohol in it, or maybe it was something else, but it traced really quickly, some may say seized, but I dumped it quickly into the molds (it was quite glumpy).  As it was setting-up it yielded a bit of brown liquid (looked like the beer), but it evaporated quickly, and the soap seems to have set up just fine.  There is a bit of additional white ash on the outside, but it doesn't seem caustic.

 I'll give it some more time.  It smells a bit weird, probaby because of the holiday spice beer.

 Things can't stay the same forever, but my friends here in PDX revolve in no small part around this group of pretty amazing gals.  Folks are moving, getting new jobs, things are just shifting a bit, though I hope we will stay close.  Robyn, Val, Monica, Vanessa, Christina, Laura and Cat... all fantastic.  We shared a rare ladies night out (thank you Ray for watching the kids!) with a lovely dinner at Accanto celebrating Christina's PhD!

 Stuffed campfire + marshmellows (on magnets) for G's birthday party.  Not too hard, I need to work on teh campfire circle/stones, but the rest went well!

 Yum chocolate cake with "cloudburst" frosting.  we totally covered teh top with sprinkles.  I loved it, but it was perhaps a bit much for the kids... most only ate the yummy frosting.

 With some of the crepe paper I ordered for the streamers, I made these awesome and surprisingly easy flowers.  I wish I had made more time to make more, but I tackled them very late the night before the party.  I think they turned out pretty in spite of my funky assmebly.

Just a shot with my sweetie on by baby's birthday.  

Another bag for another friend of G's .  I really love this fabric but it is pretty busy, turns out its just right for a little bag!

end of summer projects

 Stumptown coffee soap (and peppermint... I added the peppermint on a whim, not sure it was the best move, but it does smell yummy)

 aaand one more messenger bag for Alex.

 I kind of love this eric carle print.

I am totally against my better judgement making some more dresses for Grace and for her birthday.  We had a date at fabric depot and had a hard time agreeing on fabric.  I figured we both had to be pretty happy to make this a successful project.  She was leaning very hard towards the very hot pink and orange florals, which may have been okay, but I just wasn't feelin' it.  Anyhow, we'll see how it goes.

Portland Celebrities

So... I'm working around the ol' PDX celebrity check-list and

The viral video sensation and all around Portland hero of the wacky and weird... the Unipiper.  Who is the Unipiper?  For those who have been away from their computer for the last year or so... He is a bagpiper, unicycler, who wears a kilt and sometimes a Darth Vader mask!  He is actually the partner of one of my TAs, so we got the inside scoop, like what's under the kilt (his sandals), and what they're working on (flame-throwing bagpipes).  So awesome.

duvet quilts

 Two more... sudden summer wedding gifts!  So I put together these beautiful duvet lap blankets (from purl bee).  The Grey is for Bethie and Eddie and is a gorgeous nani-iro double gauze and a snowy kona cotton.  The second is for Adrianne and Marianne, and the double gauze side is covered in stars...  I had some time to embroider this one a wee bit before sending it out.  

I really should have attributed the quote to Sagan, but omitted this crucial step in favor of style.

Sure-gel vs. Pomona Pectin

 So we got our big strawberry haul in (well, two flats) and proceeded to jam at least a flat worth of the delicious berries (that Owen says already taste like jam right off the plant!).  At any rate, we made maybe 18 half pints of the yummy stuff.

 But when I tacked it, somewhat spontaneously (read: without going to the store first) this year, I realized that I had only enough of my favorite Pomona Pectin for about half of what I wanted to do, the other box I had in my pantry was the yellow sure-gel box, that I hadn't used before (in part because of the crazy amounts of sugar that go into it).  SO... in the end both are really quite yummy, both set-up just fine.  I followed the sure-gel recipe to the letter because of all of the threats of failure to set.  The PP I went with maybe 50% over the minimum amount of sugar they suggest.  The results.  Both:  good.  Sure-gel, takes a lot longer to cook enough to get that rolling boil it wants, and requires something like 7c of sugar to 7 c berries, which seems like a lot for already super sweet berries.  Pomona Pectin:  went a little faster, but I didn't boil it forever either, just a nice little boil, about half the amount of sugar, it also gelled just fine.  SO... can you tell which is which?  The slightly darker (longer cooking time I would assume) is the sure gel on the left, the chunkier one is Pomona pectin on the right.  I think in the end I prefer Pomona Pectin still, but both seem to work just fine!

I also have a really scraggly looking lavender plant out back, but it produces the prettiest purple lavender flowers!  Since we got the soda stream, I am trying out new sodas (since in reality I am not a huge soda drinker to begin with, but fizzy waters are so refreshing)

I haven't tried it yet, but how about lavender soda? I'll give it a whirl soon.

So, have I mentioned that I am trying watercolors?  Just fun little things, plus it is great to sit down and create with the kids.  I was toodling around Tammi's blog and she mentioned this great stuff called watercolor ground, so off to the art store I went and we painted these little wood squares that we have been collecting from the discards of the fancy furniture factory near the library.

 Owen, Grace and I all did a few, and had fun creating miniature paintings together on a pretty sunny day outside.  I even have been trying out a few portraits, just of the kids, the faces I know best are easiest to try to do.  Here's a little one of Grace post-first-hair-cut.

If I am feeling brave, I'll take pictures of the larger ones I have tried, they are, of course, not perfect portraits, but they are fun to try.  I think watercolors are attractive because they aren't perfect, they are blendy, splotchy, beautiful in their imperfections and in their variations of color.

why do I sew for her anyhow?

Okay, so the purple bubble dress is not long enough... luckily I still had some good sewing inspiration left in me and I pulled together two Midsummer dresses... nice and loooong, right down to her toes (well, when she isn't wearing my heels, though she probably does so with more grace than I do).  Nope, though she looks happy playing the princess here, she still does not like them that much.  I think of the three though, this pretty garden dress is the favorite (At least it is the one she is most likely to agree to).  

It goes with her cell phone and her tiara that was made by a friend of Deepa's, It is her special occasion crown, which basically means whenever she declares it so.  

So I am frustrated, darn disney princesses,  We have been reading more generic (well non-disney) classic princess stories which she loves, and perhaps not the most empowered girl stories out there, generally as long as there is some good diversity, I am find with some of the classics.   She has watched tangled and brave without any issues... BUT, since she started seeing the disney Cinderella (first book and then for a movie night... the movie)... she thinks that princess gowns need to show a lot of your chest, so she spends a lot of effort pulling her dresses and shirts down around her shoulders and as low as she possibly can (the above dress has even been found around her waist) which she thinks is the best way to wear ... everything.  Sigh

 Some of my favorite mermaid fabric here for another bag, this one for for Pearl! I did a poor job fussy cutting the fabric though.... too bad, but it still makes a great bag!

 And a dino print for Andy, surprisingly difficult to find a dino print that I liked, this one is pretty good... but not exactly what I had in mind.

And soap!  So, in the cleaning out of their house, mom finally found her soap recipe that inspired my soap making to begin with.  She made it as a hobby years ago, but stopped some time after we moved out to California.  I hoarded, then would only buy fancy expensive soap, until she gave us some of her old supplies and I finally got up the gumption to try my own.  At any rate... voila soap.  This recipe... 1.  It makes a TON of soap, way more than my other recipes.  2.  Notice the slight difference in color between the bars and the molds... Well, for the first time I noticed a gel stage (some find it critical, I am still not sure what it does for the soap).  It was a warmish evening and the box mold is wooden and farily well insulated in and of itself.... so it gelled.  It makes for a slightly more translucent bar, the non-gelled mold soap has a creamier appearance.  I am still curing them, but suspect they both will behave fine.  3.  This is a long slow cure.  It was soft forever, like weeks,  I took the bar out within the first week but it was soft to the touch for three weeks.  It is still a little soft, (four weeks?  maybe....) but definitely more soap firmness.  We'll see how it holds up.  I am patient.

Update:  I still like this recipe, but it did take a long time to set.  I did it again with coffee grounds (about 20g) and some brewed coffee for the water. I also added a good slug of coco butter in place of some missing coconut oil, about 1/3 cup or so (I shoudl know g, I measured, but forgot).  Left it in the mold for 3 days, took it out and sliced it slightly thinner, about 1".  In a last moment inspiration, I added peppermint to make it smell nice (the coffee aroma was weak at best), I'm not sure it was the right plan, but it's what happened, now you have coffee peppermint soap, might be good for Christmas.  My plan is to have the stumptown coffee soap and some local hops soap to round out the whole PDX thing.