All Things New...

I started this blog years ago, while living in Canada - being the wife of a brew man, traveling from province to province as we moved from one brewery to the next. With nothing better to do, I decided to try out new things and then write about those fun, creative experiences - for me to remember, but also to share for those who care to read. But of course, as with many projects in life, time ran away from me. In the midst of moving back to my home city, finding a job, and growing our wee little family, I seem to have unintentionally ignored this yummy pastime, without any new posts to show for all the merriment we have had over the past six years. So today is the day I turn over a new blog page and start writing again with hopes that this will once again become my little corner of the world.

For the most part, I plan to focus on hands-on, creative endeavors, though in an effort to not make this too rigid, I will most likely weave in fun tidbits about my family, fun places we go, and other non-tangibles, that may evolve this blog into redefining what it really means for us to all make things.

One of the many yummy endeavors that I never got to share about - until now. Delicious Moroccan chicken made in a tajine.

Violets...continued.

So it's been about 3 months since I started my violet growing process. Here are some pictures of where I am at today. Since the roots are still so tiny, the leaves are top heavy so I am using toothpicks and chopsticks to keep them from falling over. This one should have purple leaves. It's the one that is growing the best. I planted it in this yellow pot that I got in Montreal because it reminds me of my grandmother who gave me the violet leafs to grow from and she loves the color yellow.


Here is the other violet leaf. It should have pink flowers when it starts to bloom. This one took a little longer to develop, but it seems to be coming along nicely. There are yellow markings (they look like stains) on the leaf. I'm not sure if it's from too much sun or maybe it's sick? But the baby leaves are growing anyways, so hopefully it survives.


And finally here is a view of my whole windowsill. In addition to the violets, I have a basil plant and a Christmas cactus. In the way way back I have chives that are just starting to grow from seeds. On the left hand side , there is a curtain that I made for our makeshift bookshelf where we keep all our cookbooks. After we moved in the man who installed the kitchen cabinets had to replace one that they had broken during construction so Andrius asked if we could have it and they gave it to us, with a few tweaks it was a perfect little bookshelf. The curtain gives the corner an extra garden-y feel and it helps keep the cookbooks dust free.

Spot o' tea? Sugar for your coffee?

I saw this on Martha Stewart and instantly fell in love. So I decided to make my own version. She showed coffee cups and cupcakes, I made a few coffee cups (but the dollops on top were SO frustrating to make), so after making a few coffee cups, I decided to try making some teacups and replaced the dollop with a steeping teabag...which in my opinion actually turned out cuter anyways.

So here are my versions of the coffee and tea cups

The supplies (11 x 5 inch white and brown felted wool, 7.5 x 4 inch colorful felted wool, preferably striped, about a meter of felted iCord, 3 inch white felted circle and three 1.5 inch felted circles).

The finished product

I made the cups out of felted wool from old sweaters I found at GoodWill (3 sweaters ended up costing me $15, pretty sweet). Its super important that the sweaters are made from REAL wool otherwise they won't felt properly and then the material won't be stiff enough. The handles and saucer rims are also felted wool, made from hand spun iCord. All in all, it was a very fun project, once I figured out how to make it.

Because smaller is cuter...

I had little bits of fabric left over and decided not to waste it and ended up making a miniature coffee cup...it ended up looking like espresso in the end. Its my favorite one. All the other ones I gave away as gifts for Easter, but the espresso cup is mine for keeps.

I used the same measurements for material as the larger cups (see above), but I changed all the units from inches to centimeters for a proportionate fit.

For size comparison -- so little, so cute! :)

And here's the whole familia:

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

African Violet. Not my picture.

My first project is to grow new violet plants from the leaves of adult violet plants. Last weekend my grandmother broke off some violet leaves from her vast collection of colorful violet plants that have taken over her kitchen windowsill. She broke me off 1 pink violet leaf and 1 purple violet, both of which I hope I will be able to grow into new plants over the next few weeks/months.

Basic instructions for those who want to try this on their own:

• Get your hands on a healthy violet plant.
• Snap off a violet leaf with a decent sized stem.
• Place near a sunny place, direct sunlight is not necessary
• Place in tepid water
• Make sure only the tip of the stem is in the water (check water levels periodically to be sure that there is enough water reaching the tip).
• Give the stems plenty of vertical room for a new root to grow out from underneath.

I wanted to follow the progress of my leaves so I am using clear drinking glasses. The piece of an old metal soap dish that I frankensteined helps keep the leaves elevated in the water. Its a little make-shift, but it does the job. I'll make up for the rough look with beautiful pots to plant the baby violets once they grow up (*fingers crossed*).

It should take about 4 weeks to see any new roots grow out. Once I reach that stage of the process I will include the next steps for growing your own violet plant.

The purple violet leaf (week 1).

Keeping the leaves elevated.

Soaking up the sun and the water.

Keeping the violet leaves elevated so that only the tips are immersed in the water.

But so far so good!
Check back for updates.

Might I have a bit of Internet?

I don't plan on writing any further posts solely about ideas, but I feel this is an appropriate introduction as a first entry and I can't help myself just this once.

One of my favorite books of all time is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. In this book, the main character, Mary, asks of her guardian "...might I have a bit of earth?...to plant seeds in, to make things grow, to see them come alive...”

So similarly, I hope that through my different projects and posts, I will see my work come alive and see myself grow in all the things I plan to make.