The new addiction....and you thought pinterest was bad.

Well, ok, pinterest is bad. It's crack for those of us who fight every day against the call of hoarding.

I recently, over last christmas, discovered SPOONFLOWER.

If you are a quilter, or indie-hipster in search of eclectic wallpaper, decals or fabric... beware.

I found this^

A fabric, and/or wall paper designed by

http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/natitys

I love this pattern, and encourage you to visit spoonflower and check out the plethora of other cool designs there.

Then pin them. To your pinterest boards.

Hoarder.

Coffee Addict Extraordinaire and Homemade Mocha Syrup

I am a coffee junky.

I'm actually ok with that. I've done all of the soul searching, tried decaf, and all of that.

It's Bullshit.

Whatevs. I <3 coffee.

Plain and simple.


I didn't start drinking liquid crack, AKA coffee, until my first year teaching.
hmm..
Whadda coincidence.

I found Starbucks, The Human Bean, and OMG DUTCH BROTHERS.

I poured hours and hours into my profession, slaving away day and night, to support my habit.
Ok, not really, but I stopped for my triple soy Sugar Free Vanilla Latte every day.

I'm not a math major, but I started thinking, hey. I wonder how much this is costing me?
hmm.. 5 days x $4.00, x 4 weeks, times 9, for the months out of the year I commuted to work...

OH GOD!!!

I bought an espresso machine, on clearance, at the House of Liquid Crack AKA, Starbucks.

It paid for itself in savings after 2 months.
I <3 my machine.

Here's how I make my own SF mocha syrup.

Awesome step by step created using #picstitch on my phone

What you need:

 Small mason jar and lid, or any 2 cup container that seals, and can be refrigerated.

Torani syrup of your choice, or.... maple syrup, or your own simple syrup concoction.

Baking cocoa, unsweetened.

I mix a bunch all at once, because it saves me time in the morning. You could also make it on a cup by cup basis, the general idea is the same. 

* I buy my syrup at World Market when they are on sale, 2/$10, and keep a few in my pantry.

1. Into your mason jar, pour 8 oz of your syrup flavor base. For a simple mocha, use vanilla.

2. Scoop an equal amount of the cocoa powder into your jar on top of the syrup.

3. put the lid of your jar on TIGHT! and shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it.

Label the top of your jar with a sharpie, and TADA, you have a mocha mix that you can add to your coffee, iced or hot, or to your soy milk, almond milk, or other dairy/substitute for some deliciousness. Enjoy.

In the fall, I'll post how I make Pumpkin syrup.;)

The return. Or, when I actually had an hour to do this again.

So, I recently realized that it's been about a year, give or take 10 days, since I last did this bloggy thing.

Here, in a slew of pictures, is why. Imagine the song, "Our House" By Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, playing while you view them. Or maybe imagine the March from Raiders. 

That's a little more epic.

 duh da duh duh

June

duh dada

July

dun da dun da

August

dun da dun dun dun!

 September

Da dun da DUN da da DUN

October

DA DUN!!!!!! See? Epic.

So, I've been a little busy with other things. Mainly, one other thing. Or, as we like to call her Miss Cora Gruntkins Gruntington. OK, Gruntkins isn't her real name. 

She just grunts a lot. 

We also decided to buy a house in June too, yeah. a month before the baby was due we were moving.  Might as well stack everything all up together, right?

Anyways. 

I could have been updating this, if, you know, I had one of these:

Alas, I am not the raggedy Doctor, nor am I a companion..*sigh*

Most recently, I have been exploring the glories of my slowcooker. Do you think, if I had a TARDIS, I could use my slowcooker and it wouldn't be slow? And all the food would turn out wibbly wobbly?

I have learned from my slowcooker that it is almost impossible to F* it up. 

Seriously, you can put everything that is left from the CoOp basket into it, add some spices, and quinoa and TA DA, you have an edible dinner.  

Well, mostly. 

Don't throw the fruit in. 

You know, unless you like your chicken curry with umm... a pear in there.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

This is my most recent concoction:

4-6 chicken or turkey bratwurst, uncooked

a cinnamon stick

4 cups of apple cider

.5 cup of apple cider vinegar

2 cups cubed butternut squash 1 inch cubes

1 cup cubed, peeled rutabega same size

2 cups cubish cut carrots same size too

1.5 cups of quinoa (dry uncooked)

1 cup of dried cranberries

salt, pepper and sage and thyme to taste

Throw it all into the slowcooker in the order give above and let it rock out for 5-6 hours at low until the brats are cooked through.

It's kinda like Thanksgiving in a slowcooker.

I would have included pictures of it... but.. we ate it.

Ah, it sounds like my hour of bloggy time is up. 

I hear grunting.

The Grand Elegance of the Nevada Governor's Ball at Virginia City, Or, Holy Shit I stepped on the back of my hoopskirt

I have been sewing a lot lately. Until wee hours of the night/morning. I have been procrastinating. I have been hoarding lace, ruffles and satin. I have been spending more time with my Brother sewing machine than with my husband. 

All of this effort culminated in last night's Nevada Governor's Ball. The Governor's Ball celebrates Nevada Day, the birthday of our great Silver State and it's journey into statehood, on October 31st, 1864. Hence the Victorian/Civil War Period Clothing. Western Formal attire is also included, because, really what would Nevada be without a good pair of cowboy boots?

There was quite a turn out. Ball gowns, hoop skirts, top hats. Silks, satins, taffeta and crinoline.

Quadrilles, waltzes, a grand march,  and lots of dancing.

Andrew and I had a blast. It was just about the most fun I've had in a good while.

 Even though I stepped on my hoop doing the Virginia Reel, and lost the bottom half of my gown temporarily. Wardrobe malfunction. After acquiring some safety pins, I was up and reeling(?) again. 

Note to self: bring emergency kit into ball, do not leave at Cobb Mansion.

To top it off, we went with a great group of Reno friends, some who ad attended before, and some who were new to the Ball just like we were. 

Francis and Zo

Tony and Nicci, and Mr. Mark Twain

 I can't wait for Next Year.

A very long night

It ain't curtains. Yet....

I promised pictures. So, here they are.
If I have the time before the Governor's Ball, I might resew the pleats along the top of the waist.

Now, just a bodice, and a camisole left. Fwew!

16 yards of satin later

 

Home Sweet Home

It all started when I went to a quilting party at a friend's house a few years ago. 

So, Kelly, thanks for my newest obsession. 

My sewing machine had traveled from apartment to house and didn't do well in the trip.  The needle was broken and it was desperate to be cleaned.  I replaced the needle, and cleaned the machine of dust and bits of thread. I even oiled it

I didn't get much sewing done that day, but it started me solidly down the path of figuring out how the damn thing worked, and of using it enough to make figuring it out really worth my while.

Quilting seemed like a good, solid place to start. I greatly enjoy geometry, pattern and color. I really hate measuring, using a ruler and making straight lines. 

You can probably see my conflict rising.  

For those of you who haven't quilted, it's kind of like baking. 

Measure, mix, measure, mix, and if you got it all right, bake, and then you have something delicious. Quilting is, measure, cut, sew, measure cut sew sew sew sew, ta-da!  I am by nature very patient with kids, animals, kids with animals, kids who act like animals..... not with adults, and definitely not with machines or processes that involve measuring. Measure twice cut once? How about observe, estimate and try not to cut yourself? That's why I only cut mattes once n my entire college career: The night before my senior show. And it took me 6 hours... and a lot of swearing. (no blood though, thankfully)

After a while I got into the whole process, as always happens to me. Process is the greatest of my loves in art.  The method, is the entire purpose of the madness for me. I made quilts, pajamas, blankets, stuffed elephants and more quilts. I planned even more, my bins of fabric are proof. 

Then I decided clothing and costumes would be fun. I started small, with a medieval wedding gown, in black tapestry styled paisley brocade, lined in magenta and silver metallic fabric.You know, something EASY.  I make a french hood with horns to go with it, and I was my favorite Disney villain of all time, Maleficent. It turned out alright. Since then, I have continued this obscene obsession with biting off more than I can possibly chew. Now I am making an 1860's period ball gown and under pinnings. 

What follows is a tour of my sewing space, and my current project status. 

Primarily because Steph Laberis told me to post it. 

So, here Steph, this is for you.

Check out my tractor chair. Got it at Target! Love it! My sewing desk I bought for $10 on craigslist. It's a piece of crap, but I repainted it and pulled the drawers out to put one of my sewing cabinets in it.

These are my hoopskirts. They are 135". I did not make them. Hahaha.

I did make this. These are the bottom of my drawers that go under the hoops.

The first quilt piece I made, and Wall-e. 

(My dad gave me that backpack when Wall-e came out, and I take it with me when ever we move)

My beautiful sewing machine, a Brother machine, with quilting bits. She is perfect.

The sculpture of Mr. Turtle that I made 7 years ago. He needs some gluing, but watches while I sew.

I have the skirt of the ball gown about 70% finished at this point, and I will post pictures of it on Saturday when I start the bodice.