In which Madi's Mom Makes....An Open Invitation

In which Madi's Mom Makes....UFOs

UFOs.

No, not those UFOs.

These UFOs.

Unfinished Fabric Objects.
Every quilter, seamstress, needlepoint enthusiast, and Tom, Dick, or Jane with a sewing machine is haunted by them at some point. I seem to be particularly good at attracting them. So, I figured if I document this dirty little secret, maybe it will be that extra bit of motivation I need to clear out my cabinets, closets, cupboards and countertops. So here goes the unfinished fabric object roll call (from the longest time spent shelved to the most recent)!

1. The flower crib quilt.

This mini-crib quilt was one I started when I was pregnant--not for myself, but with the intention to donate to http://www.projectlinus.org/ . They are a wonderful organization very close to my heart. I got a lovey from them when I was in the hospital as a child, so I wanted to make a quilt that would be warm (it's flannel) and cheery, but durable. Some day soon this will be finished. As soon as my machine is fixed. Ug.

2. The Owl crib quilt

Ok, so ANOTHER one I started when pregnant. This one actually is for Madi, when it gets finished. I didn't want to know if I was having a little girl or a little boy, and when I saw a starry-skied owl quilt, well...it was meant to be. So started my obsession with owls (poor Madi has sooooo many owl things now!). This one will be a simple finish--all it needs is its backing.

3. The Baby Bird crib quilt

Hello, nesting instinct. This is another One I started when pregnant. Really, really pregnant. On bedrest, pregnant. It has a purple twin, but the pink one is for Project Linus, too...when it's done. I love the Fool's Square pattern!!! God bless Quilter's Cache for their amazing array of patterns, including this one: http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FoolsSquareBlock.html.

4. The Rainbow crib quilt

This one is a fairly recent addition--it's only been sitting untouched for about two weeks. The red through the blue is actually sewn together already (the rest here is just laid out roughly). This one is very, very close to my heart, too.
I was raised by my mom, a tribe of aunts, and endless cousins, and I love them all. I do. But one of my cousins and I are very close in age, and we've always been two of the closest. She's like a sister to me. In September we found out she was pregnant and having a baby a little before Madi's first birthday. She miscarried not long after, and I immediately started this quilt. It's your typical R.O.Y. G. B.I.V. rainbow, with three shades of grey, from light purpley grey to black. It's supposed to resemble a rainbow coming up out of the clouds--a thing of beauty after the storm.
One day she will have a baby that can drool and play all over this blanket, and that baby will be her and her husband's rainbow.

5. The christening dress
 
This beauty is for Madi some spring time, when hopefully she will be baptised. The body of the dress is flannel-backed satin, and the lace comes from a Goodwill wedding dress train. The buttons are from the wedding dress's sleeves. It's all hand-sewn, and almost done. I just need to sew on the button loops in the back, and scallop up the bottom.

6. The kimono

Bane. Of. My. Existence.
Enough said?
No? Ok...This satin brocade monstrosity was started a little over a week ago. I've always wanted to make a kimono-style dress for Madi, but I couldn't find a good pattern anywhere. So, brilliantly, I tried to make my own. Oh, and it was good. It was good.
I found the perfect fabric: it'd been haunting my sewing box since I was 14.
Then I started sewing it...
Satin does not stretch. We got Madi into it, she looked gorgeous...and was stuck. So, we cut her out. Re-sewed it all with bigger arm holes. This time I put the lining in backwards--the lefthand piece was on the right, the right-hand piece was on the left. That was when I gave up for now.
It's a newborn size anyway. I'm thinking of trying to sell it, or waiting for one of my friends to have a girl. I'll make her a bigger one come Christmas time. Thankfully there's enough of both fabrics left over...

7. The Byzantine Mary

Recognize the bronze-gold satin from the kimono? Yup. It's making a comeback, along with some fairly disgusting crushed  black velvet that the neighbors three or four sets of neighbors ago gave me (along with multiple yards of red, blue, and white crushed velvet, a truly disgusting red sparkly sequin stretch fabric, and see-through polyester leopard print left over from a gay pride parade float).
Anyways, this piece was inspired by the International Museum of Women's On Motherhood art contest (http://imow.org/exhibitions/call_for_submissions?key=331), a catch-all show that celebrates motherhood and all its challenges and joys. I was inspired by the icon my mother gave me when I was a little girl, a Byzantine Mary holding her son. I wanted to take that lusciousness, the color and exuberance and stateliness, and translate it into fabric--with a free-spirited, celebratory spin. I see this being the center square, embroidered, beaded, and be-decked, to a much larger quilt celebrating the Virgin Mary and her holy Son with lots of color and texture (maybe some of that red or blue crushed velvet, rich jewel tones and lots of extra decoration, mosaic-like). It may end up being more art quilt than functional piece, but I think that's ok.

But speaking of future quilt plans!
You would think, with that many UFOs floating around the house that I would be crazy, just crazy to start another piece.

I would be.

That's why I'm starting 30 new pieces!

November 1st starts the 1st Annual 30-Day Quilting Challenge in conjunction with the oh-so-lovely Jeselyn at I Make Quilts Because I'm Awesome (http://imakequilts.blogspot.com/ ... incidentally, she does make quilts, and she IS awesome. Follow her. Support her.)

That's right: thirty days, each day a new challenge drawn from a hat. These challenges may be a new, exciting pattern, a puzzle, or an open-ended question, making you think about who you are, and what you make. It'll be super exciting. So get ready!
If you're interested in participating, feel free. Challenges will be posted each day, so you can do it on your own, or contact one of us at AMRyan@writeme.com (Anna) or Hm4Lu@msn.com (Jeselyn) for more details! (They'll be posted later, any how, but we both love to hear from people!)

Miss Madi is sleeping, so it's time for this mom to go UFO hunting ;)

Stay tuned!

In which Madi's Mom Makes....Something Like Pad Thai

   

I can't believe Miss Madi is 4 months old today. It seems like not that long ago that I was enormous and eating everything in sight, craving pickles and pad thai (not together). However, tonight for her 4 months birthday, I'm cracking open a jar of my mother's spicy pickled lemon cucumbers and making myself a heaping plate of something that I won't insult the Thai community by calling pad thai--but it's along that vein.

My dad is a vegetarian, like me, so I made this based off of what he had in his refrigerator. I must say, it lead to some...interesting...substitutions and omissions. But it was the best I could do with the ingredients at hand (since this IS faux pad thai, and more of a basic recipe, feel free to tinker, too--no sesame oil? Use peanut oil. Want to add egg? How about chicken? No spaghetti? Try ramen--yes, ramen. As a starving, pregnant college student, that's what we made!).

To-faux Pad Thai

 6 oz spaghetti noodles (aprox. the amount that you can hold in your fist)
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs + 1 tsp sesame oil
3 medium sized carrots, sliced
1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
1/4 cup flour
(optional--1 tbs sesame seeds)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp ground red chile peppers (my dad swears this isn't enough. REMEMBER: you can always add more, you can't take it out once its in)
2 tsp garlic
1 tbs honey (I use http://www.newmexicochileproducts.com/store/products/moses-brand-honey/. Yeah. It's good enough to mention.)
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2cup beansprouts

1. Boil your spaghetti noodles til al dente, 8 to 10 minutes or so. Drain and set aside.
2. At the same time, add both tablespoons of oils to a frying pan warmed over medium-low heat. fry up the carrots until soft and starting to caramelize a little.
3. Cut your tofu into blocks and gently press out the excess water. Dredge in the flour (and sesame seeds, if you have them and want to!)
4. Remove the carrots from the pan, and add your tofu, peanuts, and beanprouts. Fry until the outside of the tofu turns golden brown on all sides--this means yes, you will have to stir them. Be gentle, so you don't destroy them!
5. Combine honey, vinegar, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, and chile powder.
                     I used my favorite kitchen tool, the magic bullet, to grind up a non-labeled string of dried chiles from our garden. Learn from my mistakes. Label your dried produce. It was WAY hotter than I intended!
6. Add in the teaspoon of sesame oil that was set aside, and the carrots and noodles. Pour the spice-honey-vinegar concoction over the pan and heat for a minute or two more, tossing to combine.

It's not a bad imitation. 

Enjoy! 

In which Madi's Mom Makes....A Trip Down Memory Lane

PBS, where a kid can be a kid.


That's the slogan I remember from my childhood, watching Arthur, Kratt's Creatures (still quite the fan girl for Chris Kratt!) and ZOOM! on PBS Channel 8 here in Phoenix. What I want most for my daughter is for her to grow up in a world that still has space for--just that. For a kid to be a kid instead of a little, miniaturized, sexualized adult.

 But before I get too high up on my horse here, I will return to the topic at hand.

PBS.

Know them. Love them.

This weekend, PBS hosted the first ever, inaugural nerd walk AZ at ASU’s homecoming (Go Sun Devils!). While typically your jock-cool-kid type affair, the homecoming parade was attended by all walks of Phoenician life this year—from cowboys to cheerleaders, from mathletes to football stars. And, of course, yours truly and the nerdlette-in-training.

Following behind the nerd-in-chief, decked in her sash and riding in a convertible smart car, of course, we chanted NERD! NERD! a la Revenge of the Nerds, passed out nerd candy, and generally enjoyed a dorky day out being social and doing physical exercise in the sun before noon (Woah. Maybe we aren’t such nerds, after all!)



(OK, we're still nerds...The Tardis, unfortunetly, is NOT bigger on the inside)



Most of the hundred-some nerd crowd wore their yellow PBS nerd shirts, but some tested out early Halloween costumes (us along with them). We had a little boy dressed as Batman, his brother wearing a Star Wars shirt and fringe vest with a cowboy hat (a space cowboy, get it? Brilliant!) and the center of the universe, a man with a black beret  bedecked in dangling planetary orbs.

Baby, our friend Taylor, and I got an early run on our costumes for Monday. Since we are—among other things—huge nerds for the children’s show Avatar the Last Airbender (not the blue people), we sewed up some pretty awesome cos-play costumes. Taylor is a fire nation warrior, Dillon is Sokka, and I’m Katara. Baby Madi, of course, is….

The LAST AIRBENDER!

In which Madi's Mom Makes....Pumpkin Gingerbread



Madilynn's first Gingerbread House

I have always loved October.

Dont get me wrong, Christmas is nice, Thanksgiving is just fine...but give me jack-o-lanterns! Give me pumpkin pie! Give me little ghoulies and ghosties and all the amazing creativity that comes along with All Hallows' Eve.

Even in Arizona October means the air is getting crisper (yes, ok, that means its 90 instead of 120...but believe me. It's fall) and and leaves are changing colors. And with all this comes...you guessed it. The pumpkins.

I <3 Pumpkins.

Pumpkin bread. Pumpkin soup. Pumpkin cheesecake. Pumpkin risotto. Pumpkin cookies. And, of course, Pumpkin Gingerbread.

Most people have never had this amazing concoction.

I'm not even sure it's a "thing" in the wider world.

But in my house, October brings haunted gingerbread houses. These are not your storebought December monstrosities, dear friends.

These houses are colorful. Flavorful.

Covered in candy.

And I am going to share my super secret recipe with you.


Pumpkin Gingerbread

6 to 7 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking POWDER
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs ground ginger

4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp cloves

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 stick softened butter

1 egg

8 tbs cooked, mashed pumpkin (make your own! Pick your own can help http://www.pickyourown.org/pumpkincooking.php)

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup molassess

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, spices and salt.

2. Beat together butter, brown sugar, and pumpkin until it's all fluffy. Then slowly add in the molassass, and the egg.

3. Now for the testy part. Add about half the flour mixture, and add the rest slowly until its thick and dough-like. It should be kneadable. So, knead it!

4. Wrap and refrigdgerate it at LEAST two hours. Let me repeat. AT LEAST TWO HOURS. Overnight if possible. If you don't, your house will fall apart.

5. Roll out your dough to about 1/4 or 1/8 inch thick (thicker for weight bearing walls works well) and cut out your pieces. It helps if you have a template. I always make a cardboard mock-up...if it stands up as cardboard, it will stand up as gingerbread.

6. Bake at 350 degrees until the edges just begin to darken. This will be about 4-8 minutes for small pieces, and 11-15 for larger pieces.

7. Pull out your sheets (hopefully they didnt warp!) and slide off the cookies onto paper towels to cool. While the cookies are still warm, replace your temples and recut the patterns, just to trim up any stray edges!

Now you're ready to put it together. Ive found royal icing works best, and that if you set the walls for 12 hours before putting on the roof, the whole house is sturdier. Once it's all dry and together. Go crazy! Decorate with candy corn, orange and brown M&Ms, peach rings, gummy worms, and any other candy sweet, creepy, and crawly!

This year's house is still drying. When my baby cousins come by Monday to decorate, I'll be sure to post pictures!

UPDATE:

Check this out! My four best helpers came by, and we actually got more candy on the house than in our mouths. The kids (and their mom) added ghosts, gravestones, and gumball jack-o-lanterns--sweet! I think the house looks, well, good enough to eat :) Thanks everyone for making this a super-memorable year!