the great minnesota get together

So we went to the Minnesota State Fair on Tuesday. Yeah. I gotta say, it was awesome. I could've spent a whole lot more time there. On the other hand, Jared (the native Minnesotan) said he was good for another fifteen years. We'll have to see about that, I'm already excited for next year.

We saw some baby animals, ate some fries, got a milkshake at the dairy barn, saw Greg Brown, and witnessed more food on a stick than I ever thought possible.

These photos were taken with my film camera, a Canon Eos Rebel ti. I have really been inspired by Amanda, to pick up my film camera again. I just got a couple of rolls developed, so there will be more film on the way. Stay tuned!

More beautiful veggies

Yum. That's really all I have to say about this post.

These were boiled, slipped the skin off, marinated in balsamic with a little sea salt, and then served with some fresh red lettuce (also from the garden).

These have been enjoyed with a variety of dishes- cut up in falafel sandwiches, sliced on bagels with cream cheese and fresh thyme and rosemary, mixed in with black beans and hot sauce. Oh the possibilities are endless!

Need I say more? Too large to be tasty- loaves of zucchini bread are filling up the freezer. I've got four more that will be eaten.

Aprons for a special duo

So I'm getting a bit tired of making these aprons, which is further proof that I'm not sure I could make this crafty business my main gig. But I'm not going to get into that now. I am certainly happy to continue receiving custom orders (thanks to my mom who's decided to be my pr person!) although I was having some trouble with these, since I've never met these little twins. I could only imagine that they are wonderful, especially since one of their names is Julia (hehe).

These children's aprons were my first foray into transferring a design onto fabric to embroider. I was so proud of myself for thinking of this one (I know, it's really not that clever, but I like to pretend like it was). Ok, I'm really bad at lettering, so I went onto this website I've recently discovered- dafont.com - where you can download funky fonts for free. I picked this one called "daisy mae". I downloaded and installed the font, and then typed these two letters into Word and magnified it to like 500%. Then, I realized that a computer screen is kind of like a light box, so I just put the fabric up to the screen and traced the letters. Oh yeah. I rock.

So here they are. I'm mailing them off today, so I hope they like them. For their first days of kindergarten. What were your weekend projects???

Belated Birthday Present

At least I made a present at all, right? I've been wanting to tackle this project ever since I got Simple Sewing a while back. And I figured that it would be the perfect present for one of my best friends' 25th birthday. Well, she's temporarily in Canada (away from her home in Scotland), so I figured that I had a little leeway until she got back home...

It's pretty simple, I didn't do any pockets or major embellishments. I did add this adorable little embroidery though. Of course I later realized that it's at the exact spot where a person would wipe their hands on an apron while cooking or baking (doh!). Oh well. It was my first embroidery on something other than my "sampler" (which, by the way, is coming along at a breakneck speed, more on this later).

So anyways, here is my first version (because surely there will be more) of the reversible apron from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. Also- there is (of course) a flickr group of projects from this book- very awesome. But, this is my favorite version of this project so far.

It's been raining all week here (hence the lack of more photos and posts here) but it's looking like the sun is coming out. Happy weekend all!

Just a reminder, the end of summer sale is still going on over at the shop. Be sure to check it out, and enter "minecreationsblog" for additional savings!

Happiness is...

lots of clean new (to me) fabric {and there's still more waiting to be washed!}

I know there's been a little less craftiness going on here than I would like. But believe me, it's all up here {picture my finger pointing to my head}. I've been working out a lot of new ideas and designs for the fall and winter and hoping that I will be selling at the no coast craft-o-rama in December. Jennifer wrote about this a while ago, and then again just today, and it's something I've been thinking about a lot. That is, putting more thought into each design and not just going at it and figuring out the kinks as I'm sewing. Of course, there will still be some of that, but I feel as though I'm at (or at least getting close to) the point where my skills are good enough that I can plan a project and really work it out on paper and in my head, and then work it out on the fabric.

So, there are more crafty posts on their way. And there will be a major shop update in the near future. But in the meantime...please check out the shop for some serious sales. **And if you enter "minecreationsblog" in the comments to seller, I'll take an extra 5% off any sale item. I'll be adding some more sale items to the shop over the next day or two, so check back if you don't see something you want right away. I'm trying to clear out some of the leftover summer items to make room for some of these new things that will be materializing (literally, hehe) quite soon.

And thanks, as always, for being here and reading this. Even though there are lots of lurkers out there (hint hint), it's still nice to know that so many of you are following my adventures and supporting them by visiting me here.

Garden Update: 8.20.07

**Disclaimer: The photos you are about to view are so bad, I'm almost ashamed to post them. However, I have no choice since I've already eaten almost everything that's in the photos. I want to blame the rain and bad light, but alas, I think it's really my impatience.
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Alright, I finally got my first tomatoes! After suffering some serious tomato envy of some of my neighbors in the community garden, whose plots have been overflowing with beautiful red, yellow, and even purplish lovelies for weeks, I finally harvested my own last week. This momentous event was complemented by the visit of a very dear friend (who will hopefully be moving here soon- mwahaha), which made the meal that followed this brief harvest all the yummier.

Again, I take full responsibility for my lack of photographing this weekend. But it was truly wonderful. Filled with yummy food (see above), touring around the city, a little embroidery time, partying a little too hardy, enjoying a baseball game (what?), good music, and of course, great friends. Thanks for a great visit Wen- can't wait till you come back!

Sample Me

I think the first time I heard about a "sampler" was when I was a little girl and playing with my Molly doll- she was this doll that was supposed to be from the 1940s and there was a whole story that went along with her. I have a vague recollection of her having to make a sampler for school. It seemed awfully boring at the time. I guess I've changed my mind about embroidery. I've been really inspired by a lot of other crafty bloggers out there working on some beautiful embroidery, and was starting to catch the bug.

A couple of weeks ago, I found this book at a rare and out of print book store, and I knew it was time to take the plunge and learn the ropes. I already had an extensive embroidery hoop collection that I've been working on in the hopes of putting together my own liberty wall hanging (that hasn't happened yet), so I just picked up some nice simple fabric and a small assortment of embroidery floss and started working. I've been trying to simultaneously learn some cool stitches and make a cute design (for which I have absolutely no plan, so it's a bit haphazard). This is my sampler so far, and it's by no means complete.

I sense a whole new world of designs and projects and sources of inspiration coming on fast. I'm working on a lot of new ideas for this fall/winter that will be getting worked on quite soon (I can feel it- the heat is subsiding, which means I can actually work again!). So this is my new exciting project- what's yours??

Puppy!

Ok, this has been a very un-crafty week. Still very hot here (ironing=wtf?!), so it's hard to be very productive. Thanks for all the sweet comments about my blog upgrades and new banner, it was time.

We found out recently that, contrary to what we were initially told, we cannot have a dog in our apartment. Ahh the joys of being a renter. All my hopes and dreams puppies were shattered, at least for a little while.

But oh, what's this. Dogsitting! My coworker and his wife are headed to West Virginia for a few days and it seems my constant pleas to watch their 50 lb wheaton terrier have finally paid off. I'll be hanging out with Jack all weekend, and just soaking up some doggie love here.

I'll also be at the Midtown Farmers Market on Saturday from 8am-1pm, so if you're in the Minneapolis area, stop by and say hi!

New Look

If you're reading this (unless you're on google reader or bloglines)- you've noticed a bit of a new look around here. It's been about six months since I started this little blog, and I decided it was ready for some change.

I finally conquered my fear of photoshop (sort of) and put together this banner (with a photo of- what else? a zucchini!). I will be changing the photo up there seasonally, or just whenever I feel like it, just to keep you on your toes. {Next up- a new banner for the etsy shop} I've also added a couple of additional features on the sidebar here. The first is the "what's on my nightstand" section. Here I will have a list of books that I'm reading (or that are just looking pretty on the nightstand waiting to be read). Unfortunately blogger doesn't have that cool feature that typepad has where I can have a picture of the book's cover- but I do have a link to a lovely independent bookstore where you can check these books out.

I've also added (way at the bottom of the sidebar) a little viewcounter. This is purely for myself, because I sometimes begin to think that it's only my mom out there reading (hi mom!). But alas, you lurkers-you've been discovered! I know you're out there (thanks for reading!).

I'm also working on figuring out if there's a way to add a list of recipes that I've posted, but I'm still not sure how to do this. I've seen a couple of typepad people with this, but never on blogger (hmmm-darn me for not doing my blog research before I jumped into this)- any suggestions from out there??

So there it is, a few little upgrades here and there. And they'll keep on coming. This whole thing is, in itself, a work in progress. So thanks for reading- because without you well, what's the point?

{ps: sorry for the photo-less post. more tomorrow!}

Winding Down

Well, the weekend was a bit disappointing in terms of sales. Saturday was very rainy and cold (sooo weird after weeks of 90+ degree weather), so the crowds were understandably lacking. (Although, with my gardener/non-craft show vendor hat on, I was really happy about the rain because it's sooo dry here).

Sunday was pretty successful, though so at least I made a bit of a profit (despite the teeny tiny table I got). And, the best part, I had some really cool neighbors and made some friends. A good time was had by all.

The second best part- this is how I got to the fair. That's right- it was only a 10 minute walk from my house, and I got to pack up this awesome wagon that came to me via freecycle about a month ago. So cool!

I will be posting the leftovers in the shop this week and trying to make way for some new fall/winter designs that I'm working on. So be sure to check in over there to see some new stuff!

Sappy moment alert: I'd also like to thank all of you who emailed or even thought of me this past week after the bridge collapse-it really warmed my heart to know that people that I've never even met who are all across the country had me and my loved ones in their thoughts. Just makes me so glad that I've found and become part of this amazing crafting/blogging community.

Gearing Up

For a huge show this weekend- the Powderhorn Art Fair. Large, in the park, with over 200 exhibitors, ahh!

I must admit: I'm a little nervous. I'm nervous that I won't have enough products (although frankly, if I sell everything I have, I'll be pretty darn happy). I'm nervous that I won't sell anything (this, I think, is a bit more realistic a fear than selling out). But my biggest fear, is that I only get a table that's 3'x3'. What?! I've been trying to think of creative display ideas to make the best of my space (which is actually something I really needed to do anyways). Here's a mock-up of how most of the table will be laid out.

I will also have some aprons laid out at the back of the table and I'll be using a couple of Jared's microphone stands to hang bags off of. I tried to find a cool old coat rack or clothes drying rack to use (I'm still on the lookout) but have so far not been successful, so I'll have to settle for mic stands.

Anyways, here's a peek at some of the new cards and coasters that I've been working on...I'll still have the regular aprons and totes (no new ones right now). Wish me luck!

In case you haven't had enough...

...I've got more photos of things made from zucchinis! So for a while after those first exciting zukes, every time I went out to the garden, my zucchini plants had lots and lots of stems. With the squash blossoms conspicuously missing. I think some little four legged creatures were having a very gourmet meal. My neighbor recommended spraying the plant with a mixture of cayenne pepper and water, and let me tell you, it's worked wonders. I'm getting about one zuke a day (which is a lot when there's just the two of us and we don't eat very much). Seriously, you'd swear that's all I'm growing. I promise to post about something else from the garden next time!

So what else would I do but turn on the oven? (Which is especially fun given the heat)

Zucchini chocolate chip cookies. Recipe courtesy of Camille Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I substituted the egg with 2 tablespoons of ground flax plus 3 tablespoons of water.

Zucchini muffins- adapted from my mom's zucchini bread recipe (yes, she found it!). Apparently, I'm the only person at my job who can bake something vegan, so I was enlisted for a vegan coworker's last day on the job.

Oh yeah, and what else would I have for dinner? Grilled golden zuke! I don't have a grill, so I just did them in the broiler (a little olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh thyme, and red pepper flakes- yum!).

Back tomorrow with a preview of what I'll be bringing to the Powderhorn Art Fair coming up this weekend, stay tuned!

thinking of...

all the people and families of people who were on the bridge last night. many are still missing and it's thought that up to 50 cars and many more people are still in the river. what an amazing tragedy. i am so thankful to be fine, along with everyone i know here. all my thoughts and hopes are with the victims and their loved ones.

I believe I'm a sucker...

...for beautiful books. These are just some of the books that have graced my doorstep (via the mail) recently. And, oh yeah, I'm still expecting more.

So excited to finally get Amy's wonderful book. I don't think I need to put in my two cents, as so many others already have. But I'll just say that it's great and I can't wait to tackle some of these very fun-looking projects.

I was recently made aware of the annual hurt book sale from Interweave Press. I had checked the site in the morning and picked out a list of books I wanted to buy (of course it was the same day that I had ordered Bend the Rules, but I couldn't miss the sale!). I was actually really excited to see so many herb gardening books. I looked over my list while I was at work, and narrowed it down. When I went back to the site later in the day- almost all of the books on my list had sold out! So I ended up with Scarf Style, Hand Knits for the Home, and Echinacea: The Immune Herb! Still a good haul.

I also finally ordered my own copy (I couldn't renew it any more from the library) of the {amazing} Bread Bible. Wonderful book, and as soon as it cools down here, I will be sure to be trying out some more of these recipes.

Can't wait to get reading (Oh right, just have to finish the five books I'm already in the middle of!)