Gus' birthday

 

a great day with family and friends (and a wonderful cake from the Dutch Epicure Shop in Litchfield - my apologies for not getting a picture without the candle marks)

Sewing update

I feel like I've been sewing up a storm this week, but really its just one project that's been keeping me busy...that and some knitting for my niece's birthday.  The sewing project I've been working on is a flag banner, based on the idea in Amanda Soule's book The Creative Family.  Growing up, we always had paper versions of these decorating our kitchen for our birthdays.  They were one among a small collection of decorations that my Mom brought to the States from the Netherlands and I really liked the idea of creating one out of fabric so that it would be more durable than the paper ones we had always used. 

I started the project this spring with the goal of having it done for Gus' birthday mid-November.  It's been a long project, but good in that it has really (in hindsight) gotten me thinking about ways to make my sewing more efficient - like using a rotary cutter and mat, instead of scissors - that I just never would have thought about otherwise.  My Mom helped me in the beginning with washing and pressing all the little fat quarters that I picked up to use for the flags.  Since then, I've made myself a pattern based on our old paper banners, cut all the fabric (this is what took me the longest) and sewn the flags.  With the help of my wonderful husband, we turned the flags right-side out, poked out the tips, ironed them flat and then sewed them onto the bias tape - late last night after getting home for my niece's birthday...and just in time for celebrating Gus' birthday today.  :)

I ended up being very happy with how the flags turned out and ended up having enough flags to make a second banner.  Just need to pick up some more bias tape and then sew them all together.  

The knitting that I've been doing has been some legwarmers for my niece's birthday.  I'm just realizing now that I didn't take a picture of them.  Darn!

My other current sewing project is another Amy Butler bag, the Sophia Carry-All.  Thankfully I have Hilda from the Fabric Tree helping me out with this one in class because the piping and zipper have definitely been new territory for me.  Here's a picture of the work in progress (still need to make the lining):

The fabric I'm using (both the grey and the orange) are from Ikea.  They are a nice lightweight canvas which seems to be working well for this bag so far.  They have so many great prints at Ikea, but most end up having designs that would have been too large for the size of this bag (better as curtains or some other large thing).  I'm happy with the way this one turned out.  I like the little bit of pattern variation that shows up on this side (and the other side as well). 

...and last, a couple of pictures of the baby quilt I finished up last month:

I used cotton flannel for both sides of this quilt, as I couldn't find any cotton sherpa at my local fabric stores.

(Dutch Oven) Beer Bread

Today while reading Mother Earth News, I came across a recipe for Beer Bread baked in a dutch oven.  Bread made with beer sounded interesting, but what really got me was the simplicity of the recipe.  It has three ingredients and requires no kneading or rising.  I was out of fresh bread, so no excuse was needed to whip up a loaf and see what it tasted like.  Since I didn't have the self-rising flour called for in the recipe, I did a little digging around and found a similar recipe using regular flour, baking soda and salt in place of the self-rising flour.  I ended up doing a combination of the two recipes (used all-purpose, instead of mix of wheat and white), using some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.  I cooked it in my dutch oven, rather than in a loaf pan.  The end result was super tasty with a wonderful crunchy crust on the outside and an almost scone-like consistency on the inside.  I think I ate half the loaf as soon as it came out of the oven.  It did end up being a bit on the flat side - I suspect that a smaller dutch oven or a loaf pan would help it go up rather than out, but it was good nonetheless.

 

Highly recommended!!  Would be great with soup, salad, really anything that beer would go with (as the beer flavor does subtly come through).  Not recommended with butter and jam - although I did it anyway, as I can't resist putting butter and jam on fresh bread (especially since I'd just acquired a jar of lemon curd - boy have I been missing the boat all these years not knowing what that tasted like!!).  

A visit to the Beardsley Zoo

This summer I took Gus and his friend Zach to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, CT.  I'd never been before and the three of us enjoyed the visit - even though it was incredibly hot that day.  The zoo rents double (and single) strollers so we packed our water and snacks and strolled around.  I like that you can see the whole zoo in an hour or two.  With two year olds, that seems to be a great size/time frame for a visit.

When Gus asked to go to the zoo again this fall, I decided to join as members - both to support the zoo and so that we could go back as many times as we wanted.  The zoo focuses on North and South American animals, so its great to get to know some of our "locals", so to speak.  Our favorites, so far have been the wolves and the waterfowl in the barnyard area.

We went to the zoo again today and found some spots that we hadn't noticed last time we were there.  The first place we checked out was the sculpture garden.  I don't recall the name of the sculptor, but do remember that the inspiration for the pieces was nature.  It was a fitting and beautiful exhibit and the garden was fun, both for me (especially with a new camera to play with!) and for a two year old to explore.

 

Next stop, the maze:

Then we watched a couple of the resident peacocks boss everyone around:

visited our favorite goose (this critters chats you up big time whenever you stop to pay your respects):

and spent some time getting to know an elephant:

Last stop of the day was a visit to the lions (one is asleep and the other awake - they guard the entrance to the greenhouse):

...note the camel medallion - I'm not sure how much premeditation there was with that, but it sure was fitting for the day.

Fun with cameras!

Lately I've been thinking that it would be nice to own a digital SLR.  I've been missing the flexibility that I had when taking pictures with my film camera, but didn't want to drag it out again and have to get photos developed on film and converted to digital.  ...so I did a little research online, spoke with some camera store employees, solicited some recommendations from friends and decided to purchase a Nikon D5000.  According to the site I ordered it from, the shipping estimation to my zip code was only 2 days - with the 24 hour order to ship time they promised, I figured I'd have the camera in a few days.  Boy was I disappointed when I finalized the order and they told me it would take a whole week!  ...not very long in the grand scheme of things, but I'd been all ready for it to arrive before the weekend and had my hopes up for using it right away, especially since it was Halloween.  I managed to temper my expectations and wait (somewhat) patiently until today when it arrived on my doorstep.

Gus knew that I had been waiting for the camera all week and was almost as excited as I was when he woke up from his nap and I told him it had arrived.  We opened the box, unpacked the camera and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing with cameras - me with the new one and Gus with our older camera.  Here are some of our shots...

Photo I took of Gus:

Photo Gus took of himself:

Photo I took of Gus:

 

Photo Gus took of me:

 

The Flying Trilobite

As I was a Geology major in college and am still fascinated with anything geological, I had to check out the blog, The Flying Trilobite, to see what it was all about.  Much to my surprise I found some very cool artwork. What awesome imagery!  If you have any interest in science at all, you must check out this blog.  I am in awe of the concepts Glendon Mellow has come up with and put to paper, so to speak.

Books: Real-Life Homeschooling

When I first started thinking about this post, I'd mentally planned a whole history of my early disaffection with traditional schooling, my high-school and college-age interest in (or maybe I should say fascination with) education, my training and work as a teacher in both a private and public schools and how it has all culminated in my interest in Montessori education and homeschooling...but, now that I actually sit here at the computer, the urge to write all that is gone. 

Instead, I'll share with you a fun little book that I just picked up at my local library: Real-Life Homeschooling: The Stories of 21 Families Who Teach Their Children at Home.  Ian and I have been thinking about homeschooling Gus, so I've been doing a little research on the topic here and there.  I really enjoyed reading this book, as it gave a great feel for what it would be like for us to actually homeschool our own child.  Through the stories of the twenty-one families in the book, the reader is exposed to a wide variety of differently homeschooling styles and philosophies.  You not only get a great sense of what worked for the families and what didn't, but you also get to see what resources they each like to use and how they schedule their time.  I was surprised to read that so many of the families had started off trying to replicate a traditional school (by creating detailed lesson plans, schedules, etc.) and then had changed their focus over time to be more child-centered and organic.  To me, and I suppose to most homeschoolers, this is the beauty of homeschooling - the ability to customize the learning environment to the unique needs of each child....but even still, I think the initial urge is to try to replicate the school at home because that is what we all know - that is how most of us all were educated and we don't know another way until we dig into it and try it ourselves.  How very exciting!!  Now, of course, as this book points out, homeschooling is a LOT of work and a huge decision on the part of the family... but it is great to be able to hear how different families have struggled through that choice and why they have persevered with their homeschooling choices.  A great read for anyone who is thinking about homeschooling.