Amelia

My friend Amelia turned seven on June 23rd, 2013.  I vividly remember my seventh birthday and receiving a beautiful doll named Amy along with a collection of ‘doll clothes’ that once belonged to me (and my sister), probably about 6 months size, laundered and pressed (by my amazing Mom) in a sweet and sturdy basket with a pink baby blanket.  I so cherished this gift and played and played with Amy and adored putting her in the little smocked dresses!  My friend Amelia wears sweet frocks, has long golden hair and sparkly brown eyes. I admire how curious, capable, and strong Amelia is… she loves to try new things and approaches what ever it is with grace, style, and a joyful spirit!
student

swimmer

equestrian

gymnast

dancer

crafter, stitcher, and sewer

artist

sweet friend
(especially to baby theodore)

…thank you Amelia for your friendship~
Happy BIRTHDAY!

Feast for Love

Our dear friend Heather Love was in a terrible accident this spring.  A group of friends are having a fund raiser to money for her rehabilitation and on going needs.  I created the artwork for this poster~ The original is about 12″x18″ and is a paper collage.

Baking Bread- bunnies, robots, and the sun

a bunny bread at easter time!

a robot bread for Ollie’s 4th birthday!
…and a Sun Bread as instructed in the recipe…

BAKING BREAD~ SUN BREAD!

My good friends know that I am not the most talented cook in the kitchen! but I am trying to be better about that. I suppose I enjoy baking, in that most often one is required to follow a recipe, thus less room for error! Ollie’s school puts out an annual cook book and I decided to share this recipe and while I was at it I decided to post it on Annie’s OMNIUM.
The recipe is taken from Elisa Kleven’s beautifully illustrated children’s book SUN BREAD. I recommend that you buy the book and enjoy it with your little ones and have fun making this bread with them.
SUN BREAD
1. Mix well: 3 eggs 3 tablespoons sugar (annie’s note: you can also add some citrus zest for added flavor)
2. Combine: 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 stick butter, melted
3. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat well.
4. In a small bowl combine: 2 packages active dry yeast 3 tablespoons milk Let stand until mixture is foamy, at least 5 minutes. (annie’s note: I also found following the instructions on the yeast packet helpful)
5. Add the yeast mixture to the batter and stir. Knead dough on greased, floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Place dough in greased bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place for about an hour (until doubled in size).
7. Punch down dough, knead for a few minutes, then separate into two portions.
8. To form the sun’s face, shape one portion of dough into a round, somewhat flattened ball, then place on a large greased baking sheet. With the greased end of a wooden spoon, or with your finger, punch two ‘eyes’ in the sun; draw a mouth for your sun in the same way. (Make sure you make deep lines and holes in the dough so they won’t close up while the bread bakes.) Make a nose for your sun by securely attaching a small ball of dough to its face. (annie’s note: you can also use currents or raisins for face or other features.)
9. To make a corona for your sun, roll one half of the remainder of the dough into four or five long ‘snakes’. Then curl the snakes into puffy ‘snail’ shapes. Shape the rest of the dough into puffy triangles. Firmly attach the snails and triangles to your sun’s face. (Use a little water if the dough is too dry.)
10. Cover the sun and let it rise again in a warm place for about an hour.
11. Preheat oven to 400*F. Bake the sun bread for about 20 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into center of bread. (It should come out clean.)
12. Enjoy! Your sun bread is delicious plain or with butter, honey, or jam.
…again! check out Elisa Kleven’s books… they are all wonderful!

PUMPKIN PULL

This past Monday Ollie and I went to Sweet Berry Farm’s Pumpkin Patch. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful. At the end of our adventures we picked out some pumpkins. Ollie was heaving them around and had fun testing his super hero strength on the heavier ones~ which brought to mind this little painting I did some years back!

TURKEY HEARTS & WHIPPED CREAM

HAPPY FALL!
Over the past while I have been collaborating on a children’s book with my husband’s aunt Honey Minshew. It is a delightful true story about a young girl and her curious cat who adventures out one Halloween night and gets into a bit of trouble. The story ends happily on Thanksgiving Day. It is a fun book to enjoy during the autumn months and I think that children will appreciate the cheerful illustrations and simple writing. I have designed the book on Blurb.com. One can preview the book there and also purchase it directly. As you well know, self publishing isn’t always the least expensive route to go, but for now this seems like a nice solution. You can click on the link to the left and it will take you directly to my blurb website. If you have troubles with this process, please let me know … as it is all new to me!

Wrap Around A Dress

Last night we went out on a double date with some friends who have a six month old baby… so needless to say there was a lot of talk about babies and kids… then we hooked up with some more friends… one was pregnant, there was talk of others who just had babies, and then the conversation gets going about the wonderful world of maternity clothes…

This is a dress that I designed and made a few years ago. It is the only one that exists and has a few issues with the pattern. (The design was altered from vintage sewing pattern that my friend Cathy passed on to me.) My beautiful friend Lainie who was then 7 or 8 months pregnant with her son Wyatt is modeling this dress in sunny, blue sky Flagstaff.
The idea was for the dress to tie in the back, kind of like a hospital gown and then wrap around to the front and snap in place.
I used heavy cotton fabric and covered all the seams with hand made polka dot seam binding in various colors. As you can see here the dress is nicely flattering and the back of it has some movement to it.
The wide embroidered ribbon belt hooks at the front, to give the waist line nice definition. I was crazy for this European ribbon found at M&J TRIMMING in NYC. When I lived there I spent hours in this shop, driving the sales people crazy… ‘I would like one yard of that ribbon one inch from the ceiling!’ ‘…and what are you going to do with just one yard?’ ‘Something wonderful eventually!’

Jesse Griffiths with DAI DUE





Today I went to Food & Wine magazines web site to cast my vote for Jesse Griffiths of DAI DUE as one of the United States top chefs… he has been a pioneer in promoting the local food movement in Austin. He is amazing in the kitchen and a true craftsman with what he does. It has been a pleasure working with Jesse and his wife Tamara in creating packaging for their products. I just finished the latest label… HARVESTED by HUNTING which he will put on products such as Venison Sausage and Wild Boar Chorizo, etc.

Heart Creations

Valentines Day is just around the corner! It is a blustery day, Ollie has a cold and is home from school so we got out my boxes of ephemera, scissors, and glue to make some Valentines. So I decided to share with you some of my favorite heart creations I have done over time.

I have always liked this paper doll, a self portrait of sorts… winter whites and red shoes.
I used some carbon paper for a textile design as a backdrop.

A wool heart pin cushion filled with a bit of Santa Maria Novella Pot Pourri
photographed against some beautiful chard.
I posted this photo on FaceBook recently and quickly got a note and a picture
from my friend JD (who I gave this pin cushion to)… she now lives in Marfa, TX and
sent me back a great picture of it against a grand Agave! Lovely exchange.

I like this little drawing…
love and be loved and love and be loved and love and be loved!

Wooly Winter Accessories

It is cold, cold, cold today! and Jason always loves to tease me about my multiple layers of wool! Sheep were my favorite animals as a child and my mother is an amazing textile artist who wove beautiful yardage from vegetal dyed yarns and now knits lovely sweaters and such. A few years back I collaborated with a friend on a collection of clothing called WINTERIZE. These are some winter wear accessories that came from that body of work.

The Origami Hat… hand stitched wool felt which can be worn in many configurations…
upside down or right side up!

Crocheted cuffs to peak out or under a blouse or coat… or to wipe your brow with!

Jason is looking very dandy with this crocheted collar peaking out of his Edelwiess snap shirt.
* WINTERIZE *