Three Big B’s

For Babka, Baby, and Blog. First the babka.

Thank goodness this unholy concoction, containing over a pound of butter and sugar, each, and nearly 2 and 1/2 pounds of chocolate (!!) can be frozen, because I could only justify making this recipe by promising that I would freeze two of the three loaves to have when my husband is here to enjoy it. The impetus for this dessert is innocent enough. My mother-in-law shared a loaf of sweet bread studded with chocolate chips, and I thought to myself, hmm, these people are onto something. So I did a quick search at my favorite food blog and came up with chocolate babka. And at first glance, it looked simple enough, a sweet bread dough swirled with chocolate filling and topped with streusel. Closely examining the ingredient list, however, gave me reason to pause. Did I really want to sink that amount of indulgent ingredients into one baking endeavor? The craving won out, however, and it’s not until you’re standing there, looking at two bowls on the counter, one containing your risen dough, and one containing your chocolate/butter/sugar/cinnamon mixture and finding, in alarm, that one is unexpectedly more full than the other, that you realize you may have, perhaps, made a slight error in judgement. Thank goodness it’s too late to turn back at that point, because this babka, oh this babka, it is just that good. With all that said, however, I don’t see myself making it again any time soon. But you should. At least once; it’s one of those things. And after living months without access to an oven, it felt good to have a really, really good excuse to turn on the oven.

Speaking of cravings and ovens, I suppose that now is as good a time as any to announce that I am having a baby. Next month! As in, approximately five weeks from now we’ll be a family of 5. Sorry I haven’t mentioned it before, it’s just that living on the island and being pregnant without having access to good medical care has made me nervous, and I didn’t need anyone else’s well-meant comments or advice making me more nervous. I know I have really wonderful, lovely readers, but the internet is a crazy big place, and I know things like that still happen. So now that I am safely back to the United States, having survived 27-hours plane travel and layovers at 7 months pregnant taking care of two little girls all by myself, I feel comfortable sharing the exciting news. We’re having another little girl, and we are completely thrilled. It is a little bittersweet, because with the baby came the decision that we couldn’t responsibly raise small children on the Galapagos. There are just too many risks involved, mostly from poor-quality water and lack of adequate medical care, that would make it hard to have a new baby there. So we decided to leave our job and home on the Galapagos and move back to the United States.See, I’m not making this up. This was taken on our last day in Galapagos, when I was 32 weeks (3 weeks ago). My husband is currently finishing up his last month of work and then will come up before (fingers crossed) the baby comes.

The third B is for blog. I realize I’ve been a terribly negligent blogger lately (as in, the last year or so) but that is the trouble with living without internet access. It makes it rather difficult to do things on the internet. Ha. Seriously though, I’ve found that over the year, I’ve kind of lost my taste for the internet. I’ve found many worthwhile things to fill in the time, and frankly, I’m a little disgusted with myself when I get into a rut of looking at pinterest or other social media things for any extended length of time. Not that those things are bad, (and I am in no way casting judgement on people who do enjoy passing the time in this way), it’s just not really my thing, anymore. So, I’m still trying to figure out where I fit in with my blog. I do like sharing, and I love getting feedback from you, especially when there is something I can help you with. And now that I do have access to the internet on a regular basis, I will try to be a more dutiful blog and e-mail correspondent (of course, after the baby comes, all bets are off). But I don’t think I’ll be picking up the pace with posting any time soon. I hope you understand, dear readers.

Have a wonderful afternoon.

Six Years

Six years ago, today, I married a wonderful, sweet, incredible man. I am so lucky to have him. Today we’re celebrating on separate continents, though, so it’s a little rough. I figured I could just let the day pass by without thinking about it, I could spend it blubbering into a loaf of chocolate babka, or I could celebrate. I decided to go with the third, though it will certainly be a simple celebration, and it will still involve some babka (more on that later). I’m celebrating because I am seriously just so happy to be married to this guy and I love the little family we’ve made together.

And no matter how many years go by, I still look at it as a miracle that two people, growing up in separate hemispheres and virtually worlds apart somehow found each other and made a happy family together. I know there are so many other people I have to thank for this miracle, and that’s why I’m celebrating today, because I am so grateful that this miracle happened. Thanks for everyone who made it happen, and thanks especially to my husband. You are an amazing husband and father. Thank you for all you do. I hope you have a wonderful day too, on your side of the world.

Scrappy Hobby Horse

Do you have piles of felt scraps floating around? Felt food, hair clips, fancy flowers, and a myriad of other felt crafting fun can leave you with quite a heap of felt bits floating around. Or, if you can’t get enough scraps, like me, you might purchase a big old box of scraps from some felt supplier. These scraps can come in handy, but I’ve found them hard to use in bulk, until now. I decided to try piecing some fabric together out of all the scraps. After I got about a third of a yard worth, I decided it was time to make something. Of all the different projects I had in mind for this lovely patchwork fabric, I decided a felt hobby horse was most appropriate, because it’s usually made of re-purposed materials (most commonly a sock, but you get the idea).

I drafted my own pattern, fully stuffed muslin and all, and then with a few alterations, I stitched up this guy. My favorite part is the mane. It may look involved, but stitching the mane was almost the easiest part (besides attaching the button eyes, of course).

It’s stuffed firm with scrap wool (i.e., wool that is too short, scratchy or icky to use for anything else). 

Did I mention my little girl is obsessed with horses? She’s already completely smitten, and I think this may be the start of a beautiful scrappy friendship.

This is another project that I think deserves a tutorial, though it might take me a little while to get around to it. Busy, busy, busy. But life is good.

Have a great day.

Spring Wings

So, I’ve been so busy with things in my real life that I forgot to mention on my blog that I’ve been participating in a crafting competition, SYTYC. You know me, I love to have a good excuse to get some crafts done that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Here’s my project for the first week. The theme was Spring.

When I think of spring, one of the first things that comes to mind is baby animals. Lambs, bunnies, fluffy little chicks. So for this project, I decided to make something for my own sweet little babies. Something Spring, of course.  

Here’s a look at some of my inspiration. I love these paintings of wings by Albrecht Durer. Love.

I made both girls a new set of wings to transform them into little baby birds. I’ve seen the idea floating around Pinterest for a while, and I wanted to do my spin on it. I love them, and the girls do, too.

Now my little birds are ready all ready to fly.

Well, it looks like I may be out this week, and I’m not surprised, since the theme, knock-off, really isn’t my thing, but if you want, you should go over and vote. Voting goes until Thursday night, I think. There are some nice projects if you are into knock-offs.

Have a great day!

For Melissa

Happy birthday to my favorite bird-loving sister.

Inspiration: Galapagos Summer

Mostly a collection of flower pictures. All of these were taken at a recent trip to the Hacienda Tranquila, a farm up in the highlands of the island that hosts volunteers from all over the world. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

One Year

One year ago we moved to San Cristóbal in the Galapagos Islands. I can’t believe it has been that long. Of course, we’ve only lived on the island for about 7 of those twelve months,  because 5 months of that were spent trying to figure out residency rules, etc., and also a month-long trip home (Oregon) for Christmas. So maybe that’s why it doesn’t quite feel like it’s been a year. Anyways, to celebrate our anniversary  I thought I’d share some pictures of one of my favorite Galapagos cohabitants. 

 

 

 

Have a great day!

 

Some Sketchbooks

Last week I made 3 new sketchbooks. Three! That’s a big spike in productivity, mind you. It helped a lot that my mother-in-law was visiting and helped out a ton (thanks!).

I made them according to the soft-cover sketchbook tutorial I posted a couple years ago. I love these books. No glue required, which is nice when you have no glue on hand. 

I used some nice thick St. Armand handmade paper in Elephant Gray and Plum.  If you’re interested in making your own, check out the tutorial. Now to start filling these up.

I made a quilt

I am not a quilter. Not even an aspiring quilter. I have only ever made one other quilt in my life, a little lap quilt that I hand quilted about ten years ago. But for whatever reason, about 2 years ago (yes, two years) I got the urge to make a queen sized quilt for my bed. I can only explain this by stating that I needed a new quilt/covering for my bed, and I have this feeling that I should DIY pretty much anything I think I could handle. 

I had it all pieced together and even the layers basted over a year ago, but when I came down to live in Galapagos, neither it nor my sewing machine made it in my suitcases. So when we, and my lovely 1970′s sewing machine were all reunited, I decided it was time to get this thing done.

Did it matter that I didn’t have a walking foot that fit my sewing machine? Of course, but I just decided to accept the unintentional ruching and puckering that came about because of my regular-feed presser foot.

Of course, it was a little ill-advised to take up this project in the high heat and humidity of a Galapagos summer, especially with no air-conditioning, but once I started, I just had to get it done. I felt a little crazy and cool at the same time thinking that I was surely the only person on the entire island engaged in this kind of activity.

My little girl helped with the photo shoot. She’s been experimenting a lot lately with the crazy faces.

Here’s what the back looks like.

Of course, it has its quirks and defects, but I’m quite pleased with the results. Would I do this project again? Hmm, probably, but I think it would be something to save for chilly winter evenings, and not hot, humid, air-conditioning-free afternoons.  

I used this lovely organic cotton thread for the quilting. I was worried I would run out, and being in Galapagos with no access to any craft supplies, I figured that would put an end to the project, but I had just enough. Phew.

Now, I just need to wait a little for it to be cool enough to actually use it.

Have a great Monday.

(Almost) 28 Self Portraits

So, remember how I said a while back that I was going to draw a self portrait every day for month? And now it’s been more than a month and I haven’t mentioned it at all. Well, I haven’t been trekking to my local internet joint as often, and this has resulted in less blogging, but guess what, I actually did do those drawings. Almost a full month (I decided to go for 4 weeks, and I missed a day because I was violently ill).

So here they are, all 27 portraits. I started out doing one week of pen and ink, then one week of charcoal, then two weeks of pencil. Can you guess which day I was violently ill (my little girl helped supply the missing drawing).

Here’s a closer look at the first (uck) and last picture in the series. I’m glad there was some improvement.

And here are few portraits that I think were more successful.

What do you think? There’s something to be said for doing something consistently over a period of time. I think it helped me get focused again on what I really love doing. So that’s great.Here’s to more drawing in the future.