Antiquing!!

I went "antiquing" today, in Ellicott City, MD. A very, very charming little historic city only about a 1/2 hour from Baltimore. Lots of stores had stuff sort of set on the sidewalk and as I was walking up the street, I came across a little cute and kitchy straw bag. Last summer, my straw purse, that I was completely in love with (and had been purchased for next to nothing at a sample sale), broke and was irreparable (I tried), so I've been on the hunt for a replacement this summer. The bag wasn't marked with a price, so I put it back down and went on my merry way. I happened back on it on the way back to my car and decided to go in the store and see how much it was. After haggling the store keeper down to $10 (an amazing deal, since it was in pristine condition and had a vinyl lining that I knew I could easily give a good cleaning to), turns out she only took cash. And I only had $3. So, I figured it wasn't meant to be and left to run some errands at the nearby Target. But while at Target, convinced myself that since I was going back home that way anyhow, to get some cash and see if it was still there. And what do you know, it was!! The store owner told me that two other people had been interested in it as well, but no one had cash on hand. I'm so happy I decided to go back and get it!! Life lesson #532: When antiquing, always bring cash.

A Summer Family Visit

Nephew Jack, plays outside in the water.

My sister Ashlie, with her twins, Caroline and Brooke, outside the St Louis Art Museum.

Baby Brooke suns herself.

The water lovers admire a fountain in the Central West End.

Caroline (yellow) and Brooke (purple) try out their new toothbrushes!

Just wanted to share a few pics from my recent visit back home. Haven't my nephew and nieces grown? We had such fun!!

Missouri Botanical Gardens; Sculptures by Chihuly

I recently returned from a visit across the great midwest. Managed to visit 4 states! Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. Aren't you jealous?? Ha! I actually LOVE the midwest and consider it my home. It was great to be back there. I spent the longest amount of time visiting my sister and her family, near St Louis. She has quite the brood that requires (as all children do) constant entertainment. Which in the summer time, means outings!! I am my mother's daughter and love outings, so I didn't mind at all. One of day we ventured out to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It's one of the loveliest places to visit in St Louis, in my opinion. They happen to have a dinosaur exhibit going on right now, called DinoQuest, so even my 3 year old nephew enjoyed it. And "ROAR"ed at us for the rest of the day. I, the wannabe art lover that I am, was very taken with the glass sculptures by Dave Chihuly that we featured in a few places in the garden. They were so vibrant and unexpected.

The End of the Yellow Oilcloth

When I was little, I once had a school picture, taken in a yellow dress. It was quite possibly, one of the worst pictures taken of me. I looked so jaundiced and pale. Eeek! (If only I had that picture to scan in...but then again, wouldn't want subject you to that.) From that day, my mother declared that I looked terrible in yellow. And so for 30 some years, I didn't. Then last year, I went out on a limb and bought a yellow cardigan. And realized that I actually look nice in yellow. My love affair with yellow had begun. It's a hot color this summer. So, when I can across the yellow oilcloth in my stash, I knew I had to put it to use. I decided to make a large tote. Thought it would be useful for my upcoming travels, I'm told that there will be some pool visits! And in the very least, can be used for toting produce at the farmer's market. I also decided to make a couple of more little zipper pouches. You can never have too many of those!

Christmas in July

As a follower of Craftaholics, I was compelled to join in on the Christmas in July Gift Exchange. I love to make stuff, but there are limits to how much stuff I need/can use. So, I thought this would be a good outlet. And you get a handmade gift in return. But what does one make for someone they don't know. At all. It was suggested to contact the recipient and just ask, if you were unsure. But I just decided to make a couple of really useful items. (I also wanted to make things that I already had all of the supplies for.) I ended up with a zipper pouch made of oilcloth-could be used to hold just about anything, everyday, for travel, for makeup, as a small wetbag. I thought it would be good to hold sunscreen and other runny summer items. And a fabric basket. I didn't use a tutorial for the pouch. I used a method that I learned somewhere along the way, maybe in a book? I couldn't remember. But it was very quick and easy. Definitely took less than an hour to make. The second thing I made was a fabric basket was made from a tutorial found on Pink Penguin. I have made the quilted version before. In fact, I keep all of my camera, ipod, etc cords in it by my computer. I made a slightly bigger version this time and didn't do all of the piecing work. I used some Anna Maria Horner Drawing Room scraps and think it turned out so cute! Can't wait to see what I'll get in return.

Bloomin' Onions?

I hate raw onions. Don't put a raw onion ring on my burger-it ruins the whole thing. But a cooked onion-that's an aromatic and can add a lot to a flavor to a dish. So, from time to time, I'll buy a small bag of onions at Trader Joe's. Has about 4-5 onions and will last for months. Or so I thought. I peered into my little basket that I keep my onions and garlic in, this morning, only to find this. Two of the onions had sprouted! I had only bought these last week. Are they old? Can they still be eaten? I'm going to keep this experiment going.... Wonder if they'll flower? While I'm at it, thought I'd mention a healthy recipe. I had a craving for BBQ pulled pork this week (I am a Kansas City girl, after all), but let's be honest, not a very figure-friendly dish. I searched and searched and finally came across this recipe from Eating Well-Barbeque Pulled Chicken. It's cooking away in my crock pot as we speak. (I've since eaten the aforementioned pulled chicken. It was pretty good. I would definitely recommend dialing up the heat a little.)

Movie Treats! (and a visit to an area quilt shop)

I'm off this afternoon to see Sex and the City 2 with some friends! I am beyond excited!! My sister and I did not miss an episode back when SATC was on HBO, airing it's regular seasons. We watched EVERY Sunday night, religiously. That seems like a million years ago. So my devotion to Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte runs deep. But I digress. It is my friend Min's birthday today. So I couldn't just show up at the theater like it was any other day. So I decided to bring snacks. I made White Chocolate Popcorn; the recipe was found on Make and Takes. (Which was put together in literally 10 minutes yesterday afternoon. Other than letting it harden for a few hours, the stage that took the longest was microwaving the popcorn.) I also am including small packages of swedish fish and pretzels. (The pretzels are for me, I can only take so many sweets and maybe others feel this way too.) Packaged all individual snacks in cellophane bags tied with ribbon and everybody's collection of snacks in just plain paper bags. (Wished I would have thought ahead on the overall packaging, but even I can't think of everything.) I think my friends, who share my love of eating, will enjoy this surprise. Maybe they'll go to the movies with me more often... Now, off to the movies! (I hope I can convince them to have a cosmo with me.)

On a completely unrelated note, I ventured out to Annapolis yesterday, to visit Cottonseed Glory, a very good quilt shop! These are few and far between in the Baltimore/Washington Area, so just had to mention it. Definitely worth the trip.