Eatin' + makin' is what I crave

Born on a mountain Raised in a cave Bikin' and F'in is all I crave.

Huh? Why would I have typed such vulgar nonsense you ask? Well, it's because when I was about ten my father bought a motorcycle and our neighbor whom we kept running into would say to my father, "I got the best present for you, you're going to love it!" When he finally brought the gift by it turned out to be a refrigerator magnet with that very poetic life-vision emblazoned on it. My father was appaled. I found it hilarious. What this episode has to do with my blog is simple: Eatin' and makin' is all I crave these days. Okay, I realize how that might sound to anyone as scatalogically inclined as I am, but I meant making stuff . Today I had my very first Jessica Day where Joe took Harlan out for an adventure and I got the chance to do whatever I please. This day will now occur once a month. This is my new year's resolution, along with monthly Joe Day and monthly Joe and Jessica Date night. Anyhow, I had originally made plans to go into Manhattan and hang out with a friend of mine, but I was not able to get in touch with her. Instead I relaxed and read my brand new premiere issue of Cook's Country- the new country-cousin version of the high-brow Cook's Illustrated.

Now don't get me wrong, I am still a big fan of Cook's Illustrated, the magazine where the editors have their very own test kitchen, where they try every method thinkable for different recipes and tell their readers what worked and what didn't. The end result is always a perfect description of how to cook/bake just about anything. I am also recently addicted to their T.V. show America's Test Kitchen. Without this cooking team I would be making dry chicken and gluey lemon squares amongst other atrocities. The Cook's Country quickly stole my heart with its wonderful late-fifties font and design. Even the recipes reminded me a bit of a lot of foods my grandmother loved to make, dishes like apricot Jello with clementimes in it (although my grandmother would probably omit the fresh clementimes). Check out this recipe for the Monte Cristo. Everyone in France eats them, why not me?

After deciding to try their chicken marsala recipe this week I got to working on my new Dreamweaver 8 tutorial. I have to say I am feeling a bit like a computer geek for loving this new web design program so much. I never thought I would love anything remotely related to programming, but learning about how to set CSS style sheets makes my heart soar. I can't wait to completely redesign my website. Bun Bun Babythreads is seriously a "D.I.Y" venture from top to bottom. When I was finished working I decided to look into my WIP drawer and get a crackin'. I started to embroider a pirate/sea theme quilt for Harlan when I was pregnant. At the rate I'm going I realize that the quilt will be a twin size instead of a crib size, but this is probably better since he will get more use out of it this way. Here are the squares I have so far. The designs are from Sublime Stitching and some vintage patterns that I have on hand.

I'm going to use some type of nautical fabric for every other square and for a border. I saw one I like over at superbuzzy, and some at Atelier Jade , but I can't commit quite yet.
After deciding on a few more designs I want to embroider I put the squares back in the drawer and pulled out this vintage stuffed animal pattern I've had laying around for a while:

I decided on making one of the small elephants. I got out some great stretch cord houndstooth fabric from reprodepot and decided to make this the primary fabric. I'm going to put some mustard wool felt on the back of his ears and use it for his tail. I am out of stuffing though, so a trip to Canal St. is a must this week. I wish there was a damn craft supply store in NYC. Where on earth do people go to get things like pellets and animal eyes around here? I have to get mine out in Riverhead when visiting my mother in Long Island. Oh well, enough complaining. How can I gripe when it was such a great day?

P.S. Did anyone on my block catch the pile of dogcrap with the G.W.B. flag stuck on top of it with a toothpick? Pretty rad.