CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO

Silver and Wool

Life is a blur and while the stitches have come out (ouch!) Finn birthday is still looming on the horizon. I have been lucky to receive some web and magazine work but that also mean that while I am sewing rather a lot I can't talk about it here at all! Very strange this secrecy, I need to get use to it.

This weekend I made something just for us though, a woolen cover for a set of antique silver-plate French silverware.

In France we joke about our (pretend) American Uncle, well I have an aunt like that, except she's French and I live State side. She and I have loved each other since day one, we share the same birthday and the same passion for handcrafting. She used to have really long black hair that she let me brush and braid, oh and she sewed my dolls Liberty dresses just because (sigh!)

Since I am all grown now and her hair is cut short, she sent me five kilos (!) of silver plate silverware last week with the black wool and a few other things I might discuss another day. I felt pretty great when I opened the express parcel and knew I had to get cracking on the cover if nothing else than to show my appreciation. Inside, a letter showed a few suggestions on what to look for with a little schematic:

It's nerve racking doing something, even quite simple when you have a limited amount of material (none to be ever had again) and you want, no you need to be proud of the results. After the first cut though I got lost in the fabulous wool cloth and lost the jitters.

I really appreciated the scissor function on the new Bernina 580, it saved a considerable amount of bobbin thread as I was sewing from the outside in to avoid stretching and bubbles. The over-flap was a bit short so I connected a long narrow piece butting the edges and using a decorative stitch meant for borders.

It's very pretty all laid out on the table but once you roll it up it's really a 9 lbs black lump. A bit of a let down, quickly remedied with the left over wool and a bit of machine embroidery for good measure. The monogram is blown up as large as the oval hoop will allow and I increased the stitch density. Boiled wool is really the best material I have ever seen when it come to machine embroidery, wouldn't you say?

 

isn't this gorgeous?

After years of quilting without any major injuries besides a sore back I have ran out of luck:

That's four stitches on my index finger... did you know they can sew right through your finger nail? I didn't. Super gross I know! Should I mention that I haven't worn nail polish in month, at least I wasn't embarrassed by the sad state on my nails when bleeding all over, that counts for something, it really does!

Hurry Valentine!

Happy valentine's day to all! I hope you are planning on inundating your friends with notes! I know Finn plans on it (that is what an almost four year old does apparently). I usually have some elaborate card or portrait to give Thomas, but this year I (sort of) forgot about it completely and had a slight panic attack yesterday afternoon.

I quickly switched on the new Bernina 580 and got cracking on a pair of cherub coaster in linen. This machine is so flawless (no joke) that the hardest part was fraying the edges by hand. The files are from Anna Bove Embroidery, still my favorite shop out there.

The coater completion was immediately followed by a mad rush to the liquor store where I found the exact Champagne we drank out our wedding 11 years ago! I was smiling so widely at the register, thinking of how clever this was, that the clerc got most suspicious and triple-checked my ID. I am 33 years old people! this is a great day indeed!

Oh, and here the 'shouting' card that goes with it, feeling cleverer every moment, ah! ah!

 

a little boy's dream

We visited Hill Air Force Base Museum this weekend. I had no idea it could be so much fun, none of us wanted to leave.

You can see giant air ships outside from the last 40 years or so, things so massive I can't believe they would ever lift off (I mean 500 000 lbs!) but inside are the real jewels, shiny bombers from WWII and current stealth planes, all in pristine condition. My maternal grandfather flew bombers for the French Air Force in Indochina and it definitely peeked my interest in the historical blurbs posted all around.

This place made Finn hyperventilate in glee. Did I mention it's free too?! incredible Saturday afternoon.

Save the date

Finn has been frantic lately, talking/breathing/sleeping the idea of his birthday. He woke up at 3 am this morning, came to us with a Playmobil catalog and would not take note of the hour. We are tired today and even though I decided to reach Finn in the middle and just spent the best part of the day making save the date cards for him to give to his friends at school.

They need to be clipped to each child folder so I felt compelled to add the paperclips with bow. I love how French those little blue stripes look. It's a big decision having this party at our House. Almost all birthday parties Finn has been invited to have been held at outside private venues that I believe are not age appropriate and seem to cost an harm and a leg (they are only turning 4). I wonder if parents are hesitant to let others into their house, I certainly don't live in a 'Manoir' but the first step to a happy life is most certainly to be comfortable in your own house. The only downside I can see is that Finn can't invite more than a dozen friends.

For the invitations I found this free download from the Wedding Chicks blog. I edited the card the best I could with illustrator, which is not saying much. I hope I can do the same with the actual invitation.

Moving on to making paper airplane garlands and folded boat hats...

 

demi complet no knead bread

Before I start talking about carbs I would like to tell you the story of how today was the day I got SPAT ON!

Mid morning I could contain my new found enthusiasm for running no longer and I headed out the door on a two mile loop when I quickly found myself behind a man pushing a stroller. Nothing weird so far, except for the cigarette he was apparently lighting up and the big gust of smoke that blew in my eager lungs. Feeling this was not a particularly good position to be running in I decided to stealthily pass him, his baby and his cigarette road side. As I did just that he turned his head and spat on the ground which was now covered (ever so briefly) by my shoe! What made in laugh made me speechless, for so many reasons better left behind. Gross, gross, gross.

Onward to better things. My friend A and I have been working on a foolproof recipe for an healthier version of the no knead bread and I thing this is it!

Today's Loaf

 

Recipe adapted from the New York Times and with help from Penni Wisner

Semi-Whole Wheat No Knead Bread

Start this recipe in the evening, make sure your starter is well fed and very active

mix ingredients together in this order in a medium bowl

using the rice spatula that came with your rice cooker (!)

1/2 cup of sourdough starter

2 cups of water

1.5 cups of King Arthur's Bread flour (blue bag)

1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of coarse salt

1.5 cups of Bob's Red Mill whole wheat flour

 

 

Mix well and set aside. Every once in a while for the first two hours give the dough a few turns with the spatula. After that time you can cover the bowl and leave it overnight to rise. In the morning, invert the bowl on a floured plastic platter (it cuts down on cleaning considerably) and let it sit for 10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball as best you can with the help of a dough scrapper and additional flour if needed; 'plop' the ball into a bowl and let rise for 2 hours. When only 30 minutes remain I usually turn on the oven ( 500 F) and place a number 22 Le Creuset dutch oven inside. My friend uses all kinds of covered dishes with success, however we think that the cast iron dish creates a thicker/crunchier crust. Bake the bread for 30 minutes with the lid on (I add a little flour to the bottom before I invert the dough inside the hot dish). Then remove the lid and bake for an additional 25 minutes with the oven temperature reduced to 425F. Remove from the dish promptly and wait until the loaf has cooled completely to cut into it. It's an important step to insure a good crumb texture.

This bread keeps for an extremely long time. We found it is still very nice after five days if stored at room temperature wrapped in a cloth towel. It is the best bread I have ever made and it matches exactly the taste and feel of Country Sourdough from the Locally Illustrious Crumb Brothers.

tunes

I hope everyone is having a great Friday, I know I am. I ran 1.6 miles today without stopping. It took listening to an Eminem song twice at an especially hard point but I made it through and now I know it can be done. It's funny because I don't listen to rap during the day, ever in fact, but the "white dude" really gets me going in tough times. I just got another song of his untitled "till I collaspe, it seemed most appropriate.

All this music blabbering just to mention that the lovely scandinavian band First Aid Kit has a free download this week  on Itunes and it's pretty stellar. I really liked them from Fleet Foxes cover on you tube and if you missed it (that might be hard I realize) here it is, not at all like Eminem:

 

I went running... you dID WHAT!!!?

Dear friends,

I am sorry I can't write much of anything at the moment, you see on saturday I picked up running. Even though I said I would never do such a thing to myself until... nope never, well Saturday I felt the call and asked Thomas for a 1 mile loop.

I ended up missing my turn and going a bit further and let me tell you: it hurt, a lot. In fact I felt that probably even my ears were bleeding and my lungs had most certainly collapsed.

On Sunday things went a little better, a little further and without the (imaginary) bleeding.

On Monday I could no longer walk down the stairs or sit down/up.

Today I went back for almost 1.6 miles. I won't tell you how long it took me because of, well dignity and stuff...

Why am I doing this? (girlfriend J. already asked)

I:

1.really want to

2.It feels like I am running off all the worries and frustrations of the day

3.feel considerably happier afterward

4.feel pretty blue in the winter months and need to pick myself up or live better through chemistry

5.made Thomas promise to kick me out the door no matter how good an excuse I make up

 and finally:

Thomas bought me some fabulous ($$$$) running kicks since he believes in me and such (LOL)

Writting this means here means it will be easier to quit, which could still happen.

borrowed music/borrowed hat

Bien Broder: accidental cutwork

This linen napkin was found at Savers in a set of two (!). Never mind the low count, I am trying really hard to eliminate the need for paper towels and disposable napkins and a little stash of cloth napkins could get me there.

I was pretty excited when I spotted these wild strawberries as a free embroidery file on Husqvarna Viking's website but that was short lived. Mayhem! nothing but trouble and disaster. An hour later I found out that I was using a faulty bobbin, most likely.

Having to go over the same motif (flowers) over and over was to much to ask from the very fine linen and it gave out completely. After seeing the first hole I just repeated the process three more time et voila! Cutwork.I looked it up, that is NOT how it's done (intentionally). Oh, and one of the leaves is misaligned from the stabilizer giving out, good times...

The afternoon turned out to be much more productive, where a Pottery Barn blank canvas cushion also found at Savers is unpicked on two sides and embroidered with Zinnias from Meringue Designs.

I look at everything as belonging into two categories; the ones that can be embroidered and the ones that can't. It's a little obsessive, just a little.

Something to write home about

I saw these enticing cheesecakes-in-a-jar in the January edition of Martha Stewart Living mag, it was love at first sight, I just had to bake them. (sorry no link, it's not up yet)

Meyer lemon is our house favorite, so that's what went in juice and zest both topped with more Meyer Lemon marmalade. I think any cheesecake recipe would do as long as you bake them in a dish filled with water.

 

Some I topped with cherry jam for a kid-friendly alternative, still Finn turned his nose on it tonight, go figure.

Yesterday I took an extra step towards the 21th century and started pinning at Pinterest due to the insistence/mockeries of many a girlfriend. It's much more fun than facebook which I loathe. Thank you girls I love it! Time squandered...time squandered (see button on your right).