I've got a thing for...

... cute shoes! I can't help it! I try to keep myself in check, but have been coveting adorable kids' shoes for a long time. Can't believe I've never heard of Puddle Jumpers Shoes before. Just came across them on a blog called Arnelle that is full of delicious design ideas. Check out these polka dots!



Do you think it's justifiable to buy a pair in every colour?

Happy 75th Birthday Tomie dePaola!

Meeting Tomie dePaola

Back in August, I visited the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. Just as we arrived, we noticed a line-up in the lobby. It turned out that Tomie dePaola, author and illustrator of oodles of children's books, was just wrapping up a book signing. Thrilled by the serendipity of arriving just at the right moment, we hurried into the gift shop and got a copy of Strega Nona for Tomie to sign. Strega Nona is a story of a good witch who leaves goofy Big Anthony in charge of her magic spaghetti pot, resulting in spaghetti threatening the small Italian town. Sophie loves how the spaghetti escapes through the door of Strega Nona's house.

Anyway, after this long preamble, I wanted to say, "Happy 75th Birthday, Tomie dePaola!"

Yummy dishes

I'm not quite sure why I'm drawn to these porcelain take-out dishes by Lorena Barrezueta of Brooklyn. I usually avoid disposable containers but these are handmade porcelain replicas of disposable containers, so now they become cool to me. I'm drawn to the pie plate that reminds me of all the delicious apple pies my dad has made over the years. I also like the circular take-out dish that is an exact replica of the aluminum ones the Chinese restaurant across the street uses.



You can also find samples and seconds of her wares on Etsy.

Patchwork mosaic

I've been quilting since 1994, back in the olden days when we didn't have digital cameras. Fortunately, we got ourselves a newfangled camera in 2003 and haven't looked back. Here's a sampling of my more recent quilts. I used the mosaic maker at BigHugeLabs.com to create this image. I'll try to add more quilts to my flickr set at some point.

32. Bake a loaf of bread the old-fashioned way.*

With some tutelage from a friend and the master recipe for boule from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", I baked two loaves of bread today. They were things of beauty and I'm very proud. Can't wait to try again!


Loaf #2 (the one I flipped upside down while attempting to slide it into the baking dish. Fortunately, it turned out just fine!)


Loaf #1. I was so excited to bake my first ever loaf of bread that I forgot to dust the top with flour and slash the top with a pretty pattern. It still turned out good enough that Sophie was saying, "I want more of your bread! I want more of your bread!"

*I think I have fulfilled the spirit of this goal in that a yeast-risen loaf of bread was made in my kitchen. Granted, the recipe didn't call for kneading, but who knows, maybe I'll get crazy and try that kind of bread next!

Cooking with Kids

"Pretend Soup" and "Salad People" are cookbooks for preschoolers by Mollie Katzen of Moosewood Cookbook fame. I have to return them to the library today but I haven't actually made any of the recipes in either book. This post is really just a reminder that I should get these books out of the library again. I have a feeling Sophie would love following the visual recipes and tasting the yummy treats like quesadillas and focaccia.

Elude: my fake YA novel

I had some spare time, so I decided to take up the challenge from 100 Scope Notes and create a cover for a young adult novel. Here's how I did it:

CREATE YOUR DEBUT YA COVER
1 – Go to “Fake Name Generator” or click http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/
The name that appears is your author name.
2 – Go to “Random Word Generator” or click http://www.websitestyle.com/parser/randomword.shtml
The word listed under “Random Verb” is your title.
3 – Go to “FlickrCC” or click http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.
4 – Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. Be sure to crop and/or zoom in.
5 – Post it to your site along with this text.

Who is eluding what? I'll leave that to your imagination!