Friday, July 30, 2010

Terminal 5 = No Pictures

For my birthday, Simon treated me to four (!) gigs, and last night we saw The National play at Terminal 5.  Unfortunately I had to check my camera, so I have no photos... boo.

We've seen The National before, but always outdoors, and we had been a little disappointed at the sound... particularly Matt's voice, which never seemed as good live. But on several occasions last night I was convinced he was miming, he was that good.

They played a perfect mix of old and new - although Ada didn't make an appearance Dónal! ...and as they ended with a thundering "Terrible Love," I was left wondering, just who was Glen Hansard smooching with on the balcony!?!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Behind schedule

Surprise, surprise, I am considerably behind schedule on the epic five-wedding-and-six-baby-gift extravaganza...
...which is why finishing this quilt top seems like such an achievement!! It's Marquee, from the Modern Quilt Workshop. While it's a pretty simple pattern, it has taken a lot longer than I expected or would have liked. That said, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. Bright and happy.
...but before I can finish this quilt completely, I need to make a gift for a baby warming next weekend. Well, it's baby shower, but I keep mixing up "baby shower" and "house warming" and now "baby warming" has just stuck. I'm using Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannels, and my intention is just to make a very simple pieced squares quilt, along the lines of the beautiful work of Ashely, of Film in the Fridge - one of my absolute favorite quilting blogs.
I suppose I should mention that today I became a lot older than I've ever been before... It's taking a bit of getting used to - I've now grown sufficiently old that it seems like it might be time for me to grow up too. Scary!!

Monday, July 12, 2010

V: Homemade Peppermint Deodorant = Tingly Cool Underarm Awesomeness

I love angry chicken's blog... I am so envious of her sense of style and many creative talents. I also really admire her efforts to make natural alternatives to everyday products, and I was immediately drawn to her recipe for homemade deodorant.

Now I should say that I am a very very sweaty person, as is my darling husband. Since coming to the US, neither of us has really had any luck identifying a deodorant that actually works well, so smelly pits have been a permanent problem (ew!).

I am not exaggerating when I say all of our problems have been solved by this homemade stuff! Of course, it will not stop you from sweating, but it does stop the stink... even after hauling our new air conditioner home on the subway and up our 5 flights of stairs. It doesn't stain. It is the business. The fact that it's all natural is a bonus!
I basically followed Amy's directions to the letter, including ordering my ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs. I didn't shop around, so there may be cheaper alternatives. The only substitution I made was that I bought a little bottle of Vitamin E oil in Trader Joes - I added about a tablespoonful. The unrefined shea and cocoa butters have a rather strong smell that isn't all that pleasant, so you need quite a lot of essential oil. For the first batch, I tried bergamot and sweet orange essential oils, but it was altogether too orangey. For the latest batch, I used peppermint - it has a delightful tingly cooling sensation when you put it on. I've also made a lavender batch. I really cannot recommend this stuff enough, and I swear it's not just for hippies!

Update (29th July 2010): Unfortunately a couple of people have reported getting a rash from the homemade deodorant... I'm going to try and work out what the source is (the essential oil, perhaps??) and will post another update if I do. I think that I did get a slight rash, but the effectiveness of the deodorant far outweighed the discomfort of the rash, so I persevered and it seems to be gone now. Please let me know how it worked out if you tried it yourself!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

IV: Baby Quilts

I'm going to ignore the fact that I failed to post yesterday, and go ahead and talk about some more FFOs - a pair of baby quilts. The red/green one has already found its way to its new owner, baby Luca, while the purple one will hopefully go to its home, with baby Abigail, in the next week or so. Luca's parents were really very grateful for the quilt, which made me so happy!
The quilts were made using Elizabeth's Simple Modern Baby Quilts pattern, which I believe is currently unavailable because she is revising it. I really have to own up to something though... when I started these quilts (in January 2009!!), I can't honestly say that I had babies Luca and Abigail in mind (I dare say that at that time, their parents may not have had them in mind either!). Instead, I was making them for two other babies, James and Seán, who were born last March. But, by the time I finished the quilts (April of this year!), James and Seán were already one year old. So I thought that quilts with trucks and other boy-things would be much more suitable than the baby birdies on these (Alexander Henry's Starling)...
So, I hope to get started on those boy-quilts really soon! Fingers crossed they will not take as long to complete as these did!

Friday, July 9, 2010

III: Humbled

A short post tonight, technically past the deadline for Thursday but I think that's ok. We spent a lovely evening in our not-so-local local, Toast, with my cousin, Father Eamonn. It was very humbling to hear of his work in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, and we were in awe of the many places he has been and the many languages he can speak. It made me think a little about all the things I have and all the things I want and how really there's not many things among those that I really need.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

II: A Finally Finished Object

Just before I went home to Ireland I finally finished the cardigan I had been working on for my friend's daughter Molly. It was originally meant as a welcome gift - but by the time I finally finished it, Molly was only a week away from her first birthday!!
I used the Betty Lou Lace Cardigan pattern from this book. In general, the pattern was fairly simple, but I found the lace section very slow-going. The lace body was a bit wonky-shaped in the end - I suppose my gauge must have changed over the 8 (!!) months I was working on it. Overall though, I'm fairly happy with it.

The yarn is Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (commonly known as KPPPM), colorway P136. I foolishly didn’t have a specific project in mind when I bought this wool, so I didn’t have enough, and had to order more after embarking on this project. The dye lot for the second batch of wool was very different. I had already started on the lace body and couldn't bear to start over so I ripped back the body as far as the yoke in the hope that the change in yarns wouldn’t be so noticeable. It's not too bad, I hope!

So, this project taught me two very important lessons:
Lesson Number 1: Do not buy wool without a specific project (and required yardage) in mind.
Lesson Number 2: Do not start a project without necessary yardage.

Lesson 1 should really be altered to read: Do not enter a yarn store without a specific project (and required yardage) in mind. I can never resist the temptations of those walls of color!

In other news, tonight it's so hot in our apartment that we're eating our chocolate biscuits with a spoon!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

I: A challenge..

Well, that was a very long and unintentional hiatus from blogging... Filled with travels to Ireland and beyond, all-too-short time spent with friends, some FFOs (finally finished objects), and other work-in-progress. Lots to blog about then! So my challenge for the next week is to post every day. Can I do it?

I'll start with an easy one...tonight two great friends treated us to Midsummer Night Swing at the Lincoln Center. The music was great, and the dancing unbelievably impressive... And in the insufferable New York summer heat, the fountain at the Lincoln Center seemed like the best spot in the entire city.