Art Plagiarism

About six years ago I plagiarized this Van Gogh using fabric collage and applique to recreate it. It hangs in my front hall, and I smile every time I see it.

Recently, for a friend's wedding, I decided to make a similar piece. The great thing about making a gift like this is that you can totally customize it to the recipient's taste. I asked my friend for a few abstract artists that both she and her now husband liked. She knew I was up to something, and eagerly volunteered that they had gone to a Kandinsky exhibit the day they became engaged. She even sent me a link to his favorite piece by the artist, this one. I'd never seen it before, and loved it immediately. I set to work making a fabric copy of this painting for them.

The woman at the cutting table at Joann's had to know what I could possibly be up to with 1/8 yard cuts of all these organzas. Thank goodness it was prom season; I had a lot to choose from!
Pinned meticulously to prevent shifting.
Here are a few details of the hand stitching:All done sewing:I decided to frame it for them, and I took a risk by choosing this metallic frame. It's nice and modern, even though it's gold. Also, I like the sleek shape, sketchy-ness of the surface, and I really like that it is black on the outside edge.

I'm absolutely in love with this piece. The original painting is so fun and interesting, and it's always exciting to be inspired by the great works of others.

RAMPS!!!

These are the gorgeous ramps I came across this past Sunday at the Farmer's Market outside the American Museum of Natural History.

And this is the AMAZING dinner I just made with them.

Here's the scoop:

I first found ramps at DePiero's, a market I've mentioned many times before. That was three years ago. I had heard about this seasonal item on Top Chef a few seasons before. (Casey was really excited to find them at the store and planned her whole dish around them.) I'd never heard of them, but I always get excited when I find some new produce variety to try. That first time I found them I bought a large bunch with no knowledge and no plan. Thanks to my trusty friend Internet, I found this recipe. I made it with those first ramps, and it quickly became a seasonal favorite of both my husband and myself. I've made this dish about twice a year since then-- a total of six or seven times. Once or twice I substituted different fish, but basically have made very few changes to the original recipe.

Salmon with Spring Leeks in a
Wild Mushroom Wine Sauce
Adapted from The Forager Press

Ingredients:

Salmon Filets for four people (I use about 1 1/2lbs)
Juice of half a good orange
Zest of the same orange
1/2 to 3/4 lb of fresh wild mushrooms (I use a mix of whatever looks best at the market. Today it was trumpets, clam shells, and oyster mushrooms)
1/2 cup of white wine
1/2 cup of vegetable or fish broth
1/4 cup of heavy cream (half and half is totally sufficient)
3 Tbsp butter

And here's the magical ingredient:
About 1/2 pound of ramps
The original recipe calls for these two items:
1/2 clove of finely chopped garlic AND 1/3 cup fresh Leek greens sliced across in 3/4 inch strips.
I use the bulb of the ramps IN PLACE OF the garlic and the leafy tops for the greens as noted. 1/2 lb of ramps yields much more than 1/3 cup of greens. If you want a milder flavor only use 1/4 lb of ramps.

Directions:

1. Put the Salmon on a plate and cover with the orange juice. Sprinkle with salt and set aside.

2. Chop the mushrooms to bite size. Slice the ramp bulbs crosswise into small discs. Slice the leafy part of ramps into 1 inch strips.

3. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter and add the ramp bottoms until the butter is bubbling around the pieces.

Add the mushrooms. When the mushrooms are softened and starting to brown, stir in the leek greens until wilted and dark green.

4. Add the stock and wine and reduce by half.

5. Use remaining Tbsp of butter to dot the top of salmon. Place under the broiler for about 8 minutes while reducing the sauce.

6. When reduced add the cream and season with salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Spoon the mushrooms onto plates

and place the fish on top. Garnish with orange zest.

Serve with roasted potatoes.

Ahhhhh. That's me sighing a big I'm so-full-of-something-so-good sigh. Ahhhhhh. There it is again.

Smocked Dress

Sometime last week I stumbled upon this dressmaking tutorial. I watched the video posted there and set out to get some fabric. I found a great, oversize print with lots of bright color. For the real tutorial, watch the video here, it makes the whole process basically foolproof. Below is just a speed through of my first run with this pattern. It couldn't have been easier; this first try took about an hour start to finish. The one I made is sized for a 12 month old, but the same amount of fabric and sewing, with some minor adjustments, could easily have made one for my almost-four-year-old.

Mark the lines for your elastic with water soluble marker.

Sew along the drawn lines with elastic thread in the bobbin.

Spray with water, press with hot iron. Elastic will shrink, as at the right in the above photo.
This part is really cool and sort of magical.

Attach your straps (or go strapless if you're that kind of gal, wink wink) while sewing the top hem down. A strapless one would be a great beach cover-up.

This one is all ready for my little one to romp around in this summer. And because it took so little time, I don't even feel bad about making it before the rest of the stuff on that dreaded list.

Tiered Dress: Take Three

This one's for my turqouise loving niece, and was also on that finish-me-before-Passover list. I was hoping to surprise her with it when our family gets together this weekend, and I'm so happy that it got finished today. Yippee!!

The skirt is made just like these, but the top is an Old Navy tank top. It's stretchy and comfortable, and I think will help the dress fit her for a longer time. To dress it up a bit I made two fabric broaches that can be placed individually or clustered on the jersey top.

These make a big difference, and I think it's always fun to be able to change up the look a bit. Here are a few of the fun options:

I can't wait to deliver this! And, in case you're wondering, the yellow square was a personal request by my daughter, she-who-loves-all-things-yellow. With nearly 150 squares in this skirt, why can't one of them be a little different? I think it's a fun surprise, and it will remind my niece how much her little cousin loves her.

Prepping for a Passover Pageant

There are always more projects waiting in the wings. I'm usually working on one or two crafts at a time. Recently, I realized I was working on about a dozen items simultaneously, and most of them need to be finished by the end of the month! I actually had to make a list in order to keep my head straight about it all. One of the items on the top of the list was a set of Passover costumes. This project was most time sensitive, as Passover starts early next week.

When my mom asked if I would be able to make some sort of Passover costumes this post about Christmas Pageant costumes on Design Mom served as loose inspiration. I liked the way each character had a preorganized set of pieces to wear. I decided to make a simple set of tunics/ponchos that slip over your head. I wanted them to be able to fit anyone so the sides are open and the tunic closes when tied with a sash. Also, going back to this philosophy of costumes for little kids, each character has a similar set of 4 pieces: tunic, belt, hood, and headband.

I chose linens for the Hebrew slaves and brocades for the Egyptians. This was a fun chance to get some of that wacky metallic fabric that I like to look at but don't usually have a need to buy.

Here are all the fabrics for the tunics ready to go:

Below are some pictures of the completed sets.

An Egyptian Taskmaster and a Hebrew Slave.

Aaron and Moses.

A dark and powerful Pharaoh. This is the only set with an additional piece, this great headband.

All nine costumes, four Egyptians and five Hebrews.

Here's a shot of one set laid out. This is the costume for Batya, Pharaoh's daughter.
Each set of pieces is now in it's own Ziplock bag all ready to go. I'll be sure to post some photos of these costumes in action. In the meantime, I'm off to cross something else off my I-need-to-make-this-soon list. Happy crafting to you!

What a Difference a Color Change Makes

Just a short post to share these photos of a quilt I finished today. If it looks familiar, there's good reason. Check out this post from a few weeks ago.

These two quilts are almost exactly the same layout. The main differences in the fabrics are color and style. The color change is pretty obvious. The style of the pink one is more vintage in feel, and the bright one from today is more modern and bold. I love them both, but it's always a bit astonishing to see how much can change by swapping out fabrics.

That's really all I have to say.

Here are some glamor shots of the newest member of quiltdom...

Detail of top.

Back

All ready to go.

This quilt makes me happy. And, with Leah as my focus group, it makes babies happy, too. Hope the recipient feels the same way.

Portrait of a Hamantaschen

I've never really liked Hamantaschen. This fact is not all that surprising as I generally don't enjoy most things jelly-filled. As a child, around Purim time, we would receive many Shalach Manot, traditional "care packages" from friends. These packages always included some of this traditional holiday cookie (triangular to mimic the shape of the villain Haman's hat, hence the name). I remember my sister always loving the ones filled with apricot jam. And I remember trying every year to make a few that were filled with Hershey's kisses in an effort to transform them into jam-free chocolate chip cookies. They were never that great.

This year, when reading some Purim books with my 3 1/2 year old sous chef, we discussed these cookies and decided to make a batch together. She asked if we could put something inside other than jelly (ah, a child after my own heart). We made chocolate filled Hamantaschen, but two minor changes from my Kisses days made these the best darn holiday cookie I've ever had. Keep reading to find out what those two changes were.

First of all, we invited a friend of Naomi's over for a Hamantaschen baking play date. I divided the dough into eight small pieces.I then rolled each of the balls of dough on a piece of wax paper. Each piece, once rolled to 1/4 inch thickness, was big enough to cut five cookies using our trusty IKEA plastic cups as cutters. These cups are easy for little hands to manipulate and safe for them to handle. I figured each kid, and there were three making cookies, might have the patience to cut out and fill her five cookies. I think that giving each a pre-rolled sheet of dough made the whole endeavor approachable for them.

We arranged a dozen circles on a parchment lined baking sheet. Then the older girls, both 3 1/2, counted seven chocolate chips into the center of each circle. This is change #1. Hershey's Kisses look great and fit perfectly in the center of these cookies. But they never melt into gooey warm bits. Use regular semi-sweet morsels instead.Here you can see change #2. I've never before seen a Hamantaschen with sprinkles. But when the kids in charge both asked for sprinkles on their cookies, I was happy to oblige. A little egg wash on the outside of the triangle prepped the dough for sprinkle-dom. This part got messy, as sprinkles rained onto my then-shockingly-clean kitchen floor. One girl dropped a bunch of sprinkles around each cookie while the other worked carefully to place all her sprinkles inside the opening on the top of the cookies. (If you know Naomi, I bet you can guess which was her approach.) Finally, the batch was all ready to pop into the oven.I cannot describe how good the house smelled when this tray was ready.What could be better than a sugar-chocolate-chip-cookie-with-sprinkles? They were so good. If you're a jam-lover or just a traditionalist, have no fear. After the kids had finished their batch, I used all the remaining dough making more Hamantaschen, including some stuffed with apricot and raspberry pie filling. I also made a tray of mini ones, bite sized cookies made using a shot glass. (The photo at the top shows that tray on its way into the oven.) These were a bit tedious to make, but amazing to have on hand over the last few days. The perfect little bite.

This is the whole family- large and small in each flavor. They all came out so great. I don't think I can remember a batch of Hamantaschen that didn't explode all over my baking sheet. I brushed the inside corners with egg wash before pinching the cookie closed, so maybe that explains why they looked so great. And why it was so easy to clean the baking sheets afterward.

Seriously, I think this might have been the most beautiful Hamantasch I've ever seen. It was certainly the nicest looking one I've ever made.