Deer Valley

We have had this big pillow for years, since Renee first went to college. It used to be covered in a hideous red velour.  At some point the pillow shed its cover and has been encased in only its lining for years. Of course we intended to re-cover it but when it hides in the closet for 3 years it is difficult to remember it is on your to-do list.  Renee discovered Joel Dewberry’s fabric designs (http://quilthome.com/Joel_Dewberry) last year and has been smitten ever since. She bought Deer Valley with the intent of covering the sad naked pillow. Today while Dave painted Renee sewed this cover. 

It took some finagling since she didn’t measure and can never remember how to put in a zipper. The biggest set-back was that she thought she was finished and put the pillow in the case only to find out it was about 8 inches too big on the sides! It was a quick fix and the project was completed by the end of the episode of the Beatles Anthology we were watching.  

Fabrication

This is Renee here. Molly and I recently went on an adventure to Tucson AZ. There were a lot of wonderful things about this trip including (green) chili-cheeseburgers, tart frozen yogurt, and cacti but the best part by far was a trip to Santa Fe where we stumbled upon a fabric store (http://santafefabrics.com/). I will never ever ever be the same after going to this fabric store. The owner has the best eye for fabric and there were so many that I had eyed online for years but have never had the pleasure of seeing in person. It was completely and totally amazing. Imagine finding your fabric soul mate who brings everything you have ever wanted and more to your fingertips.  There is no way I will be able to communicate the exhilaration so I will move on. 

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for our bank accounts), we got there right before they closed. Another part that I loved/hated was that they had the most amazing selection of linen and it was crazy expensive. So it seems the only downsides were the reality of being around all that amazing stuff that I wanted and needing to decide what to get and how much I could spend. We had only been there about 5 minutes when the owner commented on my “expensive taste”.  I was finally able to settle on three different fabrics. I have no idea what I will use them for but I am completely in love with them. I am thinking of framing one and hanging it. Molly got fabric to make a duvet cover (shown in three pictures because it is very very wide) with so there will be a part two to this entry at some point because I will certainly be chronicling that adventure!

 

Caramel Corn

Typically during the holiday season we like to make rather than buy something for our friends and family. We do this for several reasons: it is riduculous to send people crappy gifts that they don't want or need, we are relatively crafty people and we have the ability to cobble something together; we don’t have a lot of money to spend on presents and making is usually cheaper than buying; and we are of the mindset that crafting something is a little more personal and perhaps thoughtful. I guess usually we do something edible because it is Renee's favorite combo of crafty AND useful. One year it was a cookie mix that recipients just needed to add wet ingredients to and then bake. In 2009 we made pickle relish and spicy pineapple salsa. This year we decided to try caramel corn, as it seemed appropriately festive and we had never tried making it before so we were interested to see how it came out. Plus we are popcorn making masters The recipe we used was from a website called smitten kitchen, and if I remember correctly we didn’t make any modifications except for half of the batch was non-spicy. It wasn’t particularly difficult to execute but was extreemly dangerous. The molten carmel could easily burn through flesh to the bone. It required a watchful eye – if the caramel mixture got too brown or not brown enough, it didn’t taste right and got too hard too fast. We made a LOT of popcorn so Renee was in charge of popping the batches of corn and I was in charge of making the caramel mixture.

 

In the original recipe, only one batch of corn and one caramel mixture gets made; we had to do I think 4 of each. This made for more experimentation to find that perfect balance but also more chances to burn the caramel and ourselves. Our first batch came out the best. We liked the results and got pretty good feedback from our gift recipients. If you like caramel corn definitely try this recipe out and see what you think, as I said it’s not difficult, the directions are pretty straightforward, but getting it just right will probably take several tries. That’s the fun of making rather than buying!