I’ve been thinking a lot about what I eat lately. So much so that I think I might be annoying the husband a bit…but I can’t seem to stop talking about what I eat, where it comes from, it’s nutritional value, what it’s doing to my body, the environment, etc etc. I don’t really want to turn into one of those people, but maybe those people aren’t such a bad batch?

Plants were on my mind all day yesterday. I spent the morning in Fairport visiting a friend and bought a pint of local strawberries at a small market in the village. They were so beautiful, I couldn’t wait for Xian to see them:

Then I drove over to Victor to use up all my Borders Christmas gift certificates. (This is how much I don’t support big chain bookstores–it took me 7 months to get there.) I had seen Barbara Kingstone’s latest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, at my school library and decided it might make a good summer read. It’s a nonfiction story about her family’s decision to move from Arizona to Virgina and eat locally for an entire year. I spent all afternoon reading it next to my potted plants:

After two chapters, I watered my tiny potted garden and examined all my tiny green tomatoes growing in terracotta pots and earth boxes:

my row of basil:

and my row of herbs:

I also bought my first Vegan cookbook, Fresh & Fast Vegan. I’m not ready to commit to a vegan diet, but I’m definately curious. Last night I baked a vegan banana bread and it was amazing. The only down-side: I caved to a glass of organic skim milk after eating it. Oh well.

I’m also a huge fan of this cookbook. My sister and brother-in-law bought it for me a few years ago and so far, everything I’ve made from it is delicious. I highly recommend this one if you’re interested in eating locally and in season.

If you’re interested in eating locally in the Rochester area, stop by the South Wedge Farmer’s Market Thursday evenings (4-8 p.m.) and check out all the goods from local farmers. I’m excited to see what’s new this week. Last week I came home with strawberries, cherries, sugar snap peas, speckled lettuce, and some amazing granola.

Dropped off another tiny collection of dresses to Thread yesterday:

Sleeveless black jersey knit: (here I’m wearing the size small)

Sleeveless purple jersey knit: (here I’m wearing the size medium)

made by rachel dress in the Thread window display…so sweet:

Just dropped off the first part of my summer collection at Thread: strapless summer dresses. This is a very limited collection–only three color combinations in three sizes each. Here are a few photos of the dresses…
Black/Yellow Floral:

Black/Grey with dots:

Yellow/Purple:

The dresses are all made from soft jersey knit materials. I tend to sew my sizes a bit larger than many of the indie designers because many of us have more curves than others; for example, I’m in between a small and a medium and tend to wear size 6 clothing.

Over the next week, I’ll be finishing up some additional tshirt dresses and a long-waisted top that will also be in Thread by the end of next week, so check back for an update!

Lots of outdoor and very little indoor work has been going on around our house. Wednesday was a beautiful sunny day and we decided it was time to transform the front of our house, since it hadn’t been done in about 100 years. (Our house was built in 1862, so it’s entirely possible that some of the yard hadn’t been dug up in ages.)

Pre-renovation front walkway:

Digging for a new path:

It took me almost an hour to dig up all of these lillies and move them:

We decided to reuse all of the old walkway to build our new one. It took almost two hours to figure out the logistics of it: friends Don and J charted it all out while I sat on the porch drinking beers with my neighbor. My only excuse for not helping was that I’m not too great with math:

Completed walkway, pre-settled:

Jeana presides:

so…i’ve kinda dropped off the blog-o-sphere. there’s no real reason for it–maybe laziness, which isn’t a good reason…

i’ve been wasting a lot of time lately, in this park:

i’ve also been lovin’ up this nephew:

lovin’ this belly from a distance:

playing too much of this for a girl who doesn’t like guns:

workin’ in the yard and not in the studio with my fab friend don:

and trying not to feel sad that this gal is leaving me in exactly 5 weeks:

The dress collection is almost done and will be in Thread next week. (Finally!) Tomorrow, massive amounts of earth will be delivered/dumped into our tiny front yard and I’m gonna be in soil up to my ears. Good times…

Last summer I was addicted to reconstructing tshirts. (The proof is in the portfolio section of this website.) I’m not ready to say that I’m completely over this addiction, but I’m trying to move on. It occurred to me today that I was so busy reconstructing tshirts that I forgot to take pictures of the ones I made myself. So, today I decided to wear one of my favorites from last July–Boulder Fest 2007 halter top:

I’ve already told those in charge of the tshirts for Boulder Fest 2008 that I want my tshirts early again so I can wear them at the festival. (I’m dorky like that.) Hopefully, I’ll get to.

I also learned another handmade lesson this spring: When you can’t find a pair of your favorite handmade earrings, always ask your younger sister if she has them before you request another custom made pair from an etsy designer. After loosing a pair of my favorites and looking for them for months, I finally gave up and ordered another pair a few weeks ago. Two days later my sister showed up at my house with a really great pair of these on:

…that she had borrowed last August. I guess I’ll count it as a gift, but if I misplace mine again, I’m going straight for hers.

Decided to take a break and sew something tiny today. A small summer dress for my friend’s 2-year old daughter, made from left-overs:

My mom came out for a little scissor party yesterday so we could cut out the small collection I’m doing for Thread this summer. (Thanks mom!) Now I can finally start sewing things together on my new serger, which I have still not completely figured out, but as long as I don’t break a thread, I’m golden.

Pile o’ patterns:

In order to keep track of all of the sizes, we pinned little tags to everything. Of course, we cut one of every pattern for me so I would have the entire collection. As I was stacking things up, I realized that I’m going to have a lot of new clothes very soon:

I’ve been experimenting with grains lately in hopes of developing a small collection of really good summer salads to live on for the next few months. I’ve recently fallen in love with quinoa. I decided to try it when I read that quinoa has a very high protein content and contains a balanced set of essential amino acids: Perfect for someone like me who just recovered from her sixth cold of the year. I don’t really have a method to developing these salads; I basically just throw in what’s in the kitchen and hope for the best. If possible, I always use cilantro, because everything tastes better with cilantro.

Tonights concoction:

Made from:

2 cups of cooked quinoa

One cucumber, diced

One small red onion

One bag of edamane

One large hand-full of cilantro leaves

A dash of olive oil, to reduce clumping

White-wine vinegar to taste

Fresh-ground black pepper and salt.

So good.