Stash usage for the wins! Twice.

Hello, everyone. In the ongoing Battle of the Stash, I have achieved another couple of small victories. 

These are two pouches. The first is embroidered with a design from the Deer's Embroidery Legacy. It's a butterfly but it's also autumn leaves.

He's kind of cute, isn't he? The fabric is a linen blend pinstripe that was lying around and begging to be used.

The second has an applique design that I digitized myself...with the features in the software, it's not as intimidating as that sounds. This is the first time I tried sewing one out that I have done. 

The fabric is leftover chair fabric, rather thick, and the applique fabrics are quilting cottons. The pouch has an interior slip pocket.

The pouch exteriors, the linings, the zippers: all from stash. It feels so good to get fabric moved out of storage shelves and tubs, even in small increments. 

(Updated to add the link for the embroidery design source.)

Another little pouch completed

Hello, everyone.  I've been studying various videos on crafting, and learning a lot. Today I have completed another small pouch.

The fabric is a scrap from a pillow that was made a while back. (Red and gold is just a pretty combination all around.) The lining is quilting cotton,  also from the stash, as are the zipper and the beads.

It stands up on a flat surface. 

The flowers are acrylic beads from Fire Mountain Gems combined with some of the red perles from DSIL's favorite bead shop. The sparkly sprinkles are 2-cut Delicas, also from Fire Mountain Gems.

Grandma sewing workshop

Hello, everyone.  It's a lovely,  hot summer day today, perfect for a sewing project.

DGD has been learning to sew. Today she made a pencil pouch with an elastic strap. This is a blog post at Sulky.com. It came out really cute.

She picked cheerful colors for it. The blue zip shows well against both the outside and the lining.

A surprise in the art museum

Hello, everyone.  While we were visiting Alaska, we happened to stroll into the Anchorage Museum. This turned out to be a combination of art and ethnographic in nature. There was a sadly didactic multi-media piece on the theme of recycling (?) that was wall-sized.

The phone turned this on its side but I don't think it is any worse for it. 

The curled up can lids work as a unifying element, along with the blues. It's really more of an advocacy poster than a work of art, what with all of the random slogans scattered around on it. 

They did have some more interesting exhibits of various items that were used by the various native groups living there in the past. 

This sewing bag has caribou embroidery decorations.  I imagine that these days the skill of this kind of embroidery has been lost. 

And, the surprise: 

A blast from the 1970's! A crocheted tote bag made from plastic bags. You never know what will be put on display at an art museum. 

The flower was really heavy

Hello, everyone.  In my Texas garden, I can't grow any of the beautiful flowers we saw in Alaska. And they were glorious! As a consolation,  though, I can grow various Southern plants. 

The Milk and Wine crinum flower is blooming,  with two big, tall stems. This morning I discovered that one had fallen over during the night. The blossoms in the truss are just too heavy, I guess. I cut that stem and brought it inside.

A detail:

The pink streaks are why it's called Milk and Wine Lily.

Cloud Bread

Hello, everyone.  I know that cloud bread was last year's fad, or maybe a couple of years ago, but I only tried it this year. Today, wanting something to spread taramosalata on, I got out the printout of a recipe and made some...with an extra egg because I thought I had contaminated the first egg white with yolk. Some cooking things just aren't worth taking chances on. I put the maybe contaminated white into the yolks cup and separated three more. The batter was a little less stiff when it was time to fold it into the whipped egg whites.  This may produce a less dry result than the original recipe...I am kind of hoping for that. 

Top view after baking for 35 minutes.

Side view. In the background is the Air Bake cookie sheet I supported the pan with.

After a while I flipped the little rounds over onto the baking rack so the bottoms would not become mushy from steam inside the pan.

I like the cloud breads, even though with no wheat flour there is no gluten with its chewy texture. They do need to be used with soft spreads as the lack of gluten does make them crumble if the sandwich filling is the least bit tough.

Airport Art

Hello, everyone.  It's an unofficial ongoing series around here, when I see Airport Art and have to to snap a picture, I  share it with y'all. (Sadly, ANC Anchorage Airport has some very nice art but I didn't have time to make pictures of it. If any of my readers has some, y'all can add it in comments if you wish.)

This was in the terminal at Seattle Tacoma Airport. It's a sort of fantasy canoe. The silhouettes on the side are actually mirrors that show different colors depending on where the viewer stands. The long fringe like stuff on the sides is, of course, the rowers' paddles. 

Perhaps it's supposed to be a dragon boat?