Cue the fanfare, please...

I've started a new Etsy shop for the block prints i've been doing!  I've only got a few items listed so far, but hope to have more up before the day is out (with other designs to follow soon) - drop by and have a look at PressingNeeds - i'd love to know what you think!

Serious snack food

You know that point in the afternoon, 'long about 3:15, when you just can't quite face the next task?  This is what you need:

Suzanne’s Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Granola

4 ½ cups oats (regular, not instant)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup each of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds

scant ½ cup of cashews (i got unsalted, for this)
¾ cup of dried cranberries (maybe more if they look thin - or ½ cup each of cranberries and raisins)

1 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup softened butter +
1 cup honey +

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Toss dry ingredients well in a good-sized bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, honey, and vanilla (you might pad the amounts of butter and honey called for – i did, since i’d added all those extra seeds and things, and it’ll help it hold together a bit). Add the honey mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. It’s very stiff to mix, so take your time or take turns (a mixer might mash up the seeds, but you could try it...).

Press the granola into a greased 9"x13" pan and bake for about 20 minutes. I gave it a few minutes to set up, but cut it when only partially cooled, which seemed to work fine for the most part. You’ll want smaller pieces that what you’d get with a store-bought granola bar, because this is much more dense. A cold glass of milk is perfect with it, especially while it’s still a little warm from the oven. 

This is my "default" version, but the great thing about this recipe (which i adapted from one i found on another blog, and i wish i'd saved that link, so i could give credit - if you recognize it, let me know...) is that it's completely mix-and-match-able.  I've made it with dried apples and crystallized ginger instead of chocolate and cranberries.  You could swap in different nuts, maybe pumpkin puree or peanut butter or applesauce, spices or other flavorings - i think almost anything might work.

It's great for an afternoon snack, because with all the whole grains and seeds, it sticks with you for a while, but has enough sweetness that you feel like you've had a treat.  I also love to take a tin of it along on a road trip!  (Yes, there are some crumbs, but not as many as you'd think, once it's cooled...)

Consolation prize

I stopped in at one of my pet thrift shops yesterday, hunting for a replacement coffeepot for the coffeemaker. No luck on that front, so (tragically) i'll have to visit other thrift shops.  But i did find this lace:

 

It's a Chantilly-type galloon lace, in a light beige-tinged rose color, five inches wide, and according to the tag (i admit, i haven't unrolled it all the way yet), there's a total of five yards in two pieces.  It's also a cut-apart lace, so if you split it along the wavy line between the motifs on each side, you'll have twice the yardage in a shaped edging lace.  It's a nicer quality than i expected at first (it was rolled up and tied face in), and it cost me all of 50 cents.

I'm thinking it needs to be applied to a vintage slip, perhaps a variant on this pretty 1940s Advance pattern from my stash:

Another species

Finally got the block cut from the picture i took of Maguire, my mule (she's "Maggie" for short).  She is the creature for whom the phrase "cuter than a bug's ear" was coined...

 

I'm planning to donate a couple of these prints to Equine Rescue League, for the auction at their spring open house on May 7th and 8th.

Lines

Now and again, i get a little impatient with Vogue patterns - sometimes, you get the idea that they're putting in funky seams for the sake of funky seams, and not to serve any purpose of interesting design.  And then i find something like this, which goes a long way toward restoring my faith:

For the way that the edge of the bodice front swoops into the edge of the pocket, i could forgive a lot of design sins.

Reasons to be thankful for Facebook

My aunt is getting ready to move to a smaller apartment, and more or less out of the blue, i got a Facebook message from her, saying she knew i liked vintage stuff, and would i like all her old gloves?  Well, i lost no time in saying please and thank you, and she shipped off two big boxes, full of gloves, linens from my grandmother's house, and doll clothes made by my great-grandmother.  I haven't properly sorted it all, but i think i found my favorite item: a pair of deep burgundy gloves in what feels like the lightest doeskin.  They're marked "Saks & Company" and though they're somewhat worn on the fingertips, they're just my size.

 And, of course, Boomer wanted to help model:

Nap hard

Napping - it's not for sissies.  Eliot demonstrates his technique: