square dancing

Wednesdays are my catch-all day. I aim to wander around with no single intent, getting little things done here and there, finding treasures along the way, and enjoying the lack of a schedule.

Today I turned on the TV for 5 minutes (that's all it took) and found square dancing footage. It was so bizarre. The dance leader was saying things like "boys, take your girls a-round and round, "girls, circle up and go a-head."

I just died when they showed on the bottom of the screen where all this mayhem was a-goin' on: a Coon Rapids, MN middle school. 

I hope I'm this eccentric when I'm old.

Tara Donovan

Tara Donovan's work is amazing. I love the styrofoam cups, buttons, toothpicks and scotch tape.

X-Rays of birds breathing.

The Trials of Truffle Making

I don't know why, but I felt like making truffles. I don't even like chocolate. I thought it would be fun, though. I like their small size, and I came across a recipe that sounded simple and interesting: truffles with lime and honey. I also liked that I could hand them out to many people, so the work seemed worthwhile.

My biggest lesson learned: CHOP UP THE CHOCOLATE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. I didn't do this - I left it in medium sized chunks, and I certainly paid for this mistake. Let's take a look...


Here's the butter.




Here's the chocolate. Note the size of the pieces. DO NOT DO THIS. MAKE THEM MUCH SMALLER.



The lime zest was added to some creme fraiche, and the lime juice was added to some honey.




I had to pound the chocolate, and it still wouldn't get smooth. I phoned a friend for help. I wasn't sure if putting it in the microwave would ruin it, so I asked, and she thought it would be fine. It worked!



This is what went into the fridge. While it chilled, I went to the grocery store to buy a pastry bag and No. 9 tip. They didn't have either, so I went to a fancy cookware store (Sur La Table) and bought a pastry bag and No. 10 tip. They didn't have a 9.



My first job was as a cake decorator at an ice cream shop, so I was excited to use the pastry bag. When I took the chocolate out of the fridge, though, disaster! It was very hard.



So back in the microwave it went. I tried to be neat and tidy as I made these truffles, so I wrapped the softened chocolate with plastic wrap before putting it in the pastry bag.



Sure enough, the chunks of chocolate stopped me in my path again. There were blocks of chocolate in the bag, and they clogged the No. 10 tip. I tried to use a chopstick to the chunk out. But then there was another one. And another one. Finally, I pulled out the chocolate and removed the No. 10 tip. Using just the bag was better, but pretty much every truffle now has a little hard block of chocolate in it.




And here is the final mess. Success! Now they are chilling again, and I will dust them with cocoa powder, sugar, and lime zest later tonight.



Here they are close up. Not very attractive, are they?

ICE

Broken ice sheets are totally fascinating! Captured while on weekend adventure in rural Wisconsin.

I couldn't stop myself

link

RIP lady slipper

This experience began in the middle of November. Check the Nov and Dec archives if you didn't see its emergence and growth. In the night, the lady slipper bloom finally wilted and fell off. Here it is. Last bloom lasted only one week. This one lasted so long I stopped counting the weeks. 

light study

I'm working on a space that is inspired by these photos.

Here is my first sketch model.

indoor photos

I've been taking a lot of outdoor photos the past few days, and they're all very grey and cold. I took some indoor shots to balance out the grey. I'm ready for winter to pass. 

strange buildings

Strange architecture

Which is your favorite? I liked chapel in the rock in Arizona.

ice lanterns

I made a first attempt at ice lanterns made with tupperware and plastic buckets as molds. Here are the first two. Two taller/skinnier ones are freezing in the back yard. I'm just going to keep doing it - making one or two a day - until I have several. They're very charming - and very Minnesotan.

We live by this steam plant. I've always felt visually and sculpturally intrigued by it. It makes me really happy and playful-like. I just love the colors, and how the boxes overlap and connect. I love the twirly silver whateverit'scalled smoke stack thing. I really love the yellow platform by the blue section. It's got a pre-school sensibility. 

Today I finally photographed it.

inspired

Our friend Emma started a new blog about taking photos of scenes that seem painting-like. I'll refrain from explaining it to much and just give you the link: http://accidentalpaintings.blogspot.com/

On the way home we saw a wall with snowmelt that reminded us of her finds. Here's our accidental painting to tell you about hers. Go see for yourself. It's super fun stuff.

terrariums

My project today was to make moss and fern terrariums. 

This is what happens when: 1. you hate winter, 2. your fish dies, 3. fresh flowers are not easily available for your vase, and 4. the semester starts tomorrow and you're relishing your last moments of free time.

bicycle hankies

While my sweetie has been recovering from surgery for the past week and a half, I've been sewing hankies for her and stitching her favorite bicycles into the corners. I started out with a few yards of fabric, some embroidery floss and a needle. This is one final result:

 

I started out by finding images of each bicycle on the internet, then using Photoshop to turn them into black and white drawings:

I then printed each bicycle and backlit the images with fabric on top. After sketching the bicycles onto the fabric, I embroidered. Each bicycle is about three inches wide. I then backed each bicycle with a cloth heart, mostly to hide the loose ends underneath.

The unicycle:

... and its heart (whose stars are actually sparkly and silver):
The tandem:
... and its heart:
The Redline 925:
... and its heart:
The Motobecane (my second favorite): 
... and its heart:
The cruiser (my favorite):

... and its heart:
The classic cycle:
... and its heart:
The Surly Big Dummy:
... and its heart:

It's been a very fine thing to do while it's snowy and cold out.

Cloth hankies save trees! 

I am so, so in love with this little photography blog: http://cafe69.exblog.jp/9406452/

It's in Japanese, and you have to scroll through each page to see one photo. You click on these little symbols at the bottom of each page that are framed by <> in order to navigate the images.

They're all about the little family and the dog. 

fabric portfolio cases

Laurie had a vision for a portfolio case for one of her current archetecture projects. I love to sew and have a ton of patience for figuring out new sewing projects. So, I offered to make these three for her. We're both quite infatuated with them. Unfortunately, we figured out that we needed to have cut out a bigger sized flap to cover the entire top opening, but it's okay as is. It's for looks, not for function, so maybe the judges of the project will think it's intentional. 

new painting

Just started this painting tonight. It's the most cheerful painting I've done. It's also the first I've done in about a year. Winter vacation in California sure was nice.