Archive for 2014

The moment is here! Oh, not that. Baby is still very much in my belly. Due date is on Monday. Eek!

The excitement of the now is our new renovation!

Dustin and I never had the intention of staying in our current house for this long. It's the age old story of being thoroughly shocked at housing prices in Toronto and rethinking the need to move...

When we finally made the decision that we would stay in this house for at least few more years (likely longer), we decided it was time to invest some money into making us love it more. With the second baby on its way, Lily was moving to the guest room which had doubled as the office/sewing space for Dustin and me. I needed a new sewing haven.

We live in a narrow townhouse with no basement (it was built atop an old gas station, so I guess this was the simplest way), and our garage is attached to the rear of our house. The ground floor is an awkward through-space that is the width of our house, but leads from the front door and upper levels to the laundry/furnace room and garage. We had a large Expedit storage unit from Ikea against the wall, and a couple chairs near the entrance for luxury seating while husbands waited for their wives to say goodbye for the 40th time.

It was time to make the space more useful. To make an incredibly long story short (Dustin wanted to DIY, I wanted to just pay someone to get-er-done), we contracted California Closets to design and build the mudroom/office space (see who won?). It was very much a collaborative effort in designing the space, and now that I've been using it for a little over 2 weeks, I can confidently say I'm thrilled with the result.

And the moment has arrived to reveal the space to you!

1. I couldn't figure out how best to store my 24 inch ruler. I wanted it accessible, but not just on the table buried under everything. The last time I had a dilema with this ruler, I sewed a chic ruler caddy for transportation to and from my quilting class. It seemed perfect to just hang the thing on the wall using some grommets and finishing nails. I also use it to hold my scissors, rotary cutter, and other commonly used tools. When on the go, I just take it off the wall, fill it up with whatever else and roll it up for transport! Here's the original post I wrote about this ruler caddy.

2. I am getting so good at curtains! I sewed a set for Lily's room (that room is never clean enough for pictures...) and then decided that this new sewing space deserved new window coverings too. The workroom received some new Joel Dewberry fabric a couple weeks ago, and I fell in love with the Egg-Blue Crysanthemum print. It also just happened to match my Olfa cutting mat. I used a wonderful tutorial from Design Sponge to sew the curtains and have learned that taking the time to measure and cut everything is key to simplifying the sewing.

3. I toyed with the idea of buying new fancy baskets or bins for all my fabric, but regular clear plastic tubs are just too practical. I use the Rubbermaid "Roughneck" from Canadian Tire for about $10 a bin. Nice and heavy duty. This is where I sort my leather, batting, wool, jersey, Liberty Lawn, and other big fabrics. I have one called "on the go" for when I need to throw together materials and tools needed for a project I'm working on outside my home.

4. I use smaller clear containers for my quilting fat quarters and scraps. I sort them by colour and share two colours per bin. I also use the smaller clear containers to organize my notions. They sit just above my sewing space for easy access: thread, elastic, pins, buttons, zippers etc. Again, I've thought about getting prettier containers: vintage tins, colourful boxes. But right now, this is what works. I like being able to see what's in the containers.

5. My desk light: the Uberlight by Reliabe. I love it. It's a little spotlight for exactly where I need some extra focus. And because it's LED, it's energy efficient and doesn't cook your face when you're already sweating from trying the invisible zipper for the third time.

6. That's my new blouse. In Liberty Tana Lawn. It deserves a post on its own, so I won't spoil all the details. The neat thing here is that it's hanging on valet rod. I asked them to install one so I could hang my finished shirts and dresses up. It's the little things that make me really love my new space!

Just over a year ago, I shared about my new-found love for pound cake. It was a big moment for me. I was growing up. I had stumbled upon a basic pound cake recipe that was so incredible that I baked six of them for my birthday picnic. I was asked for the recipe over and over.

This pound cake has changed lives. Or so I've been told.

I think I've made it over a dozen times since then. And I have a child. A time-consuming, sleep-depriving, wonderful child. It's that good. And simple.

Most recently, I've been in love with a variation involving rhubarb.



I was first introduced to rhubarb when my family lived in a tiny village in England. (I kid you not, this village was named Crapstone. I remember exchanging letters with my penpals and I think their parents forced them to incorrectly address the letters to Crabstone because the alternative was just absurd.)

In England, at least my version of small-village-country-side-England, rhubarb was eaten in the form of  a runny pink stew, topped with an equally runny goop of custard. I wasn't a fan. Perhaps I was too young to appreciate the tartness of the rhubarb cutting the richness of the custard. It's on my list of things to try again with my grown up adult palette.

Too bad I hoard all my rhubarb for pound cakes. The stewed rhubarb will have to wait.

I love Ontario rhubarb season. It's nice and long. There are plenty of organic options available through farmer's markets and food co-ops. And I have a handful of friends who grow it in their backyard and are so generous as to offer me some.


I use that basic recipe I shared last year and with a couple minor changes, including the addition of 3 cups of chopped rhubarb to produce a perfectly tart and crummy pound cake. I think I maybe even used 4 cups of rhubarb last time since that's what the bunch turned into. It just means a slightly softer slice of cake since the rhubarb gets just a tad mushy.

I made two loaves for the Summer Farmhouse Retreat.

I made two loaves for a summer BBQ.

I made two loaves just for me to devour at home.




Last week I took the day off to catch up with my good friend Danielle; she recently dove head first into an exciting new sewing career. It was Tuesday. A week after her birthday. A week before mine. It was necessary to celebrate with some more rhubarb pound cake.

As a variation to the variation, I made them into cupcakes topped with whipped cream and a fat strawberry. Rhubarb and strawberries are a superb duo. Like oreos and milk. Or Elsa and Anna.





We are at the tail end of Ontario Rhubarb season. I still saw some at the food co-op today. (West End Food Co-op has local, organic rhubarb for $2 a bunch!) Go! Now! get some rhubarb! And if you can't make it right now because your toddler wants you to watch Frozen with her for the hundredth time, then just wash it, chop it up, lay out on a baking sheet and freeze. You can transfer to a ziplock bag and use later!

Rhubarb Pound Cake (and cupcake variation)

Cupcake Variation

So many wonderful things happen by accident.

Like when I thought I was scooping up handful after handful of sugar snap peas at the Farmer's market for my Saturday dinner at the recent Farmhouse Retreat.

My own urban-patio-garden of sugar snap peas had just begun to flourish, so I naturally assumed the "peas" at the market must also be similar sugar snap peas. Silly me. Clearly, a more logical answer was that they were regular peas: just like the sign said.

I realized this quickly when it was difficult to peel and trim the ends. Instead, they easily popped open to reveal fat and sweet peas inside the pod.

What now?! I was going to make a crunchy sesame sugar snap pea side dish to go with my BBQ dinner. What to do with a small bowl of fresh peas?

The only thing I could think of was Top Chef, Season 5, when Carla Hall made a perfect dish of buttered peas to woo the judges in a "Last Supper" elimination challenge. I remembered praises of simplicity and perfect seasoning.

So that's what I did. Blanched in salt water. A dollop of butter. A little more salt. A squeeze of lemon.

Perfection. Devoured in seconds. What a lovely accident.

Ontario's growing season seems to be a little late this year; it was a doozy of a winter! But fresh peas should be around at farmer's markets for a little longer!

Go buy a pint or two. Find some child labour friends to help shuck them. Blanche. Butter. Salt. Lemon. Add to your plate of spaghetti ala vodka if you want.

It's a little taste of spring even in the sweltering heat of summer.

Buttered Spring Peas

Serves 2-4 as a side dish

1 pint fresh peas in their pod
salt
butter
lemon

1. Shuck the peas. Eat a couple to marvel at their sweetness.
2. Bring a small pot of salted water to boil.
3. Add peas to boiling water.
4. Drain when all the peas have started to float. If you prefer them less al dente then wait a minute or two after they've begun to float. I like them al dente.
5. Add a tablespoon of butter. Taste and season with salt (you'll be surprised how much salt they may need).
6. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top.

Pow Wow Quilt Top by The Willow Nest

We're just under a month away from the Summer Farmhouse Retreat and I'm so excited to start nailing down some details.

As part of the retreat signup process, I asked the crafters to complete a quick survey to give me some ideas for sewing workshops that might be suitable.

I was surprised by how many people were interesting in learning how to quilt!

It will be a dream come true to dedicate an entire weekend event to quilting, but having a workshop start us off on the process is going to be such a great start!

And this could not come at a better time. While Magda is pretty much done her baby quilt, I have yet to even decide on a pattern for my own baby-to-come. Baby (gender inconclusive, I'm assuming divergent) is due at the end of August, and I think it's safe to say that I shouldn't assume I have time after August to work on the quilt.

This workshop will hopefully help me out with picking a pattern. I'm smitten with three patterns at the moment.


First, is the Pow Wow quilt: a great chevron pattern popping up all over the interwebs and is available from the Cluck Cluck Sew website. There are lots of fabric scrap possibilities and is hopefully quick and simple to sew together.

Karyn's Feather Bed Quilt top

Second, I fell in love with Karyn's feather quilt top. The beautiful feathers are a free (FREE!) pattern available from the fantastic Anna Maria Horner. Clearly not as simple a quilt to sew, but boy is it ever gorgeous.

Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox quilt from Oh, Fransson!

And third, I discovered that Elizabeth Hartman just came out with a new fox pattern. Yesterday she revealed a stunning patchwork fox that I think would be perfect for a gender neutral quilt.  This pattern isn't available until mid-May, but judging from her other patterns it will be moderately priced and filled fantastic instructions on cutting and piecing all the fox parts together.

So back to the farmhouse. The Saturday optional sewing workshop will be these three quilt blocks. The Pow Wow chevron will be a great beginner block to learn the basics of piecing; the Fancy Fox and the Feather Bed Quilt will be intermediate blocks for those seeking a bit of a challenge.

We will learn the techniques of piecing fabric, how to do a mini quilt sandwich, different techniques to quilt the layers together, and then we'll throw it together in the form of a pillowcase! Stuff with a $5 Ikea pillowform, and tada!

Oh, you can't imagine it? I guess I should practice and capture some pretty pictures before teaching this workshop. Stay tuned...

After my fairly good experience with the Seashore Dress, I decided to try another Oliver + S pattern.

The instructions are so clear, and I really love the variety in patterns they offer.

Lily was in need of a spring jacket. Her parka was finally becoming a little too warm, and her rain jacket didn't provide any warmth.

Oliver + S has half a dozen jacket patterns alone. I definitely loved the look of the School Days Jacket the most, and there are plenty of wonderful examples of this jacket online. One of my favourites is from the Probably Actually blog.

I purchased the wool from Downtown Fabric, after the always-animated owner, Daniel, convinced me to use a patterned beige wool. For the lining I chose Riley Blake's Rocket Stars quilting cotton from the workroom. I wanted to keep the jacket gender neutral to maximize reusability for Lily's future siblings...

As with my last Oliver + S pattern, I soon realized that the pattern called for far too much fabric. I had purchased 1.5 yards of wool, and easily could have fit the pattern onto a single yard; but the upside was that I had plenty of fabric to match those pesky stripes.

I sewed the size 3T, added a layer of quilt batting to the lining, and decided to sew the toggle closure rather than button closure.

It was plenty roomy for Lily and will definitely fit her this Autumn. Her sleeves are rolled up twice right now, so there's even a chance she could fit it next year! I struggle to understand why the Seashore Dress is a 4T for her and this 3T jacket is so roomy, but I'm really happy with the final product.

The stars really give the jacket such pizazz. The sewing was rather tough, but probably because I made it that way. Had I chosen a solid wool and not bothered to do a quilted lining, I would have had a much easier time!

Most of the reviews I've read about this pattern end by saying that the end product is well worth the effort. And I couldn't agree more! A confident beginner with a good level of patience will have such a great experience with this pattern!

Today was a crappy day. Headache, body aches, rain, sleep deprived.

I dragged myself into work and realized quickly it was not a great idea. At lunchtime, I called it quits and made my way home for an afternoon nap.

But not before I made a quick stop at Kensington Market. I'm sure if I had asked my doctor, she would have agreed.

My brother was coming over for dinner and I had originally planned on sending Dustin to grab some fish for dinner. I figured I'd make the quick stop before my nap.

I love going to Hooked. I like spending a little more money for the extra quality of fish, quality of service, and for that general fuzzy feeling I get when I leave there knowing I've done something good for the world and myself. Supporting sustainable fish is delicious.

I was hoping for some wild salmon that would taste good raw, hoping to slice it up and add it to our sushi DIY dinner.

Of course they had some beautiful King Chinook available, but the really fun part? They've now partnered with ThisFish: an online tool that traces the origin of your seafood from ocean to plate. Now, when Hooked stamps your bundle with their labels, they scribble down a number for you to trace your fish!


Evan Martin is a fisherman from Sidney, BC, and he caught my King Chinook that I ate for dinner. It was harvested off Kyoquot Sound between April 21st and 24th, was sold in Richmond BC, travelled to Hooked Inc. in Toronto, and then to my belly. How cool is this?! (Click the image below if you want to see the full summary of my fish trace on ThisFish.info.)



And how cool is sushi DIY? I came up with this concept a few years ago, when I was tired of standing in the kitchen making maki roll after maki roll and then having it not taste quite as good as when I first made it.


I use the packages of Korean style nori. They're small rectangles perfect for a little magical bundle of sushi ingredients. Like a miniature handroll. And the rest of the ingredients are up to your imagination.

After a ridiculously long afternoon nap, I made the sushi rice in the cooker, cut up cucumbers, avocados, kani (imitation crab meat), green onions, and the King Chinook wild salmon that Evan was so nice to catch for me. A little spicy mayo, wasabi, and soy sauce. Delicious! So many options at dinner time. And so much less work than making each maki roll for dinner!

Many who know me, know of my love for teaching. I've often said that I will teach one day, in some capacity or other.

Somewhere far away in a parallel universe, Alternate-Kelly chose to do teacher's college instead of accepting a job at Hydro One. She is now teaching algebra, calculus, or physics to some bratty teenagers and inspiring them to say no to drugs and laziness, and yes to working hard and following their dreams.

I hope Alternate-Kelly is doing well.

At present, I continue my day-job doing engineering work, and I take any opportunity to exercise my teaching skills -- especially when it involves a charitable cause.

My friend Julie is a high school phys-ed teacher in Guelph and was asked to teach a fashion class for second semester. I know it's not all glam and glitz (they don't just watch Project Runway and sew garments all day long?!) but I felt like Julie had just won the jackpot. High school fashion class?! How practical! How creative! How inspiring!

Being the kind soul that she is, she asked me if I was interested in being a guest teacher. Um, YES! A little of a dream come true.

We brainstormed ideas for sewing projects and decided that during her unit on social responsibility, I would teach them how to sew a Pillowcase Dress for the Little Dresses for Africa charity.

I've done this workshop once before and already had a tutorial made up. It was the perfect sewing project for beginner sewers and there was plenty of opportunity to add their own creative details. Although these dresses were being donated to little girls in Africa, the students loved that they were essentially tank tops that they could sew for themselves as well.

I loved teaching the class. I wish I could have gone back for multiple days to see them finish their projects. Teaching really makes me smile. I'm looking forward to teaching some workshops at the upcoming Summer Retreat!

It's great to be on a roll. I sewed a dress. Loved it. And then went ahead and sewed four more before I decided it was getting a little ridiculous.

I've always admired Oliver + S patterns for kids. The selection is fantastic, so I just kept searching and searching until I found the perfect simple playdress for Lily.

The Seashore Dress has a "1 scissor" difficulty rating, and a sweet, modern look.

One thing to note about this pattern: it calls for 2 yards of fabric for the 2T and 3T size. I managed to fit even the 4T pattern onto 1 yard of fabric. That's 50% of what they call for! Believe it. It can be done.



I made the first dress with a beautiful butterfly fabric from Lizzy House's new Cat Nap Collection. For a confident beginner, it is probably a 5 hour project. If you're speedy like me (I have been accused of having Chinese sweatshop genes) you can sew the dress in 3 hours, start to finish.

Which is why I whipped up a second dress in a purple Pearl Bracelet fabric, also from Lizzy House.



The third dress I made using leftover limited edition Liberty Cotton Fleece from the workroom. More details on the fabric in another post, but needless to say, it was high quality fabric and I was excited to be able to squeeze in a Seashore Dress for Lily with the leftover scraps from my Lola Dress.


My fourth and final dress was using an abstract fabric I bought years ago from the workroom during one of their big sales. This dress really is great for using those 1m stash purchases that you never got around to using.

Do you notice all the lime green buttons? I had so many left over from my dollar store purchase when I made the zipper Christmas tree ornament. I have since expanded my red and green button collection after visiting The Button Dept. at the workroom.

Lessons learned:

1) The dress fits quite snug. Lily is by no means a chubby kid and I found the 2T a tight fit. After the first dress, I recut the pattern in a 4T, just to be safe. It is a much better size and will likely only last her until the fall.

2) The dress is quite long. It ended just below Lily's knees, so when I cut the new 4T size, I didn't want it to be any longer. At the waistline marker, I shortened the dress 1.5 inches.

3) The pockets are incredibly subtle. To make them a little more usable, I widened the pocket (pieces 8 and 9) and tried not to do too much gathering at the pocket opening. Lily has now stopped her fits about not being able to find her pockets for her rocks.

I'm a huge fan of this pattern. There seem to be more pieces and steps than your average simple girl's dress, but I think it's well worth it!

A fishmonger sounds like an ancient trade from the days of yore. You know, just down the road from the blacksmith and the town juggler. But it simply refers to a person that sells you fish.

I was first acquainted with the fishmongers at Hooked Inc. when I was looking for sustainably sourced fish for my first Farmhouse Retreat. The salt baked rainbow trout was a big hit, and my friend Priscilla made note of the fish shop for gift ideas when the time came.

In October, I was surprised with a gift certificate from Priscilla to attend a class of my choice at Hooked. I signed up at my first opportunity and waited patiently until March for my Fishmongering 101 class.

Dan and Kristen opened Hooked Inc. to fill a void in fish markets supporting truly sustainable sourcing practices. Although fishmongers are plentiful in Toronto, few have the dedication to learning who caught that fish, and exactly how.

At the long awaited Fishmongering 101 class, I learned how to gut, fillet, and perfectly pan fry a couple fish (a branzino and rainbow trout), and they even packed away our leftover fillets with all the necessary ingredients to replicate the meal the next day. We watched Kristen fillet a halibut (did you know it was halibut season?) and she also showed us how to make a delicious dill riesling sauce.

It's amazing how simple, challenging, and satisfying it was to fillet the fish. Chinese cuisine usually leaves the fish whole; my mom was an expert gutter and descaler, but I never learned how to properly fillet a piece of fish.

Since taking the class in March, I've been playing with options for how to fit fish fillets into my menu for the summer farmhouse retreat. Do we do a light fish lunch? Or add it to the summer bbq on Saturday night?! First world problems...

I highly recommend this class at Hooked Inc. and am hoping to take another class one day, but you need to keep an eye out for the class postings! They like to keep the classes small, and taught by the best, so they don't come out often! In the meantime, visit their locations in Leslieville or Kensington Market and feast on some of the freshest, most ethically sourced seafood in town!

It's late March. A week until April. I'm in Ottawa and it looks like the middle of February. I hope mother nature remembers how pretty spring is supposed to be...

Speaking of pretty, meet Magda and her beautiful chevron baby quilt.

Magda is a perfectionist in all senses of the word. She strives for the best at all times, rarely settles for anything but, and always ensures that she has taken the time to fully research all aspects of a subject before she makes the best decision possible. She is my go-to for any technology, appliance, or renovation advice. I have yet to be led astray.

Her chevron baby quilt is no exception. She was inspired by this baby quilt from the plaid scottie, and pulled her beautiful neutral-gender colours from Riley Blake Designs' Sasparilla Alphabet Teal.


Magda was set on a chevron quilt that didn't have too deep a zigzag -- a shallower chevron without too sharp a point. Eventually (through much online research) she found a lovely tutorial from The Crafty Cupboard that uses a 60 degree angle instead of the typical 45 degrees.

She added a strip of white fabric to really make the rest of her quilt pop, and the end result was gorgeous.

People approach me all the time to tell me how impressed they are with my sewing talents (aw, you guys). And I protest until I'm blue in the face that I'm no more talented than the average person. I just seize moments when I'm inspired and schedule some time to give it a try. Magda used to be one of these people I speak of. And here she is, whipping up a beautiful quilt top in less than two days.

It's about setting aside the time and surrounding yourself with inspiration and support. I've got a couple spots left in the my Summer Farmhouse Retreat if you're looking for a creative outlet!

Sadly, Magda isn't able to join me for the next retreat. If only Magda's amazing husband could lock her in a room and force her to finish the quilt so we can see the finished product. She's chosen a mouse and bicycles print from the Lizzy House Cat Nap collection as her quilt back!

I've done it. I've decided to squeeze in one more retreat before I'm too pregnant or when I need to focus on a being a baby-momma again!

It would be such a shame to not visit the beautiful Cobblestone Farmhouse this summer.

So I contacted the lovely owner and I've secured the first weekend of the summer for the last Purple Workbench retreat of 2014: June 20 - 22rd.

The farmhouse is located in gorgeous rural Cobourg, an hour and a half outside of Toronto, a mere 10 minute trip from the Via Rail station (I am more than happy to pick people up!) and the tranquility of the space will surely inspire some creative crafting!

Whether you have a project in mind, or you're hoping to join me in some workshops, this is a weekend for you to relax, be creative, and have everything else taken care of.

The retreat offers wonderful workspaces for your projects: large work surfaces, big windows, quaint nooks. And it's a guarantee that the weekend will be filled with fantastic food.  The end of June screams outdoor bbq, luscious berries, and a refreshing glass of summer wine.

For more info, check out the specifics on the events page, or use my new signup page on the "register" tab!

Did I mention there were three fantastic ladies that joined me at the Cozy Winter Retreat?

Meet Meghan.

Meghan is a visual artist who spends her day inspiring young artists by teaching high school art class.

You can just imagine my excitement when I found out she was able to join us for the winter retreat. It's always nice when we can add some variety to our group of sewers; not only is there one less clunking machine, but the visual art is such a creation of the moment: there's no predetermined design or plan. It was going to be so exciting seeing what would inspire Meghan in our retreat space. I've always admired her paintings of colourful outdoor beauty.

Undecided about what to work on, Meghan came equipped with a whole car of supplies. Paints, chisels, exacto knives. Canvases, wood blocks, linoleum.  So much more exciting than fabric and thread. Well, except maybe when you see a collection of fabrics that make up a beautiful baby quilt. But we'll get to that in the next feature.

Her artist's toolbox was already so intriguing, what was she going to make with it all?!


Saturday morning we went for a walk together in the deep, deep snow, down the cottage property towards the Nottawasaga River. The morning was beautiful: bright and sunny, although unforgivingly windy. We witnessed a beautiful fugue between two Mockingjays. (Okay, I have since confirmed they were common Chicadees -- infinitely less exciting, but their back and forth banter was still beautiful.) With her exacto knife in hand, Meghan foraged the ground for inspiring pieces of nature.

Yes. There are Mockingjays at the #purpleworkbench #winterretreat. http://t.co/xcFrgAsNUF
— Kelly Dunwell (@KellyWorkbench) February 22, 2014

I always find it so ridiculous that someone could be in awe watching me stitch a straight line. I wonder if Meghan felt the same way when Danielle, Magda, and I were ogling her ability to glue foliage onto painted blocks of wood. It was just so darn beautiful! I was amazed at Meg's ability to edit and simplify to transform the clumps of dead grass she brought back from the outside tundra to look vibrant and alive.



Her other project was undeniably fascinating to watch. She created two linoleum prints. My zero education in this process would describe it as carving into the linoleum to create a giant rubber stamp. You sort of have to think backwards and carve out the negative space, and then think mirror image because everything is reversed when printed.


The "thistle" print was incredible. And she was nice enough to make three prints so each of us could bring one home.


Thanks so much, Meg, for your surge of visual art creativity at the retreat! And an extra big thank you for introducing me to the reality series "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist"; I cannot believe I had not heard about this show earlier!