homemade grits: April 2009

Thursday, April 30, 2009

DIY: Restoring Garden Furniture

These little babies were destined to become yard art until my neighbor Christy was like "hold the phone," and gave me a little lesson on reupholstering. I don't think I'll be recovering a chair anytime soon, but here's a quick and easy tutorial.

Before:

The seats got waterlogged and rotted:( I'll miss the yellow.

After:

You'll need some ply board for the seat. Sam got underneath and traced the shape on to the board.

2.

Next cut out the shape with a saw.

3.

I washed down the chairs and repainted them to prevent rust.

4.

We used two inch foam board which I cut in to the shape of the seat with a bread knife.

5.

We used vinyl for the seat and cut it. Alternating sides, we pulled the fabric tight little by little and then stapled it to the board.

6.

Screw in to the board from the bottom to secure.

Voila.

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Site I love: Sunset

I first heard about Sunset here and then stumbled upon it again when researching instructions for an upcoming gardening project. I am completely digging this magazine based on living out west. The site features wine, food, garden, and home and I love the laid-back California vibe and green slant. Although their slogan is How to live in the West folks from all over can get inspiring ideas to apply to their lives.

My favorite things:

20 DIY Projects

Small Vegetable Gardens

Mmmmm Blue Cheese

Now I'm hungry. I'm pretty sure that a subscription is a must-have...

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Recipe: Rosemary Garlic Chips

I was inspired by the lovely Pioneer Woman's Roasted Potato Wedges. Yum.

Start with one potato for two people, or two potatoes for 4 and so on.

Slice em up real thin, or thick if that floats your boat.

Take a few teaspoons of minced garlic or two fresh cloves minced.

Plus one sprig of fresh rosemary chopped. I picked this from the garden, what a great feeling.

Combine with the potatoes in a bowl and add a few glub glubs of olive oil.

Add some sea salt.

Toss to combine. Have a pan nearby heating up...

Smells so good. Toss until golden brown. I think it works best to work in batches so that the chips get evenly cooked. Preheat your over to 200 degrees to keep the tators warm while you finish up. Bon a Petit!

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Restaurant Review: Cafe Sunflower

For years I've heard raves about Cafe Sunflower from all of my veggie friends, but for whatever reason I kept missing out. This year for Jessica's birthday she wanted to go there so I got to finally experience what everyone had been talking about.

The menu has several vegan and dairy-free entrees. The entrees are between $14-17, which includes dinner rolls and salad. I got the special of the evening: "Chicken" fried rice and it was full of veggies and "chicken" and had a really lovely soy sauce. I loved the salad with soy ginger dressing (yum) and the dinner rolls came with honey butter (yum).

You can check out the menu here.

The cakes were also divine and dairy-free. I had the carrot cake, which was delish and Jessica had the raspberry mousse.

The atmosphere was really intimate, there wasn't any alcohol if you care about that sort of thing. I wouldn't recommend the gluten-free dessert (very dry). You may have a tough time with some meat eaters converting to the soy meat, but if you like vegetarian food I think you'll really enjoy it!

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

7 Months

My girl is seven months, seven whole months. I'm stymied. It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with this little wonder we now call Matilda. The latest stats:

15 and some lbs
Tufts of blondish hair
Sitting up (still wobbly at this point)
Blowing bubbles
Babbling, lots of mamamamamamamaaaaa and daddddaaadaaaaaaa
She does this funny woody the woodpecker laugh. Hysterical.
She's a happy girl, smiling at everyone and letting everyone hold her.
She's eating bananas, carrots, avacados, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, apples...
Two teeth
We are very much in love.

500 posts and a Giveaway!

In honor of my 500th post on Homemade Grits, Magnolia Leather Works (aka Sam aka my husband) will be creating a custom skinny belt for the winner of this give-away. You pick the color, size, pattern. The contest will run all week and end at midnight eastern Sunday May 2. Good luck!

Skinny Belt, $25 value!

{The Rules: You must be a follower or have a link to Homemade Grits, Post a link to Magnolia Leather Works on your blog or website, and leave a comment including your email if you do not have a blog}

This is a huge thank you to everyone who reads. I love sharing our little world with you.

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Monday, April 27, 2009

Living Green: The Dervaes Family

This family is living my dream. I was watching Oprah with Jessica on Earth Day and she featured this urban homesteading family, The Dervaes's in Pasadena, CA.

You can learn more about the family here and here.

My Mom is starting a vegetable garden and I will posting more about that soon...

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Tea Cookbook Photoshoot

My lovely stylist friend Annette, asked me if Matilda and I wanted to participate in a photo shoot for an International Tea Cookbook written by Lisa Boalt Richardson. I hesitantly agreed because these sorts of things tend to make me a wee bit nervous. Once I arrived at the beautiful house where the shoot was taking place I was even more intimidated, but as soon as I walked through the door I was greeted by the nicest group of creative people who instantly put me at ease! I actually had so much fun. Thanks again Annette, Natalie, Lisa, Lauren, and Jay!

Jessica was on hand to take the behind-the-scenes shots. It was so great having her there and she actually knew Jay, Lauren's assistant. Small world folks. I'll let you know when I get some more info on the book, but look for Tea With a Twist this June.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Master Gardener Workshop

I have to tell you that I love to brag on people. Especially my family and friends. I am so proud of my Mama. She is a Master Gardener, a title I hope to possess myself one of these days. My mom has an answer for all of my gardening woes and a beautiful eye for design in the garden. I was thrilled when I was approached to ask her to lead a workshop on gardening in the store. She talked about composting, planting seeds, herbs, and had a million answers for all of her questions! I wish I could have been there. I was attending a photo shoot, which you'll have to wait and see the behind the scenes on Monday...

If you have a gardening question for my Mom, ask here and I will post the answers next friday!

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Decorating Craft Spaces

Because I am not fancy enough to have my own craft room (my husband has taken over our free room!) I have to carve out a space for my creative exploits.

I moved my sewing desk in to our bedroom and we added this beautiful wardrobe for craft storage (fabric, stamps, scrapbooking materials, etc).

Collecting: Canning Jars

Some people collect diamonds, I collect old jars! I love them. I thought this was a fun way to display them. Vintage glass has such personality and the lids are fun too. One of my favorites is an old mustard jar that says Spread a Little Sunshine. How cute?!

There is definitely an art, but I do it just for fun. A lot of people collect the Ball mason jars. Here is a tiny history lesson:

The Ball jar is one of the original canning jars, dating back to 1884. The Ball brothers developed the first semi-automatic glass jar making machine. You can read more of the history here.

Here is a progression of the Ball jar logo:

source: Santa Fe Trading Post

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Seventy

My sweet Lynndaddy turned 70 this week. Sorry Lynndaddy...cat's out of the bag! Can you imagine all of the life? He has three children of his own, seven grandchildren, and one great grandchild. What an unimaginable blessing. Lynndaddy lights up all of our lives and he loves my sweet girl. Here's to atleast 30 more!!! Love you.

Blue Prize Winner

Ever since Charlotte's Web, I've been really enamored with county fair blue ribbon winners! Wouldn't you just love to win a blue prize ribbon??? I would like to have the perfect apple pie or maybe win a chili cook off. Well, my Mama Lou was a blue prize winner for her embroidery. I can tell you first hand that her embroidery is perfection. Not one loose thread or jaggedy edge. So beautiful. I put the first prize winning embroidery in my living room on either side of my green star. Aren't they perfect there? I think so. Very inspirational, and I can feel her spirit when I look at them...

Craft of the day: Switch plate art

The ultra crafty Christy of In the Cottage made a beautiful switch plate cover using her existing switch plate + mod podge + beautiful egg paper. So simple, but adds so much. I will be converting my switch plates here soon!

Love Your Earth

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