July-the mending and making edition

The professor was invited to give a talk (lecture) at a conference in Naples, Italy.  For a variety of reasons--the cost of airfare, finding stuff to do with twins alone in Naples while he was at the conference, and well, the fact that I speak no Italian, among other things...I chose to stay home with twins and dogs this time while our professor did a very speedy trip to Europe.  He came home with treats for everyone.  For us though, one of the tastiest treats was the 10 Euro he spent in the duty-free shop on real Buffalo Mozzarella.  He carried it, in a little cooler, through many airports.  We all thoroughly enjoyed it!  (See above for the tomato and basil, plain, and dressed with Italian herbs versions...balsamic vinegar and olive oil were optional, too!)

When he got home, we took a walk in the neighborhood to do some errands, and this bag was on sale at a boutique.  It's made of recycled fabric and made with fair trade workers in India.  I love it-- (I kind of have a bag thing...) but it needs some more pockets and a closure.  I haven't figured that out yet.

Also this past weekend, we had other projects going on.  The twins and the professor picked our cherry bushes completely clean of ripe cherries-and those are now sitting in the frig, waiting for me to make cherry jam.  First though, came strawberry picking.  Usually this is a family trip, but Sadie the new dog is not quite ready yet for long stretches on her own.  So, I hung out at home and they went off to pick berries yesterday.

When they came back, one twin's lightweight gray pants were, umm, trashed.  Mending needs to happen, but when we thought on it, we all concluded that really, he just needed more warm weather trousers that he would agree to wear.

After some discussion, we decided that his most comfortable, holey, patched jeans would make good "long" shorts--essentially surfer length, if not longer.  Three pairs of pants rushed up to my office sewing machine last night.  50 minutes later...2 pairs for the kid with the urgent need...and 1 pair for the other twin.  (Maintaining parity is always good!)  We will see how these work.  In any case, the cut-offs look slightly nicer than some of the patches at this point. :)

Over the weekend, I took a quick trip to a fabric store I love, and I found this Marimekko-style remnant.  It was slinky and a weird shape.  Definitely not super useful, but I had to have it--and at $2.60 CAD, it was a cheap splurge.  While I made cut-off shorts, I pondered.  I had a linen tank top that never fit right.  It was sitting in a pile to be mended.

I hemmed the remnant and attached it to the tank top in a sort of handkerchief pinafore style.  We'll see if it stays assembled when I wear it...but at least now I can look at this pretty block print flower style some more.  The fabric was so sheer and slippery that pins made holes in it.  It was hard to work with--and I am not sure I'd like to try sewing something bigger with it.

Today though, it was all about strawberry jam.  17 cups of jam later, we still have two flats of strawberries left in the refrigerator.  There is one fabulous thing about seven year olds though.  Hand them a cutting board and a butter knife?  And the whole family hulled strawberries at once.  This saved me hours of prep work on my own.
I love making homemade, local "fast food" that goes on my pantry shelves for winter...but it also takes work and a chunk of kid-free time. (I find boiling water baths and kids do not mix, especially when trying out their new palm sized Italian race cars...)

Tomorrow, I start doing the cherries...wish me patience...I might need it!

Plastic Straws, and making things

Summer camp starts at 9:30, which means that there is time for early birds at our house to play, walk dogs, and even watch Clifford on TV before camp.  Last week, I dodged upstairs for a bit while the Professor supervised the matchbox car races and tower destruction... and I wrote something about our trip.  It happened to correspond to a great campaign in Winnipeg as well, and it ran on the CBC on Saturday morning.  Here's the link.  (and a photo...) 

Want to save the planet? Start by saying no to the plastic straw

It's been a busy few days.  Just a couple days after we got home from our trip, the Professor left to do some work research at a museum in NYC, and visit relatives.  I had my hands full with twins, but Harry the dog suffered some serious stomach issues, too and was up a lot with me 2 nights in a row.  It resulted in a lot of messes to clean up, a trip to the vet, and $174 later, some antibiotics and a much happier dog.  Sally, our other dog, was remarkably placid during all this, which helped enormously.

Once things seemed a bit more under control, I took a trip to my favorite quirky fabric store, and bought supplies.  I am making something for my nephew in Virginia.  (A quick update if you've been reading the blog since 2008?)  This nephew mostly uses a wheel chair, has some significant challenges, but is bright as a penny.  He signs and uses a communication device, and his spelling is amazing...he is lots of fun!  My kids love playing with this cousin. :)  Anyhow, his mom gave me a project to work on.  (Kids with special needs often require handmade things to help out, you can't buy everything in a store!)  I will need to figure out snaps.  For me, it's a new sewing frontier.
While the Professor was away, I juggled everything fine until things started to be, umm, not as fine.  He was supposed to return Friday night.  Unfortunately, he had one of those bad travel experiences that results in a marathon travel experience.  He spent an extra night with his brother's family in Manhattan, and he was getting on planes that don't take off due to weather (1), plane troubles (1), then missing a connection due to the late flights, and then having to take two more flights, and then well, he got home around midnight Saturday night.  A day and a half of trying to get home.  

Ouch.  However, it was also ouch for me, since I'd planned out life with twins and dogs right through Friday, but not beyond.  Luckily, an artist friend sprang into action.  On Saturday, we joined her to do age-appropriate paper marbling on her front porch, and then her husband read kid stories, and she fed us a delicious lunch.  I thanked heaven for friends who could help about then.  We came home, took a nap, played at the wading pool, and waited for Daddy.  Both boys were so excited that they could not sleep, so we did chores together until nearly 9pm.  Chores are boring, though the boys were very helpful, so eventually, they fell asleep.

On Sunday, we all went strawberry picking, as well as boy bike riding, and playing with the hose in the front yard.  

I'm exhausted, but folks will insist on continuing to eat, too, even after Daddy comes home.  Tonight?  Beef kofte, brown rice, vegan tzatziki, and a big salad.  Strawberry banana apple fruit leather is drying in the dehydrator, strawberry yogurt popsicles are in the freezer, and there are still something like 7 or 8 flats of strawberries left to process into jam or washed, frozen berries...   There's always tomorrow.