MPLS Swappers

Not too long ago, I came across a fantastic blog - The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking. I love the way that Kate writes, and what she writes about. And I was pleased to discover that she just had her book (of the same name) published!

As I was reading about her book tour, I saw that she was coming to the Twin Cities on May 14th and 15th. One of the events was a book signing at Barnes and Noble, but the other was something I didn't recognize - MPLS Swappers. I followed the link, and was excited by what I saw. This is so my thing!

I'll try to explain it briefly, but really you should just follow the link. :) Basically, a bunch of people who love making good food get together and swap what they've made. You need to make, bake, grow, or can it yourself, but other than that it's anything goes in terms of what food you bring.

You set your items out, everyone has a chance to look everything over, and you write your name down on 'bidding sheets' next to anything you would be interested in trading for.

Turns out that Kate, who wrote The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, started this whole swapping movement when she lived in New York, and it quickly spread across the country (cause it's such a brilliant idea!). This past Saturday was only the second time the MPLS Swappers have held a swap. It was such a fantastic experience!

The location is really cool, I met a lot of nice people who share my interest in good, homemade food, and I came home with some dee-licious goodies.

I took some of my raspberry jam to swap (made with raspberries from my garden, and canned last fall):

Here it is set up on one of the tables (with some bread and an open jar to taste):

There was a really wide variety of things that people brought.

And a lot of cute packaging!

There were also snacks to munch on and tea to drink (in milk glass! Be still my heart).

I brought my copy of Kate's book with me:

And she signed it for me:

Even though my book was already signed, I went to Kate's book signing on Sunday because she was also having a discussion about the book. I'm so glad that I went, because Kate gave a really nice talk about her book and some of the different things she covers in it. It was also fun to see her again - she's so sweet and welcoming, and just really fun to talk to (hi, Kate!!).

I would definitely recommend checking out her book!

So I want to show you what I got in my swap, but this post is long enough for now. Back soon with photos of my goodies!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Following along with SouleMama this week.

Hoppy Easter!

Here's my sweet guy, wishing a very happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it, and a happy Sunday to those of you who don't!

Ok, it's possible I may have gotten a little snap-happy with my camera, but when my model is this cute can you blame me? ;)

Friday Favorites: Giant Dwarf

Not too long ago I received a lovely little package in the mail from Giant Dwarf.

I had seen some of her gorgeous creations on A Beautiful Mess and The Black Apple, and I couldn't resist any longer.

I ordered the Starlette Sparkler:

And the Mini Heartlette Crown in Ruby:

They are absolutely stunning, and I have been wearing them everywhere. There's nothing like adding a little sparkle to your day!

Taking photos in the mist along the Mississippi.

(The photo above was taken at the Anderson Center, which really deserves a post of its own.)

This photo was taken just last week - in the freshly fallen snow. I'm ready for spring, I tell ya!

Sue's lovely handmade sparkly treasures definitely do make me feel fancy! Next on my wish list? The Starlette Crown!

Penguin Party!

My sewing post from the other day reminded me of some hand-sewing that I had meant to share with you. At the end of January I hosted a Penguin Party taught by Becca Jo of Duckie Uglings. She makes the most wonderful creations out of repurposed sweaters, including these adorable party penguins:

She came over to teach a group of six of us how to make our own! Originally, we were going to have this be part of my birthday party, but we ended up postponing it. But Becca Jo was so sweet, and brought me this adorable owl as a birthday present anyway:

(The little guy even matched my skirt perfectly!)

I went a little penguin-crazy for the party, including making a centerpiece for the table with some of Becca Jo's penguins that I already had.

I even put out my penguin humidifier!

I made some edible penguins, as well:

These are so much fun! And very easy to make. You need two sizes of black olives, cream cheese, a carrot, and toothpicks. Slice one side of the larger olives and fill it with cream cheese. Put a tiny hole in the smaller olive, and put a mini slice of carrot in. Hold the two olives together with a toothpick, and just set two more small slices of carrot under the cream cheese for the feet.

But be warned! Each little penguin has its own personality, and it can be hard to eat them. :)

My guests got in to the spirit of the penguin party, too! My friend C brought some delicious bread on a cute penguin plate.

There was also penguin poetry for each guest:

The table was all set up with a workspace for each of us:

Becca Jo brought all the supplies we needed.

She showed us each step in creating our own party penguins.

We all made new friends at the party:

And it was so much fun to see everyone's penguin at the end:

They all had similarities, but I love how each turned out completely unique. The beauty of handmade!

Here's a close-up of my penguin:

Definitely a successful penguin party!

Becca Jo and I have talked about a spring-themed party coming up. In the meantime, check out the Duckie Ugling website and blog!

darn. knit. {anyway}

About, oh, a year-and-a-half ago, my mom's friend gave me her old sewing machine when she got a new one. She knew that I had been wanting one, and I was so excited to receive it! I had quite a number of projects and ideas building up, and just needed a sewing machine to complete them.

Oh, and I also needed to learn how to use it.

So all those projects and ideas waited... and waited... until yesterday. I had recently discovered this fantastic store in Stillwater, Minnesota called darn.knit.{anyway}. (Check it out - so cute!)

Yesterday, they were offering a sewing class where you could bring your own machine in and learn how to use it. Perfect!

I had a fantastic teacher who showed me what I needed to know to work my machine, and then we got going on one of my projects: hemming some curtains!

I found these wonderful curtains at an antique store I love going to. They are most definitely homemade (love!) and it wasn't until I was buying them that I realized that they were two different lengths. Drastically so. But no more!

I cut and pinned and ironed and finally sewed! On my machine!

I didn't think to take a 'before' photo of the two different lengths, but I will show an 'after' when I get them hung. For sure.

And no visit to Stillwater is complete without stopping in at Tremblay's Sweet Shop for some of their salt water taffy...

...and visiting a few of the numerous antique shops. Here's just a sneak peek at some treasures that came home with me:

It was a wonderful outing, and now you can be sure you'll see more machine sewing around these parts before long!

Happy Valentine's Day!

[This is my 100th post!!]