felt keychains

Hello everyone!  Sorry about the little break between posts.  I've been busy making prototypes for a new little project for my re-opened etsy shop Noraneko Alley.  (This is the same shop that I used to run before with a group of friends, but this time both my current shop Ura Michi and Noraneko Alley will be run by myself only)

I started making felt donuts like I used to, which you can see by backtracking this blog.  You can see the work-in-progress ones in the photo with all the brown felt pieces.  The brightly colored ones are key chains for screen-cleaning.  One side is felt, while the other side is a lint-free cleaning cloth.  A hint for the decorative appliques is in the middle!

Hopefully it wont take long for me to finish these up and have them uploaded to the shop.

Back Home for the Time Being

I got the opportunity to head back to my parents' place for the weekend, so I'm taking advantage of it to spend some time with the furry family again. 

Not much other exciting news going on currently.  I'm finally working on more cat pebbles ever since I sold out of them some months before on my Etsy shop.  About time, right?  I'll have a handful of new cat-shaped worry stones in varying color patterns soon.  They are already made and sitting out to dry so I can paint different fur colors onto them later. 

I may go back to making some super bright-colored felt and fleece goods to have at artist alleys in future cons as well.  Let's see how smoothly that goes.

pork chops plus alpha - ポークチャップの トマトとワイン煮

Just a quick update on cooking for tonight.  The goal was to get rid of a few random ingredients sitting in the fridge for too long. (that and the cooking wine that's been in the pantry for however long)  I guess this is a problem when you share a kitchen with three other people and you're not quite sure of what supplies belong to whom.

今日は冷蔵庫の残り物を片付ける事を目標に夕飯を作ってみました。
ゴールはいつから置いてあったかちょっと思い出せない赤ワインを使い切ること。。。
メニューはポークチャップの トマトとワイン煮。サイドはケールとレンティルのサラダとポテト。

So I wanted to finish some random pork shoulder and bits of vegetables, but I'm honestly very paranoid about cooking pork without having any pink left over.  Not that I don't mind rare meat, but I don't really trust pork very much.  My answer was making pork chops simmered in a little extra sauce to bump up the amount of veggies versus meat on the plate.  I simply cooked some pork chops medium rare (make sure to have all sides of the meat well-grilled, this keeps the juices and flavor of the meat from seeping away too much into the sauce) and simmered them in a tomato and red wine "sauce" for about 10 minutes on low heat.

The so-called sauce was actually similar to a stew; just sauteed onions, carrots, and broccoli with olive oil, salt and garlic.  Then add diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and plenty of red wine, black pepper, basil, and oregano all simmered for a good 10 to 20 minutes on low to medium heat.  It's actually good on it's own, but a few heaping spoonfuls added per serving of pork chops makes it so much better without getting rid of the grilled flavor.

残念ながらまたウチの適当クッキングで調味料は量ってません。
肉は豚肩ロースを前もって赤ワインとコショウに付けておいたもの。両面をしっかり焼いてから別の鍋で作ったトマト煮を加えて １０分ほど中火でコトコト煮詰めるだけ。

トマト煮はタマネギ、人参などの野菜（今回はブロッコリーも入ってます）をオリーブオイルとニンニクで炒めた後トマト缶を加えて１０〜２０分ほど弱火で放置。
味付けはトマト缶を入れた後すぐに塩とウスターソースを少々、そしてオレガノ、バジル、コショウ、と赤ワインをたっぷり目に。
赤ワインの酒臭さがしなくなるまでしっかり煮るのがポイント。（そうでないとワインが強調しすぎて他の味がわかりにくくなるよ。場合によっては中火で煮てもおk）
お子様向けはワインを少なめ、代わりにケチャップを少し入れると甘くなります。

本当にレシピがわかりにくくてすみません。
調味料を量りながら料理をする事が出来ないと言う変な女子大生です。

Off to the sides of the plate are a simple kale and lentil salad with vinaigrette and some roasted potatoes.

And for dessert?  Homemade banana bread with wine-soaked prunes, cinnamon, and walnuts.
デザートには今日の午後あたりに焼いたアメリカ風のバナナブレッド。母に子供の頃から作ってもらってたレシピです。
中にプルーンのワイン漬け、クルミとシナモンが入ってます。

Whoever said college students can't cook? :)
大学生だって、食べたい時にはちゃんと料理するんですよ！
。。。たぶん。

Owls and... more owls.

So the owl-shaped phone cases I was making out of upholstery fabric samples (from my previous post) are finally done and up on Etsy!  They were very fun to make, but like most upholstery fabric, they were also very difficult to hand-sew.  Then again, there were at least 4 layers of fabric sewn together at once on each of these.


In other news, there seems to be a bad thunderstorm coming soon here.  It seems hard to believe with the extremely hot and sunny sky I can see out my window right now, but I guess all of us in the Midwestern U.S.  area should keep an eye out anyways.  As long as the rain doesn't stick around till the farmers' market I guess I don't mind.  The fridge is running out of vegetables fast thanks to my roommates...

Guess Who?

 Maybe the title should have been Guess 'Hoot' instead.

Starting on new projects based on some old ideas is more refreshing than you would expect.

It's been a while since I went back to making my patchwork owl phone cases, or at least that's what I think.  The last time I made them was all the way back in March. (I should really stop abandoning past designs.)

But giving it some time does have its benefits in the way you have a bit more knowledge and skill by the time you come back to the project, to really achieve your original idea.  Looking at the work for a while also makes your eyes glaze over any imperfections, so it's good to let your eyes refresh and come back to it later.  By the way, this is also a good method for a lot of other work like writing essays.  I promise you will notice typos much quicker if you take a break and come back to it later.

Does anyone else have similar ways of procrastinating working as well? 

Coming back...?

Now this is embarrassing.  I haven't posted very often, have I?  Hopefully this will be changed with the craft-filled summer that is about to begin.

For those unaware, I was mostly busy with working on my senior thesis and BFA exhibition... as well as graduation!  Now, not that I'm trying to confuse you, but I technically haven't graduated yet even though I've walked.  I will be student teaching in the fall, and THEN I get my degrees.  Yeah, confusing right?

Here's just a few images from the projects I've been working on for my Bachelors in Fine Arts degree...

 As part of an experiment I participated at the Hatch Art Festival in Champaign, IL and sold these owl phone cases made with upcycled upholstery fabric samples.

 More birds!  Most of my exhibition consisted of these art dolls interacting with found vintage objects.

...and to top it all off, a giant centipede plush.  I still consider it an art doll though.

This summer will consist of updating my Etsy shop, and possibly re-opening my older account filled with super brightly colored pop accessories.  I may also update with costume making for Anime Central next year.  (I'm making maybe 5 costumes for various people) Let's see how this will work out!  Wish me luck!

Mealy Peaches Quick-fix

数日前に母が買ってきた桃（ホワイトピーチ）がちょうど食べごろと思い切ってみたら中身はずいぶん残念な感じでした。所々ガリガリ、他はパサパサ、色は白とピンクではなくてちょっと茶色。。。

ちょっとがっかり。

でもこれはアメリカのスーパーで買い物をしていたらけっこうよくあることです。木でちゃんと熟す前に収穫される果物が多いせいでこんな事もあたりまえ。

なんとかこのパサパサな桃を使おうと思い作ってみたのはラズベリーと桃のスパイスジャム。

Some days ago my mom bought a few white peaches that smelled delicious, but when I sliced one open last night there was a not-so-nice surprise.

痣になっているところは切り落として種の周りの果肉も少しとってしまいます。後は皮を剥いて適当に薄くスライスします。

The infamous brown center and mealy bits of un-flavorful fruit. Ugh! I was very upset and ended up leaving it in the fridge because I didn't know what to do with it. I tasted a tiny slice and it was crunchy in certain places and some of it still had a decent flavor while other part were very mealy and dry. Unfortunately the other peaches were the same way. This morning I decided there has to be something these can be used for, and decided to make a quick peach jam. I sliced all of the peaches thinly as shown below to save the crunchy bits for texture:

切ったらこんな感じ。小さめな桃二個分で２８０gくらい。

冷凍庫に庭でとれたラズベリーを９０gほど残してあったのでそれも一緒に鍋に入れちゃいます。桃とラズベリーと一緒に鍋に次の材料を入れます：

砂糖　２００g

レモン汁　少々

オレンジ　二切れほどを手でちぎったもの

シナモン　少々

すべて鍋で直接混ぜ合わせてふたをしたら一時間ほどおいておきます。

I finished slicing 2 medium peaches (weighed about 280 g) and I realized I still had about 90 g of raspberries from my garden that I saved in the freezer. I decided I'll go with a spiced peach-raspberry jam. Here's what I used:

- 2 medium peaches sliced (280 g)

- 90 g frozen raspberries

- 200 g granulated sugar

- lemon juice (not measured)

- tart orange segments (pith removed, not measured. Probably 1 or 2 slices worth)

- ground cinnamon (not measured, yet again lol)

- 1/2 pack of unflavored gelatin (a little more than 7 g I think?) or pectin. I used gelatin because I was out of pectin and didn't want to go shopping.

このままだとあまりおいしそうには見えないですねwww　なんかグチャグチャ。。。

Mix everything other than the gelatin (which I let sit in a little water off to the side) in a pot and let sit with a lid on it for a while. I baked a pizza for lunch while I waited. The jam doesn't look very appetizing at first...

しばらくおいておくとこんな感じに水分がでてきます。きれいなワイン色になるはずです。

ここで中火から弱火でコトコト煮ます。様子を見ながら丁寧に灰汁を取るのが大事。

桃が透明になって柔らかくなるまで煮てください。このまま冷やせばアイスなどに合うソースができあがり。ジャムを作る場合はペクチンかゼラチンを袋の半分（３〜４gくらい？）水でふやかしたものを入れてください。今度は手元にペクチンが無かったのでゼラチンで作りました。

After about an hour it looks like this. Then I put it on low to medium heat until it comes to a boil and the peaches are tender. Also remember to remove the froth as much as possible. Then I add the gelatin and mix well to make it consistent.

後は消毒したガラス瓶につめるだけ。ホワイトピーチで作るとまろやかでちょっと大人の味なスパイシーなジャムの出来上がり。イエローピーチで作ったら多分もうちょっと酸味が強いはず？

明日大学に戻るので新しいアパートに引っ越すときに一瓶もっていきます！ルームメイトと一緒に朝ご飯にたべたいと思います。

Last but not least, pour into sterilized jars and you're done! If you don't add gelatin or pectin, this stuff makes a great sauce for ice-cream. I'll be taking a jar with me to my new apartment tomorrow.

summer bracelet!

I've been experimenting with hemp lately and here's one that I came up with. It's up in my Etsy shop now! I hand-dyed the hemp to be a smokey gray to match the gunmetal of the rhinestones. I saw some macrame bracelets with rhinestones at American Eagle but I wanted one with a more natural look, so I made my own. :) This one has small orange and pink rhinestones but I think I'll make more with different colors.

アメリカンイーグルで見たブレスレットが気になったので自分で作ってみました。

お店で見た物よりちょっとエスニックな感じなのが欲しかったんですけど、ヘンプを自分で染めるところから始めることに。。。

ヘンプを染めるときこのような薄い色はあまり好ましくないらしいんですけど、これくらいの色が一番自然に見えるかな〜。

ラインストーンは夏らしい渋めのピンクとオレンジ、金具は金属じゃなくてガラスとブロンズのランプビーズで作りました。

私のEtsyショップで売る事にしました！いろんな色のラインストーンも使いたいな〜。。。