fruits of their labors

Someday I will have gardens. Plural. I need a flower garden for looking at and another for cutting - wouldn't it be phenomenal to have fresh flowers is your house every day? And of course I will have a food garden - tomatoes, peppers, zuchinni, squash, pumpkins. And maybe a little raspberry and/or strawberry patch to boot. As an apartment dweller, it's easy to dream big, especially when I haven't weeded for...well...a long time. We'll see how big my plans stay when I'm the one doing all the laboring.

In the meantime, I'm lucky to have friends who will share their bounteous crops with us. In the last couple of months we have been showered with the fruits of other people's labors: zuchinni (of course), tomatoes (roma, cherry, yellow, etc.), peppers, cucumbers, butternut squash, green beans, nectarines, raspberries, and even Asian pears (oh my - AMAZING!). This has led to some experimenting with new recipes, which I am pretty much always up for. I recently made Nectarine Raspberry Cobbler which was quite enjoyable (I substituted raspberries for blackberries and omitted the almonds). Now I want to try Peach Raspberry Cobbler - mmmm.

What do you/will you grow in your garden?

inspiration

Something I have noticed about designers - they always seem to keep beatiful things around them to inspire them. They don't have to be big or expensive - something as small as a vintage button or postage stamp sometimes does the trick.

Since I've made our spare room (aka Spare oom) into a craft room, I've have a place to lay out little knick knacks to keep me inspired. Pictured above is a beatiful card sent to me by Kacey. I ADORE the colors and the print. It's already been the source of inspiration for 2 other projects. Great taste, Kacey!

I also finally have room to put out finished products that haven't yet been put to use. That category includes these cute little containers Beth showed us how to make. Aren't navy and yellow lovely together? And yes - those are washed out tin cans, covered with pretty paper secured by double-sided tape. Beth is amazing!

What inspires you?

mr. petty

My dad is a pretty cool guy. He is the biology teacher at the only high school in my hometown, so most everyone knows him as "Mr. Petty" (in fact, Jeff still does and probably always will call him Mr. Petty. We sat by each other in his class for a semester). He is a bug expert extraordinaire - along with being a cornacopia of knowlegde in many other areas, too. He really has a passion for teaching and is great with kids of all ages.

To his credit, my dad was just highlighted on the local news station's "Head of the Class" segment for being a great teacher. You can watch him in action by clicking here.

I took a couple of classes from him and have some good memories. One of my best memories: One afternoon I walked into my dad's room, went to his refrigerator, and proceeded to polish off a bit of apple juice straight out of the jug. My dad came in and said, "Karla! Don't drink that!" I thought he was just upset that I didn't ask if I could have it, so I swallowed the last bit. After doing so, he exclaimed that there had been about 10 mold samples in that apple juice. UGH! Luckily I didn't get sick, but I still didn't feel well after knowing I had just downed someone's extra credit!

I'm sure many, many people out there still have fond memories of my dad's class, whether it be weed field trips, +10, word root quizes, , T time, putting your chair up like a Navy SEAL, charitable service, the plant room...the list goes on!

For those of you who had my dad, what is one of your best memories from his class?

yummy

One of the things I love best about fall is all the yummy comfort foods. There is just something about making a pumpkin cake, batch of cinnamon rolls, or loaf of bread when the weather is starting to cool that makes me happy. I love the homey and rich aromas that tell me fall is here and the holidays are just around the corner. Mmmmm!

One of my absolute favorite comfort foods is bread. I have enjoyed bread/grain products since I was little and am notorious for eating way too much. Whether it is Grandma's biscuits at Sunday dinner or the amazing rolls at Texhas Rhodehouse I just can't get enough! I have been trying some new bread recipes lately and was so excited to make the Apple-Honey Challah pictured above. It takes quite a bit of time when you factor in all the rising, but the taste of its delicious sweetness fresh out of the oven made it well worth it.

What are your favorite comfort foods?

good bye, summer

Summer is fun, but I find myself craving autumn before it arrives. One thing I will miss about summer is all the pretty flowers.

What will you miss about summer?

softie fun

Although softies can be a challenge to make, I was really excited to make this little guy for Angela and her soon to come baby. This picture doesn't do it justice, but this orange fabric is fab. I've been hoarding it for years (literally), which I have a habit of doing when I find fabric or paper that I like. It's nice to finally put it to good use so it isn't sitting on a shelf somewhere unappreciated. And don't you worry - I still have some left for another project!

What are your favorite baby shower gifts to give and/or get?

back in action

Here I am - back in blogging action! It's been a busy month - lots of driving, baking, creating, etc. I'm ready to get back to posting, so I'm committing to 7 blog posts in 7 days . Keep checking back because not only am I going to be sharing some fun stuff, but I'll also be doing a little giveaway at the end - oh yeah! Still not sure what it will be, but I'll come up with something.

As for the picture above, this is what the sky looked like as I pulled into Shelley over Labor Day weekend. I see an alligator in the clouds - what do you see?

amber waves