Author Archives: Chelsea

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About Chelsea

I am a small town girl. I came to Austin to study at The University of Texas, and a very handsome boy sat behind me in class. I love baking, sewing, watching movies, laughing, and willing my plants to grow.

things that caught my eye/ fifteen

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Some things I found this week:

If it doesn’t rain again, we are going to try to go kayaking, and do a little sunbathing to get rid of these obvious farmer tans we are rocking. Then our weekend will be filled with the normal things like mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, watching all the xmen movies in chronological order, and taking pictures of our plants.purpleflowers

polly does not want a cracker

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Because this bird is made of felt, and is not that demanding. These little parrots took some time to make, but it was really fun watching them get pieced together. Plus they are super colorful and happy looking. The pattern is from this book full of bird crafts, because when their chirping wakes you at the crack of dawn, we have to be reminded that birds are still pretty cool.

parrots1 parrots2

sourdough/ week ten

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We saw some really excellent looking focaccia bread at the store last week. I spent a couple minutes thinking to myself if sourdough focaccia was a thing, then consulted the internet, and the result was yes, it is a thing.focaccia3

I loosely based my focaccia experiment on this recipe here. It was mostly cloudy outside, so it didn’t rise as much as I was thinking, but there will be no problem at all putting it in our bellies. Put some pesto and cheese on this, and call it dinner.foccacia2 focaccia1

walton’s fancy and staple

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Ahhh. Bakeries and plants. My two favorite things. The toast at Walton’s Fancy and Staple is delicious, and the indoor plant game is on point. It probably helps that they are also a florist.walton1 walton2

Well, looky what I found! Maybe next weekend I can talk myself into buying some.walton3 walton4

Jon’s new phone has turned him into quite the artsy photographer. I like it lots.Screen Shot 2014-05-27 at 9.52.16 AM

things that caught my eye/ fourteen

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Some things I found this week:

  • A pretty reminder for watering houseplants.
  • Fun baking contest! The video makes it look so easy.
  • Speaking of baking videos, I have watched this video of a bakery in action many times.
  • I always say I want our yard to look garden party ready, and this dress would be cute for all these hypothetical outdoor gatherings.
  • Candles for book lovers.

We finally made and ordered a photo book with our wedding photos. I added in a bunch of craft project, making-of photos too, so it will be more the size of a short novel. Its been on my to-do list for almost a whole year now, and we can’t wait until it arrives!linkcactus

leftovers: frittata

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I am thankful we both fall into the love leftovers category. We both have the odd foods we like better cold, and leftover dinner makes an easy work lunch the next day. We’ve been playing with recipes from this cookbook lately, and even though it specifically says its for two people, it can still be A LOT of food. So we still end up with extra.

This week, we made a frittata with some potatoes, asparagus, and red pepper for dinner. Yum, but I can’t eat half a pan of frittata in one sitting, so…

1. A breakfast frittata-co! Chop and heat up frittata, stick in tortilla, add some avocado, and you have a colorful breakfast taco.frittata1

2. Frittata-quiles! Chop and heat up frittata, crush up some blue corn tortilla chips and heat them up in a pan with some salsa, and stick them both on a plate together.frittata2

pie date

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We decided our summer thing (sometimes we skip spring here, so we need to plan early) is to go get pie. I LOVE pie. Pie is perfect. It fits any occasion, season, mood. Pie is happiness, and I want perfume that smells like it.

Our first pie adventure was to Quack’s Bakery. It was a not too warm evening, and we sat outside, sharing pie with friends. We shared a slice of peach pie and chocolate cream. And somehow the air vents wafted fresh pie right past our noses, and I wanted to camp in their parking lot forever.

piedate2piedate1

(second photo from here) I was too busy deciding on types of pie to be bothered with photos.

making it work

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I managed to finish three new garments last week. (I watch Project Runway while I’m sewing. Makes me feel more legit.) I only planned on two, but I ended up having a little extra fabric, so I was able to squeeze out one more.

First up is this fancy little shirt with a peter pan collar. The fabric is super light and perfect for hot summers. I already want to wear it everywhere.

collarshirt collarshirt2

Next we have a striped tank dress. I have made this pattern before, but with sleeves. I was really nervous to work with a stripe, since its pretty obvious if it turns out crooked then, but I have to start somewhere!

stripedress2 stripedress

I had a little extra of the stripe material, since I didn’t make any sleeves, so I made it work with another tank top pattern! I like all the different stripe angles. I think this design would lay a little better with a more flowy fabric, but it was nice to get used to the pattern, and its definitely still wearable!

stripetank1 stripetank2

basil lemon water

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We planted a whole bunch of basil this spring. We read that bugs tend to not like the smell of it, or maybe the strong smell just confuses them. The smell mostly makes me hungry, so those bugs are really missing out. We have basil growing in a box on the back porch, some in the herb garden in the front yard, and some in containers near the vegetable garden. So now, we have a list of basil recipes to try for the next couple months.

One of the new recipes we tried was simple lemon and basil infused water. We cut up some lemon slices and added some basil leaves to ice water for a nice, refreshing drink. Pretty to look at, too.

basilwater