Tis the season!

Canning season, that is. I fell out of the habit the last couple of years, but in Christmases past I'd give tasty sweet things for presents to my coworkers, jams and lemon curd. I've decided I need to start up again, so am getting a head start. Tonight's accomplishment: 15 8-oz jars of papaya strawberry mango jam:



Next - bragging over a fun find. I dropped into one of my favorite antique stores during lunch yesterday and they'd just put out a bunch of antique keys, including some little bitty ones:



Ooooh, am I going to have fun with these!

Still continuing to get new pieces in the store. 38 days till Christmas!

Amazonite Briolette Earrings on Sterling Silver Earwires



Opalite Rectangular Glass Earrings on Sterling Silver Earwires



Red Coral and Brass Key Steampunk Necklace with Leaf Toggle Clasp OOAK



Steampunk Earrings Antique Crystal and Watch Parts with Rubies



Green Garnet Steampunk Necklace Antique Watch Part on Sterling Chain

A year in the making, day 292

A few pictures accumulated in the camera, but I neglected to download them yesterday.

To start off, a picture of Sunday's dinner, the savory bread pudding:



It was quite tasty, let me tell you.

And more tastiness was made yesterday, a new batch of jam, with strawberries, cherries, and peaches:



Yesterday, I also cut out the pieces for a new dress for myself. Ever since I received this necklace, I've been thinking I needed a spectacular dress with which to showcase it. I had some black on black fabric already, and when I went in search of a contrasting fabric for it, I found this wonderful white taffeta with a black velvet pattern:



The dress I'm making with it is McCall's M6097. For some reason, they have this labeled as a "Victorian" pattern.

...

*blinkblink*

...


Ooooooookay. I guess maybe because the back has a bustle? Even though the naming boggles the brain, it's still a lovely dress, and it's not the pattern's fault someone labeled it so ridiculously.

All the fabric got cut out yesterday, and I got the bodice together today. It's being modeled by Phyllis, my new dress form:





Tomorrow I'll tackle the skirt. Tomorrow afternoon, that is. Late tomorrow afternoon, most likely. I have a lunch date with a friend and a strawberry margarita.

A Year in the Making, day 253

Day one of busy weekend. Today, I rousted the family out of bed (husband) and away from the Saturday morning cartoons (munchkin), and we headed up to Seattle for the University Street Fair. After we had our respective toasty beverages, a double short latte for the husband, a chai for myself, and a hot chocolate for mini-me, we wandered up and down University Avenue to see the sights. We got there as it was just getting started, and not everyone was completely set up yet, but we also avoided the crowds and got a parking space just two blocks over, so it was a good trade-off.

There are a few pictures posted to my flickr photo album here, but the favorites went to my deviantart account.

My favorites we didn't actually see at the fair itself, but on the side road where we were parked. There was a wonderful flowering bushy plant:


Red Bush in Bloom 1 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

And there was an old beat up fire hydrant:


Hydrant by *dbvictoria on deviantART

At the fair, there was a booth filled with more of the metal flowers made from recycled metal signs and cars:


Metal flowers by *dbvictoria on deviantART

Unfortunately, he couldn't find his business cards, and I can't match him up with any of the vendors listed on the fair's site.

We had to check out the vendors at the farmers' market, and I finally got a shot of the water tanks that catch the rainwater off the top of the University Heights center:


Rain Tanks by *dbvictoria on deviantART

I also happened to snag a shot of Gasworks park on the way home:


Gasworks from I-5 by *dbvictoria on deviantART

And now we're home, and the husband has mowed the back yard, and we have some wild-caught fresh ahi tuna steaks for the grill, and I also managed to make a new necklace and a batch of blackberry jam:

Hammered Brass and Jade Necklace on Sterling Silver Wire and Chain