Framing Fabric and First Pillow

This is where it all began...I was beginning to feel a little antsy with my long summer and, how should we put this--lots of "free" time at work.  I decided I needed a project and wanted to do something for our living room.  We have this amazing row house with a long, white wall right when you walk in.  No furniture on that wall since it acts as the walkway, and we've always had a hard time finding art for it.  I had read somewhere about framing wallpaper as a solution to buying expensive art, so I thought, why not fabric?  Of course, this obviously isn't a new idea as I ran into on All Things Orange as well...I found this super-cute fabric on Pottery Barn, of all places (who knew they sold fabric?) under sales.  It only came in 5 or 10 yrds, so I bought 5.  Let me tell you, that is a lot of fabric.  I bought four 16x20" frames at A.C. Moore and the rest is history!

Since I had so much fabric I also decided to sew a pillow. I don't have a sewing machine (yet), so it had to be done by hand.  Since it is just a plain square that was obviously easy.  I'm going to make a second, larger one for the couch (this is 16").  I love the green with the deep purple. Let me know if anyone wants some of this fabric or wants a pillow made....I have plenty to spare!

Oldies but Goodies

I couldn't possible go back and chronicle all past attempts at being a domestic goddess. However, here are a couple of instances where I felt a picture must be taken...so I guess that counts for something.

This was attempt at making a dish called Eggplant Timpale ala Giada De Laurnetiis. I'm not usually a big fan of her meals. They are either ridiculously simple (she made an Italian quesadilla the other day for crying out loud!) or deceptively difficult. This would fall more in the difficult category, but it was more putzy than hard to make. I did forget to squeeze all the bitter juice out of the eggplant, however, so the flavors weren't quite right. Next time...it still pretty though!
Ah, Thanksgiving! This picture is from the 2nd Annual East Coast Thanksgiving (circa 2006). The pie on the left is from my friend Clair, a delicious apple cranberry. The cake on the right was my contribution for the evening, Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Icing! I love all things pumpkin (the smell, flavor, color...) however the one thing I don't like is pumpkin pie! I think it must be the texture. This dessert is the perfect substitute. It is nice and moist, easy to make, and the frosting is to die for!!!

A Blog is Born!

Hello everyone and welcome to my first post! I decided to start a blog because
a) People have been saying I should
b) I have some time on my hands
c) Everyone else is doing it

Seriously though, I have been wanting to have some place where I could show my feeble attempts at domesticity as I try to explore my creative side. I have recently realized that I really enjoy domestic pleasures. I like to cook/bake, I read decorating magazines for fun, and I have just started getting interested in sewing. I also am in need of a creative outlet, a summer internship in a stuff office does not a happy-mind make! Therefore I've decided to dive into domestic-dom and see what types of things I can create.

In this blog you will be able to find my attempts at
baking/cooking
sewing/crafting
hostessing

I'll also be sharing any interesting ideas I come across on the numerous other websites/blogs related to these things. I was really surprised, actually at the number of 20/30-somethings who are delving into these type of things. Perhaps it is because we don't HAVE to cook/sew that now we actually WANT to? Things to ponder...