thank you adafruit

Thank you to Adafruit Industries for linking to my blog on decorating eggs!  That's Limor "Ladyada" Fried on the cover of Wired magazine.  You can find out more about her and Adafruit and the awesome projects they do here.

a walk in the woods

It's still chilly around here, but over the weekend we went for a long walk in the woods with Benny.

rock collection

I'm very proud of my rock collection...especially that huge hunk of mica that I found at Ruggles Mine in NH- when I was 10 years old it was my most prized possession.

decorating eggs: high-tech vs. low-tech

I recently rediscovered my Ukrainian egg decorating supplies, and, coincidentally, the same day my Dad surprised me with a gift- an Eggbot and an amazing rainbow selection of Sharpies!  You're probably asking- what's that? An egg robot?  Well, sortof...from the Eggbot web site- "The Eggbot is an open-source art robot that can draw on spherical or egg-shaped objects from the size of a ping pong ball to that of a small grapefruit." It's controlled through your computer, and it comes as a kit that you have to assemble.  That was the fun part for my Dad, and the fun part for me is going to be creating designs for the Eggbot to draw on the egg using Inkscape, a freeware illustration program similar to Adobe Illustrator.  I haven't gotten that far yet, but I have made a few eggs using the sample designs.

  

 The far right egg in the front row was my first try...tip #1: read all of the directions first. ; ) If you do you'll get something that will make you very happy, like this:

 

The Ukrainian egg (or pysanky) decorating method is a lot of fun too.  It takes some getting used to the way the wax flows through the kistka, and figuring out what order to cover and dye the lines in, but once you get started it's quite absorbing.  If you're in the Burlington, VT area, Boutilier's on College St. is a good place to get supplies. This time of year they do frequent Ukrainian egg decorating demos. Also, learnpysanky.com has tons of info and free instructions.

 

Once you mix up the dyes, they last for several years as long as they're tightly sealed.  These are 4 years old.

 

Beeswax, matches, kistkas, egg-blowing tool.  I forgot to include a candle, which is what you use to heat the kistkas with so you can scoop up some wax.

 

Finished eggs: the two on the right are by me, and the beautiful cameo egg on the left was made and given to me by a friend.

I'm hoping to make more Eggbot eggs and Ukrainian eggs before Easter.  If I do, I'll be sure to share the results!

vintage finds

 Dansk Kobenstyle enamel pitcher and Replogle Globe

fancy trash can with a sloppy paint job

Some pretty vintage finds from this past weekend...think I'll scrape/sand the trash can and spray paint it white or a bright color, although I kindof like the beige...hmmm.

pizza and sunsets

I've been laying low the past few weeks, well month, I guess...has it been a month already?  March went by quickly, probably because I spent most of it in a cold and flu induced fog.  I still have a cold hanging on, but I think it's the home stretch.  So happy that we're finally getting some warmer weather here! What I've been doing besides going to work and resting up is a lot of reading, some small sewing projects (like pillowcases-easy but satisfying), going to classes (business and Adobe Illustrator), and thinking up ideas for new projects.  Some of the great books that I've read recently that I highly recommend are: Little Bee by Chris Cleave, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg.  The next books on my to read list are: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Last night, Johnny and I went to August First's Flatbread Friday for the first time and it was awesome! Very crowded, but we got there right at 6pm, and got some seats. It's $12 per person for all you can eat pizza and salad- the pizzas would disappear almost as soon as they put them out.  My favorite was one with sweet potatoes and walnuts.  I snagged a slice of the chocolate chip dessert pizza on the way out and we walked a few blocks down to the waterfront to admire the view...along with many other people.  All in all, an excellent way to spend a Friday evening.  Hope you're having a nice weekend!