My friends are my estate. -Emily Dickinson

I am almost wiped out! Alex moved into our new apartment this past weekend (I’ll be moving in slowly over the next few weeks since my lease isn’t up until June). We had six friends helping us out (Yay Caitlin, Laura, Lesley, Julie, Dilan and James; you guys rock!), and it didn’t take too-too long but it was pretty tiring. I also had to go over to my current apartment for a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday to clean and straighten up because my landlords want to start showing it soon. I cleaned the oven…which is something I don’t ever want to have to do again in my whole life; I have at least 10-12 cuts and scratches on my hands from the rust, etc. Tonight’s goal is to get the kitchen all unpacked so that at least we have somewhere to cook. Once I get all of my stuff moved in and unpacked maybe I’ll post a couple of pictures.

One of my favourite blogs to read is LollyChops and if you haven’t checked it out, you definitely should! Lolly is a great crafter, really inspiring, and a truly wonderful web-friend. Last week I found a package from her waiting in my mailbox. Here is what it contained:

I love the fabric covered magnets; and the cork butterflies are for this doing THIS tutorial on Lolly’s blog. She also sent a nice little note and one of the inside packages was sealed with a very cute sticker that I know Lolly made herself. Lolly is having gallbladder surgery tomorrow; I know that she’ll come out with flying colours. There may just be a crafty-fun care package headed your way within the next couple of weeks Lolly! Extra big pre-surgery HUGS!!

It was Laura’s birthday on Friday. I got here these really neat Monster Magnets made by Mudpuppy:

I finished up Pride and Prejudice last weekend. Of course it was amazing; it’s one of my favourites! I can never say enough about it. No matter how many times I read it, it never seems stale or loses any of its brilliance. I also read Star Sullivan by Maeve Binchy in about an hour last Saturday. I didn’t like it as much as I’ve liked others by her. The ending was kind of depressing; I get what she was trying to say about the main character and about who she had become, but it fell a bit flat. Still, it was a super-quick read and I love Maeve’s style. All in all it was time well spent. Currently I’m reading Katharine Graham’s autobiography Personal History and I’m enjoying it so far.

My fabrics also arrived last week, but I forgot to take a picture of them to share. I’m trying to figure out what fabrics I need to order for various things around the new apartment. Alex and I had decided on one of the prints from Moda’s Arcadia collection for the living room pillows, but then when we moved in we realized that the living room walls were more of a sage green than a blue-gray like we thought. I recall the colour being a tad different, but I think it really depends on what time of day it is. I’d really like to do them in the Moss Painter’s Palette from Erin Michael’s Lush collection, but I think mostly because I’m in love with the fabric and can’t think of anywhere else I could use it. I know…my name is Kaye and I have a problem.

Because I mentioned it last time, here is my 1917 (26^th impression) edition of Anne of Avonlea. As far as I know it is the earliest pirated edition (Grosset & Dunlop) of this book. Here’s the cover (sitting in front of my sewing machine):

The frontispiece is badly foxed and the tissue paper overlay was torn out when I got it, but I still love it:

Just for fun here is the front cover of my 1940 edition of Anne of Ingleside:

You can see just a small part of my Lucy Maud Montgomery collection in that picture also (some astute readers may see three copies of Irene Gammel’s Looking for Anne in the picture. I explain what happened in THIS post and THIS post). My 1911 edition of Kilmeny of the Orchard is actually being hidden in this picture; maybe I should take pictures of it to show too! I can’t wait until I’m finally moved all into the new apartment so that I can take pictures of whatever I think of when I think of it.

Before I forget, Lolly and FujiMama have teamed up and are doing a whole week devoted to cupcakes! You can check out either of their blogs to get the scoop.

May the 4^th be with you (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist). Happy Star Wars day!

To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul.- Cicero

I found something that makes me absolutely giddy yesterday! But let’s not begin there. First off, I finished Syrie James’ The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen last week and I really enjoyed it! I’ve never been a fan of those books that continue Jane Austen’s novels and stories, but this was different and highly readable. It was exciting to read what may have been and it was nice to imagine that Austen had a passionate love affair that inspired the emotion in her novels (who knows? It really could be true). I’m currently reading Pride and Prejudice again (after reading James’ book I was in serious need of a Jane Austen fix) and am still reading Elizabeth Waterston’s book whenever the mood strikes. I also picked up a copy of After Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery’s Letter to Ephraim Weber, 1916-1941 by Hildi Froese Tiessen and Paul Gerard Tiessen on Saturday ($4.99 at BMV!) and have been thumbing through that. Why do I persist on reading three or more books at a time?! It’s baffling and I always feel like I’m not making good enough progress through them. Oh well, at least there’s always something around that I want to read when certain moods strike.

Alex and I rented a few movies this weekend and I must say that all of them kept my attention. On Friday night we watched Tropic Thunder; I thought it was really funny and the way that they filmed some of the scenes (especially the ones where they were trying to make it look like a serious movie) were beautiful. I love Ben Stiller and Jack Black and Jay Beruchel (who I’ve adored since I first saw him on Numb3rs; and he’s Canadian!) but Robert Downey Jr. totally stole the movie; he was amazing and hilarious!

Yesterday, we rented Enchanted and Slumdog Millionaire. Enchanted was tons of fun (Disney will always be in my heart); I loved the concept and all of the songs. Even Alex was smiling and laughing through the “That’s How You Know” number in Central Park. I most enjoyed trying to figure out which scenes were based on scenes from Disney animated classics. We watched Slumdog Millionaire last night and it was really well-done. There were definitely some really painful moments, but the whole thing was just superb (story, filming, acting, etc). I don’t want to give anything away as many people may not have had the opportunity to see it yet, but just one last thing: I loved the closing Bollywood dance number!

On Saturday, when Alex was out having dinner with some friends, I watched Penelope again! It is one of my favourite movies and I would really recommend it to everyone. The story is so great, and the colour and creativity of the whole thing are amazing!

Now, on to the good stuff! Yesterday morning Alex and I went to the St. Lawrence Antiques Market (across the street from St. Lawrence Market and happens every Sunday). I really have a good time every time I go; even when I can’t afford to buy some of the things I want, it’s just nice to go and look at everything and dream. I usually go to look for books, and vintage linens and fabric. Literally the first box of books I went through held exactly what has been making me giddy for over 24 hours now. I found a first copy of Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery…and it has its dust jacket! Here’s the front cover:

It’s not in the greatest condition, but the guy sold it to me for $3.00! He said that it wasn’t about the money, he just wanted to make the box lighter. Now that’s my kind of seller! I’m just so happy and even though the dust jacket is a little beat-up, the book itself is tight, and just looking at it makes me smile. Here’s a picture of the frontispiece (see how nice it is!):

I want to see if I can find someone in Toronto who will put the dust jacket into a Mylar cover for me. I’m a little scared to do it myself since there are little pieces trying to come off. It was really hard to take pictures of the cover and frontispiece since the background of both pictures is silver and the flash kept glaring; it wasn’t working out so well when I tried to do it without the flash (and my hands kept shaking too). Maybe I should take some pictures of my 1917 Anne of Avonlea to share with everyone; that could be fun!

I’m just waiting for my shipment of fabric to come from Quilt Home, hopefully it will arrive tonight and then I can share some pictures of that too (oh, and my butterflies from Lolly)! Nothing much more to say really other than that I hope everyone is having a great Monday (even though it is gross, gray, and rainy here). I will be spending the evening with my bestest friend Evan, watching some America’s Next Top Model and eating Chinese (because I am no model)!

Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.- Pablo Picasso

Last night, Alex and I went to his parents’ house for Passover. The food was great (his Mum can definitely cook!), I especially loved the lamb. We had a good time, but I was very tired by the time we got back to Toronto. We also signed the lease on our new apartment yesterday and we’re both super-excited to move in; I think it will be great. Our apartment is in an old mansion called Chadwick House and I may just have to refer to it as Chadwick House from now on (in lieu of “our apartment”) or maybe I’ll give it a nickname like Chaddy or Wickie. I just love the thought of living in a house that has a name (that may be a little L.M. Montgomery nostalgia).

Tonight we are going out for Lesley's birthday. I bought her a book called The Little Black Dress: How to Make the Perfect One for You by Simon Henry. She's just started taking a sewing class and I wanted to get her a book that would be a source of inspiration.

I also made her a little stuffed chick in honour of her birthday being so close to Easter and will be making her a card tonight. I'm also making my Mum a couple of chicks for Easter and hopefully when they're all done I'll be able post a picture of the happy chick family. I got the free pattern from Jojoebi Designs and am planning on enlarging it for at least one of them.

I stumbled across a very cool blog on Tuesday via Living Locurto; it's called Just Something I Made and it's written by a lady named Cathe Holden. I'm really enjoying her blog so far; she talks quite a bit about crafting in a fun way and is really great at explaining things in her tutorials. One of the things that I really enjoy is her page of free blog gadgets. Three of the gadgets I have on my page were made by her (she's also a graphic designer); those would be the email gadget, the Twitter gadget, and the older posts gadget at the bottom of the page. She has a lot of them in a ton of different styles, and I had a ton of fun deciding which ones to use. I especially love the little email one because it looks like stitching. You should definitely go and check her out, even if you don't need blog gadgets; just go and read her great blog!

The Recipe Box Swap: Chicken Cacciatore

Ya, it's Recipe Box Swap time again! This month's theme is pasta. Many people might consider this recipe I'm sharing to be more of a chicken recipe, but it also has pasta (and the sauce alone without the chicken makes a great accompaniment to pasta). I'm really proud of this recipe; it's one that I came up with myself a couple of years ago and I think it's pretty darn tasty! I usually don't measure when I cook this, so the measurements for the spices, etc. are really just my best guesstimates. Also remember that I'm Canadian, so some of my measurements are metric. Please feel free to let me know if you think I've omitted anything (I just wrote up the recipe this morning). Without further ado, here you go!

Kaye’s Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
10-15 button mushrooms, quartered (about one cup)
1 medium/large red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 medium green zucchini, roughly chopped
1 28 fl oz can of stewed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ cup red wine (optional)
1 tsp sugar
½ tbsp dried basil
½ tbsp dried oregano
dash of nutmeg
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1 900g package of linguine or fettuccine (I usually use whole wheat)

Heat oil in large skillet and brown chicken on all sides (about 10-15 minutes). Remove chicken from skillet and set aside (keep warm if possible, I usually store it in the microwave).

Sauté onions, garlic and mushrooms in the same skillet until onions are tender.

Add all remaining ingredients, except pasta, to skillet, mix well, and bring to a boil, reduce heat. Return chicken to skillet (try to make sure that it’s completely covered by the tomato and vegetable mixture). Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and chicken is heated (and cooked) through. Adjust seasoning to taste. Cook pasta while skillet mixture is simmering.

Serve chicken and vegetable mixture over pasta, serves 4-6 people.

I hope you enjoy!

It is a fallacy to think that original design can only be achieved after years of training. -Constance Howard

I had some fun news in my email inbox this morning; I won the $20.00 Link-of-the-Week Giveaway from QuiltHome.com! Basically, if you put a link to the QuiltHome site on your blog they enter you into a giveaway to win a $20.00 store credit. Thanks so much to everyone at QuiltHome, I’m super-excited to get some new fabric! And the newsletter special for this week just happens to be Heather Bailey, who I absolutely adore, so I’m thinking that’s the way I’m going.

I also bought a lovely book this weekend. I read the whole thing on Sunday and can’t wait to get started on a new project. Maybe it’s fate that I won the QuiltHome giveaway and found this book, hmmm…This book is by Amy Karol who is really talented (you should read her blog, Angry Chicken, she is funny). This book has beautiful pictures, the instructions are simple and well planned, and the projects are all really cute and fun. I recommend it!

P.S. Heather Bailey also has a wonderful blog that you should check out: Hello My Name is Heather.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. -Eleanor Roosevelt

It’s been a little bit since I’ve posted. Almost everyday I think of things that I want to post about and I keep them all written down on a piece of paper on my desk. I’m going to try and get through mentioning at least a couple of these things today.

First off, the biggest news of all:

I got in to the Master’s program I applied to at the University of Toronto! That’s the University above; I also did my undergraduate here. I got into the Master of Information program, and the grand plan is to be a librarian. I may also take some courses from the archival stream as well; I find archives and collections very interesting (I also used to work at a museum here in the city). I’m super-excited and can’t wait for fall. I am also a little stressed and am worried about whether or not I’ll get a scholarship; I’ll find out in a few weeks or so. I’ll be leaving my job at the end of July, and then possibly going to a cottage in Quebec with Alex and his family for a couple of weeks.

I also wanted to post a picture of the pillow that Alex got me as part of my Valentine’s present; I just think it’s so gosh darn cute and kinda quirky. It’s from Urban Outfitters.

I had the pillow case(s) that you can see underneath for as long as I can remember. They’re really pretty, and have doves and ribbon and little flowers embroidered along the opening.

My Mum brought me my new (not actually new obviously, but new to me) sewing machine that my Grandmother gave me in February. It’s a Singer Stylist 513, and it is definitely better than my old clunker. It also has its case, which makes it easier to move around and less likely to get dusty. I realized after my Mum left that she had brought me the wrong manual for it, so she’s ordered one for me from the Singer website. They have a really neat system there – if they have an original copy of the manual they’ll send it to you. If they don’t have an original they send you a spiral bound facsimile. I think that’s pretty neat. Here’s my machine, she ain’t much to look at but I love her.

I’ve almost finished up Alex’s new owl; he’s been christened Hemingway (I even embroidered his name onto a piece of felt and attached it to his backside). I have so many ideas in my head of the things I’d like to sew and craft, but find it difficult sometimes after work to motivate myself because I’m just so darned tired. Hopefully I get Hemingway done soon; I feel kind of bad that he’s not done.

One of my best friend’s, Jenna, is getting married in July and I’m in the process of getting the materials I need for her wedding present. I can’t say what it is here, because I’m not sure if she’ll read this or not. I’ll post after the wedding though and let everyone know what it is.

I think I’ve finally got the fabric all together for Alex’s quilt (although I have no idea when I’m going to find the time to get it done). The center print is Alexander Henry’s Spotted Owl in white, and I think it will go very nicely with the yellow gingham, and green, white and blue plaid. He’s already seen all of the fabric, so this isn’t giving anything away (good plan: iron fabric).

Now onto books! I’ve read a few books since I last posted about them, except for the life of me I can’t remember what all of them were. It’s driving me a little crazy; I can only remember two. I know that I finished up Maeve Binchy’s Heart and Soul, which I had mentioned that I was reading last time. It was pure Maeve Binchy – no pretense, no soppiness, and I love how characters cross over between books (but you don’t have to have read the others to get the story; the stories are deeper if you have though).

The last book I finished was Alistair MacLeod’s collected short stories, Island. It was fantastic. I love the way that MacLeod writes, everything is real and harsh, but beautiful at the same time. He’s a born storyteller, and it was even better reading his work after hearing his voice and seeing him in person. I love his stories and I know that I’ll some back to them again and again.

Currently I’m reading three books. The first is one that I first read in the 4^th grade (I believe) called Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. It’s super short, but so well written. A movie of it was made a few years back with Alexis Bledel (Rory from Gilmore Girls) as Winnie. I’ve been reading it before falling asleep every night (interspersed with doing the New York Times crossword with Alex). For light fun I’m reading The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie Jones, which is based on the premise that Jane Austen left memoirs which reveal a personal love story that was the inspiration for her novels. My heavier reading is centered on Elizabeth Waterston’s Rapt in Plaid: Canadian Literature and Scottish Tradition. Waterston has written a lot on L.M. Montgomery and that is how I first became interested in her other works. I will admit though that I started the book by reading the chapter on Montgomery and J.M. Barrie, and then went back and started from the beginning. I’m like that.

I’ve been mulling over ideas for the paper I want to submit for the 2010 L.M. Montgomery conference at the University of Prince Edward Island. The abstract is due in June, so I better get motoring. Alex and I did a little bit of research the other night and talked over some ideas; hopefully I’m on the right track.

That’s about it for now! Have a wonderful day everyone!

The Recipe Box Swap: Tea Biscuits

I wanted to take part in the Recipe Box Swap this month and lucky me it was no-theme month so I got to choose whatever I wanted to share. This recipe comes from one of my all-time favourite cookbooks, The Purity Cookbook. The edition I have is a 2001 reprint of the 1967 edition, but the cookbook has been around for a long time. The maker of Purity Flour, Western Canada Flour Mills Co., was founded in 1905 and I believe the first edition of the Purity Cookbook was released in 1917. I believe that you can still get the 2001 reprint and I highly recommend it.

A tea biscuit dough should be soft but not sticky. A little kneading improves the quality of the biscuits, but should be done with a gentle touch as too much handling tends to make them tough.

Tea Biscuits, BASIC RECIPE

Preheat oven to 450F
Blend or sift together
2 cups Pre-Sifted PURITY All-Purpose Flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Cut in finely
1/3 cup shortening
Add
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
Stir with a fork to make a soft dough.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 8 to 10 times. Roll or pat to desired thickness, (biscuits will be doubled in height when baked). Cut out with a floured cutter.

Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet, close together for soft-sided biscuits or about 1″ apart for crusty-sided biscuits.
Bake in preheated 450F oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
Yield: 18 to 20 - 1 3/4″ biscuits.

You have no idea how good these tea biscuits are. They may sound simple, or even bland, but they are really homey, cozy, and perfect. Also remember that since this is the basic recipe that you can add whatever you want (raisins, berries, cheese, etc) to change them up.

Follow this link to see who else is swapping this month: The Recipe Box Swap