Last week my husband and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary!  It’s hard to believe that a year ago I was immersed in mini-wedding planning.  To celebrate, we had dinner at the very same place where my husband proposed.  I,  finally, got one of our wedding pictures properly framed.  And I even bought a beloved cookbook to honor the occasion (because paper is the traditional first anniversary gift, right?).

Anyway, I remembered that I was going to post some post-wedding, “non-reception” celebratory photos.  Looking through them, I don’t have very many with actual people; I think I was too busy having a blast to take many photos which often happens!  So, I’m just going to post some of my more craft-related ones.

These pics are from non-reception #1 which took place at our home last October.  Rather, they were taken during preparations before anyone showed up.

Since it was October I wanted a slightly spooky theme but not in a costume-party kind of way (see our party invitations here).  The colors were black, white, silver, pink and orange.  In the photo, above, you can see our pretty bunting crafted with paper doilies, silver glitter card stock letters and black & white striped twine.  The wee cake is pre-wedding topper (silvery glitter initials much like the ones used in the bunting).  Originally I wanted to make a larger 2-tiered cake but became petrified by the thought as I’ve never made one.  But a sweet little cake plus cupcakes galore did the trick.  (By the way, the frosting was pearly and marshmallow-y, while the cake was yellow with chocolate chips.  So good!)

My lovely friend Kara, who came down for the weekend, was very kind and totally game for any party-decorating ideas I threw her way including decorating our high ceilings with paper streamers.

The mantle was decorated with various pumpkins, candles and a fabric-covered accordion-style scrapbook filled with photos from the wedding, backed with craft paper I printed and designed myself.  The plastic cauldron on the coffee table was later filled with candy for the young and young at heart.  (We did have real food, I swear, like cheese and dip and charcuterie, but those things were set out just before people arrived.)

Kara and I spent the previous night making these fun cupcake toppers with Victorian clip art butterflies in October-ish colors.  We (and by we, I mean Kara) put that scalloped paper punch to good use!

Oh, I can almost taste those cupcakes!

One of the best things about our little house is the lighting in the kitchen.  This main window faces the north/northwest and the light does not change much the whole day.  Even on the grayest of days there is plenty of light and I’m ever so grateful for this; I’ve lived in places that were dark and, really, I found it depressing.   This is the light in our kitchen right now: very bright and soft and white.  Yes, some of the doors are hanging off their hinges, the 80+ year old sink has seen better days but it’s really quite cozy, especially now.

My parents got us this Kitchen-Aid mixer as a wedding gift.   I know, I’m super fancy now.   I mean WE are super fancy.  So far I’ve made rapid rise bread with it (from the recipe book that came in the box;  pretty good but I’d like to try others) and some super fluffy cake frosting.   You know what would be really cool?  The pasta attachment.  Then I could make homemade pasta to go with my homemade lamb ragu (a household favorite).

And right now the weather in L.A. is perfect.  Very comfortable in the high 60s, bright and sunny, but not too hot to turn up the oven.  I’ve been brewing up all kinds of things lately which inspired me to make some fall-ish recipe cards.  I decided to post them as PDFs for free because, you know, I like you that much!

We’ve got a 4″x6″ recipe card:

And a 3″x5″ one too:

(Click images or links below to download.)  Just print them on your color printer, “best” setting, cut and go.

» Download: 4″x6″ Recipe Card

» Download: 3″x5″ Recipe Card

Oh, by the way, THANK YOU for the swan-love!  I’m so pleased you liked her.   She’ll have some friends soon.

Have a lovely fall-ish weekend!

Speaking of being tired, I’m feeling a little under the weather.  Besides lack of sleep, it must have something to do with the constant supply of chocolate chip and yellow cake, plus rum and sugar cane coke (in other words, sugar!) this past weekend.  Oh well.  My husband took me out for dinner since I didn’t feel like cooking and I had a nice, large bowl of tubu chigae which is spicy Korean tofu soup.  Despite my lack of desire to cook, I managed to make a trip to the grocery store after work when I was feeling ambitious in terms of what’s for dinner this week: grilled steak and arugula, French onion soup, roasted vegetables.  Oh, maybe some mushroom chicken too.   At the very least I can pop the vegies in the oven in the morning since they are not too much effort.

Anyway, on to sewing. Casey posted some wonderful vintage pieces she hopes to work on; my favorite being the 1930s jumper.  I love jumpers!  There is something very sweet and girlish about them, yet decidedly practical too.  I was inspired to look through my pattern stash and find some jumper patterns that I might want to work on.  I won’t commit at the moment, since you know how that goes!  I think it’s better if I practically finish something before I announce its inception on this blog, therefore we can all be pleasantly surprised by the finished product.

The pattern above is 1950s and the full-skirted version is pretty fabulous.  I’ve decided that I look good in this silhouette.  I wonder, though, if I could possibly have enough fabric?

I love this early 1940s jumper, on the right:

The blouse is pretty sweet too!

This early ’80s style reminds me of something my mom might have made and worn.  I even like that floral print.  It would be especially nostalgic in a fine wale corduroy.

I’m throwing in this non-jumper pattern because it’s another thing I find inspiring right now:

Oh my goodness, can you imagine me traipsing around L.A., sporting a bonnet??  But, really, too cute, yes?  Which one is your favorite?

I was looking for some photos in my folders which apparently don’t exist - have you ever thought you took photos of something but as it turns out, you didn’t?  Well, I’ll have to remedy that soon.  Anyway, I found some photos of a quilt I made for my friend Susan that I meant to show you last year but completely forgot!  I should probably share this with you know lest I want to wait until next fall.

Susan is distinctly an autumn person, at least in my mind anyway.  Anything maple-y/pumpkin-y/autumn-y makes me think of her and the cozy Arts and Crafts-inspired home she and her significant other have carved out for themselves.  (And I mean that almost literally - her boyfriend is quite skilled in wood-working and did most of the remodeling himself.)  For a long time I had been collecting fall-ish prints — acorns and autumn leaves, mostly — to make them a quilt, including some pieces found at a quilt shop on Bainbridge Island on a trip we took with her sister many years ago.

I think this pattern is called a Roman quilt although I’m not 100% sure of that.   It’s pretty easy to do but looks fairly intricate.  As you can see, 3 long rectangles to make a square; then each square turned 90 degrees from the one next to it to create the zigzag design.  The layers are held together with a variety of brownish buttons (ones that are smooth and flat so they don’t scratch or poke).

It’s a small thing, the right size for your lap, as you’re curled up with a book and a mug of tea.  I wish I had taken better photos of it but oh well, what can you do.  I’m happy with how it turned out and now it’s with Susan, where it belongs!

Speaking of tea, it’s time for mine.