new year and new quilt

happy new year everyone! here's a quilt i've been working on.

our christmas

dave and i decided to have our own little christmas dinner sunday night. it was a delicious steak and lobster feast. i made chocolate creme brulee, but it didn't turn out and made dave sick. oops. everything he made was great though!

and sad holidays

sadly, we came home from our holiday travels to a tragic situation. we could tell something was wrong right away when punch wasn't waiting for us and he hadn't eaten all of his food. i went upstairs to see if he was in his favorite spot and he was sitting on the floor of the guest bedroom. something didn't look right and so i tried to get him to walk to me and realized he couldn't use his hind legs. long story short, we had to make the decision to put him down. it was heartbreaking. the vet thinks that he had a tumor that was affecting his spinal cord and paralyzing his hind legs. there was not a whole lot that they could do for him. at least he had 11 years full of life.

RIP otto "monkeypunch". you were the best cat.

happy holidays!

i am finally finished with my 'real' job for the holidays and have off for 10 whole days, minus the one day i have to go in next week. hope everyone has a happy holiday.

and who says we don't have a christmas tree this year. they're everywhere in our house.


this one's my favorite.

suit fabric quilt

the philadelphia museum of art had a Gee's Bend quilt exhibit last year and it was so inspiring to see. the women of Gee's Bend made gorgeous and beautiful quilts out of worn out clothing or any leftover fabric they could find. this quilt was inspired by them and their craft. it is made from leftover suit fabrics that i picked up at an antique store and the backing is a tablecloth. they were not concerned with straight lines and neither am i. i think there is character and life in crooked, wobbly lines. not to mention in nature straight lines do not exist and nature is about as perfect as it can get.


check it out in the brandeye shop.

snow day

we got lots of snow yesterday and got a lot accomplished being stuck at home all day. i finally finished the christmas cards...

then walked moz down to the post office to send them. and had a couple snowball fights along the way. i lost.

finished a quilt!

dave made a kick-ass delicious meatball and sausage sauce.

then we crashed out early.

papernstitch

the brandeye shop is going to be a part of papernstitch starting tonight at midnight and running until January 14. check it out http://papernstitch.com/shop/brandeye.
papernstitch is a curated collection of handmade, vintage and art sellers. it's a really great site to find some last minute gifts, or something for yourself. i want to buy one of everything in the shop!

oh yeah, the goods

this is what i bought at the englishtown antique store.

englishtown, NJ - quite possible the best antique and furniture store

(at least that that i've been to.) last weekend jenn and i went to the englishtown antigues and used furniture . imagine a supermarket packed with reasonably (or downright cheap) priced antiques and used furniture from floor to ceilling. it was gigantic and we could have spent days here.
jenn got this buffet/hutch for $50, yes $50. delivery was twice that, but all together it was still only $150. i hope it was delivered full of all that junk, i want it.
somebody needs to go buy this. (jenn!) a huge mirror, the top even lights up.

fun with the mirror.


jenn also got the coolest orange dish warmer set. i was hoping she didn't buy it so i could, damnit!

fun stuff

i was making some bookmarks and thank you cards for packages the other night. i think stamps work much better with paint than stamp pads.
and three of my favorite things: cool bike (and other) stitches, multi-color thread and rick rack.

if you want some good old fashioned mail, e-mail me your address at brandiadoff{at}gmail{dot}com and i'll send one to you. or leave me a comment if i know your address.
xoxo (<--inside joke)

if life gives you lemons

or even if it doesn't... make limoncello. this is going to be a gift for lots of lucky people this holiday season.

using this recipe.

you may have also noticed our favorite drink, whiskey (and coke for me). zesting all these lemons gave me lots of injured knuckles, so you all better appreciate this :-)

new items in the shop

i added a few items to the shop. some i really want to keep for myself!



click here for the brandeye etsy shop

cyber monday SALE-20% off

20% off all items in the brandeye etsy shop.
this includes pet portraits...
AND
quilts...

and vintage...


just type brandeye20 into the comment box when you checkout and i will refund you the 20% through paypal.

quilt is finished and in the shop

i finished up my newest quilt this weekend and it's now in the brandeye etsy shop.


it would make a perfect christmas gift!

pappa al pomodoro or delicious tomato soup

i have this recipe book that i LOVE that friends of mine got us one year for christmas. it's called seriously simple by Diane Rossen Worthington. and look, i just did a google search and she has lots of recipe books HERE.
believe it or not, I actually made dinner the other night. well, not completely by myself, dave chopped the onions and garlic, but i did the rest! shocking, i know.

so this is the recipe, adapted from the recipe by Diane Rossen Worthington, from seriously simple.

i'll just call it:

seriously delicious tomato soup (with the optional sausage addition)

ingredients:
-1 28 ounce can san marzano tomatoes (splurge on these, they are worth it)
-a few tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (eyeball it, this isn't rocket science)
-a small onion chopped
-4 garlic cloves minced
-1/2 cup fresh basil chopped, plus garnish if you want to be fancy
-1/4 cup fresh sage chopped, plus garnish if you want to be fancy
-4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
-a loaf of delicious bread, italian, or a baguette, cubed (whatever you have around, stale bread works too)
-salt and pepper to taste
-parmesan cheese
-sausage (optional, we used turkey sausage)

directions:
1) in a medium soup pot, saute the garlic and onion in olive oil for a few minutes
2) add the fresh herbs and continue to saute for a few more minutes
3) add the tomatoes and broth (crush the tomatoes up in your hand before hand, in a large bowl, this part is fun and messy.)
4) bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 min.
5) if you want sausage involved in this recipe (it really is just as good without it), fry up some sausage in a separate pan, then add it to the simmering soup.
6) season with salt and pepper
7) ladle the soup into bowls, and add the cubed bread. toasting it first is nice too. garnish with herb leaves and parmesan cheese.


it is SO GOOD!!!

in-process quilt

i've been working away to finish this new quilt. all that's left is hand sewing the binding!

quilt sandwich.

screw hand quilting, machine quilting all the way!

and the scraps made a perfect little banner for myself :-) it just so happened to perfectly match a little painting of mine.

depending on how long the binding takes, it should be in the shop this weekend!

on it's way

i just love waking up on saturday mornings to a sale! yeah, the quilt is on it's way. it was my first quilt sale and i really need to finish the two i am working on!

lovely weekend

we had an excellent weekend and lots of free time to do whatever we wanted. we were pet-sitting kioshi, my parents dog and this pretty much sums up the weekend. just add some raking and delicious food and bowling party-time

apple fest

a few weekends ago we went to the apple fest, we go every year. the weather on the way looked like it might storm all day, but ended being perfect.
there were lots of apples involved.