‘Balentines Day’ has been absorbed into our family vernacular. Backstory is Roan couldn’t pronounce the letter ‘V’ when he was fresh to talking.
And its day is just around the corner. I’m not huge on the holiday, but this year celebrating anything seems appropriate.
And I am a big fan of the heart shape.
This shape is classic and I would guess never lost its appeal in some circles, but I believe my heart fascination is linked to my late 70s-80s childhood when it seemed to be everywhere. I had mugs, I had stickers, I had sparkly t-shirts. Its geometric shape merges in such a happy way with quilting and I love its adaptability with improv to create an irregular wonky shaped heart.
A storm last month knocked out our power in the middle of the night so we weren’t aware the basement’s sub pump wasn’t functioning. This facilitated the Christmas clean up that I’d stashed down there, but not put away. Since I was there I decided the Balentines decor should come up. It’s not our first rodeo with water in the basement so everything was up or in totes.
The mix and match of the pillows is getting a bit ridiculous, but using them as samples for workshops is always a good excuse to make more.
The half square triangle pillows merged with Christmas and are hanging on for Balentines.
Some of the Christmas stuck around too since their theme seems to jive.
So many pillows. We cracked up that we were a bit like that insurance commercial about old people being schooled before we all snuggled in on the couch and realized how comfy we were. Old people know stuff. It also made us realize that we can’t wait to kick off our shoes at someone else’s home and catch up sitting on THEIR couch.
Besides distracting myself with changing out pillows, I’ve been debating a new paint color for the bedroom. Pure Periwinkle has stood the test of time and two homes before we went neutral with Heavy Goose. I decided to go a new direction with a very green blue called Amazon Surf. I liked both colors with the red of the tansu chest and their tranquil feel, but if now isn’t a time for change then when?
The heart quilt is on the bed and some new ones with variation are in progress.
Besides the string quilt at the top of the post that I have a tutorial here, I created two other quilts with the heart shape that I use for class samples. I love my crushed hearts because, a) it’s purple and b) it’s got the best background of a mix of said purples.
Splintered Hearts is the other. It’s gotta be one of my favorite improv technique workshops to teach and even if you aren’t up for hearts the block lends itself to all sorts of design opportunities.
And of course there’s been cooking and baking. We’ve been having a Marvel movie marathon here, so I’ve been somewhat watching with a mix of my usual nose in a stack of cookbooks. Here’s just a few of the books I pulled from this week. (all are affiliate links;)
I found myself with ready to expire half and half, whipping cream and ripe bananas, plus a craving for pudding. I made my usual chocolate from Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe and tried a new to me butterscotch that was amazing from Flourless. Both poured over slice bananas. Delicious.
Looking through The Secret Lives of Baked Goods: Sweet Stories & Recipes for America’s Favorite Desserts I realized we had everything for rice crispy treats. I place rice crispy treats on the same bar with s’mores, everyone needs at least one a year. I had a little decorating error that ended with cutting it all into little bars and giving away to the neighbors kids. Not sure why I was thinking anyone needs one large rice crispy anyway?
The first day of the honey bundt cake with honey frosting from The Vanilla Bean Baking Book: Recipes for Irresistible Everyday Favorites and Reinvented Classics didn’t wow me, but the texture and flavor intriguingly bloomed after a couple days. Recommended by a student, I haven’t made a single thing from this cookbook that hasn’t impressed me.
I love plain pound cake with a cuppa coffee or tea. I’ve talked about Casella’s A World of Baking book before. It’s not a glitzy book, but it’s my go to for classics. I still want to try the tomato soup cake.
It’s bad, but I’ve started not just making heart shaped things, but collecting them. This is a problem when you’re a thrifter;) It started last year with the IKEA heart lamps from Ebay.
The heart bowl was a thrift find. Actually, pretty much everything on this shelf was thrifted. If you’re a Lord of the Rings follower you’ll know what I’m talking about when the words, “My Precious” were uttered from my lips upon seeing that bowl on the store”s shelf. Same with the pink Catherholm.
I blame Crate and Barrel for making this cute heart trivet that I had to have. Anything to distract from looking at the state of my kitchen. We’re getting close with our design though.
AND I blame IKEA for tempting me with these cute little jars to fill with candy for all my GALentines. They were just too cute to pass up.
Boss is my BIG valentine this year, all 50 pounds of him.
Happy Balentines and cheers Peeps, xoxo Katie
and P.S.
