I’m losing my mind a bit over these brilliant pie lollipops from Luxirare.

Thanks go out to Wendy who emailed me the link, and I also spotted it over at Cakespy.

Too hot to cook? Too hot to even prepare drinks that require shaking? I can relate, it’s hot here. (Seriously, it was 103 in Seattle yesterday. Nobody in Seattle has air conditioning. Temperatures over 90 get old really fast.) The only thing to do is buy a bag of ice and some grapefruit juice, make some Salty Dogs and sit in front of a fan.

Salty Dog
• salt the rim of a glass
• fill glass with ice
• one part gin (or vodka), three parts grapefruit juice
• retreat to cool area

If you’re not a salted rim sort you can skip it, that is called a Greyhound. There are conflicting reports on whether gin or vodka is the proper spirit to use but, let’s face it, it’s too hot to give a damn.

These Plate Bowl dishes (no, seriously, that is what they are called) are my new perfect picnic plate. And probably a Let’s Eat In Front Of The TV plate as well. It’s got tall sloping sides, but enough of a flat bottom that you can cut things. We used them for salads yesterday and the sides prevented my cherry tomatoes from rolling off the edge and across the floor. Win!

The first summertime Urban Craft Uprising (big huge indie craft show) is happening here in Seattle next weekend. If you’re going I want to advise you to seek out the booth for Dave Sheely Designs. He makes most excellent resin rings embedding things like sea shells and beach glass. However, my current favoritest thing of his are the Esther pendant necklaces shown above. If you have a chance ask him how the Esther rings came to be.

Urban Craft Uprising is this Saturday and Sunday, August 1st and 2nd, from 11 to 5 both days at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. What better way to hide from the Blue Angels show?

Wow, a lot of people came out for the Yarn Yard Sale. We had been worried that we would just be dragging all of our stuff home at the end of the day but most everything was sold. I’m so glad, thank you all for giving our stuff good homes.

Sadly, I also sold some buttons I didn’t mean to. If anybody knows the lady who bought my bag of buttons could you have her get in touch with me? My grandmother’s buttons, which have a lot of sentimental value, were mixed in with them. I’m a fool, I know, and should have kept them safer. I’m heartsick over this.

Above is some of the fabric I’ll be selling at the Yarn Yard Sale this Saturday. Getting ready for the sale is taking a bit more energy than I anticipated. I have more fabric remnants than I thought, besides the ones on my shelves I found a few bundles in my closet I had forgotten about. (Which is weird because they were all folded tidily and tied in ribbon, I have no memory of doing all that work.) I sorted them all out, refolded into smaller squares and stacked them into bundles like so:

I have ten bundles to sell, each with 27 fabrics (a few repeats) that are all roughly fat quarters. How much should I sell them for?

I’ll actually sort of miss them, they look so cheerful all stacked together.

So, to recap, this Saturday (that’s tomorrow) I’m participating in a yard sale where we’ll mostly be selling off the fabulous yarn we’ve accumulated and love but realize we won’t use. In addition to some non-wool yarns (All Seasons Cotton! Blue Sky Cotton! Comfort! Some weird chunky slub yarn from Daiso!) I’m also selling fabrics, ribbons, purse frames, crochet hooks and whatever else I find as I excavate my studio room. The sale is tomorrow, if you live in Seattle please do come by and see what we have.

Yarn Yard Sale!
Saturday, July 25th
starting at 10:00 a.m.
9504 40th Avenue NE, Seattle, 98115

yard sale map and Google map

Spicy, Citrusy Black Beans Recipe | Simply Recipes.

I need famous drinks from famous books. | Ask Metafilter.

On Beyond Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers | Ask Metafilter.

CakeSpy: Look To The Cookie: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Timeline.

The Great Omelet Hero Quest « Pink of Perfection.

angry chicken: a fruit-filled cookie-cake type of awesomeness.

In the Freezer: Turkey Chili « Pink of Perfection.

Do you love really pretty yarn? Do you make things out of nifty fabric? Do you live near Seattle? Come to our Yarn Sale! Details:

Yarn Yard Sale!
Saturday, July 25th
starting at 10:00 a.m.
9504 40th Avenue NE, Seattle, 98115

A few weeks back found some friends discussing our yarn stashes. They are, not unexpectedly, breathtaking in scope and ability to fill storage room in our houses. So we hatched a plan to have a yard sale for our yarn. We’ll also be selling some fabric yardage and collections of viable remnants.

We’ll have lots and lots of yarn for sale. We’ve been discussing amounts in terms of multiples of lawn bag sizes. And this is good yarn too, yarn that simply couldn’t be left behind but we’ve come to painfully realize won’t be made into anything while it’s in our care. We have plenty of matched dye lot yarn in amounts large enough to make a sweater. I have lots of nice non-wool yarn, and two of the sellers used to work for a yarn store so you know there has to be some special stuff in there.

If you see any of us buying yarn from somebody else’s table please, stop us. We need to be stopped.

Afterwards you can stop by some of the Wedgwood neighborhood offerings, the Black Pearl to pick up some spicy green beans, stop and buy some fruit at The Fruit Lady stand on 35th Ave NE at around 80th (near the Wedgwood post office), swim at Matthews Beach, and walk your dog or yourself at Magnuson Park. See? Full day, yarn and all.

update: Here is a map!

Ninja Umbrella– Better Living Through Design. Cute, and dangerous.

Please help find silver drinking straws! | Ask Metafilter.

Bike crush. « Chez Shoes. Asking for opinions on the Forge bicycles made specifically for Target stores, anybody? I want to know too.

Earth Angel, at Outblush. It’s a, no kidding, hand crank vibrator. Wowsers.

swissmiss | Sky Planter. I have a place for this in our dining room, I wonder if I could get an orchid to grow upside down like that?

Cool Tools: Homegrown Evolution.

What do you wish you would have known before you sold your house? | Ask Metafilter.

Woolly Wally Five. A modular wall gardening system, at Outblush.

How can I make my house into a home fit for a spy? | Ask Metafilter.

From top to bottom:

Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham. I got this one at the Small and Special Conference, both the book and conference had been recommended by Lauren of The Boss of You when she was in Seattle to speak to the Grassroots Business Association. I know this one has nothing to do with food, but I’ve been reading it while cooking rice instead of obsessively checking Twitter. Or at least I’ve been trying.

The next four books I got at the International Food Blogging Conference here in Seattle, which was excellently put together by Foodista:

Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl. I have not started reading this yet, but I’m eager to after listening to Ruth Reichl talk about it twice while she was here in Seattle.

The Devil’s Food Dictionary: A Pioneering Culinary Reference Work Consisting Entirely of Lies by Barry Foy. Scott reads to me from this while I’m cooking (our kitchen is a tiny one person sized space). My favorite is this description of modern day food: “there is both medical and social pressure to favor health-promoting foods at the expense of those that actually make life worth living.” It is followed by a table that gives lists Healthy on one side and the equivalent Tasty on the other. My favorites are “1/2 c. chopped parsley = 2 croissants + 1 1/2 pains au chocolat”.

Memorable Recipes To Share with Family and Friends by Renee Behnke. Everything in here looks fabulous and might actually get me to attempt to do some fancy cooking.

The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. Droolworthy, heavy and full of things I want to make right now. I especially appreciate the little tips includes in the corners of the pages.

These are the ones I use often and keep nearby:

How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Shortly after I bought this book a newly revised and updated version was released (with a red cover), I’m forming a strategy on how to get the new one for Christmas even though this one has not let me down.

Baking Illustrated by Cook’s Illustrated Magazine Editors. Though I’m a much better baker than a cook, I really appreciate all the detailed why information given here. This book was worth the price for the calzones alone.

CakeSpy: Cake Byte: Layer Cake Shop Opens!. An online cake supply company, I’m swooning over the cupcake liners (zebra!) and sugar decorations (tiki!).

Unique flavor combinations | Ask Metafilter.

Vodka + Watermelon = Crazy Delicious | Ask Metafilter. Tips on getting that vodka watermelon right.

I like almonds (the nut) and cherries (the fruit), but once they’re “processed” in any way, the flavor changes and I dislike it to the point where it’ll almost make me queasy. | Ask Metafilter. I find the same dislike of what the asker has, the thread seems to pinpoint what it is.

Chocolate On My Cranium: Petite Watermelons. Made using limes and red jello, so very cute. Via john cabrera.

Fancy Fast Food. A site dedicated to manipulating fast food meals into something that looks spectacular, with complete recipe directions.

Two friends asked about window film at separate times last weekend so I figured that as long as I was gathering the information again I might as well post it again. I’ve mentioned window film before and a lot of this information was previously gathered for this post on window film for my stint as Guest Blogger over at Design*Sponge.

I love window film for a (possibly) inexpensive way to cover windows that don’t have a view of much of anything. It’s a low commitment and easy to remove solution for renters, takes up no space at all for a window that is in a hallway or a door, and lets in a lot of light. I use it in the place of cafe curtains in a few places to only block out the bottom half of some windows.

There are a few options which I’ll list below going from expensive to cheap to unfamiliar to DIY, but first I want to give you a warning. This is the warning: beware using clear contact paper. It seems perfect, and a few years ago I used and removed it easily in my SF apartment. But the second time I used it and went to remove it the @#$%ing adhesive stayed on the glass. I spent a very long day surrounded by Goo Gone, Windex and various scrapers picking that @#$%ing adhesive off three windows. Tears were involved. Arms were unable to be completely lowered to my sides for a time. I think the adhesive formula had changed in the intervening years. So, unless you are ready and willing to go through this yourself I suggest you use one of the options below.

Strossel Design: I have the Geranium film in the window over my kitchen sink, it’s a much nicer thing to look at than my neighbor’s siding. Upside: It doesn’t have any adhesive. Downside: It’s expensive. The height of the panels work out well to block out the bottom half of a window. There are a number of patterns available, white on translucent. Available at Rare Device and Scandinavian Design Center. Strossel Design website.

Maria Liv: I really like the effect of branches just on the other side of the glass. I have not used this one but Ex Libris shows how she used the branches design to block the view in from windows next to her front door on Flickr. There are a number of designs, white or gray on translucent. You can find this at Scandinavian Design Center.

Gila brand film from a hardware store. I see this in the aisle of Lowes that has the window blinds. Most of the designs are less that lovely, but the plain frosted film is fine. Upside: The roll is very, very wide. Downside: The roll is very, very wide. The roll is wide enough that it can be difficult to find a surface big enough to measure and cut the size you need. I currently use this on the window in our office that, sadly, has a view of our neighbor’s holly tree which is encroaching on our roof. (The picture above shows some seams, which is only there because I accidentally cut the film too small and had to create an overlap.) This has a pretty strong adhesive backing, but I’ve had little trouble removing it using the accompanying Gila brand removal spray (you can borrow mine if you need it). Also a plus, the Gila film offers some UV protection. Gila website.

See also: Door Sixteen left a gap around the edges to create some privacy in a bathroom without completely blocking out the window. Megan B at Shelterrific used some film from Window Film World to create a bit more privacy for the sliding glass doors in her kitchen without losing the light. I also really like the modern vertical slat design (first image) created using frosted film in this living room shown off over at Apartment Therapy.

Amorf Frost film from Ikea: I found this in the Bathroom section of the Marketplace. Upside: It’s very inexpensive. Downside: The rolls are narrow and so are better suited to small windows, and the texture of surface of the film isn’t as nice as other films. I currently use this on a door which has a few small windows, and a small bathroom window. Backing is not adhesive, really easy to remove.

Emma Jeffs: I have not tried this, but the description says it has a slightly adhesive backing. It comes in a bunch of graphic designs and a few colors, my favorite is the white pixels. Available at 2Jane, Pure Modern and Design Public. Emma Jeffs website.

Brume: This is a company in the UK and I know very little about the film, but I love the cut out designs they have. With a little careful work with an exacto knife you could likely do something inspired by these designs. Brume website.

Trove: These are new to me, I only know them from a post at Design*Sponge. Pretty and motion filled designs, and it looks like the panels are very large. Trove website.

Application and removal of window film. I’m going to quote myself from the Design*Sponge post here:

Window film is applied by spraying the window with slightly soapy water. I simply put a drop of baby shampoo in a spray bottle and fill it the rest of the way with water. You don’t want to use something like a dish detergent as this will create too many bubbles which can be difficult to push out from under the film.

Before removing the film backing cut it to the size of your window, you can hold it in place to see if you need to trim a little more off. Spray the window with your soap mixture, peel the backing off the film and apply right away. The back, or smooth, side of the film is statically charged and will attract lots of dust if you remove the backing too soon. The small amount of soap in the water creates just enough surface tension to hold onto your window film, you can slide it into place while it’s still wet, and once it dries it will hold until you remove it. After the film is in place I use a clean, dry cloth to gently push air bubbles to the edges of the film so that they can escape.

Non-adhesive window film peels off cleanly leaving you with a little bit of soap you need to wash away, I used a regular window cleaner. Adhesive backed window film like the Gila film is more difficult to remove, but I was happy to find that the window film remover they sell worked like a charm to remove the film and any adhesive it left behind.

Image by and belongs to All Buttoned Up.

DIY options: There are a handful of DIY window film solutions as well. I really love this option at All Buttoned Up, she used a white-on-white cotton fabric soaked with spray starch to cover a window which turned out beautifully. Laundry starch will clean up easily. (I’ve also heard of people covering whole walls using a lightweight fabric and laundry starch. This frightens me as I imagine the clean up for a whole wall would be messy, but hey, it’s an option.)

Design*Sponge has a post on painting your own designs on window film. (I have to note again that I don’t recommend using clear contact paper because of the trouble I had getting the adhesive off the glass when I went to remove it. Use Gila or the Ikea stuff instead if you can.)

A few last notes on other things I’ve tested: One of the first projects I did on this site, way back in 2001, was testing what sort of DIY window film would work in my tiny San Francisco kitchen that looked out into the uninteresting space between buildings that did nothing but allow neighbors on four floors to see into my window. I used liquid laundry starch (which came in a bottle) to stick tissue paper on my window, a section of small squares of contact paper, as well as a section of various amounts of beer mixed with epsom salt. The tissue paper didn’t stay on the window long, the beer was fun (and can work as a holiday decoration) but the tidiest looking one was the clear contact paper. I used it for a year and a half in a San Francisco apartment and it came down cleanly (again, my later use of contact paper ended with tears during clean up, you’ve been well warned, etc.) Another thing I tried once up on a time was painting gesso directly onto glass. This worked well, and even covered the outside of a shower door without being affected by the water, but clean up was frustrating and I found myself tired of looking at brush strokes after not too long.

This month the Grassroots Business Association is holding an Ice Cream Social and we’ll have, yum yum, Molly Moon’s Ice Cream for you to eat.

The official copy:

This month we are inviting fellow business people, artists, crafters, people interested in starting their own businesses, etc. to our first Ice Cream Social. Grassroots Business Association started small but it has now grown to almost 300 members. We have had some amazing classes and events and have many more scheduled for the year. We wanted to have a social event since we have less time these days for social time. Come hang out with other small business owners, eat free ice cream sponsored by our friends over at Molly Moon’s and pimp yourself out. Who knows, you might meet future clients or customers, or find a web designer or find someone to photograph your wedding. And who doesn’t love FREE ice cream?

Find out all about this event here. It will be on Wednesday, July 15th, 7 p.m. at Vermillion in Capitol Hill (across and down the street a bit from the Value Village).

Don’t forget your business cards and other promotional items!

Tell me you’ll come? We’ll be back at Vermillion this month, and I miss having Grassroots meetings there (we outgrew the room, which is great! but I still miss it). I love everything that the Vermillion gallery has had in their space. Let us know you’re coming over at the Grassroots Meetup.com Group so we know how many spoons to bring.

Field Trip : Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm. Amazing view inside the PEI yarn mill that they use, some of the equipment is from the 1880s.

Yarn Farm, Part Three: A Tale of Two Yarns. At Twist Collective. This is another fascinating view of a yarn mill.

decor8 » Daisy Janie: New Organic Textiles For Spring!.

Can I dye normal clothing to super black status, thus fitting into my all-black work dress code? | Ask Metafilter.

Craftzine.com blog : How-To: Make Real Oilcloth.