Chocolate Pie & Paper Lanterns

My latest dairy-free dessert experiment: cashew cream chocolate pie.

Made for my friend Hannah's surprise birthday picnic at Bash Bish River.

Some other Bash Bish pics, taken on a different day.

Lighting up the river for Hannah's birthday.

I have a recent obsession with making paper lanterns.

Lanterns, tea lights, and friends.

Heirloom tomatoes from the farm,
and pasta salad made by my roomie Vivian.

Laterns in the window, post river use.

Our back porch... my favorite place to be.

Working Hard

I've been busy sewing... Here are some of the dresses I've been making either for myself or for selling on Esty! The one with the mini scissor print is complete.


I also have some old pieces from school that I never wear. I'll probably end up selling this knit halter top that I made about 6 years ago at school.

Esty!

Finally! I now have my website set up on Etsy.com, a place where one can sell hand-made items, vintage pieces, or supplies for making things.

For the moment, I've only posted some hand-dyed bamboo fiber that's been taking up too much of my shelf space, but there are certainly more hand-stitched and home-spun goodies to come:

Please visit:

www.saraparrilli.etsy.com

Traces of Christmas

Though I haven't been up there yet to visit them, this year some of my handmade felt ornaments were featured on Jiminy Peak's tree up at the Berkshire Musuem's Festival of Trees, Pittsfield, MA. Sadly that meant my mom only had a couple to put up on her own tree this year, but they'll return home before next year. Within the next week I'm bound to go see them before the exhibit closes on Janary 4th, 2009.

The one thing I've realized with my animals is that if you've never seen them in person they appear much larger than actual size when photographed. Most of them are barely two to three inches in size! Some of the ones pictured here are new this year, including the fox, baby sea otter, and red bellied woodpecker, while the rest of this year's batch are up at the museum along with some oldies.

Mr. Fox

Baby Sea Otter

Red Bellied Woodpecker
Toucan
Mr. Bunny
Oscar, My Mom's African Grey Parrot
My mom made this circular one in the 1970s.

Some of my mom's more current work. She made a pretty tray out of ice, pine cuttings, and cranberries to hold the star-shaped ice she had been preparing over the last few weeks. She was very inspired by my friend Lena's blog and started researching more Scandinavian ideas.

Some ice stars in ginger beer! Mmm...

We also had a lovely hand-made beeswax candle from the Hawthorne Valley Yuletide Fair, that burns down into the shape of an angel.

Sweater Weather Report

As usually happens when I decide to focus on cleaning and organizing my life, I come across some material that inspires me to go off an a tangent and make something else. I found this old sweater that I never wear and decided to doctor it up by added a collar, a front closure (instead of keeping it pullover), and a few embellishments made up from my old knitting samples.

Barred Owl and Blue Jay

Two more animal ornament attempts. The owls are tricky and I think I will try to edit my pattern for this one even though he is still sweet.

Craft Night

Recently my friend Katie and I decided it would be a great idea to hold craft night every other week or so. This way we could be inspired to make things in an ongoing way, learn from each other's ideas, and encourage the giving of hand-made gifts during the holiday season as an alternative to buying them. Below I've included some photos from our first gathering, including the official invitation Mr. Bunny* was so inclined to create:

*Mr. Bunny is one of many Christmas tree ornaments I make for my mom each year. See some of the previous ones posted on one of my older blogs.

Mr. Bunny, Oscar my mom's parrot, and Miss Mousey introduce the event!

Woodpecker is the next to join the group.
Katie diligently sewing.I'm flying! Let's see who's working over here...Jess pausing between knit stitches to read up on some crafting ideas.Katie is proud to present Bluebird!Hello.I am so fine. Please check out my profile view.New friends flying together.OK, we'll calm down and stay still for just one moment.Close-up of Jess's jar cozy.
The morning after. My first latté ever. I am buzzed like a hummingbird!