Catch-up Post #3: #MeMadeMay

For those who follow me on Instagram, you know I (kind of) participated in the Me Made May project, in which crafters are encouraged to wear homemade items every day in May. I took the opportunity to make some new garments. Hopefully I'll make even more at Sewing Camp this week.

A tank and a romper made from the same batik. A nice batik makes any piece beautiful.

 

Work-appropriate top with hounds tooth and lace. 

Simple, no pattern chambray skirt. 

Refashioned shirt into tank with a great-grandmother lace overlay. 

Catch-up Post #2: PSAT Camp

As I alluded to in my last post, I've spent a big chunk of my summer getting ready for PSAT camp. For the past six years, our theme has been Hollywood, but this year, we're going Around the World. My co-teachers are crafty, but I'm not sure they enjoy it as much as I do, so I usually take the lead on the decor. Here's a post about Hollywood. Pretty impressive, right? We go big. Here's what I've done so far this summer: 

Painted flags on candy buckets. Kids love candy. 

Made four Brazilian fruit hats. We bought hats for each of our groups and could not find inexpensive and accessible hats for the Brazilian group. So I made them. More photos available on my Instagram. I like to pose.

Drew a bunch of signs. Inexplicably, I did not photograph the giant airplane I made, but these are the group signs, and photos of the kids will go in the head spaces. I am in love with these.

 

So suffice it to say, I'm excited for camp!

Catch-up Post #1: Tie Dye

This July I'll be teaching my usual summer camp. This will be the 7th year I've done it, and while you'd think we'd be good to go this year, we have a brand new test, brand new theme, and brand new school. So, yeah, not good to go. But we still have a month to get there.

Our theme is "Around the World" (a post on that later), and we'll be reading and doing activities from four countries. We have to find things that appeal to kids but can still involve learning. One of the activities we are going to incorporate is tie dyeing. Who doesn't love tie dye? And there's gotta be a math lesson there, right? In preparation for leading forty kids in a tie dye lesson, I needed to practice, and practice in bulk.

So, long story short, that's how I came to be tie dyeing here on the Patti Wagon. I spent one day last week trying out different methods and dyes on over-sized t-shirts. Not really having any use for a bunch of over-sized tees, I refashioned them into swimsuit coverups and tanks.

Annnnnnnddd, you can buy these tanks on my Etsy! That's right, Patti Wagon Designs has an Etsy.

This purple one is my favorite tie dye design.

    

     

But this macrame is my favorite shirt design.

I'm not a huge fan of this tie dye, but I would like to do more with the weaving macrame. After I hone my six pack, that is.

Spargelzeit!

Spargel is German for asparagus. And this is how Spargel usually appears on German plates:

What's that you say? You'd like to learn more about Spargel? I thought so.

• Germans go gaga for white asparagus for the two or so months that it's in season. What the tomato is to Ripley, TN in August, the Spargel is to Germany in May. 
• White asparagus is actually the same variety as green; it's just grown underground to prohibit the chlorophyll (or something science-y like that). 
• Asparagus was brought to Germany by the Romans and has been used as both an aphrodisiac and contraceptive over the years. 
• Germans love Spargel so much that they even shape their (vanilla) ice cream into asparagus spears. 

To celebrate the commencement of Spargelzeit, I made a new asparagus recipe. I followed the recipe here, but it's very simple. After washing and trimming the spears, dunk them in an egg mixture and then in a bread crumbs + parmesan cheese + corn starch mixture. Bake for 12-20 minutes at 400 degrees, depending on how narrow your spears are. I baked these for 12.

After they cooled a bit, I ate them dipped in a mayonnaise + lemon juice + S&P mixture. Delicious! (But if we're being honest, an old piece of leather would be delicious if dipped in mayo and LJ.)

I liked them so much, I decided to do the same treatment to some cauliflower florets. Again, yum! I'm thinking broccoli would also work.

Happy Spargelzeit!

My Big Break

My school was featured on one Memphis's local news stations as the "Cool School of the Week." Lucky me, I got to be interviewed, and I thoroughly appreciated the 30 seconds of notification I got. I'm generally terrible in front of the camera, and the more time I have to think about it, the worse I get. I think I did a'ight here. If the video doesn't play, you can go to this link for another view. And if that doesn't work, sorry, this is a low-tech blog.

In other school news, we are changing the theme of our summer workshop to "A Trip Around the World." For the last three years it's been Hollywood, as seen here. So my beloved MGM and Hollywood signs need to be replaced by maps and airplanes. I started work on a world map, and it's even bigger than Hollywood, clocking in at 8' by 14'. I'll keep you updated on my progress on what's beginning to feel like my life's work. 

How I Spent My Mourning

The undefeated were defeated, and I felt simply deflated. In order to soothe my fandom suffering, I threw myself the perfect Pattiwagon day today. Easter Monday was school holiday, and the Charleswood air improved my mood and got me psyched for summer.

My agenda: 

1. Sleep in, drink coffee and linger over my favorite crossword puzzle. 

2. Get to baking. While I haven't made very much sourdough lately, I've kept my starter on life support. I got two loaves of bread going, and with my discard cup, I made pineapple/carrot/banana/coconut muffins. LOVE that combo! The muffins are a little strange but a lot edible.

3. Go for a run. 5 miles. Not too shabby. 

4. Make a completely easy and completely inauthentic arroz con pollo.

5. Refashion a shirt, make a skirt, and top with great-grandmother lace.

The shirt started out as a giant long-sleeved top, which I turned tank. The skirt was a new creation. I bought five yards of this versatile chambray denim a few months ago, and a gathered skirt seemed like the perfect opportunity to use it. I wanted to incorporate some lace into the outfit and debated between making side cutouts or putting a patch on the back like I did here. I settled with just putting on this mini lace vest over the top. I love the juxtaposition of prison chic and delicate antiquity. I might end up chopping the skirt off a few inches, as I have a well-documented love of short skits, but at least now, I can wear it to work. 

6. Watch the championship (maybe) and cheer for Duke (maybe). And begin the countdown until next season. 

Book Club Round Up

I hosted book club last week and for my literature buddies, I cooked some old favorites and one new one. If you frequent the Pattiwagon, you will have seen these before, but you're not mad, are you? 

Appetizer: Cream cheese with homemade catsup and crackers. Recipe can be found on Studio Adventure's website here. While it is some (no, more like A LOT) of work, plan ahead, get some friends together, and have a canning party. No fancy equipment needed. This was my last jar of the season. I must really love my book club. 

Main Course: Chorizo and sweet potato skillet. So good and so easy and so economical. Recipe here. 

Because it contains rice and beans and sweet potatoes, I just had one side. This is a new favorite for me. I had the recipe for the first time when I was home at Thanksgiving. Cauliflower has never been one of my favorite vegetables. Steamed, it's inedible. Raw, it needs a mountain of dip. But roasted, I can get behind that. 

I've been trying it all sorts of different flavorings, and this Mexican variety is my favorite. Cilantro haters, go Italian and try pesto and parmesan. Recipe here. 

And for dessert, Molly's chocolate pie. Why would I ever bake any other pie? Recipe here.  

While food/wine/company are the number one priority in book club, we did read a book. I chose All the Light We Cannot See, and I can't recommend it more. It is beautifully written and conceived. It tells the story of the Nazi occupation of France during WWII through multiple story lines. There could be a waiting list of 200 at your local library, but you should go ahead and put your name on it. 

Best of the Tournament

This past weekend, Daddy Pattiwagon and I attended the SEC basketball tournament in Nashville. This was my fourth tournament of the JVC era at UK. And it did not disappoint. The games, the Cats, the fans, the city, the company were all fantastic. As much as I love the basketball, I love the theatrics of the games, so here are some best ofs: 

Mascot of the Tourney: 
Suffice it to say, I LOVE MASCOTS. The new and improved Vanderbilt Commodore (with a touch of Benjamin Button) and of course past winner Rebel the Black Bear were tough contenders, but this year's prize goes to Sue E., the female Razorback. Her hair bows and pompons were on point. 

Dance Team of the Tourney: 

Another tough category. Alabama, LSU, and Arkansas earn bonus points for incorporating their mascots into the routines. Unfortunately, Arkansas was terrible and perennial favorite LSU has fallen on hard times. While I loved Alabama's routine, they have got to do something about that elephant's trunk. Grotesque. Georgia was the surprise winner here. The technical difficult was off the charts, and they killed it. Go Dance Dawgs! Too bad your basketball team isn't as much fun to watch. 

Song of the Tourney: 

I called it a month ago: Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. I heard the song approximately 38,000 times this weekend. I'm not sure any of the bands played anything else. Good thing I love it. 

Band of the Tourney: 

Vandy. Every year. Might have a bit of cousin-bias though. 

Fashion of the Tourney: 

Belk was a sponsor this year, and during every game, they had a "fashion cam" and picked the best dressed fan to win a prize. There were thirteen games, and UK fans won twice. TWICE. The stadium was always 99% UK fans. Despite that travesty, I still got some great photos of the fashionable UK fans. 

Apparently the Bang This Twins are famous in Nashville? I can see why? Any insight, Nashvillians? 

Everwhere. You. Looked.

So here we are, three days before Kentucky begins its championship run. You can have the field. 

If you're feeling nostalgic, here's my last "Best of SEC tournament" post. There is a Draw Something reference. Hah. #tbt

Valentines 5.0

I'm sure some of you avid Pattiwagoneers have been waiting with bated breath for this post. (right? RIGHT?) If you're a new Pattiwagoneer, my family and I have a tradition of making each other Valentine's Day cards every year. You can see previous Valentine posts 

here and here and here and here. 

I went with an old-school theme this year. The front of each card was a simply a heart, and here are the outsides: 

For my dad,

 And my mom,

 And my sister,

For this one, I found a light up button, and put it in the back, so she could turn it on. I was worried about it actually working after being shipped, so I also painted the heart with glow-in-the-dark paint.

And here are the ones I received: 

From my mom, 

The poem is an allusion to the world's most resilient Christmas tree ornament. It is a real ice cream cone that has lived through five presidents (i.e., 27 years). And it still looks like this. I think it has super powers. Or just a lot of additives. 

From my dad,

You can never go wrong with a UK-themed card. Especially in a year when they're 31-0.

And from my sister,

Do you remember where you were when you found out that SkyMall was going bankrupt? I do, and it felt like a little piece of my heart died. And so when I opened up this card with ACTUAL PHOTOS FROM ACTUAL SKYMALLS, that little piece of my heart was filled with a special kind of joy, equaled perhaps only by solving Fermat's Last Theorem or birthing a baby. 

And of course, here's a Valentine's Day bulletin board for all your oohing and aahing.