I promised to show a picture of the table runner I made. It’s not a
great picture, but that’s okay because it’s not a great table runner.
But I’m pretty pleased with it. The runner, I mean. The other side is
the same green floral as the ends here. The checked fabric—which has
green in it and isn’t as orange in real life as in this photo—was a
long scrap from the curtains I made for the kids’ craft room.

I had fun with Flickr’s "add a note" feature if you want to click through for commentary on the photo. Well, actually, it’s another photo almost exactly like this one, revealing what happens when Scott walks into the room.

I’ve been in a very handcrafty mood lately, as my last couple weeks’
worth of posts probably make obvious. I tried my hand at the zipper
pouch from Bend-the-Rules Sewing, inspired by Jenn’s lovely pink patchwork pouch. This was my first-ever attempt at putting in a zipper, and, well, it zips. Just don’t inspect the ends too closely…

And now that it’s finally feeling cool enough (in the mornings, at
least—we’re melting by noon) to think of baking, I’ve been pining for
my lost sourdough starter. We suffered a little fridge snafu a while
back, and room temperature was way too hot for my starter, which had
been living in the freezer through the hot months. It got moldy. Sob.
Also, ick.

So I’ve been tempted to order a new one, but I thought first I’d try my hand at starting one from scratch. Some sites describe this as a ridiculously easy undertaking.
Other sources say ominous things about poor success rates in arid
climates, which we certainly have here in the decidely dry eastern half
of San Diego County. But hey, a cup of flour and a cup of water is
pretty low overhead for an experiment. So on Thursday morning I mixed
up a batch and put it in a warm corner. By Friday it was already
looking promisingly bubbly.

I fed it twice yesterday, and this morning it looks frothy and
vigorous. (Blurry photo: snapped hastily in the midst of getting
breakfast for my little people.)

Think I’ll give it one more day to get established and maybe try it
in some biscuits tomorrow. Just about time to move it into the fridge,
too.

And finally, a little backyard beautification project: the kids are
decorating our side of the neighbor’s big ole wall with sidewalk chalk.
It’ll last a long time here in did-I-mention-it’s-very-dry? San Diego
County. I think we’ve only seen rain once in the last four months.