Frank and Gertrude: Handmade Sewn Stuff

Homemade Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Soup

2010-12-04T12:30:00.005+01:00

When winter comes, I love to stay warm inside, look out the window at the snow, and eat... a lot! As any of my friends will tell you, I always have room for a little something.

My husband and I like to cook big portions so that we can store away some for the days when we don't feel like cooking. One of our favorites is this soup recipe, which also happens to have lots of comforting winter flavors (and it's pretty healthy, to boot!). I don't have a concrete recipe, so you can add or subtract wherever you like; it almost always comes out tasting great!

So, here goes:

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (flespompoen), or two if they're small
3 sweet potatoes (zoete aardappels), peeled and chopped (more if they're small)
2 small red onions, chopped
1 liter vegetable stock (bouillon)
balsamic vinegar
butter or margarine
ginger syrup (Thais/ Indonesian food section)
cinnamon (kaneel)
chipotle pepper sauce (Mexican food section)
pepper (I like white pepper)
fresh ginger, minced, 1 tablespoon or more to taste

fresh cilantro (koriander) and goat cheese (chevre) for garnish

Directions:

1. Bake the squash on a baking sheet at 180°C (350°F) for about half an hour. Once it's cool enough to touch, cut it in half, remove seeds, and peel. Cut into chunks.

2. In a large soup pot, melt butter on medium heat. Add onions and sauté with balsamic (about 2 tablespoons) to caramelize.

3. After a few minutes, add enough ginger syrup to just cover the onions, then add sweet potatoes. Sauté together for about 5 minutes, adding cinnamon and pepper to taste.

4. Add the squash, plus the fresh ginger and a spoonful of chipotle sauce. Stir everything together, then add vegetable stock. If it's not enough to cover everything, add a little more water or stock until the vegetables are just covered.

5. Let the whole pot simmer on medium heat until the sweet potatoes are cooked through and break apart when you poke them with a fork.

6. Blend it all together (I usually wait till it's cooled off a bit, because this is the step where I usually burn myself). Add more spices to taste.

7. Top with goat cheese and cilantro.

And voila! You're done.

What I'm thinking about right now, part 2

2010-11-24T10:25:00.005+01:00

I spent yesterday morning with Annet and Sandra getting ready for the Diezijnleuk Christmas market this upcoming Sunday.

After a tour of Annet's beautiful home and workspace (of which I'm mildly jealous), I presented them with their gifts: little hand drawn paper doll portraits! Kind of weird, yes, but they seemed to like them.

What I'm thinking about right now.

2010-11-20T22:51:00.005+01:00

I guess this is a once-a-month kind of blog. I had big plans for it - tutorials! studio tour! calendar of events! I was going to have lots of followers and sell ad space to earn a little cash on the side...

Turns out, I get so wrapped up in the day to day of thinking up new things to make and chasing my now-crawling-and-never-sitting-still 9 month old that it's hard to take a breath and let people in on the process. Even to my husband, who usually gets a snippet of mid-brainstorm speech, a lot of what I'm doing turns out to be a surprise.

So I thought, why not write down what I'm thinking about before I actually do it? It could even have hidden benefits (one example off the top of my head: I won't forget what I wanted to do). Here's my idea:

During Noorderzon, a fine arts, theater and music festival in Groningen, I worked with a lovely group of women (and some male companions), giving workshops, taking pictures, and selling our handmade goods. Since then, we've been meeting every Tuesday to discuss our future crafty plans (as well as occasionally bitch about said males).

These Tuesday gatherings have come to mean a lot to me, and I wanted to make each lady a little something to show my appreciation. I won't say yet what it is, on the off chance that they read my blog. I will, however, post some pictures when I'm done (thereby breaking my once-a-month streak - huzzah!).

Jewelry coming soon...

2010-10-16T05:05:00.003+02:00

Just finished up a bunch of earrings and brooches. Each one is illustrated by hand, so they're all one-of-a-kind. Now as soon as I get some nice little boxes to ship them in, they'll go into the shop!

The Great Shrinky-Dink Experiment

2010-09-18T22:13:00.000+02:00

So, today I was perusing the local craft store (always dangerous... and amazing how many things I can justify as "business expenses"), and I came across this cool plastic that you can draw on and bake in the oven. I decided to give it a try, and while it came out looking pretty cool, it definitely shrinks a lot! Back to the drawing board I guess. Also, my hand looks weird in photos.

Lou battles the pink robots

2010-09-15T09:32:00.001+02:00

Lou's re-purposed Flaming Lips t-shirt that I made before she was born (a.k.a. when I still had time to make stuff) finally fits! She wore it for The Black Atlantic concert at Popcomm in Berlin this past weekend, and fit right in with all the indie kids. I've had less time to make her new clothes since I've been working on a brand new fall/winter collection (preview to come....). Happily, her grandmas on both continents are glad to do all her clothes shopping.

Grun(n)Gemaakt at Noorderzon festival!

2010-08-18T07:44:00.001+02:00

This year I'm once again hawking my wares at Noorderzon Festival in Groningen! Here's our little promo:

'Come see the wares and sample the creativity of fresh Groningen design talent! We'll take your photo in our living shadowbox, you can make something fun in one of our workshops, and walk away with a one-of-a-kind design item from our on-site shop!'

For a timetable of our flurry of activities, click here.

Daily inspiration

2010-05-17T09:28:00.000+02:00

I was just perusing my favorites on Etsy and saw that one of my most beloved designers, Anna Ruby King is making gorgeous fabric. I just wrote to her to see if I could use it in my bags... cross your fingers!

One month later...

2010-03-10T17:32:00.000+01:00

So it's been a while since my last post, but I have a good excuse: our daughter Louise Elizabeth was born one month ago today! She's been keeping us quite busy, especially now that she doesn't like to be put down for a minute. A few days ago I started "wearing" her around the house in our ErgoBaby carrier, hence the new post (finally two free hands to type with!).
I made this little outfit for Lou before she was born. It's made out of an old wool sweater from my father-in-law that I felted in the washing machine, and lined with one of Geert's old t-shirts. Too warm for indoors, but very nice for our walks outside. Luckily the wool doesn't seem to irritate her skin, especially since I've made a few more things out of old sweaters (posts to come).

Flannel sleeper

2010-02-06T20:10:00.000+01:00

Pregnant or not, one of my favorite pastimes is endlessly browsing in fabric shops, which is exactly what I did a few days ago. After a while I found this really soft flannel, and then a fun, punchy pinky-red cotton to go with it. I decided to modify a jacket pattern I had already made to make this sleeper (I think they're also called bundlers?). At first I was going to put a zipper in, but then I thought Velcro might be easier for diaper changes and all that good stuff. I added some snappy-flaps on the bottom to make it shorter... I hear newborns are quite small.

Online shopping: one way to ease the boredom

2010-02-05T10:08:00.000+01:00

Turns out that waiting to give birth is not as exciting as it may seem. Luckily, yesterday my friend sent me a link to De Peapa, an illustrator from Spain who channels her talents into cute little brooches, necklaces, and prints. I have my eye on these:

Baby battles the pink robots

2010-02-03T12:25:00.000+01:00

Since we found out I was pregnant, my husband and I have been slowly cleaning out our house and getting rid of some of our old stuff that we don't use any more. After cleaning out Geert's closet with its abundance of band t-shirts, I set some of them aside hoping to make some cute clothes for the baby. Luckily, while searching for patterns, I found this awesome tutorial from This Mama Makes Stuff. Although it's technically a nightgown, the silkscreen on the Flaming Lips t-shirt seems a little too flammable for comfort. Our baby can always wear it during the daytime!

Almost done, just the walls now...

2010-01-31T19:14:00.000+01:00

Geert just finished painting the walls of the baby corner yesterday, after patching up all the ripped-up drywall (apparently our house's former residents felt the need to glue a large amount of mirrors to the wall).
So far we've hung up some baskets with cute little deer hooks, plus a lovely print from our good friend Alexander Hanke of Zumheimathafen. Now we just have to figure out how to hang up two more cute little ones from him, and buy a frame for the awesome patchwork print that we got at Werkpost here in Groningen.

Baby time!

2010-01-31T14:37:00.000+01:00

As some of you folks may already know, my husband Geert and I are expecting our first baby any day now. And, in my case, I think the "nesting syndrome" has manifested itself in the form of me frantically sewing tons of baby stuff!

Since technically I'm on maternity leave and won't be updating the webshop for a little while, I thought it might be fun to share some of the projects I've been working on. Geert and I are pretty much finished with decorating our little baby corner. Here are some pics...

New year, new room

2008-12-29T17:59:00.000+01:00

In order to start 2009 fresh and inspired (and stall on filling out tax forms), I decided to repaint my studio! The colors are more calming and much less busy than before, which will help me recharge, concentrate, and let my creative juices flow... while filling out my tax forms.

Old room (sorry, I couldn't find a really good photo):

New and improved room:

First (but definitely not last) TUTORIAL!!!

2008-12-12T23:11:00.000+01:00

After a much too long hiatus from the blog, I'm coming back with a bang - in the form of a brand new tutorial! This owl scarflette (and many others like it) is one of the many brand-new goods I've been working on. Now you can make it yourself, or buy the already-made version soon at frankandgertrude.com (just please don't make it to sell).

After struggling with Illustrator for the past two hours, I think the instructions are pretty clear and easy to follow (though I realize it would've been much faster if I had just scanned in the original drawings). Anyway, here goes!

Materials used:
* less than 1/4 yard boiled wool (with some stretch)
* small scraps of wool felt- 3 different colors
* matching thread for all 4 colors, plus black for eyes
* sew-on snap (2cm diameter is best)

Vegan alternative:
* less than 1/4 yard polyester fleece (with some stretch- not too much!)
* small scraps of poly felt- 3 different colors
* matching thread for all 4 colors, plus black for eyes
* sew-on snap (2cm diameter is best)

If you get nice boiled wool it shouldn't be too itchy, but for sensitive necks, fleece is a nice alternative.
Alright! Here are the steps:

1. Cut out the base for the scarflette. Mine are made for kids ages 6-10, so I made it 48 cm by 10 cm, but for smaller/larger kiddos, just measure his/her neck circumference and add 10 cm for the overlap. To get a nice curve you can trace the bottom of a big mug, or just wing it like me (and re-cut it a few times till it looks right ;) )

* The length/width ratios are to scale in all of the images, but they're not actual size. You can enlarge them to the exact measurements, but I'm not sure what percentage you'd have to enlarge them to.

2. Cut out the owl, his tender heart belly, and triangle nose.

3. Pin the heart and the nose where you want them, then hand-sew them on with matching (or not) thread. Use black or another dark color to make the eyes. I couldn't for the life of me remember how to make a dotted line in Illustrator, so the green is where the stitches would be... except for the eyes; they looked a little creepy in green (Jan Willem, if you're reading this, please don't be too disappointed in my Illustrator skills).

4. Overlap the ends of the scarflette to where you just can't see the bottom curve begin, then position the snap in between and sew it on in! Make sure the snap far enough from the edge that you can fit the owl over it later. Again, I couldn't make a dotted line (if any of you know a simple way, please clue me in), so the purple lines are the parts that aren't visible. Fig. 1 shows the positioning head on, and fig. 2 is the side view (or "snap sandwich").

5. For the final step, sew the owl onto the front right over the snap, and voila! You're done :) Now just go snap it on a kid (who will then love you forever).

Christmas Craftymarkt Amsterdam

2008-12-05T22:16:00.000+01:00

Just a quick note: Frank & Gertrude will be at the Christmas Craftymarkt in Amsterdam December 20th and 21st. It should be a fantastic time - mulled wine, tasty treats, and best of all an already amazing line-up of artists, designers, and crafters!

You can check out the details at www.craftymarkt.nl . Hope to see you there!

Ok, so I'm kind of lame...

2008-10-11T13:54:00.000+02:00

I was all gung-ho with starting out the blog, then I don't write anything for two months! Lame, I know. But if it makes you feel any better, it's just because I love sewing so much more than typing.
Also, we've had tons of bands staying at our house this past month, which meant that I was able to set up this awesome photoshoot with Ruth from Rue Royale. The magnificent Roland Kok took the pictures, Ruth vamped up a storm, and I mostly got in the way. But still, the photos are gorgeous!

We're now on Dawanda!

2008-08-06T22:16:00.000+02:00

Dawanda. It sounds a bit funny, but it's a great new European online marketplace for handmade goods (kind of like etsy.com, but in euros). While as of now I only have one product in the store, I'm excited to see how it turns out. Check it out at www.frankandgertrude.dawanda.com, or click here (sometimes it comes up in French, but I think it makes it kind of fancy...).

Newbie

2008-08-04T08:26:00.000+02:00

Welcome to my first official blog post! I'm very excited to get started (although I'm not sure why I decided to start right when we're finally having some nice summer weather in Holland).

Here you can find updates about my handmade sewn stuff at Frank & Gertrude (www.frankandgertrude.com). Such as... I've just started making wallets and bags from vintage children's books! I bought a bunch of linen children's books from the 1920's and '30's and made them into great new accessories. Yeah, I feel a little bad about cutting up "collector's items," but I like the idea of giving these pages a whole new life of adventure. If I had a choice between sitting on some dusty collector's shelf or traveling around the world in someone's back pocket, I think I'd choose the latter, wouldn't you?

Anyway, thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope to update weekly, so check back often ;)