Christmas scarves

Either last year or the fall before, Martha Stewart had a project in her Good Things section that was a sewn scarf.  I tore out the page, put it up on my wall, and have looked at it ever since as a wish-list project.  Being in school, I didn't think I would have time to make some handmade gifts for Christmas this year, but I found some time after the semester was over.
Here are Martha's instructions for the project.  As you will see, I took some liberties.  It was a quick project: fabric on one side and fleece on the other.  My mom said that hers was even a little too warm, but I think she will be able to stand it, since she keeps her house at a balmy 60 degrees or so.
I made six scarves total - two with each fabric (see the post below for the three fabrics I used).

Falling off the Fabric Wagon

It's that time of year again, when I'm either busy making Christmas gifts, baked goods, etc., or feeling guilty about NOT doing those things.  So today I made a trip to The Needle Shop with my friend Brittany, where I fell off the hoarder wagon once again.  Here's what I bought:

Bright Boy Elephant Fabric by Robert Kaufman

Bird Stripe (Green) by Echino

and Camera (Cyan) by Echino

Kenyan Tea Leaf by Alexander Henry

and Outside Oslo, Skiff by Jessica Jones

Hopefully I can stay motivated for enough more time to actually do something with them.  Anyway, glad to be on vacation and have some time for projects again!

Jenny's (belated) birthday

I've been busy busy with school these days, but I've fit in a little bit of fun here and there.  I just haven't had enough time to blog about it . . .
Anyway, this is a belated post about Jenny's birthday happenings.

St. Bride's Church in London

Usually, it's a bit of a bummer when someone makes their own birthday cake, but Jenny's case was an exception.  She told me the week before her birthday that her current architecture project was going to take the form of a cake - a wedding cake - which would be due on her actual birthday.  She first asked for my help just transporting the cake to school, but I insinuated myself a little more and ended up getting to help with the decorating as well.  The cake was modeled after St. Bride's church in London, which supposedly inspired the wedding cake tradition.

             Jenny baked for days in advance, and made cake layers of all different flavors.  I stepped in for the final fondant rolling and frosting piping, and we had a great afternoon of it, followed by a very slow and smooth drive to school.
            Of course, the cake didn't turn out quite as great as either of us had pictured in our minds, but still it turned out pretty good, considering it was a first try at anything wedding-cake-ish.

On her actual birthday, I gave Jenny a pin that I had bought for her the weekend before, at the Renegade Craft Fair.  I had a little too much fun wrapping it up in an old Tiffany's box, which I spiced up with some red ribbon (my signature color scheme!).

          And since we wanted her classmates to be able to have some cake (but not break into the big one), I used the extra leftover cut-off bits to make some cake balls.  Like the cake, they didn't turn out quite as pretty as I had imagined, partially because Jenny was borrowing my frosting tips.  They tasted yummy, anyway.

Piano Teacher Wicky says goodbye to the "Piano Teacher" part of her name.

I know, it's not a world headline, and it's no longer breaking news, really, but I thought it would be an appropriate time to write it, and this happens to be my 200th post.

            Over the years, despite the name of my blog, piano teaching was rarely the focus of my postings.  It was, however, my main source of income, and my daily reminder to enjoy music.  That being said, I'm not sure I've really left piano teaching behind for good.  I have a feeling I will pick it up again someday, even if it's on the side, or just with my own children.  Over the past week, I've been busy getting ready for school, but I wanted to take a moment out of all the confusion to reflect on my old profession.
            Even though I taught my last lesson in June, and some of this information is dated, I wanted to share with my few trusty readers the speech that I gave at the end of my last piano recital, on June 18.  It was the first time I actually read a speech off of a paper; usually I would think of a few things beforehand and just wing it.  But I was glad that I did write it down because I did have a number of things I wanted to say, hoping it would ring true with a few little ears, and being able to read it off of a paper meant that when I got choked up a few times, I was able to keep going, instead of being overcome in the moment.
Here are Piano Teacher Wicky's last (formal) words to her students:

As you all know by now, I am going to stop teaching at the end of this month to go back to school full time in the Fall.  I want you all to know how much I have enjoyed working with you, and getting to know each of you over the last six years.  

Each week I have asked a lot of you guys, often asking you to play things that you thought were "too hard," but you always were able to do it!  I hope you can remember this as you start lessons with your new teachers, and also when you come across things in or out of school that seem too difficult at first.  I know that’s what I’ll be thinking about when I am challenged at school next year.  Every time you work on something that seems hard, you’re becoming a better piano player, student, athlete, or whatever so that hard work is always worth it.   All of my students have put in a lot of hard work over the years, and it definitely wasn’t unnoticed by me!   I hope that you all realize how much that hard work has paid off, and please don’t forget it!   

Over the years I’ve met so many people who, when they learned I was a piano teacher, told me how they wish that they had learned to play piano when they were young, or if they did have lessons, they tell me stories about their own piano teachers, and express how much they wish they had never stopped playing the piano throughout their lives.  I’ve known each of you so long now that I’m sure you won’t forget me, so I hope that the memories you have of me are mostly good ones, but more than that I hope that you have learned to enjoy playing the piano and that it’s something you will continue to do, even if you don’t have a teacher reminding you to play each week.  

I will see each of you for at least one more lesson, but since this is the last time that we’ll all be together, I want to wish you all healthy, happy and musical lives.

I will keep this blog as an outlet for my craft projects, etc., which (let's face it) has been the main subject of it so far anyway.  I hope not too many visitors will be thrown by the title, but it's mine, so I'm keeping it.  Whether or not I'm an active piano teacher, it will always have been my first job, and a great experience.  

Tucking in my laptop for the school year

I start architecture school in less than a week (eek!).  I got back from a long trip last Saturday (hopefully I'll post some stuff about that too, esp. on my other blog) and this week is devoted to getting ready for school by going to the doctor, picking up everything on my shopping lists, etc.
And one craft project (so far).  Last night I set out to make my new laptop a sleeve from a design on this blog that I had bookmarked a while ago.  Everything went well until I realized, with the finished product, that I had broken the cardinal rule to "measure twice and cut once."  Alas, I had written down two dimensions on my paper: the dimensions of the actual laptop, and, below that, the dimensions I wanted to cut my fabric pieces.  And of course I read the dimensions written on top and made a perfectly nice laptop sleeve for a laptop that's about 1/2 inch smaller in each direction than mine.
Luckily, projects tend to go a little faster the second time around, once you've worked out the kinks, so this morning I got up and quickly put together a second, improved, laptop sleeve.  Here is is:

the fabric is Alexander Henry home collection, from 2007, which gives you some idea of the size and age of my fabric collection, since I had this just sitting around, waiting for an appropriate project.   This was just a drop in the bucket.  

A veggie burger, minus the veggies.

I have a mild obsession with grocery store cakes.  Hamburger cakes, in particular.  I've brought a few to parties, when I had to stop off at the grocery store along the way and made a hamburger cake impulse buy. Luckily, they are always a huge hit.
So today, I planned ahead and decided to make one myself.  As these things tend to go, it didn't turn out to be as pretty or real-life-like as I had imagined in my head, but bear in mind that it's only a first attempt.  And I have a feeling that people will still enjoy the taste (even though it's not grocery store crisco frosting!)

Of course I had to take a picture before I put the "bun" layer on top.

And instead of sesame seeds, I put on some sprinkle stars, in honor of our holiday weekend.
Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!

Something to remember my students by

Over the past few weeks, I've said goodbye to all of my students.  Some of them were among my first students, when I started teaching, so it was tough to say goodbye, and interesting to think how much they had all grown in the time that I knew them.

One family, a brother and a sister, had been taking lessons with me for 6 and 3 years, respectively.  I've grown very close with both kids, and the mom, and I loved that in our last lesson, they each gave me a personal note.  The kids are pretty creative (I'm sure due in part to the mom's creativity!) and had made me some pottery.  Here is the boy's vase that he gave me, which has the circle of fifths etched into it, so I would never forget my music theory, he said.

Another family, with 3 little girls, I've known since the oldest started taking lessons almost 6 years ago.  Over that time, each girl started to take lessons with me, and the youngest likes to draw pictures for me quite often.  Here is one she gave me in a lesson just a few weeks ago, which I think is so precious that I might frame it and put it up above my piano.
This other picture, which they gave me as a going-away gift, was taken at our final recital a few weeks ago.  I think it's a really sweet gift, and this one I have already put up on my wall.  It's funny to see that the oldest girl is now taller than I am, because when she started taking lessons with me, she was smaller than her youngest sister.

It's the end of a long era, but hopefully the beginning of something equally great.

So many quilts

About 5 1/2 years ago, my paternal grandmother passed away.  She was known among her friends and family as a great traveler.  She loved to eat out.  And she had the best, most interesting clothes.  She also never liked to throw anything away that could possibly have another use someday.
Keeping these last few things in mind, when I helped to clean out her closet, I kept most of her funkiest clothes and brought them back to Chicago with me, where I cut and sewed, very sporadically, for the next 5 years.  The results were 6 quilts, for my sister and 5 cousins, each made up of about 90% of Bunny's (that's what we called her) clothes, and supplemented with a few fabrics I think she would have liked.
Figuring I should really get these done before I start grad school in the fall, I set to work throughout June and finished off all the quilts for my cousins (I finished my sister's quilt in time to give it to her for Christmas this past year).  Here they are, in all their glory, now having been sent off to each cousin:

Shari's quilt

Jenny's quilt

Chip's quilt

Josh's quilt

Gabe's quilt

The thing that I really like about making quilts for people, other than getting the chance to be creative, is that while I'm working on it, I think a lot about the people I'm giving it to, and, in this situation, I thought a lot about my grandmother.  I think she would be proud to know that we're all able to remember her in this very tangible way.

Chicago Chocolate Tour

(i.e. the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon downtown)

Last fall, Katie M. and I picked up some groupons for Chicago Chocolate Tours.  She had bought one extra and nicely offered it to Ruthie, who thought it would make a good story for her newest writing gig, food blogging for CBS Chicago.  So we spent about 3 hours on Sunday being led around the Magnificent Mile / Gold Coast area, tasting some amazing and interesting chocolates.

the piano praline chocolate was music to my taste buds

The first stop was at Teuscher Chocolates, in the 900 N. Michigan mall, where we were treated to champagne truffles which are as good as you would imagine.  After a taste at each place we were given a few minutes to make purchases, if we wished.  I couldn't help but buy a "piano praline" at Teuscher, which did please my palate, but I doubt I'd buy another one at around $4 a piece!

            We also stopped in at More Cupcakes, which has a food truck which I've seen in my neighborhood.  Next time I happen upon it I will have to stop and buy something because they were soooo good.
            My other favorite spot was Sarah's Pastries and Candies, where they let us sample two treats: the delights and the crunchy peanut butter bars.  I had to buy a few of the peanut butter bars to enjoy in the privacy of my own home.  I still have one waiting for me; perhaps when I'm done writing this . . . .
            Anyway, it was a lovely use of a Sunday afternoon, enhanced by our sundresses, I must say.

three happily chocolated ladies

Book 'em, Wicko!

Over the 6 years that I've been teaching piano, I've collected a lot of teaching books, new and old (some with prices like 60 cents written on the cover, they're so old), with all the greatest intentions that I would use every one to become the most thorough piano teacher in the world.  Psssshhht!
            Each spring, my company offers $25 gas cards to teachers and clients who want to clean out their piano benches (in my case, bookcases) of old, unwanted books.  25 books = $25, which is a pretty crummy investment, it turns out.  But, it's better than nothing.  So tomorrow, I'm driving to my company's office and turning in 75 piano books.  Don't worry, I've got some left over, just in case this whole architecture thing doesn't work out for me and I have to go back to my original career.  I estimate that I've got about 100 books that I collected just for teaching.  That doesn't even begin to compare to the number of piano books that I have for playing.  Maybe I'll count them one of these days, if I'm so bored.

Happy Mother's Day

Here's me with my mama wicky, circa 6 months old.

Mother's Day Mail Call

This morning I woke up bright and early-enough to send out some correspondence.  I've been putting off sending out mother's day cards, but the Thursday before Mother's Day is probably the latest I can wait.  After sending out the traditional cards to my own mom and step-mother, I decided to send one more, to my friend Ly, because even though she's half way through her pregnancy I have yet to congratulate her.

            Ly and I went to a boarding school for high school, and met because we were roommates our freshman year.  During school vacations and summers, my friends and I would send each other letters, which I used to be so good at and do so rarely anymore.  Ly's letter were some of the best because she writes letters almost like she talks, so that when I read them now I feel like we've just spoken on the phone.

            We were also a little obsessed with stickers, back in the day (and I continue to keep a collection).  We would send letters in envelopes that were covered in stickers.  I'm putting up a picture of one of Jess's old envelopes.  My favorite thing about the stickers was that we would usually put up a bunch of stickers that had nothing to do with each other but often write a comment about one or two of them.

            So this morning, after sealing Ly's future-mother's day card, I got out my old books of stickers (with a few new ones here and there) and went to work.  Here is the finished product.  I think it's only slightly classier than what we used to send out in the mail.

Teaching Revelation:

Sometimes "not right now" really does mean "not right now."

If you are a piano teacher (or something comparable), you've probably had some students quit for the summer or something and say "we can't really do lessons right now but we'll call you when we're ready to start up again."  This is usually a nice way of saying "we don't want to have piano lessons anymore."  I should know, I've said it to guy or two after less-than-amazing dates.  I think it's a valid brush-off.
            So usually when I hang up the phone or close the email after getting a message like that, I think "I'll never see them again."  Almost always this is true.
            But, amazingly, I've just gotten an email from a family who wanted to start up lessons again with me (and only me they said).  Also amazingly, this is not the first time that's happened.  Unfortunately I can't accommodate this family now, since I'm going to stop teaching at the end of June to get ready to go back to school.  I'm going to try to do what I can to get this family to try another teacher.  Hopefully they aren't as serious about having "only me" as a teacher as they were about actually getting in touch with me when they were ready to start lessons again.

A big day for Kates (and Katies)

This morning, after finished my breakfast, I didn't feel well for approximately 15 minutes, which was just enough time to convince myself not to go to the gym.  But instead of staying home just to watch the royal wedding, I set to work making a birthday gift for my friend Katie.  I like to do these things last-minute, I suppose, and all in one sitting.  I actually would have finished this bag in one sitting, really, if my needles hadn't kept breaking.  I'm going to have to figure out what the deal is - is it something I'm doing wrong with the machine, or am I just cursed?

            Anyway, here's what I whipped up.  I think this is officially the last bag I can make with red canvas, but don't worry: I have plenty of other colors to work with . . .
            And I did tivo the royal wedding, so I'm watching it in stages.  I do think that perhaps the plaid that I chose for the bag was a little appropriate for the day, since it does strike me as British-y.  Plus blue, red, and white are our colors, aren't they?
            Also, I was able to use the embroidery setting on my machine to do Katie's initials in the bag, then put my mark on the inside.

The Easter Bunny Strikes Again

Sorry I've been away from my computer.  I was off in Los Angeles last week being fabulous with my old friend Mary.  If you're interested in what all I did in LA, check out my other blog, futurearchitectwicky.

             But anyway, back to Chicago and normal pianoteacherwicky things.  After flying home late late Friday night (you might even call it Saturday morning) I was greeted with a package from Mama Wicky, my original Easter Bunny.  She sent the best of Connecticut in a box: Munson's chocolates.  And she included a cute little Nantucket basket which I think I'll have to use for non-Easter purposes because it's too sweet to be put away.
             On Sunday I hosted my 5th annual Easter Pot Luck Brunch.  We were 16 strong again.  This year, instead of baking a ham as I have for the past few years, I stopped in to the Bleeding Heart Bakery, just a mile west of me on Belmont Avenue and picked up a few cupcakes and some french toast cake balls.  And boy, did they go like hot-cake[ball]s.  They are basically like an amazingly yummy donut hole.  While picking out food at the bakery I also tried a jelly bean cake ball, which was scrumptious.  I still have one carrot cupcake and one "pretty pink princess" cupcake left, which I will eat over the next few days.

            Some other welcome, new additions to the brunch menu were a mimosa bar, supplied by my friend Abby:

A beautiful fruit salad from my friend Katie (okay this isn't anything new, but putting the fruit on skewers made it way more exciting to eat!)

And some homemade macaroons (chocolate with salted caramel filling) by my friend Brittany.
            It was a beautiful day, so we enjoyed a post-brunch chat on my back deck, and some of us went for a little walk around the neighborhood.  As I gear up for architecture school in the fall, I wonder if I'll be able to host some more parties like this in the future.  I think that as long as they're pot lucks, I should be able to squeeze in a few here and there.
Otherwise, I will sure miss these lovely gents.

Princely Pez

I promise this won't become a major theme at the PTW blog, but I have to mention the Prince William and Kate Pez dispensers that just sold on ebay for 13,370 US dollars.   I had bookmarked the auction on ebay (to watch; not to bid!) so I was keeping tabs on it every day or so for the last week.
Since I don't have an extra $13K burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to make a little set of my own for a lot less money.  Here they are, in all their paper and scotch-tape glory (thanks for the idea, Ruthie!)

The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In definite contrast to the Ruth Reichl book that my "Food Lovers Book Club" read last, this book was (I hate to say it) not so enjoyable, but it made up for the missing fun with a lot of information. Steingarten clearly loves food, although his writing shows his love more from a scientific aspect than a gastronomic aspect. I think that Reichl's book allowed me to be in the restaurant with her so often, enjoying the dishes with her, whereas Steingarten keeps me in the kitchen (or the factor he is touring, etc.) The recipes are all interesting, though a bit daunting. I was often inspired to get into the kitchen myself (especially after reading his opening essay on perfecting the bread recipe) but rarely felt daring or patient enough to actually try his recipes.



View all my reviews

An Old Obsession Rears Its Ugly Head(s)

About a week ago I was going through a big, big closet purge and happened upon some stuff my step-mother sent out to me in the fall, while she was purging my bedroom back at home of all my childhood crap.  The main item of interest was a ziploc baggie filled with a small portion of my PEZ dispenser collection.
            Yes, back in junior high/early high school I went through a crazy pez-collecting phase.
            Anyway, thinking I should keep right on going with my closet purge by getting rid of these little guys, I posted a question on facebook: "pez collection: keep or toss?"  The response was overwhelmingly "keep" (although a few friends suggested I donate the pez to them, but I will count that as a "keep").  So, once my interest in the subject was piqued, you might say for the second time in my life, I called up my mom and asked her if she knew where the rest of the collection was.  Yes, in the attic.  So, she has sent out my collection, and as of yesterday evening the gang is all back together.  Here they are, set up on my living room mantel, until I can think of something more adult to do with them.  I've pictured the more interesting ones.  I have over 50 total.

My personal favorites are: the Pink Panther, Asterix, Yosemite Sam, and Woodstock.
I guess this is another example of how you can never fully outgrow your high-school self.  It's good to have you back, guys.

Aha.

Today was one of those really good days of teaching where I think "why am I quitting this job again?"
            At the end of a particularly good lesson with a student, who has taught herself most of the A section of Fur Elise, I told her how great she was doing and she said "yeah, I finally got interested in reading music."  That was a direct quote because I walked back to my car and wrote it down.  What a little cutie.

For the Love of George

Meet my Curious George.  He is actually the first in a long line of Curious Georges that belong to Piano Teacher Wicky.  My sister gave him to me when I turned two, which makes him twenty . . . well, old!  He's pretty faded these days, but he still has a very cheery disposition, which is amazing considering how often I used to use him as a pillow while traveling.  He is wearing a pin now that says "may you be as smart at 65 as you thought you were at 18," which he put on for my dad's last visit, since my dad had recently turned 65.  Over the years he's worn a few different pins: one just said "huggable," which could never be disputed anyway, and for a while he went political with a "Snoopy for President" pin.  He was followed by many younger brothers, including a Cubs George (wearing a blue baseball hat and a blue pinstriped jersey), and some teeny tiny Georges that still sit on the piano at my dad's house, waiting for me to come home and give them a concert.
            Over the years, my love of George spread to a great appreciation for all monkeys (yes, even ones with tails).  And I've gotten plenty of birthday and Christmas gifts that prove it, including monkey pajamas, monkey slippers, a monkey CD case, a monkey pillow (made for me by my aunt).  I could go on and on.
            When I was twelve and my youngest cousin was born, I gave him a Curious George.  My uncle told me that his already-huge eyes opened even wider when he saw that cuddly monkey (I'm not sure how true this statement is but I choose to believe it).

            So tomorrow I am heading off to another baby shower and I thought what better gift to give a new little one than a new Curious George.  I spiffed this George up a bit with a green polka-dot bowtie, and he is bringing a book of some of his favorite stories with him (all about him, of course).  We don't know yet if this baby will be a boy or a girl but I think a good George will make either one happy!

Brownie Update

This post is a wee bit tardy, but I wanted to let you know how successful my Guinness brownies turned out last weekend.  All that is left of them at this point is the sweet memories.  And once I frosted them with some Bailey's frosting, all of that craziness from the oven was forgotten.

The recipe is one I found at this lovely lady's blog.  There was a lot of chocolate involved, and even though I had to get out a double boiler, it wasn't nearly as much trouble as I had expected.  And well worth any trouble I did go to.
The frosting recipe is one I tweaked from a recipe for Car Bomb Cupcakes, which, let's face it, was the same thing I ended up making, but in more portable brownie form.  It's basically a variation on the classic Buttercream Frosting recipe off of the Domino's Confectioner's Sugar box.  I'm putting it here with my variations (mainly: more liquid, less sugar - it was becoming very stiff)

Bailey's Frosting:
1/2 cup butter (again, it called for unsalted, but I say hey, if you're going to add salt later, why bother with bland butter?) at room temp please
~3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 pinch salt (yes, even with salted butter, I still add some more salt)
3 Tablespoon's Bailey's Irish Cream
1 Tablespoon milk


I always like to start with the butter and about 1 cup of sugar, and cream those together in the mixer on medium speed or so.  Then add liquids and rest of sugar in stages, tasting as you go (tasting often always yields best results, both for the frosting and your disposition).  Remember, unlike baking, where it's a science and you have to put it in the oven before you know how it'll turn out, frosting is like soup: what you taste is what you get.  So trust your eyes and tastebuds: if it's too dry, add more liquid, if it's too wet, add more sugar.  Basically the only amount I stick to is the butter, the rest are negotiable!

I decorated the whole pan with some green candy melt.  I had big plans for making it plaid, but it just turned into a criss-cross pattern.  Not as lovely as I would have liked, but once they were cut up into 2"X2" pieces, nobody seemed to care.
Overall, I give them a C for pub crawl transportability (still better than a cupcake) but an A for flavor.  Plus, it always impresses friends when you can whip a good snack out of your mom-sized purse.

I am a Midwest Girl now.

Monday night, while driving home in some awesome Chicago rush-hour traffic I heard a hiss, hoping it was coming from the car next to me (I always like to assume/imply a quick spurt of air is coming from the guy next to me instead of myself).  Alas, it was my right rear tire, which had had a nasty-looking air bubble for about two years and had impressively held on this long.  

            So I pulled over to the side of I-90, called triple A, then my mother, to tell her that I might be having the worst Monday/start of the work-week ever.  Much to my surprise, after only about 15 minutes, a nice man from the Dept. of Transportation pulled up behind me, and told me to get back in my car while he took care of everything.  Within a half hour of getting the flat tire, I was back on the road, on my way home, with the guy's card and explicit instructions to call him whenever something like this happens again.  

            My Monday didn't seem to be getting much better because when I got home I had a measly 2 pieces of mail in my mailbox.  One, a catalog, and the other, a skinny little envelope from an architecture school on the east coast.  Knowing what a small envelope means, I unlocked the door to my apartment and thought for the first time in months "I'm home."  As in really home, where I'm going to stay for many years.  

            I love my condo, I love my city, and I love my friends.  And they all love me back.  Minutes later, I checked my email, which included an acceptance from IIT.  In the next month, I'm going to be making a big decision about which school I will spend the next 3 years at.  But happily, that decision will not include the stress of a possible move.  Even though I probably won't have much time to blog while I'm at school, I have picked up a new blog address, Future Architect Wicky.  Hopefully I'll have fun things to say over there too, though probably not all about architecture.  As you can tell, my piano teaching blog is rarely about teaching!  

The above image is brought to you by the clever souls at Mina Lee.