Some photographs from my second week away from home. We’ll be back with regular posts next week and with our 2012/2013 subscription offer for 3191 Quarterly. See you then!

Another week in photos. Busy, busy working on some fun things, but what I am really excited about is our 3191 Quarterly subscription offer that releases next week. We have some great changes in store—we’re talking bigger, better and more economical. So thrilled to start the 2012/2013 year of 3191Q!

Some photographs from my week away from home. Love how the colors go together. A total surprise to me!

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Things may be a bit quiet here this week and next as we prepare to open our subscriptions to next year’s issues of 3191 Quarterly on October 5th. We have some fun 3191Q surprises for you alongside the subscriptions offer (can anyone say more pages?!) so we’ll tell you about that in 2 weeks. Cheers, all!

Some snapshots from my week. It’s been a busy one.

Things are falling :: Noticing patterns :: The cutest mini-pears :: Time to light the glow bowls :: Hot infused water :: Cool enough for my Turtleneck No. 2 (You are going to want one of these for the fall/winter. They’re almost gone! The most beautiful organic merino wool. Of note, I am 6 feet tall and am wearing a size 2).

A handful of days ago Miles, my oldest nephew, and I were making a fort.

We gathered our blankets and a few pillows. We used one heavy rock to extend our fort from the couch to a chair. The build out was quite impressive if I do say so myself. Miles really had a plan so I have to give all the credit to him.

The one thing we were not sure about was … how do we get in?

We walked the perimeter …

… and tried out a few options.

Until we found it!

And inside the fort we found Scotch the cat! He had already found his way in and was busy taking a nap.

We played in our fort until it was time to move onto the next adventure. It was a good day.

This week, in my home, we find ourselves stumbling around a bit, trying to adjust to our autumn routine while still feeling the pull of summer. Early mornings, homework, lunches to pack, full days of work for me—we are not quite in step with the next season yet, but we are trying.

The end of summer is a stunning time in the Northwest. Chilly mornings and hot afternoons. A bounty of fresh produce. Crazy-beautiful golden light. The days are still long enough for an after-dinner walk, and it was on our way home from an evening trip to the library that we came across an offering of free zucchini from a neighbor’s garden. We took just one because it was the size of a small infant and our arms were already full of books.

I find that these overgrown squash are best in baked goods. I shredded ours in the processor (I compost the inner core of seeds) and had enough to freeze for future baked goods. Lacking the ingredients for MAV’s yummy bread, I made my own fall-back recipe. Mine is more of a treat, full of butter and sugar (though still using some whole grain flour). I have always added lemon zest, but this time I threw in some candied ginger as well, and we loved the result.

Lemon Ginger Zucchini Bread

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup chopped candied ginger (we buy ours at Trader Joe’s—crystallized ginger would work here too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a large loaf pan (9″ x 5″).

Place grated zucchini in a towel and wring out as much moisture as you can. Cream butter and brown sugar in a mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, mix to combine, then add zucchini.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda and powder, salt and cinnamon. Toss in candied ginger and lemon zest, making sure the pieces of ginger are coated with flour and don’t stick together.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just to combine. Fill your prepared pan with the batter. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out cleanly and loaf is nicely browned. I store our bread at room temperature or slice and freeze for lunch-ready treats.

This past weekend I had a friendly, lively discussion with some loved ones about books. The agreement to disagree revolved around the question of whether books and libraries will some day become extinct in light of new digital technology. Just writing those words makes my stomach sick so you can see what side I came down on during the discussion. We talked about electronic readers and whether we dig them or not; we talked about what we love about books; we talked about how we feel about our neighborhood libraries.

Talking about books always takes my thoughts to my mom and my dad. As you may already know, I grew up with a librarian (my dad) and an educator (my mom). As young children, if we were not at the library after school, we were hanging around my mom’s office in the high school wandering the halls or finding a desk somewhere to do homework. My brother and I grew up in a home with two dedicated working parents who not only deeply respected books and words but surrounded themselves with people who talked about books, not to mention book-inspired topics such as politics, film, religion or theatre. We grew up knowing that inspiration and information, and therefore wisdom, was found in books. We were encouraged to cultivate a special relationship with our books and to take great care of them. (I still remember how my brother couldn’t stand when the spine of his books were broken by his little sis; he would have a fit!) I can’t remember a holiday when my dad has not given books as gifts (with his standard all-caps inscription in the front) or a summer where my mom has not sat in her chair in the backyard reading. We are bonded to books and cannot see a world where they do not exist in the printed form. I thank my parents for this great gift and wanted to take a moment to honor them today, and always, for my love of books.

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In keeping with this theme, I thought I would mention a few of my favorite books of the summer. They are not new books, per se, but rather ones that have moved from my shelves to my bedside table where they spent the summer keeping me company. Thanks for taking a look and as ever, I would love to hear your favorites (email: mav{at}3191milesapart.com).

Evening by Susan Minot — I read this novel every summer.

Miffy At The Gallery by Dick Bruna- My nephews and I love the Miffy series.

The Morran Book Project curated by Camilla Engman — I really miss Morran; she is a very special dog.

Paper Foods by Yuko Yamamoto — Yuko has been a huge inspiration to me for some time. I was tickled to meet her in 2009.

Drawings From The Film Beginners by Mike Mills — This is one of my favorite films of all time so the book was a must.

Printing By Hand by Lena Corwin — I have been pouring over this book in the last months. Can’t tell you entirely why yet (you know how I love secrets) but can say that as always I am inspired by Lena’s creative energy!

I truly love to create projects for this space and for 3191 Quarterly. A great deal of thought and planning goes into creating and refining projects to the point that I feel they are both appealing and attainable by even a novice crafter. After all the testing and creating and writing and photographing, it is a real thrill to have people respond well and make the projects. I always feel that things have finally come full circle when I start to see the projects made by others, so I was super excited to see our east coast team’s weavings a couple weeks ago. The best part for me was to see the ways in which everyone put their own little spin on the instructions (full instructions can be found in 3191Q Issue No. 8). I felt newly inspired to head to my yard and bring in some trimmings from the lilac and laurel bushes.

I loved how Evan worked her branch into an oval shape, and I decided to give it a try. As an experiment, I left some of the foliage on the branch and will watch and see how this one changes as it hangs on my studio wall.

The chevron pattern that Chloe created was just fabulous. I had been wanting to make a mini-weaving with embroidery floss, and this pattern suited it perfectly. This one went to my daughter as it features her favorite (of the moment) bright coral color.

A Special Invitation:

MAV and I love the community that has grown around our 3191 projects over the years. It is incredibly heartwarming to have the support of the folks that have been following us since A Year of Mornings while at the same time to be making friends with so many new folks who are just discovering us. We couldn’t do this without you all, and we have been trying to think of ways that we can include you at 3191 Miles Apart. We decided to create a space on this site where we can share your 3191-inspired work. We would love to share photos of the projects and recipes you’ve made from 3191 Miles Apart or 3191Q. Perhaps you’ve been inspired by our collaboration in some other way? Please share. We can link back to your own site or blog, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, that’s okay too. Send your photos (or links) to photos {at} 3191milesapart.com, and we will assemble them into an album for everyone to share. Please don’t be shy! We can’t wait to hear from you.