Lavender Hues & Flavors

It was a productive week in the VVM household. In addition to starting my vintage dress project, I made a big batch of lavender simple syrup, a half-pint of which ended up over at Ana and Sophia's house. This is so incredibly... simple to make. Add it to champagne, cocktails, sparkling water, coffee, lemonade. Drizzle it over pancakes, into yogurt, on pound cake or icecream. Seriously, I could get carried away. In fact -- right this very minute -- some lavender honey chicken is baking in the oven. My very good friend, Amanda, makes a variety of this using rosebuds. Mmmmm...

Lavender Simple Syrup

• 2 c. white sugar
• 2 c. water
• 2 T. lavender
• 2-3 drops violet food coloring, if desired

1. Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and place it over high heat. Stir it constantly until all the sugar has dissolved and the water begins to boil. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, remove it from the heat and place a lid on top; let this steep for 15 minutes.
2. Strain the lavender out by pouring the entire mixture through a metal mesh sieve. You may have to do this several times. There will be a small amount of residue left; this is pollen and small fragments of the blooms.
3. At this point, the mixture will be a light, murky green color. Add 2-3 drops of food coloring, if you wish, to give it a slight violet hue.
4. Allow syrup to cool, then pour into air-tight containers. Store in the fridge; keeps for 3-4 weeks.

I also began the process of piecing together the pattern for my Wildheart dress. I printed out all the pages on normal 8-1/2 x 11 paper, then patched them together like the grid on a map with tape. I had considered getting actual pattern paper, but when I discovered that it was $7.99/yd, that just wasn't happening. After chatting up the friendly little old lady at Hobby Lobby, I settled on good 'ol tracing paper. I only had to tape multiple sheets together for the larger skirt portions of the dress, but the rest of the pieces transferred nicely onto one sheet of tracing paper.

As you can see, I had a little helper who took his job very seriously. He said he wanted to immerse himself in the craft... I told him to lay off the Goldfish snacks.

Do you have one specific ingredient you feel drawn to? Something you find a reason to add to anything and everything? Maybe that "ingredient" is a color?