clutter management

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PUMPKIN PUDDING PIE w/ ORANGE ZEST & CARDAMOM WHIPPED CREAM

(makes ~3 pies)

2½ cups sugar

15oz can pumpkin puree

2 eggs

½ tsp baking soda

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

2½ cups milk

4 TBSP butter (melted)

1 orange

1 tsp powdered sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 TBSP powdered sugar

1 tsp cardamom

pinch nutmeg

pumpkin pudding pie w/ orange zest

preheat the oven to 325°F

prepare the pie crust (that's another recipe's job—either find a scratch recipe or buy a pre-made dough or graham cracker crust)

blend 2 ½ cups sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl (if using a mixer, blend with a paddle attachment)

add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt; blend until well mixed

add the milk and melted butter, whisk until well mixed (if using a mixer, blend with the whisk attachment)

pour your batter into the crust, filling right up to the edge (the mix will be more liquid than solid, but it will rise/solidify in the oven)

bake at 325°F for 55 minutes

remove from the oven and let it cool

top with sifted powdered sugar

zest an orange over the top of the pie (microplane if possible but regular zester is fine; have found that the most aesthetically pleasing version is to peel the orange and then finely dice the peel but that's a hassle!)

whipped cream

put your metal mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for at least 15 minutes

whisk powdered sugar, cardamom, and nutmeg together in bowl

add heavy cream; whisk until stiff peaks start forming

A chair that redefined modern furniture. Designed by Marcel Breuer at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1925, the B3 Club Chair, later known as the Wassily Chair, transformed tubular steel and leather into one of the most influential furniture designs of the twentieth century. Inspired by the lightweight construction of a bicycle, it remains a lasting icon of modern design.

📖 Learn more about Marcel Breuer:

https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/marcel-breuer-bauhaus-tradition-brutalist-invention

🛒 Discover Marcel Breuer designs:

They can be buttoned together in a stack (footrest mode), buttoned together in a square (big floor cushion mode), or used individually (cushions mode).

I started off with this big 1-metre square foam floor cushion, which I liked but was hard to store when not in use.

I wanted to keep the option of a big floor cushion without it having to just lurk behind the sofa. At the same time, I wanted an extra footrest. So I decided to find a way to make the cushion convertible in some way.

For a while I toyed with having it fold up like a monopoly board. But I couldn't come up with a way to construct and secure the cover without bulky zips everywhere.

So then I considered just making four separate cushions that could be secured together in different configurations. For a while my best idea was to have something like a belt or strap, which could either go around the circumference of the 2x2 floor layout, or around the stack. But I didn't like the idea of having to deal with that band as a loose separate item.

@cassolotl had the genius idea to use loops to chain up the sides to keep the cushions together in a stack. I was doubtful at first because it didn't solve the problem of attaching them together in the floor layout. But then I figured out that adding buttons in the right place relative to the loops would make it possible to secure all three configurations. Which I'll demonstrate at the end of the post!

So the first step was cutting the big cushion down into four equal pieces. Well, the first-first step was trimming it down to clean up the section that was destroyed by my rabbit, who liked to burrow against the cushion and somehow managed to shred the foam *through* the cover.

I cut the foam with a hand saw, which was quite easy and satisfying.

Then making the cushion covers. I made strips of straight-cut binding and tucked loops into the corners while I sewed together the side pieces of the cover.

I decided to add piping to the top for aesthetics and structure. I've never done piping before but it wasn't too bad to get the hang of.

Because I dislike both zips and buttons (not specifically sewing with them, but just generally coming into contact with them in life) I decided not to bother making any closure on the underside of the cushions. Instead I just made the bottom piece of the cover in two triangles with a diagonal opening across the middle. A bit of strategic reinforcement stitching at the corners got the balance between making it possible to insert the cushions without the flaps flapping around too much.

Now for the details of the loop/button system. Each loop is positioned halfway up the height of the cover, at the corner. Each cover has two loops, at diagonally opposite corners. The loops extend 10cm, which is the exact thickness of the cushion foam.

Exactly 10cm to the right of each loop, I sewed on a big wooden button, also halfway up the height of the cushion.

For separate cushions mode, each loop is simply wrapped over its own neighbouring button to keep it from waving around or catching on things.

For big floor cushion mode, the cushions are butted together with their loop-corners touching each other around the perimeter of the square.

At each connection point, the loops from *both* cushions are wrapped around the button exposed on the perimeter. This holds all of the cushions together around the outside, and friction keeps them from slipping around in the middle.

For footrest mode, the loops are chained up through each other - the bottom cushion's loop is wrapped around the second cushion's loop, which wraps around the third cushion's loop, which wraps around the top loop.

Then, the top loop wraps around its own button to secure the chain.