3/365

3/365, originally uploaded by pikatures.

Last day of vacation for Daddy means one last hurrah as a family - what better way to spend it than at the Museum of Science and Industry? Their Science of Storms exhibit was engaging for all members of this little family, particularly the Tesla fanatics.

2/365

2/365, originally uploaded by pikatures.

I will be the first to admit that this winter break has been a little too long. There were moments of niceness though, like this one when the kids worked together to figure out Hiro's new Batman game on his DS.

1/365

1/365, originally uploaded by pikatures.

Having 2 kids under the age of 10 means that they go to bed before midnight. That also means we generally make a bigger deal out of the evening of the 1st rather than the midnight thing. Grandma had brought up some party poppers from TN and the kids not only had fun setting them off, they ran around and decorated the room with the streamers.

1-1-11

1-1-11, originally uploaded by pikatures.

Shanghai score from the game on 1-1-11 (from left to right, Joe's mom, Me, then Joe). It seemed like a sign that I'm supposed to try this 365 thing again.

Whatcha Dooo-in'?

Well, wouldn't you know it - this is what happens when you take on some sewing for other people: everything else gets put aside. I did do a little bit of holiday sewing and it all turned out very well.

Here's the thing with holiday sewing: I'm never sure if it is well received/appreciated. Not that we do things for the accolades, but you want your gifts to be useful and appreciated in some way. This would be the case no mater what you were doing purchasing or crafting, but particularly when you spend quite a bit of time making something you really want it to be useful! Anyway, lets hope they all went to homes that would not delegate them to the junk pike...

First up is a pair of bags, one for a boy and one for a girl. My main goal in sewing these bags was to lessen the amount of gift wrap used and to give something... there's that word again... useful. Anyway, I made two sets for the two sets of little nieces and nephews in my family. Fully lined and with a little unexpected detail here and there. They held the actual gifts (books, cars, etc) for the kidlets and will hopefully be a good home for something they own (and not, as I was told, as a wine tote, although the size was right).




Then there was a baby blanket for a new baby nephew (and a bonus one for Frankie since there was plenty of material left over).


And that's it. Two + months and only 4 bags and a blanket to show for it. Next up will be the multiple jackets and skirts that took up all that time :)

A Hat. For ME! and a little Stash Busting too!

The Purl Bee recently ran a blog post on the Mushroom hat, which looked too cute not to knit! With a dog to walk and the frigid Illinois winter fast approaching, it was a perfectly timed post to motivate me to pick the needles back up. I am in the need to do some stash busting so I dug out some red Cotton Fine and doubled the yarn to create my own version, which is probably not as warm as the wool version but it fits nicely and is super cute.

Progress... those poor Denise needles, which were the only game in town WAY BACK WHEN in the exchangeable circular needle set, have been chewed on by said walk-requiring dog on several occasions. Not enough to toss the needles but enough to require some sanding to prevent major snagging action.


Finished product!


Side view...


Hmmm. Never really paid much attention to how flat my face was... also my nose needs some powder... also I slouch... But look at that shiny hair! If I told you I switched from my salon brand shampoo to a bargain basement brand would you believe me? Because I did. And it is fabulous! And good for the pocketbook!

Front view...


Project pattern and notes found here, in the Mushroom Hat Project Journal I tried the hat out with a ponytail, as suggested by the author of the pattern, and it is still cute - no giant pony-tail bump!

I will also share a little technological tidbit. This was the first pattern I used that wasn't in a book or wasn't likewise printed on a piece of paper! I bookmarked the journal page in my iPhone and referred to the pattern when I needed it. Additionally, since I am forever losing those little katchakatcha knitting counters, I found a free app that does exactly that - it's called Knit Counter (Lite version is free) and the free version had enough in it to keep up (sometimes free apps are awful and just a tease to get you to buy the full version but not this one!). I could keep track of two different row patterns AND a total set count (that's three counters, one handy app!). A really neat note about this app, is that if you want to start over on the row count (because you have a 4-row repetition) you can just hit "frog" and count back the number of rows you need! So incredibly convenient. And free!

Somebody looked at Somedoggie's "bed" (a/k/a old twin sized comforter from Joe's college days) and realized that Somedoggie had ripped the behoozes out of it. So, Somebody went and took advantage of the fleece sale and made up a little zippered duvet cover, using the ripped up comforter as the inside, complete with attached blankie for maximum snoogling. Because Somedoggie enjoys a good snoogle inside a blanket.

See? Getting into snoogling position


Eventually I decided that it was missing... something... so on went a little bone. Oh look, somebunny decided to get in the bed. It's been a while since I've done any needlework, which is more than slightly obvious here. Oh well, I don't think Frankie is going to mind too terribly.


He eventually came downstairs and look! Doesn't seem to mind the dodgy needlework at all :)

Day in the Park Backpack/Tote

Liesel and Co. ran a sale recently on the Day in the Park Backpack/Tote pattern and I had to snatch it up - the picture looked too cute and the versatility was appealing. As it turned out, it took a while for me to gather the requisite materials but once the fabric and interfacing was procured and the rings and grommets ordered, it went incredibly quickly.

The pattern pieces are clearly numbered and marked, as are the instructions. I loved the "hints" provided in the instructions to make life a little easier for the absent-minded sewer like myself :)


When it was all said and done, I managed to get the stripes lined up on the corresponding pieces and also managed to not break my not-very-strong sewing machine in the process, as the layers of interfacing made it a bit dodgy at times. Part of that problem was mine though, because I had used such lightweight fabric I overcompensated with the heavy-duty interfacing. It is a nice, sturdy bag now though. Tried it out in the city today both as a tote and as a backpack and both were marvelous.



The interior is roomy, yet with the zippered pockets and patch pocket inside things are always within easy reach


The result of all of this careful planning on Liesel + Co.'s part is a fantastic bag. Can not sing the praises of this pattern enough. If you do try it out, but aren't sure if you have access to grommets and rings go ahead and order the kit from the website. It will make your life that much easier!

When the temperatures do not go above 65 in mid-July, it is appropriate to eat things one would associate with fall weather. We chose Slow Cooker Potato Soup and Pretzel Rolls, which was warming and perfect for the somewhat bleak day outside.

Slow -Cooker Potato Soup
adapted from the Gooseberry Patch Comfort Foods Recipe Book (2007)

6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
5 cups of vegetable stock
1 Tbsp dried parsley
¼ tsp pepper
1 Tbsp salt (or less, depending on how much salt your stock has)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut up*
12 oz can evaporated milk*

Combine all ingredients except milk in a slow cooker.
Cover and cook on high for 3- 4 hours or low for 10-12 hours
Stir in milk during last hour of cooking.
Right before serving ladle as much as will fit into your blender into the blender. Put the cover on, slap a towel on top and puree.
Mix the pureed soup back into the rest of the soup and the soup should become creamy in consistency. If not creamy enough, repeat the blender step.

Ladle into bowls, enjoy.


* If you want to make this gluten free and dairy free, just leave these two items out and puree as much of the soup as you can to get the creamy consistency.

The Pretzel Rolls were courtesy of Heather Lalley, a/k/a FlourGirl. Go and get her recipe and start the rolls in time for them to cool before dinner. She shapes them into buns but we stuck with the traditional dinner roll. They were easy and perfect the first time out, a pretzel-y outer crust:


And a tasty chewy inside:


This pair will be making repeated appearances this fall, we ate dinner and decided we felt like carving pumpkins. Of course, that would have been silly since it is still mid-July.

Checking my mail

It is pretty rare that I get to keep something I make, minus the silly camera strap here and there, things generally go away as gifts. I have a list of things I want to make for ME, but they all got moved aside when oliver+s ran a sale on their Backpack tote (still going on through tomorrow - 17th)

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the pattern and searching for the right fabric to use!

PJ set

It's been a rough week here and I'm hoping to get back on the horse by doing some crafty/tasty things.

First up is a PJ set for my growing girl. She is one of those people who is hot all.the.time and at night she goes into nuclear mode. Even in the summer, when the AC is on, she does not do well at night - soaking through shirts and generally not sleeping well with the heat.

I set out to make a cute PJ set for my little heat box, and found an adorable shirt from the book Girly Style Wardrobe that would work well. This coupled with a simple short from the Pajama's for Everyone pattern in Heather Ross' book, Weekend Sewing (made into shorts by just using the top portion of the patterns) and we have cute, cool dreams (I hope!)

Everything Tote, Again

Last time I tried the Everything Tote, I was smitten with everything except the size. I knew this tote was just the right thing for my mom and MIL for Mother's Day but that it was too big.

After some quick alterations to the overall size the result was as follows, much more manageable for people who don't carry their entire lives in their handbags (ahem):

The bag I made for my mom is so pretty, I love this home decor fabric.


The interior is also peaceful


My MIL's bag:

Simple Thank You Jars

159/365, originally uploaded by pikatures.

The last day of school means thanking all of the wonderful teachers one more time for all of their hard work this year.

We took small mason jars and made them into thank you note holder/picture frames and filled them with candy and stamps. In case the teachers wanted to use the jars as pencil holders later we made sure to use pretty double-sided cardstock as our base layer, placed a layer of solid, coordinating cardstock on top and then finally a white piece to hold the art. The teacher's names were written on little flowers that we affixed to the picture and I had SweetGirl write a small note of thanks to each teacher on the bottom.

Very simple, yet hopefully meaningful to each recipient. It was interesting to see what was drawn on each picture, as each was very different. Her music teacher got all sorts of music notes dangling from the ceiling of her classroom on her picture :)

I credit my mom with pretty much every creative fiber of my being I possess. Mom is the original master seamstress, papercrafter and cook in our household - the three of us were fortunate enough to get some of that gift. One of the distinctive memories I have of one of the things Mom made while we were growing up was shu-cream (Japanese Cream Puffs, known to most folks as a variation of the French pastry, Pate a Chou). Mom used to make them often, and I have been thinking about these Cream Puffs.

So, in honor of Mother's Day, I set out to recreate some of the magic that came out of Mom's kitchen.

Japanese cookbooks are written with weighted measurements, as opposed to cups - which, if you read Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For More Food you'll see that he thinks this is a more accurate way to measure for baking. So I remember my Mom (and my sisters, when they would bake) carefully measuring things out on a bright red manual scale. I don't have a beautiful red scale. I have... a modern digital thing which is smaller than Mom's scale but doesn't have the personality it has.

So with my scale I set to work with Alton Brown's Pate a Chou recipe. Having never made them before I was more than a little worried when they came out of the piping bag looking like this.
Really Alton? Measuring by weight is BETTER?!


Then, after the baking process they surprised me by doing their magical baking thing and turning into this
I'm sorry Alton, I should have never doubted you


The challenge, as it is, was finding a good custard recipe. I didn't want a white, over sugary confection in the middle. I wanted a very distinct and pudding-like custard. It has been many years since having had Mom's version but the flavor and texture of the custard is imprinted in my brain (tastebuds). Thanks to the internet, I found a recipe:

Vanilla Custard

330g milk
1/2 vanilla pod or 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
110g sugar
40g cornstarch
6 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whipping cream- until soft peaks form

1. Scald milk and vanilla, let it infuse for 5 minutes.
2. Mix the egg yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch making sure there are no lumps.
3. Heat the milk until it starts to boil.
4. Temper your yolk mixture by pouring 1/3 of the milk into the yolk mixture and combine, then pour back the yolk mixture into the pot.
5. Continuously stir using a whisk until small bubble appear. Cook for another 2 minutes. Remove and pour into another container and cover with cling film. Cool down and chill for 2 hours.
6. Once cold fold in the whipping cream. Place in fridge until ready to use.

*I should note here that my version did not set up properly after that first chill because the recipe called for corn flour and it just didn't set up. I had to put everything back on the stove and cornstarch in small quantities until it set up in custard-form. Then chill it again. Small setback, which I think could be avoided by using cornstarch from the get-go.

Eventually it was perfect. Once it was chilled and piped into the Puffs they were just as I remembered them.


Almost as good as Moms.

Bias Tape

Bias Tape, originally uploaded by pikatures.

Bias tape makers are awesome (and incredibly simple to use).

1/2 inch bias tape for a shirt I made for myself, plenty left over for something else. I can see myself making a slew of bias tape just for kicks. That is probably not very healthy.