Racing stripes

Another baby boy gift, this one for a sweet new cousin in Sarajevo. I was thrilled to be able to make another Oliver & S playsuit using some lovely light weight cotton, I can't remember where I found it. I am pleased to report that I think I have finally mastered the snap tape situation: it's a tricky maneuver on these tiny 0-3 month outfits, I have to say. Since he's a summer baby, I made two lightweight blankets using two of the Heather Ross Kokka prints and super soft flannel.  They are each about a yard square which I think is a very useful size. Finally, I wrapped it all up in a big draw-string bag (another Heather Ross print) and put it in the mail yesterday. Hopefully they will arrive by the time we see the little guy in person in a few weeks.

It was a bit of a relief to finally cut into the fabric that I bought about this time last year, intending to a make a quilt for an entirely different baby. Oops.

M is for Margaret, and for mine

I've been in a bit of a sewing slump lately. Not to say I haven't been sewing, it's just been less inspired and more utilitarian than usual. There has been some disappointment with one recently published sewing book with incredibly poorly written directions that is receiving rave reviews around the craft blog circuit (more on that later) but mostly it's been a feeling of "meh, seen/made that before, why bother" when I think of starting a new project. I suppose I've been looking for that project that would reset my crafting mojo, if you will.

Internets, I introduce you to my new muse, the Margaret Sling Bag. The pattern is available as a free download from the very talented and generous Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! And Internets, if ever there was a cure for the crummy craft book blues, it is an Oh, Fransson! tutorial. Perfectly written instructions that were intuitive and easy to follow, correct measurements for fabric and materials, it was a joy to cut out and sew. Fabrics are one of my favorite Good Folks prints and a gingham linen that I bought before A Little Goodness closed it's doors (anyone know where to go for interesting linen these days?) The vintage button is one that I've been hanging on to for a while, I'm so glad I was able to use it here. It must have been a bridle decoration judging from the bits of dried out leather I scraped from the back of it, but it cleaned up nicely.

I made the cross-body version because I want a hands-free summer bag for biking and yard sale season, but the pattern also gives instructions for making a shoulder bag. The strap fit my rather long torso perfectly; the bag sits right on my hip and is very comfortable. It's the perfect size for my purposes, I can fit my wallet, camera, note book, water bottle and a snack with plenty of room left to stash treasures found along the way. One little thing I might do differently next time is to make the internal pockets a little deaper and also to set them a little lower, but it's a minor issue. In fact, I'm already pulling fabrics for the next one.

Happy Birthday to Lou!

I cannot believe you are 4 today.
It seems like you arrived just yesterday.
Yet it's like you've always been a part of our family.
I want to stop time and keep you here, now, forever.
But, I can't wait to see who you become in these years ahead.
You are a thousand joys.
I love you bigger than the whole world.

Happy Birthday, my sweet niece!

Swoon!

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Sandra Juto’s amazing crochet work by sfgirlbybay. The moment I saw this afghan my heart swelled and I knew I was in love. I keep staring at it, studying it, and coveting it. I have to make one.

I’ve been harboring the desire to pick up crochet seriously for some time now, even putting it on my list of things to accomplish this year. At first I thought this was way out of my league but as I’ve studied Sandra’s blog and flickr stream I’ve realized it’s made out of granny squares. Each granny square is a fun little project of its own, making the whole afghan doable for a complete novice like myself.

Sandra’s afghan uses a pattern she created herself. After a few googling sessions though I believe it’s based on a sunburst granny square. Lots of tutorials exist online so I hope I can figure it out. Now I need yarn and lots of it. Typically granny squares use up all your scraps of yarn from other projects but I’m starting with nothing. No yarn and no yarn buying experience. What I do have though is a gift certificate to a yarn shop the dudely gave me a Christmas or two or three ago.

Before I dive right in, any crocheters out there? What advice can you share with me? I need every piece you can throw my way!

Photos by Sandra Juto, smosch.com

Recipe of the Week

Recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala
Source: All Recipes

Ingredients: ***
Beware the amount of salt listed in this ingredients! I doubled this recipe and still only used 1 teaspoon of salt in the marinade and only added salt to taste after the chicken and sauce were simmered together at the end. For the entire recipe I may have used 1.5 teaspoons of salt.

Preparation: ****
It’s all really very easy: measuring, mixing, chopping, waiting, “grilling”, and simmering. Living in a condo I have a cute little plug-in grill that dreams of someday being a big stainless steel grill, but until then I improvise. Seeing as I had 6 chopped chicken breasts marinating I decided to avoid all the batches of “grilling” I’d have to do on my baby grill. Instead I broiled all the chicken at once on a big sheet pan. It worked very nicely.

Taste: *****
So delicious! I knew today was going to be a really long day so I made this yesterday afternoon and stored it in a big Pyrex baking dish. All the dudely had to do was slide it in the oven and make some rice for himself and couscous for me. It made for a very elegant end to a long, long day. All that wonderful spice even perked me up enough to walk the very short distance to my sewing machine. That’s got to say something when a delicious dinner energizes you instead of sacks you out on the couch for the rest of the night, right?

Second Time Around

I had very mixed feelings after the first time I made a birdie sling. There were aspects of the construction that bothered me but I ended up loving the resulting bag. Well, love conquers all and I made another.

As luck would have it I learned something from my previous experience and this bag went together much more smoothly. First off, when my local Joann store was out of Pellon SF-101 fusible interfacing before my idea of a suitable replacement was way off base. This time around they had plenty in stock and using SF-101 made a huge difference in the feel of the final bag. Now I know Craft-fuse is bad, SF-101 is good.

Secondly, in my copy of the pattern the illustration showing the attachment of the bands to the panels is incorrect. The band is actually shown upside-down which is why on my original bag I spent a lot of time ripping the bands apart. Luckily, I had found the errata on the web before I started this bag. I also pinned like crazy to make sure the band and panel fit well before sewing. And somehow over the last 10 months I managed to improve my skills at attaching three points with a curved line and ended up with 4 gussets that were nearly identical. Pretty impressive!

I don’t know how much time I spent on the bag in total but I know it was less than before. It was mostly little bits here and there over the course of a week or so. I do know I didn't want to throw the entire project out the window like last summer. I think that may be the most impressive part.

Recipe of the Week

Recipe: Chocolate-Almond Cupcakes with Fluffy Coconut Frosting
Source: Epicurious

Ingredients: *****
I realize that dried coconut is not for everyone but I just love it, especially when it gets together with coconut milk, chocolate and almonds to form a beautiful cupcake. The recipe is overly generous in the amount of coconut called for though. I found one 14-ounce bag to be plenty. (But imagine what could be done with the leftovers! How about coconut cream mini-pies or a gluten-free coconut layer cake? )

Preparation: *****
Baking takes time and this recipe proved no different. It is time well spent though and is mostly unattended baking and cooling time. I did make one change to the preparation. Rather than making twelve jumbo cupcakes I made 30 standard sized cupcakes. That’s a lot of cupcakes even for someone like me who is more than a little cupcake obsessed right now.

Taste: *****
This is a public service announcement. Should you make these, and you should, prepare to eat an alarming number in a very short period of time. Luckily, there were two of us sneaking into the kitchen at various times to have just one more so I have no idea of the actual number consumed by me. And even if I did know, I’d lie. Could they be that good you ask? Oh, yes! They were perfect in every way. They were moist and chocolate-y. They were sweet but not too sweet. They were gorgeous. Do I need to go on? I didn’t think so. Now get in that kitchen and bake.

Baby love

One of my colleagues is about to become a grandmother for the first time. She is over the moon excited and more than a little nervous. She is more nervous about the birth of her granddaughter than she was about the birth of her own son, a fact she readily admits. How to calm those nerves? The best way is with teeny, tiny handmade clothes.

For everyday, summer casual I made the Oliver + S playsuit. The shorts were made with fabric from Heather Ross’s West Hill line. I went to painstaking trouble to get the stripes to line up just right on the front and back. The result is perfect and so worth it. The bodice is simply white kona cotton that I trimmed with a yellow calico. I found the snap tape impossible to work with on such a little garment. (0-3 months is so tiny!) Instead I sewed in snaps by hand for easy diaper changing.

For more dressed up occasions I made the comfy jumper dress and bloomers from Amy Butler’s Little Stitches for Little Ones. This dress came out so, so beautifully. I just love it. The butterfly fabric for the skirt and bloomers is from Hoffman while the bodice fabric is from Wilmington Prints. The dress came together easily. If you found yourself with an entirely free evening you could definitely get this completed in one night. There is one error in the cutting instructions though. It says to cut out a piece of fabric for a loop but a loop is never mentioned in the sewing instructions. Amy’s people confirmed it was a mistake and the loop should be ignored. The bloomers were also an easy project though I found the wording in the instructions a bit confusing. Luckily I’ve made her lounge pants before so I had a good idea about what needed to be sewn together and what shouldn’t be sewn together.

But back to how lovely this dress is. It’s perfect for warm days. On cool days though it would be just darling with a pair of tights and a crocheted baby sweater. Oh, and tiny little shoes. See? There is no time to be nervous when you’re imagining dressing a baby.

Recipe of the Week

Recipe: Gin, Tea, and Lemon Fizz
Source: Bon Appetit

Ingredients: *****
In our house all the ingredients are easy to come by. There is always a rather large selection of loose leaf black teas to choose from. I chose to use Golden Monkey, my favorite black tea from Tealuxe. And gin? Well, we are gin martini people so there is rarely a time when there isn’t gin in the cupboard. Lemonade concentrate? Always a can in the freezer once it’s obvious warm weather is here to stay. Sparkling water? It’s a necessary pantry item in my opinion.

Preparation: *****
If you can repeatedly measure 1 teaspoon or 1 cup, you can make this recipe.

Taste: *****
Oh, my! This drink is deliciously dangerous. Because I have yet to develop a fondness for bourbon it was the perfect cocktail to sip while watching the Kentucky Derby. We know absolutely nothing about horse racing but each year we’re sitting in front of the TV watching this race. I’m a sucker for the stories behind the stories and always pick the sentimental favorite. (This year it was General Quarters.) I’m never right but who cares. It’s an afternoon spent relaxing with good snacks and great cocktails. Isn’t that what the weekend is all about?

Spring Kitty

There's a lot of pink and green springing up in our garden right now. Just look at this wee kitty, isn't she sweet? I think I can sew up this Wee Wonderfuls pattern in my sleep by now, I've made just a few kitties and bears. The dress is a lovely Heather Ross Kokka print and the body is a pale pink baby corduroy that is super soft. I thought she needed a pair of shoes and a lace collar and she was ready for Spring.

It's been busy around here, five more days until I write my final final exam for my master's program, I can't quite believe it. I also have a some new and inspiring sewing books and am trying my best to make a dent in my fabric stash and not buy any new fabric.  I'll share more soon, hope you are having a wonderful weekend..