New Magazine - Stitch

So last night I came home to new copy of Stitch Magazine.  Well two copies.  I didn’t mean to order two, but Interweave, the publisher, says I ordered two and it’s silly to send one back so my friend Kristy will be the lucky recipient of the second copy.  She doesn’t know yet so: “Hey Kristy, I have an extra copy of this cool new magazine I think you’ll like. I’ll give it to you next time we see each other.”

Some pretty great stuff in this first issue.  I haven’t had a chance to read cover to cover yet, but with a quick flip through I think I’ll have to order a subscription.  Not a big maker of my own clothes.  Historically, I have had some REALLY bad attempts at making my own clothes.  One hat termed the “condom cap” by my college roommate, one HORRIBLE skirt with a Hawaiian print fabric that seriously must have added, oh I don’t know, 200 lbs to me! AND some quilted mittens I tried to make (I know, you’re saying “Quilted mittens”?) that ended up as oven mitts in our college apartment.  Thank you to Nicole, my college roommate, for putting up with all my attempts at sewing clothes and only making moderate fun of me.

Anyhew as you can see my sewing is predominantly focused on other non-clothing projects, but I’m going to attempt this skirt on the front one day and will report back.  Wether the result is good or bad, you’ll know.

Fresh baked bread doesn’t last long in our house

Although feeling rotten again (seems like I’ve been sick for a month and a half) Mazie and I made bread on Friday.  It’s one of our favorite activities together.  Well cookie making tops the list, but I can’t make cookies multiple times a week.  They don’t last long around our house either, which would be a big problem for my ass.

Friday morning:

Saturday morning:

Very proud of General Mills

Yahoo for another big company recognizing the market in Gluten free products and taking it seriously.  Just found out that Rice Chex are now certified Gluten Free and General Mills has sponsored the Celiac Disease Foundation.

Can’t wait to make myself some modified, but still gluten free Chex Mix!

A little knit softie for my baby

I’m so excited about the completion of my latest projects.  I’d be even more excited if Mazie loved it as much as I do, but she does proudly tell anyone who will listen that “Mummy made this”, which is quite nice.

Below is the finished product, a very cute knit doll from a Debbie Bliss pattern.  I used a bunch of yarn remnants from my stash, not all Debbie Bliss.  The doll’s dress is made from left over yarn from a sweater in the same color I made for Mazie so she and her doll now match.

This one was so much fun to knit and I think she may end up with some little friends in the coming months.  With the left over yarn I still have I can see many different color variations and personallities.  Super fun project.

Gluten free cookie experimentation (I guess that’s what I’ll call it)

Well as you may have seen from my tweets Valentines Day was celebrated in dribs and drabs here due to a kid with the flu and a mummy with one of the worst migraines she’s had in years.  Anyway, we spent yesterday afternoon attempting to make some lip shaped butter cookies, which would eventually be dipped in chocolate.  Cute huh? Like a black and white cookie where one lip is chocolate-y and the other is plain.  Well things didn’t turn out like that. I’m getting much better at my GF baking, but it’s still really frustrating. Things just don’t work the same and it’s like learning a whole new set of chemistry rules.  Anyway, there were some learnings and lovely moments.  Here’s the recap. I modified a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, switching out the regular flour with the Whole Foods All Purpose Flour blend I’ve come to like.  The first batch were rolled, cut, and placed onto a silpat baking sheet.  Then straight into the oven. As you can see, not such a great result.  They spread out too much, getting thin on the edges and browning too quickly.  Also, almost unrecognizable as lips. So next time around, I rolled, cut, and placed them on parchment paper on the cookie sheet.  Then I put them in the fridge to set up for a bit.  Like a charm. These turned out much better.  They didn’t loose their shape that much and consequently cooked more evenly. The next set were rolled, cut, and placed right on the cookie sheet (no parchment).  These too were placed in the fridge before cooked in the oven, but alas with the same poor results as the first batch. See same thing, spreading out and browning too much on the edges. So here is the big learning for this and other cookie cutter cookies.  Roll, cut, place on parchment on a cookies sheet.  Refrigerate for a bit before putting in the oven and allow to cool a bit on the sheet before you take them off and put them onto the cooling rack. Ok so onto the Chocolate dipping saga.  It was a total disaster and I’ve done this before so I don’t know what the hell I did wrong.  First I tried the microwave. The chocolate broke.  Then I tried the double boiler.  The chocolate broke.  Then I tried the mircowave again. The chocolate broke.  As you can see the cookies never got dipped in chocolate. After this very frustrating baking event, I had to give myself a little mummy time out in the bedroom. After a minute or so Mazie came in and said, “It’s ok Mummy. It’s ok”.  Then she gave me a big hug and said, “It’s ok Mummy it happens some times.”  She was totally right.  It is ok and it does happen sometimes.  I think sometimes I want everything to come out like the picture — baking, crafts, our living room, etc– but sometimes the picture isn’t the best way.  These were the best cookies we’ve made yet, because I learned a lot.  Not only about my GF baking, but that might child might be one of the smartest people around and my best friend.

On my needles

After having finished my first pair of socks, I quickly started another pair.  I think I’ll always have a pair of socks going.  It’s an easy travel project as I can fit it into my pocket book and take it on the go.

This is a Regia superwash sock yarn.  I think the colorway is Galaxy, but I’m not positive.  I don’t think this pick does the colors justice.  It’s quite a lovely mix of brown, rusty orange, mauve, and a steele blue.  Lovely, can’t wait to see the finished product.   You can kind of see the way the color will show in the final fabric, looks like it will be almost like a wood grain.  Yarn picked up at Seed Stitch Fine Yarn here in Salem.  The most wonderful shop if you’ve not been in and worth a field trip if you live anywhere in New England.

Yes, we threw a recession themed party for our two year old.

So as you know, Mazie’s birthday party was this past weekend.   Each year (yes I know, all two years now) Robbie and I try to come up with something timely as a theme.  This year it was a recession.  Nothing says fun like a recession themed two year old party, but believe me it was fun and effective.  Last year it was a campaign theme of sorts where her invite was a Mazie for President in 2008 campaign poster and her campaign slogan was Make Cupcakes not War, a nod to Johnny Cupcakes, and great inspiration for a cupcake themed birthday party.  We’re going to try to do something timely like this until she demands a Hannah Montana themed party or something like that.

So this is how the theme started off with our two dollar bill, featuring Mazie’s adorable picture.  Note the subtleties in both of the “seals” on the bill: One being a gluten free birthday reminder and the other a bit of white where we’re replaced the white house with the red house, which is of course the color of our house and looks just like this little icon.  PS I know Saturday is spelled wrong, we missed it because we were busy congratulating ourselves on the great job we did in creating this invite and coming up with this theme.

Below has to be the most adorable picture of Mazie pre-party in her party prep mode.  She’s wearing a cute birthday hat my brother in-law and his family sent to us and wearing her apron (made by a friend of mine) so she can help out with all of the pre-party prep, including cake frosting.

Cakes in progress.

The finished product. Not so bad if I do say so myself. On top are these lovely little German, wooden candle holders that are from a larger set given to my as a child from my paternal grandmother.  They are each little soldiers or members of a band.  These two were a perfect match for the green icing used to continue the green and pink money theme we had going.

Now for the crafting icing on the cake: The Goodie Bags.  I’m very proud of this idea, which I’ve called the Baby Bail Out Bag — again as a nod to all things timely in this economy.

Thank goodness my mother in-law was in town to help because these would not have turned out so well and I would have been up late into the night sewing away, resulting into a cranky mummy the next day. She lovingly stitched up the bags, even adding a decorative stitch at the top.  She was so smart in her process as well.  She folded/ironed over the top edge on the entire length of yardage and stitched it down before she cut out each individual bag, making the process much easier and faster than my approach which would have been to cut and sew each one individually.  This way she had a couple of nice long sewing seams and then only had to stitch up the edges of the bags once they were cut from the longer yardage.  Note: the fabric was from my stash and was formerly curtains in our living room.  Yahoo I get recycling points on this one too.

Robbie then drew $ signs on them with Sharpie and we stuffed them with this great play money I found (one big set for ~$20, which we divided up) and some chocolate coins that I carefully researched to make sure they were not ones laced with Melamine from a scare earlier this year.

To sum it up, this party was a huge success.  We have such a wonderful group of friends and family who make events like this truly enjoyable.  The kids were great — no major meltdowns, confrontations, etc.  We had just the right amount of food.  Mazie recieved lovely little treats from her friends — books we didn’t have before, great art supplies, or thoughfully made handmade gifts and wrapping which are all truly appreciated in this house.  So thanks to all those that came.  Hope this post inspires those who might be throwing parties soon.  PS. To a few guest I forgot to give you a bag in the nuttiness and and to one quest we found a bag of cash on the step the next morning.  Feel free to let me know and you can claim your prize next time we meet.

My Creative Space

Playing along again with Kirsty at Kootoyoo.  My creative space (which I share with my husband) is chaotic this week.  This is a pretty crappy picture, but seriously at 6:15 this morning I couldn’t muster any better.  You’ll get the idea.

Here you’ll see a sneak peak (bottom left hand side) of the party favors in progress for Mazie’s birthday party this weekend.  I’m not going to spoil the surprise in case anyone’s kid will be the lucky recipient of one of these, but you’ll hear all about them post party festivities.  Also on the table is my cherished canvas tote bag, given to me as a bridesmaid gift (seriously one of the best bridesmaid’s gifts ever) by my friend Nicole.  It’s served me well in that it was my work tote when I had to lug along my breast pump, work shoes, notebook, etc. for a year and now has become my knitting bag.  I try never to keep too many skeins around, but mostly knit one or two projects and then go back for more.  I find it makes me feel less overwhelmed by stuff.  Anyhew I’m currently working on this fabulous knit doll for Mazie from a Debbie Bliss book.  Again more on this one to come soon.

Ok also on the table are these:

I picked up these lovely little spools of ribbon several weeks ago at Michaels.  They are tiny little spools of ribbon, perhaps 2 inches in diameter and the ribbons are about a quarter inch wide. I fell in love at first sight - so cute and color coordinated -  I just had to have them.  [Again see my obsession with ribbon here.]  Now I’m at a complete loss as to what I should do with them.  So here I seek your help.  Please, please give me some suggestions on how you might use these little lovelies.  You can offer up your suggestions in the comments section.  Maybe someone else will be inspired too.

I don’t do this kind of knitting at home.

Check out this knit gold and silver jewelry by Mikan Designs on Etsy.  Gorgeous. Just Gorgeous.

A dose of spring in the winter

I’m so excited about the completion of my latest project.  It was my first attempt at making a pair of socks.  Just a simple knit three purl one rib and a stockinette foot, but look how great they turned out.  I’ve always heard people say there is nothing like a hand knit pair of socks and you know what?  They are totally right!  They feel so good on my feet.  One is a little bigger than the other because I was a loose knitter at the beginning of my sock adventure.  However, once you put them on, no one is the wiser and my feet don’t seem to notice either.

This yarn (I’m sorry I can’t remember what it is or find the sleeve) is such a lovely dose of spring color in the middle of winter.  I’ve already started my second pair of socks.  I’ll give you an on the needle preview soon.

This is another nutty week in our house.  I’m only just starting to recover from this HORRIBLE bug plaguing me for the last couple of weeks.  Mazie’s birthday is tomorrow and I can’t believe she is turning two.  I’m having a harder time with two than I did one.  When she turned one I thought oh this is so great she’s one, but two seems like such a big milestone for me.  It seems like a transition from having a baby to having a kid.  Part of me feels like oh my god she’s been here for two whole years and the other part feels like I can’t believe she’s only been around for two years.  Life would just not be the same without her.

Party festivities will commence this weekend and she is very excited.  She keeps talking about how at the party we’ll have cake and ice cream, balloons, all her friends will come, there will be presents, and we’ll sing and dance.  Seriously, could you ever ask for more than that in a birthday?  What a great thing to be turning two and to be surrounded by singing dancing friends and family who are all eating sweets.  Anyhew, lots of preparations in the days to come.  I’ll share the results with you in the coming days.