Summer Treats

In an effort to not do another wip post, I thought I'd show you some food instead. I guess it's still something I made, but I was in the kitchen this time and it wasn't for the baby! haha

We finally got around to having a little backyard barbecue a few weeks ago. The weather was beautiful, plenty of people came and it was a wonderful day. I, of course, made way too much food and because of this spent most my time in the kitchen forming hamburger patties because I was behind schedule (sorry about that to those who were here).

I only have pictures of the treats to share with you, I hope you don't mind.

I dug into Martha's Cupcakes again and made the strawberry cupcakes. I went with regular buttercream instead of strawberry. Not being a strawberry fan (and probably the only one on earth), I felt the strawberry on strawberry would be too much! As usual, they didn't disappoint. Nick thinks these might be his second favorite cupcake ever (right behind Martha's maple cupcakes ~ yummmm).

 I also made a batch of marshmallows. It's just ridiculous how easy they are to make! I added a little English Toffee candy flavoring to them & it was just enough to give them some pizazz. These were a hit too, there were only 4 left at the end of the day. No one wants to be the person who takes the last one, right? Here's the recipe I used for the marshies. It's worth buying a candy thermometer if you only ever use it to make your own marshmallows. They'll shock & amaze your friends too.

That's all the food photos I can share, I didn't manage to take any other pictures that day (so typical). The macaroni salad from Cook's Country Magazine (my FAVORITE magazine ever!) was so good too...next time.

Here's my next cooking project:

 Did you know there was a whole book dedicated to Whoopie Pies? {drool}

Now that I've actually located a bag of graham flour, I'm going to attempt the graham cracker whoopie pies.

 Wouldn't it be fun, and a lot of work, to use your own marshmallows for these? Now that's domestic!

I won't be rushing into any baking right away, we've started phase 4 of the kitchen remodel. I want this done before the baby gets here or it'll never happen!

Actually, this should be complete by early next week. All we need now is the new pantry, some tile and a nice new floor. Movin' right along!

Oh, and I finished that little crocheted sweater. Told you I could crochet a sweater way quicker than I could knit one. :) hehe

Pretty good, eh? Only one crafty photo in the bunch! Hope you're having a nice summer too.

Is it too much?

Wow, I didn't mean to be missing that long, sorry about the extended and impromptu blog break. Must be all that nesting going on around here. It seems like all I post anymore is WIP's, but that's what I'm doing. What can I say?

Here's another round...(with a few finished projects thrown in to prove I do actually finish things every now & then, ahem)...

**Warning** This is a long post, but not too wordy.

 Let's start with a few sewing projects in the works for my little bump.

 I've spent a lot of time cutting out patterns lately, totally not my favorite thing to do (and my back likes it even less. Don't get me started on back pain right now).

How about a nice little corduroy jumper/dress with polka dot bias trim? I can't remember where I got this cool corduroy, but I know it was in England and it's super soft & cute! I'm making the little sleeveless version.

Both of these fabrics are from JoAnn and are a nice medium weight twill. I'm making the hoodie out of the polka dots and the jumper out of the kitties.

Two projects from this pattern. On the left, a coat out of the birds, lined with the stripes. Then I'll make the little dress in polka dots with stripey bloomers.

 It's cool enough around here to wear winter clothes for about 9 months of the year, so we're going to need some outerwear. This will be a reversible hooded jacket that will still work if the next baby's a boy.

Call me old-fashioned, because I am. I'm making a long sleeved dress from this adorable floral and yes, I'll probably make the eyelet pinny too. (This pattern had been around a while, my niece got a pretty little dress from it when she was a baby ~ she'll be 14 this month.)

Make it a double old-fashioned. The red will be the little short sleeved top with the blue as the bias trim & ties. No idea where the floral fabric came from but I have a bunch and I think it's perfect for this 1950's reproduction pattern, don't you?

I might as well show you my pinning system. I like to pin a little scrap of fabric to the pattern envelope to keep track of my plans and to remember what I've made from a pattern. It seems to work out pretty well for me and is very helpful if your memory has been sucked away by a growing human in your growing tummy.

This one shouldn't take too long and it's going to be made from fabrics from my stash! Check out Jenny B.'s blog for the free downloadable pattern for this cute scotty dog. p.s. I'm making the flat version.

 Maybe I'll make something for myself, maybe I won't get to it, haha. More stash fabric. Did you know there are about 3 maternity patterns out there these days? So unfair. Luckily I live in Frump City all the time.

On to the knitting...

One extremely soft pink blanket that will likely have cocoa brown trim. This is version 2, by the way. I already pulled apart about a foot of knitting I didn't like. I'm happy with this one. Got the free pattern here.

How about a little cotton cardigan? The yarn is a little paler in real life. If I don't add the organza ribbon trim, I think it could be gender neutral if needed. I'm sensible that way, you know?

This little jumper will be great for any time of year, also in cotton.

No, I haven't started on this one yet. Don't you think I probably have enough things going right now? This will be a warm wooly pullover hoody, and gender neutral again too. I promise to leave this project until I have at least one knitted sweater finished.

 Last night we went to Stitch & Pitch night at the Seattle Mariners game. I got this gorgeous yarn there. It's called "Sublime" and let me tell you, it is! It's ohhh so soft and will be made into this cardigan. (I'll be honest with you, this project will likely get started right away. Because it's crocheted, I know I can finish it about 50 times faster than anything I knit.)

Time to prove prove projects are also being completed!

 

Digging into my stash again, I made this super simple flannel blanket.

I couldn't resist this kitten fabric, so I paired it with a plushy white stripe & some rick rack I had laying around for another easy blanket.

I finished the baby shower invitations and mailed them, woohoo!

They do actually sell some cute stretch knits at JoAnn! This was easy to make, I used my serger and I know it'll be a handy addition to the baby wardrobe. It's got a drawstring at the bottom so you can reach the tootsies.

 Yep, cloth baby wipes. (I'll be making cloth diapers too). I've made 24 wipes and the only thing I bought was the cute animal print you see on top. Nice.

And last but not least, the Union Jack that's hanging by the door in the baby's room. (I hung it there so we could enjoy it from the hallway.) It's not actually quilted because I was too lazy to get into that, but you get the picture. :)

So, let's take a vote now:

___ You're nuts, that's way too many projects.

___ It must be nice to be able to make so many things yourself. 

___ What about the crib bedding? Geez, get off the couch already!

Anyway, I'm having the time of my life. :) 10 weeks to go.

p.s. I finished the granny square blanket too. And I'm still making new handbags & coupon organizers for the shop.

A Week Without the Internet

I'm still here, we just couldn't get online all of last week and this weekend. That makes blogging a challenge! haha I did get lots of little things done so I have some more things to show you. 

I already have itty-bitty toys, remember Santa? Well, I used one of my weekly coupons from Borders and picked up itty-bitty hats. My baby will be drowning in hats! This one's called the "pastel marley" hat, I mostly finished it last night but it still needs the wiggly bits on top. It's pretty big because I used monkey yarn to make it, not quite the right scale but I figure she'll grow into it and if she has a brother one day, he can wear it too.

The baby's room is a work in progress too! The curtains are made & hung, along with the new blinds. You can just see a glimpse of the wood panels on the left wall. It's all installed and primed now, I hope to get it painted in the next couple days (I think a crib may arrive at my door this weekend). What do you think so far?

Here's a little update on the granny square blanket. I'm happy. I just have about 24 more squares to make. 

I've completed the most fiddly and tedious part of the baby shower invitations. I need to get to the part where they say something and go into an envelope next. 

This is one of my next projects for the baby's room. I'm not telling exactly what it will be, but you'll see.

This goes with the Honey Bun & wreath above. (I got this book at JoAnn with a 50% off coupon! I love my coupons.) I want to make everything in this book! When the baby is big enough to dig her way out from under all the hats, she'll have to climb a mountain of knitted, sewn & crocheted toys. Poor little lamb.

So that's a taste of what I've been doing around here. I got the fabric to finish the baby quilt and I also made something for her room with these. I'll keep you posted. Now, I really must get to work on some custom coupon organizers for my shop.

One more thing! Trisha mentioned that I didn't blog about my cats much. You know, my "current" children? Here's a little taste of what a day in the life of Maple & Jody is like....

Yeah, she even goes for peanut butter cookies. I like to call her "The Bottomless Pit" (all 20+ pounds of her) or "Fluffy Princess".

Always interested in what's going on in the kitchen. So helpful.

Jody's more relaxed and mellow. Though he can be quite a pest when he needs a lap to sit on, he's a little relentless sometimes.

Can you tell which one's the toddler and which one's the teenager? Kids!

Don't worry, they both find time to rest.

The Happy Hooker

I seem to be crocheting a lot lately, not sure why. I guess maybe I needed a break from all the knitting & sewing I've been doing. So here are a few things I've got going and have finished recently. What do you think?

Here's a little granny square blanket I'm working on for my baby. I'm using cotton yarn from Michael's for this one. I'm not a yarn snob, besides, look how great these colors are! I've always wanted to make something with them. It's Cotton Ease from Lion Brand. I thought it'd make a nice weighty blanket that I can wash easily. If I have any left over, I'll make some dish scrubbies or hot pads.

These little Flower Mary Jane's are from a pattern I bought on Etsy from monpetitviolon. It was an easy pattern and it's always nice to make something that doesn't take weeks to finish, haha. Can't wait to put them on some tiny little footsies.

The yarn shop near my house recently had a retro pot holder swap and had the cutest cherry pie pot holder in the window. I had to make one for myself so I whipped this one up last night. Mine's more like a tart, it's going to be used to clean dishes. 

That's my crochet update, here's a little bit of other stuff going on around here.

I had a bag of left over beads & crystals from my wedding, so I asked Trisha's daughter to make some stitch markers for me. We accidentally happened by a bead shop in the process and I ended up with these fun glass beads. You can see a few of my crystals in there, can't you? I'll have some cute stitch markers and some pretty ones.

(Terrible photo alert!)

This is the quilt I'm working on for the wall in the baby's room. It will have some fun (and fiddly) sashing soon. I used the fabrics I showed you before and added a few extras to get more variety. I think I like it so far.

The curtains are hung in the baby's room now too, so I'll show you those once the curtain rod is trimmed and has received it's finials. Fingers crossed, the white panel wall will go up this weekend!