Brown Clutch
Finished: September 1, 2008

Pattern: Adapted from My Favorite Sweater Clutch by Julie Holetz

I made this clutch larger than in the pattern, and did not decrease at the top as much. I eliminated the ribbed top from the pattern, and added a small flap. I used a magnetic closure on the flap to hold it together, and I sewed in the lining by hand. I used the crochet stitches as a guide to evenly space the hand sew stitches.

Yarn: 1 skein Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Taupe

This yarn is very easy to work with and sturdy enough for a purse. I used almost exactly one skein--no leftovers!

I think it turned out very cute!

The Reason I Haven't Been Very Good About Posting Lately....


Mike and I bought a house!! We close tomorrow and we start moving in this weekend. We are so excited!! It has been an all-consuming endeavor, so I haven't been keeping up here like I want to. I hope to be back to normal in the next couple of weeks though. So long for now!

Half-Shell Blanket


I finished this blanket last August 2007 while I was on a blogging hiatus. I love this pattern so much--it is so easy and creates a beautiful texture. I also love the border, which you create by crocheting from left to right instead of right to left. It was awkward at first, but makes such a pretty frame for the blanket.

Pattern: Easy Patterned Throw by Vera Hannaford (from the website Crochet Me)

Yarn Used: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solid, 10 skeins in Natural Heather

Bonus Picture!

Here is a picture of Sadie running in the fields around my Dad's house. We went to Arkansas to visit some family there a couple of weekends ago. I think this city dog looks so cute against this back drop of yellow flowers, running wild and free!

Book Review: The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

Jennifer chose The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff for our last book club, and everyone who read it loved it! The book centers around a fictional town named Templeton, based on real-life Cooperstown, NY (of James Fenimore Cooper and baseball fame). The main character is Willie Upton, living in present-day, and her research into the lives of her ancestors, back to the town's founder, Marmaduke Temple. The book goes back and forth between the past and present in each chapter, and all of the ancestors get their turn to tell their story. The author puts handy family tree charts at the end of each of Willie's chapters so you can keep track of who's who.


The book is an interesting mix of magic and reality, as one of the main characters of the book is a monster who lives in the town lake. There are also ghosts, visions, and other mysterious happenings, but the author treats them almost as everyday and accepted occurrences. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book--the cross between the mundane and the fantastic. I also immensely enjoyed all of the characters in Monsters of Templeton. Each character had major flaws, but that made them more true and real. No one is perfect in this book.

Lauren Groff is a great story-teller, and this is one of those books that you don't want to end. My favorite section of the book is the Charlotte and Cinnamon letters--you'll have to read it to find out what these are! I hope Lauren Groff is working on another book--I would like to read it!

Short and Sweet

I finished this cute bolero at the end of April, and it is the first garment I have crocheted! (Other than a scarf.) I got the pattern from the aptly-named Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. The pattern seems very confusing at first, but once you get the stitch pattern memorized, it is quite easy. I was very satisfied with the results! It fits very well, and the yarn I chose is great. The only problem with the pattern is that you have to weave at least 20 ends in!! I would still highly recommend the pattern, however. It is pretty easy to adapt--I added an additional pattern repeat on the back, left front, and right front so the bolero wouldn't be tight under the arms. I also added some length to bottom of the entire thing because I didn't want it too short.

If you decide to make this, check out the pattern designer's website here for some further instructions. This bolero really gave me some confidence to try to make more garments!


Yarn Used: King Tut cotton yarn in Color #431, 4 skeins

From Shabby Sheep

YardsToSew




My Mom and my Aunt Debbie recently started their own business together, and I am so proud of them! They are selling some of their great handmade items: on Etsy.

Check it out!

Source of Inspiration

I know it has been a long time since I did anything with this blog (10 months)! To be honest, I just haven't felt inspired to write anything. I've been crocheting, knitting, cooking, and reading still, but I didn't have the energy and wherewithal to write something witty, upload pictures about it, etc.

But I have recently been inspired by Ravelry!
This is such an amazing site! It is still in beta/testing phase, so you can't automatically sign up as a user. You put in your email address to request membership, and then they let you know when you have been added. (I was added less than 2 weeks after my request.)

The site is for all things knit and crochet. You have your own homepage (here is mine) where you can show all of the projects you are currently working on or have completed. You can link the pattern you used, the yarn, and hook size, so others know how to make it too. In your queue, you can keep track of the projects you want to make, but haven't started yet, including the materials you need. You can even print out a shopping list for your queue too! You can also keep track of all of the yarn in your stash. I started adding my yarns to this, but it will take me forever to add all of them! I love the library feature, where you can see all of the crochet/knit books, magazines, and patterns that you own. In addition to your own homepage, you can have friends and groups similar to Myspace or other networking sites. You can search all of the patterns and yarns used by others in Ravelry too.

In short, Ravelry is the coolest website out there for crochet/knit nerds like me! I squealed with delight when I first got my login and started playing with the features. I'm hoping the excitement I feel will keep inspiring me to write here!

2007 Books Read

1. Missing Mom by Joyce Carol Oates

2. Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

3. Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro

4. The Eight by Katherine Neville

5. Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy

6. Isolde: Queen of the Western Isle by Rosalind Miles

7. The World to Come by Dara Horn

8. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

9. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

10. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

11. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

12. Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George

13. London by Edward Rutherfurd

14. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

15. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

16. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (reread) by J.K. Rowling

17. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (reread) by J.K. Rowling

18. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

19. Black Unicorn by Tanith Lee

20. You're Not You by Michelle Wildgen

21. I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson

22. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos

23. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

24. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

25. The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay

26. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

27. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

28. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

29. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke

30. Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser

31. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

32. Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

33. The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

Back from my blogging break




Four months since my last post! It's been a crazy spring, and I was so busy at work that I didn't feel like writing very much. I've been saving lots of pictures to share though!

Here is a baby blanket I made for my friend Callie who had her baby back in May. I didn't want to make her something that was totally pink. Not only was she having a baby girl, but her favorite color is pink! So I incorporated all of the baby colors into this blanket--stripes of yellow, seafoam green, and blue with pink accents. I made the two pink flowers and attached them to the bottom right corner just to jazz it up a little bit. I think the flowers soften the stripes too. I finished it just in time, the night before the baby shower at work. I think Callie really liked the blanket, and I hope she enjoys it!

I'm at that age where it seems like everyone I know is having a baby, so there will be more baby items in the future!

My First Quilt Project













I have officially started making my first quilt!! I've wanted to learn how to quilt basically since I started sewing a couple of years ago, but was waiting until I was "ready." I was recently inspired by the new line of Freschcut Fabric by Heather Bailey. She has a great blog called Hello My Name is Heather, which I started reading last summer. She has wonderful taste, cute projects, and takes truly beautiful photographs.

So when I heard that she was coming out with her own line of fabric, I was excited! Her fabrics came out earlier this year through the Free Spirit Fabric company. I was browsing through the Fat Quarter Shop, and found this: a "Jolly Pack" of all 40 of her fabrics in 5 inch squares! The stars had aligned--this is how I would make my first quilt! This idea was very appealing to me, in that I didn't have to worry about choosing colors or cutting fabric. All 40 of the fabrics go together very well without being too matchy, and they are pre-cut with pinking shears.

Last weekend, I went to my mom's house, and she helped me come up with a design for the squares. I needed some solid colors to integrate into all of the patterns, so she gave me some yellow and green fabric squares to sprinkle in there. I know it's difficult to see in the pictures, but the yellow fabrics has light, faded polka dots on it, and the green fabric has tiny moons and stars on it. Perfect!

The design we came up with features this fabric, my favorite of all of the prints:

This is actually my mom's favorite too! (Click here for a bigger picture) We placed four squares of this fabric in each of the shades in the center, and surrounded it with a green and yellow border. Then we put four green squares in each outside corner, evenly distributed some yellow squares and the rest of the printed fabrics. Mom gave me a quick lesson and showed me how to iron and pin the squares so that they line up correctly. Arranging the squares and cutting the yellow and green fabric squares took most of the afternoon, so we stopped before any actual sewing.




The next morning, armed with coffee and lots of excitement, I started piecing the strips together. I sewed one row together, and then sewed two strips together (eight strips total). It was so fun! After each strip was added, I ran upstairs to show Mike, who was deep in computer-playing mode. He was a good cheerleader though!

My next step is to add a 6-inch border around the edges, which will make it about 52" square (lap blanket size). I was thinking about edging it in the yellow fabric, and then backing the whole quilt with green fabric. I also like all of the pinks in the fabrics--I could back it with pink. What do you think?

Then, I'll be off for a trip to my Granny's house, where she can help get me started on the actual quilting part! I plan to quilt it by hand for this first one--wish me luck!

2 Weeks of Baking
I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I have had the busiest couple of weeks at work! I have barely had a chance to breathe! I worked late three out of five nights last week, and I had a huge project to work on all week long. I'm finally slowing down enough to post here.

Despite my busy-ness, I have continued my once a week baking adventures! Last week, I made banana bread on Valentine's Day. I got the recipe from the Creating Comfort Cookbook again. I realize that it looks pretty similar to my zucchini bread! Here is the inside--yum!

For this week, I made Baby Carrot Bars on Monday night. I had the day off for President's Day, which gave plenty of time to piddle--I went shopping for books in the morning, and cooked in the afternoon. These carrot cake bars are very delicious! If you follow the link, you'll see that you use 2 small jars of baby food in the dough to keep it moist. When I went grocery shopping, I didn't even know where the baby food was! You'll also notice that the recipe called for raisins and walnuts. I didn't put these in because Mike doesn't like walnuts for some reason, and raisins just sounded weird to me.

But the most fun part of the carrot cake bars was making the cream cheese icing. I LOVE cream cheese icing! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I'd rather have cream cheese icing than chocolate or buttercream or anything else. It's fairly simple really, you just mix the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla with a mixer.

Stay tuned for more baking ...I now own a springform pan, so there should be some cheesecake soon. And my mom gave me this baking cookbook with over 350 recipes in it, so I should be set for a while!

Zucchini Bread
I may not be very quick in posting, but I have continued my baking adventures! Last Monday, I made a wonderful zucchini bread as my weekly baked good. The recipe was in my Creating Comfort cookbook, which I bought to benefit Genesis Women's Shelter here in Dallas. (You can get one here.)

This version of zucchini bread is pretty sweet, with lots of brown sugar and maple extract in it. These ingredients gave it a rich, dark brown color, and a slightly crunchy texture around the outside. Oooh, it was yummy!


There were 2 full zucchinis in the bread, grated with my cheese grater. I couldn't really taste the zucchini though, with all of the sugar and maple flavoring. I guess the zucchini is just there so you could feel good about eating it!

The recipe made quite a bit of dough--even to fill 2 loaf pans. Mike and I were eating it all last week!


Next baking adventure on the menu is.....


Banana bread!

Popcorn in the Bathroom

Well, not actual popcorn. Popcorn stitches! Here is the bathmat I recently finished from a pattern in First Crochet by Lesley Stanfield. This is a great book with lots of easy-to-understand and very cute patterns. The pictures in the book are great, and the directions are very clear.

The popcorn stitches form that raised star pattern on the mat. I used a white cotton yarn, which created a soft cushy feel--perfect for toes getting out of the shower! This was my first time to do popcorn stitches, and they were quite fun to make.


Now there is only problem--I don't want to use it as a bathmat and get it dirty! The white yarn is so pristine! The thought of water or hair or dirt getting on it makes me shudder! So, for now, it's hanging out on my sewing cabinet.

More baking adventures coming soon!

Adventures in Baking

The proverbial "they" say that your tastes change every 7 years. I don't know if the number is right, but I have noticed that now I like cantaloupe and beans when I hated them for years. Do you think the same is true for the rest of your life? That every few years you like some activity that you used to hate?

I have found this true for me. Any of you that have known for a while know that I used to HATE to cook. I avoided it whenever possible. During college, everything I consumed was pretty much previously frozen, out of a box, or from a restaurant. The kitchen was then a foreign place for me. Chopping vegetables (or anything related to using a knife) was a cruel and esoteric task that I didn't understand or have time for. Baking something was even more foreign to me, as far away from my daily life as could be.

I wonder now why I had this aversion to cooking during this time. Maybe it was a fear of the unknown. I had no idea, for instance, what ratio of ingredients would go into tomato sauce or how to properly hold a knife. Maybe it was a resistance to change. I had been heating up frozen dinners since my Mom had slowly decided that she had been cooking 3 meals a day for me and my sister for 15 years, and we could operate microwaves, so she was tired of cooking! I hadn't paid much attention to her cooking back then, and I didn't have much experience to draw on. Maybe it was something else. Maybe it was the fact that Mike would just cook for me. I admit that I got a little bit of smug satisfaction when people exclaimed, "What! Mike cooks for you?! " Like it is so hard to fathom a man cooking.

Well, the 7 year mark passed, and with the influence of Mike, and my sister and my brother-in-law attending cooking school, I slowly began to see the art of cooking. Hey, it was sort of like crafting! I get to work with my hands. I could put the different parts of a recipe together, and come out with a finished product. And you instantly had feedback on how good or bad something tasted. It was rewarding!

I have also decided to try my hand at baking. Call it a New Year's resolution. Baking is quite a different prospect than cooking. You can be less exact with cooking, you can improvise. Baking requires exact measurement and timing. The recipes say, "Don't mix it too much!" or "Mix only to combine and no more!" It is quite frightening! But, what the hell--I'll never learn if I don't try.

So, on Martin Luther King Day I was off work, and I decided to make Irish Soda Bread from my Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook. I asked my brother-in-law, the culinary school graduate, to supervise me and make sure I didn't mess it up. He showed me how to incorporate the butter into the flour by using my hands instead of a mixer. Oh, and by "showed me how," I really mean, he completely took over! He likes to do things his way. I told him how was I ever going to learn if I couldn't do it myself? He reluctantly relinquished some of the control. I have to say, the bread was DELICIOUS! It has orange zest and buttermilk in it, and currants too--you can see the currants in these pictures. We had the bread with asiago-cheese crusted chicken (Mike's original recipe), Cheddar Corn Chowder also from Barefoot Contessa, and broccoli. Yum!

The following week, I made Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread from the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook. I was extra proud of this one because I made it all by myself! I mixed the dry and wet ingredients separately, chopped and seeded jalapenos, shredded cheese, and mixed everything just to incorporate. It was quite an accomplishment! A delicious one too.

And this past Sunday, I made Easy Cheese Danishes from guess which cookbook. These were a daunting task in that they use puff pastry. Is there anything more intimidating to the beginner baker than the elusive, persnickety puff pastry? I have watched shows on Food Network about it, and the host invariably cautions you to be careful, don't screw it up, or it won't puff! But cheese danishes are irrestible to me, so I decided to go for it. I started making them while Mike was at the grocery store, and he came home in time for a minor freak-out. My puff pastry anxiety was taking over! I had decided to make smaller-sized danishes, which means I cut 6 out of a sheet of puff pastry instead of 4. When Mike was helping me assemble them, the filling was threatening to spill off the sides and they wouldn't fold over right. They looked pretty ugly, to tell you the truth. I told Mike we just needed to get the damn things in the oven! I just wanted it to be over! I waited nervously for the next 20 minutes, asking Mike every couple of minutes, "Do you think they'll be good? I know they are ugly, but will they tasted good?" Out of the oven they came, looking puffy (yes!) but ugly (oh well). They tasted so good, so creamy, with strong vanilla and lemon flavors. We breathed a collective sigh of relief as we scarfed them down. I completely forgot to take a picture of them in my hurry to gobble them up, so you will just have to use your imagination.

My plan is to bake something new at least once a week. Bread, muffins, cake--something in the oven from scratch every week. (Frozen puff pastry from a box still counts as from scratch, even my brother-in-law says so). I will post my creations here and keep you informed of my baking adventures!

Behold my new Sewing Cabinet!



My mom gave me this beautiful new sewing cabinet for Christmas--definitely my favorite gift this holiday season! It is a Koala Sew Mate II, and an absolute dream come true.

Up until this past Christmas, I did my sewing where most young people living in apartments with no extra space do--on the dining room table. And I use dining room loosely, as our dining room/living room is just one long space. It's not so easy to sew when you are trying not to knock over pepper grinders and cups of coffee. I found it hard to get into a groove when I kept having to hunt for scissors, bobbins, and other paraphernalia when there is no designated place to set them down.

I have been wanting a sewing cabinet for quite a while, but couldn't find what I wanted out there. All of the ones I found were either white or light oak in color--too "country" for me. I wanted something a little more modern. I had complained about it to my mom, and she hatched a plan to find me one for Christmas. She enlisted Mike's help, getting him to measure spaces, and figure out what I needed. Whenever I brought up my desperate need for a sewing cabinet, and how we should go look for one immediately, Mike sneakily would say, "Why don't we look after Christmas when most furniture places have big sales?" So, I huffed and puffed, but eventually agreed.

Then, lo and behold, I received this beautiful cabinet for Christmas! And it is everything a girl could want! It fits perfectly into this goofy little corner we have in our living room, which I like to call a nook. It used to have a swivel chair in it, but nobody really sat there because it is too far removed from the couch and conversation. The cabinet feels just right there, and gives me a special, designated spot for crafting.

Oh, and the features! I know it's hard to see in the pictures, but it has a pull out cabinet with two drawers and a shelf on the left hand side. One of the drawers has a built-in notions organizer--my life is complete! The other door of the cabinet reveals the spot for the sewing machine, which raises and lowers, as well as more built-in storage on the door. It also has a fold-out table leaf on the back, which doubles the surface area again.

My first time to sew using the cabinet was a dream. I had a spot for everything, and had plenty of surface area to work on. I repurposed my dining room table for a cutting table (still don't have room for one of those). I made a checkbook cover and two out of a set of four place mats. I will post pictures of those soon.

To further cement my craft corner, I want to make some wall hangings for the empty space above my desk. Like the ones made by Sally here. And here. Aren't they cute?

The possibilities are endless with my new sewing cabinet!!