Ties

I went to a baby shower a while ago for the cutest little boy.  I brought these ties and onesie for him so he can be a stylish boy on Sunday's.

They're an easy gift but so adorable.

Chaps

That's right, I said chaps.  This project was certainly a different one for me, I've never worked with leather.

My brother is making these chaps, and you should be amazed to know that every stitch in the picture below was sewn by hand.

My part in this project was actually really small, he wanted a fringe sewn onto each leg but he either lacks the sewing machine or a strong enough machine to handle the job (I'm not sure which) so he handed them to me.  I felt confidant that if my sewing machine can handle car seats and strollers it could handle chaps.  I picked up a leather needle and some heavy duty thread and sewed them on.  It wasn't quite as smooth as that and I learned that sewing with leather is no fun but the job got done and the difference is amazing, they look so good now.

The chaps don't have all the buckles yet, they still need the ones to attach around the leg but I did my best to show you what they'll look like when finished.

What Catie Wore Wednesday #15

Turned out I missed showing what Catie wore.  I thought it would just be a relief not to have to take all the photos but I felt like she had these cute outfits that no one else ever got to see.  I've decided to start again though I had a hard time getting back into the swing of things and so I missed a bunch of days, especially towards the end of the week.  I'll get better.

Also, it was really cold and snowy so we didn't go outside most days, that means she's shoe less in almost every picture.

Wednesday

Brown Shirt - Anabanana (it has a cute pink tank that goes over top but it doesn't fit yet)
Jeans - Old Navy

Thursday

Shirt and Pants - Children's Place

Friday

Lone sleeve white onesie - Carters
Grey Sweater - H&M
Skinny Jeans - Children's Place
Yeti Boots - Old Navy

I'm pretty sure these are the cutest boots I've ever seen so here's a close up

She LOVES them.  She carries them over to me on the couch and wants me to put them on her.

Saturday

Blue Shirt with Cherry applique - Superstore
Jeans - Old Navy

Linking up to

Catie's Christmas Dress

I don't know where this Christmas dress tradition came from but I'm not one to go out an buy Catie a fancy dress that she can only wear once or twice.  Lucky for Catie she has an Aunt who works at an awesome second hand store and found this dress for her.

It fits her really well and has cute silver threads that run through the dress, it also has a little crinoline underneath to give it some shape.  The ribbon though I just couldn't get on board with.

It's that fuzzy, velvet ribbon and I thought it made the dress look like it came from Walmart (it does come from Walmart), so I did what I do best and pulled out the seam ripper.

Using some raw silk I created a new sash that has tails hanging down the back.  I think it's a huge improvement and look so sweet now, not over the top Christmas either (which is what I was going for).

and the back

Here she is modelling.

I'm pretty sure her shoes won't fit by Christmas.

This back shot was ridiculously difficult to get.  Normally when taking pictures of Catie all I get is her back but today she would not co-operate, I finally got this crummy shot.

Belgian Waffles - SAMM

Before I get to this yummy recipe you have to read through two stories.

I have this cool cast iron Belgian Waffle iron that my Mom gave me, I traded it to her for my electric iron (Belgian waffles have much deeper holes).  You set it on the stove, when one side is cooked you flip it over and cook the other. (Please don't judge the sorry state of my filthy stove)

I like the waffle iron so occasionally I make waffles but every time I've been disappointed and wondered if I should have kept my crappy electric one.  My waffles have come out dense and really not good.  It was probably the recipe but when I thought of making waffles I'd end up making pancakes instead.

Story two... I went to London once and it was awesome.  I shopped and saw Broadway shows and ate some really delicious food and while I was there it was the coldest winter in 10 years (or something like that).  One of my favorite memories is of walking down a cold street on our way to shop and finding a Belgian waffle vendor.  I bought a waffle and it was so warm and crisp and sweet and awesome that it's stuck with me 6 years later.

I've always had it in the back of my mind that I should make real Belgian waffles (they have yeast in them and have to rise) but I finally got around to it and now I'm kicking myself for not trying it sooner.  True, they have yeast so you have to let them rise for at least an hour but they bake up sweet, crisp and taste slightly like scones, they are delicious.  I've made them a couple times and we eat them for dinner since I'm not prepared enough to make them for breakfast, you could make the batter the night before though.

While we were eating these I asked Brad why he would want these instead of regular waffles and while he couldn't put his finger on it he was adamant that these were better.  They have a slight sourness that comes from the yeast that makes them feel a lot more substantial and delicious.

Belgian Waffles
3 cups warm milk
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

Whisk together yeast and milk and let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes, then stir until smooth.  Whisk in butter, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and salt.

Add flour in 3 additions, beating with a large spoon until smooth after each addition (I used my Kitchen aid).

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Stir to deflate batter.  Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and stir into batter.

Scoop onto waffle iron and cook until golden on each side.

Here's what your batter looks like when it's all ready (or in my case half gone)

And dropped onto my iron.  Belgian waffles are so big that I never fill up the entire iron, it means we don't end up with perfectly square waffles but I don't care.

And here's a waffle, cooked and ready to be eaten

Now it's bathed in syrup.

Ideally I think you'd eat this with whipped cream and strawberries but I have a crazy husband, it doesn't matter how many topping options you give him he'd still choose just plain syrup.  It never seems worth the effort to whip the cream for just me.

My Dad tried these in their regular waffle iron so even if you don't have a deeper holed Belgian iron you can still enjoy these


Linking to Share a Meal Monday

Little Girl's Apron - For Emily

After my friend Melissa saw Catie's cute apron she asked me to make one for her little Emily which I was more than happy to do.  Her's turned out so cute and I hope she's happy with it.

 

I also had a couple people interested in making an adult sized apron so I finally managed to track down some measurements, they're listed below.  If you're looking for a tutorial you can find it here, it's for a child's apron but the adult will be the same except for sizing.

Cut List
Front - 23" sq
Back - 25 1/4" Sq
Bottom Trim - 2 1/2" x 26" - cut two (back fabric)
Neck Strap - 3" x 23-25" (back fabric)
Waist Ties - 3" x the width of your fabric - cut two
Pocket template - cut two (one the front fabric, one the back)

Art Bucket Tutorial - Light

As promised it's Tuesday so time for the second half of my gift that I'm so excited about.  I didn't get a comment from the person this is going to so I'm going to assume I'm not spoiling anything.  The first part of this gift is the art smock that you can read about here, that part of the gift will be included in the awesome art bucket that I've made.

This bucket will hold all of the cute girl's art supplies so when it's time to craft you can just pull out the bucket and she's good to go.  There are pockets all around and most of them are empty just waiting to be filled.  I got the idea here at a blog called Kotori.  She used a bucket tool belt but I wanted mine to be a little cuter and the belt was a little more than I was willing to spend.

One quick side note... I called this a light tutorial because I had a very sad thing happen while crafting this project, I filled up my Picasa storage space.  For those of you unfamiliar, Picasa is the site that automatically stores all of your blogger pictures.  Once your space is gone you can no longer add photos to your blog posts and you need to buy more space.  I've been really un-happy about my free hobby suddenly costing $5 a year (I know, it's only $5).  I was a little poutty about it so I just didn't take photos during my creation of the bucket, sorry.  I have now come to terms with the necessary $5 (unless you have an awesome suggestion for me) so the many photos can continue on future posts.  On to the tutorial...

Here's my bucket, naked and ready to be re-used.

I used a plain canvas type fabric for my cover and I started by tracing around the bottom of my bucket and then adding some seam allowance.  I also cut a rectangle that was wide enough to fit around the widest part of my bucket.  I made sure it was long enough to extend from the bottom of the bucket up to the top, over and down to the bottom again.

I sewed up the sides of my rectangle and slipped it inside my bucket to see how it fit.  I wanted the cover to fit nice and snug so I checked the fit a lot.  I thought a rectangle would work well because my bucket seemed really straight up and down, I was surprised just how much I ended up needed to cut off my original rectangle though, the slant was subtle but definitely there.  I placed the fabric in my bucket and then pinned the excess fabric so I could move my seam in where necessary.  I did this a bunch of times until my cover finally fit how I wanted and then I cut the excess fabric off the width leaving my length the same.

I would do one thing differently next time, the circle is going to fit the inside of the bucket which is smaller than the outside of the bucket which meant my circle was too big and I had to trim it, next time I would trace the outside and not add any seam allowance.  That extra size on the outside will become the seam allowance and the circle will fit the bottom.

I next pinned my circle onto my tube of fabric and sewed it together (a photo!)

At this point it looked like this.

I wanted the cover to stay snug on the bucket so I made a casing at the bottom and inserted some wide elastic.  I pulled the elastic as I went so everything is cinched into place.  You can see in the picture above the little hole where my handle goes (I removed it before I started), I marked that hole and then made a button hole.  I did the same on the other side so my handle could slip back into place (but I didn't put the handle on until my pockets were finished).

From this point I made my paintbrush pockets on the inside of the bucket (such a pain but it's like making a crayon roll), I then put pockets on the outside.  I made my pockets poof out a bit by not sewing them flat, I would pin one side and then lay the pocket flat but before pinning I'd move the second side an inch or two closer to the pinned side.  I'd make a little pleat on the bottom to give it the space to put stuff inside.  I did that all the way around the bucket making as many pockets as I had room.

Here's what I filled the pockets with (this little girl LOVES Dora)

I also plan on making some homemade play dough but I can't do that until closer to Christmas.  The art smock will slip in the bucket as well.  I've left plenty of room for supplies she already owns.

Here are some more pictures of the completed bucket (I added a few things to make it look more full).

I think the paint brush pockets are my favorite part and I just hope this Mommy and little girl enjoy it.



I'm going to link up to these fun parties and this one
.

Cocount Curry Chicken - SAMM

This is a recipe that never fails to be completely delicious.  We made it this last week and had forgotten just how much we love it.

Coconut Curry Chicken
2 chicken breasts, chopped
1 heaping tbsp of Matsaman curry paste (red curry paste)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic
3 Carrots, peeled, quartered and chopped in 1 inch pieces
1 Green Pepper, chopped
1 can Coconut Milk
1/2 can pineapple chunks
Cashews

Add curry paste and olive oil to saucepan, cook over medium heat until slightly browned.  Add chicken and toss to coat.  Sauté over medium heat for 2 minutes (not too long or by the time your carrots are cooked your chicken is over cooked).  Add onion, garlic and carrots.  Cook until onion is translucent.

Pour Coconut Milk over mixture, cover and simmer until carrots are cooked and mixture is slightly thickened.  Add Green Pepper, pineapple and Cashews and cook 15 minutes longer.
Serve with Basmati Rice or if you want it to be even better serve it with coconut rice.

Coconut Rice
2 cups basmati rice, washed and rinsed
1 - 14 oz can (398 ml) coconut milk
2 1/4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cinnamon stick

In a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, mix rice with remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Cook, covered for 25 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.  Remove cinnamon stick.  Serves 8

Art Smock

I recently finished two projects that I'm really proud of, they both turned out so well and they go together so I thought I'd post one yesterday and one today but then yesterday I was more sick than I've been in a really long time so yesterday's post is now today's post and today's post will have to be Tuesday's post since Monday is SAMM.  (wow, run on sentence for sure)

I'm also taking a risk with these two projects.  Last year I didn't make very many Christmas gifts but this year I'm trying to make more than I buy, the down side to that being while I want to blog so you can share in the fun idea it's possible the recipient is a blog reader.  I don't believe she reads my blog, at least not regularly so I'm going to take a chance and post them here but hopefully I'm not ruining the surprise and if you suspect these two gifts are coming your way let me know before you see the awesome second part so you at least have a small surprise.

The first part of this gift is this cute art smock.  A great way to keep a little girl clean from glitter, glue and any other art project supply she uses.

Obviously this smock is a little large for Catie but it's going to an older girl so it should fit just right.  I used Make it and Love It's tutorial and it turned out really well.  The only change I made was to make my own bias tape and instead of using ribbon I used fabric that I sewed into a tube.

Here's a better picture of the front and back

Make sure you come back on Tuesday to see the better part of this gift.

Advent Calendar - Week #4 (Final)

December 1st and my Advent Calendar is finished!  When I started this sew along with Jill I didn't realize just what I was getting myself into, every singe stitch on this calendar is sewn by hand making everything take significantly longer than I had anticipated.  Every time I pulled out a different project my calendar loomed over me.  I'm glad to say that it's finished, I love it and I'm now free to work on other projects.

As a quick recap, week 1  we cut out and embroidered all of our numbers and sewed them onto the backing piece.  Week two we cut and sewed the tree on and made 8 ornaments.  Week three we made 8 more ornaments and then sewed all of our buttons onto the tree.  This last week we finished the calendar which involved finishing up the last 8 ornaments, sewing a backing piece on the calendar to hide all those stitches and adding a hanger.  You're supposed to slip a wooden dowel into the holder on top but I haven't bothered to pick one up so it may be finished but there's now way to hang it.  Oops.

Here it is with the ornaments hung.

And with them all tucked in their pockets.

Here's a close up of the ornaments.

And one more close up of the finished calendar.

Jill has a Flickr group where people can link up their Calendars so if you want to see more you can go here.