saturday happenings

Yesterday was one of those decieving days that looked warm and sunny when you peeked out the window but was actually cold and windy when you stepped outside. So we opted to stay in and be cozy. Mom and Gunny were coming over with lasagna, so we made some dinner rolls. Shaping the rolls
Brushing them with butter
After a delicious dinner(and banana pudding pie for dessert), Mom and I did some needle felting. Here she is teaching me the basics. I hope to make a bunny half as cute as hers.

What a lovely day, spent doing everyday things in the place I love, creating with the people I love.

good goods

Thought I'd post about a couple of handmade gifts I got for Christmas. My girl Michelle made me this winter scene fabric panel. Perfect for adorning a little side table. This was just a way to display it for a photo, but it made me realize a little curtain would be nice here on our music collection shelves. You know, to hide our shameful Soundgarten and Counting Crows collections. Mom made this apron. It has a potholder and towel loop in it. A TOWEL LOOP. Which may not sound like the greatest thing since french toast but it so IS. Sophie has a matching one. We just couldn't wrangle her long enough to pose with me. Check out the tulips in the background...my man loves me.
I also got the Everyday Food cookbook and this was the first recipe I made from it. I love this cookbook. When it comes to cookbooks, I relate to Alice: What's the use of a book without any pictures? Well, this book has a photo for every single recipe. And as usual with Martha, they are all exquisite. They even make iceberg with thousand island look good. Last night I made the baked shells with winter squash: Rosemary, acorn squash, bubbly Parmesan cheese, and tiny croutons on top. Yum. Can't wait to try more recipes from this baby.

cake, presents and a twirly dress

I wanted to post some pics, however late, of Sophie's birthday party. The cake was so much fun to decorate. I know the picture doesn't show it off that well, but it had lime green swags, little pink bows, and an orange and yellow ruffle border around the bottom. The shell border around the top is a bright teal. It is loosely based on the signature birthday cake from this book. The Italian merengue buttercream from here is the best I've ever tasted. Of course, the birthday bird was way too focused on her first ever taste of mickey d's soft serve and didn't even touch her cake. She managed to eat a whole candle before we caught on, though.
The birthday dress is a pattern I got from mom's stash. The lilac heather ross fabric is from reprodepot. It was supposed to be a complete surprise, but I wasn't clever enough with where I his the fabric, and she busted me. She came running up to me with it, crying, "clowns! clowns!" (they are actually matryoshkas, but whatever.) So thrilled by fabric and she's only two...she must be my girl.
I felt compelled yesterday to ramble on a while about the highlights of 2007 and what my dreams are for the coming year. But that post was doomed. I had some technical difficulties, got frustrated and deleted the whole thing. So rather than repeat myself, let me sum it up for you:
Happy New Year!

comfy cozy are we

When I was a little girl, I hated Christmas night. It was such a letdown knowing that all the anticipation was over and I would have to wait a whole year. Now I think it's lovely. The house is quiet. I can reflect on the true meaning of the holiday. I can relax without feeling guilty that I'm not sewing. I can look at my pretty new books, like this one here, and wear my snuggly new bathrobe, and post on my poor neglected little blog. Our Christmas table was bedecked with this mushroom centerpiece from the December 2006 issue of Martha Stewart. The green tissue paper ones are candy favors. I had so much fun making this...I had forgotten how good life can be with glitter and a hot glue gun at Christmastime.
Merry Christmas to you and yours. God bless and keep you.

olive you sophie

A little Christmas present for Schnickelfritz... The pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls. Olive will be lonely for a while, as I have zero time to sew Archie right now, but I'm sure once Christmas day arrives she will be loved so much she won't even miss him.

I've been making some gift tags, too...
Sorry the pictures are so homely. They are lucky to even be posted, because I'm still crafting like a maniacal Christmas elf and rarely come up for air at all.

our christmas tree is on steroids

Remember when you were a little kid, and the tree always seemed gargantuan in proportion to yourself? That's how this tree makes me feel. I can just imagine how it seems to Sophie. It's been up for a week and she is still in awe of it. Frankly, so am I. In a good way. Hot chocolate by the tree. Life is so good.
After a day of blowup castle-jumping and Santa-visiting
I just realized this is turning into Sophie's blog. But what's a girl to do? It's not like I can go parading my Christmas crafts on here; the recipients might be lurking around. So humor me, please.

retail therapy

What a lame blogger I've been. Part of it is that this has been the house of crud for the past week...and then some. Sophie is beyond grumpy from being sick and cooped up and is now a zombie. The other part is that I've been working in Santa's sweatshop. He doesn't pay me or give me any breaks to post. Somebody get Michael Moore on the phone.
I got to do some shopping over the weekend, here are some of my goodies:
The fabric is all for Christmas projects. The cute little owl napkin holder is for me. I have such a huge crush on owls right now. I love this jacket. And these shakers. Ooh, and I got a Dean Martin Christmas cd I'm gonna bust out tomorrow when we kick off our SUPER DUPER HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA weekend. Please forgive the caps lock abuse. I really can't help being a geeky little Christmas elf. Dave is definitely not as into it as I am. Sometimes I worry that Sophie will inherit her daddy's cool as a cucumber-ness and they will both stare at me with bored expressions on their gorgeous faces as I bop around every year in my reindeer antlers singing along to Bing Crosby at the top of my lungs. But that's silly. All kids love Christmas. We've been reading Twas the Night Before Christmas and she loves it. "A-din, Mama" she says every time we finish.
Well, back to the sweatshop before Santa busts me.