Something You Can Really Sink Your Teeth Into...

I added a new cookbook to my collection: Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day. And the first recipe I tried from it today was for bagels. The dough went together rather easily. Then, after the initial rise, I went ahead and made my first batch of ten bagels. They seem...."lumpy" to me, but then I have to remember that they are a different type of bagel than american bagels. I suppose after I make them a few more times, I will find a rhythm to it and I will be a little more satisfied.

Kaitlyn had been in her room and then came out and caught her first whiff of the treats baking and exclaimed, "Oh my GOSH! IT SMELLS SO GOOD IN HERE!" I think everyone loves the smell of bread baking, right?

We all agreed that our favorite part to this whole bread making adventure was in the eating. We smeared a little cream cheese on the bagels when they were still warm from the oven. It was insanely delicious!

We've Only Just Begun

When I started thinking about the possibility of getting married again, I started thinking about what kind of dress I might like to have. What style I wanted. I dreamed up my dress. I thought I might like to make my own dress. I wasn't sure of the fabrics, but I had a basic idea of the design lines.

One day, I was flipping through a knitting magazine. I saw an advertisement for a knitting book by Nicky Epstein. My heart skipped a beat! THAT WAS IT! IT WAS MY DRESS! I was thrilled! I discovered that the dress was crocheted. I've crocheted for a lot of years and have made a lot of afghans. So I knew I could crochet, but there was one little problem: I couldn't make sense of crochet patterns. I knew the basics, but despite that, reading and understanding crochet patterns would stump me every time. Since my sister is an avid crocheter, I asked her to take a look at the pattern and tell me if she thought it would be too difficult. She told me it looked pretty straightforward and she was certain I could handle it. I decided to go ahead and order my yarn.

I bought one hank of the yarn, took it home and made a few practice motifs. I was so happy!

I eagerly awaited the yarn's arrival. While I waited, I used the yarn to knit a scarf. Upon completion of that project, I decided I wasn't too thrilled with it as it was just a little too fuzzy for the look i wanted with my wedding dress. Alas, the word came that the yarn I ordered had been discontinued. I didn't panic. I was relieved, actually. I re-chose my yarn. I decided to use a yarn called Bahia. It's got a silkiness to it and a lovely sheen.

I found a quiet moment and started working on the pile of motifs I will need to sew together to make my very special dress.

I look at them and I smile. I feel happy in my bones. They're beautiful to see.....and to touch.

I've gotten mixed reviews. Some friends are supportive, some question my sanity....I'm thrilled with my choice. I am also happy to report that after practicing with a few little projects from patterns, I can read crochet patterns! I feel so accomplished! :)

LuLu

After all these years of sewing...i think it's been 21 years now, I finally invested in a vintage dress form. I'd seen a dressform in an antiques store a little while ago that looked VERY similar to this one and that one still had the sticker on it that indicated that it was sold by Sears Roebuck & Co. around the 1950's. She is in fairly good condition. I was thinking of naming her LuLu. Why? I dunno! Seems like a good name....

LuLu is wearing my Just Enough Ruffles Scarf.

122,884 Stitches

This is a Christmas gift for Ryan. Yes, he's seen it and he knows it's finished.

What went into this:

• 130 hours of time
• 12 skeins of yarn by "I Love This Yarn" (Hobby Lobby's affordable yarn)
• 122, 884 stitches

It's very warm, and very soft. I need to wrap it up and get it ready for Christmas giftgiving!

Loving The Life I Live

Live the live you love...

I do!

Last night, I sat down to watch a movie with Quincy and within 15 minutes of starting it, he zonked out on the couch. I just let him lie there and I continued on with my knitting and listening to the storyline of the movie. The day was cool and rainy; it was my favorite kind of day. I treated myself to the warmth and aroma of several candles burning.

It was quiet. I felt happy.

The past week had been emotionally trying, yet I was determined to take a deep breath and relax and enjoy.

Wishing you a quiet moment in your life that you love to live.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y

This was supposed to be part of yesterday's post. I was thrilled to find this little patch of tulips still in my garden. The deer around here love to graze on these beauties. I'm just glad they didn't see or smell these....and left them alone.

This is a very popular item around here...heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Rise and shine!

This morning is cold and gray. It is a great morning to curl up with my favorite pink shawl and a good, strong, hot cuppa java...

and bake some cinnamon rolls! I cheat and do it the easy way...which is to ALWAYS have a few cans of refrigerator rolls on hand at all times.

Knit, knit, knit! Purl, purl, purl!

I wanted to knit something, so last night I got online and found a cute and simple pattern for a french press cozy. I found this acrylic yarn ("Ocean" by Red Heart...yep it's a supersaver variety) in my stash and whipped it up using size 5 needles. The fabric is a little stiff, but the tight knit will hopefully keep my coffee warmer...just a little bit longer. I need to go through my jar of buttons and pick out the best ones for this project. I can hardly wait to invite a friend over for coffee!

Breakfast with Q...

The cozy was a quick knit! I really liked the colors! I told a friend last night that if I could knit paisleys into it, I would! I HEART PAISLEYS!

Wow! That K monogram mug made it into quite a few shots this morning, no? :)

Seeing Red - A WIP

This is what is on my needles right now...well one set of needles. I really love this yarn! It's

Shetland Chunky Tweed by Patons. And the color is called Deep Red. It's a simple pattern of K2 P2 Ribbing...and it looks like two balls will do the trick perfectly.

For all you fellow knitters out there...the squish factor rating is: HIGH!

I think my favorite thing about this project is not just the squish-able-ness, but also the fun flecks of color throughout.

Seeing GREEN!

His birthday is on Saint Patrick's Day. He will be four. He is practicing holding up four fingers on his little hands. He's made a wish list...and has even requested cupcakes on his special day.

I wanted to knit another sweater for him to wear on his special day.

Everything lined up for a special birthday sweater...why not make it GREEN! My skills and confidence were stronger during the knitting of this sweater and I really enjoyed it.

The best part is...this picture was the result of Quincy putting the sweater on and buttoning it up all by himself. Capturing the photo was the most difficult part of this post! How 'bout THAT?!?

Knitting and Coffee

I snapped this with my camera phone as a coffee tag. The project is a beret while still in WIP stages...I am proud to announce it is now complete and....on my head as I type! Now to knit up the matching mittens!!! Ahhhhh coziness!

Crocheted Cuteness

I found this pattern in the February 2009 issue of Crochet World Magazine. I thought it was really adorable and wanted to make it for my fiance's littlest son, Ethan. I had Quincy model it for the pictures here....Ethan didn't care much to wear it...but for the 2 seconds it was on his head...it looked cute!

http://www.crochet-world.com/ It was a super-easy project. Quincy got a kick out of wearing it for all of about 45 seconds...which was his limit. Thankfully, I had the camera poised and ready to go!

ALMOST finished!

I was so eager to try the nearly complete postage stamp quilt top on my bed. This piece is a lot of fun to look at. As I laid it out, it was fun to hear my daughter get excited about remebering past projects when she'd seen the tiny pieces of fabric long ago.

I am quite pleased with this project so far.

Postage Stamp Quilt Update

Well, I have to say: This has been a much bigger project than I thought it would be before I started. I knew I wanted a postage stamp quilt....and I knew that I wanted lots of different fabrics for that perfectly scrappy look I love....there are 76 different fabrics used...so far. It took me two days of cutting with my rotary cutter and straight edge.

I decided on how big I needed my quilt. Then did the math to figure out how many squares I needed. I came up with 1,444 squares. I went ahead and cut 1500 to make sure that if I needed to, I could change them out. And with the squares leftover, I plan to make a toss pillow to co-ordinate. As I cut out the fabrics, I diligently marked them on this sheet of paper. I was soooo happy to finally reach ZERO! The stacks of fabrics reminded me of poker chips!

I laid out all the stacks of different fabrics and started sewing them together in random fashion in groups of two. Then put them into a basket. Once all the squares were paired, I put them into 38 stacks of nineteen groups of twos. WOW! My neck and back were really starting to feel tense by this point.

38 stacks of nineteen two's......and a whole lotta coffee!

There's my Q-Man....hiding behind the strips that hung in the window. Do you see him?

I really kinda liked this shot. It shows all the fun, bright, cheerful colors. I think I'll really be happy with this quilt!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

I got go out for a little bit and do just a tiny bit of shopping. I stopped at the quilting shop in Castle Rock. I wasn't even in the store very long. I knew I wanted fat quarters. I found the colors I liked and picked out patterns. Two of them are.....PAISLEYS! I don't know what it is about those swoopy tear drop shapes! I just love them. Not sure why I was more drawn blues and greens today. I think they will look lovely in the postage stamp quilt I'm working on now.

As you can see in this photo, I DO have a plan...well sortof. I really love the look of piece-y, scrappy quilts and that is what is intended for this work. There will be lots of different colors and lots of different prints. Each of the squares will be added in a very random pattern. I'll probably just throw all of the squares into a basket and as I'm sewing them together, I'll just grab and sew and whatever comes out, will be sewn into the quilt. I am really eager to start sewing, but I still have more than 750 squares that I have to cut out.

....I'm getting there!

A Peek at a WIP

...it will be a scarf.....I love this color! It's is so regal!

Yo!

I wonder what these little yoyos will become?

Stay tuned. The finished result is soon to come...

Happiness is...

...a crocheted shawl to snuggle into.

This shawl was commissioned by my mom for my Great Aunt Lorrayne who lives in Iowa. We're thinking she just might like to receive this....

Comforts Handmade

I love this quilt! It was one of my first "big quilt projects." It's a lap quilt or a snuggle quilt, but I love that it is a star quilt and I love that it is so bright and colorful. It was made to become a Halloween "decoration" of sorts. I wash it and fold it up and tuck it away at the end of each Halloween...to make it all that more special. I think this is one of the things I can't wait to see when we pull out all that black and orange stuff.

My KaitieBug is happy to have it. :) She is never far from her cellular device...see it there in her hand? It almost looks like she'd just received a new text message as I snapped this picture of her with MY cellular device!

MMMM!

Banana Bread Recipe for you....

1/2 C. oil
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1/4 C. sour cream
1 t. vanilla extract
2C all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 C. walnuts

Beat oil and sugar; add eggs. Stir in sour cream and vanilla; add flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Stir in bananas and walnuts; pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Makes one loaf.

1, 2, 5!

This is Quincy's favorite game! I think he likes the sound of the "gems" falling into the wooden cups of the board. Or maybe it's the feel of the "gems" in his little hands? Those are the things I like when playing this game with him.

Des Colores!

I was happily knitting this hat for my friend, Ric, who is battling cancer and just went 6 hours of chemo last week. I picked up my mug of coffee to take a sip and I realized the colors of the yarn and the colors on the mug were so similar!

While I had the knitting project on the floor for the picture, Moses plopped down on it and made herself cozy. I think she likes it. She kinda has that "ZEN" look on her face.

I really love this hat! It was a super-eazy knit. My mom saw the hat and squealed with delight and told me: "I WANT ONE!"

PERFECT! She has a birthday coming up soon!