All Mine

repost from 8/2009.  I can't wait for warmer weather again.




I grew the tomatoes and the basil. I baked the bread. And I ate this delicious, garlicky, fresh, bruschetta.

Half Square Triangle quilt - pinned

While the laundry was doing its thing last night, I sandwiched and pinned my HST top.

I used Sharon Schamber's method of using two pieces of trim to roll the top and backing.  It worked really well.  I was successful on the first try.  Even though my boards are a bit too long, they were pretty easy to manage.  I started to use the herringbone basting stitch that she demonstrates, but I couldn't find my perle cotton thread.  I did a couple of rows with regular thread, but decided to switch to quilting safety pins.  We'll see how good of a switch that was once the quilting begins.  It should be easy, but boring to quilt - just straight lines on this one.

I think this is the best picture, although it doesn't really show much of the quilt.

Happy Valentine's Day

I did practically no sewing or crafting for Valentine's Day other than sewing up some paper envelopes for the Niece and Nephew's gifts.  I bought them the most adorable matching outfits from Children's Place.  Perhaps they will wear them for Easter.

I took some heavy, natural tissue, the kind used to wrap breakables, some hot pink tissue paper, and some scrapbooking letter stickers.  I folded the clothes into a neat stack and made sure they would fit in one sheet of tissue.  I then used a glue stick to attach a hot pink heart I cut freehand and the letter stickers to spell out their names.  I made a quick trip around three sides with hot pink thread and a basting stitch, inserting the clothes before sewing the last side.  Here are the packages ready to be mailed.

 

  

And what's inside:

I did cook, though.  I even drug the grill out of the garage in 10 degree weather to grill some NY strip steaks.  I roasted some Yukon Gold potatoes with some onions, steamed asparagus, and made Hollandaise to go over it.  There is nothing like a steak off the grill.  We drank a Coppola Claret, which was really delicious. 

It was the first time I made a Hollandaise sauce as far as I can remember.  It was so, so, so good.  By itself it tasted salty,  but on the asparagus, which I had only salted a bit to steam, it was perfect.  We had some leftover, so for breakfast, I toasted some English muffins, layered the potatoes, asparagus and a poached egg on top and covered it all with the leftover Hollandaise.  The sauce broke a bit, but still tasted good enough to make this a decadent breakfast.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.

Not Your Usual Sandwich

repost from July 2009
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My parents and grandpa visited last weekend. My mom was telling me how much my nephew, who is 4, likes to bake cookies and be in the kitchen with her. Creating a foodie indeed. After they left, I went about googling apron patterns and found several rough estimates from an assortment of bloggers. I whipped up an apron for my nephew and my niece. Since I was having lunch with a friend the next day, I made one for her daughter, too.

The Nephew

Some smart blogger suggested D rings so kids can "tie" their apron themselves.

The Niece - backed in the dark pink of the ruffle

The Friend - backed in light blue with white ties and ruffle

And since The Niece loves to play in her kitchen, I made her a sandwich, a bag of chips and some cookies out of felt. Thanks to Snazzle Craft for the patterns. Click to see more detailed pics.