Sunday, February 28, 2010

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.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

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.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

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
________________________________

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.