Christmas Ornament Wreath

A few years ago, I saw a Christmas ornament wreath in Canadian Living and I firmly decided that I was destined to make one for myself.  So I did!  Good story, yeah? :)

I realize that my colours are not very...conventional...but those of you who know me know that's not my style.  And it goes better with my wall colour! 

And since I made it P.B. (that's 'pre-blog', not the nut butter) I don't have any 'how to' photos to share with you.  Canadian Living has a great tutorial, but if you want a visual, you can find one here.

So...next post.  Maybe I'll get those Christmas cookies out of the freezer and try out Twenty Second Icing.  Mmmmmmm....sweeeeeeet.

Onesie Party Dress

Ever have a fantastic idea, only to learn that someone else thought of it first? 

I came up with the concept (or thought I had) of a onesie dress one morning, only to find it on Pinterest later that day!  On the plus side, I got to follow a tutorial instead of making silly mistakes.  So that was a bonus.

I altered the pattern a little by making a casing for the elastic of the dress skirt and sewing three lines of stitching across the top to make it a little more decorative. 

And the flower pin.  LOVE the flower.  I'll show you how to make one soon!  It's really easy.

I don't have a photo of the recipient in her dress, hopefully her mom will send one soon!

Little Lumberjack Jacket

Every now and then, if you're an avid sewer (and perhaps even if you're not) you'll come across a length of fabric that just begs to be made into a very special project.  I received a bundle of unwanted items from my Grandma's extensive stash.  As soon as I saw this red plaid wool blend, I knew what I had to do.

Rowan needed a lumberjack jacket. 

And it had to have a fuzzy, faux sheepskin hood.

And lined with brown houndstooth flannel.

I used The Urban Hoodie as the base for this project with several modifications.  I'm pretty sure I want to make this jacket again next year, and when I do...the hood will be bigger.  It is, as my friend Jenn would call it, a 'show hood'.  Meaning it looks great, but does not preform its required hood duties.

Even still, it's cute.  I like it. 

Happy December 1st!  Today is Christmas decorating day at our house.  Except, we're kind of busy, so I'm not sure if it will get done.  Perhaps I'll hang a wreath so I don't feel entirely defeated :)

Bow Clutch by Generation Sue

I have multiple posts to hammer out over the course of this week (Christmas crafts must begin!!), so I thought I'd share one last 'grown-up' creation before I pummel you with baby clothes. 

I found this bow clutch tutorial from Generation Sue on Pinterest.  Do you love Pinterest?  I love Pinterest.  I reference Pinterest in real-life conversations.  I also get slightly giddy when I see items from my blog pinned!

The pattern didn't call for pockets, so I decided to add some following the instructions of the gathered clutch tutorial from Noodlehead.  Also opted for a contrast zipper.  Because....it's fun!

Another clutch made, another clutch given away.  One of these days, I WILL keep one for myself.

Infinity Scarf - Sewn

In case you don't ever plan on picking up a pair of knitting needles or crochet hooks in your life, or if you just want a different kind of infinity scarf - sew this one up!

I found this super cute flower print in the clearance section at Fabricland and HAD to take it home.  The only problem - it's a little too light to wear in late fall and winter.  So I lined the sucker with a medium-weight cotton fabric.  Here's how it all went down:  (excuse the drawings.  I didn't have a working camera during the production process.)

Gather the following:

• 2 meters (yards) each or corresponding fabric.  I did one print and one solid.

• Matching thread

My floral pattern was cut all wonky at the store, so to square it up, I had to shorten it by 5cm.  No big deal.  You can make this scarf any length, really. 

Cut both pieces of fabric to the dimensions indicated above.  Match right sides together.

Pin and sew (like the purple line above) with a 1cm (1/2") seam allowance.  Be sure to leave an opening of about 30cm (12") at one end like in the diagram above. 

Turn right side out.  Fold the raw 30cm edge in and press with an iron if necessary.  Match the right sides (in my case, the patterned side) of either end of the scarf together and sew with a teeny, tiny seam allowance.

Done! 

There are a ton of ways to wear the infinity scarf, use this blog post as inspiration and get inventive!

Thanks for the photos again, Kennedy!

Have a great weekend!

Infinity Scarf - The Knit

Is anyone else ridiculously obsessed with infinity scarves?  I'll bet the answer is yes.  I haven't met a person that DOESN'T like them.  Probably because they're the bees knees.

Thanks to Kennedy for snapping this photo!

If you're reading 'infinity scarf' and thinking "wha??", I'll explain.  They're scarves with the ends attached together.  That's it. 

This knit version I made is ridiculously simple; the perfect movie-watching project because you don't have to constantly refer back to the pattern.  If you haven't learned to knit yet, I highly recommend Very Pink's tutorials.  She's amazing and you'll have no problems following her instructions.

I decided I wanted a loose knit, so I broke out the 19mm (US 35) knitting needles to use with a worsted weight (medium #4) yarn.  I used one skein of Loops and Thread's Impeccable yarn in True Grey.  You'll also need a tapestry needle to join the two ends and weave the tails in.

Cast on 48 stitches.
Round 1: K across entire row
Round 2: K first 3 stitches and P until last 3 stitches.  K remaining stitches

Work these two rounds until desired length.  Just over a meter will give you enough to loop around your neck twice.  If you're joining two skeins of yarn, you HAVE to try this method called the Russian Join.  It's friggin' life changing, man!

To join the ends together I used a kitchener stitch.  I'm not very good at it yet, so I followed this tutorial from Very Pink.  She's demonstrating on socks....just go with it.  The only thing you'll need to do is pick up stitches from the end not currently on the needles. Weave in the tails and you're set.

Stay cozy my friends!

Martha Stewart's Cheesecloth Ghosts

As the title suggests, this Halloween craft spook-tacular is brought to you by the fine people at Martha Stewart.  The original tutorial is found here.  All I've done is expand on the instructions.

These little ghouls are so cool, because they really do look like ghosts!

Collect the following items:

Cheesecloth (one package should make about 3 or 4 ghosts)
Fabric stiffener or liquid starch
Cardboard tubes like toilet or paper towel rolls
Pipecleaner
Aluminum foil
Newspaper
Scissors
Scotch or masking tape
Unimportant plastic container (like yogurt or cottage cheese container) - not photographed

Cut your paper tubes down to size if desired.  I used one paper towel roll and cut it so that it was divided into 2/3 and 1/3 lengths.

Scrunch a length of aluminum foil into a ball for the head.  There's not a correct amount, just keep adding more layers if necessary to get the right size.

Poke a hole with your scissors on either side of the cardboard tube, about 5 cm from an end.

Thread the pipecleaner through the holes and bend them so they stick up as arms.  You may want to reinforce the arms into position with some tape.

Tape the head down to the cardboard tube and attach the bottom of the tubes to newspaper with more tape.  Martha's tutorial tells you to clip the bottoms of the tubes and fan them out before taping to the work surface.  Either way works!

Cut your cheese cloth into strips.  You'll want the strips long enough so that when they are draped over the ghost form they kind of pool a little at the bottom on either side.  I unfolded the cloth until there were three layers of thickness.  If you do a single layer, you'll be forever soaking and draping cloth!

Pour the fabric stiffener into the plastic container, soak cloth strips, squeeze out excess and drape over ghost form.

Continue until entire form is covered.  I used seven strips for the large ghost and six for the small one.

Let dry. Amount of drying time depends on how many layers of cloth are on your ghost and how wet the strips are, but this usually takes several hours.  When completely dry, carefully remove from the form.

Et voila! 

Apple Spice Oatmeal

Could you survive autumn without eating a single apple?  I couldn't, especially since I rarely consume an apple out of season.  Yep, that's right.  I'm one of those die hard, uber-freak, eat-what's-in-season, food supremacists.  Corn on the cob in April?  Grapefruit in June?  Strawberries in December?  No friggin' way, man.  Is it snobby?  No.  It's normal.  And eating in season is much more tasty.

Today, Rowan and I started our day with an autumn and winter staple - oatmeal.  And this recipe is so good, I absolutely have to share it with you.  Yields enough oatmeal for one hungry parent and a rapidly growing toddler.

I'll warn you, I don't really measure anything but the oatmeal/water ratio.  So, I'm guessing on most of the measurements.  Also, I use large flake rolled oats instead of instant or quick oats.  For the reason why this is important, please read this article.

 Ingredients:

• 1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced.  For best results, use a baking apple variety like Empire or MacIntosh.  (Apple geeks may notice that the apple I have here is not a baking apple, in fact it's a Honeycrisp.  It was all I had this morning, and although it tasted fine, it wasn't nearly as good.)
• 1 cup plus 1 tbsp of water
• 1/2 cup large flake oatmeal
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• (optional): raisins, ground flax seed
• brown sugar, honey or maple syrup

On high heat, bring water and apple to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium, cook for one minute.  Add oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Sometimes I like to add a small handful of raisins.  Cooking the oatmeal with apple and raisins give it a nice sweetness, requiring less refined sugar.

Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until oatmeal has absorbed most of the water. 

Add a small sprinkle (maybe 1/2 tsp?  I dunno...sorry!) of flax seed if desired.  Be sure not to add too much flax, it will make the oatmeal bitter.  Continue cooking until all the water has been absorbed, about a minute or so.  If you're at all concerned, flax seed is perfectly safe for children over 7 months of age.

For Rowan, I scoop out about 1/4 cup of oatmeal (this is not enough if that's all he's getting for breakfast, but while I'm making this he usually mows down an entire banana) and add some baby cereal.  It's not completely necessary, but I have it on hand, I need to use it up...and it doesn't hurt :)  

I also add a little bit of whole milk to bring the oatmeal back to a desired consistency.  If your child is under nine months, do not use cow's (or goat, sheep, raccoon or any other mammal) milk.  Also, if you ARE sharing this oatmeal with a babe under nine months, keep in mind that the spices, salt and chunky apple bits might not be the greatest idea.  To make this more palatable for solid food newbies, skip the spice and grate the apple.  And use your best judgment. 

For the grown-ups, spoon out the remaining oatmeal, sprinkle with brown sugar, or drizzle with honey or maple syrup to taste.  Rowan doesn't get to enjoy this part...yet.

Enjoy!!  Now, doesn't that taste better than the pre-packaged instant oatmeal crap?  And much healthier too :)  Try it this week, let me know what you think!

A non-dog owner would think "Awwwww, cute, he's sharing."  A dog owner: "Awwwww, years of training, discipline and strict rules right out the window."  *Sigh*

A Second Serving of Big Butt Baby Pants

As luck would have it, a very kind friend lent me her sewing machine until I purchase a new one.  Yes, sadly my 20-year-old Husqvarna is toast.  Kind of a bummer, since it's the machine my mom taught me to sew on.  *Extra sad face*  To repair it would cost just as much as buying a new one.  And new sewing machines have warranties.  At first, using the replacement machine felt like I was cheating on mine.  Seriously!  I had a little pang of guilt while I was winding the bobbin.  Apparently I apply anthropomorphic traits to my crafting tools.  Of course, my conflicted feelings lasted all of 2 minutes.  Haha!

I've been in serious (well, serious for ME, which is slight at best) Big Butt Baby Pant production over the past week (or two?  I dunno, I've lost all track of time) in the hopes of selling them.  So far, I've got a verbal promise from a store that they will stock them...so we shall see!

The denim is salvaged (mine old jeans, actually) and so is the purple knit fabric (tank top) I used for the ruffles.  Ohhh, that was a good day.  The day with the ruffles.  I wish Rowan looked good in ruffles.

I love the green/blue/brown striped fabric.  I was lucky enough to win a contest from Tonic Living's Facebook page and receive a delightful bundle of fabric samples (above).  The stripe was the only sample that was light cotton and not a heavy drapery weight.  Not that I'm complaining!  I could use some new cushion covers.

I think these applique hearts turned out pretty well!

Unlike my first Big Butt Baby Pant post, I don't have a model for these pants.  They're itty bitty (0-3 months and 3-6 months) and Rowan is.....not itty bitty.  A clothesline of adorable pants is the best I can do.