A charming handbag

Another handbag from my wonderful book Bend-the-rules Sewing by Amy Karol. I can see many of these bags on my Christmas gift giveaway list. This one is for my sister in law and I'm making another one for my other sister in law. I've already thought of two more people I will be making these bags for so stay tuned for three charming handbag updates in the near future. They're so easy to put together, I started this last night after Ayla went to bed and finished it this morning for a total sewing time from start to finish of about 3 hrs. I think that's wonderful since I'm running out of time and need to get all my sewing done in the next two weeks.

Also, since I have some left over fabric I'll be making her a pillow to go along with this bag.

My Wish List

I posted my Chapters Wish List awhile back but it was requested that I post it again. Just in case anyone would like to buy me a gift but don't know what to get. So here it is.

Chapters Wish List (PS. the book I really really want is the Amy Butler one. In Stitches...)

Also if you do forget then you can always search for it on the Chapters website by going to Wish List at the top right and searching by my first and last name.

I just wanted to show a pic of my newest gift. You know sometimes when I make these things I want to keep them for myself because I love them so much. Alex is here complaining that I'm showing it and therefore the recipient will see it. But that's OK with me because this is just a picture without all the fixings. So it will still be somewhat of a surprise. I just hope it fits her as nicely as it fits my model.

Update: Well my recipient would like to see my blog and not her apron so she's requested I take it down. Sorry for all who missed it! I'll post it in two weeks after I give it to her =)

Yesterday we made the Crispy Chinese Salt and Pepper Tofu from Veganomicon. Well to be honest they forgot to include it in the book but I got the recipe off of the PPK forum. It was amazing! I think we'll definitely be making this again. Paired with some roasted asparagus and steamed jasmine rice. Yum yum!

Wordless Wednesday

Busy as a bee

You might be wondering when I have time to do all the things I seem to be doing lately. And if I haven't said it before I'll say it now 'when she sleeps!'. Honestly, I can't get anything accomplished when Ayla's awake so everything is either done sometime in the afternoon before Alex leaves for work or late at night while she sleeps. Some days I'm really tired so I'll just go to bed early with her and wake up really late. Other times I'm a night owl that just can't let things rest. This was taken the day before yesterday. She woke up all bright eyed and bushy tailed in the middle of the night. Hence Alex's lack of clothing, but then again he's always that way.
The other night I got it into my head to make an oven mitt because the one we currently have is on it's last legs and I always seem to be burning myself when I use it. So I just looked online for a pattern and whipped this baby up. I love it but it's really snug. I guess I should have used less of a seam allowance than what the pattern recommended. But it still fits and that's all that matters. The next one I make I'll put more batting in it because I can still feel the heat a bit when I use it.

My coworker and I discovered our mutual love for knitting. So this past Saturday she picked me up and we went yarn shopping all over town. We also made a stop at Fabricland where I picked up quite a nice stash of fabrics. I just went to pick up bias tape for my oven mitt but you know fabric is like a drug for me and I couldn't just buy that. It was a lot of fun and we'll definitely be doing it again. But as our real intention was yarn I picked up a few skeins of various things to make dish cloths and scarves for myself and also one for Ayla. I love the colors I chose and I've decided to make a hat and mittens to match but I'll have to go pick up some more yarn for all that. I'm not even sure if it will last for the whole scarf. One thing I noticed about this scarf though, is that the pink yarn was slightly thinner than the red even though it's the same brand and weight. Not sure what happened. So it looks like it's narrowing when it hits the pink, blah! I'll have to be more careful next time.

On Friday, Hillary over at Wee Wonderfuls was asking if anyone wanted to test out her new pattern for gnomes. I think I was the first person to actually read her update and immediately sent her an email to sign myself up for it. I love her work and was so excited to get started on helping her out. Unfortunately, my weekend wasn't very free for crafting or sewing so I only got to it tonight. I'm so glad that I finally did because it turned out wonderfully and I love him! There's also a Mrs. Gnome and I'll be making her shortly. Alex said these would be great gifts for his mom and step dad to add to their collection of houses and ornaments under the Christmas tree and since I was on the fence as to what to get them for Christmas I think I'll be making them one each in the form of Santa and Mrs. Claus of course.

Just thought I'd give a little before and after of my sewing room since I've been in it these past few weeks. The first picture is just after I had bought and set up the shelves to store my fabric. And the second is what it looks like right now. A mess. But I love hanging out in there. Actually, I'll probably be painting one focal wall and decorating it. I picked up some canvas frames and would like to paint something to hang on the walls of course I'll probably only get to that after Christmas.

In my last post I talked about making some manicotti for dinner. Well yesterday I put my hand to it and it turned out wonderfully! I'm not sure if the picture does it justice but it was delicious. I'm so happy I bought Veganomicon! I can't say enough good stuff about it. All the sauces are from that book. I used the Marinara Sauce, Pine Nut Cream, Almesan and Tofu Ricotta recipes to pull this off. Many steps but totally worth it in the end. Next time I'll try the recipes from my Italian cookbook and see how that compares.

I also made the Orange Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies. I hate to sound like a broken record here but these are amazing. You just taste a hint of orange and there's also almond extract in it but you just taste a hint of it as well. I'm sure I'll be making these again one day.

Soups on!

OK no soup but don't they say that when it's dinner time? Whoever 'they' are... Anyway, I decided to try my hand at a real full recipe in my new cookbook, Veganomicon. It turned out spectacularly! I felt like a gourmet chef! I made the Chickpea cutlets with the Red Wine Roux sauce and Sautéed Spinach and Tomatoes (sans tomatoes cause I didn't have any) with some steamed whole grain basmati rice. Say that five times fast =) Like I said, it turned out really well and I can't wait to have the left overs tomorrow for lunch because for dinner I'm making manicotti! So stay tuned for that. I really wanted to make cannelloni but I can't find the noodles anywhere and so manicotti were the closest I could get to it.

I also went bowling tonight. It was great fun. Everyone played 'pass the baby' with Ayla. She was a hit! And cute too if I do say so myself =D

Cinnamon rolls and pomegranates

I decided to take a small break from sewing today but of course that didn't mean I wasn't going to be productive! So I decided to whip up some cinnamon rolls that I had been drooling over for quite some time. Because you know, you just can't find vegan cinnamon rolls at the food court. I got the recipe from here. They turned out marvelous! I had 3 right off the bat and limited myself to just that for the night because you know, I just don't have any self control...

The other day I bought some pomegranates because they're in season now and oh so big and beautiful. Just look at the color of those seeds! Everyone go out and buy yourself a pomegranate. Oh and the wonderful people at POM also included instructions on how to actually get all the seeds out without leaving your fingers forever red and juice all over the counter tops. Just immerse the whole pomegranate in a bowl of water and pop the seeds out!

Olive Dolls

As promised the Olive dolls I made for my nieces. Next up will be their lap quilts from Bed-the-Rules Sewing. Also, a dress for each doll.

Things handmade

I have so much to write about but my head is bursting with all of it. I think I'm going to tame it down and just give some more pics of what I've been up to with brief captions. I decided to make all of my Christmas gifts by hand this year and so my month of November will be a very busy one.

Starting with this wonderful bag I made from Bend-the-Rules Sewing. The Pleated Beauty Bag. I whipped this up in a couple of hours and I just LOVE it! Too bad I'm giving it away.

I must admit I did make one for myself but it's my diaper bag for now. I will make a more toned down one just for myself at a later date. Don't mind the fluff, Ayla's blanket was resting on it today before I took the pic and I was too lazy to pick it all off. =)

I've a whole list of things that I'm making for everyone from that book including some knitting that I must get started on pronto if I'm ever going to finish! I still have yet to complete my scarf but I just bought yarn to make mittens to go along with it since I was shown how to knit with 4 needles! My coworker and I are going yarn shopping next weekend hopefully to buy some more stuff for my gifts. I can't wait.

My next update will include some softies! I'm making the Olive doll by Hillary from Wee Wonderfuls for my nieces for Christmas. I've had my eye on that doll for a long time. I wanted to make it for Ayla and I will but first things first. I decided not to make Archie because they're twins and would probably fight over who has Olive and who has Archie. I don't want to cause any problems so two Olives it is. I'll also be attempting to make them the two quilts using the Lap Quilt pattern from Bend-the-Rules Sewing, we'll see how that works out. Fabricland got a lot of business from me this weekend with all the fabrics and notions I ended up buying for all of this. But so far so good so I'm not complaining!

On to food! I've still been cooking up many things and my cookbook also arrived in the mail! It's a nice thick hardcover book that I can't wait to dive into. I've only made one thing from it so far. I like to read my cookbooks cover to cover before I make anything in them. Yes I know... But I get so into the little stories behind each recipe and it makes me feel like I know the author or authors just a little bit better.

So I went to a Home & Gift party on friday at my coworker's house and I brought these chocolate cupcakes. They were a real hit and the frosting is made with tofu. Recipe for the frosting came from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I used the Fauxstess recipe again from VwaV for the cupcakes, subbing applesauce instead of oil.

I also made the Sunny Blueberry Corn Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance. They're so yummy! I'm trying to tone down on eating all these great desserts so I only have them for breakfast. I also realized that my baking powder is losing it's effectiveness on seeing how little these rose so I bought some more today. Hopefully I'll have fuller muffins next time.

I tried the Black bean, Quinoa and Mushroom Stuffed Peppers from VwaV. I couldn't put mushrooms in there so I just upped the quinoa. It was the best stuffed peppers I've ever had! Not that I've eaten many stuffed peppers. I thought I wouldn't like it because I'm not too fond of bell peppers but it was great. I had it with steamed jasmine rice.

I also made a variation of a recipe from Veganomicon, the Spicy Marinated Tempeh except I used tofu and the Spicy Cajun Fries from VwaV except I used sweet potatoes. With a side of steamed green peas. I thought it turned out really well. I must confess I'm getting addicted to those little peas I've had them with many meals this week.

Since I'm on a chocolate binge I've decided to also make truffles this year to include with some of my gifts. But I'll most likely only be making those once I get to Montreal so maybe there won't be any pics.