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.
I'm having a great time thinking up new things to make for Vegan MoFo. It's forcing me to actually get in the kitchen and whip up some good food. Yesterday after dinner my sweet tooth started kicking in so I asked Alex what he'd like me to make. He immediately asked for chocolate chip cookies.
We're huge fans of the Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies in Vive le Vegan by Dreena Burton. They're amazing and I've never used another chocolate chip cookie recipe since finding this one. I know there are probably others out there that are just as good but the ingredients used in this recipe are right up my alley. They don't call for butter (unlike most cookie recipes) which is quite pricey in my neck of the woods. I had to use the flash since it's late and the shadows are out to play.
