Snickerdoodles and leisurely walks

Vegan Dad posted about making snickerdoodles the other day and the recipe was so easy that I decided to whip up a batch yesterday. Holy snickerdoodles! Are these things every addictive. We both followed the recipe posted over at the Have Cake, Will Travel blog. I doubled the recipe because I wanted a little bit more than just seven cookies. With a nice glass of soy milk it was a very nice dessert indeed.

For dinner I just threw together some seitan I had in the freezer with some roasted asparagus and mashed potatoes. Again it was another comforting dinner. I just used store bought bbq sauce thinned out with some soy sauce and water to glaze the seitan. Unfortunately, the pictures of this meal didn't turn out too stellar. A fault of the photographer and not the camera (note to self: must learn how to use digital camera in poor lighting conditions).

Before all this cooking, Ayla and I went out on a leisurely walk yesterday on a new trail beside my house. The trail isn't really new it's just new to us. We got a couple of mosquito bites and ended up taking another route home but it was lovely all the same.

I love fabric

Yesterday I got my Amy Butler fabric in the mail from Pink by Post. I had ordered some fat quarters with the intention of making something fabulous. I had no idea what at the time but as I was drooling over the prints today I realized I haven't even cracked open my In Stitches book yet! I keep eying it saying I want to make something, anything really, but I don't want to use crappy fabric and so I wait. Well wait no longer!

I really wanted to make that patchwork handbag I spoke about a few posts ago. And the summery colors and prints will be perfect for it. Speaking of fabric, I haven't gone fabric shopping since before Christmas. I've been trying to use up what I have and not accumulate a huge overwhelming hoard. But I'm really getting the itch, especially since I want to make some summer clothing and I don't really have the right kind for that. Actually, I've been looking online for a place that sells enviro-friendly fabric that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for shipping to here. So far I've been out of luck but hopefully I'll stumbled upon something soon. I see many companies selling enviro-friendly clothing made of soy, bamboo, hemp, organic cotton etc, but none selling the actual fabric which is a bit of a bummer because I want to see what it's like to sew with them.

On another note, I got some really cute pictures of Ayla today in the sunshine. Here she is wearing her smock dress I made the other day and also sitting on her lap quilt. The dress is a little big on her but I don't mind so much because there's always room for her to grow into it. Gotta love that about kids' clothing!

Also, another dress I found at a thrift store awhile back. I never got around to putting it on her but it fits very nicely now. I love the little embroidered detail on the front flap and the puffy sleeves. It definitely has a vintage look to it which I absolutely love.

New projects

I was listening to my Ipod yesterday and getting frustrated with the fact that none of my pajama bottoms have pockets on them and so I end up having to tuck it into the waistband. To remedy my problem I decided I might as well make some. I have a bunch of fabric that I got from Freecycle that I have no intention of making outside clothing from but is perfect for bed clothes. I had a couple of New Look patterns for pj bottoms that I bought when I was back in high school or college so I pulled them out and decided on the one I wanted to use (pattern 6160). It was fairly fast to put together but took me a couple of hours to add and tweak as I went along. I immediately put them on when I finished and they felt as if I had been lounging in them all day, they're that comfortable. So now I have an itch to make a couple more for the summer. The pocket detail wasn't part of the pattern but was very easy to add. I also decided that I didn't just want it to be of the one material and embellished it a little by adding the pink band at the bottom and pocket edges. Sorry for the dark pictures, it's just started thundering and raining here so the clouds have moved in and overshadowed everything.

I also made a dinner that I had been eying on Vegan Yum Yum. It was kind of involved but it turned out wonderfully, I'll be looking forward to having the leftovers tonight. It's a sweet chili lime tofu with steamed green beans and spinach on top of quinoa.


I also made a card for my grand mother in Jamaica. I wanted something that would be stiff enough to protect the pictures that I wanted to send her but also nice to look at. I had such a great time putting it together. I just love paper crafts.

Now that I'm in a sewing craze I think I'm going to try making some more adult clothing for myself for summer. I think I mentioned this before but when I moved here I got rid of a large chunk of my wardrobe. Then I got pregnant and had Ayla and nothing feels like 'me' anymore and so I'm just needing a makeover. So I'll be adding some fun work in progresses to my list this summer. I think that once I get in the hang of working with some of the easier conventional patterns then I won't be so scared to tackle the larger pieces when it comes to fall and winter wear. It's been my dream forever to make my own winter coat and I can finally see that on the horizon.

Finshed projects

Today dawned bright and lovely outside and so I decided to get some good pictures in of my finished projects. Last night I got it in my mind to make Ayla some dungarees. Dungarees are basically a type of overalls. Well it didn't work out as planned. I got one of those books for Christmas called Crafts for Baby by Alison Jenkins and basically all of the patterns are in the back of the book but they need to be scanned and enlarged to the proper size. I have problems with books like this because if you get the urge to start crafting in the middle of the night then you're kind of stuck with small patterns that you can't really do much with. Anyway, I got it in my head that I'd try to enlarge it on the computer and then work with it from there. Needless to say that I didn't get the sizing exactly right (surprise surprise) and so I had some major tweaking to do. Basically I had to cut away the pants part of the pattern because it was just too small and so I made it into a skirt.

I'm quite happy with the outcome. I had some buttons from I have no idea where but they went perfectly with the outfit. I decided to outline it in pink instead of using the same fabric as a bias because people always seem to think she's a boy when we're out in public. I just love bias tape it's such an easy way to finish projects if you're feeling too lazy and don't want to do any rolled hems or what not. Mind you I have a serger but I have yet to use it.

I also had an idea kicking around in my head about mounting some fabric on these stretched canvas boards I had bought at the dollar store way back when. Well it seems as if the cards were all lined up because I kept stumbling on blogs showing how to make silhouettes with fabric on canvas and I thought that would knock up my idea a notch.

I'm pleased as punch with how it turned out. I still have to add a finishing coat on top of it but it's so lovely. I just adore this fabric so much and I knew I wanted to do something special with it where I'd have to look at it everyday. I still have another canvas and I'm thinking of doing another one with the same fabric but this time make the silhouette be of the fabric and the background be black. We'll see, I'm not sure I want to paint that much over the fabric design since I like it so much.

And finally here are the finished products of the gift I'll be sending out to Alex's sister for her new baby, Lucas. I tried my hand at a quilt again and I have to say it's definitely a learning process. I'm thinking I should have quilted over the middle square because there's a rule out there about how far apart you should do quilting so it doesn't pucker the fabric. Well I disregarded that rule when making this quilt and of course my fabric puckered in the middle. I still like it and think it's still perfect for a gift. I had loads of fabric left so decided to make two bibs to go along with it and then because no baby gift is complete without a toy I decided to make another of my felt block squares. They're so easy to put together but this time I used colors that went with the theme of the gift.

If you had a look at my flickr page recently then you'll notice that I made one for Ayla some time ago that she doesn't really play with. She likes to pick at the felt then eat it. ;)

I bought some flowers (I think they're begonias) earlier in May in the hopes that with my limited amount of sunlight I could still have a balcony garden. I'm happy to say that they're blooming nicely and so I think I'll be buying some more the next time we're out.

Calling all Papas

The time ran away with me yesterday and so I'm not getting my post out till today. As I stated before usually when I have time to post about food I have little time to do any crafting. So today's post will feature last night's dinner. I made the Fritatte from Nonna's Italian Kitchen last night with a spinach salad and some of my crusty Italian bread. It was a lovely filling dinner and we'll most likely be having leftovers tonight. I feel bad that I'm not making a new meal for Father's day but you know, I have things to do and anyway I made cupcakes so that should make up for it! Sorry there are no pictures of the cupcakes, it was the Golden Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter cream frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, another one of my staple cookbooks. I didn't have any shortening for the vanilla butter cream and so I just used Earth balance and well it's not very solid at room temperature so the butter cream is a little bit runny. Therefore, not very picture friendly.

I stumbled upon a new blog yesterday called Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves. I love the concept of this blog and have been having such a great time going back through her archives to look at all the vintage book titles and see what they were all about. As you know I have a penchant for all things vintage and books have not escaped that obsessive love. I haven't been thrifting very much these last few months but it's definitely something I want to get back to once summer is in full swing. And you can be sure I'll keep looking through the book bins. There are a couple of used bookstores around town that really I could spend hours in but you know Alex is not about spending hours in bookstores so we always left way before I was ready. I especially loved seeing Caps for Sale on her site. I loved this book as a child and so I'll look forward to finding a vintage copy.

Speaking of Alex, today as you might all know today is Father's day! Unfortunately the Papa of this house is working so we won't be doing anything special and I probably have a driving class right after he comes home until about 9pm. So our day is mostly shot but hopefully yours won't be. And if you've forgotten to call your father or brothers or uncles or whomever then hop to it because fathers are just as important as mothers in the equation of things!

Late night updates

I'm noticing that it's taking me a long time to actually get to posting these last few days. I'm usually busy doing around the house and Ayla stuff in the mornings and during the day so I never seem to have a down moment to actually blog. Well I do have time to quickly read the blogs that I frequent daily but never to update this one.

Anyway, I've going back through the CraftSanity and CraftyPod podcasts and listening to some really inspiring people while I work. It's really nice because I don't have time to just walk around listening to my Ipod all day so when I do get some time to myself to craft or sew it's like I have some company. While listening today I discovered a site that I'm extremely excited about called Burda Style (I added a neat little button on the right sidebar that also leads to the site). Basically it's an open source sewing site where patterns for clothing are posted for free online and you can go through and sew up whatever your heart desires. Another really great thing about it is that you can alter the patterns to suit your own needs and if you feel so inclined you can also sell your garments when you're done.

It's no secret that I got a dress form from Freecycle not that long ago and have been wanting to sew clothing for quite sometime. It's really been a passion of mine since Home Economics class back in highschool when I actually learned to sew. I remember everyone sewing the standard boxer briefs and me and one other girl saying that we'd rather sew a dress. It was a great learning experience and since then I've been completely hooked. I love to sew and although my garment sewing is very limited it was always in the back of my mind as something that I wanted to learn how to do properly. I remember one Christmas when we were living back in Drummondville I decided to make everyone's Christmas gifts by hand and that year I made a fleece hooded sweater for Alex. He still has it and even I like to wear it from time to time because it's so big and warm. It's great too because it's heading into summer and everytime I see those cute summer dresses in the store I can never buy them because they fit me all wrong and then I just think to myself 'I bet I could make this'. So maybe I will this year!

I also finished my softy that I'll be sending off for Softies for Mirabel. I came up with the design and just kind of went from there. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out but but I'm not sure what to call it. His arms were much longer but I had to cut them in half because I just thought it was too much.

I also got my package from Vegan Essentials today and boy was I ever happy. I ordered a bunch of vegan jerkies that we really love and a vegan version of Nutella. Alex was dismayed when he found out that Nutella sadly has dairy products in it. Luckily the vegan version, Chocoreale, is amazing and he'll have nothing to worry about now. I had a taste of it on my Italian crusty bread that I made today from Nonna's Italian Kitchen. We went out while it was rising and didn't come back till it should have already been in the second rising so I'm not sure if it turned out the way it should have but it sure was delicious!

Cooking woes and Softies for Mirabel

I'm trying to find a balance between cooking and crafting. Lately I only have time for one around these parts. So basically we haven't been eating any elaborate meals. Take tonight for instance, I had these grand plans to make an amazing Italian dinner and dessert but here I am at close to 11pm and well let's just say that won't be happening. Hence the new 'What's cooking' panel. Hopefully, with that staring me in the face everyday it will give me some incentive to get busy in the kitchen.

Since I'm not yet ready to reveal my gift set which is almost done I'll direct you over to a flickr group I just joined and am really excited about making softies for. It's called Softies for Mirabel, an initiative to help the Mirabel Foundation in Melbourne Australia. The foundation was established to help the children of families who have been affected by substance abuse. On July 27th an auction will be held on Ebay for all the softies made.

How cute are those!? If you click on the picture it will take you directly to the flickr pool. There are over 200 contributions already.