Archive Page 2
Sewing
There has been a lot of sewing happening in our house these days. Most of it has been on a project that I haven’t quite finished yet, so I’m not going to elaborate on it…but I do have some little things to share with you all.
Father’s Day presents for my goober of a husband. He loves the Simpsons (hey, nobody’s perfect ha). I made him a pillow cover (which is still a lil too big, but I’m still learning….) & a little fabric garbage bag for his truck. The loop has velcro on it so he can attach it wherever he wants. I didn’t use a pattern…just flew by the seat of my pants. It’s not perfect by any means, but I plan on coming up with a more concrete pattern for it in the future. I want to make myself one!
Little sets of somthings for my mama & dad. I’m a terrible daughter and Mother’s Day flew right past me without sending anything to my mom. So, when I decided to make something for my dad for Father’s Day, I made something for my mom too. Of course, being my true self, these have yet to make it into the mail (yes, I know Father’s Day was this past Sunday)….but in my own defense, it’s scorchingly hot outside and Kait and I like to stay holed up in the house. They will be going into the mail today though…we have to leave the house for my ob appointment.
Bibs for my adorable neice, Taylor, to use while she’s at Nana’s house. My mom has my brother & his family over a lot to visit, so I wanted to send her some useful items that she can keep at her house to hopefully cut down just a little bit on Chuck and Laura’s packing. We all know that packing for an overnight trip for a little one requires a lot of stuff. I hope these help out! The fronts are just cotton from my stash (I geek out over the ballerina print every time I look at it), and I used some of Kait’s old girly flannel receiving blankets for the backs. The Tinkerbell print and pink fabric (which has little silver stars, but it’s hard to see in the photo) are leftovers from Kait’s quilt that has been a loooong work in progress for me. I’m hoping to get it finished by the time Steve builds Kait her big girl bed (more on that later…like once he finally buys the wood and actually starts on it haha). And just for Elizabeth, I fussy cut around the center Tinkerbell (in fact, I fussy cut around all the Tinkerbell squares that are going to be in the quilt too). 
I didn’t use a pattern for these; I just traced around one of Kait’s larger bibs. I wanted these to be a bit on the bigger side so that Taylor can use them for a long time. I do want to whip up a bunch more of these for Seth…I have lots of scraps of boy fabrics and I’m itching to transform them into bibs right now!
Pillowcase dress(es) for Kaitlin. I used this tutorial except that I didn’t make ties for the straps, I actually made straps. If you read the tutorial, you’ll see what I mean. I ended up having to take in the straps quite a bit, but I just folded them down and hand-sewed them to the inside of the back of the dress; so hopefully she will get at least another summer out of this dress. I made another one using a different tutorial, but I didn’t like the outcome, so I’m hoping to rip out a couple of seams and mend it to be like this one. I already have another pillowcase cut and ready to be sewn (it’s white with little navy blue anchors on it with light red rope on it…I’ve been geeking out over it too, it’s so cute!), but I’m debating on whether I should use some of the leftover pillowcase to make the straps, or if I should make some out of contrasting fabric (perhaps navy blue or red…not sure). I also want to add ric rac to the bottom that matches the straps, should I decide to make them contrasting. Okay, enough rambling. Here’s another shot of Kait in the dress, but it’s of the back. Oh yes, and the photo also has another shot of my ginormous belly. 
Hey Mama, check out her french braids!
Filed under: Sewing | 3 Comments
Tags: pillowcase dress, Sewing
Banana Bread
I’m not sure what deal is with all the baking, but I was at it again Saturday. We had some fairly riped bananas and I really hated to throw them out, so I dug out my favorite banana bread recipe and whipped these up in no time.
And just in case you wanted to try out my fool-proof banana bread recipe, here it is:
First, gather all of your ingredients:
3-4 ripe bananas, smashed
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 c melted butter
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour (I’ve substituted 1/2 c whole wheat and the recipe came out yummy, but I don’t know about subbing the entire amount)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
You don’t need a mixer for this. A good old wooden spoon will do the trick. Mix the butter into the bananas. I like to start off by just mashing the bananas in the bowl I’m going to mix all of the batter in; it cuts down on the amount of dirty dishes later. I also save the bowl that I melted the butter in and I use that to beat my egg in. Mix in sugar, egg, & vanilla next. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over mixture and then mix in well. Add flour last; I usually mix it in 1/2 c at a time.
That white blob at the bottom of the picture would be my 35 week belly that I couldn’t keep out of the shot and take a decent photo. ha.
Bake for 1 hr or until a knife/toothpick comes out of the center clean. This recipe makes 1 loaf or 12 muffins. It stays super moist and is oh-so-yummy.
I hope you and your family loves this bread as much as my family does!
Filed under: Baking/Cooking, Home Life | 1 Comment
Tags: banana bread, recipe
What I’m loving right now
This girl, this dog, and the sweet bond.
Dead grass? Yes. Houston heat is brutal.
The dress? More on that later.
Filed under: Home Life | 2 Comments
Tags: children playing outside, puppy
Yum
Can Kristen bake bread from scratch?
I chose Elizabeth’s recipe to start out with. Her instructions seemed very clear and basic. Just what a beginner needs.
I decided that since I was going to make a mess of my kitchen, I might as well make a double batch. I wanted to mix the dough “old school” but once I got to adding the 5th cup of flour my arm was too tired, so I cheated and used my Kitchen Aid.
This is what it looked like before I started to knead it. I didn’t get and shots of me kneading it or of the dough rising because the princess was awake by then and I was distracted.
Success!!! Elizabeth’s recipe said to bake for about 30 minutes, but my loaves only needed 22 minutes. I’m guessing that’s because it’s so freaking hot here in Houston!
After they’d cooled for about an hour or so, I sliced one up to taste test. Sooooo gooooood! I let the hubs taste it and he liked it so much that he used it to make his sandwich for lunch this morning. Oh…and some bread bags are in the works now. I’m also on the lookout for a bread box. I’d like to get one thrifted, but I’m finding they are hard to come by.
Elizabeth said that her favorite way to eat this bread was with butter and honey. I totally agree. It makes a yummy before bedtime snack and a yummy it’s-4am-and-I-can’t-sleep-thanks-to-third-trimester-insomnia snack.
Kait likes it too.
I can’t wait to play around with it and sub some whole wheat flour for the white. Your recipe suggested 1/2 C of whole wheat, but have you made it with 1/2 the total flour content being whole wheat?
Thank you so much Elizabeth for such a yummy and beginner-friendly recipe!
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On an unrelated note…our comforter got ruined in the move, so I’ve been given the “ok” by the hubs to sew a duvet cover for it. I want to make a nice scrappy cover, but I don’t think I have enough different fabrics to get the true scrappy effect. If anyone has any cotton (or similar weight) fabric they’re looking to get rid of…I’d gladly take it off your hands and send you a little something in return.
Filed under: Baking/Cooking, Home Life, soulemama | 5 Comments
Tags: baking, baking bread, homemade bread, soulemama
Rainbow-y Goodness
During my surfing of the web last week, I found this recipe for rainbow cupcakes. Kait saw it too and hasn’t stopped talking about them. I promised her last week that we would make them on Saturday. Well, Saturday came and I was so tired and hurting that I just couldn’t muster the energy to make them. Kait hadn’t mentioned them that day, so I didn’t feel that bad about not making them. I did want to make them, so yesterday, I dusted off my Kitchen Aid and attempted to make those pretty stripey cupcakes.
I think Kait approves.
A couple of things I learned from this “experience.”
-This is a relatively simple recipe…but it takes a long time to mix up the colors and stripe each cupcake.
-Make sure you use relatively NEW Wilton cake dyes. My mom sent me her entire stock of cake decorating supplies and while I appreciate it (really I do mama), I used her violet (which is probably at least a couple years old I’m guessing) to tint the purple and it came out almost grey. I had to add a substansial amount of red to get it to look purple-y.
-Err on the side of less! When you are tinting, you can always add more dye if the color isn’t as bright as you want it, but you can’t take it out. Also, don’t get discouraged if the raw batter isn’t as bright as you’d like. The colors get brighter after they bake, I promise.
-Also on the side of less…obviously I didn’t take into account how much cupcakes “puff up” when they bake. That’s why I only have enough batter for 12 instead of the normal 24…and look how ginormous they were. Next time, I’ll make sure that I use less batter. I was so worried about each color touching all the sides of the liner that I didn’t think about how much the batter was going to expand. I assure you that even if your batter doesn’t touch the sides of the liner, it will during baking.
All in all, Kait enjoyed watching me make them and dictating which bowl got tinted next and which color I used next. She was so excited to wake up after her nap and eat a rainbow cupcake. They were too big, so she didn’t even finish the whole thing. I think she and I will share these to eat them up. Oh, and Daddy likes them too…he ate 2.
Filed under: Baking/Cooking | 5 Comments
Tags: baking, cupcake, rainbow, rainbow cupcake
Have no fear…
Super Kaitlin is here!
After many weeks of tying her blankie around her neck as a makeshift cape, she finally has a real one.
All of the materials were in my stash, so this item that is sure to cause hours of play cost this mama absolutely nothing. It took me about an hour from cutting the fabric to sewing on the ribbon. The ribbon is a bit long (2 yds), but I think it adds to the charm of the cape.
Recognize the fabric, Mom? Apparently I bought another yard of it after you sent us out the yardage for the backing for her quilt. I don’t remember buying it, but there it was in my stash, a completely seperate cut piece of the same fabric. As for the yardage you sent us, I’ve decided to use it for curtains for her room instead, and I’m going to back her quilt with a plain lavender or pale lime green sheet. We’re big on Tinkerbell these days, so I want to make the most out of the fabric I have. I’ve been trying really hard to use what I have already to decorate the house. It’s pushing my creativity.
I think she likes it.
p.s. I just realized that this falls in to my Finished Friday category…which has been sorely neglected. Maybe it’s time to start that up again.
Filed under: Finished Friday, Sewing | 7 Comments
Tags: child's cape, Sewing, superhero cape, tinkerbell
My summer wardrobe
Tank top and gaucho’s…gotta love it.
Oh yea…and I’m 33 weeks today. You can’t see her, but Kait is actually standing behind me trying to get into the bathtub. Yea, that did wonders for my self-esteem…haha.
And because I just want to eat her sometimes:
gotta love the milk beard and bitter strawberry face.
Filed under: Baby News, Home Life | 8 Comments
Tags: belly picture, pregnancy
More ramblings
I’m not much for words today. Truthfully, my mind is in my sewing room (slash Steve’s office too, but that’s not the important part right? I have a sewing space all my own) and on all the fabric I’ve acquired yesterday and today. I have lots of things I want to make and I’m in the process of planning out my pay-it-forward packages. They’re going to be a little late…I hope that’s okay with my 3 gals. It’s going to take everything in me not to share in-progress pictures with you all, but I want it to be a surprise.
I’m also in the mood to make myself a stripey felted bag. I’m hoping to use this pattern and my Noro scraps along with some natural colored Lionbrand Fishermen’s Wool I picked up today from Hobby Lobby. I’m hoping that pooling together all of my wool scraps will be enough for the stripes. I’m not going to use the pattern that the author suggests with the stripes alternating in widths. I think I’m just going to do a simpler striping. We’ll see.
Enough of my rambling…I leave you with some photos of my kiddos enjoying the sprinklers at their Grandpa Al’s house (Steve’s dad) last month.
These are mostly for Nana/Pop Pop/Uncle Chuckie indulgence, but feel free to enjoy them too. Warning: there’s quite a few…I couldn’t choose just 2 or 3 to share.
Filed under: Home Life, Knitting, Sewing, Yarny Goodness | 3 Comments
Tags: rambling, sewing room, sprinklers, summer fun
Puppy Love
Meet Penny.
She’s 10 weeks old and weighs 1lb 50z. She’s such a sweet girl and she loves to chase Kait around the yard. We’re working on crate training her and she is doing awesome. We didn’t plan on getting a new puppy, but when I saw her face I couldn’t say no.
Filed under: Home Life | 7 Comments
Tags: new puppy, pekinese/yorkie mix, puppy
Seedlings
Being on light activity rest can be very frustrating. I’m not supposed to do much, so not much unpacking is getting done during the day. Steve does most of it when he gets home, and I delegate, but being here all day makes me restless. I feel like the boxes are staring me in the face, laughing at me. I wish I could show you all pictures of the new house, but it’s so not ready. So instead, I thought I’d show you our seedlings.
All of these are currently residing on our window seat in the kitchen until the raised garden beds are constructed (which will hopefully be done this weekend along with getting my clothesline put up). It gets the most constant sun during the day.
We went out last night and bought the necessary supplies to build our raised garden beds….well minus a couple of things. We need some tomato cages (I dunno how else to describe them), more strawberry plants (sooo hard to come by because it’s late in the season, I know this), & tulle. Why tulle you ask? To keep the stupid birds out of my garden. They’ve eaten all the blackberries off my bush, all the strawberries, and are starting to peck at my yet-to-ripen tomatoes! Any tips to would be greatly appreciated. I asked the lady working at the garden center at Home Depot yesterday and she suggested making inexpensive netting out of tulle. That’s where I’m starting, but I’d love anymore tips any of you can give me. Don’t get me wrong…birds are beautiful creatures and I enjoy their songs, but geez…they need to stay away from my plants! grr.
Filed under: Home Life, gardening | 5 Comments
Tags: garden, gardening, seedlings
