Sneak Peek at the Ruffle Vest

It turned out super cute, I'm working on sizing now. Since it takes me about five finished projects to work up a new pattern, there will be more! I am thinking Voile next time for a softer, even more ruffly look.

It's really difficult to take a nice picture of yourself, by the way.

Enjoy you day!

Here We Go With Another HUGE Catch-Up Post!

Whew! It's been a crazy, wonderful, (mostly) spectacular couple months. I should apologize for not blogging more, but with three birthdays just in our family and two more (niece and nephew) parties, plus Christmas and all that jazz... You get the picture, BUSY! And I love it. (mostly) The above picture is my beautiful daughter and I at a craft show in the fall. Where I purchased that gorgeous hat. I love felted wool, wish I would have bought another! Hailey supports me in everything I do, and I'm pretty sure this is the child we count on to not put us in a home when we are old. ;0) I'm going to do lots of pictures and updates in this post as it's been a while, and I promise, I. Have. Been. Busy.

A huge shout out of thanks to Grandma Wanni and Papa, and Nana Lana who watch P. so I can still be busy! Love them!

We had Madison's birthday the 7th of December, and Phoenix's the 8th. Combined into one big party for the family. We did a Candyland theme, as they both love their sweets! The cake was three tiers of candy bliss, and there were jars and dishes of asst. candies all over. I wish the cake had turned out better, but when you add that much candy and color to something, it's, whoah. A lot going on. I should know this by now, right? But the kids had fun, and that's what it's about anyway! So I'll post a picture anyway, even though it's not a favorite.

And a couple pics of the kiddos...

Madison giggling because when I said "One, two, three... Happy (insert the song here)" She thought it was time to make a wish. So she did. And blew out all twelve candles!

P saying a big "Thank You!"

Madison beyond excited for the book she's wanted "forever". Our little bibliophile pretty much only asked for books this year. :0)

For Christmas I so wanted to take the time to make everyone in our little family a special present. For the record I put some of Madison's own art on a pair of Converse shoes. They turned out awesome, but she is wearing them right now, so you'll have to trust me that they are cool, because there is no picture!

I made my husband a sign out of an old wooden ski, that says "Happiness is a large, loving, close-knit family... In another city. (It's a quote from George Burns, and an inside joke for us, in case that came off as rude...)

Hailey loves Alice in Wonderland, and her room has that theme. So I made her an art doll of the Mad Hatter, which she LOVED!

I made a fuzzy hugable blankie/softie for Phoenix. He immediately took to him and we call him "Pete".

*Love*

My Hubby and took a trip to Portland, just for a couple days, as he now does service and repair of Janome sewing machines. He had training there, so P. and I tagged along and went to The Children's Museum, and the Portland Zoo. It was a cold, rainy, blustery day, but when we got to the zoo, it cleared up. All of the animals were out and about, and the zoo was all but deserted. It was great!

He had such a good time! We had a nice lunch, with I swear the BEST latte I've ever had. He had cocoa, just to be clear. :0)

Hailey had her 14th birthday a couple weeks ago, and in keeping with the "Alice in Wonderland" theme, this was her cake.

I wish she didn't look far older than 14. But that's a Mom thing I'm sure!

On to my sewing! I promised I was busy, so here are some pics to prove it!

Happy Birthday Owlette...

Fritzi Teddy Bear...

Elphie Circus Mouse, not a great picture, and she'll be holding a felt bouquet I bouquet I believe...

Some fabulous pins I'll be offering for sale on my soon to be website...

My personal favorite. :0)

And just because it makes me smile. :0)

Now my time is up, as I heard a crash from my sewing room. My sweet curious boy is into things again. *sigh* Until next time! Enjoy your day, it's snowy, sunshiney and sparkly here now. *Love*

Ramblings on a Very Junk Food and Movie Kind of Day

Whew. It's hard getting an almost two year old to take a nap when there are so many things to do: Taking all the ornaments off the tree that he can reach and arranging them on the sofa. (With the exception of the glass balls that he rolled across the floor, I don't know how they survived, but they did!) Feeding the dog home-made blue play dough, (That he promptly and efficiently puked all over the floor, eeeew.) and parking all his vehicles in the kitchen like it's his very own garage and I don't have say, dinner to make or anything.

 It's the beginning of December, and I've got the Christmas cards ready to mail, most of the shopping done, and some prepping for birthdays done as well. This will be the first time in four years that cards get mailed out. My goal as of right this minute, is to have all the shopping done, and presents wrapped by Wednesday. Lofty goal to be sure, but you see, it's my daughter's 12th birhtday on the 7th, and my son's 2nd birthday on the 8th. We have lots to do, and a lot of people coming over. I am always so stressed out by the time their birthdays and Christmas comes that I am reduced to tears most days, and grouchy as _____ the others. I vowed not to do that to myself this year. Pre-planning should go a long way in that!

I have a craft show going on right this very minute, and although I wanted to go, a tummy bug kept me home. It wasn't a show that I needed to be there for, but I sure wanted to. There were these wonderful cake plates... *sigh* Maybe if I'm super sweet she'll make me one since I'm sure they are sold out. I found out that my three appliqued windows have sold, and I am So. Happy. I don't have to cart those back home again! If nothing else sold I'm ok with that! Hopefully there is an art/craft show in your future? I would love to see people support our local crafters this (and every!) year.

I have been working, a bit slowly with everything else, on patterns. I now have three ready for printing. Just waiting on some feedback, then it's a website/Facebook/Twitter launch. So excited, I feel like a racehorse sitting behind the gates. With the patterns I'll also be debuting a couple embroidery patterns, and some nice prototypes. Would have loved to have gotten everything ready to launch by November. Slow and sure wins the race though, right?

It's a gloomy cold day today, so I'm going to make myself a hot cocoa and watch Up with the kiddos. Enjoy your day!

First Blogger Screwup...

My post below ended on an unusual note, because I got distracted by an almost two year old. I DID NOT mean to end it with, "I don't feel the need to add to the list". Oh dear. I am looking forward to the show, and have a lot of really great things to present for sale! I so meant to add that, after the comment, and certainly before "Enjoy the Day".

Wow. Someone needs a Starbucks.

Now... Enjoy your day.  :0)

Craft Show Update

Well, I completed a craft show the first weekend of November. To say that it was a resounding a success would be a stretch. The booth I was supposed to have, someone took, so I was placed in another. The good news was that it was another corner booth. The bad news is that it was at the back, and no one, and I mean NO ONE could find me. Either day.  I came home on Saturday quite deflated, and frankly, quite ready to have a hot drink and go to bed. Not fun. On Sunday I got up, and re-organized the whole booth. I made it hard for people to cut the corner and just walk by. This time they had to walk around a cute bench and two metal chairs with my products. It paid off. It didn't change, however, that my sister still had to call while at the show because she had walked by me. Twice. Ah well, sometimes that's just how it goes.

I did get really great feedback, though! It was great to hear the positive comments from people. I realized what will be hits, and what (one item, that'd be the windows with applique) would be misses. I know, KNOW, the bag patterns will be hits, as will the parfait pin cushion pattern, (it will a part of the "Sweet Trio") and that a late addition "Elphie the Christmas Mouse" should probably head to the printer as well. Good news! I also learned that my Tim Burtonesque dolls garner a lot of attention as well. People love them, I just think they are priced out of some budgets. It is a fun hobby of mine, but they take a ton of time and detail work, thinking about listing them on an art gallery site? Hmmmm, so much to do and think about.

 I treated myself to a really wonderful felted hat as well. I am such a felter wannabe. :0)

More to come...

Enjoy the day! :0)

Well the next show is in a couple weeks, and I don't feel pressured to add much to the list.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Apple Brulee Topping!!

Sooooo. I posted on my favorite social networking site a picture of the two pumpkin cheesecakes I made for my book club dinner, and was almost accosted. So I decided since I don't have the bakery anymore I can share the recipe. I adapted it for me, from my favorite Vanilla Cheesecake recipe, and you may have some adapting to do yourself in regards to how spicy you like it. I would like to show the picture, but alas, I took it on my phone, and have yet to link my phone to my blog.  :0/

Crust
I like to use Townhouse butter crackers, or Ritz. Crush approx. half a box as finely as you can. Combine this with a half stick of softened butter. Line and press into a greased spring form pan. (8 or 9 inch is best)

Cheesecake
24oz. Cream Cheese (softened)
2 Cups Sugar
1 Can Pumpkin (small)
4 Whole Eggs
1/4 Cup Flour
Approx. 3 Tbsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice (more for spicy)

In a mixer, cream the cream cheese. Add sugar and pumpkin, mixing together. Crack all eggs into a measuring cup, (prevents shells getting into batter) and slowly add to mixer. Add flour and spices. Pour this into prepared pan.

Bake at 350* for 15 minutes, dropping the temperature to 225*, and baking for approx. 45 more minutes.  Some ovens bake faster than others, and geesh, if you are lucky enough to have a convection oven, you better check it at 20 minutes. Your cheesecake is done when it is not shiny on the top, and has a little jiggle, but not too much jiggle. (Sorry, I'd love for it to be more exact, but I don't really follow recipes, they're more "guidelines".) A few cracks around the outside is normal, and indicates that it should be pulled. A lot of cracks especially in the center means, Whoa Nelly it's over done! When you think it's done, pull from oven to cool. If it forms cracks on the top, after being pulled, it's *slightly* overdone, but don't worry, we're going to cover that up with a yummy topping. No one will ever notice! Smooth the top back down if this happens.

Topping
8oz. Cream Cheese (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar
Vanilla, approx 1 Tbs.

Cream all of this together, and spread over the top of cooled cheesecake. And, we still aren't done.

Apple Brulee Topping
2 Honey Crisp or Gala Apples (peeled, cored, and diced)
1 Stick of Butter
1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar.
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Nutmeg

Combine this in a medium saucepan, and cook over medium/high heat until boiling, turning heat down a touch, maintaining a good rolling boil.  The apples need to cook to soften, and  the sugar mixture needs to thicken.  Resist the urge to stir, and the sugar mixture needs to darken in color. This can take a while. It's ready when it sticks somewhat to the back of a spoon.

Pour this over entire Cheesecake, slightly swirling with the cream cheese topping. Refrigerate until cool. Using a sharp knife, run it along the outside of cheesecake to separate it from edge of spring form pan. Release from pan, and serve.

YUM!! And Enjoy!

Hooray for Photographer Friends!

I wanted to publicly thank my friend Kristyn for photographing my bags, as they posed a huge challenge.  There were three, not really coordinating together, and being reversible, we needed shots of the three in reverse as well.  She took so many great shots that I had a hard time choosing! (Still having a hard time, so here are a few of my favs!)

I love how this one captures both bags and the different flowers you can do!

You can see how hard a decision this will be! If anyone has any thoughts, do share!

I'll be finishing some Christmas Mice today, with pics to follow...

Enjoy your day!  :0)