A Break From Crochet

So my plan this weekend was to maybe make some bibs for Liam. Well after trying one last night I determined there were too many small bits and decided that wasn't a good project for this weekend. 

So I turned my attention to my Pinterest page Super Crafty Idea Land saw a project I have been considering for a long time. A new wallet. So that means I traded a project with small pieces for a project with a lot more small pieces. Sounds logical right?

This is a test copy, I am going to try it for a few days and decide what I need to tweak to make it perfect. 

The biggest issue I have so far is the clasp. It is a little strong and I don't have the backing in it to keep it secure. It is very weak and hard to undo. 

Another issue is the fabric I used for the exterior is slick. This made some of my seams fail to line up correctly. I definitely will use a different fabric.

It does have more than enough card slots, actually a few more than I need. 

I think I may add an area for cash, maybe a small moleskin notebook and a pen. I will definitely use Velcro for the closure.

So that was my break from the never ending baby blanket. I am very grateful Alex watched Liam and gave me a chance to be crafty.

Dinner is bubbling on the stove (chili, yum!) and while we watch tv I will work a little more on the blanket. 

The Trouble with Long Term Projects

Also Known As I bore way too easily.

My general crafting preferences tend to run to those things that I can complete quickly. I get bored quickly so short and sweet projects tend to be what I prefer.

I do have quite a few long term projects in mind. The first is a baby blanket for a friend who is having a baby girl in the near future. This baby blanket is what I have been working on during our recent snow days.

It was a new pattern that I have never crocheted before. I have enjoyed it but at this point I am a little sick of working on this pattern:

I will say this is a fantastic pattern that I do want to make again for Liam with a lot of different colors. So anyone who wants to make a baby blanket I highly recommend it. It looks much more complicated than it really is.

Another project that I really want to work on is to make a rug from old T-shirts. We have a ton of them around and Liam is starting to get a little mobile so I want to have something to soften the floor in my living room since we don't have carpeting.

So that is where I am, I am forcing myself to work on the baby blanket until it is finished otherwise I might never get it done. So on and on I crochet so that I can then move on to the rug.

A happy note, I finished the chair. So I can finally sit at my desk and sew! 

One quick project I am planning to do this weekend as a break for crocheting is to make some new baby bibs. I have seen some interesting patterns online and he really needs as many bibs as possible. He drools way too much to not have a bib on most of the time. A few more won't hurt!

Here is that adorable drooling baby!

A busy Saturday

While I was a little lazy by sleeping in, I have had a very busy day. First was grocery shopping for the week (really boring). But when I got home the real fun began....

Item number one today: homemade sandwich bread. My favorite recipe right now is Easy Basic White Bread from Farm Girl Fare The crust is wonderful and the bread rises nicely. The only thing I did differently was that I used the kitchen aid up till the first rise. 

My ingredients assembled.

Action shot before the bread goes into the pans for the final rise before baking.

I don't have three identical bread pans so I use one 9x5 and one longer ceramic Le Crueset pan...the best 8 bucks I have ever spent (I got it at TJ Max). The longer pan makes a loaf that looks closer to what you might buy at the store.

Final shot after baking:

The only issue this batch of bread is that I mistimed everything so the pizza was in the oven when the bread should have done in, so the bread rose a little too much. You can see this on the loaf on the right where it sticks out over the side. It will still taste fantastic so it isn't really a problem.

Next on the list was prepping for dinner. On the menu tonight was meat lovers pizza. For pizza now I make homemade pizza dough. This recipe from Jamie Cooks It up freezes really well so I always put the second away for the next time I want pizza. I also always mix in basil, oregano, parsley and garlic powder. After it was ready I topped it with jarred spaghetti sauce (my laziest moment today), fresh grated mozzarella, bacon, pepperoni and sweet italian sausage. Here is the final product:

I have to say this was AMAZING. I definitely will make it again.

And finally for dessert: homemade chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. The cake is from the King Arthur cake flour box. The frosting is from the Cupcake Project. The cake didn't rise as much as I think it should have, but the frosting is delicious!

I have had a busy day... My plan tomorrow is to finish recovering that chair (it taunts me in its disassembled state) and if I have time I will do some sewing. 

I end my day hanging out with my little buddy.

Not quite a complete project

For my birthday this year, my wonderful husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I sat and thought about it and decided I wanted one day to do absolutely whatever I wanted. No chores, no diapers, no calming a fussy baby. I just wanted to spend the day crafting.

So for this fantastic opportunity I took the day off work, Alex took Liam to the babysitter, and I got to sleep in and then get to crafting.

A craft I was sure wouldn't take too long was recovering my desk chair (which I am sad to say is still unfinished). Here is what I started with:

So it was in pretty bad shape, the back of the chair was torn to pieces by Diego and the legs were chewed up by a teething Chow Chow several years ago.

First step is to pop out all of the covers over the screws

All done with that part...on to unscrewing everything

Multiple screw drivers and tools later I had to resort to more drastic measures

With this I managed to get one arm completely off of the chair and the other was held on by one very very frustrating screw...

So to take a break from fighting with that, I decided to cover the seat. For this I used a staple gun (my first time using one, I was never allowed to play with my mom's when I was a kid)

I stretched the fabric around the seat and stapled it, then attached the arm that wasn't still attached to the back of the seat.

Before that I had to be sure to cut holes for the screws to go through

Still unable to get that screw out I took a cake break and had some triple layer lemon cake that Alex had made the day before for my birthday.

While eating my cake Diego showed up, wanting to help

Here you can see where I wrapped the legs of the chair with a soft bright yarn just to make the legs more comfortable to rest my feet on.

Diego decided to camp out on the chair that was turned on its side.

Alex was able to get the screw out and the arm detached. So at this point, the chair is still sitting sadly in pieces on my craft room floor. Still left to do is to separate the back into two pieces and cover them. Then stick them back together and assemble the chair.

Hopefully that won't take too long since I can't sit down at my desk until I do so. 

Here is some cuteness to end the day, Liam on his first snow day:

A Not So Crafty Christmas

While I had really high hopes and really unrealistic plans for Christmas 2013, I didn't end up getting to craft quite as much as I was hoping to. I only ended up with two handmade gifts. One was for my brother Wil and the other for my mom (and which I didn't even remember to photograph). The one for my brother I am super proud of and may end up making a baby sized one for Liam.

With my brother I have made him an assortment of hats throughout the years, from a hat that looked like Chain Chomp, to simple hats, I found one I was super excited about and actually finished in November...Here he is trying it on....

I am pretty darn proud of that I must say :).

For my mom I made her a string art of South Carolina with a heart around Sumter. Not my original plan, but still fun (the original plan is being postponed to birthday time). I learned something new with that project. First is that most nails have some sort of coating on them, so after hammering in all of them, everything I touched had dark smudges. Second is that when doing the state, don't use cardstock....it is really, really hard to get out from under the nails. I wish I had gotten a picture but I will get one when I go home to visit.

I did have some very successful baking. The first were some Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies from a Martha Stewart recipe. They went over well when Alex took them to work for a Yankee swap (they looked like lumps of coal...) and the other is Vanilla Shortbread Cookies. The only thing I would recommend with the shortbread is to be sure not to roll them too thin. They fall apart in a heart beat.

Just because I didn't get all my crafting done this christmas, my mom did. She gave Liam an amazing knit teddy bear:

Seen with 4 month old Liam for a size reference. The bear is also borrowing one of Liam's sweaters (also made by Grandma).

Some crafting this year is better than no crafting I suppose. Alex asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I sat and thought about it...I have decided I want a day entirely devoted to crafting. I will stop to feed the baby but no diapers, no cooking, just a day to craft. Alex seemed to like the idea so January 27th I will be crafting till my hands stop working.

Finally a cute pic to end the day: