An owl and his squirrel buddy

 

I made these for a friend's newborn baby girl. My owl skills are pretty proficient but gotta work more on my squirrels. I followed a pattern for the squirrel and really stuggled with how the eyes turned out. I'm bad with faces. Just need more practice.

 

 

Quick pillow

Back home for a two-week break, I knew I wouldn't do much crafting. My schedule would be full of catching up with people, drinking my favorite beverages, and snuggling my puppy and boyfriend. However, I could not control my crafting itch; I'm an addict.

I found a pile of clothes on the floor next to the hamper, mostly men's dress clothes. Before I went postal about clothes being on the floor, I found out that these were old clothes and should probably be thrown out. Seeing how I had a set of sheets that had just ripped, a pillow that wasn't being used, and some old shirts, I did some awesome upcycling.

I pulled out the stuffing from the old pillow. Then cut a rectangle out of the sheet, stuffed it, then sewed it closed. Finally I cut the collar, sleeves, and rounded bottom off the shirt, and sewed it shut. I kept the buttons on it and used that as a ways to take the, now pillow case, off. It worked really well. I measured and ironed nothing. Lovely. Remember kids, measure never. :)

However, I have a few more shirts to do this to and intend to make the pillow case fit more precisely. It was fun just to do something uncomplicated and see it finished. I plan on putting them in my future craft room :)

 

Knitting while away

Recently, I've been put on a project which requires traveling abroad. On my first trip, I brought some sewing projects and some yarn. I quickly learned that I was way more motivated to knit than to sew. I like doing my sewing projects in my "workshop" (aka the kitchen table). So on my second trip I filled my suit case up with yarn.

I've always been hung up on knitting a blanket because the kinds of yarn I want to use are so expensive. I try to steer clear of synthetic materials. I was also inspired by Restoration Hardware's blankets. Every time I go in the store I'm like, "I can make this."

Since I already knew I'd be spending most of my time in my hotel room, I went ahead and bought 10 skeins of DeAire, 100% merino yarn (Super Bulky - New England Night). It is super soft and warm. The picture below is after 5 skeins of yarn, I'm guessing I'm going to have add 15 more skeins to make it the proper, couch-snuggling length. (Sorry for the poor picture quality, I blame my phone).

 

I really just wanted to knit this in the stockinette stitch but knew that it would roll. So I did the border in garter stitch and knit the rest of it in k3,p1. It ended up being what I expected; it lays flat and is a little stretchy. It was nice to just knit up some swatches and make up a pattern myself, not having to look back and forth to instructions. At a knitting class, I told the instructor I like simple patterns that repeat. She scoffed and stated that was boring. As with most things in my life, keeping it simple is what I strive for. We obviously have different goals for knitting.

 

I also bought some cotton yarn called Lecco which is kind of a novelty yarn. I was really attracted to the colors, they reminded me of summer and the sea. I struggled with what to make with it because some stitches didn't show up very well. I ended up just doing a simple garter stitch which allowed the uniqueness of the yarn to show. I am obsessed with circular scarves. I plan on making nothing but those for a while. I really don't see the utility of the traditional scarf because it aways falls out of place. (Once again, terrible picture, this time I blame hotel lighting).

 



2012 in Review

It seems I haven't posted on this blog since last January, so I figured I had better get to it. Let's sum up 2012. It was a doozy! This should be fun!

Right at the beginning of 2012, I started a dress blog. I wanted to make one dress a month for a year. It turned out that I got through six dresses. I haven't given up. I'm still going to make those last 6 dresses, guess it will just take me two years instead of one!

My sewing motto: Measure never, cut thrice.

http://12dresses12months.blogspot.com/

In February, I visited Texas for the first time with two great girls. Surprising facts I learned was they have hobbit cafes there, Whole Foods originated in Austin, and Liz should never let me do her nails.

I got to celebrate the triplet's first birthday. William, James, and Brian had a blast and were zonked out well before the end. If I am not mistaken, so were their parents!

In June, Greg and I traveled to Israel for a friend's wedding. Check that one off my list.

Soon after that vacation, we got a sweet, little puppy we nicknamed Jerk Face because he eats all our stuff.

Then:

Now:

To finish off the year, I got a new job. Now you can see what happened to the rest of my dress making time!

It is a new year and there are tons of new things to do. I got a serger for Christmas which presents endless sewing possibilities. I've got a zillion new craft ideas. I joined the Y to make sure Leslie's body is as sound as her mind. The new job gives me the ability to save, spend, and be worry free the way I've always wanted to be. Not to mention all the new things I'm learning. I think 2013 is going to be great!

Whoooooo

I got creative this weekend. I made 4 pairs of earrings, two necklaces, and knit one very cute little owl. I was pretty unsuccessful with my dress making, so I felt compelled to accomplish something else.

Here is the cutest little owl!

A catch up on New Things

Recently, things have been a' changin! Since December, Greg and I have been moving and shaking. The first biggest change is our apartment.

As most of you know, the swinging pad we had in Ocean Grove was pretty nice! We had some sweet dark oak paneling that any girl would die for and some moths to keep the food company in the cabinets. However, there were a few things we still lacked. So I started the search a wee-bit early, meaning that in the end we were paying for two apartments for two weeks! But it didn't take too long to find an good apartment. We saw lots of places and it helped that we knew exactly what we wanted. It had to be close to the parkway, reasonably priced, with a bedroom, and a decent living room. Greg was also keen on it being near the water. So after looking around, almost being scammed, and running from some places, we found our apartment in Keyport.

It is the third floor of an old victorian house. It had everything we wanted and a HUGE deck! We were stoked! The only catch was, no pets! :( As you can imagine, we discussed this for a long time. If we took the apartment, my dream of a puppy would have to be pushed back and I would have to stop guessing that every surprise or piece of mail was a puppy (thankfully I really haven't stopped either of those things! whew!). So, in the end we took the apartment and my puppy dreams were suppressed. The upside is we got two little parrots (more to come on them later).

After we moved in we started making and doing all the projects we had planned while we were at the old apartment. We built pipes shelving in the living room, a magnetic spice rack and knife block. We put up hooks and towel racks in the bathroom. Greg even did a bit of plumbing and put a hose on the shower so we could water the plants.

Most news to come!

Gingerbread Men

They've been on my to-do list for months. I couldn't wait to make them. Gingerbread men. They are so delicious but I have never made them myself. This year, Greg helped me make my first batch of gingerbread men. Delicious.

Pumpkins & Halloween

What is Halloween without some hot pumpkin picking action. We traveled out to some unknown destination in NJ and paid way too much for the pleasure of doing all the work to get a pumpkin but it was good fun. :)

Out in the pumpkin patch.


A pony ride for our friend's little girl that must have been all of 2 minutes. Oh children.


Corn Maze! This one dedicated to the Boy Scouts. Thank goodness someone studied history!


The pumpkins we took home. The blue one was just crazy. I had never seen it before, so of course I had to choose that one.


Halloween Festivities!

Surviving Red Shirts! Greg and I couldn't decide who came up with this idea so we had to agree that it was totally collaborative. We were really happy with how everything came out. We just bought red shirt from Target. Then I cut off the ends of he sleeves and sewed on black fabric to the collars. In the meantime, Greg cut out the badges from coasters and then we hot-gun glued them to our shirts. Overall we were super happy with them. Greg was even sad to cut his up to look wounded.


At Steph and Nat's house they created a kill room, which strangely people did not gather in. Perhaps not strangely. And I am the only one that would be honored to be killed by Dexter?


I know you didn't want to hear this but Scooby is a huge jerk as a boyfriend. Always out with his friend Shaggy, never spending time with his girlfriend and we suspect he beats her!


What the Red Shirts do when not on an away mission.

Camping in the Shenanadoah Valley

Camping is fun but better when you are surrounded by children who play too close to wild deer and the hicks who feed the wild deer corn from their trucks. Did I mention it is also fun to hike for hours without water. Seriously though, I had a great time! :)

Suzanne and I hiking. Look how beautiful the forest is! :)


Cooking some camp food, PB&J.


Grilling up some porkroll. Oh so salty porkroll.


The tents!


Stopping to dip our feet in the nice cool water.


That pesky deer I was talking about.

Horseback Riding & Apple Picking

It has officially been a year since Greg and I started dating. Therefore, to celebrate, Greg planned a wonderful day. It was all a surprise but I guessed immediately. Greg does this thing where he asks what I like and if he stops mentioning it immediately, I know something is brewing. I've been asked no less than 10 times if I have seen the movie Dune or read the book, this means I will have no Dune related surprises. I am a genius. Having guessed the surprise, did not however make the idea of a surprise less fun, and I even refrained from guessing so it couldn't be confirmed.



So, Saturday Greg and I got up at 7am to make it to the place we were going. He said wear comfortable clothes and tennis shoes, so I was pretty sure what we were doing. I did mention that it was "our" anniversary and that jumping out of a plane, was not my idea of fun. This was just to allay my fears because who knows what we could have been doing.





After two hours, we arrived at the Double D Ranch in north western New Jersey. They gave us each a horse and we took off for the trail. Amazingly, they paired us really well with our horses. Greg's horse was really competitive and wouldn't let any of the other horses, especially mine, walk in front of it. His horse was called Man On The Run. The horse they gave me was called Johnny Walker Black. He is about 10 years old and was the slowest. The guide said I had to be careful because he likes to stop and munch grass along the way. And this was exactly what he did, thus I got yelled at for letting him. Geeze horse! Also, he loved to walk really slow, behind everyone else, then once the gap got big enough, run to catch up with everyone. So I got the slow, hungry horse! Awesome.





The whole ride was a lot of fun. We got to see some turtles sun bathing on rocks in the river, ducks, and even a pair of dogs taking a walk by themselves. Despite slowy-speedy (as I came to call my horse), riding was great. I was quite confident even after all these years of not riding. Unlike when I took lessons, I could just get off the horse and be done, no cleaning or feeding, etc. Plus, the trail was beautiful. The leaves were just starting to turn and the weather was perfect. I wasn't even that sore the next day!



Afterwards, we decided to head down to Lee's Turkey Farm for some apple picking. It is a huge farm where they raise turkeys but also fruits and vegetables. I found the farm on the Internet and really wanted to go. I think pick-your-own farms are genius. You do the labor but it is so much fun. Greg and I wandered around the apple trees looking for the best apples. We got a whole bucket full with designs on making pies, cider, apple sauce, or whatever else we come up with.







Later, we wandered into the vegetable part of the farm and picked our own zucchini, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, hot peppers, red peppers, and corn. I was a little worried when we checked out because I was sure it was going to be expensive but it all came to around $40. That is amazing! I am sure we would have paid more in the store and it wouldn't have been as fresh or fun. Love it!





Now we are set with the task of finding recipes to make everything. I can't wait to cook the acorn squash and the zucchini. Last night, I made yellow squash soup. Delicious! Also, I've never made an apple pie or any pie for that matter where I wasn't helping someone else. So this should be a good learning experience with the apples.



It was a great day, making me one lucky girl!

Baking and Making

With lots of my time on my hands, I've decided to stop lying in bed all day and do something. What resulted this past Friday was baking. I like having muffins or granola around to munch on but most of the stuff at the supermarket has either things I don't like in them or too many chemicals. I have also been trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup which is in EVERYTHING nowadays. So I figured I would make all that stuff myself. I also decided to do it all in one day.

What I ended up making was granola bars, oatmeal cookies, and bread.

Granola Bars.

These were really easy to make. Greg found an Alton Brown recipe and we used it as our model but added the nuts and dried fruit we liked. It consisted of sunflowers, oatmeal, almonds, wheat germ, hazel nuts, honey, vanilla extract, brown sugar, dried mango, and dried pineapple. First you toast the nuts and wheat germ, then melt the sugar, butter, and honey together, and finally mix everything together and bake for 25 minutes. Wait for them to cool and then cut them up into bars.



Now, we have a snack that we take take anywhere and is much better than store bought granola bars.



Oatmeal Cookies.

On a book spending spree in Barnes and Nobles, Greg and I bought a Test Kitchen cookbook. So far it has not failed us. Each recipe we've made has come out really well, from crispy fried chicken to muffins. The book is great because it also teaches you about the ingredients and rates the cooking supplies.(Yes, I think the Test Kitchen should pay me too!)

So this time, I used the oatmeal cookie recipe. There is a delicate balance with oatmeal cookies. Too many oats and they come out dry and crumbly and too little and they are technically not oatmeal cookies. So, this recipe provided the perfect balance of both. Plus, it called for adding nutmeg instead of cinnamon which was a good move. Fresh ground nutmeg is very fragrant and is a good match for oatmeal cookies.



Bread.

It is a wonder that something we eat every day can be so time consuming and fickle to make. For those reasons, this was the first time I have attempted to make bread. I also used the Test Kitchen book for the recipe. What it involved was a lot of just letting it rise. I used white flour, some whole wheat flour, and toasted wheat germ. Then there were two parts to letting it rise. After that, you bake it with a water filled pan next to it (this makes the outside crunchy), and then take it out and let it cool.



I was so tempted to cut it open right away, but resisted because it would have ruined the shape. In the end, it turned out beautifully. It wasn't too dense and was very tasty. I was impressed. So next time I am going to add some nuts to it and try it again. I am also going to find some rapid rise yeast because that is what the recipe recommends and I think it could make a big difference.



Now that the first bread hurtle has been passed, there are so many opportunities for more! :)

It was a good day of making stuff. I was really glad that everything turned out well. There is something to be said for following the directions exactly, having all the right ingredients, and even the right tools. Here's to bakin'!

The Wild World of Weddings

There is nothing I like more than a party, especially parties that take years of planning and come with elaborate dinners and decorations. This has been a good summer for me. I've been a guest at 4 weddings.

I figured I would show my appreciation for all the food and fun by writing a blog about the weddings. But honestly, my descriptions and "awesome" comments don't really do justice to all the planning and thought that went into them. So I am going to give them a Leslie Award and let the pictures speak for themselves. :)

My cousin Sarah heads the list of weddings. She got married June 19th to Daniel Pritchard in Columbus, Ohio.





They get the special "you-got-all-the-Harker-siblings-in-one-room" award. Yay!



The next wedding was for Emily Watkins and Shaun Kirkpatrick. They got married in Philadelphia on July 24th. They get the special "did-it-in-less-time-than-anyone-else-who-didn't-elope" award.



It was a lot of fun because I got to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in years. Not to mention the food was fantastic!



Ever been to Hershey, Pennsylvania? Neither had I till I went to Shawn Truppo and Hilary Rice's wedding on July 31.



They get the special "so-many-donuts-I-hurt-myself " award.



The last wedding of the summer was Janelle Jimenez and Hugh Prysten on August 20 on a rooftop in Tribeca.



It was by far one of the most enjoyable times I've had in New York. They get the "oh-shit!-there-is-caviar" award.