A very Merry Christmas

I was happy to see both my brothers home for Christmas. This is our traditional annual after church picture. I think next year things will be different with my sister-in-law having a baby in April, I am not sure they will be making the trek from NH.

After stuffed belly's and amazing gifts, our family made the drive home to Tupper for Santa's arrival.

Jack came out of his room and wanted to know where Santa was.

He was slightly cranky from the leftover croup that was lingering. But he had a busy day of going to Grandpa's and then Grandma and Grandpa's.

I have decided that it's time for Christmas to be over and have taken the decorations down. I feel that the new year will be started with a clutter free house. With lots of new toys to enjoy. By toys I mean some of the ones that I received. But that will be another blog stay tuned.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We may not have the most beautiful artificial tree, but the Big lots 70$ special four years ago holds a special place in my heart. I think this picture is priceless. The pre-light tree may have a few strands out, it leans a little and it strangly skinny and tall, but it is all we could afford four years ago. We continue to hang the tree and remember our makeshift ornaments the first year we bent the top over to fit in our apartment. Our son thinks it is beautiful and that is all that matters.

Felted beauty!

I have finally finished my first knitting project. It is a felted knitting needle wrap, for my daycare provider (who's knitting skills I drool over). The outside was just a simple all knit pattern, I then felted which was fun and exciting to keep checking the progress the yarn made in the washing machine.

I cut it to size and sewed in the lining added ribbon for closure and presto!

I am looking forward to more felting projects because I can hide my terrible knitting skills by washing it into a woolen fabric.

long time

I have not blogged in a while, mostly because of laziness and general lack of creative things to blog about. Today my son and I decorated for Christmas. I was chuckling to myself as I pulled out a bag full of knitted nativity scene.

That's right knitted. My mother has a matching set. This set was knitted by my mother and given to my grandmother. When she passed away my mother thought that I would enjoy it. It has a special place in my house every year. Even if baby Jesus is shaped like a peanut! Tradition is tradition.

great hopes

At the right is my first attempt at a knitting/crocheting needle wrap. I made it for myself since it is not up to par for a gift. I recently purchased the two books as well, thinking that if I had some knitting books I would instantly become the best knitter. I am not very good but practicing I think is key. We will have to wait and see if future blogs will contain my knitted creations.

Halloween Festivities

We decided to attempt the pumpkin carving with our son. Everything was going well he enjoyed playing with the seeds and pumpkin innards. He even picked out a cute mickey mouse that my artist husband was going to carve on his pumpkin. I in the mean time was busy carving away on mine. I was finishing up and getting the candle ready. For the showing of my masterpiece.

Showing my son he let out a god awful scream. "Turn it off mommy, put it outside" he said between teary gasps. So needless to say we did not carve his pumpkin. My husband the artist did however finish his. It is a masterpiece.

So pumpkin carving not our best family activity at this stage of the game. Next year will probably be a different story. My son did however look adorable in his LumberJack costume, complete with chainsaw.

I hope that everyone had a lovely Halloween!

baking and sewing

So this is the second pie I have ever made. It is apple pie for my father in law, his favorite. He just got diagnosed with myelofibrosis a rare blood disorder. Things look okay for now, but I decided that he may need a little TLC. I often feel he has been a good man his whole life and has been shit on time and time again. If only apple pie was the cure for blood disorders.

I was at the salon dropping a bag off for display when one of the girls asked me if I knew how to cover pillows. I immediately was thinking in my head can't be that hard. Sure I do and I will. They gave me the cloth and some pillows and to the basement I went. The salon needs them for their new pedicure bench. I got to work and added a little flair. I have a few more to go but I was pleased with the ones I did.

It seems most of my blogs are sewing and baking. Tis the season I guess.

Random

The new carpet is in and we are loving it. For some reason the room looks bigger. Maybe because there is no clutter. Everything is back in order.

I spent the past weekend home with my son while my husband was at camp. My son likes to help in the kitchen so we made my easy garlic pull apart bread.

Heat oven to 350 degrees

In a small dish melt one stick of butter and whisk in one egg and sprinkle in some garlic powder. Take one loaf of thawed pre-made bread dough break into balls and dip in butter/egg mixture and place into a greased 9 inch baking dish. Let the broken dish of bread balls covered in mixture rise slightly. Bake 20-25 minutes till golden brown.

Jack enjoyed breaking the dough into balls. Much like his playdough. Hope you enjoy!

new bags

With operation basement complete, my thoughts of sewing while my son is playing is sort of working out. Even though he has multiple toys to play with he still insists on playing with my button jars and cloth. I have been able to slowly work on my new bag design.

With bags not selling well I discussed with the girls at the salon what they felt customers where saying about the bags. There have been requests for bigger bags longer handles, basically a tote, and lower prices.

This has similar dimensions to the typical large ll bean type tote. I am able to make it cheaper because of no handles. I will see how they sell.

I also have been practicing my applique. This bag is a gift for my husbands grandmother who loves horses. She used to have her own but due to the work involved and her age she had to get rid of him. So this is the Stormy Bag.

For I little fall fun I also worked on this pumpkin. The cloth was a dollar at the store in town, so I couldn't resist.

So easy and fun, Jack thinks it's a ball.
I hope to get more bags made with the basement project complete. Hope to have new bedroom carpet pictures soon.

operation basement makeover

I have been feeling rather cabin feverish and it is only October. Mostly because going outside poops my 2 year old out, and when we are stuck inside he gets bored. When he is bored he gets whiny. You get the idea.

I have a rather large basement filled with stuff. It is mostly rejected furniture that my husband and I have collected or that the people we bought the house from left here. I am reorganizing, decluttering, and wishing I had an enormous dumpster out back. I have no where to put this junk. I am not even sure where to donate it, there is some decent furniture that we have. I literally have 5 empty dressers in my basement. EMPTY!

I have now decided to put all this said junk into one of the vacant bedrooms no one sleeps there why am I keeping these deserted guestrooms neat and cluttering the living area with random piles of giveaways. If I ever have guests that stay I will keep one guestroom tidy.

I have decided that this weekend is our work bee weekend. My MIL wants to take our son for the weekend. I am taking the outdoor toys and bringing them into Jacks new play space in the basement. So when we are sick of playing upstairs there is a whole load of fun in the basement. Plus half of the room is my sewing space. So my hopes of my son jumping in his bouncy house and sliding down his slide while I am creating new things may come true. It is just going to take some work.

Aunt Reets Bag

Well I have finished one Christmas present already. I know it's only October, but my aunt Rita is usually one of the last people that I purchase a gift for. Wracking my brain to come up with something that she doesn't have or actually needs. Well this year my mother said why don't you make her a bag. She would love that, something to carry her papers and books to and from museum meetings (she is a curator for the Lyon Mt museum).

She is my godmother her husband, my godfather Uncle Pete died when I was in college. They never had any kids, so her godchildren are like her little family. We have always exchange gifts, and she always gets me good ones. For my birthday this year she got me two framed scenic photos that are absolutely beautiful. I don't always get to see her that often so hopefully this bag will remind her that I am thinking of her.

She is a bird lover hence the pine trees with cardinals. I did my first applique and applied the R to the front pocket. It is also my first successful pocket. There is the pocket on the front and a double pocket on the inside. It feels like I am on the ball for this years holiday gift giving season.

I know the muffin man

My son and I are going through outside withdrawal. The rain has kept us inside all week. Yesterday I was going nuts with my son. He needed constant attention and the normal activities were not keeping his interest. Today I decided I wanted to try a new recipe in the book I just got.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins with Maple butter.

My son helped me stirring while I added all the ingredients. He ran out of steam but was more than happy to do the dishes.

It kept us busy on a rainy fall day. My co-workers should enjoy them tomorrow.

Early Surprise

I just recently read the book "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. Since college I have had a very difficult time finishing books. I have started numerous books but have never finished any. I could not put this book down. It makes my son mad, but hey I figure he will only see that mommy wants to read it must be something fun.





He will sit and read his books while I read mine but it lasts only moments.





My husband was not all that impressed by my new literary kick. Noticing that I was not paying attention to him in bed. He did comment that he was glad I was taking an interest in something an old/new hobby. I sometimes have difficulties with jealousy and my husbands hobbies. He plays in a softball league, a hockey league and fantasy hockey/baseball/football leagues. He gets a night away hanging out with the boys. I rarely have a night I get to go out of the house due to the fact there is nothing to do. I have over the years of our marriage made my own hobbies, cooking creative meals, sewing different things. Things to make me feel sane I guess.





My husband told me this morning as he snuffed about the house this morning before work, that he had a surprise for me. It is very hard for my husband to surprise me with anything because I am to perceptive. He would not give me details but I annoyed him with texts all day to butter him up for hints. He knows I can't stand not knowing what is going to happen this evening when he returns from work.





I was in utter shock when he walked in the door with a gift. Wrapped in pretty pink rose wrapping paper. Our 4 year wedding anniversary is this Thursday, I figured that we would just go out to dinner our usual. I opened the gift and there was another wrapped gift. This gift was unusually heavy. I was very confused. I tore open the next package and there is was.

There in hardcover beauty. He knew that I was close to finishing my mothers copy of the first one and I was going to borrow the next. He was going to save it until our anniversary but didn't want me to have to wait. He also added to the surprise time. Free time to read or sew. He took my son to his cousins house for dinner. I got hours to read and didn't have to make dinner. By far the best anniversary gift. An Early surprise.

Inspired

When I first started blogging I was not sure that I was going to stick with it. I was thinking what in my life is that interesting to share. But slowly, as I read back through my old posts I am finding more and more things to blog about. Maybe some of my newest hobbies were started because I needed something to blog about. I started this blog last spring, as I am reading through I have realized that some of the things that I have created have benefitted my well being.
I have enjoyed blogging more than I ever thought I would. I am excited to find more inspiration and share some more of my creations whether cooking, sewing or crafting.

so thank you blog

baby hats

I had hopes of making my son some more pajama pants but I really had no cloth that was soft and cozy enough. I decided to spend some time researching new ideas for Christmas gifts. I found a tutorial on making baby hats from old t-shirts. How perfect since I just cleaned out my closet in preparation for the new carpet.

My friends just had a baby and had no luck in the hospital with the knitted hats they make. They were too small for the baby's head. I whipped these two hats up in literally 10 minutes. I think the moose at the bottom of the hats is adorable. What an awesome idea. You have to love the Internet for giving me patterns and tutorials. Next project will be making a bag for my godmother. She is impossible to buy for and will probably be in shock when she finds out that I sew now. She has always made me homemade knitted treasures. She loves birds so I found the prettiest cloth for her bag.

Winter bag

One of my customers, well really my only customer had a request for a winter patchwork bag. I had the cloth for a while and slowly worked on it. The colors are christmasy but I add light blue for the lining and handles to have more of a winter feel. I fell in love with it and I hope she does as well. She must love them considering I have now made her the summer, fall and winter editions of the bag.

southern comfort food

I was feeling the fall cooking bug and decided it was time to try my hand a pulled pork. It is one of my husbands favorite meals. I found an easy crockpot recipe. I put the 3lb pork roast in the slow cooker with salt pepper and water. After 9 hours of smelling delicious pig cooking it was ready for shredding and seasoning. I had gotten the idea from the food network to add coleslaw to the top of my pulled pork sandwich. It was so easy and so yummy! Tonight I am trying a beef roast with carrots onions and potatoes. Perfect for a rainy day inside.

sewing vibes

I have been feeling some good creative sewing vibes lately. Feeling like purses are overwhelming me and I have not been wanting to sew because all I am making is purses. I am limited as to what to sew because I have no patterns and limited cloth selections.

I was looking through a garbage bag of cloth that my husbands grandmother gave me, and found an adorable pattern that would make a lovely gardening apron. So I tried my first pattern making with my husbands old art sketch pads.

After finding coordinating cloth and ribbon I was on my way. Measuring to my body, even though it's not for me.

After the finished product I was upset. The ribbon for the waste ended up wrapping around my lower ass. How could I have measured that wrong. Frustrated I put it aside and started a different project. Taking my mind away for a few minutes I decided to try it on again. All that hard work couldn't be for nothing.

As I was tying the band up around my waist I had an idea. Make a fold and voila pockets.

Some extra ribbon and here you have it, A gardening apron for my mother in-law. It has accidental pockets where the buttons are.

Project for the weekend will be attempt #2 at pajama pants for the boy.

who would?

On Saturday while I was at work my husband calls me all shook up. He witnessed someone stealing our sons coupe out of our driveway. He made it out the front door in time to catch the plate# and look the woman in the eyes.

How crazy and unbelievable is that.

I could not even grasp that someone would do such a thing in Tupper.

After statements and being up late Sat. night when I had to work 12 hours on Sunday.
The police called and they found the car. I don't know if they ticketed the lady or what the deal is but I don't really care as long as I didn't have to explain to my son that his car is gone. He has been at my mothers all weekend. We are still waiting for the police to drop it off.

After a strange weekend I am glad all turned out well.

ouside

My son has recently gotten into watching movies. In fact if I watch 101 Dalmatians one more time I might vomit. So this morning our conversation went as follows;

Me: Jack do you want to go outside?

Him: Ou-side , no want to watch doggies

Me: Oh no it's nice outside let's go check the plums, ride your tractor, make a sandcastle

In my head I am thinking oh no he is watching to much TV. So I wrangle him up, wrestle clothes on him and out we went. To my dismay this is what we saw

NO PLUMS!!!!!!!!! Not even evidence that they even existed, not even on the ground. My husband was right (don't tell him I said that). Those damn raccoons ate them all.

I should have let my husband shoot them. Well at least I was able to unglue my son from the living room and enjoy the last days of nice weather.

He did play on his tractor

I will get over my plums, I just pray that next year we get more. I have now found 3 plum recipes that will get tucked away till next summer.

Feeling Fall

I love the fall, it is my favorite time of year. This fall I have some goals I would like to accomplish.

#1 new carpet in bedroom

#2 paint laundry room it is all white in there still. Only room upstairs in our house that has not been painted. Still trying to decide on colors and possible feeling I want in the room. I still want it to be bright and cheery because that might be more inviting when I have loads of laundry piled in the middle of the floor.

#3 Start working on Christmas presents. Now I know you think it is early but I have limited sewing time.

#4 Increasing my fall baking and cooking recipes. Now that it is chilly there is an excuse to warm up the house.

#5 Now I know this may sound shocking but I am going to get the raccoons that have eaten all of my plums. Seriously my dad even told us to shoot em, and he is a forest ranger.

Needless to say I am excited to bundle up for fall.

What is that smell!?????

Well I have always known that I wanted to replace the carpet in our bedroom. The 1990 dusty rose thick carpet is not exactly the style I had in mind. I figured we would deal with that in a few years, like as if I continue my life I will someday have extra money that I am going to spend on non-essential house fixings. I was not ready however to be tearing up one corner of my room ripping out the baseboard radiators and getting on my hands and knees to smell the carpet. Let me explain.

I have always considered myself to have a hound like sense of smell. This may come in handy,someday but really I just can smell crap from a mile away. For as long as we have lived in our house (which is 4years this month), we have always found our bedroom to have a funky smell. We had the carpets cleaned before we moved in and have faithfully clean them. We got a rug cleaner for a gift at our wedding, and own 2 Dyson's, that is how much we like clean rugs.

Until recently has this funk become unbearable. I kid you not I can't sleep at night because I am wondering what died in our bedroom. After days of speculating the stench and pretty much vacating the room, it was determined that a large area of our carpet was putrid. Armed with steam cleaners and spotbots we cleaned that rug after each clean it smells better, then it drys back to the same funk.

We decided to rip up that corner. Could something have crawled under there and died. No visible spot to be found. Perplexed I have litterly tried everything that I can to clean this. At ll pm last night I decided that I was going to rip up the padding and throw it away, we are going to need a new capet there is no getting the smell out.

Well I will be researching capets online whilst my son naps so I had better get to work.

more creations

A new creation from the book I bought. I love the flap closure but I would place the handles differently. It is for my friend Lisa who will no longer be a co-worker. I hope she enjoys it. It was a challenge to make something new, and it felt wonderful to complete it. It turned out better than the bridal clutch that I am trying to make her!

win some lose some!

With my new book and a few days off, I created this new bag for myself. Very earth toned, but is a beautiful shoulder bag and alternative to using expensive handles.

I can't get over how sturdy this purse feels. It's handle has interfacing in it. I was concerned that my machine could handle it.

I also worked on a handheld clutch with great thoughts of making a wedding bag for a friend who is getting married in February. The white satin was expensive and I wanted extra in case of screw ups. Well it is finished, but I'm afraid if my friend used this clutch for her wedding it would end in divorce. It is absolutely ugly. I can't even show a picture. I think that the satin looks wonderful but not in this form it looks cheap. Well i guess there is hope, the wedding is not till February. I may possibly find a different pattern.

On a none sewing note my husband's dreams came true. We purchased a truck, and after hours of endless speeches about the thousand of reasons we NEED a truck, we found one that suited our needs.

New book!

I recently purchased Bag Bazaar by Meaghan Avery, and I am so in love. She went to the same high school as I did, and I think it is amazing that she has succeeded and made a career out of sewing. I have an oppurtunity to make a fabric trip on Thursday and I am so excited. I am pondering trying out some new fabrics such as tweed and even satin. I have agreed to make someone a wedding clutch so I see lots of white satin in my future. Can't wait!

proud mother

My son yet again has proved me wrong. He unlike what I totally expected slept in his bed all night. He didn't even get out in the morning. He was singing and I went in and I got

"mommy I wanna get out"

I feel like I may be jinxing his success so I am not going to jabber on, it has after all only been one night. But needless to say I think I had a bad bought of PMS this month and I am feeling much better today.

not fit

I have lately been having feelings of why did I become a mother. Then after those feelings comes guilt for feeling that way. I am not sure if this is a bad case of PMS or maybe this is the way every mother feels. Needless to say my son was stirring at 7 this am and I of course got up and made my pot of coffee and poured him his juice that he prefers to have immediately upon arousal. Well to my surprise when I opened the door this morning there was a "hi mommy"
with my son standing in the middle of his bedroom blankeys in tow. Ugh..... I thought I am so not ready for this step in his life.

So I did what I always do when I have no idea how to handle mommy situations got to my bookshelf and read up on transitioning to a toddler bed. I thought I would get some ideas reassurance etc. Instead I am left more confused. Is he ready? Is he going to break his neck by climbing out? Can I use a crib net?(which sounds like I am fishing). I am scared I will lose my finally sleep filled nights. He is a cry/talk himself to sleep kind of kid. I don't feel he is ready to understand that he needs to stay in his bed. The worst part about it was that I didn't even hear him climb out. No loud thuds at all. I am torn, sometimes being a mom blows, they should tell you that before birth.

goodies in the backyard

These little beauties are growing in our backyard! I counted the little suckers there has got to be more than 50. I just spent an hour going through my old cookbooks and found 2 recipes containing plums. At least we think they are plums. I hope they don't get eaten by the animals there have been lots of bear craps in our yard. This woman knows her poop.

Shocking!

After a long weekend of working 24 out of the last 48 hours, I walked into a spotless house to find these on the counter.

My husband and son picked these from the yard and put them in a vase. I almost thought I was walking in the wrong house. He almost never does dishes let alone run the dishwasher and put them away. Laundry was complete washed,dryed, and put away. He even vaccummed. Now I have the day tomorrow to spend qt with my son and time for myself during his nap.

creations

I have a friend that was asking if I had seen any good fabric with grey and purple hues. So on my last trip to the fabric store I searched high and low for this color combination. Without success I gave up and figured maybe I would do a search online. Then one day while my son was strewing my cloth around the basement, I spotted a remnant rolled up wad of grey fabric. As I felt the fabric and ironed it out, I had a thought. I think I have some purple ribbon hanging around that I picked up from a bargain bin. With some luck I found another fabric remnant that I had picked up from the bargain bin. I created this for my friend Danielle.

My last bag I made I had some ooh and ahhhhs about the flower. I decided that I should come up with a different kind of flower. With my husbands suggestion the flower on this bag is removable.

It was more enjoyable to make this purse because I feel like I created this purse for. I didn't just use someones fabric design, I used my own creativity to make a grey and purple purse.

B's Bags update

Had the chance to sew all day today. Had to pay for daycare so might as well send the kid right? Well up bright and early with coffee in hand to my basement I went. I wanted to get some purses for the salon finished. I am taking some of the previously made ones out to sell in another local store. The lady that runs my son's daycare is also a craft enthusiast but she knits her bags. She agreed to try to sell my bags with hers at the local store plus take some to the craft fairs that she attends.

I have been experimenting with the stitching on my machine.

This is attached to this.

I didn't want to give this one away. I ordered those handles online. Next I worked on this little gem I saw the pink handles and thought they were so cute.

This next one I made has fabric from Village Comforts in Lake placid I added a flower embellishment after I took the picture.

It was a lovely day, I wish I didn't have to leave my basement/ sewing nook, but I guess I have to face reality at some point.

Stitch this Stitch that

This is the patchwork bag that the lady I previously sold the last patchwork bag to ordered. She wanted earth tones, which I hope is what I created. On the handles I used a special stitch and to attach the handles to the bag used another.

I hope that the customer enjoys the motif I have picked out. I am starting to get in a groove for patchwork bags. But Thursday is my sewing day new creations gotta bust out some regular purses for a while. Also I sold another bag at the salon.

My new machine sings to me!

I got called off on Sunday, and was pleasantly surprised by a few hours kid and husband free. I had one immediate thought, to finally get to use my new baby. I finished my bag.

My machine is awesome, it is much easier inserting a zipper when you have a functional zipper foot! I hope that the woman who I made this bag for enjoys it, as much as I enjoyed making it.

My baby is not a baby anymore!

My son is two. I wanted to try and have a fun day that didn't require extravagant things. Much to my dismay when the kid has 3 sets of grandparents each that only have 1 grandchild (Jack) let me just say that the kid is spoiled. I don't think that he knows it yet, but I am going to give that time.

My husbands father stopped by early this morning to drop off this gift.

We then got dressed walked outside to find this gift from his parents. It is a sand and water table, or as I like to call it the mud table.

It was so windy that his Uncle Beav flew a kite with him which I am convinced was the favorite part of his day. He watched me decorate the cake which was hard to explain why he couldn't eat it at that moment. With some swift distraction from my husband. He enjoyed his new race track and cars.

Then dinnertime came with more present and the crazy gifts that ensued. I am not sure it what my mother in-law got my son is a savior or the worst thing that could have ever happened. Right now there is no room in my sons room because he has a 6x6 blow up jumper in his bedroom.

I think that he realized that it was his birthday when the cake came out. He actually new to blow out the candles. Such a huge difference from last years birthday. I reminisced and was watching old videos. Maybe it was to torture myself with the fact that my son is growing up and that scares the shit out of me.

Don't waste the sunshine!

It has been a very rainy summer. I was excited in June thinking what great times I will have with my son at the beach. I was a river kid and always swam every day in the summer even when the water was turn your lips blue cold. Since we apparently are living a monsoon summer there was a break of rain in the forecast so Jack and I took advantage and hauled our boating/beach gear up to Wanakena to go on my parents boat.

We went to an island and had a picnic. My father the ranger wanted to cook some hot dogs on a fire. He collected some wood and in no time there we were cooking dogs.

We then drove around the lake while the boy snoozed in the boat. My dad and I had a great chat about the lake certain hunting areas. He was glad I was interested. On the way home the clouds were breathtaking.

Just in case anyone wants to know, this is the way from Cranberry Lake turning into the Oswegatchie river at wanakena. This rock always cracks me up!

Closer to Wanakena we spotted a bald eagle preying around an osprey nest. I at least tried to get this one camera since the last one that I saw I didn't have my camera.

If you look close you can see it! They are amazing.

It was a lovely day I truly believed that had the water been warmer, my son would have went all the way in. He loves the water and I pray for some warm weather to get the river slightly warmer. I did jump in but it was only because I had a sunburn and needed to cool my burn down. It was a lovely day, thank god my parents are around and have a boat.