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Hi there. Long time no chat.  I’m really starting to slow down. 5 more weeks. I’m swollen beyond belief. Henry said, "Mama, your feet look like ‘Lil smokies."  I’m actually not counting down, because well, we are not really prepared. Stuff still needs to be bought, and  um, a name would be helpful. I am really at a loss for names. I have one that I like, Chris has one he likes and neither of us like each others much. That’s as far as we’ve gotten. Lame. I know how hard recovery and newborns and lack of sleep are, so five more weeks is fine by me. Plus, I really don’t mind being pregnant.  We thought it would probably be wise to schedule a hospital tour since we have never been there and had no idea where to go. It went well and really got me thinking, "Wow- we are having a baby. Soon. Cripes." Time to start thinking about it.

So how much do I LOVE this fabric?? LOVE LOVE LOVE. I picked it up in the fashion/fabric district a few weeks ago and just love it so much. It’s like already a quilt. It’s like the cheaters quilt. All the work has already been done for you. I’ve just been staring at it, thinking about what I want to do with it. Debated on using it for Henry’s bed but ultimately decided I didn’t want all the florals and have decided that it’s going to be a play quilt for the kidlets (that feels so weird to say, by the way.) It’s about a yard & 1/2 square. I’m thinking about doing a creme colored border about 5"-6" wide around the whole thing and finishing it off with some polky-dot binding. The colors are just fabulous. I’m loving that white patch with the red and blue and yellow dots in the left hand corner.
On the agenda for this weekend, however, is a quilt for Henry’s bed. I bought this Japanese fabric a few months ago and have just been going back and forth on whether or not I want to use it for his bed. I love the turquoise, red and browns. I’m thinking I’m going to do a standard patchwork quilt and just use maybe 10-12 squares of this stuff and mix in a bunch of other fabrics. This is what I was thinking:
The bottom fabric is looking black in the picture, but it’s really a chocolately brown. I’m thinking a lot of creme squares, with punches of color randomly thrown about. Are polka-dot’s too girly? Do I need to be looking for more striped fabric? I actually don’t want to buy anything- I just want to use what I’ve already got in my stash. I want to keep the red because it goes so well with the mushrooms but maybe a different turquoise. This was not one of the original ones I liked, but can’t seem to find the one I wanted. The stuff here is a little darker than the ‘schrooms but maybe it could work. Be honest. Is the Japanese fabric too girly? I just don’t know. Henry could care less (I’m so lucky to still be at that stage with him.) Plus, the color scheme that I want to use in his room is going to be red, orange and turquoise. So it would kind of go, right?  Hmmm……I like it. Maybe I should just go for it and stop talking. One other question for you experienced quilters: the creme fabric is broadcloth. Is that going to work okay? Nothing has been pre-washed because I want it to get all shrinky and worn looking after it’s all been put together. Will I still get that same effect with the broadcloth? All you long time listeners, I want you to become first time callers and share your ancient Chinese secrets! Am I insane to think that I am going to be able to complete this entire thing this weekend? I’m planning on listening/watching conference and quilting to my little hearts content (and hoping Chris doesn’t come home from work at 6:30 a.m  like he did this morning. Good gravy.)
So I know you think all I do is sit around making chocolately treats, but I have got to share with you this cool little brownie pan my brother gave us when we were in Utah in February. It’s a brownie pan meant for the person who likes brownie edges, the theory being that every piece has at least 2 edges. Now regarding my preference for brownies with or without edges, I’ve got to say- I don’t have a preference. Just give me the bloody brownie. But what is so cool about this pan is that it’s non-stick (my least favorite part about making brownies is getting that first dreadful piece out which always leaves the brownie sitch looking disastrous- at least for me that is) and it comes with it’s own little spatula. It’s so easy to get uniform looking pieces and they just slide out so easily.  Very cool and brownies turned out super delish (thank you master chef, Chris.) You can find out all the deets here.

So, although I haven’t been a star blog poster as of late does not mean that fun times haven’t been had by all. We (Chris, Me & Henry) went to the Red Sox vs Dodgers exhibition game at the Coliseum last Saturday. It was cah-razy. Over 115,000 people. The most ever at a baseball game in the US. Downfall: um you want me to pay $60 to park my car? For reals?? And speaking of baseball, I’ve been meaning to share the coolest thing we got for my brother for his birthday last December. One of these. Did you even know that ages ago baseballs used to be made from lemon peels? It’s really cool. The quality and craftsmanship are amazing. Get one for the baseball lover in your life. My sister was in town with her boyfriend for about a week and it was so good to see and spend time with them. What else? While sewing on Thursday, I managed to sew through my finger. The bigger miracle (aside from my finger not falling off) is that I was able to keep myself from swearing like a sailor because a certain Henry James Moore was sitting right next to me. Instead, I just belted out a "BALLS!!!" (my favorite I-can’t-really-swear-in-front-of-a-3-year-old curse word.) Phew. That was close.

Happy Weekend!

xoxo

Okay, just a day later than expected, but the wearable wrist pin-cushions have just been uploaded into the shop! I love how these turned out. They look so cute on. I made them almost exactly a year ago and they were all snatched up pretty quickly so grab one if you find one you like. I’m just sayin’…

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo

(sitch= short for situation.) We’ve got a lot of Children’s books around here. There’s the basket next to our bed, the basket next to Henrys bed, the books on the bookshelf, the books on the shelf in the closet. Usually at night when we are reading Henry stories, the books mysteriously  seem to make their way onto the floor, rarely back to their home in the basket.

Last week I decided to put the book madness to an end. I made a little book….um..cozy, if you will, made from canvas that goes under Henry’s bed pillows and hangs down on each side. There are 2 generous pockets for lots of books, big and small. The letters were iron-on’s that were a cinch to make. I was thinking  this idea could work if you were to make a longer version that could hang on a wall, with grommets or something on the top that had  3 or 4  pockets on it…something to think about. My main goal before this baby comes is to get Henry’s room done. It’s quite pathetic at this point and consists only of a bed and train table. Nothing on the walls, no paint, zip. And a quilt. He desperately needs me to make him a cool quilt (although there’s been no complaints about the floral duvet he’s been sleeping under up until this point.)

We went to my Aunt’s house for Easter and had a wonderful time. Dare I say, it was even a bit hot. Henry and Evan stripped down to their diapers and shirts and played on the grass with the hose which seemed to help. Easter in Boston (Brookline to be exact) was always fun because Brookline is primarily Jewish and all the local markets would carry this wonderful food for Passover. Several years ago I found a simple recipe for crushed Matzoh that was covered with chocolate and I think there were nuts involved. Anyway, late Saturday night I decided to make them, but didn’t feel like digging out the recipe and after not being able to find it after a 30 second Google search, I decided to go for something else. Upon searching, I found this recipe from David Lebovitz.
I had first come across David last year when I participated in "Sugar High Friday"which he was hosting and was so thrilled to find him again. He’s incredibly talented and has lots of wonderful recipes. I started these at about 11 p.m. on Saturday night and they came together  rather quickly and were so easy. You actually couldn’t tell that there was even a matzo cracker on the bottom. It tasted just like toffee with chocolate. I sprinkled the chocolate with a little bit of kosher salt and then decided to sprinkle some toasted coconut on top. I should have been more prepared and had the coconut pre-toasted because by the time I thought of it, the chocolate had already started to harden so the coconut had a hard time sticking, but it was good anyway. Definitely going to make again- would be good for Christmas, too.

Chris finally has a day off today so he’s taken Henry to the ‘Mommy & Me" movie and I’m working on pincushions that I’ll have in the shop tomorrow (similar to these or there’s more pic’s on this post if you scroll down) . So I know that no one will care about this like we do, but Chris finally has his first television credit!  We saw it last week after Monday’s show. Thank goodness for TiVo, those credits go by so fast we surely would have missed it if we couldn’t pause it. Very exciting (although Chris totally down-plays it.) But there he was, along with all the others,  Story Assistant: Chris Moore. And in case your wondering what that is, or maybe you just don’t care, but his job mainly consists of being paired up with a producer, the two of them are paired up with a dancer/celebrity (which usually changes everyday) and they film/record the daily dance rehearsals. What a crack up, huh? He’s getting to know everyone very well, and just has nothing but great things to say about them. So if your watching the show tonight or Tuesday, don’t blink- or you might miss it!!

xoxo

Hope you have a Spring-filled day with sweet treats, lots of peeps and things that are neat! (that’s the pregnancy brain talkin’!)

xoxo

Is everyone just loving this time of year? I am. All the pastels, new blossoms, longer days and evening sunshine. We had some little friends (and some Mama’s, too) over earlier this week for some cookie decorating goodness. So fun to connect and get caught up on eachothers lives.

I always wished I could decorate cookies like you see at Williams Sonoma or on Martha. You know, where the frosting is completely smooth, the lines perfectly piped. I’m dreamin’. I’ve been using this recipe from Martha for years. It makes a lot of cookies (I still have 1/2 the dough in the refrigerator!) I think it’s nearly identical to the Easter one that’s been posted, but they’ve halved the ingredients. Either way, it’s a keeper.

Have you seen Amy’s egg’s? I love them. She gives a great tutorial. I wish I had time to make some. It’d be fun to do it in fabric, too.  Another great tute can be found here for dying Easter eggs. I’m loving those- the colors are just gorgeous. If you are in the market for making your own peep’s, check out my sisters blog, she’s got a recipe and instructions. They look delish!

I was looking at last years blog, you know to reflect back and see what we were doing then, to see how much Henry has grown, to see what sweet treat’s we were making. We are actually going back to our old stomping ground on Friday morning for another Easter egg hunt. We dug out that very easter basket tonight in preparation for tomorrow and it still has last years tag hanging on it with bunny sticker and all. I think it’s going to be tradition and Henry’s official Easter basket moving forward.

Have a lovely weekend!

xoxo

Henry: "Mama, is that a gynormous piece of pizza in your belly?"
Mama: "um…what are you saying?

Later that same evening…

Chris: "What’s Henry standing next to? Is that his bed or what?"
Me:  "It’s my gynormous pizza belly"  (he said it wasn’t obvious enough what the huge black thing was.)

I love lemons. I always have. When I was a kid growing up here in Southern California, I used to walk to the end of our street, Friends Avenue, and pick lemons from the neighbors tree. I’d cut one open, sprinkle it with salt and have a go at it. We used to eat avocado’s from our tree like that, too. Just a sprinkle of salt was all they needed. Our local market here has the dreamiest lemon sorbet with little crunchy bits in it. It’s such a refreshing, tart, deliciously springy fruit.

I picked some lemons from a local tree about a month ago but they went bad before I was able to do anything with them. So, today I decided to give it another go. I picked up a handful of lemons at Trader Joe’s (along with a few bunches of daffodils) and decided to make some Lemon Curd. It turned out delicious. I found a simple recipe on allrecipes.com. Lemon curd is perfect on scones or toast or in a trifle. I’m even debating on making some homemade  angel food cake. It’d be delish on that, too. It’s super simple and easy to make. Here you go:

Lemon Curd
3/4 C freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
3/4 C sugar
3 eggs
1/2 C unsalted butter

Directions:
In a saucepan, combine all ingredients and cook over medium-low heat*. Cook 6-10 minutes, and occasionally whisk until thick enough to hold marks from the whisk (about the consistency of pudding.) Store in the refrigerator.

*If the heat is turned up too high, the eggs will curdle.

It really makes a huge difference when you make this with fresh lemons, so use them if you can. We bottled ours in an old pesto jar and threw some fabric and ribbon on with a tag we printed out. Don’t you think they’d make a great hostess gift for Easter?

Thanks so much for all the applique orders. I’ve just about got them all packed and ready to go. I didn’t pre-cut any of them, because well, I just didn’t know if they would do well or not and then I didn’t want to have a gazillion applique’s lying around. So, thank you. If you ordered some, you’ll have them in a few days.

Happy Weekend!
xoxo

Thanks so much for all of your great suggestions regarding the last post. A lot of you brought up points that I hadn’t really thought about- so thank you for that. I have just uploaded the applique’s to the shop. They are sold in sets of 3, 6 or 10. I’d love to here any suggestions of applique’s that you’d like to see in the shop (that aren’t there now.)

The weekend was good. Except for when I ran out of gas at 8 p.m. and had to carry a 30+ lb nearly 3 year old several blocks to the gas station (all while crying from a bit of a diaper rash situation we are dealing with.) Oh and while carrying my purse and said gas can. The return trip was just as fun as I was trying not to spill the gas everywhere. It got even better when the gas can jammed and the gas wouldn’t actually go into the tank, just down my arm and all over pants and shoe’s. I had a MacGyver moment and constructed my own funnel out of the construction water bottle box and in the words of Chris, smelled of "eau de petroleum" for days following. All while wearing flip flops. Oh and nearly 8 months pregnant, that’s my favorite part. It was so good to see Emily’s smiling face waiting for me at the restaurant, because I was seriously on the verge of tears. It was just what I needed. Ivy and Henry played all day yesterday and sang (at the VERY TOP OF THEIR LUNGS) "Jingle Bells" about 800 times. And bubbles. There were lot’s of bubbles:
It’s fuzzy, but I do love this picture. They could be brother and sister, these two. Henry misses you already Ivy, but continues to carry  the torch by singing "Jingle Bells" all by himself (it’s just not as fun though.)

I am absolutely loving  Yael Naim. She’s playing here in LA on Wednesday but sadly it’s sold out. Wah. I probably shouldn’t go in my delicate condition anyway (LOL!) Plus I still stink of "eau de petroleum". Check her out, she’s brilliant:

A few posts ago I had talked about working on some new things for my little shop. I’ve been toying with the idea of selling appliques/iron-on’s for a while and was finally able to work on some this week. The thing that I’ve been debating is selling just the applique or the whole kit and caboodle. I’m leaning towards just the applique’s. I mean there’s a gazillion people on etsy who sell them on onesies, etc.,. so if that’s what you really wanted, you could find it there.  Plus, I just don’t have the time and I think people tend to feel more empowered when they can do it themselves. I know, it’s just ironing it on, but still, it’s your own little creation and you get to say you made it! By just selling the applique,  it allows you to iron it on to anything you wanted. You wouldn’t be limited to a piece of clothing. You could iron it to a book bag, or….whatever. I’m drawing a blank here people.
I’ve come up with 6 girl and 6 boy designs. I’m thinking of selling them in a kit where you would get all 6 (of either gender) or if you wanted to buy the girl and boy ones, there’d be a separate kit for that.
The ones that I made were applique’d to onesies (for the upcoming arrival of the wee one) and t-shirts for Sir Henry. Although they are iron-on’s I sewed along the edges just because I don’t like the look of the raw edge. Oh and I’d include buttons. Don’t you think I should include the buttons??

People have been asking what I’ve been making for this upcoming baby and truth be told, your looking at it. I’ve got zip, zilch, zero. We have no name picked out. I’ve hardly done any shopping. I just keep telling myself, ‘she just needs diapers and a few clothes!’ LOL. I’ve got 8 weeks to pull my head out. More on that later.

Oh and thanks for all the ‘curves’ advice… I think I know what I’m going to do now…more on that later, too. It’s getting too late for this lady : )

xoxo

Whenever I pass the banana’s at the market, I always grab a bunch. I don’t particularly care for banana’s but I’ll eat them and I figure if they are in the house, I’m more likely to. So I always buy them and pretty much without fail they always end up looking like this:
Eeewwwww. I usually end up tossing them, but these babies have been sitting around for a week, getting all juicy and so I had no other choice. I had to make  banana bread. The banana gods were calling. They couldn’t be denied.
Last Christmas my Mom gave me a mini crumb cake pan and I decided that it’d be the perfect size for little mini banana breads. I ain’t gonna lie- they were mmmm mmmmm good! I found some mini-chocolate chips last time I was at the market and I think I’m starting to prefer them over the regular sized ones. They are small and get more evenly distributed, anyway- the choco chips are optional (but don’t kid yourself you know you want them!) Here’s the recipe:

Banana Bread
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of ground cloves
dash of nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (approx. 4 bananas)
1/2 bag chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 cups) optional

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9×5 loaf pan (or cupcake pan). In bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashes bananas. Add flour, spices, salt & soda. Stir until just combined. Add choco chips. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let bread cool slightly before turning onto wire rack.

**I baked these for about 30 minutes and they were perfect. If you have a pan like this, I would start checking around 25 minutes. Cooking time for cupcakes would probably be around 18-20 minutes if you use a cupcake pan.

On another note: Does anyone out there belong to Curves? I almost joined last month after a rather traumatizing weigh-in at the Dr’s office. LOL!! Then I heard that once a year in early March they wave the joining fee (of $150) if you bring in canned goods…or something like that. Anyway, I only recently found out that it’s not a regular gym (which I kind of already knew) but that you rotate machines every few minutes and do this cycle for 30 minutes. I’m torn between joining a regular gym and curves. I’ve definitely got to join something. I gained 65 lbs with my pregnancy with Henry and although I’ve gained less than 1/2 that with this pregnancy (so far- I’m not holding my breath!!) I really want to have a plan in place so as soon as those 4 post-partum weeks are over I can get my rear in gear! It took 14 months to get those extra pounds off with Henry and I just don’t want to have it take that long this time around. It was miserable! Anyway- I’d love to hear any feedback you have! Thanks!!

p.s. Don’t you just love that I’m seeking gym advice in the same post as the banana bread! ha ha ha…
xoxo