Sunday, February 28, 2010

New Throw Pillows

New throw pillows have kind of reinvented my poor old couch. I just fell in love with this fabric collection (I have an obsession with Japanese fabrics), and have been looking around for ways to use it on something... anything... Pillows? Perfect.
And while even new pillows can only go so far to help this sad, sad, tired love seat, they totally help, yes?
Now the only problem is that I LOVE every print in every color in this collection. What else can I make?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

TJ's Room

TJ has always had the most boring room. When he was born, I never did decorate the nursery; we were living in an apartment in Little Rock, and I knew our days were so numbered, I just didn't see the point. In our current house, I haven't done much better. Very functional, but very plain:

Tuesday morning, I just couldn't take the nice, boring, creamy almond color of his walls anymore. I spent all day yesterday painting his room key-lime-meets-avocado-cream. And I have really cute fabric to make him darling bedding, and a much zippier crib skirt than he currently has. But what to do next? Look at all this wall space I have to fill (and my pictures don't even show the half of it!):

What cute (inexpensive) nursery decor ideas have you seen or done yourself? Any brilliant ideas? I've got a couple, but.... *sigh* Interior decorating always makes me feel inadequate. I'm much more comfortable in the sewing room.

Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Tom drove down for a late celebration of Rob's birthday. TJ loved having an extra set of book-readers on hand. Grandma Sandy is a sucker for TJ smiles, and will read on demand.

I walked into his room one day to find this:
He had climbed up into the rocking chair all by himself and was reading a book. Too cute.

And here is another climbing trick that is not so cute:
I can't keep him on the ground. For a long while it worked to leave all the chairs tipped over. But now he's learned how to push them back upright. There is no space too high for this child.


And here is a sneak peek at the pinwheels and turtle quilt I've been working on this week:

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Crafty February

My friends have kept busy, so I've been making lots of baby stuff for them. I love making itty-bitty things. It's so fun. I was really thrilled with how this blanket turned out. The last time I worked with minky was a disaster, and I learned my lesson the hard way. This time I used fabric glue and loads and loads of pins to keep the minky from slipping all over while I sewed. I particularly loved the mitered corners (thank you Burda tutorials) and the Henry Alexander bias strip. Plus, it's yummy soft.

Here is a baby girl set I knit. I wanted a jacket that would transition into Spring, and this Hadley Fierlinger pattern was perfect.

Another baby girl jacket. This is a Debbie Bliss pattern, but I modified it by adding the cabling along the ribbing band. This was SO easy to knit. Pattern can be found here. It's also included in this book, which is fantastic.

This is the funnest little bubble/pencil skirt from the January Burda pattern magazine. I don't feel like the pictures really do it justice; the dark navy wool doesn't photograph all that well.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Rachel Ray's Kale and White Bean Soup

The cold and snow continue, and doesn't a bowl of hot soup just cure those winter chills? This recipe is Yummy! Be sure to buy good, thick bacon from the butcher block, and don't skimp on it.

Deep Winter Minestra - Beans and Greens Soup

Easy and inexpensive to prepare and serve this hearty, healthy soup any night of the week!
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  • 1/3 pound thick-cut speck (smoked pancetta) or butcher thick-cut bacon, diced 1/8-inch
  • 3/4 pound crimini or mixed wild mushrooms (or a mix of wood ear and crimini mushrooms), thinly sliced (I used baby portabella's because that's all the store had)
  • 1 medium onion, halved across and thinly sliced
  • 4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
  • 2 small bundles or 1 large bundle (about a pound) lacinato or Tuscan black kale, stemmed and very thinly sliced (again, I just used normal old kale, because that's what they had)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Freshly grated nutmeg (about 1/4 teaspoon)
  • 1 can cannellini beans
  • 1 quart chicken, beef or mushroom stock
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup dried pasta, such as penne rigate, mezze rigatoni or whole wheat short-cut pasta (I hate soggy pasta, so I used instant pearled barley-- it retains it's texture in left-overs)
  • 1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar or balsamic drizzle
  • Pecorino cheese, for grating
  • Crusty bread, for mopping
Preparation

Heat a soup pot over medium to medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, a couple of turns of the pan. Add the speck or bacon and crisp, 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and brown, 6-7 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook 5-6 minutes more to soften.

Wilt the greens into the pot and season with a little salt, lots of pepper and some nutmeg. Add the beans, stock and water to the pot and bring up to a boil. Add the pasta, reduce the heat to a low, rolling boil and cook until the pasta is al dente. Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar onto the soup (go carefully). Check the seasoning, then serve in shallow bowls with some grated Pecorino on top and crusty bread alongside, for mopping.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Terminator

It's still early here, and yet it's already one of those days. TJ has thus far: stuck a whole sheet of postage stamps on the cabinet door, dumped a bag of brown sugar all over the floor, torn up a pattern I foolishly left on the table, pulled the lid off his sippy cup and dumped milk all over the floor, OPENED the dishwasher (this is a new one) and shattered the bowl found therein, got the garbage can open and tipped it over (yes, the same garbage can where I had just put all the broken glass, which I then cleaned up a second time), then proceeded to eat the garbage (really, this is almost a daily occurrence), broke yet another DVD, and one of my knitting needles. Where was I during all this? Cleaning up the previous mess. All I've done is run from one disaster to another, change wet/sticky clothes, and dunk TJ in the bath. I'm thinking about licensing him to the military as a weapon of mass destruction. The only problem is that he's so effective, I'd never get him back. And I don't really want my baby being sent off to Afghanistan.

So here is a funny video of one of the cute, non-destructive things he's doing lately. This video is more for me than anyone else; I need a reminder of why I keep him.