Whaddaya Mean One Week?!?!

I promised I'd let you know how far behind on Christmas I am, and so here goes.

I'm very behind, but I am catching up (I hope).

Normally, I start planning in October. Nothing too intensive, but I enjoy daydreaming in October about cookie recipes and handmade gifts. This year, I got as far as buying my usual baking magazine about November sometime, gave it a brief flip-through, and got back to work.

Usually in November, I have a spreadsheet put together so that I don't forget which people I am buying/making what thing(s) for.

I threw something together in the way of a spreadsheet in early December.

This week, I started gift knitting, which is definitely something I usually start in November or earlier. Now, I only have two items to knit, and they should be quick (I love Worsted weight yarn for this), but I'm only mostly through the first one so far.

Now, I did start one thing early, in September, but I won't be able to tell you about that one just yet (if no-one else pops by the blog on a given day, my Mom sure will, and I'm keeping your present a complete secret Mom, so you can keep on visiting. I even have cute pictures of grandkids today).

So what can I tell you about what I have been doing?

Well, we kicked off Christmas plans at our house by pulling out the advent box so that the kids could set out all manner of stuffed toys, books, videos, and odds and ends. We baked with Grandma, and then ate leftover icing.

For the St. Nicholas Day weekend, we met up at my Mother and Father-in-law's place for a party with friends of the family. I made Olliebollen for the first time. It's a traditional Dutch doughnut that is eaten on New Year's. Grandma had chocolate initials for everyone, which is another Dutch tradition (this is all very sweet, because I was the only one there of Dutch heritage, and, well, what can I say but it's lovely of my Mother-in-Law to make it a special day like that. She's quite good at Christmas, and I'm pretty sure not nearly as behind on things as I am).

This past weekend, we finally started the baking that is usually underway by early December with a batch of gingerbread (we should really get the rest of them iced tonight), and, on my eldest's insistence, a fruit cake.

Now, my daughter loved the idea of trying fruit cake, and we couldn't just buy some (nut allergy), so we modified a recipe to use apple juice instead of brandy (though I should have tripled the juice I think), raisins, apricots, mixed peel, and lots of coconut. (My husband abhors candy cherries. I'm not sure we're supposed to admit they exist, let alone bake with them).

The resulting cake, not meant to keep long like a traditional fruit cake, is not quite so moist as might be desired, (hence my note to add more juice), but not half bad either, is very lemony and was topped with cream cheese icing last night.

Now, as for gifts, the other day I told my husband I worked all day, but had nothing to show for it, because I worked on one of his presents, and so couldn't show him. However, I have exacted from him a no-peeking-at-the-blog promise, so I can show you:

I don't normally do much embroidery, and this is my first go at cross-stitch in particular. The pattern is from World of Geekcraft, which has several amusing projects. While the pipe in the pattern is meant be brown to more closely resemble the painting, I enjoyed the Mario green version. It was very fun, but took a bit longer than I thought it would, so I'm behind on my sewing plans (which I will tell you about soon).

Last Week of School

 Well, it's the last week of school before summer, and that means two things: Time to whip up some teacher gifts, and time to get some treats ready for my daughter to share with her class on her birthday.

My daughter settled on brownies and blondies cut into squares and iced to look like Creepers from Minecraft. She put on all the chocolate chips while I practiced piping little blobs on the treats.












For gifts, I had the girls pick out fabric, and I spent a few days sewing up bags (just right for carrying a few things to the beach, or back and forth from school). The pattern is the Retro Bag from Fabric by Fabric One Yard Wonders. 

Much thanks to my husband who helped me get all the cutting done in one night! It was a quick and fun sew, though by the fourth one it was starting to get to be a bit of a slog, as I just wanted to be done so I could get on to my other work. Delighted with the results though! I omitted the snap and the adjustable strap as I intended them more as a tote bags than as purses.

The girls had a great time picking out fabric! I like the popsicle one best myself, though the cappuccino one is a close second. 


























I was so busy last month (and much of this one) that I completely missed tulip season. Well, I did get to see them, but I didn't get around to photographing any of them.

I didn't want to miss the irises and lupins, so I stepped out and caught a bee in a few of the photos. I'm a sucker for bee-and-flower photos.

Things are busy, as I have so much housework to catch up on before the birthday party on the weekend, so this is just a very quick post. I'm also continuing work on my Oranje cardigan; progress photos on that for the next post!

Two Things

1. I used the leftover puff pastry from tonight's mushroom tarts to make these for dessert:

2. I am nearly done sewing my dress to wear tomorrow. A bit of slipstitching, a bit of top-stitching, and a hook and an eye. Wish me luck!

Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake!

My eldest is now 7 years old!

The celebrations required cake, of course. The birthday girl chose marble cake.

The plan was to make the cake last Thursday to have it ready to decorate Friday (for the friends-from-school-and-soccer-party). Ran out of time Friday. Baked a cake Friday.




























It fell apart removing it from the pan.

I didn't panic.

No, really.


I decided that Sunday's brunch would make use of the failed cake as a successful variant of trifle.

I then made two little round cakes to make into a castle for the Medieval-themed birthday celebration.

It didn't look much like a castle.

None of us minded.

We gave the kids a quick intro to heraldry and had them design their own arms.

We fed them reasonably medieval foods that were also reasonably kid-friendly (bacon-and-peas, macaroni, carrots with-or-without dill, and meatballs shaped like hedgehogs). My husband and I enjoyed working together in the kitchen to get all this done, even with the kids arriving in the meantime!
















The cake was dry, but really, the kids were more excited about the licorice anyhow.

The icing was amazing (we used a tinted Italian meringue).

The trifle was a success!

Recipe for nor-remotely-traditional-but-very-tasty-trifle: Failed cake, cubed. Strawberry jam. Instant Chocolate Pudding. Whipped Cream. Semi-sweet chocolate, flaked.

Layer thusly: Cake, whipped cream, strawberry jam, cake, instant chocolate pudding, cake, jam, whipped cream, flaked chocolate.

NB: If you're topping with birthday candles, expect the flaked chocolate to be blown willy-nilly across the table and room. Maybe omit the flaked chocolate if you're doing this...

The cupcakes for sharing at school were very much a success! Thanks so much to my Mom for help with the decorating and delivery of cupcakes! It was so cute to hear the entire class sing their French birthday song (replete with cha-cha-chas and doobie-doobie-doos), and to see their excitement for the cupcakes, which were also part of the last week of school celebrations.

They were chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing, marshmallows snipped into petals, and De Ruijter Vructhenhagel for sprinkles (we used the same on the ice-cream cone turrets for the Friday cake).

I still have more cake in the freezer for another trifle, but I think it'll keep for awhile. We've had enough cake for some time!

Christmas Catch-Up

 It has been a busy but lovely holiday season, and I've been away from the computer for a fair bit, both when I was out of town, or just plain busy with either design work or with my family.

It seems the longer I spend away from the blog, the harder it is to get back to writing here, not just due to procrastination, but also to the increasing backlog of things to write about. Suddenly a little post becomes a long one, and so, more daunting.

I thought I only had a few pictures of home-made things, but as it turned out, we did a fair bit of crafting for Christmas!

My husband and I both made masques for a masquerade party that we attended on the 22nd, at which we had a lovely relaxing time visiting with friends and meeting new people that were a lot of fun to talk to.

We gave away gifts to teachers (and the bus-driver too), and wrapped them up with handmade tags. I made these tags by folding tin-foil, (I think about three times) glueing the sheet all over with a glue stick at each stage, then embossing a design with a ball-point pen. Cut them out, make a hole for threading the cord through, and there you are.

I made a blanket for my very oldest friend (not that she's old; just that we've known each other since grade 3), keeping it simple and cozy, in her favourite colour, blue. Made in polar fleece, the seams are unfinished, with one seam on either side of the blanket. It's even softer than it looks.

I've been wanting to make these meringues for years! I make meringues quite often, but I've never piped them. These are flavoured with peppermint, and the piping bag is daubed with Wilton's paste food-dye to add colour as they are piped. Filling the piping bag with the meringue itself was tricky, but the rest was simpler than I had thought it would be, and they turned out lovely. I used this recipe from Canadian Living (though sans nuts), but Martha Stewart's directions for the food colouring.

 My daughters did their fair share of creating, especially in Calgary where they made lovely ornaments with my mom (so sorry, but the pictures did not turn out, and now the ornaments are packed away; I'll have to be sure to take some next year). Please enjoy in place of these, my eldest showing off her art skills:

 I drew my sister's name this year, and, determined to make her some Mittens of Awesomeness, asked what she would like. She wanted Pac-Man, so, happy to oblige, I knit these flat, used Intarsia for the figures, and duplicate stitching for details. After sewing these up, I knit the thumbs in the round during the trip down to Calgary on the 23rd.

For my husband, I made some Gingerbread Truffles, a pair of pyjama pants (Butterick B5572), and 40% of a sweater-vest, including an IOU tag for the other 60%. I downloaded the tag from Knit Picks, as they were clever enough to advertise their free IOU tag download right before I was about to wrap up the part sweater.

The sweater will be the Argyle Vest by Veronik Avery, and the upside to having only the back finished was that I could ask for input for the colours to be used for the front. Resulting choices are pictured below with the 40% of a sweater-vest.

It was an amazing holiday, and we enjoyed visits with family and friends at our house, at both our parents' houses, and at friends' houses. Also, thanks to Santa, the girls now have snowshoes, so we have been out snow-shoeing, and enjoying the weather that turned a bit nicer after a Christmas cold-snap.










With the exception of tomorrow, the weather looks like it will continue to be nice enough for outings, so we'll have to have some winter fun on the weekend! Hope you and your families had a lovely Christmas, and are enjoying a splendid New Year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I finally got up the nerve to sew with knit fabric. For that, I would like to thank Rae of Made by Rae for her Knitterviews series, as well as for pointing the way to Patterns by Figgy's, who is in turn responsible for the Tee for Two pattern that I used to make the T-shirt being worn here by my oldest:

I made two T-shirts out of two of my old long-sleeved shirts, one for each girl. My youngest wanted to wear a heart today too, so she's not wearing her shirt today (we put a flower on that one), but I'm sure it will turn up here someday.

I think it turned out just darling, and it was much easier than I had thought it would be. If you've been thinking of trying to sew with knits, stop waiting and just do it. I don't have a serger, but did use a walking foot. That's about it, really. Go for it!

Now, as to the reason that the girls are covered in chocolate icing here, I must add that today we made cupcakes. I played around with my new piping tips that my mom gave me for Christmas, and the kids played around with sprinkles. I used the Company's Coming One Bowl White Cake recipe, and added a packet of strawberry drink mix to make them pink and strawberry-like. I'll leave you with our baking montage, and hope that you're having at least as much fun as we're having (and more fun than the clean-up will be).