Handmade Olympics

I'm about a week late learning about the Handmade Olympics sponsored by rikrak. What a fun idea! Check it out. Nominations are open now, voting will be in a few weeks.

Crayons

We wilsons have been fluey all week, which is kind of a bummer since John is still on vacation, But I have to admit, life is a little easier when the girls ask to go to bed and sleep extra long.

I've been doing a little playing with crayons for an upcoming spoonflower design challenge. This one requires you to use only crayons and not edit it digitally - I know it's hard to resist, but I made it work. This is on my desktop now. Check it out in repeat here or grab it and put it on your desktop. ;)

Happy New Year!

I'm a little late with my new year's post - but I was busy having fun with my family, so I think I'm exempt.

I wanted to take a look back at the last three months, at my attempt to balance designing and art making with being a full time mom. I originally though I would end up with a list of rules or a magic slogan that would help me manage my time perfectly.You probably already know there is no such thing.

But I did look back at the year and realized I'm actually doing a lot more designing than it feels like sometimes. I designed more than 10 patterns this year, some that I really adore.

Besides that, I had a baby this year! And I have spent every single day with my two precious girls.

I'm a really lucky woman.

So my new year's resolution?
I'm going to enjoy it all. I'm not going to put as much pressure on myself to design/blog/sell so intensely. I definitely plan to make fewer patterns this year, but hopefully they will be better for it. I also plan to just enjoy being at home a little more. Make more food from scratch, sit and color with my girls more, hang out with John. Just enjoy it.

Thanks to all of you who have been so encouraging to me this year. I love hearing your thoughts in comments, seeing your turtles and snack bags, and getting emails from new friends. I wish I had better words for saying, "Thank you," but right now this is all I've got. Thank you!

How are you making the new year better?

Sharing Fun

Thanks everyone for sharing your projects in the wewilsons flickr pool! It is really exciting for me to see other people actually using my patterns. Please keep it up. I'd love to see some of those crocodiles!

Check out Art Nest. She reviewed the flip doll pattern and made this beautiful Bunny and Fox (also in the Flickr pool). And I love this sweet red polka-dot turtle by Anna. I'm glad to see other people like colorful animals!

Crazy Amazing Banana Chocolate Waffles

A little Christmas Eve fun. Crispy outside, soft inside, crazy good. I think they're yummy plain, but butter and maple syrup are good, too. I started from this recipe. Below is my version.

John is spending the day in the garage finishing the girls' Christmas gift, so I'm making christmas-y crafts and waffles inside with L. Who knew being a mom at Christmas would be as much fun as being a kid?

Banana Chocolate Waffles
1 cup wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking cocoa
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1 cup banana, mashed
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips

Blend flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa and sugar together; set aside. Beat egg yolks and milk together; add flour mixture, stirring until just blended. Fold in banana and melted butter; mix well.

In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff and peaks form; gently fold into batter. Add chocolate chips to taste (I made these a second time, and realized I originally told you to put in way too much chocolate - wishful thinking, I guess!). Bake on a waffle iron until the steam stops (or almost stops if you're a little impatient).

Sweater Stockings

I realized this year we only had three stockings. I thought for sure I had four, but it turns out not. I had lofty visions of patchwork stockings using this really pretty fabric that was my grandmother's. But, that's really not the kind of project you take on a week before Christmas.

Sweater stockings, on the other hand, are a great last minute project! These were so easy, and I thought I was brilliant for thinking of it - until I saw it on Martha Stewart. Ah well.

I had hoped to find some Bridget Jones style sweaters with intarsia reindeer, but Goodwill was lacking in last minute Christmas sweaters. I did find an XL cabled sweater, and a fair isle snowflake sweater. I was able to get 2 stockings from each one. It took longer to cut them out than it did to sew them. I just scissor-traced (yeah, I just made that up) around an old stocking. I used the ribbing at the bottom of the sweater for the cuff so, there was no hemming or anything, just sewed around the edges and added a yarn loop for hanging.

Christmas Bread

I am making a second batch of this incredible bread today. I was making some as gifts, and then John and I ended up eating too much - so now I have to make more. I chose this recipe because it's Christmas-y, and new, and I had all the ingredients... who knew it was going to be the most wonderful bread I've ever made. That's probably because of the buckets of butter and eggs in it, but that's what makes it Christmas bread, I suppose.

Traditionally, it's made with a cross on top, which I didn't do because I've been wanting to make gift bread this way for as long as I've had this bread cookbook. You tie the loaf with a brown paper ribbon before the second rise, and then replace it with a real ribbon after it's baked.


After looking online at other Christmas Bread recipes, I realized this version is maybe a little simpler than most. Here it is, with my changes in the loaf style:

Christopsomo (or Greek Christmas Bread)

blend:
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water

Combine:
1/2 cup scalded and cooled milk
1 cup butter
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons crushed anise
1 tsp salt

Add yeast mixture and gradually add 6-7 cups unsifted flour.
Knead for 10 minutes on floured board
Let rise 2 hours or until double.

Punch down and divide into 6 small balls. Brush butter around outside, and tie each ball with a strip of brown paper (the same width as your ribbon - for small loaves like mine use a skinny ribbon) and place on greased baking sheets. Let rise 1 hour or until doubled. Bake 30-45 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Serve warm, or toasted with honey.

Pulled Candy

John and I have a little saying that helps us keep our life simple: "What would Pa Ingalls do?"

Okay, since neither of us have read the Little House on the Prairie books (although we totally plan to), I must confess that when we ask this, we picture Michael Landon and his big friendly smile.

But still. It's a good way to remind us that just a few generations ago, people lived much simpler lives. They grew and canned their own food, they made their own soap, they lived in very cute small houses with a loft. And they made their own candy.

So, my sweet tooth and I decided to get in touch with the simple life and make some pulled maple syrup candy from this really cool book my sister gave me. It's full of interesting history about America and food and the Ingalls' experiences. My candy turned out pretty good, even though I didn't do it quite right. But I'm sure Karen Grassle messed up a time or two as well. I plan to try again in the near future.

Here's the fonz, letting me know the candy is ready to be pulled. Now that's something Pa Ingalls didn't have.

Easy Baby Toy

I made this for J because she didn't really have many gifts. I saw a tutorial for this some time last year, and I can't find it now. I'm pretty sure the original was a heart, and I think I saw it on WhipUp - anyone know where it is?

It looks complicated, but it's so easy to make, it really only took about an hour. I made mine in the shape of a kitty, although in retrospect, a simple shape would have been better. I filled two parts with wool, and the other two with dried peas because I thought she would enjoy the different textures.

I'll keep looking for the tutorial, and add it if I find it...

Lap Quilt Project

I'm starting a lap quilt project with some friends from my church. We're planning to make two quilts for two ladies at our local nursing home. I'm hoping they'll be finished by Valentine's Day, so we're giving ourselves plenty of time to get it all together. Our quilts will each have 20 - 10" blocks, and a general theme of hearts and love.

The women participating have varying levels of sewing experience so I put together some simple instructions for making four types of blocks: Iron-on applique, Sewn Applique, Embroidery, and Pieced Blocks. I found a surprising number of pieced heart blocks out there - surprising because I don't think I've ever seen one before. Although, with all those angles, I found them pretty tricky to make.

I'm sharing our pdf in case anyone else wants to start a project. If you print it front and back, each page will have instructions for one type of block on the front and some patterns, shapes and ideas on the back. The pieced block instructions are very basic, because each block is different. I think you'll need to already know what you're doing to do one of those.

Click here to download (1.2 MB).