Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas lateness

Sorry I haven't been able to update you on my projects going on. Things are crrrrazy at the house. Carter is sick and so is Phillip. I'm not sure which one is being the bigger baby ;)

Here's to you all, wishing you the sweetest and brightest of holidays from my family to yours!


My little Elf :)

Monday, December 14, 2009

whip it up!

I mentioned in my last post that I've been very busy at the sewing machine. I wanted to share a few more of the projects that I've been doing.
Here is the Christmas tree that I made Paisley so she can decorate it and have for herself (Thank you Ruffles and Stuff!). I wanted to make it a little fancier, but my sewing skills aren't so up to snuff yet, so she got a simple triangle as the shape of her tree. She likes playing with it on the ground, but it's also meant to be hung up and it's reversible so she can put the ornaments on the other side. Each ornament has velcro on the back and sticks to the opposite side of the velcro that is stitched to the tree (don't even get me started on how this about killed my machine and myself in the process! Let's just say that I will neeeever buy sticky-backed velcro everrr again!) (And of course one of the velcro backing pieces right in the smack dab middle came off b/c I forgot to sew it on, so it's got a gaping hole where an ornament should be.... workin' on it people! I'm working on it!!) I wish I had taken better pics of the actual tree, but I was up til 1 in the morning trying to finish it and then got up super early so I could have a photoshoot with Paisley for the holidays so there was no time for the pictures. Um, and let me say this....pay no attention to the uggggly and burned floor of my kitchen! It's one of the many rooms in the house that is on the renovation list.


Pink with white polka dots side


White with pink polka dots side


Putting the ornaments on the tree


Wish my ornaments could have been fancier, but Paisley loved it and that's all that matters

I made the letter "p" for her for her name, and there are 2 ornaments with toys on them that are left-overs from some real ornaments that I'm making for our tree.
OHHH! P.S... The little pink circle at the bottom right with the ruffle...yeah that one... it's my first ruffle!! I'm so excited! (it doesn't take much ya'll! Not much at all to excite me!)

On to the next projects:
Our friends in the mountains, Jeff and Kate, just had their little girl and they were going for something a little gender neutral while she was pregnant b/c they weren't finding out the sex. So, I made these little puppies for them. I'm currently working on other baby booties that ARE NOT gender neutral (you'll see what I mean when I get them finished!) So, I went with this pretty little Pooh-Bear pattern for the booties (thanks to StarDust Shoes) and little ducks for the burp cloths.

This is my first pair of baby booties. I'm super excited they turned out so well!

Here is the burp cloth. I've always decorated pre-made burp cloths and never actually made one. With the help of Homemade by Jill I got some great suggestions and patterns for these. She had such a great idea to put a seam horizontally down the middle so that they fold easier and let me tell you.. this woman is a genius! It's so aggravating not being able to fold Carter's burp clothes and they take up so much roooooooom! This solves it!



This did take forever to make with having to snip all the way around the sides and wash it 4 times for the perfect frayed edge. It is reversible and is made from a very soft flannel material and I went with all natural batting on the inside for my earth-friendly friends :)
Front and back

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Busy bee

I've been making it a priority lately to have some time to myself and have been making to sit down at my sewing machine and finish products that have been brewing in my head. I've been so inspired by other blogs that I follow and have gotten some great ideas. Here's only just a few I've finished. Oh, by the way, Blogger is not cooperating with me today and keeps rotating the pictures that I'm uploading, so just tilt your pretty little head to the side to see what the heck I've posted :)

I haven't made anything for Carter.... anything. I'm constantly in the process of making other people things, but I've never made him anything. I feel horrible, so I'm trying to catch up. He's been like Linus of the "Peanuts" cartoon lately and has been really attached to his blanket. So, here's his simple little fleece blanket those I've started with.
I'm totally in love with his knit Elmo hat and gloves that I found at the big consignment sale they have here, but I wanted more and I wanted to give a try at making a hat and gloves. I ran across this vest at the Dollar Tree (who knew they carried this kinda stuff???) and decided to whip up a little something from it.

We caught him in mid-laugh!! Looove those cheeks!

That didn't last long.... "Get this thing off!!"
Ok...I'll just eat them...

Carter is loooving our Christmas tree a little too much. I've been really debating about putting ornaments on it, but I've spent so much time making ornaments this year that it's kind of a waste to not use them.


I could just eat up that little belly! It's funny to watch him catch a glimpse of his belly, look down at it, rub it, and think "Hey, what's that poking out down there?"

More to come of my ornaments (once they get finished) and some of the baby projects for the friends that had a baby in November!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Christmas before Thanksgiving should be illegal

So, in my opinion, Christmas parade's before Thanksgiving should truly be illegal. It sends my stress into over-drive and Lord knows I need to do that!~

These are some pics of our adventure to my first Christmas parade in Burlington. It was incredibly long and we were there for almost 3 hours..... very tiring for us and our little man. We busted out the hiking backpack that is for kids and it was awesome. Carter lovvvved being able to have access to momma's hair and sunglasses as much as he wanted.





My sister-in-law Melissa, my nephew Jacob, and my brother-in-law Brian


These little knit Elmo hat and gloves are my very favorite! Soooo cute!


Who can resist that face!


Sleepy boy on my back


I'm definitely in the Christmas spirit now! I've been busy making ornaments for the tree and decorating the house. Definitely not scrooge-a-fied now! :)

Friday, December 4, 2009

So, I lied.....

Yeah, I lied.... I didn't post anything yesterday like I said I would. I brough my camera to work, but I had so many patients to see yesterday that I never got a chance to post. So, here are our pictures! We had 2 Thanksgivings, one with Phillip's family, and one with just us and college friends that came to visit. It was so wonderful to see them. It's been a year now and I really do miss them!

Getting ready to go to Aunt TT's for dinner
He's so freakin' cute!
Diving in to some yummy Thanksgiving Dinner!
The grown-up table that we've been allowed to join since we had Carter :) LOL!
The dinner I cooked! Yummy! Not as much as my mom makes, but I'm not sure I could've done more!
(Oh, and P.S.... I have the BEST recipe for crockpot mac and cheese! DELISH!)
Accent decorations- Tip from Martha to add cranberries to your fall flowers
Our table
Where's my food momma?!!
I made pumpkin pie (thank god it didn't turn out like my pecan pie did!) and Pumpkin Spice Cucakes and Cinnamon Cream Cheese icing with candy acorns (Totalllly did not taste like pumpkin and were AMAZZZZING!! Our guests cleared through 1/2 of them before I even got to ice them!)
The Acorn Toppers (made from caramels, dipped in chocolate, then dipped in sprinkles)
Sam and Katrina, our guests :)
I never thought I'd miss the boy, but I really do!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Thanksgiving!

I had full intentions of posting pics from my first Thanksgiving meal today, but lo-and-behold, I forgot my camera. But, I will let you know that things went FANTASTIC!! My turkey was just beautiful and the brine that I bought from William-Sonoma was oh-so-goooood! Not to mention the pumpkin-spice cupcakes with candy acorns that I made were perfect! I think my guests ate half of them before I could even make the icing and slap it on there! I can't wait to post pics tomorrow! Just so happy how it all turned out! I hope you and your family enjoyed your Thanksgiving and you had a chance to look around and realize all the things you can be thankful for! See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Thank you Martha!

You can always count on the Martha Stewart website for the most fantastic meals and recipes. I ran across this one the other day, and boy am I glad I did!! This was so ridiculously delicious! There are 3 thing I will warn you about. This recipe definitely took an hour (maybe a bit more) from prep to finish (I don't know if it's because I used fresh veggies or what??). Also, it dirties a lot of dishes. I'm a big advocate for not making a HUGE mess, and cleaning while I cook, and it definitely used a lot of dishes. The comments below the recipe state that it came out a little blah.... and.... yeah... it could have been. But I doctored mine a bit. I really feel like I need to incorporate more veggies and good stuff for my little man so I added nice fresh asparagus stalks to this meal. I also added a couple good dashes of onion powder to the final mixture, and then under the top coating of cheese I added a Parmesan herb topping that I had in my spice cabinet.
You know the best part of this meal? It makes enough for two meals, so I could cook one that night, and freeze the other half for another night! Oh me loves it when I can cook enough for 2 nights! Here ya go!!



Sorry I couldn't get a pic before we scooped Carter's portion out to cool!



Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes:
  • 6 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dishes
  • coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 1 pound penne rigate
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (8 ounces each), halved horizontally
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 6 cups whole milk
  • 10 ounces white mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded provolone (6 ounces) (I Sargento's Shredded Mozerella/Provolone mixture)
  • 1 cup finely grated Parmesan (4 ounces) (I would suggest a little more than this)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter two shallow 2-quart baking dishes. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta, and return to pot.
  2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise.
  3. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer, whisking frequently. Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. Off heat, gradually stir in provolone and 1/2 cup Parmesan.
  4. Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper. Divide pasta mixture between baking dishes; sprinkle each with cup Parmesan.
  5. Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
  6. Prepare through step 4; let cool. Cover tightly with foil, and freeze, up to 3 months.
  7. Preheat oven to 400, and bake (still covered in foil) on a rimmed baking sheet until center is hot, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove foil; bake until golden, about 15 minutes more.
OOOOHHH!! It was sooooo yummy and I'm really looking forward to my left-overs for lunch today!

P.S.... I've noticed quite the trend of cheese-topped items on my site.... eh... oh well!! It's soooooo good!