mischief night

You never know what kind of mischief these two are going to get into....

BEWARE!


of the baby that crawls backwards





the hand




and of the almost 3 year old behind the hand!





P.S.
Ms S. is wearing one of my baby dresses that my Grandma crocheted here.

the handmade dress

It's become pretty obvious by now that I really love making clothes for my daughter. I don't see an end to this obsession. Thank goodness she has a good sized closet!

The latest addition is a new dress sized for a one year old. Since she is approaching 9 months and already has plenty of 6-12 months clothes I decided to jump ahead. This looks pretty big even for a one year old so I am contemplating making the smaller size anyway. We'll see.

The pattern is from The Handmade Dress and is called Miss Madeline.

I used fabric I had bought at Purl last Winter. It is Windham Fabrics Presents Colonies Archives c. 1850 which I'm not sure is available anymore. The color palette and pattern are very soothing and definitely seem to have an old Colonial or Amish look to them. For the apron part, I used a vintage cotton eyelet handkerchief. This pattern was very easy to follow and I see myself doing this one again. I'd like to try it out with and without the apron again and use the embroidery pattern that came along with it.

la patisserie est un jeu d'enfants

I haven't blogged about a book in a long time.
This one (Making French Desserts and pastry is child's play) is one of my most cherished books and a really nice cookbook with amazing illustrations.
Each recipe is written in French and on the next page there is the English translation which is wonderful because although I would really love to speak and read French I don't other then a few phrases and words.

I made the madelines for Christmas last year and they were very good.

The copyright on this book is 1966. I'd love to get more from this series.
My friend, Carolyn also has one of these cookbooks. Carolyn, which one do you have?

It also comes with a measuring cup which you cut, fold and paste because a standard French measuring cup is 7 oz and so it is very important for the success of your recipes

Here are some of the recipes:

Pastry Cream for Cream Puffs
-I'm mentioning this for you Seattle girls who are writing about those cream puffs...



Giant Brioches
-sounds good to me



Chocolate Truffles
-I was introduced to these in middle school. My life has never been the same.




Crepes
Make them, add to them or not. Good any time of the day

blue hat

I made Little M a new hat. A blue hat. It's his favorite color.

I finished it almost a week ago staying up past bedtime, until 12:15 AM, in order to make it happen.
I don't often do that but, sometimes you got to.

I started this hat several times and the second to last time I was convinced I wouldn't have to start over and then I did.
I was really annoyed but, this is what happens sometimes when making stuff. You have to remember to walk away and then come back to it. It's not that it's hard to knit. I had just been hiding my wraps wrong. Silly me.

Anyway, this hat is called Ear Cozies by Fiber Trends and the yarn is Lorna's Laces. This is almost the same shape as a hat that my boy has been wearing for 2 years however, that one was a quilted nylon one my friend Anna K. bought and now he has outgrown it so he needed a new one.

He likes it and I like it. So, there you have it. A new hat with some leaves on it.

front hallway

I haven't show any photos of our home in some time.

Here is a corner I am especially pleased with. I bought the printers tray several months ago and have been adding miniatures and trinkets here and there. I love that I can easily swap out items to change my display when the mood strikes.

The table I picked up this past weekend. It is a vintage manicurist's table from the Art Deco era and I absolutely adore it. It is on wheels so if you like you can come over and we can do each others nails. I am partly kidding but, that would be sort of fun I think. Maybe we can put our hair in curlers too.

And, here is a closer up view of some of the miniatures I have on display right now.



I am looking forward to placing my big bowl of Halloween candy on the table next Friday. Hopefully we get a lot of trick or treaters because I've got 3 bags of chocolate miniatures of different varieties here.

I've been training the boy to say: " I like raisins and my Mommy likes dark chocolate." Somehow, I doubt too many people hand out dark chocolate.

baby legs

If you have been reading this blog for over a year then you may remember I made these last year. I've had them and waited for the day to arrive when she would wear them.

They are made from an angora/merino blend from Jamie Harmon that I purchased at Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhineback, NY last year.
I missed it this past weekend. I am a little sad because I love going and upstate NY in October is so pretty.

By the way, Ms. S is also wearing a blouse from my baby days in this photo. I love that blouse. I might shed a tear when she doesn't fit it anymore.

I'd show her face but she has a cold right now. But, those legs are so cute, no?

capelets

A
capelet
is
a bit old fashioned but in the best way I think

A little sweater to ward off the chill

Perfect for Fall.

I made three of them.
Plum, Forest Green and Palest Pink.

I will be selling them or at least 2 of them.
I might have to keep the plum one for my
little Plum Pudding

dolly pillows

I made these sweet dolls over the past few days. I had been wanting to print on fabric for awhile now. I didn't know it was so easy. I made one with a vintage black and white photo as well and would like to do more with old photographs and more dolls with vintage patterns.



Also, how fun would it be to rock Mama to sleep or Grammie or The Big Bad Brother... I mean Wolf.

window display

Today we went for a drive to Hoboken to drop off some items at Mackey Blue- hats, kerchiefs, cowls, baby items, brooches, bobby pins, badges etc. I forgot to show you some of my new things and now they are there and my camera ran out of battery before I got a chance to shoot them. Doesn't that stink? Oh well, I can't sweat it. The badges I made were with Liberty of London fabric and kind of a sweet little touch to your lapel. I guess I'm sort of into that thing. I also made a pair of t-strap knit baby shoes that I really liked. Too bad they were too small for Ms. S or maybe that's a good thing otherwise I would have kept them.

The last few days I was crazy putting the finishing touches on my stuff- sewing tags on, printing tags, putting pom poms on hats, making bobby's and badges. Having everything organized and well labeled is a lot of work!

Of course, there would have been a lot more items had I not spent so much time trying out new designs I have yet to figure out.

I managed to snap a few shots before the battery went kaput. Here is the window I previously mentioned I was a part of.

I can't believe I didn't buy anything. I wanted to... I really really did.

a dollar and a day hat

I happened upon Rowan Big Wool last Friday on sale for a $1 a skein. I bought six but, wished I bought two others.
This hat takes one and I actually have Big Just Got Better showcasing projects with this yarn and had wanted to do this so YEAH!
A dollar and a day = new hat for me.

Happy Weekend!
It's called Vinster by the way

quilt top done

I finished sewing the quilt top for Mr. Crazy. I mean Little M. I'm waiting for the batting via the UPS man (it came today) so I can put it together.

It is the Easy Lap Quilt from Bend-The-Rules. Yes, I like this book.

I picked fabrics that would work in my boy's room and that I thought he would like and of course they had to meet my approval.

His favorite color is blue so I put that in there. It's the one with the French Flags and for me it represents two of his favorite books - The Red Balloon and Anatole.

The train fabric is perfect for a boy and represents his love for all things that GO.

The brown and white alphabet is great for a kid and it will be fun for him to find the letters

The solids- red, yellow and gray worked with the fabrics. Plus, my favorite color is red and his middle name is gray and yellow well I don't have a reason for the yellow but, I like it with the others.

This will be for his birthday and I've got a little over a month to go. Do you think I can finish it? I hope so. I'm nervous about quilting it without a walking foot to aid me. I might just order one. We'll see.

It's a surprise so hopefully he won't see it in the attic. I've got to remember to keep hiding it because he likes to come up here a lot and pretend sew and stuff. I wonder why....

another cute dress the baby can't wear yet

Another cute dress the baby can't wear yet. It's actually a size 3. I made this a month or so ago.
Yes, her closet is becoming a lot more fascinating then mine these days.

I've got to get my act together and photograph all the crocheted items my Grandma made for me that Scarlet now wears.
It is the only thing that is holding me back from knitting for her non-stop. Most of the items are typical baby colors- red, pink, yellow, cream but there are some other colors and some cute skirts that are waiting for her to grow into. A lot of the crochet sweaters look a bit similar to Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Sweater which I would love to knit. Along with the leggings/tights in that book. I'm actually quite fascinated with knitting tights and skirts at the moment but, have yet to act on this.

Anyway, this is supposed to be about the dress. I adored this fabric from Reprodepot and knew it was meant to be a toddler dress. This dress has a twin out in blog land I saw some time ago and of course I can't remember who made it but, it obviously stuck with me. I had the pattern and just lengthened it to the length that hopefully Ms. S will be in a few years.

teapot cozy

I knit up a new teapot cozy the past few days. It is Autumn and I'm starting to want to make things cozy around the house. Along with everyone else I am drooling over the new Toast catalog especially those bed linens.

I made up this pattern as I went along so I was happy to see that it worked and fit the teapot I had in mind. If anyone is interested I would be happy to measure mine and explain what I did.

Yesterday, I also finished knitting my neck warmer button up in the herringbone stitch. You can see it here.

I have been accumulating piles of new items to bring to Mackey Blue. Here are some of the items. Unfortunately, a lot of my new ideas have not been working out so far. A lot of knitting and un-knitting hats and wrist warmers. Sometimes there can be some trial and error when creating new patterns.

How was your weekend? We hosted a dinner party on Saturday and yesterday I got to meet some very nice fellow NJ Etsy girls and we all shopped from each other. I sold quite a bit so, that is always nice.

I am having the worst luck in finding the right shade to complete my sweater I previously showed you. It is making me crazy. The yarn I ordered is too dark and I've looked on Etsy, Ebay and posted to Ravelry as well as checking with a few stores in my area. It's Sheep Shop 2 F107 Eggplant. Maybe a fellow blogger reading has it? I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that the latest batch the stores are waiting for will match. Please don't make this fatal mistake. Always buy enough yarn for your project. Enough said.

a day at the orchard

Today was wonderful.
All four of us went to an apple orchard.
Apple trees are beautiful.
I love them so very much.

I can't wait to bake them and make them all sorts of ways.
*Home made applesauce
*Apple pies with sour cream or raspberries
*Apple cinnamon toast
* Apples sliced with a good cheddar makes a nice lunch.

I'd like to try this which was suggested by Abby.
I think I've got a good cake recipe somewhere that I made last year that had apples.
There are so many good ways to eat them.

How about bobbing for apples on Halloween? We just may do that if we have any left. We got 23 lbs. of apples so I think there is a good chance.

servant dress

Here is my servant dress. The pattern is Lynne's and I really enjoyed making it. I love it in this crisp cotton. I think it might also be nice in a organic flannel with long sleeves and lengthened as a nightgown. Of course, my daughter is not quite ready for 'servitude' yet.

My son though I like to put to work. He actually loves to dust, vacuum, cook, clean, mop up etc.
And, here is my proof. This photo is a bit old though- a year and half ago. Oh, time flies.