Pine Forest Baby Blanket

 I've been spending a lot of my free time knitting up a special present for a new member of our family!  My cousin and his wife are having a baby very soon and we are all so excited!  I wanted to make them something special because this is the first baby in the family!  They are waiting to find out the gender of the baby until he/she is born so I searched for a gender neutral pattern for the blanket.   The baby room is so cute!  It is owl themed and gray and blue so I also wanted to keep the same colors so it would match!

In the end I picked out Pine Forest Baby Blanket which is a free pattern on Ravelry!  The pattern was so easy to memorize which was great because if I didn't work on it for a few days I would still remember the pattern when I picked it up again.  I used really thick yarn and larger needles to make the blanket go faster.  Because of school I did not have all the time I wanted to work on it so I needed it to go a bit fast.  In the end I still ended up giving it to the parents later then I wanted because I had to order more yarn.  I used Baby Bee Yarn in the color Toy Elephant!  It is super soft!

Knit Nerd is also working on the Pine Forest Baby Blanket!  It is so fun to see someone knitting on the same project as you and also feeling a little bit overwhelmed by it as well!

I really wanted to make a cute tag for the gift as well with washing instructions.  I had some old owl fabric given to me by a friend and I thought it would be perfect because it matches the theme of the baby room!  I had a bunch of old mat board scraps from when I worked at the art gallery so I used one of them for the card and then I cut out two owls, a boy and a girl one, from the fabric and simply hot glued them onto the card.  If I had more time I would have loved to go out and get letter stencils to make the lettering look nicer, but overall I think it came out okay!

I am also working on another gift for a friend of mine so I cant post any photos, but you can see some of the early progress of the project on my instagram.  Hopefully it will be done soon so I can post some photos!

Endless Tomatoes = Endless Sauce

 The garden has been doing really well this season!   During the summer I wanted to try to grow a bit more of a variety other than the tomatoes we always grow.  So I jumped in and decided to try peppers, kale, romaine, spinach, and broccoli!  My spinach, romaine, and kale did awesome until a rabbit came and ate them all.  I did manage to same some of my kale which I have under crates now so the rabbits cant get to them and they are doing a lot better.  At the beginning of the season my pepper plants started out really weak and I figured they would not grow.  I decided to leave the plants in and see what happens.  I was so excited when in late September I had a nice big green pepper!  Something similar happened with my broccoli and now I have about 5 heads of broccoli growing!  Its so exciting to see my plants prevail!  I didn't think they would grow! 

We have two small gardens on either side of our house.  The peppers and kale were planted on one side and the broccoli on the other.  I had the Romaine and spinach in containers.  Our tomatoes were planted on both sides of the house.  We have about 12 tomato plants growing at once, mainly because my dad and brother devour them once they are ripe.  My mom and I have other plans for our tomatoes though.  

There is only one thing to do when you have endless amounts of homegrown tomatoes and that is to make tomato sauce!  This recipe is perfect for using up all of those homegrown tomatoes and perfect for putting on homemade pizza! If you are not a gardener do not worry!  You can also score cheap, ripe tomatoes at the grocery store.  They are normally marked down in price because they are too ripe to sell within the next few days.  Just remember once you buy them you will need to use them up fast!  This recipe is very simple and you can easily alter it to fit the amount of tomatoes you have on hand. 

Homemade Tomato Sauce

for Pastas, Pizzas, Rice, Soups, Stews, ect. 

(Best with very ripe homegrown tomatoes)

*Note:  This recipe has you keep the skins on the tomatoes while cooking.  If you do not like the skins in your sauce then see the note towards the bottom of the recipe.

Ingredients: 

2 Cloves of Garlic

1/4 C Olive Oil

1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (can add more if you like)

8 Basil Leaves

2 Tbsp Tomato Paste

Approximately 2 Pounds of Ripe Tomatoes (can use less, or more)

Pinch of Salt

Pinch of Ground Pepper

Crush the garlic with a garlic press (If you do not have a garlic press you can finely chop garlic).  Put in bowl until later. 

Wash and rinse tomatoes,  On a cutting board cut up the tomatoes into small pieces.  They do not have to be perfect cuts since they will be cooking down.  Put all tomatoes including the juice and seeds into a bowl.  (If you do not like seeds in your sauce then you can strain after cooking.)

In a sauce pan add olive oil and garlic and cook on medium heat until you can smell the garlic (about 1-2 minutes)

Add in the tomatoes, crushed red pepper, salt, and ground pepper. Bring the pot to a simmer and let the tomatoes cook down.  This could last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the amount of tomatoes you have.  Remember to stir often.  

Once tomatoes are cooked down rip up the basil into small pieces and stir into the pot.  Continue to cook for 3 minutes.  

Once done you can either strain the sauce to get rid of the seeds, or you can keep the seeds in.  ( I personally do not mind the seeds in my sauce but sometimes there might be a bit too much so you can strain either half the batch or the whole batch of sauce)

This sauce stores very well in the fridge or in the freezer.  You can make large quantities and store for later.  It is perfect for pasta and pizza.  I even use it in soups and chilies sometimes.  

*Note: If you do not like skins in your sauce you will need to blanch the tomatoes and peel off the skin.  First boil a pot of water.  Put each tomato in the water for a few seconds.  Take out the tomatoes and place them in an ice water bath until cool.  Once cool you can slice a part of the skin and easily peel the skin off.  Then cut up the tomatoes into small pieces and continue with the recipe. 

*If sharing this recipe please link to this page. Thank you!

"Mostly Void, Partially Stars"

I am finally getting around to quilting my Stars Quilt!  I am so excited!  This is my first quilt and I have learned a lot from making it!  I know, and have accepted, the fact that there are many mistakes that I have made in this quilt but I think it will add to the character and I will take them as a learning experience.  

School has started up again and this semester is going to be much harder then the last.  I wanted to try to finish all of my WIPS lying around the house before school takes over, and this quilt was one of those projects on my list!  I mainly have been quilting it at night because of school and work and it helps me relax and fall asleep.  

I use my mothers old sewing machine.  My dad bought it for my mom when they were dating and I love it!  I love using an older machine, especially one that has meaning.  I am still learning a lot of the different settings on the machine and I am constantly looking back into the manual for tips and tricks.  I started quilting this completely free hand (I am just doing straight lines) and some of my lines were closer together then others and some were a bit wavy.  While I was rummaging through the boxes of accessories to the machine I found a quilting guide which I attached to my machine and it has been so helpful!  It has an adjustable bar that acts as a guide to help with straight line quilting! Now my lines look ten times better!  

I have been really enjoying listening to some podcasts while I am sewing and quilting and even knitting.  I am loving Welcome To Night Vale.  I love the weird sense of humor and I look forward to their little proverbs at the end of each episode!  They have a Welcome To Night Vale mug for sale that is on my wish list!

Hopefully I will be done with this quilt before school gets busy and I wont have to put it on hold again!

Easy Breezy Baked Pancake

Lately I have been obsessing over baked pancakes!  Yes, BAKED pancakes!  They are easy, fast, and so fun to make!  My mom and I have been experimenting and adding a bunch of different fruit to the mix including blueberries, bananas, raspberries, and next on our list are apples and of course peaches! I have been adapting the recipe to make it more healthy as well!

This recipe is perfect for a busy family, no more spending 15 minutes flipping pancakes, stores very well in the refrigerator and it also tastes great when heated up later!

Easy Breezy Baked Pancake with Blueberries, Banana, and Walnuts

Ingredients:
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1T Ground Flax Seed (optional)
1-1/2 tsp Baking Powder
3T Granulated Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 Cup Whole Milk (or Almond Milk)
1 Egg
1/3 Cup Blueberries
1 Banana (sliced)
2 Walnuts (chopped small)
1 T Butter for pan
Cinnamon for sprinkling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, flax seed, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  In a separate bowl whisk the egg and milk together.  Combine wet ingredients with dry and mix together.

Melt butter and coat pan.  Pour batter in pan.  Sprinkle blueberries, walnuts, place banana slices, and sprinkle cinnamon on top.  Can sprinkle more sugar on top if desired.

Bake in oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown.  Let cool 5 minutes before serving.  Cut pancake in "pizza" like slices.  Serve with syrup and any extra banana slices and blueberries on side.
Enjoy!

*Note: You can exchange blueberries, bananas, and walnuts for any other toppings.  Try just blueberries, or blueberries and raspberries combined!  Whole Wheat flour can also be exchanged for white flour.

*If sharing this recipe please link to this page. Thank you!

I have also been obsessed with mug-rugs!  I used this mug rug tutorial by Verykerryberry!  It was a great tutorial, super easy to follow, and I loved the result!  I used left over fabric from a bag I made a while ago and I feel super fancy when I am relaxing and using my mug rug and matching knitting bag at the same time! I have made another mug rug which I will be sending to my friend but I want it to be a surprise! The mug-rugs were a great way to practice free motion quilting without having to worry about messing up a huge quilt top!  I am thinking of making a few more before I move on and finish my Star Quilt (which I will do another blog post about when it is done).

Earth Necklace

I recently got a new camera and I am still learning how to use it!  I thought the first subject to practice on should be my Earth necklace!  I love jewelry making, it is one of my favorite handcrafts! I bought these beads and the large focal bead at a local bead show a few months ago and I just recently had the time to create. The beaded rope is one long continuous crocheted rope and I made it so that it would fit into the focal bead.  This is one of my most favorite necklaces I have made so far! 

  The theme for this necklace was Earth.  The beads have hints of blue and green in them and the larger focal bead has brown tones.  I also chose the leaf bead caps because they fit in and worked so well.   I am not sure what my next theme necklace will be but I am excited to start planning!  Maybe by then I will have learned more about my camera and my pictures will be a bit better! 

A Pot of Chili

One thing my family loves is chili!  We can eat it any time of year, for any occasion and be completely satisfied.  My mother and I have been using the same chili recipe for years and each time we make it we always try to improve it.  This week my grandpa came over for my college graduation so my mother made a big pot for all of us.  

Here is our current healthy Too Hot To Trot Chili:

(picture shown has both lean ground turkey and tofu)

Ingredients:

2lbs lean ground turkey (if making it vegetarian you can add more beans and 2 squares tofu cut into small cubes if you would like)

1 medium sized onion

1/2 large pepper, chopped (can use green or red or a mix of both)

1 small jalapeno, seeds removed, chopped small

1 celery stalk, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 can diced tomatoes

3/4 jar of low sodium tomato sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 15oz can of each dark, light kidney beans and black beans 

Splash of hot pepper sauce

Dash of chipotle chili pepper

Dash of cayenne pepper 

Dash of Red pepper flakes

Pepper

9 Tbsp chili powder

4 Tbsp cumin

Step 1: Brown ground turkey in microwave. (If making vegetarian then skip this step, add in beans or tofu later in recipe) (If using tofu press to get excess fluid out before adding)

Step 2: Sautee onion, pepper, jalapeno, celery and garlic in non stick pan with olive oil until onions are soft

Step 3: Place remaining ingredients and sauteed vegetables in large crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.  If cooking on stove cook for 2 hours in large pot making sure to stir every 10 minutes on med/low heat.  

It is a very simple recipe, basically a one pot dish and tastes great when reheated!  

*If sharing this recipe please link to this page. Thank you!

Game of Thrones Mkal

Hello everyone! I just recently got hooked on Game of Thrones!  I came in very late, however I have managed to catch up and I am obsessed!  I decided to join in on the Game of Thrones Mkal that has been going around on Ravelry.  This is a shawl knit a long and the shawl is inspired by Daenerys Targaryen, one of my favorite characters!  It is a beautiful lace pattern so far and I am having a great time knitting on it!  Each clue comes out every Sunday with the release of a new episode so you have plenty of time to work the whole clue before the next one.  

I am using Madelinetosh Pashmina in the colors Citrus and Hosta Blue.  I am loving the colors together!  These are the colors I in-vision when I see the mother of dragons!  The blue perfectly matches the blue dress she wears and the orange reminds me of fire! 

The colors in this picture more closely resemble the actual colors of the yarn.  I plan on striping the shawl and as for now I have a lifeline in just in case I do not like the stripes later on.  I do plan on getting a nice camera but for now this will have to do!

I am currently in the middle of clue 2 and the pattern asks you to work from two separate charts for each row.  I am enjoying the pattern a lot.  It is something that is a little bit out of my comfort zone but I am learning a lot!

So what do I love about this pattern so far?

• Easy to follow instructions!
• The pattern comes with both written out instructions as well as charts.
• Each clue can be finished in a reasonable amount of time.  
• It is so much fun! 

Who is your favorite Game of Thrones character?