a few of my favorite things...

elisa's christmas skirt



peanut butter fudge x6 (batches, that is)



mince meat pie...one of several in our "pie of the week" series

this holiday season has gone by so very fast, i didn't get a chance to finish much of what i started, but we did manage to accomplish a lot too.

beginning at thanksgiving, i made pies...pecan and pumpkin (fresh, not canned, thankyouverymuch) were first, then came the above pictured mince pie. i also made a strawberry-rhubarb pie and another mince pie. there is still an apple pie, and maybe another pecan pie still to make before we are finished.

i made peanut butter fudge...and boy did i make a lot! thanks to a misunderstanding of my daughter's interpretation of "1/2 c." i mistakenly assumed she meant "1 1/2 cups". in order to salvage my fudge, we ended up making the recipe X6, instead of X2. it made 7 pans full, lasted several weeks, and was given away as much as possible.

i was determined to sew elisa a skirt, which i did the night before it was needed, and proudly finished it at 2 a.m. before getting a few hours of sleep before the children's christas program! didn't it turn out cute? that fab fabric came from the clearance shelves at joann last year, super cheap too!

i also found an amazing recipe for lefse. i found glogg at ikea, which complimented our christmas eve dinner of lefse, potatoes and smoked norwegian salmon very nicely. this was the best batch of lefse ever! i am ready to make some more.

and last, but most definitely not least, i made cookies and the family favorites are my grandma corky's peppernuts. i have several rolls of them still in the freezer ready to bake, and then i believe i will need to make more of these too!

it's been a crazy holiday season, but it was great, and i was able to find time to do things with the kids and let them help with the baking. it was so much fun.

oh yes, and i found the best recipe for using up leftover ham...ham apple pie!!! it sounds crazy and i looked it up due to my facetiousness, but it was a hit with the whole family and will definitely be something we have again!

hope your holidays were great too, now to work on revamping my blog-dom...

christmas countdown...

i haven't had a lot of time to do crafty stuff, but i plan to get creative for the next few weeks for the holiday season.

here are a few things on my list:
*decorate the house for christmas
*stacking/knock-down toy for thad (cover cans with felt and embellish)
*neck pillows for the older two (planned for last year, but never done)
*advent calendar (need to get on that one asap)
*elisa's christmas skirt (or dress? haven't decided yet)
*owl aprons for my co-workers
*bean bags for a co-worker, and some for thad
*finish hot pepper apron for a friend
*mail knitted scarves to the grandmas
*knit super-soft throw for thad
*knit diaper covers for photog friend
*photo shoot of kids for christmas cards
*photo shoot friend's kids for her christmas cards
*make said christmas cards and send off to be printed
*lots of baking, candy making, etc.
*paint/repair cedar chest and dresser freebies i acquired
*make jammies for thad, nick and elisabeth...maybe jerry and i too!

there are oh-so-many things i want to do, i need to be more focused and make more time to do it! time to get off the computer so i can get to work...maybe i'll actually accomplish some things to photograph so i can post about them!

dr. seuss armoire

it took long enough, but i did the nursery armoire and finally got to put it to use. it looks pretty good i think!

list progress...

below is the list i posted awhile back, and I'll note my progress on each item...

1. paint all of the walls in the interior of our house not finished
2. paint the armoire for the nursery not finished
3. paint the dresser for the master bedroom finished
4. paint the papasan for the teen's room scratched off list, teen didn't want papasan any longer
5. sew papasan cushion for painted papasan see above
6. sew cushion covers for the glider and ottoman in nursery not finished
7. sew dust ruffle for crib scratched off list, baby will be in toddler bed pretty soon i'm afraid!
8. sew neck pillows for teen and tweener not finished
9. knit diaper covers for my photographer not finished
10. knit wool diaper covers for baby's bum debating on this one
11. sew diapers for baby's bum debating this too
12. sew fleece diaper covers for baby's bum and debating this also
13. sew quilt and shams for teen's bed (redecorating for b'day) he's still deciding what he wants, not finished
14. make french memo boards for my workspace, tweener's room, office and sewing area not finished
15. finish knitting throw for tweener's room not finished
16. knit throw for teen's room see #13
17. knit two throws for family room not finished
18. knit throw for master bedroom not finished

so yeah, not much progress in this area done at all. i did get the bookshelf finished, to match the dresser, but haven't taken pictures and didn't put it on the list. my next projects are the armoire for baby's room, small dresser painted for bathroom, and painting all of the interior walls of the house. i really want to so some sewing too, but with school and the kids home for the summer, time seems very fleeting. those diaper covers for my photographer friend need to get finished too!

dresser finished...

finally!!!

Below you can see the work in progress...the finish was a reddish cherry color, and the knobs and handles were pretty hideous because they were this gold/brass color, but didn't match each other in style, and they were plastic with the metallic paint peeling off.

I spray painted the dresser black and replaced the knobs/handles with nickel colored hardware from Target. I love how it looks now (bottom picture), and now that I have clothes put away in it, I can start working on what to put on the top of it for decor. I'm sure more pictures will come later on!

necessity is the mother of invention...

thad fell off the bed the other morning and fractured his left humerus, it's not bad enough to need a cast so we are supposed to keep it wrapped up and against his body so he can't move his arm...with a 9 month-old, yeah right! so i decided to make something for him that would work and the above picture is what i came up with. i'm thinking of how i can make it better and plan to look into a patent for it! i just need a cool name for it...

katee didn't...

do much along the lines of being creative in the past few weeks, unless you count the no-bake and snickerdoodle cookies i made for the youth fundraiser lunch after church last sunday. here's a picture to make your mouth water...



i've pretty much put sewing and knitting on the backburner for now. i'm working on catching up on school assignments for my 7 college courses, getting the house in order for our rental inspection, and have been dealing with a sick kid who had to have surgery, along with stuff for our family business. one of these days i'll have a bit more time to do the creative things i want to do. i am still working on painting that dresser, it's been a slow work in progress. the drawers are all painted, now i'm working on attaching drawer pulls but have to drill new holes which is proving to be a pain because the drawer fronts are curvy and it's hard to measure exactly 3" on them. i hope to have it and a bookcase finished by this weekend so i can organize the master bedroom. then i need to paint the walls of the main rooms of the house before next friday too!

it's getting crazy up in here!

jerry rigged....tuna casserole...

jerry's my hubby, so occasionally i might post about something he's done...

back when i was pregnant, i was feeling horrible all of the time, my hip and pelvic bones were out of whack (what do you expect for a 9 lb. 6 oz. baby who was 2 weeks early, right?). so he started fixing dinner several nights a week to give me a break, even though i was home and he was working all day.

one night he decided to try to make tuna helper (with chicken because he "hated" tuna). he made two boxes and decided to get "fancy" and make it in the oven as a casserole. he followed the directions for one package, not two, so it ended up with super thick sauce, and a few of the rotini were a bit crunchy. it was pretty good! since then, we've added things to it, like chopped broccoli, bread crumbs (decided against that one), and adding cheese to the top just a few minutes before it's done. it's actually turned into a family favorite, and the majority of the time he takes over the kitchen and fixes it to still give me a break. he's taking a little early evening nap, so i'm fixing it tonight...yum! (unfortunately, no extra broccoli in the freezer tonight, but still looking forward to it anyway.)



oh yeah, he doesn't hate tuna any more!

bloggity blogging...

i have taken the past two days and redone the backgrounds of all of my blogs, that's my "katee did it" for the weekend. if you want to check them out, go to my main blog looking toward the Son and the links are on the sidebar. i just love the options available from the cutest blog on the block. if your blog needs a free and easy facelift, check them out!

on another note, i've started painting the freebie furniture i have sitting in my garage. it's part of my objective of getting organized, so i can start creating stuff more often (along with organizing the garage so we can set up a home gym with our weight machine and a treadmill, along with the other miscellaneous stuff we have to workout with). the first dresser is going in my bedroom, partly to hold sewing stuff since that's where i'll be setting up my permanent work space. the other things i have to paint are an armoire for the baby's nursery (which will be complete with dr. seuss decoupaged drawer pulls), a book case (also for my room/work space), a small dresser (for my bathroom), and a papasan chair that will go into my older son's room. once this stuff is all out of the way, the workout space can be set up too. i'm so excited to finally be making some headway in getting organized so these creative juices can flow more freely!

too much planning...

too little doing.

i need to jump in and get some sewing projects finished. it just seems that life keeps coming up and getting in the way. it needs to stop!

i'm almost finished with the pink newborn diaper cover for my friend, then i'll have three to go for her. (and at least 3 for myself) hopefully i'll have a picture of it to share tomorrow. i am finished with the body of the piece and have one leg's ribbing knitted, so i need to do the other leg and then sew it up and it will be completed. i think i'm going to skip the crocheted chain drawstring tie for hers because they'll just slip on and off for photo shoots, unlike mine being used to actually cover cloth diapers.

i think i'm going to sew some soakers before i knit my own though, just so i'll have a couple of fleece soakers for baby dude to wear over the cloth dipes. hubby's not thrilled with cloth, so i've been going back and forth, using both cloth and sposies. but now that money is so tight, i'm using cloth as much as possible and saving the others for when we go out or have someone babysit. i wish we could do it 100% of the time, but that's not going to totally fly with hubby, so i'll take what i can get. (someday he might get on board, we'll see.)

so tomorrow i'm going to finish the pink diaper cover, finish sewing burp cloths, and start something new...

project organization...

i have three notebooks and a calendar/organizer, and i am using them to organize different parts of my life. the calendar/organizer is a no-brainer, if i would just enter stuff into it (see how it's blank for this week? it's not as if i've had nothing to do or no appointments)... the blue one is for family stuff, currently it only has information about the kids' school projects entered in it. the green one is going to be for my college classes, but currently has a priority "to do" list written on the front page, no entries pertain to said classes. and then there is the pink one...

my pink one (the prettiest one IMO) is for my creative stuff and i've made a long list of things i want/need to do where sewing, knitting and decorating are concerned. boy have i come up with a long list! i need to get the burp cloths and cloth diapers finished quickly, and also finish up my knitted diaper soakers (three for me, and four for my toddlerazzi friend), and then...



i just got the new amy butler book, little stitches for little ones, and i have made a list...and boy is it long! there were several things i was already going to do, but now this has given me focus on where i want to go with the nursery.

since the nursery theme is dr. seuss, i did an etsy search to see if i could get ideas since dr. seuss fabric is a rare (and expensive) find. i found a couple of pictures of a perfect little smock that has become my inspiration for the nursery. so now to find fabrics in a similar pallet to create an amazing nursery for my little snuggle bear!

working on a sling...

i'm a member of a "sew your own diapers" yahoo email group. i have been privately emailing another member to learn how she makes her adjustable pouch slings. i'm trying one with some extra fabric i have laying around here, just to get the jist of how to make the adjustable part (and the cushioning because that's confusing me too). i think i have it mostly figured out, we'll see. once it's finished i'll take some pictures...then get the fabric i really like and make a "real" one!



so many projects in the works...(here's a partial list)
1. paint all of the walls in the interior of our house
2. paint the armoire for the nursery
3. paint the dresser for the master bedroom
4. paint the papasan for the teen's room
5. sew papasan cushion for painted papasan
6. sew cushion covers for the glider and ottoman in nursery
7. sew dust ruffle for crib
8. sew neck pillows for teen and tweener
9. knit diaper covers for my photographer
10. knit wool diaper covers for baby's bum
11. sew diapers for baby's bum
12. sew fleece diaper covers for baby's bum
13. sew quilt and shams for teen's bed (redecorating for b'day)
14. make french memo boards for my workspace, tweener's room, office and sewing area
15. finish knitting throw for tweener's room
16. knit throw for teen's room
17. knit two throws for family room
18. knit throw for master bedroom

okay, i'll stop there because that will keep me busy all year...that doesn't include the sweater/hat/booty set i want to make for baby or the three prayer shawls i'd like to make for friends who are sick.

bartering diaper covers...

works for me! i posted a picture of the diaper cover on my facebook profile and the photographer who took thad's newborn pictures offered a barter. i haven't had the cash to get the pics i wanted yet. so if i knit her a few of these (not sure what will be fair, we still have to work it out), she'll give me the cd of the photos to do whatever i want, copyright free. that's awesome, because that's worth a lot money-wise. if i were going to order them from her, i'd be spending at least $200 or so!

yay me! haha (yes, i watch too much disney with my tweener daughter!)



updated info: i am knitting her two newborn-sized covers, one in pink and one in baby blue, and then i am knitting her two larger covers (6+ months), both in bright and fun colors for older babies...stay tuned for pictures of the finished products!

first diaper "soaker" (cover)...

this turned out really cute, and i even impressed my hubby! this is the first item i have knitted that wasn't a scarf or throw or something else shaped as a rectangle or square. i found the pattern at ottobre design. if you link on their "print for free" tab, you'll find it there among a bunch of other cool stuff, but here's their direct link to the pattern.

i have wool/soy blend yarn that i'm going to try next. i've been told that acrylic will work, but that 100% wool is best. other people say that wool blends work well too. i have no idea, so i won't know until i try.

next up...the ottebre cloth diaper and teddy bear rattle. i'll be modifying the diaper by not using velcro closures, but pins or snappis, but i'm certain it will turn out cute because i'm using an old t-shirt and putting the picture on the bum of the diaper! stay tuned...

finally...

i have decided to start a "crafty" blog to talk about sewing, knitting, cooking, baking, etc. all of the things i like to "do" when i actually can take some time to do it.

i'm starting off the new year determined to do more of these things because i enjoy them and i'm tired of not doing them!

first on my list is a cute little red acrylic diaper cover that i've knitted. it's the first thing that is not square or rectangle, where i've actually had to increase and decrease...and i did a pretty darn good job, if i do say so myself! it still needs to be sewn together and i need to make the drawstring for it, so once it's finished i'll post a picture. this was a "test" item before buying wool to make diaper soakers to go over cloth diapers for my little one.

i'm on a tangent, and no one is going to stop me! haha