Solutions

I am sewing another flannel shirt for Adam. Yes, it is almost too warm for flannel, I know. I meant to start this project in the fall but never quite managed, and I very much want to check it off the list. Even with warm weather approaching, he'll probably be able to wear it once or twice this spring (I hope!) and for many falls and winters to come.

I started work Sunday, cutting the fabric, which is probably my very least favorite part of sewing. Part of the problem is that I find it difficult to line things up, place things just so, cut without slippage, and match up plaids, stripes, or whatever. But my dislike for this part of the process comes mainly from fear. It is so final. Once those cuts are made, they can't be undone. And I might not have enough fabric to try again. If I mess this up, I think, everything will be ruined.



Well, this time I messed it up. I worked it all out, lined up my plaids, cut the pieces out, and even re-cut a piece I hadn't lined up properly the first time. And then, I realized I had forgotten to cut out the collar twice. I had the top, but not the bottom. And I didn't have a big enough scrap left to cut another piece. Oh, dear.

So I fretted (understatement of the year) for a few minutes, then I hopped in the car and went to the fabric store, hoping they still had an exact match for the little swatch I was carrying. They did not. Honestly, and I'm not proud to admit this, I felt like crying about it. But, while explaining my predicament to the girl at the cutting counter, I hatched a plan. And when I got home, I surveyed my remaining bits and pieces of fabric and decided to take a make-do-and-mend approach. It won't be perfect -- at least, it won't be quite "as instructed" -- but maybe no one will notice. And, hey, it'll still be a shirt. At worst, Adam can wear it to garden or work on projects, and that's still valuable.

So, I messed up. But guess what? Nothing was ruined. And piecing together my own little solution was definitely a source of satisfaction -- and maybe even a little bit fun.

A list of food-ish things

I have this mish-mash of food-related stuff I've been meaning to post but, for some reason, keep not getting around to. So I'm just going to brain dump it here and now.

1. The Hearty Brown Lentil Soup in Love Soup. I've made few things from this book so far, and I've liked them all, but this is number one for ease, yum, and being filling. Plus, it makes a lot. I'd recommend the book if you, uh, love soup. Especially if you're a vegetarian (which I am): all the recipes are vegetarian, but there's still lots of basic, hearty stuff.

 

2. Black bean patties with corn relish and avocado cream sauce. I made these for the Super Bowl. Really good. Relatively easy. Only change I'd make is less lime in the avocado cream sauce. It was insanely limey.

3. Easy, yummy guacamole. I don't know why/how, but I have had bad luck with making guacamole. This was easy and yummy (as I said two sentences ago, but maybe you forgot?). I forgot the onions - after everyone left following the Super Bowl, I was putting away some chips and saw an onion on the counter and was all, where'd that come from? - but it was still really good, amazingly enough, even though it's so simple.

4. Speaking of things I've had bad luck with: chocolate birthday cake. It's Adam's birthday, which means chocolate-cake-baking time. I went with the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe for the third year in a row, what with it being the only non-fail chocolate cake recipe I've ever made. It's in the oven now, so wish me luck!

5. Lasagna in the slow cooker. This recipe was really easy, gave me a good use for some of the pesto I made and froze this summer and fall, and turned out pretty darn tasty. I recommend it. I made it yesterday afternoon and was able to forget about it (except for the part where it made the house smell like deliciousness) until we were ready to sit down to eat dinner. Awesome.

6. From months and months ago (how is this not already in a post?): I made my own pumpkin puree. Yeah, I was pretty proud of myself. We bought a jack-o-lantern pumpkin for Adelaide this fall, but we just left it intact on the front porch rather than carving it. So after Halloween, I decide to make use of it. I love doing stuff like that because it makes me feel all resourceful and what have you. Plus I love eating pumpkin seeds. Anyway, I'd never cooked a pumpkin or made a puree out of its guts, so I used this helpful tutorial. It took a lot longer than instructed to cook my pumpkin (it was huge, and took about an hour with the stovetop steaming method). But it worked! Hooray! And I cooked the seeds as instructed here.

Sit down to type up a long overdue blog post, baby wakes up from nap. Of course.

See you again sometime, folks! I promise!

In the nursery

I've been meaning to show you Adelaide's room, but I was waiting until it was finished. Then it finally occurred to me that it will literally never be finished, and that's a good thing. She's a baby. She's going to grow and change and find her own interests, and her room and what's in it will reflect that. What's on the wall now might not be on the wall in a year, and additional stuff will most certainly be added as part of an ongoing process. I'll make stuff. Adam will make stuff. And eventually Adelaide might make stuff. Out of the blue, we'll happen upon something that is just perfect for the space. It will evolve, just as it's been evolving for the past eight months. There is no "finished" here.

But Adelaide's room is "finished" enough these days for me to give you the tour, so here we go!

 

 

 

 




A few of my favorite on-the-wall things: The sailing swan was a lovely gift from Annette over at Waxy Pin (blog and her adorable shop). The paisley seas just kill me! The books print is from the Black Apple Etsy shop. And the alphabet letterpress print is from the One Canoe Two Etsy shop.



And, of course, there's my very favorite thing of all in the nursery, looking like such a big kid these days!

Other notes: The paint is Benjamin Moore Natura in Denim Wash. The braided rug, the hamper, and the big toy bin are from the Land of Nod. The crib and changing table are from Babies R Us. The rocking chair is an old one from Adam's family. And the barn bookshelf was built by Adam and his dad based on my design/request and is painted with Benjamin Moore Natura in Smoldering Red.

A green jumper

I really want to make Adelaide lots and lots of cute clothes. There are a couple of reasons, one being that I have intense dislike for a lot of the baby clothes in stores. The other reason being that I have just always wanted to be "that kind of mom."

So far, Adelaide's been around for about eight months and I've sewn her about four articles of clothing. Not quite what I was going for. But just before Christmas (like, the day before), I got a bee in my bonnet about sewing Adelaide a corduroy jumper to wear for celebrating with the extended family. Of course, I don't have a pattern for a jumper, but I decided to go for it anyway. How hard could it be?



Well, I used a onesie for the general size/shape and drew up a simple little pattern. Luckily, I had (and have) some corduroy on hand, bought months ago with baby outfitting in mind. I cut and sewed like a crazy person. I stitched the buttons on just before bed on Christmas Eve. It really wasn't that hard.



It also didn't really fit. It's too long, but that's not so bad. The real issue is that the bodice is too fitted. I didn't make any allowance for pulling it on over her giant cloth-diapered butt, and getting it over her head is not even an option, so she can only wear it when she's in a disposable, which is pretty much only when we're going to be out of town for two days or more. Whoops.

So Adelaide wore it once, and she'll probably never wear it again. But, on the other hand, I sewed her a Christmas jumper! Victory?

Hoosier Pie

I really didn't post about this back around Thanksgiving? Really? I didn't mention the recipe that turned Adam around on the concept of pecan pie?

Because it is pretty darn good.



Now, I like pecan pie. I prefer a Thanksgiving offering that includes both a pecan pie and a pumpkin pie so I can enjoy some of each. This year, we hosted Thanksgiving (for the first time! and we all survived!). I delegated pumpkin pie to my mom, but I knew I wanted to try the Hoosier Pie recipe from A Homemade Life. I read it a few months ago and made a note of the Hoosier Pie recipe.

See, Adam has said for years now that he doesn't like pecan pie. Fair enough, I guess. Well, no. Not fair. I couldn't just let that be. I needed to make him like pecan pie. (Healthy, I know.) And Hoosier Pie was going to be my secret weapon. Sure, it is a pecan pie. But it has chocolate! And liquor! And it is Hoosier Pie. This may not be a selling point for everyone, but Adam is from an Indiana family and is a lover of Hoosier basketball, so for me, this was like a little gift from the baking gods. Because with a name like that, he had to at least try it.

And he did try it. And he liked it. Ha! Winning!



The big pie went pretty quickly, too quickly to get photos, but I used some extra pie crust to make some mini pies a few days later. Rest assured, it was just as tasty in mini form.

(This recipe looks like the one.)

French macaroons

Oh, did you think I was going to start that whole "posting more regularly" thing ever right away? No, no...I totally meant to go a few weeks without posting and then start up with renewed vigor in mid January. I know you believe me because I would never ever lead you astray.

So, French macaroons.

The subtitle here should be "Now with 75% less failure."

I tried French macaroons a few years ago, and the failure at that time was complete. Those babies hit the trash before anyone, even Adam, caught sight of them. And you know that's bad, because I will eat anything with sugar in it. I even ate the fail fudge.

The degree of failure involved in that experience explains why I have been too afraid to try them again until the promise of backup in the form of my sister-in-law. So together we made a fresh attack. And it was not a total failure! Marginal success is mine!



These were some ugly cookies (the one in the photo was, by far, the best of the bunch), which is sad because I feel like half the point of macaroons is all the dainty, pretty fanciness. These were huge, due in part to the fact that they spread after piping and in part to some complete malfunction of spacial estimation on my part. (The book said to pipe two-inch rounds, but we ended up with at least one cookie sandwich that was bigger than my fist.) But, hey! They tasted fine. And I was quite proud of my first foray into real buttercream for the filling. All the cookies were eaten! None of them were thrown away! (Feeling good about the end result is easier when the bar is low. Very, very low.)

Buoyed by this lack of complete failure, I have already committed to a "next time" even! Let's just hope I do a little better with that commitment than I have with the "post more regularly" commitment thus far.