Apple Sweaters!

I first spotted some adorable apple cozies on etsy, and I thought, "cute but silly"  Then I proceeded to wrap my apple in a paper towel to pad it in my work bag................  umm, not so silly after all!

I decided I could figure out how to make them myself since it seems like a good little take along project.  So I took some along last week (with the horrible coffee) to my Saturday job. 

Sure enough, I could figure it out!  I like to call them apple sweaters though, it makes me feel more accomplished to say I crocheted a sweater today.

Good day for soup

The other day we found so many lovely mushrooms at the grocery store that I decided it was time for some home made mushroom soup.   Here we have some ingredients to get started.  Look at the pretty mushrooms, shallots, butter and cream.....  mmmmm  Wait, where is the dry vermouth?

Oh there it is! 

These are the oyster mushrooms, you can tell why they are called that!

Next we have Shiitake.  I love Shiitake mushrooms! 

Baby Portabellas  How cute can a mushroom be?

Here we go, four kinds of mushrooms, two kinds of onions, beef stock, butter, dry vermouth, and fresh ground salt and pepper.  The cream goes in after it's been cooked and is off the heat.

oh dear, I forgot to get a picture of it in the nice soup crocks with garlic toast and cheese.  Well, use your imagination!

Good Coffee

As a general rule I prefer my coffee to taste like coffee, not hazelnut sundae's or toffee candy bars.  Coffee.  However on some rare occasions I like to put a bit of the whipped stuff on top and then sprinkle on some nutmeg and sugar for a treat.  Yesterday was going to be one of those occasions.  See the coffee below?  This is GOOD coffee.  What I made yesterday was NOT good coffee.

Yesterday was one of the rarish occasions when I was headed to work on a Saturday, and since it was also National Quilting Day and I would not be quilting I felt the need to make my travel coffee a bit more special.  So I topped it with whipped cream and reached for the nutmeg and sugar only to realize that it was empty.  Not a problem even though I was in a bit of a hurry by then, there was some cinnamon and sugar left over from the camper.  Well, that needed to be used up since it's not been camping season for about EIGHT months.  So I sprinkled it rather liberally on top, stuck the cover on and headed off.

Partway to work I took a much anticipated sip of the WORST COFFEE IN THE WORLD!

I have to say that again because caps lock cannot truly convey the HORRIBLENESS OF THIS COFFEE!

GASP!  TOOEY!

Heavens above, do not puke in the Jeep!  What is wrong with this coffee?  Was the new can of whipped cream sour?  It must have been.  I stopped and poured the steaming cup in the ditch.

sigh.

Once home I checked the whipped cream.  What?  sweet and good like it should be.   What on earth happened?  Next I checked the camper container of cinnamon and sugar.  Ahhhhh, not only was it NOT cinnamon and sugar............. it was in fact seasoned salt................. RANCID seasoned salt.

I can assure you that rancid seasoned salt is the worst thing to put on whipped cream. 

Do not try this at home.

Wine and totebags and aprons............. oh my

How about a nice bottle of wine?  A couple weeks ago I was meeting some friends for lunch and since it was sort of for their birthdays I made them each a tote bag -you can see them in the background, sad to say I didn't actually get a picture of them and they are really pretty green too!  anyway, birthday tote bags require something in them, so I found some wine (that I happen to love also) and made little wine bag covers.  If you are very clever you will see that there are two tote bags and 3 bottles of wine. Hah!  you know me! you think the third bottle is for me!  Well, you would be in error there, I picked that extra bottle up since one friend was bringing her daughter along and even though it wasn't her birthday, she is a sweetie, and she loves green, and I love her so she got one too.  And the bottle for me is in my wine cellar- so actually you were partly right.  Now, looking to the left you see the apron fabric yet again.  This has been the longest apron working I can imagine.  yards and yards of bias tape- sigh. 

I started encasing about a zillion edges with the aforementioned bias pain- oops I mean bias tape.  At one point I had to go buy more of the nasty stuff........... so I ended up starting at two different edges and meeting somewhere in the middle ( it felt a bit like Kansas) and oh, yes. Look what happens when I do that.  Deep heavy sigh.  I had sewn the exact same amount on each side and this is what met me in the middle.  I refused to pick out either end and just "winged it" by turning edges under and scrambling around a bit. 

Here is the finished, and admittedly, slightly dorky result.  I really pictured it much cuter in my head. 

The lovely Miss V is obviously a bit smaller than the pattern.  Hopefully it will fit her older sister better?

But then I have to admit, the little label I stuck on it is pretty darn cute.  Now to go drink my bottle of wine.

Daisy Bag

I'm back to working on the ruffle bags.  I was thinking spring while working on this one.

I need to get a final picture as I put some little daisy trip on the ruffle edge after this shot.  It really finished it nicely.  Then it went to daughter number 3 as she has a pair of daisy rain boots that I thought it would go perfectly with!  Maybe I can get her to take a picture for me, and I'll share that too.

It's a slow blog day here at the nest

oh man, almost had yet another snow day here at the Green house.  A few of us in the winter wonderland area are getting a wee bit tired of the white stuff.  But since I managed to fight my way through the white out and crazy drivers to get miss V to school and myself to work there isn't much sewing progress to show so I thought I'd show you a couple pictures I managed to get of my Boeuf Bourguignon.  "Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon".

I should have gotten more pictures of the process, but I was kind of busy trying to do it all correctly.  Here it is simmering in the oven.

And here is the final product.  Note that you clean the pot at one point during this recipe! 

And yes, it truly is as delicious as they make it out to be in the movie.  I will certainly make it again!

The Marilyn Bag

the lovely Miss V has an obsession with Marilyn Monroe lately.....  A couple of years ago I made her a really sweet totebag out of an old Marilyn t-shirt.  As V says, "Her face just does not look good with a bust line behind it"  

Well, it was a great bag, but it disappeared somehow.  Sigh.  So I went on ebay and found a different Marilyn T-shirt and went about making a new bag for her.  Here is the shirt getting cut up, along with some coordinating fabric for the bag body.

Marilyn pinned to the bag front........

Marilyn stitched on and trimmed........

handles.  Had to go with pink!  then I picked off part of Marilyn's hair so I could thread the handle behind it to make it look more integrated.

yeah, how did you like THAT big word? 

lining fabric! 

My helper laying UNDER the bag as I pin the handles on.  Thanks Zeller.

close up of handle detail.

bored yet?

oh yeah, another shot of the fabulous lining fabric.

And Viola!  The bag is done!  Woot!