SEWING!! ...when not enjoying the wonderful, warm weather, power walking with my walking buddy Hannah and our strollers , feeding Baby P (who is getting to be such a chub and pulling up on everything), grilling out, packing for the big move, and of course reading, singing, cooking and cleaning.
Here are a couple of examples of what I've been making for Baby P. Little bubble leg overalls, diaper covers and trousers, gotta have that seersucker in the spring and summer!
These are a fun substitute for shorts and just look so precious and babyish. Find the tutorial here at MADE.
A summery clutch for me...there's a chance it was an attempted mother's day gift that didn't turn out just right. :) Everybody has those projects, good enough for me to use but not perfect enough for a gift. I love the fabric though!
...and a summery top for me...Simplicity 2360, adapted from a dress... My next project is a romper because I'm built with a long torso, I can't find one that fits me right. I ordered some fabric that I love (below)! I also ordered a piece of black and white polka dot jersey, I might make the romper out of that and a cute dress out of this. I want to be able to wear it a lot and I'm afraid rompers might come and go.
And this fun, little beside-the-bed pocket for my books and kindle and such. Tutorial here.
Lately, I've been noticing that lots of the sewing blogs I keep track of mention"Shabby Apple" in posts, on patterns or tutorials or they have a "Shabby Apple" button on the sidebar.
I finally got around to checking it out and everybody needs to know about this site! So, so cute and everything they have is droolworthy. I'm completely in love with the vintage style bathing suits, every single dress they have and the overall fun, flirty style-super wearable! I also love that they have great pictures of every angle of the garments and they have a really descriptive, specific fitting guide. (Important if you're going to order without trying on!)
My sweet husband, in anticipation of Mother's Day (and my birthday a few months from now, and Christmas :) gifted me with a new sewing machine!! Let me just tell you:
I. am. in. love.
It is amazing! It has features built in that my old sewing machine only dreamed about in its dreams. It's a Pfaff, which in my opinion (after researching and trying out Berninas, Brothers, and Vikings) is a superior machine...and quite beautiful (and really on sale). It sews through tons of layers of fabric without a hitch, makes perfect button holes, has INTEGRATED DUAL FEED (patented, specific to Pfaff, and wonderful!!), and has more than 100 stitches (including little turtles :). I really can't say enough great things!
If you're in the market for a sewing machine (Ashley and Sarah :), get a Pfaff!
My how a month does fly, especially in the spring when we can get outside (read: not bundling up in a blanket drinking coffee, blogging or napping with Baby P). Here's what I've been doing...
These books are so, so good. They were recommended to me by a friend and I've been enjoying them immensely! If you like fantasy then you will love these! Though this is way over-simplifying, think: "Harry Potter is suddenly dark, brooding, brilliant, good looking and goes to college."
I've also been finishing Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller and let me say that if you read ANYTHING, read this book. Keller's insights on American culture, analysis of those things that the human heart makes into idols, and application of Scripture are deeply convicting and incredibly uplifting and gospel focused at the same time.
Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God, it is a setting of the whole heart on something besides God. [...] Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractice to your heart, than your idol. [...]
Rejoicing and repentance must go together. Repentance without rejoicing will lead to despair. Rejoicing without repentance is shallow and will only provide passing inspiration instead of deep change. Indeed, it is when we rejoice over Jesus's sacrificial love for us most fully that, paradoxically, we are most truly convicted of our sin. [...] When we rejoice over God's sacrificial, suffering love for us--seeing what it cost him to save us from sin--we learn to hate the sin for what it is. [...]
(My favorite) To rejoice is to treasure a thing, to assess its value to you, to reflect on its beauty and importance until your heart rests in it and tastes the sweetness of it. 'Rejoicing' is a way of praising God until the heart is sweetened and rested, and until it relaxes its grip on anything else that it thinks it needs. (Keller 171-173)
Singing:
It's Easter season so it's been music, music, and more music preparation for Easter Sunday and other special services. There's a piece that we do every year with 70 member choir, organ, timpani and glorious brass that I absolutely love and I think the text is one of the most moving and beautiful poems ever written about Christ's resurrection.
Joy to the Heart
1. Look there! the Christ, our Brother,
comes resplendent from the gallows tree
and what he brings in His hurt hands
is life on life for you and me.
Refrain:
Joy! Joy! Joy to the heart
all in this good day's dawning.
2. Good Jesus Christ inside His pain
looked down Golgotha's stony slope
and let the blood flow from His flesh
to fill the springs of living hope. Refrain
3. Good Jesus Christ, our Brother died
in darkest hurt upon the tree
to offer us the worlds of light
that live inside the Trinity.
Joy! Joy! Joy to the heart
all in this good day's dawning!
Here is this "Joy to the Heart" by K. Lee Scott
performed on Easter 2009 by the choir
at the American Church in Paris.
My friend Zach is the organist and assistant there!
Cooking:
Well I have been cooking, but mostly on the grill. That's been great! We have been experimenting with marinates and rubs. I'll share some of our favorites soon.
Last week I had to take a dessert to a dinner so I looked on Tasty Kitchen for ideas. Found a great one!
Make it. I one and a halfed the nutella part of the recipe and topped it with simple whipped cream instead of the corn starch spiked cream. I also used a sweet tart shell recipe instead of plain pie crust, but that's just preference.
Cleaning: Well, I have been doing some packing and cleaning to get ready for our move at the end of June, a little yard work here and there in honor of spring and some wiping down baseboards on my hands and knees...but....I've mostly been doing some fun sewing projects.
Found a website that I love! Dana at MADE is so talented and she posts free tutorials for sewing projects from baby diaper covers to women's skirts and home improvement ideas. I've been making tons of these sweet diaper covers in cute prints for Baby P. They're not just for girls!! He's small enough to pull them off with a cute little onesie and a sun hat.
I've also been making little pants, shorts and overalls. Pictures to come...this post is already too long.
Happy Easter week! Reflect on what God has done for us through Christ, in His 'hurt hands' He brings life and peace and joy!
A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism
I loved this book and think the review above does a great job of summing it up, although I usually cringe when anything is compared to the Twilight series. I am an unabashed Twilight fan, but the whole new "vampire/werewolf" genre that is trying to ride on its success is full of absolute trash. This book is not in the same category at all, despite 'vampiric' characters and a brief reference to werewolves.
Anyway...this book was a recommendation from a friend who has tossed other great books my way, so I bought it immediately and didn't put it down. Six hundred pages later I was hankering for more and tantalized by the hook at the end which clearly pointed to an upcoming sequel. I will definately be looking out for it!
After finsishing A Discovery of Witches, I felt the need to supplement my diet of fantasy fiction with a little biography/literary criticism. I am a huge Jane Austen fan. I've read several biographies on her and I have one of those neat folio books from Barnes & Noble with maps, pictures, paintings, copies of letters and drawings, among other interesting facts and things about Jane Austen and her life. I've even read Jane Bites Back (in which Jane is actually a vampire and still living today), although I did refrain from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...
I'm now reading Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman. Isn't the cover great!?
I'm only a few chapters into it, but the preface was fascinating. Harman goes into the different ways that Austen's work (plots, titles, and quotations like the intro to Pride and Prejudice) have been used in everything from major news headlines to commercials to movies to operas to Facebook quizzes.
" 'All the reading world is now at Miss Austen's feet,' and a hundred years on, Austen is the only author who is instantly recognizable by her first name." (Preface xx)
That's true, you know! If it's an uncommon name, you could make some guesses. Charlotte. Ernest. Homer...no, wait?
For the past couple of months I've been searching for a really fantastic brownie recipe. I don't like box brownies. Put them in front of me and I'll eat potato chips instead- even though I'm a huge chocolate fan. I don't like crisp edges, chewiness, icing, chocolate chunks, or cake-like texture. I love dense, dark chocolatey, not too sweet, European style brownies. After trying many recipes and reading many more, here are the things you need to look for in a good brownie recipe then I'll share mine with you!
-Not too much flour. If the recipe calls for a ratio of more than 1 cup of flour to 5-7 oz. chocolate, then it's going to be cakey. Cakey = not good. -Lots of chocolate. Calls for melted chocolate, not just cocoa powder. -Calls for eggs but NOT baking powder or soda. Powder or soda makes them too fluffy and cake-like. -Calls for butter, not oil.
Now for...
Duh, duh-duh, duuuuuuhhhh!!!
The Brownies of My Dreams: 1 stick of butter 2 T. of strong, brewed coffee 6-7 oz. of bittersweet chocolate (this is preference, ok to use semi-sweet or a combination) 2 T. cocoa powder 1/2 c. granulated sugar 1/2 c. brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 3 large eggs 3/4 c. all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350, grease a piece of parchment paper to fit an 8x8 or small rectangular baking dish.
Melt butter and chocolate in a small saucepan, add cocoa powder, sugar and vanilla. Continue stirring over low heat until sugar mostly dissolved. Lightly beat 3 eggs in a separate small bowl or cup, stir about a cup of the hot chocolate mixture into the eggs while mixing then add eggs back into the saucepan. Add flour and salt, mix well.
Pour a bit of batter onto the parchment (helps weigh it down while you fold corners like wrapping a package so that you'll end up with a nice square edge). Add the rest of the batter. The good thing about baking with parchment is you can just lift the whole pan of brownies out and onto a cutting board. It would be great for cakes and things too!
Bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with crumbs stuck to it. This is a trick I'd never heard before. If the stick comes out clean, then they are overdone.
Ok, happy baking, I'll try to post some pictures later!
