Pickles Two Ways

Happy first official day of summer! I find this day rather hilarious because we have already broken several triple digit records and it feels more like late August than mid-June. But what better way to beat the heat than to make some cold, crunchy pickles? You barely even have to turn on your oven for these babies and they're ready in a couple of hours.

Adapted from Alton Brown

Regular Not Too Sweet Bread n' Butter Pickles

You will need:

2 medium cucumbers
1/2 an onion
1 cup of water
1 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups of sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon of celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon of pickling spice

Thinly slice the cucumbers and onions. Stuff them into a glass jar with a tightly closing lid. In a saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer 4-5 minutes. Pour the pickling juice into the jar full of cucumbers and onions. After a couple of minutes, top of the jar with the remaining juice in your pan. Let it sit out on the counter until it reaches room temperature. (Thankfully, it's boiling hot here, so it came off the stove at "room temperature") Seal the jar and stick it in the fridge until cold. Volia!

Sweet n' Spicy Pickled Goodies
Follow the directions as above, but use 1 cucumber, a little less onion, 4 banana peppers, two jalapenos and a couple of dashes of red pepper in the jar. (slice the banana peppers and jalapenos). Make the pickling juice as above. The spiciness level is easy to adjust. Also, it's easy to make a spicy and non-spicy version at the same time, just double the amount of pickling juice, stick whatever combination of cucumbers and peppers in your jars and go to town! I kind of want to pickle everything now. :)

If your kids are old enough, they can get involved filling the jars with their own vegetables and helping to measure the spices. It's good to make a few jars at once...they are highly addicting!

Happy Summer!

All-Natural Robot

From a 6"x3"brick of natural latex foam and wool batting to a cuddly, squishy robot!

WHY did I have a 6"x3" block of natural latex foam to make said robot? Well, we were in the market for a new mattress and being the super shopper that I am, I started researching mattresses. Healthy sleep makes happy people, right?
Our old bed was well, old. And really lumpy. Anyway, it doesn't take much research to come across what I felt were valid concerns about the safety of the chemicals used in making mattresses flame retardant. If you want to freak yourself out, just Google "flame retardant chemicals in mattresses". (Don't do it if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, you don't need the stress)
My basic "good quality, affordable price" research turned into a full-blown hunt to find a natural but competitively priced option. During said hunt, I came across The Natural Bed Store. They generously offer a sample of their mattress making materials.

In the end, we went with a Natura Green Spring and are very pleased. But I couldn't let such nice materials go to waste! Ben loves his little "woe-wot" and I loved exercising my creative muscles. I used all of the sample...the ribbon tied around it turned into the robot's face and arms. His body is black corduroy for the seemingly endless supply in my fabric stash, and the star is from an old moth-ruined cashmere sweater. I'm proud of myself for making something using only what I have. I need to make an effort to do that more often!

Belinda's Dream Rose

For Mother's Day, I got a rose bush from the Antique Rose Emporium. I've been wanting an antique rose bush since we got a yard. Today, I got my first rose! The name of this shrub is Belinda's Dream. Lovely, no?


Sadly, we are in a serious drought and temperatures are more like late July than early June.
See those scattered thunderstorms? The weatherman keeps teasing us about water falling from the sky, but it's been a long time since that's happened in my yard. I'm working hard to keep all the plants we put in this spring alive.

My Coral Drifter has a little bloom explosion going on right now. One of the benefits of Knockout and Antique rose varieties is their hardiness. Their dainty good looks are just a ruse.

My container cherry tomato plants have some fruit now, this one plucked too soon by an over-eager toddler. Too bad it isn't big enough to fry!

All this "look at my inspiration board" and "look at my garden" may lead one to believe that there has been no knitting, crafting, or doll making of any kind...but there has! I just haven't gotten decent photos of anything. Soon, my friends, soon.

Quilt Inspirations

1. Yellow Brick Road Back, 2. Yellow Cross Quilt, 3. red and yellow stripes, 4. Cross quilt, 5. deutsche quilt finished - front, 6. bubbs quilt top, 7. Orange and Yellow Zig Zag Quilt back, 8. Yellow Blanket Throw Roses, 9. Orange and Yellow Zig Zag Quilt

You know it's summer when you start thinking about...quilts. Ok, maybe that's just me. But lately I've been thinking a lot about making my son a quilt. Yellow is his favorite color, I've been wanting to try to make a zig-zag quilt, bam! I should do it.

But yellow is probably my least favorite color ever. Orange might be worse, depending on the shade. Warm colors are just not my thing. This is not for me though...but I also have to look at it.

What to do? Anyone have any favorite yellow fabrics out there?

Circle Socks

 Pattern: Circle Socks by Ann Campbell (it's free!)
Yarn: Paton's  Kroy Sock FX in Cameo Colors
Needle: size 2 DPNs

 Modifications: I worked these toe-up over 56 stitches, with the stitch pattern over the instep. I would not have added the pattern to the instep if I was planning on wearing these with shoes. Also, I only worked 2 rounds of purl stitch instead of 3 because I hate purling in the round.

Verdict: I love these socks! They fit well and will be cozy to have around when the weather cools off again. The stitch pattern is simple and easy to memorize, but it gives dramatic results. The only thing I'm bummed about is that even though I bought yarn from the same colorway and dye lot, the colors don't match as closely as I would like.

Box Bag Bonanza!

Remember when cute little box bags were all the rage on the crafting blogs a few years ago? Well, I never forgot and I have spent the past month or so making some. Shows you where I am on my crafting to-do list!

Anyway, these are fun and quick little projects that make nice gifts (unless, of course, all of my friends with Spring birthdays are lying to me to spare my feelings). I used this tutorial as a starting point for mine, and adjusted the dimensions as necessary. Also, I zigzagged the edges between steps 6 and 7 so the edges wouldn't fray inside and get all over your stuff.

The first one I made was for my good friend, crafty partner in crime, and birthday buddy Tiffany. She is a voracious knitter so this one was made with a 12" zipper and 16" of length to make it a good size to hold all of her sock projects.

She's set a goal to knit a pair of socks a month in 2011. Holeee crap. You can see her first three pairs here.



Open it up and it's always spring inside!

The next one is for my friend Jenn, who dosen't knit, but loves pedicures and is an amazing photographer. I made hers a bit smaller - a 9" zipper and 13" in length. A good size for nail polish, make up, or any other odd and ends you might want to keep together.

I added some complementary bias tape to the handle this time. I love bias tape.

The lining of this one is the same fabric, just with a pink background.

Finally, I had to make one for myself. It didn't quite turn out as planned. I kept running into issues with tread tension or interfacing (the extra thick kind did NOT want to play nice) so I had to keep cutting it down. I don't know what the dimensions are at this point, just that it's to small to be a knitting project bag but too big to something else.

Then, in my frustration and my craze to just. get. it. done. I forgot to add the handle. Blargh. Is anyone else cursed this way, or am I the only one that can't seem to make anything nice for myself?

On a positive note, I am completely over my fear of making things with zippers now!

Spring at My House

I spent a happy weekend in the yard planting. It's so nice to see green again. I am slowly working towards a yard full of native plants...one day, I think it would be neat have my yard become a certified wildlife habitat. I did find a dead mouse head in the backyard, but I don't think that counts.

I spent some time Saturday at the nursery with my Grow Green Guide in hand, trying to get a good variety of plants. I came home with an Anacacho Orchid tree (center), verbena, jasmine, a beautiful Coral Drifter rose bush, lavender, and pink salvia. Most of them ended up in our front bed, heavy duty landscaping in the back will have to wait for another season. The tree and the jasmine are back there though, and I really enjoy when the wind blows the jasmine smell my way!

I'm out of the yard and back in the craft room, I'll have more to say about that later.