Ornaments with sentiments

When I was 7 years old, my family moved to England for a year and half. I have amazing memories of my time there: a little foggy (both in clarity and weather), but great. (Funny fact: the town we lived in was called Crapstone. No joke. Here is where we lived.)

Every December, I remember our one Christmas spent there. We sat around the dining room table and cut out felt stockings and bells. We stuffed them with cotton balls and stitched them shut using a blanket stitch. The top of the stockings were further detailed with cotton, and the bells got a pretty little bow. Dustin has a similar story with popcorn garland.

The reason I remember this particular Christmas craft session in England is because we still have the ornaments. When I moved to Toronto, I inherited all the old Christmas ornaments, including the (very old) Christmas tree (with built-in tinsel!)

Every year when we put up the tree (and listen to 98 degrees Christmas album) we have a laugh at all the old Christmas ornaments, contemplate replacing them with nicer, newer ornaments and then decide that there are just too many memories to be replaced.

Here are some of my other favourites:

1. Ziggy (does anyone remember Ziggy?!)

2. Sequin Snowman/Clown (I think this looks more like a clown, but a Christmas clown just doesn't make sense, so it must actually be a snowman, non? but snowmen don't wear clothes or a party hat... thoughts?)

3. Indian Canoe Boy (who just chopped down his own tree and is bringing it home to decorate with homemade stockings and bells.)

We also went to my in-laws to decorate their Christmas tree. Quite a bit more sophisticated, with several really beautiful ornaments such as this hand-painted ornament from Budapest:

But every tree has its less beautiful ornaments that share an equal spot on the tree due to years of sentimental value. These are my two favourites:

1. Elf-headed Pine Cone

2. ...??... I dont even know how to describe this one. But I love putting him/her on the tree every year.

I dedicate this post to all the less-beautiful ornaments out there that still hang with pride next to the newer, dazzling ornaments. May they teach the New Ornaments a thing or two about fostering Christmas memories so that one day, when the new become old, they, too, will hang with pride and remind us of all the great memories during this wonderful time of year!

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The Party Dress Book

Over the past three years, we've attended 19 weddings. (Probably over 25 if you count the year before that, but my memory doesn't go that far.) What can I say? I love weddings, and if I can make it, I'm there!

The difficult part about attending so many weddings is figuring out my attire. It's an opportunity to get beautiful and buy a fancy new dress, but since it's completely illogical to buy a new dress for every occasion, I am faced with a complex riddle to figure out the minimum number of dresses I will allow myself to buy so that (almost) no one will see me wear a dress twice.

A woman's life is tough. Dustin just changes out his tie or his dress shirt. The permutations are almost endless.

For this year's office-Christmas-Gala, I promised myself that I would not buy another dress. Surely, I would figure something out with my wardrobe of dresses, right? No. But a promise is a promise. So instead of buying a new dress, I made one!!!

I didn't know I had it in me! (Which is why I had told very few people about this project in the likely event that I had to abandon ship...)

The secret to my success? Mary Adams' new book: The Party Dress Book, how to sew the best dress in the room. The book is incredible. It not only had full size patterns, detailed instructions on fitting, and tips and techniques, but the majority of the book was page after page of inspiration in colours, details, shapes, and fabric. There are sewing instructions for three types of dresses, but most of the dresses in the book are based on the same silhouette.

As I was pressed for time (and lack the skill to sew with silk) I opted to sew a cotton dress using a piecing technique with French seams.

One of the first images in this book is Mary's "Bo Peep" dress. The vertical piecing in the skirt was just so cute!

I chose some beautiful charcoal cotton fabric from the workroom and decided to "fancy up" the dress with some plum organza.

And without further ado, I unveil to you my plum party dress!

(And since none of Dustin's friends from U of T attended the Christmas Gala, I can wear this dress to our last wedding of the 2010 season on New Year's Eve! Hooray!)

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Zippidy Doo Dah!

The zippered pouch: a great way to use up some leftover fabric scraps!

Our church had a craft sale last week and I decided that I should try and use some of the scraps leftover from birdie sling bags and other projects.

There are so many tutorials online for making zippered pouches; I started with this one and then made my own adjustments (like a small rounded gusset so the pouches weren't so flat.) They turn out so great and take under and hour from start to finish!

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Restaurant Beets

Dustin and I finally celebrated our 3rd year anniversary! Better late than never!

I can't believe it was over 3 years ago that I got to wear a pretty dress and walk around in crunchy autumn leaves. That was a nice day. A really nice day.

Tonight we had dinner at Cowbell, a super cute restaurant in the Parkdale area that celebrates local farmers. When I found out that our absolute favourite Toronto restaurant (Superior) closed a few months ago, I began a hunt for a new favourite.

Cowbell focuses on naturally raised, organic meat and produce sourced by local farmers. The menu changes daily so I just had to cross my fingers that duck was on the menu -- which it was!!! Excellent. What should I order as my appetizer?

That was easy.

Ever since we signed up for our next CSA box with Culinarium I've been working on a new game plan for our beets. We received plenty of beets in our food boxes last year, and we knew that this year would be no different. Although I found some recipes (like pickled beets) that I admittedly enjoyed, I still did not have a proper appreciation for beets.

I decided that the problem was psychological. I didn't have any amazing beet experiences to reminisce on. I did not have delicious beet salads to dream about when I smelled the beet aroma as they were cooking. I did not strive towards that je-ne-sais-quoi that I loved in a particular beet dish that I was served.

And so: Operation Restaurant Beets began. Two weeks ago, I tried a delicious beet root salad at O&B Canteen (a new Oliver & Bonacini restaurant in the Toronto Entertainment District.)

image from oliverbonacini.com

With my new quest, it was easy for me to decide what to eat at Cowbell (ah yes. remember? I went on a HUGE tangent to talk about beets? now I'm back to talking about what I ordered at Cowbell... I do that sometimes.)

On the menu was a roasted beet and fennel salad that was equally divine. It was a mixture of pickled beets and raw golden beets that was lightly dressed and served with a thin layer of roasted fennel. It was fabulous. I didn't even remember to take my camera out, embarrass Dustin, and take a gorgeous picture for this blog -- sorry. The lighting was so romantic, my poor little camera wouldn't have done it justice anyway.

I think I can safely say that I love beets! I'm 2 for 2 when ordering beets at a restaurant. It's only a matter of time before I can perfect my own recipes to taste just as good. I just need to keep ordering the beets!

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My very own sampler quilt

From sewing

After 7 quilting classes, 9 fat quarters, a gajillion safety pins, hours and hours of perusing the quilt shelves for that perfect border fabric, I have finally finished my first quilt.

The final steps for my quilt involved adding a vibrant red sashing to separate the 6 quilt blocks. It adds some nice framing to the blocks, but more importantly, it hides the fact that my 6 blocks are slightly different sizes...

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The beautiful paisley fabric is finally added as the border, a gajillion safety pins are used to baste together the backing, batting, and quilt top, and then lots and lots of machine quilting.

And I'm addicted. This one is likely going to make its home on our brown leather armchairs downstairs, which means I need to make another one for Dustin. A quilt for each chair. I have quite a bit of leftover fabric from the 9 fat quarters, so it seems logical to make a matching quilt for Dustin using all the same fabrics. I'm leaning towards a log cabin quilt... I'll keep you posted.

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Autumn Leaves

From Out and About

Why do boys need to play "school-yard football" during thanksgiving? My friends in Ottawa call it the Turkey Bowl. Dustin's friends in Guelph call it the Fall Classic. I don't get it.

But it gave me the opportunity to go for a nice hike in Guelph with Mackenzie.

The day was gorgeous. Crisp autumn air, vibrant shades of red and orange leaves, and just enough sun to warrant my Michael Kors aviator sunglasses. Dustin lost his football game. But the day was gorgeous.

From Out and About

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Avoca Poshness

My dear friend (and loyal blog reader) Rebecca currently lives in Ireland. I have been able to sneak a peek at the Irish culture through her many pictures, FB posts, and gifts/packages that she mails or brings back for me (like the big box of skips!!!)

From Food

A couple of years ago, she mailed me a package containing super cute cookbooks (as well as a mug that says "I'd rather be eating cake": so true.)

They were Avoca cookbooks. I can't believe I had never heard of Avoca!!! Their website shows an endless world of all things beautiful. I can't explain in words. Here are some pictures from their website:

At first glance, I see Anthropologie with an extra sprinkle of whimsical, plus an entire world of cafés and gardens!!! Where Anthropologie is Bohemian Chic, I get the impression that Avoca is Whimsical Posh. But I digress.

My intention was merely to acquaint you with Avoca, and the poshness that it exudes. And then to surprise my readers with a blog post about Rice Krispies Squares. No joke. Let me explain.

I had a potluck at work last week and needed a simple recipe that could be made a couple days in advance. (The night before the potluck was my quilting class. Nothing gets in the way of my quilting class. Not even my 3 year anniversary. My husband is still waiting to take me out for a belated dinner celebration... oops.)

I turned to my trusty (and posh) Avoca Tea Time cookbook from Rebecca.

This book has all sorts of posh tea time treats (ideal for a 9am coffee-break-pot-luck):

Hazelnut Praline Mousse Cake

From Food

Jam Tarts

From Food

Cheese and Sundried Tomato Scones

From Food

And then this:

From Food

Yes. Mars bar biscuits. No picture. From the ingredients list, it looks an awful lot like a recipe for Rice Krispies Squares. But with Mars Bars. Mmmm.

We start with 200g butter and 9 mars bars (45g bars).

From Food

The instructions say to melt with a balloon whisk. Ridiculous. It all gets stuck in the whisk!!! Note to self: use a wooden spoon or a heat proof spatula next time.

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Mix into 200g of Rice Krispies and then press into a pan. I used a cookie sheet.

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Wait for it to set, and Tada! A super delicious "biscuit". And it's posh because it's from the Avoca cookbook. The only thing I will change for next time is the quantity of butter. I think I'll try and cut it in half... The recipe also finishes the "biscuit" with a spread of melted chocolate. I like it without.

From Food

Enjoy with morning, afternoon, or evening tea, with or without your pinky finger in the air.

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Dutchman's Puzzle

From sewing

Another crazy name for a quilt block: Dutchman's Puzzle. I'll have to ask my brother in law if he can figure it out.

This one seems to be a favourite with the people I've "show and tell"ed my quilt blocks to. Probably because it just looks so intricate. Oddly enough, this block turned out to be the most accurate in size. Most of the other blocks I had to adjust by trimming here and there.

I've actually finished the entire top of my quilt. That means the sashing fabric has been sewn to frame all 6 blocks, and the border fabric has been sewn all the way around. Tomorrow we layer with batting and then actually get to what the term "quilting" actually refers to!

Almost done my very first quilt!

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Chic ruler caddy

From sewing

I'm definitely a bargain shopper. It might be the Chinese in me, but Dustin does it too sometimes. That's why we buy a pack of 20 bars of soap because it's such a better deal than than the two bars that we really need.

And that's why I bought a 24 inch quilting ruler instead of the 12 inch. For an extra few bucks, the ruler is twice as big!!! TWICE!

But then I started my quilting class and realized that my commute on the TTC became an exercise in "don't poke that scary lawyer in the eye with the ruler!!!" I got lots of dirty looks. They all questioned whether or not I should have a 2 foot ruler sticking out of my bag on the TTC during rush hour. I bet someone was ready to add an amendment to the rush hour rules on the TTC, right next to no bikes and no pets.

It was time I engineered something.

After a lot of thought (and I mean a LOT of thought... making patterns is hard!) I decided to make a carrying case that was similar to a yoga bag. It would protect innocent TTC business folk from the 2 feet of sharp edges and all four acrylic corners. In addition, it would have extra little pockets for my scissors, rotary cutter, and other quilting supplies.

And it's chic!

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Log Cabin, Drunkard's Path, Applique, and Nine Patch

The last few quilt classes have been spent working away at more quilt blocks. There's a crazy name for every quilt block out there. Sometimes even several names.

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From sewing

The log cabin is self explanatory: you build from the inside out, like a log cabin being built from bottom to top (listen to me talk like I've built a log cabin before...) Traditionally, the centre is a red fabric and then you make one side with light fabrics and the other side with dark fabrics. If you make an entire quilt with this block, you get some really cool patterns.

Here's a quilt from a silent auction donated by ALA Biblioquiters:

Drunkard's path is the only quilt block we made that involved curves. Not one of my favourites. Quilting has so much to do with precision that the curve made it just that much harder to be exact. My quilt block turned out to be almost 1/2 inch bigger than my other blocks. I'll have to figure out what to do when we sew all the blocks together... To keep the theme of the "path" I decided to make the outer part of each curve from a brick-like fabric.

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My favourite block so far is the applique. We learned how to hand-sew shapes onto the quilt block and make the thread almost invisible. So simple once you learn the right technique! I've decided that my next quilt is going to made entirely of appliqued birdies. You like my birdie fabric? See what I did there? Birdie background for the birdies?

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Lastly, the nine patch. You can make the entire block with nine patches, or make mini nine patches and match it with solid fabric like we did. Again: a little too much precision work for me.

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Only one more quilt block to show you then then we're sewing them all together!

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