Apple Cookies

Last night we had some friends over, and I made these glazed apple cookies. I was looking for something that really tastes like fall, and these fit perfectly.



I used granny smith apples, and grated rather than chopped. Next time I'll chop, since the little ribbons of apple were I think less pleasant than chunks would be. Nobody complained, though, and the plate was empty in no time.

I also used butter instead of shortening, cut the sugar down to a heaping cup, and left out the nuts and raisins. I used my standard pumpkin spice blend- cut down the cloves a little and added a pinch of allspice. I also increased the vanilla in the icing to give them extra flavor. A hint of maple instead might be nice.

Next time I will definitely double the recipe.

They were a little on the sticky side, so I might also increase the dry ingredients if it looks too wet before baking.

I'm looking forward to fall with it's crisp air, mulled cider, and pumpkins. I already saw some pumpkins in the store!

-- iPhone post

Red Wedding Corset

This weekend two of our friends got married, and I had the honor of making the bride's gown. It was a deep red satin corset with a sweetheart neckline and black beaded lace applique, and a black satin pencil skirt with ruffle in the back. I took a couple pictures of the corset in the works, but not too many.

I did something slightly new for the corset binding. Normally I would do either a contrasting or matching binding on the bottom or on both sides, but in this case I wanted both sides to be hidden. I did a standard seam on the top, and used seam binding at the bottom.

After all the edges were made even and the bones were bound, I lined up the seam binding with the lower edge, and sewed right down the middle, leaning slightly towards the edge.

Then I folded the binding in half and wrapped it around to the inside, pulling the fashion fabric about 1/8 inch over and hand sewed the binding in to make a clean edge. I definitely would do this again, especially for a corset with decoration on it. I discovered that Casper likes some of the music I play while sewing. Several times he stood close to the speakers like this and listened intently for awhile before curling up right in front of them. Very cute =)

Here's the initial placement of the lace, and mirroring it onto the other side.

...and, the finished product. I don't have too many pictures of the skirt, but the corset was really the main piece anyway.

I had my hair in an up-do with curls in the back, and a big red rose on the side. I also have a new lens (50mm prime) for my camera that I've been playing around with. Mainly I've been having fun with the shallow depth of field that comes with a 1.8 f-stop, but I haven't gotten too much practice with it yet.

I took a couple photos of our foster kitties with the new lens, and this is one of my favorites of that batch. His name is My Boyfriend.

Sock Yarn and Roots

Currently I'm on a sock yarn roll, but I haven't made any socks (yet) =)

With this gold and orange yarn I'm making a set of fingerless gloves.


I love striping yarn, and the way it's always changing colors and keeping things interesting.

This project is also a test of patience, because normally I would pick a thicker yarn and be nearly finished by now. But I know in the end I'm going to have a beautiful project.

I've made a couple of coin purses lately, which are fun and easy, and very rewarding. I made one for my dad for father's day, since he had requested one awhile back. Sadly, I didn't take a picture.

Then I made one as a little giveaway for my friends. It was a prize for the person who could guess closest to the value inside the piggy bank that came with our new car, cleverly disguised as a stereo system.

Note: Don't leave kids unattended with a cd player and change! They're not getting any candy out, and it would be an expensive lesson.


The zippers were fun. Definitely want to make more of these.



While gardening last weekend I pulled out this poppy and got a pretty little surprise. I've never seen roots this uniformly shaped that it looks like a rusted metal rope.



-- iPhone post

Crochet in the Car

The other day my husband and I carpooled into work. It's a little under an hour each way, and I usually bring crochet that I don't have to watch too closely, as it's a very curvy road.

On the way there I made most of a water bottle tote, but then on the way back I got the idea to try washcloths.

I thought rather than a flat one I'd make it 3D, kind of like a loofah.


It turned out ok, but next time I'll use cotton/acrylic rather than the 100% cotton.

The idea was very simple, I started with a magic ring with 6 sc, then did two sc in each for 12, and then a one-two for 18 to make the center. Then I did 3 dc in each, and then 2 dc in each for the last few rows to finish the ruffle.

Our kitties continue to take turns going to the vet. This time it was Casper with a foxtail in the eye (ouch!) He's doing much better now but is still squinty and requested no photography ;)

Mouse, however, is always happy to pose.


And here's a rare shot of Spook lounging in bed. She reminds me of a resting dragon in this pic.



-- iPhone post

Funky Dress

I know, two posts in one week, don't look so shocked =)

I'm on the email list for Vogue and McCalls, and they send me specials every now and then. It's handy because patterns can be expensive!

I'm undecided on this dress. I like the general shape, and the panel in the front, but I'm not sure about the side "flaps."


As usual, the diagram looks very different from the photo, so that's not so helpful.

Hmm, I have some burgundy fine knit fabric kicking around, so I may just have to experiment.

-- iPhone post

Kitties and Quick Projects

I think I'm making up for my 3-4 years last decade where I didn't have any cats. In addition to our 4 kids, we've been fostering some kittens. The first pair (we named Luke and Leia) just went up for adoption and now we have three little grey and white boys, yet unnamed.

Also, Mouse had a little lump taken care of, so here's the obligatory recovery cuteness :)


This afternoon she gets the cone off, which I'm sure will make her very happy.

As usual, I have many projects in the works, as well as a big exciting reorganizing of the craft room.

In the meantime, here's a pretty little washcloth that I'm going to enjoy making with my scraps of cotton and cotton-ease: (Lion Brand reg required)

Along with my craft room cleanup, I sorted out over 50 skeins of yarn that I no longer need, and will never use, and hauled them down to Goodwill.


I'm loving our new car, and all the storage space =)

Lastly, here's a BBQ sauce recipe that I haven't tried yet, but has rave reviews. Fire up that grill!

Hope everyone has a great weekend =)

Cleaning and Painting

I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but those were a couple of my small projects this weekend.

I have this white square planter that's a couple of years old. The little lemon tree in it had been long dead, munched on by the deer and then sadly neglected. The wood had started to peel and fade, so it was time for a new coat.

It looks much better afterwards; in fact it's almost glowing in the twilight. You can also see one of my two new lavender plants in the foreground (which brings the front yard to 5 total, different varieties) and a newly planted Queen Elizabeth rose in between. I'm hoping the lavender will act as a small barrier to keep the deer away from my rose.

Some friends of ours were celebrating their 10 year anniversary this weekend, and I wanted to get them a little something special. A picture frame came to mind, and I found this wooden black one with carved flowers in the front.

I thought it was missing a little punch, so I masked off the edges and painted the flowers a deep red. Here's a before, and "in progress" with a grey primer:

And the deep red, all finished.

On Sunday I climbed onto the roof to scrub the skylights, which have gotten filthy over the last year or so. Right after I got up there, Casper trotted on over to see what I was up to, and then Mouse joined him in lounging near by. I can definitely understand why they like it up there, it's a fun spot!

And finally, here's a project from last weekend. My husband and I upgraded from an older full/queen size futon mattress and got a custom built California king mattress. What a difference!

So of course we needed a new bed frame. The one I built a long time ago got dismantled, and we found some plans online for a platform bed. With a little tweaking here and there, we now have a beautiful redwood bed frame, with plenty of room for storage underneath!

Marms supervised the whole thing.

The old bed will eventually be turned into a small planter, just like the wood futon frame before it. (The marigolds in the second picture are housed in that planter.)

And there are all our cats except for Spook! She came in last night with a couple small wounds on her neck, which look like a bite or a scratch. She held still long enough for me to put a compress on it and make sure she wasn't in any immediate danger, but we're still going to have to keep an eye on her and hope it heals up well.

Meanwhile we're going to have some stir-crazy kitties while they all stay indoors for a bit.