Ba Buh Ba Ba

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This is Ellie’s latest evening dinner time performance. She had us cracking up last night with the crazy noises she was making with that plump bottom lip and the faces to go a long with it. Notice the shirt? That’s one of the projects that came out of the “snow day sew day“. Need to trim up the ties on the shoulders other than that love it. That print makes me want to go out and get a VW bus so bad.

Waiting on Button Holes

Here is my latest attempt at sewing.

It is a shirt for Ellie when she gets a little bigger. I am so in love with the material. It’s a print from Heather Ross. I found it here. I was afraid to cut into it but then just took a deep breath and went for it. I will admit I did struggle making this. It’s hard to work with wee sizes. Attaching the arms and the cuffs were the big challenges. It will be easier the next time around though. I have the material all planned out already. This pattern came from a thrift store shopping trip as well. It’s so retro I love it. Straight out of the 70’s.

It is not complete though, needs button holes. I’m a little intimidated by this task although I’m sure it is a simple thing but I think I will wait until my Mom can bail me out here with her skills. I’m just afraid of putting a hole in the fabric because once you do there is no returning. I have actually made button holes before. I did it on a couple of skirts and a shirt and I did it the old fashion way with out the use of the button holler sewing machine attachment. In fact I think I prefer this but it is tedious to say the least and I’m not so sure how it would turn out on a wee shirt for Ellie.

Here is a look at my next project…

It’s a pattern by Oliver + S. I was directed here by the Chicken and the Momma. I love that the patterns can also be used as paper dolls. Brilliant!

This is the material I’m going to use for the top. Another Heather Ross print. Lovely! Wish me luck because I’m afraid to cut into this one as well. I’m thinking of using an old pair of brown cords of mine for the shorts.

Adirondack Packbasket

For Christmas Grandma and Grandpa Marcoccia gave all of us an Adirondack Packbasket kit. Sarah discovered these excellent little Adirondack Mountain treasure while attending school at Paul Smiths. She took a class and got to be good friends with the women (Tracy) who puts these together. Since the winter weather has us cozied up in our little cabin I decided to finish the job, wasn’t that difficult really. It feels really good to get a project done seems as though I have many unfinished projects building up (sigh).

We started our baskets together while we were in NY but ran out of time to finish them. The hardest part was weaving but that was just more time consuming than anything. Once the basket was done putting on the rim and skids and then lashing them seemed to go by fast. (Ahem, Danielle and Jill)

Sarah finished hers first before she went on to her adventures in Asheville. Honestly, she could be the packbasket poster girl don’t you think?

And here is our little Ellie enjoying the finished product. I can’t wait to take her out in it once she can stand up. We will look like true Mountain Folk carrying our wee one around Adirondack style. The Farmer’s Market is going to be so much fun this summer now that we have a special basket for our goods.

Gobble Gobble goo and Gobble Gobble giggle

As I sit here and type this Gary and Ellie are watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ronald McDonald just floated by and Gary made sure to introduce him to Ellie as “Dirty Ron”, Gary’s favorite reference to McDonalds. Yesterday Ellen watched patiently as I baked some pies. I guess I’m not that skilled at multitasking because it was a trick to watch over the babe and get the pies done, by the end of the day I was a bit frazzled. Picture the classic women in the kitchen with flour everywhere her hair a mess and the baby crying. We persevered and the pies are turning out well so far. I have to bake them today so they are fresh for the taking. I went with the traditional flavors Pumpkin and Apple. I like to put a little twist on the pumpkin pie and make it with a gingersnap crust. I also like to use fresh ginger in the filling. I must admit I borrowed the gingersnap crust recipe from Letty, Debbie, and Steve at the Deer Valley Bakery. I do love to bake, and I spent three years in the bakery at Deer Valley. I don’t know maybe Steve can correct me, but I was feeling pretty confident in my baking skills by the end of my three year term. Yesterday humbled me a bit, though. I just can’t pull it off as well in my home as I did in the awesome professional DV Bakery. I think it’s a psychological thing and I am my worst critic. I did do some things right, stuff my brain absorbed at work and stuff I like to do at home, I’ll share them with you…

• Mise en place It’s French meaning “everything in its place”. This is key for pulling off any project. It’s all about prep in the bakery we would gather the ingredients we needed and prep things first like zest lemons, peel apples, cut butter, and so on. I also learned to mix all the dry ingredients together first.
• “Clean as you go is the sign of a pro” Letty always used this catch phrase and it’s true. Nobody likes to work with a messy baker. At home I try to always have the sink ready to wash so I can clean off my utensils and use them again instead of pulling out another bowl and another spoon and having a huge pile of dishes to deal with at the end of the day. Take a break and clean between each phase of the recipe make the dough then clean, make the filling then clean, put them together then clean. You can never clean too much. Oh how I long for a dish washer. Actually, it’s a little therapeutic to slow down and wash the dishes in the sink.
• I like to add a bit of whole wheat flour where I can. For instance the crust for the apple pie uses 2 1/2 cups of flour so I use 2 cups white and 1/2 cup of whole wheat. I think this adds some nutrition to the pie. Be careful when altering recipes though too much whole wheat flour can make the dough tough. I also like to use flax seed when appropriate that stuff has good omegas, and we can all use some omega in our diet.
• Go to the source. Use a real pumpkin, fresh ginger, fresh fruits etc. This sounds like more work but it doesn’t always have to be if you Mise en place and plan ahead. I roasted a pie pumpkin on Tuesday peeled it that night and whalla I have fresh pumpkin instead of pumpkin from the can.
• Finally, don’t forget to eat lunch. I made the mistake of working right through lunch yesterday hence the frazzle. It pays to sit down and make a well rounded lunch instead of snacking on the sugary treats you’re making. That way you keep your wits about you and you wont be spent by the end of the baking glory.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

3 is the Magic Number

“A man and a women had a little baby, and there were three in the family, that’s the magic number…”

(favorite song from School House Rocks)

So here we are, Ellen is three months old today! A few of our friends have said that after three months things get much easier. I must say though that we haven’t had it bad, we have been very lucky Ellie has been a dream baby. She is calm and mellow for the most part. In fact last night she was happy just to hang out and snuggle in my lap as I indulged in my favorite ridiculous TV show. Don’t get me wrong we have had our sleepless nights, ringing ears, and freak outs, but I must say Gary and I are amazed by her everyday. Yesterday she discovered the ball on the mirror toy in her crib and was smiling and laughing as she was working so hard to move it. I made her the little hat in the photo above, it’s a party hat to commemorate our three months together. I’m going to make some chocolate chip cookies later as well.

Little facts about three:

• number of times I had to unpick the hat before I got it right
• number of cookies I’m going to eat later
• number of times I have to ask Gary a question before it gets locked into my head (hopefully this is a temporary “new mom” side affect)
• number of times I have to reinsert the binky before Ellie falls asleep
• number of emergency trips to the g-store for diapers
• number of laundry loads I need to do today