Friday, February 22, 2013

Friday Night Crafting Club on Thursday

Yesterday night my dear friend Marsel, my hubby, my mom and dad, cat, and two goats - we all gathered to have a drink of hot tea, talk, and craft a little (the boys and the animals mostly did the talking, and made sure that the girls crafted). As always I had such a fun and relaxing time. I am also one third way through making enough hexagons for my baby quilt!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Apples

I know it has been a while since I wrote anything, and at times I feel a desire to blog, but I really can't seem to find a good topic. It has been a good two day weekend for me, filled with lots of reading (that book I accidentally picked up during my last book store visit, is magically captivating, and I can't even say why), and a bit of knitting, but nothing big to write about or even think about.
So, as this little gift of rest is coming to an end, I feel compelled to write about apples. Yes, apples - I use to love them as a kid, but only when my grandma would cut them in quarters and decore them, I would engulf them many at a time. They were from our own trees, mind you, and were ten times more flavorful and delicious than any I tasted from the store. But today as it nears midnight, I, all of a sudden, felt like treating myself to a quartered apple, as I try to cram as much reading as I can before falling asleep.
Life is good!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

BAD

There is going to be no heart cookies for this Valentines... I saw them in the recent Martha Stewart Living magazine and thought I would make them, but it is not going to happen. Maybe I should start writing a blog about what I wanted to do, but instead went to sleep. Because I do feel very tiered, and would prefer sleep over cookies or anything else for hat matter most of the time... Oh, school, you wretched creature, leaching all my patience and strength out of me, please be over soon, because I don't think I can take it any longer...

Monday, February 11, 2013

Done! - polymer clay doll

I started this little doll almost a month ago. I made the head in one day with wigging and everything, but then got stuck on the body. Every time I make a new doll, I change the way I make it to work out a pattern that I truly like - I experiment in a way. I think this one is really close, just a couple of little alterations next time and it will hit the spot. This little girl is stunning to me, though  Every time I make a doll I am amazed that I was actually capable of producing something with a face expression, character, and its own life, where does it come from - me?
I came up with a perfect way of making a cloth body and clay arms, legs, and head to where the head actually turns, arms are double jointed and freely go up and down, and the doll is durable enough to play with even by a kid (to a certain extent of course, I wouldn't give her to a toddler)! I am so excited.
The reason it took me some time to get it done is because I ran into a problem - a fabric problem. I initially was planning to make the body out of muslin or cotton but neither worked well as it frays so easily and I just am not good enough to work with that kind of material for as detailed of a project as this little girl. So I ended up using felt and hand sewn it, like I did my bears before and it is absolutely perfect, soft, durable and still thin enough to resemble skin - good deal! So here she is, I don't know the name yet, but she already has a polar bear hat that I crocheted for her (without a pattern, haha, I am growing in my skills!) to match her polar bear pet that only has a head so far.

I already have ideas as to her outfit and these are the materials that I am planning on using - the polka-dot fabric and lace trim is from my grandmas stash!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Pineapple coconut jam

I talked about making this jam so long ago, I don't even want to bother with finding that post to link to it. The point is, I finally did it a couple of days ago! It turned out lovely and yummy - just like I imagined and hoped it would be. I am now having it with tea every morning - on a toast, with peanut butter, or straight.
I used pineapple pure, cream of coconut, Malibu white rum, lemon juice, and lots of sugar, and pectin of course  I mainly went by this recipe, but I learned a couple of things that are surely obvious to everyone else, but I will share them anyways:
1. Jars and lids have to be prepared for canning - sterilized in boiling water.
2. Jams take a lot of sugar. I used six cups! I couldn't believe you need so much, but it is what helps stop the bacteria growth in the jam and reacts with pectin.
3. After the jam is put in jars and lids are screwed on, jars have to be boiled to create a tight vacuum seal. I used a large pan with a heavy bottom and a tight lid. It fit all seven of the 8oz jars in there nicely and I put forks on the bottom so that the jars don't just sit right on the hot steel.
There are some great suggestions and advises for beginning caners here.

Other than that, it is pretty simple I think, and I am now officially in love with canning. I added another hobby/obsession to my long list. Oh man, sometimes I think I really should stop having so many hobbies, but then I think nah, I couldn't choose just one or two, they all make my life funner!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

This week - whining

This semester is absolutely exhausting! Every week I have to get out of my bubble in a whole new way - teaching kids in elementary schools, participating in various community events, going finding patients, talking to patients... What happened to plain lecture, sitting in class with a cup of coffee and a cookie?
Add to that the fact that the stress makes me vulnerable to cold and I got sick for the third time in two months! This had NEVER happened before. And the fact that I have to wake up before the sun rise does not help the situation. Oh and I now wake up at night and can't sleep anymore too, me, who never had problems sleeping!
Ah, you get the idea. God helps me, and that is how I survive.
Both Jenya and I are tired and angry. And we are being jerks to each other quite often unfortunately. This is the most challenging it has ever bin for me! And not being able to blog, being lucky if I even feel like crafting or doing anything at all after all of that, is very depressing for me. However I squeeze in bits of hand-making there and there. I try to treat myself to some lovely little things like magazines, books, or fabric to keep my spirits up. And tomorrow is our crafting club and I already bought the fabric, washed, and ironed it so it is all ready to be made into hexagons!
So that is my week of whining and here are some good things that made it to my instagram.

Superbowl Sunday

Almost a week ago, I invented Superbowl knitting for myself. We were invited to a party but I don't know anything(and I mean anything at all) about football, neither do I care for commercials. How foreign of me, I know. What I do care about is my friends who were going to be there, and a little bit about chicken wings... So I knitted the whole time and it was fun, I tell ya! Ofcourse it raised some eyebraws, but I like my quirky sekf, so I definetely enjoyed it.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Friday Night Crafting Club (on Thursday)

We were very productive this time! I brought my fabric (washed and ironed) and between the three of us (mom was scrapbooking) we made a little pile of hexagons! It is looking very exciting - vintage and colorful - just like I wanted!
Sonya and Mila showered me with thoughtful birthday gifts that I am so excited about! Thank you so much! It was, as always, a wonderful way to finish a day!

Fabric choice for hexagon quilt - fabric with memories!

So here is where I am finally going to talk about the fabric that I chose for my baby hexie quilt. I dug through my two boxes of fabric and found my most treasured ones on the bottom of one of the boxes - they are as old as I am, probably, and were used in many things I cherished when was a kid. Last sumer when we went back home, I embarqued on a memory hunt and one of the things I did was I asked my grandma for some fabric scraps, and she gave me a couple saying that she is sorry that she really doesn't have anything of worth. Oh how mistaken she was! This colorful and unique motive that brings back so many sweet childhood memories being in my future baby quilt is the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to a crafter like me! So I chose the big piece as the lead fabric and the rest of the fabric will be chosen in that color scheme. Also the blue polkadot and the red squares are from the same grandma's stash giving this quilt a vintage look! I have a photo from my first grade to just give you an idea of what this fabric means to me!