technology!

Is it funny or scary? A little of both maybe? lol

I feel like I'm failing.  Not at crafting.  At everything I guess.  My house is a disaster.  I don't want to start crafting while it's in the state it is, because that will just add more mess.  Being a mom is definitely keeping me on my toes, and Harry's not even crawling yet...once that boy starts getting more mobile I'll really be in for it! 

His morning naps are usually short, if they happen at all, lately.  He's such a busy little guy that between feeding him, entertaining him, and trying to get him to nap, it seems all I usually have time for are those little essentials...washing bottles, making forumla, throwing in some laundry here and there.  But it feels like nothing else gets done. 

After lunch if the weather is nice we usually go for a walk for an hour or so.  It seems like a lot of days I spend the rest of the afternoon trying to get him to nap.  No matter how tired he may be, he just fights sleep!  I've tried putting him in the crib and letting him cry himself to sleep, waiting a few minutes before going in, then a few minutes more...but all that did was make him more upset and lose a little trust in me.  So I rock him, I sing to him, I try to play him out, and eventually he nods off.  If I'm tired, sometimes I'll lay down and sleep with him, and other times I'll just keep him on my lap and do some reading or surfing.  There lays my first problem, I guess...I need to put him down so I can do other things.  The problem with that, however, is that he's more likely to have a short nap, then wake up and be grumpy all afternoon, if I've put him down.  If I've held him, he's more likely to have a long solid nap and be a happier little camper. 

After his supper, playtime with daddy, and his bath, off my boys go for bedtime, while I get back to whatever baby chores remain for the night.  By the time I'm done, I don't want to do anything else, especially cleaning.  I just want to sit and surf, or do crossword puzzles, or work on editing my large stash of photos.  And that's usually what I do.  And so the cleaning never gets done.  Poor daddy has been coming home from work late for weeks, so by the time it's baby's bedtime, he's ready to sleep too.  So I sit in my disarray, feeling like a failure because I can't do it all by myself, but unwilling to accept help because I don't want anyone else to see my disorganization.  And so ends another night.

Check out Rae's tutorial by clicking the link above, or read on for a quick rundown on how I made mine.

To make them I selected a font I liked, in a size I wanted (I made them big enough so that I could fit 2 letters on 1 page horizontally...I ended up using Cooper Std with the font size at 505, and in an outline style), printed them and cut out the letters, then traced them onto the felt with one of those disappearing fabric markers, then snip snip snip, cut out 2 of each letter.

After I cut out the letters, I sat down (at my parents', so someone else could keep an eye on Harry while I worked on them), made up the embellishments, cut them out and stitched them on with embroidery thread.  Then I spent a few nights sewing and stuffing the letters, then stringing them up on fishing line.  I used a blanket stitch to sew them together and matching thread.  I have Harry's done to the point of the sewing and stuffing, which I will hopefully get to soon.

I love the way they turned out, and everyone was very impressed when the girls opened them as part of their Easter treats.  As I was halfway through, I had a thought that would be quite a time-saver...rather than stuffing them, they'd look just as cute slapped onto a nice board and hung on the wall...I suppose I'll debate which way to finish Harry's now!

For my dad's birthday I made some glass marble magnets.  You can do a google search and find a whole lot of tutorials on how to make these, so I won't go into any detail about mine.  The only problem I had was in finding the flat marbles in the size I wanted, with a clear finish.  These have an iridescant finish to them, which can interfere with seeing the image clearly.  If I'd have had enough time to wait, I could have ordered some online I'm sure, but I had to go with what I could find locally.  (We have a serious lack of craft stores here...other than Michael's, all we have are the craft departments in Walmart, Zellers and dollar stores...boo!!)  I think these still worked out pretty well.  I made 6 in total, with pictures of the 4 grandkids plus 2 extras I made using clipart.

Since Harry came along I've found myself wanting to craft more, and oddly I'm getting the itch to sew rather than crochet.  Maybe because sewing is faster than crocheting...although the things that have caught my eye in my weekly craft-website perusals have actually involved some hand stitching rather than machine stitching.  Which is ok, because I don't really have room to pull out my sewing machine right now!  I made this little owl out of felt a couple of months ago, thinking perhaps I'd make my nieces some for Valentine's day.  I found the pattern here .  I didn't bother to make it a measuring tape cover like she did, I just made it as a little stuffie.  I might just glue one of my left over magnets from the above project on the back and stick him on the fridge.

I didn't realize how popular owls are.  You can find lots of projects and ideas with them, whether as stuffed animals, appliques, or even little bags.  Spurred by the way this little guy turned out, I decided I wanted to try making Harry a few little stuffies out of felt, based on characters in his favorite book.  I started by drawing out the characters in a notebook.  As it happens, I decided to start with the owl in his book.  Here is my drawing, which I took a crappy picture of, printed out to fill a sheet of paper, then traced with black marker.

Once I had it outlined in black marker, I was able to put another sheet of paper over it and trace out the pattern pieces and cut all of the pieces out in felt.  Then I got to put it all together! I laid the pieces out to decide how I wanted it to look, then got to work sewing it all together.  I used embroidery thread for the stitching. First I did the tummy in pink, with purple thread to make feathers. 

Then I sewed that to the body with pink thread, adding a little stuffing and some crunchy plastic from a package of crackers before sewing it closed.  Harry likes his crunchy toys, so I wanted to add some crunch to the owl too.  Next I added some detail to the beak.

Then I started sewing the layers of the face together.  The eyes - white to black, then black to blue, then blue to purple.  I didn't have my straight pins handy so I just used a bit of scotch tape to hold things in place while I worked.

I put a bit of stuffing under the beak, but left the rest flat.

I added some wings on top of the body piece.  The feet were to be sewn in between the front and back of the body, so I basted them in with a single strand of embroidery thread to hold everything in place, which I removed when I was done sewing.  I stuffed the body with fibrefill and more crinkly plastic. 

Then I added the head, which also had some stuffing and plastic in it, and voila! He was finished.  I think he worked out really well, and best of all, Harry likes him :)

A blurry shot of the back...

I made him out of the eco-felt that you find in the stores, made of recycled plastic bottles.  I wasn't able to find real wool felt anywhere here, even at the fabric store, so I used what I had.  He's holding up ok so far, but it starting to pill a little bit.  Now I want to make more of the book characters...let's see...there's a moose, another bird, a fish, a bear, a star...oh then there's the fish and whale on his highchair cover that he likes to look at...I have actually cut pieces for a fish out, just haven't had a chance to get stitching on that one yet.

When I get a little more organized maybe I'll post my pattern pieces should anyone be so inclined to try making an owl too! :)

The post I lost yesterday was about one of my rare forays into home made soup.  I tried a new recipe, Chicken Cheddar Chowder.  I don't remember where I found it exactly, and a quick google search shows many such recipes exist, so this is only one of dozens of versions. 

Now let me tell you, I have not done a lot of new-recipe-cooking lately, and I quickly remembered I forgot to do a few basic things.  I forgot to to check how many servings this recipe was supposed to make (7 - what an odd number of servings, no pun intended...especially with soup!), which I realized as the volume of liquid in the pot steadily increased and I worried what we'd do with it all if we didn't like it!  I also forgot to read ahead and see what prep work needed to be done.  This I discovered after I threw the chicken in the pot, and led to vegetable peeling and chopping frenzy.  Notes to self have been made and will hopefully be remembered the next time a new recipe beckons.  You'd think I was new to this cooking thing.  Sheesh.

 Anyway.

I made a few changes to the recipe.  I'm not a big onion fan, so rather than an entire cup of chopped onion (gag), I just poured some dried onion into my palm until I felt it might add a little tiny bit of onion flavor.  About 1/4 cup or so.  I do, however, have no aversion to garlic, being the good Ukrainian girl I am, and did use the required 2 cloves...even though one of those cloves would have provided enough I'm sure.  This lovely piece of garlic was worthy of a photo, for 2 reasons.  1 - it was large.  2 - it reminded me of my friend Cathy, not because she is a good Ukrainian girl (true) or because she smells of garlic (no comment), but because she enjoys the ginormous garlic she buys at the farmers' market.  I'm sure this garlic doesn't compare, given it just came from the grocery store around the corner, but that was enough for me to take a picture.  And to make the picture all dark and dramatic...well truthfully, the dark drama is only to try and hide the numberous water spots left on the fork I used for a size comparison by the dishwasher.  Yes, I could have grabbed a different fork, but remember, I was in the midst of my veggie frenzy and there was no time.

Anyway.

The only other change was to use turkey bacon rather than pork.  If you wanted to be picky then yes I did use skim milk instead of 2% and only 4 cups of chicken broth rather than 4 1/2 cups...simply because it came in a 1L carton and I wasn't going to open 2 just for the extra 1/2 cup!  Gadzooks. 

In the end, said soup was quite delicious, and I needn't have worried about having a large potful, because we both had 2 helpings before the leftovers went into the fridge. 

The next time I make it I might make a few other changes, like adding carrots and/or celery, more corn, maybe leave the skin on the potatoes for some extra color...I suppose the possibilities are endless, really!  Here is the recipe I used...again, can't remember where I found it, so I am unable to give credit where credit is due! I will be so bold as to say it serves 8!

Chicken Cheddar Chowder

2 slices bacon

1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup red bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 3/4 cup red potatoes, peeled and diced

2 1/4 cups frozen whole kernel corn

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 cups milk

3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Cook bacon in large pot over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon, crumble and set aside. Add chicken, onion, bell pepper and garlic to drippings in pot; saute 5 minutes. Add broth and potato, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender; add corn. Place flour in a bowl; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add to soup; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to medium heat and simmer 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Stir in cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Top with crumbled bacon. 

PS. I made it to the point of adding the soup picture before Harry woke up, and I just finished the post now at approx 6:41pm.  Pretty good if you ask me!