Spring Baking

One thing I wish I could manage in my life is a little balance.  I love it when a creative urge strikes, but it usually means it consumes me for days or weeks at a time and then it disappears just as suddenly, sometimes not coming back for weeks or months.
  My latest urge has been baking, and daily I have been in the kitchen making a little something.  The counter is now piled with tupperware full of buns, bread and cookies, and only the four of us to consume it before it goes stale.  I suppose there are worse things to have happen, but really, couldn't the creative Muse just dole out it out in an even allotment every time?

I found an extraordinary amount of coconut in the pantry and made cocoa-coconut nests.  They happen to go nicely with the coconut pudding I made immediately after.

For years I have wanted to make Paska doves for Easter.  This was the year it got done!  I didn't use a specific Paska recipe (Ukrainian egg bread), but another egg bread recipe I found in my bread maker manual.  We all thought they were quite cute, lined up like little broody birds:

Plump little things aren't they?

The other half of the dough became one of those braid-y breads.

Saturday night was family movie night, which means supper in front of the TV and something special for dessert if I get motivated.  I made Peep s'mores, which I thought would be gross, but since I ate three I have to give them a thumbs up!

Sunday found My Favourite Boy with no one to play with so we made mini cupcakes.  I made a batch of  icing and gave him some Easter decorations and free reign to decorate.  I think he did a great job:

I'm not sure if I will still be baking mode in order to make my own birthday cake for Wednesday.  If not, perhaps the Baking Muse will have drifted over to Mr. Craftyworld....

Have a sweet week!

One Good Day

My little tummy bug is still with me, so I haven't been too motivated to get much done.  Add to that a bike accident by My Favourite Boy, resulting in a broken arm.  He's OK, in fact he doesn't feel any pain at all, but it was still stressful!

So I had one good-feeling day last week and I used it to sew. I made this bag, and based part of it on a pattern I bought from from Bustle and Sew.

I don't sew much with red and white so it was kind of a treat.  I have lots more toile, so I think a few more projects are in order.

I also finished off the Trail Creek Farm piece into a little pin pillow:

Thank-you for visiting, and thank-you for your kind comments and emails!

Spring Things

Today is the first day of Spring and it has come like a lamb this year.  We have been enjoying beautiful weather, which made for a very relaxing school holiday last week.  The kids played outside all day, every day, and I had a great time reading and cross stitching.

I stitched Happy Bunny Bunny Day by the Trilogy and made it into a little bag.  Truthfully it is kind of an awkward size, being quite high, so the only remedy I can think of would be to add handles to it and pretend I intended it that way.

I like the design, but didn't really enjoy stitching it because I made a lot of mistakes.  If I had stuck to the original colour palette it would have gone faster, because once you decide to get creative and make your own colour choices the process seems to go that much slower.

I also stitched up this freebie from Trail Creek Farm:

I am not sure what kind of finish I will make with it.  I think I have satisfied my cross stitching urge for the moment, so will probably take a break and do something with it later.  I have come down with a bit of a stomach bug, so nothing really seems appealing to me at the moment.  Thankfully it came after March break ended, and after a day of baking and getting ready for the week.  So for the next few days I'll just take it easy; make my birthday wish list for Mr. Crafty (two more weeks!) and putter around here.  Thankfully the weather is still absolutely gorgeous, so I can at least feel sorry for myself out on a lawn chair!

Have a great week!

First Robin of Spring

I decided to take a mini break from stitching up Easter things, so I pulled out this freebie from Elizabeth's Designs:

I used my own hand-dyed linen and finished it into a scissor keep.  I have never done a finish like this before and I think I could have made it a bit longer.  Maybe I'll just use it for secret notes!

My Favourite Girl is starting to exert her independence in the kitchen.  She made herself cinnamon toast the other day for breakfast, then yesterday decided she might like to try baking something all on her own.  After deciding on a gingerbread recipe in this book she got started.

I got out all the ingredients she couldn't reach and she did all the measuring, mixing, rolling and cutting. She thought Easter shapes would be a nice idea.  After baking and decorating ( I did the oven bits, she did all the decorating) she had these beautiful cookies to show for her efforts!

Most of them are gone by now, because she has found out that cookies made by yourself are tastier than any other :)

Thanks for visiting!

March Break Things

We  have had a great start to March break already.  Yesterday we just hung out at home (My Favourite Boy is still recuperating from whatever bug he caught) doing crafts and watching movies.  My Favourite Girl and I got into the Easter spirit and made a whole egg carton's worth of mini baskets:

It's so relaxing to just cut/paint/paste/embellish.  The snow swirled outside but we were snug and happy with our thoughts of spring.

I stitched a tiny little pillow with what I think are supposed to be jelly beans; though with the over-dyed thread I used they look more like painted eggs.  The thread is from Carrie's Creations and is called 'Spring Delight'.

I wanted to finish is as a biscournou, but the corners would not line up properly and I got tired of fiddling with it.  It doesn't look too out of place when I add it to some of my other stitched decorations, so for now it will just stay a tiny pillow.

The mail carrier left some exciting things in the mailbox yesterday:

...but don't tell anyone because technically I'm not supposed to be shopping for non-essential things over Lent!  I could, however, if pressed make a pretty convincing argument that 'technical manuals' and a needleworking mystery are essential purchases - especially over Lent when there is no television to be watched!

Have a great weekend:)

Quaker Carrots

I am sooo excited about this!  I have no idea where I got the idea from, so if it's yours, then thank-you!
Last week I found a pencilled in entry in my craft journal from last year that just said "Quaker carrots".  I had totally forgotten writing that.

I did the stitching on these yesterday and today.  I wanted to make three but I ran out of floss:(
 I dyed my own 32 count linen, and used the orange DMC Color Variations.

I traced a pie shape onto the linen, and then starting stitching Quaker style motifs inside the pie shapes.

After cutting them out I stitched up the sides; turned them inside out and stuffed them; added the raggedy tops and used a gathering stitch to close them up.  The green calico was torn into strips and pieces were braided and some parts were left loose.  I wrapped another strip around the top of the carrot to hide my gathering stitches on the carrot.

I think they go well with my little vintage rabbit from yesterday, don't you?

Thanks for visiting!

Vintage Rabbit

I just had to order this chart after seeing it done by Becky on her blog.  The chart is from a French designer, Dany of Danybrod.  I did all the cross stitching last night, and couldn't wait until morning so I could finish it off.

I finished the back in a brown cotton, and it makes me think of chocolate bunnies!

You can find the chart to purchase here.  With the exchange from euros it only cost around $2.

This really put me in the mood for Easter projects.  I may just have to order off my 1-2-3Stitch wishlist:)

My Favourite Boy is home sick today, so we are having a very relaxing time just doing little things and watching movies.  I hope to get started on my next cross stitch project today; another Easter one that has so far involved two dye baths and two bleachings.  It should be the perfect colour by now!

Have a sweet day!