Not Quite Vintage

happy heart day

Happy Valentine's Day my friends. Here are some virtual calorie and sugar free chocolates for you - with a little salt and nuts mixed in just for fun.

I made these caramel, chocolate, pretzel and pecan candies for my Pops and I have to admit many, many of them have been consumed (inhaled) by myself. I just can't be trusted around sweets. They are quite easy to make - all you need is a packages of chocolate covered caramel candies, mini pretzels and pecan halves. Line up the pretzel on a foil lined cookie sheet and place the candies on top. Bake in a 250 degree oven for just 4 minutes. Press the pecan halves on top and voila! Yummy candies in less than ten minutes. 

Hope you all had a lovely day!

warm and cozy Christmas scarves

Merry belated Christmas all - I am finally getting around to posting some of the holiday goodies I crafted for my family this year. In my family, pretty darn big family, everyone gets gifts. My Momma never believed in picking names, she wanted to watch every one open each and every present they got. At times I was more wrapped up in trying to figure out how I was going to buy/afford to buy presents than the wonderful Christmas spirit she believed in. I get it now, but didn't always. So, when I started crafting gifts for my family it was more out of necessity than desire and now it is seems everyone looks forward to finding out what I decided to make for them, so even if I wanted to take a year off from my handmade Christmas, I can't :)

Remember when I said my pretty darn big family? Well, that means a lot of handmade gifts. I have found that it is easier to make one thing for everyone than make different gifts (at least in sets, like variations of one thing for sister, another for nieces, another for nephews etc.). Its just easier to juggle. This year I settled in on fleece scarves. For those of you who have been reading for a while you might remember all the fleece I bought on major sale the day after Christmas last year - this is what I bought it for. That said having the forethought to know what I was making since last Christmas didn't mean I wasn't scrambling around this month trying to finish them.

I personalized each scarf with a monogram (goodness, I was actually surprised all the guys liked theirs - or at least they faked it well) and the girls got a bit of coordinating fabric trim on the edges. Best part about the edges was all the fabric came from my stash. Yay. They turned out warm and cozy - I still have one to finish up for myself.

In the photos, you see an orange suitcase. This is one of my favorite gifts I received (more on the others later). It was from my friend Renee (the one I made the apron for). And I LOVE it. It is pristine inside and was accompanied by some vintage Christmas glassware and some plastic letter. I wonder what will end up making its home inside?

cup half full apron for Renee

Today I celebrated Christmas with one of my dearest girlfriends. We have been friends for almost 12 years now and it is one of those rare friendships where you feel safe and confident at all times, where you can not see each other for a while and feel like no time has passed when you get together. Life has been crazy for us lately and it was so nice to make time for each other and just have a girls day. We had lunch, shopped for makeup at Ulta and sat in Starbucks enjoying coffee and hot chocolate. It was perfect.

Earlier this week I finished up her Christmas present - a cup half full apron from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams To Me. I purchased this fabric (Morning Call from Hoodie's Collection for Quilting) last winter because I knew Renee would love it - love the roosters. I really like how it turned out - roostery, but not over the top. She loved it.

Can I tell you a story about this apron. I finished it Thursday and needed to get the marks I traced onto the fabric so I would place the pockets in the right place. I grabbed the stain remover from the counter by the washing machine and sprayed... until I realized it was it was bleach clean up spray. Seriously. I threw it into the washer right away and washed it on cold. It looked okay but the darn chalk marks were still there, so this time I made sure I had the stain remover and sprayed away and washed again. They came out and the apron looked pretty good. After it dried I could tell very faintly on the pockets that some of the yellow was a bit lighter than the rest, but it really looked a bit more vintage than wrong. So I ironed it and wrapped it for Renee. Whew, present saved!

I did tell her the story and we laughed about it together. Stuff like this seems to happen to me all the time.

holiday mantel

It is beginning to look a little like Christmas around here! Just a little - actually just the mantel, but that is a step in the right direction. Last night I was able to finish my crochet star garland and I am in love with it! 

Tonight when I got home from work I pulled out my favorite pencil Santas and some thumb tacks and went right to work. Now that I look at the pictures I realize that the garland is uneven, but oh well :) Most everything else typically lives on the mantel and to make things a bit more festive, I added some red and green ornaments to my green McCoy planters. The fireplace screen and tools were my grandparent's. I cherish them (actually I cherish everything of theirs that was passed down to me). They never get used, my fireplace is gas and I really don't like using it and wish the previous owners hadn't converted it.

 

This weekend I hope to do more holiday decorating - two trees actually, one at my house and one at Pop's. Lots of decorating to do... and lots of crafting to finish too.

Thanks to The Royal Sisters for the wonderful Grandma Twinkle tutorial. If you haven't checked out the tutorial yet, you should and there is a Flickr group too. The instructions are incredibly simple and addictive. I have actually memorized the pattern and hope I get a chance to make some more - I am thinking of making ornaments out of them and use them when wrapping presents.

my frugal yet fabulous holidays plan

I have to admit the holidays have me a bit nervous this year. I'm not in my typical holiday spirit but I am really trying. What has me nervous? Well money, the sheer number of gifts I need to make and my lack of creativity among other things. The world is a bit different this year (for everyone - another person I know lost their job yesterday) and I want to work past the challenges and get to the good stuff - the celebration, the joy, the sharing, the gratitude -  but like I said, I am struggling. So, I am going to look at this similarly to how I approach other challenges in my life, I am going to come up with a plan.

 

I call it my Frugal Yet Fabulous Holidays plan. It ties together my need to watch my pennies and my desire to have a wonderful time preparing for and experiencing the holidays with my hope to be a better more consistent poster on my blog. Expect posts on everything from my December grocery challenge, to how I am going to use supplies that I have on had to make and package gifts (yay for my craft supply and fabric stash), to finding holiday inspiration (and just plain old inspiration) in the every day. I think I have a lot of good things planned - and if you have any ideas along the way please share, I would love to hear about them.

And if you want to participate, feel free, there is a button in the sidebar if you like.

Thank Columbus for pattern sales

I am not lucky enough to get a day off or anything for Columbus day, but there is one really good thing happening this weekend – huge sewing pattern sale at Hancock’s. Yep, today through Monday, McCall’s and Butterick patterns are  99¢ and Vogue patters are $3.99. Plus for just Sunday and Monday, Simplicity patterns are 5 for $5. Wow, such great deals.

I know we (I) all have patterns upon patterns that we (I) have bought at sales just like this one that we (I) WILL use someday, so we (I) really don’t need to go. But, if I were to pattern shop this weekend, here are some patterns I might consider picking up.

I am looking for a perfect jacket or two for work. I have to dress up for work – jackets are pretty much required. To explain our dress code a little more, just recently the dress code was updated to allow open toe shoes and give us the freedom to not wear hosiery – so we are still behind the times. Jackets get expensive, so I am always on the lookout at sales, but lately I have been thinking that it might be nice to make my own. Good for my sewing skills and would allow me to be a bit creative with it. I have been inspired by a jacket I saw on Assorted Notions. It is a cropped gray wool jacket with pockets and nice big black buttons (about half way down on the left if you click the link). I haven’t had much luck finding exactly what I am looking for, but I am liking:

Simplicity 2958: This one looks pretty good – pockets, one button. It is more of a spring pattern, but in the right fabric might look pretty good. And it is unlined. Not sure about that, I like linings in my jackets. I do like that the back of this one doesn’t have any gathers or pleats.

McCall’s 5715: View B is another option. It has the buttons, some seaming and a nice collar, but it does have pleats in the back. I just wonder if it has too much fabric back there. The picture of the mode on the site makes it look like I may just have to try this one.

Simplicity 2938: Not at all like the inspiration jacket, but it might be fun to make it in a patterned fabric. It would have to be more lightweight, but might be good for layering.

Simplicity 2760: This one is different. It isn’t cropped like the inspiration jacket, but there are buttons and pockets. I like the scoop neckline. I might try view D or E.

McCall's 5711: And if I really get inspired, maybe I could do a light weight coat in a bright color – sapphire blue or red maybe.  I loved this pattern the moment I saw it.

I also have a list of other patterns I have been collecting.

Simplicity 2854:  When you have to wear jackets, you need shirts for underneath... And they don’t necessarily need to have sleeves. Sometimes sleeves just get in the way and make you uncomfortable. I am thinking view C or D for this one, but without the little flutter sleeves. A mini plaid shirting material would be great for this.

Vogue 8532: If I were to need a special occasion dress, this would be it – the neckline is very flattering. I would probably make it in classic black, maybe textured. A gray tweed would be nice too.

Vogue 8533: I imagine this one more for spring, made out of two contrasting patterns in bright colors. I would say green and white, but I need to expand my color palette – I have too many green pieces right now.

Simplicity 4112: And just because I have to have the Wendy patterns... This top would also work under jackets. I might need to take a little fullness out of the sleeves.

Simplicity 2925: This one reminds me of a Wendy pattern. I like View C, but maybe with long sleeves like on the dress. It  could be fun with jeans for fall/winter.

Now, we all know I really don’t need any of these patterns – my crafty to do list is already long enough. But, if I happen to drive by the store on Sunday, I may have to stop in.

What patterns are on your I want list this Fall?

And if you need a little place to write down your patter wish list, check out this post.

a yummy Easter dinner

Happy belated Easter everyone!  Hope you had a nice visit from the Easter Bunny... Even if it was cold and flurrying extra huge snowflakes all day. St. Louis weather has not caught up with the recent “SPRING” designation, but I didn’t let that get in the way of having a nice Easter. I was expecting guests and there was lots to do.

I knew Pops and Miss Molly were coming over for dinner all week and I went into planning mode. Planning mode got interrupted by water in my basement (thank you Midwest rain... But thank you even more that my house is far away from the flood plain, so I can’t complain to much about a little bit of water in an old city basement) and a fender bender, but I made it through. Menu planning was fun and I came up with a pretty atypical Easter meal – fried chicken. I can’t tell you how many time over the past few months I have heard my Pops say “I wish I could find a good fried chicken place.” See his favorite restaurant for chicken closed and he just hasn’t been the same since :)  So, when I saw a recipe in the March issue of Cottage Living for Oven Fried Chicken that included hot sauce and paprika, I knew I had to try it. The recipe was accompanied by steamed asparagus and lemon dill potato salad recipes that looked good too... The next step was to choose a dessert. And after some thought, I decided on Mom’s Rum Cake recipe.

Saturday I went grocery shopping and got a hair cut (yeah, I needed that). Then I took a little break to watch the movie No Reservations. Pretty cute. A nice American version of Mostly Martha. Watching it totally put me in the cooking mood. Perfect. I even pulled out my white chefs apron yesterday and folded and tied it like in the movie. Dorky, I know, but it also kept my clothing safe of grease splatters! And I set the table. I pulled out a white restaurant table cloth and layered it with a vintage printed cloth. I mixed it with my everyday scarlet and white Fiesta. My dining room is one of my favorite rooms, although I use it mostly as a hallway through the house. I wish I was able to use it more for guests. My dining room set was my Gram and Gramps and it fits so perfectly in my house. They were the same era. It feels right... And I set Pop’s place where Gramps would have sat. Perfect.

So yesterday morning, I started with Mom’s Rum Cake. I love this cake. I have eaten it more times that I can count, but I have only made it once... About 5 years ago with Mom and somehow, it flopped. I think we messed up the proportions for the glaze and when we poured it on, the cake just turned to mush. So, I was worried as I attempted it yesterday. I didn’t want to mess it up for a number of reasons. And my go-to girl for cooking questions wasn’t available, so I just talked to the air and asked her to watch over me. It all turned out fine... It was way yummy. What is really nice about this bundt cake is that it comes out of the pan so easily. I have had pretty bad luck de-panning cakes in the past, but with this one, the glaze makes it pull away from the sides all on its own.

With the cake out of the way, I was able to tackle the potato salad and the asparagus before Pops and Miss Molly arrived. I love when I can prepare most of the food ahead of time and then get a chance to relax with my guests. It is so much less stressful. And why have guest over if you can’t spend time with them?  Even the chicken lent itself to this plan. I had to excuse myself for about 20 minutes to pre-fry the chicken before putting in the oven to back the rest of the way. It was much easier and a whole lot less messy than I expected it to be. And the majority of dishes were done ahead of time, so after dinner clean-up was easy too.

The meal went over very well. Pops loved the chicken and gave me his seal of approval. His “your a good cook” touched me more that he can know. All I can say is I had a great teacher!!

Just in case you want to give the cake a try, here is Mom’s recipe:

For the cake

• 1 butter recipe golden cake mix (it really needs to be this cake mix)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding (packaging may have changed for this one, so I found a 3.1 oz and a 5 oz. So, I bought the 5 ounce and estimated)
• 1/2 cup light rum
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs

Grease and flour bundt pan (I used Baker’s Joy to do this in one easy step). Preheat oven to 350. Crumble pecans into the bottom of the pan. Place cake and pudding mix into a large bowl. Add rum, water, oil and eggs. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour batter into pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. It will be golden and toothpick will come out clean. Remove from oven immediately. Pour hot rum glaze over the cake. This will cause the cake to settle and shrink a little.  Cool cake for 30 minutes and then remove from pan.

During the last 5 or so minutes of baking the cake, start the glaze

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter (real butter, not margarine)
• 1/4 cup rum
• 1/4 cup water

Place ingredients in a small sauce pan. Stir till melted and then boil for 2-3 minutes. The glaze with thicken only slightly.

oh brother...

Okay, so I really wanted to show this to all of you almost 2 months ago, but as you know, life sorta got in the way... So I am finally going to share my most favorite Christmas gift with you: My new sewing machine.

Yep, I was totally surprised. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting for Christmas from my parents. All I knew was that Mom keep telling me it was going to be “good” and for some reason that scared me a little. Oftentimes, our tastes didn’t quite mesh, even if the intentions were always the best.

After all the other presents were opened, my Pops got up and said he forgot something. He was gone a couple minutes and walked in with a 2-wheeler and a huge box wrapped in construction plans (my Pops has a heavy-highway construction company, so his wrapping paper has always been construction plans. I secretly love it. Pretty crafty and environmentally conscious I think). After ripping off the paper, I found a Brother Innovis 2500D. Wow.

I guess the story goes that Pops drove back and forth to a sewing machine shop (pretty far from home), asking questions, bring home brochures to Mom, talking it over and then back to the shop to ask more questions. They had planned to get me a primarily quilting machine until they noticed all the hand-embroidery I was doing, so they had a change of plans – find a machine that will allow me to quilt bigger quilts and do embroidery too. This was a couple month process for them and so out of the box for my Pops. He new it was important for Mom, she really wanted to get me something special, so he did everything he could.

On a side note, the more I think about this, the more I wonder if sometimes people who are ill have a sense of the future. Mom really wanted me to have the tools to explore my creativity more – this was important to her, so she made it happen. Plus, she had a great Christmas. For the first time in 3 years, she was able to make it to the family Christmas party. And she had a very good Christmas day with Pops and I. I am blessed to have been able to share this time with her. She once told me a story about her Dad. He was able to visit all of his four children in the days before he passed away – something that hardly ever happened. And he finally gave her a rooster figurine she had been asking about for years (not sure why, but she loved it... and it was in our kitchen for years). It feels sorta like that.

Anyway, I really love my sewing machine. Honestly, I have only been able to play with it three times so far. Once to just try it out, once to make my Mom an embroidered shirt while she was in the hospital (for which I received a huge, huge smile and a request for one in every color) and once this weekend. I was able to have a quiet day at home on Saturday – I didn’t even leave the house except to get the paper.  I cleaned up my craft space and practiced a bit of embroidery (yes, with Snoopy designs... I knew Pops would like them... And me too).

This machine can do so many cool things. On the sewing/quilting side, I can now try free-motion quilting. And for my venture into clothing, it has a side-cutter foot... It does a straight stitch combined with a zig-zag type overcast stitch and trims the excess fabric along the way. So cool since I don’t have a serger yet. Oh, and it has a drop in bobbin and automatic needle threader which I love. For embroidery, I can hook it up to my computer to store or transfer designs – the sewing machine just shows up as an external drive. That was a wow to me.

I am not sure what all I can do with this sewing machine yet, but I can’t wait to find out. Now the key is just finding the time to play around and try things out. I am thinking my family needs to expect a lot of monogrammed gifts this year...

on holiday

Taking a little break to enjoy the holidays - hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. See you soon.

holiday tradition: toffee

Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without Pop’s toffee. I can’t believe it, but I think I have been making a tin of toffee for Pops the past 9 or 10 years. Crazy, but worth it.

I remember being at my Grandparents as a little kid. In Colorado... Or even when they visited us in St. Louis for Christmas. Gram and Gramps always brought a box of special toffee. It was from somewhere in Colorado, Colorado Springs maybe? It was extra thick and crunchy – really dense. I can’t even describe it. All I really know is Pops loved it.

So when Gram and Gramps were no longer around to give the wonderful box of toffee, I decided to step in. I tried to locate the company that made the original toffee, but had no luck. So, in an issue of MS Living, I found a recipe for toffee. Not exactly the same kind – not as thick or crunchy, but the sentiment was there.

Now, years later I am still making the toffee and Pops still enjoys just one piece a day until it runs out. If I could enjoy only one small sweet treat a day – I just don’t know how he does it. The extra, not so perfect pieces get packaged and given as extra gifts – or this year to my bosses at work.

If you haven’t made candy before, the recipe may seem a bit overwhelming. But really, once you try it, it is pretty easy. It takes a lot of time, but not much work. You have to wait for the main mixture to reach 280 degrees, which means you have to wait for at least 45 minutes. Then you wait for the mixture to harden in the pans, another 45 minutes. Then you melt chocolate and cover with pecans and wait 24 hours to break it apart. But honestly, it is just a lot of waiting and not too much work. Give it a try.

Oh, and after the first year, I stopped trying to cut it all nicely like in Martha’s picture on the website. Never worked for me. I just have fun and break it into fun pieces. So much easier!