Wednesday, December 19, 2012

I have been meaning to blog for some time but December is flying by!! I'm sure a lot of you are also feeling this way.

So many things have happened this month. How about a fly-by blog post with a ton of photos?

1. We celebrated Erin's birthday at our last Book/Craft Club

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Emily made yummy lemon bars to celebrate


and Abbey kind of worked on her girl owl:

Abbey's girl owl

it's funny, Abbey has been working on this owl for months but it never seems to change ;) bwaha

the spread was amazing, as usual:

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Our next book is Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which looks very interesting and fun.

2. I received a wonderful wooly package from my dear friend, Lorri, in the UK:
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Both hanks are incredibly delicious! I'm still undecided what to knit with them, but I think a little shawl with the green hank would be gorgeous.

3. We also celebrated my second brother's birthday:

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4. Scott's mom performed in a Jubilation bell concert:

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It was beautiful and tinkly-sounding and so lovely to experience. I tried to YouTube a good video of people playing bells, but a scary video of an exorcism came up in the results and freaked me out (see for yourself: YouTube "bell concert church" and it's at the top O.o) 

5. I fiiiiiinally turned the heel on dad's socks and am on the foot:

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6. Our Book Club's First Annual Holiday Switchy Switch was last weekend and it was amaaaaazing!!! Of course, I didn't take photos, but here are some of the wonderful crafts I was gifted, and some handmade items I purchased from my crafty friends:

t shirt coasters from my friend :)


I am in love with these t-shirt coasters made by Autumn!! Thanks Autumn, and Erin for letting me have them :)

The following pairs of earrings are from my friend, Shari:

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They are all gorgeous and I love them!

And this beautiful necklace was made by Katie! I LOVE sand dollars!

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It was such a wonderful day spent with the best people. We watched Christmas movies, stuffed our faces, exchanged gifts, CRAFTED, and some of us took naps. I am truly thankful to have such beautiful ladies in my life.


That's all for now, happy Wednesday!

Monday, December 10, 2012

FO: Holly, Ivy, and Bunneh, and Owlies

The finished trio for my mom!

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grandma's old ornaments; they are glass and I have no idea how old, but I LOVE them!


Holly:
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Ivy:
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Bunny nugget:
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and the bunny I first knit is on the tree:
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I would love to knit a ton of these bunnies for the tree! I have been knitting a lot of them, only I keep giving them away!


I also knit these Owls for Autumn! She's having a baby girl soon and she loves owls:

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Pattern: Owl Puffs by Jenna Krupar
Yarn: Stash worsted weight, mostly Patons Classic Wool
Needles: US 5
Mods: none! The pattern is very quick to knit and easy to follow. Knit from bottom up, and closed with Kitchener stitch.


So this will be a super busy and fun week: there's Book Club on Wednesday, Holiday Switchy-Switch on Saturday (a full day event: our Book Club's holiday party where we will eat a lot, watch Christmas movies, craft, and give handmade gifts!), and for everyone in school, it's Finals Week!


How cute is this ornament?? I might have to make some, as well as all the others in her ornament series! Arg, I had better get moving. Why is it that when I have so much to do, I procrastinate the hardest?


Happy Monday! Stay warm.

Monday, December 3, 2012

More FOs

It is a gray Monday here, so I spent the morning baking these Cheesy Quinoa bites!

Cheesy quinoa bites


Autumn made them for us at the Halloween book/craft club; they are incredibly good, and I will be making these all the time now!

The recipe (which I basically copy and pasted from the email Autumn sent! I believe she found the recipe on Pinterest?)

Cheesy Quinoa Bites
Makes 28 bites
 
-2 cups cooked quinoa
-2 large eggs
-1 cup shredded carrot
-2 stalks green onion, diced
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
-2 Tbs all-purpose flour
-1/2 tsp seasoning salt
-1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together quinoa, carrot, egg, green onion, garlic, cilantro, cheese, flour, salt and pepper.
3. Distribute mixture into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup to the top.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes
 
I ended up omitting the cilantro and green onion because I didn't have any on hand. I did add a bit of chopped red onion. Also, I used a regular size muffin tin since I don't have a mini muffin tin, which left me with a little bit of mix still. So by the tablespoon, I scooped little balls of mix on a greased cookie sheet. Worked just fine! I did cook the muffin tin cheese bites for about 25 minutes I think. I highly recommend making these!!
 
My knitted Christmas gifts bag is filling up slowly!

Dot:
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a Rebecca Danger pattern


Honegart:

Honegart
loooooove this pattern!

Pattern: Stephen West
Yarn: Knit Picks Biggo in Sapphire Heather and Green Tea Heather
Needles: US 9 and 10
Mods: I just did one pattern repeat before decreases

This is the second hat I'm giving Scott. The colors might be too bold for him, but I really like them. This is a great unisex hat pattern, and I will be knitting many more! Maybe not out of Biggo though... the bulky cables killed my hands.

A fun group of ornaments!:

Ivy, Holly, and bunny nugget, atop Turn a Square
Holly and Ivy, and a bunny nugget
I still have one monster left to complete the trio, but I am dreading it because it's a three-color striped one! Eek. Maybe I will use self-striping yarn... These guys are sitting on Turn A Square, kind of a nice seat don't you think?

Cross stitch progress:

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Yikes, I need to get ready for work! Too much fun baking and eating and blogging :) Hope you all have a wonderful week!