A Little Red Chair

I found this little chair while antiquing in UT. I looooooove it!

Quilt Finishing

Last spring or so, my brother Ivan got on a sewing kick and put together this quilt top. And then got burned out I suppose. Knowing that he'd probably never finish the quilt on his own, I took over. I bought the backing and batting, tied it, bound (binded?) the edges and gave it back to him for Christmas. It was a satisfying day's work (after having the quilt top since July and not doing anything with it...oops).

Popcorn on the Cob

Just some little gifts I quickly put together for all of my aunts and uncles and some friends. A couple cob of popcorn with instructions and a hot pad or two. Fun, easy and cheap!

Victoria Fingerless Mittens

I tried no less than 3 times to make some fingerless mittens/mitts/wrist warmers for my mom for Christmas. She had mentioned that she wanted a pair and I thought I'd be able to just whip them up quick and not even need patten. This was not the case. It took me weeks of trying over and over to finally admit I had no idea what I was doing and just get the correct yarn and use a pattern. Psh.



And I'm so glad I did. I am happy with how they turned out. This pattern is Victoria Fingerless Mittens from Knitting Little Luxuries. I've had this book for several years, and love a lot of the patterns, but this is the first one I've actually tried. One weird thing I noticed is that all of the mittens and mitts in this book are knit flat and then seamed. For some reason I couldn't figure out how to just knit it in the round so I did it the hard way. Also, even though the pattern only called for one ball of yarn, and I got a ball that was more yardage than the pattern called for, and I had the correct gauge, I still ran out of yarn about 3/4 through the second mitten. Annoying. But it was all worth it.

Ribblins.

My favorite recipe site is this here Simply Recipes. I have tried several recipes and they've all been incredble (like this baby artichokes one). I am a fan. It's the first place I go when I'm looking for a recipe now. The photography is beautiful and the little bloggity posts that go along are so fun to read and usually have all kinds of information.

Photo from Simply Recipes

And anyway, the other day I was browsing around for cabbage recipes and instead I found this recipe for Braised Beef Short Ribs. I knew I had to try them. One of our favorite dishes at our favorite new Northern UT restaurant is braised short ribs so it'd be quite convenient to be able to make such a dish at home, right? That's exactly what I was thinking. And I was correct.

So, friends were invited and the two day process was completed and then the food was consumed and it was all good. All of it. The company, the process and the food. I served the ribs with sauteed cabbage and mashed potatoes and biscuits. There are a couple of things I'll do differently next time (like, mine didn't look at all like those in that photo up there and I'm not quite sure why yet) but overall I was quite pleased and can't wait to make them again.

Speaking of biscuits, I'm attempting to master them. I come from a long line of supreme biscuit and pie makers. I must say, I've got the pie thing down, but biscuits are another story. I even Skyped with my Mom the other day so that we could make them together and she could teach me all the secrets. I've made them twice now and they aren't quite there yet. Dang. Guess I'll just have to keep trying? What a horrible fate.

iPhone pic of attempt #1. Not too bad.
So anyway, get ye hence to the butcher and pick up some short ribs and make these and enjoy.

Christmas Show-Off

A few of my favorite Christmas gifts! Just pretend these are good photos and not bad iPhone pics.

John got this for me and I thought I was going to be all Bad A and dominate this game. I was sorely mistaken and was swiftly taken down several notches. It's wicked haaard. (But I'll still beat you.)

Pretty, pretty vintage locket from Beth with pics of my sistas. I pretty much wear this every day.

A wee little 1930s copy of A Christmas Carol from my brother, Trev. It's amazing and sweet.

Anthro earrings from Ruth. I had been wanting these forever. I never want to take them off.

Adorable bag made by my Mama. She made all of the girls bags like this with different fabrics. Mine is now my official knitting bag and it's so perfect.

I'm sooooo excited about this cookbook! It's so beautiful. I love just looking through it and smelling it and dreaming of cooking all of the lovely, rustic, delicious things. This was also from John, cause he is the best!

2009 Christmas Card

I think pretty much everyone who reads this silly blog is on our Christmas card mailing list, anyway, but here is the card we sent out last year. The photos and design were 100% John and I think he did such an amazing job! I loooove this card! How are we going to top it this year?

Letterhead Love

I am a big fan of stationery. And I have a lot of it. I used to write little snail mail notes quite often and need to start writing more again. I don't know if anyone loves receiving mail as much as I do, but I'm going to send it to them anyway!


I recently discovered this blog, Letterheady, through another favorite blog, Letters of Note. Both are fascinating. I especially love the Letterheady. I want my own letterhead. You know, for all of my business correspondence. I really really love this letterhead of Eva Peron's (above). It's so lovely and simple.

Here are a few more favorites:





Super love the font on the "Lawrence Welk" on this one:



There are a couple Adolf Hitler letterheads that I actually really like. But then I felt weird about posting them on my blog. Go check them out on the site.

In other news:

-Bread making has me completely baffled
-William went for his first dentist appointment and was complimented up and down
-We're starting pre-pre-school activities this week!
-My dining room has been taken over by t-shirts and scraps
-I've had to capture and release 5 earthworms that have been found in various states of distress around my dining room floor. They keep coming in, somehow, trying to escape biblical flood that is currently in my backyard
- Today is the most beautiful gray, rainy day and all we're doing around here is playing, baking, reading and lots of cuddling!

Waiting...

I've got lots of things to share. Just waiting for the pics. Patiently waiting...

And I haven't forgotten about that give-away! Stay tuned! Especially you cold-climated folk!

Must Read

My brain will not stop thinking about these books I just read. My friend Ruth lent them to me on New Years Eve and I spent the next two days doing nothing but reading. I'm horrible at writing book reviews or synopsises (synopsii?) so please just go read the summary on Amazon and then order them and then read them. You will be glad you did. Either that or be annoyed that you can't drag yourself out of the world in the books and back into reality. Regardless, it'll be worth it.



The third book in the series comes out in August and I may go nuts in anticipation!

The Fam

These portraits were John's Christmas gift to my mom. He did all the photography, printing, framing and surprised my mom on Christmas Eve with them all hung up in the family room (special thanks to Trev for hanging them). I think she was pretty excited and happy. Especially since before these, everyones' photos were about 8 years out-of-date.

Mom & Dad
Greg
Trevor & Christi
Bethany
Ivan
Alexa
Ryan

Also, a little photo shoot of Greg and his girlfriend Erin and her son Griffin. Aren't they the most adorable little family you've ever seen? I love these kids.

Paper cuts

Yet another Angry Chicken project -- this one from her Mailorder #10 -- for a couple of friends. I'm sooo hooked on paper cutting now. It's so like, meditative, slicing through the paper with precision. I love it. I wish I could draw so that I could design my own -- I have so many ideas in my head -- but I'm thinking there are probably a lot online that I just have to look for to find.

Isn't the laundry line so adorably perfect for a laundry room? I wish I had a cute laundry room to decorate! I'm planning on doing another "Hello" for our entry, along with the two others that are in the Mailorder set -- a quilt and a kooky little house. Can't wait!

Two Simple Totes for Two Little Girls

These little book bags were made for two little girls I know who love books. They seemed so tiny when I made them, but after seeing them on little ones, they were just the right size.

The pattern came from Amy Karol's (aka The Angry Chicken) Bend-the-Rules Sewing, which I've made several projects from now. The directions were soooo confusing for me, but once I actually just followed them -- instead of trying to think ahead -- it was easy and it worked!

This project uses so little fabric, is so quick and it's so fun to mix and match fabrics. I'm definitely going to make one for Will and probably will make a larger one for myself. Heaven knows I need yet another bag in my life.

Do You Miss Me Yet?

Coming this week...

holiday projects revealed

PLUS

a giveaway!!