runway recap: because i must.

okay, let’s do this.
there are plenty of people out there doing project runway recaps, so i’ve shied away. but last night’s episode?
yeah.

****WARNING: BEYOND THIS POINT THERE BE SPOILERS (and possibly dragons)*****

 

alright let’s pretend that the entire episode wasn’t just a huge shill for heidi’s new “line” of clothes for babies ‘r’ us.
let’s pretend it had anything at all to do with what the premise of the show is.

okay, no. can’t do it.
it was so fabricated and, well…dumb. baby clothing is a genre all to it’s own. the construction and design of garments for babies has very little in common with that of adults.
basically, it was a huge commercial. (although not nearly as bad as the “make a dress inspired by this…CAR!” challenge)

BUT.

was the stunned disbelief really necessary? every designer was all huh? what are these tiny creatures? are they…people? only smaller? whaaaa?

and then they did the whole pseudo-huggy kissy thing. oooh my baby is SOOO CUTE!

::cue major eye roll::

granted every designer there is childless. would they have done this challenge if someone like, say, laura bennett was there? hmm. because face it—any mother would have ROCKED this challenge.
what’s that? an ENTIRE DAY to sew a garment? and what’s that? i only have ONE baby to care for while i do it? oh, you want me to go to mood with just the one baby strapped to my front?

puh-leeeze girlfriend. that’s a VACATION for me. send them shopping with five kids if you want me to be impressed.
every week jeremy and i watch and i can’t help but ask WHAT are they doing with all of their time!?! yes, you see the good ones come down the runway—the tailored coats and gorgeous gowns that definitely take hours of labor. but as someone who sews, when i see a shoddy looking dress with puckered seams and uneven hems and they had a DAY (or 2!?) to make it, i’ve got to wonder!?!?! if *I*, as a self-taught, untrained sewer can crank out a complete garment in a couple of hours, certainly these self-proclaimed and schooled “designers” ought to be able to create something decent with hours and hours of time and hundreds of dollars in supplies.

okay, moving on: the mechanical “babies”. as a silly twist i actually thought it was kind of funny. watching the designers reactions was priceless. the majority of them couldn’t scramble away from the real babies fast enough, and then finding out they had received the PR equivalent of a nightmare family studies assignment? HA!

source

although—side note—fabio? dude’s creepin me out a bit. i think there’s more crazy there than we’ve seen.

anyway, i can’t help but sigh at all the (what seems to me) obvious producer manipulation. heidi is NOT putting garbage out with her name attached to it. somebody better get in there and crack the whip—gather them dumb babies up and MAKE SOME GOOD CLOTHES. cue tim, here to “take the babies off to day care”.

and the “make a dress for mom that will be PART of the judging but not REALLY part of the judging so lets go to mood yay!!” seriously, i rolled my eyes so hard i saw my brain. i can only think they’re contractually obligated to go to mood at least once every episode? mood. mood. moodmoodmoodmood. thank you mood!

the clothes? well, in my opinion based on design alone dmitry should have gone. that ill-fitting crazy looking one piece jumper with a pointy hat? no. thank. you.

source

ugh. looking at this photo makes me dislike it even more. the praise for it was odd. and when michael kors started to question it and everyone jumped all over him? weeeiiirrrd.

but it was obvious elena was getting the auf. i haven’t been a huge fan—her designs just don’t appeal to me and her personality is kind of off-putting (understatement) but i didn’t hate last night’s. as a target demographic for the challenge last night i’d have to say her outfit was leaps and bounds over dmitry’s.

source

cute, usable pieces. and the mismatched colors are what’s in style now, right? or am i wrong?

eh. it was her time to go. she wasn’t making top 3, and melissa will probably be next. girlfriend can’t be squeaking by every week with nervous breakdowns and half-finished clothes. if she made it to fashion week she’d probably be sucking her thumb and crying in the corner.

okay, so to sum up: all in all the fact that i felt so strongly about this episode…well, i can’t help but think that’s a good thing. after last season—YAWN. i was starting to think maybe PR was done. but this season is giving me hope.
so what say you? good? bad? love? hate? agree? disagree? let’s dish.

tutorial: stuffed owls (and no, it’s not a recipe)

EDITED TO ADD THIS NOTE: I accidentally deleted photos from a bunch of my old blog posts. I have found and replaced as many photos as possible as I could find until I got sick of searching, from this post, but I'm not the most organized and there's 7000+ pics on my computer O.o yikes, I know. Anyway, the important ones are here...the owls, and the pattern. Enjoy!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

this may come as a surprise to you, but i occasionally tend towards not thinking things through all the way. (stop snickering, tina. i can hear you) sometimes i jump in with both feet and both arms and my whole body before i’ve really stopped to make sure there’s enough water in the pool.
and obviously a person such as myself would head blindly off to the fabric store to buy the supplies for 13 stuffed owls as gifts for the “night owl” sleepover party—each with their own “personality” and color/fabric scheme--without even making a list.
let me say that again: THIRTEEN INDIVIDUAL OWLS, NO LIST, NO SKETCH, NO PLAN. CREDIT CARD IN HAND.
i had gigi with me—the chatterbox who can make a grown man’s head spin—and not a clue where to begin. it took me all of 3.4 seconds to realize i had made a major, major mistake. actually let’s be honest—a number of them. i scrambled for scraps of paper and a working pen—shoot even an eyeliner pencil would work--in my bag, hastily trying to come up with the outline of a plan. i didn’t even have an idea what these 13 owls were going to be beyond vague thoughts of “oh, a princess owl. and maybe a ballerina owl. annnndd…uhh…oh! an artist owl would be cute…”
2 hours and $60 later i left with a stack of fabrics and felt and stuffing that would make the hardiest of sewists shudder, and the back side of an envelope covered with scribbles and arrows and circles and things crossed out looking for all the world like the john nash of jo-ann’s. (a beautiful mind, anyone? oh, and i totally typed “crossed owt” the first time. owls on the brain.)
but it worked. because sometimes flying by the seat of your pants, leaping before you look or…or…(insert 3rd “lack of planning” type idiom here because, of course, i started this list which clearly calls for a 3rd saying of some sort to complete the rhythm without thinking it through all the way. irony, people. get some.)
okay so it worked. that’s the point. when the sewing dust settled i had these:

13 owls, each with their own
personality colors
and
look

 each owl is a blend of cotton fronts with a soft minky backing, button eyes and felt details. i couldn’t decide which was my favorite. as i finished each one and set it aside it occupied the top spot as The One I Would Pick. until i finished the next one. i’m fickle like that.

if you happen to be in the market for 13 individual owls and would like a bit more to go on than a Vague Idea, i present to you each owl in detail:

the options are really endless. i started making myself crazy—i’d see some “themed” quilting cotton and think OH! that could be an XYZ owl! and the details…oh the details. should the french owl be holding a baguette? should princess owl have a scepter? should bookworm owl have a worm? or should i scratch his book altogether and give him a tiny pair of owly skinny jeans and call him hipster owl? will 8 year olds even get that?
decisions, decisions…
as for the sewing: i did certain things to make my life easier. first, the main part of each owl’s body was either brown or grey. and the backs were either red, pink, brown or white minky. i also used some fabrics on more than one owl. but not too much—i really wanted them to be individual.

heavy duty wonder under is your new best friend. each piece got attached with the wonder under first—belly, wings, eyes and beak.


some felt details were nice wool felt, others—like the beaks--were just the cheap craft felt.

gasp! did you really try to iron wonder under onto craft felt made from plastic bottles????

yes i certainly did. and it worked, too. i used a press cloth and short hits with the iron, but it worked. then i traced 13 beaks and cut them all out.

(obvs if you follow my lead you do so at your self and your iron’s risk)
and i did the same with the eyes.


i made a pinned together pile for each one—a body, belly, wings, two eyes and a beak. then i took them all to the iron and attached the pieces together.
once that was done i went to the sewing machine and stitched down all the pieces, mainly using a blanket stitch.

i also used white thread for the most part on the major details—again, just a little something to help save my sanity.
when all the fronts were done i got to work cutting out all the felt details. i sewed them down by color to save myself from switching my thread and bobbin 50 times. i laid out all the owls and sewed any red details on each with red in my machine. then switched to orange thread and did all the orange details…and so on.
i attached all the black button eyes by machine too. all 26 eyes—and i didn’t break a single button or needle. i’m pretty proud of that.
then i cut 26 owl feet (well, actually the ballerina’s feet were special, so 24 owl feet) and attached them to the bottom, matched up a back and sewed the back and front right sides together, leaving an opening on the side for stuffing.
jeremy and i spent an hour in front of the tv stuffing and hand stitching them shut the night before the party.
i have to say that all things considered they weren’t that difficult to do, especially considering the impact they had—the girls were SO EXCITED.
the last thing i did on the day of the party was print out little certificates that went along with each owl. to be honest my brain was shot. the woman who i initially got this idea from had cute little poems for each owl. i gave up on that idea.

they all were a variation on the above.

okay, probably the french owl was my favorite.

i had two bowls with slips of paper marked 1-12. each girl picked a number from the first bowl. then i chose the first number from the 2nd bowl. the girl with the matching number got to choose her owl and read the certificate to everyone, and she picked the next number from the second bowl.

(i mentioned in yesterday’s post that i put the owls in bags with a tag that had a clue as to their personality on it—i.e. a pair of dancing shoes for the ballerina owl, a book for the bookworm. that way they couldn’t see the exact details but had some idea what they were picking. with girls ranging from 3-12 i had some that appealed to littlers (princess, flower) and some that appealed to biggers (photography, moustache). i wanted to give them the chance to choose something appropriate.)

by making 13 owls rather than just 12 even the last girl to get her number picked still had a choice between 2 owls, and the odd owl out went to elliot. :) (which, to my surprise, ended up being the love owl. none of them went for the the heart. and the moustache owl went pretty quickly—thankyouverymuch MOM (who said no one would pick it because it was for a boy))
it was a hit. they had a blast seeing each new owl come out of it’s bag, and the majority of them curled up with their owl when it was bedtime.

finally i want to mention again the awesome blog i originally got this idea from—snowy bliss.
now, in case you’re really really a sick person and want all the dirty details because maybe you want to make your own baker’s dozen of stuffed owls i’m including my supply list and a printable pattern. enjoy!


+SUPPLIES+
+ 1/2 yard gray cotton an 1/2 yard brown cotton for the owl fronts
+ 1/3 yard minky in each color: pink, red, brown, white 
+ felt sheets in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, light pink, dark pink
+ 1/4 yard wool felt in each color: black, brown, white
+ 1/8 yard pink tulle
+ 26 black buttons
+ 2 bags of polyfiber stuffing
+ lots and lots of coordinating thread colors
+ one package of heavy duty wonder under (use your 40% off coupon!)
+ 6” strips of each fabric you need for the belly and wings of your owls. so if you use a different fabric combo for each owl you’ll need 6” strips of 26 different fabrics. eek! you see why it took 2 hours, right? all my fabrics were purchased from jo-ann’s. the chances of you finding exactly the same 26 fabrics is slim to none, i’m sure, but here’s a photo guide just to help.

(sorry, never did find this photo again! :(   )

because your owl belly’s are really just a 6x4 ish oval, you’re going to have a LOT of leftovers (this photo is actually my scraps!) so if you can double up on any fabrics (like the polka dots i used for a couple different owls) you don’t need to buy any more fabric. you can get at least 4 sets of wings or 5 bodies from each 6” strip.

you could also buy some fat quarters to make the owls. i wasn’t happy with the fabric choices in fat quarters at jo-ann’s though. but if you’re only making one or two owls it may be a good option.

+PATTERN+ 

+ right click and print these 2 pages. NOTE: print page 2 TWICE and cut out the belly piece from the second copy
+ line up the “X” and tape together
+ cut out your pattern pieces

+SEWING NOTES+
+ iron heavy duty wonder under onto your belly, wings, beak and eyes.
+ the wing has a left side and right side. make sure you cut 2 mirror image wings.
+ carefully fold over 1/4” and press down on the top edge of the belly and the inside edges of the wings.
+ iron all the pieces down, and then stitch around the edges of each to secure.
+ refer to my photos for all the felt details.
+ sew front and back together with a 1/2” seam allowance, leaving a small opening to turn and stuff.
+ hand stitch each owl closed.
+ i didn’t include the “feet” on here. that was partly because i forgot, and party because when i remembered i didn’t have enough room to add it. so if you want to add feet just cut simple bird feet shapes from brown felt and sew them on the bottom before sewing the back and front together.

PHEW! i think that’s it. i hope SOMEONE gets use from this—because this was a bear of a blog post to write! ha! enjoy—and as always, let me know if you make any—i’d love to see them!

promises i don’t intend to keep.

there are two quilts that are in my head that won’t get out until i make (made) them.
two quilts and that’s it. okay, maybe three because i’d love to try making something like this chevron quilt from e tells tales one day.

oh—and a fourth because i promised my sis-in-law i’d make her a very hungry caterpillar quilt when they have a baby. but for that one—i won’t hold my breath.

okay, so three—potentially four—quilts in my head and once they’re done i’m done. i lay down my quilting…er, needle or thread or ruler or whatever item of quilting pariphelnalia makes sense in this metaphor (simile?) for good.
i give you my word as a spaniard.

(no good. i’ve known too many spaniards.)

but here’s the thing: i’ve no need to take up quilting. i’ve got my sewing and my crocheting and sometimes my knitting, plus home projects and oh yeah those five kneebiters that require occasional mothering.
i’m good. for realsies.

but since we did the girls’ room elliot’s crib has been lurking there in the corner—mocking me with it’s mismatched and unmatching linens. the sore thumb in an otherwise pretty room. and i had enough scrap fabric from the pillows and curtains i made that i set it all aside way-back-when with the vaguely formed idea of stitching it up into a little quilt for the crib.
no new purchases, no more $$ spent, still a coordinated look. win-win-win all the way around, right?

so it’s been seven months now since the room was done, and elliot is officially a crib resident (having given up her claim to our closet) and it was high time to get it done.
so i did.

a simple random width striped quilt, with a plain black border.

maybe it doesn’t even really count as a quilt?

i don’t know. i’m not a quilter, remember? i’m just dabbling. sticking a toe in the frigid waters of the Quiltic before deciding it’s not for me.

what i do know is that i’m happy with how it looks. it’s sweet and bright and it was very easy.

i did buy 1/2 yard of this french print fabric. because i saw it after we were all done and laughed at how perfectly it coordinated with their room. although i’m glad i didn’t see it when we were actually fabric shopping, because i may have been sorely tempted to buy it and it’s a little too “theme-y” for the look we wanted in there.
but a little bit goes a long way.

leftover scraps from the pillows, plus a piece of red and white stripe from IKEA’s as-is department—snagged for $5 on one of our epic shopping trips.

for the backing i snagged a white sheet from our linen closet—a leftover from our queen-sized bed days. simple. clean. cheap.

i bought 2 yards of natural cotton batting. standing there in the batting section of joann’s i couldn’t do it—could not bring myself to buy that horrible poly fluffy stuff to wrap my baby in. no matter that probably every other comforter we own is filled with that nonsense—i had to go around the corner to the stuff that actually looked like it should be in a blanket and not a recycling bin. and when i finished the blanket’s last stitches and held it out to elliot—look at the blanket mommy made you—and she ran over and stood there waiting for me to wrap her up in it as if she KNEW, which i did—and then she laid quietly in my arms, in that blanket i made for her. and in that moment i knew none of my children could ever again lay in a blanket that didn’t come from my sewing machine. it would be a hug from their mother that blanketed them in the night—figuratively, and literally.

so there it is. one down, and once i finish the others i officially give up quilting. pinky swear.

i did try to take some photos of this quilt. pictures in my head of a cheerful elliot peeking over the top of her crib where her new quilt hangs jauntily. but the elliot in my reality knows how to tell time and was 100% certain it was NOT TIME FOR A NAP.

and she would not be swayed, no matter how many funny faces i made at her or how many other sisters i threw into the crib with her.

sisters with leftover face paint who just joined in the clamor rather than assuage the crying.

and that left one option:

lone quilt shots…

and a baby more than happy on mommy’s bed, and away from the blasted crib.

oh yes…quite content.

apple pie

did you see the parade magazine back in november? specifically the one with the apple pie on the cover? the one covered in piecrust leaves?

Source: dashrecipes.com via Shannon on Pinterest

so, so pretty.

and if you follow their link, it will tell you that if you’d like to make your own version of this pie, well TOO BAD.
okay, it doesn’t really say that. but it does say they used “custom stencils” and that “all lines in the leaves were hand detailed with a knife.”

boo.

they do offer links to places you can get some similar cookie cutters, but i made my own version of the pie.



okay, so maybe it’s not cover-worthy. but it was a fun little project ava and i did together.

for an HOUR.

not making the pie, or the crust. just making leaves. for an HOUR.



it’s a pretty dramatic looking pie, too. so that helps take the focus off what it actually tastes like (you know...in case you're at all nervous about your pie-making abilities. not that i am. cough, cough)



if you want to try your hand at a leaf-covered apple pie, we used this:


wilton rose leaf fondant cut & press set. it was $6.99 at jo-ann’s, and i used a 40% coupon.

and this:

the pampered chef creative cutters set—specifically the maple leaf cutter. this was a gift from my sister-in-law, but it retails for $11.00 on their website.




the combo of a maple leaf and rose leaves worked surprisingly well.

of course, my pie can’t hold a candle to the pies ava and gigi did on their own with the leftovers:

 

i’ll be honest here—i’m not a huge apple pie fan. i prefer berry pies. and mixed fruit pies.
and chocolate. i always prefer chocolate.

so what do you think? what’s your favorite type of pie? and would you spend an hour cutting crust leaves to top a pie?

or would you scrap it all for a nice bowl of chocolate ice cream? :) let me know in the comments.

(oh, and in case you're wondering--my pie was quite yummy.)

pssst--hey, what do you think of my new header? i know, i know...i've been changing things up. a bit often. (cough, cough) but this one might stick. for a bit. hey--i even committed to new buttons. and in the bloggy world, that's practically like we're married.

pumpkin cinnamon rolls with ginger cream cheese glaze

really, does this post need any other words beyond the title?
i mean, honestly—it says all you need to know. (but that doesn’t mean i’m not going to add lots.more.words)

i had this recipe pinned forever on my “food i must eat one day” pinterest board. (alternate title: this is why you’re fat)
it’s a lovely recipe with spectacular photography.

Source: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com via Shannon on Pinterest

it just has one, errr…how shall i put this? not problem per se. more of an issue:

it’s vegan. meaning: no real butter, no real cream cheese, no real milk. and while i am a vegetarian i am the ovo-lacto variety because—well, put simply--the googiemomma can’t live without butter, yo. (and cheese. the googiemomma can’t live without cheese either. but that’s another blog post)

(oh, and ice cream.)

(and probably i really couldn’t live without milk. not that i drink it, cause i don’t. but: milkshakes, icing, alfredo sauce…well, you see where i’m going with this, right?)

annnnyway…so a nasty, rainy day a few weeks back provided the perfect time to work my de-veganing cinnamon roll magic in the kitchen. the recipe from healthy happy life provided a jumping off point. inspiration. sadly, i’m no stranger to this concept. i do the same with “light” recipes too.

what’s that? 4 egg whites? mmmhmm. two whole eggs. 4 tablespoons margarine? five tablespoons butterrrrr. 1/2 cup skim milk? well, to my eyes that clearly says “1/2 cup heavy cream”. isn’t that what you see?

behold:


it all starts with the dough.



i used all white flour, instead of the half whole wheat pastry flour in the original recipe. and i used half butter and half shortening in place of the vegan shortening.



for the filling i omitted the pecans. not all the kids are fans. they probably get it from me: i prefer my soft squishy foods completely soft and squishy. no crunchy bits.



don’t you love my blood pressure cuff there in the background? like i a) couldn’t be bothered to move it before taking the picture, and b) had to check my bp before indulging in these things.
again, i used regular dairy butter in place of the vegan butter called for in the original.





were i to make these again i’d probably double the filling amount. it seemed like it needed more. and face it, you’re not making these things if you’re watching the old ell bees.






they do look purdy.



then i tripped, and dropped more butter all over the tops.



oops.

and we bake…



when it came to the glaze i pretty much did my own thing. she uses vegan cream cheese and vegan butter and soy creamer and maple syrup.

i had half a block of regular cream cheese and store brand butter flavored pancake syrup, which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

so i improvised with some pumpkin cream cheese spread and some regular cream cheese, along with melted butter:






ginger powder



powdered sugar (to taste), and a splash of milk (until it was the right consistency)




rolls, still warm from the oven, before:



and after:







and we ate until our eyes were floating in our heads, awash in pumpkin gingery goodness. then we heaved ourselves onto the couch and died.

if you’re interested in my version, here’s my basic outline of ingredients. i followed the instructions found on the original recipe to make it. and one final warning: these are time consuming. about 3 1/2 hours start to finish because of rising time for the dough. but it’s totally worth it.

pumpkin cinnamon dough
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
5 cups white flour
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 packet yeast
1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup melted shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
*extra white flour as needed to handle, knead and roll out dough

cinnamon sugar filling
(these are the measurements i used. i would do at least 1 and 1/2 next time)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter

ginger cream cheese glaze 2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 cup pumpkin cream cheese
4 oz. cream cheese (1/2 block)
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2-4 Tbsp powdered sugar to thicken as desired