The Homemade Christmas Gifts

It has been a good Christmas, complete with a new baby born to my brother and his wife!  I knitted him a wee cap back in November.

I also made my sister a Nola Cloche.  She had admired mine, and dropped copious hints that she would love one (and a quilt, too - she has let the universe know that she wants a Margo quilt; the universe is listening, honey).

 I had to rip out a large section of the hat when I was making it because somehow I miscounted stitches or added stitches or something.  But my knitting has progressed far enough that I can fix some mistakes, so I'm extra-gratified that it fits her (and her guy!) so nicely.

And I made him some hotpads, too.  We drew names for Christmas gifts, and I got his name.  In typical guy fashion, he only had one boring gift on his wish list. Since he's an amazing cook, I made him some hotpads to go with the boring gift he was expecting.

I am deeply grateful to all the wonderful adults who teach and care for my kids.  I made two dishcloths for Phoebe's preschool teachers - I still intend to do something for the other teachers.  No law that says gifts and notes of appreciation can only happen at Christmas, so I'll aim for January.

So that's some of the homemade Christmas goodness On the Record.  How was your Christmas?

Baby Meals

These are rice + toppings meals that I carried out recently to families with new babies (we have a raft of new babies at church - fun!).  I was pleased with the efficient way of carrying the meal and how pretty it looked.

This is Korean beef, rice, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, with a sprinkling of my very own cilantro over the veggies.  There was eclair dessert to go along, too.

This is rice and teriyaki pork, with toasted coconut sprinkled over it, beside purple cabbage slaw with lime and cilantro, plus fresh pineapple.  There were mocha drops to go along, too.

Stroller Organizer

Phoebe's main stroller kept breaking at a joint, and my husband would fix it and shake his head warningly.  So I took that as a sign that the stroller was going to collapse on the sidewalk with a full load of market provender some sweet day.

I could not bear the suspense.

So I took a lot of things to the children's consignment store and got $40 off a used stroller for a grand total of 20 bucks.  It feels a little wiggly and its basket is not as big as the old one, but I am now free from suspense.

I knew I was going to need some kind of stroller organizer for the new stroller because I did not want to throw my phone, wallet, and keys down in the basket.  I decided to see if I could make something that would look nice and function well.  I'm so pleased with this stroller organizer!

I used some scraps of Sunbrella fabric in my stash, so it's more like home dec weight with the added weatherproofing.  Each end has a gusset to make a roomy box with fabric ties at each corner.  I used some yellow scraps from this very misguided skirt as interior pockets.  And I put two bands of wide striped elastic at either end to tether water bottles.  There's also bottom space that I toss a book and a stroller hook into, as well as small purchases and doodads.  The fabric ties are very secure on the stroller handle.  I've been using it for over a week now, and I love it!

Goodbye, Mullet; Hello, Pixie

 I just up and cut it off this morning while the turkey was roasting. I set Phoebe in her high chair in front of a Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star video on Youtube, and vacuumed her off when I was done.

By the way, I think I have my 15-lb turkey method nailed down:  dry brine (2 Tbsp. kosher salt, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. poultry herbs) for 24 hours, bake 425 covered for 1 hour, then 3 hours on 300 (or until nearly done) and uncover last 30 minutes.  My meat thermometer was dead in the drawer when I wanted to test the turkey, but it was delicious and easy, so I'm saving the details.  I'm not scared of cooking big pieces of meat anymore, but I don't do it often enough to remember.

A Fun Skirt

For its comfort, amiability with all the shirts in my drawer, happy swish below my hips, and loopy flowers, I dub this skirt the Summer 2016 Fun Skirt.  I've worn it so much this summer I almost forgot to blog about it.

Even now, I can't explain why I love this fabric.  The colors are bold but clever, but that flower print?  Why do I like it?  I don't know, but I even thrifted a lavender tank top to match it.  I don't even like purplish colors!

I love this pattern, which Rebecca introduced me to:  a gored skirt with wide pleats, putting the
fullness where it looks good.  Unfortunately, my skirt turned out a little big so I sewed belt loops on it and wear the mustard-colored belt with it.  Easier than taking ripping out a pocket and a waistband.

And yes, Phoebe really did get down on the sidewalk on her forehead, wailing, when I told her we were not, in fact, going to the park but were just strolling so Genevieve could get some snaps of my skirt.

Phoebe puts her forehead on the floor and cries when situations do not please her.  When I am not keeping a straight face, I am wondering where oh where oh where did she learn that kind of drama?  Is it biblical? Hollywood-starlet-brat style?  She's a cool cat otherwise, so it just kills us when she turns on the drama.

She Never Holds Still

 I realized I was deleting a lot of blurry photos of Phoebe.  She's a very busy little person these days.  She climbs into her stroller with a pal to read books sometimes.

 When she's confined in her high chair or sitting on a lap for a book, I have a better chance of a clear shot.

 Adorable girl - we are having so much fun with her!

Phoebe's First Birthday

It's been a year since our baby girl was born.  Our last child's first birthday - that made my heart ache a little bit, but we did have such a good day and Phoebe was so delighted with all the birthday fuss.  She's spunky, that girl, and she was not overwhelmed by all the singing, crackling paper, shiny toys, loved ones, and cake (with decaf coffee and ice cream, of course, because Phoebe dearly loves to eat what the grownups are eating).

I was very proud of the cake.  It was banana chiffon cake because Phoebe loves bananas, and I put a peanut butter/butterscotch filling between the layers, and iced the whole thing with Italian meringue.  Then I made just a wee batch of pink confectioners sugar icing and piped little florets.  I was so pleased with the pretty, yet classy, yet slightly lopsided-homemade look.  It was delicious, too, especially with neapolitan ice cream.

I did not want to spend Phoebe's birthday making food and cleaning house, so I started working ahead more than a week in advance of her birthday.  I planned the light supper menu as soon as I sent out invitations, and that way, I could start planning.  I bought the ice cream probably 2 weeks before her birthday (and hid it in the deep freeze).  I made the cake layers almost a week before, and froze them, triple-wrapped.  The light supper was French lentil salad, homemade French bread, and cream of tomato soup.  The salad was made the day before.  All I needed to do on Phoebe's birthday proper was make bread and soup, assemble the cake, and set the table.  Success!  I still had energy and good humor left for the birthday party!

Phoebe loves books, although she generally prefers to look at them herself rather than being read to.  She loves to drop her baby while I'm changing her diaper, making little chuckle-whimpers which is the baby crying, and then I imitate a baby crying which makes her grin all over her face, and when I return the baby to her, she spanks it soundly with her hand to comfort it.  When a phone rings or a timer goes off, she says "oh! oh! oh!" in the manner of an alert until we respond - we're not sure if she's trying to say "phone" or just going on high alert the way the rest of seem to do when there's beeping.  You see we are so highly entertained by her, and she is just a dear.

From Easter and the Day After

Just before Easter, I had a vision of a butter-yellow skirt.  I managed to whip it out before Easter morning.  It's from the "misses' playsuit pattern" circa (I'm guessing) 1940s and I lined it and added side seam pockets.  Of course, using what I had on hand meant smallish yellow buttons and not enough for the waistband.  But I like it.

 I finished the lining bottom with a yellow scallop, cutting away the excess.  A little tedium for all that prettiness!

 And a few weeks before that, Genevieve and I put our heads together and planned an Easter dress for Phoebe that matched hers.

 My girls.  

 Also at the last minute, I dyed eggs with purple cabbage.  I used white eggs, putting uncooked eggs in water with chopped raw cabbage and some white vinegar.  After 15 minutes of simmering, the eggs were still white.  So I left them soaking for hours, checking occasionally and pulling some out as they took on the blue.  The deepest blue came almost 12 hours later.

My contribution to Easter dinner was a lemon meringue cake:  a "lovelight chiffon cake" from Betty Crocker's cookbook, lemon curd between the layers, and Italian meringue over all.  I wanted to borrow a kitchen torch to brown the peaks all over, but since nobody I know had one, I bought one!  (With two nicely-timed coupons from Bed, Bath & Beyond - but yikes, the towering aisles of that store give me the creeps)

 And the next day, we ate the leftover cake for my birthday.  We let Phoebe go at it, laughing because it looks like her first birthday but it's not.