Our little house on the prairie

Hi, y'all,

did you have a nice weekend?

I was very lazy last weekend. Since New Year, Hubby and I do some sports three times a week and we had to lick our wounds and soothe our aching muscles… 

On Friday I tried something new: Goat cheese tartelettes with cranberries and spring onions - was yummie!

I didn't have a ton of motivation for baking but some apples which had to be used. Therefore I made pancakes but in the oven (low-fat, you know). I already mixed the batter when I realized I was out of parchment paper. Well, no problem, I thought, let's take some remaining tinfoil instead - should work fine. In fact, it didn't and I had a hard time getting the pancake off the tinfoil. On the plate it looked a bit like roadkill but tasted pretty good.

Sunday afternoon I made a typical Swabian bread and apple pudding (again, low-fat). It is usually made of stale bread rolls (Swabians are famous for their thriftiness and frugality), apples and vanilla sauce baked in the oven.  Works fine with toast, we know that now :-)

I already announced that I wanted to sew a softshell jacket for a colleague's baby due in February - if I had enough material. Good news: I did! Second good news: It worked out! As I do not have a serger/overlocker I covered the seam between body and hood by hand in order to have it look neat and to avoid any irritation on the sensitive skin on the baby's neck (see picture no. 2). And it turned out like this:

I did without the cuffs because the sleeves were so small and as the material stretches only slightly it would only have ended in a mess. 

Last week I learned that a colleague from Berlin, who I thought was my age, gave birth on 9 January. I only heard rumors about her pregnancy but when I saw the mail with picture, name, size and weight I knew: Ernestine Victoria is real, no rumor :-) And for a little girl with such classic names I had to sew something similar classic. Quite spontaneously I thought of such a bonnet, the girls in the tv show "Our little house on the prairie" always had on. White cotton fabric and matching white yarn I had in my stash so I could even adorn the bonnet with some embroidery (which I wanted to try for some time now). Hope, little Ernie and her mama like it :-)

Besides this I was busy collecting pickles jars for the dry goods in my kitchen (my sustainable Tupperware alternative, if you will). Because they are stored in drawers I cannot see what's inside and thus am in need of some labelling. Right now I just take some sticky notes, but that is far from pretty. Then I thought of printing circular stickers but in this case you would still see the green rim of the jar lid and I would have to permanently re-print the stickers - not very sustainable… Then it hit me: I could paint the lids with black chalkboard paint and label them again and again with chalk - so easy and neat, I think. When I'm done I will show pictures.

Enjoy your week! 

Life's what happens when you're busy making plans...

Hi, y'all!

Hope your weekend was as relaxing as mine!

After the usual business of cleaning and groceries I recently started struggling with my dryer. Sometimes it has other plans than me and as a result I have to hang my clothes on the line to get them dry. Of course this is possible and sustainable and so on, but it takes longer to dry and especially towels tend to gain an integrated body scrub function, if you know what I mean...

But anyway, after that was done I did some baking - rolls for the Sunday breakfast and whole grain spelt bread. And I have special plans for the smaller round breads which don't look so small in the picture, I realize. Keep you posted...

We had only little cake because after the holidays we were somehow overfed with sweet stuff. And as I made a large portion of beef goulash on Saturday which is even better the next day, I had only some re-heating to do for Sunday dinner. Very convenient!

Due to the mixed weather during the weekend I had the opportunity to check my fabric stash for one topic of my to do list - the bibs for my colleague's little one. Unfortunately I had only few scraps of cotton which is not a good starting point, I would say. But I detected a recognizable pile of Softshell. I already used it for a hooded jacket for myself and a raincoat for Else and I hope, no drama llamas are still up to date.

And if the fabric parts are large enough I intend to sew a baby jacket. A matching separable zipper and black stretch fabric for the wristbands and a little hat I have on hand. But first I have to print the pattern and check if I have sufficient fabric. The material is ideal for such a jacket because it is rainproof on the outside and soft and cuddly on the inside. Thus you don't need hemming or lining. Meanwhile I learned that the fleece layer releases microplastics during washing but I didn't know that when I bought it in 2017 or so. Throwing it away would be silly, and there are very tight knitted nets you can use in the washing machine to prevent that. Moreover these Softshell jackets don't need washing very regularly - just buffing is fine :-)

On top I found a few jersey scraps, and instead of making bibs I sewed some stuffies - not as practical but at least as cute: a dino, an elephant and a crackling sun. All three very lightweight and adorned with small knickknacks little baby fingers can fiddle with.

Have a good start into the week!

Plans, Project and Ufos

Hi y'all!

While Heinrich and Else chill out on the couch I took some time to make a bucket list of things I want to try in 2020. 

One of these projects I already finished. After I undecorated all Christmas stuff and put it away in the basement, I realized that there was a gap on my sideboard which had to be filled. Wintery but not Christmasy and therefore, I took a sponge and dabbed some paint on an old bottle. Then I collected some twigs and made some pompoms in various sizes out of left-over yarn from the animal hats I knitted. Cute, right?

And here is the bucket list:

Let's begin with an UFO (unfinished object) which started with a pile of old jeans and the need for a new rug in the living room. Our old rug was unfortunately chosen only by optics not in light of practicality… It is still beautiful but I am afraid I will never get it clean again although I even cleaned it with such a professional carpet cleaning device. Fact is I need something I can throw in the washer regularly. Therefore, I began a jeans quilt and to match it with our couch I crocheted winered polka dots which I meticulously attached to the denim.

Much to my dismay the quilt was way too small, so I added some piping out of winered polkadot fabric and wanted to add a wide border afterwards. But somehow it didn't wow me and I then happened to find a rag rug online which was unbeatable pricewise. I couldn't manage to buy backing and batting for the price of that rug und so I ordered it. You might even see it on the picture with the doggies. I only saw these rag rugs multicolored which I didn't like that much. But in red it is simply perfect. And the special thing is that it is really made of fabric scraps. You can even detect some sequined ones - my inner diva is very pleased! And with this purchase in mind I will enlarge the denim quilt only slightly and back it with a fleece blanket. No batting and only a few seams for quilting both layers.

Furthermore there are two special birthdays on my agenda: my dad turns 75 and my Wolfi-in-Law turns 70 - two reasons for two special gifts. Either quilts, but I am not quite sure about that, or something knitted. I thought about Celtic cable cardigans. I guess I have to interview their better halves and then I have to hurry - May and August...

And in February a dear colleage will be welcoming his baby boy and I want to gift him something I made myself. What to you think about a nice, funny set of bibs?

Last year I purchased some light blue fabric for myself suitable for a blouse. And in the meantime I discovered a beautiful pattern with box pleats and a high collar. Might turn out pretty nice.

In our living room we have a faux leather pouf which is in some state of disintegration and I plan to make a cover instead of buying a complete new one. For starters I thought of a knitted cover but was afraid one might see through it. And then it came to my mind to use some felted fabric and sew it with exposed seams. I don't have to hem it, and a light grey might go well with the rest of the furniture style.

A few days ago a watched a video how to turn a pickle jar, a stick and a strap into a bird feeder. That came in pretty handy because I stashed some suitcase belts which are too wide to be used as bag handles. Time for a feast, my feathery friends!

I usually keep my fabric scraps and it sums up to a large pile which is excellent for fillings. I might turn it into a dog bed, either as an oval with a high brim or as a hexi-turtle-pillow, as little boat or as a puff quilt. At the moment I don't have an outer fabric yet, but as soon as I find some, this will determine the design of the bed.

On top my sister gave me some laundry detergent made out of chestnuts - I have, have, have to try this out. And I want to DIY more of my cleaning products - I realized you can get baking soda and vinegar in bulk :-) Oh, and I want to try my own deodorant - spray and cream. And because Sarah was so enthusiastic about it, I will try my own sourdough.

And last but not least I need some large candleholders for block candles - either from turned and carved chair legs - if you can get them separately at our hardware store - or from mason jars or jar lids.

Will keep you posted!

Happy New Year!

Hi my Lovelies,

wish you all a very happy new decade!

I hope you arrived safe and sound in 2020, made some sensible new year's resolutions (or none at all) and did use the time wisely and stress-free.

Well, let me begin with a show and tell of my handmade Christmas gifts and the holidays. Attention - could be picture-heavy :-)

First the culinary part - after my friend played the guinea pig I made some more chocolate - ginger cookie truffles and wrapped them in tetra pak bags:

Then I mixed matching ginger cookie liqueur (main ingredients besides the cookies were vodka and heavy cream - no need to tell more, I guess…) 

Then some fruit in rum - some drink it pure but I prefer it over vanilla icecream or with some bubbly… 

A few tetra pak cartons I used as molds for chocolate - here I took white and dark chocolate and topped it with cranberries and nut brittle: 

My little sister asked for some animal hats for carnival, and here we go (unfortunately the picture of the owl hat went missing, thus only frog, moose and giraffe): 

And as I had so many sticks left over from our tree cutting action I made some wall hangings with Scandinavian fabric stars, fabric trees with wooden beads, cotton-filled hearts and painted walnuts: 

Two kinds of napkins, first with a snowflake cotton fabric and pretty neat mitered corners: 

And secondly some with a sewn monogram in different thread colors. They are rectangular and pretty big so you can use them as place mats as well: 

I also tried a quilting technique called "cathedral window" - I used it for some hot pads (without picture) and a pillow cover: 

For the two girls Marie and Sarah who are known for traveling a lot I made some travel jewelry bags but I am sure you can use it for various purposes: 

As far as I know everything was delivered in time - thanks to DHL, and was well received. My pleasure!!!

On first Christmas day we had a dear visitor and therefore, I tried very hard to lay a nice table setting:

And of course I had to do some more decorations with sticks (and pleated paper ornaments) :

On Christmas Eve we traditionally had potato salad and wieners and then we had Coq au Vin on Christmas Day. But the dogs were in for a treat, as well: They had their kibble topped with loads of wieners, but they inhaled it so fast, there are only fragments left on the pictures: 

Thanks to Marie's birthday gift we discovered a drink called Moscow Mule and we even learnt something: 
a) It tastes better from copper mugs than from glass 
b) it stays longer cool and 
c) ginger beer is different from ginger ale - and much more spicy! 
But so tasty!!!

The weekend after Christmas the girls and Sarah's boyfriend came to visit. Precautionary I baked some spelt bread and Irish rolls but we also had Krautpizza (pizza dough, no tomato sauce but minced meat, cabbage and cheese) and spareribs in the oven because we don't have a smoker.  And then we spent some reasonable amount of time with the tabletop version of World of Warcraft.

And in spirit of the holidays I bought some jam with cinnamon, apples and plums but somehow we didn't fancy it on the breakfast rolls. Therefore I quickly turned it into a cake filling. I made a chocolate sponge with cinnamon and then it matched perfectly with some curd cheese I used for the filling as well. 

But when New Year's Eve was over I got bored with all the Christmas decorations. Usually I leave them until Twelfth Day (January 6) but I wanted to re-organize all the stuff for the longest time so I dived right into it. There were times when it looked like if Hobby Lobby puked in our living room but in the meantime everything is properly stored away.

In the heat of the action I also deep cleaned some of my drawers and cupboards but when it came to filing all our documents my energy got lost instantly... 

But it will come back, definitely!