Shop News!

I've been working on taking new photos of the items in my shop and I've decided when I'm reopening the shop:

Monday, August 12! I'm not going to tell you what time so keep checking back. I'll be starting to list some of the 30 some patterns I want to part with and there will be nicer photos of the gift bags.

There won't be a lot in the shop to start with, but things will be added weekly (hint: Mondays are probably when I'll list stuff).

Thank you for your support and patience!

THIFTING SCORE: Cake Thingy

I've been baking off and on the last few weeks. My favorite thing to bake right now is this chocolate-y g-free cake that has a main base of potato starch. It's from the book You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free. A fantastic book by the way for those on the g-free diet. Most recipes are made 4 different ways so, if you have a corn issue, you can try with potato or rice based instead or if you have too much rice in your diet, you can try another base.

Anyway. I've been eying this lovely thing for a few days now from Fresh Hot Vintage. Then I did what any person would do: searched Etsy for a variety of covered cake plates and favorited them. (Yes, I have a thing about roosters.) Now why do I want one?

I want to try a two layered cake soon, but need a way to store it. So, I put it out there over the weekend that I wanted to find one at the thrift store and I'd follow through by going today. I also put out there that I also really want a vintage cake decorating set. I didn't find that because I put the request out there this morning (probably need 24 hours for that to follow through but it is a long shot since the last one I saw at the thrift store was in the silent auction section. Cookie presses you can find dozens of, but cake decorators? HA. I've been lazily looking.).

I did find this though:

Just the top, first. How frustrating.

First, I found the top, then I spent another 10-15 minutes wandering to see if I could find a suitable bottom. Sure. I could just put my cake on a dinner plate and cover, but what if I want to travel with this thing?

Eventually, I found this guy:

TA DA.

 And together, it works pretty well. The cover part doesn't fit perfectly, but enough to stay on.

Yes, I have a K'Nex Light Box...

And the grand total of this purchase: $5.25.
Oh wait. I have a coupon for 25% off.
About $3.80 when all said and done. I also took my own bag.

SCORE.

Garden Photos - July 31, 2013

After the last post, I got to thinking "Gee, I really should post some pictures." I also thought "I REALLY should put the Lemon Verbena in a bigger pot and plant the Marigolds before I lose a second set."

So, that's what I did. Monday, I re-potted the Lemon Verbena. I can't tell if it helped or not, but so far, it is still alive! I only lost one of the six Marigolds but so far, they look lovely as well. Tuesday, I took a few quick photos. Today, I posted the photos! Enjoy.

Lemon Verbena. Yes, I know, how is it still alive?

The Marigolds all happily potted.

And the lettuce. I have no idea what I'm growing now. I just hope I get a head of lettuce.

Gardening - 2013 - July 29

My life has been hecktic. Suffice to say, my one 16 year old cat was diagnosed with cancer back in February and we lost him this month. I'm also trying to sort through stuff both literally and figuratively, which has been good. I also got myself a new computer (Hello, Steam. I missed you). Oh and Summer Reading Madness.

So the garden. Here's where I stand:

• Two mint plants from The Farm: Chocolate and Apple
• A catnip plant.
• Marigolds to attract bees, but a bit late it seems.
• Two lettuce. One should be iceberg but the other sprout seems to look NOTHING like the other. Maybe Little Caesar?
• Lemon Verbena plant barely holding on (needs potted in a bigger pot).
• Same tomatoes as before but I think I'm only getting two tomatoes in total this year. :-\ That's all that's growing. Might be getting more flowers soon. Not sure.
• A strawberry plant
• And a compost that was doing well then got screwed up (too wet) and I will turn around again because I've done so before. Although, the tub is pretty full.

Gardening is a lukewarm success this year. I'm happy to report that I got things from seed to survive, but all I can think is that in Year 3, I'll pull off what I want from my garden. Until then, it is nice to have the garden even if it isn't doing much. I'm hoping this winter I can move stuff to the greenhouse I wound up with (it's a little dinky thing) just to winter it over (i.e. the strawberry plant) as I like the herbs and am happy to have them.

The Etsy shop will be back I hope by the end of August. I just needed a break as I wasn't checking it and it needs more focus than I could dedicate. I also was just trying to see what stuff I took away I missed and surprisingly, the shop fell into that. Finding the time to craft for it though is hard.

Lessons Learned

• Need more flowering plants or bees, but I doubt I can keep bees here (township says I could but considering I'm in an apartment...)
• Need to reconsider where the tomato plants went because I can't put them all along the outer edge.

Gardening 2013 - May 5th

Here I am finally sitting down to start tracking my garden again. I hope you were wondering "Is she trying again? Any luck? Or did she give up completely and start consuming like everyone else?"

Well, no. I'm back to gardening. This year I was smart. This year I learned a few things from last year. This year I've introduced new things. This year I glanced at books. Last weekend I started saying "I should start the gardening journal back up again." I've always been intrigued at the idea of a gardening journal. There was a book I listened to that talked about a journal from the colonial times that talked about what was cooked and what was planted. It sounded amazing. Here we go.

January to March 2013:

• Started 8 things of seeds up again. These included: Broccoli, Iceberg Lettuce, Little Caesar Lettuce, Brandywine Tomatoes, Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Zucchini, and Peas of some variety. Please note, most of these seeds have dates of 200? to 2010. They've been in the fridge forever and some still grow!
• What actually grew: Broccoli, Iceberg Lettuce, Brandywine Tomatoes, Mortgage Lifters, Zucchini, Cucumbers.
• What actually survived to March and was potted: Brandywine Tomatoes, Mortgage Lifters, Zucchini.
• What I tried a second time in window box, outside: Iceberg Lettuce, Little Caesar.
• What I've bought: butter-something lettuce; cucumbers

Currently in the garden:

• Currently alive and very well (I think) is:
• 4-5 Brandywine Tomato plants (one is very weak but I don't have the heart to end it yet)
• 2 Mortgage Lifter Tomato plants
• 2 Cucumbers of a bush variety sharing a pot.
• 1 Zucchini plant
• 2 Iceberg Lettuce sprouts (last week I drowned one. ;_; )\
• 5 Butter-something (butter crunch I think) Lettuce from The Farm. One was nothing when I got it and I brought it back. Yay me!

Today I finally re-potted some of the tomato plants. I have some 8 inch diameter pots and I kept looking at the 12 inch tall tomato plants and (I think) they were sprouting roots above the dirt. So those in the tiny pots (2-3inches wide) from last month, got re-potted. 

I'm going to keep an eye on what I dubbed "the twins." The twins are two Brandywine Tomato plants that grew together in the pot. They split apart very easily at their roots (unlike the cucumbers I bought that live together in a pot) and now have their own pots. I'm oddly worried they will miss sharing a pot, but I'm hopeful all will have enough room to grow even more until they get planted in their final, 12 inch diameter pots (pretty red things that I treated myself too). Right now they are chilling outside as I'm attempting to harden them off, which I admit, will more likely look like "Hey! Nice weather. Out you permanently go!"

The only downside to the tomato plants so far is that Mortgage Lifters and Brandywines are probably not appropriate to container gardening so I may not have much of a crop but I'm totally winging it. Tomorrow, I'm hoping I can pick up a cherry tomato or Roma tomato plant (both my favorites in general) and one of them I'm certain is container friendly.

I also moved the Zucchini pot. I'm not sure if it is where it should be at this point in the season size-wise, but I realized it needed more sun, so it should be in a better spot now.

Lastly, my compost bin is awesome. I have some great compost but it still has a way to go. I'm hoping for more dirt in a few weeks so I can add that to the pots when I transplant the tomatoes.

Lessons Learned

• I still have lettuce and I have no idea what I'm doing (more of a need to learn).
• Sow seeds early, be attentive to plants, and so far so good.
• I have no patience for veggie plants (why won't they grow bigger and faster! Oh wait...because I'm not a fertilizer type person. I should but I do not like the idea of fertilizer.).

Foodie Friday - Broccoli Casserole

Welcome to the first post of Foodie Friday* where I post about something I made, where the recipe came from, and if it was a winner or a dud. This may or may not be weekly. Depends on what I cook, when, and if I remember to photograph it.

The first recipe I'm highlighting is Broccoli Casserole from The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy by the late trailblazer Bette Hagman (page. 284).

A Little Background
I have Celiac's Disease, which means that I can't have anything with Gluten in it, so when I was first diagnosed, the Gluten Free Gourmet series was the only thing available to newly diagnosed Celiac's back in the early 2000s (I was officially diagnosed in 2004). We actually now own all of the books in the series, thanks to wedding gifts (thank you if you are reading this!) and frankly, I still find them the most trustworthy cook books (to the point that when someone asked me what flour mix I used, I realized that all of mine are from this series of books. I have yet to buy a GF flour mix). Yes, the recipes can be a lot more complicated than you might like, but I think the results end up being fantastic (mostly).

Broccoli Casserole
I like easy recipes. I was also in the mood for something with broccoli at the beginning of November, so what I did was searched through the books for something. Somehow I stumbled upon the Broccoli Casserole and tried it.

We loved it. I've made it 4-5 times now. With prep time and cook time, the dish can be done in roughly an hour, which is great for me! It could possibly be less if there were a few things you didn't do yourself (like chop the broccoli), but I don't mind those things.

I'm actually posting more about my modifications. For example, if you try this recipe, 3 tablespoons of sugar is just way too much sugar. I also cut the salt to what looks more like 3/4 teaspoon and eyeball the bread crust and broccoli (usually 3 bread slices will work, processed in a small food processor to "crumble" them, and a large broccoli crown).

Before going into the oven.

The first time I made it, it was way too sweet. In the last few versions, I've cut back on the sugar which makes the dish more like a quiche. That makes it perfect for dinner. This also happens to be one of those dishes once it is made, it doesn't last more than 2 days in this home. Hagman mentions in the recipe description that this is great reheated and that is absolutely true, so this is a perfect make for the week dish as the flavor improves and lasts.

Overall, this is a winner and is going into our regular rotation of recipes. Just look at it!

Fresh from the oven! YUM. 9 servings? Um...more like 4.

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*(Any similarity to another blog series of the same name is unintentional. I did not research this name before starting the series).

PS: I'm looking into affiliate programs for books so you can visit a site to check out the book. Any favorites? Any not so favorites? Leave me a comment.

Achievement Unlocked: Quilting - Kitchen Rug!

Happy New Year! I've started the New Year off right: by finishing a craft project that was on the table for TOO LONG.

First, the inspiration from Pinterest: 

Source: sewwequilt.com via LibraryElfDesigns on Pinterest

A lovely quilted kitchen floor mat from SewWeQuilt (links above). Now, the issue at hand was what fabric would I use? How big would mine be? We definitely needed a floor mat by the sink.

I had also gained a bag of upholstery fabric scraps that someone else had in mind for a quilt of some sort ages ago (I think last January). So, I started poking through the pieces and found quite a few that would work wonderfully for my general kitchen theme. I cut them into 5 inch or so squares (might be 5.25 inches) and spent a lot of time trying to decide just how I'd lay them out. After that, I used The Workhorse (my 1950s Singer machine) and put the blocks together, put on a backing (light blue terry cloth fabric I had) and quilted it. Here's before the binding:

Look at how nice that all works, although, I think it is technically upside down in this pic. Notice the egg!
Copyright LibraryElfDesigns

Full disclosure: I have NEVER put a quilt together from start to finish. You may remember the Patriotic Quilt I am/was working on. That's a quilt top so far. Tops I have made...mostly. Not sure I've done any blocking/borders/what-have-you yet. I find the idea of hand quilting not something I want to do. Machine quilting, yes. Hand quilting, not so much. I know the Patriotic Quilt could use something (I'm waiting on something from my stash that'll work).

Anyway, since this was my first time quilting from start to finish, I needed help. This Pinterest Pin, titled "Beginning Quilting Series" in my Pin, proved very, very helpful:

Source: diaryofaquilter.com via LibraryElfDesigns on Pinterest

With the help of the "Binding 101" section, I put the binding onto the rug and ta-da! Finished rug! I only needed a little bit of hand sewing because the one corner was too much for the machine.

TA DA! It is frugal and pretty!
Copyright LibraryElfDesigns

There are a few things I learned from this that I need to make note of for next time. So here are...

Lessons I Learned

• The upholstery fabric was great, but the seams are a bit bumpy so standing on it isn't comfortable (ok. I've only done this for about 5 whole minutes so I could be wrong). Next time, I really should do more than the two layers I chose to do out of laziness.
• Next time, don't start the binding in the corner...
• ...but the binding method from the above pin was the EASIEST binding ever. I thought it would be a very difficult task, but not with that machine binding technique.  
• It needs something on the back to stop it from sliding. I have some ideas, just wanted to get that project off my table to free up room for the craft table.
• I can now say I've done a quilt! Even if it is slightly a cheater quilt. I love feeling frugal and thrifty and having something that looks great.
• I would definitely make another rug like this.