finally.

It's been quite the productive week, we started out Monday morning by going for a hike with the doggies, so fun! We hiked to the top of Burnt Meadow Mountain, Cupcake has never been hiking before, but I was really impressed, he stayed on the trail the whole time, and he kept going til we reached the top.
On the way home we passed this amazing river, and had to pull over, so we hung out there for awhile, Cupcake and Otis went swimming, and we snapped some pictures :) It was a great day.











 Can you tell I found my paint roller while I was organizing my scrap stuff? :)



Since I reupholstered the couch we're no longer in need of the hideous couch covers, so I decided to put some of the fabric for good use, and make a reusable grocery bag.
Super easy to make, and at the end of the day, I feel good about myself for not wasting the fabric, and for being able to bring my own grocery bags to the store :) Maybe I should make more?



It's slightly country, but the fabric works better as a grocery bag than a couch cover, trust me. :)

Wednesday morning I finished up my mittens, I've been putting it off forever it seems. I knitted some leaves real quick, and attached those, and I think they came out super cute. I'm in love with mustard yellow! Such a great color.







I put the mittens up for sale in my Etsy shop since I already have about 4 or 5 pairs. I just keep knitting them, and end up with way too many for myself.

There is a great park by the water right down the street from our apartment, and we like taking the doggies there, Otis loves playing in the grass, he would run around for hours if you let him. Cupcake likes to roll around in the grass, and lay in my lap, it's cute though.





I also forgot to mention that Otis is very much a princess.
I brought my needles and yarn as usual, and my "A to Z of Crochet" book, and I decided it was about time I actually figured out how to crochet, believe me I've tried for awhile, and I have no idea why it was so hard for me to pick it up.
The book didn't help much, I guess it would come more in handy if you already know how to crochet. So we sat in the grass for awhile, and headed home. I watched some youtube videoes, this one, and this. After watching the videos, this pattern was very helpful also. So Wednesday night I crocheted my very first, and second granny square :)



I'm so happy I finally figured it out! Now I can finally use up all my yarn scraps, and I think I'm gonna work on a multicolored granny square blanket, with white borders and trim to tone it down a little, I think it'll be cute :)

Thursday it was so incredibly nice outside, so I slipped into a dress, and boots, and walked down to old port. I went and got a library card, I was really disappointed by their selection of books, not much to choose from, and nothing new since the 70's. Yikes. They are however remodeling, and hopefully that means new, and more books. I was hoping to score some craft books, and also "Club Dead" by Charlaine Harris. Yes, I just finished True Blood season 2, and there is no way I can wait till next summer to know what happens next. I stopped by a great little used bookstore and scored the book for $4! Awesome! I grabbed a vanilla soy latte, and sat down on a bench and started reading. I must have sat there for about an hour, when I decided I'd head home, a 10 minute walk tops, I was walking, while reading the whole time..ended up passing my house, and ended up in the park where we take the dogs. So I layed in the grass for 4 hours reading. I ended up finishing half the book! I've heard it's very different from the actual TV series, but I kinda like that. Are anyone of you watching the show, or reading the books? What do you think?



Yesterday I crocheted 9 more granny squares, and I figure I need about 70 to finish my blanket. Awhile to go, but so fun!



I haven't really decided what to do today, I'm currently sipping on hot tea, I finished my laundry, and I'm still in my pj pants. Don't you just love Saturdays?
I think I might make a few more grocery bags, and a tea pot cozy.
What are your plans for this lovely weekend?

xo

reupholstery before & after

So I finally finished the couch, and the pillows! Wow, what a project! Incredibly fun now that it is over and done with, and I am somewhat amazed that I actually figured out how to do it. I've never done anything like it before, and I'll have to admit it was quite the challenge!

If you want a tutorial on how I made the pillows, head over to Red Velvet Art :)





Good night!
xoxo

boba.

It's been a really nice last few days, the weather has been perfect.
I went shopping in Freeport, late afternoon shopping in Old Port, and my favorite, whale watching. I was so excited for whale watching, I swear, I was close to pissing my pants on the way out. Of course I was thinking we would see whale after whale right up close next to the boat. Not so much.
It was sunny, very windy, and after 3 hours on the boat, I will have to admit, I wasn't dressed properly at all. Brr.





We saw some porpoises, a giant sunfish, and a 30 foot basking shark right next to the boat. Did I mention it was giant? We spotted a few whales in the distance, it was great, but too far away to get a good picture. It was still a fun experience.


I headed back to Portland Headlight, gorgeous as always.





Yesterday I was feeling really inspired and I scrapped 3 layouts, so fun! I'm everything but updated on whats new, and what's happening on the scrapbooking websites, and forums. I need to catch up!





Of course I had to scrap the pie I baked, which we've been eating like there was no day tomorrow by the way. Delicious!







I also found a picture of my younger brother and I from last Christmas, and had to scrap it. It's getting harder and harder being away from my family with the holidays coming up.


Other than than I am 90% done with the couch, and I promise I'll post a before and after in my next update! So exciting!
I came across some bubble tea straws, and rainbow tapioca, so I've been enjoying bubble tea smoothies lately. Yums!





So that's an update on what's been going on here this week! I guess I'll finish with a picture from the park two days ago.



Have a great weekend!
xoxo

Fall Harvest.

So this is my new blog. With the big move, the big changes, and fall right around the corner I feel like starting over. I'm more inspired than ever to create, and I think a new blog will do me good.

So let's see, we have a lot of catching up to do!

As usual I have about a million and one projects going on at once, and well, since I haven't found a job yet, I have all the time in the world it seems. I'm currently working on some fall inspired mittens, shouldn't be much longer till I can share pictures! I am super excited about these simple mittens, this coming October it's been a year since I taught myself to knit by watching youtube video, after youtube video, and well, the first thing I ever knitted, were these <3





Since then I've knitted quite a few things over the last 11 months, you can check out my knitted album in my flickr.

I just lately finished up a sweater for my dad, and also one for myself, I'm pretty happy with the way they came out, and my dad, well he never gets tired of knitted gifts :)





I constantly get questions from people asking where I find my knitting patterns, so If you aren't a member yet, head over to Ravelry. I could browse that website for hours and hours, but then of course, If I did, how would I ever get anything done? If you're already a member, add me.

Other than that I am reupholstering our couch, I will share before and afters once it's done. It's quite the project, and I've never done anything like it before, but it's very exciting, and I can't wait to see it finished. I've also been gocco-ing, as fun as always, and why has it been so long since last? Who knows!



The prints are up for sale in my Etsy shop along with some new nintendo ds covers, and aprons.

So with fall right around the corner, what's more fitting than a fall harvest pie? I've never baked pie before, and to be honest, I've probably only ate pie twice. Once pumpkin pie, and once plum pie. Both delicious. So I figured I'd be brave, and give it a try. I mean, if I start early, I'll be a pie baking champion by the time I'm 80, right?

Anyways, I want to share this great recipe, I mean, all the horror stories I've heard about how difficult it is to make pie, this was a piece of cake!




Standard Vegan Single Pie Crust,

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour.
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup + 2 tbs water or apple juice (cold)

*Put flour and salt for crust in a small bowl. Add canola oil and stir into flour until oil is distributed in pea sized pieces. Add cold water (or juice) and mix just until mixture forms a ball. Refridgerate for 10 minutes.

*Place ball of dough on a piece of floured wax paper. Sprinkle ball of dough with a little more flour. Place another piece of wax paper on top of ball of dough and push down to flatten. Using a rolling pin, roll dough as thin as possible between the two sheets of paper.

*Remove the top sheet of paper carefully. Flip the pie crust onto the pie plate. Carefully remove the last piece of wax paper. Fit crust into pie plate, allowing edges to hang over the edge. Cut edges of dough with sharp knife. Crimp edges of crust with fingers and prick bottom crust with a fork.



Fall Harvest Pie,

3 medium sweet potatoes
4 medium baking apples such as Macintosh or Rome
1/2 cup water
2 tbs arrowroot
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tbs vanilla
1 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Crumb Topping,

1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sucanat or brown sugar
1/3 cup whole wheat flour

*Preheat oven to 400F. Coat an 8 inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

*Prepare Standard Vegan Single Pie Crust. Weight pie crust with another empty pie plate filled with water or pie weights to keep the crust from bubbling or shrinking while it bakes. Bake pie crust for 10 minutes or until edges begin to brown slightly.

*While crust is baking, make filling. Peel and dice the sweet potatoes, place in small pot, and cover with water. Cook until soft when pricked with a fork. Drain potatoes and set aside. Peel, core and slice apples and place in the same pot. Add 1/4 cup water and 1 cup cranberries. Cook until apples begin to get soft. Return sweet potatoes to pot. Add maple syrup and vanilla.

*In a small cup, mix 1/4 cup water with arrowroot. Add to hot filling mixture and stir until mixture thickens-do not boil. Remove from heat and stir in nuts.

*In another bowl, stir together topping ingredients. Put filling in prepared pie crust and sprinkle crumbs on top.

*Bake for 15 minutes or until crumbs begin to brown.

I found this recipe in the book Sinfully Vegan, by Lois Dieterly.

Enjoy! <3









I hope you all are as excited about the new season as I am. I love fall, Orange being one of my favorite colors, what more can one dream of when the leaves are turning, and Halloween is creeping "right around the corner" :)

xoxo.