Make At Home: Homemade Yogurt and Granola

Hey Everyone,

I decided to make this Memorial Day holiday a extra long weekend for me, my weekend started Friday and I'm off until tomorrow, but befroe I started my weekend I wrote down all the things I wanted to accomplish this weekend.  It was especially easy to do with this handy notepad I bought from Staples for only a dollar. 

I'm happy to say even though I haven't completed everything on my list I did make a nice dent in moving forward with many of them.  One of the things I was dying to make ever since I saw it posted on this website ( yes, I'm completely addicted to eveything she does because she posts food I will actually eat) is my own homemade yogurt.  She makes it sound so easy and after making it myself I learned that it actually is very easy.  I started it Thursday night and by Friday morning I had yogurt.  By Friday afternoon, I could actually eat it.  I made a small batch just in case this whole yogurt experiment came out a bust, but I'm happy report that not only was it a success.  It was a delicious sucess. 

I did the ctockpot method of heating the milk which I found on Youtube, but I used all of Annie's other methods.  I strained it to create the much thicker Greek Yogurt.  I added a little vanilla extract for a hint of flavor, no sweetner.  If I did anything different I would let it incubate a little longer so it could have been a little thicker.  I did 10 hrs but next time I may extend it to 12 hrs.  It wasn't as tart as I thought it would be but I was fine with that.  I actually like the milder flavor.  As of this weekend I will no longer buy yogurt from the store.  Not now that I know how to make my own.  I also made some granola topping.  I found the recipe for that on Youtibe also.  Sigh, I love Youtube.

I know I said I was taking a sewing haitus, but I just could not stay away.  Not with summer nipping at my heels.  I'm just too excited.  I've decided I'm only going to make dresses, tops, and skirts. I spent most of the weekend modifying patterns and making test garment.  I hope to have quite a few pieces done by this weekend coming up.  Pants at this point is a no no for me.  I'm happy and sad to report that my Clover pants do not fit.  Happy because that means I'm on my way to achieving my weight loss goals, sad because I never got a chance to wear them.  Once I've reached my goal I will be using this pattern to make more pants.  I still need a pair of floral skinnies in my life.  Now I'm off  to eat some yogurt for breakfast and start cutting my fashion fabric.

Until Later, Happy Sewing

Clover & V8241

Lately, here in NY, we've been having a lot of rain which has kept me from showing off two finished pieces.  I figured instead of holding off in sharing them I will just display them on hangers and as soon as we get some nice weather I will take pics of me weairing them.

The first one is Colette Patterns Clover.  They are fitted ankle pants with an invisible side zipper.

I actually completed these pants awhile ago, but never got around to hemming.  I love this pattern.  It's a great basic pattern that with a few tweaks fit like a dream. They're made of some black stretch twill I had in my stash.  What I love most about this pattern is the side zipper.  I like to wear my t-shirts fitted and I hate when the button front pokes out giving the illusion of a paunchy belly.  I plan on using this pattern to make a pair of skinny ankle length floral pants. A trend that's really hot this Spring/Summer.

Next is V8241. 

This is my nod to the Ethnic pattern trend for summer.  I was inspired by the print on this dress and remembered that I had some fabric in my stash that I didn't know what I wanted to do with.

It took me weeks to get this pattern to fit and a day to sew up.  This is a dartless dress with an elasticize waist.  I tried not ruin the intergrity of the pattern and keep it dartless but that just didn't seem to work.  The dartless blosuy look really doesn't work well on busty women.  So instead of fighting the pattern  I just added side bust darts, which gave the bodice a more flattering fit and because of the busyness of the pattern you can't really even tell they're there. It's lined with orange cotton and I found a pretty wood button in my stash that I felt would go nicely with this earthy theme.  I loved sewing this pattern up so much that I plan on making another.  Maybe in a washed silk.

As of now I have to take a small sewing hiatus.  I started a fitness routine.  I'm trying to lose 15-20 lbs which will put me in a perfect size 8.  I decided to do Insanity and after two weeks of eating healthy and following the program I notice that I'm starting to lose weight.  V8241, which fit perfectky during the initial fittings seems to be a little big now.  For some reason I didn't think about the effects losing weight would have on my sewing and since many of things I want to make are things I hope to love and wear often I didn't want to make them for the size I am now.  If I do make anything it will probably be a few casual blouses and cotton robe, which I really need.  I'm also playing around in the kitchen so I hope to post about recipes I'm trying from some of my favorite food blogs and cookbooks.

Until Later Happy Crafting

Today Was A Good Day

I don't know if this ever happens to you, but it happens to me a lot.  When I'm not in the mood to do something when I go to do it anyway that seems to be when all the best things happen to me.  Like going to a club.  I might have been all gung ho about going a week ago but the night I'm actually suppose to go I literally have to  drag myself there and I'm only going because I promised my friend I would go and I don't want to renege on her.  The funny thing is on the few occassions when this happen to me is when I have to most fun and I'm happy that I went.  Well the same thing happened to me today, but not with a club outing.  With fabric shopping.  I planned on going to the garment district today to pick up a few notions so that I could finish up some projects sitting on my table.  I thought today would be the perfect day because after almost a week of rain the weather man said that we would finally be getting some sun and warmth.  Imagine my surprise to wake up to gloom and chilliness.  Definitely not an incentive to get out of my cosy bed.  On top of that I started feeling a little under the weather.  Another endorsement to just stay home.  But because my friend called to remind me of our plans to meet I dragged myself out of bed and went to run those errands.  I mean, I really needed those notions.  Also, it would be the perfect opportunity to look for the perfect fabric for some of the sewing inspirations on my pin baord. Well let me tell you.  This was most productive fabric trip ever.  Almost everything I had on my "check for" list I was able to find. The perfect lace to make my own version of this skirt:

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I'm looking at the fabric right now on my dress form and It's going to be beautiful.  Here's a sneak peak:

 The perfect floral cotton sateen to make a pair of ankle length skinnies similiar to these:

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And the most mind boggling.  The perfect fabric to make my own interpretation of this dress:

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I could not believe it.  The fabric was just sitting there on the cutting table calling my name with this beautiful halo of light.  For real.  I'm so not kidding.  There was a light.  Right then and there I knew I was meant to come outside today.  I do a happy dance everytime I look at my haul. 

After all that running around and eating at a delicious Mexican restaurant, it is Cinco De Mayo, I'm going to get some rest and try to kick whatevers trying to kick me.  I have to feel well enough to finish at least one item this weekend. 

Until Later.  Happy Crafting!

Sewing (Fail), Cooking (Pass)

I was hoping this would be a creative weekend.  I already have about five projects I wanted tackle.  I spent most of the weekend working on different muslins.  Unfortunately one alteration took most of my Saturday Afternoon and the other was just a complete bust.  For the second project I realized the size I cut out was too big and that was the smallest size on the pattern envelope, which was a size 16.  Oh well.  I hope next weekend will be better for me creattive wise.

Despite those dissappointments I was at least able to flex my cooking chops.  My boss was nice enough to give me an Amazon Gift card as a housewarming gift and I used it to buy this:

I've had it for a few months now but never used it until now.  I found a recipe for Lasagna Bolognese on a blog which is quickly becoming one my fav's called Annie's Eats.  I modified the recipe by not making the Bechamel sauce and added a lot of different cheeses, but I did spend the 3-4 hours making the bolognese sauce.  After perusing quite a few Youtube video's I finally felt I was ready to take on the task of making my own fresh pasta and let me tell you it was suprisingly easy.  I whipped up the dough in the food processer then after letting it rest for about an hour I started pushing the dough through the KitchenAid Flat Pasta Attachment.  This is what it produced:

I flattened my dough to about a size 6/7 and then went on to boiling the pasta and assembling my Lasagna.  After using a 9x9 inch pan I still had some ingredients left over.  I used it to make an indvidual one in a ramkekin.  After cooking for 45 min in the oven it was time to take my first bite.

It was sooooo good.  I used ricotta, precorino romano, and mozerella cheese.  It was so cheesy and delicious. It tasted even better day two.  This dish probably totally negates my Insanity Workouts but fresh pasta is defintely something I will be making more of in the future.  I think next up will be four cheese ravioli.

Until Next, Happy Crafting

Minoru Jackets and Smoke Detectors

This was a pretty productive weekend for me. I was able to get quite a few things done and take a nap. lol Friday night I made the starter for homemade bagels, which was pretty time consuming but enjoyable. I got the recipe from here. I took them out the fridge Saturday morning and threw them in the oven. They were sooo good. Nothing taste better than hot bagels straight from the oven smeared with some cream cheese. Mm Mm. I made quite a few so I put the rest in the freezer, which half is going to be given to my mother.

One thing I learned, there is a difference between was paper and parchment paper. Since I rarely use either I thought they were interchangeble. My smoke detector alerted me to how wrong I was on that front. lol (note to self: buy parchment paper because wax paper burns). Let me tell you, homemade bagels taste even better the next day. I will definitely be doing this again (the right way with no smoke detectors involved) and making the cinammon raisin version.

I finally finished my Sewaholic Minoru Jacket. This was such a fun pattern to make and I plan on making at least two more. I'm so happy I didn't do the sewalong but waited until Tasia completed her second jacket to start mine. I found myself going to her her site several times as a reference for areas that stumped me. This jacket was definitly a learning experience for me. It involved putting in a seperating zipper, making a hood, and working with elastic. You would thinking being a semi seasoned sewer I would have done at least one of those thigs, but no, I haven't.

A few things I would change.

1. I would choose different fabric - I used cotton sateen with stretch which seemed to bag a little. Next time I plan to use a non stretch woven. I think this would give my jacket a crisper look.

2. I would line the inside collar of the jacket and just use stabalizer around the zipper - The print on my fabric is only on one side and sometimes the zippeered area opens up a little more than I would like and you can see the inside of my fabric. I think if I lined the inside collar it would have given my jacket a more finished look

All in all I love my jacket. This time I pretty much stuck to Tasia's instruction, but next time I plan on adding patch pockets to the outside of my jacket. I can't wait to wear my jacket.

I'm Still Here

Recently someone made a comment on my last post that its been awhile since I've posted anything new and inquired into my health. Thanks you so much for the concern and the reminder that I do have a blog. lolol. I'm still here and doing fine. Since posting the cowl I've had quite a few changes in my life (most good, some bad) that have put my hobbies on the backburner. One of the biggest things being, I've moved into a new apartment. It's much bigger than my last place with room to spread out, you know how sewing can totally take over your life and your space. I've spent the last few months trying to organize my stuff and figuring out how I want to decorate my new home, of course starting with the kitchen, and really just acclimating myself to the changes in my life. I do want to let you know that I have once again gotten back into sewing and I've been working on two projects simultaneously. I have a three day weekend coming (YAY) and hoped to have both finished and posted this weekend. After this I hope to start posting on a regular basis and keep the long hiatus's to a minimum. Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog and happy crafting.

Hydrangea Neckwarmer from Brave New Knits

My sewing has been a little slow going right now. I still have to finish some hand sewing on both my blouse and skirt as well as insert the zipper and hem the legs of my Clover pants. But I have finished something I can show. The Hydrangea Neckwarmer from Brave New Knits.

It was a quick knit. I would have finished it in one weekend if it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't figure out how to do a provisional cast on. Youtube is the best source for visual tutorials on how to do stuff. Here is something else I learned on Youtube:

How to do a granny square. I really don't know how to crochet. Everytime I've tried it has ended badly. But I really wanted to learn how to make granny squares. But everytime I go to Purl Soho I see this blanket and I start thinking about how much I want to make this blanket.

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So I decided to look up a video tutorial on Youtube. Just when I was about throw my crochet needle across the room and see if someone can make the blanket for me I ran across a fabulous tutorial from Crochet Geek. She explained how to do this in a way that had my fingers and my brain clicking into place and I was able to churn out a 7 row granny square. Soon I will start my small lap blanket. I have a bag of Knit Picks Palette yarn in all the original colors in my stash that I bought years ago when you can get all the colors for like $50. I think it would work great for this project.

I also bought this off of HSN.

The Simplicity Sidewinder Bobbin Winder. Last year my girlfriend gave me her Brother sewing machine when she realized sewing was not for her. When she received the machine she opened the box upside down and the sewing machine dropped out onto the floor which caused the bobbin winder on the machine to break. This is like the best little device ever invented. I haven't used it as of yet but I plan on using it this weekend when I finish my pants. I also, bought Fons and Porter Directional pins. It used for quilting and has directions like, left, right, up, and down, but I thought they were cute so I picked up some.

Well that all the new I have for now.

Until Later. Happy Crafting