What's for Dinner Monday!

Please come and visit me over on my other blog as I make the change over!
http://domesticanarchy.blogspot.com/

Swap-a dili-ishious!

How fun is this going to be??

I have not been in a swap in utter ages so I think that this is going to be to much fun! The swap is being hosted over at Crafty Carnival... I am already looking through my vintage fabrics to see what would be just perfect!

testing

testing

Falling off the face of the earth

Well it seems that after last Wed. I fell off the face of the Earth and am just now clawing my way back to the surface. My dad was in town for a few days that went by way to quick for myself and the kids. We had not seems him in a year and have missed him so very much. We have high hopes that his current battle with cancer will be a short one and that he will come out as king of the hill. He is a great man and I don't know what we would do without him.

While he was here the the kids were on *Spring Break* and we spent the time just hanging and enjoying the wonderful Spring weather. I got in some sewing and have almost reached the finish line with the second slipcovered chair. It will be nice to have those off of my plate and under my butt!

I have decided that this will be the Spring and Summer of ~being pretty~. I am totally jazzing on sewing pretty skirts of wear and am working on some cute tops to go with them. It's my goal to spend as much time as I can in clothes that make me feel good and look good. With that in mind I have purged my closet of the stuff that does not fit, does not look good, and does not make me feel good while wearing it. I could get all deep with this topic but am a bit short of time. So what I will say is that I think that as mothers we can have a tendency to put ourselves last when in reality when we take care of ourselves both spiritually and physically we are better equipped to be good mothers and set good examples about being strong, gracious women.

To this end I am spending some time really learning how to fit the particular quirks of my body. Now it's not like a have one arm 3 inches longer than the other or a dowagers hump. In fact by just looking at me I don't think you could guess all the fitting *challenges* I have with clothing. Not to even talk about sewing from typical patterns! I am totally short waisted to the point that it's ridiculous. My boobs all but sit on top of the area where my pants rise to. Then I am also blessed with a back that is so wide that I really should be playing in the NFL. A set of D cups that have nursed 5 babies and broad shoulders round out the list of my challenges above the waist and below the neck. I have spent quite a bit of time reading and learning about pattern alteration and this book IMHO is one of the most accessible on the subject. The book speaks to those of us who are big, those who are little and those who are in the middle.. since we all have fitting issues. I paid FULL PRICE for this book and now see that it's $8 on Amazon. It's been so worth it to be that i would pay full price again, it's that good.

Sewing up Spring

We have been looking for 2 chairs for the Library for about a year now. Not to big, not to little, floral but not delicate and most of all.. not so expensive that we were going to eat beans and weenies for a month to afford them. Well it seems that those two chairs were not to be found. Wrong color, size and most of all price!.. dang! who pays $2000+ for a chair!! Not me that is for sure. Even if I could afford it there is no way I could feel good about spending that sort of money to sit on. So we have lived chairless for a year+.

Last weeek we decided to take a look at a local furniture haunt that tends to have some good deals but rarely two of anything. We lucked out on this day with a truck load of chairs that were just the right size (yeh!).. but wrong color (oh so wrong) but the right price (yeh!)... so in a fit of desperation I harkened back to my days as a single sewing mother and decided I would slipcover them.

Now I used to do this for a living, I know what sort of craziness I was talking about and yet in a fit of total frustration at not having chairs in the library I set forth on this plan and bought two perfect sized chairs, one plaid, one polka-dot and both in very odd colors. To his credit Les was totally cool with the plan. He is a man of great faith.

7 yards of fabric later I was ready to go and started in on the project. Starting here...

and ending here


Working for about an hour a day since my schedule is quite tight these days I have all of one chair done and about 80% of the other. I am happy with the way the slipcovers came out. I threw in a few dressmaker details like the pleated skirt and this laced up back with inverted plaid pleat.


It's been well worth it but I totally remember why I use to charge $250 a piece + fabric for this sort of job!

It's what's for Dinner!

Ok... total show off moment... My chicken Pot Pie came off looking so nice I snapped a photo of it.


Yummy hu?... it was! Want to make one too?


Ina Garten's Chicken Pot Pie

The parts in orange are where I cheated.. I used Roll-up pie crust since I was running short on time!


3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on 3 tablespoons olive oil Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade 2 chicken bouillon cubes 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions) 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup heavy cream 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups) 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
For the pastry: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.
In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well.
For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

For Vax-girl

There was a question about the tin panels on my prep Island. I did not get them online but I think you might be able to. Mine are actually thermo-plastic but look for all the world like tin. I worried about the moisture/rust near a food area so went with the plastic for safety reasons. I purchased my at my local Lowes Home Improvement store. They were in the section near the model kitchens.

Hide and Seek for Kitchen Coolness

It never fails, when someone new comes into our kitchen and wants to help out they become flummoxed when it comes time to get their hands on a fork or spoon or lord forbid a knife. That is because they are cleverly hidden here....


seeeee........


The chest started it's life as a mechanics tool box used by my dear husband well over 25 years ago back when he was a VW mechanic. Then it spent many less than spectacular years languishing in the garages of various houses. One day I was down the garage and poking around for a screw to a project when it hit me that the chest was sort of cool and funky and deserved much better than to live out the rest of it's life in the dank of our garage. Of course I was totally inspired by these ladies. So out it came to the light of day and then it was put through a complete steam washing and degreasing. Then primer, then paint. Then I added a full assortment of vintage fruit labels that I had been saving waiting for the right project. Four clear coats later it landed on my counter top and is now the proud holder of all daily eating utensils.

Kitchen Coolness

Yep, a little peep into the kitchen. This week we are back to work on the house and I could not be more excited. In honor of that I think we shall have an ALL KITCHEN week here at Domestic Anarchy. My new kitchen is not really *new* at all. In fact short of the appliances everything I have used in here has been re-fashioned, re-used, or re-cycled. Not that we did not install a bit of bling here and there but it's totally geek stuff. Like this popup power supply on my Fresh-Prep island.


This little jobbie is produced and UL rated for kitchen and other wet surface use. You just pull up on the little handle on top and then plug in your appliance then when down just touch the little button on the top and it slides back down into the counter and sits flush with the surface waiting for another time to help you out. Cool Hu?

Bhhhaaaaaaaaa

I am obviously nothing more than a helpless sheep. The blog world folds, so thus must I.


Really it's rather fun and relaxing.. one largish plastic quilting ruler is all you need. Then flip flip flip... you wind the fabric around the ruler


Bing, bang, boom.. you have three perfect stacks of fabric in about 3 minutes


How easy was that?

ugh!

It seems that photobucket is having a hissy... I will have the photos up on the Cupcake tut. ASAP.

sorry!

Maddie

The All American Cupcake

I have long admired the wonderful felt Cupcakes and tiny pastries that I have seen on many of the craft blogs. They all have the wonderful air of European tea cakes with fancy frosting work. But for as much as I love them all I wanted to create the cupcake of my childhood. You know, the one that mom made even if she was not the best baker in the world. Sort of lopsided but made with lots of love and made even better by some yummy butter cream frosting and if we were very lucky some colored jimmies.

So I toyed around with the pattern and I now bring you....

The All American cupcake!


Please excuse the photo. Although the weather here has been warm it has been hazy and not very good light for pictures.


The following is a short and sweet tutorial on how to make my little cuppy. If you would like a copy of the pattern please leave me a comment with your email addy and I will send you a PDF copy of the pattern. I hope to have a downloadable copy in the next few days but don't hold your breath since I also have 3 other projects due by this weekend.

So with no further ado.... Let's rock the cupcake!

You will need some wool felt. Of course you can use craft felt but it's not near as nice to hold or to hand sew, but use what ya got if it saves you a trip to the fabric store ( I have no idea why I would say that since I never miss an excuse to go)

The first step is going to be to cut out the felt pieces using your pattern as a guide



You will cut one of the arch shape, one plain circle and one circle with the scalloped edge


Next you will handsew the the side of the ~cake~ part of your cupcake. I just slightly overlapped the edges and then did a tight little running stitch in a color to match my felt. This is NOT rocket science and felt is a very forgiving medium so don't freak out about this. Just sew a nice seam and tie off, hiding the knot to the inside of the cupcake.

Next take your sweet bottom circle and right away notice that it's somewhat bigger than the bottom opening of your cuppy. No, it's not wrong. You did not cut wrong. It is drafted large to make for an easy fit and sewing experience since one should never have to curse while sewing a felt cupcake, that would be just plain old wrong!

Place your cake section on your work surface and fit your felt circle into the bottom, like this.


Please note that it's ruffled up towards the inside. This will give you lots of material to catch as you sew a firm bottom seam.

As you start working your way around the bottom taking small but firm stitches you will work out the extra fabric by folding it to the inside of the cupcake.


The goal here is to sew your way to a nice flat bottom on your cupcake.



So at this point you now have a fun little felt cup that is ready to really start looking like a cupcake.

Take your scalloped edge circle and hold it to the inside edge of the felt cup. You want the little scallops to be peaking over the edge like this.


Start sewing around attaching the ~frosting~ to the cake. As you start working your way around the edge you can manipulate the felt a bit to get it all to lay nice and fit well.


This is a good time to once again chant your mantra about felt craft being a forgiving art. But trust me.. it's all good and it will work.

REMEMBER~~~ don't close the whole top up... you are going to need to stuff your little cuppy.

See... how easy was that? You now have your frosting almost all the way on!


Now it's time to add the rice.

I find that rice works better than dry beans, but use what you have. Fill your cupcake 1/2 full with rice. I find that the stupid little response cards that drop out of magazines are the perfect size and thickness to use as a small funnel for this purpose.

After the rice comes the stuffing. I like to use wool roving but pillow fluff will do. Just remember to pack it in there real tight to get a nice dome on the top of your cupcake. And don't worry if it's a little wonky. Mom's cupcakes were never all that straight but were still wonderful.


Now were are in the home stretch.. sew on the rest of your frosting. This might take a bit of tugging but it's well worth it to get a nice rounded tight top.


Now it's time to decorate! I did lazy daises on mine since I wanted all of the surface for pin storage, but I do think that vintage buttons would look great. Have fun with this part and please let me know if you make one of my little All American Cupcakes since I love to see how others put together color and detail to make it their own.

Today crochet, tomorrow the world!!

I can knit. In fact I think with a bit of thought and a quiet corner I could knit anything that anyone put in front of me. The same could not be said of crochet. In fact past a basic chain I was totally stumped. This aggravated me to know end since out there in bloggy land many people are producing mass numbers of very sweet granny squares and putting them into wonderful colorful blankets and I was not able to play along.

That is until now!

Why yes Virgina, that is a Granny Square!.. and I made it! Not perfect but not bad either considering that I picked up the book on Saturday morning during our drive to Trader Joe's and had the square off the hook by the time we made it back to town with our ~Trader Haul~

So there you go!.. anything is possible.

On pins and needles

Spring has finally really sprung around here and it's a most welcome occurrence. I did not get all that much done this weekend craft wise but I did learn something new that I will share with you tomorrow! In the mean time I am thinking about an entry for the Pincushion Challenge. This time the theme is *EATS* fun hu? I have quite a few different ideas, but need to find a wider selection of wool felt to make it happen! My local Hancocks only carries what I shall refer to as the ~woodland collection~ of wool felt colors. Nice enough if you are in a Fall frame of mind. but down right depressing when you are thinking about some Springtime EATs!

oh oh oh!. the mailman just came and brought me a little prezzie! It's my Prairie Girl Pattern from Favorite Things. Very nice packaging, and wonderful graphics. I shall take some time to look over the rest of it and report back very soon. I think I have JUST the fabric for this!

In other news ... I am redrafting the pattern for the vintage dress so that it fits my ample gifts with more ease. .. I sacrificed a bit of my stash of funky sheets to make the muslin for the pattern and give it a little fit-finesse. I think I just about have it but want to lower the neckline a bit. On those of us who are a bit more blessed than others it's a good tip to remember that removing a bit more fabric in the neck opens up things and leads to a less heavy and blocky look.