And.......GO.

Alright...so I'm sorta getting back into the swing of things. I've completed a few projects that were started months ago and I've been doing a lot of baking. A lot. My baking skills continue to grow and I'm trying new techniques and recipes that I would never have bothered with before. Recently I've made a couple batches of chocolate chip cookies, a few varieties of cupcakes and even tried my hand at homemade tortillas! Both the cookies and the cupcakes turned out awesome and the tortillas were pretty good, that is the 3 of the 6 that I rolled thin enough! At least next time I know how thin to make them.



These were a French vanilla cupcake with white chocolate buttercream frosting. Yes, I did say white chocolate buttercream frosting. And yes, it was delicious if I do say so myself. And I do.

But wait....



What is that I see? Oh yes, a surprise inside too! Field berry curd! These turned out to be a winner and I saw many being inhaled when I brought them to work.

Also...delicious cookies...



I'm really in love with this recipe that I've tweeked. I've made about 3 or 4 batches of them so far and every single one has been a complete success. This time I made them with ghirardelli chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks and pecans. If these don't give you diabetes, I don't know what will.

I've been busy with the craft side of things too! I've finished two handbags that I had started six months ago. Both of them were completely crocheted but needed liners and decorations of some sort.



I love shell stitch, I really do. It works up quickly and gives a nice texture to the fabric that it creates.



Ooooh, I even tried fancy stitching!

I also got around to finishing a bag that I had finished crocheting back in May but put aside and was forgotten about. It's another Starling Bag that I've done a million times. For this particular bag, I had to hand dye it black because for some strange reason, I have never been able to find black cotton yarn in this city. Ever. I'm positive that it doesn't exist. Don't try and prove me otherwise! And I loooove the fabric for this one. I actually bought it over a year ago but was waiting to use it until I found the previously mentioned non-existent black cotton yarn.



The embroidery on the front is kind crap but I'm still learning. I wish now that I could redo it. Oh well.



A pocket!



The inspiration for the embroidery on the front.



There is also some needle felting on the front too!

And now I must go watch last night's episode of Glee and get to bed. I wish to run in the morning!



Captain Claws says Goodnight!



**** Come visit my new site at www.thecraftinista.com ****

Cupcake and Polo

This is the most common spot that you will find the cat. On my bed. Always.

I've been away. I've been crafting but not as much as I should. I'm working on it, I promise.

Just a lil' somethin' that I just whipped up...

Actually, I started it weeks ago, finished the entire crocheted part of it one day at work and then sorta forgot about it. I had seen a similar pattern on another website but at the time I was way too impatient to follow a pattern so I just made it up as I went. I'm not super thrilled with the lining as the tension of the thread was a little wonky when I sewed it but I was too lazy to redo it.That tends to happen a lot as my laziness gets the best of me. Plus, I love making stuff but I loathe repairing stuff. Just the thought of having to hem a pair of pants just makes me want to shudder. Ugh.









I'm off work tomorrow because my mum and I get to go shopping! It's been awhile since we did a good day of shopping together so I'm looking forward to it.

The end.

Crap. So I published this post and then realised that I forgot to mention something else that I made. One of my oldest friends in the world, Allison, who I met back in grade five when I moved back to Greenwood, wanted me to make her a bag. She said she liked my brown and green plaid one so I made her one with the same sort of idea. Instead of the needle felting that I did on my bag, I decided to do some bead embroidery....Fffffffffff......man, did I ever regret that decision. It took fooooorever. I was so bored of it by the end because I was literally doing the same thing over and over again. Sometimes less is more and you learn from your mistakes.





I was so happy to use this fabric again, it's one of my favourites :)

Alright, this time I'm done.

The end (for real)

Starling, sweet starling.

I made some bags. I've actually made a tonne of bags but they are all in different stages completeness. Most are like 90% done - add handle or maybe a liner, embellishment, that sort of thing. I know I should finish one project before I start another one but it's not the way I operate. I get bored easily. When I start working on a project for a couple days in a row, I tend to put it down and work on something else for a bit. Below are three bags that I made from futuregirl's Starling handbag pattern that I pattern tested for her back in the spring. Loves.



Now this one I sorta, technically made for my sister. And then I sorta started using it so I'm keeping it for myself. Sorry Beck, I'm sure I'll make something to replace it. Promises.



The reason I kept it was because of the fabric inside. I sooooo love this fabric.



I like this one, it's a little more reserved.



It's even classy on the inside.



This one I made on the 6 hour train ride I took from Halifax to Miramichi a couple weeks ago when I went to go visit my parents and check our their new house (which is awesome by the way). I think I ended up making three or four bags that weekend. My wrists were burning by the end of it. Burning.



I think I might use this fabric again for another bag but one in white or black. Ooooh, black, yeah, black. Now I just need to find some black cotton yarn in Halifax. I swear, I can't find it anywhere.

Mmmm....fruit!

I'm in the process of making a bunch of crocheted fruit for the bowl that sits on my dining room table. Yesterday I tackled a lime.

Bonus! Here's the pattern I made up for it!

Lime Amigurumi Pattern

1. 6 sc in ring (6)
2. sc around (6)
3. inc around (12)
4. sc around (12)
5. inc every other (18)
6. sc around (18)
7. inc every 3rd sc (24)
8. sc around (24)
9. inc every 4th sc (30)
10. sc around (30)
11. sc around (30)
12. sc around (30)
13. sc around (30)
14. sc around (30)
15. sc around (30)
16. sc around (30)
17. sc around (30)
18. dec every 4th sc (24)
19. sc around (24)

I stitched the face, added the eyes and added most of the stuffing at this point

20. dec every 3rd sc (18)
21. sc around (18)
22. dec every other sc (12)
23. sc around (12)
24. dec around (6)
25. sc around and bind off.

Weave in ends and you're done! I also needle felted the rosy cheeks at this point.

I also made a pear from a pattern I found online. It can be found here.



I'm thinking I need to make more of the pears because they are just so bloody cute!

Secret Project 2.0

FAIL!

I tried my hand at embroidery. Holy failness. I wanted to make some homemade labels for some of the bags that I've made. I may need to rethink this option.

Here is my failed attempt at embroidering RAWR Elephant.



Update

I decided to try again. This time I had my friend draw Rawr to be slightly bigger. So much cuter!