Housewarming

Saturday we had a small housewarming party. It was so nice to see friends and eat some good eats!! :)

I made these delicious mini vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting from the Brown Eyed Baker blog. The recipe was linked there for ya! It was a good one and could be my new go-to vanilla cupcake recipe!

I made about 48 mini cupcakes from the recipe, but I guess it makes about 12 regular cupcakes.

 

I cut some corners and served garlic bread from the frozen section of the grocery store.

Then I chopped up lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, mushrooms, and green onion for the salad. I think it looks nice to add some carrot strips to the top (just use a vegetable peeler for them).

 

The potato salad was perhaps my favorite thing. It consisted of diced boiled potatoes and eggs, diced pickles, green onion, chopped parsley and homemade mayonnaise. I garnished with more chopped green onion and parley and a sprinkling of paprika for color.

We had some pretzels, broccoli florets, cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, sour cream dip and hummus for easy finger foods. 

The hummus recipe was loosely based on the first one I saw on google. But basically you just throw together some chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, tahini, salt, pepper, and oil and blend it together till it is a puree. I added a bit of water to make it smoother. Then I made a well in the middle and poured some olive oil from a sun-dried tomato jar we had (since I always see pictures of hummus drizzled with oil) and garnished with chopped parsley and paprika. 

 All in all, the food was great! :)

We had a change to our view...

The graffiti was removed and I must say I kinda miss it, it was so urban.

 

 Thanks to the rain last week, the snow melted at warp speed!

Now if the grass would just get green...

My parents are firm believers of having flowers at parties so they bought us the gorgeous dusty pink lisianthus bouquet on the right. 

One of our friends brought us the gorgeous mixed bouquet as a part of their gift. :) 

I looooooooooove having flowers to admire and take pictures of!!

 

I think I'm gonna end this here on a flowery note. 

I still have some pictures left of the house. I realize, I've never given ya'll a tour! :)

Maybe next time!

Thanks for popping by!!

2013: Garden post #1

I've gone off the deep end!!

We were fortunate enough to have obtained THE BEST garden allotment in the whole area this past week!! My mom was amazing and was doing the official business of renting us a garden plot in our own name (the three we have been gardening have been in my parent's name) that is adjacent to theirs. Last summer we thought of taking the plot that was literally over-run by weeds etc (it's been "abandoned" for years), but as she was talking with the lady in charge of the garden allotments...the long-time gardening granny neighbor passed away last fall, leaving her immaculate and giant plot available. Needless to say, my mom swooped in and it is now claimed as ours! 

May the granny rest in peace knowing it's in caring hands. (Although she probably rolled in her grave, seeing as she was never fond of us...)

Now between the four of us, we have a whole lotta garden to tend to!!

Here's a few pictures I took while we were there today.

A whole lot of messy dead-coming-back-to-life stuff...

The second daffodil bed that I planted last fall from the original and overgrown daffodil bed...

 

This mess is embarrassing. We dropped the ball last fall with my mom having hip surgery and me being busy with finishing my horrendous thesis and then getting pregnant and going through first trimester nausea...

But this is the perennial flower bed. 

Imagine foxgloves, sweet williams, pansies, daisies and the like... 

 

Currants upon currants. Combined with our new plot, we have a total of FIFTEEN currant bushes!!

 

Tulips and the newly done original daffodil/grape hyacinth bed in the background...

 

And rhubarb knubs. 

 

The ground was wet and muddy making it hard to walk through (it was like quicksand!) and some parts were still icy when the men tested it with shovels. 

So no planting right away.

But with the mess we left it in last fall, we are gonna have plenty to do anyway before the ground warms up. 

I have biiiiiiiiiiiiig plans. I see outdoor garden rooms, vines, flowers, veggies, bean teepees and more... 

And I have to re-work all my plans because I wasn't counting on us getting the additional land to work with. 

I'm stoked and so excited!!

So the rest of the day I've been flipping through my many precious gardening magazines and checking out my garden board on pinterest. Oh the ideas!!

So that concludes the first garden post of the 2013 season!! 

What?! 

It's wonderful!

Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday where ever you are! :)

Since last time...

Since last time...

I've taken more photos of the little daffs. :)

They're just so outrageously in bloom. And since the weather has been cold but not completely freezing, they've lasted really long outside. 

They're still blooming!!

Speaking of the weather, we've finally had some rain. 

I love the sunshine, but rain is far more efficient in melting snow, therefore I haven't complained once about it! :)

Look at the progress from our courtyard!! 

After making an executive decision much to the hubby's disapproval, I bought curtain fabric from Ikea and we now have new curtains in the dining nook.

I'm quite happy with the way they turned out, but I think hubby needs more time to get used to them. Since he wasn't fond of them to begin with. ;)

I love the effect of the stripes, it makes the (tall) room look so very tall.

 

I really need to do something about that hideous light fixture that came with the apartment though. 

I call it a mosquito light because it even flickers when you turn it on. Ick.

Ah, decorating is expensive...

See what was on the table above? 

I couldn't resist as they were on sale this past week at a department store here. 

I had my mom help me pick out a promising one. 

Hopefully it brings me as much pleasure and inspiration as the white one (which is still blooming next to the TV). :)

Nature is so amazing, such detail!

Speaking of nature, my little plantation is coming along nicely.

Almost every single seed planted has sprouted. 

I'm just worried that with spring being a few weeks late, I may have started these too early (even though according to the packages etc, I was a little behind schedule already).

It looks crazy messy, but it's controlled chaos. I promise. :)

Should we talk crochet?

I was the lucky recipient of this gorgeous crocheted rug from my mom's talented friend.

It's a beautiful mustardy yellow and I think it's far too pretty to be on the floor. 

I kind of want to hang it on the wall, but I think I need to figure out HOW and WHERE first. :)

It's like a sun! And a flower!

What's not to love? 

I've been working hard on the blue sunbursts for the couch, but it doesn't stop me from fantasizing about new projects. 

Yes, I have one baby blanket still in the works for this little girl but I am her crocheting mama, and one blanket is NOT enough!!

I am so in love with this Viking Baby Ull yarn and it was on sale at the yarn shop... So I bought the purple, blue and yellow... and the other two are from my stash.

Well,  the pink between the purple and blue is Silja yarn, but it goes so nicely with the rest. 

I have no pattern in mind yet... but I'm thinking maybe plain granny squares?

Then again, a flower motif square would be cute too.

Too many choices!!

 

 

 I have more than just WIP's though. 

I have a completed flower wreath! 

It's already on the front door, welcoming us home. :)

The yarn I used was (I think) Silja and Viking Baby Ull.

The pattern was from the wonderful Attic 24 and linked here. 

The actual wreath is just cardboard that I traced circles (using a round plastic bowl and lid) on and cut out. 

Then I wrapped blue yarn around it (talk about tedious work!) and then I glued the flowers on using fabric glue.

All in all, it's a simple project and I was more than happy with the result!

I can't decide which flower I like most. :)

As for the blue sunbursts... I have a total of (almost) 21. I have been thinking about just how big I want this blanket to be and I am toying with the idea of making it 9x10 squares... but then again, I think, maybe I should just make it until I run out of yarn and see where that gets me?

I really should take a break from these squares and finish my rainbow baby blanket... I think that should be what I will tackle today on this glorious day OFF.

By the way, I have 13 days left before maternity leave starts... 8 morning shifts, 2 evening shifts... I cannot wait!!

 But then again, at the same time, I am secretly freaking out that I'm so close to having a daughter that I am totally responsible for the well-being of.

And yet, I can't wait. :)  

Completely unrelated, I've been trying to get a good vertical portrait of Kissa since we want to hang pictures of the three of them... But she is sometimes the WORST to get a good picture of!!

Like this one is super cute and all, but it would have been THE picture if she didn't stick her tongue out! :D 

And when you try to repeat the magic she looks everywhere but the camera... so then you call her name and she looks pissed off. 

And heaven forbid you blow at her to get her to look at the camera, you get a look like this one:

Kitty is not happy. 

:D

Well, thanks for stopping by!

Hopefully I'll be back before too long with more photos to share! :)

Spring!

  Some of my zinnias have risen...

And asters too!

 And I couldn't decide which of the following pictures I liked more. Even though they're pretty darn similar. :)

Had a wonderful weekend spending time with my family and friends. 

Got some spring cleaning done, planting (nasturtium and sweet peas), crocheting, cooking, baking, and all kinds of fun simple stuff like that. 

:)

It was such a nice weekend, I don't even mind the SNOW (?!) that is coming down outside. :) 

It will melt before too long!

Hope you've had a nice weekend!

Sun, sunbursts, and seed starting

Snippets of the last few days...

Admiring Kissa sitting in perfect kitty form.

She's been mowing the lawn... and those Easter eggs have become some of her favorite toys. Tsk tsk...

 

I've started on my new blanket.

This is the stash I'm trying to use up. Blues and greens!! Also a bit of gray... 

 

I've been using the infamous Priscilla Hewitt's Sunburst Granny Square Pattern which I have linked there.

 I used this tutorial to help me fumble through the first square, but since I've started making these daily, I must say, the pattern is easy to memorize once you get the hang of it!

This tutorial by Eda's Crochet Room was helpful to learn with since the pattern calls for some stitches I don't think I've ever made before. 

I bought more little tete-a-tete narcissi. :)

 

We've had such gorgeous sunny weather and since today was my day off, we sat outside and I crocheted and soaked in the rays. 

 

I had a grand seed starting afternoon. Zinnia, asters, pumpkin, decorative gourds, corn, sunflowers, marigold, snapdragons, watermelon... I still have more seeds to plant, but the irony is running out of the 10 liter bag of particular seed starting dirt that I went all over town to find.

Also, I am running out of containers to start them in! I have egg cartons, washed out meat tubs, yogurt cups, sour cream cups, microwave meal and soup dishes... I've been saving all these things for weeks, even going as far as purposely buying particular foods for lunch at work to be able to save the container they come in!!

:D 

And it's still not enough!

I think I'm just gonna have to ask folks at work to save me their yogurt cups and the like. 

I don't know how many more microwave meals I can eat either. :P

 Hey, does this count as gardening post #0.5 of 2013?

Hahaha... 

I can't wait for the snow to be GONE so that I can stomp around the garden in my blue boots again and think about where exactly I am going to plant everything. 

Even though I've made at least two plans on paper already, lol!

Well, that's it for me. 

Off to bed soon, even though it's fairly early. This pregnancy fatigue is kicking my ass. 

Pregnancy -- which reminds me!!

The pictures of the baby blanket that blogger wouldn't upload a few posts ago...

Here ya go!

Thanks for stopping by! 

See ya around!

Baby Rose Blanket

Here's the big reveal!! :) 

 

The pattern can be found here from Lion Brand's website (requires free registration to see it): Rose square baby afghan

There was a total of 25 squares and the total size was approx. 70x70cm. 

I used Gjestal Silja yarn and a 5mm hook. 

Because I thought the blanket would just be too busy and too much with every square a rose, I made a simple granny square and alternated the pattern. 

Doing this, I ended up with a slightly wonky blanket.

...Which I then made worse by hand stitching a fleece backing... but I thought of those little fingers getting all tangled in the backs of the flowers (this pattern is rather hole-y), and I knew it had to be done!

I don't know if I will ever sew a blanket to fleece again... there was a lot problems with the yarn blanket stretching and the fleece stretching... Annoying!

The border was just a row of granny stripe in blue using the Bunny Mummy technique of getting a flat border.

Then I made a row of dc in pink and a row of sc in blue again.

I really love the blanket and the colors too. Perfect for the little girl I made this for. :)

I hope she likes the contrast as her little eyes develop, and the flowers when she's older and understands that it's just straight up pretty!

I've said it before, and I will say it again; I really love crocheting with loved ones in mind. Especially babies! Every blanket I've made, I've put so many well-wishes and love into for the little ones. As I crochet, I sit and think of what kind of amazing person they will grow up to be and all the amazing things they will experience and accomplish. 

Ah, such a beautiful thing! :') 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Have a wonderful week!!

I will try to be back soon with the beginnings of my latest project! Woohoo!