Fickle heart garland...

Just a bit of silliness by way of another hearty garland {sorry I couldn't resist!}...this one is a quick and easy, almost no-sew project {just sewing buttons on} that was born out of the need to display some gorgeous Amy Butler prints in in a way other than leaving them in stacks all over the living room.  But which one to pick?  They are all so beautiful...you can't use just one...so this garland is two-faced...in a good way...two prints on one side...

...and coordinating prints on the opposite...

The no-sew part was prompted by the unhappy grumblings of my sewing machine  : ( and my fear of pressing my luck with too much sewing before getting it serviced...enter Heat and Bond.

Have you ever used this stuff?...I'm sure you have.  It's fusible web.  I think there are several brands of it, but this is the one that I use.  I love the stuff!  It's great for applique work and all sorts of other fun things.  It works on paper and fabric...I love it for making two sided fabric like in this garland.  It comes in several different weights and is so easy to use.  Every time I pull the stuff out I think of new uses for it...all sorts of ideas that would be fun to try.

To make the garland, you will need...

~one yard of fabric total {two or more coordinating prints}

~an assortment of buttons {two for each heart in your garland}

~needle and thread

~1/2 - 1 yd. fusible web {I used med-heavy weight for mine}

~ribbon or rick-rack {about 1 foot for each heart, plus and extra 3 feet for each end of the garland}

~notebook paper

~light weight cardboard or cardstock {an old cereal box works well}

~pencil or marker {if you have a fabric marking pen or pencil, that works best}

First, select several coordinating prints {I used 3} and, following the package directions, fuse them together using fusible web.  Ta-da!...two sided fabric...like magic!...I'm so easily amused...but I really do love it...so easy and the weight of the fabric is so nice and substantial.  

Next, make a stencil for your heart cut-outs.  I drew and cut a heart shape out on notebook paper, traced it onto an empty cereal box, and cut it out.  The hearts here are about 5" across {at their widest point}.  After that trace around the cardboard stencil {directly onto the two-sided fabric}...

 

Cut out your hearts...I used pinking shears for mine, because I like the zig-zaggy edge but regular scissors would work just fine...

Once the hearts are cut out, cut your ribbon/rick-rack into 4-6" lengths.  These will be the lengths that connect the hearts—you will need one for every two hearts on your garland.  This rickrack frayed badly so I fixed the ends to keep them from unraveling with a little fray check—worked like a charm.

Next, sew the trim, to the heart with one button on both the front and back sides of the heart, like so...
First, thread the needle with sewing thread, knotting the end of the thread, and make a stitch on the heart at the spot where you wish to attach the trim.
Next, make a sandwich by placing the trim on top of the heart and placing a button on top of the trim.  Bring the needle from the back of the work, through the heart, the trim and the button.  Place a second button underneath the heart {on the backside of the piece} and bring the needle down through the first button, the trim, the heart and finally through the second button...

 
Sew the buttons on in this manner, going through a button on the front side of the garland, the trim, the heart, and a button on the back side of the garland with each stitch.

Repeat for each heart.  As you work your way across the garland, you will use the trim attached to the previous heart, thus connecting the hearts together.  For the last and first heart of your garland, you will use the longer lengths of trim on the outer edges.  This will allow you to hang your garland.

Easy~peasy...just a little ironing, some cutting, a bit of armchair sewing, and VoiLa!!!

Many hearty returns...

xoxo~alison

So sweet...

Together again...We have a full house once more...yes!  After the coming and going and coming and going again of January {all family members at home only 3 days this month!}, we are all here, together...a deep sigh of relief...I love sending my flock out into the world, but  always breath a little easier when everyone is back in place.

My middle man went on not one, but two ski trips this month {lucky lad} and my sweet husband just returned from a three week stint in Italy {such a lucky duck~although he was responsible for 24 college students while he was abroad, not exactly a vacation—but Italy is pretty fabulous nonetheless}.  In this house it's especially hard sending one of our crew off to Italy while the rest stay behind.  Our family spent my husband's last sabbatical in Rome—we were there for almost a year.  It was completely life altering for all of us and we each left a big part of our heart there.  There are so many things we miss from that time, not the least being the food.  Knowing that we were all going through our own versions of travel envy, I've been making an extra effort to serve some of our favorite Italian foods this month.  This weekend we were in the mood for a little something sweet and so we made these...

Occhi di bue...translated, eye of the bull or bull's eyes.  You find these cookies in pastry shops and bars {the kind where you go for a cappuccino and a snack} all over Rome.  We would grab one of these little delights in the afternoons during the passeggiata— our evening stroll, when everyone in the neighborhood steps out to walk, duck into a cafe for an espresso, visit and, in general to see and be seen.  This confection is basically two butter cookies sandwiched with filling.  You can obviously fill them with whatever you want, but the two varieties offered Rome are usually albicocca {apricot} or Nutella.  My favorite is the apricot, but the Nutella is pretty yummy  {totally decadent actually} and is my little lad's absolute favorite.

When we returned from our year away I tried to find a recipe for these cookies—my family was going through serious withdrawal.  I did finally finally find one in Italian.  This is my version...I changed the original to get a little closer to the cookies that we'd been missing from the pastry shop around the corner and so that they could be made with readily available US ingredients.  And now without further ado, here it is for you!...

Occhi di Bue

{this recipe makes 6-7 large cookies}


2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt
grated zest of 1 lemon
8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter {the butter should be cold and cut up into small cubes}  
1 egg
1/4 t lemon extract
1 t vanilla extract
For the Filling
1/4 to 1/2 cup apricot jam
1/4 to 1/2 cup Nutella
2 T confectioners sugar

You will need 2 Cookie cutters~One large {3-4"} and one small {1"}

The cookies for this recipe are made just like pastry crust or scones—first you combine the dry ingredients, then the butter, and then the liquids.

Preheat oven to 350º F.  Combine the first 4 ingredients {I usually put mine in the food processor and pulse a couple of times}. Add the butter, cutting it into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse cornmeal {if using the food processor, add butter to bowl and pulse several times}.  Next add the wet ingredients and mix until the dough comes together {if using the food processor, pulse until the dough comes together, stopping before the dough forms a ball, otherwise the dough will be tough}.  Turn the dough onto a piece of waxed paper and knead several times.  Shape the dough into a disc, cover with a second piece of wax paper and roll the dough to 1/4" thickness.  Place the rolled dough into the refrigerator {keeping the wax paper on top and underneath it}.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Pull dough from fridge and cut into shapes.  Each occhi di bue is made of two separate butter cookies.  Cut 2 cookies using the larger cookie cutter and move them to a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Use the smaller cutter to cut a center hole out of one of the two cut-outs—it's easier to move the cookies to the cookie sheet before you cut out the center hole—less issues with ripping cookie dough.  Repeat for the rest of the dough, cutting out two large cookies for each occhi.  This recipe makes 6 to 7 finished occhi di bue {12-14 halves}.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to color around the edges.

Allow cookies to cool before filling {they can be warm, but not hot}.  To fill, spread a thin layer of Nutella or jam on a bottom cookie {one without a center cut-out}, top with corresponding top cookie, and spoon 1 teaspoon of jam or Nutella into the center cut-out {if the Nutella is a little stiff, run the jar under warm water to soften it up}.  Allow the cookies a few minutes to set up and then dust with a sprinkling of confectioners sugar—optional.  You can also omit the confectioners sugar and dip one side of the jam occhi di bue in melted chocolate (bittersweet or semisweet, not baking chocolate—just melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler and dip the cookie into the melted chocolate, place on a baking rack or parchment lined cookie sheet and allow to cool).  Some shops do this in Rome {yummy of course}, but my favorite way to eat these cookies is without the added chocolate.

I've never seen occhi di bue made in any shape other than a circle in Italy, but in light of the season, I think these sweet hearts are nice too...

As you can see, they are huge, perfect for sharing with a friend...

xoxo~alison

S-watching...

I'm in the midst of a little experimental knitting right now.  I'm not sure anything will come of it, but now and then there will be an idea and a skein of yarn that get together and conspire to distract me from all other productive activities.  I find myself muttering...things like...I don't know about this...the yarn is too this or that...I'm not sure this will be remotely cute, or wearable, or even doable...why oh why am I working on this when there are so many other projects waiting in the wings?...This chatter usually continues until I finally surrender and cast on.

That's where I am now...s-watching, looking at the rounds growing on my needle, and watching the clock...

...and wondering...Will anything come of it?...I honestly don't know, but I do know this, that giving in, allowing myself the permission to try and fail, to experiment almost always ushers in a new idea, or at the very least some information gained—and yet I am resistant to this concept...I have to be worn down by the idea {the one that won't let go} to get to it.  Why does my knitting only "count" if it becomes something right this very moment?... and why am I so ready to deem it "wasting time" if it doesn't?—and I'm not talking about deadline knitting here, but just knitting for knitting's sake knitting.  It's far too easy for me to get product and time oriented.  It's silly really—after all there are just so many hours in the day and many of the things I like do are labor intensive and take time...one of the reasons that I value them is because of that.  So how is it that I find myself trying to impose an external pace to those things that I  have chosen to pursue because they slow me down, because of the investment and personal touch that they require? 

As I sit here knitting away and chiding myself for all that I'm not doing and for the fact that this knitting experiment may be just that, I am, more than ever, aware of the luxury of all of this...having the time, the supplies, a home, and people in my life who support me, understand, and don't resent the things that are left undone in the wake of my playing with yarn.  And right now I am especially aware of the view from where my kids sit...what am I teaching them?...I want them to experiment, to risk, to try, to be more process oriented, and most of all to know that not everything has to end the way they planned.  So as I sit, knitting and wondering what will come of this green tangle, I am trying to remind myself to tend my own garden...to give myself over to experimentation, with a grateful heart and without grousing if it doesn't turn into anything tangible, to show them {and me}...as they teach me over and over again, the words I say don't matter, it's the doing that counts.

Of course, these are rather banal musings—I know this is all so simple and obvious, but trite or not, I need to be reminded...and  it occurs to me that this is why I have chosen the slow road...because eventually it does slow me down enough to take a look at the big picture and focus in on it, it gives me time and space to connect the dots...Maybe the idea that's been percolating and my green yarn were conspiring just for that...

...if so, it's more than enough.

xoxo
~alison

Hearts and flowers...

Now that we are halfway through January, I think it's safe for me to indulge myself in a little Valentine's day decorating.

Valentine's Day is sort of like Halloween for me...I love the colors, the chocolate, and the opportunity to festoon the house with decorations {I've found that I'm a much more accomplished festooner than cleaner, and fyi—the more you drape the light fixtures and deck the halls, the less noticeable the dust}.  I've never been in to the whole lovey-dovey, perfect date, big gift,  prove how much you love me thing...I see Valentine's Day more as an invitation to send a little love out to friends and family, usually by way of a posy or two, a card, or some little something freshly baked or made.  So with that in mind, and because I always seem to need a little pick-me-up this time of year {feeling itchy after the lull in all of that holiday crafting}, I have started planning and collecting the materials for some little love tokens.  Hopefully all of my planning will be fruitful...I have been known to be overly ambitious in this regard before...you know collecting materials and planning but never finishing...but I have faith this time...I can do it...more on this later. :)

In fact, the lad and I have already gotten started.  He helped me whip up these festive and oh-so-easy hearts and flowers garlands...see...

Okay, we didn't keep them outside, but they did look pretty there...if only they were waterproof.

First we collected the materials...we used vellum {any paper would work well, as long as it isn't too thick}, paper punches {you could use scissors instead}, sewing machine, thread...

See those punches?...I put the package in the pic for you so you could find them if you're interested...I was skeptical about buying these—I hate buying things that don't get used and just end up taking up space—so while I shopped the punchers took a ride in my cart and I did a mental checklist of the potential uses (it was surprisingly long).  Obviously, I decided to give them a go, and so far I love them.  I really like that you can see where you are cutting with these—no more shapes with chunks missing.  I also love that they are easy for little hands and that we don't have to dance up and down, pressing with all my might to get them to cut...very nice...

Once the shapes were cut, it was on to the sewing machine...

*Place the edge of your first shape under the presser foot and sew through it, grab it with the left hand as it emerges at the back of machine and gently pull it and keep the machine stitching away {through nothing—I know it feels weird, but keep going—the bobbin and needle threads will form a chained thread between the shapes—this is particularly pretty if you use two colors of thread}.  Once the chained thread is the length desired, feed the next shape under the presser foot, and repeat from the beginning {*} until your garland is as long as you like it.  Here are some close-ups of the chained thread connecting the shapes...

 

Note... As you pull your shapes through the back of the machine take care to stack them neatly, otherwise they will become hopelessly tangled.

 

Now it's time to festoon, drape and deck the halls with your newly minted heart garland...

Silly, I know, but they make me happy, and I kind of love them.  Plus, I think they look pretty with our  snowflakes! 

Wishing you a day full of hearts and flowers...
xoxo—alison

ps~Thanks for all of the mom love out there and the warm wishes for our visit.  It was wonderful and I miss her already, but am so grateful for the days we spent together.  Here is a pic taken right before she left...

...sorry, I couldn't resist...love my little shoe shiner.

The good life...

Hello again!...

Still lazing and lolling about, enjoying this time with my mom...pure luxury~and I am refusing to let my old friend Guilt in the house, even though that familiar companion has tried to intrude several times, but I shoo him out the door and remind myself that things are getting done, kids are being fed, dressed, driven, loved, papers are getting proofed, life is marching on without crisis even with me taking this little break...to be sure there will be some catching up to do, but who knew a personal time-out was even an option...love, love, loving it after the push, push of last year.

Here's a peek at what's been happening around these parts...

Bidding a fond farewell to the holidays and reclaiming lost ground...

...somethings are harder to part with than others...our sweet kitty was not pleased by the prospect of saying goodbye to our tree...no indoor tree and too frigid to play outside...

 ...harrumph...

But we're still enjoying this wintry bling from Lucy's great tutorial {warning these crocheted snowflakes are addictive...apparently you can't just make 1 or 10 or, well I don't know how many of these, because the snowflake love has not subsided here...too much fun!}...

Unabashedly availing myself of the after holiday yarn sales...

Meeting and getting to know a couple of new French Girl friends {thank you After Holiday Sales}...
another Louisa came to call, joining the one I made for my birthday...can't believe I knit the same thing twice~never happens, but I love this one even more...maybe the model has something to do with it though...

and Satine...

As always, a little baking~This time turning this...

Into this...

And last, but certainly not least, enjoying the snow and the snowdays that came with it.  I guess this Texas girl will never outgrow her love and wonder at all that cold white stuff...not that I want to~it makes me sooo happy...

...clearly I'm not the only one...love that smile...

 

So, as you can see and even if it is trite to say it...life is good...

 

Hope your day is a happy one and that the good life is finding it's way to your door this wintry afternoon...keep warm and if you see my old friend Guilt, send him away and have Contentment over instead...xoxoAlison

January hello...

Just a quick visit today.  My mom is finally here, after having to put off her trip due to canceled flights and what-not before Christmas, and I am savoring this time with her.  Have I mentioned how much I love my mom?...probably so...anyway... just so you know, things might be a little quiet in this spot while I have her with me...just for the coming week.

But before I go...remember this old girl?...

I did want to let you know that I have added a link to the pdf for Peggotty's Ruffle Mitts to my Ravelry page.  I had much difficulty with the server on this pattern {apparently insufficient bandwidth (who knew?) and in the confusion, I accidentally put up an early draft of the pattern, not the final draft of the pattern that I meant to {oops!...note to self, don't play on the computer when you have a fever...how I wish I was as comfortable in front of a keyboard as I am with sticks and string‚ hopefully I'm getting better though, with each try and each little humiliation}.  So if you tried to download Peggotty in early December and failed to get it, or even if you managed to get the original (okay, but the new one is more carefully edited), you might want to download the new and improved version.  I know a few people have already knitted it on Ravelry, and so far it has gotten positive reviews—yay!
{BTW, I made this pattern for my personal use, so it has not been to the tech editor.  In other words, any feedback you might want to share would be appreciated.  Just message me via Ravelry or email me...thanks!}

So long for now, my dears!  I hope you are enjoying the last little bit of your holiday break!  No dieting or strict rule enforcement around here for a few days yet...like I said, savoring every last minute of this precious time!...

xoxo—alison