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My re-interest in crocheting has not yet waned and I was excited to try a different kind of scarf (for me) from a pattern at crochet me. I would have prefered a darker yarn but after first starting with black and then brown, decided pink was the easiest to deal with so I can see the stitches since I had to count! Skippy models it here:

I really liked how it came out and maybe I will wear it but would prefer to give it to someone who likes pink scarves so if you know anyone, let me know!

So I came across this really cute rug that I wanted to try. Quite an ambitious project for me but I really liked the colors and the cute flowers. It didn’t seem so hard after looking over the pattern so I bought all the yarn I needed online. I had a few problems in the beginning and wanted to get it right from the start so had to pull it out a few times. I swear I tried it like 10 times and couldn’t get it right so I wrote to Bernat with my problem. Well, really complaining that their pattern can’t possibly be right! haha! They made me realize I was wrong and I was counting a stitch that I wasn’t supposed to be. Look how many I’ve made now!

8 more motifs to go! Here are a couple of close ups. Aren’t the colors great?
If I manage to finish this project, I plan to make this!

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A close friend of my MIL, Auntie Sharon, was in town visiting with Liz and the girls before their big move. They came over for lunch on Sunday and will probably be the last time they are all over for a long time. I know Liz loves my chili so I made that for her and also tried out a new recipe for a lite carrot cake (made into cupcakes). Everything was yummy despite cutting my pointing finger and burning my pinky all on the same hand!

The next time the 3 of them will be together, they will be soooo much bigger!

Carrot cupcakes

Talking to Grandma

Sienna listens intently to her older cousin’s wisdom.

I let Eli take hold of the digital camera and she took some very nice pictures:

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Saturday the bumblebees came over for a potluck dinner. Joy brought bratwurst from Milwaukee, salmon caviar and blinis. Ruthie made a delicious Greek orzo salad and DeeDee brought dumplings from Rickshaw. I made deviled eggs. I was going to make a ricotta cheesecake for dessert but since Joy had to leave early, I did not want to risk making it and having more leftovers. I really cannot afford to be eating a whole milk ricotta cheesecake on my own! Joy brought with her the Wii and 2 guitars for Guitar Hero. I never, ever played before but I got the hang of it pretty quickly! It is fun!! It probably is a good thing Joy left early or I might have developed a strong addiction to Guitar Hero. Denise and Ruthie also bought some cute outfits for Sienna and DeeDee also got her a new toy. Thanks guys!!

Joy & Yves rocking out!

The ultimate Rock Star!

Skippy gets some love from Ruthie.

Pretty clothes for Sienna!

deviled eggs

Greek Orzo Salad

Brats

Blinis

I swear I thought I took pictures of the dumplings but I guess I didn’t!

Excited for the toy DeeDee bought for her!

A hug for Ruthie!

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We had the girls over today for lunch. Sylvain has left for France and Yves is still in Palm Springs. Even though we didn’t do any cooking today (besides Mummy making rice pudding), I’m tired!! Having 3 active girls in the house is tiring! It was all great fun tho. We thought it would be fun to order thai food to get the girls ready and it was very good! (But I’m sure it’s better in Thailand!) My parents came over for a little bit to drop off more New Years oranges and we took the opportunity to have a grandparents picture. I took 4 shots and of course, everyone looks different in all of them. I couldn’t decide which one to post so I’m just going to post all 4!

Here’s a shot of the delicious rice pudding!

We hooked up with JP, Carol-Anne and Gaby via video conferencing. The only people we were missing this time were Yves and Sylvain!

Maia and Sienna wanted to touch Uncle Baba and Tata Mouse and cousin Gaby.

Nana goofs around with her grandpa

Sienna really has fun with her cousins and will really miss them!

Showing some cousin love! from Lisa on Vimeo.

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Saturday we had everyone over for a late lunch (we were just missing JP, Carol-Anne and Gaby!). My MIL made Jamaican food, everyone’s favorite, ackee and saltfish, jerk chicken, unjerk chicken, plantains, rice & peas and bammy’s. Also some potatoes and I made broccolis. For dessert, I made cookies and cream ice cream with the maker and Yves’ favorite cookies and pumpkin cookies. Everything was delicious and we stuffed ourselves!

Ackee and Saltfish

Cookies and Cream ice cream (came out much better than the plain vanilla)

Grandpa says YAY!

Telling Sienna more important stuff.

Liz, Maia and Sylvain (and my pumpkin cookies on the table)

Liz and Sienna

Grandma and Sienna

Sylvain conked out on the sofa while Eli and Maia goof around.

And here is a video of the kids playing!

Blocks with her cousins from Lisa on Vimeo.

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Yep, that’s right folks! I finally finished the mosaic project I started in 2005! I wrote about it last January and resolved to finish it before Sienna was born. HA! The post can be found here. At least I finished it before Sienna’s first birthday! I’m not sure how I feel about the completed project yet. I’m still feeling the glow of having completed it and finally crossing it off my list. I still have to clean up the glass a little bit.

Full piece.

Up close shots.

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I have successfully finished 2 crochet projects, amigurumi animals I got from the Lion Brand website. I like those patterns a lot better than the first patterns I got because they tell you how many stitches are in each row so you can count to make sure you are on the right track. I’ve lost interest in finishing the hats for the snowball family (as Yves calls them).

I don’t think I even took a picture of the complete family. Anyway, I was so happy when I finished the snowman!

So I made the bunny.

Everybody likes the bunny…

And bunny likes coffee!

And Sienna is watching Martha Stewart so she can start her own crafts. Or multimedia empire!

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For the holidays, I did a lot of pretzel related treats. I made a lot of chocolate covered pretzels for Yves’ co-workers, the ‘band’ and the neighbors. I made paper snowflakes out of origami paper to cover up the containers. I wasn’t really thrilled with them so only did them with Yves’ co-workers. For the tops, I printed out vintage Christmas ads.

I also made a butterscotch crumb apple pie. I was curious about how butterscotchy the crumbs were going to taste. At first, I didn’t really taste it. It’s subtle and I suppose it’s better than it being overpowering.

I made more pretzel treats for Liz and her family and this time included the candy cane kisses because I know she’s a fan of peppermint and chocolate, just like I am. Plus I forgot how to make peppermint bark.

And I made some ice cream with the maker Yves got me for Christmas! I only made half the recipe because the full recipe sounded like too much for just us. Yves was very good about making ice for a couple of days because you need 8-10 lbs. We found rock salt at the supermarket (the same as the sidewalk rock salt when it snows). It wasn’t as hard or complicated as I thought!

This is what it looks like after churning for 40 minutes. It’s supposed to stop automatcally but because I didn’t use the full recipe, I stopped it myself. It didn’t taste bad! A little too sweet for our tastes tho but now I can revise it for the next batch. I originally put more ice and rock salt around it to harden the ice cream but Yves said why not put it in the freezer? So I did! The cover is a pain tho because it doesn’t snap closed.

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In the quest to keep our dining room table as clutter free as possible, I made this “chair backpack.” Well, I actually made the tote part a few months ago while testing out making a tote bag from t-shirts and then abandoned the project when I didn’t know what to do about straps. I had cut up the first t-shirt too much and couldn’t use the scraps for a strap and even tho I cut the 2nd shirt better, I felt it needed double fabric in order to hold the bag well. Plus I didn’t exactly plan it out because the bag is kinda long. Then I came up with this idea in the middle of the night and decided to use the fabric ribbons that Theresa gave me from all her wedding gift packages from Pottery Barn. It really is such a nice ribbon. Anyway, I’m quite proud of this idea!

I also just started getting into crocheting Amigurumi animals and got this snowman ornament pattern here. I obviously messed it up somehow realizing it was kind of big for an ornament and Tammy pointed out from the instructions that the total height was supposed to be 4.5 inches. So it’s off by a few inches…You can’t win them all! I am in the process of making a baby snowperson and used a smaller hook so I’ll show the whole family when I’m done.

Then I wanted to make treats for the holiday mixer last week and I didn’t have the energy to make a ton of different cookies like last year so I found these real easy and simple pretzel treats.

Setting out the pretzels.

Loading the kisses on top. I think these might have been the caramel kisses.

I think the most time consuming thing was unwrapping all the kisses.

The finished product!

I made plain kisses with plain M&M’s and caramel kisses with plain M&M’s. The leftovers were given to the bowling people at the bar last week and Brenda also took some home. I’ll be making more tho unless I end up eating all the kisses and M&M’s.

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Earlier this month I got another wooden shelf for Sienna’s room to get all the stuff off of her changing table. She’s getting taller and with her constant kicking, she’s kicking all the stuff off her table! Yves got a picture of me painting it.

And here it is up!

A close up detail:

And I don’t know if I ever showed the smaller shelf I painted:

Yves asked me to make something to hold Sienna’s mittens and hats to put by the door for the wintertime.

And he had to help me put the eyelet in since I couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard I banged on the hammer! (Turns out I was just doing it wrong.)

Here’s the one I made for Yves’ hats and gloves. And maybe I’ll put my one hat in there. I think the 2nd girl from the left looks like Britney Spears. LOL

And although this isn’t really crafty, more resourceful or gluttonous, depending on how you look at it! LOL. I made cranberry bars from the leftover sauce from Thanksgiving and potato/turnip pancakes also from the leftovers. They both turned out yummy!! I’m on a roll! And I will literally be rolling if I don’t stop this eating!

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