Pop-Tarts from my oven.

Yesterday my Uncle Dan took a Pop-Tart quiz on Facebook. (Apparently, he's a Brown Sugar Cinnamon kind of guy.) And I couldn't get them out of my head. Last night I looked up a recipe and gave it a shot. I made brown sugar cinnamon and grape. The result? Huge. More flaky than the real deal. Pretty darn good. I intended to add frosting, but it was entirely too late. Besides, my icing made from powdered sugar never seems to come out quite right. Wouldn't want to mess up a good thing.

Congrats, Brian!

My mom called and asked me to make a German chocolate cake for my brother's party last weekend. I had a day to do it. So I cheated. I got a box and made cupcakes. And then I added just a touch of tacky. Couldn't help myself.

But the box was good. Yumminess. And now my little brother now has a Master's degree. Definitely cupcake-worthy.

Cute Hats for Cute Babies

These were supposed to go to two sweet babies born, oh, 8 or 9 months ago. Wow, that's even more embarrassing in print. Hmm. I finally got my act together and reknitted hats that would actually fit their heads now. I made a few other things as well and shipped them off. Happy Baby, however late.

They are more designs from the always-amazing Itty Bitty Hats book. The blue one is a hybrid of several patterns. I might be in love with the picot edging. It's sooooooo cute for little girls.

This might actually work.

I've never been very good at balancing things I need to do with things I want to do. I've never been accused of being a very good housekeeper either. Go figure. Still, not getting much sleep is not good solution to my being over-busy. After whining about all of this to my mother-in-law, I took her up on the suggestion to give organizing my schedule another try. I've tried spreading housework stuff over the week before, but never have done a very good job of keeping up with it. (I'll never actually enjoy mopping. Or vacuuming. At best, I'll tolerate.) Then I've always been swamped with the crafty stuff I'd rather to do after everyone else is asleep. That only works for so long before I give up. It's always been a choice between getting stuff done or having a clean(ish) house.

Margaret might be a genius. I'm just saying. I drafted a list. With markers and fun paper. If I'm going to have a schedule, it's going to be pretty.

For almost two weeks, it's actually worked. Dedicating full days to crafty stuff makes me not feel guilty for neglecting the house. And likewise, having a day dedicated to the kitchen and living room makes me do a better job of actually cleaning (I even dusted! Two weeks in a row!) without feeling like I'll never finish making that stack of bibs sitting in my to-make pile. If someone randomly dropped by my house, I wouldn't be embarrassed to let them come in further than the entryway. I'd even be able to confidently open the doors to the office. This is huge progress!

Here's to hoping I can stick with it. Being organized has never come easy, but this might be something I can work with.

More Birds to Love!

I promised Landry's parents that I would make a bird mobile for her the day she was born. That might have been almost two months ago. I had been eyeing an adorable knitted one and started on it. (I got three birds into it.) Then I came across this fabric bird mobile and fell head over heels. I used fabric that matches Landry's bedding/diaper bags and branches from my yard. The pattern calls for hand-sewing, so I made these little birds while catching up on DVR'd Gilmore Girls episodes. The balancing part was tricky, but with some lentils to weight the bottom bird and some super-duper math skills, it all worked out. Her parents seemed pleased, so I'm calling it a win-win-win.

(The pattern and instructions are at Spool.)

Happy Birthday, Jayne (and Brian)!

Jayne loves all things pink and toile, and for the past several years, "Brian" and "bee" have been interchangeable. Her birthday is today and my brother's is August 6th. There is something about my family where couples have birthdays in the same month. Call it an unwritten rule. My parents are in October and Andrew and I are in June...now, Brian and Jayne aren't in the same year (The Octobers are, as are the Junes), but the rule book clearly states that isn't a family requirement.

Anyway, 12 squares of fabric (6 of each: pink toile and yellow bees), some cotton batting, thread and a few minutes of sewing later, we have His/Hers quilted coasters. Each coaster has a side for both of them. I made some for my house a while back and none of them match (on purpose) and we use them all the time. The wonky stitching is also on purpose, and when washed has that cool quilt look that I love. Happy birthday, you two. I hope it's a great one!