gift from friends

this weekend, my friends and i had peruvian food at puca puca. the food was delicious, the portion was generous, and the price was good.

for my birthday, my friends got me some crafty stuff:


i am pretty excited about the 'easy baking' book. i've already bookmarked a few recipes to try out.

as for the knitting supplies, i haven't decided what to make yet. i've no need for any new winter gear (scarf, mitten, tuque), so i think i'll save the yarn for some other project.

and of course, the hmv gift card will provide me with some new music.

apple bars

i still have apples left from the apple picking activity of over a month ago...

i tried another easy recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Bars/Detail.aspx

a piece:


it's soft and slightly moist, the consistency of muffins.

pointy kitty

i had found this pointy kitty pattern a long time ago:
http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/store/pointykitty.html
but i never had a reason to make it.

recently, my mom got a puppy. finally, i can make her a toy!

in my mom's fabric closet, i found some stretch velour, in beige colour. when cutting the pieces, i thought this fabric may be hard to work with. but when sewing, i realized that this fabric was a good choice: the stretch meant that i had some play when two pieces did not match up perfectly, and the fuzz of the velour hid my imperfect stitching.

since i do not have a sewing machine myself, i sewed the whole thing by hand. it was simple enough that it only took a couple of hours. i used some pink felt for the stripes. and since i was lazy, i left the kitty faceless.



it's so cute.

my dad is concerned that the fabric does not seem tough enough. the puppy will surely destroy the toy. but that's okay. it'll give me a reason to make more.

apple cupcakes with maple buttercream

another mix-and-bake experiment with apples.

i found a simple cupcake recipe:
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/apple-cupcakes

i halved the cupcake recipe to make only a dozen. i didn't have any nutmeg, so i omitted it from the mix. i mixed everything by hand, so the butter+sugar mix was probably not as 'pale and fluffy' as it should have been. oh well.

batter:


i had to bake a bit longer than instructed; the bottom of the cupcakes had seemed undercooked when i first took them out of the oven.

before baking:


after baking:


i found a very simple maple buttercream recipe:
http://www.chow.com/recipes/27758

again, i halved the recipe since i doubted that i would need 2 cups of frosting. still, it ended up being too much for only 12 cupcakes. i had to use an electric mixer to get the right texture.

it was my first time trying to use a piping bag. i did a poor frosting job; it looks so sad:


the cupcakes turned out soft and moist, which i like. the buttercream was a bit too sweet for my taste, which is why i didn't load the cupcakes with too much of it. still edible though.

soft apple cinammon cookie

another food experiment with the apples.

this time, i tried to make soft apple cinammon cookies, following this recipe:
http://www.5to10aday.com/en_recipe_details.asp?id=71

again, it was simple enough for me to make.

i had been a bit worried at first because the cookie dough didn't look too appetizing:


the cookies turned out alright:


detail shot:


yeah, they're kind of lumpy shaped, since i dropped them onto the cookie sheet without shaping.

the cookie are soft, with a bit of a spongy texture (like cake). they definitely taste better when re-heated. not too sweet, with enough cinammon. my mom's only complaint was that she could not taste any apples, even though i had used 6 small ones.

apple maple crumble pie

a couple of weeks ago, i went apple picking with my friends, and returned home with a 18lb bag of apples. i finally searched for some recipes and tried something yesterday.

since i've never really baked anything from scratch, i found this very simple recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Maple-Crumble-Pie/Detail.aspx

here's a piece that i cut out:


detail:


and it turned out pretty edible! at this stage, that's all i aim for.

convocation dress #2

for my second convocation, mom made my dress again. the pattern used was mccall 5881 view d.

we used some fabric that had been sitting in mom's sewing closet for years; she had gotten it for free from her boss. the zipper was also found in her closet. aside from the time spent on cutting the fabric pieces and sewing this together, the total cost of this dress was on the pattern, for only $7.

cropped action shot:


we added some thin straps, because a strapless dress is totally unsafe for me.

the pattern was designed in misses' sizes. since i am petite, i had shortened the hem, but did not think to place the slit higher as well. in the end, i had some difficulty walking in this dress, especially when i had to walk up the steps of some stairs.

brown stripe

a few weekends ago, i picked up a couple of promotional notepads from a conference i attended.



i cut off the header, then folded the squared paper to form a textblock.

i used some scrapbooking paper to make a cover (inside and outside). the book's dimensions are about 3"x5".



i borrowed the book non-adhesive binding volume 1 from the library. i tried out the long stitch through slotted cover, using some blue sewing thread.



spine detail:


again, i had a bit of a problem with the glue seeping through the cover.

knitted mittens - second season

last year was my first time knitting mittens. but i had used thick cheap yearn, so they barely lasted one season.

this year, i knitted another pair, using thin yarn, made of wool. this resulted in a finer knit, which will hopefully keep my hands warmer.



i tried to follow the same tutorial as last year:
http://www.needlenook.on.ca/free/nn106.pdf

but i had to make lots of modifications to account for the thinner needle and yarn:
- cast on 60 stitches.
- k1 p1 ribbing for 36 rounds.
- when making thumb gusset, knit 3 rounds even after each increase.
- increase until there are 21 stitches between the purled stitches.
- after setting aside the 21 stitches, cast on 3 stitches, for a total of 60.
- knit 32 rounds even.
- shape the top, decreasing until a total of 28 stitches.
- for the thumb, pick up 21+3 stitches.
- knit 20 rounds even.
- shape top, decreasing until 18 stitches.

it came out alright, even though my knitting is not completely even. i just need more practice.

zombiefie six

last week, i found via notcot some patterns for zombie papertoys: the zombiefie six.
http://thunderpanda.com/thezombiefiesix/

yesterday, i invited friends over to watch some scary movies. and so, the previous night, i was up until 3:00am, cutting and gluing these pieces together. my fingers were covered with white (elmer's) glue. it was fun.







i set the papertoys on my tv. cute.