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.

exercise books

when i was in elementary school, the school provided us with exercise books. over the years, we accumulated a number of these partially filled notebooks. it seemed like a waste to throw away, so we've kept them in storage for all these years.

finally, i've found something to do with them. i un-stapled all the books, and re-bound the pages into signatures. i took the covers of one of the notebooks, and covered it with scrapbooking paper.

the cover i took was blue. i covered it with thin beige scrapbooking paper. i used white glue, which seeped through, resulting in those weird blue spots on the cover. after the binding was done, i made the mistake of pressing the book in between two heavy phone books, before the glue completely dried. when i took off the phone books, it left those white marks on the cover. so basically, i completely messed up the cover of this notebook. but it's not too big of a deal, since i intended to use this as my own private journal, eventually.

front cover, with blue and white spots:


inside:


spine detail:

xmas card for stan

my brother is in the hospital right now. according to the doctor, he caught some virus. he's okay now, but will have to stay in the hospital for a week. what a disappointing way to spend the winter vacation...

our family doesn't really celebrate christmas. but i thought i should still make him a card, especially since i haven't visited him at all (yet) at the hospital.

i had bought some felt for a previous project. i cut out a few pieces, and quickly stitched together something resembling a gift, and tacked it onto a quarter-folded computer paper, just to mimic a card.

front cover:


detail on the 'gift'. notice the poor stitching...

petal notebook

while procrastinating from studying for final exams, i made another book.

it is quarter-page in size, with 128 blank pages. the covers were made with cardboard and scrapbooking papers. the textblock was made with blank computer paper. i found some fuschia thread in the sewing box, and coptic-stitched the spine.

i already have too many blank notebooks. i think i'll give this one away as part of a gift.



after i finish my pack of scrapbooking paper, i should learn to make my own paper. it would be interesting.

knitted mittens in dark burgundy

another attempt at knitting mittens, following the tutorial here:
http://www.needlenook.on.ca/free/nn106.pdf

i was following the instructions for the ladies' size. halfway through the first mitten, i realized that it was too big on me. probably because i have small hands, and i was using 4.5mm needles instead of the 3.25mm as indicated in the instructions. so i had to start over again. i hate unravelling projects.

second try: i followed the number of stitches for the children's medium size, while keeping all the lengths of the ladies' size. i followed the instructions until the end, and saw that it resulted in a weirdly shaped mitten, very pointy pyramid at the tip. more unravelling had to be done.

i re-did the shape at the tip. i decreased until 16 stitches remain, before finishing. for the thumb, i decreased until 10 stitches remain.

now that the pair is knitted, i see that the tip is still a bit pointy. for a rounder shape, i probably should have decreased until 20 stitches only. bah, i'll try that next time.