Part 4 of this new weekly venture features a seemingly random collection of wish list worthy gear I found while digging through a ‘must have’ folder in my bookmarks. Some items have sold out, but there are so many other treasures to be found with these sellers!

I was looking for ribbons to use as handles on a knitted bag and I found Griffith Gardens, full of beautiful ribbons and crocheted flowers. I especially love the double sided black satin ribbon! The crocheted flowers are well crafted – most of the stock at this shop is crocheted; scarves, letters even (love this!), coasters, throws and on and on.

I adore this bag more than any other in this week’s collection. Love, love, love it! It’s so sweet and girly and then you look a little closer and BAM, skulls. <3

Once on a bag rampage, I came across HautTotes, and immediately I was in love and I think these four examples can help explain why. Especially the Christmas pin up girls and the zebra print. I’d wear them all. the. time. The wee bows on the collection are sweet, enough to make them part of a set but not so much that it takes away from the bag. Pretty!

This apron is officially on my personal wish list. Last time I posted something here hoping I’d get it for Christmas the hint was not taken (joke’s on me) so this time around, I will buy this for myself! There are even matching pot holders!

Of course this little gingerbread number stole my heart, but seems to have been moved or taken down or lost in the dark recesses of the internet, but it was lovely and so very festive! The Zelda pillow is really close to home for me. Mr. SoVeryDomestic has an original Nintendo comforter that we still use from his childhood. On it are Mario and Luigi of course, the Princess, Bowser and hilariously, Link! I can’t think of a good reason to wear a vendor apron, aside from being a vendor, but they’re so cute I’d love to wear one.

Naturally, the next event in this chain is shopping for fabric to make amazing aprons! Duh! I was going for robots and man, did I ever find them over at Voodoo Rabbit. Not only robots but, ‘fabric, buttons & sewing supplies for the dark arts & craftist’. Fantastic! We’ll start with robots and move on to Spidery Web, Pink Skull Pinstripe, How to Get a Husband fabric is beyond amazing. <3

As you know, I have three wee ones underfoot, and besides pancakes, I’ve made more batches of play doh than anything else in the last 10 years. I just came across this recipe that sounded good, so I gave it a shot.

I really like the way it came together in the pot! It didn’t take as long as some other recipes I’ve used and it wasn’t super sticky either. When I rolled it onto the counter, I was sold. It was very soft and easy to handle so the food colouring blended extremely well. I don’t know if it’s because wee one #2 left her zipbags of this play doh in the sun, but these two batches got moldy after a few days. I will make more to see if it’s a shelf-life issue or if it was just us.

As I’ve been trying to pay attention to portion control, I’ve been looking for bite size recipes. I know pretty much any recipe can be adapted to be made into individual portions, but I was charmed when I came across these Friands on Use Real Butter. So cute! I had several jars of almonds *in the shell* that had to be cracked. So, as my friends arrived, they were put to work cracking them all open for the almond meal we needed for these wee loaves. They were so so so good. The whole point of trying them was the small portions, and they were so good it was sort of a bummer we didn’t have more.

Jen used raspberries, but the selection at my corner market looked a little sad so I went with blueberries instead. Amazing. I wonder about different nut meal and berry combos? Like walnuts and blackberries or pecans and cranberries! Oh! I’m going to try pecans and cranberries next.

I’m not sure why exactly, but we made blue rice krispie squares this week and the tray was empty before supper! Not that they tasted any different than usual….

There was a recipe on the box for ‘savory sweet potato sticks’. I love, love, love sweet potatoes. I know it’s one of those foods that most people don’t have much of an opinion on, but I’m all over them so I tried this recipe the next day.

Essentially, you crush about a cup or more of rice krispies and add in whatever dry seasoning you like, the recipe suggested garlic powder and cayenne pepper, but I used Montreal steak seasoning and paprika. Dip the sweet potato circles in a beaten egg and then in your cereal/seasoning mix before putting them on a cookie sheet. I had them at about 400 for 10 minutes or so.

I was hoping to find the recipe online to link to it, and instead found eleventy million other recipes involving puffed rice cereals! Brace yourselves! 😛

It’s Window Shopping Wednesday again! I love writing these posts because essentially, it’s just a really detailed version of my wish list! Because I link directly to the items I’m talking about, you’ll often find them sold out when you click on them. All of these shops are full of fun, so you’ll find other amazing gear, also sometimes shops will re-list what’s already sold so poke around.

Today’s collection of found gear is all stuff I’d *love* to have for Easter, though it’s pretty obvious even to me that I can’t possibly use it all. 😛

I came across Cupcake Social a few months ago when looking for snazzy cupcake liners. I found these really sweet mini tulip ones and thought of Easter right away. Doesn’t even matter how you decorate the cupcake with liners like these! Of course the cupcake toppers, both of the plastic and royal icing varieties are must haves and these ones are all so cute. I love the vintage feel of the plastic ones, and the other ones really help pull together a finished cupcake treat! And seriously, how pretty is the blue sanding sugar against the pink frosting in that last pic from this shop? Very, would be the correct answer.

The Easter selection over at Hey Yo Yo is a wonderfully retro, blindingly neon assortment of all the weird Easter stuff my Grandmother had when I was little. I vividly remember that bunny head cake topper (or one amazingly close to it) and the sugar buttons. She had tiny little sugar treasures like that in all sort of shapes and sizes. These ones are the brightest I’ve ever seen and for sure I’ll be ordering some for my kids this year. My Grandmother is going to love seeing them. The toppers are sweet and ideal for the kids Easter party at home (so I can keep them and use them again!), and those carnival ducks may end up on the windowsill in my kitchen permanently. They are darling. I just said darling. Apparently, I’m even more stuck in the 50s than I thought. 😉

I also need to note now that because this is an Easter Window Shopping post, I’m not going to go on and on about all the other amazing gear in this shop. Hello vending machine capsules, kissing dolls, and paper straws!

I have been a little ok totally obsessed with Bake it Pretty since I found it sometime last year. The four items here are a great example of why I love them so (not to mention all their wonderful packaging supplies)! These cookie cutters are perfect for sugar cookies for wee one #2’s kindergarten class! Either decorated with seriously detailed icing or just sanding sugar. I’m thinking white and pink for the bunny (gotta have the pink ears of course) and bright yellow for the chick. Gah! So cute!

The kits are such a great idea. The ‘Happy Easter Treats Kit’ has wee gift tags and themed twine. The ‘Easter Fun Kit’ has two different kinds of cupcake liners (24 total) and two different toppers (24 total). This is fantastic if life hits you with too many things at once but you still want to make something sweet!

Muffin Top Bake Shop, the name is enough to fall in love with it, right? These little hopping bunnies are almost retro, and if you use them at home they’re totally reusable! I love how small they are and their wee ears. The edible glitter is always a good idea and this shop has nine colours – including black!

We’ll see in the next month or so how much of this I end up ordering and using. I am excited to try out some of this gear with some recipes I’ve wanted to try for a while as well.

The past few months have been a flurry of activity, and while I wouldn’t have it any other way, a few more hours in the day would be helpful.

I made a really interesting cake this past weekend for a friend’s 30th and I have had a good start to Cake Year! First though, and mostly just to show off some photos, here are a few of the things I didn’t blog about this holiday season.

I made heaps and heaps of brownies during the holidays, as I’m sure you can imagine. These made in the donut pan seemed especially fun for the kids for some reason, and this apple pie with a handful of chocolate chips was just silly – and delicious!

This year, Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day landed on the same day, so we had a fete to celebrate both! There were a whole lot of glittery New Year decorations and a whole lot of shiny heart decorations. The kids had a party that afternoon, and one of their activities was cookie decorating. I made standard Sugar Cookies and Cocoa Brownies and set out frosting, sprinkles, candies and broken up treats in recycled pudding cups for easy access!

For their school parties, the kids hit Google to find ideas for their class treats. Wee one #1 went with Chocolate Covered Jumbo Marshmallows. We put some red sprinkles on while the chocolate was still wet. Wee one #2 picked Cinnamon Heart Kisses and Hugs Cupcakes, which I think explains itself really. Both treats were really fun to make and the kids classes loved them. Before anyone thinks I’ve left someone out, wee one #3 isn’t in school yet and is too small for treats. 😉

There are some really fun gems left out, like attempting a Jamie Oliver appetizer, and my cinnamon hippo cookies, but these were the most fun of the last few months. I can’t recap too much because I want to jump back in and show you the 10 cakes I’ve made so far this year!

The husband machine, our three wee ones and myself did some Christmas road tripping. It took us to three different cities in two weeks and we had a blast. On the way home, with our little car packed to the roof with kids, gifts and gear, I got a text from my amazing friend Gill, asking if we could do the first Stitch n Bitch of the year that night, and that she really, really wanted to make Red Velvet cake with me. I pretty much never turn down an evening with my ladies, so as soon as we got home, I prepped the kitchen for fun, fed the kids and within minutes Gill was here with her beau Andrew, and my sister, Nikki. Usually there are two more good friends that spend Saturday nights with us, but one was out of town and one was hanging with someone who is usually out of town.

So, the Red Velvet cake, as you can see, looked like a winter birthday cake! The cream cheese frosting wasn’t too cream cheesy, as they often are, and the chopped pecans were a really nice touch! None of us had ever made this cake before, and we were all a little alarmed at how much food colouring it takes to give it that red hue! It was amazing, definitely one of my faves so far, The look of the two red layers with the contrast of the white frosting was so pretty.

Inspiration for the second cake of the year came while browsing Chow. The photo of the cake was amazing, but they put a crunchy almond crust on the top of the cake (prepared in the pan before the batter was poured in), and I opted for a few ground up chocolate chips on top after I had already iced it. I used the recipe as is otherwise, and it turned out so good.

This Double Lemon Cake was made because the husband machine asked me to make him a Lemon Meringue pie, and I had a little lemon filling leftover. The cake itself is a standard lemon cake, really you can just sub some lemon juice for a liquid in your favourite vanilla cake and add in some lemon zest as well. It’s two layers, with the lemon filling from the pie I made earlier and buttercream tinted yellow. 😉 If you love lemon, you’d love this.

The fourth cake was made for Miss Talea’s financee, who she never refers to by name on her blog, so I’ll hold back. I made him a Brown Sugar cake, though he is away at med school and couldn’t enjoy it himself. This recipe was found on Bell’alimento, and yes, I covered mine in whipped cream too. I made two square layers, one smaller than the other and sprinkled cinnamon on top!

Cakes #5 and #6 were made on the same day – because we had a few more people than usual that week – to celebrate Miss America. We all just love how campy and silly it is, and we really rolled with it. We all wore tiaras and drank champagne (ok, sparkling wine) and had a lovely evening. Cake #5 was a Chocolate Coconut (which just means I added a little sweetened shredded coconut to the batter and sprinkled some on top once it was cooled). Cake #6 was exciting for me, as I had never made one before – a Black Forest cake! My mother used to make these a lot when I was a kid, my father loves them. This was a cake doctor-style recipe, to be honest. All I did was mix up a devil’s food cake mix with a few eggs, some water and an entire can of cherry pie filling. Once it was baked and cooled, I put a little dollop of whipped cream on each of the wee flutes in the cake and put a maraschino cherry on top.

It’s hard to believe how genuinely excited I am over each of these cakes! Cake #7 was especially important because one of my closest friends, someone who has been coming out to my knitting nights for years, moved. Yup, Talea joined her fiancee somewhere that isn’t Toronto so they can live together as he finishes up med school. To celebrate all the joy and friendship and wine fueled nights we’ve all spent together, I made her a 10 Layer Smell You Later cake (inspired by the always amazing Bakerella) and invited only her very favourite people. It was a lovely night, but so so sad too. Moving on, the cake would have been more layers, but my husband machine was snacky and I had baked all the layers the night before. 😛 I assembled it with runny fudge as the glue that held it all together between all the layers. I coated the outside in it as well, but had to do as Bakerella suggested and make up some cocoa frosting and give it another layer.

Two weeks ago, as you know, was both Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day. Last year, I made a Mandarin cake because I thought that the traditional citrus fruit had to be made into something, but it doesn’t. Just leaving out a bowl of any kind of citrus fruit is enough! So I didn’t make a cake for Chinese New Year, but I made up a serious Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake for Valentine’s Day. It was plain chocolate, in a heart shape, topped with a pint of strawberries and loads of both whipped cream and cocoa frosting. Amazing.

Even more amazing than that cake, Gill’s brother was on his way back from Thailand that day and even though he woke up on the other side of the planet and had a serious 12 hour jet lag to deal with, he came over to celebrate with us! Since he had been away for his birthday, I also whipped up a belated birthday cake – the one he picked weeks before – Chocolate and Peanut Butter!

And finally, to be totally up to date, this past weekend, I made my weirdest cake yet – by request. I made Tres Leches (or 3 milk cake, if you prefer). It’s Spanish and while most of their cakes are really moist, this one is over the top. It was for Andrew’s 30th birthday, the first of us 1980 babies to turn 30 this year. He requested it partly because he has a thing for moist cakes and this one promised to be the moistest, and partly because any time I ever serve this man cake, he always puts it in a bowl or mug and pours milk over it. Always.

This cake starts out as a plain vanilla cake, though I’m sure you could sub in whatever kind of plain cake you’d like. Once your cake has baked and cooled (mostly), move it to a larger pan then poke holes all over the top of it and pour this mixture over it; 1 can evaporated milk, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup whipping cream, 1/2 cup whole milk. You have to keep scooping up the mixture and pouring it over the cake for it to absorb it all. It’s nuts to see a cake soak up 3 cups of liquid in a few minutes.

You’ll notice there are actually four kinds of milk in this ‘three milk cake’. I actually looked into it more and traditionally the recipe has no whole milk in it, just whipping cream. The best part about this is two of us are lactose intolerant. Ha! I had a very small piece and then later in the night, I had another small piece. Andrew had several, so glad the birthday boy liked it. 😛

To go with the random theme of three, I also made three squash soup. Gill made her amazing pizza pinwheel bites and we all forgot about the soup. I will ask her about the recipe to post it one day.

Way more playing in the kitchen than knitting and sewing lately, as I’m sure you can tell, but I did manage to finish a very nice pair of socks, Marriage Lines, they were a late Christmas present to one of my dearest friends, Talea.

I have a lot of catching up to do here, but instead of breaking it all up, I’m just going to post a serious roundup of yummy and crafty stuff cranked out of my kitchen!

First up are these brownies, made the same as the cocoa brownies I usually make, except I’ve been using whole wheat flour. I posted the recipe in this post, and didn’t change anything else. I didn’t find that the dough behaved any differently, and no one noticed a change in taste at all. I don’t know how much healthier they actually are, given that there’s a cup of sugar in them, but we can safely say healthier.

Whole wheat blueberry pie!! It has slightly less sugar than it’s white flour counterpart…slightly. Friends of mine who don’t ‘get’ Food Gawker, ask me why I post so many photos of food. Ha! Just look at how beautiful that blueberry mix is, that’s why! 😛

This pie next was amazing. More than one of my Stitch n Bitch ladies has voted this their favorite pie of the year!

Another really self-explanatory recipe! To make the crust, sift the flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt. Add the butter by small chunks, and cut in either with two butter knives or a pastry cutter. Once it’s all oatmealy, use a fork to mush in the ice water. The put it on a floured surface, and roll it out!

The order of the filling likely doesn’t matter, but for what it’s worth this is what I did. I put the sliced pears in a bowl, and added the lemon juice, ginger and and brown sugar. Then I mixed in the (very soft) butter, and last the cornstarch.

Bake it at 375 for about 20 minutes, longer if your crust isn’t holding up yet. Take it out, add the topping, and pop it back in for another 10, just so the brown sugar can work it’s magic.

Below are whole wheat sugar cookies and the beginnings of my Monster Chunks family for Miss Hayley, daughter of a very dear friend!

My wee one #1 has a serious appreciation for the handmade, especially the handknit, which is nice because that’s not a quality many 9 year olds can say they possess. These Basketcase Socks were chosen by him, as was the yarn from my stash. This is his second pair (since he grows a little slower now and can wear them for more than two months)! Also pictured here are a batch of what turned out to be pretty disappointing Butter Tarts. The recipe was not good at all so I wont post it, I will get my Granmother’s recipe and try it again with that. So far, none of her recipes tanked – she’s 87 though so I should hope she’s got the hang of it by now. 😉

This blackberry cake was inspired by my dear friend Gill, who had picked up two bags of very sour frozen blackberries and brought them over for me to salvage them. 2010 has been declared the year of the cake and cupcake, so I thought I’d try out a berry cake since I never have before. It was so good! Bananas, even!
This is even a neat German recipe, called Blackberry Kuchen, which I know just means Blackberry Cake, but it’s not made in the sense I’m used to, read on.

First off, this cake requires you to make three separate mixes. One is the dough for the bottom and sides of your pan, like a case for the cake. The second is the berry filling that goes on top and there’s also a streusel part to this that goes on top of the berries!

Mix the sugar and flour with the berries and set aside. Make the dough by mixing the flour, sugar and baking powder, add butter and eggs. Mix gently with a fork till you can press it down into the pan (bottom and sides). Any cake pan will do, but I did mine in a springform – it was easy and didn’t fall apart.

Then sift the sugar, flour and cinnamon for the streusel. Cut in the butter again with two butter knives until its really crumbly. Now you pour the berry mixture into the dough-lined pan and plop the streusel mix on top randomly. When it bakes (about 30 minutes at 350), the struesel spreads out a bit and bakes where ever it lands. So good!

A few days later I took the kids to visit my mother and she was making batches of peach jam! So naturally, I had to help and get some photos.

My weekly Stitch n Bitch ladies and I are doing a knit a long on Corona, it’s described as ‘a hoodie with a youthful edge’. It’s super cute and form fitting but not too. I am so excited about this sweater.

Brownie Pie with a Chocolate Crust, pie #44. Mmmm. Perfect with vanilla ice cream.

This is about the time this little sweater died. First it was pointed out to me that even though I clearly know how to cable, I had totally forgotten what I was doing and messed it up that far! I am so far into the cable at this point! Arg. So I ripped it back, I ripped it back to the armholes and started again, this time cabling the right way. Again, maybe half this far into it a second time, I gimped out on the cable again. I decided right there that even though I had already sunk invested so many hours in the arms alone, I was only going to give it one more shot. It’s not happening. To be honest, I was pretty quick about putting it out of it’s misery too and it’s all rolled up in three balls now, ready to be made into useful pretty things for Christmas!

That concludes this way-too-long parade of baked goods and finished objects! I’ll wrap up the rest of the leftovers in my next update post on Saturday. Tomorrow I’ve got a new interview to post! 🙂

I have a serious love for all things 50s – the wacky kitchen appliances, the slang and of course – the clothes! Don’t worry, this isn’t a fashion post – I’m doing a 50s themed Window Shopping Wednesday today! There are so many fun 50s themed shops online to get lost in! Today, I’m going to gush about; Kooties Closet, Sugar Pie Chic, Lady Jane Designs, Bumbershoot Supplies, and Our Retro Toybox.

Kooties Corner, some seriously sweet stuff. Store sections include; gift tags, address labels, retro graphic jewelry, pocket mirrors and other vintage goodies! Four things that immediately had me drooling; vintage car gift tags, 50s graphic pin, address labels, and my personal favorite – the mini atomic notebook! So rad!

Sugar Pie Chic is home to some very, very cool vintage inspired aprons and also some pretty embroidered pen and ink birds. I’m a sucker for cute dish cloths, and these aprons are delicious!

It’s not just cute retro kitchen gear that gets me excited! This tote bag and the best hair bow of all time, from Lady Jane Designs make me pretty happy too! Just look at the bow – look at it!! I am in love.

Then there’s the gear needed to make fun retro creations! This is often my favorite kinds of shopping! First up, four goodies from Bumbershoot Supplies!

Here is another Etsy shop that totally blew me over recently, Our Retro Toybox has way too much fun finds to list them all here. I could write an entire post about this place. This flour canister is at the top of my Christmas list and I *really* hope my husband machine buys it for me. Endlessly happy with this on my counter. 😀

This shop has a lot of nice vintage kitchen gear, but it also has sweet toys you may remember playing with as a child (hello original Sesame Street!), old book and more! Here, the best orange juice pitcher I’ve ever seen and a hilariously girly dictionary!

Aside from the amazing aprons and fun craft supplies, there are some other crafters out there who have made some pretty cute gear! Here are some of my favorite finds from last night while looking through aprons and patterns.

I am excited about Christmas, but with only trace amounts of snow in Toronto (so far) I’m sort of forcing it. The best way to get in the spirit (aside from unhealthy amounts of Bailey’s in my coffee) is through decorations and baking, right? So I have been trolling the internet (no really?) looking for fun Christmas projects. Of all the neat things I have found, this yarn wreath idea, posted on Craftster tops them all. Yes, I know Starbucks did it last year, but I’m looking forward to doing it myself this year.

I would love to hang this on my front door! It’s so ‘me’ and my Saturday night Stitch n Bitch ladies will love it too! I think the yarn balls were made by wrapping yarn around different sized styrofoam balls and secured with hot glue. I’m going to try to make one with found objects around the house, we’ll see how it goes!! There are enough balls loose from games long forgotten kicking around here for me to put to good use, though I will have to take a trip to the dollar store to get the shiny balls to fill in the gaps and add some twinkle. Twinkle! I could cover the whole thing in glitter!! I’m a little more excited about this wreath than I probably should be. Pfft.

Christmas stuff for the kids classes is a fast approaching issue, these candy cane Rudolphs are a really sweet idea, especially for the kindergarteners! There are two kids in wee one #2’s class that have serious peanut allergies, so these little treats are something we can give and know that the little ones with peanut issues wont have to pass them up!

It’s been said before but Ill go there again, while the husband machine and I are both on the odd side, we are odd in very different ways. If I could, I’d embroider a skull on pretty much anything I could – dish towels, socks, underwear, whatever. He, however, would love the Star Trek emblem emblazoned on everything. I’m down with Star Trek, but clearly not as down as he is. These stockings are a great fit for that vibe, though I think I’ll just make one for him! Maybe I’ll make myself a similar one with a skull instead!

I am head over heels for these guys! I want to make a whole family of them and dress them in different hats and scarves. If I didn’t already have wee one #2’s teacher’s gift on the needles (Fetching), I’d be casting on for these fun characters right now!

The parade of baked goods to join the hilarity I’ve already made is growing. We’ll see how many of these ideas I get to try out. We’re alternating going away around the holidays every year now, and this year we’re away so I don’t know if I’ll be able to play around in the kitchen as much but I know I’ll be able to do some baking before we leave, and at two out of the three places we’re visiting. 🙂 Here are some of the cookies that caught my eye (a bunch of them are from a site I just found with nice recipes!); Santa Hats, Rudolph the Red Nosed Cookie, Pinwheel Cookies, The Elve’s Snickerdoodles, Vanilla Marshmallows, Gingerbread Reindeer, Rocky Road Brownies, Surprise Cookies.

The marshmallows are on the must-do list! I’d love to give them away with homemade hot chocolate mix – with a chocolate dipped spoon! Feel free to steal that idea if you’re willing to do it all! When I make some of those packages up, I’ll post the marshmallow how to and a good recipe for hot chocolate. Maybe packaged in a cute cup. The pinnacle of this I think would be to make the cup yourself, but I’m not into pottery so that’s that. 😛

I’ll end on a few Martha ideas I’ve had on my to do since at least last Christmas! Mitten Clips, Candy Sticks, Snowman Button Cards, and Mini Stockings.

Next week, I’ll have my own versions of some of these ideas and a few others!

It is hysterically late to be writing this post now, but I made some fun treats worth talking about, and my Smore Pie is very photogenic. But we have to back up to a few treats before we went on a road trip to visit the husband machine’s family.

The last pie I made for a Stitch n Bitch before we left was #37, Raspberry Custard Pie, which I think is pretty self-explanatory. 😉

#37 – Raspberry Custard Pie

3. Remove from heat and immediately mix in the butter and vanilla, let cool slightly.

4. Pour custard into pie crust, arrange raspberries on top. Sprinkle icing sugar on top with a small sieve!

Once we got where we were going, I still wanted to bake, but no one eats sweets. My only opportunity to play around in the kitchen is when I’m making something for the kids and their cousins and long distance friends! First up was a BBQ night at one of the husband machine’s aunts houses (the man has a lot of aunts!), I made pie #38, Banana Ice Cream Pie. It’s the sort of pie children request over and over and over again because it is so ridiculously good!

#38 – Banana Ice Cream Pie

This is less a recipe and more assembly instructions, really! Mix the butter and the crumbs and pat into a pie pan, spread half the sundae topping on the crust, arrange a layer of banana slices on top, then 1/2 the chocolatey ice cream on that, and half the other ice cream on that. Then do it again! I topped mine with leftover cookie crumbs and an Oreo. This pie works best in a deep dish!

Before we left for our trip, I had so busy with other things I wasn’t knitting much but I seriously made up for it while we were gone! I started my Tadpoles before we left, but I ripped through them on the first couple of days! They’re a fantastically belated birthday gift for one of my best friends. Happy Birthday Brigitte! <3

As I was weaving in the ends of Brigitte’s Tadpoles, wee one #1 asked me to knit him a pair of socks and he looked through Ravelry and decided on these cute ones called Air Raid. I made them in 5 days! It was a fun, quick pattern and made for 9 year old feet, so I had that going for me!

While already 5 hours from home, we took a little day trip to visit our good friends / former neighbors, who bought a cute house on a serious chunk of land in the middle of nowhere. The middle of nowhere both frightens and appeals to me, which also frightens me! We had a fantastic day, with a fire and Smores to top it off! I went into town with my friend Melissa to pick up a few things and I found this kit with a BBQ basket, a giant Jersey Milk bar, a pack of graham crackers and a bag of mini marshmallows. Genius!

The very next night we were all invited to a bonfire and more Smore making with old friends! To celebrate, I made #39 Smore pie! Essentially, it’s a graham cracker crumb and butter crust, with a chocolate pudding filling, topped with marshmallows and cookie crumbs. Wen I got it to the bonfire, it hadn’t had a chance to set, so we set it in the host’s fridge and promptly forgot about it. She took it out a couple of days later, after it had finally set up, she ate it! Apparently, it was delicious.

Our second day home from our summer visit up north landed on one of my best friend’s birthdays, so I gathered the usual suspects and we celebrated on the porch with Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes (and Chocolate Cupcakes)! Naturally, that weekend’s Stitch n Bitch was dedicated to her as well, Happy Birthday Gill!

This is one of those pies I saw in the LCBO‘s Food & Drink magazine, marked it and it waited patiently for over a year until I finally baked it. Pie #40, Blueberry Honey Pie. This is just a typical blueberry pie with a couple tablespoons of honey in it, baked in a graham cracker crust. I was really all about the graham cracker crust this summer.

Flapper Girl

Hostess aprons! Cupcake iron on patches! Ruffle bum knickers! Coffee cup cozies! Ruffle bum knickers did it for you, didn’t it? Flapper Girl is equal parts sassy, retro and cute! Run by Christine, all items are handmade and are 100% adorable. I had no idea how much I needed a hostess apron, but now that I’m in love with them all (especially this pink and brown number), I have no idea how I’ve entertained every weekend for this long without one! The coffee cozies are so sweet and a pretty way to add more green efforts to everyday life, the bags, hairclips and baking gear are all so rad too!

When did you open Flapper Girl? What was it about that time that made it right to launch?

I opened my Etsy shop in May of 2007. I was really excited about starting this journey of making and selling things I created. I had a few tote bags and aprons and was applying for my first two craft fairs. Since I had a full-time day job at the time, there was no pressure, really. I was just doing what I loved in my spare time. It seemed like the next step.

Where did your love of the 20s flapper girl come from?

There’s just something about 1920s Art Deco design that speaks to me. I think I first fell in love with that. Whether it’s architecture, a beaded dress, a picture frame, or a set of kitchen canisters, if it’s Art Deco, it makes me hold my breath and admire. Then there are my favorite famous flappers of that time: Louise Brooks, Marlene Dietrich, and Theda Bara. I admire all these women for being sexy, powerful, and successful radicals in their field. Moreover, I’ve always admired that the flappers were liberal and rebellious in a time where that sort of behavior and mindset in women was unheard of. They didn’t care that so many people thought they were acting inappropriate and rebellious. They did what they wanted to do, and that was that. I can relate to that. I love finding vintage photographs from the 20s, especially those of flappers. They seem so mischievous. And happy. I connect to that, too.

The fun and girlie but rebellious vibe shines through in all your creations, from your jewelry to your coffee cozies, is it fair to say that reflects your personality?

Yeah, I have a rebellious streak in me. I think it all started when I learned to play the drums at 13. It felt awesome to be doing something I enjoyed, and I felt pretty bad-ass that it was something that wasn’t typical for a teenage girl. There weren’t many female drummers back then. It’s good to see more and more of us take the stage. I played in various punk rock bands throughout high school. Then in 2003, I joined an all-girl rock-n-roll band, The Jolenes. We had a lot of fun playing up and down the west coast.

The office-dwelling corporate life is definitely not for me. I consider that to be rebellious. I was a secretary for many years, and found it to be incredibly oppressive and depressing. I’m one of those people who flourishes making my own schedule, and doing what I love.

Are you domestic? I have to ask because I am so very, and I adore
all of your hostess aprons!

Thank you! I have a love affair with vintage aprons. I’ve been collecting them since I went to my first estate sale with my mom when I was 16. The fancy hostess aprons have always been my favorite kind. I started making my own vintage-inspired tulle hostess aprons because I never wanted to wear my vintage ones, in fear that their old, fragile fibers would come apart. My hostess aprons are built sturdily to stand up beautifully to many, many years of use.

I do have a domestic bone or two in my body. I love to bake, though I don’t bake as much as I used to. Over the past few years, my little family has discovered that we are all intolerant to gluten and dairy, so that has cut into my baking, I’m afraid. I know there are a lot of great gluten-free/dairy-free cookbooks out there, but I have yet to get my feet wet in that arena. This year I got my domesticity on for my daughter’s 8th birthday. She had her first sleepover, and I made each of her guests a simple felt purse that they got to decorate using an assortment of embellishments, including some felt shapes I cut out by hand. I had fun setting up the craft table all Martha Stewart style, with each girl getting her own little tray of supplies, and fancy paper cup of craft glue.

Your coffee cozies are a hit as well, both for their cutenessfactor and for their eco factor. What inspired you to add these to your shop?

The first coffee cozy I ever made was for my husband, actually. It was a Valentine’s Day gift. He still uses it to this day. It has the word HUSTLIN’ embroidered on it. He loved it, and from the response he was getting at the coffee shops whenever he used it, I figured other people would like the cozies too. I realized that choosing words to embroider on coffee cups would be sort of difficult, so I went with cute designs instead. My first pattern was vintage eyewear. Bikes and squirrels soon followed.

I’m really proud of these cozies. I feel good about making something that is keeping unwanted waste out of the landfills. The cozies themselves keep people from using those drab cardboard java jackets that get tossed with the cups. Plus the cozies are made from either eco-fi felt (which is made from recycled plastic bottles), or repurposed felt from second hand stores (mostly the Knittn Kitten) and estate/yard sales. They are truly an eco-friendly item!

Tell me about your home studio. Where do you craft and how do you
keep it organized (or do you not)?

It’s pretty cozy, and hard to keep organized, but I do my best. We live in a wonderful old building that’s on the historic register. As such, we have old plaster walls that aren’t made for hanging stuff on. This means that we can’t install any wall shelving, so I have to get creative in keeping my craft space organized. My vintage pink Morse sewing machine is set up on an antique vanity-turned-desk. It has huge, deep drawers, which I’m thankful for. I also have a few bins and various storage cubes for fabric, and a tall, standing shelving unit with some plastic bins to keep various supplies and projects in. If I’m working on a project that doesn’t require my sewing machine, I find myself working at the kitchen table, or on the couch. I can’t watch TV and create at the same time, so whether I’m sewing, making jewelry, or embroidering, I’m most likely listening to an audiobook on my iPod. I’d like to hug the person who invented audiobooks.

Flapper Girl