Autumn Sewing: Wool Cape

 

 

Autumn is in full swing here in Colorado and the leaves are changing into beautiful golden colors. I have been thinking about adding a wool cape into my personal fall/winter wardrobe for years now. It probably started when I discovered the gorgeous wool capes from my favorite brand A.P.C. Sadly, they were just a bit out of my price range at the time, so I put the whole cape thing on the back burner. A few weeks ago I was enticed by a wool A.P.C. cape on eBay and instead of getting it, I decided I'd just try my hand at making one myself. So after getting a bunch of work done, I decided to carve out a little time for my own sewing. It's actually really fun to do a new challenging project since I don't really get to do that very often. I used the last bit of plaid tartan from my 2012 fall/winter collection for the lining, which really made the cape "pop," at least when you open it up. Recognize the wool I used? I found the same wool I used on the toggle coat I made years ago (and have since sold) and decided to re-purchase for the cape since I remember it being incredibly lovely to work with. I learned how to make bound buttonholes and discovered they aren't half as hard as they look. The pattern I used was a vintage 1960's sewing pattern, but I'm toying with the idea of making my own design to sell in the shop. Something similar, but different. I love the shape of this cape, but thought perhaps I would draft my design a little fuller along the arms. What do you think? Would you be interested if I made a cape design to sell in my shop?

Happy autumn!
xoxo

What's going on in the kitchen? (And a yogurt recipe.)

Well, it is officially autumn and it sure feels like it around here! It has been quite chilly and rainy off and on this week. I decided to make a whole bunch of nourishing foods this week as I was thinking of attempting a short version of the GAPS diet. I kind of failed that attempt, though I am still thinking of doing some sort of intro diet like the SCD just for a time. Still working on that darned eczema. Seems cutting out gluten didn't exactly cure me like I thought, although I continue to stay gluten free. Anyway, I learned a lot about making stock and broth this week! I made several batches of chicken broth, although I think they were kind of a failed attempt because they didn't gel like they were supposed to (the beef stock gelled, though). I probably added too much water. Having a chicken foot or two would have helped, I'm sure! I also learned that I am so much more in love with beef broth/stock than I am with chicken. I love chicken, but for some reason I've never been able to LOVE chicken soup. I kind of made myself like it, though. But I still don't crave it or anything, not like I do beef. No wonder it's more expensive! Before learning more about how nutritious meat actually is for us, I tended to make more vegetable stock. But now I know meat broths are so healthy and great to have and so healing for your body. So it's a skill I'd like to perfect. And a good nourishing soup around the house is really wonderful on a chilly autumn day!

I've also started making more fermented foods. I tried my hand at making sauerkraut last week, though I admit I haven't tasted it yet! It's actually rather pretty, but then anything looks pretty in a Weck jar! I only fermented this batch for three days on the counter. I made it simply with salt and sliced cabbage. I can't remember the exact ratios of salt to cabbage, but I think I used about 1/2 tablespoon for a small cabbage. I thought it was something like a teaspoon per pound, but I think it matters on how long you intend to ferment. More salt for longer ferments.

I started making yogurt again as well. I have made it three other times, but they didn't turn out so great. They were much too runny. This time, I kept an eye on the temperature to make sure it was constant and it worked out wonderfully! I like to strain my yogurt since Jed and I prefer the Greek style. We like just a drizzle of honey on top and sometimes berries if we have them. It's actually a very simple process making yogurt, and you really don't need a yogurt maker. I wrote out how I make my yogurt, but you can also do a search and find many more directions online with more pictures than I was able to include here.

Twenty-Four Hour Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon (4 pints) whole milk (you can use 1-2%, but it won't be as creamy)

• 1/4 cup plain yogurt (check the label carefully to be sure it has no pectin, sugar or any flavorings. Dannon is good, I used Fage 2%)

Directions:

Unless you are using raw milk, you will first need to heat the milk to 180-185 degrees fahrenheit or until it's very hot, but not boiling. There may be a skin on top, just skim that off. I use my dutch oven to do this step, although you can also slowly heat it up in a crock pot on high until it reaches the temperature. Now let it cool until it reaches 100-112 degrees fahrenheit. You are going to want to keep it at this temperature for the entire 24 hour "ferment." You can speed up the cooling process by putting your pot in the sink filled with icy water. 

Once cooled down to the desired temperature, take out a cup or so of milk and put it in a separate bowl. Add 1/4 cup yogurt starter and whisk until fully incorporated. I've found it helps to mix up the yogurt starter before adding it to the milk. If you prefer, you could instead use yogurt starter powder or a good probiotic supplement capsule instead of the store bought yogurt, though I haven't tried this yet. Add the yogurt/milk mixture back into the rest of the milk and mix everything together. 

At this point you can either put the milk into sterile glass jars or just keep it in the pot you used to heat the milk. Remember to be sure to keep the temperature of the milk around 100-112. If you have a yogurt maker, you could just put the milk in that and you are set. However, most yogurt makers are meant for 6-8 hour yogurt, so their temperature may not stay at a constant 110 degrees and it may end up getting hotter which would kill all the good bacteria! There are ways around this, such as using a light dimmer from the hardware store. I'm going to actually try this with my crock pot the next time I make yogurt to see if I can just make the whole thing in there rather than use my oven. I'll let you know if it works! 

You can use anything from wrapping the pot in towels and setting it in the warmest part of the house or putting jars into a cooler filled with warm water. I've found the easiest method is just using the oven with an oven light. The light keeps the temperature in the oven to almost exactly 110. If I find the temp dropping a little, I just preheat the oven for a few seconds to get it back up again. I kept my thermometer in the yogurt this time to make sure it was exact, but you don't really have to do that. Cover your pot or sterile jars and then leave it there for 24 hours. I put a little sticky note on the oven to remind me and also to let others know that the oven is not to be used during this time. Of course I'm the only one who uses it anyway, so it's not a big deal around here.  

After 24 hours, take the yogurt out and place it directly into the fridge. Let it sit there for another 3-6 hours or so. Once it is cold, you can eat it as is or if you prefer Greek yogurt, you can strain it. I used a flour cloth towel that i put in a strainer over a bowl to catch the whey. Put it back in the fridge for several more hours until it's strained to your liking. You can even strain it long enough to make yogurt cheese! Also, you can keep the whey if you like. Some people use it to ferment veggies or drink a little of it each day. I read it keeps for quite a long time in the fridge. Bon appétit!

End of the season SALE!

Happy Autumn! I can't believe that time is here already! I am just starting to notice the leaves slightly changing color and the squirrels are all in a flurry hoarding (er, I mean storing...) their nuts for the winter. We see so many adorable fluffy squirrels around our area. They are the cutest little things! Our Evanston squirrels were cute, but I'm afraid they have nothing on these Longmont/Boulder squirrels. These guys eat NUTS not bits of bread from the street (sad, I know)! I just can't get enough of the cuties! Anyway, I wanted to pop in real quick to let you know I finally have the remnants of my summer collection in the shop! I also included a few past seasons items that you may be interested in. Everything is on sale at least 30% off original prices! I only have a few items left each, but do let me know if you had your heart set on something if it sells out. I'm usually more than willing to accommodate! Enjoy the beginning of this beautiful season! XO 

My sister's getting married!

 

These are some pictures I took after doing my sister's trial hair/makeup for her wedding. The time is almost here and she's getting ready to tie the knot this weekend! I'm sure she has about a million things to get done between now and Sunday, but I know it will be a beautiful wedding. I saw her wedding dress and it's gorgeous. She is gorgeous! I can't believe a week from now she will be Mrs. Jones! She's going to marry her best friend Dylan and I couldn't be more happy to have him as a brother in law. Jed and I are both thrilled for them. It's been a long time coming and we're so happy they finally decided to spend the rest of their lives together. I know they will be so happy together! Wishing them the best in their new lives to come. Love you, Katie (Kate)! xoxo

Bewitched: Samantha Stephens

Bewitched (love the opening credits) is one of my all time favorite TV shows, among many others! I love Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens. I just want to jump right into her world and instantly have her perfect hair, nose twitch and lovely personality. I also love watching the show to be inspired not only for her wardrobe and hair, but also by the vintage decor. I know it's totally dated, but I love taking inspiration from the past and finding ways to incorporate that style into my home. I'm also excited because the house we just moved into is a small mid 1960's ranch house, which gives me the perfect excuse to draw inspiration from mid-century homes such as the Stephens' from Bewitched. One of these days I'm going to get my hair to lay just like Elizabeth's. I love how poufed and '60s it is! I'm also in love with her heart pendant necklace that she wore throughout the show. Apparently it was given to her by her husband William Asher, who was also the director of the show. I love how she wears it for both casual and dressy. That's generally how I wear jewelry as well. I tend to find something I love and wear it for all occasions. I'm now on the search for a sweet necklace that I can wear everyday. Perhaps something cute and vintage, like the signature heart necklace Samantha wears. 

P.S. Did you know Elizabeth's dad was Robert Montgomery? I have been a long time fan of his movies. He's so dashing! Not as well known today as other actors from his time, but very talented and quite good at comedy! Though this isn't much of a comedy, one of my favorites of his earlier films is Our Blushing Brides. So dramatic and lovely. And then a little later he made Private Lives, which is a wonderful comedy, also starring Norma Shearer. Some lost gems that are true classics. 

paleo/primal and a muffin recipe!

Thought you wouldn't see me for another 6 months, didn't you? Well, I'm trying really hard to blog more often, mainly because I miss the blogging world so much! I miss writing about my cooking and sewing adventures. I LOVE my iphone, but sometimes it makes it difficult for me to transfer pictures into blog posts, instead I end up "instagraming" them.

Today I planned to make some muffins and thought what is better than a muffin blog post. Oh, but not just any muffins, these are paleo/primal muffins! Don't know what paleo/primal is? Well, it's my new way of eating! Basically, paleo/primal way of eating is cutting out all grains (yes, even corn), legumes and processed foods and some people cut out milk as well. It really also depends if you have intolerances to anything. If you find you do, you cut those out as well.

(By the way, just skip to the end if you don't want to read my long explanation about foods and diet etc!!)

How did I decide to eat paleo/primal you ask? I have been dealing with a really intensely itchy rash under my knees for almost 5 years now. It's awful. It started under one knee and then eventually the other knee got it. Doctors said it was eczema, whatever that is. The creams only helped for a little bit and eventually they stopped working. Anyway, after experimenting with a bunch of different theories, I finally caved and decided to go gluten free. That was only after Jed found an article about this thing called dermatitus herpetiformis (note, there is a kind of disgusting picture of a guy's belly if you click the link!). It was pretty much exactly the symptoms I was experiencing. The itching was so very intense and no one could understand that I simply couldn't stop itching it! Really, I tried not itching it (that was hard!) and it still wouldn't go away. Finally I decided it was becoming ridiculous. Now, there were times when it went away if I used an expensive cream (that was hard to find) on a regular bases. But I was sick of spending $15-$20 on a tiny bottle when it really wasn't doing anything and going to the doctor was no help at all. I was planning to get tested for a gluten intolerance, but ended up going off of gluten myself instead. (I kind of hate going to the doctor because they never help and I didn't want to risk not having insurance if they did find out I had an intolerance.)

This summer I decided to go gluten free. It actually wasn't that hard, because I found there were lots of things I could eat, including LOTS of junk food! After doing that for about a month, I was thinking that I'd really like to find a better way to eat to keep me from eating so much junk foods, just because they say they are gluten free. While the rash had gone down a ton, it still wasn't completely gone yet and I was thinking maybe it would be good to cut out other grains in my diet, even some gluten free ones. So I looked up "grain-free" and found out about the paleo/primal lifestyle. At first it seemed like a lot to do, then I read more about it and figured out that a lot of people tailor the paleo lifestyle to their needs. For instance, a lot of paleo hardcores seem to cut out a lot of starches and milk etc. But I don't think they are bad in moderation. I think that's where primal comes in, as they tend to add in more of those things than the paleo diet does. Simply put, the paleo/primal diet is basically vegetables, meats and fats. Then you can add in other starches, fruit/sugar depending on your needs.

I also wanted a diet where I didn't have to always count calories, because whenever I count calories I always end up eating way more sugar than healthy foods! And I want a well balanced healthy diet, while still enjoying some healthier snacks and sweets now and then. I actually love that the paleo diet is big on fats. It makes cooking so much easier! I don't have to worry about skimping on fat or protein and I'm finding I'm eating a lot more meat and vegetables than I had before. Of course, I've only been gradually building up to this lifestyle, so I'm far from where I want to be. I'm just happy that I feel like I have some sort of a goal now, instead of feeling utterly confused at what kinds of foods I need. Now I have a better idea of the foods I should eat more of and the foods I should try to avoid. And it also helps that when I go "off" the paleo/primal lifestyle, like when going out to eat, I can just worry about being gluten free so that my rash doesn't come back. Also, I will say living in Colorado makes eating gluten free a lot easier. Almost every restaurant I've been to here has gluten free options. Not just gluten free crackers and cheese!

So after all that, I'm finally getting around to the muffin recipe! This recipe was really delicious, although I did make some changes from the original recipe, because that's kind of what I do. I listed the changes I made below:

Chunky Monkey Muffins

Yields 12 muffins

from Primal Cravings cookbook, also on their blog Health Bent.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (unfortunately I don't have coconut sugar, so just used plain old cane sugar)
• 1 cup mashed bananas, from ~2 medium bananas (oops, I used 3!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I added a little extra)
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I omitted this because I'm out of chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (my addition, optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (my addition, optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves (my addition, optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (my addition, optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking soda and salt, spices if you are using them. In another large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, bananas, vanilla extract, and eggs. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Divide batter among the lined muffin cups. Bake until the muffins have puffed and the edges have slightly browned, about 20-25 minutes (mine took more like 30-35 min).

Enjoy!

P.S. I forgot to add, the muffins were outstanding! Really can't tell the difference between "normal" muffins and these. By the way, if you like coffee, these are brilliant paired with a cup of black coffee (the way I like it best). Yum! 

our new home.

 

Hello everyone! It has been awhile since I've blogged. We worked really hard all last week and especially this past weekend to move all of our belongings to our new home! It was A LOT of work, mainly because we left most everything to pack last minute and we had a lot of stuff to pack! Thank goodness for Jed's family. I'm pretty sure just the two of us couldn't have accomplished all of that by ourselves. But we are here now and we LOVE it and we have the most amazing landlords. So far we are still getting situated. I finally arranged my work space a little bit, although I stuffed the closet full of un-opened boxes. I'm kind of loathing the part when I have to un-box everything, which is partly why I'm writing a blog post right now! After discovering we had even more stuff since our move to Chicago two years ago, I have decided I am going to go through everything and get rid of anything I really don't need or use anymore. Wish me luck on that! I will probably have more yardsales, so look out for those in the coming weeks/months!

I am itching to get back to work now that summer is almost over and the fall season will be approaching us soon. I have a few fun outfits planned for my fall collection and really hope I can work hard to get those things made in time! It really is my favorite time of year. I feel like I've been so out of it, rushing around this whole month. Hopefully September will go a little bit smoother. I may open the shop for a bit to sell the rest of the summer clothes, but we'll see if I have time. Everything will be on sale, of course. So be on the lookout for that as well!

xoxo

sale! sale! sale!

I am having a 3 day moving sale currently in the shop! Jed and I are heading back to Chicago the end of this week to pack up our apartment for our big move out to Colorado! I'm so excited! I thought I would put my late summer items on sale for a few days this week before heading out. I'll have everything ready to ship out before we move, but I will be closing the shop after the sale. If you want anything, get it now! I won't be opening the shop until September. It shouldn't take as long to get settled into our new home as it did when I moved to Chicago. At least I will try to get everything unpacked as soon as I can! I'm so excited for fall!! Our new home is an actual house, not an apartment! I'm thrilled about that and I'm also thrilled about the beautiful weather and landscape of the new area we will be in. I'll write up a post sometime about our new home soon. I can't wait to show you our cute little house. The summer has drifted away so fast, I just cannot believe it! I'm excited to change seasons, though. And maybe I can squeeze in some time at the lake in between packing boxes. I know I'll need a few breaks to keep me from going mad, right? I probably won't update too much until we have moved, but you never know! Summer has been so busy and scattered. I'll be glad when I have some sort of schedule again. xoxo

MOVING SALE!