My, how the summer has flown by!  Josh and I are at heart a couple of homebodies, but having a baby around sure has livened up the way we spend our time.  This summer we’ve had trips to the zoo, the park, across the country and visits with friends and neighbors.

Picking flowers at the park.

Recently I’ve been able to tackle projects that have been waiting in the sidelines for a long time.  We cleared out the baby’s nursery closet and got that organized, I printed photos and organized the baby album, and for the last few weeks we’ve been digging through boxes in the basement and Saturday we had a big yard sale and got rid of stuff.  It feels so good to have those things done!

I hope that you all have had a terrific summer, too. : )

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I was watching Cook’s Country not long ago and they had an interesting segment on cinnamon.  Apparently, the cinnamon that we use today is not the cinnamon that our forefathers used.  That cinnamon (which is derived from evergreen tree bark) is too costly. So while the rest of the world refers to Ceylon cinnamon as “cinnamon”,  here in the US we use Cassia cinnamon, a less expensive substitute.

Cook’s Country taste tested 10 different types of cinnamon. You can read more about the Cook’s Country findings *here*.

I decided to do my own little cinnamon taste testing (with the help of my adventurous husband).  I ordered two cinnamons from Penzeys Spices online.  I got a small jar of Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon and Chinese Tung Hing Cinnamon.  We tasted those two and McCormick’s Ground Cinnamon.

From left to right: Vietnamese, Chinese, McCormick

We could not believe the difference in flavor!

Seriously.

Go to a nice grocer or online shop and order some new cinnamon today.  Taste it, then go to your cupboard and taste that flavorless, dusty powder labeled “cinnamon” …and then toss that stuff.

Then make some cinnamon rolls. Your taste buds will thank me.  ; )

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Looks like I last posted about making *iPhone cozies*.  Since our trip east I’ve also embroidered up a batch of *Passport Covers* which are now in the shop.  Next I’ll be listing little clutch purses.  I didn’t hold back on the cute with these.  But they are still being sewn up and photographed, so I’ll post a photo soon.

‘Til next time!

(Go get some good cinnamon!)

Jenn : )

…and through the woods” is how the song goes.  But for us it was “Over the mid-west and through the air”, as we flew back to the east coast for a long overdue visit with family these last two weeks.

Josh and I and baby M spent almost two weeks visiting and socializing and going here and there in Pennsylvania and New York.  We were so busy – we could use a vacation!

The highlight of the trip for me was that, for the very first time, my little baby girl met my grandparents (her great-grandparents).  And that was one of the most wonderful, joyous times of my life.  They just couldn’t get enough of her.  They called her “Little Bits”.  I am weepy just thinking about it.  : )

We returned home with many treasured memories and lots of photos, as well as some unexpected gifts from family.

Here is one that I’d like to show you – I’ll have more to share as the days go by.

This is a crib quilt that either my grandmother or her sister hand made.

Grandma gave it to me, saying “Maybe you could teach Little Bits her animals?”

Dotty Kangaroo.

Plaid Puppy.

Dainty Donkey.

Gingham Elephant.

Flowery Kitten.

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And I did finish those iPhone Cozies from my last post.

They are in my shop!

Click *here* to see.

Cheers,

Jenn : )

Ah, took a little blog vacation there…

Thanks to Llum for stopping by!  I’m a big fan of your clothes.  Infact, we love *this outfit* so much, I’ll probably buy the next size up when baby M outgrows the one she has now.  : )

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We’re having nicer weather here in Seattle (though you wouldn’t know it this morning…), alot more sunshine – good weather for an impromptu stroll once or twice a day.

This is a funny time of year for my shop.  Things slow down as folks go outside and get away from their computers.  I use this time to make more things, in preparation for the fall and holidays.  And for some reason, I usually get a wave of custom order requests this time of year.  Right now I have requests for custom bookmarks, a needlebook and a project tote.

And as soon as the baby lays down for a nap, I’ve been picking up my embroidery and working on these critters:

Dog

Bunny

Mouse

Hedgie

Kitty and..

Bird.

These embroideries will be part of a new line of items for my shop: iPhone cases!

Now that the embroidery is finished, I’ll sew up the cases, photograph them and then add them to my shop.

Thank goodness babies take naps!  ; )

Jenn : )

Against all the God-awful pink, frilly, ruffley, polkadot, hot pink, mixed together patterns, flowers, butterflies, glitter, neon, cutesy little girl clothes the stores are carrying.

Over the weekend we went to one of my favorite Ballard shops, Mon Petit Shoe.  They have lots of really cute baby clothes and accessories.  But this time – it was absolutely shocking the difference between the “boys” wall of clothes and the “girls” wall of clothes.

The boys side: Cute embroideries of grass hoppers jumping, earth tone colors, tasteful clothing styles.

The girls side: Hideous.  The quantity of patterns and hues of pink per outfit was horrifying.

Why can’t girls clothes be tasteful?  I have found some good sources of stylish girls clothes (Llum is one that comes to mind).  But, sometimes you really have to roll your sleeves up and hunt if you don’t want something blinged out and ruffley.

I stood there for a long time, debating back and forth about getting this outfit or not.

Technically, it was in the boys section.

Finally I decided to just go for it.  I LOVE these colors.  LOVE the buttons, pockets and little hood.  Josh thinks it’s the blue pocket detail the makes it more “boyish”.  So, you know what I’m going to do?

I’m going to embroider the word “GIRL” onto the pocket.

Anybody who asks how old “he” is, is getting a big helping of stink eye!

Jenn ; )

I recently participated in a ribbon swap with Linda – one of the nicest gals you could meet in blogland.

She spends time in Spain and England and she makes loads of really cute creative things.

I hope you’ll check out her blog: Chalky’s World!

Here are the wonderful goodies she sent to me:

Love these colors.

Keepin’ it cute!

Hot pink/magenta seems to be finding me alot lately.

Lots of ribbon goodness!

Even a pretty card, little wooly goodies and pretty hearts.

Thank you so much, Linda!

You’re the best!

Jenn : )

…”To Swiffer or not to Swiffer?”

That is the question.

Years ago, Josh and I moved into a duplex that had beautiful hardwood floors.  We adopted two cats.  And then one glorious day, someone (who I’ve said on numerous occasions should receive the Nobel Prize), invented the Swiffer.  Best. Invention. Ever.

Cut to now – and we are in a new home, also with hardwood floors, and still two fuzzy (shedding) cats.

But times have changed, haven’t they?  One day you’re happily Swiffering away, and the next you think to yourself; “I keep buying these Swiffer cloths, using them, and then throwing them away.  Hm.  That can’t be good for the environment.”  Dang.  Once you’ve had that thought, there’s no going back.  Swiffering was now tinged with just the littlest bit of guilt.

What to do?

A-ha!  There are plenty of online tutorials for making your own, REUSEABLE cloths for your Swiffer!  You don’t even need to buy anything.  An old flannel shirt, t-shirt or sweater would work just fine.  In our case, we discovered that a cloth baby diaper, with a little creative folding, was just right, and picked up as many cat hair tumbleweeds as the disposable cloths.  Perfect…

…until the first time they needed to be washed.  I stood for a moment, scratching my head.  These things were covered with cat hair, people hair and misc. gunk.  I couldn’t just toss all that into my machine.  But, do I stand there for 20 minutes and pull all this stuff off of each of these clothes before I put them into the wash?  That would significantly decrease the “ease” factor of the Swiffer process.

I ended up removing as much of the gunk as I could and then throwing the cloths into the wash.

Done and done…

…until a few days later when Josh said something along the lines of: “What was that big wad of hair and stuff I pulled out of the washing machine filter?”  Ugh.  Apparently, homemade Swiffer cloths have their own pros and cons.  And standing around cleaning cleaning cloths is not something I have time for.  And clogging up a good washing machine is not something we have the money for.  Now what do we do?  Go back to disposable, un-earth friendly cloths?  Spend ridiculous amounts of time cleaning the homemade cloths before putting them in the wash?

???

Oh, yeah.

Problem solved.

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I’ve discovered over the years that in many situations our Grandmothers and Grandfathers had some things figured out.  We should think about how they did things and see if we can learn from them. Our generation is trying to re-invent the wheel.  We make up problems so that we can buy things to solve them.  We make up reasons to consume.  Our grandparents figured out ways to conserve.

Today is Earth Day.  Consider giving your Swiffer, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, etc., a break today.  Get out the broom.  Expend a little elbow grease.  Do something good for your home, without consuming more resources.

Or consider checking out MadeInTheRedBarn, a family owned business on Etsy. They make and sell “UnPaper Towels”.  These are fabric sheets that you can use just like paper towels.  You don’t throw them away, instead you wash them and either throw them in the dryer, or (better yet) hang them out on the line or on a drying rack in the sun.  They also sell very well made, attractive wooden dispensers.  I have one myself – Josh and I are using up the last of our paper towels and don’t plan on buying anymore.  I was just thinking this morning that these would make nice Christmas gifts.

“Talking isn’t doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds.” – Bill S.

I’m working on a project that calls for lots and lots of ribbons.

Fortunately, I happen to have lots and lots of ribbons.

I decided last weekend that I have kept them tucked away long enough.

It’s time to put these to good use!

Aren’t they pretty, all stacked up?

(Hope to show you the finished goods in an upcoming post.)

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PS – Thanks so much to Maartje (aka Tizz), for featuring me

over on her super cute blog: Tizzalicious.

*Check it out!*

Jenn : )

…has almost driven me crazy.

I’ve been poring over my cookbooks for baby, eagerly anticipating baby M’s first foray into the world of “solid” foods.  My mil gave me the organic cookbook, and after reading it my eyes have been opened. (Did you know, for instance, that genes from fish have been inserted into tomatoes to prolong shelf life? Yummy! And so natural!)  I am going to prepare organic foods exclusively for my baby for as long as I can.

The Hungry Monkey book is a favorite of mine.  The author, Matthew Amster-Burton, is a local Seattleite, and he writes in a down to earth, humorous way that I really like.  I read this book while I was pregnant and now I’m reading it again and it’s even better now that I have a little baby wisdom under my belt (ha – no pun intended!).

I decided on Monday, I think it was, to make up a batch of applesauce for me and the little one to share.  Today I finally got to it. (You know, I could have made this baby food a heck of alot sooner if that baby hadn’t been slowing me down!)

I know that you can just mash up the steamed fruit and serve it chunky style.  But since this was our first try, I wanted it to be smooooth.  Just my luck, as I was hitting my stride, my food processor decided to break.

After a few not-so-mommy-ish words were spoken, I rallied and switched to plan B;  hauling out my Beaba BabyCook steamer/blender.  This was my first try with this gizmo – and I loved it!  Super easy.  I made a nice batch of homemade applesauce (ingredients: golden delicious apples & a little water).

At this point, I didn’t even care that much if she ate it or not.  I had a feeling that this would be kind of anti-climactic anyway.  I had been trying to make this stuff for nearly a week, and killed off my food processor to boot.  Basically I was in it for the blog photos towards the end.

But to my surprise, my toothless little buddy actually ate a very small amount.  And the look of confusion and befuddlement on her face made up for all the work and swear words. : )

And I ate some while typing at the computer.

I don’t usually shop at Safeway.  One reason: because each of their organic apples has three stickers on it. Every. Single. Apple.  Do you really need that many stickers on every piece of fruit?

Scrubbed shiny and clean.

Quartered, ready for a 10 minute steam.

Smooth and delicious!

With extra to freeze.

Have a lovely, healthy weekend!

(And if you buy tomatoes this weekend, consider getting the ones without fins ; )

Jenn : )

I recently gave Ina’s Blueberry Streusel Muffin recipe* a try.

(*This recipe can be found in Ina’s Back to Basics cookbook.  I found the recipe online over at Tessa’s blog: Handle the Heat.)

I thought I had a lemon on hand, but I didn’t.  The recipe calls for lemon zest, and though these muffins were fine, I think the zest would have given them a little bit of pizazz.

The recipe includes a delicious streusel for the top.

Doesn’t the word “streusel” make your mouth water, just a little?

My muffins didn’t come out exactly like the photo in Ina’s book.

Ah, well.  I’ll have to get myself a lemon and try these again.

Oh, darn.  ; )

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(P.S. Hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend!

Josh’s parents flew in for a visit and met their granddaughter for the first time.

Joyous!)

-Jenn

One of the reasons I like embroidery

is that it’s like drawing, but with thread.