A Birthday Gift...

There hasn't been a lot of overly-productive crafting going on here lately.  Matthew House is busy and full and there is a growing garden to tend and two very busy kids to play with and all of that glorious sunshine that has caused me to put down my lovely sweater knitting and pick up sock knitting. Naturally, new socks - not the navy blue ones I was supposed to finish in time for last Christmas.

But, in spite of the slow knitting and the nightly game (or two) of Age of Empires III I've been playing with the Keither, I found time to make a little boy a birthday present.  A friend of Lucy and Isaiah had a birthday party this Saturday and instead of buying him another plastic toy I thought I'd springboard off of the wonderful gift idea my friend gave to Isaiah for his 4th birthday and do up a Fort Kit for this next birthday boy.

I didn't use a pattern for the backpack but made it out of some fabric I picked up at the thrift store.  It was very easy and I'd be happy to write out detailed instructions for any of you who would like them.

Inside the bay is a bedsheet with long fabric ties at each corner and on the sides so it can be tied to trees, decks, chairs, etc.  There is also some rope and some clothes pins.  I hope he likes it.  I know Isaiah LOVES his. (Thanks again, Diana!).  She got the idea from a blog but I didn't ask her which one, sorry.

Hope you make your own Fort Kits for the burgeoning adventurers in your life.

Introducing Monkley

I've been hard at work on handmade Christmas presents over the last few months.  I'm trying to do handmade as much as I can this year and it is making Christmas more meaningful for me.  I really enjoy the time I invest in each gift and I hope it will help quell the consumerism of Christmas in our family. Anyways, here is what or should I say "who" I've just finished working on.

May I introduce to you, Monkley - at least that is what I am anticipating his name to be.  Isaiah has been mildly obsessed with Curious George for some time so when I saw a pattern for a very cute sock monkey in this book (see below) I thought I would make him one for Christmas.  I made his pajamas to match the ones I've made for Isaiah for Christmas Eve.  I hope they become good friends.

The book, Craft Hope, has a lot of really interesting patterns and craft ideas for you own loved ones or for ones you've never met.  It is compiled by Jade Sims but each craft is submitted by a different person.  SouleMama has a pattern for baby hats made from re-purposed t-shirts.  Each craft also has a list of charitable organizations who accept and actively look for these items.  It is a great book full of wonderful ideas so let me know if you want to borrow it!

Kitchen and Crafty Goodness

The kitchen at Matthew House has been a busy place even though we haven't been able to house any refugee claimants yet.  I've been trying out some new recipes in hopes of incorporating them into the weekly menues.  A special thanks to all of you who have sent your favourite recipes my way (Diana, that Kickin' Chicken was a big hit with the whole family!).

In addition to mealtime dishes, I decided to try my hand at canning jam and salsa as well.  My dear friend, Heidi, came for a visit and we diced tomatoes and hot peppers until our fingers burned (and kept burning well into the evening).  The jam was a modification of SouleMama's Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.  I say modification because I had roughly twice as many strawberries, the right amount of rhubarb and not nearly enough sugar.  I actually had to re-can it the following day after adding more sugar and pectin.  The salsa I ended up re-canning as well.  It didn't turn out as hot as we thought it would be since we seeded the peppers.  I added some more red tomatoes, some red hot peppers and a few jalapenos (with their seeds) and a bit more of a secret ingredient along with cayenne.  It is apparently very good and hot.  I won't dare taste it, but Keith is quite pleased :)

I've also been on a bread-baking kick which has the family eating a lot more white bread than is healthy.  We ran out of bread the other day and so I whipped up a batch of white bread, since we only had white flour in the house. Yesterday we started into the second loaf so I made another couple of large loaves along with a mini herb and cheese loaf and another cinnamon sugar loaf. Yum.

Raspberry Lemon loaf and Pumpkin loaf have also been churned out in the kitchen along with Sheila's Pudding - my favourite Jamie Oliver recipe.  Seriously, with hot custard it is nirvana.  We went Pumpkin picking on the weekend (material for another post) so next on my baking to-do list is making the Keither his pumpkin pie.

On the craftier side of things - I've had three sweaters, one leg warmer and a pair of mittens come of the needles in the last month (it took much longer to knit the sweaters).  I've also completed the 3 pairs of Christmas Eve pajama bottoms for the kidlets and 5 log cabin squares for my mom's Christmas present.  I'm working on a couple of things for baby shower gifts (both due around Christmas) as well.  There has been a whole lot of crafty-goodness going on here!

In the midst of all of this though, I tend to get focussed and serious and my long-suffering husband gets a bit neglected because he isn't being wrapped up (or put into a reusable, homemade cloth Christmas bag..oh brother, somebody stop me!) and put under a tree in three months.  He is quite understanding about all of this, but occasionally offers me gentle reminders about the importance of putting down the knitting and being silly with him from time to time.  Maybe those cloth Christmas bags can wait until next year. :)