The Fickle Hobbyist

Archive for August, 2010

*tear*  Today was the first day of kindergarten for my baby.

She’s such a sassy pants.

Right now, it’s 11:00 and the house is so quiet and peaceful.  I had plans of doing all sorts of things today, and being super productive, but I’ve put them on the back burner.  Instead, I’m enjoying the silence.  I’ll get to work on that list tomorrow.

I really thought I’d cry, or have a hard time taking Abby to school, but surprisingly it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be.  I think maybe the last two years of pre-k helped alleviate any of that “my baby is growing up” sadness.  She was pretty nervous, though.  As we walked from the car to the school, she was hanging back a bit.  I had to keep trying to hurry her along.  She was also very quiet, which is quite unlike her.  I think she’ll be fine, though.  When we got to the class, there was another boy from her pre-k class, so at least she will know someone.  Besides, once she settles in, she’ll have a great time.

Joss started school today too.  This will be the first year they will go to the same school!  She’s a big 2nd grader now.

All last night and this morning, Joss did the big sister thing and told Abby about all the things she would do today.  She was very protective of her and really reassured her.  It was pretty cute.

Look at the apprehension on Abby’s usually smiling face.

They even held hands walking up to the school for a while.

Now I wait.  I am excited to hear how both of their first days went.

-Autumn

When I saw the plush baby blanket over at Purple Chocolat Home, I KNEW I had to make it! It was the perfect gift for little Miss Sophie.

I finally got to work on it yesterday and am happy to share it with you!

I measured out my fabric pieces to be 45×40 inches each.  Then, I trimmed my satin to 5in strips like the tutorial said.

Then I sewed all the satin pieces end to end and ironed them in half, lengthwise.  The other tutorial didn’t iron them, but I thought it would make managing them easier.  They’re really slippery and I didn’t want the hassle.  To me the extra step was worth it.  But it also depends on the look you’re going for in the end.

Also, I actually measured out two times the perimeter of the rectangle and used that measurement for the binding.  I actually sewed the end together to eliminate having to hand sew it at the end.  (I hate hand sewing)

Then, I pinned the binding around the square on the right side of the fabric, edge facing in.  Originally I had done a basting stitch so that I could just pull it and ruffle it, but the thread I used was super light and broke, so I nixed that.

To get the binding fitted equally around all the edges, I pinned one point in the middle of one side.  Then, I found the exact middle of the other side of the binding and pinned it to the opposite side of the rectangle.  I did this for both sides.  It looked like this.

Then, since the ruffling didn’t work, I decided to make knife pleats.  Because I had already pinned the binding around evenly, I knew how much I had to work with for each section.

Here it is all the way around.

Then, I stitched around this ruffle and took all 100000000 pins out.  After that, I took the other fabric and pinned it, right sides facing, and used my serger to go around the edges, leaving about a 6 inch opening to turn the blanket inside out.  After turning, I pinned and stitched the hole shut with the sewing machine.  I suppose if you wanted, you could do it by hand, but again, I hate hand stitching, so I avoid it whenever possible.

I love it!  I can’t wait to give it to Miss Sophie when she arrives!

-Autumn

Beat BBQ Boredom

I was recently selected to host a ‘Beat BBQ Boredom’ House Party from Boboli.  It was Boboli’s way of introducing folks to the idea that pizza is also a summertime food, there’s no need to wait until the weather cools down, and you once again turn those ovens on.  Personally, I thought it was a great idea, because I had never even thought of grilling pizza on your grill!!  (Don’t try it with regular pizza dough, because it would fall through the grill).

Boboli supplied me with all the pizza crusts, a food tent, Boboli bags for all the guests, including coupons, recipe cards, grilling tips and refrigerator magnet frames.  I included in the bags some sunglasses, and red round pizza cutters.

All I had to do was invite friends and family, buy the pizza toppings, and host the backyard BBQ party.

The Boboli motto is this:  There’s only one way to grill a hot dog.  There are hundreds of ways to grill a Boboli pizza!

First, let me share with you the 5 easy steps for easy grilled Boboli pizza:

Preheat grill for 10-15 minutes on high heat.

If you have a gas grill, turn off one of the burners.  If you use charcoal, push the charcoal to one side (grilling with only half the grill on ensures that the heat circulates completely around the pizzas).

Brush a dash of olive oil on each side of your Boboli pizza crust.  Place the crust on the side of the grill with the burner turned off or without the charcoal.

Grill the crust 2-4 minutes per side.  Remove from grill.  Add toppings, including any pre-cooked meats and vegetables, and return to grill for 8-10 minutes.

Grill until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden.  Remove from heat, let cool for 2 minutes, and enjoy!

I had everyone bring a light summer salad.

It was one of the hottest days we’ve had this summer (we were on a 95+ day stretch here) so we set up a backyard tent covering, and moved our umbrella over to the grill area.  We had every intention of playing a backyard game, but it was just way too hot to even begin to think about moving around more than necessary.

We started off with 3 different sauce bases:  traditional red, alfredo and pesto.  From there, the pizza building began.  Here is a list of toppings that we had to choose from:  sausage, Canadian bacon, chicken, pepperoni, green onions, green and red bell peppers, olives, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, regular tomatoes, mushrooms, pineapple, zucchini, and 2 different kinds of cheeses.  You can only imagine the endless combinations we came up with!!  People were saying, “Hey, let’s try this” or “I’m going to put some of this with that” or “I’ve never tried pesto”.  It was a great way to try something different when you only had to sample a piece, and not buy the whole pizza.

After we had eaten, we sat around and just enjoyed good company.  I brought out some of my recent home made canned goodies (salsa, kiwi jam, apple butter, and pepper jelly) and we drew names.  You would have thought I had brought out something grand!  Now everyone is excited to receive a basket of treats for Christmas!!

All in all, we had a great time hosting the Boboli Backyard Pizza Grilling BBQ.  It’s always a time well spent to be around people you have a great time with.

Tami’s Tip of the Week

Buy a small paintbrush to keep near your grill or stove.  Paintbrushes are great for brushing on barbecue and other sauces, and they clean up easier than pastry brushes.