Play Kitchen

Posted on December 2, 2019 by lexicolton

Okay I know I said I would show you the play kitchen soon and there is no time like the present.  Here goes…  Let me start by saying Julius LOVES it.  When he first opened it I’d only given him some fake eggs and some old wooden fruit I had along with a bunch of pots and pans, baking sheets and mixing bowls I’d gotten from the thrift store.  All of it cost me around $25, even though one of the pans was $6!  I felt better getting them used rather than buying the Melissa and Doug sets that were manufactured just for play.  Anyway, after I gave him the set I asked him to make me some eggs and he immediately took out a pot, put all the eggs in it, pretended to fill it with water, put it on the stovetop and turned it “on”.  Will looked at me with an impressed look and mouthed “success!”

So I started thinking about the play kitchen this summer.  I know it would have been easier to buy one second hand, but I really wanted to make one.  I’ve seen some pretty great homemade play kitchens on the internet.  One day on the way in to work I saw the perfect solid wood dresser sitting on the side of the road.  I pulled over, took all the drawers out, put them in my car and then realized I couldn’t fit the rest of the dresser with Julius’ car seat in there (and he was in the car seat).  So I took everything out of the car and put it back on the side of the road discouraged.  Later that day, Will was returning from an errand and i asked him to pick up the dresser for me if it was still there.  It was!  This was June 14th.

Dresser soon to be a play kitchen…

Fast forward to September 18th.  I finally was sick of seeing the dresser sitting in our garage, and realized that this project could potentially take me a long time.  I finally dragged the entire thing down to the basement and started disassembling it.

Initially I had gotten the dresser thinking that it would work perfectly to have an oven on the left and a fridge on the right.  Unfortunately I asked Will if he thought it needed a sink (without telling him that would be 300% more work) and he said “definitely).  So I decided to split the dresser into thirds, instead of halves.  This meant I needed to cut down the door on the right hand size and move the partition almost a foot.  I’d also need to somehow divide the now larger left side in half into an oven and sink area.  The top would become cabinets.  Here is the gist of what I needed to do…

I don’t want to bore you with the details of this part, but it took a LONG time.  The dresser was incredibly well made, and didn’t use any screws or anything just clever miters.  I was able to get most of it apart with nothing more than a rubber mallet, but putting it back together was the hard part.  I added braces with scrap wood from portions of the dresser I didn’t need and screwed the refrigerator divider into those to make it stable.  I also extended the oven/sink area top by adding a length of wood from the no longer needed middle shelves and using it as the divider between the two sides and a brace.  I then added the extension of wood on top of this and affixed the other end to the refrigerator divider.  I also cut down and reassembled the bottom-most drawer to make it a shorter width to fit under the oven.  Finally I used more of the scrap wood for the middle shelving and added dividers for drawer-turned-cabinets at the top.  I used lots of wood glue for everything.  This whole part took me 2 weeks working almost every night after work.

Finished cabinet dividers

Finished frame for oven/sink/fridge

Next I assembled all the cabinet faces, refrigerator doors, and oven door.  I was determined to not have to purchase any wood for this project so I made the oven door by cutting the scrap from the refrigerator door in half and gluing it together.  I think it worked out pretty well and you can barely tell.  It was around this time that I decided I needed a router and the whole router and saw incident occurred. I do have a scar from it, but it’s just below another scar that has never healed in grade school, so I doubt it’s noticeable.  I was able to figure out how to use the router and cut a bunch of drawer faces down to size for the upper cabinets, cabinets under the sink and the drawer face from the drawer under the oven.  I also installed the oven bottom (which is a piece of cheap hardboard I actually did end up purchasing).  I installed them using more scrap wood braces.  I also cut the oven top/counter top down to size and rounded the edge using my router (this was a piece of 1/4″ thick wood that I had lying around from some project I don’t remember).

Oven door created from pieces left over from fridge door.

Fridge door cut to size.

Next I cut out a hole for my sink (a cake pan I’d found at the dollar store).  I used a hole saw to drill holes in each corner then used my bandsaw to cut the rest out.  I sealed up the entryline I had to cut with the bandsaw to get into the inside of the piece with sawdust and wood glue.  It worked great.  I also drilled a hole for where the faucet would fit (I bought a real faucet off craigslist for $15).  I cut a hole using a hole saw and then used my dremel to extend the hole to the exact size I needed so the faucet would fit snuggly.  At this point I was also worried that the faucet would be too heavy for my 1/4″ wood countertop, so using scrap wood I built a beefy brace to sit underneath the countertop and surround the faucet.  I then sanded the heck out of everything at this point.

Cutting out the hole for the sink basin.

Brace for the heavy faucet

Faucet snuggly in place.

Here is where I started painting.  I painted the entire countertop/stove top black.  After it dried I divided it in half using painter’s tape and started sponge painting the part over the sink in random patterns (turning the sponge frequently).  I did it using tan, then white, then a grey/purple I mixed myself.  I made sure to also apply paint in the lip above where the sink basin would sit.  I personally think my fake granite came out pretty great.

Using a sponge to dab on fake granite.

Finished fake granite

For the stove, I created a template on my Cricut (you can find it here) and cut it out using stick-on vinyl.  This I stuck to the stove top half of the counter and painted it white.  I touched it up a bit afterwards, but overall this saved me a lot of time and it came out great.  When the entire countertop was dry I sealed all of it using polyurethane.  After the countertop dried I glued the “sink basin” to the counter with E6000.

Using Cricut stencil to paint the stovetop on.

Gluing the sink basin to the countertop.

For the last minute additions before I painted everything I installed the fridge shelves by gluing braces for where the division between fridge and freezer, and fridge shelf would sit.  I cut the shelves from the bottom of the drawers that I wasn’t using.  For the division between where fridge and freezer would sit I used one of the nice mitered pieces from one of the drawer faces and cut it down so it would look a bit fancier.  Since I had this in place I finally cut the fridge door to form the freezer door and fridge door.   I also installed all the braces for the countertop, and cut a piece of hardboard for the backsplash.  And here is when I finally installed the oven side.

Installing shelves for fridge and division for freezer.

Installing oven side

At this point I painted EVERYYTHING.  The inside of the fridge I painted white, and the inside of the stove I painted black.  The stove door and fridge doors I painted with this stainless steel spray paint Roger had given to me long ago (he couldn’t remember why he had it when I told him this).  I spray painted the cabinet knobs silver (ugly white porcelain things that were the first thing I swapped out in my kitchen when we moved in) and the cabinet knobs I used for the oven I spray painted black.  Everything else I painted in this grey cabinet paint which was far more expensive than I should have paid ($25 for a quart!)  I was sort of testing the paint for my kitchen though.  The coverage is amazing – so it may be worth it someday.

Spray painting knobs

Painting cabinet faces

Painted kitchen

After everything dried I installed the countertop/stove top and put in a backsplash using this super cool sticky backsplash material.  (Also probably not worth paying for this, but looks pretty neat).  I then installed all the cabinets using hinges I bought (and 2 that I had from the project already).  Next I installed magnetic catches for the oven and fridge doors so they’d stay shut nicely.  Then I drilled holes for the knobs and installed those.  I installed the faucet and an oven rack I’d made from a cookie rack I got at Dollar Tree.  The finishing touch was to add a puck light I’d gotten from the Dollar Tree over the countertop.

Countertop and backsplash installed.

Finished Kitchen

Finished Kitchen!

View with under countertop lighting

Inside view of top cabinets

Julius cooking

Checking under the sink for pans.

Under the sink

Fridge

Under the counter light…

Oven inside

Cooktop

Final Parts Breakdown

  • dresser (free!)
  • cabinet knobs (free!)
  • assorted spray paints (free!)
  • Assorted screws (free!)
  • hardboard ($4)
  • 14 hinges ($2.78 a pair)
  • magnetic clasps ($1.25 a piece)
  • faucet ($15)
  • sink basin/cake pan ($1)
  • paint ($25)
  • backsplash ($15)
  • puck light ($1)

Total = ~$85.  Overall it was pretty expensive, given that you can buy a new plastic play kitchen for that price.  If I hadn’t bought the darn paint it would have been more reasonable.  But this thing is all solid wood and metal!  No plastic parts on this kitchen!  If you compare it to some of the models at Pottery Barn it was a complete steal!  Plus, I’m damn proud of it.

Posted in Crafts & Sewing, Thrift Finds | 4 Comments

On a Casserole (sorry)

Posted on November 27, 2019 by lexicolton

Well I have no excuse for forgetting to post, except that I forgot it was Monday.  I hope you all survived the commute into work/your coffee break without ladybeekeeper today.

Julius has been loving his play kitchen, which I PROMISE I will show you soon.  Maybe next week?!  I’m just daunted by uploading all the pictures I took.  Anyway, he has been making lots of imaginary foods for us lately.  The other day he made me “soup” and when I asked what kind of soup it was his response was “muffin soup”.  Sounds innovative, I want the recipe.

The other day when we were getting Julius ready for bed, Will told Julius “give Mama a kiss, she is going to go work on projects”.  He said “I projects” which translates to “I want to work on projects” (he’s working on verbs).  Curious, I then asked him “what’s your project, Julius?”  He responded, “ummmm…. muffins.”  I don’t know if this muffin project has anything to do with muffin soup, but I’m letting you in on the ground floor people – invest now!

We’re in Nashville for Thanksgiving, so I thought this would be the perfect time to post my vegetarianized version of Colton Chicken Curry Casserole.  Chicken Curry Casserole is what Will requests every year for his birthday, and is one of the first recipes that I asked Amy for while Will and I were dating.  It is delicious, but sadly not vegetarian, and since I’ve migrated from flexitarian to vegetarian for the last few months I can’t partake.  But instead I’ve been perfecting my Vegetarian Curry Casserole, and have finally settled on my favorite version.  I’ve made it at least 4 times now.  I started with different types of beans, and multiple types of cream of something soup and eventually settled on tofu and cream of mushroom.  You really can’t taste the mushroom flavor at all, but if you really abhor mushrooms, cream of celery has almost the exact same taste.

Tofu Curry Casserole

  • 1 block extra firm tofu
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon cayenne (depending how spicy you like it)
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch
  • 1 10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1.5 Tbsp curry (to taste)
  • 2.5 cups frozen peas
  • 1.5 cups cheese
  • ¾ cup cornflakes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Press tofu for 20 minutes or so between clean kitchen towels and weights to remove moisture.  Cut tofu into 1″x.5″x.5″ cubes.  Whisk corn starch, cayenne, turmeric together.  Toss tofu gently in spice mixture and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake tofu for 15 minutes and remove from oven. Lower heat to 350 degrees F.  While tofu bakes you can assemble the casserole.  Whisk together cream of mushroom, mayonnaise, lemon juice and curry.  Cover a 2 qt casserole dish with the frozen peas.  Spread cooked tofu over the peas.  Cover with cream of mushroom mixture.  Sprinkle cheese on top followed by cornflakes.  Bake in 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Baked seasoned tofu on top of frozen peas.

 

Posted in Culinary Delights | 2 Comments

Peach’s Still Got It!

Posted on November 18, 2019 by lexicolton

I’m roasting some pumpkin right now so the muffin man and I can make some pumpkin muffins tomorrow.  I mentioned pumpkin muffins to him last Monday night, but forgot to roast pumpkin that night.  The next morning he asked “I make pumpkin muffins?”  And I had to tell him that Mama forgot to roast the pumpkin, and that we could make another kind instead.  He asked for apple muffins instead which was perfect because I had plenty of apples.  Tonight he asked me again “I make pumpkin muffins?” so I figure I have to actually deliver this time.

Julius’ memory has become incredibly good.  You’d think a toddler would have a memory of about 5 minutes prior, but Julius has a mind like a steel trap!  The other day Will and Julius were heading on a grocery store adventure and I told Julius as he was leaving, “remind Dada to get avocados”.  (They were the only reason I needed him to go to the grocery store.)  He didn’t acknowledge me.  Will said that first they stopped at the gas station, and then eventually pulled into the grocery store parking lot and Julius shouted “ABOCADOS”.  Color me impressed.

Julius also remembers what I dressed up as for Halloween, which I consider very impressive.  If you read my blog post last week, you may also remember that I was Princess Peach, my favorite female Mario character.  Aside from the wig and a couple accessories, my entire costume was thrifted and upcycled.  I found the perfect size and color prom dress at my local thrift store for $9.99. The only problem was it was covered in embroidered flowers and beading.  I also found a perfect dark pink sheet to compliment the dress for $5.99 in the linen section.  Finally I found some cute earrings that look similar to Peach’s for $1.99.  (I have worn these about half a dozen times outside of the costume so I consider these a complete win!)

After I got my booty home (I mean the goods, but I guess also my butt), I got to work on the dress.  What to do about those flowers and beads?  At home I had discovered that the inside of the bodice was lined with exactly the same material as the outside.  Win!  That almost never happens.  Usually they use cheap, lighter material.  This meant I could just disassemble the bodice and flip it inside out.  I removed all the beads and sequins to make this possible.

Before view of the dress – note the sequins and shiny overdress but please ignore the potty and pile of thrift booty

Next I seam ripped the bodice off the skirt of the dress.  This meant stitch ripping down the sideseams where the pleated waist belt was, then along the waist seam where the bodice attached to the skirt.  To completely flip the bodice inside out I also had to completely remove the zipper.  The advantage of removing the bodice from the dress was I could also now completely remove the shiny overskirt.

detaching the bodice from the skirt.

Next, I reassembled the bodice in reverse.  I turned the whole thing inside out then re-stitched the side seams. Then I turned the whole thing right side out again and pinned the bodice to the skirt, with the lining now facing out.

Reattaching the boning on the inner side seams after flipping the bodice.

Before I stitched the skirt to the bodice, I stuck the whole thing back on my mannequin and draped Peach’s pleated peplums using the sheet I’d purchased.  The sheet was a queen sized and 90″x108″.  From the top of the sheet, where the 3″ thick hem was I cut a 24″ strip.  I then cut that in half to form two 20″x45″ rectangles.

Cutting two 20″x45″ rectangles for the peplums

Next I finished the unfinished end of each rectangle, opposite the 3″ thick hem, with a 1/2″ rolled hem.  I then draped the fabric on each side in a sort of  “u” shape with the 3″ thick hem on the outside.  I next made 3 large pleats on each side of the “u” and adjusted it until it sat just right.  When I was satisfied with the result I took it off the mannequin and stay stitched it to the waist of the skirt by hand.  Finally I reattached the bodice to the skirt, sandwiching the pleating inside.

Hemming long side of the peplums

Draping the peplums

Draping the peplums

Draping the peplums

Peplums and bodice reattached to skirt.

Next I reattached the zipper.

I had great plans to add puffy sleeves to the dress, but I was running short on fabric, so first I decided to tackle the bottom hem.  Peach has a strip of dark pink fabric on the bottom of her dress, so I was going to use the rest of the sheet for that.  The dress was way too long for me, and I wanted a 5″ bottom hem of pink so I cut about 10″ off the dress.  The hem of the dress had something I had never seen before.  It had a 1″ strip of plastic horsehair type material, that kept the hem perfectly puffed out and stiff.  I had been worried about how the sheet material would look as the hem of the dress since it wasn’t as rigid of a material as the thick satin of the dress.  This pretty much solved my problem!  Unfortunately this meant removing the plastic horsehair braid from between 2 layers of stitching.  This took a solid hour.

When I finally got the horsehair braid free, I then cut 3 6.5″ wide strips from my pink sheet.  I determined the length of each by measuring the length along the hem of each of the 3 segments of fabric making up the skirt then adding 1″ to each for .5″ seam allowance.  I stitched the 3 pieces together to form a big loop.  Next I hemmed all along the bottom of the loop in a .5″ rolled hem.  I rolled the hem up one more time, then placed the horsehair braid in between.  I did one final stitch to hold it all in place.  Finally I matched up the seams of the loop to the seams of the skirt and stitch the skirt to the pink hem (right sides together).

Attaching the 3 portions of the pink lower hem together forming a loop.

At this point I had a bunch of extra fabric that I was planning to make into puffy sleeves and a high neckline.  I even drafted it out of scrap material.  Eventually I decided the dress looked really great already so I ran out of steam.  The next day I found the perfect turquoise pendant from Michael’s, but it was $13, which was the same price I paid for the entire dress!  Luckily I had a 50% off coupon, so I decided to bite the bullet and get it.  I stitched it on and called it done.

Peach’s still got it!

Overall, it would have taken me far less time to make the dress from raw materials from my favorite fabric store, but it would not have been nearly as puzzle-y, and certainly less environmentally friendly!

Posted in Crafts & Sewing, Thrift Finds | 2 Comments

Peach’s Got It!

Posted on November 11, 2019 by lexicolton

Wow, well, last week was not great!  Will and I both ended up with pneumonia, and finally got rid of it at the end of last week.  Talk about unpleasant!  I don’t recall ever being that out of it, except maybe when I had mono in high school.  Enough unpleasantness, let’s talk about the costume that won me second place at our work costume contest!  (I was beat out by a hilarious “fat Thor” costume from the latest Marvel movie.)

Since Julius went as Bowser, you may have guessed by now that I went as Princess Peach!  I’ll talk about my dress next week, but for today let’s discuss the headpiece.  I got A LOT of compliments on my blonde hair!  I never thought I could pull off blonde, but I may have to rethink that…  The wig was from Arda Wigs (Luthien Classic in Champagne) – where my friend Jess gets all her cosplay wigs so I knew they must be good.  It was very difficult to style, but a curling wand on high heat and lots of hairspray yielded the best results.  (According to my friend if you dip the hot curlers in an ice water bath immediately after rolling them you will have even better results.)  And the bangs…  let me just say that I will never be a hairdresser.  Hair is so difficult to cut!  All things considered I’m pretty happy with how it came out.

Bowser and Peach together at last

The crown was super easy to make.  I’m pretty happy with how it came out but I originally bobby pinned it onto my wig which meant that even though it was light it kept sliding around.  By the third wearing of the costume I was finally smart enough to sew the crown directly onto the wig.  This made the crown work PERFECTLY.  I wish I’d done it from the start.

DIY Princess Peach Crown

  • a plastic soft drink cup
  • 2 blue 1.5″ jewels (I got a bulk pack of cheap jewels from Michaels)
  • 2 red 1.5″ jewels
  • scrap Peltex fabric interfacing or other stiff fabric
  • gold spray paint
  • sharpie
  • hot glue gun
  • E6000
  1. Cut off bottom of cup.
  2. Along the top of the cup mark 4 points on the cup, dividing up the cup’s circumference in quarters so each point is equidistant from its neighbors.
  3. Place another dot halfway between each of those dots and 2 inches below the others.
  4. Draw a line to connect from low point to high point to low point all around the cup, forming 4 points. 
  5. Cut along lines.
  6. Place a jewel below each point, and mark around it in sharpie.
  7. Use a glue gun to glue all along the line you marked.
  8. Place a square piece of painters tape in the very center of each of the glued areas.
  9. Spray paint the entire thing gold and let dry.
  10. Remove the painter’s tape then glue on gems over the bare spot alternating blue and red,  using E6000.
  11. Finally cut a strip of peltex to the diameter of the bottom of the crown plus 3 inches.  Glue the end of one strip to the inside side of cup.  After it dries, pull the strip taunt so it would sit flat against your head then glue the opposite end of the strip to the inside of the cup on the other side so bottom of strip remains taunt.
  12. Sew to wig through strip of Peltex.
Posted in Crafts & Sewing | Leave a comment

Impossible!

Posted on November 4, 2019 by lexicolton

Julius ate an entire bowl of salad last night, and then asked for more!  By the end of dinner he had eaten a total of 3 bowls of salad!  Will and I eat salad almost every night with dinner, but usually Julius won’t touch it.  I’m not sure what changed his mind today.  Maybe it was that he helped me cut and wash the lettuce, or that I added cheese to it (he kept saying “Look Dada, cheese”) or maybe the fact that we gave him 2 different choices of salad dressing to dip it in.  (And no he didn’t load the lettuce up in dressing, though he did ask to drink the dressing at the end…)

Happy Halloween!

Speaking of herbivores, Impossible Beef debuted 5 weeks ago in stores on the east coast.  Wegman’s now sells the beef, frozen, in vacuum packs like you sometimes get those 1 lb packets of fancy meat like “angus” or “buffalo”.  I went out that night and bought six packs.  First impression is that it looks exactly like ground beef.  My next impression was that it is damn expensive!  Each pack costs $9, but I later realized that a package is only 3/4 of a pound bringing the actual price to a whopping $12/lb!  Sheesh!  But I must admit buying mostly vegetarian is cheaper than buying meat on a daily basis anyway, so having a pack of Impossible Beef a week still fits into our budget.

We’re definitely the target audience for the Impossible Beef.  I’m half-heartedly attempting vegetarianism, and Will eats whatever I make, but misses the meat meals I used to make.  The first meal I made with the Beef was “Hamburger Stroganoff” or as Will calls it “tasty beef stuff”.  I tried making it with Beyond Meat many months ago, and it was awful.  They add some kind of fake smoke flavoring to their Meat that doesn’t go at all with the mushroom flavor.  Perhaps they have changed that since then.  Since the advent of Impossible Beef on the east coast I’ve made “tasty beef stuff” twice (and a few other things as well).  It tastes nearly the same as “tasty beef stuff” with hamburger, and Will declared that the slightly different flavor made it “better” than the original tasty beef stuff.  I’d call that a win!

Some useful tips for cooking the Impossible Beef.  It cooks nearly the same as a pound of 90/10 hamburger except it is slightly more inclined to stick to the bottom of the pan so requires more stirring.  I usually brown hamburger at medium temp.  I’ve tried cooking it from frozen (like I sometimes do with hamburger when I’m super lazy), browning the layer touching the pan, then flipping it over and scraping off the brown bits.  I also tried defrosting it in the microwave first like I do with beef and I found defrosting on the “defrost meat” setting for half the amount of time for meat – for me that’s 6 minutes – and flipping it halfway through worked great.  They both work, but the easiest method, if you have the foresight, is to just defrost it in the fridge the night before.

Vegetarian “Hamburger” Stroganoff

  • 1 12 oz package Impossible Beef
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
  • 3 tbsp sour cream
  • 1 cup of frozen peas (or more if desired)
  • 1 package farfalle pasta, cooked according to package directions

Brown Beef in large saute pan, adding onion halfway through.  After Beef is browned and onion is soft add cream of mushroom soup and sour cream and stir to combine.  Finally add frozen peas, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes while you cook the pasta.  Serve over pasta.  (I like to mix it all together in the big saute pan to serve).

Add onions halfway through browning the Beef

 

Posted in Culinary Delights | 2 Comments

King Koopa

Posted on October 28, 2019 by lexicolton

Julius went to TWO Halloween parties last week and had a grand old time!  His daycare held a fun event with “trunk or treat”, the tumble bus and a spooky pumpkin patch!  Julius had a great time.  Then a couple days later we went to my work party where Julius got to trick or treat from cube to cube, do some pumpkin arts and crafts, get a balloon bunny, and watch a magician!  He had lots of fun!

My little guy went as Bowser this year or as Julius calls him “King Koopa”.  We thought it would be a cute costume to pose as Mario, Princess Peach and Bowser, though we pictured Julius as the tiny Mario.  When we asked him which he wanted to be he chose King Koopa, which honestly made for an adorable costume.  The costume came out great and it really didn’t take me that much time to put together.  Plus it was ridiculously cheap!  For all the fabric and accessories it only cost me about $20 after coupons from Joann Fabrics.  And of course I bought way too much material, so I could have made two or maybe three at that price.  Don’t be daunted by the large amount of steps!  You can do it!

Toddler King Koopa/Bowser Costume

What you’ll need:

  • 1/3 yd green fleece fabric
  • 1/3 yd off-white fleece fabric
  • 1/4 yd orange fleece fabric
  • 1/3 yd white fleece or sweatshirt material
  • 1/3 yd white quilted fabric
  • 1 sq foot yellow flannel fabric
  • 1 sq foot of peltex 70
  • 1/2″ white bias tape
  • 6 inches of 2″ velcro, cut into two 3″ strips
  • 1 orange boa
  • stuffing & quilt batting
  • yellow shirt and pants
  • pattern here
  1. Cut out all pattern pieces, adding seam allowance as indicated (add to pieces that say NSA/No Seam Allowance).
  2. Take the spike pieces and fold in half to form a triangle with a curved bottom.  Stitch along the unfinished edge. Turn right side out and stuff.  Repeat for other spikes.
  3. Fold small orange fabric rectangles in half and stitch to form a loop.  Fold loop in half so the loop is now a double layer.  Repeat for other rectangles.
  4. Fold a hexagon in half and quarters and then snip 1 cm into each fold to create a 2cmx2cm “x”.  Repeat for other hexagons.
  5. Insert an orange loop over a spike.
  6. Pinch the bottom of the spike and gently insert bottom first through the hexagon from front to back.  Hand stitch spike to hexagon being sure to pass needle through all layers: orange loop, spike and hexagon.
  7. Make rows of hexagons, 3 together, 4 together, 3 together.  Stitch hexagon rows together by placing right sides together and stitching a single side, then placing right sides of next hexagon together and stitching along the opposite side.
  8. When three rows are formed, pin 3 row on top of the 4 row, right sides together.  Stitch in a zig shape along the end to attach the rows to each other.  Repeat for the other row of 3 along the bottom of the row of 4.
  9. Cut 4 more hexagon pieces and cut in half.  Attach on half hexagon to all the sides of the shell so the finished shape has mostly straight edges without any zig zag edges.
  10. Pin the hexagon shell to the oval piece of quilted fabric, right sides together.  Stitch, leaving a hand sized gap at the bottom.
  11. Stuff stuffing through the gap and hand stitch closed.
  12. Take white fabric and cut into strip 37″x6″. Fold in half width wise, right sides together and stitch along the unfinished ends.
  13. Pin the white fabric loop to the green side of the shell, right sides together.  Stitch along the edge.
  14. Add rolled up quilt batting to the white loop and fold the white fabric over the stuffing so it reaches the quilted side of the shell.
  15. Tuck the unfinished edges of the fabric under and hand stitch.
  16. Fold the puffy white shell outside away from the green shell.
  17. Stack the belly pieces: quilted material, quilt batting then offwhite fleece. Stitch around outside of the belly.
  18. Stitch straight lines across the belly, 3″ wide.
  19. Open up bias tape and pin one of the folds along the stitching on the outer edge of the belly, unfinished edges matching.
  20. Trim close to the unfinished edge then fold bias tape over the unfinished edge, unfinished edge should be folded under.  Pin and stitch.
  21. Cut 6 7″x6″ rectangles of yellow fabric. Fold each one in half to form a 3.5″x6″ rectangle. Stitch across long end.
  22. Turn tube right side out and insert a 3″x5″ piece of peltex 70 inside the tube.
  23. Fold edges of each tube under and stitch closed.  Attach hook velcro to two of the finished tubes and loop velcro to two more unfinished tubes.
  24. Hand sew the strap to one shoulder on the shell side.
  25. Sew the other end of the strap to the shoulder on the belly side, stitching to the inside.
  26. Repeat steps 24 & 25 on the same side of the shell, underneath where the child’s armpit will be.  
  27. Hand stitch the strip with the hook side of the velcro to the shell side, equidistant from other strap, velcro side up.
  28. Hand stitch the strip with the loop side of the velcro to the belly side, equidistant from other strap, velcro side down.
  29. Repeat steps 27 and 28 underneath where the child’s armpits will be (across from other strap).
  30. Follow instructions for pussy hat, omitting ears (step 1, step 4-6).  I made it slightly smaller with a 20″ hat band, and moved the hat band slightly closer to the crown.
  31. Pin two curved horn pieces together and stitch across the curved side.
  32. Add the horn insert piece inside the curved horn and stitch.
  33. Turn horn inside out and stuff.  Repeat steps 31-32 for second horn.
  34. Follow steps 3 and 4 for larger orange rectangles.
  35. Repeat steps 4-6 for horns instead of spike and onto either end of the front hat panels instead of the hexagon.  Stitch through each horn to keep the stuffing in place.
  36. Hand stitch a piece of orange boa down the middle of the hat forming a mohawk.

 

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Green Up

Posted on October 21, 2019 by lexicolton

As we already knew, Julius is a little ham.  We had our babysitter over last night so Will and I could have a date night.  Before she left she told us how he was being such a little ham, making her laugh all night.  She said he’s developed such a cute little personality now.

There is one little girl at daycare who is about Julius’ age but until recently has been cared for at home.  For the last few weeks the poor thing cried whenever a parent left after dropping off their child.  Last week it looked like she turned a corner.  She seemed much more cheerful and even said ‘bye’ to me all week without crying.   Then Friday, when I was putting Julius’ clothes in his bin, I heard the unmistakable tears start again.  Julius walked over to me from the next room, looked me in the eye and said “Hailey” and then walked away.  He put the emphasis on her name as if to say “yep that’s Hailey, what are we going to do with her”.  I almost died laughing.

I am completely inundated with projects.  Between Halloween and Julius’ birthday I have once again over committed.  I probably mentioned that I’ve been working on a play kitchen as Julius’ birthday gift, but in case I haven’t, I’m making a play kitchen from an old cast off child’s dresser I picked up off the curb.  Actually, to be precise, I finished the play kitchen last Monday!  I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I think it came out pretty great.  The problem is, since it took me a very long time to finish, it is also going to take me a very long time to write it up.  So don’t expect a post on that until I’ve got some down time.  (Read: after Julius’ birthday.)

Since I still have to finish my own costume, I’m going to leave you with a fun little project I did with Julius last week while we were home potty training.  My work is pretty awesome, and composts and recycles.  99% of the items from the cafe are compostable, which is awesome.  The not-so-awesome part is that my site is full of people who are not used to composting.  This means my site is now also full of fruit flies.  When they first started composting (about 7 years ago, wow) my co-worker would leave his food scraps on his desk until the end of the day as a form of protest.  This earned him the office name plate “Lord of the Fruit Flies”.

While I am all about composting and definitely not protesting it, I am also lazy.  I don’t feel like making a trip to the compost bins every time I eat something (which for me is like once an hour).  Sometimes I’ve even forgotten to empty my bin into the compost bins until the next Morning!  To avoid the scorn of my co-workers and a new office name plate, I’ve been using an old yogurt bin as my compost bucket.  It works GREAT.  It doesn’t smell at all, and I’ve had no fruit flies in my cube at all since I started using it a month ago.  One time I even forgot to empty the compost after a whole weekend and no one was the wiser!  I think it would work great as a home compost bin for food scraps too!  I know most compost bins (like mine) actually are not completely sealed to allow some air flow and prevent anaerobic bacteria from building up, but if you take this out every couple days or keep it in your fridge I don’t see how that could be a problem.

Recycled Compost Bin

What you’ll need:

  • 1 2lb yogurt container
  • acrylic paint and spouncer (make sure to choose colors that don’t mix to brown unless you desire that color combo)
  • stickers (my adorable ones were $1 from the dollar tree)
  • clear topcoat spray paint (make sure it is safe to use on plastic surfaces)
  1. Clean and dry yogurt container thoroughly.
  2. Let your child decorate the container with acrylic paint.  Julius decorated mine with pink, purple and white paint that blended nicely when he inevitably mushed them all into one color.  Let dry completely.
  3. After paint has dried let child apply stickers as desired.   Press the stickers down firmly.
  4. Spray lid and container with a couple coats of clear topcoat (don’t let your child by anywhere in the vicinity for this part).

This was a year ago today.

These photos have absolutely nothing to do with anything but aren’t they cute?!

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Killer Tofu

Posted on October 14, 2019 by lexicolton

Thanks for all the well-wishes and positive vibes; today was day 3 of Julius’ potty training and he has been doing great!  We’ll see how this week at daycare goes… If anyone is curious, we have been using the advice from “Oh Crap!  Potty Training”.  It was recommended to me by a co-worker, and we decided to use it since we couldn’t find any detailed information on the three day method online and they’d used the above book to successfully potty train both a son and a daughter.  We both thought the woman was pretty logical and it had the added advantage of being on audiobook, which is pretty much the only form of literature I’m able to consume lately.  (Multitasking is a necessity in my life right now.)

With Julius home with us the last few days I actually had time to cook.  Normally, Will and I have been eating between 8 and 9 every night.  We feed Julius when we get home, and then I won’t start cooking for Will and I until after Julius is in bed.  Since we were under house arrest due to the potty training, we all were able to eat together at a decent hour.  Plus Julius loves to help me cook!  The tot tower has seriously come in handy; I’ve even lowered it to the second rung because he is getting so tall!  While muffins are Julius’ specialty in the kitchen, he helps me with just about everything.

One thing I thought I’d never be cooking at home is tofu.  I honestly thought I hated tofu until I decided to be adventurous and try the BBQ Tofu bowl at David Farmland.  (Yes, they have really great vegetarian options.)  Since then I’ve actually ordered and made tofu several times.  The first time I made the tofu Julius loved it.  Since then he’s become picky with just about everything.  Will and I, however, give this recipe 2 thumbs up!  Will even had seconds last night, definitive proof the recipe is good.   You can either fry or oven roast your tofu until crispy.  I think the oven roast method is easier but they both come out great.

BBQ Tofu Bowls

(David Farmland copycat recipe)

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb block of extra firm tofu
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • 1 large or 2 small zucchini cut in half lengthwise then chopped into 1/2″ pieces
  • 1 small onion, sliced
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 cup wild rice/brown rice mixture (I like Bob Red’s Mill but the pictures here are all using Rice Select Royal Blend because that’s what I had on hand)
  • 1 tsp parsley
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/4 cup BBQ sauce of your choice (I use Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey BBQ)
  • butter
  • olive  oil

Press tofu to remove moisture.  After 30 minutes or so cut into 1 inch x 1/2 inch x 1.5 inch chunks.  Bake or fry tofu until crispy.  (Note: when I baked it, I just tossed it in 1 tbsp cornstarch followed by 1tbsp olive oil then baked it at 400 for 15 minutes, flipped tofu and returned to the oven for 15 more until tofu was light brown and crispy.)   While tofu is cooking, prepare the rice according to package directions.  Add parsley, bay leaf, oregano and a pinch of salt as you add the rice to the pot.  Saute garlic, onions and zucchini in 1tsp oil and 1tbsp butter until zucchini is light brown and onions are tender, but not mushy.  When tofu is done, toss in bbq sauce and serve over rice and zucchini mixture.

Mmm bbq tofu and beer.

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Hanging Out

Posted on October 7, 2019 by lexicolton

Well this is it.  Will and I decided to try and start potty training Julius this weekend.  We’re sick of washing diapers I guess.  Plus he really hates diaper changes and that has lead to more rashes lately.  Poor guy.  We’ve told him that this weekend he gets to be a “nunu” (naked) while he potty trains.  He seemed excited at the prospect. Who doesn’t want to run around pantsless all day?

For the last few weeks Julius and I have been making muffins on Sunday or Tuesday mornings.  We’ve made chocolate chip zucchini, chocolate chip banana, blueberry and apple muffins.  They are all delicious.  I’ve been trying to make them slightly healthier (picture me saying that in air quotes) by using this cool article from King Arthur Flour on how to cut down the sugar in muffins.  It’s a great article, and very scientific.  The gist is that you can usually use half the weight of flour in sugar (maybe a bit less if you have other sweet things flavoring the batter) without compromising the texture of the muffin.  Julius can’t tell the difference when we lower the sugar and is constantly asking for “muthins”.  We’ve been reading If You Give a Moose a Muffin the sequel to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie which he refers to as “Moose a Muthins”.  It’s my current favorite word in Julius’ vocabulary (maybe second favorite to “tutu”).

Here’s my muffin man, mouth full of muffins.

I’m feverishly working on a present for Julius’ birthday.  I decided to make him a play kitchen and some play food.  When I decided this (about 6 months ago) it seemed like I had plenty of time.  Unfortunately, several months of procrastination later and I’m starting to run out of time!  You may be thinking, “but you have a whole month!”  You’d be right about that, but this particular month is filled with Halloween, the medieval party and all the planning for Julius’ 2nd birthday party!

Despite my busy-ness (or maybe because of it) I’ve still made time for a few quick crafts.  This one was inspired by Julius who was constantly taking all my earrings out of the drawers and losing them.  He motivated me to reorganize my jewelry cabinet and add another earring rack.  The earring rack I made earlier has completely run out of room, and has gotten me frustrated, because there is no way to use earrings with backs on it without taking it off the wall.  This new holder made entirely from scraps, has worked amazingly well and it only took me about 30 minutes.  I wish I’d made one years ago!

Tapestry Earring Holder

What you’ll need

  • Medium/Heavyweight woven fabric (I used upholstery fabric with a wide weave)
  • 1/2″ single fold bias tape
  • 1/2″ Dowel (mine was 5″ long)
  • 2 – 1/2″ wood dowel caps
  • 1/4″ ribbon (mine was 9″ long)
  1. Cut fabric into a rectangular shape sized as you please.   You’ll want to add 2.5″ to the length for the dowel pocket.  For me this meant my rectangle was 23″x3.75″.
  2. Cut the bottom of the rectangle into a pennant shape, by finding the middle and measuring up the same distance on both sides to find the hypotenuse of the triangle you want to remove.
  3. Starting at the top side of the pennant, Open out bias tape and pin the back of one edge of bias tape to the edge of the pennant.  The right side of the bias tape should be touching the wrong/back side of the fabric.  Pin along the fold line.   Top should not be covered.
  4. Stitch.
  5. Fold bias tape over the unfinished edge of the pennant and pin to form a finished edge.  Stitch close to the edge of the bias tape.  Iron. 
  6. Fold top of pennant over by 1.5″ onto the back of the pennant.  Fold 1/2″ under again, so the unfinished edge is hiding.  Stitch through 3 thicknesses of fabric. 
  7. Drill an 1/8″ thick hole into either end of the dowel.  Sand dowel including the edges. 
  8. Wood glue dowel caps to either end of the rod. 
  9. After dowel has dried, insert rod through dowel pocket in pennant and insert ribbon through one end.  Double knot.  Insert through other end of dowel.  Double knot.
  10. To use, simply push the earring wire through the weave of the fabric and secure with earring back. 
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Fall Loves

Posted on September 30, 2019 by lexicolton

Julius has started the absolute cutest thing over the last couple weeks.  He has been spontaneously thanking me for helping him.  After I serve him dinner he’ll say “thank you mama” which sounds like “tutu mama”.  If I bring him some milk after he asks for it “tutu mama”.  I’ll help him open a container, “tutu mama”.  I’ll change his diaper “tutu mama”.  Every time he says it, it warms my heart.  The other day Will and I both helped him with his dinner and he said “tutu mama. Tutu dada.”  I’m in love with this little guy all over again!

You know what else I’m in love with? Fall!  Perhaps my first true love, I have always loved the crisp bite in the air, the changing color of the leaves, and of course, Halloween.  I love fall food too!  Cider, apples, winter squash make me hungry just think about them! Lately we’ve been getting lots of kale and potatoes in our farm share.  Normally I’d make Portuguese Kale Soup with this recipe from Yankee Magazine but since I’m still on my mostly vegetarian kick I had to make it up a bit differently.  (Will has informed me there is a word for people like me and that is “flexitarian”.)  If you try this recipe you won’t be disappointed!  It’s simple and delicious, and goes great with a loaf of crusty bread.

A bowl of this vegetarian kale soup, a pumpkin beer and some hot buttered bread are calling my name…

Vegetarian Kale Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 3 vegetable boullion cubes (I used the Knorr boullion)
  • 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
  • 2 yukon gold potatoes, chopped into large dice
  • 1 large bunch of kale
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Remove the tough stems and ribs and chop the kale leaves into 2 sq inch pieces.  Saute onion in butter or olive oil over medium heat until soft and fragrant 5 or 6 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Add vegetable boullion and 6 cups of water.  Bring to a simmer and add kale, cooking for a few minutes until wilted.  Add the cannellini beans,  potatoes and basil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

If a pot of this soup doesn’t look like it will take the chill out of fall, I don’t know what will!

As Julius would say… “Tutu” to all of you for reading my blog!  I love each and every one of you!

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