Archive | October, 2012

making a car seat swaddle blanket

October 8, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Although you may not believe it, Sicily gets cold. No snow, granted, but it’s still in the 40s-50s F all winter long, and winter lasts from late November to late March. I’m concerned about keeping our newborn baby boy warm and cozy this winter. During our time here in the States, I have been buying up warm winter things, such as this darling little fleece bunting (found it for $10… perfect indoor lounge wear!) and have finally begun making a couple things for him, too.

Just the other day my mom and I made a hooded car seat blankie by following the instructions on one of my favorite blogs: The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking. (I’ll be guest posting there in November!) The steps in Kelly’s hooded blanket tutorial are easy to follow and the results are so cozy for my little babe. Follow along while I show you what we did…

I chose navy blue flannel for the inside of the blanket and a blue-and-red plaid for the outside. We began by drawing a curved shape on a folded square meter of flannel. I then cut along the shape I’d drawn.

Proof that we followed the tutorial every step of the way! The fabric now has the shape that my final product will take.

We laid the flannel pieces out on top of some cotton batting and then flattened the flannel onto the batting.

Note: We might have seriously damaged the ping pong table as we ironed on it. Be a little smarter than we felt at 10pm that night and use your ironing board instead!

A break to admire the kitty cat, Luna.

After we finished smoothing, ironing, and ruining the ping pong table, we pinned the flannel to the batting and then I sewed around the entire blanket. We then flipped it inside out and…

… sewed a straight line across the top of one of the corners. This, when trimmed and flipped around, made a hood!

So cute. We’re almost done. I top-stitched around the entire blanket to give it a beautiful finished edge.

Meanwhile my mom measured the distance between the straps in the car seat so that we could make holes in the blanket for the straps to fit through. More tracing and measuring. I then sewed around the markings.

My mom used a rotatory board and cutter to slice along the marking lines we’d made. And that’s it!

We put it into the car seat and the straps all fit through the openings we’d just cut in the blanket. The blanket will wrap around my little boy so nicely and keep him snug and warm in trips in the car all winter. Plus he’ll look so handsome in warm plaid flannel!

Now all I need is a baby to wrap up in it. Baby boy, whenever you decide you’re ready around January 30, I’m so excited to meet you!

12 :: in arts and crafts, Baby Numero Due

life lately

October 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Here are a few Instagram photos from our visit to Virginia thus far.

fun times at a park near my parents’ house

no trip to the park is complete without a picnic in a basket, right?

how to keep a sick baby entertained in church for a very short time

& are you allowed on the dining room table, kitty cat?

a trip to Frying Pan Park Farm

when you’re walking around the neighborhood and you get tired… by all means, lie down

& enjoying a book from her great-grandparents, Brother Sun, Sister Moon

so many fingerless glove orders, so little time!

& can you spy our baby bumps?? My dear friend Abi and I are due just 5 days apart!

“playing” Banangrams with Lena, wherein she dumps pieces out and I spell her full name
(and her baby brother’s potential names, but I can’t share those photos!)
& reading with her Poppy

learning to walk in Mama’s new shoes

& out on another walk in a sweater her mama knit her

6 :: in Lena, life lately, Virginia

life lately

October 5, 2012 at 11:00 am

Here are a few Instagram photos from our visit to Virginia thus far.

fun times at a park near my parents’ house

no trip to the park is complete without a picnic in a basket, right?

how to keep a sick baby entertained in church for a very short time

& are you allowed on the dining room table, kitty cat?

a trip to Frying Pan Park Farm

when you’re walking around the neighborhood and you get tired… by all means, lie down

& enjoying a book from her great-grandparents, Brother Sun, Sister Moon

so many fingerless glove orders, so little time!

& can you spy our baby bumps?? My dear friend Abi and I are due just 5 days apart!

“playing” Banangrams with Lena, wherein she dumps pieces out and I spell her full name
(and her baby brother’s potential names, but I can’t share those photos!)
& reading with her Poppy

learning to walk in Mama’s new shoes

& out on another walk in a sweater her mama knit her

6 :: in Lena, life lately, Virginia

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake with Praline Frosting

October 4, 2012 at 1:00 pm

(Thank you all for your excitement over Elliott’s return! He arrived safely last night to sweet Virginia and found his little wife waiting for him outside customs with the promised Starbucks decaf soy mocha. Lena couldn’t believe her eyes when her daddy picked her up in his arms; the look of astonishment and joy on her little face will stay with me for a long time.)

Last week two of my cousins, Anna and Allie, came over for dinner. Before the girls arrived, my grandmother spilled the beans that Anna had just received her Masters diploma in the mail. (Anna is sorta brilliant and is in a PhD program at Johns Hopkins.) So I know that a Masters is only a stepping stone on the way to a PhD, but… don’t you think getting a diploma in the mail is a rather unceremonious way of finding out you have achieved a major milestone in life?

Well, we thought so. So… we baked a cake! And not just any cake. This cake was on the front cover of September’s Southern Living Magazine, and I happen to have been dreaming of a bite of that cake for weeks. Can you imagine why?

Lena “helped” me in the kitchen (and might have enjoyed a little batter along the way too!).

This cake is so good, in fact, that it inspired me to write poetry:

Lots of tastes along the way

Make baking a fun way to spend the day!

In the end, we ate the cake.

Here’s the recipe so you too can bake!

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake with Praline Frosting

Hands-on Time: 40 Minutes

Total Time: 4 Hours, 10 Minutes

Ingredients

CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

APPLE CAKE BATTER:

1 cup finely chopped pecans
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups peeled and finely chopped Gala apples (about 1 1/2 lb.)

PRALINE FROSTING:

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions

Prepare Filling: Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended and smooth. Add egg, flour, and vanilla; beat just until blended.
Preheat oven to 350º. Bake pecans in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.
Stir together 3 cups flour and next 7 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in eggs and next 3 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in apples and pecans.
Spoon two-thirds of apple mixture into a greased and floured 14-cup Bundt pan. Spoon Cream Cheese Filling over apple mixture, leaving a 1-inch border around edges of pan. Swirl filling through apple mixture using a paring knife. Spoon remaining apple mixture over Cream Cheese Filling.
Bake at 350º for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 2 hours).
Prepare Frosting: Bring 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 3 Tbsp. milk to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly; boil 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth; stir gently 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly. Pour immediately over cooled cake.

18 :: in eat this, family, Virginia