My First Love

Of all the memories that managed to stick around from when I was a wee tiny child, pasta was definitely my first love. Coffee is a close second. My parents would have friends over, we would roll out crazy long sheets of pasta dough, and everyone would enjoy their dinner a little bit more due to the satisfaction of making it with their own two hands. 

When I got married and moved away, my Mom and Dad got me the two most important kitchen accessories: A Kitchen Aid mixer, and a pasta machine. 

I use it as often as I can, and homemade fettuccine is my go-to impress the neighbors meal. It's easy, but a tiny bit time consuming. In the words of the great Alton Brown, "Your patience will be rewarded."

This is a pretty basic pasta dough recipe, I had a photocopy from the book that came with my Mom's pasta machine, so original credit goes to Mercado, I believe. 

You start with a bowl, dump in your flour and salt, then dig a little swimming pool in the middle for your wet ingredients to play in. I add a few teaspoons of dried herbs to the wet ingredients to make my pasta look pretty. :) 

Stir with a fork, just like you're making scrambled eggs, scraping a little of the flour wall in at a time. GO SLOWLY, if the flour gets added too quickly, you will get a big crumbly mess. Trust me. 

You will get to a point where the fork will no longer cut it. That's when you get your hands involved. Knead the remaining flour into the dough until it is all combined, and your dough ball is tough, and not sticky. Sort of Play-dough consistency. 

Roll it into a nice, happy ball, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes. 

Cut the ball in quarters, and flatten and cut it with your machine, if you have one. If you do not, don't despair! You can roll your pasta out with a rolling pin and make ravioli, tortellini, or just cut strips with a pizza cutter! (this part is fun for the kids)

Then hang your pasta to dry! Before I got this fancy pasta rack, I used 1/4" dowels hanging from my cabinets with rubber bands. Classy, I know, but it worked really well! 

When you are ready to eat, boil a BIG pot of SALTED water (DO NOT skip the salt, it makes all the difference in the world with ANY pasta... I can go on a very long tirade about not salting pasta water, but I will spare you today. ) Your water should taste like the ocean. Don't add a teaspoon to a gallon of water and call it salted! Ok ok ok, I'm calming down. 

Depending on the thickness and level of dryness, your pasta should cook in 5-10 minutes. Just keep sampling until it feels good. 

... I promise you, it will be oh, so good! 

-CJ

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My PHD in Crafts

That's Projects Half Done, by the way. I started blogging not 2 months ago because I had an insane amount of time on my hands. I made stuff every day, and I felt like my efforts deserved a bit more than an Instagram photo on my Facebook feed. In the last 3 weeks, my free time has plummeted. 

I walk through my house, bleary-eyed in the middle of the afternoon, and all I see are projects.... incomplete projects. *dramatically falls to the floor*

Yes, I've been busy for the first time in a long time. Ok, ever.  I really have no idea where the last week went. 

Exhibit A: Almost all the way finished coin purses to donate to the thrift store. (made from the sleeves of thrifted men's shirts, of course) 

Exhibit B: The stack of jeans, half cut up into squares, that may eventually be a jean quilt. 

Then there are things that aren't even worth photographing. Like the stuffed fish that I had to gut to get the broken song box out of, that I never closed back up.  The purse pattern that I have the interfacing cut out for, but nothing else. My 3/4 yard piece of green felt that I hope I can turn into a Christmas countdown calendar with 25 individual handmade felt ornaments before December 1st. The heap of thrift store clothes, the ACU jacket scraps that need to be transformed by Oct 30th for a fundraiser, two pairs of  pants that I promised someone I would tailor for them, and have done by today....oh, and I just adopted 3 more skeins of yarn this morning. Meanwhile, I'm wearing my favorite pullover sweatshirt that has a ripped seam in the armpit that I've known about for over a year now, and never fixed. 

I'm so eager to get back into the swing of things. I just feel so off when I go this long without creating something. 

The very wonderful news, and the reason that I've been so busy, is that I have  budding social life! I've never been much of a social person, but I suppose living in this very tiny community forced me into it, and it feels good. Between mommy group, photography group, craft group, and just knowing people in general, I can't leave the house without running into someone I know. It really makes this place feel more like home. It's pretty cool. :)

---CJ 

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Krakow!

I honestly can't remember the last time I was bored. I've had SO much going on the last few.... months. Whew! Our latest adventure: Krakow, Poland. 

This place is honest to goodness one of my favorites so far. It felt so homey and safe. It's a tiny town filled wall to wall with pretty things. 

I love riding in to a place at night. After 10 hours of driving, we just headed up to the apartment and went to bed. I woke up the next morning to this. 

 Here's our apartment's courtyard. It's so authentic feeling and lived in, with the super colorful laundry hanging out to dry. *swoon*

I got to hand feed, and hold, pigeons. Which is a dream come true for me, because I am weirdly obsessed with pigeons. I'm pretty sure I was one in a previous life or something. 

I went in THE most beautiful church I've ever seen in my life. St. Mary's Cathedral. 

 ...And one block from the apartment was this. the Wawel Cathedral and castle. It was really nice to have all the landmarks of a huge city in such a compact area. We got to see everything and have time to actually relax on our vacation! 

By the way, the food is to die for. I ate 5 different kinds of pierogies. Amazing. 

Our visit to this lovely place inspired my husband to embrace his Polish heritage, as I am embracing Wycinanki. It's a traditional Polish paper cutting art, and it is SUPER cool. 

This is a snapshot I took of a logo from one of the restaurants we ate at. They have been making these designs since the 1800's, but they feel so modern. I fell totally in love! I'm sure there will be wycinanki crafts to come! 

--CJ

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Felt Bow Tie Pasta

My child finds mysterious ways to inspire me. Example: One of my friends needed their daughter's Halloween costume shortened, in the midst of measuring and pinning and whatnot, she left her plastic pearl necklace here. Dom found it, and has been trying to feed it to me as Spaghetti for the past few days. 

So I was thinking

I need to make more stuff with many small parts so I can go crazy trying to round them all up constantly! This kid needs play pasta! 

It's an easy one, trust me. It's exactly like making real pasta shapes, except felt is less floppy and tear-able...So it's way less frustrating.  

You will need:

1 sheet of felt (mine's antique white)

Floss or thread to match

Pinking shears (zig zag edge scissors)

First, cut 2" wide strips with pinking shears. 

Cut the strips into 2x2" squares with regular straight scissors. 

Take one square and accordion fold it, so it looks like a "W" ... or "M" depending on where you're standing.   

If you get confused, you can just check out a piece of bow tie pasta, but here's what you should be looking at. 

Thread up your needle with 1/2 thickness of the floss (3 strands) Start in the middle crease...

... thread to the outside, then back all the way through to the other side...

...and through to the middle again. 

Like this. 

Knot the two ends together, pull tight and double knot. 

Taadaa!

One sheet of felt will make 20 pieces. Which is the perfect amount for a bowl of pasta. 

--CJ

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The [Won't Fall on the Ground and Get Run Over] Stroller Blanket

I can't believe it's October already! The leaves are changing, it's starting to get cold, and today, it looks very gray and wintery. *sigh* 

On a happy note, the other day my friend/next door neighbor hooked me up with a bunch of fabric. Amongst which was this super-adorable monster print. I was instantly in love! I needed to make it into something that would get a lot of use, so I can see it all the time and be happy. It was a whole yard (which I don't usually get because fabric is pricey over here) so I could make a blanket for Dom! 

I'm pretty sure anyone who has a kid has put them in a stroller in the winter, and threw a blanket on them, because I know I would love to be chaffered around while bundled in a blanket. Then as you're trekking through the snow, suddenly your child gets claustrophobic, and Incredible Hulks their way out of their cozy bundle. Leaving your Brookstone Nap blanket mangled, wet and dirty wrapped in the tires of your stroller. Yes? 

NO MORE! 

Introducing The [Won't Fall on the ground and Get Run Over] Stroller Blanket! 

It's a simple square blanket with straps, super easy.

You need:

1 yard cotton fabric

1 yard Fleece/minky/flannel 

1 hair elastic

2 buttons

sewing machine

First things first, wash and dry your fabric. 

Press and cut the cotton fabric into a 36x36" square. 

You will have a strip left over.

Cut that strip to about 15" long (the one pictured was shorter, but if I were to do it again, longer would be better) then cut the strip in half lengthwise. 

Fold and press your two pieces in half, and stitch along the long open end. 

Press open the seams, turn them right side out, re-press, and tuck the open ends into the tube. 

Cut the metal piece off of your hair elastic, and cut the remaining piece in half. You can melt the ends with a lighter to keep them from fraying. 

Insert the elastic loops into one end of each strap. Pin in place and sew. I ended up hand sewing this part because my machine did not like going over the elastic. 

Now take your nicely cut 36x36" square of cotton fabric, and line up its selvedge edge with the selvedge edge of the fleece (minky/ flannel/ whatever you use). I do this because it is the factory straight edge. The cuts they make at the craft store are rarely ever straight.  

 See:

Use the cotton as a stencil, and cut the fleece to match it. 

Sandwich your strap pieces (elastic end inward) between the fleece and cotton (which are right side together) eight inches from the outside edge, one on each side. Pin all the way around the  blanket, and stitch, using a 1/2" allowance. Leave a 5-6 inch opening to turn the blanket right side out. 

This is what you will get! Hand sew the turning hole shut. 

Press it nice and flat (on the cotton side, fleece and minky don't like to be ironed) re-pin around the edge, and top stitch. 

I used about a 3/4" allowance. 

Sew a button to the base of each strap. You will use the strap to attach the blanket to your stroller frame so it can't get thrown off. 

If you fold the blanket in thirds, and roll it up, the straps can also be used to tie the roll together for tidy storage. 

I had to bribe him with fruit snacks to model this thing for me. Crazy kid. 

It's wide enough that it can be tucked in around his body, and there's enough room at the top that he doesn't feel like he's in a straight jacket. 

And it's just short enough that it won't hang all over his wet boots! 

--CJ 

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