It's finally done. At least mostly done, it still need tabs and a dowel to hang it. My sister has her very own advent calendar, and I get to take mine home.

My mother started to cross-stitch one for my sister not too long after she was born. She missed a line somewhere in one of the figures and between the need for things to look just right, yes, I come by it honnestly, business of life, etc. it just didn't get finished. Two years ago I picked up a pattern for a pocket calendar thinking it would be a fun summer project. I'm not sure what happened to that first summer, but somehow it flew by and the extent of my accomplishment telling myself that it would be an easy project.
This summer, since I'm not working and only have the baby, cats and puppy to worry about, I decided to start and finish the project. At least I planned that I'd start and finish the project. Finally I took the first steps in sewing together 25 little pockets and roofs sometime in the fall. Here and there, with the help of my mother-in-law, I completed little bits of it. Blanket stitching teh houses onto the background didn't go as quickly as I would have liked. A few months after Monkey was born I ended up with a flare-up of tendonitis in my thumb despite following correct baby-lifting techniques. So the final touches (snowflake buttons) were put on on Christmas Eve after dinner with my hubby's family. I'm usually finished wrapping presents a week before Christmas, so this was a little unnerving for me.
It's not as perfect as I'd like, a few things are a little askew, but I'm pretty happy with it, and I think my sister is too!

Not the best picture, but here's the final product! I bought this beautiful Christmas fabric over a year ago with the intentions of making a tree skirt. A few things got in the way of this being completed last year - a move, new puppy and being pregnant, all that on top of teaching a crazy course load.

This fall I got my act together, found a pattern on line, made a few chages, and voila, the skirt was finished in about 2 weeks. This was a great project. The pattern was easy to print off and put together. Instead of making this a circle, like the pattern shows, I made each section come to a point so as to create a decagon (I had to look that up, FY, it's a 10 sided object). Popped in some seams and pieced it together then snipped the edges. This was the first project I completed using a new-to-me sewing maching, so it was great for testing out the machine before tackling any more complicated projects.

I love that this is a piece that I made myself, that the fabrics are ones that I absolutely love, and most of all, that it is washable! Within the first few days of it being completed it was spit up on, and now it's become the dog's favourite place for burrying her bones. Ahh, pets and child

I love being creative in the kitchen. I find it theraputic. Unfortunately I no longer have the metabolism of a 13 year old so I can't eat all that I make. No, I can eat it all, I just shouldn't. In order to bake as much as I want to, I give a lot of things away as gifts. From granola to jellies here are a few of the things I've done in the past, but didn't really get around to this year. Hopefully they will inspire you.

Cookies
Whether it's Espresso Shortbread or Vanilla Bean Icebox Cookies, a pretty bag or tin of cookies made with quality ingredients, (local unsalted butter, organic vanilla, free range eggs), is always appreciated. I find that the classic, old fashion cookies have great keeping quality so they work really well. Depending on the recipient I'll even tuck in a copy of the recipe.
See my previous post for a few recipes that are great for giving. 

Biscotti
One year I made custom flavours for family, everything from classic chocolate almond to spiced fruit and nut to blueberry white chocolate. I use a simple basic recipe and then jazz it up with  different flavours. I like to package these using paper coffee bags or in some cellophane.

Spices
I love making my own spice mixes. I keep a basic Tex-Mex one on hand that I use for tacos, chili and anything else that needs a kick. Hubby also is super at making different rubs of meat. Simply whip up a big batch of your favourite spice mix fill up some pretty jars and label. Include a few ideas for how to use it!

Preserves
Since I can remember I've been inolved in making jam. Strawberry season rolled around and I got the task of standing on a chair by the sink hulling the strawberries while mom and dad did the slicing and boiling. Then it was rasperries, apricots and blackberries. As I got older, I graduated to using the food mill. Each summer and fall I look forward to stocking up the pantry with jam. This year I only got a few batches made, the week before baby arrived, I made Stawberry Vanilla Bean jam and in August apricot. I`ve still got Roasted Garlic Jelly on the list. Hopefully next year I`ll get ahead of myself and get enough made to give away! 
Because there is quite a bit of science involved in canning, and no one wants to get Botulism or other nasties that can appear in improperly canned goods, it`s important to use highly tested recipes. I find that the Bernardin website has a great selection of recipes and good instructions for beginners too!

So obviously being preggers was a life changing event. Of course, having a baby also meant major changes. Although, for the most part I still remained in control, or thought I was still in control for both of these events. This is quickly coming to an end.
I think we've finally hit the biggest change, aside from talking. Yep, he's moving. I now officially have an inchworm that is eager to get his little knees underneath him. Fortunately he's still moving fairly slowly so I can generally keep up with him, aside from the headder he did off the bed the other day (epic mommy fail), so baby gates are still a few weeks away.
Now there's a whole new world of things to discover. Right now he's most interested in the dogs and cat's toys, especially the kong with leftover peanut butter in it. Ick. At least he'll have a good imune system!

Christmas is probably my favourite time of the year to bake cookies. I love making the family recipes I grew up on as well as adding new and exciting treats to my repetoire. For me baking during this time of year really holds a special place in my heart because, to me, it means family. Whether it's Nana's ginger snaps (excellent year-round with tea by the way), or Grandma's sugar cookies they all have so many memories.
One of my favourite is my Grandma's almond cake. The first time I made it was 2 years ago. The recipe was the last Christmas gift I got from her. It took me 8 years to bring myself to make it. And reading the recipe still makes me cry. I didn't get a chance to make it last Christmas; between teaching, participating in a local baker's market, moving and a serious case of first-trimester narcolepsy, it just didn't pan out. This year it's a must on the baking list.
 I usually go a bit overboard with the cookies, partly because of my sweet tooth, but mostly because I love having them around for family and friends. Also, I love baking cookies with people. One of my best baking assistants is my hubby. I do most of the baking, but he's a great help. Whether it's dipping cookies in chocolate, taste testing, cutting out shapes or refilling my eggnog, he's always there with enthusiasm and a sense of humour. The other night he helped out with the Cardamom Honey cookies while I fed baby. Yep, those are Christmas lobsters he's making!

I've tried not to set the bar too high for myself this year. Baking and taking care of a 5 month old at the same time isn't easy. Things get burnt. The dog steals anything that isn't closely gaurded.  So what gets done gets done, and I'll probably opt for more slice and bake cookies rather than cut outs this year. I do know that I'm already looking forward to Christmases in the future when little hands can help us make cookies together.

Here are a few of my favourites for you to check out. Sorry, only a lucky few get the family recipes!

• Cardamom & Honey Cutouts
• Icebox Shortbread
• Raspberry Hazelnut Linzer
• Chocolate Hazelnut Cutouts

Hope your baking is full of friends, family and lots of love!

As soon as Hallowe'en is over there is talk about what to do with all the candy. I've heard everything from thow it out after a week to donate it to the food bank. Growing up I knew this stash had to last through to Easter so I always rationed my treats very carefully. I'm not into wasting food. And it someone spent money on it, and I'm far too, let's say thrifty, to throw it out. 

This year we saw 13 trick-or-treaters and had 3 large boxes of candy = lots of leftovers! Rather than just eating them all myself, and I've had my fair share, they are going to be mixed into some of my favourite baked treats. This way it doesn't get wasted and I don't have to buy choclate for baking for the forseeable future.

So far I've made, and eaten, chewy cookie bars with Reese's Pieces. Sorry, no photo. They didn't last long enough. They were really good.
Other plans include: peanut butter cup brownies, coffee crisp cookies, and smartie cookies or cookie bars. Basically, anything that is chocolate is going to be used up like chocolate chips!
Here's my super easy Cookie Bar recipe. I often use a combination of chocolate and dried cranberries or nuts, and have been mixing it up using leftover candy instead of chocolate chips.

Chewy Cookie Bars
1/4 cup butter at room temp
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips (really who measures the chocolate chips?!)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8 x 8 pan.
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.
Stir in dry ingredients.
Stir in chocolate chips. Spread into pan.
Bake for 25-30 min.

I have friends that live for Hallowe'en and friends that detest the day. I'm usually somewhere in the middle. I love any chance to dress up and I love the chocolate. I also love any excuse for baking themed treats. I'm not big on being scared, and I really don't appreciate how some people use it as an excuse for bad/annoying/dangerous behaviour.

This Hallowe'en was filled with firsts for us. First Hallowe'en in our townhouse. First with a dog. And first with a baby. Needless to say, I was looking forward to it more than usual.

In order to get into the festive spirit, I learned how to make a simple, quilted table runner. We put up a few decorations and got ourselves ready for a family dinner and hours of answering the door handing out the 300+ pieces of candy we'd stocked up on. The family brought dinner over and I made pumpkin and ghost shaped biscuits. As we ate we answered the door to a total of 13 kids. A bit of a let down. Yes, it was raining, but seriously, where were all the kids? Our complex should be a Hallowe'en goldmine - only 5 steps between doors!

The rest of the evening was spent admiring babe in his Yoda costume - touque thanks to a talented Auntie and robe supplied by Baba.

More on how the candy will be used up to come...

OK, so I'm great at starting projects that I think are managable only to find out that they are way more complicated and/or time consuming that expected. Just ask my sister. I was going to sew her an advent calendar last year and so far I've got some of the material and the pattern sitting nicely in a drawer. Same goes for a tree skirt I was going to quilt (I don't actually know how to quilt, but hey why not just give it a whirl!).
Today was a province wide Professional Development Day and although I'm not working this year I still attended a session, baby and all. Today I learned how to make a rag quilt. It was a pretty simple sewing project which is great because I haven't done much sewing in the last 15+ years, and trying to do anything that requires a lot of thinking and concentration is a near impossible feat with a 3 1/2 month old.
As I've mentioned, I can be a bit of a perfectionist. I realized that any chance of this thing turning out perfectly was shot after I had sewn all of the small squares with a 3/4 inch seam instead of a 1/2 inch seam. I'm going to chalk the inability to differentiate left of 5/8 from right of 5/8 to baby brain. So I let go and didn't worry about whether every line was exactly perfect, or if all of the patterns were facing the same way. In the end, it made the whole process much more enjoyable. It's not perfect, but it's mine.

I need to be busy. I need to be able to be creative. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but I'm trying to let that go. I decided to start a blog on a whim today when my oven didn't hold the correct temperature and my scones turned out flat. At least I'm blaming
the oven; could be baby brain, but I'll go with the oven. 
I tell my students to look for the positive, the opportunities, and the possibilities when things aren't perfect. So, I guess this is going to be a dedication to the good, the bad and the ugly that I encounter in everyday life and the lessons that can be learned from them.