Theresa's Baby

My friend Theresa and her husband are welcoming another baby girl to their family! Baby girl 3 is the first daughter to be born in the winter, so naturally I knew she needed a knitted hat! I used a double strand (one pink, one white) from my odds and ends yarn collection. I also added a braid to the top of the hat by using a tapestry needle to weave it into the point and I love it! A lot!

My January Wreath

It's January 21st and the Jones Christmas tree is still standing.  While I am fine with my Christmas tree being up inside, I don't want my neighbors to know that I still have Christmas decorations hanging.  So, down came the Christmas Wreath. 

I wanted to create a wreath that still said "winter."  I went to Michael's and bought a 14" foam wreath and covered it with a fluffy white yarn that reminded me of snow.  I also had a 40% coupon!  I then made a bunch of blue felt flowers using this tutorial.  I looked at many tutorials, but I liked these flowers the most.  Here is a close up of my flowers:

I really love how the wreath turned out!  Every time I see it, it reminds me of snow!    Happy Snow Day!

-9 degrees

Chris and I are currently in Vermont staying at our favorite place: Greenmont Farms! Google it, it's pretty awesome! We have skied, gone to the movies and done a good bit of relaxing. Last night I mad a killer lasagna! I also have had time to plan my next crafting and canning projects, including gifts for a few close friends and family members who have birthdays soon. But for now, I leave you with this photo, because negative nine is really cold!

Orange Ginger Marmalade

I love my husband!  So much that I threw him a New Haven Pizza Tasting party for his 30^th birthday last night(don’t worry, I’ll post the results soon)!  And my husband loves oranges.  Every year we buy a big box of oranges from a fundraiser and it is glorious!  Sometimes Chris eats 5 in a sitting... this might ruin dinner, but that's ok because he is never going to get scurvy.  This year we didn't go through the entire box of oranges.  Chris suggested I do something with these oranges and we both know what that means: canning!  Over the summer we got married in a barn and we drank out of mason jars.  You can see one here:

This meant that we had 160 mason jars in our possession.  Oranges and canning mean one thing: marmalade!   I went to one of my favorite websites: Foodinjars.com.  It is a great website and I have learned a lot about canning from Marisa.  I chose her Orange Ginger Jam and my neighbors Julie and Dave came over to partake in the canning experience.  As always we had a great time! 

 This was our final product!  Everything looks so pretty in jars!  If you are looking to try making marmalade, this one is fantastic!  The ginger and orange are so delicious together, I highly recommend it.  Here was our finished product: 

Have a great week and make this marmalade!

A New Year

For the last 8 years, I haven't set resolutions for the new year.  There is a very simple reason for this: I never keep resolutions!  One year I decided to write down every book I read during that year.  By January 15th, the list was crumpled on my bookshelf, and my books piled up without being recorded.  This is a new year!  Many things have changed in 2011.  I went from dating my boyfriend to married to my husband (exciting!), a renter to a homeowner (a little scary), and had many other less significant happenings.  So this year is a year for goals!  Here they are:

1.  Sew, Knit and Craft more!
2. Become a more experienced cook while having fun with my kitchen adventures!

3. Go to the YMCA at least twice a week... (This one is quite easy!)

4. Appreciate my husband every day because he is such a great guy!  (Mushy, I know)

So I hope to use this blog to document my kitchen and crafting adventures, especially if I create something for the kitchen! 

Enjoy!