Relaxin' with some Pineapples doily

This is another exciting day for me as I have managed to complete a second doily! Considering I wasn't sure if I would finish the first one, this is a very serious accomplishment. This one is a lot smaller than the last one, but equally as charming. The pattern is called "Pineapple Delight" and it was designed by Cille Heckenbach just this year! When I first started hunting down doily patterns I wasn't too keen on the pineapple ones, but after crocheting one I am completely in love.

I wonder what the next doily I make will look like? Time to start searching for another pattern! Perhaps I will someday design my own...

Downtown Chicago

My doily is finished. I learned how to block a doily and although I'm by far no pro at it, it was fun and my doily actually lays flat! The little bowl above was found in downtown Naperville in Illinois. I have a thing for pottery, what can I say?

You don't see these types of busses everywhere, but I spied one in Chicago! This beauty was sitting right outside Sifu when we first parked.

This has been a very exciting weekend. I was able to visit downtown Chicago and get a feel for the area's vibe! I visited a few little shops and of course I had deep dish pizza and Chicago style hot dogs!

My favorite place in downtown Chicago is called Sifu Design Studio. This fun little shop was like walking into a needlework fantasy world. I found some great tatting thread which I will use to crochet something in micro-form. Check out Sifu for your needlework needs, they have a great website and Lisa offers classes all the time!

I also found a few different yarns to add to my stash until I decide what to do with them. The cute rings and vintage knitting needles were just an added bonus to this amazing little shop.

This little pie pan was found in another great little shop called "Roost" which was right up the road from Sifu. I cannot say enough good things about this little antique store, but they have an amazing assortment of collectible antiques. I happen to be a Mason jar obsessor and when I walked in my little eyes locked onto three of the biggest mason jars I have ever seen. Had I not be being mindful of my budget I may have purchased them. Now that I am home I wish I had gotten one!

To-Do almost Done

Todays goal: finish rounds 21-32 of this doily, wash it, then iron it flat and admire my work.

The middle finger on my left hand is almost raw from crocheting with this tiny needle and thread, but I can't slow down now.

I will update later on this evening when I have this completed!

I am several days into this project and astonished by the speed of an old substitute teacher we used to have. Her name was Mrs. Boswell and she could crochet a doily about this size in one class period- one hour and a half. At the time I never realized how amazing that was. I wish she were still around so I could tell her how much respect I have for her now! 

The designer herself

I have been absolutely honored to talk to the actual designer of this fabulous doily pattern. I continued to get hung up on the 5th round. If I had only read on to round 6 where is said "flower" I may have realized what it meant. Luckily I shot an email to Jacqui herself and she cleared it up for me. 

Now I have made it all the way to round 9! I am feeling so excited about making doilies for myself. Jacqui was eager to help and also told me that I may be interested in miniature crochet. I am definitely interested and I think everyone should take a look at her ebay shop. What she does is simply phenomenal! Her shop is called eastwick*dollhouse. 

Can you imagine making these tiny treasures? Such skill. I'll admit I am interested in trying, but reproducing her amazing work will definitely be a challenge. Great job Jacqui!

Crochet that doily!

As I said a few days ago, one of my goals is to crochet a doily from a beautiful vintage inspired pattern I found. I set out to crochet it small first and get a feel for crocheting doilies since I have yet to do one myself. WOW. I officially respect anyone who can crochet these beautiful little things! I am struggling big time with mine. It is just so intricate and it's not flat. I know you are supposed to wash it and then (block?) it to get it to lay flat, but I feel like mine won't do that no matter what I do! I'm only on the fourth round and already I'm questioning my qualifications on the art of doilies! I will persevere and hopefully I will succeed because I am absolutely in love with doilies. Don't they have such a romantic feel to them?

A Simple Flan Recipe

I wanted to share a dessert recipe that I grew up on. My mother would make it and then cover it with foil and put it in the refrigerator and like a good mother she shook her finger at us and in her most stern voice told us to stay out of it until it's cool. BUT as good little children, we never listened. We would come flying through the kitchen, pull the foil up and drag our little fingers through. By the time it was time to eat our flan we had left little finger streaks over every inch of the top of the custard. I will always have fond memories of sneaking into the flan!

Flan

1. 2 cans evaporated milk (12 oz)
2. 2 cans sweetened condensed milk (14oz)
3. 6 eggs
4. 1 cup sugar
5. 1 cup brown sugar
6. 2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the over to 325 degrees F. Take the brown sugar and push it into the bottom of a 13x9 glass cake pan. Mix all the other ingredients really well and then pour it over top of the brown sugar. If the brown sugar comes up it'll be okay- it goes back down when it cooks. I use a 10x15 cake pan to place the 13x9 into and then fill the 10x15 up with about 1.5-2" of water then place into the oven. Bake for approximately 1 hour until you can insert a butter knife into the center and it comes out clean. Cover and cool in the refrigerator overnight and serve cold. 

You can also use custard dishes or pie pans to bake in. When you make it smaller you can just flip the flan dish over and let the brown sugar run over the flan, or simply flip each slice over and spoon the brown sugar over top.

My favorite way to switch this up is to take a dry chocolate cake mix and pour it out over top of the flan before baking, bake, and then dust any excess powder off the top. It makes a yummy chocolate layer over the top!  

Making memories, building dreams

Well thanks to the rain our basement flooded. It took two back breaking hours to get the four inches of water out with five gallon buckets and three people. About twenty minutes after we finished hauling all the water out, my husbands oldest brother calls to ask if we needed a pump to pump the water out. Seriously?!


Another memory can be added to the list I suppose. At least our two boys enjoyed the giant swimming pool! The best part about this situation was me telling Zachery a few weeks ago that we should just make a pool and call it good as opposed to building our house. God definitely has a sense of humor!