Knot Sew Crafty

Spring Fever

This is my first flower of the year.  Spring is really coming now, I can feel it.  

Four out of five of us are sick today, and I think that the fifth one is soon to join us.  Bleh.

Louis C.K. does a great routine about getting mad at your spouse for getting sick.  It's so true, mostly if you have small kids.  If you look for his clips on youtube, which I definitely recommend, be forewarned that he can be very vulgar.  He's also incredibly funny, especially about parenthood.  I remember seeing him on Conan once in the middle of the night when Willa was tiny.  I laughed so hard that I woke CMR and the baby and three year old Beatrix.  

It was worth it.

My Aching Chair

You might look at the picture below and think, "Hey, that's a perfectly nice-looking chair,"

and you'd be right except for:

Does anyone have good advice for covering furniture?  I can't afford to have it done for me, and my sewing skills are beginner level, at best.

Currently, it has a very pretty blanket lying on it, but I'd like a more permanent solution.

Any help would be much appreciated!

And The Winner Is...

Kristina of Jolly Hockey Sticks!

I love Kristina's blog because she makes lots of ice cream and bakes delicious English things, because she recommends Miss Buncle's Book and Barbara Pym, because she lives in England and gets to do things I dream of like going to Persephone Books and the Emma Bridgewater factory, and because she seems like a lovely person doing lovely things.  

Kristina, e-mail me your mailing address and your package will be on its way!

Thanks to everyone who visited and commented, especially those who visit a lot, those who drop by occasionally, and those of you who are brand-new.  Special thanks to Maya at Springtree Road who sent some delightful folks this way.  Any blog friend of Maya's is a blog friend of mine!

Please keep popping by, because...

You never know when there will be another Mystery Giveaway! 

Mwah ha ha!  

(Cue the spooky organ music...)

Blogaversaire and Giveaway

Knot Sew Crafty is one year old today!

Amazing.

I'm amazed most of all that I've kept at it.  Usually I get very excited about a new project and then swiftly lose interest, or come to think that the project is stupid and stop.  Blogging has been a totally different experience for me.

For one thing, the immediacy of posting keeps me from obsessively editing what I've written and then getting sick of it.  I write it, I read it over, and then I post it.  Then it's on to the next post.  No time to dwell and suffer and fret and doubt and agonize over every little word.

For another, there are very few constraints on what I can blog about, so it can be like a new project every day.  If I want to post a recipe for morning glory muffins one day, and wax rhapsodic about the virtues of Daniel Craig versus Sean Connery as James Bond the next, I am free to do it!  

Yet another thing is the wonder that is the craft/design/food/parenting blogosphere.  I have learned so much and had such a lovely time reading your blogs over this past year. You are endlessly talented, inspirational, clever, wise, and funny, and I don't have the words to express my happiness at having found you! 

And the comments!  The fact that people take time to write a comment on my little blog, and write such heartfelt, supportive, and downright funny things, is a joy to me every day.  

And I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would *meet* people on my computer that I now consider to be true friends.  I often communicate with them more than I do with my friends in real life!  

I want to thank everyone who visits, especially those who leave comments, and I hope that you'll come back!  I have great plans for Knot Sew Crafty's second year--like maybe even some actual crafts!

I am going to have a Mystery First-Birthday Giveaway, so leave a comment on this post if you'd like to enter.  I'll pick a winner on Friday at 8PM New York time.  Since I am not a Soulemama or an Angry Chicken, you'll have pretty good odds of winning!

Note to Pottymouth Mama--your package is on its way to you right now!

Note to Sherri the Claw-and my fellow Spring Swappers--I would love to show you a picture of the fun things that Sherri sent me, but my children immediately absconded with everything, including the mailing box.  I did manage to wrestle away the amazing mixed CD that Sherri made, and the book of Weekend Gardening Projects.  I can't wait until it gets warm enough to tackle garden projects!

Thank you, Sherri!  You are an amazing Swap-Mistress!

Time to Re-Think My Wardrobe?

I don't know quite how to feel about the fact that Michelle Obama dresses better to dig a garden than I do when I get dressed up.

I am very excited about the "Kitchen Garden" at the White House, though.

Pudding is in the Air, People!

Pudding is in the zeitgeist all of a sudden, and I am pretty darned happy about it.  It is fast replacing cupcakes and macarons as the go-to make-at-home dessert.  I love cupcakes, as most sane people do, and I must confess that I have never even had a macaron, let alone made one, but there is something about the nursery-food quality of pudding that makes me feel all warm and cozy inside, especially during these times of economic upheaval.  I haven't made pudding that didn't come from a cardboard box ever, and even the boxed kind I haven't made for years and years.

This morning I made butterscotch pudding from a recipe in the February 2009 issue of Gourmet.  

My life may never be the same.  

The recipe took about five minutes to make, and the little spoonful that I ate before putting the rest in the fridge was so delicious that I had to stop myself from eating spoonful after spoonful until there was nothing left.  I was slightly concerned about butterscotch, because I was thinking of the super-sweet super-sticky sauce that my dad loves to pour over vanilla ice cream, but the pudding really only bears a passing resemblance to the dessert topping.  If you think you don't like butterscotch, you still might want to give this a try.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROMULO YANES

BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING

SERVES4

• ACTIVE TIME:15 MIN

START TO FINISH:1 3/4 HR

• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• ACCOMPANIMENT: 

  lightly sweetened whipped cream

• Whisk together brown sugar, cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp salt in a heavy medium saucepan, then whisk in milk and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking frequently, then boil, whisking, 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Pour into a bowl, then cover surface with buttered wax paper and chill until cold, at least 1 1/2 hours.

RECIPE BY RUTH COUSINEAU

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I recently discovered that I am 1/128th Irish,

so I wish you a tiny Happy St. Patrick's Day.

^{And now a recipe passed down from my Irish great, great, great, great, great Grandfather.  (Or, in truth, found on the blog} Simply Recipes!)

Irish Soda Bread Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 4 to 4 1/2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 425°. Sift together 4 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl.

2 Using a pastry cutter or two knives, work butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, then stir in raisins.

3 Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and buttermilk to well and mix in with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir. Dust hands with a little flour, then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add in some more flour. Do not overknead! Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a round loaf.

4 Transfer dough to a large, lightly greased cast-iron skillet or a baking sheet. Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about 1/2'' deep in an "X" shape. Transfer to oven and bake until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped with a knife, about 35-45 minutes. (If you use a cast iron pan, it may take a little longer as it takes longer for the pan to heat up than a baking sheet.) Check for doneness also by inserting a long, thin skewer into the center. If it comes out clean, it's done.

Transfer bread to a rack to let cool briefly. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, or sliced and toasted.

Free Art to Cure the Monday Blahs!

from the Free Your Soul Free Art Project by Jen Wallace of Indiefixx

As seen on Cool Mom Picks

The Chalkboard Wall Speaks

Orangette is My New Love

I'm ashamed to say that I've only just recently started reading Orangette.

I'm about half-way through A Homemade Life, and I love it with the painful feeling that I get when I read Home Cooking.  

If I could, I would send this book to all of you!