Batley!

My friend at work Jen, asked a few weeks ago if I would crochet her daughter a Bat. As a fellow Bat lover, of course I obliged!! Plus I love Jen and all the sillyness she tells me about her daughter who I've never met but I'm sure we'd get along great if we did. She's 8 and wants to be an FBI agent and a Wolf part time when she grows up...enough said!
I've looked around online for crochet bat patterns before but never really found anything that I liked too much. BUT then I found this adorable Fruit Bat!!
I finished him last night and am soo happy with how he turned out! It takes a little finageling his feet to get him to stand but he will! Jen said that Cat will probably just hang him up somewhere so that made me feel better. I'm still not too good at getting these little dolls to sit and stand the way they should but I'm getting there =)
The best part is there are pipe cleaners in the wings so they can fold closed!!
Without further adieu...here is Batley!






Sorry for so many pictures but I'm really proud of this guy!!

Craft Club!

Last month my awesome crafty cousin Sarah asked if I would be a guest speaker at her Craft Club at her school, Raritan Valley Community College. I was so flattered to be asked and of course I said yes!!
I was really nervous at first about what types of things I would talk about or even what goes on in a craft club. Well she said I could talk about my inspirations, my blog, being featured on Craftster, etc. She also asked if I could maybe teach them all a craft. At fist I couldn't think of what craft I could teach within an hour. I mean I always think of myself as primarily a sewer. Although, I haven't sewed anything in what feels like forever. I've been crocheting a lot lately but that is a bit involved to teach to a room of college students too.
I finally decided on teaching them to cross stitch. It's pretty simple and the possibilities are endless!
So I looked through a few of my cross stitch and needlework books and typed up instructions on how to cross stitch and how to make a nice finished back for the hoop. I also photo copied a basic cross stitch alphabet. This way whatever we didn't cover or was missed, they could look back on their own.
I was pretty proud of how well organized it all was because I sometimes have a hard time expalaining my thoughts, I'm a scatter brain!
So Tuesday I headed to RVCC with some of my crafts in tow. I went to RVCC for one semester so it was fun being on campus again.
At noon, we got started! There were 5 girls total and I showed off some of the different cross stitch and embroidery projects I've made. I specifically asked Jeremy to give me back two of the things I had made him. I always hear of girls having problems deciding what to make for their boyfriends because let's face it, not everyone appreciates a crafted gift. I wanted to show them that with cross stitch and embroidery, you can pretty much incorparate whatever someone likes into an awesome gift! I also brought my crocheted purple jellyfish and pumpkin.
It really never gets old hearing people tell you how awesome your crafts are =D
The hour really flew by and I could have spent so much more time with those girls but alas, they had classes to get to =(

It was really so much fun hanging out with a bunch of other crafty girls, I wish I was part of a craft club!

Mini Vacay to Rochester

This past Friday morning Liz and I set off on the open road to Rochester, NY to visit Katie. Katie has lived up there since last June completing her residency and we have yet to visit! Liz picked me up at 9:00AM, we stopped at Starbucks to get some Pumpkin Spice in us and off we went! It was a beautiful day...until we got to Scranton. Then it started raining and did not stop...for the whole damn day!

We decided to stop in Ithaca, NY for lunch and to poke around in the little shops. The rain seriously put a damper on this. Liz had found a place for us to eat before we left, Waffle Frolic which was delicious!
My Waffle


Liz's Waffle


Not only were the waffles delish but the hot chocolate was the best I've ever had! We looked around a few stores in the center square area but again, the rain ruined it. There was one store Liz had found online, The Kitschen Sink before we left that we had to drive to but was totally worth it!! I could have seriously spent hours in that place, it was HUGE and there was so much stuff everywhere! The lady Lizzy who worked there and I immediately hit it off. We were talking about all the wonderful stuff she had and then she noticed I was looking at all the vintage craft supplies so she showed me into a secret room in the back with all kinds of amazing craft supplies, yarn, fabric, thread, needles, pin cushions, tons of stuff! I finally decided after circling the place 3 times to buy some lovely zebra knit fabric which I hope to make a dress out of and these adorable little salt and pepper shaker deer!! Aren't they the cutest?!



We had also drove around Cornell (ever heard of it?!) a little bit. I really just wanted a picture of a big Cornell sign but holy crap it was impossible to find. That campus is like on the side of a mountain or something, it was so hilly and the roads were twisty and windey, it was ridiculous! We finally found one Cornell sign but it was so out of the way, I had already put the camera away...LAME!
Here are some pictures I did take while driving around the Cornell campus, the rain did make it feel very much like Fall though.





We hit the road again and made a quick stop into the Bellwether Hard Cidery in Trumansburg, NY. We did a little tasting and everything was great but I really liked the Hard Cider with Cherry so I bought a bottle!

Again we were off but this time, no more stops...straight to Katie's. The rain didn't let up at all, if anything it seemed to get worse the closer we got to Katie's. We arrived around 6:30PM, took a tour of Katie and Scott's lovely home and went out to dinner. We ate at a place called Tap & Mallet. The food was really good and they had 6, count 'em 6 pages of beer!! I love beer but I stick to the usual Miller Lite and PBR with an occasional Yeungling thrown in. I don't really do all the fancy beer so I just got Woodpecker Cider...mmm mmmm good!
Here we three are, Liz, me and Katie!



After dinner we went back to the house, sat around for a few but eventually we all admitted to ourselves that we were very tired and we went to bed.

The next morning Katie had to work until Noon and Scott left for wedding in Jersey. Liz and I were able to get up at our leisure, eat some breakfast and watch CNN. Katie and Scott have an adorable puppy, Lily. She's a chocolate lab who I am of course allergic to =(


My allergies were acting up a lot so I decided to go outside for some fresh air. It was an absolutely beautiful day so I decided to take some pictures of all the beautiful fall scenery outside Katie's house. She has this tree right outside her front door that I have never seen before. It has these red berry looking things all over it and was so pretty. Also, here's a gnome I gave her riding a snail in the front garden =D






The leaves were absolutely beautiful up there!







Once Katie got home we headed out to Lake Seneca, one of the infamous Finger Lakes to go to some wineries. We had a wonderful lunch at Ventosa Winery and a tasting. The scenery up there was beyond breath taking!! I got a bottle of Reisling, mmmmm.




Then we went to Three Brothers Winery and did a tasting and I got a bottle of Gewurztraminer. Their vineyards were right by where we parked so I got some pictures of grapes on the Vine, it was so pretty.






Next, we went to Zugibe Winery and did a tasting there too, I got a bottle of Cayuga White. This was a fairly new winery, only opened last November but it was beautiful inside. Lots of dark wood everywhere, my favorite! The scenery outside was beyond words. Absolutely gorgeous!! Their vineyards were close to the parking lot too so I got some more pictures.






The last winery we went to was a Castle, Belhurst Winery where I got a bottle of another white wine called Neptune! It didn't look what I was hoping a Castle Winery would but it was still really neat and their view was also amazing!!





Here are all my wines together...if you look closely you can see the Reisling is already gone =P



That night we got some Mexican for dinner and then went home and played a trivia game on the Playstation which was so much fun. I LOVE trivia!! Sunday morning Liz and I got up, Katie made us breakfast and after we got ready we hit the road home. Nothing exciting happened on the way home, it was just a really long boring ride. All two lane highways, ugh!

It was a wonderful mini vacay with some even more wonderful friends!

Another Pumpkin

So I had made myself a little crocheted Pumpkin a couple weeks ago and my friend Shannon kept saying that she liked it and the gourd I just made too.
I didn't really like the gourd pattern that much so I decided I would make her a pumpkin. I used a bigger hook and added vines. I think I like this one better than mine!!
I told her I am going to give it to her at her Halloween party on the 30th but that is just way too far away. I am going to mail it and not tell her so it will be a surprise!





I hope she likes it!

Apple Crisp

Now that I had 15 apples in my fridge after apple picking, I had to find something to do with them!
Last year I made apple pancakes that Jeremy really liked so he requested more of those but still had 12 apples left!
At first I wanted to make an apple pie but finally decided a nice Apple Crisp was the way to go!
I looked on allrecipes.com for some recipes and found a good one but ended up altering it a bit.
This was the original recipe:

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
2 quarts peeled, cored and sliced apples

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar. Cut butter into mixture until crumbly.
Take half of the mixture and pat it into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Cover crumb mixture with apple slices, then sprinkle apple slices with remaining crumb mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until apples are tender.

Instead of 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, I did 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar and decreased the butter to only 1 cup because sheesh that's alot of butter!!

I decided to make these on Thursday night and brought them in to work on Friday. I didn't start peeling the apples til about 8:00pm and good grief it took longer than I had planned! Peeling, coring and slicing apples takes a while! The rest of the mixture was pretty quick to get together.
I baked it all for about 45 minutes and mmmm mmmmmm my apartment smelled all autumny and delish!!
Here are some lovely in progress shots...

A bunch of apples!



Isn't this one just picture perfect?!



Here they are all peeled and about to be cored and sliced up!!



I didn't get a picture of them sliced or the mixture but this is how lovely it looked when it came outta the oven!



Close up!!



I brought it into work and everybody loved it. I was slightly bummed that because it wasn't warm, we don't have an oven and I certainly can't put this metal pan in the microwave, the bottom crust was sticking to the pan. Oh Well! Everyone just scraped it up and enjoyed.
I'm really starting to enjoy baking and bringing it in for my co-workers. I don't want to keep things at home because I'll eat it all and get as big as a house and Jeremy doesn't really like sweets.
We have a Halloween party coming up at work so I want to bake something new...maybe a Pumpkin Roll??

Oh my Gourd!

Last night I finally finished my little gourd to go with my pumpkin I made a couple weeks ago. It took way longer than it should have. I put it down for about a week because there was one step I didn't understand. Last night I decided I HAD to figure it out and it was so easy, the wording was just a bit confusing. Once I figured out what the final outcome was, I understood it.

Here is where I got the free pattern.

And here he is!!



Posing with some real gourds LOL



He has a new home on my desk at work with the pumpkin I made. I started another pumpkin last night, it's working up so fast. He will be a smidge bigger and I'm going to add some vines. Can't wait to show him off!!

Wonderful Sunday Part Deux

So after apple picking, Liz and I went to the VNA (Visiting Nurses Association) Sale over in Far Hills. It is a HUGE rummage sale that they have twice a year and all the proceeds go to the VNA. We've been going to the sale almost every year since high school. I used to get a ton of crap, nothing I actually needed. The last few times I actually got things that I need and use, it's fantastic!
The sale wasn't supposed to start until 12:30 on Sunday and we were getting there around 12:00, we figured we would just park and wait til the gates opened. WELL as we were pulling up there were a ton of cars already parked which seemed a little crazy. As we were in line waiting to park, I could see people walking with bags already full of stuff!! We were not happy!
So we parked and walked in and Liz asked the first volunteer we saw, what is going on?! Turns out that because of all the torrential rain we had all week, the field where the sale is and people park was completely flooded so they couldn't open on Friday. So they changed the times to compensate, people could get in at 9:30AM!!
Usually Sunday is slim pickins because it is the last day but I guess all the rain and mud had really deterred people from going. I got soo many awesome things!!

Here is an awesome white ceramic pumpkin I got to add to my fall decor. I think it's a gravy boat missing the ladel because there is a little cut out on the lid where it would rest. I also got this cute little acorn figurine which fits nicely next to my tv. And an adorbale container with mushrooms on it! I'm currently using it to hold some utensils that don't fit anywhere else, can opener, scissors, pizza cutter, etc. It fits perfectly on my counter. The bottom says it's from Sears & Roebuck 1982, heh!



I found a whole bunch of metal embroidery hoops for only $1.50! There are a bunch of little ones and even two that are oval shapes, I'm excited for those ones. I also got two old McCall's embroidery pattern books and this amazing folk art cross stitch book. I really love folk art needlework and there are so many patterns in this book that I can not wait to stitch up!



Here are 3 cute glasses that are a yellowish tint that completely remind me of my Grandma, she had these little yellow glass juice glasses when I was a kid. I also got this tiny teapot. Mine is so big and all modern looking, I kind of hate it so this is his replacement!



Usually any good pyrex is gone by the first day of the sale. I was so lucky to find these 3 bowls. I already have a bunch of bowls with the crazy daisy pattern on them but I was so stoked to find the brown one with the Early American pattern!!



The line for the Movie/Music tent is always ridiculously long and Sunday was no different. It was definitely worth the wait though. I don't have TV so I live on Netflix, DVDs and VHS. I stocked up on some sweet movies, I was so happy to find The Lost Boys because someone never returned my copy. And Spinal Tap Woot!! \m/



Last but not least...I thought I bought a stack of old sheet music. When I got home I opened them all up and realized the sheet music is actually part of the New York Journal - American from 1948!! There are so many awesome old ads and classifieds and even an article about Joe DiMaggio making 300 Home Runs. (Too bad I don't know any Yankees/Baseball fans that would appreciate this.)







The classified are really neat too. Jeremy is a machinist and he really liked to see these old ads and how much people were being paid.



Well that was my Wonderful Sunday. It is going down in the record books!