For One Little Bear

Last week, Jakob's sister-in-law Janet e-mailed me and asked if I could make a little bear hat for baby Lucia. Of course I said yes and set off to work.

I have never made a toque for a baby before so I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to get my feet wet. I asked Janet for the circumference of Lucia's head and found a pattern I liked.... FAIL! I didn't like the pattern one bit! It was HUGE!!! But I finished it regardless. After some pondering I threw away the pattern and made up my own which was a great deal smaller. Freaking adorable! It was much harder than I thought it would be, not having ever met or seen Lucia aside from a few photo's.

Then I got to thinking well she's got to have matching booties. Once again having never met Lucia I had only the measurement to go off of. I loved the booties and for my first pair I think they turned out quite cute.

And here's the little bear! Cute as a button as always!

Goldilocks and the three bears! Don't they look fabulous? How do they come up with these things? Jakob and I can barley think of anything for couples which is the easiest. I had a lot of fun making the toque and booties for Lucia. It made me think that I should start my own Etsy shop. I'll reveal more details about that as it unfolds. Happy Halloween!!

And The Winner Is.....

Last year Jakob and I hosted a Halloween party and it was so much fun that we decided that it would become a yearly tradition. This year however I have more than 5 days to plan which is SO much better. We decided that this year we needed to kick it up a notch however by awarding prizes for various things. At first this had me puzzled. I wanted to achieve a trophy look without the trophy price so I resolved to making my own (risky I know) So off to Michaels I went....

... and I found these guys! Perfect! AND only $1.99?! Be still my beating heart! Naturally, the statue just didn't say trophy the way I wanted (and of course I couldn't just say good enough) so I went to find a base and came across some wood blocks for the large ones and clay pot bases for the little ones. It was a good day.

I spray painted the bases black. NOTE: Do not use your husbands expensive nerd paint! He'll come home and be slightly annoyed that you emptied the can when black paint would work just as well. Plus clay pots tend to absorb the stuff like a sponge. In summation just stick to a paint brush.

I then sanded the edges on the wooden bottoms to give it a weathered look.

I'm pretty sure everyone knows how to use a hot glue gun so I didn't bother taking a picture. Plus it's incredibly hard to hold the gun, statue, and click a photo at the same time.

I then glued the statue to the base! The witch and skeleton looked a little lack luster so I added some ribbon for flavor and you're done! I am in love with them! And the total cost was less than $15 for all 4!

My next projects? Carmel apples, pumpkin cakes, cake balls, mummy pizzas, and you guessed it this mantelpiece. I have my work cut out for me. Only one week left!!!

New Page

Yesterday I did something I have been dragging my feet about for 4 years now... I signed up for school. I smiled when I saw this little guy on one of the guidance councilors desks because that is exactly how I felt! I will be attending the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) studying dental hygiene. The very thought terrifies me more than I can fabricate into words but I am excited at the same time. I don't honestly know how to be a student, seeing as how I would have never called myself one back in high school. The only thing that mattered back then was cheer. I feel however with time, age and maturity now on my side I will be a far more dedicated student than I ever hoped to be in high school. I am thrilled to actually feel as though I am progressing in life. To have something of my own to work towards and accomplish. I'm terrified at the thought of failure yet I know that failure is a part of life and if I dedicate myself failure will not be an option. All in all I suppose I'm excited! I'm turning the page... finally!!

Mouth Watering!

I bought a cookbook last year thinking that the cover looked appealing so the recipes must be good. (I know what your thinking... who does that?!) I then shoved it next to the rest of my never used recipes and shut the cabinet door... for a whole year. Last week I decided enough was enough. I wanted meat for dinner that didn't consist of hamburger, hot dogs, or sausage! I marched over to the cupboard and dusted off the cover to my never-even-opened- cookbook. Jakob would have never let me buy this in the first place just because it doesn't have any pictures in it. He's lost without pictures. I found some recipes I liked and off we went to the store for meat and one special ingredient.... Brandy.... shhh... it'll be our little secret. This recipe blew my mind. Probably because I didn't even end up cooking it, my wonderful husband did and it was divine!!! We liked it so much we invited Father Tobler over to have some with us 4 days later. (Mom Tobler was at a sibling reunion). So here it is for all to try! Wonderful!!!

Pan - Fried Pork Chops with Glazed Apples

• 2 tbsp firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary or 1 tbsp herbes de provence
• 4 thin- cut pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbsp bacon grease (plus more if needed)
• 2 small to medium red apples, peeled cored, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1/3 cup apricot jam
• 1/4 cup calvados or brandy
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Combine the brown sugar, salt and rosemary in a small bowl an stir together. Coat the pork chops on both sides with the mixture, gently massaging the meat with your fingers to jump start the curing process. Let stand for 15 minutes. Wipe down the chops thoroughly. (Make sure to get off all of the rosemary... we learned the hard way)
2. Melt 1 tbsp bacon grease in a large skillet over high heat and add pork chops. Cook until crispy brown. About 2 minutes on each side.
3. Transfer the pork chops to a plate and cover with foil. Add the apples to the skillet and cook, stirring gently to brown slightly, about 30 seconds. Add the stock, jam, brandy, and cinnamon and stir well. Cook until the sauce thickens and is rich brown in colour, about 10 minutes. (Not to thick)
4. Uncover pork chops and cover with apples. MMMMMMM sooooo good!!!!

For those people who can't bring themselves to purchase liquor *Cough* Mom Tobler *Cough* we haven't tried it without the liquor but you can use some of ours! :)

Bon Appetit

Marvin < 3

Meet Marvin the crocheted Moose. Isn't he just darling? I love moose they remind me so much of home and are just so warm and cozy looking. Granted they don't blend so well with turtles (another uncontrolled addiction I have) but they make me smile and when I smile Jakob smiles and that's all that really matters. I made Marvin with a size 4.25 hook when it was supposed to be a size 9 so he's just a baby. I'm so pleased with how he turned out. Useless... yes but I love him. Click here to see the pattern.

Pumpkin Patch

Alright here we go. These pumpkins are SUPER easy (and yes Janet 2 year old proof)! If you can sew a straight line.... you can make these. All of my measurements are subject to change. Play around with different widths and sizes. From my experience the cutest ones are the super fat and short ones or the thin and tall ones, however make them according to how you'd like. I picked out my fabric in warm fall colors from the clearance pile at Wal-Mart. I got about 1/3 of a yard of each and I had PLENTY left over. I chose 5 different colors and one stem color, however you can mix and match if you'd like... let your imagination have fun! For visibility I used black thread on white fabric. It doesn't make a difference but you can match your thread if you'd like.

1. Place your STEM fabric RIGHT sides together and cut a size you'd like your stem to be. I made mine 5 x 3 which was much too tall! In the end I chopped them down 3". I found them cuter and they didn't fall over once sewn in. Cut 6 (or however many pumpkins you plan to make)

2. Sew around the edge. Seam allowance is irrelevant. The closer to the edge the better so you won't have to trim it down later. LEAVE THE BOTTOM OPEN. You'll be stuffing it soon!

3. Clip the corners. This makes the corners crisper on the other side. DO NOT TRIM THE STITCHING! If your seam allowance is to wide... Trim it down as well.

4. Stuff and set aside leaving bottoms open.

5. Like I said before, make your pumpkins whatever size and width you'd like. I went with 12 x10 for my largest one. Cut out 6 pumpkins. Separate the 2 layers and fold them in half right sides together.

6. You are now going to mark a swoop on both pieces along the folded edge. This will give shape to the pumpkin. I marked mine 2" in and 4" down. Obviously this is subject to change based on height and width of pumpkin.


7. Go to your machine and sew a curve in between the two points & trim. DO NOT MAKE YOUR CURVE AS DRAMATIC AS MINE! Mine is bad. It made an ugly point when I flipped it right side out & I had to hand stitch it later. Try to make the bottom point BLEND. Does that make sense?

8. Open fabric and set down on the table RIGHT side UP. Place the stem in the middle Open end to the TOP. Then Place side 2 of fabric RIGHT side DOWN.

The stem should be sandwiched in between and the fabric should be RIGHT sides TOGETHER. 9. Sew around the edge and leave an opening at the bottom.

10. Trim the edges and flip right side out. Stuff. Before you hand sew the bottom you can add a little weight so it will sit nicely.

11. Ta-Da! See EASY! I think I need to make one more super fat one to complete the set. To finish them off I added some ribbon. This also helped make my stems not look so long. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I will try to explain it further. Happy Fall!!

Happy OcTobler

Jakob and I can hardly believe it's October already! September didn't even put up a fight! I can't think of any better way to greet the new month than a beautiful sunrise! I took this from our tiny bathroom window. Just one more reason to love Vegas. Jakob is glad to be finished with his first month of school. Only 1 year and 2 months until he's got his degree!!! Even though the time of the year screams fall the weather certainly does not! I think we're FINALLY out of the 100''s though which means I can wear fall clothing now! I'm rather excited! I made the above pumpkins one night while waiting for Jakob to return home from work. He says their not very "Halloweenish" but I don't care. If anyone wants to know how to make them just leave a comment. Their super easy. It only took me 45minutes to make the 6 of them. Well that is all that is new in this Tobler home. Happy OcTobler < 3