Happy Easter

Easter preparations are in full swing at our house. Since my mom is here, she is going all out with traditional dishes. We are certainly spoiled this time around, and it feels fantastic!

While my mom is busy with these preparations, I have had some time to ponder what sort of crafty surprise I can make for the kids. My criteria is simple, it has to be fast, cute and inexpensive. 

Now that there are 4 kids in the family, my sister and I have worked hard to create traditions and lasting memories for them. We are having an Easter egg hunt (indoors because it's still cold out), they will be decorating easter eggs, but I wanted something new as well. And then it hit me!

Why not dye quail eggs for them? They are certainly healthier than their chicken counterpart, and just their size. Plus the fact that they are spotted, makes for a cute pattern when you are done. 

Here are some before and after shots. What do you think?

And that lovely candle you see in the background? Remember how I was talking about my uncle with the bee-hives? Well he makes these candles as well, and this one has an adorable bunny theme.

Everyone is a little Irish today

A little late in the day, I agree, but I did acknowledge St. Patrick's day today, by finishing the third piece of my Inversion Cardigan. This has been a work in progress since October!

So, for St. Patty's ... little green from me. Hope your celebrations were fun!

'Twas the night before Christmas

I am quickly checking in tonight, to wish everyone a "Merry Christmas", a most joyous of holidays alongside your loved ones.

The past few weeks have been a blur of planning, shopping and cooking.

We did manage to make our yearly visit to the Montreal Christmas Market, and I snapped a few photographs. It was a typical Montreal winter day. Freezing cold with a crystal clear, blue sky. We warmed up by huddling together on the train ride for little ones, with a glass of spiced wine (recipe here), and around the fire-pits that were strewn around the market.

Santa made his appearance and for the first time ever, Aidan was fearless, sat in his lap, and spoke to him.
We enjoyed lunch at a little french cafe around the corner, and headed back home. One of my favorite winter traditions we've started.

Perhaps, if I find some time during the holidays I will post about my knitted Christmas gifts. Now, I will go enjoy Santa's cookies and milk, but to be honest, I am thinking Santa deserves a glass of wine. Perhaps, this is a tradition that I will start next year!

Craft Fair - a weekend captured on Instagram

Ever since I visited the POP Puces market last year, I have been toying with the idea of signing up for a craft fair. But it seemed like such an intimidating endeavor, to open oneself up for criticism, to allow people to see my passion and "judge" it.

But I had to try. In the end, I decided   POP was perhaps too big a bite for me for a first try, so when my son's daycare organized a fair this past weekend, to raise funds for the kid's activities and shows, I was game.

I had 2 months to prepare. This may sound like plenty of time, but considering that I work full-time, and that my husband often travels for work, this only results in a couple of hours of knitting time per night. Still, I threw myself headfirst into the project and did manage to whip up quite a few knits. I focused on simple hats, neck warmers and scarves in kid's sizes, some cup-cozies, Christmas ornaments and felted bowls.

I was immensely proud of my stash. I scoured Pinterest for display and packaging ideas, and exchanged ideas with knitter extraordinaire Rebecca from the blog nook. Friday night I tested my set-up, put together an endless list of things to remember, and went to sleep, anxiously awaiting the next morning.

 

How can I describe the experience? It was wonderful to meet talented and like-minded people, that I can exchange ideas and stories with. I am always amazed at the wealth of ideas out there, and at how warm, welcoming and helpful the crafting community is.

The event itself, was unfortunately not a roaring success. Not even a mild one to be honest. I was disappointed to see, that despite everyone's efforts, almost none of the 140 families that bring their kids to this daycare showed up. I do not mean to sound whiny, but as a mother, I find it hard to understand that some parents do not take an interest in what goes on at their child's daycare, or what problems the daycare faces. These funds would have been invested in extra activities, as well as outfitting the center with more books and supplies. Who would not want that? Either way, I learned quite a bit, and I am grateful for that.

Regardless of the outcome, I am really happy that I participated and that I had this experience. I will certainly sign up for other fairs, I think I am ready!

I leave you with a few Instagram snapshots of the event.



Happy Mother's Day

Today, a quote on motherhood that I really like:

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."   --Elizabeth Stone

Hope you are all being spoiled and made to feel special......I am!

Happy Valentine's Day

I had this idea of knitting adorable little hearts in preparation for Valentine’s Day. I even thought it would be cute for A. to take them to daycare for his little girlfriends (yes, plural, not girlfriend, but girlfriends). But after about an hour of trying to knit 6 stitches with 4 needles and dropping them, retrying, twisting the whole thing, retrying, dropping the needles again, having a glass of wine, starting from scratch only to lose a needle again, I decided that baking is the way to go!

Maybe next year I will give it another try knitting hearts. I ended up finding some patterns that look promising. After all, it is important to know when to quit, right?

Since I am a food network addict, and a compulsive list-maker, I have a collection of recipes I am planning to try. It was not at all hard to narrow it down to a red-velvet cupcake recipe by Chuck Hughes, star of the show “Chuck’s Day off”.

Armed with new confidence and with the support of my 3-year old assistant baker I got to work.

The recipe is very simple, and it took us no time to make the batter. We watched with anticipation as the cupcakes began to rise.  Because I had naively ignored the instruction of only filling the cupcake mold half-way, my first batch, I must confess, looks more like a muffin than a cupcake, but thank heavens the taste did not suffer. I ended up redeeming myself with the second batch.

One cupcake had to cool off immediately in front of the open window so that my impatient son could sample it right away, and the verdict was in…..delicious!!!!

With some high-calorie frosting and red-colored sugar, here is the end-result.

In the end I think that A.’s girlfriends will probably prefer these Valentine’s Day gifts anyway.

Happy New Year

Getting ready for the countdown... Hope all of you have a happy, healthy, adventurous and inspired 2011.

Christmas Eve

It was Christmas Eve. A. was in bed, milk and cookies were set out for Santa, the tree was lit, the gifts wrapped and set out, the table was set for the next morning, and as I sat down with a glass of wine to relax and take it all in, I thought, why not knit a little Christmas ornament? I found a pattern in Debbie Bliss’ “A knitter’s year”, and in about an hour had knitted this:

Merry Christmas

To everyone out there, to all my faithful (and occasional) readers, Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. Hope your holidays are filled with joy, peace of mind and happiness.

A winter escapade

One of the things I miss about Europe at this time of the year are the Christmas Markets, so I was thrilled to find out that this tradition is spreading to our side of the ocean. For the past couple of years, in the Montreal area, there are 3 Christmas Markets taking place, and we visited one yesterday.

The temperature was perfect, just below zero, not too cold. The market we drove to is called “The Marché de Noël et des Traditions de Longueuil”, and only a 30 minute ride away. It’s a collection of about 40 wooden cabins, set up in a square. Local vendors sell everything from hand-made items like decorations, paintings, wood-toys, artisan pieces, knits, to food like cheeses, jams, breads, chocolates, chocolate covered cranberries and even ice-wine.

Two of the stalls sold hand-knit things like sweaters, mitts, scarves and hats, really warm and cozy looking items out f alpaca wool, which is great for our cold Canadian winters. If only I had the time…..I would love to have a little hut like that for my own creations. So many ideas…..so little time!

We walked around, warmed up with some mulled wine. Tasty stuff! I wrote down the recipe for anyone who is interested, I know I’ll try and make some:

Spiced Wine

4 liters of red wine

1 cup brown sugar

1 lemon and 3 oranges cut into thin slices

The peel and juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange

4 teaspoons cinnamon

1 star anise

1 pinch nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups water

Mix all ingredients and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let infuse for an hour.

Serve warm

Santa was there to talk to the kids and gather their letters to him, and A., even though reluctant at first, immediately warmed up to him once the was “bribed” with chocolate and candy-cane. A little train took all the kids for a ride around the market, and it was a hit!

There were a couple of fire-pits with bales of hay arranged around them, where you could sit and relax. It was a really cozy atmosphere and I hope that the market stays popular, because it is a charming tradition to uphold.