Already?

Yesterday we returned home from our last trip of the summer. When we got home we headed outside after dinner, the kids anxious to play with their neighbourhood friends. As we sat there visiting with our neighbours in the cul de sac, it occurred to me just how chilly it was. It smacked of fall. Where has time gone?

Unbelievably enough,  next week we begin the school year, being teachers, with a couple of days of work. Sigh. I know work is necessary for survival, but really, it does get in the way of a lot doesn't it?Certainly it doesn't lend itself well to maintaining my pastimes this summer: cooking lots of new things, constant play dates and trips to the beach, reading stacks of books as high as my head, gardening. This summer was lovely. I think I'd love retirement.

Last night I also picked through my garden, and pulled out MONSTER carrots. Lots of monster carrots. See, I've never had much luck growing carrots, so this year I planted a ton, in hopes some of them would grow. And grow they did. This begs the question, what does one do with a bazillion monster carrots?

Well, add together impending busy schedules, and monster carrots, and the sum is clear: soup. I grew up hating soup. HATING soup. You know the kid that takes a mouthful of food, then runs to the bathroom claiming a desperate need to pee, then spitting the food into the toilet for a good flush? That was me with soup. I still am not a huge fan of soup, but I'm certainly more amenable to it than I was in my youth. These days I'm happy to make my own brodo, chicken soup and pureed veggie soups. They are handy to have in the freezer and really, when eaten with a big thick piece of lovely bread and butter, are delicious.

Where else does one go for inspiration these days than Pinterest? Want a million recipes for soup- there's your source. There I found this one which looked great:
http://joythebaker.com/2011/04/carrot-apple-ginger-soup/

This became my guide for what went in the pot. It turns out I'm more like my mum than I realized, and in went the kitchen sink. You have to use things up somehow right?

Here's what I came up with:


Ingredients: (serves a lot. When I make soup, I make soup. There will be enough to freeze at least 4 freezer portions to serve 2 people). 
-6 large carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
-2 small yams, peeled and chopped into chunks
-1 medium onion
-3 large cloves of garlic, grated
-4 inches of fresh ginger root, grated
-Optional: beets (I used 1 small red beet, and 2 medium golden beets)
- 3 apples, peeled and chopped into chunks
- Vegetable broth (I used 2 tetra packs 900ml each)
-cinnamon to taste
-nutmeg to taste
-salt and pepper to taste
1. In a large pot, heat 3 or 4 tbsp of olive oil. 
2. Saute onion until translucent and fragrant. (About 3 minutes)
3. Add garlic and ginger. Saute another 4 minutes or so. 
4. Add carrots, yams, beets and saute about 5 or 6 minutes. 
5. Add broth and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for another 10-15 minutes, until veggies are soft. 
6. Transfer the soup into the blender and puree in batches. 
7. Return the pureed soup to the pot and add the spices, tasting as you go. 

Because I was making this with the thought of feeding it to an upcoming guest who is vegan, I opted not to saute the onion and veggies in butter, but used olive oil instead. I like butter though, as it is creamy and smooth. Also, I didn't use chicken broth, which I would have most likely otherwise. 

Using yams makes it very creamy and smooth. The apples lend sweetness to the soup, but not distinct apple taste. The beets are nice for colour, but don't taste at all, which makes it possible to feed it to my dad (who does not have the beet gene). It is delicious. It would go down nicely with a grilled cheese sandwich with prosciutto and pickle in the middle (not to toot my own horn but, I make the best grilled cheese sandwiches in the world- ask my sister). There is something that makes the things you grow yourself taste better than that which comes from the grocery store. Those carrots are deeeeelicious, and the beets are so tender and yummy too. Try it out, you won't be sorry. 



Happy trails!

It never stops...

What never stops, you ask? Well, let's put it this way. It is early August. As a teacher, my reaction to back-to-school flyers and commercials is palpable. My stomach turns, my eye starts to twitch, and worst of all that vein in my temple starts to pulsate. Don't get me wrong, I really love my career, but geez... can't we all just relax for the full two months?

And sadly, as much as this is the case, I'm guilty of the perpetual moving hamster wheel. What I mean is, I'm always thinking about school. I was beyond thrilled in July when on holidays at the lake, I went into a new dollar store and scored some super cool new classroom decor for a steal. I was really excited when a box arrived on my doorstep from Long & McQuade containing all the music my students will perform this year.  This morning I spent a good couple of hours planning and prepping a new fun bulletin board for back to school (I'm thinking a huge painted Mr. Incredible with comic book star bursts saying "Music is Incredible"... got to find ways to appeal to boys particularly- what better way than through a superhero?) This is all proof positive that teaching is not a 10 month of the year, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. job. I challenge anyone who thinks that way to come hang out for a while.

I have to admit, the artistic/creative part of teaching elementary music (make no mistake, I'm a high school teacher by training and find it so much more instinctual for me), is one of the things I love the most. I've discovered how visual smaller children are. They respond so well to bright, beautiful spaces. I've learned they are more likely to take risks in an inviting space. I've learned that they love those things which are tactile and manipulatable. All these tools are not simply a matter of interior design, they really do go a long way to ensure that their learning is play based. The kids tend to forget that they are learning. Actually, when it comes right down to it, I'm sure high school students would respond well to this also, I just never seemed to have time for such things like that between festivals and musicals and concerts and trips and... and... and...

This week I've also devoted at least 10 hours crafting for school purposes. My friend Lisa came over for Stitch n' Bitch night. It had been a stretch of rather hot weather. You know, the kind of weather that is suffocating, and thus zaps you of all reasonable intelligence and energy.  I had intended to get cracking on a rather wonderful lunch bucket for the boys. The pattern is a beauty, and seemed simple enough. But when Lisa arrived and I set out to do it, I stood there staring at the instructions with a glazed over look on my face. They may as well have been instructions for assembling Ikea furniture. I could not for the life of me figure out what to do. Sometimes you got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run. I walked away. But, one cannot waste an ever precious stitch n' bitch night, productivity was still required. I pulled out my enormous stash of felt and got working on a craft that is brainless, but time consuming.

One thing I've loved using with my kindergarten and grade 1 students has been felt songs and stories. They love them. I have no idea why more so than anything else, but they all delight in these things.  I had my dad make me a large framed board, Ethan painted it for me and I used spray adhesive to cover one side with craft felt (yep, it is a family sweat shop that I run). Periodically I will cut out the pieces for a song or story that I use in class. My collection was small: I had done Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Five Green and Speckled Frogs (Raffi's version), Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate (Raffi again) and Must be Santa (good old Raffi gets a lot of love in my classroom).

Felt stories are super easy to make. Simply cut the shapes out of felt and you're done. And don't get me wrong, everyone knows I'm not artistic. With the world at our fingertips it is easy to find clip art and graphics that are easy to replicate. I like to add the details with fabric paint, and sometimes googly eyes or pom poms. Over the last few days I've added 5 felt sets to my small collection. I like to use felt bits for cumulative songs or stories (you know, ones that have lists in them ie... ho ho ho, cherry nose, cap on head, suit that's red, special night, beard that's white) or counting songs where you sing the same thing several times (ie. Five little... any number of things from pumpkins to frogs, to monkeys).

True to form, my own kids loved the sets I made. If I was a nice mum, I'd make a board for at home and some sets here, they'd love that. But it is time consuming, and I'm nothing if not too lazy to do the same thing twice. But one could very easily make a good at home version. An Ikea poster picture frame without glass would work nicely. Or a travel version on a small cookie sheet (oooh.... and that way one side could be a magnet board too!) would be fun too. If you have small kids, guaranteed this would be a hit. Or what a fun birthday gift- with the pieces in a fun little drawstring bag?! Endless possibilities with this project.

Here's the final tally of my work this week:
1) Chicka chicka Boom Boom (by Bill Martin)














2) Slippery fish (Charlotte Diamond)

3) There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly














4) A Hunting We Will Go













5) Nativity set (to be used with Raffi's There Was a Little Baby)


One website I've come across which had a bazillion template sets was www.makinglearningfun.com.

And after 10 hours of cutting and painting, suffice it to say I won't be doing any more felt stuff for a while. Albeit satisfying and cute, it is rather mind numbing too.

September is inevitable isn't it. And there is something to be said for routine. But tomorrow, I'm going to read a book.

Happy trails!

PS: My garlic is ready- woohoo! I do so love to garden...

This could work, maybe... just maybe!!

So those of you who've been here before will be well aware of the fact that I'm a hopeless failure at producing kids who eat well. My kids are energetic, smart, articulate, funny, gentle, playful and a myriad other fine qualities, but they STINK at eating. And by stink I mean, one in particular has the horrendously powerful weapon of the ability to woof his cookies on demand when the food is not pleasing to him. He's indiscriminating too... he is equally resistant to the normal sweets a child loves (ie. jelly beans, gummy bears, popsicles, juice) as he is to the stuff I want him to eat (fruit, veggies etc.) The other child is pretty decent when it comes to food, but has learned from his brother that it is ok to pull Ghandi-style hunger strikes, making the most dedicated and well versed Satyagraha practitioner look like a hack. It is exasperating in all kinds of ways, and I've tried so many tactics from hiding nutrition, to making dishes themselves special, yelling, screaming, crying, begging. Aside from the first on that list, which is insanely labour intensive, all tactics have been more or less, completely ineffectual. The doctor's advice was to wave my white flag and serve peanut butter at every meal if that is what they want. Eventually, she says, they'll get over it and want something more. Right. Thanks so much for that gem.

We just returned from holidays, where I experienced the most embarrassing event. One son, who shall remain nameless, would of course never eat anything when we were out for dinner, so as usual I didn't force the issue, and brought a hot dog with us as I always do so as to avoid ugly behaviour. Well, this time differed from other family dinners as there was a wee girl of 5 years who saw him eating the hot dog, and she pulled a fuss, refusing to eat a beautiful meal that she normally would have gobbled down, until her mum made her a hot dog too. I've lost count as to how many times I apologized for this, but it was high for sure. My ears still get red with embarrassment now. And then the frustration starts. Why??? Why the heck won't they eat?

So, I've stewed (those who know me know that I am nothing if not a total stewer), for days now, and have come up with a new tactic. The one I've avoided until now because all the "experts" and books tell you NO WAY. It is a simple principle, age old in fact. Bribery. Don't judge me... would you go to work if you weren't being paid to? Let's be honest.

This morning in a last ditch attempt to reduce the number of different foods I cook at any one given meal, I printed out a chart with 35 squares on it. Here's the deal: each time the boys eat the meal that we eat, or at least a selected portion thereof, they get a sticker in a box. 35 stickers, and the prize is $20 and a trip to a toy store. GASP. Yes, I said $20 and a trip to a toy store. Those of you with kids who eat well, go ahead and click your tongues in disgust. I'd be doing the same thing too. If I hadn't tried everything already, I wouldn't be reducing myself to this.

Today's menu for us was chop salads, with sliced chicken breast, blueberries, strawberries, celery and avocado. I was successfully able to get one child to eat one slice of cucumber (which was an enormous accomplishment if you know the child), applesauce mixed with vanilla yogurt (more fruit there than he's eaten in 2 months), and slice chicken breast (I know... not in nugget form- amazing right?). The other child ate the same chicken, his weight in blueberries and a good two inches of cucumber. This is what is classified as a successful meal in our house. So successful in fact, that I'm blogging about it. And what's more, the most resistant of children said to his brother "Chicken is good to eat, you should try it". No vomit invited. I couldn't be more proud if he climbed Kilimanjaro.

I've also finally discovered the power of desserts. One book I read and took as gospel years ago now, said always served dessert with the rest of the meal. You shouldn't teach kids that some food is more valuable than others, otherwise they'll value dessert over healthy choices. I just woke up. Some food is more valuable. That's why you have to eat it FIRST. Duh. The boys ate quickly when presented with three possibilities for dessert: chocolate soy ice cream, pudding or a rice krispie square. Anyone who knows my kids has seen how long it takes for one in particular to eat anything, usually FOREVER, but this meal was one hour top to tall, and chock a block with things that he's normally rejected with more fervour than you can imagine. I'm a happy proud mama...

Happy trails!

PS: I'm considering bribery as a potty training tactic too... sigh... one day these problems will seem insignificant right?

Stitch n' Bitch...

In university I spent absolutely countless hours hanging out with my girlfriends. When I moved here to work after graduation, that came to a screeching stop. Funny how life gets in the way of friendships... you know, marriage, work, kids. There hardly seems a lot of time for socializing for the sake of itself. So now, that my kids are getting older, and that we've been living here longer, it is nice to finally begin to reclaim a part of that former existence and begin to just socialize with people again.

My friend Lisa and I have recently begun doing the occasional, and unashamedly luxurious, girls night out. Our families (kids and husbands included) often get together for brunch or dinner or the like, but lately, once in a blue moon Lisa and I will enlist the husbands to stay with the kids, and sneak out the door when no one is looking for a meal together, which, by the virtue of not requiring us to cut one another's meat or tell anyone to sit still, is both relaxing and fun.

So imagine my complete delight when Lisa decided to buy a sewing machine!!! This opened up a new and wonderful girl-only opportunity.... stitch n' bitch. Yes, we could take over my basement, set up our respective work stations, and sew until the wee hours whilst bitching about the woes of potty training, or early mornings, or the terrible selection at Fabricland, or the price of rice in China, or whatever really. She's had her machine for two weeks, and the first meeting of the official Stitch n' Bitch society was called to order last night. I know what you are thinking, can you really call it a society if it only includes two people. We thought of that. We enlisted my sister Renata to join us. Three people makes a quorum right?


Each of us had our own projects. Lisa was working on making a hooded towel dress for her adorable daughters, Renata (who is a Girl Guide leader) was working on a big camp poncho for herself on which she can sew on the copious amounts of crests she has, and me, I was sewing a couple mail organizers for my kitchen in an attempt to hide all the ugly mail (bills, cheques, coupons) that currently clutter my kitchen. Here's what it looked like. Please don't judge my housekeeping based on these photos.


Last night's big discovery was that not only is S&B fun, it is also useful. When you are stumped as to exactly what shape the hood of your project should be as there is insufficient instructions on that pinterest tutorial, there are two other brains to help out. When you are too lazy to measure for the correct placement of the pocket on your divider, you can whine until your sister offers to do it for you, there is someone to lend a hand. Plus it was fun. Very fun. We've decided that the next S&B night needs snacks and possibly margaritas.  Although, not sure how straight my seams will be with one or two of those under my belt.

Here are the final products:

These are my mail organizers. They work nicely in my kitchen and were really easy. I really wished I had my mum's fancy schmancy embroidery machine to make labels for it.  Check out the pattern here:

Mail Organizer by Ashley Johnston

Here is Renata modelling her campfire poncho. It's cute. She's cute. Look at that hat... get her smoking at least 2 packs a day and soon she will be just like Effie Jones (only my mum will get that reference but suffice it to say that Effie was a guide leader we both had at camp who was the camp cook- a tough old bird who looked like a dried apple, was rough around the edges, but had a huge heart.). Well, ok, it might be a while before you get there Ren. You've got some time.

Next up is Lisa's little hooded towel dress beach cover up. We were concerned about the head hole being too tiny, so we called in the the adult with the smallest melon in the world, Ethan. He's a good sport. What can I say. Didn't fit him. The instructions were think on this one, and I'm so impressed by the fact Lisa was able to do it from what she had. PS: Terry towel is messy. Haha! Really messy.

And we called it quits at midnight. Successful? I think so!

Happy trails- hope you are enjoying some sunshine!

Mama mia.... mangia! mangia!

This has been a busy time. I have just recovered from Bob the Builder mania, and another exciting event is on the horizon. Turns out that both my in-laws, and my parents are celebrating their 40th anniversary one week apart at the beginning of July. Being the thoughtful children we are (who really owe their parents big time for a positively ENDLESS list of wonderful things they have done and continue to do for us), my sister, hubby and I are throwing a little bash (by little I mean no more than 30 guests) outside at the farm. Thank goodness for my sister's beautiful farm.

I like planning these things. I like cooking for these things. On the menu, a buffet meal of Italian sausages, BBQ chicken thighs, salads, antipasti, veggies and fruit and my specialty.... baked Ziti. For you mangia cakes, baked ziti is a baked pasta dish, covered in cheese and creamy béchamel sauce. Sort of like lasagna without all the work and layers. As a pure blood Italian, with incredibly Italian relatives, it is hard to find any kind of pasta dish that elicits any kind of response. This is a tough crowd- they've been raised on pasta. Utero, breast milk, pasta. That's the order food is introduced to an Italian baby. Except when babies eat it, we call it "pastina"- little pasta. Never mind mashed peas. Or rice cereal. And yet, I have never once made this dish to an indifferent response. There are well--developed palettes each time I serve this who go for seconds. It is wonderful. The beauty of this is it is easy, so easy, and it is also easy to serve an army. Bake it in foil pans that can be thrown out and it is easily one of the lowest maintenance dishes ever.

Rachael Ray gives us the overall bones of this dish here:
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/neapolitan-baked-ziti

I use that recipe, but I do my own thing in a couple of ways. First off, kudos to Ms. Ray for advocating making your own pasta sauce. Why in the world do more people not make their own sauce??? It is the easiest thing to do, and it is so much better than your store bought mangia cake variety (For those of you unfamiliar with this term, "mangia-cake" is the Italian term which is roughly equivalent to "gringo"). I am a firm believer that it is far better to know exactly what is in the food you eat- better to put it there yourself. Pasta sauce is as varied as those who make it. I swear, no two cooks can make the exact same sauce. It is impossible- sort of like licking your elbow (try it- that's impossible too!). I learned how to make sauce from my mum, who learned from her mum, and all three of us make sauce that does not taste the same. All of it is really good, but without question, Nonna Giacomina's is the best by a long shot (I think mum would agree). But everything that Nonna makes tastes better than anything else in the world. The taste and smell of pasta sauce is so completely tied into memory for me. We were at my cousin's in Victoria once and they served pasta, made with my Auntie Mimi's sauce and I almost started to cry. It smelled and tasted so much like my Nonna Francis' sauce, my Nonna who passed away when I was 12. It was amazing how quickly that sense kicked in. 


I currently have an enormous vat of sauce simmering on the stove as we speak. My sauce tastes as it does out of necessity. I now call to order the PFEASG... the Parent of Finicky Eaters Anonymous Support Group. All members present? Meeting called to order. My kids will eat pasta. They will eat pasta under duress, most of the time, but sometimes, when the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter aligns with Mars, they will eat it as if it is the best thing in the world. They will also eat mini pizzas- made from my pasta sauce and English muffins, under duress but nonetheless, they will choke it down. It occurred to me, that I can be an alchemist... I can turn any vegetable into pasta sauce and my kids will never know. It is time consuming to make pasta sauce this way, so when I do it, I go big or go home, and freeze the stuff in a million containers. Often, I will freeze it in ice cube trays so it is simple to pull out individual servings when my children reject the meal I have prepared on a given night. Heaven help us that we should all consume the same thing happily. Here's what I do: 


1) In a frying pan on medium heat, heat olive oil and saute:  diced celery, grated carrot, chopped mushrooms, grated zucchini, diced red pepper, grated garlic, diced onion. Cook until soft. For you carnivores out there, and for the love of the land, don't do this if you are serving to vegetarians, here's an extra tip. When I make French beef dip sandwiches, or rouladen, I always freeze the juices. I will add the juices (about a 1/4 - 1/2 cup or so) to this veggie mix. The flavour is unbeatable. 
2) I get out my lovely magician's assistant, the blender, and throw the veggie mix in there, and puree the snot out of it until the vegetables are completely unidentifiable and liquified. The key word here fellow member of the PFEASG, is UNIDENTIFIABLE. Nothing should remain that could be perceived as a "chunk, string or.... worst of all... a lump". Leaving any of the above will only result in a stand-off. One which you will never win. Trust me. My arm is sore from waving my damned white flag. 
3) Next, in the same frying pan I heat some more olive oil, and cook a small package of ground beef. Clearly, if you are vegetarian, skip this step. But, in my effort to get some protein into my kids, there it is. 
4) Using the good old Oster blender, I puree the stink out of this too, so that no "brown" can be picked out by wee fingers. 
5) Pour all these purees into a LARGE pot. The bigger the better. This will all be a nasty brown colour. This will never do. Next you must add enough tomatoes to turn the thing red. What kind of tomatoes? My dad's homegrown, mum canned are the best. But since you all don't have VIP access to that like I do (remember that endless list I referred to in a previous paragraph?), canned tomatoes work just fine. I use a combination of crushed and stewed, until I have a consistency I'm happy with. That is a question of personal taste. 
6) Spice this and let it simmer. What spices? In the words of Nonna "put all-a the spicy you like...". Oregano, basil, thyme, no brainers. Bay leaves, also good. Just be sure to dig them out before feeding it to your finicky family member or you are dead in the water. The only thing worse than something "brown" in the pasta sauce is something.... dare I say it?... GREEN. Porca miseria. 
7) Don't forget salt and pepper. Sometimes I find if I've used a lot of red pepper, there is a bit of acidity that I'm not fond of. A tablespoon or two of sugar takes care of that- but be careful, the fastest way to make it taste mangia-cake is to over sweeten. Don't do that.  
8) Simmer until it tastes done. You'll know it when you get there. Top to tail, this process takes me about 1.5 to 2 hours, but the amount of sauce that I make will last about 3 months. PLUS it is dirt cheap to do this yourself.


Meeting adjourned. 


Back to baked ziti. Other things that help knock this out of the park are: 
1) use Cacciocavallo cheese (made by Saputo, it is sort of like mozzarella but with a fantastic smoky flavour and it melts beautifully). 
2) Slightly undercook the noodles so that they don't mushify (that's a verb right?) when you bake the pasta. 
3) I like a rigati pasta (with ridges) because it holds sauce so nicely. Come to think of it, I almost never use ziti for this dish- mostly penne because it is easier to find. 
4) Use plenty of red sauce so that it doesn't dry out in the oven. 
5) Mix a bit of cacciocavallo into the béchamel sauce because you just can't get enough. Also, don't use milk, use cream. Because this is worth the extra weight watchers points. Trust me on that. 


It's a hit. And it is so easy. And if you bring this to your annual neighbourhood block party, it will go over well. Trust me. 


Happy trails! 

Penguins!!!!

Lately we've been obsessed with penguins around here. See, the Vancouver Aquarium just got South African penguins. Matteo heard the ads on the radio for the new exhibit and decided death by pestering was his best plan of attack... on a loop every twenty minutes for about a week I heard "Mum... did you know they have penguins at the aquarium now? I love penguins. I love the aquarium. We should go.... maybe tomorrow?". You have to admire his persistence. He did not give up. It wasn't really a hard sells though, we had been wanting to go to the aquarium for a while, and did decide a pre-summer day trip was in order. What fun it was!

When Elio was born my mum bought him the cutest hooded towel. Adorable little thing with a penguin hood. He looked like the pope in it. We began calling him the Penguin Pontiff. The thing I loved most about this towel was that it was not one of those cheesy cheap baby towels that absorb nothing and are so thin they are see-through. Somehow, and you know how it goes, this towel got shoved to the back of the cupboard and forgotten about. While cleaning the bathroom the other day and rearranging cupboard contents Penguini the Towel re-emerged. And you know what- it was still a lot of fun! Elio LOVES the thing and Matteo almost bubbles over with jealousy for want of the thing.

In true typical fashion, I looked at the thing and thought, I've got to be able to make that. Enter Pinterest. Do you all know Pinterest? The online clipboard and content sharing website. I wore down and joined, and I love it!! So many ideas and bits of inspiration in any category. It's great that I have a new obsession, because I was most certainly deficient in ways to waste my time (note the sarcasm... it's bad when your kids start to pretend they are you... what are you doing Elio "checking my Facebook". Maybe I should give it up for Lent next year). Anyways, through Pinterest I found a tutorial on how to make hooded towels for big kids. It is an excellent tutorial and it is SO EASY. You must check it out as this would make an awesome gift for any kid.
http://www.lubirdbaby.com/2011/08/hooded-towel-tutorial.html

Her directions were super clear and it didn't take much to add the few details to turn this already cute towel into a penguin.






 First, Elio loves being able to put his hands into the corner pockets of the towel so it is like he's wearing wings. This was easily achieved by cutting a face cloth in half diagonally. I finished the raw edge with bias tape, and sewed the already-finished edges into the corners of the wrong side of the bath towel. This made nice deep pockets, perfect for little hands.







Next I needed a face. I cut the face shape out of a white face cloth. I was able to get two faces out of one face cloth. I tried my best to make use of the finished edges. I left the professional finished edges as the bottom of the face, then used white bias tape to finish the curve. Why, when you are appliqueing the face on anyway, would you bother to finish the raw edges? Well, simply put, terry cloth is super duper messy, and it frays a lot. I was not convinced that simply appliqueing around the edge would be enough to prevent fraying and mess in the laundry.

Next I cut out a beak and feet from orange face cloths. I cut two of each shape, sewed them together, then turned them right side out. I attempted when possible to leave the professionally finished edge at the opening, and zigzagged to close them. (By the way, as I don't have a serger (Santa baby, just slip a serger under the tree... for me... been an awful good girl... Santa baby), I used zigzag on my seam allowances for any raw edges. Mostly inside the hood). I sewed the beak onto the face, and the feet onto the right side of the towel. I used a total of 3 orange face cloths for the beaks and feet for two penguin towels.

Next step was to use Wonder Under (how much do I love that stuff?!) fusible webbing to fuse the face to the hood with my iron. I then appliqued around it to ensure it was securely attached all the way around. I suppose you could use any cotton fabric for the bird bits, but I like the lush look of the whole thing being terry towel, plus, when you are smart in cutting, you can take advantage of finished edges, cutting down on the work. I am, if nothing else, completely lazy when it comes right down to it.



Once all of these add-ons were completed, I followed the tutorial directions for attaching the hood and was pretty much finished. One note about that, Matteo is very tall for his 5 years (anyone who knows me will be mystified by that no doubt. I lied on my driver's license. It says 5'1. I'm really 5 ft and one very important half inch.), and I found that the hood was still quite long at 12 inches long... you might want to adjust the length to make sure that the bath towel still hits at shoulder level.

All that was left were eyes. I used fabric paint to paint on the eyes, and that works fine. Embroidered eyes would look far better, but like I said before, as a dog's hind end.... I'm lazy.


This was a very gratifying sewing project. Literally all you have to be able to do is sew a straight line. I knocked two of these off in a matter of two and a half hours. It is a relatively cheap project. I got my towels at Ikea, but you could use any towels very successfully. And there are great deals to be had. In total I bought: 2 bath towels, 1 hand towel (this made 2 hoods), 1 white face cloth, 3 orange face cloths and 2 blue face cloths. I think if I were to do it again, I would choose a bath towel with fewer colours, as in true lazy fashion, I dislike having to change thread and bobbin a million times. You could make any animal really, bears would be really cute, or lady bugs, sharks, dinosaurs etc. Sky's the limit. And what a great gift- nice to give something that can be used from baby well into childhood as the towel is nice and big. These would be fun for bath time or the beach. And kids love them- Elio loves to play Pingou at bath time... you know the little clay penguin show on Knowledge Network? ("Mish mish...").

That's all folks. Try this one out- it is super fun. Happy Trails!

Can we survive it? Yes we can! Bob the Builder birthday part prt. 2

I'm two days old from leaving the terrible twos (but don't worry, the terrible threes are the new terrible twos, so if you're still in the twos, don't worry, not much has changed for me either). We had Elio's party today, making use of the weekend for the celebration. And in true Elio form, it was his party and he cried if he wanted to. This is a kid who doesn't love confusion and fuss (although he loves the idea of a birthday party and all that comes with it in theory), so he was a little cantankerous. But nonetheless, I think he had a good time. So it's worth it.

You saw the first instalment of this party earlier. Nothing fancy or elaborate, just some simple toddler crafts and a ribbon pinata. The rest was just playtime. The weather forecast tricked me into believing it would be raining, so I ditched the idea of an outdoor scavenger hunt. Silly me. The sun was shining after all. You can't win for trying.

We started with a simple last minute craft. Literally I put this together last night based on a dump truck card I saw on pinterest. It worked well. We used scrapbooking paper because construction paper is now flimsy and poor quality (what is with that anyways??). I outlined the dump truck with a silver sharpie, and cut the parts out of craft foam. The kids used Elmer's white glue to glue the pieces on to the picture. The load was supposed to be Cheerios. By the time they got to the load, the kids were more or less tired of gluing. Nonetheless, very cute and VERY EASY.

Next up we did a little birdhouse thing. Ethan was planning on making these, but when you see them at the Dollar Store for $2, you have to give your head a shake and question whether or not the DIY is worth it. Bingo daubers are bar none my favourite craft supply for toddlers. They are easy to use and really only require gross motor skills. Even little Heidi, our youngest guest who is 18 months was very easily able to accomplish this on her own. 

The trouble with Bob the Builder is he is a little "5 years ago". We know and love him from hand-me-down DVDs and it isn't on that often anymore. So Bob themed stuff is hard to come by. But with a little help from an overhead projector, it's pretty easy to Bob-ify a generic construction party. Construction themed decor was simple- caution tape and black and yellow balloons and streamers. I got great ideas from my good friend Trisha on decor. Clever girl that she is had a similar party for her son, and came up with the road lines on the table cloth, and serving food in dollar store dump trucks. We were not having dry food (ie. chips and pretzels etc.), but rather crepes with fruit toppings, so I used plastic buckets and shovels for some of them. Cheap, thematic, super cute. I made little place cards for seating out of craft foam, shaped like road signs.  

So I think I'm good for birthday parties until January (sorry Ethan). I'm covered in nutella and bingo daubers, but I'm happy. The excitement is worth the effort for sure. 

Happy trails!