lavender hearts

When I saw this tutorial from Flamingo Toes, I knew I would make some of these sachets for my girlfriends as a sweet valentine's day present (even after their teasing about my craftiness during the Christmas expo!)

It is an easy project (common theme lately) perfect after a long day at work, just hand sewing, sitting on the couch while watching TV series on Netflix. Right now Miss C. and I are viewing the "Gilmore Girls", perfect sweetness for our cold evenings, we met it to season 3 and Miss C. hides sometimes, not enjoying teenage dating drama! 

The print is a new Liberty of London that my mom sent me for Christmas.

Happy Valentine's day  and of course Happy sewing!

heart coaster

Miss C. is at the age where everything with a heart is great, she is so excited about Valentine's day, I am not sure what she expects but she is enjoying it, so of course I am enjoying it too, I am such an enabler! After 3 heart pillows (1 kangaroo and 2 fleecy ones) I sewed a coaster in the same aqua color family. Not only there is a heart on this one but Love is in the shape of the heart, so cute!

I followed this tutorial from Samelia's Mum.
The prints are from the sweetness collection by Moda,  the aqua background fabric had "love you" in white and little hearts. It is a fast project, and perfect for a valentine's day breakfast!

Happy sewing!

gratin dauphinois for Mardi Gras

For Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday (literal translation!)

it is customary to eat rich food,

and to me nothing days rich food like gratin dauphinois:

cheese, cream butter and potatoes....

what's not to like?

It is easy to make but takes a long time to bake,

it is perfect to keep the house and you warm,

especially with a new snow storm on our steps.

And while it is cooking, have a little hurricane cocktail,

and for dessert, a little rum cake to keep the theme.

But, first let's go back to our delicious potatoes:

thinly sliced potatoes

a little butter to grease the pan

shredded Swiss cheese

cream

salt,pepper, nutmeg

(garlic if you must)

alternate potatoes, cheese and seasoning,

cover in cream

sprinkle more cheese on the top

bake for 1h30 at 375, or until the potatoes are cooked.

enjoy in moderation or not!

Happy Mardi Gras!

a couple more heart pillows

After making that cute heart pillow with the kangaroo print,

Miss C. asked me if I could make a few more...

well, of course I said yes!

But this time, I made them easier, without pipping. I followed the same tutorial from Fleece Fun without any changes this time, it was much faster, and sewing with fleece is so easy.

For the medium size pillow, I used some faux fur, remnant from Miss C.'s Cinderella cape
(about 7 years ago....I am good at keeping/moving fabric) for the top
and ivory fleece for the sides and bottom.
For the large size heart, I just used turquoise fleece.
So simple, yet all three together,
it feels so cozy and sweet.

The Love pillow from 3 years ago is still a big favorite,

and it looks great with all these hearts!

With the room being mostly white (white wall and white furniture),

all the aqua/turquoise colors add a lot of warmth,

and of course a few gold accents make the room sparkle.

No tween can say no to that combination!

Happy sewing!

cheese pancakes

Yesterday we celebrated la Chandeleur (candlemas here), also known as Crepe day.

I usually make a lot of crepe, using our family recipe.

But lately work has been very busy, especially after missing some days because of the snowzilla,

so I cheated a little and made cheese pancakes instead.

Surprise?

it is actually very tasty, a little like galette, both are made from buckwheat.

I started with the pancake mix, but changed the ingredient needed:

2/3 cup mix

1 egg

t tsp olive oil

3/4 cup milk

salt, pepper, herbes de Provence

and of course cheese.

I like to use Swiss with a little bit of blue cheese.

I shredded the Swiss, and crumbled some blue in the finish dough,

then I cooked them on the pan like regular pancakes.

The shapes are a lot more organic than traditional pancakes....

Enjoy them warm with some hard cider,

perfect for a quick dinner!

It would be also perfect for Mardi Gras, next Tuesday!

Happy day!

heart pillow

It is heart season, yeah! Which means it is time to sew some valentine's day decoration, like heart pillow, for Miss C. of course.

And not just any heart pillow, but one with kangaroos, and pipping, and turquoise/sea/pool color!

(purple is so a few years ago! too bad Miss C. sewed her first quilt in that color...)

I followed this easy tutorial from Fleece Fun,

in the small size.

Because I used quilting cotton, I ironed some fusible interfacing to the top heart,

but not the band or the back heart.

I made my own pipping with a matching solid kona cotton.

It added a lot more time to this project, but I enjoy how polish it looks.

The kangaroo print is the same I used to make Miss C.'s manicure set.

Not that it needed to match, but it is the perfect print for her room.

We recently painted it white, very shocking to me,

but Miss C. was very rational in her choice:

she changes easily her mind about accent colors,

so everything looks good with white!

So mature, and here we are, with a white room,

with turquoise/pool and gold accent.

I think it was actually a really good idea, even if I fought it,

after all it is her room.

The turquoise blanket and the gold pillow are from Target,

the fake fur rug is from IKEA , the laundry basket is from HomeGoods,

and the chair is from PBTeen.

This corner has been a favorite place to read and play on her tablet.

Of course it would not be complete without a Paris calendar

and a kangaroo crossing sign!

Happy sewing!