HOLA! HOLIDAYS!

Pulla, tutu and magic top hat... all at once!  no i wasn't wearing this while baking.. although the sewing/baking did happen simultaneously!

All in good time!

Today was a fabulous day of making/working/playing!

I just got back from dancing the night away but after work and before going out to party, i:

-made 3 loaves of pulla

-finished the magic pop-top hat for my nephew

-made a fairy tutu for my neice

What a crazy busy, awesomely productive time...

now hopefully i don't crash at an in-opportune moment tomorow during family christmas!

I'll post pictures once i get back from new years'ing with my family in barrie.

zzzaaaaaaa

Tonight i homemade pizza... delish

Here's my favourite 'Yeast free' crust... its like an easy ass thin crust!

2 c. Flour

1 tsp. Salt 

2 tsp. Baking powder

2/3 c. water

   Mix together in a bowl until it gathers into a ball.

   Knead on a floured surface until workable and spreadable.. 2 minutes ish.

   Put on pizza pan, i use a stone but whatever is good for you.  Spread oil on crust.

1/4 vegetable oil

  (helps keep tomato sauce from absorbing into the crust)

  Add yummy toppings  

  Bake at 425 f. for 20 minutes.

Fleurs D'a Fare

A long schemed project of mine is finally filing my apartment and my heart with the happiness of success!  

I've just finished stenciling and cutting out all the 'fleurs D'a Fare' for the holidays... and as prototypes for something i might try to sell to some shops arround..

They are waxed fabric flowers that you we

ar as a lappel pin, and they fold up to hold fifty cents for a phone call or a transit token... hence the name. 

I am in love with them... and i know tha

t the first incarnation will be great as gifts and will help me work out the kinks... i'm going to draw instructions that i can 

photocopy and include with them... and i still need to make pinbacks for them.  

(This is me in my p.j.'s, behind me hangs the freshly stenciled cottons drying before waxing.)

Anyhoo, happy to be getting on with 

christmas making.

Pulla 2: Electric Boogaloo

Eh, Yo,... so i tried making GLUTEN FREE Pulla last night and well, i learned a lot.

No sequel is ever as exciting so i'll keep this short...

-I used KAMUT flour which you really need to knead better because it is a funny consistency. 

-I used about 1tsp of Xanthum Gum per cup of flour which helped make the dough feel light even though it didn't want to be.

Two things happened aside from the projected 'dryness' that is a component of gluten-free breads.  

#1: The dough rose really well before baking, but didn't seam together like the wheat bread and thus, my attempt at a braided loaf turned into a mess of three very thin peices trying to act as one but really not sticking at all.

#2: The bread tastes much better than it looks, but could use more 'sweet' to cancel out the 'nutty' taste of the Kamut. Man am i ever glad i put raisins in or i would just pitch this loaf altogether.

NEXT TIME:

-Use 1/4 cup more sugar for the recipie

-Only let the dough rise once for about 1hour and 15min's before baking.

-Skip the 'braiding' and make a loaf or 'pukkopulla-muffins' instead.  Less crust=more fluffy!

GRABSAC's!!!!

I have been pondering the design of reusable bags for some months now.  I use them almost every day... at least twice a week when picking up food and other fun stuff at the shops on my street. 

I have one 'reisenthal' bag, which is large enough for a whole trip and hangs nicely from my shoulder but has a silly little pouch that you're supposed to use to carry it in which is useless.

I started planning my pattern, wanting to make the most economy of the material i had, and intending to include an inside pocket that, like those on a k-way jacket would also serve as a little built in 'pocket-ita' to store the bag while it isn't being used.  

I think i've got it down now, after several failed attempts.

I'm just trying to decide what to print on the bags... something kind of fun and or witty would be great... but failing that, just something pretty would do.

I'm off to google quotes about sustainability.

I think my fall back will be 'Hold Me'

I'll be giving these as christmas presents this year... and as with the Fleurs D'a Fare, intend to use the feedback about them as fodder to perhaps start making them to sell in some of the shops arround town.  

Happy to be 'in production'!

This is the final design folded up into the inside pocket its about 5" square.  :) 

Hoorah Hanukkah

More than anything... this has been the marking of a deadline for one of my personal projects, my stepmother is jewish and i've been planning to make the table runners she requested last year for her hanukkah/christmas present this year. 

Its almost one in the morning and i'm glad to be finished. 

In the spirit of burning midnight oil, i'm also glad to have learned WHAT TENSION IS FOR on my sewing machine. 

Note to self:  Lower number = less dense/resistant materials!

I'll see if i can get a picture of them on her table and post that later on... for now i'd rather not look at any more blue silk for a while.

P.S. I think i'm a sucker because i made a storage/gift bag too...

Ok.  Sleepytime.

(two days later, my father phoned to say... 'we love them', i asked him to send me a photo by email so i'll post it when/if that happens.  either way, i'm glad to have done it!

I'm a Card...

Its funny all of a sudden to feel like 'I'm an adult and so should act like one!'  I'll be sending christmas cards this year, and will try to write in them too... What a great way to check in and let people know that you think of them!  I'm actually excited!

I printed sixty christmas cards on sunday... it was fun, and i hung them all along the walls of the living room like a garland!  

They're a lino engraving of my bike (wheezie) with a wreath on the basket in front of my building.... SO ME RIGHT NOW!

I got the idea from my mom 'a picture of that would make a great holiday card!'.

Now all i have to do is write stuff in them and send them out, i'm accumulating addresses as we speak!

I'm off to warm up my gold and silver ink pens!!!

P-tainstuff... and pommanders.

PROBLEM:
I'm a messy messy girl... i stand to close to the stove when i'm frying bacon, i rip tiny holes in sleeves, i destroy cuffs and collars so that otherwise simple, wearable shirts become near-rags.

SOLUTION!:
Active surplus has fabric paints on sale for 1.00 each! and i've got some silk paint sitting arround waiting for a call to action... Paint the Stains Away! Camofloaging the crummy parts of shirt and getting to out some old doodles at the same time.

Today i did four shirts:
1.HAIRBRAINED

2.BEWARE: JAZZHANDS

3.Feotal-flutter-fly


Today was a pretty productive early morning day (got up at six to make jb coffee before he left for the airport to see relatives for thanksgiving.) I window shopped after dropping off my application for finnish citizenship and it was the first snow.




Those things all make me think of family and holidays so when i spied a near-death tangerine in the fruit bowl i pulled out the cloves and got to work.
I can't really smell it now, but i think it will welcome me home with some pumpkinpie spice and cardamom

Yum, Happy Thanksgiving part II 2007!!!!

Pop-overs!

I love these, a freind of mine let me examen her new pair trademarked ear pop-overs which cover your ears like earmuffs but without the silly band. I was able to re-create them pretty easily for gifts and I made myself a pair too because headbands and bikehelmets don't mix (i look like a head trauma victim). I love them! They hide nicely under my hairs and keep me warm and undorkerated.

I had some 'clear flexible cutting boards' arround for the 'pop' part that. Any thicker flexible plastic will do, i often use binder covers or plastic placemats (not the laminated kind) for hat brims and these work with the same consistency.



-cut out an ovals of paper, big enough to cover your ear
-cut a c'shaped pattern from the oval as shown in picture.
-cut out two ovals each of one thicker fabric for the outside of the pop-over and one flannel or thin fleece for the inside
-make opposing cuts into the 'c' shaped plastic peices about 1/4'' in from the ends. This should make the plastic 'dome' enough to pop into place.
-push a long pin in across the overlapping plastic ends and stitch back and forth with a thick sharp machine needle to weave together.
-sew the two layers face to face
-cut a hole through the flannel layer, about one inch long vertically (in the longer direction) a little more to one side than the other. flip the good sides out through the hole.
-gently fold the plastic oval and fit it into the hole, work with fingers until it is in the right place.
-fit the pop-over onto ear and confirm the fit if you need to trim, do it now!
-once the pop-over fits, trim the 'hole' on the flannel side until its just about 1/4'' bigger than the hole in the plastic oval.
-coat the inside rim of plastic with rubber cement and let set for approximately 2 minutes until tacky, then fold flannel arround the inside edges of the plastic.

place over ear and 'pop into place.

Pulla Power

Last weekend (well, two weekends ago now), i went up to sault st. marie to celebrate my finnish mummu (grandmother's) birthday.

I was incredulous to find that once there, i was swimming in the smells of my childhood.
-My uncle smelling of sawdust, a carpenter just like my grandfather,
-Blueberry soup
-Muddy finnish coffee
-Gingerbread
and most of all... Pulla.

Me about age 7 with my mummu and bapa... looking hard done by... or practicing my finnish 'depressed' face!




Pulla is a kind of finnish sweet bread, very good with coffee. Not too sweet so as to be an actual cake, but deliciously buttery.
I thought i would try making it, not only because its delicious, but because i figured it would be a good introduction to baking breads. Its new to me and i've had some
It is lightly flavoured with cardomom, which gives it a warm aroma.
The recipie that i'm including is a variation of the basic one from www.allrecipies.com.

You'll need:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon cardamom ground (fresh ground is best)
2 eggs, beaten
5 1/2 cups all purpous flour
1/3 cup butter, melted
and
2 packages of active dry yeast (16g) or 2.5 tsps + 1/2 cup warm water and (2tsp) sugar as per directions for yeast

For the Egg/sugar glaze:
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Egg beaten

Things to do:
A: Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles then remove from heat.

B: Proof the yeast as directed.

C: Stir the following together, in a mixing bowl.
-warmed milk
-sugar
-salt
-cardamom
-eggs

D: When the yeast has doubled, add it, to the mixture.

E: Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and mix to a pancake like batter.

F: melt the butter

G: Add another cup of flour and whisk until smooth and glossy.

H: Mix in butter .

I: Add remaining flour until the dough is elastic and stiff. (It should hold together when pressed into a ball not gloopy).

J: Flip bowl over onto a floured surface and let it rest for 15 minutes.

K: Knead dough until satiny smooth.

L: Clean and dry mixing bowl, add a splash of oil

M1: Place dough back into the mixing bowl and flip to coat the top with oil
cover with a teatowel and let rest in a warm place for one hour until doubled.

M2: Punch dough down and let rise again until doubled, yup, another hour.

N: Preheat the oven to 425'C (or your oven's equivalent).

O: Turn dough out onto floured surface and devide into 3 balls of equal size for regular size loaves. Then devide, roll out and braid together into two elegant free standing loaves or 4 small loaves (that fit into ziplock freezer bags for easy freezey storage).
Bake for 5 minutes and then turn down the temp to 375' and continue to bake approx: 15 minutes

O.2: If making pukkopulla, (little pullas) roll the dough into golf ball sized peices these are kind of a cross between a doughnut and a muffin, best with dried fruit, cheese or jam baked inside. cook these for a shorter time, 20 minutes or so.





I made a rollup loaf (think long cinnamon bun loaf before its cut into rounds) in my new loafpan and filled it with fresh pomegranate seeds...





P: Beat egg and slather it over the top of each loaf and then sprinkle with sugar.

O: Give the loaves room
(i didn't and made some siamese pulla)




Siamese Pulla.







I plan to make this for my mom using spelt flower and honey instead of sugar so that she can eat it and stay on her vegan diet. Maybe for christmas!

YUM my apartment smells like all the best parts of my finnish heritage.
I'm late to bed... but it was worth it.

prodding myself forward into productivity

I'm starting this blog as both a record and a way of encouraging myself to make some of the things that float through my head.
Crafting for me is a hobby, separate from my art practice. Its a relaxing method of working out fuzzy ideas and making presents and surprises for freinds and family too!

Its november, and this month has flown by so far, leaving in the dust many of the things i had intended to strike off my craft to do list.

I have so much to do before the holidays that i hope to use this to get myself started on bulk projects and then i can leave the special goodies for afterwards thus minimizing potential freak-outs!
This year i vouched to make all my presents, and to use 80% materials that i have stock piled arround the house. I'll be moving cross country this summer and need to purge the boxes/closets before i go and would hate to have to get rid of it so here's to two birds with one stone!