Cross Stitch Baby Birth Announcement Project-Present

A Present for Aléxias

Cross Stitch Birth Announcment for my niece, Aléxias

In few weeks, I will be an auntie for the first time of a baby girl named Aléxias (baby due: January 23rd). To celebrate her birth, I have been working on a cross stick baby birth announcement project. This project was done by completing a cross stick baby birth announcement and painting a wooden "frame".

The little baby girl was born on Thursday, January 17th, 2013! 

• Cross Point Pattern:

The cross stitch baby birth announcement that I picked for the special occasion is called "Baby Feet" from Janlynn. It is a cute, simple, and very easy cross stitch pattern to do. The cross point was made using an ivory Aida 14 count and DMC threads. I did not quiet follow the template for the placement of the name and date. I got that pattern several years ago when my best friend gave birth to a baby boy and made it as a present. I like the design so much that I have made a few "Baby Feet" birth announcement since then  ;-). This time, it was for a baby girl and my niece.

Side View of the Painted Hoop

• Frame:

This time, I wanted to come up with a different framing than a rectangular one. The finished size of the cross point is 5" by 7". So, I had this vision of a painted circular frame using a wooden hoop. I got a 8 inch wooden embroidery hoop with a height of 1/2 an inch, a matching color from the thread's letters for the paint color (purple or Concord Grape # 20595 acrylic paint by Apple Barrel), and some gloss (medium) for acrylic paint. After sanding the hoop, applying 2 quotes of the purple, and 1 quote of gloss, I was done. I only applied paint on the visible parts of the hoop. The purple is a rich color which adds some character to the cross point.

• Assembling:

First, I centered the Aida in the hoops and tightened the screw to have it nicely secure. Second, I cut the extra Aida on the back of the cross stitch. To execute this part, I folded the extra Aida sticking out of the hoops all the way down to the bottom of the inner hoop and carefully cut it. Third, I hot glued gun the extra Aida on the inner hoop. I applied the glue carefully on the top of the hoop and pressed down the Aida on the wooden hoop. I also thought about applying some Elmer glue with a brush but I went with the hot glue gun. I was a bit afraid on ruining the cross stitch by applying too much glue but I was very careful by only putting a thin layer of hot glue and repeated the process several times until the Aida was nicely glued on the inner hoop. Make sure to apply so glue on the top of the empty space where the screw is to have the Aida nice and flat.

View of the Back After Gluing the Aida on the Hoop

Check out my "4 Square Patchwork-Button Holes Bag " on my Homemade Fabric Gift Bags page to find the cute bag that I made to go with the cross stitch.

Happy Cross Stitching!

Laetitia

Protein Bread with Flax Seeds - Recipe

Protein Bread with Fax Seeds on Top

This recipe makes 1 loaf (18 slices).


Each slice would be around 65 calories with 1.33g of fat, 8.75g of carbohydrates, 2.02g of fibers, and 3.92g of proteins.


Ingredients:
- 1 cup of warm water (between 100 to 110 Degree Fahrenheit)
- 1 T of dry yeast
- 1 t sugar
- 1/2 t apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/4 cups of  whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup soy flour
- 1/4 cup gluten flour
- 1/4 cup flax seed meal
- 1/2 t salt
- Milk to brush the top of the bread
- 1 t flax seeds


Directions:
1. Combine the following ingredients to the warm water: yeast, sugar, and vinegar. Stir and let it set for about 5 minutes.
2. In a bowl, stir in the flours and salt.
3. Pour the yeast/water combination to the flours and mix to get a stiff dough.
5. Sprinkle some whole wheat flour to your clean countertop and knead the dough for a good 5 minutes until you get a soft dough to the touch.
6. Place the dough in a oily bread pan and let it rise for 3 hours in a warm place or over night in the fridge. For tips about rising bread, check Laetitia's Rosemary Bread.

Ready to Go in the Oven!

7. Brush the top of the dough with some milk and sprinkle some flax seeds. I used almond milk.
8. Preheat the oven at 325 degree Fahrenheit and bake for 30 minutes or so.
9. Remove the bread from the pan and let is cool down on a cooling rack.




What do I think of the recipe?
The bread has a nice golden brown color all around, a light crunch at the first bite, and enjoy the crunchiness on each side of the bread.You will feel it on the same day as you bake the bread. The texture of the bread is condensed as expected because it is homemade. However the bread is light, soft and slightly moist. The bread has a strong earthy flavor.

Enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack,
 Laetitia

Galette des Rois for the Epiphany - Tradition and Recipe

Galette des Rois - 2013

The "Galette des Rois" is a traditional cake made to celebrate the Epiphany and eaten the entire month of January. The galette is made out of a flaky crust with a sweet almond filling. Inside the galette is hidden a "fève" which is a little piece of ceramic. Along with the galette comes a crown for the person who will get the slice of the galette with the "fève". 

View on the filling

The galette des rois is serve in a specific way and here is how it is served in the North of France. The host cuts the galette for the guests and a child hidden underneath the table calls the name of one of the guests to assign the slice that the host is ready to give. The person who gets the "fève" will be given a crown and will be the called the king or the queen. This same person will now have to host a gathering with friends and or family to eat a galette des rois.

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Ingredients:
2 pie crusts (flaky crust)
100 g butter (room temperature)
100 g sugar
125 g almond meal/flour
1 spoon (soup) of Rum
2 eggs (1 whole and 1 yolk)
1 spoon (soup) of cold water

Parchment paper

The filling is ready!

Directions:

     Step 1 - The Filling 

Cream the butter with the sugar. Add 1 egg and stir. Fold the almond flour and keep stirring until you have a homogeneous batter. Pour the rum and mix. Set a side.



     Step 2 -  Assembling the Galette

1. Unroll your first pie crust. On a cooking pan (wider than your dough), lay down a piece of parchment and place your unfolded pie crust.

Spreading the filling on the crust

2. Pour the filling in the middle of the dough, leaving 1 inch free all around the edge. If you wish to put a "fève", place is now closer to edge of the filling.

3. Brush around the edge with the egg yolk/water mixture (stir well the yolk and water). keep the mixture for later use.

4. Apply the second dough on top of the dough/filling. Make sure that both dough are on the top of each other and gently press around the edge.

The galette is ready to go in the oven!

5. Brush all over the pie with your yolk/water mixture.

6. With a sharp knife trace some lines across the pie to make diamond shapes or the design of your choice.

Close up at the rhombus design

7. Make a hole in each rhombus.


8. Bake at 400 degree Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the galette is golden brown.

9. Let it cool down before serving it lukewarm. It was be serve warm or cold as well.


Tip: If you do not have a "fève", you can use a whole almond as a substitute.

What do I think about this recipe?

It is a good recipe but it does not taste like the galette from home. Here are few remarks that I would take into consideration for next time:
- Get some good quality flaky pie crust or make the dough from scratch. I used the Pillsbury pie crust and was disappointing by the results. I did not get a full lightness, fluffiness and airiness that I was looking for. It was too flat.
- I left the edge of the galette flat with no design or folding of the edges (up or down). It looks a bit too flat too me. It definitively need more definition to provide some volume. I will fold the edges for next time.
- The texture of the filling was nice and smooth.
- The taste is there but it will need enhance by adding some almond flavor, more Rum, and or toasting the almond meal/flour. I will have to do a trial and error for next year.

See you next year for an update of this recipe.

 Enjoy, Laetitia

Homemade Christmas Fabric Gift Bags with a Tag Tutorial and A Chocolate Bag Too!

After making some personalized fabric gift bags earlier this year to celebrate the birth of my cousins' babies (homemade fabric gift bags), it gave me the idea to to the same for Christmas.


Below, you will find:
- 4 different bags
- A tutorial for the Christmas tags.


Update: (November 26th, 2013)
A small bag for chocolate ;-)

• Small Bag

Bag for Elise - Front of the bag

Side View 

Material:
1 piece of fabric with pattern, a plain ribbon and matching thread.


Size:
Length: 9
Depth: 3.5
Width: 4.5

Top of the Small Bag

The Design:
The hem for the ribbon is right at the top of the bag. It is around 1.25 inches wide to pass a 1 inch ribbon.
I sewed a ribbon the entire width and pined a safety pin to attached a tag (check the tutorial for more detail).

• Bigger Bags

              

                Style A

Bag for Orianne

Material:
1 piece of fabric with pattern, a plain ribbon (2.5 inches wide) and matching thread.

Size:
Length: 18
Depth: 6.5
Width: 11

The Design:
The ribbon was sewn as the same time as both lengths of the pieces of fabric. The ribbon is around 2 inches from the top. However, a bit lower would look better.
To add some character to the bag, I made a bell Christmas tag.

Doubled Stamp Tag

Christmas Tag Tutorial:

Material:
- a generic design stamp saying "To" and "From"
- water color paint,
- brushes,
- safety pins,
- scrap paper,
- hole puncher,
- pen
- pieces of strong paper

Tag with Bells

Steps:

1. Cut a piece of a strong paper a bit bigger than the stamp to allow some space for a hole to pass the safety pin
2. Take the hole puncher and make a hole on your piece of paper where you would like. 
3. Apply water color of your choice on the stamp. make sure the color/water combination is somewhat thick. 
4. Using your wet stamp, push down once or twice on your scrap paper before cancelling your stamp on your cut piece of paper (step 1). Let it dry. Then, complete the text from the stamp using a pen.
5. Slide 3 small gold bells in a green wire, pass it in the round end of a small gold color safety pin and till it all together until it looked well secure. 
6. Open the safety pin, put it through the hole of your paper and pin it to your bag where it looks nice to you.

                Style B 

Matching Bags

Bag for Mom with tie in the middle of the bag 

After making different design of bag, I searched for a unique style, and I found this great idea for the top of the bag from Make It Perfect with tutorial. Make sure to check it out.

Bag for Dad 

Material for 1 bag:
2 different pieces of fabric and matching thread.

Size:
Length: 16.5
Depth: 4.5
Width: 13

The Design:
The tie of the bag is on the outside. It is in a top strip sewed around 1 inch from the top of the bag and 1 and 1/2 inches wide.
The opening of the strip can be on the side (green bag) or in the middle (red bag).
The tie was made out of fabric matching the top strip and is around 1.25 inches wide and around 26 inches long .
A rectangular piece of fabric was sewn around 1/3 of the length of the bag from the top to pin a Christmas tag.

Close view at the strip

Tie on the side of the bag

A Sweet Chocolate Bag

• A Small Bag for Chocolate

We bought a BIG bag of Lindt chocolate from Coscto and I had the idea to make a small bag. It is an inexpensive way to give chocolate instead of buying a whole box for everyone. The bag can hold between 7 and 8 pieces of chocolate. It is a very easy bag to make and done in 30 minutes.

Material:
1 piece of fabric, ribbon (1/8 in.) and matching thread .

Size:
Length: 7.5
Depth: 1.25
Width: 2

The Design:
I folded the fabric in half with the strong edge (do not know how the part is called) being the top of the bag to avoid extra sewing. I am referring to the one side which has a bias embedded within the fabric itself. The tie of the bag is on the outside. It is in a top strip sewed around 1 inch from the top of the bag and 1 and 1/2 inches wide.
The seam, which hold the entire bag, is on the back and boxed the bottom. It gives a nice clean look on the front.
The ribbon  (15 inches long) was sewn on the outside of the bag (the back side) by hand and placed around 1.5 inches from the top.

View of the back

Happy Sewing!

Laetitia

A Giraffe Applique

                - GIRAFFE -

For our little guy's birthday, I decided to make him an applique of an animal that he likes very much: A Giraffe. I searched on line and found this sweet idea and tutorial on appliques from Sew like my mom. Melissa, from whom I got this great project, is listed in my blogroll. You should check her site. She has a lot of great ideas.

I am very pleased with the result considering that it was my 3rd applique (ever)! :-)




The Giraffe Applique Project: 
I used the exact same template of the giraffe, fabric designs idea from Melissa's online sample, and used the same stitch selection.


Template:
I printed the picture of the sample. Because the picture of the giraffe was not symmetrical, I selected the side that I like the most, trace around it, flip it on the other side to get a full and regular face and neck for the giraffe. Now, I could use my template to trace on the applique paper. I used "Steam-A-Seam".

Long sleeve shirt, Fabric and Threat:
The long sleeve shirt was bought online from Dharma Trading Company. As for the fabric color palette, I went for light blue, brown, light beige (fabric with design) with a layering of polka dots, and bright green (plain fabric). The threat was the same color as the plain fabric.

Stitch Selection: Zig Zag. To saw the different pieces of fabric, I used the sewing machine. However, I did not used the pedal. I just turned the flywheel for the entire project. It was easier to move around the fabric and adjusting the foot of the machine at every turn and at a speed that I could control.


                         HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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Follow-Up (January 15, 2013)
After washing the shirt several times, you can see the "shadow" of extra fabric laying underneath the green piece of fabric. Make sure to have just a little piece of fabric and not has much for your layering. For my next project, the width of my stitch style (Zig Zag most likely) will be the same as the extra fabric that I will allow.

Watch out for your next applique project