Hildy the Owl

Hildy the Owl says hello! She's a sweet little thing and takes less than an hour to make.

Materials

• the pattern
  
• large scrap of main body fabric
• scraps of fabric for belly and mask
• scrap of fabric for eyes
• matching and/or contrasting thread
• steam-a-seam lite or similar product
  
• stuffing

Note: pattern pieces have 1/4 inch seam allowances included.

Directions

1. Print out the pattern.
2. Cut two of the main body piece.
3. Trace the belly and mask pieces onto the Steam-a-Seam and follow the instructions to attach it to your fabric. Cut out the belly and mask pieces.
4. Trace the eyes on to the Steam-a-Seam and follow the instructions to attach it to your fabric. Cut out the eyes.
5. Peel off the backing and place belly and mask pieces in place (see photo for placement). Iron onto fabric.
6. Place eyes onto mask (see photo for placement) and iron into place.
7. If desired, decoratively sew the mask, belly, and eyes. You can use the machine, embroider, use a simple running stitch, satin stitch or anything you can come up with.
8. With wrong sides together, sew main body pieces together, leaving a 3 inch gap on the bottom for stuffing. Remember that it's a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
   
9. Trim ear points so they'll be nice and pointy when you turn them.
10. Turn right side out. Use a chopstick or similar to turn ears.
11. Turn under seam allowance on stuffing gap and iron flat.
    
12. Stuff, using chopstick or similar to stuff ears.
13. Using a ladder stitch, sew stuffing gap together.

Enjoy your owl!

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Technorati tags: crafts

Clean out the fridge lunch

Had a bunch of leftovers that needed to get used up, so that's what I did today.

Pasta with roasted tomatoes, eggplant, and tofu with cheese; balsamic green beans; and eggy-veggie thing, and grapes.

Last lunch of the week! Happy Labor Day long weekend!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Good lunch

This was one of those meals that really hit the spot. Very good.

Grapes, balsamic green beans, salt & pepper tomato, roasted tofu on spinach and super-good smashed potatoes with leeks from the garden.

I made the smashed potatoes on Sunday, and it's been hard not to eat them since then, but I wanted them for a lunch this week. Oh, they're just so good! Yes, I will have leek-breath for the rest of the day, but it's so worth it.

I tried something new with this batch of tofu, but it didn't really work out. I wanted tofu that was kind of meaty, not really in taste, but more in ... robustness? Didn't work. I'll try again. With fall coming, I'll want a roasted tofu that can go with non-Asian things.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento

Boring but good lunch

Leftovers and quick stuff from the fridge are today's lunch. Nothing spectacular, but it was all very tasty!

Stir fry, brown rice for stir fry, spinach with dressing, and grapes.

And a forewarning: I'm taking Thursday off to have a nice, long, five day weekend, so no lunch. I imagine you'll manage to suvive somehow. But just barely, I bet!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Thrift store finds

I had a good weekend of thrifting. Besides finding a thigh-length black suede coat for $15, I found some craft books from the 1970s and early 1980s that actually have some cute projects in them. (click on pictures for bigger version)

That lion pillow is so very '70s.

The piggie bag, however, is absolutely adorable.

I find it creepy that a family of bunnies live in a carrot.

This stuff in this book is either very cute or very weird. Nothing in between.

Unfortunately, this picture doesn't really do justice to these cute little aprons. Each pocket matches the little toy in it: cheese for the mousie, an egg for the chick, etc.

Do you need a bag shaped like a peanut? This book has it!

Should probably be spelled "bizarre."

Crazy cat lady! This photo had to be bigger than the others so you could really get the full effect of the cats. I think I'll do this for my mom for the holidays. You'll like that, won't you, Mom?

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Technorati tags: crafts

I should have known better

Last night and this morning I was too ill to pack myself lunch. Feeling a bit better by lunchtime, I took myself out to Flaming Wok for Singapore noodles with steamed veggies and green beans.

It was good, as usual, but now I'm not feeling so well again. Sigh. I should have known better.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime

A more interesting lunch

OK, it's not great, but it's loads more interesting than the rest of the week's lunches!

Steamed squash with lemon pepper; whole wheat pasta with sauce and faux meatballs; an egg star; and something that I found at the Asian market that is basically a very tasty potato pancake with veggies (with sweet chili sauce for dipping).

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Lazy lunch

I'm still not into cooking. Last night I was just too worn out, even though I have a fridge full of veggies I need to use.

Spinach salad, the last of the green beans from the farmer's market, and leftover roasted red pepper ravioli in roasted red pepper sauce that Jeff picked up from Weiland's when he was running errands.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

B. F. Spider

Yes, you read that right, not Skinner, but spider. This lady has taken up residence on our porch.

What does the "B. F." stand for? Big Fucking. She is a Big Fucking Spider. Huge. From toe to toe, she's at least three inches long.

She's a yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) and though they're supposed to be common, I've never seen one before.

I think she'll be relocated, as soon as I get up the nerve...
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Technorati tags: nature

Two lunches for one!

I realized after I left work on Thursday that I forgot to upload my lunch photo. So, rather than admit that, I hid from my blog all weekend until I could get the photo up. So here's Thursday's lunch:

Green beans, a calzone type thing, lettuce, tomato and cucumber, and dressing, dried cranberries, and pine nuts for the lettuce.

And here's today's:

Still frozen kale soup, whole wheat pasta with sauce, edamame and faux meatballs for the pasta; and spinach with dressing and pinenuts.

Neither is particularly inspired, but I haven't felt much like cooking lately. Maybe once it cools down I will.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Soft toys

On my no-office-furniture holiday from work, I put my time to good use and made a couple of softies - one for Cora, my niece just born yesterday, and another for Ella, my niece who should be popping out any day now.

The scottie is for Cora.

Make of hot pink fine wale corduroy from the scrap bin. The itty-bitty blue rick-rack is very securely sewn on.

The elephant is for Ella.

Made from cotton and corduroy (same as the scottie) from the scrap bin.

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Technorati tags: crafts

Welcome to the world!

Welcome my newest niece to the world: Cora!

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Technorati tags: family

Forgot my napkin

No no nice stripey background.

Veggie gratin on bed of (hidden) brown rice; green beans with butter, salt & pepper; faux-meatballs with BBQ sauce for dipping; and mango with coconut for dessert.

I did, in fact, buy an eggplant to make more gratin. I'm amazed at myself!

No lunch tomorrow, since I will have no office furniture, so no place to work. Back on Thursday, though!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Bruschetta

Inspired by a meal I had over the weekend, I made some bruschetta from the huge numbers of tomatoes ripening in the garden.

Grilled portabella mushroom on bed of lettuce, leftover stirfry on brown rice, bruschetta, toasts and cheese for the bruschetta.

The bruschetta is just tomatoes, red onion, garlic, parsley, olive oil, a splash of white balsamic vinegar, and salt & pepper. Simple, but tasty. Dinner tonight, too, I think!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Upstairs, downstairs

In addition to all the family/funeral related stuff over the last few days, we were inspired this weekend to simplify and happy-fy.

Indy has separation anxiety, so he has to be locked up in his crate when we leave. However, since he's a drooler, his crate gets very wet and, since he shreds bedding, he ends up spending his day sleeping on wet plastic. This is not good for his skin.

So, we go him a kennel, and instead of setting it up outside or in the basement or something, we put it in his usual room upstairs.

Click on the photo if you want little notes about what things are. The kennel was supposed to be 6' x 10' x 6' but we put it together to be 6' x 5' x 6' so it would, you know, fit in the room. Hopefully he'll like it and his skin will clear up. We don't use this room anyway, so I don't mind having a giant cage in it. Besides, as Jeff points out, now we're ready to babysit our neices! ;-)

Our other big project was tackling the basement. Jeff wanted more room to do woodworking, so we spent some time cleaning out the basement. We put a bunch of stuff out in the alley for the scavengers and threw out a lot more. Our useable space down there has just doubled and it's wonderful. No photos, since it's still, well, a basement. :)

Other than that, we've just been running errands and spending time with family.

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Technorati tags: home

Last lunch of the week

Tomorrow's Jeff's grandmother's funeral, so no lunch photo.

A simple salad of lettuce and dressing; tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion with a balsamic vinagrette; eggplant and tomato gratin with two cheeses; rice to soak up the gratin juices.

I don't usually like eggplant, but this was good! Got one in the CSA share, and I came up with a variation of a recipe I found in a cookbook. Not bad at all. I may even buy an eggplant to make this again.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Monday & Tuesday lunches

With all that's going on, I realized I never posted yesterday's lunch. So here it it, with today's, as well.

Spinach salad; rice with tomatillos from the garden, onions, and white balsamic vinegar; tomatoes from the garden with cucumbers and cheese in balsamic vinegar; and dessert/snack of jumbo raisins, dried cranberries and almonds.

Quickie spinach salad with crackers and homemade tomato chutney.

The chutney is basically just glorified homemade ketchup, but it's tasty!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

Busy weekend with a sad ending

Cordy got groomed.

She wasn't terribbly happy about it at first, but she seems to have gotten over it and is now enjoying being cool.

This weekend was Jeff's family's annual reunion, so we were pretty busy with family all weekend. But I managed to find time to make a pin cushion and shrinky-dink pins for a friend.

After we got back from the runion on Sunday, I made tomato chutney with tomatoes and shallots from our garden.

Unfortunately, we also found out this morning that Jeff's grandmother passed away overnight. Very sad. She was a wonderful, intelligent, and funny woman, and I'll miss her.

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Technorati tags: misc

Baby sweater prototype

This is the "first draft" of a sweater for one of my soon-to-be-born neices. The yoke needs to be in single crochet rather than half double, but other than that, I don't think I'll change much.

This is made in cheap Lustersheen, but the final one will be in many different colors of cotton - I was inspired by this absolutely stunning sweater. Mine's not nearly as nice, but I can only hope I'll be able to come close!

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Technorati tags: crochet

Leftovers lunch

Used up bits and peices that were hanging out in the fridge (or on the windowsill in the case of the tomato...).

Spinach salad with an egg and dressing; honey mustard roasted tofu with green beans; a tomato from the garden with pepper and red vinegar; and kind of creepy-looking potato salad made with purple potatoes from the garden.

The tofu is just my roasted tofu recipe, but with a marinade made with equal parts dry white wine, honey, and dijon mustard. Mildly flavorful, but perfect for dipping!

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento

No lunch today...

...because my dad and little sister came to visit.

While Dad and I talked, Isabelle watched Bend It Like Beckham with the dogs.

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Technorati tags: family

Almost too hot for lunch

I almost didn't bring a lunch today, planning on hitting the heavily air-conditioned mall for food, but since we had the makings of a salad at home, I just couldn't waste the money.

Spinach and lettuces; cucumber and tomato; "blush vinagrette" with cheese and roasted pinenuts; and green pepper, carrots and a multigrain roll.

Nothing exciting, but it's too hot for food right now.

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Technorati tags: lunchtime, bento, mrbento