my small object is:

please come to my new site for the full entry!

It's new and shiny and actually works much better (at least for me, the load time is so much shorter!). I'll cross-post here for a bit but please come over and visit my new home! (And don't forget to update your feedreaders -- you can do it from the new site or just click here.)

Freshly filled with homemade tomato/pasta/pizza/all purpose sauce. This is a very simple sauce we switched to a couple years ago, and we use it all the time. It's based on a recipe by Mario Batali for....some parenting magazine that went of print -- I'm thinking Child? Or maybe Today's Parent? Not sure. Anyway, it's super-easy, and one batch fills that (32 ounce) jar twice (half goes in the jar, half into the freezer to refill the jar when it empties). All you do is:

heat 1/4 cup olive oil over low-med heat. Add 1/2 large onion, finely chopped, then 3-5 cloves of garlic, also finely chopped. Soften for about 10 min. Add 2 carrots, peeled and grated, and 1 tablespoon thyme (dried). Cook another 10 minutes, and add 2 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes. Simmer for half an hour or until you remember that it's on the stove.

Add more or less of anything, and chop/grate as finely or coarsely as you like. I've always made it pretty smooth because Emily was tiny when I started making it. And she still hates big pieces of onion, but will eat the onions in ths without complaint. The tomatoes you use are important; I use a store brand organic, and when it was off the shelves for a few months I tried several brands (organic and non) and none of them worked as well for me. Hopefully my brand will never disappear again!

This week's eye spy theme brought to you by Lauren of Lauren Williams Handmade!

our first seed packets have arrived! Emily cannot wait and wants to start them now. I'm with her!

This week's eye spy theme brought to you by Anastasia of drawing and dreaming!

When I first saw this Hilco "Knut" sweater knit (that's sweatshirt fleece to us North Americans) I knew I had to make something out of it for her, it is just so cute. And she loves polar bears, and she has even seen video of Knut himself (although she likes Flocke better). So I grabbed a yard of the pink and thought about it for a bit...and this was what I came up with. Here's a closer look at the neckline and cap sleeve.

The fabric is so soft and warm, I feel a little better about the fact that she won't wear a jacket. And she loves it so much, the 2nd one (same print, but in blue) is already cut out. I'll be trying it in a jersey when it warms up as well and see if it works as a warm-weather pattern too!

I am supposed to be doing my Eye Spy today, but the topic was "something I want to try in 2009" and my answer is....nothing! (taking "try" to mean try out or attempt for the first time, not "hope to finish", because I've got plenty of that). 2009 is going to be the year of tying up loose ends and focusing on my favorite things to do. So, no plans to try any new crafts or activities in the next 12 months! Maybe in 2010....

Hilco "knut" fabric in pink from Buntefabrics.

Now Evan has a farbenmix garment, too!! I made this one up from some orangy-red cotton ribknit I'd bought on sale, plus orange bits and an applique cut from an Aquabats shirt that didn't fir any of us. The fit is near-perfect -- I will lengthen the sleeves on the next one a tiny bit, but this one fits fine. The pattern went together so quickly; I was able to put this together while Evan was home! (Well, if he'd been hanging out downstairs with us I couldn't have gotten away with it). We all approve!! And more Föhrs are definitely in the offing.

This week's eye spy theme brought to you by Cindy herself!

I have lots of sparkly bits and pieces, being a girly girl and all.

(In fact, I'm looking down at what may be my favorite bit -- my rhinestone-letter bracelet that's really a cat collar -- that spells out Emily's baby nickname on it! It sits before my computer when I'm not wearing it....Oh well, too late now!!)

But this bracelet is one i think is especially pretty. It's vintage, I'm no expert but I know it has to be 50s or earlier based on who in the family owned it. And it's costume jewelry, but apparently very good costume (note the pearls -- they're hand-tied). I rarely wear it, but it's just SO PRETTY. I expect Emily to be dragging it out of my jewelry box and bothering me to wear it in just a few short years.

Also, I missed last week's eye spy, as the theme was "a burst of color" -- and that is impossible to find in our house as the whole place is a riot of color! And I was trapped indoors with a virus.

Longer catch-up post soon!!

This week's eye spy theme brought to you by Liesl of Hoppo Bumpo!

As written, this applies TO YOU AND ME. Yes, the little guys. The craft-fair sellers. The artisans. If you do not comply with the new regulations, you will be in violation of the law and will be selling illegally....We MUST be proactive and let our representatives know that the law as written is dangerous. If not, there will be a lot of a) new felons as of Feb. 10 or b) a lot of bankrupt businesses on that day.

There seems to be a lot of confusion (and again, disbelief) about this, but there are a lot of clarifications emerging. And it appears that yes, everything (meant for kids under 12) must be tested. (See details here.) The level of testing is different for different items, things like clothing "only" need to be tested for lead, but if there is no change in this law there will be no more handmade items, probably lots of small companies going under...

does this make ANY sense in the situation our country is in? What we need is support for small makers and individuals handmaking goods in their houses! Cottage industry is what we need right now!! If you are a crafter, buyer of craft, or supporter of handmade goods, please spread the word, write your legislator and keep your fingers crossed that someone wakes up and realizes what they did here!

Snow! The very first bit of snow this year. It'll all be gone by noon, I'm sure. Then the garden will be back to ivy, hungry birds and feral cats again....

This week's eye spy theme brought to you by curly pops!

The truth is, I don't want much of anything. We're working to get stuff out of the house, not into it. And I'm trying to stick to only bringing a new thing in if it replaces and/or upgrades something that's left. So generally, I just want things I can use up (like fabric!) or eat (I haven't bought my semi-annual box of maple candy yet...) or do (like a holiday, which is out of the question).

I have to confess, I may break my own rule though! I only recently found out about Momiji dolls, which are just too cute for words. I mean, urban-vinyl design + cute + kokeshi + small world avon bottles? I am so there!!

I don't know how I could pick just one, there are so many cuties. I actually put four of them on my kaboodle wishlist! now what's going to have to go to make some room for these girls...

The pattern is KleinBorkum, and my motivation for making it was this design example, which as you can see I totally just knocked off!

We already had been using the ikea barnslig bath towels for Emily, and loved them, so when I saw the robe made out of them, I thought it was just too cute (and so did Emily!). I wasn't sure how I'd trim it, but when I picked up the towels to make the robe (a size 98/104 took two towels), I saw these matching barnslig burp cloths in the next bin and ended up getting those to make the belt and the appliques (you can see them in close up here and here), which worked out really well.

Here's what didn't work: first, this was the first farbenmix pattern I've used where the pattern pieces didn't actually match up. I had to really work at getting it to all go together at the shoulders and the sleeves. Then, I realized that I had never checked the measurements since Emily always fits into a 98/104 so well, and the robe is really short! If you look at the design examples a little more closely than I, you can see that the longer robes all have the sleeves rolled up quite a bit. I'm guessing that everyone sized up quite a bit on this pattern. And it's really far too short for her. But the final blow? The bathrobe has been added to the Great Clothing Boycott list of 2008. She loved it in photos, and she thinks it's cute....but she does not like wearing it. Sigh.

I still think the final result is actually quite nice. And if the boycott ever ends, I will actually tackle this pattern once again, this time measuring for proper length and checking all pattern pieces against each other before cutting.

And I did get an awesome bonus -- tons of new household goods made from my leftovers! I have a big set of lovely half-washcloths made from the towel remnants, cute coasters made from the burp cloth leftovers (backed with felt), and as a super-extra bonus, discovered that the burp cloths make the best kitchen towels I have ever had. So good, in fact, that I bought more just for that purpose (and so did my brother)!

the only non-ikea element is the red gingham westfalen bias tape from bunte fabrics.

Thankful for: the internet, especially google, without which this horrible process would be 100x worse!!