25 Days of Christmas- Day 4 - Laptop Cozy

Laptop Cozy

I have someone in my family who is absolutely obsessed with computers. They own a laptop and at least one desktop and are under the age of 24. (This just blows my mind because our computer is about 5 years old now and I'm just happy if it can get through thirty minutes without freezing.)

I already have a larger present for this person, but I thought a great *little gift* to add would be a laptop cozy.

I have seen several tutorials around the Internet for laptop cozies and sleeves, but like this one because it is padded and secure. The tutorial comes from Sew Mama, Sew and was, I believe, included in their Handmade Holidays series.





To make my cozy I used quilter's batting, National Non-woven's felt, and muslin. At first I appliqued a felt yeti on, but he was later removed and replaced with this:



I think this will appeal much more to the recipient's twisted sense of humor. Did you notice that he's a bleu cheese and maybe a blue cheese too... ha! (Bad homophone humor.)

Here's a hint when making this tutorial, if you are using felt, use felt for only the interior or exterior... not both. There are two reasons for this, the hook side of the Velcro will eventually make the felt on the opposite side turn furry and the fact that felt will stretch out over time. If you use one non-felt fabric you reduce the chances of having the cozy stretch out and be unusable.

25 Days of Christmas- Day 1 - Sewing Kit

The first tutorial is here! And away we go...

Sewing Kit



This sewing kit started out as a present for someone in my family and it was so cute, I think I'm going to have to make one for myself. This is a pattern that I created from different things that I had seen and liked. I just love how it ends up looking sort of like a little mini-suitcase.

Here's what you will need:

- Three colors of felt
- Three inches of elastic cord
- One button
- Eighteen inches of ribbon
- Optional: Fusible webbing



1. Decide which felt you will be using for your main wallet color, your large pocket, and your small pocket. Using your main color felt, cut two 9" x 6" rectangles. Cut your large pocket color to 9" x 2.5". Cut your small pocket color to 9" x 1.5" and cut another small strip measuring 4.5" x 1", this little strip will be for your needles. Cut your ribbon into two 9" pieces.



2. Take your large pocket, small pocket, and the needle strip. Using your machine or hand sewing, stitch 1/4" in down one long side of both the large and small pocket to reinforce the felt. Do this on both sides of the needle strip.



3. Pin the ribbon 1" in on both long sides of one of the main color rectangles. Hand stitch the ribbon into place. After this has been completed attach the button in the center of one side about one inch from the edge. Fold the elastic cord in half and pin it in the center of the end opposite the button with the loop side out. Make sure to place the elastic cord on the underside of the felt.



4. Pin the large pocket to the remaining main color rectangle. Using your machine or hand-stitching, create pockets by making a vertical seam. If you use your machine, make sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of each seam.

5. This step is optional, but is a good idea if you are using acrylic felt or Eco felt. Cut two pieces of fusible webbing, each should be 8.5" x 5.5". Iron these to the backside of each of the main color rectangles.



6. Pin the small pocket to the bottom of the large pocket, which should be already attached to one of the main color rectangles. Pin the needle strip 0.5" down from the top of the same rectangle touching the left 6" side. Pin the main color rectangle to the rectangle you attached the ribbons, button, and elastic cord to earlier. These should be pinned fusible webbing to fusible webbing or wrong-side to wrong-side. Sew a 1/4" seam around the outside border of the felt. Then stuff with your favorite sewing supplies!

Look at these adorable embroidery floss bobbins!



They were designed by Mollie Johansen and are provided as a free printable on her blog. Also, check out her etsy shop for some adorable-y cute embroidery patterns. I love the fruitcake!

I think I'm in love!

How cute is this, I mean seriously.



I guess we know how I'll be wrapping presents this year! And getting rid of tons of scraps in the process!

Diagrams for this wrap and other Furoshiki wraps can be found here.

Gwinn Pie Bake Off Week 1 - Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Pie

Two days late... but better late than never. Thanksgiving craziness slowed me down a bit and now I'm beginning to feel quite a bit of get-ready-for Christmas type pressure, the year has gone by so fast that I haven't even had time to sit back and realize that November is almost over and Christmas is just a month away. Completely ridiculous.

Anyway, on to the pie!

Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Pie



Crust:

I used Ken Haedrich's cornmeal crust recipe, which I will not be putting up here... look in the review section to see why!

Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese (I used full-fat)
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 t. vanilla extract
Zest of one lemon
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. salt
1 cup sweet potato puree (see below)
2/3 c. half and half

1. Get your pie crust ready and partially bake. I fluted the edges and would recommend this, in the oven this pie tends to grow and then shrink back. Place crust in freezer for 15 minutes after partial baking. Set oven a 350 degrees.
2. Cream the cream cheese and add both white and brown sugar gradually. Blend in eggs and yolks one at a time. Blend in vanilla, lemon zest, spices, and salt. Add sweet potato and half and half, blending until incorporated. Pour this mixture into pie shell and smooth the top.
3. Bake on center rack for 20 minutes, turn pie 180 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. The pie will still be a bit wobbly when you take it out of the oven. Some cracking around the edges is normal.
4. Let cool on a wire rack for around 1 hour and then cover with aluminum foil and transfer to refrigerator. Refrigerate at least four hours before serving.

Sweet Potato Puree

Take 2 sweet potatoes, prick all over and then microwave for 7 minutes, flipping the potatoes over halfway through. Let potatoes cool slightly and then roll them between your hand and your counter (think when you were little making play-dough snakes and you'll have the right idea). Peel off the skins and place potato flesh in blender. Blend in Cuisinart or household blender adding milk very slowly until you've reached the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Reviews - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Overall this pie turned out pretty well. The consistency of the pie filling was great and the taste was good as well. I would also definitely recommend adding the lemon zest, it really made the flavors stand out more. The only comment that was made about the flavor was that the spices were a little strong, so says Joey. He later admitted that once there was whip cream on top it was perfect, but I still might cut the ginger back to 1/4 t. next time.

The crust I made was a cornmeal crust, two things were just not quite right about this crust. One was recipe oriented and the other was user error.
- The crust contained cornmeal, which caused it to have a good flavor, but at the expense of leaving a bit of grit in your teeth, this is an odd sensation when you are eating a pie that is so creamy.
- I never use actual pie weights, I always use lentils or beans and I always line the pie with foil before dropping them in... until this time. Note to self, ALWAYS line pie crust with foil before dumping pie weights in, it is not very fun to stand in your kitchen picking lentils out of your crust and hoping that you got them all.


Next Pie - December 2nd
Chocolate Mint Cream Pie

25 Days of Christmas

In an effort to keep me sane during the holidays, while simultaneously forcing me to post things on the blog... I have determined that for the month of December, through the 25th, I will be posting a tutorial everyday for a holiday gift, decoration, or yummy food item including pictures and a completed project. Some tutorials will be original and some will be from other sources, but all will be awesome!

Here's the schedule:

1. Sewing Kit
2. Chocolate Mint Cream Pie
3. Mini Heart Ornament
4. Laptop Cozy
5. Homemade Oreos
6. Merit Badge
7. Holiday Wreath
8. Tree Skirt
9. Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses
10. Adorable Stuffed Bear
11. Cake Pops
12. Stocking Hooks
13. Picture Ornament
14. Garland
15. Pin Cushion
16. Throw Pillow
17. Swedish Heart Ornament
18. Mitten Ornaments
19. Oreo and Nutter Butter Truffles
20. Patchwork Christmas Stocking
21. Cross Stitch Wall Hanging
22. Mini Wallet
23. Gift Box Ornament
24. Pie Jars
25. Advent Calendar

The Gwinn Bi-Monthly Pie Bake Off

I made a pie yesterday... which was quite a feat! I actually ended up making the crust twice. The first time it just looked ridiculous, so I did it over, but the second time I made it... it was great! The pie itself was pear-raspberry with lemon and almond.

I am actually quite pleased with myself in regard to this pie making effort and have concluded that I will be moving to Louisiana to open a pie shop in the future. I will make pies all day and then people will come to eat them and it will be magical. (On a side note: actually making something real makes me realize how many kitchen utensils I don't have!)

This has spurred me onto my newest project... I will be making a pie every two weeks and posting it, along with the recipe. I have to prepare for my Louisiana pie escapades and this will be my pie boot camp!

Did I mention that I love pie?!?

Pie #1 will be scheduled for November 25th will be a Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Pie!

Noodle Night

Last night I got adventurous and went to the asian market to get the ingredients for Yakisoba... here's how I made it:



I took all the vegetables and stir-fried them in the pan. Then I added the noodles and sauces to taste and here's what we ended up with!



Delicious!