girl scouts, eat your hearts out!

homemade 'wichcraft peanut butter cookies, originally uploaded by flanmela.

i am obsessed with quite a few things in NYC. many of my obsessions are found in bakeries all over the city. they run long and deep (i'm still pining over that amazing stollen i had from almondine four years ago...) i usually try to beat them into submission by spending months researching, baking , eating ....

some years ago (5? 6?), a good friend of ours gave me a little brown bag and told me that he had gotten these cookies from a new little sandwich shop, called 'wichcraft. there in lay bits and pieces of a peanut butter sandwich cookie that was amazing. amazing. it was in bits and pieces because it is such a delicate cookie, but its delicacy only adds to the experience -- it's both rich and dainty. and it's delicious.

now there are 'wichcrafts all over the city -- but none in brooklyn! time to take matters into my own hands. and the recipe i found was right on the money. a fabulous cookie.

primed and ready!

dollhouse, primed to be painted, originally uploaded by flanmela.

the exterior of the house is fully sanded and primed (well, not the shingles, but i don't think those need to be primed...) I've pinked out a color for the house (freudian slip that i let stand) and can't wait to get it looking less like a haunted house and more like a real doll house!

i've painted one side already and can tell you: it is no easy task! i have much respect for painters of REAL houses, and now, more so! it's hard, detail driven work. but i've given myself plenty of time (b-day is end of march) so i'm not feeling overwhelmed.

once the outside is done, i'll start playing with the interior!

well, enough chatting. i have approximately 1 hour before the afternoon rush begins. off to paint!

dream house, dreamy project

full front, originally uploaded by flanmela.

i bought my dream house last weekend. it's definitely a fixer upper, but it has great bones and once the renovation is done, it's going to be fabulous. i'll be giving it to my five-year old daughter on her birthday and i hope it'll be loved and used for a long, long time.

but in the meantime, i get to go *crazy* renovating it!! i've just bought some exterior paint and am experimenting with that now. i have grand plans for the interior --



including wall paper, new flooring and -- of course -- adorable, miniature furniture. there is an abundance of information and resources out there for making and renovating dollhouses (the likes of which, i never knew). the (lack of) limit to the number of things that can be obsessed over never ceases to amaze me!

oh, and the bulk of this renovation will be occurring (hopefully out of kids' sight) in our basement, thus making it a very appropriate subject for my "downstairs brooklyn" blog.

meanwhile, i'm off to finish the middle monster's "mulan dress". she is very thorough in her love of all dresses disney -- though she doesn't know who mulan is, she knows and wants the dress.

christmas pjs for the boys

IMG_0003, originally uploaded by flanmela.

well, at least one of them. the other boy wasn't around when i had the camera ready.

i do love these pjs -- they're oliver+s bedtime pjs, sized 3T in flannel. i have made the pants umpteen times before, but the top i had never made. extraordinarily simple to make, while being very, very cute and easy to wear! the only thing i would (and did) change on the pattern was the making of the ties (they basically had them as bias tape, double folded and stitched down; i would do a pull-through tie) and the attachment of the ties (they do it after the garment is complete; i would attach them in the seams).

otherwise, a fabulously adorable boy in his super scrumptious (or, as he would say: "de-LISH-shush") pjs.

tiered skirts are perfect for ...

back to school. this one's in liberty babycord.

tiered skirt in liberty babycord, originally uploaded by flanmela.

and this one is in echino. cute, comfy and easy.

Cute little Japanese open-backed tunic

Cute little Japanese open-backed tunic, originally uploaded by flanmela.

okay, so this is old (from this summer) but if i don't post about it, i'll forget i ever did it. it was a gift for the middle bug's best buddy. i hope i see her in it someday!

thanksgiving napkins

thanksgiving napkins, originally uploaded by flanmela.

i have discovered, since i began sewing, a very surprising fact: i love ironing. and this project is *the* project for ironing lovers!

i saw this post on purlbee awhile ago and promptly went out to my local fabric shop a bought 2 yds of linen and some fall-themed half yard pieces. it's taken me a while to actually do the sewing, but once i started, it only took 2 hrs to make the 10 napkins. here they are:

there is a lot of pressing, but i've discovered that i enjoy the pre-sewing process as much, if not more, than the sewing itself. and the results are really lovely. thanks, purlbee!

blanket for grandbaby!

Blanket for James, originally uploaded by flanmela.

not my grandbaby... but since i don't know the parents, only the grandparents (hi mike and tammy!), i'm calling him a grandbaby. it's a very simple blanket, maybe even a playmat because it has a pretty thick batting (polar fleece).

here's the front (very cute print...)



i'm sending it out today, with well wishes to the new family of three!

christmas nightgown

christmas nightgown, originally uploaded by flanmela.

i finished (well, nearly) the middle bug's christmas nightgown and she loves it. it may be a touch small around the chest, but i'll just adjust the placement of the buttons.

i'm making two more of these (shorter versions) for middle bug and her friend -- who we're spending the weekend with.

boys pjs to come!

Christmas pjs in progress

Christmas pjs in progress, originally uploaded by flanmela.

i've started the kids' christmas pjs. i'm hoping to have them done by thanksgiving, so as to enjoy them for the entire month of december.

but, that being said, i'm using a vintage pattern for the middle bug's nightgown and -- while it's long enough for a 7 year old (she's 4 and the pattern's for a 4yo), the neck circumference barely fits around my wrist. kids from the 50s must have been very tall with very small necks. or they just were all chokey in their pjs.

so, i might be tacking the collar down, as i've done in this picture. or maybe i'll just leave the top button undone.

either way, i think i'm going to finish this tomorrow and will love it. the boys get pants in co-ordinating plaid flannel. god, how i love willing (if ambivalent) participants!

best madeliene bump yet

Best madeliene bump yet, originally uploaded by flanmela.

i've been sort of obsessed with making madelienes lately -- i've made all sorts: traditional, chestnut flour, almond flour. i've made them using a traditional genoise base, heavy butter batter w/ no leavening agent, and a cheater version with baking powder added.

these are my chocolate madelienes and, of all of the ones i've made, they have the best "bump". the recipe comes from my favorite resource -- king arthur's flour company. there's no leavening agent -- just hyper-whipped eggs, beaten with the sugar until they're light yellow and ribbony.

they are delicious. just ask my kids.

loving the little house dress!

loving the little house dress!, originally uploaded by flanmela.

i was just looking through my pictures and saw this one. i love it.

flippy skirt

IMG_9899, originally uploaded by flanmela.

it's taken her a while, but the middle monster (aka, miss fashion thing) finally is into wearing this skirt. the biggest problem with it, to her mind, is that it has "ties! NOT TIES!" my strategy is to keep the ties out of sight when putting it on her.

anyway, the skirt is made from echino double gauze and from a pattern in one of my favorite japanese sewing book -- nani iro. i think it's adorable.

this morning's work

liberty twill skirt, originally uploaded by flanmela.

so, i was bored this morning and haven't been in a sewing mood lately. i have, on the other hand, been in a cutting mood. i think that i have 10 or 12 projects cut and ready to be sewn.

this was one of them. it's from this book.

i really love it -- it's a true wrap skirt, with pockets and pleats in the front and it's intended to have pleats in the back -- but as those looked too boxy, i switched it to elastic.

so, that's what i did this morning.

prairie girls in montana!

Prairie Girls, originally uploaded by flanmela.

we had such a lovely trip to montana with our family and friends -- the fitzpatricks, the flannigans and the morrison/bergers! the girls enjoyed wearing their matching prairie dresses (though madison had to berate me to finish hers while we were there!).

they were adorable!

finding reasons to get *really* excited about our montana trip

trying hard not to get her pic taken!, originally uploaded by flanmela.

reason #1 -- we'll be seeing my brother and his family, including two adorable cousins that my kids haven't really met yet!

reason #2 -- lots of swimming time at the hotel and knitting time in the car!

and reason #3 -- perfect opportunity to make LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE DRESSES! i've just finished this one -- the dress is with pintucks, a peter pan collar and is made in a nice, muted Liberty lawn fabric. I've made the pinafore with some nice natural muslin. The pattern is an 80's McCall's pattern, and the only thing i don't like about it is that it's one size only -- size 5.

but i'm guessing she won't want to wear little house on the prairie dresses when she's 13.

i'm making another one for our 5yo cousin.

and maybe another for my bug...

big boy shirt

big boy shirt, originally uploaded by flanmela.

finished this a while ago -- around father's day. it's a shirt that was cut from my husband's well-worn favorite business shirt. in fact, it was the shirt he wore to our rehearsal dinner 8 years ago, so -- very sentimental!

the pattern is from a japanese sewing book and i love it! the neck is a bit too big -- when i was cutting the front, i maintained the buttons and buttonholes but didn't properly adjust the sizing. oh well. it's still pretty fab!

happy 100th birthday, elizabeth!

charity child's BSJ, originally uploaded by flanmela.

just finished a cardigan for charity. it's one of elizabeth zimmerman's classic patterns -- the baby surprise jacket. i made a child's size (6 to 8 yo) with my noro and morehouse scraps and have to admit, i like how it turned out. very EZ, if i do say so myself.

a lovely woman on ravelry has organized a charitable giving of many, many BSJs to children in need in elizabeth zimmerman's home state of wisconsin. all in EZ's name. i'm very excited to be a part of it!

evie, elise and (soon to be) camille's pjs

evie, elise and (soon to be) camille's pjs, originally uploaded by flanmela.

the girls' birthdays are all coming up and genevieve picked out the fabric for elise's and her own pjs. we're going to a sleep-over event for one of the girls' birthdays, so it will be cute to see them all together!

meanwhile, genevieve is sporting hers prior to her 4th b-day, but i guess that's the perks of being the daughter of the maker...

my circular needle case

IMG_7558, originally uploaded by flanmela.

yeah, they're still a mess, but better than before. and why, in God's name, do i have so many size 10 needles?