Happy Mother's Day!

My Auntie Mary - Mom's sister - dropped by for her usual Saturday morning visit yesterday.  She was surprised, and I think dismayed, to see that I had purchased a few hanging baskets.  It's pretty early for flowers here.  The overnight lows are still close to 0.  But when I explained I bought this one for Mom, Auntie Mary understood.  I'll just bring them in for the night, for the next week or two.  I just can't let Mother's Day pass by.

Making a Diaper Cake

A coworker recently had a baby boy and the rest of us at work chipped in for a shower gift.  I offered to make a diaper cake.  It's my second attempt at making one - and I learned the basics by surfing the net.  There's lots of good ideas out there.

Start by rolling up disposable diapers. I used 59 of the 60 diapers in the package for this cake (better one left over than one short!).  I tied each diaper with curly ribbon.

A tall round item needs to go in the centre of the bottom tier - it will extend into the centre of the next tier, adding stability.  While surfing different sites about this, I read that a glass baby bottle or a bottle of wine or champagne (assuming the new mom isn't breastfeeding!) makes a good centrepost.  While shopping for baby things, I found many tall cylindrical bottles of baby stuff (shampoo, soap, etc.) that would also work.

Start by arranging rolled diapers in one row around the middle bottle and tie them together.  Again, I used curly ribbon.

Add a second row of rolled diapers around the first and tie; and then a third row.  At this point, I start removing diapers here and there, and replacing them with other things - small containers of powder and lotion, wipes, rolled up baby clothes.  You can also tuck in things like gift cards.

Once your bottom tier is filled, start working on the next tier, by wrapping a row of rolled diapers around the top of the bottle/cylinder.  Tie it off; and add a second row.  You can also remove a few diapers from this tier and add in any little things that will fit.

The centre bottle won't extend into the third tier - it will just be loose on top of the cake.  Use a rolled up diaper in the centre; arrange a row of rolled diapers around it, and tie it off.  It's difficult to remove diapers at this stage, but not impossible.  (On the first diaper cake I made, I made this tier entirely of baby clothes; if they're arranged nicely, there is really no need to "ice" a tier like that.)

I added a fourth tier to this cake (more on that below), but three tiers is a nice size.

Once I had all the tiers tied and stacked, I started playing with the "icing" details, trying to see what looked best (and how to make those board books work!).

End result:

Bottom tier:  I folded a plain white receiving blanket on the diagonal, and then continued to fold it over at 4" intervals until I had a long white rectangle.  I wrapped this around the bottom layer of diapers; and placed a ribbon around it.  Then, on top of this layer, I placed facecloths (also folded on the diagonal), to drape over the bottom tier.

Second tier:  Draped four bibs over the second tier, and pinned on socks with diaper pins.

Third tier:  Folded another receiving blanket into a 4" wide rectangle and wrapped it around the tier; topped with a ribbon.

Top tier:  Added this one because I didn't know what else to do with the Curious George board books.  I folded another receiving blanket and placed the books in the middle; then pulled the corners up and tied them together in the centre, to make the poof.

The large stuffed monkey peeking around the cake is tacked on with diaper pins; and is wearing a monkey-themed hat that is for the baby.

The smaller monkey on the left is actually a rattle.   The monkey rattle and the booties are just placed on the tray, not attached in any way to the cake.

One thing I ended up NOT doing, but I think is kind of cool, is make rosettes out of facecloths:

You just fold them on the diagonal, and then keep folding down until you get a thin bias rectangle, about 1/2" wide, and then roll the rectangle up into a circle.  Push the centre out a bit from the bottom.

Many thanks to my colleagues at DSS for entrusting this task to me :-)

My things

I miss my things.

I love old things.  Nothing fancy.  Nothing really old.  I love stuff from the 1930s through the 1950s, and especially kitchen things - dishes, crockery, pitchers, pots, rolling pins, cookie cutters.  I like things that are careworn, and seem to have a story to tell.  Things that were used.

My baba and gido (my mom's mom and dad) moved to "town" (Prud'homme, Saskatchewan) when I was about four years old.  My memories of going to visit them on the farm are pretty dim, but what I remember best was my baba's kitchen.  This was in the early 70s, and she was still using a wood and coal stove to cook on.  I remember the kitchen itself pretty clearly, and especially some of the dishes.  She has this beautiful carnival glass sugar bowl and creamer, that I assume she brought out for company.  She also had yellow plaid dishes - what I've learned as an adult were made by Hycroft, and were the Calico pattern.

When my baba passed away, I was asked if there was anything that I wanted from her house.  I asked for any of the yellow plaid dishes that might be left.  There was one dinner plate and one soup bowl.  My aunts laughed at me, thinking it was a silly thing to ask for. Apparently these dishes were given out for free at grocery stores - if you spent $X this week, you got a dinner plate; next week it was the coffee cup.

I don't really understand why I love these dishes so much, but I do.  Over the years, I've been lucky to stumble on more at thrift shops and have spent a pretty penny buying them on eBay.  Once I was at a church rummage sale, and found four teacup and saucer sets in a different Hycroft pattern - and knowing their value, left a hefty donation in addition to the 10 cents per set they charged me.

I have a fair collection now.  I don't have a full set in any one colour, but I like mixing and matching the colours anyway - it looks so pretty on the table.  I've been amazed to find out that there are huge serving platters, serving bowls, cream and sugar sets, and coffee mugs in addition to all the other dishes in the set.  I've also picked up other patterns when I can, and have a soft spot for Dolly Dots.

When I lived upstairs, my dad hung plate rails for me, so that I could display my plates - and I had lots of space to diplay my other motley collections too.  Downstairs, there isn't any place to "display" things. 

A few weeks ago, I had a lightbulb moment.  What if I turned this:

Into this:

It's maybe a little crazy.  But I love it.  And it's me.

This is why I don't blog in the winter

There isn't much going on at the School of Yard Knocks in the winter other than a whole lot of shoveling.  I do have some indoor projects going on.  I changed my kitchen faucet in November; sewed kitchen curtains (finally!) in December.  I have an idea for decorating one bare wall in my kitchen.  I just never seem to remember to take pictures of the indoor projects.  I'll try and do a before-and-after of my wall decor attempts.

Happy winter!

Save the Bees!

I can see that there there aren't enough bees in my veggie garden.  I have to hand pollinate my squashes because the bees just can't do it.  According to Avaaz.org:

Quietly, globally, billions of bees are dying, threatening our crops and food. But a global ban of one group of pesticides could save bees from extinction.


Four European countries have begun banning these poisons, and some bee populations are recovering. But chemical companies are lobbying hard to keep all killer pesticides on the market. A global outcry now for a ban in the US and EU, where debate is raging, could provoke a total ban and a ripple effect around the world.


Let’s build a giant global buzz calling for these dangerous chemicals to be outlawed in the US and EU until and unless they are proved to be safe. Sign the petition to save bees and our crops and send this to everyone.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/?copy

Yup, it's fall!

Cooking up Patty Pan Squash

I cooked up my first patty pan (or scallop or sunburst) squash today. I've never grown them before.  I posted a picture of a baby one on August 1; three weeks later, it was about 4" across.  I had no idea how big they were supposed to get before you pick them, so I finally googled today.  The one I picked was on the big side of the scale - apparently, you want them no more than 3-4" across, preferably smaller.  Who knew?

I've never cooked patty pan squash before either, so I also googled that while I was at it.  Apparently, the easiest way is simply to prick the skin and then steam them for 5-6 minutes.  We all know that "easy" has no appeal for me, so I went with a different recipe - chop up the squash, dot with butter, sprinkle with parmesan and whatever spices your heart desires, and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.

The parmesan had a Mediterranean feel to it, so my heart decided to desire an Italian seasoning mix plus a dash of salt.

End result - it takes much longer than 15 minutes, though maybe my pieces were too big (methinks not, 15 minutes seemed terribly optimistic right from the get go).  Plan for 30-45minutes, depending on the size of your pieces.  The smell is heavenly, and the squash is pretty darn tasty.  Might try this again down the road, but for the time being, I will likely try other ways, just to see if there's something better.

Anyone have a recipe for me?