Homemade Granola Bars

I found a new to me website called My Baking Addiction. What a great name. Jamie shares lots of good recipes and they are not all baked goods. I recently stumbled upon this homemade granola bar recipe and decided to try it.



These granola bars have a simple base of rolled oats, flour, and wheat germ. Brown sugar, honey, cinnamon and vanilla are the sweeteners. An egg and some vegetable oil bind it all together.



Dried cherries, slivered almonds and Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips add to the yum factor.



They are baked just until the edges turn golden.



These granola bars are moist and chewy and I love the tart cherry and dark chocolate flavor. They are the perfect afternoon pick me up or on the run breakfast.



I wrapped them in parchment paper and they are ready to grab. This recipe is simple, delicious and makes 24 bars.

Note: I used the Spark People recipe calculator to figure out the calories and came up with 180 calories per serving.

Simplicity 3835

It all started when I found a piece of lace at a little antique shop for a dollar. I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but I couldn't leave it there. It was too pretty.
It was a DOLLAR!

I also had some Kokka fabric that I had bought at Purl Soho IN A SCRAP BAG NO LESS on a visit to NY last fall. It's a 90% cotton and 10% linen blend. Perfect for a summer top.

I had some lace leftover from another project. It was white, but I soaked it in coffee and then rinsed it to match the lace panel.

Voila!

Details:
Pattern: Simplicity 3835 - view 3. It is a Built by Wendy pattern that I have used before to make the tunic. It's a really flexible pattern with dress, tunic and top lengths and sleeve variations.
Fabric: Kokka, a blend of 90% cotton and 10% linen. I can't find a link to it, but it is slightly sheer.
Mods: The lace is hand sewn into place on the sleeves and bodice.
New Techniques: I'm trying to learn how to make a more professional looking garment, so I used a french seam. This is a good tutorial for making a french seams from Colette Patterns.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Candelia

Candelia (Ravelry Link)
Designed by Cecily Glowik MacDonald
Yarn: The Plucky Knitter Superwash Merino Wool Handpainted Fingering Weight in faded graphite, 2 skeins
Needle US 6

The yarn was wonderful to work with. I alternated between two skeins every two rows to avoid noticeable color changes.

This is my third time knitting a pattern by Cecily Glowik MacDonald. I love her design style and the patterns are easy to follow.

Have a wonderful weekend. I'm enjoying the apple blossoms.

Camp Pine Needle

I bought these herb markers from an etsy shop called Camp Pine Needle back in January and have been waiting to use them ever since. My step daughter told me about them. They are made by her sister-in-law who is a freelance illustrator. They are a good size - 14 inches tall and 2 1/2 inches wide and are safe for outdoor use.




I finally found the perfect container to plant my indoor herb garden. It is a bread box from the 1950's. I love the green plaid. I love the idea of having fresh herbs available to cook with in the summer. Bring on summer. I'm ready.

Picnik

I've been having so much fun playing with textures on Picnik. It's the next best thing to actually painting a picture. I wish I could paint, but I digress.

I found Picnik through Flickr which is the site I use to upload photos to my blog. Picnik is an online photo editing service. Some of the editing features are free on Flickr, but you can upgrade to the Premium Package for $24.95 a year. (I'm not trying to sell it. I just thought this might be useful information.) This package offers all kinds of editing tools and is user friendly. I mean seriously, If I can use it anyone can.

One of my favorite tools to use is the texture tool. For example, here is a photo of the shed in our back yard in Maine.


Not that exciting. Right? After playing with the exposure and adding some texture this is what I came up with.


There are lots of textures to choose from like peeling paint, canvas, and water droplets to name a few.

Here are more before and after photos:

A pond we used to live near. I loved how the water was so still that the trees were reflecting in it.



I first over exposed the photo and then added the canvas texture. You can really see the canvas texture in this one.

This was a boat that was sailing in Blue Hill Bay called the Schooner Heritage. It looked so beautiful in all it's glory.


The photo doesn't do it justice. After some cropping and texturizing it became this:



Which became this:



I still have a lot to learn, but it's been fun and that is all that counts. I really want to invest in Photoshop some day which has a more difficult learning curve, but you can really do some amazing editing. Ahhh... someday.

Power Drill, Staple Gun and Dinning Room Chairs... Oh my!

We've moved three times over the last year and a half, so trying to make each new house feel like home has been somewhat of a challenge. Our last house we lived in had white woodwork and pretty gray walls. This new house we just moved into has a lot of dark wood trim and textured walls. It almost has a lake house retreat feeling. If you know what I mean? It has an open floor plan, so I've been trying to create a cohesive space. I don't want to spend a lot of money. One of my solutions was to recover the dinning room chairs. I've always wanted to do this. I've seen it done on the Home and Garden channels many times.



It's just as easy as it looks. I used a hounds tooth fabric in chocolate brown. It bought it from House Fabric. It was only $9.95/yard compared to $75.00 at Joann Fabrics and they shipped it quickly.

I was happy with the end result and I got to use a staple gun and power drill which is always a plus.



I bought the curtains at Target. They are not really curtains. They are 84 inch table cloths. I used drapery clips . Target has some Dwell Studio table cloths that would be beautiful as curtains too.



I have found a place for the framed butterflies at each house. This is a fun project and great way to use Anthropologie catalogs. They still look pretty good after two years.



This cabinet had really ugly wooden handles. The screw holes were not standard so I had a hard time finding replacement handles. Finally I found some that worked. They were $10.00 a piece, but they made the cabinet look so much better.



I have it filled with colorful mid century dishes. They make me happy.



I'm using a small antique cupboard as a bar for the time being. I think it works.



I think the recovered chairs pull the room together.

Sharing with  Miss Mustard Seed, Tatertots and Jello, It's Overflowing, Southern Hospitality and The Southern Product Queen.

Orchid Thief Shawlette

Orchid Thief Shawlette (Ravelry Link)
Pattern by Ysolda Teague
Found in Brave New Knits (Julie Turjoman)
Yarn used Quince and Co. Tern, 2 skeins in the color Wampum
Needle used was a US 6 circular

The good, the bad and the ugly details:
I used a Quince and Co. yarn which is always a good thing. Tern is a wool/silk blend. It has a slightly tweedy look and beautiful drape. The pattern called for 420 yards, but I had read that knitters were running out of yarn. Two skeins of Tern was 442 yards so I thought I might be okay, but I ran out of yarn with 3 rows left including the bind off row. I thought about ordering another skein, but I just wanted to finish the shawl and I couldn't bring myself to buy another whole skein for three rows.

The Last Three Rows:
I found some finger weight leftovers in my stash. I was worried about the shawl looking granny-ish so I tried to find complimentary colors. I knit two rows with some leftover String Theory hand dyed yarn in a blue color and then bound off with Berroco Alpaca Light in a green color.

There is errata for this pattern. Despite having the correct charts I still found the pattern confusing. That is why I love the Ravelry network. I never could have made this shawl without the help of members that took notes to make things easier for the next knitter. Thank You