Recipe book

This is another Christmas present I made this year: a recipe book. I decorated the booklet and also added some of my favorite recipes as well as there are lots of blank pages to write/glue more recipes.

Mittens for Märt

The boys grow so fast and I constantly discover they need a new pair of mittens or socks or hat or... They grow faster than I can knit;)

For cold days

It is really cold here in Estonia, so that even teapots need some warm clothes;)

Christmas presents. Bookmarks

Christmas is getting closer and my Christmas preparations are in good progress:) I guess all my next posts will be about Christmas presents;)
I have been trying to make several of them by myself this year as well. In my opinion there is something very special about handmade presents because while making them you actually put a lot of feelings and memories into the present. So it is kind of therapy and besides the joy of making and possibility to be creative it also provides time to think about this very special person and look/think back to the moments with that person.
I hope my handmade presents will be enjoyed as much as I have enjoyed making them:)

A fabric doll

Two years ago I sewed a fabric doll as a Christmas present to my niece.

More Christmas cards

I have made some more Christmas cards recently and the first cards are sent out by now. Christmas preparations are in progress:)

Patchwork quilt II

Cold winter has arrived and Mihkel needed a new - warmer - blanket already long ago. I made him one similar to his brother's blanket. The size is about 1mx1m.

Another baby boy

It seems that most of my friends have baby boys this year, so I can keep making cards in blue colors. This one will be sent to Norway:)

Christmas album

Recently I made a scrapbook of our last Christmas. Sorry, the photos are not the best but you get an idea at least;)

Casual dress

Finally I had time (and mood) to sew something again. There are many fabrics waiting and many plans in my head but I do not get much time for sewing these days, unfortunately.

Have I ever told you how much I actually love dresses? I have sewed many dresses through the years and here is the latest one.

Cardigan

I have finished to knit the very first cardigan to myself and I am very pleased with the result:D

My first cable knitting

I have always imagined that cable knitting (palmikute kudumine) is something for very advanced knitters only. When I looked for a pattern for Mihkel's hat there was one with the cables, so I decided to give a try. And I got surprised how easy it was to knit cables! But well, those cables are probably the easiest, I am sure more complicated exist as well.

Blue is for baby boys

On Friday I will go to meet the baby boy of my colleague, so Oskar and his mommy will receive one of those cards.

Christmas cards

I have started to make Christmas cards, here are seen only some of them (to not ruin the surprise:D). I am early this year, usually I rush making the cards in the end of November only.

Finished!

I have finished the 2nd very fat scrapbook/album of Märt's photos. Here are some of my favorite pages.

Recycled baby clothes

I had got bunch of old baby clothes of jersey that had served well 4 babies - my sister's son and daughter and our two boys. They were all worn out but I got an idea how to recycle them. I knitted a carpet of them:

So that they can serve one more baby in our family:

Cards

Sock heels

By now I have tried to knit at least 2 different kind of sock heels but I was never totally satisfied with the result. Until I decided to look for some help from YouTube and I found it, a video that teaches to knit short row sock heels. Finally I am totally satisfied with the result. And in my opinion knitting the heel like this is the easiest:)

To myself and to other Estonians who may struggle with sock heels, here is "the recipe":

Lühendatud ridadega sokikand (ehk liivakellakujuline sokikand).

Kasutan oma näites lastesokki, kus igal vardal on 9 silmust, kokku 36 silmust. Kui olen jõudnud kanna kudumiseni, siis koon esimese varda silmused üle neljandale vardale (teine ja kolmas varras jäävad nii nagu nad on kogu kanna kudumise ajaks). Neljandal vardal on nüüd kokku 18 silmust. Pööran. Koon 17 silmust (kontrolliks: pahempidi), pööran. Koon 16 silmust, pööran, jne. Sedasi, iga kord 1 silmus vähem, koon senikaua kuni varraste keskmisse ossa on jäänud 6 silmust (miks 6? Sest minu sokil on kahel vardal kokku 18 silmust, ja need jaotuvad kannal kolmeks, ehk siis: 18 s : 3 = 6 – 6 – 6 (kui kahel vardal on paaritu arv silmuseid, siis jääb keskele väiksem arv silmuseid kui külgedele, nt 32 s : 3 = 11 – 10 – 11). Pööran. Koon 5 silmust (kontrolliks: pahempidi), 6. ja järgmise silmuse koon kokku, siis kasvatan ühe silmuse juurde (eelmise rea lõngast) ja koon selle (kõik ikka pahempidi). Pööran. Tõstan “uue” silmuse kudumata paremale vardale. Jätkan silmuste kudumist kuni olen jõudnud jälle viimase keskmise osa ja esimese küljeosa silmuseni, mille koon kokku. Kasvatan ühe silmuse juurde ja koon selle (kontrolliks: sel real on kõik silmused parempidi). Pööran, tõstan “uue” silmuse kudumata paremale vardale. Niimoodi jätkan, kuni kõik küljeosa silmused on läbi kootud. Lõpuks jaotan silmused taas kahele vardale tagasi (kand ongi valmis!), mõlemale vardale peab jääma ikka 9 silmust nagu alguses ja jätkan soki kudumist ringselt.

Door sign

Our bathroom does not have any proper locking system and that's why I made a sign "I am taking a bath" ("Olen vannis") / "Step in" ("Astu sisse"). Drawings are made by me.

Elephants

I redecorated an old chair with some fresh paint and decoupage.

Cake time!

In general I do not bake very often during summer because the hot weathers and the hot oven do not match at all. And I am plain lazy for baking during summer. Still, I use to bake for my birthday and also, summer is not summer without a blueberry cake. To make your mouth full of water I share some photos here of the cakes I baked during the latest days (and by now nothing is left;)). But to not be too evil I share the recipes, so you can bake them as well:)

Blueberry cake (Mustikakook)
The one I have baked at least once in summer during the latest 5 years or so. Blueberries grow in the forest right behind our house, so I do not need to go far to pick them. At least now, because they plan to build houses there and who knows if I can go there to pick blueberries next summer...

2 eggs
1 1/2 dl sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
100g butter
1 1/2 dl fresh or frozen blueberries
2 dl flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Mix eggs and sugars. Add melted (and cooled down) butter and flour-baking powder mix. Stir in carefully the blueberries to not smash them. Pour the dough on the round-shaped cake form that is buttered and scattered with some flour. Bake at 175C for about 50 minutes (but my experience says it is ready earlier). It tastes the best with some vanilla icecream!

Raspberry-coco cake (Vaarika-kookosekook)
Dough:
225 g butter
1 dl sugar
5 dl flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
2 dl coconut flakes
Filling:
1 kg cottage cheese
250 g sour cream
4 eggs
2 1/2 dl sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
400 g raspberries

Mix flour, salt, soda, baking powder, vanilla sugar and coconut flakes. Twiddle in butter and sugar. For filling mix all the ingredients but raspberries. Put 3/4 of the dough on big baking pan/plate, pour on the filling and put on the raspberries. Twiddle on rest of the dough. Bake at 200C for 30 minutes.

Halvah-biscuit cake (Halvaa-küpsisetort)
It seems to be already a must on my every birthday (at least during the latest years). It is an easy cake because it does not need baking and I like the red currants in it that gives some sour taste into this otherwise very sweet cake.
Note: I am not sure halvah is available in all countries. And the biscuits we use here for biscuit cakes may be rather "exotic" in other countries as well (they have to be hard). But then you have to come here to shop for them;)

3 packages (´a 180 g) biscuits
200 g halvah
200 g butter
250 g sour cream
1 lemon's juice
2 dl red currants
Smash the biscuits and halvah. Melt butter, add sour cream and juice of lemon to it, mix it and add to biscuits. Mix and add the red currants. Mix carefully (to not smash the berries). Pour it to the bowl or cake form that is covered with foil. Put in the fridge at least for 5 hours.

Kama tiramisu

This is very much Estonian version of the popular Italian dessert. This is so much Estonian that I even cannot find the translation to "kama" into English. My dictionary says: "a mixture of rye-, oat-, barley- and peasemeal" that means if you are not from Estonia you have to come here to shop it:D

Basic:
400 g cream of cottage cheese
2 dl powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
1 dl kama
4 dl whipped cream

Between: 150 g biscuits (for Estonians, küpsis "Keelekesed")
sea buckthorn berries (astelpajumarju)

For permeating: coffee

Mix all the basic's ingredients. Put 1/4 of the basic into the bowl, then permeate the biscuits and put them on the basic, put on some sea buckthorn berries, then the basic again etc. The upperst layer has to be of the basic. Decorate with some biscuit crumbs and the berries. Put into the fridge for at least 6 hours.

Summer handbag

Well, here's the story;): A while ago my old money-bag broke and I had to start to use a new one that was a bit bigger than the old one. I also discovered I did not have any everyday handbag of appropriate size for summer (read: in light color) and so I crocheted one (one can never have too many handbags, can one? ;)). I am not totally satisfied with the result, so I will see if i take it in use after all. But i show it here, anyway.

To Karin

My dear (pen)friend Karin and I can celebrate 10 years of friendship in the beginning of June. This is a mini album I made to her: