Knitted Throw Pillow Cover

I'm chugging along with my office project!

I created a simple cable pattern in lime green (others colors are orange, turquoise, and yellow).

I haven't decided if it will be an envelope-style sham cover or if I will sew it closed around the pillow. It depends on how much yarn I have left. 

I'll share the pattern once I'm finished. 

Well, back to work! 

FO Show-Off Post: Office Valance

The office is slowly brightening up.

The window valance is finished! I worked on it most of the afternoon (ok, only part of the afternoon. The rest of it I was knitting and watching Spongebob). 

I never realized how hard it is to take a good picture of a window. 

The lighting is just all weird. 

Can you tell photography isn't my hobby? I have zero skill in that area!

My apologies for the icky photos, but you get the idea!

Opposite the window, you'll see the felt mats. I used command strips to hang them. 

They look a lot better in person. I like them! I think a floating shelf would go well above them. 

Oh, and here's my little throw pillow. 

I made it with the side scraps from the cut I made for the valance.

Next, I need to recover the lamp shade and make a pillow sham out of the turquoise and white fabric.

I'm working on a lime green knitted pillow sham. It'll add texture and color without making the room too busy with too many patterns.

As long as I don't buy anything else, this project will stay under $50. That's not bad at all!

Practice, Practice, practice!

My Singer is threaded and ready for action! 

The manual finally printed correctly, and I learned that the needle needs to face a certain way or it won't pick up the bobbin thread. (I was winging it before I got the manual.)

I guess those manuals can be useful sometimes! Haha. 

I have my practice scrap cloth ready for stitching and getting used to tension. 

The tension nob is off a little with the numbers, but I think I fixed it. 

We'll see how things go! I have to make goodies for Chris and his coworkers sometime today, but I'm looking forward to learning this machine so I can make my orange chevron valance for the office!

Tablecloth Curtains and Placemat Wall Decor(?)

I made a Hobby Lobby run this morning. I'm working on my pops of color for the front bedroom. 

The turquoise tablecloth and yellow placemats are today's purchases. They were both on sale. Yay!

The turquoise tablecloth will be used to recover the lampshade in the office and make a pillow sham. That's the plan for now, at least. 

The orange chevron will be curtains and a pillow sham. I have everything I need to make them, and I'm almost finished learning the ins and outs of my grandma' sold sewing machine. 

The yellow placemats will be cute when hung staggered on the wall. That, or I'll add them to the front of a throw pillow. 

I'll add better pictures as I complete projects. 

What a funny looking weed!

I was pulling a few weeds this afternoon when I came across something quite odd. 

A carrot!

I would replant it, but it grew in the yard that we recently treated with weed and feed, and I'm not comfortable with anyone eating that. 

We planted carrots in our garden last year, but the neighborhood cats decided to use the carrot square as their personal litter boxes. I guess one seed managed to hitch a ride on one of those annoying kitties!

Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Brownies

Saturday night was Game Night, and we finished up dinner with some Double Chocolate Brownie sundaes. And you know what? They were gluten-free!

I have a lot of food issues that I don't really go into detail about a lot, but I basically follow the FODMAP diet since it reflects most of my food allergies and sensitivities.

pre-sundae gooeyness

These brownies can be gluten-free, FODMAP-friendly, or regular ol' brownies! Y'all have my Grandma Darlene to thank for this recipe. She sent it to me in college, and it got me through many a Finals Week. (Notice "me" and not "us." Chris didn't get any because I do not like to share my chocolate.)

I think these brownies are the perfect mixture between fudgy and cakey.

They make perfect brownie sundaes!

Topped off with fudge, caramel, and homemade whipped cream!

Please see the notes about flour below the recipe if you want to make this gluten-free.


Double Chocolate Brownies
from Grandma Darlene

Ingredients:
3/4 cup baking cocoa (I recommend dark chocolate!)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup butter, melted, divided
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour of your choice*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I always end up adding extra)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips or chunks


Method: 
Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9x13" baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine cocoa and baking soda; blend in 1/3 cup melted butter.
Add the boiling water and stir until well-blended.
Stir in the sugar and remaining 1/3 cup butter; stir in eggs.
Add the flour of your choice, vanilla, and salt.
Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips/chunks.

Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool before serving.

My grandma's recipe claims this makes a few dozen brownies, but I always end up cutting them into only 12 pieces so I have a nice big brownie to anchor a brownie sundae.

Notes:
*All purpose flour is what this recipe originally calls for. Add 1 1/3 teaspoons of Xantham Gum if you choose to use a gluten-free flour.

I used Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour for the last batch of brownies. It is not FODMAP-friendly since it has bean flours in it. This flour does, however, behave the closest to all-purpose white flour out of all of the gluten-free flours I have tried.

If you use only rice flour, I recommend using brown rice flour. You may need to add up to 1/4 cup more rice flour to get the correct consistency. These brownies should be fairly dense.

Office Brights

Our front bedroom, the office, is Boring. (That capital "B" is deserved.)

It's black and tan, and that's all well and good, but it desperately needs a pop of color!

I'm thinking brights!

BAM!

I know we'll use orange for sure. I have a chevron orange table cloth I bought for Chris's birthday party last year and then promptly forgot about it since I bought it a month early and I like to over-prepare. (At least it was on sale!)

Well, that tablecloth is going to be turned into a valance! 

And then maybe I'll use what's left to spice up the lamp shade. Who knows?

I do like that turquoise, too. And I will always love yellow and green. And the four don't look bad together! 

And this, and that, and then...! 

While my thoughts are whirling about my head, I need to go find that brownie recipe from Game Night so I can post it. 

Update:

Chris has informed me that these look like Windows computer colors. Well, it is an office....

Front Garden Beds

We've had a busy weekend!

Yesterday, Chris and I cleaned out our front garden beds and planted flowers.

We put down black mulch and planted marigolds, red salvia, and dahlia tubers. 

There was a pretty good deal on dahlias at a local store, and I kind of went overboard.

I'm really hoping they take off because I would love to have cut flowers over the summer!

Between the vegetable garden and the front beds, I'm really looking forward to expanding my gardening knowledge. I'm still a beginner, but I love where this is going! Each year I try to add new things, so the front beds and the dahlias are this year's addition.