Posts tagged ‘Guest’

I’m happy to introduce our Guest Blogger, Melanie Ostovic. She is a wife and mom to two boys, who lives is Gainesville, FL with her family. Melanie is a good friend of mine and a former Akronite. When she lived here in Akron, my husband and I were blessed to be invited to a Christmas Dinner at her home where I first learned of the tradition of hiding a pickle in your Christmas tree.

I was also a guest to her baby shower when I learned that her family has a thing for gift wrapping. They really go over the top, and the wrapping is almost as special as the gift inside. So when she shared how she changed her wrapping routine this year I knew it would something worth sharing and I asked her to guest post. Check back tomorrow to see her fantastic gift wrapping, just in time to inspire the rest of us amateur wrappers before Christmas Eve.

Andrea's Cabled Cardigan

We’d like to give big THANK YOUs to Andrea from Life on Laffer and Erica of Nest and Sparkle for guest blogging with us throughout April.  Their creative “nesting” ideas have been a refreshing addition to the site.  Plus it gave me a nice blogging break to spend time with my family. Here’s a round-up of their post contributions in case you missed one.

Posts from Andrea:

Joing-as-you-go Tutorial (for crochet hexagons)

Crochet Repair

Crocheted Hexagons

Crocheted Bowl

Spring Scarf

Erica's Tomato & Tarragon Soup

Posts from Erica:

Refried Black Beans

Tea Cup Candles

Vintage Brooch Necklace

Growing Salad Greens

I’d also like to recommend Erica’s Tomato & Tarragon Soup and Andrea’s Cabled Cardigan which are recent posts to their respective sites.  Thanks again!

I’ve been talking so much about joining-as-you-go and crocheted hexagons that I thought it might be nice to have a tutorial on joining. This method will work for any type of granny square (or triangle, or hexagon, etc) pattern. I will also have a pattern up on my blog, Life on Laffer, today for a basic hexagon.

Start by crocheting a single hexagon (the joining will begin with the second).

On the second hexagon, crochet to the final round as the pattern calls for. In the final round, we will now begin our joining. I like to crochet to the first or second corner (if possible) before joining. Begin joining at the corner by chaining one, then slip stitch into the chain 2 space (corner space) of the completed hexagon. Continue to complete the double crochets in the same space: corner on Hex 2 and joined corner complete.

Read more »

Mexican food is a staple in our house, especially for busy evenings. It’s popular among both vegetarians and “meat-atarians,” which is the mix in our house. One of my favorite Mexican meals is a refried black beans that can be served on its own with tortilla chips or as filling for burritos. Although canned refried beans are readily available, homemade versions are healthier and more fun.  Here is the recipe along with some suggested serving ideas.

Refried Black Beans
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 small carrots, grated
1 (28oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup water
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 cup grated cheese
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup fresh chives, finely chopped

Saute onion and garlic in oil for about five minutes until it begins to soften and brown. Add in carrots, black beans and water. Cook for another five minutes on medium low heat and then gently mash with a potato masher until the beans start to break down into a paste. Continue stirring until beans and vegetable mixture achieve a smooth texture, adding more water if necessary. Remove from heat, stir in the peppers and then transfer the mixture to an oven-safe casserole dish. Smooth the top and sprinkle with cheese, tomato and chives. Bake for about 15 minutes until cheese is bubbly on top. Remove from oven and serve as you wish – I’ve included a few suggestions below.

Straight up!
Set the warm black beans out on the table along with a plate of tortilla chips and let the hungry masses dive in.

Burritos or tacos
Serve the refried beans with flour or corn tortillas or taco shells, plus salsa, sour cream, guacamole and extra cheese. A self-serve assembly station on the kitchen counter is usually a good approach.

On rice
Refried beans are great served on rice with all the fixings, and having this for lunch is a great way to use up leftovers.

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.

My collection of pretty antique tea cups is stored in a small corner cabinet in our bedroom. They are lovely to look at and bring a peaceful feeling to the room but I often think I should try harder to actually use them. On a recent visit to FARM Restaurant in Calgary I saw this delightful and innovative use of china cups as holders for tea lights.

Just drop a candle into the base of the tea cup and set it out. A grouping of tea cup candles on the table or one set at each individual place setting is a perfect way to add a sweet touch to a spring or summer meal. I also love them on the windowsill to enjoy during the day.

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.

I recently participated in a pincushion swap with some of the ladies from the Akron Stitch ‘n Bitch group.

I spent a lot of time fretting over what kind of pincushion to make and decided on a nice, multi-colored pincushion crocheted out of Perle Cotton thread. The fun thing about this pincushion is that it is made up of eight hexagons that you join as you go! I love joining as I go because I hate seaming. I’ve been known to crochet all the squares for an afghan and then leave them stacked nice and neat for over a year so joining as I go is highly valuable to me.
I was able to quickly crochet this pincushion up over the weekend. I really liked this pincushion and was a little disappointed to swap it away. The day of the swap, I gave my beloved pincushion away to Pam after I had received my pincushion from Amy. Would you believe that Amy crocheted me the exact same pincushion? I couldn’t believe it either. I was so excited!

All the pincushion business has gotten me in the mood to use hexagons. The fun thing about crocheting with motifs is that they work up quickly. The hexagonal shape in itself is visually interesting and therefore eliminates extra work, like the need to add a border, for example. Of course, you could always do that, but I like to keep things simple (or perhaps I’m a bit lazy). Additionally, depending on the pattern of your hexagon, you can join as you go.

I was brainstorming what I could do with a hexagon and have decided to use the pattern to work up my sock yarn blanket. In case you haven’t heard about sock yarn blankets, they’re simply knitted blankets made up using small scraps of sock yarn (about 20-25 yards per sock yarn square). If you’re a fast knitter, then this probably isn’t a problem. I however, knit incredibly slowly and after having accumulated close to 100 tiny balls of sock yarn (and having only knit 6 squares in four months) have come to realize that a knitted sock yarn blanket may just take me the rest of my life. I settled on using the scraps to crochet up hexagons instead, each being approximately 4” across at the widest point. In the course of an hour I was able to work up three hexagons. This blanket will definitely go much faster than my previous knitted version. Now, if only I could find someone to ball up all those tiny hanks of yarn.

Read more about guest blogger Andrea Sanchez.

Vintage is in and has been for a long time now and my guess is that it is here to stay. Whether it’s clothing, jewelry, dishes or furniture, there is something truly lovely about beautiful vintage goods. The whiff of memory and nostalgia, the authenticity and uniqueness, the refreshing quality of something old made new again through use in a different age. Sustainability is also a factor – there are so many talented artists and designers recycling vintage into gorgeous new things and rescuing heaps of fabric, metal, woods and plastics from overflowing landfills in the process.

My personal style is quite simple and minimalist but within that I have a collection of elegant vintage jewelry, china and silverware, much of it gifts from my dear grandmothers. Jewelry is a popular topic here on Clever Nesting so I thought I would share a couple of ideas about how to wear vintage brooches.

The easiest way, of course, is to just pin them on. I love the look of a sparkly brooch on a coat or jacket and they are lovely on sweaters, especially as a substitute for buttons or clasps. Lately I’ve also been wearing several of my brooches as necklaces. This is such an easy thing to do: string a chain or ribbon through the closed clasp of the brooch, swing it over your neck and voila, a unique and creative accessory that will leave you smiling all day long.

If you already have a few prized hand-me-down brooches try looping them around your neck the next time you’re thinking of it. And if there’s nothing sitting in your jewelry box yet, ask around at the next family gathering to see what the generations before you may have stuffed away in their dresser drawers or start scouting antique shops, garage sales, consignment stores and other treasure troves. I highly recommend the latter as a fun, indulgent and inexpensive way to spend a day and spark your creativity and the former is a great way to share in stories from the past.

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.

I recently overheard a mother and daughter talking while looking at some crochet pattern books at a local craft store. The mother told the daughter that she used to crochet. The daughter expressed interest at this but the mother told her that “all crochet looks handmade by a grandma”. I was slightly offended by this considering for a long time I only knew how to crochet. I personally enjoy (and appreciate) handmade items and I love crochet.

So I decided to dig through my projects and find something that was fun, current, and still functional. I found this: a crocheted bowl. This bowl is crocheted using cotton fingering weight yarn. It is then stiffened using a warmed, one part water/one part sugar mixture. Surprisingly, it stiffens very well but needs several days to dry. This could be done with any doily pattern you can find. I think it’s a great way to make a doily a little more current. It makes a wonderful house-warming gift, is firm enough to hold goodies in, and even better? There are so many wonderful colors of cotton out there now so you don’t have to settle for the classic white. I’ve also done doilies using worsted weight cotton to increase the overall size. Imagine the possibilities!

Read more about guest blogger Andrea Sanchez.

I love gardening. I often say to friends and family that if the lottery ever found it’s way over to my bank account I’d pack up my life and move out to the country to devote myself to puttering around in the garden all day.

Alas, until that day, I continue to look for things that are easy to grow. Cool climates, short growing seasons and all the demands of a busy life makes it a waste to spend time growing slow, finicky plants. In terms of finding success in the garden I can’t think of anything more satisfying and foolproof that growing your own salad greens. Salad mix is so easy to grow and so fast to grow! Plant seeds now and you’ll be eating tender, delicious homegrown greens in only a few weeks. Spring is the perfect time to sow a single variety of lettuce or to be more creative and plant a mixture of your favorite greens. On my list for planting this year are:

• Butter lettuce: This is your regular lettuce – leafy, green, tender and tasty.
• Red leaf lettuce: I love red leaf lettuce for the colour and contrast it adds to your garden plot and to the salad plate. It’s just as easy to grow as regular lettuce and has a bit more punch taste-wise.
• Beet greens: Beets themselves are wonderful to grow, but I enjoy baby beet greens just as much. Plant beet seeds in containers or the salad section of your garden the same as you would any leafy green and harvest the tender leaves in the first month or two of the plant’s life. After that you may want to thin them out a bit or just have the odd beet growing among your salad plants.
• Spinach: so healthy, so tasty, so versatile. In addition to clipping baby greens for salads, I also harvest spinach from the garden and freeze it in baggies for use during the winter (much better for you and your grocery bill than store bought!).
• Nasturtium: along with violets these are my favorite plants to grow if you want to add colorful edible flowers to your salad. They have a lovely peppery taste and the flowers are bright yellow, orange and red.

The planting method is very easy. Start with a clear patch of dirt in the garden or a container filled with potting soil. The size of the plot or vessel is up to you – even a small pot will work, so don’t let the lack of garden stop you. Sprinkle seeds over the dirt and then place a thin layer of dirt on top. The general rule of thumb is that the layer of dirt on top of seeds should be about the same height as the seeds themselves. If you do plant nasturtiums their seeds are bigger than the others so poke them in about an inch.

I mix all my seeds together and wait for the beautiful mishmash of color that comes up; you might also prefer a more orderly planting style like rows or patches of specific varieties. Another thing I don’t worry about is spacing. While you don’t want to be wasteful and use too many seeds, it is also really easy to thin out your salad patch if it’s getting too dense by just eating more salad!

The best way to ensure a steady supply of fresh greens all summer long is to keep harvesting the leaves as they’re ready. It’s easy for salad greens to get parched and dry in the hot sun, so definitely don’t wait for a grocery-store style head of lettuce to emerge. Baby greens and micro-greens are all the rage in fancy restaurants and for good reason: they’re delicious! Eat and enjoy!

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.

My boss’s birthday was coming up and bless her heart, she appreciates a handmade gift. I had a gorgeous skein of purple (her favorite color) yarn in my stash. But what to make with only 220 yards? A crocheted scarf. The wonderful thing about this scarf pattern is (a) it’s free on Ravelry (just sign up for a free account to access it), (b) it’s open, lacy, and perfect for spring, and (c) it’s crochet so you know you can whip it up quickly.

After winding the yarn into a ball and finding my I hook, I got to it. Two days later (with only minimal time spent working on it) I had a scarf. The secret to making this scarf a WOW is blocking. I let it soak for about 20 minutes in my sink with some wool wash. After gently squeezing all the water out I pinned out the points on the scarf, making sure to stretch it as much as possible. That one skein of yarn ended up about 58” long and 10” wide. A quick and easy gift for a spring birthday.  Crochargosy Scarf

Read more about guest blogger Andrea Sanchez.