Craft happenings

As you can imagine, since I've been busy busy outside I haven't been sewing as much as usual. But! I am still keeping in touch with my crafty side.  I am currently working on a pair of socks, which I have been keeping in my desk at work. I've been knitting 2-3 rows a day, so they are progressing nicely. 

I did get around to sewing up this small notions case, the pattern is by Leigh of ShopLouleigh. I have linked both her website and her etsy. Her website has all the links where you can find her content, which includes blog, podcast, ravelry, and etsy. Anyway, she had been making and selling these little notions pouches and decided to put out the pattern for it. 

I really like the way it came out. It is actually very compact, but does fit a number of sewing or knitting notions. It would also be useful in a purse for chapstick or that kind of thing.

The outer fabric is actually an old pair of pants that I won't be wearing anymore. It's a nice weight though so I chopped them up! The inside fabric is a fun vintage piece of fabric I've had in stash for awhile.

So, in other news I have been working on my diet and exercise. This year I think it really just made sense to me to lose some weight. I didn't have a huge epiphany or anything like that....more of a dawning realization.  I'm 41 and this is not going to get easier. "This" being health, weight loss, aging. I work in the medical field and seeing some of our elderly obese patients and the struggles they had was a big part of that. Thankfully I do not have any of the conditions that come from being overweight - diabetes, hypertension I'm looking at you!  So, I really have been paying attention to what I eat, quantity, hunger levels, cravings and such.

I've always known I have a sweet tooth. So I've been looking for ways to satisfy that craving without going overboard. I was having a little looky-loo on pinterest and found a recipe for baked spiralized apple chips - here is the link. I did substitute stevia and pumpkin pie spice instead of sugar and cinnamon. It makes a nice flavor. I used my food processor which made nice, even chips. The first time I made the recipe I used the spiralizer and they were very thin chips - which were also nice!

In the top left photo, those are peach slices. I would NOT recommend using peaches to make chips. Basically they were really brown dehydrated fruit pieces. Not my fav. But, the apples turned out wonderfully! Also, that aqua bowl was the bowl my Mom used all growing up while baking. She gifted it to me one of the last trips to see her.  I love it!