breakfast popovers with italian sausage and cheese

This weekend I was delighted to get out of the house attend a baby shower for my friend, Christina, who is expecting her first baby on November 8th. Her little man is due almost a year to the date from Max's due date (which was November 9th), so I think that's pretty cool.

Typically when I escape the house the boys either consume leftovers or otherwise fend for themselves for dinner, but I decided to be kind since I was leaving them on a weekend and whip up something for them before I left. The easiest way to my husbands heart is brinner (breakfast for dinner) so I went with that.

When these came out of the oven, I was barely able to make myself leave the house. The entire place smelled like an Italian bakery.

If you've never had a popover, it's basically a cross between the best dinner roll you've ever had and a souffle. They are light and airy on top, and taste almost a little eggy, like a souffle. These are made by layering Italian sausage and garlic at the bottom, covering with smoky cheese, and then pouring the blender-whipped batter on top. Then they "pop over" the muffin tin into these heavenly pillows of deliciousness. Then you pour maple syrup on top, if your heart desires.

I cannot claim credit for this recipe. Every amazing recipe that I make (that isn't either a derivative of a family recipe, a fabulous Pinterest, or a happy accident that I come up with myself) basically comes from either Giada De Laurentiis or Ree Drummond. This one happens to belong to Giada.

I met her in person once. She's just as darn cute and kind and gracious as she seems on TV. 

Click here for the full recipe. Hers calls for smoked mozerella, but I couldn't find any at my grocery store, so I used smoked provalone. It was epic.

The popover looks lonely and afraid. He was no match for me. Muahahaha.

Any recipes that you guys have made lately that you're in love with? Any other popover lovers out there? I'm ready to start cooking some fall foods in the next few weeks, and this one certainly fit the bill.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

easy garlic herb Focaccia bread

bacon jalapeño cheesy skillet cornbread

white wine and asparagus risotto

tara's house salad dressing

oh my darling clementine: a cozy space for your little buckaroo

Yes, I designed a sweet little nursery for a baby girl. No, I am not pregnant. I am designing vicariously for other imaginary children. If a baby girl was dropped at my doorstep, though, this is what I would do.

I love the warm woods and rustic touches but without being over the top theemey, which is key to creating a kid's room that will grow with them.

1. arrow wall art
2. monogram
3. garland
4. rack
5. lasso lamp 
6. toddler pillow -  one of a kind created by yours truly. Available for purchase. Email simplycraftedblog@gmail.com for more information.
7. crib
8. crib quilt - limited run of 4 created by yours truly. Available for purchase. Email simplycraftedblog@gmail.com for more information.
9. wall art 
10. rocker
11. sheep bedding
12. side table 
13. cowhide rug
14. critter
15. tee pee
16. antique riding horse

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

quilt as you go pillow sham

the perfect baby shower blanket (baby not included)

neon sergered swaddle blanket "tutorial"

pint sized design: moonrise kingdom

neon sergered swaddle blanket "tutorial"

No, you may not eat my baby's face. Yes, those are sarcastic quotes right there in the title. I can barely call this a tutorial with a straight face. Here are the steps:

1. Buy a yard of fabric.
2. Cut it in half.
3. Serger it.

Can you handle it?

I used this navy anchors jersey knit from City Craft (you can buy it online here). It's 95% cotton and 5% spandex, which is the perfect combination to roll your baby like a Chipotle burrito while still allowing him to breathe. An important combo. A bonus: the jersey comes in at 58" wide, so you can get 2 blankets out of one yard. Sah-weet.

Do not misread this and think you can buy half a yard of fabric. You will end up with a useless 18" x 58" jersey table runner. And nobody wants that.

I cut my yard in half so I had 2 pieces of fabric measuring 29" x 36" roughly. I have a GIANT beast baby who is the size of an 18 month old, and I was able to swaddle him up quite nicely. He was, however, super confused because he has not been swaddled in about 6 months. You can make whatever size blanket you'd like. I made these as shower gifts; he was simply the model. 

To make this fabric really sing, I decided to go for a pop of neon with this electric red serger thread (actually called Neon Orange by Maxi-Lock, but seriously, it's more red than orange in my opinion).

I did a 3-thread overedge seam because - wait for it - buying 3 spools of thread was cheaper than 4. Simple as that.

You can ignore the white thread. I'm not using it here, but decided to just leave it in place for next time. I removed the 2nd needle, so it wasn't feeding anywhere.

I started at a top corner and went straight down. You'll see in the following 3 photos how I eased the corners to create a slight curve. There's no need to cut the curve out beforehand. Save yourself the step and let the machine do it for you.

Approaching the corner.

Turning the corner.

Finished corner.

When I got to the end, I turned the final corner and trimmed off the tail threads where I started. I let the machine overlap a couple of inches of the prior stitching to secure things.

Aaaand you're done. That's it. So simple and seriously stunning with the bright pop-o-neon.

Max sure seems to like it. Sorry, bud. It's not for you. The cobbler's kids have no shoes.

If you don't have a serger you could get a similar look by finishing your blanket with neon bias tape. But you probably do have a serger or you wouldn't have bothered reading this far. Just guessing.

Do any of you have any simple serger projects to share? Please feel free to link up to your blog or drop a link to your favorite Pinterest project. I'm just getting my feet wet on the serger and am itching for another project.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

sunday stitch vol 9. - sergers and aquisitions

sunday stitch vol. 3 - attack of the octopus

the perfect baby shower blanket (baby not included)

the cupboard under the stairs DIY

september cravings

If you were to open up Pinterest or Facebook you would think Halloween was next week. Pumpkin spice EVERYTHING. I'm not there yet. Mainly because it's still in the upper 90s here in Dallas. But I am starting to daydream of cooler temperatures and the coziness that fall promises (or at least teases at...fall, you are such a hussie).

Here's a few things that have me swooning at the moment. Clearly I'm Jonesing over black + white + pop.

• THROW: A super graphic throw from Happy Habitat
• RUG: An oriental or kilim rug like this one for our play room. Our current Crate and Barrel number has holes in it from the vacuum. It can't be vacuumed. Thanks a million, C&B. I've been searching yard sales trying to swindle an old couple out of theirs. No luck so far.
• PILLOW: I've been lusting over this pillow from IKEA forever. Which is silly, because it's only $10. But it's like $4 in tolls to get up to Ikea, so I'm waiting until I need more than just this. One day.
• RAIL: OK, well maybe I found a reason to go to IKEA. Our guest room is sorely lacking in storage, mainly because it has no closet. I think a little storage rack is definitely in order.
• VACUUM: One of these things is not like the other, but something on my wish list can be practical. It's my list. I hate my current vacuum with the fire of a thousand suns. It's actaully 2 vacuums - a canister and an upright. Which means to vacuum the house, I have to go through the whole house TWICE. Not efficient. I would like to upgrade sometime soon-ish. Do you guys have a vacuum that you looooooove? I mean like want to leave your spouse and have its babies kind of love. Not just like, it's OK?
• CANDLE: While I might not like to getaway in a tent, getting away in a nice air conditioned-complete-with-indoor-plumbing-cabin sounds pretty sweet. Especially if it is filled with woodsy smells, like this guy from Candelles.
• SCARF: Who doesn't love a nice scarf? This one (and every one) from Anthropologie is welcome in my closet.

What's on your September wish list? Anyone else going nuts over black and white with color?

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

megan & kevin's breakfast nook makeover

long live chesterfield

design: why every piece can't be your favorite piece

check it out - Initial K Studio

sunday stitch vol. 10 - my dining room is now a sweat shop

 

I do a pretty decent job of keeping my sewing table neat and orderly so it's ready to go at a moment's notice...mainly because the adjacent dining room table now looks like this. Yeah, good luck eating a meal here. My freshly retooled serger needed a home. And he was lonely. So he made some friends in the form of four quilts, two octopuses, a cutting mat, and various other works in progress. 

Home sweet home.

Despite the drama earlier this week, I still managed to get a bit of sewing done. I had planned on sharing a Sunday Stitch update with you guys last week, but Labor Day happened, and I just plum forgot. Chock it up to holiday brain. So this weeks is two, two, TWO weeks in one.

A year or so ago I bought an awesome Birch bundle from, where else, City Craft. I'm only now getting around to using it. I was waiting for inspiration to hit me, and it did when my friend Kristi (from Initial K Studio) pinned this bad boy to our Modern Quilting Pinterest Board. WOW.

Image via Tumbling Blocks

It's a variation on a traditional Log Cabin. Don't let me fool you like I knew what that was before I read the tutorial (I didn't). Here's mine so far. It's a mix of the Birch fabrics and some Cotton + Steel.

Please ignore the terrible photography. I couldn't get the blasted shadows to go away. Also, thanks to the dumb builder of my house - once again - for placing a thermostat directly centered on my dining room wall so I can NEVER hang a piece of art there. You're the best!

This quilt will take approximately 9,728 hours to complete. If you've never done a log cabin, here's how it goes: you stitch a row, then iron, then stitch, then iron, stitch, iron, one gozillion times until you are done or rendered insane. It's a labor of love that I'm sure I will have to take breaks from so I don't go ballistic. In a perfect world I would have this (hopefully) twin sized quilt ready for the winter. We shall see.

You can spy in the photo above another quilt block from Tula Pink's City Sampler using some rockin' Frida Kahlo fabric. 3 down, 97 to go. This will also take awhile. Why do I do this to myself? But I'm enjoying working on these little projects in between the big ones.

I got around to putting that awesome neon red thread in the serger and made a few of these bad boys. Y'all, this serger is rocking my world. I wish I hadn't waited so long to get it fixed.

These little jersey blankets will soon be on their way to swaddling newborn babies. I love jersey for swaddle blankets. That little bit of stretch hugs those burrito babies nice and snug.

What have you guys been sewing this week?

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

sunday stitch vol 9. - sergers and aquisitions

sunday stitch vol. 8 - quilt as you go pillow sham

the perfect baby shower blanket (baby not included)

sunday stitch vol. 6 - quirky rag doll