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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

quilt no. 4

A very dear friend of mine is expecting a baby girl this April, and I had to start and finish a quilt for her in one months time.  I finished it with a few days to spare, thanks to my husband for doing the night duty with our new baby who doesn't sleep. 
The quilt front is a mixture of different creams that I've been collecting, from simple cotton prints, flannel, eyelets, canvas and many other textures.  

A few of the beautiful and unusual textures were from a little shop in Korea that I'd been dying to put in a quilt. Also a couple of my favorite Japanese prints for a little whimsy and hits of color, ties this quilt all together.
I purposely made the quilt so that you could use either side.  The more modern back with the two prints or the front with the cream rectangles.

The backing reminded me of my friend and her style.  She loves the charcoal gray browns and houndtooth print.  She also has been drawn towards the pink's lately (I wonder why :) ), so I thought I would add a little on the trim and the stitching tying the quilt together in the same hot pink (kind of hard to see in the photos).  I chose this particular flower print, because it wasn't to girly or babyish.  It's a bit stylized which still feels modern and Baby Girl Gates can use it when she is older too.


***I apologize for the blah photos of the quilt.  With the frenzy to fly back to Portland for the baby shower I quickly shot these photos with my camera just hours before I was suppose to be at the shower, so they are not the greatest photos.

I apologize for not blogging for months and for the confusion with my blog disappearing for a few months between January and February.

Baby G
I had a baby boy (above) back in July, thus the blog posts stopping, and back in December my domain name was canceled by accident, which is why my blog disappeared from January to February.  But my blog and domain name are back and I will be blogging more in the upcoming future now that I'm getting settled with my little guy. 

Thank you for following me.

ckim

Baby G in his new knit bunny hat.
Super cute bunny hat and very easy!  I did change the band to a rib, but only because I was worried his head was growing so fast and I could make the hat bigger and the band a little tighter so he could grow into it. :)

My husband insisted I go with a colorful hat, since all the yarn colors I purchased for the baby are dove gray, medium gray, charcoal, cream, oatmeal, white and chocolate brown. (I guess there's a theme here.)  I was originally going to knit this hat in a light dove gray with a snowy winter white accent on the ears...  Maybe I'll make that for me. :)

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Crazy for bibs

I've been wrapping up all my baby projects and finished all these bibs and some burp cloths.








Friday, June 24, 2011

Quilt no. 3

This quilt was inspired by a pattern (Flock of Triangles) in the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book.  I started this baby quilt last summer and modified the scale of the triangles to make it smaller for a baby quilt. I just didn't know I would need a finished baby quilt so soon.

For now, my husband has claimed this quilt as he's own, but we'll see if he can share with the baby later.

There is a quilt no. 2, but it's still not finished yet.  I started hand quilting it, so who knows when I will actually finish that quilt. 



Pattern: Flock of Triangles
Book: "Denyse Schmidt Quilts: 30 Colorful Quilt and Patchwork Projects"
By: Denyse Schmidt

Thursday, June 23, 2011

My first quilt

I actually started this years ago, but FINALLY put it together and finished it.  Due to my fabric choices turning out baby-ish for this first quilt, I thought it would be appropriate for our baby instead of the throw blanket I had originally imagined.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

More baby knits

Little man cowl sweater with leather buttons.  Little black bump at the bottom is baby.
I couldn't resist.  My husband has the exact same sweater!

Pattern: Shawl Collared Jacket
Book: "Baby Knits for Beginners"
By. Debbie Bliss

I love this coat!
I've made this twice now and it's knit up beautifully both times.  Unfortunately the buttons ended up costing more then the yarn... but I think it dresses up the coat perfectly. :)
Pattern: Double-breasted knit coat
Book: "Easy Baby Knits"
By. Claire Montgomerie

Both patterns are super easy and knits up very quickly.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Knitting projects this winter all wrapped-up.

So this is what I've been up to this winter. 
Getting ready for baby...
umbilical cord hat & slippers
Hat - I made up the pattern
Garter Stitch Silk Slippers
Book: "Simple Knits for Cherished Babies"
By. Erika Knight
t-bar bootees & scratch mitts
same as above
T-Bar Bootees & Scratch Mitts
Book: "Easy Baby Knits"
By. Claire Montgomerie
bootees
Bootees
Book: "Easy Baby Knits"
By. Claire Montgomerie
cashmere bunny
Cashmere Bunny is actually a Teddy Bear. 
I followed the pattern exactly, but made up the bunny ears.
Book: "Simple Knits for Cherished Babies"
By. Erika Knight
lovable toys (bunny)




Lovable Toys (bunny)
Book: "Last-Minute Knitted Gifts"
By. Joelle Hoverson

Friday, May 27, 2011

Steve the Dog is back!!!

This time he is portrayed as a wet pup on a baby onesie.

Monday, March 28, 2011

pizza & superbowl

Okay... Who are we kidding.  I didn't even watch the game this year.  I don't even know who played, but the pizza we made was delicious and memorable!!!

My dear friend Kenny made us mini pizza's a while back and told us, he is trying to perfect the pizza dough recipe.  This inspired me to try making he's mini pizza's which were very fun and such a clever idea.   I made mini pizza's for a month trying different doughs and adding wheat flour in everything I could.  But for the Superbowl, my husband wanted a regular size pizza with more common toppings and no wheat flour.  We decided this an hour before the game, so I was looking for a quick dough that I didn't have to knead.  I don't knead bread.

To my delight, my husband use to work in a pizza restaurant in high school and surprised me with he's hidden talents.
 He knows how to knead, toss and make pizza.  Who knew?!?
We made a half meaty pizza and the other has pineapples and no sausage.  I have the weirdest cravings sometimes.
Pizza Dough III - This is the pizza recipe we used for the Superbowl pizza above.  It turned out well, but my husband said it could be better.  He added a butter garlic sauce on the crust which was yummy.

No Knead Pizza Dough - I made this with apples and brie, since that was in my fridge.  I used half white and half wheat flour.  It turn out to be really flat like flat bread.  Not sure if it was from the wheat flour or that my yeast had expired.  (I didn't realize that yeast had an expiration date.)

Whole Wheat No Knead Pizza Crust - Again this dough turned out flat, but I think it was from my expired yeast that I didn't know about.  Oh, we used the "Red Pizza Sauce" recipe recommended on this blog, for the Superbowl pizza above and it turned out well.

No Knead Pizza Dough by Jim Lahey - This was another recipe I tried and instead of using white flour, I substituted wheat flour and used my expired yeast.  This was not as flat as the other two above, but thicker.  I'd like to try this again with good yeast.

FYI - it was after making five pizza's and trying to bake a bread in my crockpot that failed, did I finally google, "why my crockpot bread didn't rise".  Apparently yeast that has expired doesn't rise well or at all.  So now I know.  Not sure if I'm going to try my crockpot bread again though...  I just like the smell and texture of baked bread. 

Friday, March 25, 2011

Korean Steamed Buns in fifteen minutes

When home for Christmas this Winter, I came downstairs to my husband eating these steam buns filled with red bean, called Jimmbbang (찜빵) which literally translates to steam bun in Korean.  He said that my mom made it.  I assumed he meant she bought the frozen ones and steamed them, but my husband was adamant that she made them from scratch.  My mom is a great cook and she bakes now and then, but steamed buns from scratch seemed a little far fetched.  Sure enough she did make these from scratch. 

It turns out that my mom met a lady who recently moved here from Korea and learned how to make Jimmbbang from her, but decided all the effort wasn't worth the end result.  So my dad who ended up being the guinea pig in this experiment, told me that my mom went to the store and purchased a lot of bizarre items to try, like cake mix, bisquick to frozen dough and achieved her goal of recreating the steamed bun that was fast, easy and tasted right. 

So here is my mom's Steamed Bun Recipe.  It's not quite an authentic Korean recipe, but she is Korean and invented it, so maybe it's more of a modernized Korean recipe.

Yep, that's Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits.  Apparently after many attempts, the buttermilk biscuit is the closest to tasting like the real thing.  One canister makes five buns and uses half a can of the red bean.  The red bean keeps in the fridge for a week after you've opened them.  Enjoy and have fun!
 
You can use any brand as long as it's buttermilk biscuits.  The second item you will need is a can of red bean that you can find in any Asian supermarket.  I prefer the Japanese Red Bean, but the Korean one was less expensive here, which is the opposite in Portland.  Similar to chunky and smooth peanut butter, the Japanese one is smooth and the Korean one is chunky.  So all you need are these two items to make the buns.  
My mom has an actual steamer pot contraption, but I use this collapsible steamer for veggies.
With your hands, flatten out and make into a disc shape.
Scoop a large heaping amount of the red bean filling in the center.
Take another flatten piece of dough and sandwich together.
Pinch all around until the edges are together.
I usually let them steam for 15 minutes, but steam them until the dough is cooked.
Mmmmm... they are ready.
Eat!

***I will post my Mom's Korean pancake recipe next time. :)