Peg People

I thought I'd start off my "what I made" posts with one of my favorite things I've made in a really long time. As is my tradition I start off with a seemingly unrelated story.

This spring, my younger brother & his family made the decision to take a position with his company in Houston, Texas. They would be driving down when it came time to move and I offered to go with them to share the driving and spend time with them (and have a bit of a vacation). (We drove from Okotoks, just south of Calgary, Alberta to Houston in 5 days. It was awesome. And a bit tiring.) Because I am me, I had to make something for my nephews & niece before the trip.

I'm not exactly sure how I settled on Peg People, but I probably saw something on a blog that inspired the obsession idea. I found a couple of small packages of pegs at Michaels and started painting. (I ended up buying a bulk bag of pegs from an online supplier out of Ontario: Stockade)

Armed with Google Image searches I sketched a quick outline of what I wanted on the peg in pencil and then painted with craft acrylics. Each peg person got 2 coats of varnish to finish off.

It started with Spider Man. (One of my twin nephews has been OBSESSED with Spider Man since he was about 2 (possibly earlier). If you sit still long enough you will hear a long treatise on various aspects of the Spider Man world and the right and wrong of his actions etc.) From there I ended up making some more of the Avengers (the boys had just seen and loved the movie) and Black Spider Man (AKA Venom).



For my princess obsessed niece I had to make princesses. This is where I ended up getting a little carried away. I decided to make a set each for my friends' daughters and then another set each for a coworker's daughters. It was a little spooky when they were all done.



For my friends' daughters I did a Mulan and for my niece & coworker's girls I did Jasmine.


(just realized I have Cinderella in the mosaic twice but imma leave it.)





Rapunzel's hair wraps around her body and Ariel has a tail.



After I finished the super guys & princesses I decided to make a Boba Fett for The Boy's birthday. He is a Star Wars fan to say the least and is always looking for Boba Fett items. I like how this guy turned out and The Boy loved it. (for those new here The Boy is not my son)(I don't have kids)(or cats)(or, sadly, a dog).



My friend Wen Shu's birthday is 2 days after The Boy's and she is a HUGE Mad Men fan (as am I). I decided to make her the Sterling Draper Cooper Price people (and Betty) for her birthday.



I love how they turned out. Joan has her gold pen and several of them are smoking (for SHAME).

I have more of these pegs and keep thinking of other ideas. I think next up will be some zombies (OHHHH are any of you Walking Dead fans?! I need to make sure I'm not knitting while I watch that show. or eating.)

I just remembered something about blogging. I never know how to end posts. Do I just stop talking? (This is also a problem in face to face interactions. I'm not so good at parties or other social situations) Imma just stop talking, er writing.

Thanks for stopping by & for all the welcoming comments yesterday. I missed you guys!

oh hey, whaddya know? I did figure out how to end it after all. Aaaaaand now I've messed that up.

Crispy Microwave Potato Chips

I'm a snacker. I snack. I snack too much, to be completely honest. My favorite snacks are salty: chips, popcorn, pretzels. This isn't good for many reasons, not least of which is the oil & other stuff in potato chips (snack of the champions).

I'm sure many of you have seen the recipe(s) for microwave potato chips. I've seen it a few different places over the past year or two. When I saw it the first time I was skeptical, but decided to give it a try. The recipe I followed was simple enough: slice the potato very thin (with a mandoline/slicer if possible), blot, spray with cooking spray or oil, arrange on a glass plate or on parchment paper, microwave for 3 minutes, turn the chips over & microwave again. It produced chips, but they were not quite "right" (to my discerning snack palate --ha!). They were crunchy but not crispy, you know? And sometimes they didn't cook evenly so there would be a limp bit in the middle of crunchy.

Fast forward to 2 days ago. I suddenly wanted to try making them again. I get these bizarre brain jumps in the middle of my work day and then spend the rest of the day mulling it over, problem solving or designing a plan while I work (and sometimes it leads me to wasting time online but we'll keep that our little secret). So Wednesday, I wanted to try microwave potato chips again, so I googled it because I couldn't remember all the instructions. This time I came across this plastic ring with slots cut into it. It was a microwave chip maker! This (of course) led me into a google sink hole where I spent (mumble) minutes looking for a place where I could get one in Canada.

Normally I have really excellent Google-Fu but this time I just couldn't find anywhere to get one locally (or on this side of the border). So I sadfaced and carried on with my work.

This is when the brain jump kicked in in earnest. Suddenly I realized I could hack the chip maker at home! Using recycled cardboard! (this is the point where anyone I've told about this starts laughing. So go ahead, I'll wait).

Of course, the minute I got home I had the scissors out and was constructing my chip maker. I tried a small batch, microwaved for 2 1/2 minutes, checked the chips, then another 2 1/2 minutes. When I took the chips out, they looked like "real" potato chips. I tested one and promptly wished someone was there with me so I could brag/gush about my experiment. The chip was crispy!!! Not crunchy, not slightly stiffened, crispy. Success!! I tweaked the process slightly (and made a second chip rack) and proceeded to make a fairly significant amount of chips in a short time. No oil! No additives! Just potatoes and salt.

Here's what I did. If you try this please let me know what you think! Or if you have any suggestions to improve it.

**Of course, please use caution when cutting the potatoes, when using the microwave etc. Don't walk away and leave it running for an hour or something. I think short bursts is probably the best way to go with timing the microwave.



Cut a kleenex box or other piece of cardboard to the size you want. I used the length of the box and the height and then cut down the bottom to match the height. It's approximately 9"x6". You may need to measure inside your microwave to see what will fit.



For the first rack I carefully measured 1/4" spacing and cut on the lines. My cutting was a touch wonky as you can see. The second one I just eyeballed and they both work just as good. One suggestion would be to not get too close to the long edge when cutting as this will make the slot too wide. I had potato slices fall out.

When you have your slits cut, cut away every other flap to create spaces for your potato slices.



I ended up adding a piece to each end on the bottom to hold the shape and to stabilize it. Depending on how well your piece stands on its own you may want to cut these as well.



Slice your potato as thin as possible. Blot on paper towels. I added salt before cooking--just sprinkled it on while they were blotting. Load your chip rack and carefully transfer to the microwave. (I had to reload at least 3 times out of the 6 or so batches I made)



After 5 minutes in total. Mmmm. Chips.

I found that some of them were quicker than others but the most it took was about 6 1/2 minutes. My microwave isn't the most powerful one around so you may have different results.



I'm not usually a fan of flavored chips (prefer plain) but I was thinking you could probably try those popcorn seasonings if you wanted to make flavored chips. Or just herbs or spices. I'd be interested in any seasoning ideas anyone has. I'm sure I'll be making the next batch tonight!

Reverse Applique Bag

I've been seeing these beautiful reverse applique items all over blog-land for a couple of years now and have been fascinated by them. I've always wanted to try the technique but have never felt very confident with my hand-stitching abilities.

Then I saw this tutorial by Beki at Artsy-Crafty Babe and was hooked. I thought about it all day at work yesterday. (I'm sure my employer appreciates that).

When I came home, I looked for the freezer paper I knew I had bought a couple of years ago. It wasn't where I thought it was, but a yardstick I had "lost" over a year ago was there. I have a corner in my apartment that I refer to as the "Bermuda Corner". I have lost more items in that corner in the years I've lived here than I can count. I live alone. How can these things keep going missing??

I eventually located the freezer paper (in a closet. who put that there?) and then couldn't find the t-shirts I had started cutting up for another project (that I haven't ever mentioned. I'm an excellent craft blogger, aren't I? yeeshk). This led to a complete overhaul of my sewing shelves to find the fabric (on the bottom) but now that area is tidy, so yay, bonus!

My paints were where I thought they were and the textile medium was exactly where I thought it was (because it had never been in the Bermuda Corner. Obvs.) so I got going on stenciling a simple design on my fabric. I decided to do a small bag (about 3" x 6" complete) so if my mad hand stitching skillz failed me it wouldn't be too big a write-off.

You know how you get a project idea in your head and you have to start it RIGHT THAT SECOND or you won't be able to concentrate on anything else? (Yeah, I know you do. That's why we all get along so well.) So I painted my design and then my brain went "Oh, wait. Paints are wet. This has to dry before any stitching can be done." and then my brain said "Huh? wait? no one said anything about waiting." and pouted for a while.

I used my hairdryer. I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Eventually it was dry and I got going on stitching. I'm not very good at even stitches by hand so it's very very very "homemade" as opposed to "charmingly handmade" but I am very happy with my first attempt at this process. (and I used the word "very" 5 times in that sentence so I'm sure my writing award is on its way, no?) I decided to complete the bag by hand, just to see if I could do it. I did a "charmingly handmade" (ha) wonky blanket stitch up both sides and turned the top edges under with a straight stitch to leave a casing for a draw string if I decide I want one.



I will definitely be attempting more of this technique. I love the finished look, and who would have guessed at the colors I pulled out for this practice bag? (ha. ehem). For now this is holding my sunglasses in my bag but I think it might end up seeing use as a sock-in-progress bag.

Nature/Nurture

This morning as I was watering my plants I saw something in one of the pots.



What is that? Is that a...?



I think it IS a...



MUSHROOM. In my lily plant!

It's kind of cute though. I might leave it for a while. Until it grows big and not cute. Not sure how nature made it into my nurtured plant soil but...

True Confessions time: I hate hate hate mushrooms in/on/as food. I will politely eat them if they are in sauce or in something and it would be rude to pick them out but I have to tell my brain they are something else while eating them. Oddly, I think toadstools & mushrooms are quite pretty when in the wild. (note: a plant in a pot in my living room does not constitute "the wild")

To cleanse the visual palate, as it were: a picture of real nature, where it belongs.



The Sunday of the Canada Day Weekend (Canada Day would be July 1, for any non-Canadians) The Boy, his parents, his nephew & I went into Kananaskis in search of a suitable fishing spot. We had light rain/drizzle the entire day and eventually settled in at this lake that I forgot the name of and wow I'm so good at nature/travel blogging.

Thank you everyone who commented on the Bandana (banana?) Quilt! When I made it I was thinking "oh that's a bit Stampede-y" but then just went on with my life. Then about 1 minute after posting I realized how well timed that was, as we are in the middle of Stampede right now! Yee Haw. Bandana Quilt!

Dr. Doolittle lives in my neighborhood.

The following is the incredible (and incredibly well illustrated) account of events that occured at or around noon (MST) today.


I was driving back to work from lunch and this truck was ahead of me at a stop light. I was trying to figure out what the box was on the back. It had portholes along the length and a locked door.


Suddenly this dog popped his head out. Oh! Cool. A box for a dog.

And then, I saw something that kind of freaked me out. The dog started to pull his head back in and at the same time …


A two headed dog!!!

Then the light turned green


And the first head was almost all the way inside.


And they drove away.

The end.

PS clearly I have missed my calling as a computer graphic artist.