Crochet Egg Coasters

I have a lot of old yarn that my mom found, and wanted to practice crocheting and design some new patterns. Using some leftover white and yellow yarn, I decided to make these cute egg coasters, which I gave as a White Elephant gift with a pair of breakfast socks and a mug.

yellow yolk circle

irregular shape for the egg white

set of 4 egg coasters

complete breakfast gift

With some leftover white yarn I had, I also made a little mouse toy for my friend's kitties, Pickles and Zeisel.

Zeisel playing with his new toy under the couch

<3 Mandy

DIY Customized Coin Purse

My sister's wallet is very flat and only has space for cards and bills, so for her birthday, I made her a customized coin purse to fit her needs.

I started by sewing red and white fabric together; the final coin purse would have red on either side, and white along the bottom. I used a rectangle of felt to put inside the fabric and stiffen it. Fortunately, my red fabric had a checkered pattern on it, so I could trace the design with my needle to quilt the felt in place.

I cut smaller rectangles of a different red fabric, sewed felt inside, and made two little pockets. I sewed the pockets on the interior of the coin purse, the brown patterned fabric, which I sewed to the red/white outside piece.

Folding the piece inside-out, I sewed a dark purple zipper along the sides of the purse.

Since the coin purse is very small, I added little rectangles of matching brown patterned fabric to the inside sides of the coin purse as extenders, allowing the purse to open wider.

Here's how the final purse looks, with coins inside. The little red pockets are perfect for putting little things in, like stamps, collection coins, jewelry, band-aids, or anything else! I embroidered one of the pocket's with my sister's initials as a finishing touch.

<3 Mandy

Macarons

I thought it would be fun to try to make adorable macarons in different flavors and colors, but had no idea how much time and effort it would take. Read below for a detailed description of the process, and of how I attempted to make the cookies.

I made a batch of macaron batter using a recipe from a blog. I mixed 2.5 cups of almond flour and 2 cups of powdered sugar in one bowl. In another bowl, I used a hand mixer to mix 6 egg whites, and mixed a 7^th egg white separately in another bowl. I added 1/3 cup of sugar 3 times (1 cup total) to the egg white mix and decided to just add the 7^th. I think next time I only need 6 egg whites (I also have 7 yolks I don’t know what to do with – I like flan, but you only need 2 egg yolks and then another 3 regular eggs to make 6 flans, and I don’t want to make 18 of them, along with my 30 cookies).

I divided the batter into 4 and left one plain, mixed one with 2 spoonfuls of matcha, put a little lavender and kumquat marmalade and lemon juice and lemon rind in another, and mixed a couple spoonfuls of hot cocoa powder in the 4^th. I tried using a tip from a cupcake decorating set on the end of my Ziploc bag, but it didn’t hold that well, so I just ended up squeezing the bag and gauging the size by eye. Maybe I should’ve mixed the batter more so that the meringue would peak and hold stiffer. The macarons turned out pretty well, but they were all flat except for the plain almond ones. When I make them into sandwiches, though, I think they’ll look puffier. Also, they are pretty boring colored, so I should probably add food coloring (though the mix before baking was pretty vibrantly colored). I put some water under the wax paper to let them steam since they were really hard to pull off the baking sheets, but the macarons got a little wet on the bottom, so I flipped them upside down and toasted them in the oven for a couple minutes. It took about 4 hours total to make the cookies.

chocolate

matcha green tea

plain almond

lemon

I made some ganache/cream filling, using kinda my own recipe and referencesfrom online: half a bag of chocolate chips and a couple pats of butter; a couple scoops of matcha with a tablespoon of cornstarch and a bit of salt; some cut up lemon rind with some lavender, a tablespoon of cornstarch, and a bit of salt. I boiled about a cup of heavy whipping cream on the stove for all 3 of my ganaches. I poured the cream over my 3 bowls and let them sit for a couple of minutes, and then blended each one with a hand mixer. I added some sugar each into the matcha and lemon mixes. It took a long time to blend and didn’t get that thick, so I added more heavy cream. In a separate bowl, I hand mixed an egg yolk with some sugar while my bowls cooled in the fridge, and then I poured one yolk into each of the 2 non-chocolate mixes. The chocolate mixture turned out like chocolate whipped cream, so I added some ovomaltine to thicken it (so it won’t moisten my cookies too much). I added some of the chocolate ganache to my green tea mixture to make it thicker, which made it browner but still green and also thicker. I microwaved it for 10 seconds in a glass bowl and then put it in the fridge, hopefully allowing it to set. I did the same to my lemon mixture and decided to spread my macarons fresh to prevent them from getting soggy. I made 14 chocolate halves, 24 green tea halves, 18 lemon halves, and 14 plain almond halves. I put my cookies and ganache in the fridge.

filling

plain almond with chocolate ganache

I added sugar and white chocolate to my macaron ganache, which was pretty runny, and refrigerated it. I spread chocolate ganache on some almond and chocolate macaron cookies since that spread turned out pretty well.

Most of the cookies turned out flat instead of puffy, but I think that has to do with how I mixed the batter. I think I also added too much lemon juice, and should try to follow a different recipe for flavoring my fillings (and adding food coloring to the cookies instead of trying to flavor those too).

They took several days to make since I needed almost 24 hours total to prepare, bake, and spread the cookies, but only had a few hours after work each day.  I had no idea how much sugar is in these little guys... I definitely think they look cuter than they taste good. Next time I try making them, I'll recruit my expert little cousin, who makes perfect macarons frequently!

lemon lavender, matcha green tea, almond with chocolate

<3 Mandy

Crocheted Tops

After crocheting granny squares blankets, I wanted to incorporate the same design into a top. Using 4 colors of yarn (yellow-cream, light blue, dark blue, white), I crocheted a floral burst center in each of 6 squares. I connected the squares together and crocheted white along the edges to complete the shape of the top. I added 4 long straps along the top and bottom edges to be able to adjust the top to fit snugly. Here's how I crocheted this Granny Squares Halter Top:

This top would go well with a dark bandeau, and shorts or a long skirt, to be worn to a summer festival.

Using some leftover maroon yarn I had, I practiced crocheting lace and fitting a top to fit my body. I plan to crochet a dress in the future, so this top makes a great start to that form. For this top, I crocheted each piece of the bar, with an extra few rows along the bottom to connect the pieces. I also added a few rows of lace along the bottom edge and rim of the bra, and crocheted lace straps to match.

It was fun trying out these seasonal pieces this summer. I'm excited to begin knitting a dress, and to see what other projects I come up with.

<3 Mandy

Capri Sun Backpack

Inspired by the Capri Sun wallets I made a few years ago, I decided to take on a bigger project to use up more of my Capri Sun pouches (though I don't regularly drink them -- they've actually taken a while to collect because I have to casually ask other people for their garbage when I see them drinking a pouch).

This project used 15 pouches and is completely sewn by hand. It took about 2 weeks to make (30 hours?).

 

I sewed 6 pouches together (3x2) for the front and back. I cut and sewed 2 pouches together for a front pocket, using excess from the front and back pieces to make triangles to expand the pocket. I cut 3 pouches in half lengthwise and sewed them together (1x3) with a 14" green zipper for the top. I sewed 4 pouches together (1x4) for the bottom of the pouch.

I wanted to line the backpack with some kind of sturdy fabric -- originally, I thought of using old canvas bags. My roommate had an old Jansport backpack she didn't want anymore because the large zipper was broken, so I cut it up to use for my backpack. I kept the smaller front pouches intact because the pouch was the same size as my backpack; I decided to sew this piece to the inside front of my backpack to have some secret pockets. I cut up the back of her backpack (foam and fabric) to add a sturdy and comfortable lining to the bottom and back of my backpack.

The backpack is pretty sturdy and is the perfect day-pack size for a festival or event. I feel like a preschooler when I wear it, but I'm glad I can sport some recycled materials in my outfits.

<3 Mandy