The idea (and pattern and color scheme) for this potholder came from Martha Stewart. This whole potholer thing started because I needed to respect the work I do in my home. Martha Stewart seems to have abandoned that cause.

When I pick up her magazine these days, there is not a lot of substance in it. My back copies of Living have survived many basement clean ups--and subsequent trips to the dump. When I get one out to read I always discover some in depth article about cleaning cloths, or glue, or the mudroom. That is only a sampling from February back issues.  The magazine didn't used to cater to hipster whims, but rather to a wide swath of people who would like their daily chores recast as an art they can refine. Granted Martha Stewart can get a little crazy, but all in all she has taken homemaking to a higher level of sophistication.

She may have failed me as a homemaking superstar, but she makes nice potholders. It is just a simple log cabin block, quilted. I eyeballed the measurement and it came out pretty nice.

I'd love to know your opinions about Martha and her empire, because I know you've got some.

That last potholder grew out of a need for mindfulness in my life. This one, on the other hand, was sewn out of jealously. If you follow the lovely Kayanna on instagram (@junecraft) you already know about the amazing quilt she's making. Every other day or so another quilt square sewn in bold colors and milky pastels would pop up on my feed and I would freak out. I mean look at this!

Quilting is not my strong suit, but the block was too pretty to pass up. Freshly Pieced has a fantastic tutorial on how to put this block together. She also has a template to print out that you sew directly onto so everything comes out perfectly. I did not print it out (as you probably can tell). The finished quilt square was much too big for a potholder, so I cut the pieces much smaller. Why I didn't just shrink the template too is beyond me. The lazy man works twice as hard--and stays up sewing late into the night.

This kind of quilt square is incredibly fiddly, but also immensely satisfying when it comes together. In the future I might even have the urge--and possibly the patience--to make a whole quilt. My scrap pile would like that time to come sooner rather than later. Or maybe I could go into the potholder business, because--just so you know--it's pretty much potholders from here on out.

I made a bunch of potholders recently. I thought this little project would help me get my sewing mojo back and also make the kitchen a more welcoming place.

My intention was not so much "buy a cute and funny little scrubbie so washing dishes is SUPER FUN!!"  I'm trying to respect the job it is I do. Motherhood, housekeeping, much of anyone's time really is errands and tasks and doing the damn laundry again. We're told, especially as young mothers, that scheduling "me time" is supposed to erase the stress and monotony of our daily chores, but forced relaxation isn't going to change the fact that there is laundry to be done.

It's not that I'm horribly uptight and unable to relax--most evening you will find me on the couch--it's that all of these things are a huge part of my life. I can't put them all in the category " things that need to be done before I can live my real life." Some people, as Stephinine said, "border [...] on poetry when they write about doing laundry or mending clothing." I will never truly feel enlightening scraping oatmeal out of the bottom of the pan, but I can respect my roll as a caregiver and bring some joy to the tasks that come with being a mother.  My gnarly ass potholders told me my job as a mother was secondary; this silly star potholder says otherwise.

On a completely different note, elsie marley now has its own Facebook page. I know lots of you use Facebook to keep up with blogs, so now you can follow me there too!

When Rae asked me to talk a bit about sewing with knits, I thought it was odd, because I'm rather crap at sewing with knits. But then I looked back in my archives for pictures of things I've sewn and hey! it's not that bad. My first experience with sewing with knits was pretty horrible.  Now it looks like I remember that failure more than any of the successful knit projects I've made, which is ridiculous. With that realization, I cut out a huge pile of knit fabric for this awesome undies pattern:

I didn't finish them all, because my daughter is a little between sizes so I have to adjust the fit, but oof! the boy undies are pretty damn cute. The pattern is very clear and nicely laid out with plenty of pictures. I noticed she's not selling it at the moment and I'm not sure why, because it's a very popular pattern. It's popular for a reason: you only need a little bit of fabric, old t-shirts are perfect, and if you screw up who's going to see them anyway?

I wouldn't say this is a beginner, beginner project, but if you've sewn with knits a few times then these shouldn't be a problem. They come together quickly, but the waistband and leg holes take a bit of time. And people will look at you funny when (or rather if) you tell them you're making your children's underwear.

But come on, lighting bolt undies?! What little boy wouldn't be excited about that?

Want to see all the kniterviews? Look here! and mine is here.

The social aspect of having a blog is odd. There are people you talk to often, keep up with their kids and daily goings on and sometimes you haven't the faintest idea of what they look like. I'm still uncomfortable getting to know people online, having existed before the internet made that normal, but I'm getting better at it. Slowly, there are many people that I call my friends, not my "friends."

Dorie is one of those people. She is a ridiculously talented knitter and a damn fine quilter too. With her quilting knowledge and a background in coding, Dorie has made something new and fantastic: Quiltr. Quiltr is a tool for quilters to play with colors and patterns before they start a quilt, but it is also a super fun, crafty video game. In it, you choose a quilt pattern (zig zag, lone star, etc) then you can plug in not only colors, but photos from you flickr stream.

If you a crazy person (like me) who takes pictures of your fabric, well then your next quilt is practically made already. But I have found playing with pictures I've taken to be the most fun. It's got me running off to Spoonflower to design fabrics--something I've wanted to do on and off for years. It's also got me sewing actual quilt squares! Ok, so I really could go on (and on) about Quiltr, but you probably want to go play with it yourselves. So do! and stop on by tumbling blocks while you are at it and tell Dorie what a superstar she is!

edited to add: there is a quiltr flickr group now too!

I've been looking for a record player on and off for a few months now. Why aren't there any in thrift stores? Did people get rid of them too long ago? Or do people think they are worthless and just pitch them?  Whatever the reason I couldn't find one at all and I mentioned it to my mom over christmas. So she packed up and sent me hers to use until I find one of my own. Moms are the best.

The amount of awesome records out there is staggering--kids ones especially. We live right around the corner from a record shop (why I've waited this long to find a record player I don't know).  The little gem up there came from their fantastic free box.

Wow, sorry. I didn't mean to be gone for two weeks. After the craziness of Christmas, the littlest got a horrible stomach bug. Then this past week I came down with a crappy case of strep throat. Remind me to be extra nice to my kids when they have a fever, because it is super sucky. I am finally on the mend and I know it's a little late for a 2011 retrospective, but I was sick so indulge me. Here is my favorite project from each month of last year:

1. beach bracelet  2. sledding party  3.  balance board  4.  the awesome bag  5. crazy pants  6. may day crown  7. flock top  8. wiksten tank  9. toy boxes on wheels  10. giant glittery 6!  11. waxed leaves  12. cloud bed

It's nice to look back and see what I made--see what I liked making. Every January my creative energy goes out the window. All through December when I'm making things for everyone else, part of me is dreaming of January when I can make whatever the hell I want. But then January comes and I'm overwhelmed with all the choices: I could make clothes for me, clothes for my kids, start that huge embroidery project, crochet an afghan, or a hat, or a sweater, tackle the mending pile, the list goes on and on. On top of everything, my studio is a disaster. I hate that feeling when I can't get a project started. Do you know what I mean? What do you do?

Oh and Happy New Year!

Alfajores: the most delicious cookie you've never heard of. I'm afraid I don't know very much about the origins of these cookies. I believe alfajores (I took German, not Spanish, so I can't tell you how to pronounce it) are a South American treat. Wherever they are from, thank you, because they are the best thing that happen to my cookie loving self.

There are a lot of different recipes out there for alfajores. The cookie part changes: sometimes it's a crispy spice cookie or more of a shortbread like cookie. But the cookie I make is a barely sweeten pie crust sprinkled with a bit of crunchy sugar on top. Between the two little cookies is a big dollop of dulce de leche--a gorgeous confection, addicting in its own right.

Together the flakiness of the cookie and the creaminess of the dulce de leche make a cookie that is homey and sophisticated at the same time, rich but not cloying, sweet with a hint of savory. And, omg, unbelievably good. Now that you are drooling, let's get to the recipe shall we...

Alfajores

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

for the dulce de leche:

• two (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
• pinch of coarse salt

directions:

1. Pour condensed milk into a pie plate or shallow baking dish
2. Mix in salt
3. Place baking dish into a larger pan. Pour water into the larger pan until it reaches half way up the sides of the baking dish.
4. Cover the dish tightly with foil.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 1-2 hours. Checking now and again to stir the milk and making sure there is always water in the larger pan.
6. It will be a beautiful brown and carmelly color when it's done. There may be lumps, but you can whisk it a bit (or not). When it cool it should be the consistency of creamy peanut butter.

Dulce de leche makes a fine Christmas gift on its own. When it's hot out of the oven pour into small jars. It keeps for about a month in the fridge.

for the cookies:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup water
• Sanding sugar or powdered sugar, for sprinkling

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a food processor, pulse together flour, sugar briefly. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. With machine running, pour in the water in a slow stream, and process 20 seconds. The dough will probably not come together, but that's okay. Roll out a length of plastic wrap and put half of the crumbly dough onto it. Wrap it up tightly in the plastic wrap, then with the heel of your hand press the dough 5-10 times until it comes together. Repeat with the other half of cookie dough. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

4. Flour your surface and roll out one disk of dough to between 1/4 in and 1/2 in thick. The cookies should be thick, but too thick and you won't be able to fit the finished cookie in your mouth!

5. Cut out rounds (roundish cutters are best, those stars up there? they fell apart right away) from the dough and transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough. Gather up your scraps and re-roll, but only re-roll once (they will be tough otherwise).

6. Sprinkle half the rounds with sanding sugar or if you don't have sanding sugar, sift powdered sugar on half the baked cookies (when cool).

7.Bake until golden brown and a little puffed up, about 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. Spread a heaping teaspoon of dulce de leche on half the cookies. Top with the sugar coated cookie and serve. These cookies are lovely right away, but I like them best the next day when their flavors have melded a bit.

The cookie baking blizzard came and went this year already (and weirdly, left no snow). All the butter! All the cream! All the chocolate! All the nuts and dried fruit! Okay, so the last one isn't so exciting, but there was a lot of fruit and nuts in this house for a while. Panforte, anyone?

I don't think I made any new recipes this year, which is odd.  No wait, I made one new recipe, but I can't tell you because there are some of you out there getting it! Oh and the linzer cookies were new to me, but not terribly exciting. I'm getting ahead of myself. Here are the deets:

caramels: three kinds, all by martha, gingerbread, chocolate, and plain with sea salt on top

sugar plums: Honestly, I make these mostly because of the name. How could you pass up sugar plums at Christmas? These are spice filled, honey sweetened, date and almond laden-ed bits of christmas past. And they are vegan to boot.

hazelnut thumbprints: My daughter and I like these the best. This year I put a bit of ganache in the middle instead of the usual jam. Surprisingly, the jam is better, but no one has complained about the chocolate.

english toffee: I make this every christmas, but this year I got all fancy and cut it in squares instead of breaking it in pieces. You have to cut it when it's not too hot and not too cool. And hey, it worked! Also, I ate all the ones that broke.

alfajores: These were a new addition to the cookie roster last year and I've been thinking about them since! Creamy, caramelicious dulce de leche sandwiched between two light, flaky cookies with a crunch of sugar on top. Bomb! And hey, I wrote up a recipe for you on Dana's blog for her Sweets and Treats Christmas Countdown.

Oh and those linzers up there at the top of the page: wow, linzer cookies are kind of a pain in the butt. They just look so damn christmasy I had to make them. I used Karen DeMasco's recipe from The Craft of Baking (a killer book by the way). It was chock full of orange peel and nutmeg and hazelnuts. The texture was perfect, but I wasn't keen on the taste. It was almost too grown up and boring. Maybe a boozy filling would have made it grown up in a good way.

Gingerbread men too: well you have to make gingerbread men (look more instagraminess).

Merry Christmas everyone! We're off to Grannyma's. I'll see you back here on Monday!

I'm finding instagram quite addictive. And awesome. You can find me by searching for elsiemarley. Be warned though, 80% of pictures are probably going to be food. Are you on it? Leave your username in the comments so I can find you!