Not an April Fool's joke ...

At the end of March, I became a Mummy to a darling little girl! I probably won't be posting here for awhile as we are busy adoring her and learning how to be parents.


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Blankety Beginnings

Blankety Beginnings

I'm still waiting on some of my yarn, but I've started my Spring Cloud blanket for Bun (first mentioned in early March). The looong chain to start the blanket, plus the foundation rows where you're wondering if you got the stitch count right, are a bit tedious. But once you're done that bit, it's very zoomy ... you can watch movies, chat, and let your mind wander while zipping along crocheting little clusters. I'm making the colour stripes at random and just picking colours as I go. It makes for an extra end-of-row treat to choose the next colour.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Sunday Scones

Scone

I made scones for breakfast today. Inspired by watching a Julia Child Crêpes Suzette recipe recently, I also made an orange-citrus butter for a special topping.


Orange Citrus Butter

I didn't follow a recipe at all for the butter, so most of this is just an approximation after the fact. I tasted it as I went, which is always the best way to make something yummy. Here's how I made it:

Orange-Citrus Butter

• 1 blob of softened butter (I probably had about 1/4 c)
• zest of 2 oranges (I used a microplane, so it's really fine)
• few tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• about a Tbsp of granulated sugar, plus same or a bit more of icing sugar

Mix all together until it forms a uniform paste. Mine was quite soft, but since it was going on warm scones, I figured it would go all melty anyhow. I'd probably use all icing sugar another time to try to make it a bit less soupy.


Scones on Sunday

You can make the butter while the scones bake, so it's really not that much of an extra effort. It was oh-so-yummy and felt very indulgent.

You can find more of my recipes in the Food section, in the tabs along the top.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Spring in Amsterdam

It's definitely spring now, with lots of sunny, warm days, and pretty flowers. Most recently, I've spotted a pink hyacinth, a daffodil, and some snowdrops in bloom. I took a walk in the Vondelpark the other day and took these pictures...


Spring in the Vondelpark
Spring view in the Vondelpark.


Carpet of Crocuses
A glorious carpet of purple crocuses under this tree.


Forsythia in bloom
A bright yellow forsythia in bloom.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Weekend baking

buns

I made some fluffy white buns this weekend. Aside from rising time, I'm always surprised how quick this recipe is. I think it's partly that it's a relatively small amount of dough to work with -- just enough for one tray of buns.


Bread Dough

I use the "Milk Bread" recipe from the Joy of Cooking. It's quite rich with butter and egg and milk, but these buns are so completely worth it!


buns
Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

More Fabric Cubes

Fabric cubes in a stack

As a thank you for a friend who gave us some adorable and useful baby things, I've made 3 more soft cubes. Her little one is just turning 6 months, so in honour of the exciting first solid food, I've made one of the cubes food themed. The other two I just went for colourful and bright. I hope they end up being fun toys!


Fabric cubes in a line

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

B is for Baby Bun

Making special things for an expected little one is one of the lovely bits of "expecting". It's nice to dream of the little person who will wear the tiny garments and play with the toys created during this time of waiting.


Handmade for Bun

The next project in the queue for Bun is a crochet blanket. This led me to realising that all my baby things start with B! There are Blocks, a Bunny, a Blue Sweater, and a Berry Hat! So perhaps it was only natural, that a Blanket was next.


Misty Spring Cloud Yarn Palette

I plan to make a Granny Stripe blanket in misty spring cloud colours. I ordered the yarn online, so I'm hoping it will arrive some time in the next week and that the colours are similar to what I expected. It's a palette I associate with Monet's water lilies ... you might see some similarities with my Monet's Garden Patchwork Pillow.


Monet's Garden Pillow

Seeing some of the water lily paintings in person at the Musée de L'Orangerie was one of the highlights of Paris for me. There are 8 huge, curved murals, in 2 oval rooms, lit by diffuse natural light. You can literally fill your field of vision with the paintings. Something in my soul sings at that soft blue-green-pink-purple palette and the serene quality of the paintings. I actually teared up, it was so beautiful. Truly the museum felt like a sacred space. I only hope my blanket can capture a bit of that beautiful tranquility.


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.