On Sunday I went to the most magical Steiner dollmaking workshop by Christine of The Puppenstube. I learned so much about how to make a doll that is lovely and full of life. Her perspective on making dolls is also a wonder– at the beginning of the workshop she lit a candle and explained that she views dollmaking as bringing a being into creation and approaches it with reverence. I really do think having that attitude made my doll one of the best things I’ve ever made, or at least one of my favorites. So much better than the one I made for HMB at Christmas! That, and of course her tips on how to get it stuffed properly, and proportion the head, features and body correctly.

She is a petite 8″ tall, and the clothing was provided by Christine, as we didn’t have time to make clothes. What do you know but Miss S and she became instant pals

So far, Rosie (as we’ve named her) has come with us to the park twice, gone on the spinning thing and jumped off, and made it out to dinner with us, all on the direct orders of Miss S, who, up until now, has not been particularly attached to any one toy. She has been heard to ask, “Where’d Rosie O’Grady go?” and “Rosie come with us?” It is still early days, but I am hoping that they remain fast friends!

Since the days are getting colder and holiday gift season approaches, I also thought I would share my recipe for gourmet hot cocoa mix. I’m sort of a snob about hot chocolate and have been ever since I had my first sip of French hot chocolate at Payard in NYC–made with cream and melted chocolate, it forever severed my ties to watery Swiss Miss or even homemade Hershey’s. These days, my favorite place to spend non-toddler alone time in San Francisco is Bittersweet, a local chocolate cafe. Their hot chocolate is delicious and everything else about the place is just lovely. But there are days when I don’t feel like coffee in the morning, and afternoons when, if we make it out the door at all, it will be to go to the park with no stopping for a treat for mommy. For those days, I need a stash of good cocoa at home. I think ounce for ounce this recipe is a LOT cheaper than comparable cocoa mix from Vosages, which is my favorite of the gourmet varieties I’ve tried. Of course it is a lot more effort than microwaving some water and pouring in a packet, but the taste difference is incomparable.

Gourmet Cocoa
small (1/4 lb?) block of bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate (I get reasonable Ghirardelli from Trader Joe’s)
1/2 c good unsweetened cocoa powder- I like Droste. Do not use Hershey’s, it tastes awful.
1/2 c Sugar (superfine is best, but anything that isn’t fake will do)
A tin for storage
Chop 1/2 cup of the chocolate relatively fine (just pop the bits in your measuring cup as you go, and when you have 1/2 cup stop chopping and save the rest of the block for later)–a few chunks can be the size of chocolate chips, but you want most of it to be more like little slivers so it will melt easily. Pour the chocolate chunks, cocoa and sugar in the tin, shut the tin tightly and shake to combine.

Preparation
12 oz whole milk (it is fine with low fat or skim milk but if you really want to go gourmet, make it with whole milk, or add some 1/2&1/2 or cream to your lower fat milk)
1/4 cup cocoa mix
Frother if you have one
Pour your milk into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Keep an eye on it! The minute it begins to boil, throw in the cocoa, turn off the heat and whisk until you are sure most of the chocolate chunks have melted. If you have an aerolatte or frother, go ahead and whip it in the sauce pan to get a nice frothy chocolate top and ensure good chocolate meltage. It will be scorching hot, so if you have some vanilla ice cream or cold whipped cream to put on top, go for it, you’ll be able to drink it sooner without burning your tongue.

If you have a fancy jar or tin, you could make a batch for a cocoa-loving friend as a holiday or hostess gift, along with preparation instructions, a cute mug, and if you’re feeling extra-generous, a frother.

I realised that Twosie should have a few presents under the tree too, so I got the chance to make the Toadstool Baby Rattle that I’ve had my eye on at the Purl Bee since they first posted it

I put a nice jingly cat toy in the cap and hopefully this baby will not be allergic to wool so she can play with it!

Moondoggie is away for the weekend, meaning both that HMB will be missing daddy, and, as an upside, there might be some time for sewing around here after HMB goes to bed– if so I have a bunch of things in the works that I’ll hopefully be able to finish and show you next week. In the meantime, I hope you all have happy and crafty weekends!

These projects are all so charming and simple. I think they would be terrific not only as gifts for children (and grown-ups who appreciate the sweet), but also as first sewing projects for a child who is ready to hold a needle and thread. They are all the more darling for any mistakes or imperfections, and utterly satisfying and frustration-free to stitch together. I made three of the sweet finger puppets that are featured on the book jacket

They took almost no time to make–just a few snips and a few stitches, then instant gratification! I’ll also be making a little “bed” for them so I can roll them up together and pop them in HMB’s stocking for Christmas…

In celebration, I’ll show you some *more* handmade toys that have been happening chez belleepoque. The are not for HMB, though her birthday is coming up this month (what?! one already?!) so I had better get on that too.

I made these using the pattern over at The Purl Bee, for a little boy we know who just turned one. They have jingle bells in the middle so they make a nice noise. It was fun digging in my scrap box and remembering everything I made with these fabrics before they became scraps! Clearly I have a thing for blue and orange.

These are some teensy Waldorf dolls made for some new babies in our circle. I made them properly with shaped inner heads under the jersey, using instructions from Marycristin Sealy’s book Making Waldorf Dolls. Boy is it hard to get the head shapes right! I have even more appreciation for the lovely waldorf dolls I see out there. I’d like them to have rounder, less-alien-looking heads, but at least they are soft and squashy so hopefully the babies who get them won’t mind.

I have felt so inspired to finally make something for myself, but it seems like these little kid projects with hand sewing are just more manageable. But I have some fabric and a pattern especially to make myself a shirt dress, so once the fabric is washed I’ll spend naptimes and bedtimes on it!

Go to:

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

The Change.org server is very busy today, so if you get an error, please try again after 5 minutes. This is the second round of voting, so if you voted prior to 12/31/08, we need you to vote again

And to show my support, I made another little toy for HMB– a knitted kitty.


We go to the BEST playgroup/class put on by the local Waldorf School– HMB loves it there, crawls all over making friends with the other babies. The teacher is amazing, and this session has been bringing wool, needles and patterns so the moms can make things while the kids play. HMB is a baby who really isn’t into playing independently– she’s not happy unless I’m down on the floor with her, singing and making funny faces, so crafting while she’s awake is usually problematic. But at class she is so happily occupied with the other kids that I was able to finish much of the above kitty in one session! She also likes to chew on balls of yarn, so I’ve managed to knit a bit at home while she “helps” by hanging on to my yarn. As you can imagine, you’ll likely be seeing more knitting going on around here…

But I did make some handmade things this holiday. Including a passel of penguins for a super-fun ornament swap


Some personalized Warms (thanks to Blair) for family

A couple of toys for HMB (I wanted to make more but honestly she isn’t really into softies or dolls at this point– it is all about musical instruments and other things that make noise)

A family of hats for us (I think Moondoggie wore his to work today, so it isn’t in the picture– it is just like the white one but in red– see? HMB’s is a mix of his and mine!)

Christmas cookies and gingerbread cake for a holiday baby jamboree we had here at home

I also cooked a Christmas ham, a New Year’s Eve dinner party (for grown ups! it was so much fun) and lots of other things to get us through the holiday days and nights.

But oh 2009! HMB turns 1 this year! In less than 2 months, wow. And while I am not the best at keeping resolutions, there is always lots of room for improvement in my corner here at chez belleepoque. I really would like to blog more often- you are all so nice for coming to visit and comment even when I’m so inconstant! I feel sort of guilty about a post that doesn’t involve something I actually made with my own hands.

I would write more frequently if I felt better about telling you about what I’m reading or watching or thinking about in addition to what I’m making (still with an emphasis on crafty, of course!)– would you like to read about that or would it bore you? Well, I’ll give it a try in the next few weeks and we’ll see how it goes. In that vein, one thing to share– Netflix “watch it instantly” has a ridiculous number of BBC/A&E literary adaptations available, which took up sheer HOURS that i could have been doing other things over the holidays. One such that you must watch if you are a sucker for period romance a-la-Jane Eyre is North and South. I bet you could request it from the library if you’re not a Netflixer. You won’t be sorry! Richard Armitage–where have I been that I hadn’t heard of him before? The next Colin Firth? What do you think?

That compelling topic for serious discussion out there, I’ll say goodbye for now, but hopefully not for so long again!

I can’t believe it is almost December. Where the heck did 2008 go?! Ok, back to catching up on my NaNo wordcount while HMB is taking a nap. This kid doesn’t like to sleep so I have to make the most of every second!