I recently moved into a new apartment, and needed some blinds for my room. I figured the neighbours had had enough of a show!

I went to my new favourite fabric store, Designer Fabrics, 1360 Queen Street West. They have a HUGE selection, it's very organized and priced really well. The lady and gentleman who helped me were very friendly and super helpful, and I was able to get some simple white cotton, white black-out backing and ribbon for about $25. I will definitely be returning for my next sewing project!

I wanted something very simple but beautiful - if you noticed them you'd think they were nice, but you might not notice them, and I think what I ended up with turned out perfectly. This is one project that looks as nicely in real life as it did in my head!

To start, measure your window so you know how big to make the shades. The window I wanted to cover is 45" wide and 56" high. You will also want to wash and iron your fabric. My white cotton had a nice little dirt mark on it that came out beautifully in the wash.  Don't forget to do a quick zig-zag stitch around the outside to stop any fraying that might happen.


Lay the fabric out flat and measure 1 inch wider and 4.5 inches taller than your window. In my case, I measured 46" wide and 60.5" high. I cheated and used my dad's drywall square to make sure my shades were perfectly square!


Mark with a pencil or chalk and cut to size. My mom had some blue chalk that was older than me! Good thing it still worked.


Repeat with the backing.

Put the right (out) sides together, pin along the bottom and side edges and sew in a straight line with a 1/2" seam allowance (1/2" from the edge). In my case, neither fabric had a right or wrong side!


Cut the corners to remove bulk and turn the square inside out.  I use my scissors to make sure the corners are nice and square.



Press the edges. There's going to be a lot more pressing.


Sew along the 3 edges.


Lay your square flat again and measure the length plus 4 inches, in my case, 60". Mark this line and press to create a nice .


Measure 1" from this new line, turn and press. This will give you a nice clean line on the back of the shade.


Next, measure 3" from the new line, turn, press and pin.  This will be the pocket for your curtain rod.

Switching for a few seconds to the ties, you will need a length of ribbon 4 times the height of the window. In my case, I needed 224".  Cut this in half. For a bit of extra flair, I cut my ribbons on a 30 degree (approximate) angle.


Now for assembly and final touches!

Measure a quarter of the width of the shades from each side, in my case 11 1/4". This is where the ribbon will be attached. Fold each length of ribbon in half, and place on the top of the shade at the quarter mark. Pin them, making sure the ribbon is parallel with the shade. Sew the curtain rod pocket, approximately 2.5" from the top of the curtain.


Draw your curtain over the curtain rod and put it up! I used a tension rod on the inside of my window


Voila! New shades for a fraction of the cost of what they would cost in the store!

Questions:

Do your DIY projects often turn out the way you think they will?
- Not all of my DIY projects turn out this nicely, I was pleasantly surprised.

What do you think I should do for my next project?
- I am thinking about a wall hanging to keep all of my jewelry on.

I thought it was time for a little update on my Blue Afgan. Last week I went to the Purple Purl to turn my skeins of yarn into balls.


Sorry about the fuzziness of the video. I forgot to let my camera focus before I started recording...

Then I got to work!



I've never worked with such big needles or 5 strands of wool before, and it's going very quickly. I've already finished about 12 inches! I've still got about 48 inches more to go, though.



Questions: (I figure I might as well give this a try!)

What do you think of the colours of yarn I've selected?
- I'm really happy with how the yarns and colours go togehter, though I'm a little disappointed you can't really see the bright blue mohair/silk.

Do you knit?  If so, what's your favorite project? If not, have you ever wanted to?

I've been a fan of breakfast ever since University. For the past three years or so, I've been having a variation on the same breakfast: Eggs and Oatmeal with ground almonds and flax seed or my grandma Sybil's homemade Cereal.

I've been a fan of quinoa ever since I had my first quinoa salad back in 2008. My Morrocan Quinoa Salad is my go-to for parties and pot lucks, and has had many good reviews. But after visiting Peru in August, I am even more hooked! Each morning on the Trek, we had oatmeal made with quinoa rather than oats (would you call that quinoameal?) and it was delicious and healthy to boot!

So when I came across the Meals and Moves Breakfast Challenge, I went on an internet hunt for a delicious breakfast quinoa recipe! The results are not surprisingly, amazing!

This is adapted from Joy the Baker. I like that the quinoa is cooked in water rather than in milk, as many of the recipes I found are.

1 cup quinoa 2 cups water applesauce coconut almonds fresh fruit milk brown sugar

Rinse dry quinoa.


Place quinoa and water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer the quinoa until all of the water is absorbed. Stir occasionally. Turn off the heat and allow quinoa to cool slightly. 


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread coconut and almonds in a single layer across the sheet. Toast for about 5 minutes, keeping a close eye on the coconut, it burns quickly!


I made the quinoa and roasted the coconut and almonds last night,  stored them in the fridge and warmed it up in the microwave this morning. I'm not a morning person, so it made the preparation super easy and quick this morning!

In a bowl, combine a heaping spoonful of quinoa, applesauce, a sprinkling of almonds and coconut, a generous helping of fresh mango or other fruit of choice.


I didn't need to add any milk or sugar because it was already sweet enough with the mango and coconut!

I added a sprig of mint for the photo, but it also tasted delicious with the dish.


With peaches now in season, I will definitely be trying this with peaches tomorrow morning!

I was inspired by my cousin Ali's foodie runner blog to put some up of my fav. recipes! I'm by no means a professional, but I do enjoy baking, especially these delicious no bake cookies I've heard called any number of things, but in the Lewis house, we called them Buffalo Chips. I am still trying to figure out the secret to making them crunchy rather than gooey - experiments have included using butter rather than margarine, using more oatmeal and coconut than the recipe calls for, and boiling the liquid ingredients for longer. None seems to work every time, so now I'm just surprised with whatever comes out!

1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup butter (or margarine) 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup coconut 3 cups oats 1/2 cup peanut butter (optional) 3 - 5 tbsp cocoa (I usually split the difference and use 4)

Melt margarine, about 1 minute, in the microwave.


Add milk and vanilla to the melted butter. Mix cocoa and sugar together and to the mixture

I'm on an Almond 'milk' kick right now, and it's worked wonderfully in all my baking so far...

Mixing the cocoa with the sugar means you don't have gross cocoa clumps!

Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add other ingredients. Stir until the oatmeal and coconut are coated with chocolaty goodness


 Drop on waxed paper or cookie sheet. (I usually put waxed paper ON a cookie sheet)



Chill and enjoy.

Notice how empty my huge fridge is!

As part of my bedroom make-over, I've decided to knit myself a large throw. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for in any online store, and DIY means you get exactly what you want and at a better price, so long as you know what you're doing!  Plus, I realized that I've never knit anything for myself!



GAUGE
We'll see!

NOTE
All yarns are worked together throughout.

CHECKERBOARD PATTERN
* Row 1: k 33, p 30, k 33.
Row 2: k 3, p 30, k 30, p 30, k 3.
Repeat these 2 rows 17 times more, end on Row 2.
Row 38: k 3, p 30, k 30, p 30, k 3.
Row 39: k 33, p 30, k 33.
Repeat these 2 rows 17 times more, end on Row 38.
Repeat from * once more for checkerboard pattern

THROW
With a 12mm (size 17) needle, using 1 strand of each yarn, cast on 96 stitchs. Knit 4 rows. Work in Checkerboard Pattern for 144 rows (4 rows of 3 blocks). Knit 4 rows. Bind off all stitches

FRINGE
Cut 3 15" long strands of each yarn. Put all strands together and fold in half. With crochet hook, draw center of strands through first st of throw on cast-on edge, forming a loop. Pull ends of fringe through this loop. In this manner, make fringe in every other st across entire cast-on edge of throw. Trim fringe ends to even off, if necessary. Work fringe across bound-off edge of throw.

A big thank you goes out to the Purple Purl for helping me pick out some beautiful and mostly reasonably priced yarns in the right colours! They have a stitch night on Tuesdays which I plan on attending. They also seem to have knitters stopping by during regular business hours for help with their projects. Needless to say, I suspect I will need to stop in at some point.

Our full day in the Rainforest started with a walk from the river to the Oxbow lake. The walk was about 2km, and we saw and learned about a number of species of plants and animals.



Trees in the rainforst grow all the time, so they don't have rings. This blew my mind!

no rings!

The Candlestick Ginger is very important to the native people here. It's stem contains water, which can be consumed by a thirsty traveller. Its stem can also be boiled into an infusion and used against headaches. Elvis told is he has used this many times, and it is very effective. He did not mention if these headaches he suffered from were acquired after a night at the discotheque.

Candlestick Ginger

 The trees in the rainforest do not have deep roots like in other forests. Because the nutrients in the soil are really only in the top 80cm, the trees have no need to have deep roots. Instead they have developed two types of systems to stabilize themselves, buttresses, like the figs, and stilts, like the palms.

buttress roots

stilt roots

 The largest venomous snake in South America is called the bushmaster. It can grow larger than 3.5m in length and 10cm in girth. Though we looked, we did not find any bushmasters while on our hike, nor at any other time of our stay in the rainforest.

The walking palm can move up to 15cm per year searching for sunlight. It accomplishes this by sending out new roots in the direction it needs to travel.



Elvis also pointed out a plant he referred to as the erotic plant. Apparently the sap from this tree is used to make a type of Viagra. I'm not sure where they got the idea from, though...


Although Tarantulas are nocturnal, Elvis woke a few up so we could see them. I was surprised to learn that they live in holes by the path, which makes finding food easier for them. While their bites are very painful, they are not deadly. Still, they move very quickly, and I was glad to see them from afar. I know how grumpy I get when someone wakes me up from a good sleep!



At one point, Elvis grabbed some leaves and started rubbing them in his hands. He added a bit of water, and it started turning a deep purple.  I got voluntold for face paint, and then after it was on, told it would take years to come off. Thankfully my experiences with Queen's Engineering taught me how to get purple dye off my skin quickly and effectively!


While in the forest, we thought we mist be looking pretty good because someone was whistling at us. Turns out it was male Screaming Piha competing for a mate. I will upload video as soon as I can.



We had a short boat ride on the lake, where we saw some hoatzin, aslo known as stinky birds.
Apparently they are so smelly that they have no natural predator! Now that's smelly! Creatures in the lake include piranahs, electric eels, and freshwater stingrays.



The two biggest trees in the forest where we were are the strangling fig, which wraps itself around a host tree, slowly killing it, and the Kapok.

Strangling fig - outside

Strangling fig - inside

One of the roots from the giant kapok

Kapok

 On the boat ride back to the trail, Elvis handed us packages of crackers and these orange spherical fruits. When we opened them, I thought it looked like brains on the inside. Turns out they were passion fruit, and very very delicious. I just couldn't look too closely at what I was eating!


We returned back to the lodge for a yummy lunch and a relaxing afternoon. The water for each lodge was heated by solar, so I wanted to wait until after midday to shower. The water was good and hot, and I did not regret my decision.

Solar hot water heaters for each of the cabins (I'm an eco geek!)

At 6:30 we met to learn a little bit about the Caiman, a member of the alligator family. They are solitary animals, and the males attracts a mate by blowing bubbles! We then jumped in one of the boats and went out searching for Caimans. Clearly Elvis has been trained for this because when he pointed to where one was, I kept looking at what turned out to be a log in the water, not the caiman at all! The first one we saw was huge, maybe around 1.5m. Elvis later told us he figured it was about 20 years old. Caimans never stop growing, and can live to be 60 years old, so you can tell approximately how old they are by their size.
We saw two more caimans, both babies about one year old. They looked to be no more than a foot long. We also saw some capybara up close. The biggest one was HUGE! It was the size of a medium to large dog! In the same vein as last night, I decided not to bring my camera out of respect for the caimans and capybara.

We spent a good 5 minutes on the boat with the motor turned off just listening to the sounds of the rainforest. I also looked at the stars. I always forget how amazing the night sky is when there's no lights on!

Tomorrow we begin our trip home to Toronto. This has been a magical trip, and I am sad it's over.