Meet Annabelle, the bright and cheery sock doll

 Oh my, time flies!  I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted.  But I do have a good excuse ... been busy, busy and more busy.  Cat toys have been flying out the door (a big thank you to all my kitty cat customers and their humans!).  Now that the Christmas rush is behind us I’m trying to get back into making things for my BitsOfFiber Etsy shop.  So here is Annabelle, a bright and cheery sock doll I made.  I’ve always enjoyed making dolls and figurines.  It gives me the chance to combine all the things I like to do, sewing, knitting, crocheting and making jewelry.  Although Annabelle isn’t wearing any jewelry.  I do want to start making dolls with clay body parts so I’m looking at taking some online classes in the near future.  But for now I’m having fun making sock dolls.  

Cute catnip toadstools for Valentine’s Day

New in our MauveMoose Etsy shop ... cute little catnip toadstools for Valentine’s Day!  Cats love little things to play with and if the item has some catnip inside of it, well that’s all she wrote!   Here our latest toy ... a cute little toadstool stuffed with fiberfil and of course our famous catnip.  I started making them for Valentine’s day since I found this fabric with the little hearts to make the perfect top for the toadstool but they also make awesome stocking stuffers!  Only have one in the shop but more will follow so hop on over to check out our MauveMoose shop on Etsy.  

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No snow but lots of sparkling ice!

 I love the snow, I love the cold and yes ... I even like the sparkling ice!  I don’t mind the ice so much now that I’m working from home and only have to go drive somewhere when I want to not because I have to.  Having two dogs I do have to go outside to let them take care of business.  Thanks to all the ice on the deck and the steps this morning we had to go out through the garage which totally confused them since it is their first winter at this house.  So for those of you who did get snow from this last storm, enjoy it!  I only have pictures of ice to share today.

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Eggnog Custard Pie

 I loooooovvvveeee eggnog, just plain eggnog.  I do not need any rum or brandy in it.  I guess I love it so much due to the fact I grew up having pudding or custard or flan just about every day.  In case you didn't know I did grow up in Aarschot Belgium.  One of my favorite desserts are eclairs filled with the custard not whipped cream or anything else, just plain custard is what I like.  When I found out the eclairs Wegmans sells eclairs with custard I was in heaven after tasting one ... it brought me right back to standing outside one of the bakeries in Aarschot eating an eclair.  Now back to eggnog, we do not have eggnog in Belgium so when I found out the taste of it when I moved to the US it reminded me of drinking pudding!  So after having lived here in the US for many many years I happened to run into a recipe on Pinterest for Eggnog Pie so I had to try it.  There are plenty of recipes for it and they are basically close to the same but you can divide them into two, one is the baked type you actually put in the oven and then you have the non-baked type which you make with instant pudding mix and whipped cream which I'm personally not a fan of so I ended up making the baked kind and boy was it good, tasted just like eggnog ... who would have thought!?   Now I have to admit I always have a hard time following recipes exactly so I ended up combining two different recipes into one of my own.  

Eggnog Custard Pie

Ingredients: 

• 2
  1/2 cups eggnog
• 3 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk (save the egg white)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup raw sugar
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg plus additional for garnishing
• 1 unbaked pie crust
• 1 large egg white beaten until frothy

INSTRUCTIONS

 

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Beat eggnog, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Add sugar and mix well.
• Brush the edges of the crust with the beaten egg white.
• Transfer the filling to the crust, and bake 25 minutes. Cover the pie with foil and bake 30 to 40 minutes longer, or until a knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.
• Allow pie to cool on a wire rack. The filling will continue to cook and solidify while it cools. Garnish pie with a sprinkle of nutmeg if desired.
• Store pie in refrigerator.

Tomorrow I will be trying Eggnog Pancakes!

Awesome sky last night

 Took this photo last night when I was letting my dogs out before going to bed.  An almost full moon peeking through the clouds.  

Silly pillow cat toy

 I had made one of these for our cat Rosco since he loves anything stringy or has cords attached.  He seems to have a lot of fun chasing this kind of toy down the hall and it was actually pretty funny catching him running around with it in his mouth.  Why do I never have my phone on me inside the house to take pictures when the animals do crazy stuff like that is beyond me!!!  By the time I grab my phone off the counter they are back to being “normal” and look at me like I’m some crazy human telling them to do it again!  

Anyways, I just listed one of these toys.  I can/will make more of them if there is interest in it. 

Yes, more Holiday toys

Been working on more holiday toys and just listed them in our MauveMoose Etsy shop.   Don’t hesitate if you want to buy something or you might miss out on one of our unique toys.  The tree toys I just started making, all of them have sold but lucky for you ... I listed 3 new ones today.  I also made and listed some more strawberries and ball ornaments.  Here some pictures of the latest ones listed.