It's Been a Year

...and i'm still here! I am so happy that my neighbour told me about the wonderful world of blog. It has opened up a world of creativity, patience, and community for me. One of the exciting things for me is meeting other vegans. I have friends that are vegetarian but no vegans, so this has been a welcome change for me. The initial intention was to share what being a vegan means for me, but i also wanted to share my crafting adventures too - and learn from the other crafty grrls i've met in blogland. Strange, though, that they don't seem to read our vegan crafters blogs?
And, as it says in my 'About Me' section, i am a counsellor for abused women. After work, i really need to unwind and self-care is an important part of keeping me strong. For me 'self-care' means good food, relaxing time with friends, and being crafty.

Anyway, i just wanted to say thanks to all my blog friends who leave comments and who have included me in your lives too!

So, here are a couple of projects i've completed recently. Each of them represents what this blog means to me: crafts, vegan cooking, and thrifting.

I bought some Vogue dress patterns that were on sale a few months back, and i finally made a strapless dress. I used a thrift store bed sheet for the bodice and vintage fabric for the skirt and belt - and a vintage flower button i bought on Ebay! I'm pretty happy with it, especially because i had to really make sure it fit my bodice - skirts are easy but this involved boning and the whole bit! I even made removable straps for those days i may want some more support.

I had a work 'meeting' at a cottage last week, and it was a pot luck. I really wanted to bring dessert because i know that i would have been stuck with fruit if i didn't. While i love fruit i don't always want it, and also love sharing with people the wonders of vegan baking. Well, i made brownies from a new recipe from Rebar, and i did follow the recipe to the T. Except i didn't have a 9x9 pan, so used my 8x8 one instead. I don't know what happened but the estimated bake time of 25 minutes turned into 45 because it just wouldn't bake. I guess the pan size made a difference! So i took 'mashed brownies.' They tasted really really good but were so messy to eat. I love brownies that are heavy and gooey, not just like chocolate cake, so i think if i work on this recipe, i will get what i want.

So that brings me to ask, does anyone have any good vegan brownie recipes that are dense and gooey?


Lastly, i recently went to Value Village and spent some good time there. I love getting great fabrics there especially since yet another friend is pregnant (see how my WIP bar never seems to change for my 'baby gifts?!') so i'm making her some goodies this weekend. I'll share them soon! But i also scored these great records - J is a Huge fan of Stevie Wonder and having spent a year in Kazakhstan, i was happy to find this instrumental album from Russia.