Watermelon Baby Bib

I was inspired by the summer weather to make this watermelon baby bib. It works up quickly to help catch all that baby drool.

The crochet pattern is now available on my Ravelry store or Etsy shop. 
Here are some details of what is included in the purchase of the pattern:

Size:

Based on the tightness of my tension, the dimensions of the finished bib are approximately 6 inches wide and 4 inches long (not including ties). Feel free to go up or down hook sizes to adjust the size of the bib.

Materials:

G hook (4mm)

Worsted Weight Cotton Yarn (I used Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton Yarn) in Red, White, Green, and Black.Large eye needle for weaving in ends Abbreviations:Ch - chainSc - single crochetDc - double crochetSl st - slip stitchSc decrease – single crochet decrease (single crochet 2 together)RS – right sideWS – wrong side

Pattern will include:Written instructions in English. Photos showing the steps of the pattern. 8 Page PDF file.

I would love to see your watermelon bibs! Tag me on instagram @craftsbysarahliz so I can see your work!

*Permissions*

- You are free to sell what you make from this pattern. I would appreciate links back to my blog to credit me as the designer.

- You may not use my photos

- You may not sell this pattern or claim it as your own

© Sarah Gross - Crafts by Sarah Liz

Shortcut Spaghetti Sauce

Last month I shared my Easy Cheaty Stroganoff recipe. Another "cheat" recipe of mine is my spaghetti sauce. For special occasions I might do a sauce entirely from scratch. But for a normal evening at my house I am usually wrangling a rowdy 4 1/2 year old, a mischievous 2 year old, and a clingy 8 month old. As you might imagine, my time is not always my own. Little shortcuts save my life. Alright, maybe that is too melodramatic. But it has certainly saved my sanity.

Instead of making my sauce completely from scratch, or doing the opposite and popping open a jar of sauce and heating it up, I "doctor" jarred or canned spaghetti sauce. Here is one of the variations that I often do.

Start with olive oil, add onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers and saute until softened.

Remove veggies from the pot. Add ground beef, and some Jimmy Dean ground sausage and cook until browned.

Add the veggie mix and some garlic back in. Add basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes (This is optional. Not everyone likes a kick of heat in their sauce.). Then add some wine and give it a stir. Let it simmer for a couple minutes.

This next step is VITAL! Do this next step exactly as I tell you!!!

Take the rest of the wine and pour a glass to drink. I usually use a Cabernet for my spaghetti sauces. This Dark Horse wine is a new favorite of mine.

Add a jar or can of your favorite spaghetti sauce and stir. Simmer, drink wine, simmer, drink wine...

Serve over your favorite pasta.

In case you don't want to scroll through all the photos every time you want to make this, the consolidated recipe is below.


***Ingredients***
2 Tbsp olive oil
Half an onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced (I only had mini bell peppers on hand so that's what I used this time)
8 oz mushrooms, sliced (I am a mushroom fiend so I usually use more than 8 oz)
8 oz ground beef (I like to use 93% lean)
8 oz Jimmy Dean Sausage
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup wine
1 jar or can of spaghetti sauce

***Directions***
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add olive oil, onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers and saute until softened. Remove veggies from the pot. Add ground beef, and some Jimmy Dean ground sausage and cook until browned. Add the veggie mix back in and add some garlic. Add basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Then add some wine and give it a stir. Let it simmer for a couple minutes. Add your jar or can of sauce and stir. Simmer. You can simmer this for an hour, or just a few minutes, depending on how early you start it ahead of the rest of your meal. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Happy Cooking!
~Sarah Liz

Blanket of Roses

When I named my 3rd baby Angela Rose, I knew I need to make something with roses for her. I found a pattern for a rose and I made a whole mountain of them. Ok, it was just 20 roses, but it did take a while to get them all done. I did a combination of colors for this. Besides the solid colors, I did 2 of the colors with white in the middle, and the red or pink on the last row to make it look like a variegated rose. Those turned out to be my favorite of all the colors. Once I had all of the roses done, I made some pretty leaves in 2 colors to add some dimension.

The part that probably took the longest (besides actually crocheting the roses) was arranging the roses in a "random" pattern. I am just a little OCD, and I could not settle on an arrangement I liked. I finally got a good arrangement and started sewing them all together. 

It was incomplete, so I decided to make a headband. I used the same rose pattern but only did the last 2 rows to make the smaller rose for the headband. I added some ties to I could adjust it to her head.

This is still one of my favorite projects I have done. I would love to see some of your favorite projects. Tag me on instagram @craftsbysarahliz so I can connect with you!

Happy Crafting!

~Sarah Liz