Rainy Days and Tuesdays
I love rainy days. They bring with them all sorts of lovely things like warm cookies and the wonderful smell of wet dirt and clean grass. Rainy days are my very favorite thing about early spring.
[ image from blancucha via flickr ]
And in honor of Rainy Days and Tuesdays I have decided to make Creamie her own little raincoat. I bought this pattern a few months ago and I just picked up one of those giant size vinyl wipe able tablecloths for $3. I grabbed a little yellow flannel to line it with and I think it will be just perfect to turn into a little rain coat for Creamie. And you can’t beat $3.
I’m going to add this project to Mrs.Moen’s tablecloth challenge. When I think about it, I seem strange sometimes. I buy sheets to make into dresses, and tablecloths to make into raincoats. I recently bought a $2 hideous dress made of beautiful red corduroy to make myself a fall jacket. I am trying to convince Scott to let me tear the leather off the seats in our unfixable car to make into a purse. (He’s not buying it.) He actually told me the other day that I’ve never met something I didn’t/couldn’t modify. When I asked him what he meant he pointed out that I can never just order what is on a menu, I always have to tweak it just a bit. I’ve never followed a recipe exactly. I don’t follow sewing patterns very well either. But I do use them as a great set of guidelines. I buy furniture that needs fixing and I dream of living in an old fixer upper home with a detatched garage. I told him that compared to taking on an old house that needs a new roof , new plumbing and wiring, and every single surface needs to be stripped and sanded and refinished, turning a tablecloth into a raincoat is going to be easy peasy! But working on that old house sure sounds great, doesn’t it? What do you do with your rainy days?
A Little Sneak Peak
I’ve been working on cleaning up my little crafty messes all over the house and consolidating them into one big happy crafty mess. A few weekends ago we painted our spare bedroom and last weekend I finally finished painting some shelves and got a few more things put away. Although it is far from finished, I just had to share a few little sneak peaks.
In other exciting news, I had an awesome beyond awesome thrift store adventure on Saturday! It was full of pretty things that I couldn’t go home without. I’ll take some pictures this afternoon. I hope your Monday is full of loveliness. Or really cute little Creampuffs. I’ll take both.
Cutie Koala
Cutie Koala says…
[ image from sewingstars on etsy ]
“Stop looking at cutie things on etsy and get back to work cleaning up your crafty room. But it’s too bad you weren’t looking a few hours earlier, I maybe could have come to live at your house. But if you are real nice and ask my creator mom, maybe she’ll make me a sister that can come live at your house. But you’ll have to ask real nice. And in the mean time, go do something about the scraps that are taking over your house.”
I mean, if Cutie Koala with fuzzy ears could talk/ text/email me…. I think that’s what he’d say. And I’d say/text/email back “You’re right… I should get back to work. But watching the paint dry is totally boring, and you are totally cute! Do you know any tricks?”
And I think that’s when Cutie Koala starts rolling his eyes… But that would be a cool trick for a little plushie! Ahem, I’ll get myself under control. He’s right, I have work to do!
Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
You know when you love something, and you have it all the time. And then your lousy old blender stops working for whatever reason you just stop. And then something wonderful comes into your life and you pick up right where you left off? Sometimes this happens with old dear friends, and years can go by and you are still able to fall right back into great conversation. Sometimes it happens with a favorite sweater, or a great jacket. Well my dear friends, it’s happened at my house this week. Thanks to my Easter present I am back into an old ritual with the fruit smoothie. I forgot how much I missed them. They are heaven, and I’m so glad we are still friends. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
[ image ]
[ image ]
I found some frozen yogurt this week that is “tart mango”. It is heaven. With a few strawberries and some fresh orange juice, a splash of limeade and a little milk I could be content for the rest of my life. Well, at least until tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend!
The Missing
Missing: One pan of brownie centers.
Description: Dark chocolate with chocolate chunks. Soft and chewy with no crispiness or nuts to get in the way.
Plea for safe return: Please bring my beloved brownie middles back, I can’t go on without them. Or the middles of any other brownies will work, I’m not too picky.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Confession: I hate brownie edges. That edges only pan that is all the rave? I pretty much think it’s the worst idea ever. I only like the middles. When is someone going to invent an edgeless pan? That’s a product I can totally get behind.
Other Confession: I ate this whole pan of brownies by myself except for those three pieces from the bottom center. Most of them were consumed straight from the pan with a fork. While standing up. Or hiding from Creamie so I didn’t have to share. And I don’t feel one bit bad about it. Nope, not one bit.
A Little [Embroidered] Love Note
On Sunday during naptime I had a sudden urge to embroider something. I have never in my life embroidered anything. I am still not quite sure what came over me. I follow the blog Style Crush, written by Amy of Peptogirl Industries. She is a queen of embroidery and sells darling patterns in her cute etsy shop (and jewelry and pillows and you should just go check her out). After I had finished this project, and was uploading photos I was browsing through my reader and saw two new posts she wrote all about the ins and outs of embroidery. She goes into a ton of detail for anyone unfamiliar with embroidery (like me). If you want some pointers to start a project, or just want to be amazed by all her cute stuff, go check out her fantastic posts that are part of her “stitch school” Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4 (I’ll update this as she does) She even has an awesome stitching guide you can download for free plus some very cute free patterns.
Anyway, my Sunday afternoon beginner embroidery project turned out so cute I decided to make another one tonight. It’s a little simple, but with a different doodle/font/phrase you could beef it up a little. Plus, I am a total sucker for lined paper. I just love it! So here is my little [embroidered] love note.
First gather up your supplies. Here is what I used-
- 8″ wood embroidery hoop (I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $.99 a few months ago)
- 11″ ish square of white felt (any white/light colored fabric would work)
- blue thread + bobbin for the sewing machine
- pink crochet thread (or floss or yarn or whatever)
- black embroidery floss (I kinda wish I had gray, but black was fine)
- needle, thimble, scissors a pen and a ruler.
- also a pattern/doodle/marker and paper to make your “note” template
Start by marking a line with your pen straight across your fabric. Mine is about 2-2.5 inches from the top. Use this line as a guide to start sewing the blue lines of your note.
[ Can I just tell you that this might be my new very favorite photo of feet. ]
You could also do this part by hand, but I don’t have the patience for that. I actually liked the look of the bottom side of the fabric (the bobbin thread side) better than the top. It has a little more texture to it, so I didn’t mind using a pen on the “front side”. Use the edge of your presser foot to make straight lines all the way down your “page.” I sewed 21 lines without backstitching at either end, because that is going to get trimmed off anyway.
I set my machine to my very longest stitch to make it go faster, and because I didn’t really want it to look tight. As I sewed each line the felt would gather up a little bit, but I just smoothed it out with my fingers before stitching the next line. I think felt may not have been the best option for this… but I didn’t have anything else that was all white. Plus I kind of like the fuzzy texture. I’ll let you in on a little secret… my lines aren’t straight. And I’m not even freaking out about it. If I had set my machine to run a little slower I might have avoided the scrunching problem (maybe?), but I’m just gonna say it gives it character.
When your lines are all stitched, smooth it out again and use a ruler to mark a line perpendicular to your stitching. This is going to be the pink stripe up the side. I set my hoop on top so I could see where it was going to end up being when I was finished. Now let’s start stitching. Put your fabric in the hoop and pull it tight. You’ll probably need to move your fabric in your hoop twice. Once to get a good start on the top of this line, and once to get a good finish at the end. Then you can move it to it’s final spot when this line is done. It’s way easier than thinking you can just do it all without having to move it. Trust me. I tried that the first time. (Wish I took a better picture of that…. is that confusing?)
Using a single strand of crochet thread (or you could use embroidery thread as well, I’d probably use all 6 strands to give it a nice thick look) stitch down the side of your fabric. Follow your lines carefully, it’s pretty easy to make it look crooked with only a few crooked stitches. I would know.
Next I used a plain piece of paper and wrote “You are my everything” in a black sharpie. My neice used to say this and it is one of my very favorite phrases. Check out this tutorial by Amy at Peptogirl Industries for way more information and much better explanation of how to transfer patterns to embroidery projects. I just traced my own handwriting onto the felt with a tiny pen…. which I am pretty sure isn’t the recommended route. (Hint- trace your pattern/phrase/whatever onto your fabric before you put it back in your hoop, it’s way easier.)
Now start stitching! I used three strands of black floss and just did a basic running stitch/backstitch. Don’t look at the back of this, it’s a big old mess of stitches..
[ image ]
Half way through I noticed a big black mess of thread on the back. I decided I probably needed a little break, so I ate one of these. This step in the tutorial is purely optional. But I definitely recommend it.
Finish up and clip your threads. I tightened everything up in my hoop at this point and then trimmed down the edges of the fabric. And tada! A cute little love note. What will you write?
Happy Stitching!
Sunshine in my Kitchen
This beauty arrived yesterday afternoon. Tangerine Orange is Scott’s favorite color, and he took it upon himself to order a replacement for our old blender last week . It wasn’t actually that old, not even three years, but everytime you turn it on it smells like burnt electricity. And that kind of makes me feel like it is a fire hazard. Not to mention it is stinky.
[ buy me here ]
But this one is so pretty, and I’m so glad he picked orange instead of white or black or stainless steel. ! I can’t wait to blend something, like a super thick banana shake… Mmmmm….. What are you blending for breakfast dessert?
Happy Easter
The day is over. Even though we woke up to snow on the ground (which I don’t really mind but puts a big damper on most people) it was a perfect day full of what Easter is really all about anyway. We didn’t dye eggs, or hide baskets, or anything like that (Not really on purpose… but it turned out that way. Creamie will still get all her Easter Bunny goodness, but the big family egg hunt is next weekend.) I made a delicious ham dinner and even though I ate too much I enjoyed every single bite. I made creamcheese brownies for dessert and they were absolute heaven (with the addition of fudge swirl ice cream and caramel sauce.) Scott’s mom came to visit later on and made a nearly perfect day infinetly better by producing from her purse a bag of these lovelies all for me.
[ image from disneychick on flickr ]
I love black jelly beans as much as black licorice. Maybe even more, because jelly beans are bite sized. And require less chewing. And they melt in your mouth. And… I won’t go into ALL their amazing qualities today, but I’ll just say the best part about them is that I don’t have to share with anyone. Ever. Happy Easter everybody!
Blocks + Parties
Is it Friday? Again? Sometimes these weeks just get away from me! I have been spending most of my free time working on a very large not really sewing project. I say “not really” because it doesn’t involve sewing exactly, but it is going to change the way I sew….. sounds cryptic, doesn’t it! It should be all done and ready to share in a few weeks.
[ image found via we heartit ]
This week I stumbled upon this blog post and decided that I had to do something to help her out. (I’m adding this to Sew&Tell at Amy’s.) I’ve never sewn any triangles before, or followed a quilting pattern before, but I have plenty of scraps and even if it’s not perfect (which it’s not…. more about that in a minute) at least I can make a few blocks and learn something in the process. I started with four blocks, and the first two require a lot of unpicking…. so they are in a heap under the dining room table and I am just going to pretend that it never happened.
These two are a little better. None of my points got lost and despite my lack of super fantastic color combination’s I like them. Each block is supposed to be 10.5″ square unfinished. For whatever reason (perhaps my ponytail was too tight or my feet were too cold?) these ended up being perfect 10 inch squares. How did I end up 1/2″ shy in all directions? No idea, I’ve retraced my steps twice and I can’t figure it out. I just recently purchased a 1/4″ foot for my machine, so that wasn’t the problem. I cut each block’s pieces out separately, so that shouldn’t have been the problem. I measured them again after they were sewn together and they matched up with what the pattern said….. anyway, I’m at a loss. I think I am going to make them into practice blocks to try out some machine quilting. And I’ll try again to make some blocks for Victoria at BumbleBeans Inc for her charity quilt project. Only this time I hope to get them to a size she can use! (If you have any scraps that need using up you should consider making a few blocks for her. They only take a few minutes to do (if you don’t have to unpick them a million times). She could use all the blocks (or backing fabrics or bindings) that she can get. You can find all the information and her email address here.)
So sewing didn’t really fit into the plan this week, but shopping did! Last night I went to an afterhours party at this cute little store. For a few weeks now they have had a deal going on where you earn auction bucks for every dollar you spend. You spend $10, you get $10 in auction bucks. Last night they had the actual auction and you used all those auction bucks they gave you for free to buy real stuff in a silent auction. It was a party I tell you! They were auctioning off fabric bits and bobs, patterns, fat quarter bundles, scrap bags and kits and sample quilts that have been hanging in the shop for a while. I didn’t have enough auction bucks to get a kit or a quilt or any of the larger bundles of fabric, but I did get a bunch of things that I think are cool. And even cooler because they didn’t cost me a cent. There isn’t much better than free! Here are my winnings.
I’m not sure what I am going to do with all of it, but I am excited to find out! The green polkadot and minkee is already earmarked, and I think I’m going to use the minkee and samples in some sort of quiet book for Creamie. I don’t know, we’ll see! And as if that wasn’t enough cool free stuff for one day, on the way home I stopped by Walmart to grab a few things and I happened upon a clearance section where I found these baskets. They also had a lime green one, which was priced at $2 (originally 12). These brown/black baskets didn’t have a price on them, so i threw them in the cart and found an employee to check the price for me. If they were $12 I didn’t want them, but $2 would be a steal, right! Amazingly I found an employee after 8:00 pm that could help me find a price. Do you want to know what it was? Do you want to guess? You’ll never in a million years get it!
These little beauties rang up at $.02 each. Two cents each, two pennies a piece! AMAZING. That’s right folks, I paid six cents total. I worked in retail for a long time while I was in school and I know that sometimes at big companies computers and people join forces to make accidental mistakes that happen to be in the customers favor. And when that happens you don’t apologize or try to make it right, or pay a “fair” price. You just snap it up as soon as possible before anyone at corporate figures it out. One day I’ll do a post dedicated to the nearly free items in my house that I owe to the computers and/or people in corporate America. Man, I love free.
Rain Rain Go Away…
But come back when I have a pretty umbrella.
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
I can’t believe it is April already! Happy April everyone, it’s barely after midnight and I celebrated by signing up for this class. Yay! Everyone is asleep right now, the house is quiet and I am giddy with excitement. I feel like I am starting out on a brand new adventure.
pinksuedeshoe 