Crafty Christina

Ahhh Spring.

2011-05-01T22:13:00.003-04:00

Spring is finally here! On one hand, I feel like it took forever to get here, but on the other hand, I can't believe it's already May.

I've been on Spring break for a few weeks. Not having to go to class has been nice, but I'm still up to my neck in papers. I'm finishing up the last one that's due and then it will just be finals. I'll be a free woman in 4 weeks.

Not having to go to class has meant a little extra time crafting time. One of my co-workers asked me to make her granddaughter a hat. She didn't care what kind, so long as it was pink and brown and had a flower.

Piper's bear Teddy was willing to model a pink hat, since Piper was asleep and unable to protest.

I found the pattern on Ravelry and of course, forgot to que it and now I can't find it to share. I'll have to dig up the paper copy to figure out which one it is and I'll post it when I find it. I used THIS pattern for the flower, but left off the picots.

No sooner did I start knitting when I realized that I needed new stitch markers. I asked Andrea over at Knits and Knots if she made any, because she'd sent me a great set a few years ago. She pointed me to Endless Forms, which is run by her sister. Crafty talent clearly runs in the family.

Look how cute the stitch markers were packaged! The stamping on the paper is such a nice touch.

Aren't they pretty? They work like a dream and I love them. She sells really cute jewelry too.

I'm uber late on posting our class project for Easter, but here it is anyway. I saw this idea HERE and fell in love. Cheap, easy, and cute. Plus Piper said it wasn't too "babyish" which is a requirement for 5th grade crafts now. I wish you could see me rolling my eyes now. Ha!

We made over 40 of them with a bunch of different peep colors. Piper said they were a hit. I hope the teacher will forgive me for all the little sugar bits that were probably all over her floor.

What's Easter without dyeing eggs? My neighbor had a party and we were told to BYOE (bring your own eggs). She covered the table in newspaper and let a bunch of rugrats go nuts. She's a braver woman than I! The kids had a blast and we ended up with dozens of cool eggs.

Hope everyone is doing well! Hoping to be around more in a month or so, when school lets out. In the meantime, what have you guys been up to?

A Plethora of FOs

2011-03-13T09:04:00.005-04:00

So, another month goes by and I have the same excuse: school! Although it's busy (and hard), it's going really well. I'm in the process of interviewing for internships, so please keep your fingers crossed I land one!

I've been sporadically crafting over the last few months. I started a lot of these projects in December and worked on them slowly until they were all done.

My good friend Ellen planned a trip to Mexico to celebrate her 40th birthday and she invited me and a bunch of her friends to go. Unfortunately, I couldn't go, but I was happy to help when she said she wanted to give the girls personalized travel bags for the trip.

She bought all of this wild fabric and picked the Weekend Travel Bag from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. I made them assembly line style which helped to make them go pretty quickly.

I embroidered everyones name on their bag, which took some time, but was totally worth the effort. The only regret I have is not using a stronger interfacing. The fabric was a little soft and even with interfacing, they weren't as stiff as I would have liked. No worries, though because Ellen loved them!

Of course, as I was making of all these bags, a certain (not so) little person decided she HAD to have one with a flower. She drew what the flower should look like and it was simple enough, so I obliged.

She picked out this great home dec weight polka dot fabric in the clearance section for the outer bag. The pink lining is from my stash... it was a clearance buy when I visited Philly a few years ago.

With a home dec weight fabric and interfacing, this bag turned out much stiffer and with better corners than the first set. Love it!

Piper mentioned that she wanted to use the bag when she went bike riding (she claims she's too big for a basket now), so I added some cotton webbing to the side seam. Now, she can fling it right onto her bike handles.

Last, but not least, one of my sweetest co-worker had a baby shower in late February. Since I've been pressed for time, I went with simple squares and white sashing.

Do you recognize the pink fabric? It's the same stash fabric I used for the lining of Piper's bag. Piper also found this great turtle print in the clearance section and it matched the pink flowers perfectly! Meant to be, wouldn't you say?

My favorite part is the green Minky on the back. It was my first time sewing with Minky, but with a few tips, I didn't have any problems. First, I pinned, pinned, and pinned some more. Then, I used my walking foot and voila, no puckers!

The teeniest of scraps were left over and I didn't want to throw them out. So they got pieced together and became a matching bib. Swoon! I love sewing for babies.

Well, that's the end of show and tell for today. Hope all is well with you guys!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T06:33:00.002-05:00

*Pi's Valentine Mailbox from a shoebox project.

*Butterfly template found HERE

Hope your day is full of sugar!!

Go away winter!

2011-01-27T10:44:00.005-05:00

A whole month since I've been to the blog! Craziness! January has been a crazy busy month and I just haven't had the chance to sit down and write down an entire post. I'm guilty of being more active on FB lately, which probably doesn't help with getting to the blog as often as I should.

So January in a nutshell... Happy New Year! Wishing you all a year full of happiness! Happy Birthday to Mom and my twin sisters Jennifer and Tiffani (they're 18...holy cow!). Piper and I got sick, got better, went ice-skating, fell on our butts and read James and the Giant Peach (so cute). School started again for me and it's going to be quite the semester. I'm looking forward to it though, because the classes seem really great.

Anyhoo, if you're anywhere except California, then you know all about the snow and ice we've been getting. This pic is from last week when we got another 18 inches of snow in our 4th snowstorm since Christmas.

But that's old news compared to today's ice storm! I tried to go to work this morning and turned right back around when I realized that walking down my driveway would take some major ice skating skills. The entire area is a full sheet of ice. Not long after I went back inside, I heard a nice big CRACK
and looked to see that the tree above our garage cracked right off. We're lucky that none of the falling branches have hit power lines yet.

Not a whole lot of crafting going on, but I did manage to make this mitten. Yes, only one, haha! My co-worker and I decided to make our boss a pair of mittens for Christmas. Our boss is awesome and loves handmade things, so we try to throw something handmade into her gift every year.

We figured we could both tackle one each. After a bunch of re-dos to try to match gauge, we were finally able to start them (a month late, ha!).

Being my first knit mitten, I was confused by the thumb, but thanks to some patient knitting buddies (thanks ladies!), I figured it out. Can I get a woot woot? ;)

The pattern is called the Agatha mitten and can be found HERE. I used a half skein of Bernat Alpaca for this one. My co-worker has the other half skein and is cranking her mitten out now. With luck, my boss will have both mittens by springtime. ;)

My family also started a new "snow day" tradition. If it's a snow day, we bake a chocolate chip coffee cake! Yum!

THIS recipe never gets old!!

Hopefully I'll be back before another month is over.

30+

2010-12-30T12:49:00.003-05:00

We received over 30 inches of snow the day after Christmas! Poor Pip was stuck in Bklyn, so I trekked out there on Monday to bring her home.

I'm not a big fan of snow, but seeing Pi having so much fun makes it hard for me to a hold a grudge against the snow.

I'll admit that snow is good for a few things, like igloos...

And tubing!

What are your favorite snow activities?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T07:30:00.003-05:00

From the "K" family to yours, we wish you all have a wonderful Christmas! May we remember the true reason for the season.

Lots of love!!!

Is it really almost Christmas?

2010-12-23T06:33:00.006-05:00

Whoa, what a few weeks its been. Work has been nuts, I took finals, doctor appointments, and have just been generally crazy! So you get a week's worth of re-cap in one quicky, drive-by post.

We went ice skating with Girl Scouts at a local rink. Piper hugged the wall the entire time, but she was definitely getting better by the end of the visit.

I can ice skate and was supposed to help Pi on the ice, but.... I managed to fall down the stairs and sprain my ankle even before we got there! I didn't want her to miss the skating, so I threw a brace on (left over from my 2007 tumble down the stairs). I'm all better now... no worries!

We bought our tree about two weeks ago. I love getting a real tree. It's a PITA, but it smells so good and looks so pretty, that it's so worth it in the end. To tell you the truth, we love decorating the tree so much ~~not to mention it fell over~~, we did it twice! I'd like to take a moment to grieve my poor Mets ornament that lost it's life this year when ~~my mets hating hubby broke it~~ the tree fell.

But I digress... it's pretty, isn't it?

I also had grand plans of making EVERYONE handmade gifts this year. I made lists, cut fabric, picked out yarn... and yeah, nothing! Amazon and I spent some quality time together instead.

Other than the hats from a few posts ago, I only managed to finish one gift. It's a biggie though, so I'm still pretty proud.

It's a disappearing 9 patch pattern made with leftover fabric from my Oh, Fransson! Advent Calendar and some scraps a friend sent to me. I didn't have to buy one little bit of new fabric for this quilt, which makes it that much more awesome.

The back is lined with red solid fabric left over from the Principal's quilt. My non-dirty Grandma is getting this one. I hope she loves it as much as I do!

So, did you guys make a lot of gifts this year? Or was it Amazon to the rescue?

Help a knitter out!

2010-12-16T05:13:00.001-05:00

Anyone have the Molly's Headband pattern? It was an Interweave freebie. I've had it bookmarked for ages but when I went to print it yesterday, discovered the pattern isn't up anymore. Was anyone else smart enough to actually save it as a PDF? Anyone? Bueller?

Here's a link...

http://www.knittingdaily.com/media/p/36941.aspx

Crystal's Baby Shower

2010-12-11T08:58:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago (yes, I'm really behind!), my mom and I went to a baby shower for my cousin's g/f, Crystal. She's due to have a little girl, named Leila, any day now.

I started early and managed to get a few handmade things done in time. The little quilted bib and the pj pants are made out of fleece. I love how soft they turned out! The hat is made from Wool Ease Chunky left over from the set I made for my SIL for Christmas.

This is called a whole quilt, if I'm not mistaken because both sides are made from a whole piece of fabric, rather than patchwork. I found this fabric at Walmart when they were getting rid of their craft section and fell in love with it on the spot. If you look carefully, it is all nursery rhyme characters... the 3 Bears, the 3 little pigs, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood! I couldn't bear to cut it up, so that's why it became a whole quilt. I wish I could tell you how big it is, but I forgot to measure it.

I backed it with red cotton that was left over from the Principal's quilt and finished with a pre-made solid red binding. I did free motion quilting all over, but I'm not particularly thrilled with it. I did a lot of ripping out and definitely need more practice.

I was afraid that I would have to tell my dad that my mom found a new man at the shower. This little guy loved her!

Here's me, Crystal, my cousin Steven, and my mom. Can't wait to meet the new addition to the family!

Bib pattern - HERE
Pants pattern - HERE
Hat pattern - HERE

Oh, hats!

2010-12-04T11:27:00.001-05:00

What a week! My poor Pipster has been home sick all week. The doc said she is contagious and he wasn't kidding. Within a few days, hubby was just as sick as she was. I felt sniffly all week, but managed not to get as sick as they have been (yay vitamin C!). But this morning, I woke up feeling yucky. I hope a weekend in bed will take care of that quickly. Let's hope so anyway, because finals start on Tuesday.

I realized over the last few weeks that my posts have been lacking in anything craft related. Before you think I forgot what yarn looks like, I wanted to show you the fruit of my commuting labors.

I wasn't kidding when I said that my yarn stash and I are getting re-acquainted on the bus. Over the last few weeks or so, things have been flying off the needles. Why can't I be this prolific all the time?

This hat will be going to my 16 y/o cousin Kara. I used 1 ball of Vanna's choice yarn and it was more than enough for the hat, with a little left over. This yarn makes a nice, soft squishy hat. You know I love me some squishy! The pattern, which you can find HERE, is an easy one for beginning cabelers.

Because I loved how squishy the blue hat turned out, I dived into my stash to find more Vanna's yarn. I found this lonely variegated ball and used the same pattern. It's definitely just as soft and squishy, but the yarn hides the cabling in the pattern. Oh well... live and learn! This hat will be going to my cousin Zach. He's Kara's brother. Not sure how much she'll appreciate having matching hats with her brother, haha.

This purple set is for my SIL, MaryJane. I found the scarf pattern HERE. I modified it by using only one strand of Wool Ease Chunky. I used about a skein and a half, so there was enough left over for a hat.

Small problem...my SIL doesn't wear hats because she has this super pretty, long hair that she wears in a ponytail when she works. She works outside, so I still wanted to give her something to keep her warm. So, I used the same scarf pattern and made it long enough to fit around my head. I bound off and sewed the ends together. Viola, instant headband! She can keep warm and not have to worry about her ponytail.

This black hat was made for hubby. He's been eyeing the hats flying off the needles and not-so-subtly let me know he needed a new hat. He picked THIS pattern and a lone skein of regular Wool Ease from my stash. Easy peasy!

A few weeks ago, I commented on Bezzie's blog, that I hadn't learned how to change colors in knitting yet. Have you noticed all my knitting has suspiciously been one skein or one color projects? Yeah, I'm a big baby and scared to try changing colors.

After I typed out my comment, I realized how stupid that sounded. It's just a color change! I headed over to knittinghelp.com (love this place, because she answers every knitting question I could ever have) and watched a video on changing colors.

From that, this hat was born. It'll be going to my cousin Ian for Christmas. When I saw him a few months ago, he was still shorter than me. Come Thanksgiving, the kid had sprouted and I had to crane my neck to look up at him.

The gray yarn is Bernat Satin (no ball band, so I think but am not 100% sure) and the black is scraps from a Caron pounder. I didn't use a pattern, just winged it from measurements I took from the other hats. An experienced knitter can figure it out by looking at it, but if any newbs (like me!) want me to write out how much I cast on and when I changed colors, let me know and I'll type it up this week. It was super simple and I should have never been afraid to change colors. What a wuss I've been, haha!

I'm happy to say that all of the yarn I used was in my stash. I didn't have to buy a single ball! Not that my stash looks any smaller...

Weekend Wrap Up

2010-11-28T16:16:00.008-05:00

What a four day weekend it was! I didn't get anything craft related done at all, but the weekend was jam packed with family goodness.

Thursday, the fam went to my aunt Aida's house for Thanksgiving. Literally, everyone showed up this year. It was packed, it was loud, and it was a ton of fun. Of course, no Thanksgiving would be complete without Dirty Grandma. This year, she had us cracking up because she was singing a Rhianna song. She's always got something up her sleeve.

On Saturday, I turned the big 3-0! Let's just say it's the 5th anniversary of my 25th birthday, mmkay? My family surprised me by driving to the dirty Jerz and meeting us at a restaurant. I had no idea they were coming, especially since my mom called to apologize that they couldn't see me. Sneaky sneaky!

Mmmm, cake.

Hubs got me an awesome gift,,, a kindle! He knows what a book nerd I am, haha. Lord help anyone who tries to talk to me on the bus now. ;)

My friends at work also went into super sneaky mode this year. They threw me a surprise party at work and made a scrapbook for me. It's the awesomest book ever. I can't show you every page, but here are a few of my favs.

This is the "Moving to Jersey" page.

This is the "Back to School" page. Tell me that crop job doesn't make you laugh? Haha!

And this is the "Cougar" page. Sheesh, I'm old enough to be labeled a cougar now? I thought 30 was the new 20?

Those crazy kids didn't stop there. As if the scrapbook wasn't enough, look what they gave me. Do they know me or what? I have no idea what to use it on. Any ideas? I want to use it wisely!

Thanks to my friends and family for making my 30th birthday ~~traumatic~~ awesome and memorable!

P.S. - They're lucky I didn't try karate chopping anyone when they jumped out at me in the restaurant! Who am I kidding? ;)

I hurt...

2010-11-26T07:06:00.002-05:00

... from Black Friday shopping.

This is the first (and maybe last!) year ever, that hubby and I did some major Black Friday shopping. I can't even begin to describe the madness.

But finding a $70 pair of boots for $25 in my size made it worth it, haha.

I'm 7 am... going to bed now!

Happy Gobble Gobble Day!

2010-11-24T22:36:00.002-05:00

What a year it's been! I'm thankful for so much that I have to share just a few....

I'm thankful for an awesome hubby.

I'm thankful for the most amazing kid I could ever ask for. She makes my world go round.

I'm thankful for my parents and sisters. We've only grown closer as we get older and I appreciate our relationships so much.

I'm thankful for good health.

I'm thankful for a good job.

I'm thankful to be able to attend school.

I'm thankful for amazing friends (I'll tell you more about them later this week).

I'm thankful for Weight Watchers. I've kept it hush hush because I was so afraid of failure, but I can spill the beans now. Since the end of June (right after Hershey Park), I've lost just about 40 pounds and have dropped 3 dress sizes. I've still got about 20 pounds to go, but I feel so much more in control of my health. I know I could have done it on my own, but the structure of WW has been amazing to help keep me in check.

I'm thankful for Zumba for not feeling like exercise at all.

I'm thankful for the crafts that keep me sane.

I'm thankful for all you crazy, crafting, Internet peeps who keep me inspired.

Last, but not least, I'm super thankful for the invention of cannoli cake. Holy wow, delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends!

Baby Jumper

2010-11-20T07:49:00.000-05:00

Holy wow, can you believe November is more than halfway over? The month is just flying by!

I managed to squeeze in some sewing time this week. I should have been working on baby shower gifts that I need by tomorrow *gulp* but instead I had an itch to make a jumper for my cousin's 5 month old baby instead.
I winged it based on some finished jumpers I saw on the Internet and a 3-6 month baby outfit for general sizing. It came out cute, but not exactly what I had planned in my head.

Poor Teddy! He's playing Theodora again today, against his will. If Piper were home, I have a feeling she wouldn't be too pleased with Teddy's makeover either. ;)

I used some scrap purple corduroy that was left over from a bunny I made for the same baby and the lining is made from leftover flannel from pajama pants I made for Pi last winter. It looked a little plain, so I added an applique heart. The heart is my favorite part of the whole thing!

The buttons are from a seller at the Carroll Park flea market in Brooklyn.

Of course, after I finished this, I found THIS tutorial. Ahh well, too late for this jumper, but I'm definitely going to give that one a shot soon.

The plan for today is to buckle down and finish those baby shower things I need for tomorrow. So far, I've not been industrious at all. I watched a free movie On Demand and ate two slices of cold pizza for breakfast. I've still got time, right?

Wish me luck, haha!

Whoops!

2010-11-16T19:56:00.000-05:00

Getting my gigundo not-so-minivan out of my parking space and down my driveway requires reversing back towards my neighbor's fence and doing a K-turn.

I'm terrible at judging distance when reversing. Terrible! So you'd think that I would know NOT to answer my phone while reversing towards the fence.

Mmm, not so much. So I'm reversing... the phone rings... I look down to answer it... forget I'm reversing... and @#$^&%&$%!!! Back right into the neighbor's fence.

I was going slow enough that I didn't knock it down, but I did crack a post. I'd like to tell you I was cool as a cucumber and handled my stupidity well. But, I can't lie to you. I didn't handle it well. I panicked and then I cried.

Having to ring the neighbors bell and confess was really hard to do. But, my neighbors happen to be pretty relaxed people and weren't mad. In fact, they found the humor in the situation.

When I came home from work the next day, this is what I found. Mini orange cones protecting the fence. Ha!

Totally hilarious and completely deserved! I've learned my lesson, I promise!

Belts, Birthdays, and Cakes, oh my!

2010-11-14T10:24:00.004-05:00

Piper started taking Tae Kwon Do classes in September and has taken to it really quickly. She's earned three stripes on her white belt since she started, which earned her the privilege to test for a new belt. Yesterday morning was her first testing day and she rocked it! Check out her fancy pants orange belt. I'm pretty sure she could kick my butt with those moves!

In other family related news, my dad's 47th birthday was this past Wednesday. We couldn't make it to Brooklyn that day because of parent teacher conferences, so we went to have dinner with the fam yesterday.

Yes, we're the dorky family taking pictures in Pizzeria Uno.

My little BFF and I.

My dad with my twin sisters, Jennifer and Tiffani. My other sister Inky was there with her boyfriend, but I guess I didn't get them in any pics. Sorry Inky! Should analyze the unconscious motivations of that? ;)

My uber cute parents.

I baked a Boston Cream Cake on Friday night. Baked is really a loose word for this one. The whole thing was made with a yellow box cake, French vanilla instant pudding, and microwaved frosting. It was really good though.

One little problem though... the top cake cracked when I was putting it on top. Oops!

Being as it was late and I had no fancy cover-ups, Piper and I decided to throw some chocolate discs on there, stick a candle in the mouth, and call it a day. Can I get a woo woo for the totally ghetto cover up? Ha!

Here's dad, grandpa and mom's favorite baby, Shyla. I swear that dog thinks she's human.

It was really nice to spend the night with my crazy family! Happy Birthday Dad!

This monkey never gets old.

2010-11-07T07:46:00.004-05:00

As this is the third one this year, you must be sick of me showing you Molly Monkeys by now. But they're too cute not to make!

My other teeny neighbor Ava, turned 5 in October and I thought Molly Monkey would be a great gift. Especially since she is BFFs with the other 5 year old neighbor who got a Molly Monkey in February. Now they both have monkeys (I made sure to make them different so they don't confuse them).

I knew Molly was a hit when Ava told me that Molly has a special spot on her bed with her favorite dolls. That's the best kind of thank you a crafter can get.

You can get the free pattern for Molly Monkey HERE.

**Please excuse the dark nighttime pictures. Ahh, crappy winter pics are back!**

P.S. - That carrot cake added two pounds to the scale over the weekend. I may have gorged myself a bit, but oh man, it was so worth it!

November...

2010-11-06T13:07:00.001-04:00

... is not for dieting!

Carrot Cake recipe at the end of THIS post.

Halloween Wrap Up

2010-10-31T21:30:00.003-04:00

Ahh, what a fun Halloween we had! I realized I totally forgot to show you our pumpkins. They're the same kind of felt pumpkins we made last year. Since they're not carved, they'll last a few weeks. Yeah, I know, totally cheating by not carving, but this was so much easier.

We also finally finished the straw. We went super simple... rolled up poster board covered in white felt. I was going to add stripes but Pi insisted on a solid straw. Easier for me? Ok!

I wanted to go with the duct tape idea to attach the straw, but it wouldn't stick to the inside of the laundry basket. Hubby came up with a genius idea. Wire ties! Three of those suckers held that straw in place all day!

Then we headed downtown for some pre-costume contest trick-or-treating at the stores. We found this awesome Addams family display by the train station.

A lot of the stores went all out with decorations. Who knew a whole town was this into Halloween?

It was FREEZING so we stopped for cappuccinos. Yum!

Next came the costume contest. The kids had to stand along side barricades to display their costumes to the judges. There were a few different categories, like best food, best athlete, etc. If a judge liked your costume, you had to parade around in front of the crowd to get judged some more.

My little Slurpee was chosen to parade around pretty quickly. There were some other really amazing homemade costumes too. I was in awe of the time and effort people put into these things. My favorite had to be a cupcake made of quilting batting and corrugated cardboard. Completely adorable. After about 30 minutes of this, they finally announced the winners.

Pi won the "Sweetest Costume" award and received a medal and a $20 gift certificate to the best bakery in town. Do you hear that sound? It's my waistline expanding.

As if that wasn't enough, we went trick-or-treating house to house after the contest.

Last, but not least... a quick trip to 7-11. They were so impressed (and amused, haha) that they offered Pi a free Slurpee.

I don't think she could have had anymore fun today! Seeing Pi's face light up when she won the contest made all the time and effort worth it.

Happy Halloween everyone!

It's confirmed

2010-10-28T22:49:00.004-04:00

Normal mothers send bags of candy to school on Halloween. Buy mounds of candy, drop them in treat bags, close them and viola. Super easy and kids are happy.

But I never claimed to be normal. Crazies like me make chocolate covered pretzel Frankensteins. This confirms I have the crazies.

I love them. Alot. Poor hubby was enlisted to help and did most of the work.

Inspiration found HERE.

Oh, and no straw yet. It's not midnight yet... I have time. *gulp*

Slurpee - Oh so close!

2010-10-27T22:41:00.005-04:00

Ahh man, this costume needs to be done by Friday morning for Pi's school parade. I'm so close, but not quite there.

So where did we leave off? Oh yeah, I finished the bottom of the Slurpee cup. Now onto the hard part... the top! Hubby and I sat and thought about this long and hard. Finally, we thought the best (and easiest and cheapest) way to go would be to use red felt ($2.99 a yard on sale at Joann's... boo ya!)

I bought one yard of felt, killed a tree printing a partial Slurpee picture, depleted my printing ink and got to sketching with chalk. Then I cut out a front and back.

To sorta kinda make it look like there were swirls, I zigzagged a few lines across. You can't really see this but I give myself an E for effort.

Then I cut a hole in the middle for Pi's face. I decided measuring is for weenies (or people with more time) and I eyeballed it. This is where those of you that know I have double vision should groan and hope for the best. ;)

This is what we've got at this point. The poor zigzags are all but invisible.

Then I pinned my little heart out. And one of my fingers. Ouch!

I sewed both sides together and turned right side out. Then, I stuffed the point of the Slurpee with poly fill. It's the area right over the face hole. I didn't want the point to flop over, so hoped this would work. Then I sewed right across the top to secure the poly fill inside.

I pinned the top and bottom of the Slurpee right sides together and sewed all the way around.

A few slits for armholes (so glad felt doesn't fray!) and we have a Slurpee!

Think she likes it? I know I'm totally biased, but that is the cutest Slurpee I ever saw!

Like I said, I'm so close but not done. I only have tomorrow to figure out how to make and attach a straw. Totally open to suggestions!

So whaddya think?

Slurpee - the beginning

2010-10-26T05:00:00.000-04:00

We started with a collapsible laundry basket. Pi fits into it comfortably and it's shaped like a cup.

I cut out the bottom so Pi could stand in it.

Cut felt to wrap around the laundry basket. Using an empty Slurpee cup as inspiration, I cut felt swirls and basted them on with quilt basting spray. This held them in place, so I could sew them without them shifting.

Add the purple swirls because Piper keeps telling you that they have to be on there. Now!

I photocopied my flat Slurpee cup and enlarged it by 400% on legal paper. I used the giant copy as a pattern to cut Slurpee letters out of felt.

Baste some more!

Here it is pinned on the laundry basket to get a feel for how it looks.

Next up is add a 7-11 fabric patch. I used fabric scraps ironed onto freezer paper to feed it through an ink jet printer.

Stay tuned to see how the Slurpee progresses this week. It's crunch time now!

P.S. - sorry for the dark pics. Most of this was done in the middle of the night.

Sometimes, it's just an off night.

2010-10-25T21:39:00.003-04:00

These were supposed to be peanut butter kiss cookies. I think I had the oven just a smidgen too high. Oops. Right in the trash.

These were supposed to be chocolate chip, but I melted the butter instead of softening it. The hot butter melted the chips, making them wet, chocolate blob cookies. They still tasted good, so not a total loss.

*sigh*

Little Quilts for Little People

2010-10-22T05:30:00.000-04:00

Remember this quilt I made for my friend Monica? Well, the red color scheme of that quilt wasn't exactly planned. What actually happened is that I made 21 pinwheels with random scrap fabric from my stash. I was going to make it super colorful, but hubby nixed that idea fast. He suggested just using the red blocks and it turned out much better that way.

But, that left 6 pinwheel blocks on my sewing table for the last few months. I wasn't sure exactly what to do with them, so they were just sitting and waiting for inspiration. Then my friend Joyce told me that her mother was collecting handmade blankets for the NICU at Staten Island University Hospital. She's originally from Staten Island, so she's got a soft spot for the hospital.

The NICU gave me the perfect reason to use up those blocks and I love knowing that they're going to good use! I split the blocks up to make a boy quilt and a girl quilt. They each measure 20"x28", which is what S.I.U.H. requested.

I used yellow fleece as the backing and it made the quilts super soft and cuddly.

I hope the babies that get these will enjoy them!

Pick it and eat it!

2010-10-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

Nothing says fall more than apple and pumpkin picking! I've been meaning to take Pi for awhile now and we practically ran to the pick your own farm when I realized that October is already half over.

I wanted to go to a bigger farm that was recommended, but they stopped their apple picking already. *boooo!* Luckily, we found a farm 20 minutes from where we live that still had their orchards open. It's a small but very cute farm and I'd love to go back in the spring to pick berries.

We rode this tractor up to the orchards. Pi and her friend loved it and giggled the entire time.

Who knew bouncing around the back of a tractor could be so entertaining?

It was on the cold side and windy. Two shirts, a sweater, and a neckwarmer weren't enough to keep me warm!

Pi wasn't bothered by the weather at all. She was too busy looking for the "perfect" pumpkin.

Fuji apples.. yum!

I wish I could have taken all of these pumpkins home. They look so pretty grouped together.

Look at that view!

On the way home, we passed by a church and noticed a bunch of people building scarecrows in the front yard. We stopped and found out that it was a fundraiser. We had to make one and bring him home! He originally had a button down shirt, but we thought he'd look more authentic in flannel. That's Piper's shirt from her school play last year, where she played an apple farmer.

The goods!

Apple pie anyone?

Picking apples, pumpkins, and building a scarecrow had to make this a seriously perfect Fall day. Have I mentioned how much I love this season?

Fall Scarf

2010-10-16T19:15:00.000-04:00

Whoa, has is it really been nearly two weeks since I've been here? Craziness!

I'm in the midst of midterms, a paper, and a group project, all due within the next two weeks. I'm fairly certain that college professors think students are superheroes. How else do they expect people to get so much done in so little time?

My sewing time has been limited, but the extra commuting has given me a chance to get reacquainted with my yarn stash. Most days, I'd rather knit or crochet on the bus, because I just can't-read-another-chapter.

Other blogs are already showing off Christmas crafts and that sent my heart into a fit of palpitations. It's so close and getting closer everyday! Pfftt... I'm so behind!

I pulled out this half finished scarf (started way back in February or so when I had ridiculous dreams of making Christmas gifts all year long). It's an Ifeoma, which is my scarf staple, because it makes a pretty, squishy scarf.

I know it's some sort of Red Heart, but I lost the ball band and can't remember the exact kind. It's super soft and the color changes are beautiful with such a simple pattern.

This one is getting thrown in the Christmas pile. It'll probably go to one of Pi's teachers, though I'm not 100% sure just yet.

Totally random: Piper wants to be a 7-11 Slurpee for Halloween. She couldn't have possibly picked a weirder costume. Cross your fingers I can figure out how to do it!

Tiramisu

2010-10-03T22:48:00.001-04:00

My friend Joyce has the cutest twin nephews. They were baptised this past weekend and Joyce is one of the twin's godmother. She wanted to make something special for the Christening, but couldn't just make something for only one of the boys!

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She fell in love with the Tiramisu baby blanket but was running out of time, so she asked me to help. I made one blanket and she made the other. Twin Tiramisus!

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Our gauge is a little different so her blanket was slightly larger than mine, but I don't think anyone will notice. She also added blue ribbon so it wouldn't be all white.

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Personally, I think the blue and white is her subconscious, expressing her love of the Yankees (boo Yankees!). Haha!

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P.S. - sorry my blog has been so quiet lately. School is kicking my butt! The amount of reading/homework/papers has pretty much obliterated my free time. If only I was a energetic as I was 10 years ago, haha!

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P.P.S - If you're wondering what's up with the dotted lines, it's my lazy way of fixing the spacing issue I'm having with blogger.

Ahhh, Fall how I love thee!

2010-09-28T21:07:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned Fall is my favorite season? It's the best season by far (sorry to make all you two season peeps jealous heehee).

The crisp morning air makes me super happy!

Even though Christmas is looming and there are a ton of gifts that need to be made, I needed to bask in the awesomeness that is Fall for just a minute.

So this Fall Mini Quilt was born! It measures about 21" square.

I pieced together the leftover strips to make the backing and then free motion quilted the whole thing. I need major practice on that because I messed up a bunch of times, but since it's living at my house, I didn't bother unpicking the mistakes.

I didn't use a pattern, but I'll give you a quickie idea of how it was made.

You need:

- 5 fat quarters (you can definitely get away with less because I have enough scraps for a potholder or two)

- an 18.5 square of white cotton (I used Kona)

- 20" square of batting

- coloring book pages!! I googled "leaf coloring pages" and got lots of choices.

- binding tape (you can buy it pre-made or make your own)

Print your leaf coloring pages. You can do the same for the pumpkin shape or freehand it like I did.

Using your favorite applique method, add leaves and pumpkin to the white square. I used THIS starch method by PieceNQuilt and a blanket stitch. Worked beautifully.

Cut four 1.75" strips for the border. Sew to white square using a 1/4" seam. Don't forget to press open your seams!

Take your left over fabric and piece together the backing. There's no right or wrong way to do it. Whatever looks best to you.

Sandwich your top, batting, and backing together. Quilt however you like. Using your favorite applique method, add leaves to the white square. I did free motion quilting, learned from THIS Oh, Fransson tutorial.

Attach binding by machine or hand. I used leftover binding from last year's turkey place mats, so I don't know exactly how wide it is. It's pretty narrow. You can use whatever width you want, depending on the look you're going for. THIS tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts is pretty awesome.

Step back and admire!

I think I want to look for more fun coloring book pages to use as applique shapes!

Now it IS time to think about that long long list of Christmas gifts to be made in less than 3 months. :X

P.S. - I'm having major spacing issues with Blogger. The spaces between lines disappear when I publish a post, which makes the text harder to read. Any tips?

Weekend Wrap Up

2010-09-26T19:20:00.009-04:00

We didn't have any big plans this weekend, so when a neighbor mentioned that a nearby town was hosting a Harvest Festival at the reservation, we figured we should check it out.

There were vendors selling all sorts of crafts, but our favorite was the marionette puppets.

A classic Pinocchio was one of Pi's favorites.

There were people dressed in colonial clothing that were walking around and talking to the crowd. It was neat to see all the different characters. This particular guy seemed to show up wherever we went. Colonial stalker!

Piper + saw = heart palpitations! She did great, though, so my worrying was for nothing. (p.s. - see the colonial stalker in the background?)

Roasted duck (I think) anyone?

A man teaching about Native Americans had these animal skins on display.

Pi is never too old to pose for a cheesy picture with me.

These boys scouts were making fresh squeezed apple juice. It was delicious!

There was a make your own scarecrow section. Unfortunately for us, we got there just as they ran out of scarecrow parts. Oh well, maybe next year. The scarecrows on display were awesome!

We headed over to the petting zoo, where we found this cow wrestling with a metal chair. He was literally fighting to hold onto it!

Once it was taken away, he was happy to get a rub.

Baby chickens... So stinkin cute!

Baby ducks.... even cuter!

Pi was enamored with this sheep.

Until they got into a tug-of-war over her jacket!

Annnnd, the very best way to end the day was by eating a ridiculously large funnel cake!

Fall is seriously the best season. I love activities like this and being able to enjoy them in cool weather.

What did you do this weekend?

Oh, Fransson's Advent Calendar.

2010-09-26T19:14:00.004-04:00

I can't even begin to explain how relieved I am to have this project finished! It's the Oh, Fransson Advent Calendar I started last Fall, in the hopes of finishing it for Christmas 2009. Fat chance, Chris, fat chance!

After having some difficulty with it at first (this was only my second quilting project at that point and a flashing red light screaming NOOB NOOB couldn't describe how little I knew), I put it aside to the WIP pile.

There is sat through Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years. In order to have peace during the holidays, I threw balls of yarn over it so I could pretend it wasn't there.

Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's, April fool's day, and Cinco de Mayo all skipped happily along. I'd pretty much forgotten all about this WIP, being hidden under all that yarn.

The one day in June, I moved the yarn and there it was. Still sitting in a pile, waiting patiently for me to finish it. You'd think that I would remember it was there, but I was in total shock when I saw it. Totally and completely forgotten... defense mechanism, anyone? It felt like the project was accusing me... You. Forgot. Me! *shudder* Creepy!

So I sucked in a deep breath and got right back at it. I re-read the pattern, which seemed easier now and made a whole lot more sense to me this time around. I examined what I'd already done and realized I had to rip out about half of it out. *sigh* But at that point I decided it was better to do it right, rather than be unhappy with it when it was all done.

I took my time with the free motion quilting and it's finally finished. I have to say it was more than worth it because I love it. Like love love, for real. The pictures totally do not do it justice!

The fabrics are all random Christmas fabrics from a local craft store (no selvages with the name that I could find on any of them). The white is Kona cotton. I was clearly worried about not having enough fabric and managed to buy double of what I needed. I think there might be a Christmas quilt in my future to use up the leftovers.

Now that Christmas is on the brain, I really really need to get started on gifts.

(I'm proud to say no homework was abandoned in the making of this quilt, haha).

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

2010-09-22T20:59:00.007-04:00

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I'm so proud!!!

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P.S. - The monster pattern she based this on is from the book Fleecie Dolls by Fiona Goble. I scored this book for dirt cheap at Strand Books.

P.P.S. - Thanks so much for the nice comments on my blogiversary. I love you guys, really truly!

I'm Three!

2010-09-17T06:00:00.001-04:00

Today is my 3rd blogiversary!

I seriously can't believe it's been three years already. Man, time flies. Gotta say, I still love having a place to share my crafts and kooky obsessions (zippers anyone?). The best part is knowing you crazy kids are just as obsessed as I am. ;)

Thanks for hanging around!

(I would have liked to have a giveaway, but a $1700 car repair bill (somebody say ouch!) has put that plan on hold for now. I'll have a belated giveaway later.)

Grease stain? What grease stain?

2010-09-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

One morning, I went to put on my favorite, comfy, orange t-shirt and was dismayed to find a grease stain on it. I had to go through all the stages of grief before I could accept that my shirt was ruined. I don't even know how that grease stain got there!

But I couldn't accept that one little stain would end the relationship between me and my shirt. No way!

So, I bought a $0.99 cent foam stamp from the craft store and pulled out a jar of white fabric paint that I already had on hand.

Then I stamped right over Mr. Nasty Grease Stain.

And stamped some more.

And some more.

I stamped until I was happy with what I had. After it dried, I set the paint with a hot iron and it was ready to wear.

My shirt and I lived Happily Ever After.

Worth Repeating again...

2010-09-11T07:00:00.001-04:00

This is the message I posted two years ago on this day. I think it is worth repeating again.

Please keep all the September 11th victims and their families in your thoughts and prayers today. Also, please keep the rescue workers in your thoughts and prayers as well. My dad was a rescue worker at ground zero for more than 5 months, searching for victims and clearing debris. He now suffers from respiratory problems that he did not have before the September 11th attacks. Many, many of the rescue workers are suffering with respiratory illnesses.

A big thanks to the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at Mt. Sinai Medical Center for continuing to provide medical care for the rescue workers who are ill.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!

It's not an obsession, really.

2010-09-08T07:30:00.000-04:00

After discovering that zippers are not scary, I may have run to the store and bought a few more. My equally crafty friend Joyce was a good sport and went with me early on a Sunday morning to arrive just as the store opened (not a sign of a zipper obsession).

Making a zippered make-up purse for Val's birthday now seemed like the only appropriate gift! (also not a sign of a zipper obsession,see?)

Following THIS tutorial from Craftster, I whipped this up really quickly.

A little embroidery personalized the bag and also made the pink zipper look like it belonged there. (adding embroidery to enhance the zipper color is totally not a sign of a zipper obsession, uh-huh)

It would be logical to think that I was satisfied with adding zippers to little bags, but not so much yet. I opened my copy of Weekend Sewing (remember I got it for about $1!) and traced the pattern for the Weekend Away Travel Bag.

This one took a little longer and fiddling with the zipper placement, but the pattern was easy to follow and I'm really pleased with the results.

The outside fabric is a scrap that my quilting friend sent me. It has fish skeletons on it, which made me think of my sister Inky. She has a phobia of dead fish, no joke! My dad had to get rid of his fish tank because she wouldn't walk by it, constantly freaked that there would be a dead fish.

You see why I thought it was perfect for her? A little sisterly teasing is always fun. I lined it with a floral fabric, so she wouldn't be too freaked. Gotta give the kid some credit... she accepted the bag with a laugh and promised to use it. Good sport!

Ummm, one last thing... I went and got more zippers.

That still doesn't make a case for a zipper obsession! ;)

Monster Mini Golf

2010-09-05T07:00:00.001-04:00

Summer passed extremely quickly this year. We've been so busy that I barely had a chance to register that summer had come and gone. We didn't even get to the beach, which seems like a huge goof since we live so close to the shore.

I had promised Piper that I would take her and a few of her cousins/friends to try Monster Mini Golf. We showed up with a group of 9, to the horrified looks of the staff, haha. They re-grouped quickly and we headed into the mini golf area.

The entire course is indoor and glows in the dark.

Sneaker's glowed.

Considering, we're in NJ, I thought this sign was clever.

The candy machine was popular with the kiddos.

As was the rest of the arcade area.

Inky and I have sparkly, glowing teeth!

This is the last hole to be played. It's not so easy getting the ball to roll up that tongue!

A little NY/NJ rivalry humor.

The kids loved this place and we'll probably head back around Halloween.

There are locations all over, so check the link if you want to see if there's a course near you.

Oh, Fransson! wristlet

2010-09-02T06:00:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite sewing/quilting blogs is Oh, Fransson! There is so much quilting inspiration at her blog and I literally spent hours reading all of the posts, the first time I visited. She's the reason I started THIS advent calendar (almost done, yay!) and also why I tried free motion quilting. Sheesh, I should get paid for the gushing promotion, ha!

Besides quilts, there are other nifty patterns, including the Three Ways Wristlet. Piper needed something to hold her MP3 player and cheapie phone* for when she goes to Brooklyn. She was constantly misplacing one or both because she didn't have one easy place to keep them.

One problemo, though. I'm petrified of installing zippers. Like, a big snake in the yard kind of scared. Even my crochet purses never got zippers because of my deep-seated fear!

That's when I started talking to myself... suck it up Christina... just go for it...you gave birth for crying out loud...you married a Philles fan (which is beyond scary as a Mets fan) ... you live in the land of Bon Jovi devotees...you're going back to college. Just do it, you big old baby!

My inner voice is harsh, don't you think? So I took a deep breath and did it. Annnnd, it's way easier than I expected. Much easier than living with a Phillies fan, for the record.

No clue what the fabric is called. It was a remnant quarter yard that I bought for $1 at the City Quilter awhile ago.

The only thing I would change next time is to make the strap a bit shorter. Since I made the smallest version of the pattern, the strap is a smidge long for my taste, but Piper says she can sling the wristlet onto her shoulder, so it worked out fine.

*Generally, I think it's pretty silly for a kid to have a cell phone, but Piper's dad cancelled his land-line phone and she has no way to contact me when she's there, unless she asks to use his phone. That generally goes 50/50. so we hooked up one of my ancient phones for cheap on my family plan and now she always has a way to get in touch with me when she's there. It felt more like a necessity and the peace of mind is more than worth the $10 it costs me.

P.S. - Happy 30th Anniversary to my parents!!!

Oh, what did I do?

2010-08-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today, I go back to grad school. *gulp* I'm scared to death! I'm so totally out of the school loop. Oh man...deep breaths, deep breaths!

In other news, my MIL has been transferred from the hospital to a rehab nursing facility for a few weeks to get weaned off 24/7 oxygen. The facility said use of the phone is free, as long as you bring in your own phone that can be plugged into the jack. Guess what I dug out of the closet for her to use? My trusty Garfield phone! Talk about childhood memories, haha. I hope it makes her laugh too.

MIL was diagnosed with pleurisy (an infection of the lining of the lungs) and has been getting better with steroids that she's been given. They're testing her for lupus as well, but we still don't have a definitive answer on that. Hopefully, she can come home sometime in the next week or two. We're just glad that she's not very seriously ill anymore. For awhile there, it looked touch and go. Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts.

Now I can concentrate on panicking about school!

An Emo Birthday

2010-08-30T13:27:00.003-04:00

This is the year that all of my friends and I are leaving our 20s behind. My best friend, Val, turned the big 3-0 in late August and asked if I could make birthday favors that were very "Val." She has always been a bit on the emo side. Luckily, she can laugh about her emo nature and doesn't take offense when we tease her about it. With that in mind, I found the perfect pattern for her favors and tease her I did!

Here's a little story about them....

Once upon a time, there was an angsty teenage boy named Little Emo. Little Emo dressed in dark colors, cut his hair as ragged, and avoided the sun at all costs. His emotional nature made it hard for him to make friends and that made him even more emo. He had no idea how to break the vicious cycle of emo-induced loneliness.

One day, an older teenage boy noticed Little Emo and how sad he was. The older boy told Little Emo that he wasn't alone. There were lots of awkward emo teenagers just like him and he didn't have to be lonely.

Little Emo was excited (but not quite happy...that would be a faux pas for anyone truly emo) to meet the other emo kids. He wasn't alone!

Before Little Emo knew it, he had a whole gang of friends that he could be emotional with. They all avoided the sun, moped about parents and wrote poetry together. What a ~~happy~~ satisfactory ending!

Val loved her gang of Little Emo birthday favors and it was fun to crochet something so silly. ;) You can find the free pattern for Little Emo the Depressed Doll here.

Still Breathing

2010-08-25T19:53:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to pop in and say sorry I've been gone for awhile. My mother-in-law has been in the hospital for two weeks and we've been stressed and crazy busy. We still don't know 100% what's wrong. The docs have a general idea, but we're hoping to know more after some additional tests. She is looking much better than she was, so some of the stress is relieved at least.

I've been crocheting and sewing to relieve some of the stress, so I have some finished projects to show soon. Just need to get them off the camera and onto the blog... forgive me if it's a few more days.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the last bit of summer.

How to Tea Dye Fabric

2010-08-11T06:30:00.000-04:00

You can click on the photos to make them bigger.

Baby Central

2010-08-08T19:44:00.004-04:00

Boy, my job has been baby central lately! Seems like nearly every woman of child-bearing age has a bun in the oven.

The latest baby shower was for my dear friend Monica. After waiting 13 years, she's pregnant with her second girl. We threw the shower for her on Friday and in true "me" style, I was fixing the last of the screwed-up-red-wine-binding at 10:30 pm and then washing it around 11 pm!

With the exception of the pink seersucker (thanks for telling me what this fabric was), all of the pinwheels were made from scraps. I used half triangle squares to make the pinwheels and it went together pretty quickly. The quilting is free-motion, which was easier this time around. It's true that practice makes... well, not perfect, but better at any rate.

After seeing THIS doll posted on another website, I had to make her! I tea dyed white cotton to get the right skin tone.* Her face is embroidered, her hair is made with Homespun yarn, and her feet and socks are painted with fabric paint. Isn't she sweet?

Of course, since it was nearly midnight when I finished everything, I realized much too late that I didn't have any wrapping paper or bags lying around. Thankfully, I had some cellophane and wrapped the gifts in that.

Monica was happy.

A paper diaper garland made the room look a lot more festive.

The chocolate chip cookies I baked helped the festive feeling too. The fig newtons were store bought, but a few people asked for the recipe, haha.

Congratulations on your new baby girl, Monica!!

* I took step by step pictures and will post how I did the tea dying a little later this week.

A Public Service Announcement

2010-08-04T05:20:00.001-04:00

Friends don't let friends quilt drunk*!!

If it happens anyway, you may find yourself getting intimately acquainted with your seam ripper.

*In my defense it was only two glasses of red wine. But I drink so infrequently, that those two glasses had me completely looped. Clearly (doh) I thought this was a good time to quilt and add a binding. The next morning, I realized the error of my ways and started unpicking.

Trying something new

2010-07-27T20:45:00.004-04:00

The weather this past weekend was sweltering, so the family and I decided to take it pretty easy. We slept late, went to the pool at the Y*, and watched movies in the air conditioning.

Saturday afternoon turned out to the perfect time to use some sale fabric I'd bought at Walmart. My local one is closing their craft department and all the fabric was 75% off. By the time I got there, the racks had been totally ransacked, but I found some really cute character fabric that will be perfect for quilts. Pi asked for Camp Rock fabric that she'd been eyeing. She'd asked me for it before, but at $5 a yard, I wasn't ready to put the money down for something that is clearly a passing fad. But for $1.25 a yard, I was game. I bought 3 yards of the stuff and she promptly asked me to make a dress.

Uhhh, a dress? My forays into clothing have pretty much been skirts and two easy shirts for Piper last summer. I tried making one for myself and it was epic fail all the way. After some major googling (easy dress, haha), I came across a bunch of shirring tutorials and thought that didn't look too hard.

I settled on this tutorial by Prudent Baby because it focused on drop-in bobbins like the one I have. It was just as easy as she said... no mishaps, no screw-ups, no stress! I had both the back and front shirred in less than two hours and the rest of the dress came together in about an hour. If I had known shirring was this easy, I would have done it ages ago!

12 lines of shirring, about 1/2 inch apart.

Pi loved the dress. Usually, she's pretty lukewarm about my handmades, but this time she was all over it. I know for sure because she asked me to make some to sell at a garage sale. Always chasing a buck, that one. When I said no to that idea, she said it was ok because I could just make a bunch more for her instead. There's still over a yard of the fabric left that will probably turn into PJ shorts.

Now I wonder if I'd looked good in shirring, ha!

Speaking of trying something new, Pi and I went to a Zumba class for the first time tonight. So. Much. Fun! I hate to exercise, but I have to say this class didn't even feel like exercising. If you haven't tried one, I'd highly recommend it!

Hope everyone is having a good (and cooler) week!

*We got free 7 day guest passes to the Y and we're loving it so far. We're thinking about joining when the trial is over.

Quilt for a Minature Greek Goddess

2010-07-20T10:38:00.000-04:00

My very good friend and co-worker, Kiki, is due to have her second baby girl in just a few weeks. Kiki is 100% Greek so we call her the Greek Goddess and naturally, her girls have been dubbed miniature Greek Goddesses.

I wanted to make something a little extra special and when I saw the Candy Hearts Quilt at Moda Bake Shop, I had to try it. I made mine a bit smaller by omitting one row of hearts and left off the ruffle.

I bribed Pi into being my quilt holder.

The hearts are mostly made with scraps that I got from Keyka Lou awhile back. The navy blue strips are also scraps sent to me by my quilter friend back when I bought my sewing machine. The white is Kona cotton in snow and the ric-rac is "giant." I don't know why, but the giant ric rac makes me happy, haha.

The purple binding is also from scraps sent to me by Lesa years ago! See, I'm really attacking that scrap stash.

There was lots of free motion quilting practice. Lots and lots and I still stink at it, but that won't stop me from trying again.

Here it is after a run through the washer and dryer. I love the crinkly texture!

The hearts are raw edge applique, so they frayed nicely and it gives the quilt a comfy feel.

The backing is flannel (thanks for the idea Cami!) that was left over from pajama pants I made for Piper this past winter.

Kiki loved the quilt and it made learning all of these new techniques totally worth it. I hope her baby girl enjoys it for years!

Celebrate good times, c'mon!

2010-07-17T09:56:00.006-04:00

If you're an old head like me, you probably have that song stuck in your head now. Ha!

Piper's birthday was great and we had a such a fun time celebrating! I took a vacation day from work, but kept it secret from Piper. She thought I had to go to work and was clearly disappointed that I couldn't be home. After she fell asleep, hubby and I stayed up late to decorate. When she woke up in the morning, she was shocked to see me home and decorations already put up.

The banner was printed on card stock and hung with ribbon.

The birthday girl requested pancakes and I couldn't resist making them into a "10."

Then came Piper's favorite part of any birthday... presents!

In addition to some store bought stuff she wanted, I made her a little something something handmade.

A doll quilt for her American Girl dolls.

No one was able to beat out the gift she got from her great grandpa... a brand new bike! I didn't manage to get a pic of her riding it yet, but it's a sweet little bike and she's thrilled with it.

In the afternoon, we took Pi and one of her friends to see Toy Store 3 in 3D. Such a cute movie and I highly recommend it!

Later in the evening, we had a small party with our family, a few neighbors, and some of Piper's friends. There were cupcakes AND ice cream cake. I swear I gained 5 pounds on Wednesday.

There were actually two doll quilts. The hearts quilt was made with scraps left over from a baby quilt I made for yesterday's baby shower (I'll post that soon) using THIS pattern at Moda Bake Shop. Pi fell in love with the baby quilt, so I thought a miniature version would make her happy.

The cupcakes doll quilt was made using THIS pattern from the Quilted Cupcake.

Making these teeny tiny quilts helped me try some new skills, like applique and free motion quilting.

You can see my stitches are far from perfect and I've got a lot of practicing to do when it comes to free motion quilting. But, I find it really enjoyable and it's not nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be. THIS tutorial from Oh Fransson! was a huge help!

Both quilts are backed with this crinkly fabric (no clue what it is), that I found at Goodwill for $2. 2 yards for $2 can't be beat.

Overall, it was a great day and Piper was as happy and excited as I've ever seen her. Thanks to my family for driving way out to Jersey on a weeknight to celebrate with us.

Happy Birthday Piper!

2010-07-14T11:15:00.001-04:00

My baby is ten today!

Sweet Pi, I can't believe how quickly you went from this:

To this!

You are the most amazing daughter I could have ever asked for. Thank you for blessing my life with your love, intelligence, sweet demeanor, and awesomely sarcastic sense of humor. It's amazing to see how you've grown as a person in the last ten years. You've developed your own opinions, likes, and dislikes, no matter how much I try to sway you. ;) It's been ad adventure so far and I can't wait to see what the next ten years brings.

I love you with all my heart kiddo. Happy 10th Birthday!

(I'll be back with the birthday festivity recap in a few days).

Fabric Blocks, how I love thee.

2010-07-09T22:28:00.001-04:00

Back in May, I made a bunch of bibs, burpcloths, and baby pants for my friend Joyce, whose sister was having twin boys. Well, the twins were born (like a month ago, but remember I mentioned I'm s-l-o-w)! They were a few weeks early, but were a great weight and are doing well.

Joyce's happy announcement reminded me that there was some fleece leftover and in my quest to bust stash, I started looking for a pattern to use. I wanted something that the boys could actually play with. I came upon THIS tutorial and knew it was the one.

These blocks worked up so quickly in just an afternoon. They're soft and squishy and just awesome. They're also perfect for throwing at people's heads, but I won't tell you how I know that, heehee.

I love them and hope the boys will too!

By the way, some of you asked me about the Principal's quilt. Pi's teacher gave the quilt to the principal on the day of her goodbye party. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to see it, but I did get to go to the party after work and she hugged and thanked me. Turns out she is a sewer too and she said she knew how much work went into it. She was really sweet to send Piper a personal thank you note in the mail too. She will be sorely missed!

So what are you guys doing this weekend? Me, I'm just going to kick my feet up and relax!

A Spring Tote, a season late.

2010-07-06T19:29:00.001-04:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! We relaxed, went to a BBQ at a neighbor's house, and played some mini golf in this insane heat. It was fun and I wish we could have had one more day off. Although, the heat is so bad out, I was grateful for the freezing air conditioning at work.

Anyhoo, my sister graduated from college in May and I promised her a sturdy tote bag as her gift. She's heading to grad school this summer and needed something new to lug her books in.

Fast forward two months (yeah, I stink) and I finally finished it. THIS tutorial by Homemade by Jill was extremely clear and easy to follow. The only major difference is that I used batting and quilted the outside of the bag, instead if using interfacing.

The outside of the bag is pieced with the maroon and a paisley print. Both are scraps that were leftover from other projects (yay scrap busting!). The handle is belting that I found at a local craft store. It's cheap and very sturdy.

The top is trimmed with piping that was leftover from a pillow I made a few months ago. There was just enough by about an inch to make it around. I love piping. It makes the finished product so much nicer.

I added inside pockets for her school ID and metrocard. The pleated pocket on the right was made using THIS tutorial from Made by Rae.

My sister is lucky I love her so much, otherwise I would have kept this bag for myself! ;)

You probably noticed the look of the blog changed a bit. I was going to work on it more this past weekend, but life took over and it didn't get done. I want to mess with the tab pages, banner, and hope to get my freebie patterns up as PDF files, so it's easier for people to save and print them. Just be patient with me. I'm slow as molasses.

Oops, I pressed something!

2010-07-02T22:53:00.002-04:00

I saw that little button in the corner of blogger that said 'new template' and clicked on it. After playing around for a bit, I pressed "apply" instead of "preview." Oops! I lost my old template, so I'm going to be temporarily under construction while I fix things around here.

P.S. - Happy 4th of July weekend!

Mail call and an Uglee, but not an Uglee mail call.

2010-06-29T21:07:00.003-04:00

Caroline of The Kansas Hooker kindly offered to let me test her new pattern, Rectangle Uglee. I love Caroline's stuffie patterns, so I jumped at the opportunity. They're always clear and make the cutest toys. Did I mention free too? Remember my Halloween spider? That's a Kansas Hooker pattern too.

This little guy is anything but ugly. Ok, he's not your everyday, normal stuffie, but that's what makes him so cute! He's made with TLC Heathers, white felt, and ami eyes.

Rectangle Ugly is going to live with the big brother of the new twin babies that I made these bibs and burpcloths for. Big brothers need presents too, don't you think?

The mail man delivered some good stuff too. I'm a daily reader of Tales from Twisty Lane by Snap. Snap's Blogiversary recently passed and she had a giveaway. She sent the book "12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women" and some great note cards. Thank you so much!

I already know who is getting the first note card... my neighbor that just moved. I miss her already.

I hope the mailman brought you something other than bills today too!

Mmmmm, chocolate!

2010-06-27T19:50:00.003-04:00

The family took a little road trip to Hershey, PA this weekend to visit Hershey Park and Chocolate World. It was so much fun!

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Can you spot my little daredevil?

Five pounds of chocolate! Mmmmm!

These were for the 3-D show. See me?

It was well worth the nearly 3 hour ride because we had a blast!

Welcome Baby Adriana!

2010-06-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

My cousin Nicole gave birth to a little girl named Adriana! She was a few weeks early and made an appearance at her own baby shower.

I gave her this quilt and bunny, which you've seen here before. I also made the Grace Cardi and hat from Lion Brand. These will probably fit her when she's six months or so.

Also, a bib using the Chickpea Infant Bib pattern and this funny flannel print.

This teeny crochet preemie hat was made with sport weight yarn. It's so small that I was worried it wouldn't fit, but it's just the right size for Adriana now.

Here's the little princess herself. Look how small she is!

Reminds me of when this big girl was born.

Nikki opening the quilt.

How stinking adorable is this idea? Nikki's mother hung all the baby clothes she bought for Adriana on a clothes line and hung it up as a decoration. So cute!

Look who made an appearance, wearing the cardigan I gave her for Christmas. Oh yeah, none other than Dirty Grandma! I love that woman!

Welcome to the world Baby Adriana!

School's Out!!!

2010-06-23T06:46:00.000-04:00

Pi's last day of school is today, which means it's officially summer in the "K" household!!

We wanted to give a small thank you to the three teachers who helped Piper adjust to NJ's curriculum. It's way different than NY's and their help was invaluable. They each got a Dunkin Donuts gift card, Hershey kisses in a disposable coffee cup, and a coffee cozy.

I winged the pattern for the cozy by tracing a cardboard one from Starbucks and adding elastic to one seam.

So to all you teachers out there, Thanks a "Latte" for all you do! Heehee, I love the cheesiness of it!

Being productive

2010-06-22T06:30:00.000-04:00

Hubby and I had a super productive weekend. We cleaned our place from top to bottom and I even got some organizing done. I cleaned out my craft books and my sewing area too. The sewing table was a huge disaster and really needed some TLC.

After it was all done, I was so happy with good it looked except for one eye sore. My sewing machine! I've had it over a year and have been covering it with an old, ratty, red towel. I finally had enough of that towel and sat down to make myself a sewing machine cover.

The fabric is home dec weight fabric from IKEA. I had about a half yard left over from THIS project and decided to use that. Now my sewing machine cover matches the wall hanging in my bedroom. The pattern is from S.E.W. Everything Workshop.

Adios nasty red towel!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T14:33:00.002-04:00

I hope all of the dad's out there have a wonderful day!

What did I get for the Dads/Grandpas/Hubby in my life who all claim they don't want anything?

Lotto Cards!

Happy Father's Day!

Goodbye Neighbor

2010-06-17T10:38:00.000-04:00

One of my neighbors moved to North Carolina this week. She's been a great neighbor since we moved and is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. I wanted to make her a little something to say "good luck and I'll miss you."

I used THIS pattern from Lion Brand and 3 skeins of Chenille Thick & Quick. My N hook disappeared somewhere in my craft area mess, so I used a P hook instead. The shawl seemed to be a good length, so I didn't make the shawl nearly as long as the pattern suggested.

Goodbye neighbor! I hope you enjoy your new home!

Our garden

2010-06-15T10:41:00.000-04:00

Hubby decided to try planting our container garden from seeds this year, instead of using starter plants. Some of the plants are thriving and others were total flops.

Piper gave me this plant for Mother's Day this year. Hubby re-planted it in this pot that our neighbor gave us and it's growing leaps and bounds.

Our tomato plants are growing nicely.

On the left is a green pepper plant and on the right is a cucumber plant.

More tomatoes... hubby loves them.

The biggest disappointment is that our basil died. We've planted a few more seeds and are hoping those will take. We also had a snow pea plant which produced a few snow peas, then it died too. I've read those don't last long though.

I can't wait for the first tomato buds!

Principal's Quilt, all done!

2010-06-13T10:48:00.003-04:00

The Principal's quilt is finally finished! It measures 35" x 40".

I love the way the backing fabric goes with the main red fabric and that my binding is improving. Those small red triangles give the principal the option of hanging the quilt with a dowel.

Some of the kid's squares...

Piper's square.

I thought this was a really cute one.

Piper will bring the quilt into school on Monday and her class will present the quilt to the principal at her goodbye party next week.

I'm glad I was able to be a part of wishing the principal a memorable goodbye.

Front page!

2010-06-10T21:54:00.002-04:00

I'm on the front page of Ravelry today! What a cool surprise. Thank you to Andrea of Knits and Knots for pointing it out. I wouldn't have noticed otherwise!

My first NJ Joanns.

2010-06-07T21:37:00.006-04:00

This past weekend, hubby (who happens to be extremely patient on my craft fueled outings) and I went to a few stores, looking for just the right fabric for the Principal's quilt. After not having much luck, we decided to google map the nearest Joann's, which we hadn't been to yet. It's more out of the way than A.C. Moore or Michael's, but the trip was well worth it.

While browsing Joann's, I received a message while in the sewing machine demo area. If only hubby hadn't been standing right next to me, I might have convinced myself this was true. Ha!

I also found the perfect fabric for the backing of the Principal's quilt.

I think it's called Oh school days or Oh dear school days. Something like that. Isn't it pretty?

Significant progress was made on the quilt this weekend. It's been sandwiched and quilted with the stitch in the ditch method. That's my only method so far. ;) I also made enough bias tape for the binding.

Hopefully, it'll be all finished by the end of this week. I can't wait to show it to you when it's all done.

Blast Off!

2010-06-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, each kid in Pi's class was given the name of an inventor or influential person that they had to write a report on. Pi's person is Mae Jemison, the first African American astronaut.

The project included writing a research-based report, a 3 minute speech, and a costume. Pi mentioned that the costume was due towards the end of the year, which meant mid June to me.

Pshaw!!! Shoulda checked the calendar doofus!!

Two Mondays ago, Pi casually mentioned she needed the costume by Friday morning. Wait...back up... THIS FRIDAY? Oh yeah, not even a weekend to buffer all the work I needed to do. This is where I lost a few minutes breathing into a brown paper bag, ha!

I called my dad, who has hazmat type suits at work, to see if he could spare one. He asked his boss, who was more than happy to give him one in a size small because none of the guys at work wears a size small. I got lucky becuase the guys don't go easy on lunch, haha.

I printed out pictures of Mae Jemison and generic astronaut costumes to give me an idea of where to start. Using black felt that was leftover from Halloween, I got started.

Using freezer paper and an 8.5" x 11" peice of fabric, I printed NASA patches right from my inkjet printer. The fabric wrinkled a bit, but I was in such a rush, I honestly didn't care. Good enough!

I backed the fabric with some HeatnBond (that I bought when I was pregnant with Piper) to make the patches sturdier. I sewed those bad boys on pretty quickly.

My neighbor was kind enough to give me a USA patch she had lying around.

She's also a retired stewardess and lent us her wings to use on a patch. With no time to embroider the name on nicely, I went with the fast and dirty way... white out pen!

The only thing we bought for this project was a plain white baseball cap from the craft store. I couldn't think of how to make a helmet in such a short amount of time, so we settled on the hat with a NASA patch sew on.

After a few nights of getting less than 5 hours of sleep, it was finally all done. Here's the final result.

Want to know the best part? Piper brought the costume back home on the Friday she said it was due, because she realized that she made a mistake. The costume wasn't due that Friday.... it was due the NEXT Friday! *headdesk*

Well, at least it got done early!

Dear Unfinished Quilt, Part 2

2010-06-02T06:30:00.000-04:00

You are more finished now than you were on Monday. Your top is all sewn together now.

I realized I goofed and do not have any fabric appropriate for a backing. I'll go shopping this weekend and remedy that, so don't harass me until Saturday evening at the earliest.

Your demanding nature (and timeline) aside, you sure are pretty so far quilt.

Dear Unfinished Quilt,

2010-05-31T14:19:00.005-04:00

I haven't forgotten about you. My family has been too busy enjoying the long weekend to work on you much. The evidence is below.

Started the day at the site of the WWII and 9/11 memorials in town. There were nice speeches, wreath distributions, and a town prayer.

The parade procession went right through downtown.

Marchers threw loads of candy for the kids to catch.

Ahh, the marching band. I remember doing that in high school and I don't miss it!

This is about 10 am and we were already baking hot. Pi does open her eyes...just not in pictures with me apparently.

We've been enjoying the local playgrounds.

Look at that sky! Not a cloud to be found! That's the view from my swing, btw. Yes, I still get my big butt on swings, haha.

Bike riding...

Badminton on a tennis court. We've yet to find a volleyball net.

What's summer without a bucket full of water balloons?

What's summer without .... baking? Yeah, I had the crazy urge to bake six dozen sugar cookies in the heat. By the time I had to frost them, I was hot and tired, so I just drizzled the frosting on.

Because I'm crazy, I also wanted to make homemade ice cream sandwiches, which means baking chocolate chip cookies. Giant ones! These cookies have a 5" circumference easy! The cookies were perfect for this because even frozen, they were still chewy.

Add ice cream and viola. Yummmmmm. Way better than storebought.

It's so hot, they started melting right away.

Quilt, I hope you understand why you're not quite finished yet. I'll work on you in a few days, so... see you then quilt!

Happy Memorial Day! Thanks to the men and women who have given their lives serving our country!

The stork is bringing twins!

2010-05-28T19:37:00.000-04:00

But not to me!

My good friend Joyce's sister is due to have twin boys in June and she asked if I could make a few simple things for them. I can't resist sewing for babies, so I agreed instantly.

Joyce brought over a few yards of flannel in a cute blue truck design and an adorable green dinosaur design. The first thing I did was make a few bibs and burpcloths from each.

The bib pattern is the Infant Bib Pattern from Chickpea Sewing Studio and I winged the shape of the burpcloth.

Rinse, wash, repeat with the blue flannel.

Then I found this cute pattern for Simple Baby Pants at Make Baby Stuff.com and couldn't resist making teeny tiny pants.

A nice little stack of handmade goodies for the new babies.

There's a little flannel left over and I hope to have time to make some fabric blocks before the babies arrive.

I love baby stuff!

Randomness

2010-05-26T17:54:00.000-04:00

Just some random stuff from the last few weeks...

During the school year, Pi had been promoted from the beginner band to the intermediate band. She had her recital last week and the kids sounded way better than they did in the fall. After the concert, she was promoted again to the advanced band! Sweet!

Pi: Mom, stop EMBARRASSING me!

The goldfish Pi won at the birthday party all died in a few days. ALL of the kids' goldfish died within a few weeks, which totalled around 200 dead fishes.

Pi was pretty heartbroken about it, so we bought her a beta fish. They're supposed to be pretty hardy things, so I've got my fingers crossed this one will last. It's been two weeks and the fish is blowing bubbles, which means it's getting ready to mate and is building a nest. Too bad there aren't any lady fish around.

I'm a little worried about Pi's creativity or lack thereof because she named the fish.... you guessed it.... Beta! *groan*

My little sister Inky Binky graduated from college with a degree in Psychology! She's heading to grad school to get an MA in School Psych. Congrats Steph!

Speaking of school.... guess who is going back? Oh yeah, ME! I've already got an MA in psych, but the degree is not a counseling degree, as it's mostly research oriented. I'm able to give therapy in the public sector, but can't work in the private sector or get a private practice license in NY or NJ.

I'm heading back in the fall to get an MA in Forensic Mental Health Counseling. This degree will allow me to get licensed and work in just about any environment I want. Eventually, I could even open up my own practice (oh dreams!).

It's been a few years since I was in grad school, so I'm a big ball of nerves. But I'm excited too and hope that this will open up career opportunities for me. I'll never know if I can do it unless I try, so here goes.

Lost my mind!

2010-05-24T19:23:00.004-04:00

Pi's super fabulous principal recently announced she will be retiring this year. The announcement spread like wildfire through the entire town and the reaction was incredible. I've never seen so many people show thanks and appreciation to an educator as much as she is receiving. She totally deserves it, as she's really great with the kiddos and the parents.

Everyone has been brainstorming on special ways to say goodbye at the end of the year and somehow, someway, I agreed to help make a simple quilt from Piper's class. Lost.My.Mind!

Being too late to turn back now, I've jumped in and don't plan to think of how crazy I am to agree to this, until it's all over.

I brought fabric squares and crayons to school and let the kids doodle away. I've not got a stack of 28 hand colored squares to sew together.

I'm thinking of doing a simple checkerboard quilt like this. Whaddya think?

Some kids needed "do-overs" like this kid. Her original square screamed stalker (!!), so I'm glad she made another one that didn't mention going to the principal's house at all. Whew!

The quilt has to be finished by the end of June. Wish my crazy butt some luck! ;)

My new favorite thing.

2010-05-13T19:49:00.004-04:00

May is a month of celebration for Kado (read about it here), over at Perfect Cadence. As part of celebrating May, she's been posting some of her favorite things and sharing the love.

In today's mail, I found a bottle of Lavendar Vanilla Sleep Pillow Mist. This stuff smells amazing and I can't wait to try it tonight. I was tempted to spray it on my pillow right away and go to sleep, but since it was 6:30 when I got home, I thought that might be pushing it.

Check out that cute card too. Its pretty perfect for any occasion!

Thanks so much for sending a little love in the mail Kado!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2010-05-10T19:44:00.003-04:00

I'm a day late and a dollar short. I won't mention it again if you don't. ;)

We had a morning visitor this weekend. Geese all the way from the lake in my town. We're not that close to the lake, so we were pretty surprised to see this guy walking around. Eventually, he plopped himself down on the lawn and sunbathed for awhile.

We went to see my family for Mother's Day on Saturday night, since we were picking Piper up in Brooklyn anyway. Using the April Bag pattern, I made purses for both my mother and dirty Grandma.

Mom's bag is in the silky pink material she loves so much. Its lined in a solid maroon. I made the bag a bit boxier than the pattern called for since I had square handles.

Dirty Grandma got a round purse with big green handles. It's very "spring" and something she'd definitely walk around with.

I also embroidered a tea towel for mom and wrapped lemon cookies in it. I was hoping to make two, but I ran out of time. The flame in the pan makes me giddy, I love it so much.

We ended the night with mom's Shitzu falling asleep, belly-up on my lap. We're pretty convinced that she thinks she's a baby.

Sunday morning, Piper made me scrambled eggs and toast all by herself (supervised by hubby, of course). She also gave me a sweet handmade card and a plant from the school sale.

It was a nice day. I hope you all had a great Mother's Day!!

Gauge Schmauge

2010-05-06T22:56:00.002-04:00

The first time I saw the Lacy Cropped Cardi in the March/April Crochet Today, I fell in love. Its cute and actually functional. There are a lot of pretty designs out there that just aren't practical for normal use, but this design didn't seem like one of them.

When I finally decided to jump into this project, I actually talked myself into making a gauge swatch. Don't get me wrong... it took some convincing and arguing with myself. I felt like there was a little devil on one shoulder and a little angel on the other. Did I really need a gauge swatch? No... yes.... no.... yes..... ahhh crap... YES!

So I swatched. And swatched again. Then again. Finally, one last time. It took 4 swatches to get the right gauge. I was so stinking proud of getting it right. I marched into the living room, holding my little sample up high and showed my swatch to hubby with pride. My gauge victory clearly didn't move him. Nevermind the reactions of the uninitiated.

I happily started on the sweater with a pound of Simply Soft that's been sitting in my stash. I hooked and hooked and had a nice chunk of the cardi finished in a few days.

I turned the page of the pattern and noticed that there were measurements for the width of the back piece. Since my gauge was spot on, I didn't bother checking this measurement after the first few rows. You see where this is going now, don't you?

I'm making the size large. Notice the measurement? 21 & 1/4 inches.

Now check out the measurement of my cardi. Just over 27 inches.

*take calming deep breaths*

*think happy thoughts*

*count to 10*

*its not so bad*

ummmm..........

@#$%^&**^%$#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a big girl, but I'm not that big!

The cardi is has been sent to the corner and is in time out. Its got to be ripped out, but its definitely not happening this week.

Know what I have to say about this experience?

Gauge Schmauge!

Wooo Pinwheels!

2010-05-04T19:52:00.003-04:00

Look, a pinwheel quilt! Can you tell I'm excited?

I saw a great tutorial on how to make pinwheels at V & Co. a few months ago. Like the procrastinator I am, I put it off and put it off, questioning my ability to actually make a pinwheel.

One day, I went to the City Quilter (great little shop to visit if you're in NYC) to pick up some plain white cotton and I saw a charm pack sitting on the windowsill. It was in a little plastic box that I was able to open and peek through. The whole thing was made of dots... big ones, small ones, light one, dark ones. I fell in love with them instantly and knew I finally wanted to make that pinwheel quilt with them.

The tutorial was so clear and well written, that making the pinwheels was much easier than I anticipated. From start to finish, the quilt took me nearly two months to complete. Don't get me wrong... it would have taken way less time, but when things got crazy around here, I abandoned it for awhile.

The quilt measures 32"x32" and is backed with fleece scraps that have been in my stash for more than 3 years. Because I used fleece for the backing, I didn't use any batting in between and it still turned out very soft and squishy. The binding is a red floral print that I bought at a flea market last year.

No fancy quilting methods here yet, so I just stitched in the ditch. I really like the way the quilting makes a square pattern on the fleece.

This will be going to my cousin Nicole, who is due to have her baby girl in July. Pretty sure the baby shower is next month, so I need to get cracking on a few more things.

Tap Tap, Anybody out there?

2010-05-02T22:08:00.002-04:00

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words about Jacob. It means alot to me and Jeannie.

After the stress of that week, we were swamped with communion and birthday parties. Oh, and my MIL came home from the hospital awhile ago. But, I''m back and hopefully, I'll be around more regularly. Time seems to be getting away from me lately.

Piper went to a carnival themed birthday party today, rides, snowcone machine and all. More than 35 kids were invited to the party. Talk about nuts! I try to throw good parties for Piper, but I can't imagine spending that much to rent a bunch of rides and being responsible for that any munchkins. Pi had a great time though and came home with three new family members.

Meet Joshua, Angelina, and Tabitha. Piper insisted we go to the store right away, so she could use her own money to buy them a bowl and fish food.

While she was at the party, I did some much needed spring cleaning on my sewing machine. Lucky for me, there was a video on Sew Mama Sew on how to clean and oil your machine and the featured machine is the exact same one I have. Hubby helped me with the oiling because I'm a big baby and wouldn't do it myself.

I was also able to finish up some WIPs that had been sitting on my sewing table for over a month. I'll get them posted as soon as I get some pics of them.

Hope you had a good weekend!

A sad time.

2010-04-21T19:49:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the long absence.

This week started off on a tragic note. My cousin, Jeannie, gave birth prematurely to her baby boy yesterday, April 20th. This is the same cousin who lost her baby last year on April 14th. My heart breaks for her and all the suffering she is going through.

RIP Baby Jacob. You and your brother Matthew are angels in heaven. May you bring comfort to your mother, who is grieving you both.

Hug your children tight, friends, and be thankful that they are here with you.

My new old car.

2010-04-10T19:06:00.003-04:00

Sorry I've been MIA lately. The last week has been C-R-A-Z-Y and crafting (not to mention sleeping!) has been practically non-existent.

I just dropped by to say I bought a car! Its old (1996) and probably bigger than what we need. But the price was right, the miles weren't too high and we paid cash for it to avoid a monthly loan. We got it in PA and it made it home with no problems. We're hoping it lasts at least a year (maybe more if we're lucky).

This upcoming week is going to be just as crazy with a bachelorette party, wedding, 2 performances of Piper's play, and 2 birthdays. So don't be surprised if its nearly another week before I surface again.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T07:39:00.003-04:00

Alleluia, He is Risen!!!

We painted eggs last night to show the Easter bunny.

He left a basket for Pi. I hope she plans on sharing. ;)

Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Fun under the Big Tent

2010-04-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, we headed to Madison Square Garden to see the circus. We weren't planning on going this year, but Pi said she really really wanted to go. Its pretty hard to resist the puppy eyes she gives, so we went.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. :)

Tattoos!

The motorcycles are Pi's favorite part.

It was a better show than last year and we had a great time!

Freezer Paper project finished!

2010-03-30T18:29:00.004-04:00

Remember the freezer paper stencil from a few days ago? Here's what I did with it!

sorry for more crappy rainy day pics

I used mmmcrafts free basic messenger bag pattern, which I can't say enough good things about. I've tried to make a messenger bag in the past and it was all sorts of disaster, so I was a little scared to try this one.

I was scared for nothing though because Larissa's instructions are crystal clear and straight up dummy proofed. If I can do it, anybody can do it.

The outer fabric is that $5 corduroy that I've been using, the lining is leftover (from THIS project) home dec weight fabric from Ikea. Since the corduroy is fairly light, I also used fusible web to stiffen it up a bit.

The bag has a nice substantial weight to it, which I love. I want to take it everywhere with me! After seeing the finished product, hubby is ok with crafting with freezer paper now, heehee.

Who knew freezer paper did that?

2010-03-28T09:22:00.002-04:00

Apparently, a lot of people know about the joys of freezer paper. I'm slow to catch on and only discovered freezer paper stenciling recently. If you google it, you'll find a bunch of tutorials.

Here's what I did:

Step 1: Tell hubby to add freezer paper to the grocery list. Don't mention it is for crafting or you might get "the look."

Step 2: Trace a pattern. I used a pattern that I liked from Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching. Its an embroidery book, but perfect for simple outlines too.

Step 3: Spend a half hour deciding which way is most comfortable to hold an X-acto knife. Also contemplate which way will be less likely to land you in the emergency room minus a finger. Then cut the shape out (make sure you have some cardboard underneath your freezer paper...don't want to scratch your table). I wanted to keep all my digits, so I went slow and this step took me about an hour.

Step 4: Proudly show hubby your stencil. When he says "is that the freezer paper you asked for?" just smile and walk away. Admit to nothing.

Step 5: Iron the paper onto your fabric, shiny side down. I'm using more of that leftover $5 corduroy as my fabric.

Step 6: Totally optional. My old iron bit the dust (it was nearly as old as Pi) and I bought a cheapie new one at Kmart. So, I also spent a moment admiring how much better this one works. If your iron hasn't gone to iron heaven, then like I said, this is totally optional.

Step 7: Paint a thin layer onto the stencil. I used fabric paint and a styrofoam brush to dab the paint on. Pretty sure acrylic would work too. Now's the hard part...be patient and let it dry. Since it was nearly midnight by this point, I just went to bed. If its a normal time of day and you don't want to wait, use a hair dryer.

Step 8: Wake up. Lament that you still can't have coffee (this is again, optional). Then peel the stencil off!

My stencil bled a little bit in two places, but not enough to make me unhappy. Next time, I need to iron the stencil just a little longer to make sure it sticks completely. That should take care of the paint bleeding.

Step 9: Embellish if you want. I used teal fabric paint and a toothpick and freehanded some details onto the flowers. Its a little rough looking (I'm no artist), but I like it.

Tada! How easy was that? I'll be able to show you what I'm making with this pretty soon.

So go grab some freezer paper and start stenciling stuff.

A whole lotta nothing

2010-03-22T19:40:00.004-04:00

Crafting this week = a whole lotta nothing. I've started a few things, but haven't completed anything. Total crafty ADD lately. But the weather was so nice this weekend, that I didn't mind my lack of focus too much.

We spent most of the weekend outside. On Saturday, Piper earned her water safety badge with girl scouts. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was a trip watching all the girls "rescue" each other in the pool. I'm fairly convinced that at least half of the girls were vying for an Oscar. The way they screamed "HELP!" was drama-worthy indeed.

Sunday was all about family time. We went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I thought the previews looked a little too dark, but Pi has been asking about it. After checking the reviews, it didn't seem like there was anything too bad, so we went to see it.

I enjoyed it and Pi really liked it. It wasn't as great as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but still well done. The one thing that really stood out were Alice's dresses. They were all gorgeous... very couture.

Notice hubby's hands in the background, eating all the nachos.

After the movie we went for a stroll in the park and watched the geese for awhile.

Look how tall the spawn is getting!

This church is right next to the park walkway. Not sure what religion it is, but I think its neat because its so old school. My town was "discovered" in 1777 so there's lots of old stuff around.

We ended the day on a high note... with ice cream from Coldstone. Mmmmm!!

Baby Binky Bunnies

2010-03-17T05:30:00.001-04:00

After falling in love with the Molly Monkey pattern by Mmmcrafts, I just had to try the Baby Binky Bunny pattern too. Considering I know so many people who are having babies this year, it was a perfect excuse to give it a go.

The pattern is so well written, that I was able to complete two bunnies in one day. I'm a sewing slowpoke, so this was no small feat.

Excuse the dark pics. Rainy days = bad light

Yarn tails are the cutest little detail.

Each bunny was made with lightweight corduroy that I got on clearance. Their bellies and eyes are made from felt and the details are embroidered. The diapers are made from scrap fabric (the same I used for the first Molly Monkey's body).

The next day, I made the little patchwork blankies that go with each bunny. The ears and blankies were made with one charm pack that I bought at Joanns.

Shhh, they're sleeping!

The pink bunny is already living with its new owner, my cousin Bella, who just turned 2. The purple bunny will go to my cousin Nikki (not to be confused with my friend Nikki who just gave birth). She's due to have a baby girl in early July. With all the babies coming, I'm getting a head start.

P.S. - My neighbor Maddie loved her Monkey. Hubby and Pi saw her carrying it to school. That makes it totally worth it!

P.P.S. - Pi had her first physical therapy session yesterday and loved it. Like loved loved. She's such a little weirdo!

Snuggies for Seniors

2010-03-15T20:18:00.002-04:00

Do you love Snuggies?

Do you love old people?

Do you love old people IN snuggies?

If so, please check out the Snuggies for Seniors fundraiser over Pulsipher Predilections.

While you're there, take a peek at Kristina's other posts. She's the queen of hilarity!

Good news!

2010-03-15T05:30:00.000-04:00

I'm going to dub 2010 "The Year of the Baby." Sorry in advance if you get sick of seeing baby stuff, but so many people have procreated, that I don't have much choice, haha!

This is the bib that went to Lil Bean along with the Noah's Ark blanket. Lil Bean, aka Julian, was born last Monday. Congrats Nikki!

One side of the bib is leftover flannel in my stash from a ribbon teether I made last year. The back is a blue plaid flannel scrap that was given to me by a friend.

Using a velcro closure makes the bib reversible! The pattern is a freebie from Chickpea Sewing Studio.

Now for the good news! My biopsy came back totally clean! Yay! The only downside to that is that they still don't know what's wrong with me. But I'm very relieved there isn't anything very serious going on. Thanks for the prayers and good thoughts. It means the world to me!

Rainy Day

2010-03-13T09:26:00.006-05:00

Its wet and windy today. Definitely the kind of day that you want to stay indoors and under the covers. When the weather is like this, I also get the urge to cook something a little special.

Remember the challah bread I made awhile ago? Three loaves was too much, so we gave one away and froze one. I defrosted that loaf last night so that it would be ready for french toast this morning. I love challah french toast...so much better than regular bread.

Rather than go the regular route, I gave THIS recipe a whirl.

Gather your ingredients.

Slice up your bread.

Mix it all up. You'll want to give the mixture a quick whisk between each slice to keep the cinnamon evenly distributed.

Dip.

Cook.

Add fruit and eat!

Mmmmm!

Happy Saturday peeps!

Randomness

2010-03-10T17:48:00.003-05:00

A bunch of random type stuff...

- Piper has been having hip pain that the doc thinks is a slightly torn muscle. She's got physical therapy 2 times a week for 8 weeks.

- That will cost me $480.

- How old is old enough to walk to school alone? Pi has been asking and it has me pondering this question.

- MIL still in the hospital, but doing better. Yay!

- No biopsy results for me yet. Won't hear back til next week.

- Signs are all pointing to Spring. Birds are chirping in the morning again and its light out, both when I leave for work and when I come home from work. Who knew a little sunlight could feel so blissful?

- The Noah's Ark blanket arrived at my friend Nikki's house 4 days before she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Glad I didn't procrastinate longer on getting to the post office.

- Lack of coffee hasn't produced any headaches or withdrawal symptoms, but it has resulted in profound forgetfulness.

- I've discovered I love Chai Tea from Dunkin Donuts.

- But I don't love the calories (330!).

- I'm knitting a baby sweater on the bus. Its purple and its purty.

- Quilting blogs have been sucking up my time. Who knew there were so many talented people out there?

- I've finished some projects, but still have to get the pictures from my memory card.

What randomness is going on in your life?

Blankie for Lil Bean

2010-03-07T16:50:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been MIA this week.**

Anyway, my good friend Nikki is due to give birth to her first baby in mid-March. She's been calling him Lil Bean, which is the cutest thing ever.

I know how incredible special this is for Nikki, so I wanted to make something a little extra awesome for her. The Noah's Ark blanket seemed like the perfect thing.

excuse the bad winter light

Since Lil Bean is a boy, I tried to use boy-friendly colors and stayed away from pink and purple. That was so hard to do because I've got loads of girlie colors in my stash.

I love how the turtle shell puffs up a little. The legs and tail weren't sewn down, so that bean can tug on them.

Hubby suggested a deep orange for the elephant. I was really hesitant at first, but I'm glad I listened to him. Its just right.

The giraffe is my favorite because of the variegated horns and spots. Love him!

The body of the blanket is made with pound of love in cream and baby blue and an I hook. There's easily enough left over to make another one.

The animals were made with stash yarn. There's caron pounder (the light orange, dark and light green of the ark), red heart super saver (blue and black details), TLC heathers (blue in the turtle), and some unknown stuff (dark orange and variegated blue).

It was fun to make again and I hope Lil Bean enjoys it. I sent a bib with the blanket too, but haven't downloaded that pic yet. Hopefully I'll remember to do it this week.

**Its been a super stressful week. Too much to go into detail about, but I wanted to mention that my MIL (she lives with us) is in the hospital with double pneumonia. Cross our fingers she's better and out of the hospital soon.

Feeling productive.

2010-02-27T09:03:00.005-05:00

I woke up before 5 am yesterday to check on NJ Transit and see if the snow was causing delays. As of that time, there were no major delays listed, so I went ahead and got ready for work. By the time I'd finished getting ready, all of Northern NJ's buses had been suspended and school had been cancelled. So Pi and I stayed home again.

Since I was up and ready, going back to sleep wasn't really an option for me. Once I'm up, I'm up! So, I figured I'd make the most of my time.

While my family slept, I finished up another Molly Monkey that I started a few days ago for a little neighbor who is turning 5 today. Her socks, sleeves, skirt, and body were made entirely from scraps. The brown is leftover corduroy from that last Molly (I think there's enough to make one more too!). This project is awesome for scrap busting!

She should actually be called Maddie Monkey, because that's my neighbor's name. The tiny embroidered "M" personalizes the gift just a little more.

Her shoes (and beret) are made from leftover pink felt from Pi's Halloween costume. Yellow buttons tie in the yellow from the skirt and the embroidery. I hope Maddie enjoys her.

After finishing that up, I decided to try a recipe I saw over at Knit Circus for Challah bread. Pi and I lived in a hasidic Jewish neighborhood for 5 years and were introduced to a lot of the foods they eat regularly. Challah bread has always been one of my favs, so when I saw the recipe I got really excited.

It looked intimidating, but it was honestly so so easy. The hardest part was the kneading. It came out slightly crunchy and golden on the outside and slightly flaky on the inside. Mmmmmm!!!

I'm feeling pretty productive and I like it. Its good to get things finished and try something new too. Today isn't shaping up to be that productive. I think I might curl up with a book today.

Happy Saturday peeps!

Dear Snow

2010-02-25T19:16:00.001-05:00

You can stop now. Plskthx.

-Not Fondly,

Christina

All done

2010-02-24T21:11:00.003-05:00

The biopsy went well. The doctor was late and had me waiting over an hour, which just about killed my nerves. The procedure was uncomfortable but not too terrible. The doc warned me when the real pain/cramping would come and it lasted about 10 seconds. I won't lie...it hurt, but not as bad as I expected. The best way I can describe it is like a severe contraction while in labor.

I'm in no rush to repeat it, but I'm glad its all done. Thanks for the good thoughts and prayers. I'll let you know when the results come in.

Peanut Buttery Goodness

2010-02-20T14:28:00.004-05:00

Not a whole lot going on in the home front lately. Pi's had a cold for the last few days and we kept her home from school today. She's so congested, she sounds like a miniature Darth Vader while she's sleeping.

Over the weekend, I noticed this lonely bag of peanut butter chips in the cabinet. Hubby had bought them on sale awhile ago, when he was also getting chocolate chips. I wanted to use them up, but wasn't sure how. Google to the rescue!

This Peanut Butter cake recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor looked good, so I went with that. The cake is good, but doesn't have that "wow" factor, so I'm not sure I'd make it again unless its requested. After it was all frosted, I sprinkled peanut butter chips on top instead of crushed peanuts. It was only then that I realized I didn't need the whole bag for this recipe and so still had the problem of using up the chips. D'oh!

Looks more like a spike cake, eh?

A little more searching landed me at this Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chip Cookies. The only adjustment I made was to add a tablespoon of peanut butter right in the dough. They are amazing (and disappearing at an alarming rate)! Definite wow factor here.

On the crafty front, I made three more calorimetries for co-workers who decided they had to have one. They're made with good old RHSS. Are you sick of seeing these yet?

In other news, I'm scheduled for an endometrial biopsy tomorrow morning. The doc has some ideas about what might be causing my girlie issues, but she needs a biopsy to confirm her suspicions. She doesn't suspect anything malignant, so nothing to get too alarmed over yet. But I am nervous about the procedure (and the pain!), so if you wouldn't mind a quick prayer/good wishes/happy thought, I'd appreciate it much.

Meet Molly Monkey

2010-02-19T05:30:00.001-05:00

Back in November, I was browsing through craft blogs and saw this adorable (and free!) Molly Monkey pattern by Larissa at mmmcrafts. I bookmarked it because I didn't think I'd be able to make a stuffed animal just yet. I've looked at the pattern a few times over the last few months, but kept talking myself out of trying it.

This past week, I bought some brown corduroy (2.5 yards for $5!) at a winter fabric clearance sale in the hopes of making a simple skirt. After it was all cut out, I was left with a fair amount of scraps.

Molly calls for corduroy, so I checked to see if I had enough to make her and I did. I figured that for $5, I was already going to get a skirt out of the fabric. If I messed it up, not a whole lot would be lost, so what was the harm in using the scraps to give this stuffie a try?

I'm so glad I did because I love her! Meet Molly Monkey, my first sewn stuffed animal.

A dragonfly button in light green matched the floral fabric in her skirt nicely.

A purple butterfly button played up the purple in the skirt.

The body, sleeves, socks, and skirt were made from quilting scraps that a friend sent to me ages ago to practice sewing on. Her face and eyes were made from felt squares I had in my stash. I thought Molly would look pretty cute in a bow, though next time I want to try the beret in the pattern.

Before she was completely finished, Pi asked who I was making her for. I said I didn't have anyone in mind. She said "good, we can share her." Haha, I guess Molly is going to be living in our house.

I highly recommend you check out mmmcrafts. Larissa is truly talented and I've spent more hours than I care to admit, reading her blog.

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent.

This season is really important for Catholics, spiritually. I use this time to try and bring myself closer to God through more prayer and fasting.

We give up something that we're attached to for 40 days and also abstain from meat today and every Friday during Lent.

Broccoli and liver made a run for most loved foods, but sadly, they didn't make the cut this time. In the end, it was a heated internal debate between coffee and chocolate. If I'm going to be totally honest with myself, coffee is definitely much harder for me to give up.

So, I'm going to go with the major challenge and kicking coffee for the next 40 days.

No, I'm not crying.....yet!

Crochet Calorimetry

2010-02-15T14:42:00.000-05:00

Remember this scarf I made a few months ago? The co-worker who took this scarf home asked if I could make a headband like the ones the street vendors sell that have the giant flowers on them. I told her I couldn't make one exactly like those, but I could make something similar.

Since the scarf she has is crocheted, I wanted to crochet a headband to match. The Crochet Calorimetry pattern seemed like a good match.

Except, I forgot one teeny, tiny detail. The pattern used ww yarn, while I was using Homespun, which is bulky. The headband came out to be waaaay too big.

So, rather than re-do the whole thing, I improvised. I folded the giant headband in half and whipstitched it closed. Perfect solution because it fits just right now.

The giant flower is from yarncat and can be found HERE.

My poor Heady is looking awfully pale. Guess she can't wait for spring either. :)

Snow Day!

2010-02-11T08:27:00.004-05:00

Today's another snow day for me. I looked out the window and saw that the roads were barely plowed and decided to stay home. My exact thought ran along the lines of "hell no!" Getting to the bus stop in all that snow would have been a nightmare. We got a total of 17 inches here.

The trees looked amazing though!

Yesterday, I finished up my secret baby project. Once it gets popped in the mail and delivered, I'll be able to show you what it is.

Pi and I spent the rest of the day in the kitchen. We made Oreo Pops for her class Valentine gift. The idea came from Our Life in Perfect Cadence. There are a ton of fun recipes and kid friendly crafts over there.

We used mini heart sprinkles for decoration and as you can see, Pi went a little nuts with them. Pi's school is closed today too, so there's no guarantee we'll actually be able to hand these out. But, I'm going to bravely volunteer to eat them if that happens, haha.

We wrapped them in lollipop wrappers and tied with curling ribbon I had on hand. Just a note...the regular lollipop wrappers are a tight fit with all that melted chocolate and sprinkles. Next time, I'll buy slightly larger wrappers.

Everyone was craving something sweet. It was so bad, that hubby planned to walk to the store in the blizzard. Ummm, no! So I volunteered to bake something. Now that I think about it, he played me like a fiddle, haha!

After checking the cabinets, we had just enough flour and the rest of the ingredients to make a Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake.

No pecans this time though, so I used quick oats. Also, to make it a bit moister than last time, I added 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. It came out soooo good.

Yummmm!

Diet? What diet? :X

And the winner is....

2010-02-10T11:35:00.002-05:00

The random generator picked #2, which is Jaala herself, so I did it again and the winner is comment #1!

Congrats Laura!!! E-mail me and let me know which email you'd like the Spring Pattern Pack sent to.

In other news, we're in the middle of a blizzard here. I got up at 5am to go to work, but then found out that New Jersey had declared a state of emergency, so I decided to stay home. The buses are running for now, but its not a guarantee that they'll keep running through rush hour. I didn't want to get stuck in Manhattan, so here I am.

Look how pretty the trees look!

This was taken at 7am and there's a lot more snow now.

Pi and I are going to spend the day making oreo pops for her class Valentines and hopefully I can finally finish that secret baby gift for my preggo friend.

Under the Big Tent with Knitcircus

2010-02-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday peeps!

I'm really excited to have Jaala Spiro, the editor of Knitcircus magazine guest blogging today. Knitcircus is a quarterly magazine that publishes knitting and sewing patterns, recipes, and loads of great articles. Knitcircus went live with its first online publication last week!

Welcome Jaala....

Thanks, Christina and what fun to be on such a true multicrafting blog!

In the spirit of your fearless ability to reach into all kinds of craft, we’ve got a free sewing tutorial/pattern to offer your readers as a blog tour treat.

This was one of my favorite patterns for the magazine; pictured here in bright stripes, it would look cool and summery in a blue and cream mattress ticking or lemonade-colored awning stripe. If you choose a fabric with distinct stripes, make sure they match up on the right side before sewing! Pin twice, sew once…

Diamond Square Pillow

A pillow in the background caught my attention while leafing through a home design book, and I had to try making one like it. The technique is easier than it looks, and you’ll have a fine cushion in an afternoon.

Materials:
Eco-Friendly pillow form by Eco-Craft, 18”x18”
One yard of 45” cotton striped fabric for the front
½ yard fabric for the back—cotton, linen, corduroy, etc.
18” zipper
Paper bag
Dressmaker’s pencil

Instructions:
For the pillow front:
1) Cut four 10”x10”squares on the bias of striped fabric. I suggest folding the fabric into a big triangle, and cutting one square out of the paper bag. Using the square, mark the edges of the four pieces onto the wrong side of fabric with a dressmaker’s pencil. Cut out.

2) Lay out the four squares together, turning each 90 degrees to make a diamond shape in the center.

3) Pin the top two and bottom two together, right sides together. Make sure when you open them up, they’re in the proper alignment to create the diamond.

4) Sew a ½” seam on the center –facing sides of both top and bottom squares. Trim to ¼” and press both to the same side.

5) Pin the long edges of the two rectangles together, making sure to line up center seam lines exactly. Sew seam as in Step 4. Press trimmed edge on the wrong side, then turn and press all four seam lines from the front to ensure straight lines on the right side.

For the pillow back:
6) Cut two pieces of fabric 10”x20”.

7) Apply zipper to center: use instructions on zipper package to install a zipper between the long edges of the rectangles. (Here's a link to How to Sew a Zipper into a pillow)

8) Attach to front: Open zipper about halfway. Pin back to front, right sides together. Sew seams on all four edges as in step 4.

9) Turn right side out: grasp zipper pull and open zipper all the way. Bring pillowcase through zipper, using a closed scissors to push corners out if needed.

Finishing:
10) Press pillowcase, avoiding zipper. Clip any hanging threads.

11) Insert pillow form into case and zip up!--JS

**me again**

You'd think that a free sewing pattern would be generous enough, but there's more. One of you lucky peeps is going to win a free download of the Spring Pattern Collection!

You've got 24 hours to leave a comment here or ravmessage Jaala at jaaladay to enter. Simple as that. Tomorrow at 10am EST, we'll close the entries and pick a winner via the Random Number Generator. Good luck!

Don't forget to click the Knitcircus link and then click on the teeny tiny magazine in the upper area to check out more great patterns and recipes. Also, check out tomorrow's stop on the blog tour, Otterwise.

Thanks so much for stopping by Jaala!

Just the facts.

2010-02-08T06:25:00.002-05:00

Fact 1: I finally have an appointment to see an eye specialist...in June! He specialized in vision deficiencies in people who have had brain trauma. While I've never had brain trauma (that I know of), my vision issues are pretty similar to people that have, like my double vision. Hmmm, makes me wonder if mom ever dropped me on my head. Hey mom!!! :)

Fact 2: I gained 1.5 pounds this week. Every bit of it was deserved and I don't regret it at all.

Fact 3: Pi and I are not football fans. We abandoned the Super Bowl (and hubby) to watch the Sound of Music.

Fact 4: Jaala Spiro of Knitcircus will be here tomorrow! So excited!

Happy Monday!

Owl make my notebook pretty!

2010-02-07T06:30:00.000-05:00

There's a whole stack of black and neon pink felt left over from Pi's Halloween costume. Its been sitting under my sewing table, challenging me to find a use for it.

When I saw THIS tutorial over at CraftStylish, I knew I wanted to try a variation of it on this little notebook. Its a 5.5 x 3.5 pocket sized notebook that I've been keeping track of my calories in.

I'm not a big fan of the buttons, so I played around with scraps of red, green, and white felt and came up with this.

I got to practice a little embroidery and a blanket stitch around the edges too. I love it!

Very quick project...it took me just an evening in front of the tv.

The neon pink felt is feeling a little lonely, but I'll find a use for it yet!

Shopping Spree! Weee!

2010-02-05T06:30:00.000-05:00

If you know me at all, you know I love books. Love. Them. Want to know what I love even more? Cheap books!

So when Piper's school announced a used book sale as a fundraiser, I was all for it. There were tables and tables full of books for kids and grown-ups, plus dvds and vhs tapes. Pi and I browsed for what seemed like an eternity.

The school had a "fill up a bag" option, so we opted for that. They gave us a reusable bag and we were allowed to fill it to bursting for $5!!! *swoon*

Oooh, it gets better too!

On my lunch break, I decided to browse around Strand books for awhile. Normally, their craft section is pretty lacking, but I hit the motherload this time.

I got all three of these books for less than half of their regular price.

I'm such a book dork. There, I've admitted it out loud!

Mark your calendars!

2010-02-03T06:15:00.000-05:00

Jaala Spiro, the editor of Knitcircus magazine will be guest blogging next Tuesday February 9th!

Knitcircus is a quarterly magazine that publishes knitting and sewing patterns, recipes, and loads of great articles. The super exciting news is that Knitcircus went live today for the first time in electronic format!

The best part? Blogging buddy Bezzie is the cookie czar at Knitcircus!

Click the Knitcircus link and then click on the teeny tiny magazine in the upper area to get a peek at the magazine. Go check it out while we wait for Jaala's guest post and see what all the buzz is about. Enjoy!

Trip to the Eye Doctor

2010-02-02T06:30:00.001-05:00

The story of how I saw the eye doctor...almost.

Me: Hey self, its been about 8 years since you got new glasses. Everything is sort of really blurry now. Maybe its time to go and get a new pair. *makes appointment. with doctor in town*

Day of Appointment:

- Wake up at 4am and leave at the crack of dawn to get to work by 6:30am, so I can leave at 2:30pm to make it back to NJ for 4:20pm appointment.

- Blasted traffic is slowing the bus. Call doctor's office at 3:50 to confirm I will be there by 4:10 or so. Receptionist informs me if I am not there at 4:15, she will cancel appointment.

- Confusion. Appointment is at 4:20, but if I'm not 5 minutes EARLY, I get the boot. Ummm, whachutalkinbout Willis?

- Get off bus at 4:13 and sprint down Elm street to doctor. Boy, I'm out of shape.

- Realize that this is my own personal Nightmare on Elm Street. (couldn't resist).

- Narrowly avoid the receptionist from hell cancelling the appointment.

- Wait an hour with all the other suckers who are clearly cowering from the aforementioned receptionist from hell.

- Doctor calls me in and proceeds to tell me he can't see me. Because ...wait for this now... I have eye problems (duh!) and he feels that my case is too "complicated" for him.

- Me: check sign on door. Confirm that I didn't confuse my gyn appt. with the eye appt. No, nope...I'm in the right place.

- Doctor refers me to my pediatric eye doctor that last saw me over 8 years ago.

- Me: But...but... I'm a grown-up now. What if he won't see me?

- Doctor shrugs and says I should ask for a referral to someone else in that case.

- Desperation sets in.

- Me: I just want new glasses. GLASSES! Not surgery! Not amazing new technology! Not even good waiting room magazines. Just glasses!

- Doctor waves goodbye.

*headdesk*

Its probably going to take me another 8 years before I can go through all that trouble to get to an eye doc again. And, betcha they bill my insurance for this "visit!"