This week's blog assignment! Totally! Pumpkin Latte is my favorite!!!

You Are a Pumpkin Latte

You are a total homebody. You love the fall because it gives you an excuse to stay home a little more often and be cozy. Fall is your favorite time to cook a pie, read a good book, or watch your favorite movie. You're the type who prefers handing out candy at Halloween and hosting Thanksgiving at your place. You have a lot of different autumn activities, and they all take place inside the comfort of your home.

What Autumn Drink Are You?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

I want to be Pioneer Woman when I grow up

We have several fruit trees in our back yard. This is the third year we have lived here, and I was unprepared for the bountiful harvest of apples, plums, and asian pears. You see, the last two years, we have regular squirrel visitors who ate all the fruit before it was ripe. But this summer, we had two large, unstable trees removed from the yard, and apparently the squirrels vacated the property as well. So we are full of fruit that is all ripe at the same time. Last week, I bought a canner and we made plum jam and apple sauce. It is delicious. Today- apple butter and plum butter! I feel so industrius and self-sufficient. Plus my house smells really nice!

This Week's Blog Assignment

Ok, the blog assignment now comes from My Great Retreat! This week, I am to list my five favorite meals. Hard to choose, because I love to eat, but I'll try... In no particular order--

1. Enchiladas, any style, but especially mole.
2. Pulled Pork Sandwiches with cole slaw. I think I'm going to make this tomorrow!
3. Halibut Tacos with lime yogurt sauce and cabbage.
4. Pancakes
5. Fettucine Alfredo

Ok. So now you know why I'm chubby. But that's okay.

Teensy towels and little wet boxers

We started swimming lessons this week. All three of us- me, my 4 year old, and my 17 month old-- in the pool at the same time. Super fun! But I was not so prepared this morning. First of all, I forgot to bring towels, so we had no choice but to use the towels provided by the gym. They were woefully small, maybe 11% bigger than a hand towel. Just about full size for the baby (who I will admit looked heartbreakingly cute standing there naked wrapped in the little towel). Much better suited for wiping sweat than drying off after a swim. Anyhow, I need to remember to bring REAL towels tomorrow. Secondly, I failed to remember that I would be needing to bring wet swimwear home with us. All I brought was my sad old backpack, and it was pretty wet by the time we got home, not to mention my wallet and the bag of pretzels leftover from last week's zoo trip. Ugh. So this afternoon I got out the yard of "oilcloth" that I've had sitting in my closet for over two years and made a quick tote bag.

I serged the bottom and side seams, as well as the top opening. When I went to sew the top hem, I found that my sewing machine did NOT like this fabric (and I use the term "fabric" loosely). So I gave up after it pulled that whole unthread the needle trick, and I just folded the top over and applied four sets of snaps! This is perfect, since it keeps the wide top closed, was fun to do, and allowed me to use my spendy snap press again. I even snapped the handle webbing to avoid having to sew it in. Clever, eh? Or lazy...whatever.

I think this will keep our stuff nicely contained tomorrow. No more gym towels!

TWBA

For my blog assignment over at The Dressing Room, a list of my favorite books! I do love to read. In fact, I sometimes have a hard time deciding whether to read or sew when I have a few minutes to myself. And I'm totally intrigued by the Kindle, but too cheap to buy one. Here is my spur-of-the-moment list o' favorites. It's got a little bit of everything.

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (so complex and perfect, my absolute favorite)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo (heartbreaking and beautiful)
Sheep on a Ship, by Nancy E. Shaw (just plain fun)
Hippos Go Berserk, by Sandra Boynton (best counting book we have)
The Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester
The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman (super, super useful stuff)
Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (This one kept me up for hours, way past my bedtime)
The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss (This book gave creedence to the part of me that screams when I see a misplaced apostrophe at the grocery store...)


That's it for today's peek into my brain. Now I have to go make dinner.

Happy dishes

I made some cloth dinner napkins out of some "Lizzie Dish" fabric that is totally cute for kitchen stuff. A super simple, useful and satisfying Sunday project. Aren't they cute?

Ottoman slipcover

Note to parents, sloppy people, and anyone who wears shoes in the house: NEVER get a beige ottoman. Baaaaad idea. This puppy looked bad after about 14 minutes of use. I've been slipcovering it since. The first slipcover was dark blue, and the color rubbed off on the edges. Oy. We covered it with a sheet and used it anyways. This is take two, about 7 years later. Much better!

I'm proud of the corners on this. I didn't want to make them square, since the edge of the ottoman is rounded. But I also am not careful enough to actually make round corners that would fit. So I cut the pieces for square corners, but sewed in a little inverted box pleat to round them out a bit. It came out pretty cute.

Not all yummy things...

Are made of fabric! Behold, Red Beans and Rice Enchiladas! This is also repurposing, ha! In our home, we believe that almost any leftovers can be made into quasi-TexMex dishes. So we eat a lot of fish tacos, chicken enchiladas, etcetera. But this- oh, baby. I might even like it better than the original dish.

Oh, yeah. I also made the cloth napkins, out of fabric from my maternal great-grandmother's stash. That proves that fabric hoarding runs in the family!

More on reusing...

I'm trying to get back to updating here more often. I realized that I never posted what I did with the rest of the old uniforms....


Made a coat!

I used a pattern from Ottobre magazine, with some modifications. I used the existing uniform sleeves to make the sleeves of the jacket, so that I did not have to hem them or make cuffs. I also kept one pocket on the coat, and added an old insignia. I love it!

I'm not sure if the little dude likes it as much as I do.

Repurposing stuff

I've been trying to use stuff I have around the house before I go buy new fabric and stuff lately. The fact of the matter is, I have a closet full of fabric and could just keep it and look at it and pet it, but I should really use it. I also have lots of other....stuff...that could be used for projects. I've been trying to be more creative lately. It's fun, and cheaper.

Anyhow, I got to thinking the other day about the big Rubbermaid tote full of old uniforms that lives on a shelf in my garage. You see, when I resigned from the service, I thought I might just go back, so I kept it all. It's been four years. I'm a chubbyish suburban mom...I'm not going back. So this stuff is fair game for crafting now. I got out an old top (BDU style) and started cutting.

I made shorts for the boy. If you haven't seen Petchy's 10 minute trousers, you should really check it out. If you have a kid, and want to make them shorts, that is.

This used a very small amount of the top. So I picked apart the remaining seams, and made this bag.

No lie, that is two sleeves, opened up and sewn together. I made a boxed bottom, stabilized it with double sided fusible Peltex, and lined the inside. The strap is pieced from the back of the shirt, topstitched with varigated thread. The original shirt pocket is on the inside, plus a snapped pocket to fit a water bottle or sunglasses case. I left the original cuffs on as the top of the bag...so the opening can be cinced up or left all the way open. (It is cinched in the pics) Love it!

Oh, and I got to use my new toy, I mean tool-- my snap press! It is sooo fun.

Another purse

This is my new favorite bag. I plan to make several more... It's the Multitasker Tote from Anna Maria Horner. Fabulous pattern! Look how cute!





The fabric is Moda Wonderland. I used light twill for the exterior, so I skipped the interfacing that the pattern called for. If I had used it, it would probably be a little more structured. But it is slouchy and cute. I really like the size and the outside pockets. It holds all I need with room to spare. Love it! I stitched this up in one evening, after everyone else was asleep and the house was amazingly quiet. It came together quickly and was a very satisfying project.

Toddler backpack

Next week is Take Your Daughter to Work Day. Having inherited my love of bags, my kid was really worried about what she would carry on this special day. She tried out several of my old purses and free-with-purchase makeup totes, but nothing seemed quite right. Yes, a new bag was in order. So I whipped up a little backpack out of the cutest lavender hippo canvas. No pattern! Yay! The straps don't adjust, but there is a nifty drawstring. It's already loaded up with treasures.

Gaggle of Guinea Pigs

I was looking for a little softie to make for my daughter. She gets excited when I sew for her, but is so picky about clothing that I get frustrated. I found this guineau pig at youcanmakethis.com. I made them for my two, and they love them. So I made more. They are such a cute, scrappy project....and good practice for my rudimentary embroidery skills.

Easter clothes in action

I couldn't be happier than I was this morning, watching my littles run around in gorgeous clothes that I made. So much fun!

Diaper caddy. I set out to make this because I was thinking we were going to be putting our house on the market, and the cheap plastic basket I was keeping diapers in might not look so elegant on my nightstand. So I made this- a little open-topped boxy caddy, out of scrap strips, interfacing and canvas. I wish I used heavier interfacing, so it would look a little nicer when it is only half full, because it starts to sag a bit after a few changes. Ah, oh well. It is definately cuter than the plastic basket.

Just what the world needs

A new blog! Yay!!!

Okay, I decided to put this up to have a place to boast of my crafty accomplishments, whine about my misadventures, and probably throw in a bit about cooking (cause that is a craft, too).

I'll start with my kids' Easter outfits. I made my daughter's dress from a crazy man's shirt (meaning the shirt was crazy...although the owner may have been as well) from the Goodwill. I fell in love with the paisley- enough to pay $7 for the shirt, which is highway robbery at the Goodwill. I used this tute for the inspiration, but since this was a long sleeved shirt, I had plenty of fabric to work with, and was able to cut an actual bodice. I just love it.

For my son, a new bowling shirt in a soft homespun, springy plaid. I did not match the plaid, but am very pleased with it. I highly recommend this pattern for anyone with little kids and moderate sewing skills. It looks so professional and neat. I think I've made 10 (!) so far.

And as a bonus, a tiny Easter basket for the baby, since he is too small for a full sized basket.