Thursday, December 23, 2010

Casserole Caddy

First Christmas gift revealed.....The Casserole Caddy.  I got the pattern from the Moda Bake Shop here. I have some ideas for how this could be better going forward, but that's a subject for another day.

Here are a few pictures of the finished product.





I also personalized a casserole dish for Deirdre using some etching paste and my new personal cutting machine.




I haven't  quite figured out the best way to do the vinyl yet, but I'm sure that with practice it will get better.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Ornament Exchange

I went to my first ornament exchange last week.  At first I thought I would sew something, but with all of the Christmas sewing going on, it just wasn't working out. Instead I went with a beeswax ornament. This was my first experience with beeswax, but it went really well. The ornaments came out all beautiful and golden, and they smell wonderful!
Melting the solid wax

Mom, thank you for getting me an OveGlove last year for Christmas, it is fantastic for holding hot jars!




Hot wax in mold.

Semi-solid ornaments

Once the wax cools, it shrinks and the ornaments pop right out!
I stamped each ornament with the date right before the wax hardened. Be careful if you choose to do this, stamp too soon and it can really mess the ornament up.

Hang these babies in front of a light and they glow on the tree.  Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

But What Have You Done Lately?

I am terrible at this blogging thing. Lately I have not been sewing very much, too busy. Last weekend I went to the Esty Rain event in Seattle at the Intiman Theatre and now I'm all inspired for Christmas.

My current project is an Advent Calendar Quilt. The pattern is from SewMamaSew, I saw it last year and just never got around to the project.  I picked up a fat quarter pack of Robert Kaufman's Sparkle All the Way and Groove Holiday collection and I knew it would be perfect for this project.

It's still a work in progress, but I think it's going to be fantastic.



Each square is a actually a little pocket where you can store a little treat or something special!

This is the first time I've done any machine embroidery, kind of a challenge but I'm beginning to figure it out.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Afternoon Project


At home, no husband, just me and the dog. Decided I would make up a few coasters. They're great to have on hand as a little hostess gift or for when you need to have a little something to give someone. Coasters only take a couple of hours and are really fun to make. You can make them all the same or varried.

Canning Season

It is canning season again. Each year I work up a little more courage. This year a friend and I canned tomatoes for the first time. They're nice because you don't have to use the pressure caner, which I am completely intimated by...Or maybe I'm intimidated by the canning books scary botulism warnings for things that need a pressure caner.




Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Homemade Toaster Pastries

So, lately I have been very concerned about what we eat.  I have been cutting way back on sugar and all kinds of things. It turns out to be very difficult because I love to bake, but don't necessarily like to eat sweets. From that perspective I'm married to the perfect man - he loves sweets! However, he does need to live for a few more years, so I'm trying to feed him healthier things.



Monday at the gym I had the brilliant idea of making homemade toaster pastries for David to take in the morning.  I went home and found this recipe from Alton Brown online. I didn't use any of his filling, I made a simple Peach-Raspberry filling (details below) and a Cinnamon-Sugar filling.


They turned out great. After cooling I put them in the freezer. When he's ready to eat one David just puts it in the toaster! It's awesome and way more healthy than anything you could buy in the store.  I also replaced 1/2 c. flour with whole wheat flour -the husband isn't crazy about whole wheat so I'm easing him into it.

Peach-Raspberry filling:
-1 fresh ripe peach, cut into small chunks
-1/3 c. fresh raspberries
-1 TBSP sugar
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp nutmeg

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

New Book

My husband heard about this book and knew that I wanted it. I couldn't find it anywhere but the other night he came home and had a copy for me!

I'm excited to get started with my own pattern designing. I think the first thing I need to do is make myself a dress form....

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Love Birds

So, I recently found some wedding cake toppers online at Etsy and thought they were darling, but then I went to my friend Beth's wedding and she had these on her cake.


A friend of the bride and groom made these for them, she did a fantastic job! I'm so jealous that I didn't think of this for my wedding. If you're looking for cute cake toppers check out the following sellers on Etsy....SO CUTE!!

Kikuike
Country Squirrels R Us

Bridal Gifts

Summer is the time for weddings. It's a great opportunity to try new things and make cute stuff for the bride-to-be. I find that I love my Denise Schmidt Quilt Book more and more. So far I've made a quilt, oven mitt and slipper from it. In preparation for my friend Beth's bridal shower I made another oven mitt and the apron.  The patterns were easy and quick. The fabric was from a fat quarter pack of Hello Betty by Moda.  I love, love, love this fabric! I've used it on so many projects. I wanted to get more yardage just to add to my stash but by the time I discovered that I loved it it was already gone.

Here are a few pictures of my bridal shower gift...

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Anniversary Pie

What's so special about June 9th?

It's our anniversary! Three years, yay! To celebrate I made a pie. I didn't have much in the house, but I did have some peaches and cranberries left over from the holidays in the freezer, so I made a Peach-Cranberry Pie. David said it was the best pie he has ever had, ever.  So, in celebration of our anniversary, here is my recipe.


Crust:
Use your favorite two crust recipe, I like to add 1 tsp of poppy seeds to my crust with the dry ingredients before cutting in the fat.

Filling:
-4 cups peaches (frozen or fresh, whatever you have)
-1 cup whole cranberries
-1 cup sugar
-1/3 cup flour
- 1 to 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp almond extract (I didn't do this, but I was thinking today that it would be really good)

Mix filling together in a bowl and then pour into pie crust. Cover with top, add cute venting design.  Bake for about 40 minutes. When you take it out of the oven you might be able to hear the cranberries popping!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Derby Day

My little sister had a roller derby this weekend. Rice Crackr is fantastic! She's a jammer for the Sick Town Derby Dames.  Mom, Grandma and I put pictures onto the back of our Sicktown shirts, they turned out awesome.




All of the supplies came from JoAnn's, really easy. Shirts are by Flat Track Revolution.


Rice CrackR

Friday, June 4, 2010

Birthday Awesome

Thanks to Miranda for giving me these awesome Unikey covers for my birthday, making it both mystical and magical.



Thursday, June 3, 2010

A Princess Birthday

For our niece's 4th birthday I made her a "Princess Belle" dress. Morgan has been going through a serious princess phase for some time now, something I completely understand. As a child I only wore dresses from the time I was three until I was in kindergarten. I felt like I really had to go all out this year because she has high expectations for this birthday.  Apparently a few weeks ago she told her mother that her birthday was coming up and she was so excited because everyone who loves her will be there. That's a  lot of pressure and I had previous plans for the weekend, so I went a little crazy on the present. 

It has been a long time since I made anything this small, and it was something of a challenge. I should have gone with the invisible zipper instead of the standard style - they're so much easier and always come out better. Lesson learned. Gathering the overlay fabric was more of a challenge than I was expecting, but overall it turned out great.


McCall's Pattern #5494.

I hauled out the serger because the fabric was so messy, but I've never had great luck with it. It seems like it should be so easy, I think I need to take a  class.

From Old to New

For my birthday my mother gave me a beautiful apron handmade out of antique table cloths. The aprons are carefully crafted to preserve the original needlework.



























My grandmother also sent me some old table cloths that belonged to my great grandmother so that I can try to come up with something new on my own. The table clothes have stains and spots that won't come out, so the trick will be working around them and coming up with something original. Any suggestions? Here is a link to another neat find on "upcycling" a wedding dress.





















The cloth below with the bird design is for a card table, a really neat design.


Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Creative Inspiration

President Uchtdorf is one of my favorite speakers.





Saturday, May 22, 2010

Cameron's Quilt

Almost 6 months ago I finished this quilt for my nephew, Cameron.  The quilt pattern is from Denise Schmidt Quilts.  This is a great book with quilt patterns and projects that are simple and fun. I used the What A Bunch of Squares pattern at 200%, instead of 400%.  The quilt came out standard crib size, about 40" x 50". The fabric is from the Recess collection by American Jane for Moda.  I had my sister help me pick out the fabric to go with her nursery theme and I think it turned out great.

These are a few pictures of the unfinished quilt.





























Here is the finished quilt with my nephew. My sister has also told me that it will be making an appearance on Animal Planet in the fall, along with their cat, Cooper: Photographer Cat (you can also see video Cooper took of baby Cameron on his website).

Friday, May 21, 2010

Bridal Cupcakes

Thursday afternoon we had a quick bridal shower for one of the women in my office who is getting married Saturday. I made cupcakes....And of course, where do I turn when I need to make a fabulous cupcake?  Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World! Whether you are vegan or not (and I'm not), this is the ultimate cupcake book.

These are the Basic Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting. I also put fresh strawberries inside before frosting them. They were quite a hit!

I am not a huge fan of sprinkles in general, but in this case the bride's theme is multi-colored dots, so I was trying to capture that.



My sister has promised me some rhubarb, maybe I'll post my favorite Rhubarb cupcake variation soon...

**The cupcake carrier pictured is my birthday present from David - Thanks!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Mom's Quilt

I am new to quilting, it is something I had wanted to try for a long time but always felt intimidated by. So, I started out with a baby quilt  pattern from Nancy Zieman's Quilting with Confidence  (I thought this book also had great tips for finishing quilts and cutting, etc - perfect for the first time quilter).  It was easy and turned out great. After that under my belt, my husband's aunt Jil helped me plan a quilt for my mother.




The quilt has a windmill center with a basic log cabin surrounding it. I think the windmill centers add interest to the quilt because they are three-dimensional, rather than flat. I don't have any construction photos, but here are some shots of the finished quilt.


 The fabric for the quilt was also a gift from Aunt Jil.




Friday, April 16, 2010

Hello!

For a long time now I have been thinking about starting a blog. After finding an acceptable name, I am now ready. Not everything will be sewing related, though I do plan on posting my projects for the family to see. The upcoming posting will be a scripture cover for a Standard LDS Quad Scripture, as requested by some of the Young Women...

Thank you to the husband for making my banner! (those are my glasses!)