sewBOLD

Summer Lovin' Roundup

2012-02-28T14:08:00.001-06:00

It's been sort of dreary and rainy this past few days and over the weekend. It really makes me nostalgic for changing seasons on the way to summer and those half warm/half chilly spring days in Kentucky. Here's a little Summer Lovin' to fuel your cabin fever.

1. Scallop Hem Shorts
2. Old-Fashioned Stripey Paper Straws
3. DIY Summer Tent for Kids
4. Color Block stripey T
5. Beach Umbrella Art Print
6. Delicate Silver Sandals

Hand Embroidered Baby Pants

2012-02-27T09:22:00.001-06:00

My sweet friend C had her baby a couple of weeks ago, so I got busy working on a little gift for him. This Handcut Chenille Baby Blanket and little bitty pair of soft, gray, wide wale corduroy pants.

They have a comfy elastic waist and they're long in the rise so there is plenty of wiggle and diaper room. I used Made by Rae's Basic Baby Pants Pattern (free HERE), but I added a little to the length because she only calls for a 1/4" hem and I like a wider hem. I also topstitched the side seams and rise because I like the look and makes them a bit more sturdy.

I decided to personalize them, hand embroidering little man's name along the hem.

I added a little twill tag in the back. I've learned from experience that new dads do not appreciate having to guess which is the front and which is the back when dressing a squalling little one.

I used a disappearing marker to draw the letters, emroidered the main outline in white then added a little extra so that I would have some areas to fill in with color. These were just free hand for me, but you could play around with fonts on your computer or sketch them out until you have what you want. I was envisioning bright, vintagey circus posters when I did this. Boys clothes need some color too!

Can't wait to meet this little guy in person!

Chevron Faux Chenille Baby Blanket

2012-02-20T16:02:00.001-06:00

I love a good chevron print! This one is home decor weight cotton from Hancocks (scored on sale!). After seeing a few great examples of these faux chenille baby blankets (HERE and HERE), I dcided to give it a try! Blankets are such a traditional gift for a baby, but this one seems to have just a little something different and special about it. I absolutely love the way it feels, kind of heavy like a quilt, but soft and fluffy because of the flannel. I will be making more and doing a couple of things differently, even though I am really happy with how this one turned out!

All you need for this project is a rectangle or square of home decor weight fabric in your chosen size (don't pre-shrink), 3 pieces of flannel in the same size (also, don't pre-shrink) and a piece of bias binding long enough to cover the edges of your blanket.

Layer the cotton and flannels together and pin every few inches so that they don't slip as you are quilting. I recommend a walking foot. If you use a patterned fabric, like I did, just stitch with the design, the rows need to be no more than an inch apart. This step takes a few hours to complete.

Next, put on a good movie, grab a really sharp pair of scissors and cut through the 3 layers of flannel between every row of stitches.

(These pictures show rows that were much too far apart, I explain later that I had to go back and fix that. Still, it gives you an idea of what you're going for.)

Now bind the eges of your blanket. I used flannel, but I'll probably use cotton next time. I stitched over the binding 3 times just because I like the way it looks.

Next, you just wash it in the washing machine (I used those Shout "Color Catcher" sheets, since I had light, dark and bright red fabrics and it worked really well, no bleeding). Then throw it in the dryer on high heat. When you pull it out....ta da!! It's a miracle, soft, evenly frayed and ready for some baby love.

TIPS:

1) Next time, I will range my flannels from lightest on the outside to dark the closest to the cotton (I did gray, red, blue from the bottom up, but I wish I had done gray on the outside). The gray (which I love paired with the mustard yellow) got a little lost against the back of the cotton. I think that would also have given a little more depth to the overall look. I like the idea of neutrals with pops of bold color peeking out.

2) Flannel worked ok for the binding, but it didn't wash quite as well as I had hoped. It pills a bit.

3) I started out with my rows of stitches WAAAy too far apart, so after washing it looked ridiculous. I had to go back and sew two more lines for every row already there, holding the flannel down as I went. Miraculously it still turned out (flannel is very forgiving and the fraying covers a multitude of evils), but it was a pain in the you know what!!

This is by no means a perfect example of a faux-chenille blanket, but hopefully it gives you the basics and some food for thought. I know I would be ecstatic to get one of these as a gift, heck, I'm ecstatic to GIVE one of these as a gift!

Donuts

2012-02-20T13:56:00.002-06:00

Last week, I ran across a neat recipe on Pinterest, easy homemade donuts using canned, Pilsbury biscuit dough. I guess they're more of a semi-homemade item (See the original post HERE) I like to do fun things for breakfast on weekends, so we gave them a try!

They were gooooood! Just be sure to eat them while they're hot. They definitely lose the magic after they cool off and the texture gets heavy, they're light and tender right out of the pan.

Here's the bad news:
You fry them up in about 1 inch of oil then you dip them in melted butter, then sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and sugar. Keep these in the "Only in Moderation" section of your recipe box.

Also, they make your house smell like a roller skating rink, something about that hot oil/frying smell takes me right back to elementary school birthday parties at Champs. Let's just say, not the best memories, I was not a cool kid.

All you need for these are:
1 can of Pilsbury "Grands" biscuits (you don't want flaky)
Cooking oil
1 stick of butter
Cinnamon/Sugar

Tips:
Use the donut holes for practice while you're getting the oil to the right temperature. Too hot and the middles will be raw, too cool and they will be greasy. I burned one or two...

I got it eventually...

Cool enough to cook about 3 minutes on each side and hot enough to bubble. Pop them out and onto a paper towel lined plate then dip in the butter and sugar.

Yummy, yum!

Valentine's Day

2012-02-15T11:37:00.001-06:00

We had a nice day yesterday, beautiful 70 degree weather and W got home early from work. I made these "Break My Heart" Valentines for the boys. P's was filled with M&M's, he loved it! I made W's with these really delicious chocolate cherry swirl Dove chocolates. There is a tutorial HERE. The only thing I did differently was to reduce my stitch width for the perforation step so that it would tear a little easier.

We (generally) don't do big gifts at Valetine's Day, maybe a card or some candy and flowers. For W, I decided to make a really fantastic meal. I have to say, it might be one of the best meals I have ever made. We had lamb shank braised with rosemary, onions, carrots and white wine (recipe, Creating a Stir) because W LOVES lamb and we rarely buy nice cuts of meat like that. I also made Pioneer Woman's burgundy mushrooms (I 4th'd the recipe and it was still way more than we needed for two people). These were absolutely TO. DIE. FOR. Truly, the flavor is out of this world, and the broth...I have no words. You'll want to lap it right out of the pan. I combined it with some of the braising liquid to make a delicious sauce that I drizzled over the lamb, mushrooms and creamy mashed potatoes.

It was so good, but we were too full to eat after just a few bites and will be feasting on leftovers this week. This isn't a great picture, it was really dark!

W was so sweet, he gave me a beautiful fleur-de-lis necklace. I love it! It's such a symbol of New Orleans, something fun to remember this year by.

Sweets for the Sweet: Chocolate-Raspberry-Coconut Squares

2012-02-12T13:51:00.001-06:00

Today, I'm sharing one of my all-time favorite recipes from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks (Creating a Stir, put out by the Lexington Medical Society Auxiliary). Every recipe I've tried from this book has been fantastic and a definite "I'll make this again." Great cookbook!

Today's "Sweets for the Sweet" are Chocolate-Raspberry-Coconut Squares. They are bar cookies, made in several layers with a few of, in my opinion, the best flavors in the world! There is something irresistable about chocolate and raspberry paired together, top that with coconut and you've got yourself a deal! Not to mention, they are very easy and sure to turn out perfectly. They also seem 'special,' so I wouldn't hesitate to package them up and give them as a gift, serve them when friends come over, or send with my "Sweet" for a little Valentine's Day lunch surprise.

How it's done and what you need:

Crust:
1 c. all-purpse flour
1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, chilled and cut into pieces

Middle Layer:
1 c. sweetened condensed milk (yes, please!!)
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 c. flaked coconut
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Topping:
1/2 c. raspberry preserves
1/3 c. flaked coconut, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine flour and brown sugar, cut in chilled butter with a fork or pastry cutter until uniformly crumbly. Press into greased 9" square pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking, mix up the middle layer. In a large bowl, combine condensed milk, flour, baking powder, salt, and eggs. Mix well then stir in chocolate chips, coconut and pecans.

Spread middle layer mixture over the prepared crust. Spread gently to avoid breaking up the crust. (The condensed milk really makes this delicious!)

After spreading evenly, bake 20-25 minutes, until a knife in the center comes out clean. Mine was perfect at 20.

While this is baking, toast the coconut for topping. It's not hard, just watch it like a hawk. Spread coconut in a thin layer on a baking sheet and stick under the broiler with the oven door open. Pull it out the instant you start to see color, stir and put back in if needed. Never walk away!

After baking, spread the raspberry preserves evenly over the hot cookie and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Let cool completely before slicing them up.

These are absolutely decadent and delicious! You won't be able to stop eating them. Enjoy and treat your sweetie!

Sweets for the Sweet: "Love Letters"

2012-02-10T14:07:00.002-06:00

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought for the next few days I would feature some sweet treats. Some old, some new, all delectable and all destined to make your holiday just a little...sweeter!

I posted about the "Brownies of My Dreams" (above) not too long ago, they are rich and decadent and perfect when eaten warm with maybe a fresh strawberry and a dollop of whipped cream. Yummy-yum!

Today, I tried a new recipe, from a very old book. My grandmother gives these books to each granddaughter who gets married. It's such a neat book, with recipes from the 1920's through the 60's. There are standards like sugar cookies and chocolate chip, and also the old-fashioned versions that are a little more time consuming or call for ingredients we don't use so often anymore. There are cookies filled with jam, citrus zest or folded into intricate patterns. It's a treasure, I enjoy just flipping through it and I always make something new from this book at Christmas.

I saw this recipe and thought I would give it a try. "Love Letters."

I halved the recipe above, used only orange zest, added a little vanilla and a drop or two of food coloring and used mini m&m's instead of candied cherry.

Cute little envelopes, folded and sealed with a sweet bite of chocolate...or a kiss. The orange zest makes this cookie bright, fragrant and fresh and the sour cream adds a little creaminess. They aren't super sweet, so they're the perfect bite with a cup of hot, black tea.

These are simple to make, mix dry ingredients as described above. Then cut in the cold butter with a fork and knife or a pastry cutter. It should look crumbly.

Add the sour cream and dab of food coloring if you want, mix well, roll into a ball and CHILL IN THE REFRIGERATOR FOR ABOUT 30 minutes. Believe me, this step will make your life easier!

After chilling, roll out the dough on a well floured surface. I used a pizza cutter to cut strips then a spatula to lop off the corners. Fold points in and seal with a small piece of candy.

Bake about 6 minutes at 400 F. Enjoy!

Think it Through Thursday

2012-02-09T11:56:00.000-06:00

I just started reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts. If you haven't read it, put it on your list and have a box of tissues ready at your side. It's a book you should read slowly, to be digested slowly. She deals with big, hard questions in this book and talks about real, hard life issues. It's convicting and inspiring in so many ways, God speaks through scripture on every page In the book, the author is struggling, (at least in the first 5 chapters) to grasp and fully know the joy that God promises in a world that is full of pain and loss. Ann's premise is that ingratitude is what keeps us from seeing and knowing God's grace, at the challenge of a friend she begins to list one thousand gifts. Many are simple, everyday things. Noticing beauty in the common, in the details. She looks at this list as a way to learn gratitude, to be thankful and to see God's grace in the big things, one has to be thankful for (and notice) the small. Here is a section of the book that I found particularly convicting.

"It is true, I never stop wanting to learn the hard eucharisteo (thanksgiving) for the deathbeds and dark skies and the prodigal sons. But I accept this is the way to begin, and all hard things come in due time and with practice. [...] Gratitude for the seemingly insignifican--a seed--this plants the giant miracle. The miracle of eucharisteo, like the Last Supper, is in the eating of crumbs, the swallowing down one mouthful. Do not disdain the small. The whole of the life--even the hard--is made up of the minute parts, and if I miss the infinitesimals, I miss the whole. These are new language lessons, and I live them out. There is a way to live the big of giving thanks in all things. It is this: to give thanks in this one small thing. The moments will add up.

I, too, had read it often, the oft-quoted verse: " And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:20). And I, too, would nod and say straight-faced, "I'm thankful for everything." But in this counting gifts, to one thousand, more, I discover that slapping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving over everything in my life leaves me deeply thankful for very few things in my life. A lifetime of sermons on "thanks in all things" and the shelves sagging with books on these things and I testify: life-changing gratitude does not fasten to a life unless nailed through with one very specific nail at a time." (p. 57)

I am so guilty of that "slapping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving," especially in my prayers. "Lord, thank you for your many blessings." Does not acknowledging each blessing keep me from fully seeing the incredible gift? I think this acknowledging would definitely focus my mind and heart on what I have been given, on the grace, rather than on what I don't have. Contentment starts here. I'm tempted to start a list of my own, train my eyes and mind and heart to see the grace in everyday things.

Valetine's Day Pinterest Love

2012-02-08T13:19:00.000-06:00

I don't think I need to talk up Pinterest because everyone is addicted, but I do have a little Pinterest love for you today. A few Valentine's Day ideas to get those creative juices flowing!

1. Fabric appliqued Valentines
2. Easy Felt Heart Garland
3. "You Break My Heart" Candy filled paper Valentines
4. Fun idea for a child's friends or class: Heart shaped crayon Valentines.
5. Super simple felt fortune cookies! Love this!
6. Swirly Sugar Cookies

Boy Belt in a Snap Tutorial

2012-02-07T12:11:00.005-06:00

Since P has gotten a little bigger and is wearing more pants with beltloops, I've been wanting to make him a belt. Toddler size belts are in limited supply out there. The other day, I noticed this one of my husband's, it gave me a few ideas.

Source

You've probably seen belts like this, made of simple woven cotton belting covered with fabric and sometimes sports insignias. I thought it would be a relatively easy thing to reproduce with some neat variations to make it a little more young and fun. I went with a striped, linen look fabric, but it would also be really fun to use a bright print, embroider designs or use fabric paint to stamp or stencil.

I've included two different 'routes' in this tutorial. Both are very quick, less than an hour, but one is much simpler and the other is a little more involved. Either way, you'll end up with a great toddler belt that no one will believe you made!

Here's what you need:

Notes:
     *If you want to take the simpler method, use two, one inch d-rings and no snaps.
       If you want snaps, also pick up some gel super glue or liquid stitches.
     *I used one inch wide belting, you could go a little wider for an older child (with
       bigger pants ;).
     *I just realized the picture below could be a bit confusing, the cardstock is three
      quarters of an inch wide and for the belting length take your child's waist plus 5 or
      6 inches.

Prepping the Fabric
Take the fabric for the belt front and back and the cardstock strip to your ironing board. (P.S. If you're going to be using the snaps, choose a fairly thin cloth, mine is really thin, linen-look. I only needed 1/8 yd). Center the cardstock on the fabric, fold the edges over and iron.

Do this for both pieces of fabric, now you have two lovely, straight strips of single fold bias tape (although it's not cut on the bias) that are exactly 3/4" wide.

(Sooo...obviously what I should be sewing is a new ironing board cover...)

Attaching Fabric to Belting:
Take the shorter piece of fabric, starting at one end of the belting, center the fabric and pin in place.

Set your machine to a dense zig-zag and stitch across the raw end as shown. (I tucked the sides in a little so that the stitches will be hidden behind the fabric on the other side.)

Return to a straight stitch and edgestitch all the way around the shorter fabric piece, attaching it to belting. Next, take the longer fabric strip, center and pin in place on the other side of the belt. Sew around the edges. Trim ends if needed.

End Tab:
Now grab your 2" x 2" square, it's going to be a tab to cover the raw end of the belt that has fabric on both sides.

OK! If you are taking the simple route, this is your last step!! If you are going it the other way, you're almost to the tricky part :).

SIMPLE ROUTE (D-Ring Belt Buckle):
Thread the raw end of the belt through TWO one inch d-rings (photo below only shows one, but they're attached the same way). Fold the raw end under and sew across the fold, forward and backstitching securely. That's it! You have a cool, grown up boy belt with tons of easy variations. Different colored belting, bright fabrics, you name it! To fasten, thread tabbed end through both d-rings, then (reverse direction) around the first d-ring and through the second. Easy to adjust and it keeps those pants up around the waist instead of the knees!

SNAP CLOSURE ROUTE:
Attach ONE one inch d-ring to the raw end of the belt, shown below. On to the next step!

(Ignore the fact that I started out using a 1 1/4" d-ring here)

SNAP PLACEMENT:

I recommend starting with one snap stud and decorative prong cap on the tabbed end of the belt. The side with the shorter piece of fabric is what will show when the belt is pulled through the d-ring then back over itself to snap closed. So the decorative side will be on the shorter piece of fabric. Go ahead and set this snap. (See my tips for snap setting further down the page).

Now, try the belt on your child, while he is wearing a pair of pants with belt loops. Pull the end until it fits, make a mark where the snap socket side should go (this is going to be the tightest setting on your belt). Go ahead and set the socket snap in place

Where you add the other snap sockets so that the belt has adjustable lengths is up to you, tape them in place then experiment before you set them. I used decorative prong caps (with sockets or studs) anywhere that they would show. I like the look of them across the front of the belt.

*The bottom belt was my first sample, see how the Dritz snap setter indented the cap? I like the top belt better, using matching prong caps where they show turned out nicer.

Snap Setting Tips:
1) Don't try to use the Dritz snap setter recommended for size 24 snaps. It only works for one side and bends up the snaps horribly. Go with the spool of thread/hammer method described on the snap packaging. I found that if I started with light taps as I rotated the spool of thread (the snap is only in contact with those four plastic spokes) the snap closed more evenly and securely. Then several hard taps, still rotating the spool.

2) The snaps are the part I love most from my original idea/sketches of this belt, they look so cool and industrial. BUT...there are a few limitations and endless variations on snap placement. The problem arises when a snap hits squarely at the d-ring. There are ways around it, but it limits the adjustability of your belt (this is a little hard to explain until you start fiddling around with snap placement, you'll see what I mean). If you decide to depart from my recommendations below, definitely tape them in place and experiment before you do anything permanent.

3) The belting is quite thick, but the snaps go through it pretty well. Thin fabric helps, but I had some snaps pull out of my first belt trial. After adding a few little dabs of super glue to the prongs, they worked perfectly. The gel is good because it doesn't bleed.

Rather than setting all the snaps at once, you could just add snaps as your child grows...although I could see myself doing that and having a Sunday morning that goes a little something like this :

Husband: "Are you ready yet?"

Me: "Yes, just one second, where's the hammer?"

Husband: "Hammer, what are you doing? We're going to be late and P's pants are falling down."

Me: "I. Know. That. Just get in the car, I'll be right there."

So cute! I'm going to have fun experimenting with patterns and colors. This could be a great women's belt as well!

P.S. If you make one, let me know how it went. Leave comments or add photos to the Flickr pool, "You Sewed!"

Yay!

2012-02-05T18:38:00.004-06:00

P has been babbling like crazy the past few weeks and saying some recognizable words more consistently. After Mama and Papa, his favorite word is 'ball,' which sounds like 'baw' with a big 'w' at the end. It's very cute and he says it all the time, over and over, and points and says 'ball' when he sees them. Last night he started saying 'yay'! The husband and I both say it all the time and hearing it come out of his little baby face, perfectly articulated is just too much. We spent all of dinner time trying to get him to say it. Fun!

At church this morning I got a really nice surprise! My friend, Mrs. D, our pastor's wife, beckoned me over and handed me a gigantic bag of buttons! YAY!

It was so sweet of her to share them, many came from her mother, but she saw this post and knew how much I adore unique buttons. I am definitely enjoying them already and I'm going to have to come up with some projects specifically to fit some of these cool buttons.

I spent a little time this afternoon watching a movie and sorting them out by color on a big baking sheet. It was exactly my kind of fun, so many different sizes, shapes, colors, and materials. (In the car on the way home from church, I was 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over them and my husband said I was like a seven-year-old girl excited about a hobby.) There were a bunch of vintage glass buttons-those milky white ones on the left above are all glass. There were some really interesting things too...

These are smaller than a pea, made of black glass and set with a rhinestone, very 'special occasion.'

There were six of these "Indian Head" nickel buttons, when in the world were they manufacturing "Indian Head" nickel buttons and for what purpose? There were some other really neat metal buttons in shapes and designs I'd never seen before.

These are large, painted plastic and are a bit worn and chipped, but would be really special with a coat of bright, glossy spray paint.

Here are a few of my favorites. Love the colors and interesting shapes.

This one is tiny, clear glass with an etched design. So dainty!

These might be my favorite of the whole bunch! They are heavy and made of glass. I'm kind of nuts about them!

Thanks, Mrs. D! If you're seeing some of these for the first time and thinking: "Maybe I'd like to take those back now," you just let me know! :)

Are you like me? Looking at all these beauties makes me think I should have been snipping the buttons off my clothes before giving them to Goodwill all these years. But if you snip off the cute ones, do you have to replace them with plain ones so you're not just donating junk?

It's a conundrum indeed.

Sewing and Stewing

2012-02-03T09:05:00.000-06:00

I've had a bad cold this week so sewing and posting have been on the back burner, but I've been 'stewing' over some projects and I'm particularly excited about one that I'll post about soon!

I can't believe it's already February, Valentine's Day is coming. I was thinking about what I wanted to do for Baby P this year and couldn't help remembering what I put him through in 2011.

It wasn't all bad, I got a few smiles in there! But really, the things we will do for pictures! There are no end of photos where parents have positioned babies in uncomfortable looking ways surrounded by piles of things--from fruit to puppies to... construction paper hearts.

I posted some new overalls on Etsy this week. Of course P gets the sample, I'm really happy with how they turned out, they have elastic around the bottom so the legs "balloon" out a little. They look so cute and summery in this seersucker without a shirt underneath. LOVE! Also love that P is obsessed with wearing my sunglasses. Watch out Jacqueline Kennedy, you've got some competition.

On a different note, the entries for this weeks Project Run and Play competition were posted this morning and I am wild about this dress from Danielle at My Sparkle. Her designs have been my favorite all along the way, but this dress is fantastic. I love the sheer white over the blue underskirt and the cute pom-pom trim. I think it would be a really fun idea for a summer skirt for me! Love, love, love!

Brownies and the Bachelor

2012-01-31T13:30:00.000-06:00

Oh, the Bachelor! What in the world is going on with this season? Has there ever been a woman as abrasive and sickening as Courtney? It makes me ill to think that there are women out there who really believe that using mind (and body) games and manipulation to "win" a man is acceptable! It shows so little respect for men and her extreme arrogance...it's painful.

"I wonder if he's ever gone skinny-dipping with a model before?"

"Winning!"

My two favorites are Casey B. and Emily, they are genuine and smart and very 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get.' It must be maddening to have to live 24 hours a day in a small space with Courtney and her obnoxious facial expressions. Even though I see Emily digging her own grave every time she bashes Courtney to Ben, I can sympathize with her and it would be tough not to try to take the whole thing into your own hands. Frustrating! And Ben, get a haircut, man!

Source

Luckily for me, yesterday afternoon, I was craving brownies and made a yummy batch so I had one (or five) to sweeten the whole Bachelor experience. These are "The Brownies of My Dreams." I ruled out a lot of recipes before I found them and believe you me, I have a pretty specific set of guidelines. I don't like crisp edges, chewiness, icing, filling or cake-like texture. I love dense, dark chocolately, not too sweet, European style brownies. Nuts and chocolate chips are fine in the right proportions. After trying many recipes and reading many more, I've determined the things you need to look for in a good brownie recipe (if you have the same brownie needs as myself, of course).

-Not too much flour. If the recipe calls for a ratio of more than 1 cup of flour to
5-7 oz. chocolate, then it's going to be cakey. Cakey = not good.
-Lots of chocolate. Calls for melted chocolate, not just cocoa powder.
-Calls for eggs but NOT baking powder or soda. Powder or soda makes them too fluffy and cake-like.
-Calls for butter, not oil.

Here they are!

I cut them small because I like my chocolate bite-sized and often.

The Brownies of My Dreams:
1 stick of butter
2 T. of strong, brewed coffee (Is there any other kind, really?)
6-7 oz. of bittersweet or semi-sweet baking chocolate or a combination
2 T. cocoa powder
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 large eggs
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350, grease a piece of parchment paper (or foil) to line an 8x8 baking pan.

Melt butter and chocolate in a small saucepan, add cocoa powder, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Continue stirring over low heat until sugar mostly dissolved. Remove from heat.

Lightly beat 3 eggs in a separate small bowl or cup, slowly add about a cup of the hot chocolate mixture into the eggs stirring constantly, then add eggs back into the saucepan, still stirring. (This is called tempering the eggs and it's a really important step, nobody likes scrambled egg curls in their brownies.) Add salt then whisk in flour a little at a time until smooth. If you want nuts or chocolate chips, stir them in now.

Pour a bit of batter onto the parchment (helps weigh it down while you fold corners like wrapping a package so that you'll end up with a nice square edge). Add the rest of the batter. The good thing about baking with parchment is you can just lift the whole pan of brownies out and onto a cutting board after they cool. It would be great for cakes and things too!

I used foil because I'm out of parchment, but parchment is best.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick or fork comes out with crumbs stuck to it. If the stick comes out clean, then they are overdone.

Delightful, delectable, brownies of my dreams...I think I'll have one now.

A few ways to tell for sure that you are in NOLA

2012-01-30T16:47:00.000-06:00

1) Trees are blooming and budding and it is January.

2) It's 65-75 degrees outside and it is January.

3) It's 65 degrees outside in January, you and your family are dressed in short sleeves, but the locals are wearing turtleneck sweaters, tights, and wool coats.

4) Because it's a beautiful 70 degreese outside, you decide to grill out. When you stop at a convenience store for charcoal, they tell you they only sell it in the summer.

5) You go to a church potluck and approximately half the dishes contain seafood.

6) The fact that half the dishes at a church potluck contain seafood doesn't surprise you or send you screaming "FOOD POISONING" in the other direction, you proceed to eat it and pronounce it delicious.

7) You can run around the corner for beignets. (Or, as I like to call them, "Beign-YAYS!")

8) A wondrous thing called Praline Bacon exists here and is available to delight your tastebuds. (GO TO Elizabeth's)

9) You see signs for drive-through daiquiris. (You just can't put the straw in the cup until you arrive at your destination.)

10) The only thing that outnumbers the lifesize, blow-up football players in front yards are the number of friendly people you meet everywhere!

Little Man Letterman Sweater Tutorial

2012-01-28T15:32:00.002-06:00

I like cardigans and sweaters for boys that have something different or unique about them. One glance through the girls section at Target yields a cartful of fun clothes, but for the boys it's all fleece zip-ups, hoodies, and sweatshirts. We have our share of those, some very cute! Maybe it's because college basketball season is in full swing, but vintagey looking sportswear with all of its stripes and letters and embroidery has been on my mind!

So I picked up an X-Large, men's t-shirt for $4.99, a little piece of gray, ribbed knit from Hancocks, and raided my button bag and ribbon scrap box to make this:

Here's how!

Create Pattern Pieces:

Grab a loose fitting long sleeved t-shirt that fits your little cutie, a fabric marker, scissors and the men's t-shirt (or similar knit fabric). Use the child's shirt as a template and trace a back and a front piece giving a little extra width if need be so that the cardigan won't be too snug. I positioned these front and back pieces so that I could use the existing t-shirt hem as the bottom of my cardigan (saved a little time). Trace the front piece just like the t-shirt, we will make it into two pieces in the next step. Now trace two sleeves but don't taper them to the wrist! You want to cut them straight from the underarm to the cuff. Cut out your four pieces. (See rough sketch of pattern pieces below)

Front Opening:

Take the front piece and fold it in half so that the fold is along what will become the front opening. Take your marker and trace a curve from the shoulder to about the middle of the front (in a very gradual, gentle 'v'). Cut along this line and then straight up the fold from the bottom. Now you will have a left and right front piece with a "v" neck. Here are the basic shapes you should have once you're done cutting.

Attach front to back and add sleeves:

With right sides together stitch front and back pieces together at the shoulders. Next, take a sleeve and match the shoulder seam to the top center of the sleeve, pin and sew. Repeat for the other side. (You should have open sides and open sleeves).

Front Edge and Collar:

For the collar and front edging, cut a 5 1/2 to 6 inch wide strip of ribbed knit (with the grain) long enough to line the front opening, go around the neckline then back down the front plus a little extra for seam allowance on each bottom end. Fold the strip in half with right sides together and sew across each bottom end. Now turn right sides out (this will leave you with clean, finished bottom edges).

Now pin the doubled strip of ribbed knit to the right side of the cardigan opening-matching raw edges. Sew all the way around using a stretch stitch or zig-zag stitch set on 0 stitch width, finish seam using serger or zig-zag.

Now flip the ribbed knit "open" and topstitch (still using a stretch stitch) all the way around the seam of cardigan and ribbed knit. This helps it stay put, cleans up the seam inside and gives a more professional finish.

Here's the inside.

Sleeve Stripes:

For the sleeve stripes, you could use single fold bias tape or strips of knit fabric, I used twill tape. The red is poly (but it feels and looks like cotton) and the gray is cotton that used to be handles on an Anthropologie bag (Ha! That's a lesson in not throwing away anything textile related :)!

Lay the sleeve flat, position the trim in rows, straight across the sleeve and pin in place. Raw ends are fine, they will be sewn into the seam when you stitch the sleeves closed. Sew the trim in place, stitching along each edge.

To Close up the Sides and Sleeves:

Turn the cardigan right sides together, and pin, matching raw edges, all the way from the bottom edge to the armpit then down the sleeve to wrist opening. Sew together using a stretch stitch, finish raw edges and repeat this process for the other side.

Cuffs:

For the cuffs, cut two rectangles of ribbed knit 4 inches wide and as long as the circumference of your child's wrist plus 1/2 inch. Ribbed knit is stretchy in all directions, but most stretchy against the grain. The ribs should be perpendicular to the long side of your cuff so that they are nice and stretchy (check out the photos just to double check).

Fold the cuff in half with right sides together and sew along short sides of the rectangle, press seam open. Turn cuff right side out and fold double so that the two long, raw edges are together and the seam is hidden inside. Now put cuff around sleeve (right sides together) matching raw edges and seams, pin in place. You will need to stretch the cuff open as you pin so that the sleeve is evenly spaced, now stitch the sleeve and cuff together (important to use a stretch stitch here) stretching cuff open as you sew. Trim raw edges if needed and finish seam with serger or zig-zag. Repeat for the other cuff.

It will look a little wonky on the inside, but awesome and professional when you turn it to the right side!

Buttons and Buttonholes:
Last step! Starting just under the "v," mark button and buttonhole placement on the ribbed knit edge. I used 3 buttons, you could do less or more depending on the cardigan size. I did not reinforce the buttonholes with interfacing, that wouldn't be a bad idea, but the double layer of knit holds its shape pretty well.

I LOVE how it turned out. It's comfy and wearable and lightweight enough for a NOLA winter. Imagine how stinkin' cute this would be in a newborn size! Good thing I've got some friends having baby boys soon!

Go Team!! C---A---T---S! CATS, CATS, CATS!!

I'm toying with the idea of adding a letter P, I went so far as to cut it out of felt and back it with interfacing. The next step was going to be adding french knots all over, really close together to give it that old-fashioned, "carpeted" letter look, but I'm not sure. I don't want this to look overly 'costumey.' It is, however, an option and could be super cute!

P.S. If you sew up one of these, I would love to know how it goes! Leave comments or add some pictures to my Flickr group "You Sewed" and maybe be featured on my blog. Just click the Flickr tab under the header!

"Bring-Me-Some-Spring" Reversible Coat

2012-01-26T14:19:00.001-06:00

I've been completely fascinated by this season of Project Run and Play, the things that these ladies are whipping out week after week is amazing! They have such great ideas and even better, they are able to execute them! This week is outerwear and since I had snagged the perfect fabric (I've been eyeing it for weeks and waiting for a sale. Finally got it for $3.99 a yard! Yes!) I decided to go ahead and sew it up so that I could "Sew Along."

I'm so happy with how it turned out. I call it the "Bring-Me-Some-Spring" Reversible Coat, because while it might still be a little sober, dark and gray outside, the bright colors and sunny, blue skies of spring are just around the corner...

(Get it? Reversible coat... ;)

I love this lightweight, gray suiting fabric! It is soft and sturdy, warm but not bulky(bulky is bad for the ol' carseat) and machine washable. I saw it on the shelves in the fall and thought it was perfect for a boy coat. The line of bright blue is still playful enough for little guys and the dashed white line gives it a 'ticking' stripe feel. Both sides of the jacket have welt pockets (with a fun, contrasting color inside).

The fall and winter side has corduroy covered buttons. The underside of the collar is bright blue and because this coat is size 2/3 the sleeves are a little long but P will be able to wear it all through next year-I like the cuffs and pop of color that they add.

The spring side is a soft, baby wale corduroy in what I refer to as eye-popping blue. The buttons are flaming red stitched on with sunny yellow thread. I love the colors and I think P will wear this a lot during the cool spring months when we are all craving warm weather but it's still too cold for warm weather clothes.

Shoo, catching this guy in one place was a chore! I kept standing him where I wanted then sprinting away to snap a few photos then repeating the whole process again. It's worth it!

I used the 2-in-1 Reversible Coat pattern from Figuerosa and LePage's book Sewing for Boys but I added welt pockets to both sides. It's a really great pattern with lots of room for adapting to your own taste and style. I kept it pretty simple to reduce bulk and because I like simple clothes for boys!

Peter Pan Hat PDF

2012-01-26T09:06:00.001-06:00

I am finally getting around to posting the PDF pattern for the hat that I made for P's Peter Pan Halloween costume. I made the pattern "from scratch" so only for personal use, thank you!

This could easily be used for a Robin Hood, medieval archer, elf, or brownie costume as well, use your imagination! I think dress-up is so fun for little guys. I can't wait until P understands! I have great plans for the best dress-up box in the history of the WORLD... (cue maniacal laughter)

Anyway...it keeps them busy and thinking and creative and playing actively, which is awesome.

Click on the picture above to download or print.

Because of the shape of this hat, I think you could probably use it for any child from 1 year to 4 or 5 years old. Just measure first and add a little extra fabric if you need to. For best results, make this hat out of felt.

P.S. If you make this I would love to see how it goes! Leave some comments or add pictures to my Flickr group, "You Sewed!"

Fabric Covered Buttons

2012-01-25T15:02:00.000-06:00

I love adding fabric covered buttons to my projects. They can always go sweet and girly or funky and modern, but they're also great for boys since masculine trims and decorations are so limited. Buttons can add that little something extra and still be boyish. They're a great way to give new life to an old garment, adding them to a coat or cardigan is an easy upgrade and can give that sort of "vintagey/Anthropologie" feel that I'm crazy about (notice next time you go shopping how many really nice garments have fabric covered buttons).

I always use the Dritz brand, half-ball cover buttons, these are 3/4" size ($2.99 for 4). They are really easy to assemble without any tools and are very sturdy and secure after assembly, but you do have the option of prying off the backing if you make a mistake or need to change fabrics. The ones that require a tool cannot be undone. These can be thrown in the washer and dryer and come in many different sizes.

Purchase your buttons, when you open it up you'll find an equal number of curved front pieces and flat back pieces. Raid the scrap bag and cut rounds just a little larger on all sides than the button. (There is a template and some brief instructions on the back of the Dritz box.). One thing that I always do is sandwich a small circle of interfacing approximately the same size as the button between the button and fabric. The metal is so shiny that after stretching the fabric around the cover, it can still reflect through-even if it's not sheer. This takes away from the quality, something akin to wearing a flimsy dress without a slip. :)

Next use your thumbs to pull the fabric up and over the edges of the cover, catching it on the spikes. Once it is relatively smooth and evenly distributed, grab the button backing and pop it on. Easy peasy...

And with rewarding results!

What is happening here?!

2012-01-24T10:39:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I had a sweet little baby boy. He was mischievious and into everything, but relatively unaware of his misdemeanors.

Now, I am seeing a new side of this little man. Those of you with bigger children will be laughing at me and saying "Duh." I was surprised the first time he looked me in the face and deliberately did what he was instructed not to do. I was even more surprised when, after I took away a household item that he had decided was a fun toy, he screamed and tried to hit me. I've always known he had a little heart in need of grace (just like myself), but I had just never seen it so clearly.

I definitely didn't see it in 2010! Look at that face!

So...I consulted a few parenting books and decided on time out for his particular age and level of understanding. Happiest Toddler On the Block reccommends starting out by simply taking your child to another room (away from the situation at hand), leaving them there and walking out-using the "kind ignoring" technique. Then gradually you start a timer and persist in putting the child back into time out when he or she gets up. I have to tell you, P seemed to find this absolutely delightful. I knew the system wasn't working when every time-out session ended in fits of giggles and with P peeking through a crack in the door where I was watching to make sure he didn't get into anything.

So, last week I bought a time-out booster seat. It stays in the corner of our office with a kitchen timer beside it and I am commencing to faithfully administer time-outs. This discipline thing is one of those child rearing issues you don't think about when you are "oohing" and "ahhing" over soft, miniscule baby clothes at baby showers...unless it's a shower like the one we threw for C a few months ago. The guests went around and gave a piece of baby advice as C opened her gifts. It was funny and sweet and informational all at the same time.

"Enjoy every moment, they grow up too fast."

"Write down those little things they say and do because you won't remember it later."

"Don't feed your baby Vienna sausages at public events like piano recitals" (Thanks for that one, Ashley)

...all true and all great suggestions.

One I remember clearly was from C's Mom, she said:

"Someone has got to be in charge, it had better be you."

Amen, Mrs. H!

Constructing a Welt Pocket

2012-01-21T12:56:00.003-06:00

I used a new technique yesterday and I am so excited! I have all kinds of ideas brewing on what to do with these clever little pockets and I can't wait to share it with you so that you can plaster welt pockets onto everything too!

Welt Pockets in 10 Steps:

1) Decide how wide you want the opening of your pocket. (The one pictured is 4 1/2" for cold, little toddler paws.) Mark the length and position on the right side of your pattern piece and back this area with fusible interfacing. The large rectangle marked around the pocket opening represents the interfaced area.

2) Cut welt and pocket pieces. (one welt and one pocket per welt pocket)
Welt:
Cut a strip that is 1/2" longer on each end than the pocket opening (a little extra is fine, you can trim later before tucking in the raw ends) and twice the width that you want for the finished welt. Back this with fusible interfacing, fold it in half longways with wrong sides together and press (it's important that the long raw edges match perfectly).
Pocket Pouch:
This piece is shaped roughly like a kidney bean for this type of pocket placement but it would be a rectangle if you were adding welt pockets to the back of shorts or pants. The pocket needs to be 1/4" wider on each side than the pocket opening (the center crease pictured above is the area you need to measure, the length is up to you-deep pockets, shallow pockets, medium pockets, you choose!) Fold the pocket piece right sides together and press.

3) Match long raw edges of welt piece along pocket opening line. Pin in place. Lay pocket, right side down over the welt, matching pocket opening line and the pocket crease. Pin in place. (concave portion of the kidney bean/pocket pouch should be facing down)

4) Now use chalk or disappearing ink to mark stitching lines, 1/4" from the crease on each side and 1/4" from the pocket edges on each end. Stitch along marked line.

6) Press pocket to each side, creasing along seams (this will help when you turn the pocket to the inside).

6) Unfold. Inside the stitched rectangle, mark a straight line up the center and short diagonals from each corner. Carefully snip through all thicknesses along these lines, not cutting stitches.

7) Turn pocket and short raw pocket ends to the inside. With right sides together, match raw edges and sew pocket closed, sewing as close to the welt as possible without sewing through it. If the garment is unlined, finish pocket edges with zig-zag stitch or serger.

8) Now trim welt ends to 1/2" past pocket opening and tuck raw ends inside. I used the end of a writing pen to help do this.

9) Fold welt down and pin in place. Repeat on the other end.

10) Topstitch along each welt end. That's it! I did four of these babies in about half an hour, no sweat and very rewarding results! Use a heavy, duty needle for the topstitching!

Abundant: Think it Through Thursday (on Friday...)

2012-01-20T08:48:00.000-06:00

My husband and I were chatting the other day about New Year's Resolutions. It's been the topic of everything from radio shows to magazine articles to blog posts to...well, you get the idea. W said he thought a New Year's resolution was kind of silly, he thinks we should have resolutions and make changes all year long. I said I agreed, but that I also think there's something motivating about a fresh start. Although it can also be an excuse to put off making changes, "Oh, yeah, I'm starting my diet TOMORROW." "AFTER New Year's I'm going to start doing the dishes."

There's a blog I follow called The Lettered Cottage, if you haven't read it you should check it out. Anyway, this week Layla posted about choosing a word for the year. Not really a "resolution" so much as an idea or an inspiration or a reminder. It seemed to me in glancing through the links over at Lettered Cottage, that most of the words that people chose were verbs relating to attitudes and outlooks on life.

Words are powerful. They can be truly hurtful or incredibly encouraging. They can tear people down or bolster their confidence. They can make a marriage stronger or destroy it. Prayer (through the work of the Holy Spirit) has power to change us, it humbles our hearts and teaches us to lean on the Father and it's a way for us to come into the presence of God and pour out our hearts in supplication for hurting or sick friends, family or strangers. Words are a gift and we need to take care not to wield them like weapons or use them to make excuses.

One of my favorite books in the world is Rachel Jankovic's, Loving the Little Years. If you are a Mama raising babies and toddlers it is an absolute must-read! There's a section in this book where Rachel writes about having a one year old, a two year old and newborn twins all at the same time (gives me some perspective with my single 19 month old). She describes the craziness and how incredibly hard it was. She goes on to say that during this time (changing diapers for 4 and nursing 2), she caught herself using the word "overwhelmed" several times a day-in answer to questions about how she was doing and also to herself. I'm sure that no one observing her life would have called her nuts or selfish for feeling "overwhelmed," but Rachel said she realized that in a way she was throwing herself a pity party. She decided to cut that word out of her vocabulary, to dive into this hectic life that God had given her and tackle the work cheerfully. She replaced a negative word in her life with something positive and she said that there was a palpable change for the better in their household after her change of attitude.

We all do this with words. "I'm just worn out" or "I'm so stressed right now." These may be the truest words ever spoken, but maybe they shouldn't be spoken. Maybe take out these negative words and replace them with something positive. I know this is something I need to do on a daily basis. When my husband walks in and asks how my day was I often say "It was a LONG day." The unspoken insinuation being that it was very full of unpleasantness, too much to handle and I had to do lots of things I didn't want to do and the toddler ran me ragged (or didn't take a nap or shredded a whole roll of toilet paper or learned to climb on the dining room table or dropped an electric razor in the toilet...the list is endless). I'm going to start thinking of my days as "abundant" instead of burdened and long. I am abundantly blessed with work, abundantly blessed with friends and family and an awesome 19 month old and the best, kindest husband in the world.

I don't mean that I'm going to (or that I think anyone should) adopt a weird, sappy, sweet demeanor that just ignores hard, unpleasant, real-life stuff, but an attitude that says "I'm not going to dwell on the bad, I'm going to appreciate and revel in what I have." Imagine how great it would be if in 2012, everytime you start to say, "I'm so stressed, " you say "I am so blessed" or you think "I'm so annoyed" but instead you say "I'm overjoyed." It might seem a bit over-the-top at first, particularly if you start speaking in rhymes, but it could be a good reminder to chalk up all the many reasons you have to be thankful and give some perspective on the one or two that you may have to be legitimately stressed, annoyed or overwhelmed about.

Have an abundant year, everybody!

"Hey, Mr. Knickerbocker!"

2012-01-19T11:56:00.001-06:00

Thankfully, Barney has no place in this house, but when I started working on these knickers for Baby P, I remembered the song from when my sister (now 19) was a toddler and loved Barney and Baby Bop. She even had a Barney birthday party once. She caught a glimpse of the big, purple monstrosity and ran, terrified and shrieking, in the opposite direction...that's a good childhood memory. Anyway...

I made P some knickers. I don't know whether to call him "Squirmy" or "Bagger Vance." This little man is hard to catch in one place. He went from angelic to taking off his shoes to riding horsey on the arm of the couch in 2.5 seconds.

The back of these little shorts are pleated and have a strap and buckle to make the waist adjustable. Sort of a paper bag waist, boy style. They definitely have a 1920's or 30's schoolboy feel.

Here's P turning his pockets out, searching in vain for a rock he found on the playground.

Got it! Yes!

Instead of using elastic around the legs, I did (backwards) box pleats in the middle front and back of the cuff. They're still comfy and with enough ease to do some climbing. I left them a tad on the long side so he can wear them into the spring...although it feels like spring year round here in NOLA. I like the idea of mixing a more modern, casual top with the knickers on bottom.

This pic doesn't even show the shorts (I did not make the shirt or sweater), but I just couldn't resist those long, long eyelashes! Jealous, Maybelline?1

Blue suckers are 'da bomb" (dot) blogspot (dot) com!

Oh, this great day is about to get even better!

Wonder of wonders, a train went by. P ran up to the sidewalk and plopped down on the ground to point and say "Oooohhh" and clap.

Bye, bye!

Pattern Review: Burda 9990

2012-01-18T20:05:00.000-06:00

Burda 9990

Size A (2, 3 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Boys pant (three length options) and vest.

Description and My Experience:

I've been needing a good, basic pants pattern for a while. You know, one with pockets, button/zip fly, belt loops, cuffs- all those little details that add interest and an alternative to elastic for boys pants and shorts! These are really simple, classic looking pants and shorts. You could do them in lightweight fabrics for spring and summer or heavier for fall and winter. It would also be pretty simple to make them flat front although I like a little added volume.

I chose the size 2, mid-calf length short. Overall, I liked this pattern and will use it again (with my notes beside me). The instructions are a tad 'underexplained' at times and the cutting lines were a little difficult to follow. The finishing instructions are ok (more on this in "Things You Should Know"). You need some prior knowledge to finish this garment perfectly on the inside as well as the outside. I found the illustrations very helpful. This is a pretty simple pattern, the only challenge is the zip fly. I got this pair done (minus the hem) in the space of one nap :), about 2 1/2 hours. Not too bad!

(I left off the belt loops, changed the waist band and cuffs since I'm planning to do something interesting with these shorts...hopefully interesting and not dumb looking :)

Things You Should Know about Burda 9990:
1) You need to be at least an experienced intermediate sewist to navigate this pattern. The instructions on attaching the zipper and figuring out the self-facings are not very helpful unless you have done it before, I'd suggest finding a tutorial online somewhere (or instructions from another pattern) and using that to fill in the gaps.

2) While the finishing on the outside of the garment looks professional, the finishing instructions do leave something to be desired.
A couple of things that stuck out to me:
      -Most patterns remind you to finish the raw edges of self facings before putting
       in zippers or button holes or whatever, this one did not.
      -It would be a good idea to finish the raw edges of the pocket/hip yoke before
      attaching the front and back pieces of the pant together at side seams. You could
      probably get away with just pinking these, but I hate seeing a mess of raveling
      threads every time I look inside a garment.

3) When you start cutting, beware!

4) Next time, I want to add topstitching to reinforce my seams on the sides and rise (front and back). That's not included in this pattern and to topstitch the rise youwould have to change the order of the directions a bit.

If you have used this pattern! Leave your comments.

Busy...

2012-01-17T19:53:00.000-06:00

Even though it's just Tuesday, I've had a busy week so far! I have a couple of Etsy orders to work on and I'm sewing some stuff for P. I will post more tomorrow. Here's a quick phone pic of an applique I'm doing...I love the colors...stinkin' cute.

Sunday Morning Goodness

2012-01-15T17:07:00.000-06:00

I love restful Sunday mornings before church. No TV, no loud music, just family hanging around in the kitchen or living room, maybe reading books or playing with Baby P and talking. I like to make something yummy for breakfast, not always elaborate, just something out of the ordinary.

This morning I had a yen for Eggs Benedict. ("I'm up to my ears in yens." Rory, Gilmore Girls Season 1) The real kind with poached eggs-something I had heretofore never attempted and real hollandaise-something I am totally wild about.

Let me just tell you, this breakfast was to die for and it only took about 15 minutes. No joke, the sauce is the most time consuming part and it is not bad at all! I used Julia Child's recipes for the hollandaise and the eggs. I always thought these two things were tricky, and I guess if you compare them to rice or frozen pizza, they could be considered tricky. Even so, I have not had a flop batch of sauce when following Julia's detailed instructions, and it is sooo, sooo tasty! Creamy, buttery and tangy all in one.

Hollandaise Tips: If you melt the first, large amount of butter in the microwave, you can do the sauce in one pan. (This is a small thing but it means a lot to me, I'd rather throw a small bowl in the dish washer than handwash two saucepans.) Definitely get the white pepper, it has a totally different taste than black that really compliments the creamy, butteriness. I use bottled lemon juice and I usually half Julia's recipe since there are just the three of us. I use two eggs instead of three and half the butter, it still turns out.

I do suggest halfing the recipe or you will be standing alone over the sink, eating hollandaise with a spoon because it is just too good to throw out.

This is all merely hypothetical, you understand.

Now for the poached eggs. I was very nervous about this, especially after seeing Julie and Julia where she screams and cries over poached eggs.

While it was reminiscent of chasing a jelly fish around a pan with a spoon, it just was not that bad. I brought the water to a "gentle boil", did the vinegar, used a spoon to make sure the yolk wasn't showing, boiled for 4 minutes and they were great!

They look like weird little alien eggs sitting here in the hot, salted water (as per Julia's instructions), but they tasted great and the yolk was soft but not too runny-I like a little texture difference between my sauce and my egg yolk).

I will live to poach again!

I did the sauce first and kept it warm. While the eggs were poaching, I toasted English muffins, sauteed a little frozen spinach in a tablespoon of butter then just had to throw it all together. (muffin, a little sauce, spinach, egg, sauce, a twist of fresh ground pepper)

It does my heart good to see my baby "Hoarking Down" forkfuls of Eggs Benedict. (Yes, that's a little Ratatouille reference.)

He loved it! A great Sunday morning

"Sewing For Boys" Follow-Up

2012-01-14T14:15:00.000-06:00

I had a couple questions from a loyal reader (my friend H ;) about the Sewing for Boys book that I posted about HERE. A few more facts:

1) This book has contains 24 different patterns! That's a great value, one book, 24 patterns, 24 sets of great directions and tons of new techniques and basics that you'll use again.

2) The clothes featured in this book are wearable and they look like boys clothes-not girly. Some are really simple (like sweat pants and raglan t's) and some are for special occasions. There are sizes 0-6 for a few things, but most are size 2-7. That's a lot of years to cover in one book! A lot of years when boys are rolling around in the dirt...a lot of ruined clothes needing replacement...

3) I like how the book is organized. It's "A Year in the Life of a Boy." The first four chapters are the four different seasons, with 4 clothing projects in each season-from a great pair of PJ's to swim trunks to a reversible coat to a hooded pullover. Everything has directions for beautiful, professional finishing, but the book is still really practical. The fifth is all fun things: a playmat with a racetrack, a lego carrying kit and more. The last chapter shows you some techniques for recycling old t-shirts: applique to cover up stains, fishing hat, patchwork blanket. Tons of great ideas!

So, if you have any other questions just post a comment! I am going to be working on a super lightweight spring/fall jacket for P using this book so I will post that soon!

If you haven't already, get on over to Project Run and Play to see the great designs for Boys Week!

Recipe for Cutting a Toddler's Hair

2012-01-13T16:41:00.000-06:00

Ingredients:

Four dum-dum suckers: One per grubby little fist (x 2)

One episode of Sesame Street

One high chair with five point harness

2-4 Hands

One sharp pair of scissors

Lots of agility to keep tiny fingers and/or dum-dum suckers away from aforementioned scissors
-I recommend an intensive training regimen in preparation. (i.e. hot potato,
Dutch Blitz, Scrabble slam)

One well-rested toddler

More than a few pinches of patience

Optional:
Haircutting Skill

"FFF..."

2012-01-12T11:59:00.001-06:00

Just in case you were wondering, the subject of this post is not meant to be suggestive of a curse word. Hee hee. It's an imitation of Baby P.

He has started mimicking us a lot more lately: trying to put Q-tips in his ears (Yes, scary, and yes, those have now moved to an out of reach location.), trying to put on his own socks (totally adorable), trying to operate the DVD player (much to my dismay) and lately blowing his nose and blowing on hot food.

Problem is, he hasn't figured it out completely so he holds a tissue up to his nose and goes "Ffffffff" through his lips.

Here he is eating some of my (yummy, if I do say so myself) homemade chicken noodle soup. He LOVES chicken noodle soup, the whole time he's eating it he says "MMM, num num," it is quite gratifying. In between bites, he holds a noodle to his mouth and "blows" on it with a "Fffff." Too cute. He looks at us, all proud of himself because he's accomplished a perceived grown-up thing.

Here he is smelling it...

Mmmm...Num, num...

Fffffff....

He did something grown-up yesterday too! He's finally figured out not to eat the markers and crayons.

That picture may or may not be on my refrigerator...

My Chicken Salad (or my attempt at Stanley J's Chicken Salad)

2012-01-11T12:11:00.002-06:00

There's a little place in KY that I love called Stanley J's. It is a family owned deli that sells yummy sandwiches on Great Harvest bread, desserts, soups, dips, potato salads and the best, best chicken salad. It is simple, tasty, and no weird fruits or nuts.

The problem is, "There WAS a little place in KY that I LOVED...they USED TO MAKE the best, best chicken salad..."

Ahhhhh...so sad! Stanley J's closed in the fall and all they left me with were delightful memories...a vague list of ingredients from the container and my own observations of the chicken salad's physical appearance.

"Very finely shredded chicken (Maybe food processed?) chopped fresh
parsley, fine chopped celery, chopped green onions"

So! I set about recreating this delicious dish! Here it goes! (I'm not going to share it today, but whenever I make chicken salad I also make chicken noodle soup. It's crazy to waste that delicious broth and a lot of the ingredients overlap.)

Ingredients
2-3 lbs of chicken (bone in breasts or whole chicken, with or without skin, if you buy a
large value pack, just cook all the chicken together and use it for
other recipes or soup)
2 stalks of celery (with leaves, etc..)
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped (with skin,etc...)
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 T dried basil
1 T whole black peppercorns
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp dried dill
2 bay leaves
1 T dried tarragon
1 tsp sugar

1/2 c of homemade stock (strained)
good quality mayo (start with 3/4 c then more if needed)
1/4 c lemon juice
3 green onions, chopped
1 stalk of celery diced
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1T of fine chopped fresh parsley (just use 1/2 tsp of dried unless you already have fresh around for another recipe)
salt and pepper to taste

1) Cook the chicken. We are going to take this opportunity to add tons of flavor and make a whole big batch of chicken stock that you can use right away for soup or freeze for another time. In a large stock pot, bring about 5 quarts of water to a boil with the chicken and the first 11 ingredients on the list above. Throw in all the carrot peels, onion skin celery leaves, etc... Cover and simmer for about 2 hours. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

2) Transfer the chicken to a cutting board (strain all that lovely stock and keep it for later, reserving about 1/2-3/4 c for use now), pull the meat off the bones and chop it finely. You should have about 4 cups.

3) Add the stock, mayo, lemon juice and 3-4 T of the diced celery to the chicken. Pulse in a food processor or use an immersion blender like I did (although this was a little challenging) until you get the consistency of a spread. Add more mayo and/or stock by the Tablespoon if needed.

4) Add the rest of the diced celery, the chopped green onions, parsley, onion and garlic powder and stir to mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I sometimes add another dash of lemon juice and even a tiny sprinkle of sugar at the end.)

It looks really simple but it packs a huge punch of flavor! Now all I need are thin slices of a summer ripe tomato from my garden and a couple pieces of Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat to make it absolutely perfect.

Yummy, yum!!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things!!

2012-01-10T12:03:00.001-06:00

When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel...so baaaaaad!

These are a few Christmas gifts this year that make me particularly glaaaaad!

This gorgeous book from my dear friend, H. It's by one of the gals from Purl Soho (which has beautiful things and a great blog). There are patterns and tutorials for all sorts of amazing projects. The photos are lovely and the pages are glossy and perfect. I love books and I'm especially going to enjoy this one.

I pinned this next book on Pinterest a long time ago and I have stopped by Barnes and Noble more than once to flip through it and get ideas. It comes with an envelope of pattern pieces and great ideas for those wild boys. Everything is practical and wearable. This was a gift from my Mom, I might have dropped a subtle hint like finding it on Amazon and putting it in her shopping cart :).

This is the "Little Heartbreaker Jacket." I want to make it in a light, seersucker with a little pair of shorts for P for Easter. How cute would that be?!

Also from my Mom, the new BBC Emma mini-series!! It's sooo good and sooo much better than the Gwyneth Paltrow version which tended to make me feel slightly ill. I could watch Jane Austen adaptations all day, every day so I'm thrilled to add this sparkling, jewel of a film to my library.

I watched this BBC version of Sense and Sensibility two years ago when I was in the hospital on bedrest with P. I loved it then and had it on my list to buy at some point. It is fabulous and so close to the book, great actors, (blows the Kate Winslet version out of the water). Get it, watch it, then watch it again. (Thanks, Mom.)

This was a little gift from the Hubby. We got to go on a date one night when we were visiting KY and stopped by our favorite bookstore, Joseph-Beth Booksellers. I have several Jane Austen biographies and am so interested in all the details of her life. This book was written in a really interesting way and incorporated tons of details from her novels as well. There were some new things that I hadn't heard before! Thoroughly enjoyable! (Sidenote, keep buying those paper books, people!! Even if you have a Kindle (like me) let's keep those beautiful bookstores in business!)

This favorite thing I bought for myself. A few little bags of vintage buttons. I found them in a random drawer in a desk at an antique store in KY, I've never seen buttons there before. These white ones and the fluorescent red are my favorites. I definitely need to incorporate them into a fun project.

The large blue buttons in the top right of this picture are actually snaps! I haven't seen that before.

Until next time!

May you bloom and grow forever!! (I really need to get The Sound of Music out of my head)

How to Share a PDF in Blogger

2012-01-07T20:11:00.006-06:00

The past few months, as I've been blogging (and reading blogs), I realized that I needed more internet savvy skills than I possessed. Two things that I wanted to do were to "Make a picture into a link" and to post downloadable PDF's on my blog. Several blogs that I really admire and that inspired my little venture here, share lots of these. I think it is so cool and definitely attractive and interesting to readers!

I found great directions, HERE, on creating a picture link. Beware, it involves editing HTML code. I found this utterly fascinating, something that a couple of my high school buddies (Jeffrey and Josh) would get a huge kick out of now. In physics class, we used to debate why organizations like NASA were spending billions and trillions on space exploration. My platform was that space travel is a waste, why not just admire the moon and stars from here? They were champions of things like understanding the mysteries of space and the internet. I confess, I now appreciate HTML code, but I still think we should spend the space money on something like America's monstrous debt...

Here's how I share a PDF in Blogger
(I'm sure it's just one of many ways):

You need two things:
1) A gmail account. Although possibly yahoo and some of the others now have document capabilities, try it out, if it works post it in a comment!
2) A PDF file of your own making to share.

Step One
Sign in to your gmail account, click on "Documents" in the toolbar. Click the "Upload" button (just to the right of the "Create" button) and select "File...". Select the document you want to upload, choose "Start Upload" then you will see this.

Step Two
Click on the file to open it (when you wave your cursor over the file name, you'll see that it's a link). After opening, there will be a blue "Share" button in the right hand corner. Click on it and a little box with "Sharing Settings" will appear. The default setting is "Private, only the people listed below can access" with an option to "Change" beside it. Click Change.

Step Three
You will now see another menu with several options (below). Choose "Anyone with the link," and click "save."

Now, the moment we've all been waiting for!! A URL will appear. You can copy and paste the URL into any kind of link you want, simple text or in a picture link. You always have the option to go back to the same file (in Google Documents), open your document and choose "Share" to find the URL again or to make changes to share settings.

Step Four (creating a picture link in Blogger)
If you decide to do a picture link, upload the picture into blogger then click "Edit HTML." Sorry, couldn't resist this picture, it's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Baby P a year ago!

After you click "Edit HTML," a whole bunch of this will show up... It is the HTML code that describes the image above.

<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3sgU-xIAono/Twic3pOrZbI/AAAAAAAABcQ/Gt9gNcdV1nA/s1600/029+-+Copy+%25286%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3sgU-xIAono/Twic3pOrZbI/AAAAAAAABcQ/Gt9gNcdV1nA/s320/029+-+Copy+%25286%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>

The first URL (highlighted in yellow) is the one we are interested in, it is a link. By default the picture links to itself. If you click on that picture it will just take you to a page showing the picture alone, maybe with a few other pictures from this post. Try it. But...if you substitute your own URL for the highlighted URL (see teal highlighted below and be sure to keep the quotation marks) clicking the picture can take you wherever you want.

Below is the HTML for a picture link that will take you to the PDF I uploaded in Google Docs. I also added the HTML to open the PDF in a new window (highlighted in purple). Once you're done editing HTML, click "Compose" and that's it.

Here's a picture link that will take you to "Before the Throne of God" melody PDF in a new window.

It's not so bad! Those of you who are reading this and have real training in the codewriting arena have probably noted that I do not :). Please, don't be shy about making suggestions!

P.S. If you found this helpful, link back and leave a comment! Thanks!

The Cozy Chloe Hat Pattern

2012-01-06T17:56:00.001-06:00

Last week I posted about the hat I made for my sister Chloe for Christmas! Well, I wrote a pattern for it! It's my first crochet pattern, I would love for people to try it and give me feedback (positive or constructively critical :). Thanks!! Click the collage below for the free downloadable PDF!

Think it Through Thursday

2012-01-05T19:51:00.000-06:00

A sweet family at our church in KY adopted a little boy from Africa last Spring. Just a few short months after his arrival in the US, he was diagnosed with cancer. He went home to be with His Savior on Wednesday. Throughout the incredibly difficult months, this family has had such a testimony of faith and have proclaimed God's glory and grace in so many ways (and I have only been hearing their story from a distance).

If you'd like to read more, they have a blog HERE.

I'm sure these next few days will be incredibly tough, pray for them!

Post Christmas: Wins and Fails

2012-01-03T08:44:00.002-06:00

So I posted HERE about the Christmas PJ's I made for P and my little niece and the Santa suit for my nephew HERE.

P's PJ's turned out super cute and warm and comfy. I'm already thinking about what kind of PJ's I want to do for next year. Win! The fun slide from Grammy and Grampa was a win too, obviously.

I got to see my nephew in his Santa costume! He looked adorable, what a sweet face. Win!

Ouma and Oupa gave P a rockstar Elmo. Major win! I missed the picture of him giving Elmo a huge hug!

This is the nightie for my niece, made out of a beautiful, soft Moda flannel. Big, fat FAIL. The head/neck opening didn't open quite wide enough for her sweet baby head. I'm going to see if I can add a snap closure somewhere, I guess maybe there's a reason why everything you buy for little ones have those built in. But, when you start experimenting with your own patterns sometimes things don't fit exactly right! Good thing I've got a really good, sharp stitch ripper :).

Trying to get P to sit in Santa's lap on Christmas Eve?

Priceless.

Ha! I mean fail! He gets so excited about seeing Santa in pictures and books, but real Santa is SCARY! He was completely terrified! We had a great Santa, by the way, so it was all P.

Seeing everyone in paper party popper hats (say that five times fast). Win!

Spending time with family...

Seeing this sweet face every day...

Win!

Happy New Year and Mexican Style Hoppin' John

2012-01-02T09:13:00.002-06:00

It's been a year full of big changes for our little family, but it's been so obvious through all of them that home is truly where your family is and our hope and peace and security are not dependent on our circumstances or location. We miss our other family and dear friends so, so much, but now it's 2012 and we will be heading back to KY in just a few short months!

Last year at New Years we were at the lake with our friends the H's. Baby P was little bitty!

We got to visit with the H's a little bit when we were in KY, look at these two boys this year!

It's hard to believe they're so big and running around wreaking havoc!

We have a New Year's tradition that my Mom started years ago, we make Hoppin' John for 'good luck'. I usually make the traditional version, which we all love, but yesterday morning I woke up with the wild idea to invent a Mexican version. Here it is! I called it Mexican style because there are carrots and celery in there too, not sure that is authentically Mexican, but there is enough spice to warm you up on a cold winter day!

Just a disclaimer, this recipe makes a ton! So, have a bunch of friends over or get your freezer bags ready. It freezes really, really well and is super yummy! You could use your leftovers as a soup or chili starter or make burritos with flour tortillas and all the fixin's.

Mexican Style Hoppin' John with Chicken

Ingredients:
1 package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (2-3 lbs.this is up to you, I didn't use very much
      because the beans are so filling, I used thighs because they hold up a little better and are more
      fatty/flavorful than chicken breasts)
1 lb. dried black eyed peas (sorted, rinsed and drained)
vegetable oil, butter
6 cups of chicken stock (you can buy this but I prefer the flavor of stock made with chicken base like
       Minor's or even homemade if you have it on hand)
2 limes
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro (chopped)
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 poblano peppers, seeded and diced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled, chopped
4 T minced garlic
2 cans mild mexican style tomatoes (rotel, with or without green chiles)
2 small cans of chopped green chiles
Cooked white rice

Spices
-Emeril's Essence (original)
-Cumin
-Paprika
-Coriander
-salt
-black pepper
-cayenne

Optional (Guacamole or avocado, tortilla chips, ice cold beer)

1) Peel and chop all your vegetables, melt 2 T of butter and one T of oil in a large skillet. Saute onions until transparent, add other vegetables and garlic, cover and cook on medium heat about 5 minutes. Add half of the chicken stock to the vegetables and bring to a boil. Pour entire mixture into a large slow cooker. Add canned vegetables to the slow cooker as well. (Keep the skillet to prepare chicken)

2) In a collander, rinse and sort black eyed peas then add them to the broth and vegetables in the slow cooker. Sort just means look for anything that is NOT a black eyed pea, I have sometimes found (in cheaper bags, this one was perfect) small rocks or other types of beans, etc...

3) In skillet over medium high heat, add another T or two of oil and the chicken thighs. Sprinkle chicken (both sides) with a little black pepper, Emeril's, cumin, and coriander. Cook chicken 3 or 4 minutes on each side and transfer to the slow cooker. In the same skillet, bring remaining chicken stock to a boil (you don't want to lose an ounce of flavor) and add that to the slow cooker as well.

4) To the slow cooker, add a T of Emeril's, 1 tsp of kosher salt, a T of cumin, a tsp of paprika, and a tsp of coriander. Stir everything together and cook on high for 6-8 hours. (go easy on the salt because Emeril's and the chicken buillon contain salt, wait for pepper and cayenne until you can see how spicy the peppers and chiles turn out)

5) When peas and chicken are softened and cooked through (at least 6 hours), shred chicken, taste and adjust seasoning (salt, emeril's, cayenne, cumin). Stir in chopped cilantro (reserve a few tablespoons for sprinkling on individual portions) and squeeze in the juice of one lime. Cook on high for another 10 or 15 minutes.

6) Serve over rice with a dollop of guacamole, a sprinkle of cilantro, a wedge of lime and a tall, cold beer! It was delicious with the guac on top and a few tortilla chips on the side, I usually make my own but avocados are so expensive right now that I just bought a package of pre-made and it was really good.

Happy New Year! I hope it is wonderful, full of blessings and great memories and of course, 'good luck'!

Christmas Recap

2011-12-30T14:28:00.003-06:00

Can you believe Christmas is over?! I can't!

It's very strange being in a warm climate for Christmas and New Years. Christmas has always meant winter, bundling up in blankets, sipping hot beverages, wearing scarves and gloves! Here in New Orleans it is 75 degrees outside. That's right, P and I wore shorts and t-shirts to the park last week. People here have poinsettias OUTSIDE! In KY, we had to wrap the poinsettias in plastic just to walk from the car to the house to keep them from shriveling instantly. People here try so hard to make things look "wintery" with evergreen wreaths and garlands on the front of their houses, the problem is that all of it has been scorched by the burning rays of the sun so now the evergreen is a strawlike yellow. At the mall, they decorated with fake snow around the bases of the poinsettias which were planted in the ground (outside). Yes, it's all a big winter charade here. Folks wear gloves, scarves and heavy coats when it hits a chilly 55.

This year, we traveled to Kentucky for Christmas. P needed really warm clothes so I decided on these corduroy longalls for Christmas day. I wanted knee patches for fun decoration, but also because I knew he would be crawling around all over the floor playing with new toys, cousins, Papa and my brothers. I love fabric covered buttons so I added those as well.

The back of the overalls have a little buttoned belt.

Here's P enjoying some Christmas morning brunch! Well, he was enjoying the fruit anyway. :)

Grammy and Grampa (and Santa) surprised P with a slide, he was in heaven!

It ended up being beautiful and warm on Christmas day. We played outside and visited the horses and cows.

We had a great Christmas this year! The one damper was that P had a bad cold and on Christmas Adam (that's the day before Christmas Eve :) he woke up from his nap with his poor little eyes all red and weepy. He was pitiful! Thankfully we were able to get him on some antibiotics that night so he felt a million times better by Christmas Eve. I'm praying that he didn't pass it along to the cousins who are visiting Disney this week. By this week hubby and I were able to laugh about it, W even wished me a "Merry Pinkeye Christmas."

Cozy Hat for Chloe

2011-12-28T08:17:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago when my sister Chloe visited New Orleans, she saw a hat at Urban Outfitters that she really wanted. She ended up not going back for it so I decided I would make one for her Christmas gift. It's a really pretty green color (it looks a little washed out in this picture, it's super bulky, Lion brand yarn) and it was crocheted (10.0 mm hook) with a double strand. I came up with the pattern as I went, I'll work on writing it out and maybe post a pattern or a tutorial.

I decided for a little something different that I would line it. I used a soft, stretchy jersey that I had picked up on the $1 table at Hancock's sometime oner the summer.

I used a zig zag stitch so that it would stretch comfortably.

She likes it and I think it looks really cute. It's super warm and really comfy feeling, I also like that it keeps your ears warm. Merry Christmas, Chloe!

Lots of sewing

2011-12-16T15:36:00.001-06:00

So I've been doing some sewing, making a few gifts (although blogging about them seems like a bad idea since a few of the recipients might get a sneak peek). Here are some safe ones. Christmas morning PJ's for Baby P. When I was growing up we always had special Christmas pajamas. It was a fun tradition. I had a pattern in mind so I just sketched out the pieces using some of P's clothes as size reference and came up with this.

It's made out of a soft flannel. They are so cute on. When my husband, W saw them, he said "They're so old fashioned, you should add one of those flaps on the back." He was referring to the kind of flap in old-fashioned, cowboy long-johns... hmm

He likes them! This was the "squat test." Anything for a toddler has to have enough give so that they can squat easily :)

Here are the Christmas overalls I just finished up for someone on Etsy, I found a lady here in New Orleans who does monogramming in her home. I think she did a great job! I want to monogram some of P's clothes now.

I am super excited this year because I have a little lady to sew for for the first time! She's only 7 months old so I know she's not surfing the web. Here's what she's getting. Spoiler alert for her mama :).

It's a photo book like P's but I've learned a few things from the first round. I got much better plastic to cover the pics and I got to use girly patterns!! FUN!

This little lady is also getting some Christmas pajamas, I got to pick out sparkly buttons and use ric rac. You can't use ric rac on boys, this was a treat.

These three little ones are going to look super cute together on Christmas Eve! Remember the Santa Suit for my nephew, HERE.

Last thing! Since we aren't going out of town for Christmas, we didn't do a tree and lots of decor. I decided to do something super easy but festive for the door. I cut out lots of felt circles, stacked them in groups of three and sewed down the middle (one pile after another) to make a garland.

I've seen lots of easy felt garlands like this, but I thought using several layers of felt would give it a little dimension, they kind of "flare" out. Fun and easy!

Merry Christmas!

Think it Through Thursday

2011-12-15T19:18:00.000-06:00

I've been quite the absentee blogger this week! Santa's workshop has been in full swing, along with filling some Etsy orders and running around shopping and getting ready for our church's service of lessons and carols...not much time for taking pics of what I've been making. Assuming I have some sunlight tomorrow, I'll be back with some new stuff tomorrow!!

Just because it's Thursday and the Christmas season, here is a verse I love from Hark the Herald.

"Hark! The herald angels sing:
'Glory to the newborn King!'
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!'
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies.
With the angelic host proclaim:
'Christ is born in Bethlehem'
Hark! The herald angels sing
'Glory to the newborn King!"

God and sinners reconciled! What joy! How much we have to sing about this Christmas season!

Baby Blocks Tutorial

2011-12-09T11:24:00.000-06:00

When Baby P was born, I really enjoyed recieving gifts that were functional and cute. Toys are fun to decorate a nursery with and it's a bonus if Baby can play with them once they get a little older. I've seen soft, baby blocks and baby blocks tutorials all over the place. They are simple to construct (beginning sewists could make them) and you can make them elaborate (with embroidery or monogramming or applique, stenciling, you name it...) or as plain as you want. These particular blocks were a gift for my friend C and we used them to decorate the table at her baby shower.

These blocks or cubes have six sides (dust off that high school geometry, yo). I did 3 plain sides (orange, yellow and gray) and 3 decorated sides. Shapes, animals and hand embroidered patterns. These blocks would be fun for babies who are just learning to grab at things, when they're really interested in patterns and contrasting colors...

(ignore the fact that there are just two of each of the colored squares, you need three each, I had already pieced together part of one block)

Here's what you need for a set of 3 soft baby blocks:

1) 18, 6 x 6 inch squares of fabric (solids or decorated to your taste) and any other materials to decorate them-scraps of fabric, embroidery floss, etc...be sure that they are perfectly square

2) fusible fleece, I backed every square with this, it gives the blocks a little more structure.

3) polyfill (about half of a medium sized bag, I lwanted them stuffed relatively tightly so that they keep their shape)

4) Thread, scissors, machine, all "les accoutrements" of sewing :)

This square is backed with a piece of fusible fleece and I sort of "quilted it," this gives it a little texture.The other appliques are just backed with fusible interfacing. See THIS POST for tips and tricks to applique and THIS PAGE for animal templates.

Lay out the squares of each block in a cross like below. (just a heads up for later, I left my opening for turning/stuffing between the yellow and gray squares--that was the bottom back corner since the "front" of my blocks are the animals)

Now just start seaming the blocks together, taking care to leave about 1/8 of an inch unsewn at each end (be sure to forward and backstitch securely). See picture below. If you don't do this your corners will look wonky and misaligned.

They turn out all nice like this when you are done.

For the last edge--I leave a space open on the back bottom edge--sew in about an inch from each corner and then turn right sides out. Stuff the block with polyfill through the small space you left open. Be sure to stuff polyfill into the corners. Now, turn raw edges of your opening to the inside, pin and stitch the opening closed. This seam will show, but it isn't distracting if you use matching thread.

That's it!!

Christmas Weekend in KY

2011-12-09T08:53:00.002-06:00

I always enjoy the gifts from my girlfriends, but this year everyone was extremely creative! C made her own sugared almonds and gave us these adorable vintagey, Christmas hand towels. S found cute Christmas oven mitts and stuffed them with Christmas goodies (and an awesome, owl handtowel). B ordered cool, fabric covered earrings from her sister (who owns an Etsy shop HERE) and Ashley gave us fun metallic make-up pouches with earrings, perfume and nailpolish.

I made these pouches from Noodlehead's Scrappy Make-up Pouch tutorial but I added zipper tabs (from HERE). I definitely recommend adding these, the finished product looks more polished. The hand embroidery was inspired by Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching.

This was a really great way to use up my little scraps, it's fun to find small pieces of patterns that I was crazy about but only have a teeny bit left. The back and sides are muslin-one of my favorite fabrics to work with--and everything is reinforced with fusible fleece. You can see I definitely gravitate toward the reds and teals.

If you want to see more pictures, take a look at Ashley's post HERE!

Dutch Blitz!! We always go home from girls weekend with sore fingertips and hoarse voice from all the rounds of Dutch Blitz and charades. We have so much fun making up our own charades (lots of inside jokes and hilarious animal impressions--B pretending to be a grizzly bear might have been a highlight of the weekend). I highly recommend it. I will just give one disclaimer, red wine and blueberry beer do not help when it comes to games that require quick fingers.

Yes, we ate an entire 9 x 13 of B's famous bean dip for lunch. Along with some sharp cheddar, crackers and very small glasses of wine :).

It was a great weekend! Can't wait for our next one, I'm already thinking up some new charades.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-08T09:39:00.000-06:00

So I mentioned that I was busy making homemade yeast rolls on Thanksgiving, but I didn't follow up with how everything went and the visitors we had!

My parents and youngest brother and sister came to New Orleans for Thanksgiving! (My other brother and his wife were with her family this year.) We were very spoiled to have everybody travel so far to see us. We ordered Honeybaked Ham and turkeyand made all the other dishes. Brussel sprouts with bacon and chevre, Paula Dean's "Ol' Country Stuffing" complete with mushroom gravy (I highly recommend this recipe, it was fabulous), spicy cheese grits, yeast rolls, and coffee with bailey's for dessert since we were very, very full.

The weather was beautiful so we got out and about and showed them some of New Orleans. Way too much good food and beignets...

It was a great Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's only 17 days until Christmas. That thought makes me a little sweaty and nervous...lots to do.

Baby, Baby!

2011-12-07T13:55:00.006-06:00

My dear friend, C, is having a baby! Last weekend, a bunch of friends and church family got together to throw her a shower. There wasn't really a theme, but there were lots of bright colors, sort of a vintage feeling and we used "clotheslines" and clothespins to decorate (along with some handmade tissue decorations).

The big poms on the windows were just simple tissue paper rounds, with two small slits cut in the center and a piece of wire run through them and twisted together securely. Then I just pinched the front few layers of tissue together to hide the wire and give them a pretty, round shape. We hung clotheline down from each pom and clothespinned a few cute baby items to them--tiny socks, hats, burp cloths, embroidered onesies. All the shower helpers brought things to contribute.

One of the ladies helping with the shower brought the gorgeous flowers, she used mason jars with three bright gerber daisies and colorful marbles. They were so fun and playful!

We used little school slates, toys and tissue paper toppers to liven up the table. If you'd like to make the tissue poms here's what you need.

These are my family's secret recipe sugar cookies. We dusted them with edible,pearly luster dust for a little glam :), you can find it at Hobby Lobby and Michaels.

Here's me with my sweet friends H and H and C (of course). H and H have little ones pretty close to Baby P's age, we always have lots to talk about and tons of fun together.

All the ladies in the picture above (except B on the far left, she was my college roommate), are high school friends! Can you believe that?! We are going on 12 years of friendship! After the shower we had a fun, girls weekend and exchanged Christmas gifts. More on that tomorrow!!

Last thing...just a closer look at some of the things on our clothesline.

H made some really adorable burp cloths, I did the appliqued onesies (the templates for the animals are on my "downloadables and printables" page). I also found a great pattern for crochet booties from "Two Girls Patterns" on Etsy: the Sailor Boot pattern.

This week...

2011-11-28T17:38:00.000-06:00

This week, I'm on a little trip visiting family and friends! I won't be posting much, but I will be back full force next week with some tutorials and lots of fun pictures!

Thanksgiving: Think it Through Thursday

2011-11-24T07:38:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's what I've got going...

Every week our Pastor writes an article and sends it to the congregation. It's on all kinds of topics, this week was the history of Thanksgiving. The entire article should be available on our church's website soon, I'll post a link when it's there!

Here is just a small part of it, but I thought it particularly meaningful today. What a heritage we have in this country of Godly leadership! Something to pray for in the years to come.

On November 29, 1623three years after their [the Pilgrims' ] arrival and two years after the first Thanksgiving,Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation of a day ofthanksgiving.

“To all Pilgrims: Inasmuchas the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn,wheat, peas, beans, squashes and garden vegetable and has made the forestabound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He hasprotected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence anddisease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of ourown conscience, now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all Pilgrims with yourwives and little ones, do gather at the meeting house on the hill between thehours of 9 and 12 in the daytime on Thursday, November 29 in the year of ourLord one thousand six hundred and twenty three, in the third year since thePilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock there to listen to the pastor and renderthanksgiving to Almighty God for all His blessings. William Bradford, Governorof the Colony”

On October 3, 1863President Abraham Lincoln issued a formal proclamation, passed by an Act ofCongress, initiating the first annual National Day of Thanksgiving. Part ofwhat Lincoln said is as follows: “We give thanksgiving and praise to ourbeneficent Father who dwells in the heavens….it is announced in the HolyScriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose Godis the Lord….It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should solemnly,reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by thewhole American people.”

Ho, ho, holiday cheer!!

2011-11-23T16:16:00.001-06:00

It is Santa's Workshop around here right now! This is the first year I've ever had to travel over the holidays and losing that extra week or two (a whole week without my sewing machine just after Thanksgiving then a bunch of extra days before Christmas) definately shortens Ms. Santa's Christmas prep time.

I dont' know about you but if I wait until the last minute to do my shopping, it is a free-for-all and I spend waaaayy more than I intended to and more than I would have if I had been organized and done one thing per person/couple and shopped sales.

I also really love to make gifts, but I never know how people are going to feel about handmade gifts. Are they honored or do they feel like "geez, another homemade gift?" Do they ever think people only make handmade gifts as a sort of indirect boast? So much to consider!! I personally love them! I guess I have to figure it out on a case by case basis and just do what I can!

Here is a little Christmas treat I've been working on for my nephew. He requested a Santa suit in a size 5, by Thanksgiving. I'm just kidding about the time deadline, but he did, very sweetly through his Mama, request a Santa outfit in a size 5. Luckily, I had a great pajama pattern that I had just picked up at the Hancock's 99 c pattern sale. (I'll do a separate post on that and give you a little pattern review). It has basic, elastic waist pants and a button down top with a collar. I cut out all the pieces except the collar (the shirt had a self-facing in the front and a little separate facing piece for the back of the neck.). I made this out of a soft, knit (it feels just like sweat suit) because I wanted it to be comfortable and warm and durable. The fur is plush felt. Have you guys discovered this stuff?! It feels so good and soft, but it's synthetic felt and it's $4.99 a yard regularly priced! It doesn't fray and it has lots of body, perfect for costumes. I used it on the cuffs and the peter pan collar. The belt is just black felt with a set of d-rings. I chose 7/8" black/brown buttons for the front.

Pretty quick and easy, although I did break two 90 gauge needles sewing through the many layers of knit and felt and I took the collar off like 3 times because I wasn't happy with the way it closed in the front. I'm one of those sewists who just can't let something go--even if it's only a costume!

These pants are so simple, just two pattern pieces. I stitched down the middle of the elastic casing after I ran the elastic through to keep the elastic from flipping over.

I put a little twill tape loop in the back of the pants to help my nephew figure out which is which.

Yay for the holiday season! Christmas is coming!!

Anyone else watched White Christmas yet?

No?!

Oh, yeah, me neither...

The weekend!

2011-11-21T13:27:00.001-06:00

Oh my! We had a wonderful weekend! My in-laws came to visit and we always have fun.

W and I spent some time poring over the tour guide to find some new restaurants and interesting things to do (besides the general fun and hanging out that we always do).

Saturday morning was begun with a pot or three of coffee at home (Starbucks Costa Rica Tarrazu!! finally carried at Winn Dixie). Then we hit the road and drove across town to Faubourg Marigny/ Bywater area to a little diner called Elizabeth's Cafe, a locally owned place in an old house.

I have only two words for you: Praline Bacon.

I didn't take a picture, but it was amazing! Crispy, salty bacon drowned in ground pecans and brown sugar syrup. In the words of Uncle Jessie, "Have Mercy!!"

I ordered the "Elizabeth" which was two perfectly toasted slices of french bread topped with bacon, a beautiful poached egg and some incredible hollandaise sauce with a side of cheese grits. I also need to mention the Irish Coffee with Bailey's...my new fave brunch beverage! Ashley, Brittany and Sarah, we are going there when you visit!

We had a relaxing afternoon, several naps, then took a nice walk around Audubon Park with P on his tricycle. After that we went for an early dinner to Jacques-Imo's Cafe. I know I sound like a broken record, but it was absolutely to die for. When you walk in the front door you're in a bar--the entire ceiling is crowded with framed paintings, it looks so cool! Then the hostess gets your info and leads you THROUGH THE KITCHEN. Literally, you walk through the kitchen where they're cooking up the food you're about to eat, into the dining room. Lots of small tables, close together, dim atmostphere, the walls are painted with murals. The one in our room was a forest, and the tree limbs continued up the wall and onto the ceiling. I ordered Salmon with black beans and ginger cream sauce. It sounds like an odd combo, but I promise it was the best thing I have eaten since I've lived in New Orleans. I can't wait to go back! We had P with us and it was the perfect noise level and relaxed atmosphere so that he didn't bother anyone else. I can't wait to go again!

This little guy can't talk yet but he can still run the show. He just points his little finger and we all run to see what he's pointing at. Here it was a lake and lots of interesting ducks.

It was a wonderful weekend with family, we are so fortunate!

Fabric Envelopes

2011-11-18T21:37:00.000-06:00

I love getting packages in the mail! Especially if it's something fun from a friend, or a care package when I was in college. When I decided to sell baby clothes on Etsy I wanted the packaging to be really unique. Here's what I do...

I stitch up a really simple muslin envelope. When you open the top flap, you see the goodies you ordered peeking out. There's a tag with information on caring for the garment, the size and all that fun stuff. I'd be pretty excited if I opened up a boring mailing envelope and found this inside! Especially because it's a size 2 and that's what Baby P wears!

Think it Through Thursday

2011-11-17T23:20:00.001-06:00

A few months ago, P and I went on a longroad trip with my sister-in-law and her sweet children. We spent eleven hoursin a mini-van with a one year old, a four year old and a five month old. Itactually was not half as hectic as I had expected, it always seems that wayafter the fact. One of the things that kept the two older kids entertained wasa CD of Veggie Tales singing familiar praise songs on repeat. Now, while thevocal quality was perhaps not ideal (squeaky broccoli and asparagus childrenmust not have access to voice lessons) my nephew loved this recording.He knew all the words to every song and sang them at the top of his lungs. Hisfavorite was, “I Can Only Imagine.” I’veheard this song many times, but those words have never affected me the way thatthey did when sung by this child with his clear, soprano, boy voice. Every timethe chorus came around, he raised his chin and almost shouted with excitement andabandon:

“Surrounded by Your glory, whatwill my heart feel? Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still? WillI stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing, hallelujah,will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine!”

It wasn’t long before I had tears rolling down mycheeks. I was not only touched to hear afour year old singing about the Savior, but his absolute delight was such apicture of what my hope of heaven should be. (I was sitting in the backseat crying while my sister-in-law gave me questioning looks in the rearview mirror...)

In a recent sermon, my pastor said “Heaven should be morereal to us than the air we breathe.” Too often, Heaven seems like a distantdream or safety net or something that stands between me and anxiety for my lifeor the lives of friends and family. The thought of Heaven can be comforting ifwe have lost someone dear to us, but Heaven cannot be just comfort in aworld that is full of sin and pain. It’s not just a place we will go to escapedeath or to be reunited with loved ones who have gone before—as true as thosethings are, they pale in comparison with what we have been promised.

In Heaven, we will stand in the presence of the Father andthe Son. We will be glorified, not even a shadow of our old desire to sin willremain. We will worship with abandon and rejoice in the majesty and power ofGod and His amazing work of Salvation. This is what we should long for with everyfiber of our beings! This is what we should be thankful for with every breath!

Thanksgiving is coming up next week. Many families have traditions that involve eachperson listing something that they are thankful for. We have lots of blessingsto name, all for which we should be truly thankful--God’s good gifts likefamily, friends, church families, health, jobs, this country, and a place tolive. But, even if we had none of these things, we would still have cause forreal thanksgiving. As children of God, no matter what the circumstances, wehave the hope of Heaven. We should throw our arms up, tilt our heads back,dance and shout with joy because we know that we will one day stand in thepresence of God. This Thanksgiving, enjoy family and good food and good wine,remembering that as good as these things are, they are mere crumbs of the feastthat we will enjoy eternally in Heaven with our Lord and Savior.

My Version of Faux Gyros

2011-11-16T15:02:00.001-06:00

A few months ago, I saw a post on the Tasty Kitchen blog with a recipe for faking your own gyro sandwiches. This is my version, and it's definitely one of my "go-to" 20 minute dinner recipes!

Sorry these pics are oddly colored, I was cooking dinner and it gets dark so early now!

Ingredients: (serves 2 people and a toddler)

3 thick slices of deli roast beef, just under a pound

pita pockets

romaine lettuce

fresh diced tomatoes (there were no good ones at the grocery so I just left it out this time)

feta (optional)

1/2 of a diced cucumber

3 T. diced onion

1 c. plain Greek yogurt

lemon juice

1T. dill (fresh or dried, I buy those tubes of fresh herbs! Such a cheap substitute!)

salt

cooking oil

onion powder

garlic powder

paprika

cumin

coriander

oregano

chili powder

Start by making the tzatziki sauce. Combine yogurt, dill, a couple of T of lemon juice, and the diced onion in a food processor or blender (I use an immersion blender). Remove from blender and add the diced cucumbers. Salt to taste. Set aside the tzatziki so it can get even more delicious and get started on the gyro meat.

Take the deli roast beef and cut into slices. (this is just enough for one, my hubby was busy at work!)

Heat a little cooking oil (only about a tsp) in a non stick skillet. Add the roast beef.

Add to the beef a dash of lemon juice

1/2 tsp each of cumin and paprika

1/4 tsp each of garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and oregano

1/8 tsp coriander

black pepper to taste (wait until it's done before you salt, sometimes deli meat is very salty)

Cook on medium high heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring often until the meat "gets a little color on it" and has a bit of crispness to it. (without being burned)

Toast the pita bread, spread pitas with a little tzatziki, add the meat, lettuce, tomato, feta and drizzle with more tzatziki. Yummy, yum, yum!!

I added some crispy, waffle fries! Baby P liked it too.

Spankin' New Overalls

2011-11-15T16:34:00.000-06:00

Here's my newest listing on Etsy! This is a pattern I drew out myself, I made a couple of pairs for P first and have really liked them (and liked the fit). Now, I think they're ready to go home with some other lucky, little kids!

This is the first pair, I love them! The winter here is so warm that we don't need full length corduroy every day. I'm kind of in love with knee patches lately too!

Applique

2011-11-11T13:25:00.004-06:00

I've been playing around with applique a lot lately. Experimenting with new techniques, trying to figure out the best stitch length and density, best iron on interfacing, using fusible fleece, mixing fabrics and combining applique with hand embroidery.

I like the way that applique can elevate a simple t-shirt, blanket, stuffed animal, or pair of overalls to something really special.

Knee pad patches, I'm in love with these for fall and winter! I backed them with fusible fleece.

Here are a couple of things that I've found:

1) Simple shapes are the best. Lines, gradual curves (tiny circles can be on the tricky side)...Simple also tends to come out cleaner and more modern looking. It's amazingly easy to make your own designs and templates. There are great ideas out there on the web and you can adapt them to your own taste. Keep a disappearing marker handy so you can sketch then look at your proportions and adjust!

2) To "apply appliques," I use a zig-zag stitch (I have a Pfaff Expression 2.0) set on about 2.8 stitch length and 0.8 or 1.0 stitch density (0.8 if I'm using a fabric that frays really easily like seersucker or on clothing that will be washed and dried very often , 1.0 is fine for less fussy fabrics or purely decorative items. I have also found that turning my thread tension down to around 3 really helps avoid wrinkles. I'm sure this varies from machine to machine. I have also seen other sewists suggest turning down your presser foot pressure, I haven't done this but it makes a lot of sense. Just depends on the machine, practice on some scrap fabric first!

3) Use fusible interfacing to back each piece of your applique. I generally use a medium weight. This not only keeps your fabric from fraying as you stitch, but helps it to survive the long haul or the laundry! Sometimes I use a fabric gluestick to secure my applique to the background fabric before I start stitching, it's completely water soluble but really helps keep things in place!

4) It's really important that the background fabric does not stretch as you stitch on your applique and maneuver around any curves. Definitely use a stabilizer (either tear away--although be careful using this on things like corduroy because the fibers can stick to it and pull through the fabric...I have done this...ugh...) or a medium to heavy weight fusible interfacing--I usually snip off the excess after I'm done so the garment doesn't feel too stiff. I find that as I'm maneuvering the layers of fabric through my machine, it's best if I keep my hands flat on top of the applique and be sure that I can always feel that piece of stabilizer behind my background fabric, never tugging just guiding and letting the feed dog do its work! This is especially important on fabrics like jersey.

This square is backed with fusible fleece instead of interfacing. It gave the applique some dimension after I "quilted" the squares in the middle. I used a 1.0 stitch density on this one, but I probably should have done 0.8 so that those stray threads didn't find their way through.

The owl below is done with a 1.0 stitch density, I'm happier with the results.

I'm loving the woodland animals these days. I'll have a tutorial coming up using these appliqued squares, but I can't tell you what they are yet!

Think it Through Thursday: Reactions

2011-11-10T12:34:00.000-06:00

Do you remember being in school and learning: "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction?" I do, and I think that I've applied it to all of life since that day.

Just kidding, sort of.

I think a lot of us, myself included, have the tendency to feel entitled. We are entitled to this-or-that kind of service in a restaurant, common courtesy from strangers, not having to wait in long lines at the fabric store (Grrr, Joann's, get it together!), free healthcare (don't get me started), or for whatever we think is "fair." If I feel that I've been slighted or haven't gotten my due, I can react with an "equal and opposite reaction" and competely justify it in my mind.

I act grouchy and cold to the lady at Joann's because she was on the phone to a friend and the line was kept waiting half the day. My husband accidentally steps on my foot, I respond angrily.

The problem is that I'm not entitled to any of these things. As people of God, we are commanded to humbly consider others better than ourselves and "look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Phil. 2:3-4), but nothing in me is deserving of special treatment and I shouldn't try to demand it from anyone else. In fact, I'm supposed to be a servant. To give up my place in line to an elderly person (even though I'm trying to placate a fussy toddler who is eating the stickers off of my spools of thread), to respond sweetly to my husband when he swings the baby around and P's huge head knocks me in the eyebrow (I had a very large bruise for a very long time), to smile at the person giving me the evil eye for taking pictures in a restaurant.

In short, I need to NOT have "an equal and opposite reaction." Thank God that He decided to extend grace to me even as I betray and hurt the Savior with my sin countless times every day, He went to the cross for me. Rather than the death that I deserve, Christ took my judgment upon Himself. He "made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. [...] He humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross." (Phil. 2:7-8)

NOLA

2011-11-09T10:05:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted in a couple of days because I have been so busy! Two of my very dearest, old friends flew down to New Orleans to visit me. We have been friends for 12 years, I am so blessed to have them! We had a great time, and packed in the activities. We walked around the French Quarter, toured a plantation, ate some lovely food and did lots of talking.

Here we are having a great breakfast and celebrating S's birthday!

Lake Pontchartrain! Gorgeous.

Here we are by one of the Pontalba buildings, you can see that C is sporting an adorable baby bump!

Mardi Gras masks in the French Market. Look how C and S are smiling mysterious little smiles, but I didn't ge tthe memo.

We had a really nice dinner at one of Emeril's restaurants. "Tiny portions, weird sauces." That's a quote from Gilmore Girls, but it doesn't really apply here. I just wanted to say it. The food was really interesting and the sauces were decadent and delicious. My favorite thing of the night was an "Escargot and Yukon Gold Fondue." It was served with slices of toasted French Bread and you scooped up the escargot and the amazing creamy sauce with them.

After Emeril's we took a little trip to Pat O'Brien's for....

A Hurricane for S.

Fun!

S and I were smooched on the cheek by some passing, middle aged inebriated ladies, who also gave us the beads.

Then S had her fortune told. She is apparently going to fall in love soon...she's been married for 5 years.

We started off the next day with fantastic crispy, sugary beignets at Cafe du Monde.

Then it was off to the plantations. Here C and S are posing for senior portraits.

We put the camera on some roots and I ran to get in the picture.

Yes, me and C posing in a Civil War tent. I'm trying to look menacing but I just look suspicious.

Gorgeous! The trees are so much more impressive than you can convey on camera.

So fun, it was over too soon!

A Short Adventure

2011-11-03T11:34:00.003-05:00

Hi, I'm P and I'm sailing the high seas on my ship, I call her "Playground."

Wait, what's that? I see land, and pirates!

I love pirates! I'm going with you!

Here we go up a mountain.

Down on this side? Nope, better try the other side.

Perfect!

Weeeee! Wait for me, Pirates.

Wow, a waterfall!

Hey, I think...yes, that's me! Just a quick hello.

Hey, Pirates! Wait up, don't leave me here in jail!

Shoo, this has been exhausting. Time for a little rest.

Good thing I had my handy-dandy knee patch pants on. Just the thing for climbing and crawling and chasing after Pirates.

Roll-it-up and Go Jewelry Case

2011-11-02T12:32:00.008-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a travel jewelry case that I made, thinking it would be a fabulous gift. I even mentioned a tutorial. Well here it is!!

The Roll-it-up and Go Jewelry Case!

Here's what you need:

(Two or Three different fabrics, you could edge the roll up with the same fabric as your pocket lining)

1) Main Print

1, 8" by 12" rectangle (outside)

1, 8" by 8.5" rectangle (inside top)

1, 8" by 4.5" rectangle (inside bottom, front of pouch)

2) Second Print (lining for pocket, ring holder and bias tape around earring mesh)

1, 8" by 4.5" rectangle (front pouch lining)

1, 8" by 5" rectangle (back pouch lining)

1, 7" by 2" strip

21 inches of double fold bias tape (make your own or use pre-made)

3) Third Print (could use Second Print if you want)

42 inches of double fold bias tape, just over a yard

I used this for the entire outside edge of the pouch.

4) Zipper: 8" or longer

5) Medium Weight Fusible interfacing

6) Fusible fleece

7) 1 Piece of ribbon, twill tape or fabric for ties (about 30 inches long)

8) one 5.5" by 3.5 " piece of plastic mesh or screen (try a hardware or home supply store, mine is leftover from when my husband screened in our gazebo)

8) 2 Snaps, sew on or with snap setter

9) Thread, scissors, pins, sewing machine, all "les accoutrements" of sewing :)

Prepping the Fabric:

Cut out all your pieces and iron the fleece to the large rectangle (this will be the outside of the roll-up). Iron the fusible interfacing to the 8 x 12" and 8 x 8.5" pieces (this will be the inside). If you are using a thin fabric (like the brown floral print that I chose) you may also want to add fusible interfacing to the 2 x 7 inch piece for the ring holder.

While at the ironing board, go ahead and make your bias tape (if you are making your own). Also, take the 2 x 7 inch strip, iron the edges to the inside, fold in the corners, then fold the entire piece in half, and press. (See above)

Constructing the Earring Screen:

Now prepare to attach bias tape to your earring screen. Begin pinning in the center of one of the long ends, when you reach the first corner, make a mark or stick a pin through the fabric at the corner. Unfold the edges of the bias tape, then fold horizontally, right sides together with the "corner pin/mark" at the top of the fold.

With a disappearing marker draw a zig-zag line like this on the fabric (the point should be exactly where you want the fabric to surround screen corner).

Stitch on your line. Snip out the small triangles.

Flip right side out, the seam to the inside and VOILA! Corner!

Continue to pin, stopping at the corners to do the zig zag shape. Be sure to do one corner at a time so that it will fit correctly at the end. When you reach the end, unfold the bias tape, pin right sides together at a right angle (see picture below), sew, cut off excess, and press seam open (carefully not melting your screen). Never cut off the excess until you make sure that you sewed the seam correctly, I can't tell you the number of times I have had to cut a new piece of bias tape because I sewed right side to wrong side and cut of the excess (making it too short).

If you're unfamiliar with bias tape and this isn't making sense. Check out Dana's Tutorial over at Made. It is great!

If you haven't already, pin the bias tape in place, all the way around the screen. Stitch first around the inner edge of the tape, then the outside edge.

Pin the pressed and folded ring holder strip then sew. The ring holder really only needs stitching up the open edge and the ends, but I edge stitched all the way around then one seam up the middle. It makes it feel a little more sturdy. Set these two pieces aside.

Installing the zipper:

Gather the two inside pieces of the roll up, the zipper, and the two pocket lining pieces.

Sandwich your larger inside rectangle, zipper (face down with the zip pull on the left), then the 8 x 5" lining piece. Right sides should be facing the zipper. My lining doesn't have a wrong side so ignore that. Pin securely. Sew close to the zipper using a zipper foot. Turn wrong sides together, revealing the other side of the zipper.

Now, sandwich the smaller inside rectangle, zipper, and the smaller pocket lining piece (right sides facing zipper). Pin, sew using zipper foot, turn wrong sides together.

And you're left with this on one side and...

And like this on the other side.

Now for the topstitching around the zipper. Get the back lining (the larger pocket lining piece) out of the way and, using a regular foot, topstitch close to the zipper (through the front and through the lining).

Here's what it will look like on the inside (with the larger lining piece still out of the way.)

Now for the other side of the zipper, fold the lining down and topstitch close to the zipper and through the front and the lining.

Here's what it will look like on the back after sewing.

And here's the front.

Now is the time to sew a label to the inside back of the pocket lining if you want to do so.

Attaching the Earring Screen and Ring Holder:

We're getting close to the end! Find the earring screen and ring holder that we put to the side earlier. Attach the "bulbous" end of a snap to one end of the ring strip and to the center top of the earring screen. Then place and pin the ring strip about an inch and half above the zipper (centered). Center and pin the earring screen about three inches from the top. The placement is not "set in stone," but if you use my approximate recommendations you the roll-up will fold just above the zipper then the top will fold down just above the earring screen and look proportionate when it's all tied and ready to travel.

Now sew (back and forward stitching securely) the right end of the ring holder to the jewelry roll-up (just vertically across the end so that it's free to lift up and to hold rings :). Also, sew horizontally across the bottom of the earring screen, I tried to sew right on top of the line I had already edgestitched so it wouldn't look messy!

Keep the screen and ring holder pinned to the background fabric and flip the whole piece over. Feel for the bulges where the snaps are and make a mark. Use this to guide you as you attach the recieving end of the snap.

Finishing:

Now grab the large, fleece backed rectangle, sandwich it with your almost completed inside piece, wrong sides together. Line up the raw edges, use lots of pins and then go around and trim anything that's needed. Cut off the extra length of zipper, little bit of extra pocket lining, etc...

Here you can either leave your corners square (and use the zig-zag method to corner up the bias tape) or you can trace a little curve like I did. Just trace the edge of a glass or something with a disappearing marker and trim. Next sew a basting stitch all the way around the edge, keeping the layers in place in preparation for the last few steps!

Curved corners and basted.

This step is optional, but I think it makes the snaps more sturdy and ready for a bit of tugging. Go back to your zipper foot and sew a sqare, as close to the snap socket as possible, through all thicknesses (for the earring screen and ring holder). You'll see the stitches on the outside of the roll-up, but I like the way it looks.

Last step!! You can try to sew your bias tape on in the cheating way (sandwich'ing, pinning and sewing through all thicknesses at once), but I tried that on my first attempt at this roll up and it was not vert successful. If you are using storebought bias tape it might work.

So we are going to sew it on the professional way. Unfold one side of the bias tape, pin it all the way around starting at the bottom middle (either side is fine, I did this step on the outside). When you reach the bottom middle, pin right sides of the unfolded bias tape together at a right angle, stitch, trim off excess and press. Finish pinning then stitch all the way around, in the crease of the unfolded fold (sorry :).

When that's done, refold the bias tape around the raw edges of the roll-up, pin in place and topstitch through all thicknesses. It would look nice to edgestitch as well, I may add that later.

Last step! Grab the ribbon or twill tape for the tie. Fold over each end twice (about a half an inch per fold) and stitch in a rectangle.

Roll up the Roll-Up and center the tie, pin in place and stitch through all layers (this will be sewn behind the earring screen so flip that out of the way) in a square with an x in the middle.

It's done!! Now you can roll it up and...tie it. Ha!

You can tie it in a knot or you can tie it in a bow. You can throw it o'er your shoulder...oops

I'll stop there.

This tutorial is for personal use only. If you are interested in buying permission for limited production, please contact me.

P.S. If you make one of these I would love to see comments or pictures, just add them to the Flickr group "You Sewed."

Felt Refresher

2011-11-01T19:33:00.000-05:00

I really enjoy the magazine Real Simple. I usually find the "New Uses For Old Things" Section pretty interesting. This month featured sandpaper. I don't remember all the other uses, but one that stuck in my mind (because it seemed ridiculous) was to use sandpaper to remove pills from sweaters. It sounded like a recipe for a destroyed sweater...but when P's Halloween costume came out of the washer looking absolutely horrible and covered with fuzz, I figured sandpaper was worth a try.

Here I had already tried to pluck off the fuzz with my fingers, no luck.

Here I had made a few passes with the sandpaper on the left side, so you can compare it with the "no -sandpaper" on the right. I was really impressed with the difference! You can't be shy with the sandpaper, you really have to put a little muscle into it.

The fabric definately looks a little more fuzzy, but much better groomed than it looked straight out of the washer. I will definately keep this little tip stored away in my brain, I'm sure it will come in handy!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:44:00.000-05:00

We had a great weekend! Saturday we took Baby P to the zoo. I think W and I enjoyed it almost more than he did. P is at the age where if an animal isn't moving it's not super exciting. Still, the zoo is at a park and it's a really nice place to walk. It wasn't overly crowded so we could get pretty close to everything.

Whoa there, sheep with horns.

Check out the creepy ape behind us in this picture. He looked us right in the eye, it was odd.

Sunday night we had the Trunk-or-Treat.

This guy is in constant motion, in most of our pictures he's whipping either items or appendages in all directions. We tried to take a few pictures before heading to the church, but grumpy baby + energetic dog = yucky pictures.

Here's Pieter Pan and Tinker Bell! I think Leo is a little bit embarassed of his get-up. Do you see how W is keeping P's left arm down so he can't rip off my carefully made hat? :)

The struggle continues...

At church, P discovered the Dum-Dum sucker. Every time he finished one, he ran back to the car to get another. Here we even got a little smile, though we are still holding both of his hands! I'm going to get some better pictures today or tomorrow! His costume turned out really sweet and he looked adorable walking around with those chunky little legs in his baby tights. The hat didn't stay on, but it hung down his back and still looked great.

"Think it Through" Thursday

2011-10-27T12:16:00.001-05:00

I am currently a stay at home Mama. I studied music in college and for a masters--voice performance and choral conducting-- and then taught for a few years after I got married. I love teaching, seeing the variety of personalities in my students, the different ways they respond to music or new information, and hearing a finished piece performed. I also loved the variety it punched into my day or week, class changes, running around to different campuses, etc...

Staying at home has been an adjustment. I had planned to work part time after Baby P was born, but after a long hospital stay on bedrest and P being born two months prematurely, any kind of childcare with other little ones was just not an option during that first year. I was so wrapped up in Baby that the change of plans didn't bother me, but as the months passed I definitely got into a bit of a funk, one that I have to consciously remind myself not to succumb to even now. I sometimes felt underappreciated, using every fiber of your being and every ounce of energy to serve a little creature without the ability to smile at you or say "Thank you very much for all that you do, Mama. I truly appreciate the 3 am snack, " can be physically and emotionally exhausting. In addition, our culture (and we ourselves) has made idols of tangible accomplishments like power, wealth, influence and job status. Even Christians, who know that their identity as children of God is the only thing that matters, we are still often discontent with our situation in life. When you give in to the kind of self-focused thinking that craves recognition for your work or your talents, mothering can be downright depressing. The very necessary, day-to-day tasks of caring for little ones, of maintaining a household and raising children with moral integrity are unlikely to bring in six-figures or a promotion. The thing is, if you are a mama and a wife, that's exactly where you are supposed to be and what you are supposed to be working toward. It doesn't matter if the work you do is appreciated, if the meal you worked hours on is pronounced delicious or not, if the floor that you so laboriously cleaned is muddied within minutes. The work you do for your children and your husband is fruit, we are called to bear fruit. Read this quote from Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic.

"God does not tell us to necessarily be strategic with our fruit. We do not need to know what will happen to the fruit.[...] What happens to all of our fruit is not our problem. That doesn't mean that we are not to care about the fruit. While it is on our branches, it is our life work. It is an offering to God, and we ought to care intensely about the quality of our fruit. But the branches are our responsibility; the ground is not.

I think that in some ways we have let our cultural admiration for efficiency get into places that it doesn't belong. Speaking for myself, sometimes I am working away on something and just cannot shake the question, 'Why am I doing this? Is this a ridiculous use of my time? Should I be doing something that matters, rather than (say) knitting a costumed mouse?' But it is very freeing to laugh at yourself--laugh when you know that "apple" you were working on may very well fall to the ground, and who cares? But the chances are good that the more fruit you make the more fruit gets used. The more you throw yourself into heavy branches, the more inviting the fruit and the more inviting the fruit, the more people it is likely to feed.

You cannot know the depth of His plan for your fruit. So throw it out there on the ground when you have no plan for its future. Waste it. Waste homemade pasta and the mess it makes on your family. Don't save cloth napkins for company only--sew a dress your daughter doesn't really need. Be bountiful with your fruit, and free with it. The only thing that you know for certain is that God will use it."

Rachel refers often here to efficiency in her discussion of fruit. I think it can also really apply to your opinion of whether or not your fruit (i.e. your life's work) will be appreciated. Do I hold back from making brownies this afternoon because I don't think my family will appreciate them? Do I grudgingly pick up after my husband or put away the laundry because I know he may not even notice when he gets home from work? Do I feel discontent or pout because no one noticed how much work it was to clean the entire house today?

The thing is, it doesn't matter if what I do here in my home for my family is ever recognized. I am responsible for the fruit I bear, the quality of the fruit and my own attitude while I do it. That does matter, every action, project, meal, or play time is used by God- very likely to shape and sanctify me more into the image of Christ.

Peter Pan Costume and Tutorial

2011-10-26T14:56:00.062-05:00

Baby P's costume is ready with five days to go til Halloween! All we need is a sword. This was a pretty simple costume, here are the details!

Materials:

about a yard of green felt (I had a bunch leftover after making a size 18-24 month costume)

several pre-cut squares of felt (for the feathers, I used yellow and red)

about a yard of stretch knit or a pair of baby leggings (you could use an old stretchy t-shirt for this)

a long strip of dark brown fabric, 2.5 " by your desired length (I used corduroy, you could use faux suede, felt, etc...)

1/4 to 1/2 a yard of dark brown fabric for the shoe covers (I used the same corduroy as the belt)

2, 2 inch D-rings

Hot glue gun or quick drying fabric glue

For the Tunic, use an already owned loose-fitting shirt for a template. Add some extra width and length (I wanted mine to be about knee length), and since felt doesn't stretch so you'll need the width to get it on and off.

I traced the shirt then folded the felt in half for cutting so I would have perfectly symmetrical arm holes.

Here you see the back piece with just a slightly scooped neck and a front piece with a scoop and a slit about 4 inches down the middle. Stitch the front and back pieces together at the shoulders.

For the sleeves, use your template shirt, the top of the sleeve is on the fold. Add some extra width and a seam allowance. After putting the shirt on Baby P, he was looking a little too much like Robin Hood so I cut the sleeves off short. You'll see long sleeves in some of the pictures, it's totally up to you, Peter Pan has raggedy short sleeves.

Pin the sleeve pieces to the front and back at the shoulder. Match the center top of the sleeve to the shoulder seam and work outward. Stitch. (Leave the sleeve and sides open!)

Now you will have sort of a poncho type shape, pin at sides and sleeve opening, matching raw edges. Now it's easy to close up the tunic with one long seam, pivoting at the 'armpit.' Do this on both sides.

Now take your disappearing ink marker and draw irregular "triangles" around the edge of the sleeves and the bottom of the tunic, cut them out. You can either stop here, or add the Peter Pan collar (Hee hee) like I did.

This is a simple Peter Pan collar. You cut it out in three pieces. The front two pieces are identical, they need to follow the curve of the neckline on the top edge and the slope of the shoulder on the top side edge. The back piece mirrors the curve of the neckline on the top edge and the slope of the shoulders on both top side edges. Stitch the collar together (matching shoulder seams) and then pin the RIGHT side of the collar to the WRONG side of the tunic. Stitch and turn collar to the outside, press and topstitch along the seam.

The Hat!!

Peter Pan Hat PDF

Click on the link above to download or print a copy of my hat pattern for personal use only, please. Templates for the feathers are also included. There are some brief instructions on the pattern.

For the feathers, fold one of the sheets of felt in half. With the disappearing marker, sketch out a feather shape. I wanted mine dramatically large and draping in one direction.

Pin the two layers together and cut. Now, stitch up the middle, around the edges and add some curving lines for a feathery appearance.

I stuck with two feathers, but a third in orange would have been cute too. Overlap them artistically and place them where you want, secure with a dab or two of hot glue to keep them in place. I also added a fine elastic string to keep it on Baby P's head!!

Shoe Covers

Lay your child's shoe on the fabric and trace around it, leaving enough room for seam allowance and for the width of the shoe. I wanted a slightly pointed toe and enough height that I could fold over about 2 inches. You'll need four pieces like this. Choose two and pin them right sides together. Stitch the back from the top back corner to the heel and stop. Now hem the top and bottom edges, I just turned under about 1/4".

Now you will have a piece that looks like this. Fold the top of the shoe cover down, right sides together (how much you fold over is up to you).

Sew along both side edges and stop. Now you will be able to flip this fold inside out to become the sort of "cuff" of your shoe. Like Peter Pan's. :)

Now pin the shoe right sides together, matching toes and bottom edge, stitch from just insideyour "cuff" to the toe, then down the front to the sole and stop. Be sure to forward and back stitch securely since these will take a bit of a beating. Add an elastic piece underneath the shoe if you think you need it.

The belt was easy peasy. Cut a strip of brown fabric 2.5 inches wide and as long as you need for your child's waist plus some for overlap. Fold the strip in half longways with right sides together, pin, stitch across one end and all the way down the open side. Turn right sides out. Fold in the raw edges of the open end and stitch closed. Edge stitch if you want (this adds a little stability, I sewed around the entire outside and one line down the middle). Take the D-rings and thread one end of the belt through both of them, fold the end over them (only an inch or two) and stitch so that the D-rings are now attached by a small loop to one end of the belt. (you can see this pretty well in the picture) The free end goes through both loops, around one and out through the other. Voila! Belt!

Tights

I referred to Made by Rae's "Baby Tights Tutorial" except I made leggings and added a "baby bum extending panel" like the kind on toddler pajama pants. That is the technical term in case you were wondering. :) This is some bamboo knit I had lying around from a project a couple of years ago. It's a yellowish green color, exactly what I wanted for Peter Pan!!

I had no luck getting this little guy to sit still for a picture. He's on the move and almost ready to go take down Captain Hook!

I think it turned out really cute! This might be the only time I will see my boy's chunky, little legs in tights. Funny and adorable! My favorite parts are the shoe covers and the hat--gotta love pointy toes and gigantic feathers!

A little teaser...

2011-10-25T12:12:00.002-05:00

I'm working on Baby P's Halloween costume today and I'm thrilled with how it's turning out!

Would you like a hint?

Yep! He's going to be Peter Pan! W is going to make him a play sword and everything. I'm considering a Tinker Bell costume for our dog Leo.

Leo, all 80 pounds of him, should make a perfect Tink. He's so dainty. Hee hee. The church is having a "Trunk or Treat" on Sunday night and the cars are supposed to be decorated/themed. I think we will go with Never Never Land, although I have zero ideas at the moment, I figure having an 80 pound black lab dressed as Tinker Bell (not to mention a super cute, baby Pan) will distract from the potential "non-wow" of my trunk decor.

This is what Baby P does when I try to give him kisses. I hope that continues with all the girls for a really long time.

'Tis the Season

2011-10-23T15:40:00.001-05:00

Well, not that one...not the Christmas season. But " 'Tis the season' for pumpkins and fall leaves and warm beverages...ok scratch that last one because it's still 80 degrees in New Orleans. It is however, the time for pumpkins. I keep seeing little kids walking around in cute pumpkin gear so I wanted something for Baby P.

I started with a plain, black, long sleeved T from Target. Then I used wedges of orange fabric, reinforced it with fusible interfacing and did a tight zig zag stitch around the edges. I also added fusible interfacing on the inside of the T so that the jersey wouldn't get wavy as I stitched it. I'm happy with how it turned out, pudgy pumpkins are the best! I will add some pictures of P wearing the shirt as soon as I get some!

My Day...

2011-10-19T17:57:00.000-05:00

I was busy today! Cleaning, laundry, exercising, taking care of baby. In the midst of all that I quickly put together these little overalls for Baby P. It's too hot in New Orleans for corduroy overalls, but it just doesn't feel like fall without some of those fall textures. So...I decided on a lightweight seersucker (in fall colors) for the main part of the overalls, with dark red corduroy accents. I did padded knee patches (I ironed fusible fleece on the back then "quilted them" and zig zag stitched around the edges). I did fabric covered buttons and added a little buttoned belt in the back. The pattern is based on something that P already had, I traced it out on freezer paper and lengthened the legs, etc...

P loves the buttons. I could just eat those chubby fingers.

The topstitching isn't perfect and I wish the knee patches were about an inch higher, but I think they turned out cute and he will get a lot of wear out of them.

I need to go find some long sleeve shirts in brown or cream for P. The white onesie isn't cutting it! He was playing so nicely here in the kitchen while I'm getting dinner ready, but I just turned around and he was eating a birthday candle. Oh to be 16 months old and everything looks appetizing.