Fancy Pants

Oh, how I love the Bernette 334DS serger! I did a double surge just to reinforce what I have sewn so far. I want these little pajamas to last a lifetime!












My P.J. pants are starting to take form. I will be all snugly in them very very soon. The button hole thing is giving me trouble. I have a Bernina 1008 and it does not have an automatic button hole feature. You, yes you, have to do all the work. Which, is totally fine with me because I like to do all the work when it comes to sewing but, I just can't figure the dang thing out. I have put in an S.O.S to my mother, who I am sure will know how to make it work. I found a way to cheat with a button hole by using the zig zag stitch but, I just cannot make myself cheat on this one. I even have my mother's brand new Singer sewing machine that probably has an automatic button hole feature but, for some reason, I just have to do things the hard way!

I think I may have these P.J.'s finished by the weekend. I can't wait to lounge about the house in them.

Stay warm and cozy everyone!

Cheers!

Texas Freaks Out!

So we are under an ice storm warning. I guess it is a reason to freak out because ice is bad and way different than snow. Here in Texas this happens about once a year. Apparently it is a big enough deal to have news coverage about the weather 24-7. It is also big enough to interrupt all regular programing about every 10 minutes with updates. Right now it is super chilly and I am very lucky to be all warm and cozy in my little house. I am hoping, however, that I can go into work late tomorrow. That would be fantastic because like the rest of my fellow born and bred Texans, I am terrified to drive in the ice, and I will look for any excuse to go to work late or not at all! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but everyone deserves a little break. I talked to my sister a few hours ago. She lives in Arkansas in the Ozarks. I am very lucky to not be there right now because the ice storm they are having is enough for power lines to snap. They are completely without any power and it is going to be like 15 degrees there tonight!! Even though ice storms bring so much destruction, they are very pretty because everything is sparkling like a little winter fairy land.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the weather but, I posted something new in the shop.

I gotta get this shop updated and up and running!! Stay tuned for more new and improved items in the shop! I know I keep saying this but I mean it this time :-).

Happy Tuesday and stay warm!

New Kicks

Chuck's rock. I am awaiting for the post man!

Pincushions, Pajamas, and Snap Wallets

Where does the weekend go? I had so many things that I wanted to accomplish this weekend but didn't! It seems like there is so much to do and by the time I actually sit down to work on something crafty it is late and all my energy is gone. But, I did manage to start a few projects and even finish one!

I made one of those cute little mason jar pincushions for a friend of mine. These really are cute and practical!

I cut out fabric for my pajama project. When I say where does the weekend go, this pajama project is the prime example. I was meant to start these pajamas last weekend but did not get around to it! I geeked out when I saw the pink skull and cross bones fabric. I am even not that big of a fan of pink but this fabric is too cute!

And, I started working on a few new snap wallets for the shop. I just love the mushroom fabric!

I am hoping to have a slow week at work so I will have enough energy to come home work on some more crafty projects this week. February is a big birthday month for my family and I think I am going to continue my felt food theme for Violet and make her a few felt sandwiches. I also have a few fun things in mind for my mother and sister's birthday but unfortunately I can't talk about that until after their birthday passes!

Oh, I also have been working on spinning yarn...surprise surprise! I am almost certain that you are tired of seeing the same old color of yarn but this time, I spun two different colors together to change things up a bit. I have a bit wound around my homemade knitty noddy.

I tried a new recipe from my Cooking Light magazine. We had Chicken and Southwestern Salsa tonight with a green salad and lime dressing. The recipe was in this months issue. It was goooood!

Oh, Mama and Carrie, I forgot to tell you! Cooking Light will be arriving in your mailboxes soon!

Cheers!

President Barack Obama!

What an extrodinary day! I am very hopeful.

What I've Got On The Bobbin

Good morning! Just popping in to say hello since it has been a while. It is a beautiful day outside and I hope to get out and about in a bit to enjoy it! Right now I am enjoying my first cup of coffee of the day! Today is the last day that I am on call out of my seven day stretch!! It has been very busy, busier than the other times I have been on call. I think the philosophy this week at the hospital was, when in doubt call the social worker! So, I am down to 22 hours left and I am excited, as if you couldn't tell ;-). Last night, to pass the time, I worked on a bit of spinning during a 2 movie marathon. I was also looking at other people's yarn on craftster last night and I got a lot of inspiration! I have a few ideas in mind for my next skein.

On a sad note, the cutest little yarn shop in Fort Worth is closing and I just discovered it 3 months ago! They are however having a 25% off sale and their yarn is beautiful. I may have to swing by this week to say good-bye, sniff sniff. If I had the means, I would open my own yarn shop...maybe someday.

Cheers!

New Woolies

I think with all the fun and excitement while my sister was here I forgot to mention that I purchased some new wool to spin. I think I will be ready to sell my first skein by the end of this month. I will be on-call for work next week so I will have plenty of time to practice (in the midst of waiting for the after hours pager to go off, yikes!). I have been purchasing my woolies from Annie May. She has very nice wool at reasonable prices.

The wool is even more beautiful than the pictures!

You know what is funny, in the process of picture taking and blog writing, I just now realized that I purchased more of the roving that I already had in my stash and had NO idea!! I guess I really must love these colors! Fortunately, the blue roving was not already in my stash so at least I have a little something to jazz things up! Man, I should have checked my stash before I bought more, that will have to be a note to self! If you want to see basically the same blog (with much better pictures of the woolies) about the same wool, check it out here. Ha ha! I can't believe that I did this! No worries though, this will give me plenty of spinning practice time.

Cheers

Chocolate on Sunday

One thing that I always try to avoid is grocery shopping. I think that may change when Whole Foods opens just 10 minutes away from my home! I could spend hours in there. But for now, grocery shopping is just another mundane chore. I managed to find a way not to go to the store today, even though the cupboard is bare. I am pretty sure I can scrounge something up for dinner though. But, the sweet tooth hit me right around 3pm. It is rather difficult to have a sweet tooth and no groceries. However, I happened across this, a little chocolate cake in a coffee mug! Fortunately, I had almost all the ingredients. I was just missing the oil but I had plenty of butter, which is strange because I rarely eat butter. So, I substituted the oil for butter which worked rather well. It was quick, easy, and very tasty. This gives me great ideas for Christmas gifts for next year.

I also made a yoyo bracelet and some thumb tacks out of some of the chocolate lollipop fabric that I have.

And I also finished up some yarn that I have been spinning. The magenta is part of my sister's Christmas present. I am still practicing spinning in hopes of starting to sell handspun yarn in my Etsy shop.

Now, I am going to snuggle up on the couch and read the plethora of crafting books that I have acquired over the past few weeks. Oh, the book I purchased yesterday, the author has a blog. I have updated my blog roll over the past several days. Recently one of my favorite things to do has been to purchase a new crafty book and look up the authors name on the Internet to see if they have a blog. Yes, I am a certified dork but I am SO ok with that.

Cheers!


Update**oh dear, I found another book..Oil Cloth Inspirations.

Super Shopping Saturday!

My sister and I went to the Benbrook Antique Mall. I have been dying to go back ever since my mom took me there the weekend before Christmas. It is pure bliss! Everything is so well priced and the customer service is fantastic. There are treasures to be found behind every corner. I was excited about this trip because I had my eye on the plethora of Pyrex sold there. Oh, I scored big...oh I scored so BIG! I think this will be my new addiction, shopping for vintage Pyrex at the antique mall!

They have a ton of butterfly gold, friendship, and spring blossom Pyrex which I think I will go back for soon but I got away with 2 huge mixing bowls and a set of baking dishes that I think are the "daisy" pattern. I am still doing my research. If anyone knows what the pattern is called please let me know because I am just not certain that it is the daisy pattern.

And the mixing bowls from the "Verde" collection....

There is a booth at the antique mall that I drool over every time. I thought I would give you a little sneak peek. My sister and I met the lady who owns the booth, she is very quirky but I think you would have to be to have a booth like this!!!

I also found a great little vintage Coca-Cola tin tray for my bar area in my kitchen. This is something new that I have added to the kitchen and is still a W.I.P. I searched high and low for a vintage ice bucket for the bar but that was a no go.

After the antique mall we went to the book store. We made a hit for the cafe and got some iced coffee, then I bet you can guess what section we went to. Yup, the craft book section. It was very convenient because the craft book section was right next to the cafe so, it was totally meant to be. We sat there for close to 2 hours looking at books. There were books scattered all about on the floor. Oh, how I love the smell of a freshly bound book, well, especially a freshly bound craft book. It was a hard choice to figure out which book would leave with each of us.

My sister decided to go with Seams to Me and a knitting book that "seams" (yes, I know) to escape me at the moment. I decided that I needed a good book on needle felting and found this little book...

Last time I was in the book store they were all out of the fall edition of spin off mag, I was rather disappointed because I completely missed out on it but the winter edition was fully in stock today!!!! And yes, I love it so much that I find it absolutely necessary to post a picture of it.

I also finished my pillows last night. I am very happy with the way they turned out. You can't go wrong with an adorned throw pillow!

I live for days like this!

Cheers!

First Crafting Day Of The Year

Happy New Year!

My sister is in town visiting and so my mother, sister, and I decided to ring the New Year in with a little New Year crafting. We had a lot of fun! We started out with lunch. We had curry chicken salad sandwiches and fruit salad. It was yum-o (I have been watching Rachel Ray on the Food Network, so I had to throw that in).

The chicken salad is super easy to make. Here is the recipe:

About 3-4 chicken boobs grilled, chopped well (you can bake them or cook them in a skillet)
1 1/2 cups of fat free yogurt
1/2 small red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
pepper, to taste
chopped walnuts, as much as you desire
dried cranberries, as much as you desire

Mix together all the ingredients and serve on whole wheat bread! Yum-O!

After lunch we spread out our sewing machines and surgers began Sewing Bee 2009! My mother mastered tote bag making and threading the surger. We had a near disaster with the surger when one of the needles decided to fall out of the machine but, we recovered! My sister worked on my Christmas gift, a lap quilt! It s coming together so well, I can't wait to use it and I worked on throw pillows for guest bedroom.

My sister and I went to the Cabbage Rose this morning where I picked up a bit of Michael Miller fabric to make my pillows. Oh, I also picked up a speeding ticket on the way there. I guess I was just too excited about going to get new fabric. I really don't think the officer would have understood my obsession and excitement over fabric. So, I resisted the urge to explain my speeding to him and took the ticket like a champ. I also wanted to mention to him that I have not had a speeding ticket in 11 years but I don't think that would have made any difference either. Maybe I should have taken my sister's suggestion and offered to sew him a cover for his motorcycle seat....but I am sure that would not have helped either. Geez, I even thanked him after he handed me the ticket and afterward found myself wondering why I just thanked the officer for giving me a ticket? I was bummed but was not going to let going "45 in a 30" keep me from having a bad day and for some reason it made leaving the Cabbage Rose with brown bag full of freshly cut fabric even sweeter.

Anywho, during my pillow making, my sister suggested that I add some yoyos and fabric covered buttons to my pillow. She had a great idea because so far, it is turning out very cute! I love making yoyos and buttons. Too fun! Every sewer must have a yoyo and button maker.

During our sewing bee my sister made a frozen coffee drink which was very yum-o (yeah, I had to do it again). My mom thought we should name the drink something that went along with our theme for the day. So, we decided to pay homage to Anna Maria and named the drink Frozen Chocolate Lollipop, after her line of fabric. Oh, have I mentioned before that I love her? :-). My sister and brother in law gave me her Seams to Me book. It is fabulous!

I am still working on my pillows but should be done this evening. Stay tuned for pictures of the final product!!

Cheers!