A Little Anna Maria Can Surely Spruce Things Up!

My couch pillows were looking kinda sad.

So, my philosophy is, when a pillow is lookin' sad, recover it!





A close up.




Recovering pillows is super easy. Just remember to pre-wash the fabric so when your stinky dogs lay and drool all over the pillows, you can just throw them in the washer and they will be good as new!



I love Anna Maria's bright colored fabrics. They all seem to go together so well. So, I took all the Anna Maria fabric that I had and got to covering! I even patch worked one pillow so all the fabrics I used would blend together. I am going to patchwork one more to tie it all together but, man, patch working takes some effort!

I recovered these little pillows to a new favorite show of mine, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. If you have not seen this show, you must. It is adorable! Jill Scott is amazing in this series. I am looking forward to reading the books. My vacation to Santa Fe is nearing so I think I may take a few of the books with me. Ah, Santa Fe. I can't wait!!

Also, in other exciting news, the lineup for ACL posted today! Ben Harper (I predicted correctly!! yippeee), Dave Matthews, Sonic Youth, K'naan, Mos Def, Michael Franti, Toadies, B-52's, Lily Allen, Eek-a-mouse, and get ready....Pearl Jam!!! I have been wanting to see them in concert since like 8th grade. OK, who is going with me??? This is a fun, fun, fun festival and family friendly!

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!