Sunday, December 15, 2013

Christmas Crafts

I decided my Christmas presents this year would be handmade as much as possible which fits just perfectly with my new job. The first major project I am undertaking is a table runner for my Grandmother. Way back when my Grandmother took a quilting class that and made one of these table runners for each of her daughters, all four of them! Yet she still didn't have a Christmas table runner for herself. Now I am definitely still new to sewing so I recruited my mom for backup when I begun working on this. Between the two of us we knocked out the squares in one day.




Just getting started! I had already decided that I wanted to make my table runner two squares longer than the original that my Grandmother made. Luckily I didn't need to cut any extra pieces as the pattern already has you buying a lot of extra fabric plus with some careful cutting I was able to get all the pieces I needed for the extra squares from what I already had sewn.
Here's a shot of my messy working station. For the record the trees gave my mom a ton of trouble. She was pinning the squares together for me but after sewing the first side of one of the trees I realized she had pinned them together wrong. We all have our weaknesses I guess. Mine is still the bobbin for the record. Everything between winding it and threading it... bobbins drive me crazy.
My first finished squares! I'm so happy with how they turned out!Laying out all the squares with my Grandma's original up above. I have since sewn them all the squares together and I'm still deciding on what I want to do for the border. Hopefully I will be able to finish this on my next day off. And down below is a sneak peek of my other Christmas projects!

Friday, December 6, 2013

Long Time No See

Getting a new job at a fabric store has been amazing but it has also taken up all my time lately. Now that Black Friday is over with, I have got a little more free time which means it's time to get started on Christmas presents! Also the employee discount allowed me to save on all my homemade projects this. Hopefully I can get everything done by Christmas! Here's my haul from today. I've already started pre-washing some of the fabric so I will post again soon once I actually start the projects!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Throwback Thrusday

When I was little my grandmother made me cute outfits to wear for holidays and special occasions. As she got older it became harder for her to sew and since my mom didn't sew there was fewer outfits that were homemade. I had one sewing course when I was in middle school but threading the bobbin gave me so much trouble that I never continued. Now that I'm older I hope I can overcome my fear of the bobbin problems and start creating my own garments that fit my new smaller body. Since losing weight I've found I want to sew more just so that I can alter clothes to show off my curves more. Both these reasons have lead me to decide that I want to sew my Halloween costume this year. So here are some pictures that lead to my decision on a costume.
Here I am in one of the outfits that my grandmother made for me with my dad. This Easter outfit was worn for a couple of years for different occasions. At this age I was all about flowers and frilly things.

Less frilly this time but here I am with my cousin in a sweatshirt dress decorated by my Grandmother at Christmas. I'm in blue while my cousin's in pink and behind us is my Grandma. I'm a little over a year older than my cousin so we've always been close especially because the boy grand kids always outnumbered us girls.

The final picture I have to share is myself in my Belle costume with my brothers. Now I'm pretty sure this picture was not taken on Halloween as our living room was not usually set up for a tea party and the other pictures with this one were from my birthday party (in March), but this was my Halloween costume a couple of years. Also aren't my brothers adorable!


The idea started here with a Belle after remembering the dress above but as I explored the Disneybound tumblr more I realized Rapunzel would be easier for me to accomplish on a limited budget because I knew my grandmother had a lavender dress that I could possibly use. Also I'm more likely to wear a purple dress instead of a gold one. Soon I should have a post on my attempts to alter the dress to fit me. Like I said I still haven't done much sewing so it will be an interesting challenge!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Brother's Birthday

For my brother's birthday (that was last Sunday) I made him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. The cake was from a box but the frosting I whipped together from cream cheese, peanut butter and a little bit of powdered sugar. It turned out pretty well so late night I enjoyed a piece on a plate I decorated when I was about 2 1/2 years old. 
I should have a longer post tomorrow about my plans for my dream Halloween costume that I want to make if I have any extra money this month.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Apple Coffee Cake

Last night I made coffee cake, but not just any coffee cake. This one had apples in the filling. 
I basically made the recipe below minus the nuts and the glaze.
I love coffee cake which is why I had some for dessert last night and for breakfast this morning. The prep work was a little longer than I would like for this simple recipe, but it was worth it in the end.
 So good that it's already half gone!
 This morning while trying to work on a project, my cat insisted on sitting right next to me even though I told him there was no room. I guess he proved me wrong.

This is his "Really? How many photos are going to take of me? I'm trying to nap here" face.
 Seriously. There are about ten more photos besides these ones.
Happy Kitty sitting in the sunshine.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Doily Craze

I've been on a doily making spree for the last couple of weeks since I have had lots of free and a ton of nervous energy. At first I was just nervous about hearing back from my interview, then I was nervous that I got the job and I wasn't sure I would really do well with a retail job. But I'm not worried about that now because I have a job! And it is working in my favorite craft/fabric store. Anyway onto the doilies!
  Here's my collection of doily books and below is about 1/3 of collection of crochet thread some of which was inherited from my great grandmother.

Here are my recent doilies all laid out with my phone for size comparison. None of these have been blocked yet which is why some of them are curling up.
 This is my most recent doily that I just finished yesterday. Notice the tail thread that I still haven't woven in.
 This is one of my favorite doilies that I have ever made which is why I chose to place in a wooden panel that I stained myself and cover it with epoxy. The epoxy makes it super shiny and hard to photograph but I love having it hang on my wall.

This is round two for trying this method of displaying doilies and uses the panel that I stained back in August. No job=no money to buy the epoxy to finish this one or the other 14 doilies I currently have but I'm still proud of it.
And here they are on my inspiration wall to try and give you a size reference. The cards in the middle are two and a half inches by three and a half inches.
 Last night I painted my toenails for good luck on my first day of work which is tomorrow! Hoping everything goes well.
And a bonus photo of my cat snuggling my computer!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Busy Week

I've had a busy week. Between stressing about finding a job, waiting to hear back from an interview last week, painting my grandparent's house for some extra cash, and catching a cold that just wouldn't go away, I haven't had time or energy to post anything. 
Next week I hope to be a busy as a bee in my mom's garden and will have a much more interesting post to share.
I

Monday, September 9, 2013

Photo a Day 2-7


Hard Work- Laundry is my least favorite chore!


 Up- My pick-me-ups for the day!


Exercise- This stays in the living room and I often sit on it instead of the couch.


Empty- Jars that I plan to reuse somehow.


Circle
Pathway




 And here's the Artist Trading Cards that I made this week.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Brownies

My Grandmother loves brownies so when I visited her last night I baked her some with Reese's Pieces in them. And they were delicious! Plus no fancy recipe needed, I just used a boxed brownie and added the Pieces after mixing all the other ingredients.
I'm still doing The Idea Room's Photo-a-day challenge but I've decided I will upload one weeks worth of photos at a time. Next Monday I will have an update of both photos and ATCs.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

September Photo-a-Day Challenge- Day One: Inspire




I've always wanted to do a photo-a-day challenge, but every time I saw one I was way to late to start and thought maybe next time. Well this time I have no excuse! I found this one from Amy at The Idea Room yesterday and I knew it was time to challenge myself. 

The first one ended up being a painting of the day. For a while now I've wanted to create a wall full of things that inspire me and since that was the first prompt I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to pant something. I used extra paint I have from my chair project, watercolors, and an extra 4x4 Canvas that I had lying around. The photo after is where it lives on my wall.


After finishing my painting I was feeling crafty so I pulled out my Artist Trading Cards and decided to make a new one. I like how the flowers turned out on this, but overall this is too busy for my tastes. Live and Learn. I would love to continue making an ATC for everyday of September on top of the photo, but that may be too much. We will see.

 
 
Bonus Photo! 
Here's my cat sticking his tongue out at me. He rarely does this so I had to grab my camera and blind him with my flash since it's so late.


Friday, August 30, 2013

Lemon Bars

I bake when I'm stressed so I've been baking a lot lately. These lemon bars are my most recent baking adventure. They are so delicious, I would make them again in a heart beat! The book I got the recipe from is now one of my favorites since they are easy and all have beautiful large pictures.


Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Quick Snack

I am a weight watchers member that loves to find new lighter snacks to try. Last night I decided my light popcorn needed some sweetness added to it. Since I had some candy coat chips left over from making cake balls, I just melted some in a bowl and mixed in the popcorn. For fun I melted some vanilla flavored chip and drizzled that on top. 
Result: Amazing!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Staining Wood

I spent most of Monday visiting my grandparents which is always a great way to spend the day. Especially because they have allowed me to set up a painting studio in one of their extra bedrooms. Since I quit my job back in June I've been really unmotivated when it comes to painting but Monday was a good day. While painting I found a blank wood panel that I decided that I was going to stain for my next project... so I did! And since I had already set up a little working station it was the perfect time to finish up a project that I started way back in March. There is still some work to do on the chair but at least I made progress!

I love how both of these projects turned out! I can't wait to finish them up.
Before
In progress

Now the second half is ready for painting and staining.
  
And here's a picture of my poor cat who was so hot because our AC was on the fritz. He spent the whole day staying low to the ground when he usually likes to be up so that he can see out the window.