I made myself a birthday present

It's a gathered clutch, based off of this tutorial (of course, I love my tutorials!).  It was missing a few steps, but I figured it all out pretty well, I think.  I love the final product, and am very happy to have had an excuse to guilt-lessly purchase some $7.99/yard fabric.  It IS my birthday present, after all ;)

Over the course of this project, I used my first fusible interfacing (not very scary at all), and made my first project with a zipper (super intimidating, but it went well).  That means that I got to whip out my zipper foot for my sewing machine, and it means that I broke my first needle before I knew what I was doing.  I also got to replace my first needle.  All experiences that were going to happen eventually. 

 (If you look closely, you can see the pointy part of the needle still threaded.  Oh those zippers and their trickiness)

I love my new clutch, it has enough room for a camera and cell phone, money, and a couple of pockets for cards (ID and credit card).  Perfect for when we go to see the play Wicked this weekend for my big day.  I read the book years ago, and have wanted to see the play ever since.  My darling husband is fulfilling a dream with this birthday, and I am a happy lady.

Pumpkins up north

My hubby and I and some friends went up north this weekend to do a little work on a dock (hubby, not me).  It was beautiful!  Fall is in full swing up there and the leaves are turning, cool weather is settling in, and there are lots of crunchy leaves to step on.  We stopped at a stand on the way back home and picked up some pumpkins.  No worries, we got the discount $2.00 pumpkins instead of the impressive $5.00 beasts.  This particular stand had a lot of warty pumpkins and a few green and white ones.  We ended up with three, two boring orange ones and one lovely short, green one.  Can't wait to carve them! 

That's right, I made cheesecake

Doesn't it look amazing??  I loved the recipe, even though it took three bricks of cream cheese (holy calories when a person eats most of it herself).  It was tasty and I would highly recommend it.
Try it yourself, following this recipe.  The degrees are in Celsius, don't let it throw you off!

I made it to celebrate two months of marital bliss between my dear husband and I.  And also for friends who were visiting.  I bought my first spring form pan for the occasion, as well.  It's amazing, and you should get one too.

My dear visiting friend gave us these lovely monogrammed mugs.  Here, we ran out of bowls and used them for ice cream.  Please don't judge me based on how many desserts I eat ;)  They came from my favorite store to look at, Anthropologie.  Apparently their kitchen things are reasonably priced---Woohoo!

First Felt Food creations

I successfully made a carrot, two pieces of bread, two tomato slices, lunchmeat, two lettuce pieces, jelly, peanut butter, an obese banana, and a carton of milk.  More to come!!  So excited!!  I love this new crafting!  And the best part is that it doesn't have to be perfect:  Kids will just believe you when you tell them it's a tomato if it doesn't look perfect.

Finally Finished

Hey all,

I finally finished the Christmas stockings that I started a few weeks ago.  I'm pretty proud, since they were my first project completed in the round and they were my first colorwork experience, as well.  The first one (the red with tan toe and heel) came out with a better shape, but the second one (tan with red toe and heel) had a much more successful snowflake pattern.  My favorite part is the button flap thinger to hang it from.  Now I can use these and I'll have the perfect shape as well as a much improved colorwork section. 

I finally got motivated to finish this project because now I have the next one to work on:  felt food for my nephew to play with.  I can't wait!  I got all the felt I need from JoAnn Fabric for about $5.  Huzzah!

I wish I were this creative...

I saw a website today that makes me unbelievably jealous.  She seems like she really found her niche and loves to spend every minute working on her craft.  Wouldn't you just love a bowl full of these little guys in your house?

 

You should definitely check her blog out: http://resurrectionfern.typepad.com/resurrection_fern/crocheting/

New Table

Well my requests for opinions on the skirt appeared unfruitful, so I wore it anyway.  Here's me with the lovely bride.  I added a last minute lining and couple of rosettes from some leftover fabric.  I like it and I don't care if I look like a cheerleader.  ;)


My dear husband and I took a trip out to a flea market today, and came away with this lovely table.  We're going to attempt to sturdy it up a bit (too wobbly) and put our newly ordered television (HD ready, since apparently we missed the HDTV conversion by a year and there are no more rebates for the converter boxes...sigh).  Also on there is a new discovery of mine:  almond M&Ms.  Who knew???  You probably can't see them because I ate all but 10 before taking this picture.  Sooooo yummy.

Opinions needed!!!

Hey guys!  I finished the skirt that I was working on (in a hurry since some friends decided to stop by last night!) and I'm not completely convinced that I like it.  What do you think?  Would you wear this?

My darling husband told me it looked like a cheerleader's skirt.  So, should it be a halloween costume, or can I wear it to a wedding today? 

I'm pretty proud of how it turned out, since I didn't have a pattern.  There were a few structural issues that I encountered, but a bit of fabric sewn here or there really did the trick!  Nice, low expectations are the key.  You'll surprise yourself that way!  This skirt, for example, only needed to fit at the waist.  Then, every other seam can be off, lopsided, adjustable, or what not.  You should try making one!  But first tell me if I should wear this one to the wedding...

I've been a bad blogger...

I know, I know.  It's been a couple of days and I haven't posted.  Now, to the ordinary blogger this might not be a big deal.  But to me, it's pretty sad.  Because, you see, I don't have a job or kids and this blog is a great reason to get up and be productive each and every day.  Now, before you go thinking I spent the past 2 days in bed, hear me out:  I have tried.  It's just that nothing has been successful.

I'm working on knitting some Christmas stockings (early, I know, but a friend just showed me how to use the "magic loop" and I'm enthusiastic about getting back into knitting.) I'm using the Short Row Toe that I found on this site.   I ran out of yarn.

Then, I started working on a skirt that I'm fashioning using some of my existing skirts as patterns.  I ran out of fabric.

Then, we had too many leftovers and I didn't cook dinner last night.

So here we are.  I cooked dinner tonight, and I bought more yarn and fabric.  We rearranged our work area so that I have more room (aka stop having breakdowns out of frustration) when I'm working on my projects.  There will be more finished projects soon, my friends, soon.  For now, be jealous of my dinner: (and my yummy Fat Tire that was on sale!)

Mushrooms!

We went up to my parent's house for Labor Day weekend, and had a great time.  I was very distracted by the number of mushrooms in the area, so I took lots of pictures.  I just love how different they all can be. 

They can grow in clusters or by themselves.  Perfectly straight or lumpy and lopsided.  White, yellow, brown, speckled.  I just love them all.  My new goal is to find out what type of mushrooms these are; it's the first step in being a mushroom hunter.  Oh, and the best part??  All of these were found while taking a FIVE MINUTE walk down the road my parent's live on.  The diversity is just amazing.  Yay mushroom hunting.

The craft I was supposed to post yesterday...

Well I didn't post (obviously) last night.  I was entirely distracted by a game of Lego Star Wars on the Xbox.  Yup.

But I did make a craft that was blog worthy. 

Sashiko is an embroidery technique that I thought I would try my hand at.  It turned out pretty well.  You can buy a bunch of samplers, like mine, at this website.  I have big plans for this little guy, and have the feeling it will turn into a present for a very special someone in my life.  You are supposed to use sashiko thread and needle and thimble, but I just wanted to try it out without the financial commitment, so it's just embroidery thread, a quilting needle, and a piece of scrap linen.  It's certainly not perfect, but I love it.  Like a lot of other things in life.

Back from Chicago

I took a trip to Chicago; we left on Tuesday and got back last night.  I had so much fun!  Doing whatever you want, shop however much you want, spend a lot of money on food, it was spectacular.  I took a few pictures:

That's us reflected in the giant bean. 

And that is a couple of people standing behind a poster; don't their feet and the picture combine to make a great photo?









Maybe if I'm very motivated I will post a craft on here later today.  Perhaps...