Thursday

Puppy Apron

Puppy Apron
Puppy Apron
Within a few hours of posting my test apron I got a request for a custom order! Go figure. This is for a little girl whose birthday is Saturday.  She loves puppies so her grandma requested something with puppies on it. Even though it's not in the traditional pink girly colors, what girl doesn't love the color of chocolate?

Her grandma loves antiques and vintage things so I lined this little apron in some vintage fabric that had a few fade marks and added a little embellishment just for fun.  I've been tinkering with the idea of adding elastic to the neck so there would be no ties there however I did not perfect that yet so I chose to give this apron the traditional ties for the neck and added a few buttons to the front.

I hope the little girl likes her gift.
Child Apron
Puppy Apron-Back

Monday

Zippers!

5 and 6 inch zippers
I've been in the mood to start making things for the up-coming craft fair season which is fall for me. So I ordered some zippers to make some cute zipper pouches.

I order my zippers from ZipIt on Etsy. I like the prices and the shop owner is in Sheboygan, WI which is just a hop, skip and a jump from my home. I was so excited when these arrived just two days after I ordered them!

I did learn a valuable lesson after my first order. The prices were so good that I ordered 50 zippers.  I chose my colors from the pretty color chart based on colors I love thinking I mostly have fabric in the colors I love so it should all work out. Unfortunately, I needed more of some and less of others when it was time to sew.

This time I pulled out the fabrics I was going to use in my projects and ordered based on how the zippers matched up. I ended up ordering many of a few colors instead of just a few of many colors. However, I don't have many left from that first order so I guess I did alright.

Saturday

Breezy Beginners' Sampler Quilt - WIP

Black and White Sampler Quilt

I started this quilt over a year ago.  It was part of a quilt-along I was doing over at quiltinggallery.com and I kept up with it throughout the entire project. Well, almost. I was keeping up until the second to last week. I got to the very last block when everything came to a stand still. All I had left to do was the last block and then the borders and the top was totally done.

I don't like to make excuses but that last block and the final borders came at the same time I got my congenital degenerative disc disease diagnosis. So I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.  And as the weeks went on I move on to other projects and left this one behind.

I had some incentive to complete it when Michele, the quilt-along coordinator sent an email stating that the PDF quilt-along series would only be available for a few more weeks then she was turning the instructions into a booklet that would be for sale only.  I still didn't finish it.  And that was last year.

This April, Michele posted on her blog that her patterns would be on sale for the low, low price of $5 each. I took that opportunity to purchase the now completed booklet so I could finish the quilt top.  I still didn't finish it.

While sorting through my fabric in an effort to get organized, I came across the sampler and realized I was so close to finishing the top.  So in less than two days, I got the top done! I don't know what I was waiting for!
Black and White Sampler Quilt

The funny thing about taking photos of this quilt is that they look like I took them in black and white but they are in color.

Friday

Child-Sized Apron

Cupcake ApronI designed this child-sized apron based on a few different aprons I've seen for children. I liked the idea of an apron that didn't need to be tied or attached with Velcro around the neck. So I added a casing with elastic to easily slip it over a child's head. I considered using Velcro for the tie at the waist but I don't like how stiff and scratchy the hook side is of the hook and loop tape.  The large pocket on the bottom is divided into 4 compartments and the apron is lined with muslin on the inside to give it a little extra body. I will try it out on a few children, determine if any adjustments need to be made then make a pattern and instructions. This sample apron took me a little over an hour to complete from start to finish.

Tuesday

Mini Treat Bag Sewing Marathon

I currently have 4 quilt tops ready for quilting.  It's like torture because I just cannot get to them.  I have too many little projects to finish first. All are promises to make things and I have to keep my promises first and foremost. It's really ok that the quilts have to wait but once in a while it makes me a little anxious. The anxiety will pass, it always does when I get in these situations.  So at least I can share this second finished promised project today.  That's 2 down and 2 to go! Yay!

So here is today's finished project.
36 Mini Treat Bags

Friday

The Sunshine Tote

Patchwork Tote
Sunshine Tote
My sister asked for a tote bag to give as a part of a gift basket. Her husband's aunt is going through a tough time and she wants to make a care basket with some fruit and wine in it to give away so she asked me for a bag to put those things in.

I've been toying with tone-on-tone quilt squares lately so I thought I would take some of the extra quilt squares to make her bag.  Of all the color combinations I've been working with, I really liked the turquoise color scheme.  So I did some patchwork and turned it into a pretty large tote.  I planned on leaving it at that and calling it a basket but it just didn't look complete. So I added the handle with some buttons for an accent to turn the bag from a basket to a tote.

Even though I added some craft-weight interfacing to the bag, I wanted a little extra support so I covered a 4" x 10" piece of sturdy cardboard with some fabric and placed it in the bottom of the bag. That did the trick! I also left some room between the handle placement and the top of the bag to flip the opening up or down depending on how full the bag gets.

If my sister likes it, I think I will make more in different color schemes. I am calling it the Sunshine Tote since that is really its purpose. I might even make a tutorial out of it.  Hopefully it will bring the cheer that my sister wants to provide to her aunt.

Saturday

Banana Bread

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe.html?soc=sharingpinterest
Banana Bread
I found a great banana bread recipe on Food Network's website.  I read the reviews for it and I have to say,  I get annoyed by what I read sometimes in those reviews. Some of the people who reviewed the recipe stated that they changed the ingredients to something totally different or added more or less than what is called for and then they gave the recipe a bad review. I wonder if it ever occurs to them that their version sucked because they didn't follow the recipe! I just don't understand.

I do have to admit though that I followed the recipe exactly and found this banana bread perfect. It wasn't all crusty and dried out like other versions I've tried. It was moist and very flavorful.  I think it was the cinnamon which is something I don't remember ever using in other recipes and the fact that you have to make sure you don't overbeat the batter. However, I did wish it had nuts. So this time I made it and added a handful of chopped walnuts.  To me, it did make the banana bread better.  So if you like nuts, that is the only suggestion I have to complement this recipe. So I did change things but not not until I tried it exactly as printed. :-) So here is the wonderful original recipe from the Food Network website:


Banana Bread
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 - inch loaf pan.
Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add the dry ingredients, mixing just until the flour is incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove from the bread pan and invert onto rack to cool completely before slicing.
Spread slices with honey or top with ice cream.



If you want to see the original recipe, just click here.

Sunday

Recycled Wine Bottle Garden Border

I've been saving wine bottles for a very long time. I have a large plastic garbage can that I've been filling with the bottles over the past year and now the can is full. I have to do something with them in order to continue to collect more.  I really don't have the room to fill another garbage can so I decided to make a border next to the sidewalk at the back of the house.  My fear is that in winter while shoveling I might hit the bottles and break them but we rarely shovel that walk so maybe it will be ok.

Since it's been raining a lot the ground is nice and soft so it was easy to dig a little trench.  I set the bottles at random in the little trench then pounded them in with a rubber mallet. Then I filled the dirt back in between the bottles.  It was fun to read the labels and surprisingly, I remember where and when we drank the wine. It was like a trip down memory lane making it so much fun to install each bottle.
Wine bottle garden border
Wine Bottle Garden Border
Surprisingly, the giant bin of bottles didn't go as far as I thought they would so I guess we will have to work on filling it back up again.

Wednesday

Patchwork Kitchen Curtains

Kitchen Curtains
Patchwork Curtains
Last week I took down my kitchen curtains to wash both the window and the curtains.  Once the curtains came out of the dryer I realized how faded they were and how much I disliked them.  They were once popular and in style but they've been hanging in my kitchen for almost 10 years now.  I was not going to put them back up.

I do like quality things that last but the reality is that taking on one room at a time means that it takes a while to get around to redoing things since there are 11 rooms in this house.  That's my best excuse. But it is time for a kitchen re-do.  Sadly and tragically, my painter committed suicide this spring.  He was a sweet and sensitive young man who was somewhat troubled.  I will miss him terribly not only for his painting skills but for the friendship and companionship he brought me while he worked here.

While I ponder how to go about finding another painter, the least I can do is make some new kitchen curtains. I don't want to spend a lot of money on replacements since I'm not totally ready to do a total re-do of the kitchen. So I went through my stash and pulled out some pretty yellows as well as a piece of muslin to use as backing.  

I washed and ironed my fabrics and cut 8 and a half inch squares. I used that size based on the width of the muslin that I was using for the lining.  I decided to leave the selvages on the muslin to give the lining a finished edge without any sewing.  I made two panels using 30 of the 8 and a half-inch squares (6 rows of 5 squares) for each panel totaling 60 squares. I had a large chunk of pretty flowered yellow fabric so I also made a 5 and a half-inch border along the bottom to tie the look of the squares together. Then I made a valence using 3-inch squares of the leftover fabric with a border of the same yellow fabric.  Once the squares were sewn together, I stitched the lining to the panels and made a casing to hang them.  

This was a quick and easy project that took very little time, no pattern or instructions, just a few math skills to make sure I had panels the right size to cover the window.  The yellow grosgrain ribbon I used to tie the curtains back were in use on the curtains I took down so I did recycle a small part of my old curtains. I like the fresh look they give my kitchen.