Spotlight - Rag Rugs

Janice is traveling and while she is away, I am taking over her "Spotlight" posts. I have always liked rag rugs, but these beauties are simply amazing. I could not get enough of them. Just looking at the beautiful colors makes me happy. I found them all on Flickr by the way. And all of my favorites were made by this talented crafter.

Easy Yummy Lunch- Quesa-pizza?

This is something I did to use up extra pizza sauce. It's just pizza sauce spread thin on a flour torilla, onions (chopped and frozen-easy to grab), grated colby jack cheese, parmesean cheese. Put on a hot (medium-high) griddle until the cheese starts to melt and then take it off. The cheese will finish melting on the plate. It really took like a minute to heat or less. Great for feeding multiple children at one time. I really like pizza, too!

Idealeon

We Shared This Post At These Parties. (Click on the link to see all these wonderful blogs and make sure you hop over for a visit. They are worth it!)

NEW Challenge: Children's Bracelet

I have never been big on wearing jewelry. I don't even have my ears pierced. But this month's challenge is on  NEW, so I thought I'd take a crack at making jewelry. The future goal I have in mind for learning how to create jewelry is to replicate the necklace I wore for my wedding. I sadly misplaced it and it would be nice to have it back in a way. But before I do that, I thought I'd start out small and make a simple bracelet for my two little girls.

Dora, another author on this blog was my resource. It was definitely easier to to be taught by a expert, instead of figuring it out all on my own.  

 I used a very basic pattern with a heart shaped clasp.

New Challenge- Building Shelves

I have always admired women who build furniture. No matter how simple it is, there is something to be said about a woman who knows how to handle a table saw and a nail gun. Wendy, a fellow author on our blog has some experience with woodworking.  Plus her husband is amazing when it comes to making anything out of wood.

 I have always wanted to learn how make simple furniture. Table, shelves, desk...nothing too complicated. When I read about this month's challenge, I knew this was my chance to act. I approached Wendy and asked her and her husband to help me make a couple projects we needed. My 12 year old needed a small shelf to put his home school books on, since his desk is too full with all the models he is building. And I needed a shelf to go on top of my sewing desk to help contain the mess.

NEW Challenge- Digital Fabric Design

I am not a whiz with programs like Photoshop, or Illustrator. I actually have their free counterparts, Gimp and Inkscape. It took me hours to figure out how to load a picture to Gimp. My vector drawings look more like what my 2 year old produces. Therefore I do not use any of those programs, rarely edit pictures and even then I use something very simple, like Picnik.

Then I happened upon Spoonflower. A company that prints your design on fabric! Anything! You come up with it, they make it happen.

Focal Copper Bead Bracelet

I am still trying to break out of my own mold and explore new design ideas. A few weeks ago I was picking up crimp beads at my local bead store and saw this HUGE copper bead. I bought it because I liked it, but knew that it would not be something I would normally use. That's my new attitude when I visit bead stores. If I like but feel I would not use it, I buy it. Just to see if I can find a way to use it. It took me a while, a few tries, but finally I am happy with the outcome.

Make a Tunic With A Yoke

THIS POST WAS MOVED HERE

SPOTLIGHT - Cable-labelling idea

Hi everyone. For this week's Spotlight, we have nice little organizational trick that Dora found at:
http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/organizing/use-bread-bag-tags-to-organize-power-strips-150572
Pretty nifty idea and one which all of us with multiple gadgets - computers, printers, fax machines, etc. (or the TV, VCR, DVD player, stereo combo) all hooked up in one place - could use to make our lives easier. I would suggest using different colored bread tags or different colored ink to label them; in our house all of those pesky cables are well hidden in the deep, dark recesses under a desk, so other tell-tale info would come in very handy.

Thanks, Dora!
July 25, 2011

NEW Challenge - Salley Mavor dolls

Okay, these are indeed a feable version of hers, but I figured since I had featured Salley Mavor's cute felt dolls on July 17th AND own her book AND had been wanting to make some of these, I decided the time had come. Clearly I did not take anywhere near enough time to do either the faces properly or the embroidery work, and good-sized acorn caps (for hats) are almost non-existent here, so the hair is a bit goofy, too. But wrapping the limbs with embroidery floss produced good results (even if you can't see it in the photos) and the little one turned out pretty sweet.

NEW Challenge - paper making

I love paper and have been wanting for ages to make my own. Two Fridays ago when my 8-year old couldn't find anyone to play with, I suggested we try making paper. We tore used copy paper, partially used napkins, some old envelopes, dried rose petals and paper towels into the blender, added about 3 times as much water and mixed it all into a pulp. Then we poured the paper pulp into a basin that was about half-filled with water, dunked our window-screen-covered frame under the pulp and let it rise to the surface. On a few of them, we laid some red rose petals for decoration. We let the water drain off and used a sponge to soak up more water while at the same time pressing down the paper. We stacked up our 5x7 pieces of paper with white felt in between them to soak up more of the water.

NEW Challenge - sewing part 2

I started this little triangular 'pencil case' bag the same weekend that I did the other two sewing projects. Somewhere in this vast world of the internet, I had seen a super-cute 3-sided pencil case where each edge was a zipper. I thought doing 3 zippers was a bit of a stretch for starters, so I decided to make a 3-sided case with just one zipper. Whereas this isn't as cute as what I had seen, it does have the nice trick that it can stand up or lie on its side.

broken promises

I really need to watch what I promise on this blog. When I posted the Knitted Cat Scarf Pattern, I promised to have a dog scarf pattern up soon. Well, I have started on it. I got about 2 inches so far. Life and other projects got in the way.

Then I posted a Sneak Peak and promised a how-to. I actually did make 2 new tunics with matching shorts, took tons of pictures for the tutorial and edited some. I even started writing the post, but then I thought of a much neater way to add the yoke and now I do not want to publish the original post. But I have not had time to make a new tunic, so again, a broken promise.

Good thing I don't get paid to blog!

Have you ever promised something and not delivered? If not, how do you keep your promises?

Next week I'll show you how to stall. Wait, I just did ; )

NEW- Wire Rings

I have always wanted to learn how to make wire rings. What kept me back is the fact that I would not be able to wear them. My hand is sensitive to metals. Every type of metal. Now you know why I do not wear a wedding ring. We have tried buying stainless steel, hypoallergenic surgical steel rings and it is true that I can wear those for about half a day without a reaction, I just don't think it it worth the hassle. So I just don't wear rings. But I always wanted to learn how to make wire rings. Thanks to this month's challenge, I can justify indulging in something I always wanted to do but is not practical for me. I made 6 rings (not counting my practice rings) and I tried to wear one for about an hour, before red spots started appearing on my finger and I had to remove it. Soon I would have lesions that would burst and scab over. Painful and inconvenient. Still it was fun and I love just looking at the wire rings. They make me happy. They were simple to make, although I do admit it took me a few tries before I made one that actually looked good. Here is a link to a great tutorial. I do not have a ring mandrel, so I just measured my finger with a thread and found a dowel that was the right size. I also tried large marker, different handles from various kitchen items, just to give you a few ideas.

My favorite.

July Challenge- Head Jewelry

Ever since I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival as a teenager and saw some really pretty 'coverlets' or head jewelry, I've wanted to make my own. The one at the festival I really liked was closer to $100. In recent years, I've found an interest in India and it's saris. There is jewelry called matha-patti that I really like, too. Find it under "belly dance jewelry". Here is a picture of one I almost bought but decided to make a simpler version on my own:

Simple Brown Skirt

So about 7 years ago I had a brown skirt that I would wear all the time. It used to be my mother's. One day I was cutting out some fabric while wearing the skirt. Yes, I was dumb and careless and cut a nice big 5 inch cut into my skirt because part of it was underneath the fabric somehow. I was so mad at myself for doing something so dumb! I've wanted to make another brown skirt for a while. I've had the fabric sitting and waiting for at least 3 or more years. Other projects always took priority until last week. I finally made it! It was very easy and simple. I love easy stuff.

Rubber Ducky, You're the One.

I was asked to decorate for a baby shower that was thrown this last Saturday. My goal was to NOT spend a lot of time and money. I am so glad people share their great ideas on the Internet, it makes projects like these so much easier and  stress-free! Here's the link to the baby shower theme I chose to go with: Rubber Duckies. What I loved was part of the decorations was actually my gift to her; diapers, lotion, powder, shampoo, duckies. 

SPOTLIGHT - Salley Mavor

Welcome to our new feature 'Spotlight' where we hope to show you something:

interesting...
colorful...
inspiring...
amazing...

some special things that catch our eye, make us feel good, and make us want to try it, too!

Given that I love paper, fabric, embroidery, travel, a good story/book, good food served in a relaxing way, music and spending time with my kids and family, I thought I would have a hard time coming up with an opener for Spotlight.

I'm happy to say that inspiration struck and I've chosen

Salley Mavor

and her amazing embroidered felt fairies, dolls and fabric relief pictures.

Salley Mavor is the creator of weefolkstudio.com (her website), weefolk.wordpress.com (her blog) and several beautiful books, including 'Felt Wee Folk' (a how-to book so you can make some of the things above for starters), 'Pocketful of Posies', and 'The Hollyhock Wall' among others.

Chocolate Waffle Sundae

My oldest turned 12 and instead of having cake and ice cream, we celebrated with Chocolate Waffle Sundaes! I got the recipe from FoodNetwork, and did nothing to change it. It was very good and I loved that it fell more in dark chocolate category. If you want sweeter waffles, increase the amount of sugar by 1-2 Tbsp. You can also use milk chocolate chips. (I used dark, which is another reason why they were not sweet.)

Sneak Peak

I took my husband's teasing about the first tunic seriously. After looking at countless Viking Tunic pictures, I learned that the front is called a "yoke" and not a placket. There are many different styles, versions and it took me a while to make a decision on what I liked the best. When I finally did, I stayed up until 2 am to make this:

Currently I am nursing a head cold, this is all I have energy for. A detailed post to show how I made the yoke will come. But I am sure most of you can figure it out pretty easily ;)

Make Your Own Pattern For A Simple Tunic From A T-Shirt

THIS POST WAS MOVED HERE

NEW Challenge - sewing experiments

I'll admit that I am not a whiz at sewing, so following someone's online tutorial or designing and making something myself is quite new for me. This weekend I not only had some free time, but was inspired to play around a bit and try out both! (This opportunity was made much easier by the fact that a few weeks ago I not only cleaned up all of my craft stuff and fabrics, but I also set up my sewing machine on a desk with all my threads, etc. right next to it!)
First, I was a good mom and did all of my mending! After that I added a small piece of elastic to some triangular neckerchiefs for my little daughter to wear instead as kerchiefs to keep her hair off of her face and neck.

A week or so ago, I found this cute pleated pouch pattern at http://www.needleandspatula.com/2010/12/pleated-pouch-sewing-tutorial.html.
On Saturday, I dug through my fabrics, disassembled a cute but outgrown baby sundress (for the lining) and made the pouch. It turned out a little lopsided somehow, but still sweet. My older daughters gave it a vote of approval!

Sewing Tip- Small circles

I've posted these before, but this time I'm giving a tip on how to sew those small little dots on with a satin stitch that actually looks good.

Knitted Cat Scarf

After Wendy wrote about how she learned to knit and included in her post a few inspirations, we got a few e-mails asking for the animal scarf patterns. They do look very cute and I thought my younger boys would like a cat and a dog scarf, so I sat down to knit one and write the pattern as I went. If you are adventurous and are a serious DIY-er, you can make your own pattern. It is easy and the pattern I wrote can be easily changed/altered to your own taste. I used worsted weight yarn on size #8 straight needles.

Watermelon Granita!

This post has been moved

>here<

Jumbo Seersucker Skirt

Seersucker is a thin, all-cotton fabric, great for the spring and summer. It is woven in with some of the threads bunching together, which gives the fabric a wrinkled look. You do not need to iron it. It is hard to ignore fabric that does not need to be ironed.  I was ordering some seersucker fabric for my boys, when I saw jumbo seersucker. I quickly added 1 1/2 yards to my basket and boy, am I glad I did! I love the texture! And it is so comfortable, cool and breezy. Perfect for a hot and humid summer.

 Right after I loaded the pictures I noticed that someone, who-will-not-be-named, but I can tell you that he is not much older than 2 years, got a hold of the camera -again- and messed with the date stamp.

And the winner is (drum roll)........

June Challenge Winner:

Nori.

And as promised, three dishcloths.

Congrats and Enjoy!

Thanks to all who participated.

What's Even Better Than Icecream?

In a word, semifreddo. On first blush, an odd sounding name for a dessert, but try it once and the word will forever after provoke blissful eye rolls. Semifreddo means "half-cold" in Italian, and tastes like the richest, smoothest icecream you could ever imagine. I've made some pretty tasty homemade icecream, but I'm never entirely happy with the texture. It's either too soft, well on it's way to melting when I scoop it into the bowls, or, if I try to firm it up in the freezer after it's done in the icecream maker, it can be rock hard. Semifreddo is the perfect texture, firm without being hard, and silky smooth as it melts in your mouth. Even better, it maintains this perfect texture even if you make it ahead of time and need to keep it in the freezer for several days.

Semifreddo is simple in that there are very few ingredients involved, but tricky in that you need to be doing two or sometimes three things nearly simultaneously. The recipe I used is a combo of two recipes I found online, scaled to match the ingredients I had on hand. You definitely want to have all of your ingredients measured out and ready to go: