Apple Pie Sunday

Church was wonderful this morning and we are starting our small groups tonight for the new year. We meet at 6 and we eat and then have study/fellowship time for about an hour or until everybody quits talking. On tap for tonight at our small group is chicken and gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, brownies and apple pie. I am cooking the chicken and gravy and the apple pie. I get to use the apples we put up this summer and the house smells so good. I bought some Mayfields vanilla icecream to go with it-YUM! Hope your day of worship has been wonderful.

I included a picture of the sewing cabinet that came with my second hand sewing machine. I cleaned it up yesterday and plan on using it this week.

Progress, Progress, Progress?

It has been a busy week and weekend for me. We had school co-op this week and my son took his driver's test Friday and is now an officially licensed driver-Yeah! We went to Red Lobster Friday night to celebrate. I also stopped by Hancocks to pick up a couple of 1 yard pieces (not that I don't have gads at home-but hey any excuse to go visit a fabric store) of fabric to sew up a few nursing blankets for the Saturday baby shower. It was relatively easy to put one together, but the second one is still waiting to be started. I will post more detailed instructions this week. It just got to be too late and I was a little tired. I will definitely make more of these for gifts though. I am also posting pics of my Simplicity dress. It is hanging on Shirley (my husband named her) waiting for more attention as well. I have also finished cutting all of the squares plus some for the baby quilt I am starting for my sister-in-law. I have them laid out in the floor to see if I like the set up of the squares. Any feedback from you readers who quilt???? Any squares I should move around?

Well I hope those of you who attend church services tomorrow have a blessed day of worship!

This Little Piggy...

I am going to a baby shower for a sweet friend tomorrow and I have a few store bought gifts for the baby, but I also wanted to do something homemade. I bought the Martha Stewart craft book from Barnes & Noble and it has so many ideas in it that I want to try. I decided to make a felted wool pig for the baby's room. I had never felted wool, so I went to Goodwill and bought several wool sweaters that received a healthy dose of hot water and even hotter dryer treatment. They all came out very nicely. I chose this deep red wool for the pig and I think he turned out really cute. I decided to use Fisherman's wool yarn to outline the stitch lines on the pig and I really like that. He really looks like an old toy with that added effect. I just sewed on 2 small black buttons for eyes and inserted a pipe cleaner in the tail for curl and VOILA!

I finished a cream wool cowl on a recent trip and I have some progress on my Simplicity pattern. I haven't taken pics yet, but I will. I also have a baby boy quilt in progress for my sister in law. Will post some pictures of the fabric squares I have cut soon. Hope everyone has a productive weekend!

A Few Snowy Day Projects

Although I still plan to finish my sunshine yellow fingerless gloves, I have been experiencing a wee bit of a strain in my right wrist. It seems more aggravated by the small needlework, so I have begun a different pair of fingerless gloves with the leftover yarn from my "fear of commitment" cowl. I am hoping there is enough yarn to do the pair. This is a pretty easy waffle stitch pattern. They will be cute with the cowl. I have about a 1/3 of the first one done. This is a free pattern at Ravelry.com

Second, I cut out a new sewing project today. Considering how slow the sewing is going at my house, I am sewing a spring project. It is a 1973 pattern that I like, but have never sewn. The skirt is elastic waist-doesn't get much easier than that and I love the shape of the top. We will see how it turns out. Might be traveling this weekend if the weather permits, but I have tonight and tomorrow. Just not sure if I will work on this or the gloves. The gloves I can work on in the car, so maybe a little sewing for me. Will keep you posted on my progress.

Shoe Sugar Month: Day 13 SIZZIX BIG SHOT GIVEAWAY!!

Shoe Sugar Month: Day 13 SIZZIX BIG SHOT GIVEAWAY!!

Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway

Visit Adventures in Dressmaking for a chance to win a $50 gift card for the fat quarter shop! I love the 1930's Buttercup collection, but they are all beautiful.
giveaway click here to go to the giveaway post

Pattern Winners!

Renee : winner of #1 & #5 Sew Mental Mama: winner of #3 & #7 Henria O: winner of #6 & #8 Amy: wnner of #2 & #9 Congratulations! As soon as I get mailing info they will be on the way. Have fun!

Cowls & Scarves

I was browsing the web this weekend for a short while and visited some of my favorite sites. I was so pleased to find a winter cowl at Colette Patterns. She made hers from a lovely winter white herring bone wool for warmth and a pink brushed twill for a feminine side. It looks fairly simple to do because of her wonderful tutorial http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/tutorials-tips-tricks/winter-warmer-cowl. (bottom photo from Colette website)

I also saw that Disney over at Ruffles & Stuuf has a very cute pleated scarf tutorial. She made hers from a winter white flannel that looks so cozy and warm.http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2011/01/shoot-for-scarves.html

(top photo from Ruffles & Stuff website

I also downloaded 2 more free patterns from Burdastyle:the JJ blouse & Angela Kane's jersey cowl dress. She also has a free pencil skirt pattern there as well as a modern denim jumper.

Pompadoodle scarves

I made 2 of these Pomp a Doodle scarves by Red Heart this weekend. They are super fast and super easy. We have a large group of ladies at our church that are going to start meeting to share talents and simple projects. This might be our first project because unlike "real" knitting you don't really have to worry about tension with this project. You simply knit 2 stitches in between each pom pom. The tension kind of works itself out. They are all polyester but very soft and fairly warm. They are cute, short projects. Each one only took about 3 hours to do. If you use a Micheals coupon they are only about $3-$4 each scarf. Thye would make nice gifts as well. I already gave my purple one to some little girls at church today!

Reeses Cupcakes

We had dinner company Friday night and I made some really yummy Reeses cupcakes for dessert. I just made a devils food cake mix but added a small box of chocolate pudding (instant) to the mix and increased the water by 1/4 cup. I bought a vanilla icing and added 1/4 cup peanut butter to it. Mix it well. I iced the cupcakes and then sprinkled them with chopped peanuts and topped with 3 mini Reeses cups. They were not only cute, but yummy and GONE!

200 Posts-Pattern Giveaway

I really haven't been blogging very long, but it is nice to look back and see the projects I have completed. I said in my earlier post that I wanted to share a couple of neat websites with you. First, http://www.colettepatterns.com/ has started this new weekly tip by email called Snippets. If you would like to receive these tips go here: http://www.colettepatterns.com/snippets

They have some really lovely patterns. I have the Sencha blouse pattern and it is super easy to work with and the directions are extremely clear.

Secondly, I received an email from BurdaStyle. Another great pattern website that I have downloaded patterns from. Many are free!! They have teamed up with Singer and Martha Stewart to share quick and easy craft ideas and also give away many Singer products. Check this out: http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/sewing-with-singer-and-the-martha-stewart-show-a-great-new-way-to-upcycle-your-t-shirts

You may have to become a member of BurdaStyle in order to leave comments and win, but I believe you can watch the craft videos for free.

Last but not least: A PATTERN GIVEAWAY! I am accomplishing 2 goals here. First, to give away some free patterns to nice readers like you. Second, to destash patterns that are too small/big for my kiddos and/or me. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me which patterns you are interested in winning. I will draw random numbers to choose a winner. You could win more than one! If you want to follow that is totally up to you. This is a no strings attached blog. Here are the first 10. I will be posting 10 more tomorrow. 20 patterns-200 posts!

#1-McCalls 4276-Sz XS-SM (cut-all pieces there)2003

#2-Simplicity 8362-Sz 12 (cut all pieces there) 1978

#3-Simplicity 8825-Sz 7,8,10,12,14 (uncut)1999

#4-Simplicity 9568-Sz 6-14 (cut all pieces there) 1990

#5-Simplicity 9287-Sz XS,S,M (uncut) 1996

#6-Simplicity 9734-Sz 5,6,7,8 (cut all pieces there) 1996

#7- McCalls 5510-Sz M/Lg (uncut) 2007

#8-McCalls 5909-Sz 7-12 (this one has some pieces cut to a size 10 and others uncut)2009

#9-McCalls 4554-Sz 7,8,10,12 (cut all pieces there)2004

#10-Simplicity 9774-Sz 7-14 (uncut)1996

If you have any questions please leave them in the comments section and I will try to answer them. I will draw winners next Tuesday the 18th. Please leave an email or blog address so that I can reach you.

Finally!

Well even though we have snow on the ground today, hubby had to go off to work. He was very generous in volunteering to mail my son's GSP application. It has to be post marked today. We were up until 1 AM finishing it (it is a labor intensive application). My husband has to write every week as part of being a pastor, but it is a slow process for him no matter what he writes. He just can't "spit" stuff out on paper. He thinks, he types, he erases! He is an excellent writer and I am thankful for his willingness to write a recommendation in the midst of all his other work. GSP is "Governor's Scholars Program." Many states have this program. If chosen, they go for 5 weeks during the summer to live at a college campus and go through classes in a chosen "track" like engineering or music. They also play sports and get to know other students. It allows for some scholarships to come his way if he gets to go as well. We will just wait and see. It is all in God's hands. Another wonderful tidbit of news is that our fireplace is functional!!! Hip,hip hooray! Hubby put the connection in last night while I was in town delivering one to a Bible study and getting milk. I came home and he started our first fire. All our smoke alarms started going off because of the painted pipe. It has to burn off the paint, which took an hour or so. So here we are with a roaring fire in the stove, 3 windows open with fans sucking air & smoke out of our house and the dog freaking out over the fire alarm-what a zoo! It just makes me laugh. This morning though all of that is gone and the house is sitting at 78 degrees-(almost too warm for me), the dog is cuddled up and the house is peaceful, warm and quiet! Love it. Life is like that. Sometimes all helter, skelter and then God brings a quiet peace. I am so thankful! I have a few things I will post a little later today. A few emails I received yesterday sent me to a couple of neat websites. I want to share those with you as well. That will also be my 200th post and I think I will be doing a GIVEAWAY-Yeah!

Fancy Fireplace

On another note, several of my son's friends came over last night and helped my husband lift our massive fireplace onto its new pedastal. It looks really nice up there. It probably would have had a fire in it last night, if my husband had not cut the telescoping pipe piece a little too short. He was not happy, but atleast it was only a $10 part. He will pick up a new one today at lunch and in it will go tonight. He will have a roaring fire in there before the week is out I am sure! This area is 4 ft deep and 8 ft wide, so the fireplace with afterburner is a pretty large, heavy (400+lbs) piece.

GSP and a new project

I am finalizing all of the GSP application for my son today and it seems like a vast amount of time has gone in to this. I know I will be glad that I took the time to do this his junior year, when he begins applying for colleges next fall. I am just growing weary of doing it and want it to be in a nice neat little envelope ready to send. If he is accepted it would mean missing him for 5 weeks this summer. I am sure he would have a great time and learn so much, but I am not sure I am ready for him to be gone. I am taking a little lunch break and thought I would post my new project. I have been looking for a simple fingerless glove pattern and finally found one on Ravelry.com this weekend. I bought this pretty "sunshine" yellow bamboo sport weight yarn and have jsut begun the gloves. I will post my progress. We are expecting snow tonight and tomorrow and my son is supposed to have his drivers test early tomorrow morning. I have co-op this week and my son has Bible study in town tonight. Wednesday afternoon my youngest has needlework and Wed night is church. Thursday or Friday night I am babysitting 2 sweet little girls so their parents can go on a date for their anniversary. Not sure how far I will get this week, but atleast it is a start!

Sweet Little Cakes

The wedding took place on Saturday evening and although I didn't see it, I heard it was very beautiful. I didn't see it because I offered to manage the food. My oldest daughter was a bridesmaid and my youngest helped with the punch. I also offered to make all the brownies for the wedding. They neither one like cake, so they did something a little less traditional and definitely cheaper! I had never tiered brownies before, so this was new to me. I also made some sweet little brownie cakes for decoration around the main tier. I decided to set up a cupcake tier with china cups as another way to serve the extras. It all came together pretty well. I was very thankful for the amazing way the sweet florist made a boring stack of brownies look very pretty.

China: Mikasa (white with silver rings)

Sugar pearls: Wilton (put on with tweezers mind you)

Pearl glue: I used a Wilton icing writer to give the pearls something to stick to

Soda Shop Success

Last night was so fun! We had cute little diner baskets to eat out of, with plenty of hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone. Cokes and rootbeer, floats and shakes, and lots of 50's music. We played the Price is Right and had to guess the prices as of 1950-harder than I thought. We had bubble blowing contests, straw paper blowing contests and played musical chairs and the $64,000 question game. We had questions from WWI & WWII to answer in order to win. Our table won the first time-WooHoo! All the girls had poodle skirts or rolled up jeans and tennies-too cute! We had a few "greaser" guys, but most of them didn't dress up. All in all we had a marvelous time visiting and twisting and playing and eating!

Knitting is Now!

I was pilfering through some of the things on my sewing/scrapbooking/general craft table (and I wonder why it so quickly becomes cluttered?). I found a stash of knitting and crochet leaflets/magazines that a dear lady at church gave us about a year ago. I had just started knitting at the time and thought I was doing well to cast on by myself, so the materials were stashed. I found them yesterday and breezed through them-I have been rather occupied this week with tasks. I thought these two were so cute. The vest is crochet, but I love the title"Knitting is Now" on the other one. My favorite quote from the typed page above is, "Your new found knit-knack lets you work wardrobe witchery." That is good! There are several cute patterns inside that I would love to try. A more advanced belted cardigan in the back is super cute. Ah, one day I will climb to new heights in my knitting skills and whip these things out lickity split! Thought you might enjoy the pictures. I am off to let out the waist in my husband's suit pants so he can breathe at the wedding tomorrow and bake brownies for 200 wedding guests. Hope you have a productive day!

Circle skirt & a happy bridesmaid

I had my daughter try on her "fixed" dress tonight and it looks a whole lot better on her now. A little more shape due to the alterations. I also bought some super sturdy double sided fusible interfacing today along with 4 red maxi locks. I serged the bottom of the navy circle skirt in red and then made a quick wide belt for it. Looks pretty cute. Hope to post pics from the unit celebration on Saturday.