Frayed edge blanket and ric rac burp cloth

While these don't match, I wanted to try out these cute patterns I found at Sew Much Ado. She has some really great tutorials and obviously access to beautiful flannels. The first one I did was the frayed edge receiving blanket. I used a cute decorative stitch and then snipped in all the way around. The more you wash this one the cuter it gets. I then tried the ric rac burp cloth. Super easy and very adorable. I plan on making some of these for the arts & crafts day in October. I want to make some matching sets. (sorry for the bad pics-my camera is being weird)

Patterns: tutorials from Sew Much Ado

Fabrics: flannels and cottons from Hancock Fabrics

Recovered sewing stool

While I was in Hilton Head this summer, my husband and I went thrifting and that is when I bought the Necci sewing machine. We also bought an all wood sewing table that will need a little refinishing. It has a cute stool that you can store items in, but the vinyl on it was dry rotted. I recovered it Saturday and added new foam to the seat as well. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Fabric: home decor weight fabric remnant (scrap stash)

2 binky bibs done

These are pretty easy and the embroidery doesn't really take that long. I hope to make a few more of these for the local arts & craft day in October.

Pattern: Simplicity 2670

Fabrics: Felt, terry cloth and cotton

Binky Bibs Pattern

I bought this little pattern when Hancocks had them for $1.00. My oldest daughter and a friend have rented a booth for a local craft fair in October. I thought I might make some to sell. I am working on some other things as well, but tried this out last night. My husband thinks their funny. Why does the binky need a bib? I said it is all in the name of cuteness and for catching and wiping drool. I won't make too many, but a few will be fun. Pattern is Simplicity 2670. I am using terrycloth for the front and cotton for the back and tab. I have used both flannels and cottons for the applique.

Butterick 5474 Finished

I finally finished this apron that is for a friend. It needs a little final pressing, but I am so glad it is done. I sewed the buttons on yesterday. I ended up tacking down the collar in half because I felt like it was just too big or tall. I also tacked the sides of the bodice to the underside of the collar. They would look strange sticking out since I altered the collar a bit. This is a cute pattern but I had trouble with a few of the instructions. It was probably just me though. I used a vintage sheet for the "dress" part of the apron and orange cotton sateen for the apron overlay. It is very feminine and I might make it again. I won't use a stiff interfacing in the collar the next time. It would lay flatter I think without having to tack it. Looking forward to giving it to her tomorrow.

Creative fix

I am seriously hoping that my schedule will get a little more normal soon. We have been working very hard on our retaining walls and they are starting to look really nice. I have been trying to help my son get a schedule set up for filling out college applications while completing his classes and working a new job. He also has ACT and SAT subject tests coming up in October.

I was mowing last Saturday and made some hornets very angry, so one decided to sting me on the top of my head-very painful by the way! That's what I get for trying to keep a very large yard manicured.

I have still been knitting my second fingerless glove whenever I am riding in the car. I hope to have that done soon. Looking forward to wearing them when the weather gets cold!

On this last trip to Hebron with hubby, I went back to the GAP clearance store and bought 3 great Banana Republic sport coats for $19.99 each. One was all Italian wool and the other 2 were just navy linen like and khaki. Great deals and they didn't have any visible issues. I also bought this GAP body hooded shirt for $.25! It was seriously a quarter because it had a hole in the front. I decided to use some of the Amy Butler lotus fabric flowers and applique right over the hole. I thought adding more than one flower would look better. I blanket stitched with pink embroidery floss and I think it looks pretty cute. Now I can wear it and no one will ever know there was a hole. I also bought a cute Banana Republic dress with a broken zipper for $4.99 that I have been working on. Hope to get more sewing done sometime soon. All I have done is hem and fix over the last week, but that is helping narrow my boring pile of "to-dos" and that feels pretty good.

Colette Patterns Book

I was so excited when I caught a glimpse of the Colette Patterns book due out in November. I love these patterns. I have the Sencha blouse, the bloomers and the sorbetto tank. They all sew together so easily. The fit is great and the instructions are very clear. They are also patterns you can alter easily. One blogger made 7 sorbettos in 7 days and they are all different and super cute. She turned one into a 1920's lace covered flappers dress. You can pre-order it at Amazon. I am putting this on my Christmas wishlist!

Greek yogurt popsicles

I really don't like greek yogurt very much. I love that it is thick, but the twang kinda gets me. It is packed with protein though, so I wanted to find a way to like it. I picked up some popsicle makers while I was in Hebron. I used one container to make 2 popsicles. I used some of the Yoplait whips to make a couple more. I like the chocolate mousse frozen. I ate one of the greek pops today and it was pretty good. I used the blueberry this time around. So, go freeze you some yogurt!

Chicks with sticks handwarmers

I have finished two panels that will be sewn together to make my first handwarmer. Not sure what went wrong. Either my wool yarn doesn't have enough give or my tension was too tight because each panel was supposed to make the whole handwarmer. No way. I am sewing them together and then I will knit two more for the other hand. They knit up fast and I LOVE MY HARMONY needles!!! I will be asking for some more sizes for Christmas-yahoo! Oh well, I think these will be super cute fingerless gloves for winter. I have plenty of time to whip up the other one. They are great for car trips. It takes us an hour of driving to get to town and back. I have also done more work on the apron and I am almost done. Whew! Will take some more pics of that soon.

Building up walls

No I am not talking about the emotional ones-Whole other story! We have been working on retaining walls in our driveway and up to where the new barn will be. We had to have something in tiers there to keep back all that ugly red clay. Otherwise all the clay would end up in our gravel drive-yuck! We did the excavating last weekend and this weekend we worked on putting the rocks in. Long process trying to get them level. Then we realized the company who delivered the rock only gave us one small bags of pins to keep the rocks together. These are Versa Lock blocks. You don't have to use mortar between them. Oh well. So tonight it looks like we will be right back at it, assuming my hubby gets more pins. It will look so much more manicured. Now what about the rest of the farm?

Military Cupcakes

I made cupcakes for a friend this week in honor of her husband's promotion to Lt. Colonel. She purchased a set of the leaves for me and I made fondant discs for each cupcake. I pressed the leaf in and then used silver dust to paint each leaf. They turned out pretty nice and they made a rather patriotic center piece. Congrats Darin!

OttLite Giveaway!

Don't have an OttLite? Visit SewChic for a chance to win a Tulip OttLite. http://sewchic.blogspot.com/2011/08/ottlite-review-and-giveaway.html

Butterick Apron Progress

I have changed the fabrics up a bit on this apron. Originally I thought I would do one from the M'Liss Fresh From the Garden piece I have, but decided to go with a vintage sheet I bought in Hilton Head and an orange cotton sateen for the apron overlay. I managed to get everything serged yesterday and sewed all the pleats into the underskirt. I have the box pleats pinned on the outer apron and hope to get to those today. I spent 3 hours spreading hay over grass seed this morning(don't know if it will grow in all this heat). We have really been working hard to get the new barn area more manicured. Hopefully we will see a building go up soon. So exciting!

Captain Crunch French Toast

While we were in Hilton Head, we watched Food Network quite a bit. On one of the Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives they highlighted The Blue Moon Cafe in Baltimore and it all looked good. My son loves Captain Crunch so when I heard the owner say "Captain Crunch French Toast," my ears perked up. I didn't add all the sugar to the egg mixture, but it turned out really yummy. I basically blended eggs, half and half and vanilla together for the batter. I crushed several handfuls of cereal and then used homemade bread (courtesy a lovely lady at church). YUM! You coat the bread in the egg mixture, coat the bread in cereal and then cook in a medium hot skillet with butter. The cereal starts to caramelize and gives the toast a slightly crisp outside, while the inside is soft and moist. My son said it was pretty good and he would definitely eat it again. I served it with a little whipped cream and drizzled it with syrup. Enjoy! I think this might be good with Cinnamon Toast Crunch too.