I've Found a New Baby

Baby Lock that is...

This weekend, my friend Karen accompanied me in buying my very first (own) sewing machine! I have been using my mom's trusty cast-iron Singer for, well, 25 years. And she has served me well, but I thought it time to see what I've been missing.

Here it is!



I bought it at Eddie's Quilting Bee in Sunnyvale, and it was quite a pleasant experience. The machine comes with 3 years of classes and, if in a year, I decide to upgrade, I get the full value of the machine towards a better one.

My favorite features are the hands-free sewing, needle up/down feature, automatic needle-threading, and the cutting feature which cuts your thread and brings both down to the bottom (a must-have for the anal-retentive sewer).


I haven't used it yet, but I will surely be posting projects. I am so excited!!!

Chairlift

After sleeping in until 9:00 and taking a nap (in my new flannel bedding!!), I thought I should probably make something of my day. So, I used some fabric I had greedily consumed yards and yards of and has since been sitting in one of my several Rubbermaid bins downstairs, and finally covered the brown pleather seats.



A facelift for our chairs... a chairlift.

p.s. I did go on a 1.5 hour hike, so I suppose I'm not totally sloth, and the nap was sort of deserved, right?

Twitty Apron

Here is my victorious claim in the Tiwtty gift exchange. It's a pregnant goldfish (or "twitty") and it's fabulous!!



Thanks Stack - I love it so much!!

Inspirational Dance

You want to see one of the funniest SNL skits of all time?? I can't tell you how many times I've watched Will Forte in this skit, but EVERY TIME, I die laughing.

This is the only place online I can find it... it's jankey, but it works... the funny part starts about 1/2 way through.

Gift Fit for a Twitty

Last night I hosted our 6th Annual Twitty Christmas Extravaganza (yes, we have it in January... you try coordinating 10 girls and their SOs in December). It was a multicultural potluck - we had Egyptian, German, New Zealand, Italian, Vietnamese, Cuban, Jewish, "Chinese," and Swiss representation. Two words - Dee-licious.

Our personal paparazzo Katy took most of the photos, so I'll borrow one of hers for the next post. But what I DO have a photo of is the gift I made for the gift exchange.

It's a clutch, coffee sleeve, and tissue cozy! I made it with some new fabric I picked up at Peapod, my favorite little fabric store. The owner just got back from Japan, and I am sure glad she did, because she brought back this AWESOME kimono-inspired fabric. You will see this fabric again, I assure you. Coco is now the owner of this trio.



The Bend the Rules clutch:


Coffee sleeve:


Tissue cozy:


Might I add how proud I am of all the homemade gifts this year?? It brought a little tear to my eye. I SUPER lucked out and got an apron embroidered with a pregnant goldfish - Twitty lore has it that a "twitty" is a pregnant goldfish. Although we are not named after a pregnant goldfish but a rather giddy gaggle of ladies, it's symbolic and I love it!!! It's in the "shop" getting my name embroidered on it. Photos forthcoming (I realize I say that a lot and don't always come forth with the photos... I will try)

Thank you ladies and gentleman for such a great time!

Doorknobs & Chandeliers

I got sick around the New Year, so I've been lazing around the house in my bathrobe, mostly. But, I love having a project, so I started swapping out our doorknobs and hanging chandeliers (with some help, of course)....both projects that can be done in a bathrobe.

Here's the dining room:



Here's the view from my pillow - I love the idea of a bedroom chandelier:



And one of the doorknobs:



Thanks to my fabulously stylish roommate for making these selections and thanks to Dad for teaching me how to be "an electrician."

What's For Dinner?

Ravioli!

On a rare evening that D and I both had free, D taught me how to make spinach ravioli with marinara sauce, from scratch. It was nothing less than incredible.

D doesn't mess around - this is serious business with the pasta board and the roller.



See, nice and flat.



Stuffed, ready to go into the pot. Made some extra to freeze.



Buon Apetito.



Chestnuts roasted on an open fire (or in the toaster oven) for dessert - Roma style.

Happy 30 Darren!

...and many more...

Where did December Go??

It was a good Christmas.

Most years I struggle trying to get/find/make the perfect gift for everyone - and most years I don't quite make it. But this year was satisfying.

I did a lot of sewing, but this is the only thing I actually photographed. It's a portable, washable "thuper fatht rathe car track" for Makaio.



I used this road trip fabric and ironed on little images - hotels, cars, compasses, and this little camp site! So cute. And then I finished the whole thing with iron-on vinyl so it's protected against little messes.





Here was the conversation with Makaio before opening every gift:

Makaio, it's a gift for you!
What is it?
I don't know. Let's open it to find out!
Is it a super fast race car? (said with a lisp)

And about half the time, it was a super fast race car.

True Romance...

D says to me, "I went to Costco, and I was going to buy you flowers, but thought you'd probably rather have a roasted chicken instead."



Sadly, he was so right.

Repurpose

I made these stockings from a Goodwill sweater. The sweater had holes in the elbows, so I didn't feel so badly about cutting it up.



I lined them with some fabric I already had in my stash.



I love 'em.

Don't Be Jealous...

Are these not the loviest lovies ever??? I can hardly stand it.

My brother-in-law has had bike races every 3 weeks in the City so that means I get to see my family every 3 weeks (in MY 'hood!). I'm so lucky.

Malia, 6


Makaio, 2


Maile, 5 months


Awwww....

Baby it's Cold Outside

Well, at least your coffee won't be cold! Check out my new coffee cozies...inspired by this awesome chica (mine are not as cool, but be patient, this was my first draft).





How green, yes? Reusable cozies. And what a great use for all my scraps!

Babies, Babies, Babies

Oy, ve! Everyone is having babies!!

Don't let the drama fool you - I am LOVING making baby gifts. Here is a little something I made one of my coworkers:




Little embellished cloth diaper burp cloths and 2 onesies. Heather Ross fabric is PERFECT for these onesies.

What I thought was very cute was that in her thank you note, she mentioned how much her husband liked it. Awwww....

Ballooning in Tuscany

I can't believe I've waited so long to blog about Italy! I've been very bad. I'll try to highlight my favorite parts little by little.

For my birthday, D took me on a hot air balloon ride in Tuscany - can you even stand how gorgeous this is?? There were 4 balloons - 3 of which held the wedding guests. We got up at 5:00 and drove an hour to this picturesque plot for our sunrise ride. Once you're up, it's so quiet and peaceful. And the view was exactly as you'd imagine Tuscany would appear - lush, green, rolling hills speckled with stone farmhouses.



Our view from the basket.



Here is the groom's father, D, and me. In the basket with us was Greg, the "photographer," and Stefanino, our pilot. The ride was concluded with an outdoor champagne bruch with delicious Italian meats, cheeses, and pastries. Mmmmmmm....

Loose Lady

from Real Simple Magazine

Ok, I know my last post was over a month ago (and my last GOOD post over 2 months ago), and there is so much to tell you about the in-between happenings, but I'm starting here. And don't worry, you'll be filled in.

Last night I auditioned for a group called Loose Interpretations, an all-female performing a cappella group... and guess what? I'm a "Loosie" now!!

My friend, Sydney, heard about them in Real Simple magazine (I read the article too, but didn't think to time-activate) and joined a few weeks ago. And then she convinced me to try out as well. And, well, there you have it.

Buon Viaggio!

I'm off to Italy for 10 days!

Miss me!

Get Out of My Kitchen!

Well, it was actually Trista's kitchen, and Gina did most of the cooking (both were fab-u-lous). Kate took all the photos, and I just showed up for world's most awesome 1950s housewive-themed 30th birthday brunch (yes, we're still celebrating, and I'm not complaining).

Thank you ladies for being so good to me!

Alemany Farmer's Market

The Alemany Farmer's Market is THE BOMB.

Look at all the goodness we got last weekend:



My favorite part of the day was when, upon entering the market, D says to me, "Now Sara, let's remember that we don't have a lot of space, and we're only 2 people, so let's not go crazy buying things." ...and who do you think ended up going crazy? Mmmhmm. Hey, no complaints from this camp!

Birthday Handbag

Remember this post? Well, this one's a bit similar.

So, let me back up by telling you that all my belongings are in storage, temporarily. I moved out of my old place, and am staying with D until I get new digs. Until then, I kept the essentials (clothes, shoes, toothbrush, sewing machine, fabric) and packed everything else up. Stupidly, I only kept one purse out - a Timbuk2... not that any of my other bags are dressy, but at least they don't look like I'm about to deliver blueprints across town on my mountain bike.

...Back to the story. I took myself to the mall for a little intended birthday shopping spree - from which I came home empty handed. I decided, with limited space, and with too many belongings to begin with (you're reminded of how gross you are when you put everything in boxes and fill a storage shed to the brim), that I would use my resources and make myself a bag instead (I still need an "adult purse", but this would do for now).





This is the little clutch from Bend-the-Rules Sewing, which is also packed away. I used leftover fabric from this project and this project (which I'm still totally obsessed with). And I stole the spare button from one of my coats (nevermind that I have 1 bajillion buttons in storage).

It was perfect for all my little necessities, and was a therapeutic birthday treat to myself.