Serious Progress

Remember this post 100 years ago? D's 2007 Christmas present? Well, embarrassing, but that was the last time I touched it. Until today!!


I thought I could bust out all the rectangles today but, alas, I only assembled 16 of the 28. Humbling. At least that's over half way, right?

And yes, of course, there are polka dots....silly. Teeny, tiny ones.


The mere cutting out of the pieces was daunting to the point of paralysis. But now that it's actually underway, I'm excited and motivated (yeah, we'll believe it when we see it). Stay tuned!

Couldn't You Just Eat Them Up?

This past weekend, I went to San Luis to spend some time with la familia. Here are some of my favorite people in the whole wide world.

Makaio, 3
Offering me his cupcake - delicious!

Maile, 1
Not in love with the camera, but definitely a happy baby.
Wearing a shirt my dad made for my sister when she was a baby
(he went through a batiking phase, you see).


Malia, 7
Doing a little pre-game ironing.
And see what she's ironing? That's my girl.


Scrumptious.

The (Copied) Pattern Worked!

As I was making these, I couldn't decide if I would be entitling this post:

"I Don't Know Why I Thought This Would Work"
and
"I Don't Know Why I Thought This Wouldn't Work"

Well, it worked - phew!

(how do you take a photo of your own pants?)

I took a pair of my scrub pants and shoved one leg into the other. I pinned them down to get the front pieces, and flipped them over, adjusted them, and cut out the back pieces.

I overlocked all the edges, which excites me very much. See my superfast needle? (am I so daring taking an action shot while sewing?)

And voila! Lounging in my lounge pants. They look a little like chef pants, but at least I can go outside in them to move the car or something without embarrassment.


May I make a drawstring recommendation? Take the drawstring that comes through the tunnel from the right and thread it through the left hole. And take the left drawstring and thread it through the right hole. So they will sort of criss-cross inside the tunnel. That's how scrub pants are threaded and it's A) easier to tie, and B) easier on your button holes.

(Really) Wide-Leg Pants

I finally made the wide leg lounge pants from Amy Butler's book. I had been anxiously awaiting this awesome fabric (from the time it arrived, I think it was only about an hour before it was washed, dried, pressed, and on the cutting mat...bee-in-bonnet type thing) to make them with.

(this was the best shot I could get...)

Pattern reading is not my forte, so I decided I would carefully read every word of this pattern.... except the part about sizing that comes before all other instructions. Sweet. Yes, they're a size too big (better than too small!) so I'll be fixing that. Also, they are REALLY wide. I'm talking skirt-like. So, I may be bringing in the leg width as well. But pleased as punch about my button holes! (suppose I shouldn't be that pleased, considering I have a button hole-making foot and a machine that does all the work....)

Next project, make my own pattern from my Urbane Scrubs - those seem to fit pretty perfectly with a decent flare. Thanks for the hint, Laurel, about stuffing one leg into the other.

Check It

There's this problematic website that is giving me too many ideas. As if I don't have enough trouble as it is curbing my creative temptations...

So, what's a girl to do? Give in, of course.

I made this cutest little checkbook:



And then, of course, I cut the pieces too small the first go around (it's a requirement when I craft, just so you know), so I had to make something with my mistake. It's not pressed and the elastic is too loose, but once I fill it with my new camera or a big wad of cash (kidding), it should fit fine. Pardon the fact that it's not pressed.



This is the leftover fabric from my pin board, take 1. So, it's a good little stash-buster too. Cute-a, no?

Birthday Goodness

Well, I'm 31 now. This is the first time I feel different...which is not bad, but feel like I should start acting like an adult. Maybe.

But here is one thing I will not give up despite my age: Rice Krispie Treats. Many of you know this is my all-time favorite food. As in, if I could eat only one thing for the rest of my life, this would be it.

And look at the birthday "cake" D made me, fashioned after the cake Katy made me on THE 9/11.

(not a great shot, sorry)

This is a 3-layer rice krispie treat "cake" separated by peanut butter on the bottom layer and nutella on the top. Can you say HEAVENLY??? I mean, it was heavenly - are you kidding me? It was devoured in 1.5 days, if that.

Thank you, D. You are my best ever.

Rugby Duvet

Guess which of my favorite little ladies is getting a new bed spread? Now Miss Maile can finally hang with the big kids.

Inspired by this quilt (which is so much cooler than what I have created), I made matchy-matchy bedspreads for my "babies."


Malia's is light pink with thin espresso stripes and wide flamingo stripes (all Kona Cottons)
Makaio's is green with thin espresso stripes and wide blue stripes.

Since they all share a room, they needed coordinated, yet personalized bedding, right?

Well, Hello There

I just went away to Lake Tahoe for a few days - and look what was waiting for me when I arrived home.

Yay!

Summer Harvest, I Have Loved You

Figs stuffed with roasted walnuts, topped with blue-cheesy brie, and drizzled with honey. Heavenly!

Plum galette from this cookbook. I recommend mucho (the book and the recipe both).

Can't wait for them pumpkins!

Business in the Front

The tie onesie was a hit! I simply had to make one for little Cade, in town from Oregon. It will go great with his khakis and pocket protector.

Early and Late

When I was little, I think I would have loved sporting one of these shirts. Maybe nobody would get it if I wore a "31" shirt this year...

Anyhow, Makaio (my nephew) got a "3" shirt just in time for his birthday (phew!). Poor Maile's birthday was in June and she's just now getting her "1" (bad auntie!). To make sure this doesn't happen, Malia's getting her "7" shirt almost a month in advance (redemption).

All three were made with the same green polka-dot fabric (in this case, matchy-matchy is acceptable). I honestly think this might be the end of this fabric...no, I'm serious this time...

Back in Business

About 100 years ago, I bought this frame for $1 at a garage sale. I instantly turned it into a framed chalkboard, and used it... But in the last 3 or 4 years, it's mostly been sitting downstairs gathering dust.

Today, she's back in business with a new look and purpose - as a pin-board! I went down to Peapod and got me some of that new Anna Maria Horner fabric. Against my first instinct, I bought this fabric, because it matched my duvet and my rug...


But once I hung it, I just couldn't get this fabric out of my head... too matchy-matchy and maybe a bit modern for me. So the girl with the bee in her bonnet marched right back down to the store and bought this instead:


Much better, and much more "me."

Molto Focaccia!

I think I just said "very focaccia."

Well, it was very...easy, delicious, and almost gone now. And this time, I purchased the rosemary (but the fresh stolen rosemary was much more scrumptious, I have to say).

Family Napkins

My sister commissioned (I'm going to use this word as much as possible) me to make her family some reusable cloth napkins, 'cause we're green and stuff. I thought about just buying her some napkins, but that's no fun - and I think she wanted them personalized anyhow (who wants to risk mixing up your napkin with the 3 year-old's?).

I came up with a compromise:
Purchased napkins with home-sewn detailing (and stash-busting!)

(*sneeze* that's stayed-home-sick-from-work me in the spoon reflection - hi! *cough*)

I bought the napkins at Crate & Barrel Outlet for $.97, and the fabric...well, you've seen this before (lots of times). I think they will go nicely with her Tuscan-style home.

Voila!

Even More Babies

See? I'm still not over these.

The first one is a "commission" piece (how professional do I feel saying that??). And I think this might be my favorite set so far. The road trip fabric is way cool.



This one is for one of our little guys at work. He looks like a little old man (even so say his parents), so I feel it fitting to give him a necktie onesie. I think the necktie onesie may become a permanent part of my repertoire.


It's too cute - I have to look away now...

Mas Bebes

Two of my friends from work are having babies. One, a boy, and the other...well, we're waiting to find out the "flavor."

I know these are way over-done (by me), but I am still so in love with them. I'll switch it up soon, just let me get over these first.

(awesome quality photos, right?)

One Man's Trash...

I can't believe I haven't shown you my "new" lamp!!


Let me start by telling you that I found this little gem in someone's curbside discards. Yes, I dumpster dove for this baby - not proud of it. But it was right on my way home, and I was only going to look, and...but...and... I love it! Of course, I had to remove the Christmas bow, duct tape, and playboy sticker to unveil it's awesomeness (p.s. spell check is calling this a real word).

Can you even stand it??

Bath Bomb Robbery

While in Seattle, we stopped into this cutest little bath shop, Bliss Soaps. I loved their bath bombs, and I loved how you could buy petit bombs. They also had doughnut and cake and cupcake shaped bombs. I had to exhibit serious restraint (remember the size of the suitcase I took?) - especially since I don't even have a bathtub!

It happened to be buy-one-get-one-free bath bomb day, so I stocked up on 10 of them. And then the owner said I couldn't have a lopsided crate, so he threw in 2 more. In the end, I got 12 bath bombs for less than $10. I felt like I robbed the guy, but he assured me I did not.

If you're in Seattle, go to Bliss Soaps in Capitol Hill. You will not be sorry.

House of Bread

I tried the Olive Oil dough from the Bread Book and made some focaccia:

Before:

After:

Neighbor, if you are reading this, yes, that is the rosemary I stole from your garden. Thank you very much, it was delicious and well-appreciated (if that's any consolation).

Productive Half-Day

What did I do while not attending the party? There was a little stash-blasting going on.

First, I made a "much needed" tote bag (can you imagine?) for myself, for once. I bought this fabric 100 years ago for next to nothing - I think it's the same fabric that Lucky Jeans makes their pockets out of. I had no intentions of making one of these today... it just happened.

"S" for Auntie Fafa

I also made some door snakes (which I had planned on making, I just found the clover fabric first). D thought they should have googly eyes and a tongue... and so I changed the name to draft-dodger. This house used to have carpet, so all the doors had to be cut to fit. Now with the carpets removed, we have big-ol' spaces under the doors.


I used the Lotta Jansdotter Simple Sewing pattern, but let me make a couple recommendations... If you have the same used-to-be-carpet-under-the-door problem, you need to make the snakes "taller" than the 4 inches recommended in the pattern. I made mine 5 inches (x 36 inches), and they still are too short (as in, they fit inside the crack, but still allow a little bit of draft along the top). Also, you don't need a 5 lb bag of beans for one snake. I used 4.25 lbs of beans in 3 snakes! Maybe rice is different...

And then, well, I had all these left over beans, so there's a nice little pot of chorizo pinto beans a-simmerin'. Dinner...

Happy Birthday Karen

Sidebar: Some of you are worrying about me because my blogging has been sparse. I promise, I'm OK...just a little unproductive these days and nothing much to show, but getting back in the groove. Sorry to worry you - I have some things in store for you this week.

So this past week was my good friend Karen's birthday. She also just bought a house with her husband (YAY!!). They had a housewarming/birthday party today, but I am home blogging instead of attending the festivities because I thought it was yesterday. D & I enthusiastically showed up with my little tiny gift on the wrong day. Uh, woops! They are such gracious hostesses, and so we got to have a nice chat and personal tour of the new digs - lucky us!

So, back to the little tiny gift... instructions on the invite said, "Absolutely no gifts whatsoever." So, I brought a "present" instead. Besides, I had bought this cutest little fabric FOR her when I was in Bainbridge Island. I simply couldn't NOT give it to her.



Karen can wear this while riding her little black moped....or not. I hope you had a lovely birthday and a fabulous party. Thanks for having us, and congratulations again. We are in love with your new place.

Yummy Plummy Jam

I love helping people offload their excess fruit. Plum jam from my favorite Amy Butler Jam cookbook.

I wish I could help more people...

For Karen and Mary

Mary (and Molly, Phoebe, Jack, Emily, & Hannah), this is for you. I saw this in the Olympic Sculpture Garden and had to take the photo. See, Mary is my "other mother" and is/was my mentor when I thought I wanted to teach Montessori. While I decided to go into nursing instead, I still adore her and basically want to be her. WWMD?


Karen (and Monica), this is for you. Karen, I had a Mocha Generra (hello! delicious!) in your honor and thought about the good ol' days with Dr. Barnes.

Monica, I miss it too...

No matter where you are in the world/country, you just can't get away from your friends...and how sweet that is.

A Bon Voyage Was Had

Guess where we went?


No, this does not explain my 1 month lapse in blogging, but let it mark my return...hopefully. D and I just got back from Seattle for a little impromptu vacation. We had a lovely time with perfect (borderline too hot, if you can believe that!) weather. I think might have liked it a little.

We mostly just walked around and visited obligatory tourist destinations. Oh, and I happened upon a (kick ass) quilt show - totally unplanned, I swear! We LOVE the space needle and took about 5,000,000,000 photos of it (I only posted 3...you're welcome). My favorite was our little morning trip to Bainbridge Island. You could make me live there, and I would be OK with it.

From the sculpture garden:

By night:

Sidenote - we agreed to carry on our luggage. It should be noted one of us was a lighter packer than the other. Can you guess which suitcase is whose?

It's Actually Happening

This is the quilt I promised D for Christmas...last year. Maybe I'll finish it by this Christmas.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Denyse Schmidt Ice Pops quilt comin' from this corner of the world...

Pickle Season

It's that time again.

Er, was that time... The pickles are gone - consumed by one gaggle of PICU nurses in minutes.

I'll have to make more.