Pillows

I bought standard pillowcases a few months ago with the intention of doing some fun designs on them and never got around to it. I finally completed two over the holiday.

This first one is for Amanda who stayed with us over the holiday we brainstormed up things that reflect her and I drew up the design... of course I embellished a lot on the ideas so who knows how much it reflects her now-but it looks cool and she says she like it ...so... It started with the sparrow and then wanting to incorporate an "A" which turned into a mountain which then need a castle which then needed a forest and an ocean...

and every ocean needs a pirate ship.

Oh and the stars were a request... because stars are awesome

and Forests need fox's and mushrooms!

This second pillow is a gift for a much smaller friend. It's the same owl design I used on my other pillows with the branch switched up to be an initial. Hopefully I get the gift for her new little brother done soon so I can get this all in the mail...

I am loving that the quilt behind the pillow is the lovely one my mom sent me recently and it is made from bird themed fabrics... perfect for the pillow case!

I think the owl eyes are my favorite.

Tomorrow I will be back with shirts-- yes more crafting!

Thanksgiving

Ok so I'm a little late! We had a wonderful dinner of course no pictures but it was lots of fun. A lovely lady took us out for lunch along with her grandchildren so it was 8 youngens to one grown up... she had her work cut out for her keeping us all in line!
Friday we headed over to Roberto's house where he and Uber had dug a pit the previous day for some pit Bar-B-Que. Of course we did a little shopping and baking of pies first...
Wait I said we did a little shopping... by we I don't mean Uber. We had a college student friend staying for the holidays that did the shopping and baking with me. Uber headed to Roberts to make sure the grilling was in order... ahem.... We found them like this when we showed up. Supervising the grilling while watching a tv they had rigged up out a back window...

They were very proud of themselves and hey they made dinner so I'm not complaining!

A little peak at the meal. Pork shoulder and potatoes. Everything was excellent and they made sure the meat cooked to it's proper temperature...no worries

I actually lucked out completely. I didn't have to cook a single dinner the whole weekend - just two pies. Saturday Uber did up a prime rib roast... to DIE FOR!!! He's a great cook I'm always excited when he gets on William's Sonoma and starts looking at recipes! Alright tomorrow I will have CRAFTING for you that's right CRAFTING can you believe that?!

Kicking off the fall festivities

Well I didn't expect to disappear that long! But that is usually the way it goes. Not much has been going on around here just a lot of half finished projects strewn about my half clean house. I just finished up working a 12 hour day... yes that's right I know you are all sooo jealous of that statement... wishing you could all be cool like me! Really I am exhausted and should be doing ten possibly twenty other things right now so please disregard anything that doesn't make sense in this post!

We officially hit the beginning of our ridiculously busy holiday season this weekend which came at the end of our ridiculously busy pre-holiday season which came after a ridiculously busy whole year so really I am not even sure why I started this sentence... moving on.

We got the bikes back out this weekend... no my leg still isn't healed from last time but we hit the trails with people who bike regularly and found out that our previous ride on the beginner trail (according to the map) was slightly misguided because it was in fact NOT the beginner trail... lets just say this weekends riding was a LOT more fun and a LOT less scary for me. So no real injuries occurred (Uber did hurt his knee but he is going to have to do a lot more then that to get pity in these parts) however we did get to witness some lovely projectile vomiting from one of the guys who came... seriously mad skills on his part I honestly didn't know that much fluid could be stored in a person. And I wasn't the only one amazed so you know it was good!

Sunday we went to ' The Dirty Bird Thanksgiving: A Fowl Affair" gathering that a friend and his room mates were putting on. Seriously is that not the cutest name ever?! It was a total blast. They dug a pit in the front yard of a cool old house that they all rent in San Marco and cooked up Turkey, Goose, Duck, Game Hens and Quail. And just to clarify a few points for you guys the roof tiles were extras and the landlords do not like them.... oh and yes he did burn some of the hair off his arms!

The meat was scrumptious - seriously I don't like turkey and this stuff rocked! Why do we even bother with ovens?
And just for fun this dog was right about the coolest thing he was better at ping pong then the rest of us! He REALLY wanted that orange ball!

I know most of you visit here for crafting items so I am sorry there hasn't been much of that to post I am not even going to bother saying it maybe coming soon... I figure you'll have better luck of seeing something if I don't make any promises!

I will probably be pretty sparse around here for the rest of the holiday season. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Tori Tunic in Art Gallery Fabics

Blogger is trying to kill me, I am sure of it tonight. I've tried to get both photos centered. Not sure what will happen when I post.

 ANYWAY, here is the tunic I made from a Serendipity Studios pattern. The fabric is from Art Gallery Fabrics by Patricia Bravo. I love this fabric. When we received both of these items a couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to make something. Now, I am really putting myself out on a limb here. Can I pull off either or neither of these looks. I meant for it to be a bit shorter but I forgot just how short I am and shorter may not have worked either. Proportioning the trim and accent and skirt, etc...

The tunic was not what I would qualify as an easy project. Very cute,  but more of an intermediate to advanced project. I would advise reading through the instuctions several times (maybe that's just me) to be sure you understand just how it is put together. Especially if you are putting in all the trims as I did. It's not that is it hard per se but you must pay attention. K, maybe I was having a hard time paying attention. I really like how it turned out. How about you? Be gentle......

Wool, corduroy, cotton and linen

I've made this coat in all of these fabrics and I'm still not bored with it. Jessica sent this fabric combination for me to make her one too. I was actually able to start and finish it yesterday. She didn't get to send the buttons so I will have to put those on when I get there.

I love the drape of linen. This is a fairly heavy weight and having to hang it to take the photos makes it look slouchier than it is. I think it's so fun that she chose Mendicino Two sisters by Heather Ross for the lining. Hope you like it Jess!

And just for good measure, I made my green scrap bucket. Funny, I had a lot less green than I thought.

For those of you who haven't got the new improved upload (yep, they gave us strike through) I'm sure that you all will have an easier time than I am getting used to it. Old dog, new tricks and all that. The link button is better, it allows you to check it before you post. Once I figure it all out it will be great.

Coffee Cozy Tutorial

VERY IMPORTANT Printer Settings:

- This pattern must be printed on legal paper.

- Page Scaling: None

- Choose paper source by PDF size

Supplies

13”x5” - lining fabric

8”x5” - exterior fabric

5”x5” - large patchwork fabric

4”x5” - small patchwork fabric

13”x5” - one-sided fusible fleece

Coordinating thread

Sewing machine

Iron

Scissors

Needle

Optional:

Coordinating embroidery floss

Coffee cup from your favorite coffee shop

Make your cozy:

1) Print and cut out pattern.

2) Cut out lining fabric. IMPORTANT: If your lining fabric is one-sided make sure to flip the pattern piece upside down.

3) Sew together your exterior fabric and patchwork pieces using the first two lines on the pattern as a guide. IMPORTANT Make sure to adjust your patchwork fabric if it has a pattern or is directional.

4) Cut out exterior fabric.

5) Trim pattern down to the second line.

6) Use new pattern to cut out fleece. IMPORANT You want to make sure the fusible side is facing the pattern.

7) Place fleece on the backside of your exterior fabric fusible side should be down. Center on fabric.

8) Iron fleece onto your exterior fabric.

9) Optional: Add embroidery. The fusible fleece will keep fabric from stretching.

10) Place exterior and lining fabric right sides together and pin in place.

11) -12) Sew along edge of fleece (do not sew on fleece). Leave the non patchwork edge open for flipping.

13) flip cover right side out.

14) Iron cover. Make sure all edges and corners are pushed out.

15) Fold in and pin open edge closed.

16) -17) Starting your seam along your pinned edge. Sew a 1/8” inch all the way around your fabric.

17) Pin pattern to cozy on patchwork side.

18) Loop your cozy. Match up the patchwork edge of the cozy with the last line on the pattern.

19) Slide out your pattern.

20) Pin together.

21) If you have a starbucks coffee cup on hand double check your cozy size adjust if necessary.

22) Hand stitch your cozy together. Hide your stitching.

23) When you get to the back flip inside out and continue until the overlapping material is completely enclosed.

Go out right away and order some coffee!

I got sick and lost my mojo

This will teach me to be gone for two weeks. Why didn't anyone inform me that blogger changed? Since it's free can I complain? So anyway, I was working on this jacket when I got sick. It's the same pattern I've been using, modified by removing the collar and adding a hood. Next time I will make the hood a bit fuller. I also went ahead and put an inner lining of batting because the quilters tweed I used for the outer coat is quite thin. I am not sure about the bulk that it added and I hope in time it will soften. I can tell you the added warmth was welcome on this walk.

My new hot chocolate cups. I love them.

Because I love my husband

We went mountain biking this morning. This is the entrance to the path... I would say the widest the trail gets is a foot and the paths have cute names like Briar Patch...tell me you want to head into that in shorts!
It was a total blast. After an hour I was completely exhausted. And not a little torn up. I only fell twice... but twice was more then enough to do damage! I have lumps, bruises and scraps all over my legs and my right arm has a huge egg scrape that I am pretty sure will be blue tomorrow...

This is Uber in his helmet. He didn't damage himself today ... thanks to it! He totally hit his head on a low branch... I have no sympathy though.

These were taken in my favorite part of the ride... which was the short trek from the exit of the path back to the car... I told Uber I kept feeling like something was going to jump out at me after being on the trail... cement is just WAY too easy!

Here' s a picture of my calve.... I am very glad that it is winter and I will be wearing pants for a while... I have more pictures of just how messed up it really is ... but I think they are a little graphic for this site... so I am sparing you. It actually didn't hurt at all until Uber had to scrub the grease out of the cuts... let me just say if this ever happens to you don't try to stand up while someone inflicts that sort of pain on you... you get a little light headed... lol. I am really hoping it doesn't scar. I am going to have to make Uber a T-shirt that says 'I dig chicks with scars'.

Well I apparently still haven't gotten any crafting together to show you... it's going on... just very slowly. But I was told I needed to post something new (you know who you are). So here it is. YOU'RE WELCOME.

P.S. I made a scrumptious apple pie tonight... absolutely mouth watering ... I think I am going to have to have another piece!

Halloween...How about a mini road trip?

Saturday we headed down to Tampa to see a hockey game with some friends. It was a total blast Uber and I hadn't been to a hockey game before.

There was only one fight though... which was a disappointment because there really should be at least one a period as far as I'm concerned!

Standard Uber taken picture... apparently these are needed even when we have people around to take our pictures... lol...

Here's Roberto again... he is a glutton for punishment! This trip was great it was the first time I haven't been the youngest in a group which means at least one, possibly two other people won't get the stuff Uber and Roberto are talking about... The little guy in the middle is 18!! I totally want to hook him up with my adorable cousin but then I realized she isn't in high school and more and may not be cool dating a younger guy since she is basically done with college... oh well...

This lovely couple are our newest friends who were cool enough to come hang out with 4 people they didn't know that well! Hopefully they will stick around after a weekend with us!

We had a birthday so there was embarrassing restaurant singing... I'm so glad it wasn't me : ) We found out that everyones birthday is within the next three months (but mine) so we'll have to see what other embarassing things we can get together!

I need to get undecorated for halloween and get some fall decorating done. Though I have no fall decorations... hmmm.... maybe I will just decorate for christmas. Do you think Uber will notice?

Crafting possibly to come later... possibly not.