Tea Towels!

I've had two of these adorable tea towels forever that our friends gave us for Christmas.  The little pup on them looks just like our baby, Fritz, so I didn't want to use them or dirty 'em up.  I finally found a way to put them to good use and show them off properly.

Here is the before...

And here is the after...

This little tea towel apron turned out so cute, and it was a cinch to make.  The hardest part was sewing up the long ties and flipping them right side out.  I think it took me 45 minutes to do that part.  :P  I had to play around with this because this towel was a little smaller than the pattern I had found online, but I think it turned out perfect.  Of course, I don't really cook at all, and I used to bake all the time, but now not so much.  So really this is just for show and tell.  I plan to pick up some cute tea towels and make some more to have on hand at Wavefest on October 15.  I think they would sell really well.  I'm going to wear this one at Wavefest to promote them.  It's too cute to just sit in the kitchen unused.  I wore it around the house last night, just because I loved it that much.  Don't judge =)

I'm heading off to Ohio tomorrow until Monday afternoon.  I'll be back next week with maybe some new items to show y'all.  Have a fabulous, crafty weekend!

Fabulous Fabric

I made the most adorable dress with this wonderful fabric I got a few weeks ago online.  I've been wanting to make something with it and last night was a good night to pull it out.  I secretly wished I could come up with something for me to wear so that I could make myself something, but peasant dresses like I make would look like a muu muu on me instead of a presh little dress like it does on little girls.  So I made this little number, size 2T:

The fabric is really high quality and super soft and lovely.  I think I have enough to make myself a cute little apron to wear.  I have to keep some of this for myself.  It's so earthy and natural and beautiful and I want it for ME!

I was talking to my sister the other day about how I photograph my items.  I just don't have any creative ways to do it.  It namely boils down to the fact that I have a real daytime job that takes up 40 hours of my week, so by the time I get home, sew, and take photos, the only option I really have is to throw it on a hanger and hang it on the doors in our apartment.  I really need to come up with a cute and clever way to display the items so that the photographs are just as beautiful as the items I make.  Maybe I'll find some time to brainstorm in the next few weeks.  Or maybe after Wavefest.  I'm just too busy right now.  What I really need is a cute, small child to model for me.  I wish my niece lived closer!

Hope y'all have a happy hump day!  Just one more day of "real" work after today and I'm jetting off to the Buckeye State to see my fabulous friends and family that I miss so much.

The perfect veggie soup

For any of y'all that know me, you know that my specialty is take out, not cooking.  But I found out that the foods I live on (namely canned soup and frozen Lean Cuisines) are anything but good for me and filled with preservatives.  When I found this out, I called my dear, sweet grandma Jean last week and asked her how to make her delish beef veggie soup.  Fall is approaching and I wanted a healthy alternative to the canned stuff, minus all those preservatives.  I wanted to be able to make a big pot of soup and freeze some for lunches and dinners the following week.  In case any of y'all are interested, here's Grandma Jean's yummy veggie soup recipe.  It's too good to not share (and also probably identical or similar to your grandma's soup recipes)...

Grandma Jean's Beef Veggie Soup

1 large pack frozen veggies (peas, carrots, green beans, corn variety)
1 can diced tomatoes (I used Rotel-mild with green chilies, really gave it a nice kick and flavor)
1 small can tomato paste
Small red potatoes, diced and unpeeled (I like the skins)
1 chopped onion
A few stalks of chopped celery
1 pack of stew beef cubes, cut up smaller than how they come in the package
5-6 cups veggie stock (and water to add as soup cooks down-I used 2 of those boxed veggie stocks)
Dittalini noodles (optional, but I like noodles in my soup)
Salt and pepper

I'm trying to remember if that's all of it... basically, it's a "throw whatever you want into the pot and let it cook" soup.  I browned the meat first, then added the chopped onion to let it mesh with the beef.  Cook that down until the onions are transparent.  Then add the stock and scrape the bottom of the stockpot to get all that yummy goodness unstuck from the bottom.  Add in the rest of the ingredients (tomato paste, diced tomatoes, frozen veggies, potatoes, celery) and bring to a boil.  Do not add noodles yet!  Once this comes to a boil, lower the temp to medium-ish (so it simmers) and let it cook for 4-5 hours.  The longer it sits the better it tastes.  I added in the noodles with about an hour left of cooking time.  They were perfectly aldente.  Throw some salt and pepper in there and it's good to go.

I froze three big bowls to have for lunch and dinner this week.  I think I might start making this on a weekly basis so I have something healthy and yummy to eat during the week.

Happy Soup Season!

A weekend of sewing

With the hubby off in California working until mid-October, I had no excuses this weekend and sat at my machine for the majority of it.  I cranked out some really cute dresses, an owl, and some burp cloths.  I still have a long way to go, but I thought I would share some of the cuteness that came out of the machine over the weekend.

Cute long sleeve peasant dress (PS it matches the owl below!)

I love this fabric!  Baby hedgehogs!

Presh little owlie

I made a few of these, but this was my fave.  I love this fabric.

I would hate for a baby to throw up on it.

I am so thankful to have this sewing machine.  I had never touched one before I took a beginning 3 part class in May.  My wonderful hubby bought me my machine for my birthday, and I've used it nearly on a daily basis ever since.  I have no idea how I went through 28 years of life without doing this hobby.  I love it and I'm so excited for the new things I learn on it everyday.  I'm also happy to have something that keeps me occupied while my hubby is off working.  It's lovely!

I've got quite a bit to do still to prepare for Wavefest, which is approaching pretty fast.  It's on Saturday, October 15... I'm trying to sew two items nightly until the festival.  That should give me quite a bit of inventory to take with me.  I'm brainstorming ideas on how to make my space cute.  Since it's fall and close to Halloween, I'll doll it up with some fall-ish stuff.  I picked up some fall leave garland at Michael's yesterday on sale ($3.00 for 6 ft!  What a deal!) to hang from the tent, and I'll bring some pumpkins to adorn the tables and whatnot.  I'm trying to come up with a cute way to display the dresses, and I think I have a good one in my head.  Hopefully it turns out as cute in real life.

I have a ton of bows sitting in a box that I made earlier this year, and I will probably take those with me just to get rid of them.  I was into making bows and head pieces before I discovered sewing.  I'm moving away from the bows now.  Sewing seems to be my thing.  Before my fingers were getting burned constantly with the hot glue gun.  Now my fingers are being pinned together as I pin garments to get ready to sew.  Crafting is dangerous stuff.

Hope y'all have a great Monday!  It's a busy workweek and a busy travel weekend to Ohio to see friends, family, and celebrate the baptism of my sweet goddaughter, Audrey!

Another Baby Owl

I got home from the day job last night and just had to make another little owl.  I discovered a picture online of a similar owl with a different type of face, and I gave it a whirl.  It didn't take as long as the one I made the night before, and I think he turned out really cute.  I love his big 'ol eyes.  My poor husband is going to come home from Cali to find an entire family of owls.  Check out the newest baby...



He's a sweet little baby.  I would love to make a bunch to line the top of the couch, but I know our very mischievous pup will make them his chew toys which would not make momma happy in the least.

I'm really lucky because one of my co-workers is an avid sewer and quilter, and she's taught me a lot and helped me through tons of my questions as a newbie sewer.  Today she brought me some adhesive that will help me sew these owls with a little more precision.  Apparently it is much more helpful than just pinning the items onto the owl body and sewing them.  I can't wait to try the adhesive.

Thanks to my SIL and a few of my friends I've discovered the world of Pinterest.  I did not understand it at all until this morning when I had some time to explore it.  Let me tell you... I freaking love it.  So many great ideas on there!  One of my favorite finds this morning is this crafting space.  We live in a 800 sq. ft. apartment, so currently I have a corner in our bedroom that is overflowing with my crafting crap.  I can't wait until we decide what we are doing with careers, where we want to live, and can finally buy a house.  I will have a craft room to rival Ms. Martha's.  I love this...

Well... back to work, I suppose.  Hope your day is filled with magical rainbows and purple unicorns.  (Those visions make me happy, so I'm spreading the love to y'all)

Autumn is for OWLS

I love owls.  Everything about them.  I hate birds, in general, but I love those little owl babies.  You don't see owls swooping down to attack unsuspecting pedestrians on a daily basis.  That great Hitchcock movie wasn't about crazy owls attacking everyone and everything in sight.  I was in grade school and it wasn't an owl that ruined my first day of school by pooping on my head.  It was some kind of dirty bird, probably a rabies-infested pigeon.  Owls seem sweet, and I love them.  They're quiet, they're elusive, they don't attract attention except for their cute little hoots.  And growing up, I would visit my great grandmother in Cambridge, OH, and I was always fascinated at her owl collection (and her impeccably hairsprayed beehive that she kept up with and looked fabulous).

It seems owls are making some kind of comeback, as if they left at some point.  They're in all the craft stores, especially with the emergence of fall.  My poor husband has been suckered into buying me every single owl novelty I can find, but he's wonderful and does it with a smile (or else he would have to hear me whine until I got my way).

Yesterday my SIL sent a link to a super cute owl pillow on Pinterest, this website that I have yet to figure out, but will eventually.  She mentioned wanting me to make something similar, so I popped on over to my fave website, Etsy, and looked for an owl pattern to buy.  Thus, this baby was born last night after I got off of work...

He's really cute and sweet and I love him.  He took about 2 hours, from start to finish, including all of that cutting and the very tricky (at least for me) zig zag stitch.  There are a few areas on him that I'm not 100% pleased with, but those imperfections give him character.  And my sister, a fellow owl lover, will be the lovely recipient of this little hooting man.  I plan to try out a few different versions of him this week/weekend and see what I can come up with.  The color and pattern combinations and options excite me.  I love that you can take a basic color scheme and run with it.  I love that he doesn't have to match.  I just love him!

So, as we approach the first weekend of autumn, I wish you all a "Happy Fall, Y'all!"  I've been busy preparing for Wavefest, an upcoming festival on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  I'll have a little space there to show off what I've been working on lately and see if there's any interest in my stuff.  It's October 15... I hope it goes well!

Happy Fall, Y'all!