One of my Christmas presents from my sister was a cookbook she knew would be right up my alley... It's called Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey - Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth.



I've made two recipes from it now and they've both been delicious! Tonight I made the Gooey Caramel Butter bars - anything that uses a whole bowl of caramel has to be good!



And I just love the styling of this book. It's sweet, just like the recipes! Lots of cute fonts and scalloped edges, and at the top of each recipe is a little story about where it came from and why Jill likes it.





And the most important part - the finished product is delicious!

Labels: cooking

I tried my hand at a self-designed softie for my nephew for Christmas and it's clear I need some practice. This is supposed to look like a monkey with grabbable legs for little hands, but I'm told the ears look more like wings, and the legs got squished together when I stuffed him, and why doesn't he have arms?



Luckily, four-month-olds aren't too picky! He's soft and squishy and that's what matters!

And now to what you probably came for.... There were 19 comments (an all-time high!) on my tea towel post, but my sister opted out, so:



Congratulations, Fiona! Send me your snail mail address and I'll get your goodies in the mail... Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who commented, it was fun to see who reads but stays quiet and it also made me really appreciate my regular commenters - like Fiona!

Labels: sewing

Here is the last of the Christmas quilted totes... This one was for my mother-in-law, and might be my favorite! I had lots of practice by the time I did hers - I did hers last since she was out of town for Christmas. I stocked up on a few varieties of the vintage trim so I was able to use it on hers. The lining is light teal - I think I like using solid colored lining, it makes it look a little more professional.



I don't have a picture of it, but I actually figured out the blanket stitch on my sewing machine to sew in the interior pocket. I might have to make this standard practice, I love how it looks.

I do have some pieces cut and waiting to make one of these for myself, but the fast-approaching church auction might take precedence, we'll see!

Don't forget to sign up for the Tea Towel Tote Giveaway! I'll do the drawing on Monday....

Labels: bags, quilting, sewing

I geeked out a little with alliteration in the title - in truth it's a stretch to call this a tutorial... Anyway, I made up a few more tea towel totes this weekend and remembered to take pictures along the way, in case anyone is interested in a quick project to make a great, useful bag.

Tea Towel Tote Tutorial
You will need:
- tea towel
- (2) 5"x22" strap fabric
- (2) 5"x22" interfacing



1. Make the straps...
Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the strap fabric. Press in 1/4" on each end. Press in half and then press each side to the middle line. Iron in half again. Top stitch the length of the strap on both sides. (Basically this is the same as in these directions.) Set aside.







2. Make the bag...
Fold the tea towel in half, right sides together. Sew up each side. Box the corners but don't cut off the excess. Fold up the sewn corners and stitch several times across the tip to hold in place.









3. Attach the strap...
Apparently diagonal lines are the strongest!





It seems like I could have made the directions a little simpler because this is such an easy project, but I do have a problem with overexplaining!

Also! Since this happens to be my 400th post, leave a comment and I'll do a drawing for one of these bags, and fill it with some fun goodies! I know there are some lurkers out there, now's the time to introduce yourself! I'll do the drawing on Monday... Just a way to say thanks for those of you that make this crafty community such a fun place!

Labels: bags, how-to's, sewing

One Sunday before Christmas my sister was hanging out at my house with Charlie, helping me bake cookies for neighbors. (Hmm, my life is well-documented...) We had agreed a little pair of handmade earrings would be a nice addition to my mom's stocking, so I asked if she wanted to check out the options in my bead stash.

A few minutes later we had a very cute pair of earrings! Red chalcedony, a square wood bead, and a little silver.



Since Katy really like the chalcedony beads, I made her a similar pair with a blue bead. She wears smaller earrings so I left off the wood bead, but I thought they were still nice.



Well, turns out I gave her a very similar pair of earrings last Christmas so she asked if I had other red beads like Mom's. Unfortunately I didn't, but she was happy with my substitute...



It's fun to know my family is accumulating quite a collection of "my" jewelry!

Labels: family, jewelry

Sometimes it is the simplest things I have a hard time getting around to... Like these sweet earrings. A souvenir from our honeymoon in Hawaii, they broke years ago. Just the flower coming off the post - no pieces lost, nothing a little glue couldn't fix.



And yet it took me this long to dab on some E6000 and have them wearable again.



I am feeling an urge to take care of more things like this, things on my "to do" list way too long... For example - the fabric in that first photo (from ReproDepot) has the perfect colors for my craft room.



Though I didn't realize it when I got it, I think it would make perfect window treatment fabric, bring some color to the colorless corner I noticed. What do you think?

Labels: jewelry, quick fix

So after quite a bit of preparation, I successfully completed the Houston Marathon yesterday, with a time of 4:36. I must be crazy to run for four and a half hours straight!



Peter ran his first half marathon and did fantastic. We are both happy and a little sore today, but I don't hurt nearly as bad as I expected. I can't believe I ran a marathon!

Labels: me

Amazing what a little organization and some red spray paint can do.

I posted about the messiness in here before, but I *love* before and after pictures, so here's a reminder:







And here it is now! I took out the table that was useless other than collecting piles, and hung up my bulletin board, revamped thanks to some red spray paint.



I painted and hung up some Ikea cloth baskets I've had forever where I can actually use them. Can you believe the brown and teal box was part of the Target Christmas sale? I just wish I'd gotten two.



Finally, I rearranged my shelves a little and made better use of baskets. My mom gave me the sweet "create" sign.





I thought I loved this room before, but it is *so* nice to be in here now! I know it will get messy again when I'm in the middle of a big project, but it's so much easier to pick up when everything has a nice place to go. Looking at the first picture, there is hardly any color, so don't be surprised to see some more changes...

P.S. - If you're good at wishing luck, I could use it!

Labels: craft room

During one of her holiday visits my sister brought me this plain wooden frame, with the first of many annual Santa pics of my nephew Charlie. She thought with my scrapbooking supplies and fun things I might be able to spruce it up a little.



Here is my quick fix to make it more Christmasy and cheerful...





A little Mod Podge, scrapbook paper, and glitter... I thought I might have gone overboard, but she really liked it!

Labels: paper craft, quick fix

Don't worry, I'll get through all the Christmas presents I made eventually! I almost forgot to take pictures of these totes for my mom and sister, because I was finishing them so close to the deadline. I practically wrapped my sister's as we walked out the door to go to her house on Christmas day...

For my mom, a rich, pretty Asian print with cranes, one of her favorite birds. I didn't think I had any ribbon that would match but I liked this stripe with it so well!





For my sister, lime green (her favorite color) with pretty willow trees and turquoise spots. I thought to put on a little zipper pull when I got to making hers.





A funny story about my sister's bag - I had the fabric cuts for this tote all planned to minimize waste, and when I got to her fabric I realized the planned cuts made the pattern go the wrong way. So I re-figured the best way to fit in the pieces, made the cuts, only to realize I'd envisioned it wrong and the fabric would have been fine originally. So now I had a bunch of sideways trees ready to become a bag. I finally accepted that it would bother me too much, chopped up the pieces, added in some of the leftovers, and sewed it all back up with right-side-up trees. Kind of proves my tendency to overthink things, maybe!

Labels: bags, quilting, sewing

Before the holidays, while I was chatting on the phone with my sister-in-law, I randomly decided I needed to refold all my fabric. Voila, perfect Sewing Room Friday post!

I had my fabric folded small two layers deep and was tired of not being able to see the back stacks. Besides, I'm way too... neat... (to put it nicely) to have it so messy.

Before



The project went quickly thanks to my helper keeping me company:



Now I can see it all and it's in pretty color groups, making me very happy.

After



I'm still keeping all my "designer" fabric separate, since I think it looks so nice together and I don't want it to get lost in all my other "plain" quilting fabric.



That's it for another Sewing Room Friday! Stay tuned because I went a little crazy tonight getting things straightened up! Hopefully it will be finished and pretty for next week's post...

Labels: craft room

Every year my mom gets a bird of some sort in her stocking. My sister and I wanted to keep up that tradition, so I decided to make one of the sweet birdies from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts.



I left off the loop that makes it an ornament, and I filled it with a little flax for weight and lavender for fragrance so it can be a little drawer sachet.



I need some practice, especially sewing curves, but the birdie went together so fast and I think he's awfully cute!

Labels: quick fix, sewing

Happy 2008 everyone! I'm skipping the "2007 in review" post and jumping feet first into the new year. I always start the new year with so much energy and this year is no different... Let's hope I can hang on to it for at least a few months!

So the advantage of an extended blogging break, especially as I geared up for Christmas, is a lot of Christmas gift-making to share! This year I decided to make my female family members Vera Bradley inspired quilted totes. I really LOVE how they came out but since I had to have exactly the right fabric for each person, that meant quilting it all myself. Which took a long time for each bag!



This is the first one I made, for my sister-in-law. I loved it enough to know it was worth the time to make the next three. There's a zipper across the top:



And a small outside pocket edged with coordinating ribbon:



It's very roomy, about 14" across, 16" tall, and 4" deep at the bottom, with a divided pocket on the inside.

I have fabric on hand for a bag like this for myself but I think I need a little sewing break before I get started on it - and I think my machine deserves a tune up after all that quilting!

Labels: bags, quilting, sewing