Saturday, December 31, 2011

My Favorite Things of 2011

I cannot believe it is almost 2012.  Wow!  This year FLEW by, didn't it?  I think the older I get, the faster it goes by.  So, I thought I would post a few of my favorite projects and recipes from the last twelve months. 



Hoot Hoot Tee

Chips Container

Burlap Hanging Carrots


Ruffled Flour Sack Towel

My Big Ole Stocking

Sew Easy Infinity Scarf

Waitress Apron Tutorial



Best Ever Cinammon Rolls

Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken

PW Crash Hot Potatoes





Diners, Drive Ins and Dives Flappers

Buffalo Chip Cookies

Jimmy Crack Corn

Shrimp Quesadillas with Avacado Tomato Salsa


So, while I don't feel like I got much accomplished this year, at least I have a few projects that I enjoyed.  And, I obviously had my share of recipe success considering the five extra pounds I've put on this year.  UGH! 

It's been a great year.  We've lost loved ones and had some hard times, but we've also had more than our share of wonderful things too.  My baby girl started school and loves it. 


and we had a new addition to the family


Aren't they sweet?  That little girl on the right - she's ours.  The rest all went to their new homes.  That alone is reason for celebration.  Woo hoo!

So, tomorrow is a new year and a chance to start fresh, and hopefully take off a few pounds and get a lot done.  I'm excited to see what the new year brings. 

I hope you all have a fun and safe New Year's Eve!!!








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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Waitress Apron Tutorial


So, a few weeks ago, a good friend of Hubby's from high school contacted me and wanted to have some waitress aprons made and wondered if I was interested.  She wanted five aprons, one each for the ladies at the cafe who take such good care of her family.  Isn't that sweet?  Being a former waitress, I was excited to take the job.  I sort of made up my own pattern and I thought I would share it with y'all. 

You will need: 

One piece of fabric cut 30" x 12"
Three pieces cut 7 and 1/2" x 11" (for pockets)
Two strips 42" x 3"

Take one of your two 42"x3" strips, find the middle of the long side and cut in half.  Now you have two 22"x3" strips and one 42"x3" strip.  We attach these strips together to make the ties for the apron.  Start by taking your longest strip and lying it horizontal on a flat surface, like a table or ironing board, right side up.  Lay your short strip vertical at the end of this strip, right side down, and make a diagonal mark across them. 

Do you see my diagonal mark?  Now stitch across that line and cut off the excess.


Now fold it out to the right side and iron flat, pressing seam open.  Do the same, attaching the other short strip to the other side of your long strip.  You will be left with one long strip of fabric.  Now it's time to fold and iron.  Fold your strip in half lengthwise, wrongs sides together and press.  Open up your strip with the wrong side up.  Press one edge of fabric toward the center crease.  Now press the other side toward the crease.  Fold sides together and press on the first crease.  You will be left with a long strip 3/4" in width.  If I have totally confused you, see this tutorial. 


Now, it's time for the pockets.  You ready? 


Arrange your three pocket pieces the way you want them to appear on the apron.  We are going to attach the pieces together.  Take your middle pocket piece and pin it to one of the other pocket pieces, short sides together and wrong sides together.  I know that sounds weird, but stay with me.


Okay, now stitch it together using slightly less than 1/4" seam allowance.  Now, open up your pieces and iron flat.


Now put your right sides together by folding on the seam.  Pin and stitch using 1/4" seam allowance.


Now open it up and iron.  You can see that all your raw edges are hidden.  Don't ya just love that? 


This is a good youtube video on french seams if what I am saying makes ZERO sense. 

Now we're going to hem the top of our pocket.  Fold down long edge 1/2 and inch and press.  Fold down another 1/2 inch, press, pin and stitch it down. 


Now it's time to attach your pocket to you main apron piece.  Lay your main apron piece out, right side down.  Now line up your pocket piece right side down on top of it, long sides together.  Pin in place.  So, it should be the wrong side of main apron piece to right side of pocket piece. 


Now, sew along the long side using just UNDER 1/4 inch seam allowance. 


Now, flip the pocket to the right side and iron. 


Now it's time to hem the edges.  First pin the pockets to the back leaving a little bit of slack so your pockets aren't too tight.  Now flip over to the wrong side.  Trim your edges of your pocket if they are a little longer than your apron piece.  Turn under short edge of apron and pocket 1/2 inch.  Press.  Turn under another 1/2 inch.  Press and pin.  Now do the other short side the same way.


Now we are going to hem the sides and stitch all the way around the apron.  Sarting at what will be the top of your apron, stitch down hem close to the folded down edge until you get to the bottom of the apron.  Lift your presser foot, pivot fabric and stitch across the botto of your apron using just over 1/2" seam allowance (this will enclose your raw edge). 



Stitch across the bottom of apron and pocket to the opposite side and agan left presser foot and pivot fabric and stitch the hem on the other side of your apron. 

Now we just need to attach our strips we made earlier.  Find the center of your apron piece (long way) and mark with a pin.  Now do the same with your strip.  Line up the cener of both pieces.  Open up your strip and line up with the top of your apron piece.  Pin in place. 


Stitch in place all the way across the apron using a 1/4" seam allowance.  Take you pins out and refold the strip.  Pin the folded strip around the raw edge of your apron and pin in place.


Open up the end of your strip and fold under 1/2 inch.



 Refold strip.  Pin and starting at the end of your strip, stitch the short end and all the way down your long strip, attaching your strip to the apron in the process, and finishing at the other short end of the strip. 

Almost done.  Now, to divide your pocket into three sections, you have to stitch, on the seam, through the pocket and main apron piece. 


ALL FINISHED! 


May I take your order?  Would you like an appetizer?  What can I get you to drink? 

To tell the truth, I was NOT a good waitress.  I'm a little klutzy.  But the apron is adorable, isn't it?  So much cuter than the plain ole black ones I wore back in the day. 

So, if you make your own, I'd love to see it and feature you. 

I'm linking to the following parties:











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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well, it's been CRAZY busy around here with work, Christmas, sewing, puppies, etc., but I thought I would share a few pics with y'all. 


Don't ya just love Christmas tree lights?  I used to just sit on the couch in the dark with my cup of hot chocolate and look at the lights.  It was such a peaceful time of quiet reflection.  Sigh.  Now when I turn off the lights to look at the tree, I hear puppies barking and kids askin, "Mom, why are the lights off?  I'm trying to do my homework?"  ugh!  There is no such thing as "quiet" in this house anymore.  Oh well!


Here it is in the light.  See that banner?  Wanna see a close up?


My SIL printed that out and cut it out for our Christmas pictures we took Saturday (for the Christmas cards).  After we used it, she hung it on the tree.  Isn't that cute?  I love it.  She found it on Pinterest (of course).  You can get your banner here.  Your welcome.

So, one more thing.....it snowed last night in Arkansas..  Yes, you heard me right - and it's not even Janury.  So, the sun is now out and I can hear it pouring off the roof as it melts.  Sad.  It didn't last long.


It was just enough snow to be pretty, but the roads were clear so school wasn't cancelled.  Can I get an AMEN?  AMEN!!!  WOO HOO!  Happy dance!  I've got tons of sewing to get done today and I don't need four kids in my hair.  However, I'm supposed to substitute 4th grade tomorrow so I'd be cool with school being called off then.  A girl can dream, right? 

Have a great Wednesday!





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Monday, December 5, 2011

Christmas Cards

So, I finally got my Christmas cards done last night.  Wanna see? 


Aren't they pretty?  I just love them!  Honestly, they are my favorite Christmas cards EVER!  Wanna hear the best part?  They were FREE!  My friend Tracy @ Welcome To Our World had a Shutterfly giveaway back in October and I won!  WOO HOO!  Twenty-five free cards.  The best part is that I got to personalize the inside and even the back of the cards too.  LOOOOVE THEM! 

Wanna see what else I won at Tracy's? 


They are stickers from uprinting.com.  Aren't they cute?  I thought they would be great to put on my plain ole paper bags when I am at a craft show or something.  I love them! 

Thanks so much, Tracy!  I love them both!!! 



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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

My Big Ole Stocking....A Tutorial

So, do you remember when you were little and you went to Wal-Mart with your mom and while walking down the Christmas aisle looking at all the decorations, etc., you stumble upon one of those big ole stockings about three feet tall and they have toys spilling out of the top of them?  Yeah, me too.   I always wanted one of those, so I thought I'd make myself a big ole stocking this year.  But, I'm not stuffing mine with cheap toys that will break in the first ten minutes you play with them.  Nope.  Instead, I'm stuffing mine with washcloths.  Is that weird?  Yeah, I know.  Wanna see?


So wanna know how to make your own? 

I knew I wanted mine to hang on the door, so I used a heavyweight duck cloth, which I got at Wal-Mart.  You can get it almost anywhere.  I was semi inspired by the ones from Ballard Designs. 


Aren't they cute?  BUT, I wasn't crazy about the shape.  They kind of look like when you have on sweaty crew socks or something after a workout and you pull them off by the toe and they get that weird pointy stretched out thing going on.  I wanted something a bit more whimsical.  Not even to mention that mine was not $25.00.  It was more like $8.00.  That's MUCH more to my liking. 

So, like I said, I chose white duck cloth.  I washed, dried and ironed it.  Then I got a large piece of craft paper and drew out my pattern and cut it out.  Then I doubled my fabric, laid my pattern on top



 and cut out two stocking pieces at once. 


I decided that I wanted a "crown" part for the top so again, I drew out a pattern, making sure the top of the stocking and the crown were the same size.  I had just a little bit of the green dot I wanted to use for the crown foldover,



so I opted to use some lightweight cotton for the back and inside of the "crown" part.  So,  I cut on green piece and three white pieces for my crown. 


Obviously, if you have plenty of fabric for the crown, you can cut four pieces of the same fabric.  Pin the right sides of your crown fabric together. 


Stitch, using 1/4" seam allowance down the sides and up and down the points.  See the silly pictures below where I drew in the black stitches.  Yes, I'm a dork.


Anyway, clip your seam allowances in the corners of your crown points, being careful not to actually clip the stitches.


Now flip your crown pieces inside out and iron flat.  You should have two crown pieces now.  Pin together, right sides together and stitch down the sides.


Can you see my stitches?  Stitch down the sides were it's pinned.  Put your crown aside and pin your stocking pieces together and stitch all around except for the top.  Clip carefully around the toe.  Turn inside out and iron.  So sorry I forgot to take pictures of this step.  ***This is the time to add a hanging loop if you want one.  I fogot to do this step.  DUH!  If you do this, take a piece of ribbon and double it.  Line up the edges with the top of your stocking, with the loop part down in the stocking and stitch in place so it will be in between the inside of the stocking and the crown piece you are about to sew. 

Now, get your crown piece, right side out, points down, and slip inside of your stocking, doing your best to line up the side seams of the crown with the side seams of the stocking.


Pin in place.


Stitch all the way around the opening using 1/4" seam allowance.


Now, flip your crown to the outside of your stocking and iron in place. 


So, of course I wanted polka dots.  I had planned on ding applique dots, but didn't have the fabric I wanted to do it.  Being the impatient person that I am, I decided to go ahead and just paint on my dots.  I just used acrylic craft paint.  After it was dry, I WAS going to stuff the toe with polyfil so it didn't flop around, but because my daughter used it all on her latest sock monkey project, I opted to use papertowels and washcloths.  Weird, right?  Like I said before, I am impatient and didn't have time to run to Wal-Mart. 


Wow.  My rug looks AWFUL.  Oh well.  I still love my stocking. 

I'm linking this project to the following blog parties:

Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths 
Strut You Stuff @ Somewhat Simple
Chic & Crafty Party @ The Frugal Girls
Weekend Bloggy Reading @ Serenity Now for Amanda.
The Doors and Porches Party @ At The Picket Fence





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