Weekend Recap

Well this weekend was pretty wild, if I say so myself. I haven't been as busy over the weekend for a while. First, Jake and I celebrated karaoke night at our local bar, which led to me being in bed all of Saturday, recuperating. Then, on short notice a friend invited me to Wendover. I'd never been but I had a great time. Had my first gambling/black jack experience. Very nice to get out of town for a few hours. Then Sunday, I did some more driving, had a lunch date which led to a dinner date. The weekend went by way too fast.

Bear Skinning

A lot of good things come from thrifting, as you've seen me demonstrate. But another good thing is that you can rescue cute, cuddly, unloved, unwanted stuffed animals from the grasping, dirty, clutches of children in the thrift store. Then you can cut up the animals and put them to better use as hair for new stuffed animals and they no longer have to worry about being lame and too cute.

Our victim: Dr. Smiley Purple Pants.

We start with an incision in the butt crack because it's funny.

And then we go to town, starting with legs for long pieces. Later, the stuffing can also be harvested for the new doll.

Recipe: Sauteed Cabbage with Bacon and Peppers

This is the way my man likes his veggies: cooked with bacon. Got this one from my 20-minute recipe cookbook and added the peppers. All you do is all all the ingredients and saute until the cabbage is tender.

2 cups chopped cabbage

1 yellow bell pepper

4 strips of turkey bacon -chopped

garlic, salt, pepper to taste

New Monster: Bobby

This guy is pretty special to me. For a couple reasons. One, his hair is purple and it came from a stupid  looking purple bear. Two, his tie flips up into his face sometimes. And three, his feet are webbed. Favorite monster creation so far.

Mustard Marie Skirt

I tackled my second project with a zipper and this one turned out way better. I got the pattern for this Marie skirt from Burdastyle. The fabric is actually a (very clean) old sheet, so the skirt is kind of thin. It would work better with a thicker cotton for sure, but I love the mustard color.

I also had to add some room to the waist since the pattern called for 34 inch hips and a 24.5 inch waist. Thankfully, I had my copy of The Art of Sewing Creative Design (thanks, Dad), which has tips on how to add/subtract inches from a skirt/blouse/etc. In the end, it ended up being a little loose around the waist, but I'm getting closer to creating a piece of clothing that fits correctly.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was really all about sewing. I worked on a skirt, some gift bags, learned how to adjust a pattern for said skirt, and played around with Shrink Film. I still don't get it. Bake your art and watch it shrink. But WHY?!

I also attended the best baby shower I've ever been to. People LOVE food, just remember that.

Recipe: Vodka Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

I haven't bought pasta sauce from the store in a long time. I like to make my own but sometimes even that gets boring. So this time I went wild.

This recipe will make between 3 and 3.5 cups.

10 oz tomato sauce

1 red bell pepper - chopped

half tomato - chopped

3 tsp garlic

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 tsp italian spice medley

1 tsp rosemary

1 shot vodka

1 tbsp agave

Add everything together and blend. You can heat it up (which will also cook out the alcohol) or just pour right over your slimy little noodles.

Hooray!

New Fabric Arrivals!

This week I received two very exciting packages! Oh, for how long I've wanted to get my hands on some fabric designed by Anna Maria Horner and now it seems that dreams really do come true. Purchased this one yard from DreamsSupplyShop (fitting, right?)

Next up, I'm completely new to this artist/brand but MoMo's Wonderland Snip Snip turned out to be absolutely adorable in person. Thanks to FlourishFabrics.

Love those scissors.

Oh that? That's just the beginnings of a chocolate donut with pink frosting. Should have been a scissors donut with flower frosting.

Mini-Monster Pins

Finished these monster pins at the suggestion of another Etsy seller and I'm glad I did. They were really fun to make and I can't get over how adorable they are. Here they are on my Etsy shop.

I think I'm going to have to make more soon.

Pattern Practice

A long-time dream of mine has been to design fabric prints, so finally I’m getting around to experimenting with it. The four samples above came from some tinkering with a simple illustration. I have a lot more ideas, just need to find time :/