Hope Everyone Had a Nice Easter...

My 20 year old son and his friend/co-worker volunteered to dress up to hand out candy at the hospital they work at.  They visited the Pediatric ward and the Elderly Home.  My son(the rabbit) said the costume was very hot but they were glad they did it. 

My husband made these donuts(and many more) for our Easter breakfast yesterday.  It is Paula Deen's recipe.  All you need is a couple of cans of refrigerated biscuits and some peanut oil.  We dredged some in cinnamon sugar and frosted some with chocolate icing.  They were spectacular!  I don't even want to guess how many pounds those put on!

I was busy in my sewing room this past week.  I made this bag from a Gooseberry Patch book.  I thought the instructions were not very clear.  After getting half way through, I realized I had cut the fabric the wrong way.  It had never been clear what way to cut it.  So, I had to improvise and add a strap to the top.  Luckily, I had more fabric.  I also decided to put some thin elastic cording as a closure with the fabric covered button at the front.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  There are many more projects in that book I want to make.  I will have to read the instructions many more times and make sure I know what they mean before I cut anything!

I mentioned a possible road trip with a stop at my favorite quilt shop.  We made the trip Thursday.  I purchased these two kits.  I spent over $80-that is alot for me to spend on crafting kits!  But I have always wanted to learn rug hooking with wool strips and I thought this was my chance to have everything I need to start.  As always, Mission Rose has all these examples on the walls and displayed everywhere so you can see what the completed pieces will look like.  This kit I bought is so beautiful when it is done, I hope I can do it justice being a novice.  If I strike it rich somehow, I am going back and buying one of everything! 

I hope everyone has a great week.  It is back to work for me tomorrow.  Now I am mentally counting down to summer vacation!  If anyone out there is a rug hooker(that didn't sound right!) and has any tips for me, I am all ears.  Take care.   Nancy

Vacation is Here!

I am enjoying just staying home for my Spring Break!  I stayed up until the wee hours last night plotting and planning in my craft room and I have so many projects I want to do, it boggles the mind!  Summer vacation will be here before we know it so I will have plenty of time to work on all the things I have roaming around in my brain!

Just a nod to what I said in my last post about Spring weather coming-I spoke too soon!  It has been cold and windy and rainy/snowy here but I am not complaining because I really feel for the people who have withstood the destructive and dangerous Spring weather.  

The first thing I want to share with you this morning is a kick butt recipe that may sound a little silly but is awesome.   It is barbecue chicken pizza with a scoop of cole slaw on top.  I came up with this combo a couple of weeks ago and I must admit-it is a genius combo.  I start out with a Boboli shell, pizza sauce, barbecue sauce(it has to be Sweet Baby Ray's at my house), shredded Rotisserie chicken, shredded cheese of choice(I use the shredded Mexican blend I get in bulk quantity at Sams-I use this in all my cheese recipes) and shredded cabbage mixed to taste with mayo(I do this early in the day so it will be tastier and moister). 

I mix about 1/4 cup of the pizza sauce with a few squirts of the barbecue sauce and put it on the crust.  I must say this is not an exact science, I just eyeball it. In the same bowl, I mix some shredded cooked chicken with just the barbecue sauce and put it on the pizza.  Next I put shredded cheese to taste(I like alot!) and I put it in the oven for whatever the crust says.  All the components are cooked so you are just warming it.  

Put a scoop of cole slaw on it when it is warm and there you have it.  It is seriously yummy and addictive.  I love turning my favorite foods into pizzas.  I have quite a few recipes like that.  We usually have pizza every Saturday night and I try to make unique ones.  Last Saturday, we had this pizza and a white pizza with garlic infused olive oil.  I will share that with you next time. 

I also did some sewing last week that I want to share.  I whipped up a cute little pin cushion jar using a jar from some homemade strawberry jam one of my students had given me for Christmas this past year.  I used a scrap of fabric left over from my sewing machine cover.   You can never have too many pin cushions- I have them all over my craft room.  Plus, I think of Ava and her gift every time I use it! 

Now what is this you ask?  I made a cat tunnel for Mickey from Amy Butler's book.  I used minky instead of fake fur because she goes nuts for the texture of minky.  However she hasn't used it as a tunnel yet.  She has laid on it and dragged it around by the drawstring but she has yet to use it for its intended purpose.  I realize she may never use it.(yes I saw that funny look my husband gave me when I showed this to him!)  I am just a crazy cat lady who tries everything to make her happy.  Perhaps this phase

will end when I have grandchildren and I can make things for them-not that I am rushing things, my oldest is only 20! 

I hope everyone has a great week.  My husband mentioned a road trip perhaps Thursday and my favorite quilt shop may be a pit stop.  Here's hoping!  Happy crafting everybody and take care.  Nancy 

Beautiful Spring Weather and Some Sewing

It is early on this Monday morning and it is already 62 degrees!  Could it be we are finally putting Winter behind us?  I actually enjoy Winter but enough is enough!  Let's hope we turned a corner. 

When I first saw ruffled aprons in blogland, I was smitten to say the least.  Morgan at One More Moore did a tutorial on how to make one.  She gives great thorough instructions on her tutorials so I copied it off and planned to make one some day.  Well some day finally came!  I confess I am not the best gatherer(is that a word?) for making ruffles but I think it turned out cute.  I don't know if I mentioned it but my kitchen is all done in veggies-I have quite the collection.  I had these veggie fabrics and thought the vibrant colors would look really cool together.  I like it.  When I was arranging my craft room I found a kit to make a bug jar quilt that I had purchased off from ebay.  It has all the "I spy" veggie fabrics instead of bugs so it will look like canning jars with vegetables in them.  They are mini sized so it should be quick to make.  That may be something I could work on over my vacation-I have three more days to work(not that I am counting!) and I am off for a week and three days total. 

I also made this reversible tissue box cover yesterday.  The instructions are from Amy Butler and it was easy-I may make a few more!  My husband keeps the tissues on his bedside table because my side is always too full with pictures, remotes, hand lotion(you know the stuff).  So, for the last ten years or so, he had this large honkin box of tissues with a cardboard cover I covered with wallpaper samples.  It never covered the whole box and there was no reason not to down-size the box of tissues.  Well, it was time!  I change my comforter and curtains and pillows in my bedroom every six months.  I have a set for summer, and one for winter.  Now I can change the tissue cover too!  Isn't it funny how little things can make us giddy?! 

I think I finally took a picture of Mickey that doesn't look so stern!  She drags her toys all over the house and we frequently wake up and find them in our bed!  Shortly after I took this, she zonked out and I snapped this:

Isn't she something?  Pets add so much to our lives.  I just love her! 

I hope everyone has a great week and I hope it is getting warmer and Springy wherever you are.  Take care and happy crafting.   Nancy
  

And The Inspiration Continues...

Over the past week, I had plans-plans to make items from one of my favorite crafty books and even plans to make something from a pattern.  Well, I went where my creative daydreams were taking me and that is to blogland to try out more things I have read about from all of you creative and talented people!

For starters, I had fun making this ruffled scarf from MADE.  It included a technique I had been dying to try-smocking with elastic thread in the bobbin.  What fun!  It was easier than I thought it would be.   I was able to wind my bobbin with the elastic right on my machine-I didn't have to wind it by hand.  I didn't have to mess with the tension on my machine.  It just worked perfectly!  The most time consuming part was hemming the scarf before I gathered it with the elastic.  I didn't like the look my serger made on this fabric, so I hemmed it the old fashioned way.  I am wearing the scarf today.  It is summery and I would prefer to wear it with a dressy tshirt, but it is chilly and rainy here in the Northeast, so I am wearing it with a crew neck sweater. 

Another project I made was a mug rug.  I have read about these and they sounded so fun, I had to try one.  I found this "house version" on Fashioned By Meg.  It was so much fun to think about what fabrics would define me a little so this mug rug would be personalized.  I love toile so that was the roof fabric.  I used wood look fabric for the actual house so it would be like a cabin.  My sewing room shows through the window and the door is my shoe fabric because, as my husband will tell you, I am a shoe girl.  And let's be honest, Mickey had to be on there somewhere!  She is by the door.  I had a blast using my sewing machine's fancy stitches to put yellow tulips under the window.  It was a lot of fun.  I forgot the chimney though.  I had cute measuring tape ribbon all ready for it and I got so carried away with the rest, I forgot. 

One last thing I want to show you is this amazing Bloomin' Onion Bread I found on Your Homebased Mom.  It is crazy good!  I didn't have any green onions, so I put garlic powder in my melted butter that I drizzled on top.  Yowza!  I had a hard time stopping!  Luckily, I had made homemade beef vegetable soup to serve with it so there was some nutrition to counteract the butter, bread and cheese. 

I hope everyone has a great week.  All three of my guys have a head cold that is hanging on so I hope that will be leaving us soon.  I am counting down to my April break from school.  I am hoping to get to my favorite quilt shop, Mission Rose, during that vacation.  Take care of yourselves and happy crafting.  Nancy