A Different Kind Of Scarf and Yummy Garlic Bread

Hi everyone.  Happy Sunday night.  I am up a little later getting things done tonight because I have tomorrow off-yeah!!  It has snowed here all day.  I love snow.  I was unhappy to see the rain wash most of it away last weekend, so I am thrilled to see some of it return.

I want to share an awesome scarf with you.

It is a t-shirt scarf and it was really easy to make.  I watched several you tube videos about them and took a few tips from each and went off on my own.  I love it.  I bought a plain black t-shirt and pre-washed it.  I laid it out on my cutting table and snipped real close to the hem.  I discarded that piece.  Then I cut straight across armpit to armpit.  I was left with a wide tube from the shirt.  I eyeballed strips and cut as neatly as I could.  The strips weren't too skinny but not too wide either. When I was done cutting, I stretched each ring of fabric.  I even put them, one at a time, on a cabinet knob so I could really get a good stretch.  Try to get them in even stretched lengths because you are going to bundle them together.   When you are happy with their length, bundle them and use a strip from the leftover part of the shirt.  Just tie the bundle together tightly and cover your fastened part with another strip.  Wrap it around several times and tie it as neatly as possible.   I have seen these with beads added and big fabric flower pins on the bundled part.  I love a project that is versatile. I have since bought many bright colored shirts on sale.  I think the weight of these lends itself to summer shirts.  It isn't a heavy warm, Wintery scarf.  I also am on the lookout for a floral print t-shirt. I think that will be cute.  I will keep you posted.

For dinner tonight, with homemade French onion soup, I made this yummy Caprese garlic bread.  I had pinned the recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod .  I just used half a crusty loaf of Italian bread and sliced it down the middle.  I slathered it with softened butter mixed with 3 cloves of finely minced garlic.  I sliced up some fresh mozzarella and put that on top.  I baked the two hunks of bread at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  When they came out of the oven, I topped them with thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper and chiffonades of fresh basil.  I then topped it with my fave-balsamic glaze.  It was delicious.  I am loving this whole Pinterest thing.  Why do I resist some new things so vigorously?  I need to stop that!

To give you an update on Jiggs, he is doing quite well here.  He is looking more and more handsome each day as he has a regular food supply and a family who looks out for him.  We are planning on taking him to the vet soon to be neutered.  I kind of want to wait until the below zero weather is past.  He will spend one night at the vet clinic, but I don't want him coming home in pain to a freezing garage, even though we do plug in the heating pad on his favorite cushion when he needs it!  I hope everyone has a great week ahead.  Take care.  Nancy

Cool New Sneaks and a Very Special Salad

Hi all and happy Sunday.  First I wanted to say, thanks for all the heartwarming comments and stories you shared after reading my post about Jiggs.  We keep finding out more endearing qualities he has and he has definitely become a member of our family. 


I don't know if you know this, but I live in the Northeast and we got pummeled with snow Tuesday and Wednesday of last week.  Yeah for two snow days from school but it was a scary time for people who got stranded as the roads were impossible to navigate with zero visibility.    My husband put in extra hours at work and was anxious to get away yesterday.  It was raining(go figure) and the temperature was in the 40's so, we lost a lot of our snow.  I took advantage of this so I could wear these beauties:

I started out with $5 Walmart white sneakers and followed the instructions on yesterdayontuesday blog .  She did an extra step by painting the stripe along the rubber bottom.  Also, she painted hers pink like the Kate Spade sneakers that were her inspiration.  These were easy, just a little time consuming with the drying time and all.  I got compliments on these sneakers from complete strangers where we went yesterday!  Malia also has some cute polka dot sneakers on her blog and I am definitely making those!

I don't know if you do this, but when I go to a restaurant and have something unique and delicious, I am compelled to recreate it at home.  I went to a local privately-owned Italian restaurant and had a pear salad that was to die for.  It seemed fairly simple so I made it at home.

It was just as good!  I toasted some chopped walnuts in a small dry frying pan.  Your nose will know when they are done-be careful not to walk away-they will burn.  Transfer them to a small bowl and put some butter in the pan.  Over medium high heat, cook some pear slices(I used well-drained canned pears) until they are caramelized.  I bought a bag of baby Spring greens and put some in a bowl.  I sprinkled Gorgonzola crumbles and the walnuts on the greens.  I tossed these lightly in the bowl and put the warm pears on top.  I dressed the salad with a balsamic vinaigrette I had purchased.  It was wonderful.  My husband opted for a garden salad so I made one just for me!

I hope everyone has a great week ahead.  I feel like I am coming down with a cold so I am hoping if I baby myself, it won't go full-blown on me!  I used the two snow days to straighten up my craft room.  To reward myself, I bought the cutest dress form lamp at Cracker Barrel.  I am trying to decide where to put it.  I will include a picture next post when it finds its perfect spot.  Take care.  Nancy

A Tale of Two Kitties

Happy New Year!  I have a good feeling about 2014 don't you?  I probably have most of the same resolutions I usually have but I have added a few more and this may be the year I push myself to actually conquer a few of them!

Meet Jiggs.  He was dropped off near our house right after Thanksgiving.  It has been a roller coaster ride with Jiggs, to say the least.  He was absolutely starving when we noticed him, rummaging through our garbage until he got at our turkey carcass.  He has the loudest, most obnoxious meow and the wildest front feet I have ever seen.  He looks like he has opposable thumbs.  We didn't know what to do with him.  We aren't really equipped to have an outdoor cat.  We only have a garage and it is closed up at night.  We live next door to the most animal-dangerous highway around.  I have a house cat Mickey who never goes outside and, at 6 years old, is very set in her ways and doesn't seem to care for other animals at all.   We started feeding Jiggs until we could set up alternate arrangements, looking for a home for him or, last resort, the ASPCA.  My 19 year old son, who volunteers at the local vet clinic and wants to be a groomer, took over the care of Jiggs in the garage.  My son was carrying the new bag of food we had just purchased at the grocery store and Jiggs bit him.  I have no idea where this cat has been and whether the lovely previous owners he had kept him up to date on his shots so I had to report it to my local vet clinic who had me call my local public health department.  I had two choices:  have him picked up by the dog warden where he would be quarantined for 10 days and then destroyed even if he was healthy or quarantine him myself for ten days.  A friend had a nice big cage we could borrow, so we quarantined him ourselves for 10 days.  At the end of the 10 days, we took him to our vet and had him get his shots and a check up.  We are thinking of getting him neutered, when we can save up the money, so hopefully he won't end up in the road by our house. So far he seems content to stay in the garage.  He took very well to the litter box when we had him in the cage, so we lock him in the garage at night.  He is very affectionate.  We realize that he bit Jake because he was starving and probably is used to fighting for whatever food he can get.  Jake made this observation right away and was devastated that we might decide to have Jiggs put down for his basic fear of starvation.
My husband named him Jiggs, by the way.  I have told him all the pets friends and family had when I was growing up by treating them like real people, giving the first and last names.  My godmother had a daschound when I was little named Jiggs.  He thought that was a riot so this stray cat was the first animal my husband was able to name in our family.  The ladies at the vet clinic had a few chuckles over it!

We are getting attached to Jiggs so I made him a collar.  I also hope you can see his front "mitten" foot in this picture.  Oh and I made my Mickey a couple of collars too!  So you can see I have a city cat and a country cat.

These collars are super easy to sew.  I got the idea from a wonderful animal lover who always seems to have room for one more- Susan at FlossieBlossoms  .

I have been on vacation these last 2 weeks.  We started the vacation with an ice storm and then we went right into Christmas so I haven't been as productive in my craft room as I would have liked but I got a few things done.  I made another watchband.

This is the fifth one I have made.  They are so easy and I love how much fun I can have with the fabrics.

I can also share the necklace I made for a good friend across the country from me.  

It matched the bracelet and earrings I sent her for her birthday.  I plan on winding down my vacation today by working on a few jewelry pieces.  It really relaxes me.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.  I have lots to do and I am excited to begin some different projects that will bring some new challenges with new skills to learn.  Stay warm and take care.  Nancy