Peanut butter puppy biscuits

I know I usually talk about sewing but tonight I made my little pooch Oskar some peanut butter dog treats. He couldn't wait for them to cool completely so when one was cool enough to handle he commenced to crunching.

These were easier than the pumpkin ones that I had tried before. I don't have any dog bone or fire hydrant shaped cookie cutters so Oskar gets some peanut butter men, stars and hearts. I wonder if he knows how lucky he is? I know I'm lucky to have such a good puppy (11 year old puppy) :)

Upcycled pants and necktie

Today I made two purses and two Chapstick cozies. The purses I made out of my brother's nice blue jeans and the cozies were made from the remainder of the necktie that I used for the wristlet yesterday. I'm pretty proud of the purses because I added one of the pockets from one of his pearl snap shirts to the inside for a secure pocket.

Now I just need to make a couple of pillows out if the remainder of the jeans and a throw pillow out of another piece of pearl snap shirt.

Necktie wristlet

I finally got around to making my sister-in-law a wristlet out of one of my brother's neck ties. It turned out really well and fits an iPhone perfectly in the back pocket and has a second pocket for money, cards, etc.

Now I need to hit up the goodwill for some ties so that I can put them in my etsy shop.

Upgrades to crayon art portfolio

I made another crayon art portfolio today and made a couple of upgrades to it. First I put a zipper pocket in place of the sticker pocket. I think it looks nicer than doing Velcro.

I also added a fabric covered button and a pony tail holder to help keep the top a little more secured.

Since I like to personalize things, I also offered to embroider the child's name on it...I think this is my best one yet.

Tomorrow I will attempt to be a teacher

So I have a neighbor who is getting ready to have a baby and she also wants to learn how to sew. I need to see if I would make a good sewing instructor so it's a win/win. I'm going to start her off with some simple terrycloth and flannel burp rags. I think that is a good (and very useful) beginner project. I had purchased a pretty pink bath towel from Goodwill a while back and I was going to make a bath may with it...that hasn't happened so I figure why not cut it up for the burp rags?

I can get 9 that measure approximately 10" x 16" and I have some funky print flannel that I bought over a year ago and never made those pajama pants with...it matches the pink towel perfectly. Then with the scraps from cutting the flannel to size...she can get some more practice in and make some super soft washcloths. Here's to another day of sewing tomorrow.

Writing my first pattern

I just finished writing my first pattern.  It is for the flower taggie blanket that I came up with.  There are so many square ones out there...but I like shapes.  For a friend of mine who is a BAMA fan, I made his niece an elephant one that had houndstooth flannel ears that had ribbons coming out of the ears and a super soft gray high pile minky for the body of the elephant.  I think I will do a pattern for that one next.

When I'm at my sewing machine is the only time I'm really creative and I love the way it feels to think "what if....." and then it turns out awesome :)  That is kind of how the elephant and flower taggies came about....a what if moment.


Look how cute they are:

 

The pattern for the flower taggie will be available in my etsy shop in the next couple of days. 

Until then...happy sewing :) 

Pattern is complete and listed in my etsy shop here

Finally got to sew again today

My eyes feel good enough for me to sew again...yay! Today I made another crayon art portfolio. I found a tutorial at Jengerbread Creations (http://jengerbreadcreations.blogspot.com/2011/09/childs-art-portfolio-tutorial.html?m=1) I made one for my great niece for Christmas and she loved it. I made a couple of minor adjustments to pocket sizes (and also used a directional fabric on this one). I was pretty proud of myself for thinking ahead enough to cut the outer panel and sew it together again so that the ostriches would be right sides up on both sides when closed. How cute is this "Olive the Ostrich" fabric by Robert Kaufman? I also made the straps out of some sew in interfacing and the contrasting fabric.

I started working on another project today too but that one is a secret until I get it finished and have my model in it for pictures :)

The healing of the eyeballs

My vision is still a little blurry and it kind of feels like there is sand underneath the temporary contact but that is typical. I go in tomorrow morning for the temp contact to be removed. I think yesterday was the dip in vision, the day it gets worse before it gets better. They say its the blurriest when it is healing in front of the pupil. I'm happy I decided to have LASIK done. I'm really going to enjoy not having to put in contacts first thing in the morning just so that I can see anything. :)

Hopefully I'll be back to seeing in a few days. That is the biggest drag if this healing process.

**my eyesite is 20/20 and I just noticed some typos that actually work in the last paragraph. My phone doesn't understand my love for sewing for some reason and always wants to make it say "seeing" but seeing fits there too. Luckily I am back to seeing and sewing.

My eyes hurt

I had LASIK surgery today so this is gonna be short and sweet....my eyeballs hurt. But check out the sweet sunglasses that I got. They cover up my WHOLE face. I feel like Ronnie Milsap.

Hopefully I'll be back to sewing in a couple of days. I need try out making a faux chenille pillow cover and I'm pretty excited about it since I successfully made my first pillow cover last month to match the memory quilts I made out of my brother's pearl snap shirts. I'll post pics of successful faux chenille pillow covers later this week :)

Oskar and banana pudding

My dog LOVES bananas. I made some banana pudding the other night and he was in his usual spot in the kitchen. Any time I am cutting up veggies...he's on the rug that is in front of the sink. Waiting for a carrot to fall on the floor. He likes broccoli, spinach and cucumbers too but his favorite is yellow squash. Not crazy about zucchini but would eat yellow squash all day long.

Anyway, after I got done with the pudding part, I decided to let Oskar lick the whisk...he didn't know what to think about the whisk at first, then he got a taste of the pudding...then he licked the bowl. His beard and eyebrows were coated in pudding... But he sure did like it.

"Homemade" gift wrap...fully lined, personalized, drawstring fabric bag

I had a baby shower to go to today. I finished making the last item and it was in the washer when I realized that I didn't have any baby wrapping paper or gift bags....so I made a personalized fabric, fully lined, drawstring bag to put it all in.

I was so proud of myself for figuring it all out. I didn't measure anything...kinda like when I cook...just cut out the panels for the bag and the casings for the drawstrings based off of the width of the panels that I cut for the bag an the drawstrings based off of the size of the casings. I also embroidered the baby's name on the bag.

Completing a project like this boosts my confidence and inspires me to get more creative :)

Now I just need to put some of that creativity into my Etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/marvelousauntiem