Friday, December 4, 2009

Christmas is Coming....

Today I sent off the last of my Christmas stocking orders...and there wasn't a line at the Post Office. :) Go on a rainy day...


Before they were packaged and sent. So pretty...oh and I already sent off 7 other stockings at the beginning of the week. Phew...lots of stockings.

Well since we are talking about stockings, last year I posted a tutorial on making a lined Christmas stocking. It really is a great method and if you need to whip up some stockings...hopefully not 13...it is a pretty quick project! (Of course the 13 I made weren't lined.) Laura, a reader of the blog, emailed me a couple of weeks ago to share her take on the lined stocking tutorial. As you can see, her stockings look great! The tutorial is really just a base for any type of stocking you want.



I am so excited that Christmas is almost here! I love this time of year.

Happy Friday!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Flickr Group

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful and delicious! I know ours was! I just wanted to share that I've started a Flickr group for anyone who has made an item from one of my patterns. I've had a few requests for this lately and it was something I had not thought about! So here is the link http://www.flickr.com/groups/everydaycelebrations/.

It is a public group so feel free to join. I will be adding all the pictures from the quiet books and some of the owl totes that I've made.

I hope to have some fun things coming this week. I am about done with all my Christmas special orders so I hope to be back to regular blogging soon.

Christmas is coming...I can hardly wait!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Recipe: Jambalaya

I had never tasted Jambalaya until about 2 1/2 weeks ago. It always seemed like an interesting mix of ingredients to me. While we had family in town, we tried this new recipe. It is SOOOO good that I thought I would share. (See I do actually cook too...not just bake treats.) It is actually a pretty easy recipe, just lots of chopping.

Jambalaya

1 kabasa sausage, cut into small pieces

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped green pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons oil

1 ½ cups cooked chicken

1 ½ cooked ham (optional)

1 28oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 14.5oz can chicken broth

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 tsp salt

½ to 1 tsp pepper

½ to 3/4 tsp dried thyme


In skillet, sauté the sausage, onion, green pepper, and garlic in oil until the vegetables are tender. Add chicken and ham; cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Transfer to a baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until rice is tender and liquid absorbed.


In other recipe news, I have been compiling recipes and making 'Our Family Cookbook' with just recipes that we know and love. It has turned into quite the project but I can't wait til it is done. (I didn't realize I had so many recipes that I had actually used.) I will share photos when I am done, and maybe I'll post some of my favorites.


Does anyone have a great 'new' recipe that they've tried lately? Please do share link/recipe if you feel so inclined!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I'm Still Here!

I am still here! Posting will be light for the next while but I hope to post some festive Christmas projects soon.

Here is a note on Christmas Special Orders:

My available slots for Christmas special orders are filling fast! If you need to place a special order for Christmas delivery, please contact me soon. Once my slots are full, I will not be accepting any additional special orders.

Please note, special orders for Christmas will not ship until after Thanksgiving. If you need your item by a particular date, please contact to see if I can accommodate you.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Tutorial: Felt Banner

Remember this from last year?


This is a fun way to make a banner for any occasion, this case Halloween.


I know we are getting close to Halloween, but I promise this is a quick project. This tutorial is to make a 'Boo' banner so you may need to adjust the materials if you are doing a different word. Also, I tried to make a banner earlier in the summer that had bigger circles and they were very floppy. I like the result of making slightly smaller circles, a little stiffer and they hang nicely.

Materials:

1/4 yard of black felt, or three sheets (one per letter)
1/4 yard of fabric, or three 8" squares
scraps of black fabric, or three 7" x 4"
black thread
1 yard of three different kinds of ribbon
2 1/2 yards of 6" wide tulle (the kind on the spool) or 5/8" wide or wider ric rac (this is a great length for three letters, get more if you are doing another word)
1/2 yard of fusible webbing*
print off templates for circles and letters
lint roller - This is helpful to remove anything that collects on felt. I like to roll all my felt projects when I am done and when I pull them out of storage.

ironing felt - If you need to remove wrinkles from felt spritz the felt with water and use an iron set to wool. Anything higher may melt or scorch your felt.

*There are two kinds of webbing, the lite (sewable) or ultrahold (no sew) available from Heat n' Bond. If you do not want to reinforce the webbing with stitching use the ultrahold/no sew. If you plan on zig zaging a little, like mine, then you can use the lite/sewable.


to print right click on the image, save to your computer and print

1. Cut out three circles from felt. I used a salad plate measuring about 8". You do not want your circles much bigger than 8.5". I just placed the salad plate on my felt and cut around using a rotary cutter or you can use the template.



2. Also from felt, cut three 1.5" x 4"strips.



3. Trace three circles onto the paper side of the fusible webbing. I used a soup bowl measuring about 7" or you can use the template. Cut out circles leaving 1/4" around your tracing lines.



4. Trace the letters onto the paper side of the fusible webbing. You will notice the 'B' is flipped.

5. Adhere the circles and letters to your fabrics of choice following the manufacturer's directions for your brand of fusible webbing. Cool. Cut out following your tracing lines.



6. Taking one of the 1.5" x 4"strips and a felt circle, find the top point of the felt circle. I did this buy using my cutting mat and lining it up so it was mostly centered. Then fold the strip in half. Place one half behind and one half in front. Pin in place.



7. Do this for the other circles. To get the loop in the same spot for each circle, simply line new circle on top of a circle that has a loop pinned. Fold the strip in half and place using the one below as a guide.



8. Secure the loop in place with a zig zag stitch. Backstitch. Make sure you catch the loop on both sides of the circle. Repeat for all circles.



9. Center the fabric circles on the felt circles. Fuse into place USING THE WOOL setting on your iron. Anything warmer can melt or scorch your felt and ruin your iron.



10. If you want to you can quickly zig zag around the circles, centering your stitch so half hits the fabric and half hits the felt. I start at the bottom center of the circle go around and backstitch. Repeat for all circles.

11. Center letters onto the fabric circles and fuse in place. I just eyeballed the letters.



12. Again, you can quickly zig zag to reinforce the letters. I wanted to keep the edges of the letters clean and crisp. So I just zig zagged down the middle of the letters.



13. For each letter cut three 9" pieces of ribbon. I like to heat seal my ribbon ends with a lighter. Tie the ribbons in place on the felt hanging loops. Thread the letters onto your tulle or ric rac centering the letters.




Tada!!!! Super cute, super fun!

Fun & Quick Baby Girl Project - Ruffle & Flower Onesie

So my pile of white onesies were looking a little sad and need of some personality. (I also made an amazing sewing machine purchase...a ruffle foot.) After I learned how to use it, I was wanting to do a project involving ruffles.



I found this great tutorial on U-Create for a Ruffle Onesie. I don't have a serger, sigh, and didn't want raw edges for my ruffles. So I thought to use ribbon! So cute. I attached my ribbon following the tutorial directions except with my ruffling foot...so fun! You can ruffle your fabric/ribbon the regular way too. If you use ribbon I reccomend at least 1" wide, that is what I used. Anything less might make it not so fun...for you to sew. I also recommend heat sealing the ends of your ribbon with a lighter. Easier than turning the raw edges under and sewing.


Then the front was looking a little lonely and in need of personality too ... enter the fabric flower. I used Heather Bailey's fabric flower tutorial for inspiration, then did my own thing. (Her tutorial is great...so use it! Especially if you will be gathering the traditional way.) I want to make a fabric flower to wear with cardigans this fall. Just attach a broach pin on the back and you're in business. They are so easy you could make one for just about every outfit...not really...but you get the idea. :) Below is just what I did...no pictures...



I cut a 2" x 12" piece of fabric, folded it wrong sides together. I pressed the strip in half to make it easier to feed through my ruffler. (Again, you can just baste long stitches and pull to gather it up.) After ruffling I turned under the raw edges on the short ends and straight stitched them where the stitching wouldn't show. Then I made the fabric strip into a flower shape by turning it on itself. Then I sewed it into place just below my ruffling stitches. The leaves are two cuts of ribbon looped, and tacked to the back. I have a bunch of flower die cuts so I cut some different flower shapes out of felt and decided on the fun fushcia color. This helped cover up lots of my stitching lines. Then I sewed on a button, going through the felt and fabric flower, to secure everything in place. Then I tacked it onto the onesie. Easy peasy.

And so cute!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Night Owl Cookies

I saw these on the sidebar on Martha today. I couldn't not share them with you all.



They are called ' Night Owl Cookies', that is what I have been the last two nights, and you can get the recipe here.

Just so you know, I don't only bake around here. I do cook too. :)
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