Sew-turday take 2

I have a lot of projects going right now...so when one of my friends suggested that we should sew together, I jumped at the opportunity! Sewing with others helps me stay on task and I actually get a lot done. Otherwise there just seem to be other distractions, especially when I am at my house...the laundry finishes and needs folding, dishes in the sink, clothes that need to be hung up....etc, etc, etc! So this past Saturday I got together with two of my friends and we got to sewing!

I was so productive that I finished 1 1/2 projects! Such a relief! I made a cover for a Kindle, which is going to be a birthday present. I found the free tutorial here. This was a super easy project...I just hope it fits :) So here are the pictures....

The three of us ready to sew!

This is the outside fabric, of course it is inside out :)

This was probably the most confusing part...that is when it is very helpful to have friends to talk you through when the pattern gets tricky!

Lining is in! Now just to topstitch!

Finished product! I love it! I am tempted to go by a Kindle just so I can make one for myself :)

This is the clutch Frances made....ah-dorable!

Then after I was finished, the kindle cover was really quick, I started playing around with notecards. This is something I have really been wanting to do. It was so fun to play around with the different color thread. Plus while I was at my friend's house, I snagged some of her fabric to use. I love the way they turned out! I am going to make a set of 12 as a birthday gift for my grandmother. I think they will be perfect for her!

I still have a few more to make. I just love the freedom of designing as I go...

These are a few that didn't make the cut.... but I guess that is what happens when you just start to sew without a plan!

And of course, we finished the day with a margarita!

The handmade gifts continue....

I can't believe I have been doing this for almost 6 months and I am still sticking to it! Although, I am a little concerned because I have my grandmother's birthday, brother's birthday, mom's birthday, and father's day all in the next month. The worst part is that I don't have anything picked out to make for any of those occasions (suggestions welcome!)

This week, well next week...but I couldn't wait so I gave my gift early, is yet another birthday to celebrate! This project is one that I found early on and knew it would be a good one for me. I used two different tutorials, one for a potholder and the other an oven mitt.

I started off easy with the potholder (from a pretty cool life). I found this fun fabric that I thought would be perfect!

Be careful if you make these that you get insulated batting so that no one gets burned! I found some at JoAnns.

I decided to not quilt the entire potholder. I like the way it turned out with only 3 lines (there is a picture of the complete one at the end).

Then I got started on the oven mitt. This tutorial was the easiest I found.

This was my first attempt (well, except for the minimal attempt with the potholder) of quilting. You have to quilt two separate panels. This took quite a bit of time, probably because I had never done it before and I am terrible at trying to sew a straight line! At times, my line kind of curved but I figured when everything was put together, you would hardly even notice :)

These are my two panels pinned together. I chose a soft fabric for the lining, which I luckily had enough of in my leftover bin! Also important to use insulated batting for this one too!

After the layers are pinned together, the tutorial provides a PDF to cut out, trace and then sew. You cut the fabric after you sew the mitt.

Finished!

Here they are together! I am so excited by how this project turned out. Hopefully they will keep the cook's hands burn free!! :)

Gluten free baking

I recently had a great plan to eat more fruit so I bought some strawberries and bananas. And as the week went on, I forgot about them or I took them to work and chose to eat something else instead (this is typical for my relationship with bananas!). I was then faced with brown bananas and almost mushy strawberries. What do to with that combination? So I started to search for a recipe using strawberries and bananas...and then it dawned on me...banana bread! I found this yummy recipe for No-Brainer Strawberry Banana Bread (don't you just love the name!) and got baking! As you may notice from the recipe, it is not gluten free. I used my gf flour blend, which can be substituted one for one, in the recipe to make it gluten free.

It is very difficult to cut semi-mushy strawberries!

I loved that the recipe called for the use of a blender! So easy!

Even the dough was pretty :)

Yummy!

Although next time I think I will add walnuts... I really missed that part!

I also decided to try another mix that I picked up during my ski trip to Vermont. This time it was pizza crust!

not so sure about the quick and easy part Arthur...

Rising dough

Finished!

One thing I learned from this dinner is to read through the instructions COMPLETELY before beginning! I started making the pizza crust around 7:00 and did not sit down to eat until around 9:00. The crust set for an hour, plus bake and prep time.... needless to say we were starving by the time the pizza was ready so by default it tasted good! But if I make this mix again I will definitely add some herbs to the crust, which was a little bland. This mix makes enough for two pizzas or one really big pizza. The crust was very thick, as we chose the really big pizza version, and didn't crisp up very well. Although that maybe because of the time crunch and grumbling stomachs that were ready to eat! I will probably try a different mix next time but would certainly give this one another chance in the future!

This last picture is a sneak peek to my next project, which I am gifting soon!

Isn't it so fun!

Busy, busy, busy

Wow...this past weekend flew by! I had a great weekend but kept busy both days. Unfortunately, I did a terrible job of taking pictures to chronicle the weekend. :( I will try to do better!

My weekend started with a trip to the botanical gardens. This was my first visit to the gardens just to walk around. I went with my cousin Jennifer, who is in town finishing her last clinical for her degree in Physical Therapy (this is very exciting!!!). She and I walked around for over an hour and I'm not sure we even saw 1/4 of the gardens. I can't wait to go back and pack a picnic to enjoy.

The rose garden

I'm not sure what this flower is but the bumble bees loved it!

Jennifer and I

I attended a wedding shower for my friend Jessica on Saturday night. The theme was "Nacho Ordinary Wedding Shower", complete with margaritas and nachos! You know I loved it!

As for Sunday, I did not get to go home and have a visit with mom which made me a little homesick. I am looking forward to a trip home in the next few weeks! So Sunday involved chores like laundry and going to the grocery store (yuck!). But, I did take some time to make a really delicious dinner of Honey Lime Chicken Tostadas. Unfortunately, no pictures. I also tried my hand at homemade refried black beans. OH, so yummy and easy! This is definitely something I will make again. The entire meal was extremely easy and naturally gluten free. My gluten eating dinner partner had no complaints! We decided both recipes were definitely a keeper!

I hope you had a great weekend and start of a new week!

Happy Mother's Day

Ok, I know it has been a while since I had a project to share. One reason is that I haven't gifted the projects I have been working on....well until this weekend. I did not make the trip home for Mother's Day so I had to drop my mom's gift into the mailbox. It's kind of fun because then she will have some fun mail waiting for her! But I'm sure she would prefer me to come home and visit...but I will soon!

I found this project in the very beginning of my search for homemade gifts. I saw them in the knitting store and fell in love! I knew I wanted some for myself but I also knew they would be a great gift for my mom. Luckily one of my friends already had the pattern (which can be found on ravelry.com, and if you knit, you should be on Ravelry!) so my only cost was the yarn. This project involved knitting and felting. I have never felted anything! It was trickier then I expected.

This is what they look like before the "felting process". Each slipper consisted of 4 separate knitted pieces, which were then sewn into the shoe form.

I definitely had a difficult time with felting. I washed this slippers no less than 8 times to try to get them "felted". I guess I didn't really understand because I figured out that I left them in the washing machine during the spin cycle, which is a no-no. I am also extremely thankful that my mom has small feet so I knew they would still fit.

Here they are drying. I stuffed them with newspaper to form them while they dried.

Here is the finished product. Unfortunately the lighting is terrible, but they turned out really cute!

They don't really look like the picture on the pattern but I still love them! I can't wait to make myself a pair!

Happy Mother's Day!!