It's a love/hate relationship

Last night my beloved sewing machine started playing tricks on me. Or maybe it was just that I was tired. I have been working on a really cute little purse, complete with a velvet ribbon and am this close to finishing it. I stayed up way past my bedtime in hopes of finishing this wonderful little project. My sewing machine had other plans. I decided that in my state of being I wasn't the best person to try to fix it so I would wait until the morning to see what would need to be done. When morning came I did try to fix it by changing the needle, and the tension, and the thread...but nothing worked. In fact, the machine has started to act up even more than last night. I'm not that happy with my machine right now. In fact, if you asked me I'd probably tell you that I would like to throw it out the window...I know that with this little glitch I will be required to take it in to the repair shop...and wouldn't you know that my warranty from my last repair expired a mere two weeks ago??? Agh! I'm not a happy person. How I had wanted to finish this little purse. I even have plans for more projects...I even have the fabric for those projects. I've already decided that I'm not going to go back to the same place and have it repaired. I just can't afford it. This will be the third or fourth time of my taking it in for a repair. I could probably buy a machine for the amount I've put into fixing it. It makes me sick. I want to finish my projects! I want to finish on this machine! But at some point I have to ask myself is it worth it? It's a love/hate relationship I have with this machine. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel differently about the situation.

Busy Bee

I've been having so much fun going through my new sewing book. Just in the past few days I've finished two handbags, two sets of coasters, and a cute little zippered pouch. I am by no means an expert sewer...in fact if you look close enough you'll be able to find some mistakes. But I don't mind them so much. I love what I've done so far and that's all that matters!

These are the two sets of coasters. I found this cute and playful material of dragonflies at the fabric store but only had enough fabric to make four coasters. I wanted more than that. After rummaging through my fabric stash I came across this zig zag fabric that was super close to the colors in the dragonfly material so I combined them and got eight coasters out of the two! I like how they turned out.

And this is the cute little zippered pouch I made just this afternoon. I really liked the flower fabric and the yellow checkered fabric on the inside makes it so cheery. This was my first time trying to sew a zipper on. Good night, Nancy! This little thing took me nearly (I'm almost embarrassed to say just how long it really took...) three hours!!! I guess I had a few interruptions but still...perhaps if I made a few more I'd get the timing down to a more reasonable number. Anyhoo - I really like the small details on this pouch...I used a little green velvet ribbon and made a bow in front. Pretty, ain't it?

Hooray for Bacon!

Today for lunch was all about bacon. We love the stuff. So in honor of bacon, we cooked it and ate it and enjoyed ever little bit of it. A few years ago I had purchased this neat looking cookbook for Mike geared towards grilling. There were lots of great looking recipes and we even tried a few then. But ever since we tried out the first few recipes, the cookbook has been sitting in my cupboard untouched. Today we pulled it out. We found the recipes we came to love the first time around and decided that it was time to try them out again. We made a delicious Chicken with herb and ricotta stuffing and grilled some asparagus wrapped in bacon. We also enjoyed some grilled onion and some freshly baked bread along with our baked potatoes. Can you say yum? Here are the recipes. Enjoy!

Chicken with Herb and Ricotta Stuffing
4 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons mixed chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, parsley, and mint
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
8 chicken drumsticks
8 slices of lean smoked bacon

Combine the first four ingredients. Season well with salt and pepper. Carefully loosen the skin from each drumstick and spoon a little of the herb stuffing underneath, smoothing the skin back over firmly. Wrap a bacon slice tightly around the wide end of each drumstick to hold the skin in place over the stuffing during cooking. Cook on a medium-hot grill for 25-30 minutes, turning occasionally.

Asparagus wrapped in Bacon
1 pound of asparagus
bacon

Take four or five spears of asparagus and wrap in one slice of bacon. Continue until all asparagus spears are wrapped. Season with salt and pepper. These are good grilled and are excellent cooked in the oven when drizzled with a little EVOO.

Introducing my new line!

Ever since I got my new sewing book, I've been itching to make some new things. I finally finished some very cute coasters and decided to move onto something else. Flipping through the book I came across this very cute Woodland Elf Hat. Jonah said he wanted a hat to play in so I went about making this hat. I wasn't sure it would fit him. After I had finished I had him model it for me. Rats! The ties were way to long. He looked like Little Red (and orange) Riding Jonah. So I went about trimming the ties to a more manageable length. The results? A cute little elf hat. I laughed my head off so hard trying to sew this together. It's almost hideous - I can just imagine there being a funny pom-pom on top of the pointy end. But I wouldn't do that to my son. Not me.

Front view - my son is a good sport!

Side of the hat

This is how it looks in the book. Pretty cute on girls, right? For boys you omit the little flower decal on the side. I tried to make it a little more boy-ish by using louder colors. I'm not so sure that it worked.

So...any takers? I'll be taking orders starting tomorrow. Price negotiable.

Favorite Things...

...about Fall (in no particular order!)

1. The cool and crisp air you feel against your face when you walk outside in the morning.
2. Hot Apple Cider
3. Making Applesauce
4. Enjoying a pleasant walk with those I love
5. Settling back into a "schedule" after a busy yet fun summer
6. The trees changing colors
7. Drinking the first Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks when the air does turn cooler.
8. Squash. Pumpkins. Harvest Time!

What are some of your favorite things about the fall?

Sewing

I am so excited. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. I received a new book in the mail over the weekend and since then have been poring over ever little detail in it. The book is Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing. (Amy Karol blogs over at Angry Chicken - don't worry, it has nothing to do with being angry or anything about chickens!) Anyway there are so many neat little projects that look all too enticing. Here are some of the projects listed in the book:

~The Zip Pouch ~ A Simple Tote ~ Heidi Headband ~ The No Cash Wallet ~ Artsy Clutch ~ Charming Handbag ~ Pleated Beauty Handbag ~ A Dog Collar ~ Cat Tuffet in a Basket ~ Clever Coasters ~ Mixy-Matchy Napkins ~ Tea Cozy ~ Table Runner ~ Place Mats ~ Easy Lap Quilt ~ Pillows Three Ways ~ Semi-simple Pillows ~ Painted Pillow Buddies ~ Sugar-sweet Curtains ~ Cafe Curtains ~ Amazing Tea Towel Apron ~ Vintage Apron ~ Apron Pockets ~ Woodland Elf Hat ~ Simple Bib ~ Scalloped Baby Blanket ~ Soft Turtle Buddy ~ Puppet Theater with Matching Case ~ Sweet Wee Jacket ~ Swing Swing Smock ~ plus all the patterns and templates!

I can not wait to get started on some of the simple and easy projects. I'm thinking I'll start with some coasters -that is, after I finish my other two projects!

Something new is coming!

I'm trying to get back in the creative mood...it's not showing itself like it did in the summer. On Monday I went to JoAnn fabrics and came back with a few "fat quarters". What, oh what will I be doing with these? Only time will tell! I'll update again when I get a chance.