Sherrill's Birthday

Ubers mom's birthday is exactly a week after mine. Have I ever mentioned what incredibly awesome in-laws I have? Well now I have. I actually told Uber while we were dating that even if we didn't work out I was keeping them... and I meant it -of course I knew them before him, so it wasn't totally akward... but I would have said it anyway. And for anyone who thinks I am sucking up I'm not because they don't read this blog.
Back to the birthday I love shopping for her, I can always think of lots of things she 'needs' and she always tells me she likes them.

Swarovski bracelets, because you can never have enough. I love these things and got her hooked on them last time we were out visiting.

A coffee cozy. I had been wanting to make one of these for a while I think it turned out pretty cute. I am going to have to make a few more for all the coffee addicts we have in the family. I may try and throw the pattern up here so you guys can make your own if you want. It's very simple of course but who doesn't like having it all spelled out for you?!

And the other tutorial... it's MIA right now but I think might be soon... sorry! Have a good weekend!

Finally presenting...

...my logo - and I did it all by myself!! I've had this thing a quarter of the way finished for over two months sitting in a pile of things that need to get done eventually. Last night I finally sat down and got busy on it. Here is my initial drawing

I inked it in and moved some things around for flow it's just slightly different from the first drawing.

Then I scanned it in and went to town in photoshop elements which I really hadn't used before... I think it went pretty well considering I have never tried take a drawing and turn it into a graphic before. My initials still need a little work smoothing out the edges but over all I am really stoked with it.

Let me know what you think ... I am thinking about finally getting tags printed up like mums. I am also thinking I may need to copy Kelly and finally pick up a pen tablet. I have had it in the back of my mind since last year when I saw it on Heather Baileys March of tools (which is going on again right now with more neat things to drool over). I am currently stalking the Wacom Intuos3 for anyone who may be interested (I would love opinions).
Alright I am off to my first guitar lesson -eek! I wasn't expecting it to be until next week!!

Two dozen

I turned 24 today. Which is crazy! I am almost as old as Uber was when we got married. We celebrated last night because Sunday is all about church and being lazy. I have this issue with going out to eat on birthdays... I REALLY like to make an awesome meal at home. Which Uber seems to be totally cool with. He choose the menu this year and made it all by himself.

The appetizer was brie and crackers.

For the main course he made Caramelized Veal Chops with Balsamic Syrup and asparagus. This was AMAZING! It's a Williams Sonoma Recipe if you haven't checked out their online cookbook I would definitely suggest it!

This fun little toy arrived from my Gram. Its for tea which worked out perfectly because my mum had just mailed me some. You dump your leaves and water into it and let it steep and then when you are ready you set it on top of your cup and it drains in and viola! Scrumptious tea. I love it thank you!

Ubers mom and dad mailed me a fun little treat

A beautiful bird necklace. It's a lisa leonard piece and I am totally in love with it. I've worn it since I opened it but I cant seem to get a good picture of it on! I could never figure out why I was so drawn to it but Sherrill pointed out that it is a lot like my pillow designs.... duh!

Uber is an amazing gift giver... he didn't let me down this year.

I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar and I am SOO excited about this! I still have to schedule my lessons and I am really nervous (because what if I am terrible)! It came with a DVD to help you get started but it did nothing but frustrate me which is slightly disappointing because... well I wanted to start playing with it now! Uber was able to help me get it tuned though so that much has happened.

He is interested in learning as well so if nothing else one of us should put this to use.

Anyway I had a lovely day. Today was fun too we went out to eat with friends and I managed to make it through with NO SINGING!!! I am SSSOOOO happy about this!

More me time

It's been an extremely productive week for crafting... of course that could be because I have been running away from work! Doing 8 hour days instead of 10 gives you SO much more time! who knew?
I whipped together these oversized pillows yesterday out of the fabric that was supposed to be for a table cloth. I LOVE them! And PLEASE people resist the urge to look under my couch... I am so ashamed!! Though apparently not enough to sweep and retake the picture... uhh... yeah about that.

Anyway... they are 26x26 and SO perfectly soft and squishy. I wanted to get down filled but couldn't find any that weren't a mix of feather and down... which is strictly not allowed in the house! There is nothing that is more annoying then being poked when you are trying to get comfy! Instead I went with a polyfil but they are the softest most scrumptous polyfil I think I have ever felt. They're Uber approved, which is the highest qualification of comfort you can have people.

You probably wouldn't believe it but these are the first real pillows I have made for myself. I know it's crazy because I make so many!!

Here's a little taste of spring for everyone that is still in winter. The hydrangea is LOVING it's new home.... as long as I remember to water it...

We went for a walk tonight in SHORTS people...and I am hoping Sunday involves some walking on the beach... I'll let you know!

Busy Bee

I have a TON of stuff in progress at the moment. Here is the first thing I can show you that I've completed. It's a custom order for one of my Kitchen Aid covers. The buyer has been an absolute dream to work with! We had all sorts of billing problems but she hung in there and I really appreciated it!! Let me tell you!
She picked out the fabric from fabricsupplies.etsy.com which is a lovely little store where I also ordered the two fabrics I showed you in my last post (which you will be seeing more of soon) I appreciated the excuse of to HAVING to order something... They have a great selection and their customer service was excellent.
Anyway back to the cover the name of the fabric is Birdie Damask in Fire Andalucia by Patty Young. We decided to go with a solid strip of fabric instead of the patchwork style which I think worked out very well.
Here's a shot of the inside.

I am doing all sorts of plotting over here... I need a solid month of to put a dent in my list of wanting to do's. Uber is in 2 classes this term so I may actually come up with the time if I dont get lazy and sit around. Wish me luck!

I keep getting distracted by the sun

We have had an absolutely gorgeous weekend here. It was supposed to be overcast and possibly rainy but we have had nothing but sunshine... I even got burnt a little yesterday out at the driving range... Every year I forget how fast the Florida sun will do that to you.
We are relaxing out on the deck for the second Sunday in a row. It's SO nice. There is a very short time here where comfortable deck sitting can happen and somehow last year we missed all of it so I am going to try and make up for it this year! Uber is getting his homework done and I am finally getting back here to say hi (even though I am supposed to be sewing right now)

Speaking of sewing I have a custom order that needs to go out within the week for a Kitchen Aid cover which is my first priority but then after that is done I picked up this fabric last week and I am SO in love with it. The AMH print on the left I got to make a table cloth out of but unfortunately the print isn't centered so I don't think it will look right so I am scrapping that plan(which I am kind of bumming about) and I am going to use it for two new pillows for the living room. The Cotton print (by Alexander Henry) I just TOTALLY fell in love with and it was supposed to be for pillows in the living room but now that I am using the other print I am thinking about making this into a skirt... of the twirly variety. Let me know if you think this is a bad idea... I only have 1.5 yard so it might not even be enough... I don't make clothing so I don't know!

I finally got around to yanking up all of my dead plants yesterday and we ran to Lowe's for replacements. This Hydrangea is to replace a bougainvillea at our front door. The are supposed to do awesome with morning sun and shade .... this front faces the west BUT it gets virtually no sun because of how the entrance is situated so I am hoping that one-ish hour of afternoon sun will be fine for it... if not it will go to the back yard. I've always wanted one of these hopefully it works. The bougainvillea wouldn't bloom here at all.

I am on my third plant in the front planter hopefully this one takes! It's Mexican Heather and I am hoping I never have to plant another thing in this spot... or mulch for that matter ... hopefully it's as hardy as it promises. It sits below a white Crape Myrtle so I think it will be a pretty combination

My strawberry plant is doing awesome

I ate my first berry today! Looks like there will be a lot more.

I finally have my herb garden collected. Two different types of Basil, Cilantro, Chives (if they decided to grow never done them from seeds) and three varieties of peppers for Uber.

I am also doing tomatoes - I am very excited about this ! I ended up making my own upside pot instead of buying one... I think it turned out awesome (and prettier). I ended up doing two varieties the one on the bottom is a patio tomato that should have 2 inches fruit and the one on top is a grape tomatoes which is 1 inch fruit. We will see how it goes...

The rest of my plants I am waiting on to see if they are going to come back or not ... I am going with not but I will give them one more month. I am going to be moving to all container gardening With such a small growing space I think this will help... that way when a plant gets too large I can rearrange it and not have to cut it back. Plus when we have storms I will be able to bring them all in so they aren't damaged. We are playing with the idea of paving out planting area which I am excited about because I hate bark ... one of our neighbors did it and it looks lovely!

Here's a sneak peak at what HAS been taking up all of my time and keeping me from here. I put together a tutorial this last week to make this little bag. Mum is looking it over for me and once she has tried it out and made sure it's understandable I will be putting it up for everyone. I really just think these are so fun to make. So I am hoping you all will too.

Well I need to get to it I think I have procrastinated enough for one day!

I've been lazy!

I finally pulled out my copy of Seams to Me By Anna Maria Horner and tried out the Pin Cushion Caddy Pattern. I like the outcome but I had a few issues getting it to come together like it was supposed to. If you are thinking about trying this out a few things I would of liked to have known.
1) stay stitch the top of the 8 ball forming pieces it will save you alot of misery because my fabric kept getting stretched out every time I went to sew it to the tube...it took me four times of ripping the seam back out to have it match up without bunching.
2) you dont need double sided fusible interfacing - why is this called for??
3) I would double up on the interfacing for the tube I haven't done it before but I will try before I make this again. I had the thickest stuff (like cardboard) and it still cant hold up to proper stuffing of the ball
4) When you stuff the cushion find something to stuff in the tube (I used a glass it fit in perfectly) if you dont put something inside the walls sometimes cave in to more of a donut shape

Over all it was a fun project though I am thinking about giving this one away because it made me mad....

Uber and I are switching to filtered water... We both came to the conclusion that our bottled water habit was getting ridiculous. In our defense our water tastes like it came out of a garden hose... which is fine when you are drinking out of a water hose but no fine when it is in your kitchen. Of course we got to this decisions for different reasons I hate the waste of plastic and Uber just hates taking out the trash... because he is lazy!

We went and picked up some cool water bottles (we carry water everywhere here... which is part of the reason we love bottled water) They are tin so no plastic chemical worries... plus how can you resist such fun funky designs? What is going to be awesome is not haveing to collect the 20-30 bottles that are sitting around the house and rolling around in the back seat every week.

On other side notes I finished the whole Twilight Series and found it fun, not amazing but definately fun-book 4 was definately the best I never thought the book would go there. We tried to watch the movie but I personally thought the movie was TERRIBLE and ruined the whole story. The acting was terrible did any of the producers even read the book?? I never thought of Edward and sniveling and whinny but boy did the movie make him that way! Anyway I hope the movie doesn't keep people from reading the book! The books are GOOD! It totally reminds me of what a terrible job they did with the Eragon movie... not that it was as bad as Twilight but the book was SOO much better! Alright I will wrap that up but I would love to hear what you all thought!
I am off to watch a The Office... if I am good I will craft while I am watching... I'm not very good though!

Quiet Weekend

I wore flip flops and capris for the first time this year on Saturday. I am so ready for some warmer weather- not hot though!! Of course today was torental down pour and ridiculously windy and cold... go figure.
I couldn't resist the urge to go by Lowe's on Saturday for a few plants. I will have to wait a little longer to get the rest until I am sure there wont be any more freezes. I picked up a Strawberry plant. I am very excited about this, I may do a second pot if these go well.

We used our work table in the garage to get them all planted.

Uber picked out a new pepper plant to add to his others... I know the others look kind of sad, I stopped bothering to water them because I figured they would die with all the rest of the plants I forgot to cover during the many freezes we had this winter... they are going to make it though there is new growth all over them and even a pepper!

I meant to take a picture of how sad my garden is but...I chickened out! I was told to wait until mid-april to see if the plants come back or not... I am really bummed out I hope they do! Last year my hibiscus never stopped blooming so it is sad to see it all twiggish! It's hard to resist the urge to just yank it and start over... I miss seeing bursts of color out my window!

Uber went to the Monster truck rally with a friend. He'd never been to one (not that I have) he said it was fun apparently there were some 75000 people there- ridiculous!

I stayed home and baked a ridiculous amount of banana bread- all in little acorn shapes. And then I made myself a needle book. I can't remember where I saw the idea for this but is was on someones blog. I just winged it from the memory since I didn't have the time or patience to look for it again.

The cover is cotton and the inside 'pages' are linen with a fusible interfacing inside to keep the needles in place. It's all scrap fabric.

It measures 4"x4"

The pages are held to the cover by a chain stich of embroidery floss.

I am totally stoked about how it turned out! Hope you all had a good weekend, I really wish we had more of these available!

**Thanks for all the love on the pillow. The mommy-to-be should be getting it on Monday!