I Finally Did It!

I have been quilting for a little over a year now, mostly baby blankets and other baby stuff for friends and family. I finally decided to channel my quilting skills into making a real grown-up sized quilt. I made this one for Brett's mom for Christmas. I'm quite proud of it. ;-)

Last Weekend

I figure that since this weekend is pretty much over, I should probably blog about last weekend before time gets away from me.

Thursday was bowling night, as usual. Brett was on fire that night and bowled five consecutive strikes! We have since learned that this feat is called a "five-bagger" in bowling lingo.


Brett's look of pride after bowling five strikes:


Friday night was the much-anticipated Christmas Craft night at my house. My friends Meggan..:


...and Kelly..:


...came over for some food, wine and Christmas crafts. If that sounds to you like a winning combination, let me tell you- it is.

We made all kinds of ornaments, including these cool round ornaments made out of scrapbook paper:


and reindeer magnets made out of Christmas light bulbs:

Then Meggan had the idea to make boy & girl reindeer, so we added bows to some of them:


We also made more of these ornaments from Homemade by Jill that I previously blogged about.


On Saturday we wrapped some Christmas presents...

...and I made Moose a stocking. He had been needing one for some time now:


Saturday night we went with our friends Kelly (above) and her husband, Matt to Clinton, IA (about 45 minutes away if you don't get lost) to check out the Symphony of Lights. We sipped hot cocoa, ate some yummy gingerbread, and looked at all the pretty lights in the snow. It all felt very festive and Christmas-y.




...Then on Sunday I finally finished this adorable baby quilt for my friend Tara who is expecting a baby boy any time now:

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year for Thanksgiving we headed over to our friends Keven & Tiff's house. We had a really great time just hanging out and relaxing with good friends. After our delicious Thanksgiving feast, we all kicked back for some board games: Apples to Apples and a rather heated round of Battle of the Sexes.


On Friday morning we got up and made the annual pilgrimage out to Milan, IL to Jack Frost Pines tree farm to chop down our very own Christmas tree. I had a total Clark Griswold moment when I saw this tree:


But since we don't have 20 foot ceilings, we opted for this more practical tree next to it:


We then went home and trimmed our tree and decked our halls for Christmas. Later that day our friend Kelly dropped by so we had her take our picture in front of our Christmas tree.


For dinner on Friday we cooked our very own Thanksgiving dinner, that way Brett can enjoy his leftover turkey sandwiches for a few days.

This extra-long weekend has allowed me some time to work more on my Christmas crafts. I made some glittered snowflake ornaments (inspired by Homemade by Jill). I think they turned out quite nicely.


[Let me tell you, if there were a list of things that I never thought I would spend $10 on, at the top of it would be a single tube of Martha Stewart extra-fine Antique Silver glitter. But, what's a girl to do? If there was a list of things I'm glad I didn't spend $10 on, on it would be the Martha Stewart make your own tissue paper flower kit (found next to the glitter)... I think I handled that one pretty well on my own.]

Today we headed to Coralville, IA to check out the Coral Ridge mall. It is much larger and nicer than any malls we have here in the Quad Cities. We successfully managed to get the vast majority of our Christmas shopping done, which is a relief.

Now our evening plans involve watching Wall-E and wrapping some Christmas gifts. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow, so I think we will stay in and avoid the crowds and the cold. :-)

Michelle's Baby Shower

Let me just say that if you were in Davenport this weekend, and you were not at Michelle Sheldon's baby shower, then you were missing out. I'm pretty sure everyone, men included, had a great time. My fabulous co-hostess, Meggan, and I made carriage shaped cookies...

And we constructed a diaper cake...

Remember those tissue paper flowers from last week? Well here they are!

Meggan was very ambitious and even made chocolate covered pretzels!

Cupcakes anyone?

We played "Guess the Baby Food," "How Many Peanuts in the Baby Bottle?" and of course, "Baby Gift Bingo"...

We also guessed the size of Michelle's tummy using toilet paper...

The fabulous, adorable, and famous Abri Thompson was even in attendance...

It's hard to believe that almost this time last year we were having a baby shower in her honor!

Michelle got to open many fabulous gifts, including another pair of adorable cloth baby shoes made by yours truly...

And a super-sweet baby quilt (also made by me)...

...I think she might have liked it. ;-)

If you would like to see more pictures, you can check them out here.

Congratulations Dean & Michelle!

Tissue Paper Flowers

I started making some tissue paper flowers last night. I was pretty dissatisfied with the tutorials that I found online, so I decided to wing it, and make a blog post about how I did it.


First, I cut a standard sheet of tissue paper into 6 equal portions. Then, I accordion folded the sections and rounded the ends, to help make the petals.

The instructions I found said to use floral wire for the stem, but I used a coordinating drinking straw because it seemed way more practical, and I already had them. Next, you can either cut the section in half and wrap the petals around the straw, or you can cut a hole in the center of the paper and then scrunch and fold the petals around the straw. I did a little bit of both.
& or
Tape the petals to the straw in layers until you get the look that you want.

Then, trim between the petals to separate them.

And voila!

You're probably wondering why I am spending my time making tissue paper flowers. Well, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out!

I totally have to make this pillow

Our couch pillows are looking kind of tired, and I think this pillow pattern would be the perfect couch pick-me-up for fall & winter. Maybe not in white though, that sort of seems like a recipe for disaster...

Sweet Feet

I just completed one of the projects on my to-do list, cloth baby shoes for Brooke's son Truman. The pattern for them came from Stardust Shoes. They are surprisingly easy to make. If I would stop making mistakes, I could probably have a pair done in about an hour and a half. ;-)

Craft Crazy

Sorry that I haven't blogged in forever. I have been crazy busy lately. Things are finally calming down a bit and I have been a sewing fiend for the past couple of weeks (I think it's kind of like therapy for me). I will hopefully get back in the habit of blogging soon...maybe with lots of fun projects to share!

'Maters

The container gardening didn't really work out for us last year, but we decided to give it another go this year since we actually have a yard that we can plant in. We have a couple of tomato plants that have really taken off in the past few weeks. It is such a novelty to me to have fresh vegetables growing right in my own backyard, especially since nothing really grows in that hard-packed San Diego soil.

Yummy cherry tomatoes (above) have made for delicious summer snacking. These ones (below) look like they're about ready to go. That's a snow pea in the foreground.



This plant (a.k.a "The Beast") may very well take over our entire back yard soon:

A Layer of Beef Sauteed with Peas and Onions: A Yummy Trifle

Okay, so no beef and onions in this one (that is a reference to Friends where Rachel makes a half trifle, half shepherds pie). This trifle is made from a layer of angel food cake (fat free), a layer of vanilla pudding (also fat free), a layer of strawberries, and a layer of cool whip (fat free!), then repeat and top with some pretty strawberries. It is SO delicious and so far as desserts go, relatively healthy as well.

Onesies, Round 2

A giraffe and a whale for Baby Sheldon:



Judging by their reaction, I'm pretty sure they loved them. I am completely addicted to making these things. :-)

Crafty Cards

I made some really easy but very cute cards last night using this template. All you have to do is print out the cards on a regular 8.5"x11.5" sheet of paper, fold it in half, cut it in half, and then add your favorite buttons and bam! you have your very own homemade cards. I was lucky enough to find some flower buttons on clearance the other day (score!). Thanks to Homemade by Jill for sharing the template.

A Gift for Truman

I was once again inspired by my new favorite blog, Homemade By Jill, to create this super cute necktie onesie. I decided to make it for Brooke and Joe's newest addition, Truman.


I think that this idea is especially cute because his daddy's a lawyer.

I was on a roll after the first one, so I decided to make another. At first I was going to make an elephant, but then it told me that it wanted to be a sea turtle:


I hope you like them Brooke and Joe. They're coming your way!

♥Amy