H

Hummus- I'll eat it with anything

Home - really is where the heart is

Hot chocolate - nothing warms the tummy better on a cold winter evening

Hair - I hate mine right now, but I'm grateful that it is thick and plentiful.

Handmade - anything is so much more special if you know someone put their love and energy into creating it, and the same goes for

Homemade

Happiness - a wonderful feeling

Hexagons - in the form of the granny's flower garden quilt

G

Gardening - something that rewards all the effort you put into it with beauty (and provides some deer nibbles...)

Gratitude - for a wonderful family and friends, and the luxuries afforded to us in this great country

Guacamole - goes with Avocados in the "A" post

F

Fabric! - look what I discovered at JoAnn's yesterday. Oh, the joy!

Fun - what would life be without it?

Family - the people who love me no matter how grumpy I may get

Flip-flops - the only shoes I wear in summer (except maybe if we go to a fancy dinner or the theater...)

Flowers - isn't nature the most talented artist on earth?

E

Eyes - without these I wouldn't be able to enjoy the beauty of the world around me. My new eyemask which allows me to sleep in darkness when Gavin decides to read until 1 am.

Edith Piaf - makes me wish I lived in Paris in the 20's (although this was not nearly as romantic as it may sound)

Eiffel Tower - which I hope to visit one day

Early - As they say "The early bird catches the worm". I get up early and I like to be places early, or at least on time.

Easygoing - something I wish I was and am working on

Etsy - a place of inspiration and awe at the creativity of the human race

Energy - when I have a lot of it, I can move mountains. When I don't I feel guilty because I'm not moving mountains. I may have some "issues"...

Elvis - timeless

D

Daddy - The most important person in a little boy's life, right from the start.

Dreams - one of the main things that give us a reason to live

Discovery - another one of life's joys

Doughnuts - of course there'd be a food in the list!

Dogs - especially my little girl Sydney

C

Cake, cookies, anything baked (which should have been under "B")(Banana cake recipe here)

Candles - I love their soft glow, especially on dreary Northwest winter days.

Creating - the satisfaction of ending up with something that came from your own hands is indescribable. And with that, of course...

Crafting - for the same reason as above and for the release I get from getting an idea from my head to reality.

Cosmopolitans - in all their cranberry and lemon glory.

Camping - as long as it's only for a weekend, getting out there and "roughing" it never fails to give me gratitude for the roof over my head.

Chocolate - chocolate cake, chocolate milk, chocolate fudge, chocolate ice cream, anything chocolate!!!

Cats - we used to have three, now we have two. I love their soft little bodies and gentle purring.

Cheesecake - say no more

B

my Baby - Even though he's almost 15, he will always be my little one.

Beauty - I am amazed on a daily basis at all the beauty in the world around us.

Bedroom - More specifically the master bedroom, which is the only room in our house still in need of serious help. The carpet is emerald green, for goodness sakes!

Banana bread - Do not leave me alone with a loaf - it'll be gone before you know it.

Blueberries - especially those grown in my own backyard.

Bargains - yard sales, thrift stores, store sales, you name it, I love it. I whipped up this little ditty yesterday with some fabric found at a yard sale a while ago.


ooh, and how could I forget?
Books! - I'm always reading at least a couple of books.

Encyclopedia of Me - A

I've decided to join the "Encyclopedia of me" meme started over at Bella Dia.

Anina - obviously, my name. My mom named me after an actress. Anina means "answer my prayer" in Aramaic, but I don't think my mom knew this when she named me.

Africa - the continent where I was born.

Able - I've always been able to do pretty much anything I put my mind to. This, even though great, can sometimes prevent me from really focusing my attention on any one thing.

Anal - once again, both good and bad things can come from this.

Assertive - I'm not likely to allow myself to be steamrolled.

Avocados - why do they have so many calories?

Apple pie - I LOVE apple pie!

Absitively,

posolutely

SPLENDIFEROUS!

No, I don't have any amazing news. I just feel happy this morning. I want to thank everyone for their amazing blog love about my little rose tote yesterday (and all the previous times you left beautiful comments).
I would love to respond to everyone's comments (and questions), but very often they don't come with email addresses and I can't, which makes me feel guilty. So to everyone who reads my blog and leaves wonderful comments:

THANK YOU!!!!!

(Snickerdoodles inspired by this post.)

Pillowcase Prettiness

Quite a while ago I thrifted these pillowcases at Goodwill.
I made some Martha Stewart pillowcase totes with some of them and blogged about them here and here.
Funny enough, around that same time I had big problems with a little toiletry bag made out of this book.
Yesterday I decided to combine some of those pillowcases with my fear of the book, and try another project.
I used the yellow rose pillowcase for the top of the tote, and the plaid pillowcase for the bottom and lining. It even has pockets!



I love it, love it, love it, but...
...once again the instructions were loaded with errors. If I hadn't been an experienced sewer, this would have been a very frustrating project.

Snippets from a Summer Garden

Yesterday we finally went to see the Harry Potter movie and then came home to watch the final stage of the Tour de France (of course), after which I decided to make Indonesian Beef Rendang for dinner. It sounds much fancier than it really is, but does take time to make. The bottom line, once again no crafting around here.

The garden is in the final throws of its summer beauty. Soon everything will go to seed and the tedious fall cleanup process will begin.
I've had quite a few people ask me to post more photos of my garden. Here are a couple.

These are "dinner plate" dahlias. They are about 10" in diameter.



The shade garden.

The bird house was just an unfinished one from the craft store which I painted with leftover paint and coated in a couple of coats of polyurethane. It's been outside for nearly 10 years and seems to still be holding strong.

It looks like we'll have couple of tomatoes this season.

A night at the races

It was a beautiful, sunny, Saturday evening, with barely a cloud in the sky.

Food,

quilting,

and bicycles going at the speed of light.

What more could you ask for?
(photos taken at the Marymoor Velodrome in Redmond, WA)

Totally off-topic

This has nothing to do with craft, but...

One of the wonders of blogging is that it leads you down all kinds of paths. Jen at The Cottage Nest (a really cool blog, go check it out) left a comment on one of my posts. I love to go look at the blogs of people who like mine. As I was paging through her old posts, this one caught my eye. Finally, I thought, a kindred soul!

I never feel completely pulled together and am always totally lost when shopping for clothes. I often wish I could have Clinton and Stacy from "What not to Wear" go shopping with me, but then I don't look THAT bad. I'm caught somewhere in the middle between looking really stylish and looking really awful.

In one of the comments on Jen's post, someone referred her to this blog. I just LOVE it! Becca finds the best looks from all over the web and post links to them.

This is my current favorite and I may just head to the mall (on a SATURDAY!) and go find the makings of this outfit.

Me too!

Simplicity 3887 is a bona fide blogger favorite. I am amazed at the wonderful interpretations given to this pattern by bloggers. Check out Amy's, Julie's (scroll down), Mary's, and Lucy's versions!
Of course, typical to me, this very simple process did not go off without any hitches. I used a very pretty eyelet fabric from JoAnn's. I don't really like elastic around my fat muscular upper arms, so I made version E, but without the bottom elastic. I think my fabric was a little stiff, because when all was said and done, the sleeves looked like mumu sleeves. Really old-ladyish. Really!
So I unpicked the sleeve seams and put elastic in. It's not too tight, so I kind of like it.
Because this top is very flowy, I'm considering making the belt, which would turn it completely into version C (although I did chop some of the length off).
If I make it without the belt again, I think I'll shape the waist a little to make it less "baggy".
I made it in size 14, and it's kind of big, so I think I may go down to size 12 next time. (For non-clothes makers, these are not American sizes. A 12, for instance is for a 34" bust and 26" waist. It kind of scared me the first time I bought a pattern...)
And I think putting elastic in the bottom, a la version E, would actually look rather nice.

Bottom line: in spite of the long, grumbling essay above, I really like this pattern.
I have some fabric lined up, and may make another one today.

I'm no Martha

...but sometimes I play her in the kitchen.

When I saw this on her show, I knew I had to make it. Fruit tart is Josh's favorite dessert. We buy one at the grocery store about once a month as a special treat. I swapped out Martha's berries for fruit, but kept the rest the same.

Be forewarned - this is a day-long process of making stuff and putting it in the fridge repeatedly, but oh, so worth it!

As another TV chef would say: Yum-oh!

Nothing much

Yesterday, as all Mondays, was a craftless day. Monday is the day I catch up on everything I let slide by the wayside the rest of the week. I DID finally sew some Velcro onto the bottom of Josh's IKEA duvet cover. He's had it for at least 2 years and the comforter always hangs out the bottom opening like a wet rag. Yesterday was washday and I was NOT going to put that comforter back in there without doing this. Woohoo!

This is what I spent 4 hours doing on Sunday. It's a prototype. I'm not happy with it, therefore no inside photos. I did however figure out how I'll do it next time. It's a holder for my little (very) sharp scissors that always manage to get their sharp point stuck in whatever bag I put them in.

Today:
Finish taking out the monster heather bush in the back yard
Take Syd to the groomer
Go buy a beige zipper so I can make a bag
Check Freddies for Strawberry Sunny-D
Fetch Syd from the groomer
Maybe craft a little

(very) Wavy Seams

I've been inspired by Kathy's wavy seam tutorial, and Kristin's spring table runner using this tutorial for a while now. So when I had some fabric that I love left over from the patchwork bag, I jumped at the opportunity.

Josh was playing games on my computer (his is too "slow"), so all I got was a quick glimpse at the tutorial and off I went.

My waves are REALLY wild, not exactly as gentle as Kathy's, which led to a lot of seam clipping, but I'm totally in love with the runner.

Of course, now the rug under the kitchen table has to go. It doesn't match the runner, and kitchen rugs are so passe anyway...

I'm glad...

...for Glads.

It's wonderful to be able to go out in the garden and pick these beauties.

Aren't the stems in the vase just lovely too?

Floral Fun

Yesterday I attempted another project from Amy Butler's book. A simple little project, I thought. I was wrong, very wrong! I know it's seems hard to believe, but this simple little organizer was much harder to make than the seemingly complicated patchwork bag.

In theory it wasn't more complicated, but getting the measurements and seam allowances just perfect in order for everything to fit together nicely was my downfall. Then, of course, as everyone who's tried working with Timtex or anything remotely similar probably knows, it is really hard to work with. Especially when it's in the middle of a sandwich which has to be turned right side out through a tiny little opening.

Anyhow, enough whining already. It turned out fine, if a little more floppy than I'd have liked. It stores all the little loose things on my desk very nicely in one spot, but easily accessible, and it goes with the colors of my workroom (thanks to the lovely fabric I received from LeeAnn in the "Use what another person has" swap).

More wisdom from BHG

Today I bring you the second installment of wisdom from the 1961 version of the "Better Homes & Gardens Decorating Book". Some of you may remember Chapter 1 - "It's your home, what kind do you want?"
Today we're looking at color.
(If you click on the pictures, the full size versions will provide more detail.)


"Would you wear a check blouse with a plaid skirt? Would you choose a red dress to make you look smaller? It's easy to use the color facts you already know in decorating your home."


"Bold colors advance, pale colors retreat"
"Closely blended colors conceal"
"If you want to conceal...bulky lines...blend it to the background with matching or similar color." (This may be good fashion advice too.)


"One bold pattern is usually enough"
"You probably won't go out dressed like the golfer at the right..."
"Some colors are cool, some are warm"


"Unequal areas are more pleasing"
and my personal favorite from this chapter:
"Color is affected by its neighbors"
"If you have a red sofa that stands out against a blue rug, and a red bookshelf against white walls, slipcover the sofa to match the rug." (Oh my gosh!!!)