contemporary dinner party by Elaine Badgley, via Apt Therapy
Very much looking forward to the 4 day weekend. I’m going to get so much Christmas stuff done! Haha! Hopefully finish Grandma’s quilt top and get a few pillows stuffed. Oh yes, and of course eat a ton of food on Thursday. I’m in charge of bringing the salad and brownies. I’ll try not to disappoint.
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- An adorable fluff-ball of a lamp that is surprisingly easy to make!
- Beautiful hand stitched Hawaiian baby quilt
- Fun pillow inspiration and tutorial!
- Tulle is having a Black Friday sale with 50% off everything!
Enjoy the holiday everyone :)
~ Erin
Do you remember when I linked to the Cooking with Dog videos a while back? Well, I recently found one recipe that tickled my taste buds enough that I just had to make it: Gyudon!
The recipe is so simple and has few ingredients. Of course, most of the ingredients I did not own, so on my way home from work yesterday I stopped by the asian market and picked up some cooking sake, mirin (a sweet cooking syrup), dashi (think fish boullion), very thinly sliced beef (pre-packaged at the asian market!), and a small root of ginger. For a treat, I also picked up some spicy miso mix and a little box of Hello Panda.
I was hesitant about the ginger. I don’t like pickled ginger that comes with sushi and I don’t like ginger flavored candies. I was considering using garlic instead, but decided I should stick to the recipe for once and make it like it’s supposed to be made. I am very glad I did! That grated ginger made the dish. And I had no idea how good fresh ginger smells!
I doubled the recipe to make sure that we both had enough to eat and it was just the right amount.
The hot spring eggs did not come out quite like in the video. They ended up being more hard-boiled and I wasn’t able to peel them without ripping them apart. Ended up having to toss them, but not to much of a loss as the dish itself is tasty enough.
No pics of preparing the dish or finished product (besides this screen shot from the video). Everything cooks so fast! And we ate it fast – so delicious! Definitely give this recipe a try. The ingredients were inexpensive and I had it all made and eaten in about 30 minutes.
Four thumbs up from us!
Down home, country goodness over at Brook Farm General Store. With warm woolen blankets, vintage housewares, and French whoopee cushions, this online store is pretty fun to look through! How about these rocks that you can use instead of ice cubes? Weird!
Found via Behind the Curtain
I pretty much love the look of sashiko. The simple, geometric, and organic designs create quite a statement.
While I was at the festival, I found this book, Sashiko: Traditional Japanese Hand Stitching. There were only a few copies left at the booth I was wandering through and the guy working at the register told me that it was now out of print, so I picked up a copy. I also grabbed a few stencils that I figure could also be used as quilting templates.
I’m making some pillows for Christmas presents and I bought a bunch of poly-fil yesterday so I could start getting those completed. I made one 14″x14″ last night out of some scrap woven cotton and the dark blue color inspired me to try doing a little sashiko using one of my templates. I really like how it came out! The fabric frays so easily that I took advantage of it by creating raw edges. I embroidered it using a light gray floss.
They had another book there that was too expensive for me, but not out of print so it’s available online, Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix & Match: Over 125 Patchwork, Applique, and Sashiko Designs by Susan Briscoe. If you click the link, it will take you to Amazon where you can flip through the first few pages. This book is chocked full of patterns and techniques. If I don’t get this for Christmas, I may order it for myself!
Our fancy-schmancy local shopping mall sends out seasonal catalogs with ads for some of their stores. This season’s issue has definitely pushed my cozy, comfy winter wardrobe buttons.
Top: Ann Taylor Loft
Bottom: Clarks Shoes (yeah they’re advertising shoes, but check out that sweater and shawl and tights! Epitome of comfort…)
When I went to the Northwest Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival last Saturday, I found some wonderful Japanese linen. I’ve been seeing these types of prints all over the sewing blogs and I took the opportunity to grab a small bit for myself.
Bird to Hang by Etsuko Furuya is completely gorgeous. It was in one of the first booths we went through and it stuck in my mind the entire day. On our way out I just had to buy some and I gave in to the $18.99/yard pricetag to buy a half yard. While searching for the name of this pattern, I came across phatfabrics.com who has it on sale right now for $6.60/half yard.
The bicycle material is by Kokka and was just too cute to pass up. I have nothing like this in my stash and I felt the need to add a little Japanese whimsey to my shelves. Also a little pricey at $13/yard, I bought a third of a yard. Just enough to add some adorable touches to something. The bikes remind me of the riding around Hubs and I did this summer.
I don’t know what I’ll make with either of these fabrics, but I’m thinking pillow covers possibly. Or I might buy some inexpensive, white hand or dishtowels and embelish them for myself or to give away for Christmas. Or I could add details to an apron for myself.
So many possibilities! What would you make with this material? Give me some ideas!
I have two quilts going on right now that are both due by Christmas: my co-worker’s baby quilt and a special quilt for Grandma.
When my grandma was in the process of moving from a condo into an assisted living community, she was slimming down her belongings to fit into a one bedroom suite, so she had quite a bit she was getting rid of. On the day we were moving her out, Mom noticed a bag of tablecloths in the give-away sack and snatched them up for me to add to my fabric stash.
I’ve been trying to get a head start on the gifts this year and have decided on homemade since it’s easy on the wallet and it’s fun for me to do. While homemade jelly and little sewing projects are in the works, I really wanted to make something special for Grandma, so I thought of a quilt made from her tablecloths.
I’m tentatively making it 48″ x 48″ to be used as a lap blanket, although I’m wondering if I may need to make it a little bigger. We’ll see how it comes together and I’ll add a few more rows if necessary. I have two large, cream colored tablecloths that were Grandma’s and I’ll be adding one of my own into the mix for extra contrast.
I’m basing the design off of the Scruffily Quilt tutorial, but because of the different fabrics leaving the edges raw did not look very nice, so I zig-zagged instead. Much cleaner and more elegant!
Hey friends! Long time, no blog, eh?
My day job has been keeping me very busy for past week or so and by the time I get home that last thing I want to do is get back on the computer, so obviously the blog has been taking a back burner lately.
I did have a few minutes spare time today, though, just to pop in and let you know I’m still alive! And the sewing has not stopped, either. I started cutting up a special quilt for my grandma for Christmas and I’m testing ideas for Christmas presents for the rest of the family. I also went to the NW Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival on Saturday with my mom and my friend Heather and brought home some very fun goodies, including sashiko items (that I could also use for quilting) and some super cute linen/cotton blend (you know how I like linen).
I hope to find some time this week to uploads pics and blog a bit, but for now, I’ll catch up on the favorite links of the past two weeks…
- Beautiful antique rings and other jewelry at Erie Basin
- Still really want to try knitting, especially socks, but finding it pretty intimidating. These videos help make sense of the process.
- Really! I had no idea this was a French seam. I love it.
- Linea Paper Garland Strands make adorable (and do-able DIY) package bling {via elephantine}
- Always on the quest for more Christmas gift ideas, here’s a whole list of scarf tutorials {via grosgrain}
I hope to update again soon! Hope you’re all having a great Monday :)
Have any of you seen this? It caught my eye over at whip-up the other day and I find it rather alluring.
They’re holding a quilt contest despite the fact that I have two other quilts and a multitude of Christmas presents to put together before December 25th.
The audacity.
All done! And I am really pleased with how it turned out. There were a couple firsts for me in this cloak.
First buttonhole. I added two buttonholes at the neckline, one on each side, to feed a tie through (I used my trusty Janome to create the buttonholes–so easy! I see more in my future). I originally wanted to buy some black ribbon to use around the neckline, but the last two nights I was at the fabric store the place was a madhouse, so I opted to come straight home after work and make my own! I pulled some black, non-stretchy fabric out of my stash and sewed up a strip, fed it through the buttonholes, and tied off the ends.
Man, that flannel really picks up the cat hair! I need to find my sticky roller…
Another first was the lining! I did a bagged lining and am no longer intimidated. After doing this cloak, I seriously think I could do a coat.
There were two bags leftover, so I used one to create an inside pocket. I left it completely intact and left the drawstrings at the top so he can pull it closed.
I created the whole cloak in a way to keep the sewn together bags and the lining in a rectangle, so if he wants, I can pull it all apart and create a quilt or a blanket out of it.
Feeling pretty proud of this one :)
