Posh Pillowcases FYI

Wow...a rare couple of hours all to myself?!?  The kidlettes are off playing at a friends...my work for the day is done...the house isn't a complete disaster zone...SEW TIME!

My latest "posh" pillowcases.  I LOVE these ones.  I think the fabric on these is so old fashioned.  It reminds me of my beloved Grandma...(or Grandmother as she would prefer we call her...she would also prefer that I wear lipstick...I wear moisturizer??  Does that count?  And no, it doesn't, I know that)... and probably somewhere in the back of my memories it reminds me of my Grandma's Mom.  I have seen some fabric that my Great Grandma had and I am pretty sure these would be right up her alley.

I wasn't sure when I bought this fabric how much I'd like it.  I didn't really have a purpose in mind for it, it was just the fabric of the moment.  Everybody went wild when Denyse Schmidt designed a line for Joann's...so I felt I had to jump on the bandwagon...and then later regretted paying full price for this fabric.  See, the thing is I didn't even know who Denyse Schmidt was...still don't.  Apparently she is a fancy lass in the fabric business.  But now, I feel like it was the right choice as I used this line for the binding on my Oldest's Wizard of Oz Quilt and now for these pillowcases.  Totally worth full price.  I think.

The back side.  Cute yellow dahlias.  But, I've gotta say I just love the front the most.  Something about how vintage it looks just speaks to me in a pillowcase.

The pocket...of course I was going to show you the pocket.   And now that I have put my current pillowcases on mine and Mr. Because I Can's pillows, his pillow is in the pocket too! 

AHA!  That's right, I'll show him a little class and refinement...he might just like it...or he might go back to his corn dog ways.  We'll see.

I would like to make a special note in here regarding the making of the Posh pillowcases.  In my previous post I mentioned that you really need to be aware of your fabric images and if it needs to face a certain direction and if you just follow the instructions blindly, it will quite possibly be facing the wrong direction when you put them on your bed.  I also realized that you need to know which direction is "out" for your pillows.  If I was going to make an individualized one for myself that had direction specific fabric, the opening of my pillowcase faces to the left.  Mr. Because I Can's faces to the right.  So, this can be a problem and you will have upside down fabric if you don't pay attention.  So, really really be aware of the direction of your fabric images and the direction that you want your posh pillowcase to lay.  PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE!!    I cannot say this enough.  This is because more often than not, I am not paying attention, so I really really really need to focus on this myself.

There you have it.  Go make some posh pillowcases you will LOVE them!

Heather

The Iron Hiatus continues...

But...I have a 30% off coupon to Kohls...thanks be to my Sister.  So there shall be no mocking of her in this post...at least not that I can think of...creative license and all that, something might come to me.

I have my own personal Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  Isn't she cute?!?!  And she is turning 6 in mere nano-seconds, so I realized I had better get hopping on her birthday quilt.  You know, the one that I protested heartily because BLAH!  Who likes panels. Not me.  That can't even be called quilting. That's just...cutting and sewing.

So I got started...my first ever quilt using a walking foot!!   I know, I know.  I am totally behind the modern times.  I mean, I cannot even attempt to call myself a modern quilter because I hand quilt everything.  So I've had this walking foot for months...I knew that now was the time to break it out and go for it.  Embrace modern technology!  It went pretty well.  I knocked everything off of my sewing desk thanks to this giant pile of quilt that was all over, but it was speedy and I liked that!

My trusty...assistant?    Puss feels it is her duty to be there for me in my time of quilt.  She knows I couldn't do it without her...especially her planting herself for a nap right on the quilt I am currently running through the sewing machine. 

Of course it makes it easier for you to sew with me on it.  Silly human. 
-Puss

Here it is!!

 Mostly.  As I had nobody to help me take a picture of this, I had to hang it on the fence....and in the process...(Mr. Because I Can, you will appreciate this the most I think)...stepped in dog poop...while wearing my favorite bright yellow crocs.  If you ask my husband the most disgusting creation ever known to man.  He refuses to be seen in public with me if I am wearing the monstrosities.   Right then...

The other side.  This side I really wanted to make sure I got every color of the rainbow in the borders.  Because..Dorothy goes over the rainbow.   So check it.  Yay me!

I used hot pink thread to do my quilting and it really is adorable on those large white vertical borders!  So cute I love it.  I will never again do such a small portion of machine quilting as the 2nd white border in.  That was too much twisting and turning.  All the horizontal panels just have straight lines going through them.  Nothing fancy.

I also sewed on my binding for both sides.  What you see here is where the binding was sewn on the front.  You do see a line of stitches on the back side.  Which wouldn't bother me too much if I had done a particularly good job and hadn't pulled too hard in some places and caused my binding to be a bit wonky which in turn caused the stitches to be...

Not exactly what I would call straight.  There are worse examples than this...but I was in a rush so didn't look too hard for them.  But, I know that it is simply my critical eye that will see them and everybody else will just appreciate the cuteness of the Wizard of Oz quilt...so I will enjoy it too.  Flaws and all...

Look, it was my first time with the walking foot.  I am not entirely sure how to NOT get the previous strings caught in the current round of stitching...oh well, with practise I will get better.  Mr. Because I Can was particularly impressed with the speediness of my sewing this.

Oh yes, and we have concluded that as a crafter...I am a semi-hoarder.  I feel that this is an honest assessment and I will own up to it.  As long as I am not a full-on hoarder like from the show on A&E which gives me hives.

Look, it is my prerogative to hold onto fabric that is from the 80's and every little scrap of left over bat and loose ends of ribbon and 1/2" size pieces of fabric and buttons and random patterns and magazine rip outs of cute stuff and notions and whatever else on the off chance the SOMEDAY I MIGHT USE IT!!!  But, we did decide that as soon as I stop crafting then it all must go.  I can agree to that. 

Heather

Fire alarms raging!

Sayonara iron.  It was destined to happen...we were ironing on borrowed time really...There was a bump...the iron crashed to the ground...things were jostled...irreparably...but we soldiered on...the husband is a 2/3 engineer after all he can work magic on mechanical things...but not all the way magic...just like 4 months magic.  So all quilting and sewing and mechanical crafting has ground to a very unfortunate hault...I wonder if i can get an iron on super sale...tis the season after all...

It was funny, the iron has not been heating up very well, so I've been ironing on luke warm pretty much for a week or so...I should have seen this coming.  But for whatever reason it started getting hot again...I mean...really hot.  There may have been a spark...maybe...I heard spark sounds.  So I have a feeling it was sparking internally.  There were fumes of burning innards...and I guess luckily for me we have a fire alarm directly above the ironing board...So I quickly unplugged...but then what? 

What in the heck do you do with a molten iron?  I of course did the sensible thing...take it outside and plunge it in the snow...Luckily we have a skiff of snow on the ground.  I'm pretty sure the iron burned through the snow and incinerated my layer of fallen leaves in 1 second flat.  So I do that about 10 times...each time it burned through the cold and wet like it was nothing.  Finally after much effort and cold toes, I got the iron down to a low simmer.  Does anybody have some soup they would like me to heat for them?  I think after several minutes out in the frigid air, it is still warm enough to at least make me a grilled cheese sandwich.  Oh well...I am now on the lookout for a deal on an iron.  Any suggestions are welcome.

So, since I will not be working on anything new...the least I can do is show you what I've got in the works...You have been getting a glimpse of it through my unfortunate tale...I have currently been buying very little fabric.  I've been on a bit of a hiatus from the loveliness of fabric shopping...which is just fine.  Luckily I've amassed quite a stash...now most of it, is what I can find on clearance...I don't always make wise choices...but in the case of this quilt...I am pretty happy with the wackiness.  Take for instance the blue fabric...yes, they are cat people...but not only are they cat people...I fancy them as British cat people.  They are very refined and sophisticated.  But even if that's the case...Why on earth did I think I need 3 yards of this?  Don't know.  Don't care.  It's totally awesome fabric.

The pattern is Swoon by Camille Roskelley. 

 She is so clever the way she has assembled the two quilt block patterns together. Flying Geese and half square triangles. Along with some squares and rectangles of course...

But what you get in the end...

Is sheer awesomeness!  I told Mr. Because I Can that this may just be my favorite quilt EVER!  It's true.  I love the jewel tones of the fabric. I love the crazy patterns of the fabric that I don't think I quite knew what to do with before.  I love the white.  I love the kaleidoscope feel to it.  I just love it!

So...I feel I should have a moral to this story...if your iron becomes made dead...possibly by your own clumsiness.  It is best that you just let it go...and not try and have your husband fix it...just...trust me on this...I am pretty sure it will take me days to get the smell of burning electrical bits out of my house.

2nd moral of the story...buy the pattern Swoon you will love it!

Heather

Christmas Tradition

Get your sewing machines ready friends, it's time to sew for Christmas Eve.  It is a common Christmas tradition to give and receive new pajamas on Christmas Eve.  This is something that my family has done since...forever. And I have always loved it.  But I discovered and new twist that makes it much more fun for me.  I make each member of my immediate family a new pillow case each year. Each one gets two different fabrics, one for the front side and one for the back side...they are interchangeable so you can choose which ever suits your fancy that day.  One that is pretty and can go with any bedding situation.  And one that is unique to their likes that year.

I will show you the beginnings of my Oldest and Youngest's Christmas Eve pillow cases.  They will soon be bedazzled...that's bedazzled Sister of mine...NOT vagazzled.  Let's just be clear...

They both have this fabric for one side.  It's pretty and modern and girly.

My Oldest's.  She has a thing for wolves...who can blame her.  She loves to play like she's a wolf and that we're a pack of wolves who are secretly living amongst the humans.  We have to be top secret and not let the humans know we are actually wolves....they can't know we really live in a cave and like to eat small furry creatures.  Now technically these are foxes.  I made this side out of Lizzy House's Outfoxed fabric line. 

See, they're pretty wolfish.  Plus they have cute Hedgies.

My Youngest's.  She has a thing for pink.  As long as it's pink it's her style.  This is Hoos in the Forest by Doohikey Designs.  It's got adorable creatures...deers, skunks, owls, hedgies as well as cute blue trees.

See, how cute are they!!!
Here's the awesome thing about this pillow case pattern...

They have pockets built in to hide the ugliness of a bare pillow!  They are deluxe!  Of course if you're Mr. Because I Can, then you disregard the pocket and just let your pillow hang out like a ruffian.  But, if you're me and my daughters, you definitely use the pocket.  Embrace the pocket, it will redefine your pillow case existence!

Please, if you want to make these adorable pillow cases, refer this website and tutorial as it is awesome!  Besides the awesome pocket, they are also edged in cute crochet.  I haven't crocheted their edges yet...obviously.  But here's an idea of what it will look like when I do...

Now, this is a cautionary tale....as you can see the birds on this pillow case are not facing up and down...they are sideways.  I followed the directions completely on the above tutorial...the only problem is, it doesn't take into account if your fabric needs to face a certain direction.  If this is the case, please cut accordingly....as you will see I have made a couple of these pillow cases...which brings me to an important point...PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE!

There are flowers on the top of those vines and cute little bugs that only go one direction.  Sigh.  But on a positive note...

The pocket on this one is darn cute!

The most egregious case of all...These kicking Kung Fu fighters.  Oh well.  Live and learn.  It's all good.

Be aware that you will need to use one of things thingamajigs...if you've ever wondered what they are and why you got them in a sewing kit...it's for hemming.  At least that what I use it for...maybe it has additional uses...but besides measuring...duh...and hemming I am not sure what.

These pillow cases are a pretty painless process and they are so cute and you can go crazy personalizing them.  So I say think a little bit ahead and make them for your families!  It's a fun family tradition.

Unfinished Business

...continued from yesterday...

Caramel Apples dipped in sprinkles and yummy gourmet chocolate.  So good.  We used Granny Smith apples so they're super tart and just go really well with the sweet stuff on the outside.  No Popsicle sticks...I knew I forgot something.  Oh well, forks do just as good in a pinch.

White chocolate bark wrapped in individual cellophane bags for easy transport.  Divine!  Make this, you won't regret it...but add more pistachios...and push them in as far as you can without them disappearing in the chocolate.

Homemade marshmallows made correctly and not wet dog smell marshmallows...super delish!  But what makes them even better is...

Drizzling them with yummy milk chocolate...and then what makes them EVEN BETTER...

Hot chocolate with a homemade marshmallow all melted and gooey.  I am talking about pure heaven!  Do this too!!!!

This Halloween dinner was a complete success I must say.  Even my sister's doughnuts were actually tasty...she used Pillsbury biscuits and they were the best ever!  Yum!

So besides my oldest being completely sick and almost missing trick or treating completely, Halloween rocked this year.

Still doing stuff...Just not blogging about it...

My sister has declared me to be a Suck-Job Extraordinaire.  I haven't blogged in....about a month.  It's not that I've not been doing stuff either...it's that I just have felt busy.  Really, really busy.  October has been a crazy month and I know it's not getting any better until January.  So, I'd better make time.

There was a pumpkin patch to explore...

A Dorothy costume to make...with a little help from my mom.  I'm pretty sure this would have been a disaster if I had been on my own.  Beside the zipper which never would have made it in....it would have been wrong in every way.  Thanks Ma!

As well as a new quilt from a wacky selection of clearance fabrics that I've been holding onto for about a year...

More of that later.

I was explaining to my sister all the delights I was planning on making for Halloween dinner...she told me if I don't blog about it she will never be my sister again.  Fine!  I'll take a few pictures, write a few words, see what happens.

Our Halloween tradition is invite the parents over for dinner and doughnuts.  Dinner being chili at my house and doughnuts at her house...I'll talk about the doughnuts at a later date...let's just say they are going to be extremely questionable this year.

So, in addition to the chili I figured I had to have some dessert items on hand just in case.  It so happens the my oldest and I were watching the lovely Ina Garten and she made a couple things that my oldest was desperate to try.  As her mother, I felt it my obligation to high-tail it to the gourmet food store and buy a week's salary worth of chocolate to indulge her wishes.  I need to encourage her, right?

White Chocolate Bark topped with pistachios and dried apricots and dried cranberries.  Yum.  This seems like it will have a Middle-Eastern vibe to it and I love me some Middle-Eastern food.  The salted pistachios against the sweetness of the white chocolate with the tanginess of the dried fruit...it sounds like perfection.  So, that is item #1

Chop up a nice hunk of white chocolate.  I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for the good stuff.  This is Callebaut White Chocolate.  Yum!  You have to temper the chocolate to ensure that it will harden and not look yucky.  Please refer here for tips on how to handle your chocolate.

Add some delicious toppings to your melted chocolate...

Reap the rewards.  I will tell you after tomorrow how this tastes.  It needs to set up and it's for after the doughnuts don't turn out.

The other item we will be having is home-made marshmallows and gourmet hot chocolate.  I have yet to make the hot chocolate, so I will hopefully have some pictures to show you of it tomorrow.  It's Jacques Torres' recipe and he is a fancy lad from France who is a big-time chocolatier. So, hopefully it's yum.  It involves my dark chocolate Callebaut and powdered milk basically. 

To go in the hot chocolate, we have Homemade Marshmallows also by Ina.  My Oldest was entranced.  To actually be able to make your own marshmallows seemed like some kind of holy magic that she had to be a part of.  I have attempted homemade marshmallows in the past...but I had never actually seen Ina make them and so I watched and realized I had always made some fatal errors...and maybe the recipe I was using wasn't quite accurate either.  So I tried it her way...and they worked perfectly!  They are sitting on my counter drying out a little bit...Cross fingers they are awesome. 

 The gelatin softening.  I don't even know what I did wrong in times past...I do remember the smell of wet dog though coming from my mixer...this time, they did not smell like wet dog...that, in and of itself is a success if you ask me. Something about the gelatin..I don't know...not delicious.

Yes, there is a candy thermometer involved.  I seem to ruin my candy thermometers on a semi-regular basis, but this $5 jobber did a very nice job!

Marshmallows getting mixed to smithereens.  Let me just say the marshmallows poured beautifully into my pyrex dish and I have extremely high hopes for them.  Again, I will give you the review after tomorrow.

I was not done yet!  For Sunday dinner, we decided to have caramel apples thanks to This woman.  I did not follow her recipe at all, I did my own thing which involved a nice caramel block from the gourmet candy store and some Callebaut milk chocolate drizzled over the caramel...but she did give me a little inspiration.

I didn't take a finished picture...oh well, we haven't eaten them either.  But, I guarantee they are going to be some kind of good!  I'll try and remember to take a picture before they are all devoured.
This is what is known as experimenting, which just so happens to be my favorite kind of cooking.  I am hoping for the best!

I love Fall!

The Beginning

An arm. 

With an eye post sticking out of the shoulder (that's to attach it to the body...when there is a body).  I tried to weasel my way out of making my sister a ami for her sis in law's new baby.  But, what did my sister go and do...Tell her that her beloved sister who this sis in law has actually met, was making her an extra special something...right then.  Begin to crochet.  I cannot let this woman down.  I mean, I have met her.  I have babysat her actual  young and now she has expectations of me....I will make her latest addition a sweet something. 

I may have tried to convince my sister to let me just give her one of my darling daughters' pigs...you know, the ones that don't have appendages...she wasn't going for it.  Fine!

In case you weren't aware...Halloween is coming.  I love Halloween.  I love October, I love the spooky decor, I love making costumes and dressing my darlings up, I love decorating my house...not to the extreme, but just to the level of fun! 

These spooky candy hands are my favorite!  I always save my decorations from the year before...even if they are made with candy.  I just warn people, like my brother in law who tried to eat from one of my Christmas displays one year that the candy in the (most likely) lead-lined bowl was about 6 years old and it was probably best he not nibble it.

Be warned though...be careful in hanging these.  So, apparently I must have used industrial strength tape last year, because this year I dropped 4 hands  I think.

This is the result of that.  Luckily I kept the gloves that I use in my Halloween Decor box.  Handy.  So, here's the deal.  Do not be like me and in fact buy medical latex gloves.  They are not clear.  They are not what you want.  You in fact want food handlers clear plastic gloves.  I made the mistake of buying some gloves from Costco for this purpose.  Yes Costco.  So that means I had on hand approximately 10,000 yellowish latex gloves.  Right. 

Just start filling with your candy of choice.  Side note.  I in fact think Candy Corn are the most disgusting creation on the planet.  This does in fact include all candies that are made of whatever candy corn is made of.  You know, the nasty pumpkins .  Blech.  I do though think they are terribly cute.  So I like to decorate with them.  It's kind of like John Mayer.  I know he's a sleaze, but I kind of like his music and some of his antics.  So, it's a dilemma.  But, I suck it up and I decorate using candy corn and upon occasion I read John Mayer's blog.  Confession over.

It is important to make sure the candies fill the fingers.  They like to get stuck up in the palm of the glove. Just ease them down.

Tie with a knot as close to the candy as you can get.  Tying these gloves when they are so full can be tricky.  I've found that twisting the top as tight as I can and then tying the knot works best.

Tie a length of ribbon underneath the knot in the glove (make sure to secure it well, otherwise you will drop them and I guarantee the glove with rip).  And hang from your door or wherever you see fit.

The hutch in my front room.  I long to find some bugs or spiders that I can cover my roses with.  As of now the little buckets are just filled with white roses, but when I find them they will be crawling with spooky spiders!

As I have not completed my Ghastly wall hanging, I will use this cutie.  I love this little quilt except for one thing.  I used ultra heavy wonder under.  Bad choice.  The poor image is so stiff.  I long to re-make it.  Someday when I have loads of time.

You gotta love her sassy bustiers and brassieres and stylish shoes.

My pillow covers that just slip right around my red pillows.  For now it works for me.  Someday I will make actual proper pillow covers for Halloween.

Table Runner.  The funny thing about some of these things is, they are quite old.  And I made them before I had any skill really.  So, again, if I had the pattern still I might try and remake this and take my care in fussy cutting the images.  At the time I was only interested in getting something done FAST so I could see it.  Live and learn.

Paper plate skeleton.  Yes, even this I saved from last year.

Ghosts made from balloons and garbage bags.  This is my Youngest's.  She doesn't believe in anything spooky or ugly.  All she wants is beautiful princess ghosts.  So, this is what I came up with.

And finally covering every window with home-drawn Halloween images. 

I guess that pretty much covers how I am decorating this year for Halloween.  This weekend I'll add some pumpkins, but I didn't want to get them while they weather was still really warm.

So, having made this blog post, I've really discovered that my Halloween style is definitely homemade.  I obviously don't go for pre-manufactured items.  I either want to make them or I want my kids to make them.  I know having hand-drawn and colored pictures on your windows may not be the classiest, but it's sure the most fun!

Heather