The Place Mats - Finished

I decided I was going to make place mats with the left over wonky log cabin fabric back in  ... oh, JUNE! And, finally, in the last couple of weeks I finished them.

I used this quilted place mats tutorial on Pink Penguin.  I modified it a little.  First, the size.  I made ours the size of the green place mats we use now ... so slightly bigger than the tutorial.  I also decided to make them double sided, instead of a solid back.  Also, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to play around with free motion quilting and the walking foot on the new sewing machine. So all the quilting is different; some I like more than others.

a fun little swirl turned flower-ish.  this is one of the ones that I just started quilting without any real plan.

a couple of the straight line ones.  I should have slowed down.  So, ya know, the lines would've been straighter!

the only stippled one I did. Man, I got hand cramps and had to take a break, TWICE.  But I really like the look. Maybe one day I'll bite the bullet and actually stipple a quilt! 

all 10.  8 regular sized ones and two smaller ones (for the kids) that were just left over blocks from the wonky quilts (those two have solid black backs)

I think what I most learned on these place mats is how much quilting changes the look of the quilt.  in the ditch, beside the ditch, straight lines, free motion ... they all REALLY change the overall look of the work.

We'll still use the green place mats until they are ready to be retired, but it's pretty nice to have place mats that match the black napkins and blue dishes a little better. Plus, I only used fabric, thread and batting I already had.

I love: No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix

And even more than my love for No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix is my love for the dear friend that introduced me to it.  sigh.  We go way back. And I trust her completely especially when it comes to the important things in life. Like no guilt chocolate, for example.

just add VANILLA YOGURT.   no, seriously.  JUST add vanilla yogurt

I hate all things DIET.  I hate the word.  I hate diet colas, I hate reduced fat or fat free anything and everything.  seriously, I don't waste my time on any of that.  I'd rather have a piece of fruit and a glass of lemon water than fat free cheez-its and a diet coke. 2% milk is the closest thing to "diet" that you'll ever see me willingly touch.

So, why, you ask, do I like these fat free brownies?  Well, for starters they taste great -- absolutely no chalking, bitter, reduced calorie taste involved. Second, and this is just as important, they aren't very rich.  I can eat a brownie and not feel like I need a half gallon of milk to wash it down.  It's light and really tastes like chocolate.

Also, my third favorite reason I love these things, is you can make single servings in the microwave in about a minute.   SUPER.  You don't want to bake a whole pan of brownies even if they are fat free?  grab a ramecan or another microwave safe dish and 1 minute later ... you have a brownie.

sigh.  I love Tina and I love No Pudge Fudge Brownie Mix.  Now I just have to find them so I can buy my own!

I FINALLY made those reusable grocery bags

Since I started my WIP project sidebar on the blog, there's been ONE project sitting there, right at the top.  Those reusable grocery bags.  I got excited when I bought the fabric by the pound and started searching for tutorials on how to make reusable grocery bags.  I ended up making 3 pleated purses and 9 reusable grocery bags plus I still have one VERY large piece of fabric left and lots of scraps.  Not bad for $30 worth of decorator fabric!

Well, I ended up bookmarking almost a dozen of the tutorials I found.  Seriously, google "making reusable bags"  There's  A LOT out there.  And I decided to visit each tutorial and decide which one would be the easiest for me to make.  Some tutorials required I make a pattern or print a pattern or use a plastic grocery bag as a pattern ... but really, I wasn't interested in all that.  I wanted something quicker.  I ended up choosing the one that looked the easiest and even then, I didn't follow it exactly. The EASY TUTORIAL I used.

Anyway, I deviated by sewing 3in gussets (like with the pleated purse) instead of doing that weird folding thing.  That means that my bags have fabulous depth and can stand up on their own, but it also meant I had to cut handles into the bag another way than the tutorial said.  But that was easy to figure out and I really think the gusset way was much easier than the weird folding way that I struggled with for about 30 minutes before decided I needed another plan!

I followed the directions and didn't bother with a "finished" look.  I just zigzagged around all the raw edges and reinforced around where the handles met the bag.  The zigzag is enough to prevent fraying and with a grocery bag, that's good enough for me.

After I switched to gussets, the bags only took about 20 minutes to put together start to finish. And because my fabric was all different sizes I started working with the size I had instead of cutting down the fabric to the exact measurements.  So some are deeper, some wider, some taller.  I like them like that.

The bags. Well, 7/9 of them.  Two are filled with tomatoes in the fridge!

Husband holding the tomato bags for a better view

Now all I have to do is to remember to keep these bad boys in the car so we can actually use them and stop bringing home dozens of plastic bags every week that we only use to put dirty cat litter in!

the Kent State Game

I love college football.  Not the same way my husband loves college football, but I love it.  I like to watch it on television and I love watching it in the stadium.  Even if that means I have to go and cheer for a team that's not "mine."  It's worth it.  Right before the National Anthem, I told Husband I was getting a little choked up waiting to see the eagle fly, but then I remembered where I was and sobered up.

Anyway, it was also a fabulous way to get to spend some time with my husband when no one was asking for more drink, food, this toy, those crayons, or otherwise bothering interrupting us.

standing in line to enter the stadium.  the only reason I included this picture is because of my hair.  It's SUPER DUPER curly.  I rag rolled it the night before and used this spray to set it.  um, the curls held until I brushed them out on MONDAY.  My most useful and possibly cheapest pinterest find.  It's helping me decide to keep the hair long.

It's always a fabulous surprise when I remember that our pediatrician is the voice of The Million Dollar Band.  neat, huh? 

I love college football.  seriously. especially SEC football

the only real excitement of the game: The police came to investigate a possible counterfeit ticket problem a couple of rows behind us.  But after checking their manual and scratching the tickets it was determined that people were just taking up more than their ticketed seats and would have to sit closer together.

It was a fun game.  The weather wasn't too bad (hot but overcast and breezy) and I managed to get a sunburn on the only part of my body I didn't put sunscreen -- my forehead.  I look silly.  And the man who has tickets in front of ours, bought me a frozen lemonade when he got one for his wife and himself.  He just made my day. (incidentally, his first wife, who died 4 years ago was a Judson girl.  So we always mention it when greeting each other).  And that was his 470th Alabama football game to attend ...  want anymore useless tidbits about the elderly man who sits in front of us?  :-)

Husband is trying to peer pressure me into going to 3 more games.  One of which happens to be on Daughter's 4th birthday.  So, I nixed my attendance on that one, but the other 2 are still open to negotiation.

Wordless Wedneday: Palisades Park - 1 billion memories ago

Crafting in Our Underwear

Son is just starting to get the hang of cutting with scissors.  Husband was a lot more effective in explaining it to him than I was.  I don't know if it's a male brain/female brain thing ... but he showed Son in a way I would have never thought of.  

Cutting scraps of paper I have left over from a project from YEARS ago and gluing them on construction paper = nice way to contain and entertain toddlers for at least 45 minutes.

figuring it out

busy at work

Ya like how they just craft in their underwear?  I going through a phase where I hate doing their laundry and the fewer clothes they wear, the less I have to wash. Underwear it is.

SBS Blocks 7, 8 & 9

This month on the We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler we made flying geese.  Enough flying geese that I know how to make flying geese and I'm ready to move on to something new!  I think it was like 28 flying geese.  That's enough.  (actually, I made more because I miscut some fabric and had to start over)

Again, the hardest part ended up being which fabric to use and where to put it.  Balancing light and dark and patterns and solids and yada yada yada.  I still like my fabric choices but part of my wishes I'd picked cream of the main color instead of the green.  But this is a constant back and forth thought in my head.

blocks 9, 8 and 7

block 7. The Virginia Star.  Originally, I was going to make this an all green block, but  I ended up cutting  some pieces too small, making the whole block too small.  So I redid it and changed out one of the greens for a light blue that is just barely in the main center square.  You really can't even see it, unless you're right up on it.  But I really like the look the touch of blue gives the block. This is the first good look of the green center fabric I've been able to show.  I used it earlier in the 9 patch block, but it was cut to small to really get a good idea of the pattern.

block 8, Breaking Out.  I really like this one.  I thought about a solid red for the middle geese, but decided to use the red pattern and I still think it had enough POP to anchor the middle. This was my favorite block until ...

block 9, The Double Star.  I LOVE THIS BLOCK.   I don't know if it's the color combination or the design or both, but it's my favorite. I love the cream in the center (as the sun, as Daughter calls it) surrounded by the bright orange and then the lighter orange on the outside.

 Today marks an "off" or "catch up" week.  I'm excited to see what's next.

HUGE zippered pouch

On the same page as the reversible tote tutorial is a tutorial for a matching lined zippered pouch.  I've never done a zipper before but I was ready to give it a try.

Again, I deviated because the pouch is HUGE and I also used interfacing on the lining for more body.

Here's how the pouch ended up being so HUGE.  I've never paid much attention to zipper packaging before and when I picked up a green zipper and its packaging was 8 inches long, I assumed the zipper was 8 inches long.  nay.  it was FOLDED.  And actually 11 inches.  wow.  

NOTE TO SELF: pay attention.

Sure, I could have cut the zipper down.  There were instructions right on the package.  I could have done it.  But I decided to stick with the theme of HUGE and make a huge pouch.  I used 2 of the .99 fat quarters, one for the outside and one for the lining, plus the zipper, interfacing and white thread.

My materials.  That white roll at the top is the fusible interfacing.  

finished.  I wish I would have ironed the zipper flat before I started.  There's a noticeable crease where it was folded for packaging.

filled with scissors, rotary cutter and cell phone.  I could have easily put all my makeup, full sized tooth brush, paste and deodorant in there.  And maybe still had room for a small child.  HUGE.

I think the final dimensions are around 11x8.

The zipper wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.  Mainly, because the tutorial did a really good job of explaining and showing each step and I read carefully and took my time.

Now I can mark off "use the zipper foot" on my list of things to do with the new machine.  Button holes are pretty much all that's left.