New Year, New Resolve

Hello, friends, and Happy New Year!  

Have you ever gotten so wrapped up in things that you just got so ridiculously behind with other things?  Please say yes.  Well, this little blog of mine has become one of those things I didn’t keep up with.  It just set up shop on my to-do list, and went on living there from early August until right about…now.  In true personal fashion, I’m starting out the new year with so many ideas for the future, and I thought I’d share some of them with you today (nothing like a little public accountably, eh?)

1.  Run a marathon

This one seems inevitably unavoidable, since I took the plunge and registered for the Cleveland Marathon in May.  Wish me luck!

2.  Work my way through my unfinished sewing projects before I start any new ones

This goal truly deserves a post of its own, seeing as my “unfinished projects” pile has slowly but certainly been taking over my bedroom annex for the past few months.  One bursting bookshelf turned into two, which promptly turned into many, many, many piles of overflow, which led to me vowing not to buy any more supplies, which turned into complete disorder and chaos.  It’s time for me to dig myself out of this hole!  

3.  Try at least one new recipe a week

Because I love food.  Also, I tend to get into “recipe ruts” where I end up eating the same, weird but convenient foods for all of my meals (read: when I get busy, I eat mostly cereal.)

4.  Go to bed early

This is a back-handed attempt at forcing myself into becoming a morning person; a goal that I set and break just about every year.  This is my year, guys!

5.  Take more pictures with people in them

So I have realized lately that the ratio of pictures in my phone is about 5:1; 5 being pictures of Oliver (of course) and 1 being…everything else.  Instead of trying to take less pictures of my beloved pooch (who are we kidding, anyway) I’m going to try to take more pictures of everything else in my life.  I swear, I do have human friends, too!

6.  No more hiatuses from blogging!

I’m sure you have been expecting this one since this post began, but I’m serious this time…I’m here to stay!

What are you resolving to accomplish this year?

DIY Washi Tape Planner

Call me old-fashioned, but I just can't seem to function without a real, I-can-write-things-down-with-a-pencil-and-flip-through-the-pages, paper planner.  I'm not sure if it's the technologies' fault or my own (I swear, sometimes my tech devices have minds of their own) but whenever I try to use electronic calendars I just end up missing Oliver's beauty appointments or showing up to my cello lessons on the wrong day or having some other catastrophic scheduling meltdown.  It's just such a comfort to be able to physically flip through my schedule and see everything laid out in front of me, and I can't seem to do it any other way.  

So this brings up the real dilemma: it's really, really hard to find a passably cute day planner that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Most of the time when I need one I scour store after store, searching for the perfect planner (it's a bit like looking for the Holy Grail, if you ask me) and I end up having to pick one up at the last minute for much more than I wanted to pay just because it's becoming unacceptable for me to be missing so many appointments.  In order to preemptively avoid this with the start of the coming scholastic year, I just DIY'ed a little solution for myself, with a plain black day planner (it cost less than $4!) and some Washi tape that I picked up for about a dollar a roll.  Simplest solution ever.  Makes you wonder what else could be vastly improved by slapping on a couple of strips of Washi tape…Hope you enjoy this little project!

Adventures in Dip-Dyeing

Hello, there!  I've spent the last few days trying my hand at some dip-dyeing, and I'm so excited to share what I came up with!  This recent dyeing experiment came out of a valiant, if vastly unsuccessful attempt to right a pair of my sister's pants that had been quite wronged by some hand sanitizer.  By that, of course, I mean that she tried to remove some tree sap from her pants with hand sanitizer.  While it took out the sap brilliantly, it also seeped through to the front of the pants and caused some massive bleach stains (oopsies!)  Of course, my first response was "don't even worry about it, we can dye them" only to realize that bleach stains don't really want to be any color than white (or really, some gross yellowish variation of actual white.)  After employing many creative (read: ridiculous and very messy, even for an outside project) dyeing techniques, I threw in the towel (or pants: I literally threw the whole pair of pants in my dyeing bucket in an effort to unify the color, to no avail) and moved on to Plan B, which was dying some lace to match the pants, cutting the stains out of the pants, and adding the lace behind the holes.  We'll just have to see what happens with hair-brained scheme #2.

However, the real up-side to this dyeing disaster was that the pants in question are a great coral color, which I matched by mixing two boxes of Rit dye: magenta and orange.  It seemed such a shame to make a whole batch of dye for just a little bitty stain, so I planned a few projects, picked up come unbleached cotton, and had a blast experimenting with dip-dyeing.  For the most part, I just dipped parts of the pieces into the dye, leaving the other portions white.  For a few pieces (once I had some confidence in my dipping skills, really) I folded the fabric to make stripes, which I'm pretty proud to say actually look like stripes.  I've been making my way through the dyed pieces, cutting lining pieces to match and sewing them into little pouches, wallets, and bags, and I have just a few to share with you today.  

These four pouches were the simplest of my planned dip-dyed projects, so I started with them.  I interfaced all of the dyed pieces, cut linings from some great metallic prints I found at JoAnn Fabrics, and just added a 9-inch zipper to each to make some simple pouches.  I have been meaning to try a half-circle pouch for a while, and I love how they came out!  The only thing missing from these little pouches is a great zipper pull.  I'm thinking…tassels?  Maybe a little pull made out of lace?  So many possibilities!

In other news, I'm working up a simple photo tutorial on how to make your very own zippered pouches.  They've really become one of my go-to projects…they're simple, quite quick to whip up, and leave lots of room for customization (the world is your oyster with this kind of simple project template.)  I hope to have that up tomorrow, so stay tuned!

I spent the rest of the weekend doing lots of running, practicing, spending time with my sister, and of course, with this guy.

  I hope your weekends were as lovely and relaxing as mine was.  

Home again, home again

Hello, hello, hello!  I've made it safely back from the land of practicing and hiking (also known as Banff, Alberta, Canada) to the land of practicing and crafting (also known as Pennsylvania.)  Although he's pulled a few naughties since I've been back (he sure does love those trash parties...) I don't think Oliver gave my parents too tough of a time in my absence (or perhaps, compared to their little monsters, his naughties just didn't stack up…)

My little guy's nose and a book, what a little gentleman!

My parents' dog, Ricky, just being weird.

But since I spent so much time away from all things bloggy, I really do have a few things to catch up on.  First and foremost: pies.  It happened like this: the other day, I mentioned to my parents that I wanted to try strawberry rhubarb pie.  My mom wrinkled her nose and offered a non-committal response, and my dad informed me that rhubarb is "hillbilly food."  So, I went to the store and picked some up.  After whipping up Smitten Kitchen's strawberry rhubarb pie recipe, I decided that my parents were undoubtedly and unequivocally wrong about my new best friend rhubarb, and I'm already planning to make another pie in the morning.  I also stopped by the farmer's market in town this morning and picked up some fresh blueberries and peaches, and made them into a pie today, too.  Pies really are something to write home (or online?) about.  

Also, before I left on my long Canadian adventure (pictures to follow, if I ever get around to uploading them onto my computer) I whipped up some packaging for the goodies in my little Etsy shop.  I picked up some tags at JoAnn's (about $1 for 20 tags), tissue paper, butcher's twine, and some stamps, pads, and gold pens.  I made the polka dots using a regular old pencil eraser on a stamp pad (I didn't not feel proud of myself for thinking up that little idea) and now my goodies are all packed up and ready to go!…hint, hint…

Speaking of my Etsy shop, I have some new things in the works, hopefully to be added soon!  I spent the day playing around with some dip-dyeing techniques, and I can't wait to post some pics of the finished products!...Once I get around to finishing them, that is.  Back with more soon, thanks for stopping by!

I'm baaack!

Hello, world!  I know I've been gone for some time, but the truth is...things just got a little too busy, and a little too crazy, and I took a little hiatus.  Okay, it was an I-dropped-off-the-face-of-the-earth-for-a-few-months-hiatus, but I'm back now and I'm full of ideas!  I spent this lovely Memorial Day in Pennsylvania making some great big plans for the coming weeks, checking out the new fabric store in town, and hanging with the family (and quite a few pugs, of course!)  Here is my day in a nutshell:

 

I jumped in head first with some new projects this afternoon (which, of course, means that I spent the afternoon washing, drying, and pressing the fabric I picked up today) and I just can't wait to get behind my machine tomorrow.  I hope your Memorial Day weekend was as relaxing and family-filled as mine was.  And it's great to be back, I've missed you!

Moving ahead

As intended, I sewed my recent embroidery project into a little clutch.  I used some navy corduroy for the back, and some pretty white cotton for the lining.  So now all that's left are some final decisions: pom-pom zipper pull? Strap?  For now, my little clutch is just that, and I love it.

My plan for now is to avoid these last earth-shattering clutch-related decisions and forge ahead with more projects!  There's nothing like the creative boost that comes with New Year's resolutions and a little (but actually quite long) break from school. 

The rest of my day was spent getting a little work done, sipping coffee, and making pattern pieces for my next project, (drumroll, please...) a dress from the BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook.  I got this book for my birthday last August and have since been lusting after the projects within and plucking up the courage to try one.  Since the book is designed to be used with handmade patterns, I have been gradually working up the courage to tackle this seemingly insurmountable task.  I can't say why pattern-making frightened me so, but I came up with one excuse after another to avoid it.  So in light of the recent New-Year momentum, I jumped right in last night, and began drafting the pattern pieces for my dress.  (I had a little help...see below.)  Today I finished them up, cut them out, and went ahead and cut out my fabric pieces.  I'm ready to start sewing tomorrow!  This project will also mark my first invisible zipper, and my first fully-lined dress.  Can't wait to get started!

Happy Monday!

Joy of cooking

As promised, I snapped a few photos of my Pennsylvania adventures, which today consisted of practicing and cooking (pretty crazy, hey?)  Contrary to previous home cooking experiences (I can't even recall the various assortment of "I-just-don't-know-what-happened-I-swear-I-followed-the-recipe" dishes I've served to my family over the years) I spent this afternoon in the kitchen without any major catastrophes.  I made these braised short ribs with this herbed polenta, along with a salad topped with a cumin salad dressing (recipe courtesy of my sister.)  La pièce de résistance (in my humble opinion) was this lovely apple tart.  Mine doesn't look quite as good as hers, but it tasted pretty dang good.  So without further ado, here is a mini recap of my day:

 Okay, technically I took this photo in Cleveland before we embarked on our trip home.  But finding Ollie with his head on a pillow and the rest of him under a blanket (just like a person!) was just too cute to not share.  Just look at that mug!

The view from my morning practice session.  Look at that plant stand my dad whipped up yesterday!

 Mid-afternoon raspberry latte treat made just for me by my lovely sister.

My crowning achievement for the day: apple tart with salted caramel.

 And although he's a bit blurry, nothing says home like a little pug love.  Here, my sister's pug, Abraham, is saying "go to bed and stop trying to take my picture!"  (this was the last of many failed photo attempts.)

With that, I will heed Abe's advice and turn in early for the night.  Happy Monday, and thanks for stopping by!

Dapper dog bow-tie tutorial

As promised, I've worked up a little tutorial for those doggie bow-ties from yesterday's post.  Enjoy!

Fashion for Fido

As I'm sure you've noticed from this post (not to mention this post) Oliver likes to look good.  So, as per his request, I whipped up some bow-ties to add to his wardrobe.  I just sewed simple bows with Velcro loops at the back, so that the bows can be attached to his normal collar.  Since they just go onto the collar he's used to wearing, he doesn't mind wearing these little beauties one bit! 

Since I scheduled this photo shoot during his previously scheduled nap time (which usually lasts most of the day) Oliver refused to get out of bed for the fashion show.  But I'd say my little gentleman looks pretty dapper!  These little bow-ties are definitely one of my all-time favorite scrap busting projects, and they were a cinch to put together!  In fact, these little bow-ties were such a great project, I'm thinking they will be the subject of my very first tutorial!  I'm still working on putting everything together, but look out for details!  Happy Tuesday!

UPDATE: Check out the tutorial here!

A proper gentleman

I returned home today from my last (I almost can't believe it's true!) audition trip.  After a few stressful days in "the Big Apple" I came home to find the best little surprise: 

In addition to my favorite little buddy being safe and sound at home, he now has a new wardrobe staple!  Because every proper gentleman needs a proper bow-tie, it seemed only fitting that Oliver has one.  Actually, I saw one of these on Esty some time ago, and knew it was just one of those things I needed to have.  Luckily (for me) I pinned it on Pinterest, Sean saw it a few weeks ago, and he ordered this little argyle number as a Valentine's Day/Oliver's Birthday present for the two of us.  We couldn't be happier!  My next project will be to copy this with some more prints...oh the possibilities!  He really does look dashing, doesn't he? 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and a fabulous Monday!... (that's a real thing, right?)

My Trusty Sidekick

Introducing...Oliver!

Since I'm not much closer to reining in my fabric stores, I've decided to introduce my pal, Ollie today.  Oliver likes watching tv, short walks on the beach, and eating.  He's a good eater.  In fact, he's such a good eater that he ate about sixteen ounces of salami last week and had to spend some time in the doggie hospital.  We're glad he's back home and back to his usual self!  Hopefully I'll be back soon with some more project posts, but for now I'm back to organizing and hoping for some sunshine!