These are so fun - so I made some more!

I haven't had much time for any kind of sewing - I don't know if I've mentioned that I'm also going to school full time to get a Nursing degree, and working at the hospital part time as well. But I DID manage to make a few more cards... they don't take very long, and it's okay if they aren't perfect. :-) (My kind of project!) I've just been using up the little pieces I've cut... mixing and matching. Some of these would look better with some ribbon, or buttons sewed on - maybe even tags or silk flowers. Not sure yet... but we'll see. It would be nice to build up a little box of these for any occasion.

This one is my favorite... The red is kinda unexpected...

Fun little project

Someone suggested I try small sewing projects first... and I've seen this idea in a magazine, so I wanted to try it. Fabric greeting cards! They look so easy! And guess what... THEY ARE! I've only made simple ones so far, but perfect for a beginner, eh?

These were birthday cards for my mom and mom-in-law, and also a Valentine's day card for my Grandma. She LOVES to sew, and was part of my inspiration to learn. :-)

I haven't decided where this one will be sent yet, but I'm may just make up a bunch of them to have on hand for birthday's and occasions. They are so cute! They don't even have to be all color coordinated... just use scraps!! Love it!

Time in the kitchen...

Last week I had a free saturday (I've been working every other Saturday) and decided that I should do some cooking for leftovers/freezing. It only took about 3 hours... and YUMMY were the results!!

Oatmeal/Raisin/Cinnamon Bread

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Steamed Veggies (and rice)

Red potato salad

Egg Salad (per request for lunches)

Sausage and Hashbrown Breakfast Quiche

And the best for last.... German Chocolate Brownies! YUM!!

Most of these are just the "home comfort" type of food that are good for taking to work and school for lunches... and for quick dinners on cold evenings. I'll have to come up with something new this weekend! :-)

1st Sewing Project...

So very excited! The machine is from the 1960's era... and was made in Japan. It's a Calanda 2 by Pfaff... that's about all I know. We don't even know who it previously belonged to - no one in the family can remember. But it still purrs along!
All set to go with a bunch of fat quarters that Mom and Jen gave me for my birthday. Also got some nice scraps from grandma (in the background) to practice with...


Here we go! I thought I'd use some christmas fabric to start, so that if it didn't turn out right I wouldn't be really too heartbroken... :-)


All pinned together with batting and backing... ready to try my hand at some binding and make a mini MINI quilt... it looks cute so far. Mistakes and all!


The finished product! The binding was fun, but a little harder to sew on the back than I though. I hand sewed it, so we won't look at that - definitely need more practice there! So VERY HAPPY with my first attempt!!

Excited!

Mom and Dad had an old sewing machine repaired and gave it to me as a birthday gift. Wow!! Now I have something to practice on. Over the holidays, we were in Oregon and I got to visit with my grandparents. Grandma showed me her stash of fabric and gave me some tips on quilting... it just made me wish for the skills even more! So now I'm up for the practice, and I can't wait!! I'll post pics soon of the old sewing maching, and the pot holders gramma made me. :-)

Ribbon Braiding

Just a little craft I did recently... my hymnbook bookmarker fell apart recently, so I went about creating a new one. Quite a few years ago, my aunt taught me how to braid ribbon. Mostly she used it for decoration on hats and other things. I had some pink and blue ribbon on hand, so here's what I ended up with... I love it!

Christmas Baking... mmmm!

I don't know if baking counts as crafting... but it's something we create with our hands, so I'm going to say it qualifies! :-) And the results are so yummy! Last saturday I had a free day (doesn't happen too often), and ended up making whole wheat bread, chocolate covered pretzels, sugar cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies. I have plans for butterscotch/white chocolate chip cookies, and more chocolate covered pretzels. We are going to have sweet holidays!!