BLOG CRUISING

Although it's March 28th -- the very END of March -- and I'm in TEXAS for goodness sake which only has a blip of a winter, today is blustery and cold! The wind chill is 37 degrees and the winds are gusting to 36 mph!! BRRRRRRR!!! This is Spring????

All that cold outside and this wonderful, cheery warmth inside makes it a great day for BLOG CRUISING!!

A couple of posts ago, I touched on cupcakes and Bakerella's version of cupcakes which are balls made of red velvet cake mixed with icing, rolled into a shape and covered in a candy coating. This is her spring version of the cake balls. LOVE IT!!!!! Aren't these the cutest little chicks? Gonna try this myself next week! http://bakerella.blogspot.com/

A couple of days ago I found this incredible apron on Pioneer Woman's blog. http://thepioneerwoman.com/ Love it so much, I've already bought fabric to make a couple of similar aprons! If you don't like to sew (and create your own patterns -- I wonder if that's why they keep calling me crazy Daisy!!) you can purchase these aprons on etsy from The Kitchen Madonna. She has some really beautiful aprons and the fabrics are great. Very flirty and fun, don'tcha think?? http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5094136

I think maybe I can use the bottom part of this design, add pleated ruffles and then modify the top to make it into a halter-ish tie top. I'll let you know how it goes.

http://quamut.com/quamut/sewing_project_retro_tieback_apron/page/instructions.html

If you're like me, then you love to make IT (whatever IT is) yourself - even if IT takes more effort. But even if you're not a crazy-Daisy-do-it-yourself-er -- you need to check out One Pretty Thing in my blog list or here http://www.oneprettything.com/ Every day she has at least 12 project ideas with links to the directions. I've found some really good ideas on her blog, like the directions for this pin cushion caddy by Sew Mama Sew. http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=765#comment-103444 Wish I had seen this before I made mine!!

Well, it's taken me several hours to write this post because I was cruising the apron tutorials looking for a halter apron like those from The Kitchen Madonna. Doesn't seem to be out there, so I'll definitely be making my own version. But from all that cruising, I feel cross-eyed and I missed LUNCH! How did that happen? If you've ever been blog cruising, you know exactly how it happened.

I think I'll go fix a meatball sandwich!

Have a great weekend!

Dollhouse Miniature Obsession

I've been making dollhouse miniature rugs for awhile now. I don't have a dollhouse myself and I didn't own a single "to scale" miniature item until last weekend. But I love rugs and so making miniature rugs was right up my alley.

However, all that changed last Saturday when I bought a couple of items -- a miniature cup and saucer (with a leetle teensy spoon on the saucer) and a fireplace. I bought them to help market my rugs -- I thought staging the rugs with some props would be a smart move. You wouldn't think this could become an obsession, but ... my goodness ... there's a whole MINIATURE world out there. I've had a great time exploring it over the last few days and I thought I'd share with you.

In this picture I made almost everything you see. The hatboxes, the trunk, the books, the quilts, the bottles .... and, of course, the rug.






The hatboxes, the trunk and some of the books came from Jim's Printable Minis. There's a variety of things like "leather" books, money, antique trunks, hat boxes, labels for teeny cans of food, posters, cards, shopping bags, etc. You just print them, cut them out, glue them together and voila -- a paper miniature! The picture below is the bottom of the hatbox -- easy peasy!!

http://www.printmini.com/printables/p1.shtml

Another helpful site is Jennifer's printables. http://www.jennifersprintables.com/ She has a lot of miniature wallpapers, bags, boxes, labels, toys & games, etc. She also has tutorials and pictures of her own dollhouses and the crafty way in which she decorated her houses. I found a lot of inspiring ideas there.

At MySmallObsession.com, I found something called Trash to Mini Treasure which was really interesting. http://www.mysmallobsession.com/minitreasures.html That's where I learned how to make the little perfume bottles that you see just in front of the trunk in my picture. Going through their suggestions makes you look at household objects differently -- an earring back could be a knob on a stove, tiny cubes cut from a clear suction cup make great ice cubes for teensy glasses.

I found a site with miniture hat tutorial http://www.cynthiahoweminiatures.com/tutorialindex.htm and another site just makes me ooh and aaaah and wish for something that beautiful. http://www.brooketucker.com/15.htm If I ever get a dollhouse and it ever "grows up" I want it to look just like Brooke Tucker's design. Isn't that gorgeous!!!!

Anyway, I've only got one more picture to show you (before I bore you to death with my newest love). Those books on the rug in the first picture -- here's a close-up. They're books written by my sisters, Billie, Nancy and Betty Jean!!!! I reduced them and put them together this afternoon.

I love MINIATURES!!!

JUNE CLEAVER, WHERE ARE YOU?

Recently I've been watching a couple of trends and I'm wondering what they mean. Are we trying to get back to the June Cleaver days? Are we longing for a time that is simpler - warmer - handmade?

One trend I've noticed is CUPCAKES. Luscious cupcakes. Big or small, you gotta love cupcakes. And you see them everywhere.

Cupcakes instead of a wedding cake. (picture from fiance2wife via google)

They show up on fabric - cute! (Robert Kaufman Sweet Tooth Cupcake Cloud Sky Fabric)

And there are even some wonderful felt cupcakes ... just for show, not for eating! This one is a pincushion. I want one of these! CUTE! (Smarmypants on etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5566967&order=&section_id=&page=1)

Not to be the last in a trend, I've even made cake balls shaped like leetle teensy cupcakes - a recipe I got from Bakerella. They're so cute and E-E-E-E-EASY. http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html

The other trend I've noticed is APRONS. What's with that? They're so popular -- I see them everywhere in blogland and etsy and some of them are really, really cute!

It's been years since I've worn an apron, but these are very tempting. The top one reminds me of Audrey Hepburn. The bottom one is more like Betty Grable. (boojiboo at etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=59241)

This half apron has an interesting shape and I love the fabrics. (Fancyboutique at etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5731966)

And I really like this one. It has martini's in the fabric and the colors are so much fun! You know I love that VW green color there! (pinkies place at etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6588776)

Being a do-it-yourself kinda gal, I did a google search on apron tutorials and got some really good hits. At tipnut.com there are 102 apron tutorials (it says 52 in the title of the article, but an update shows an additional 50). http://tipnut.com/56-free-apron-patterns-you-can-make/

I really like the design of this one -- especially the little rounded pockets with ties at the top.

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=38097.msg332607

Here's an interesting pattern for an apron that converts to a bonnet. How neat is that!?! It makes me wonder if Mom ever had one like this. http://tipnut.com/vintage-apron-bonnet-pattern/

This is the one I decided to try. I thought it looked pretty easy and rates pretty high on the cute scale. It's a 1951 pattern called Ripply Apron. http://tipnut.com/ripply-apron-pattern-vintage-1951/

A couple of years ago I bought a lot of this fabric with the ice cream sundaes on it and I haven't known what to do with it. I thought it would be great for this apron experiment. I also have a bunch of green cotton in a corresponding color, so I made yards and yards of bias tape. I'll do the construction differently next time -- the ties and top of the apron will be sewn together before I add the bias tape or sew it to the apron, but all in all, I think it's a good pattern and relatively easy.


I'm thinking about doing seasonal aprons with matching potholders and towels. Sounds like fun and how very June Cleaver is that! Think I'll go bake some cupcakes!

SCRAPPY

I've been admiring (on etsy) the little bags that hang off the side of the table to hold scraps. I mean, when you're sewing, you're constantly clipping little things off and you need to put them somewhere.

They're called different things: Scrap Catcher – Scrap Caddy – Scrap Bag - Thread Catcher – Scrap booking Caddy, etc. Although I wasn't sure what to call it, I knew I wanted one. REALLY wanted one.

So I took some green cotton and made one. I used rice as a weight in the top part that sits on the table and used a 3/4 inch slice of the juice bottle (from the last project) inserted into a casing around the top edge of the bag to give it some rigidity and shape. I did some freehand quilting and applied rug-backing-goop on the top weighted part so it clings to the table. I connected the top part and the bag part by means of a grosgrain ribbon.

And I've already started using it.

All in all, I'm pleased.

HOLD THE REMOTE

TOO MANY REMOTES!

They fall down between the sofa and the wall. Or they wind up in another part of the house --- must be my olds-heimer -- and then I can't find them. And where is the VCR remote that we rarely use???

I've had enough of looking for the remote. And I'm way-doggies tired of fishing it out of the space between the loveseat and the end table.

Soooooo, yesterday I sat down with a little muslin, a little polar fleece, the bottom half of a plastic juice jug and a little rice and -- with just a touch from my trusty glue gun --- this is what I came up with.



I didn't use my embroidery machine. I wanted to know if I could just use some freehand zig-zag for a monogram and a little freehand stitching for the quilting and I think the result was pretty good.

I made the quilted portion a little longer than the juice container so I could wrap it (and hot glue it) to the inside top and around to the bottom of the container for a neater look. When I made the wrap-around-the-chair-arm thingy I stitched two smaller pockets on either side. Then I added some grosgrain ribbon just to pretty it up, filled them with rice and hand stitched them closed. I hot-glued the covered plastic container to the flat thing and VOILA! Remote holder!!

Okay, I know not everyone wants a remote thingy sticking up on the sofa, but for me, THIS WORKS!! And I love it!