~~a "tOiLE" oRDer~~

Remember this post just a little while ago? Well, again, I was going through my blogs and discovered another "gotta try" project and I used the same pretty toile as the cover up for this one...

The blog post was from Annie Get Your Glue Gun and she posted the links to this FREE (yes, F-R-E-E) pattern with instructions. Once I printed the pattern I had to figure out how the pattern-puzzle-pages (say that several times fast...) went together, taped them together, cut them out and then I was off and running.

Last night I got all my fabric out that I needed - my toile and fleece (this is the first time I've sewn with fleece). It feels so soft and snuggly... surely this will be inviting to my new babe in August!! And so this morning I put it together.

I poured over the instructions before I really began and everything seemed pretty straight forward. The only suggestion I would make would be to *not* draw all the locations of the hook and loop pieces but to wait until the snuggler is completed and then line up the pattern (using the finished edge for alignment) and tweak it accordingly. Not a big deal, really. I was fretting over drawing all the lines on the fabrics and it just wound up to make more sense to me this way.

There was only one small spot to slip stitch. I'm not a huge fan of the hand work stuff - I just wanna let the machine do all the work!! So this was not bad at all!

And as I was going to my desk to post this... I couldn't help but snap this comical grin as she ate her chicken and rice soup...

That's gotta make you giggle... a little??

~~a bUrlAP wREaTh~~

It was time to "pertify" my house with the latest craze - a wreath. 

And not just any wreath but a BURLAP wreath. 

Okay, so I'm overdoing it a tad...

I have been admiring so many of these wreaths in about every combination possible. So here's my input. Here is one of my favorites from Sweet Passions on a Thrifty Dime. And it even had the right initial.

I gathered together some burlap that I got for cheap a long time ago and picked up some floral pins at Hobby Lobby.

Then I cut some 4 inch squares. I don't know how many it took to fill the wreath in the end... I guess I should have counted. The squares don't have to be perfect or exact. And I saw some tutorials that had the corners rounded. Me? I just wanted instant gratification and omitted any extra step.

 I did a half and half kinda scheme and alternated them. This first way was simply poking the floral pin in the middle of the square...

...and then bunching it up.

The second method was to fold a square in half matching the points together (as shown) and then...

... bringing the outside corners to the pins and hooking them onto it creating a bubble kinda looking thing. (yeah, I'm all about the technical side of explanations...)

Then lay your wreath flat on the table, pin your burlap bunches and bubbles alternately about an inch or so apart on the top. Then continue the inside and outside of the ring. When I was finished I went back and filled in any gap that was showing the straw wreath. The bunches and bubbles seam to give it an extra element of texture and fullness.

I have one more personalization that I am working on so I will be back with a little embellishment in a few days. Stay tuned, okay?

~~SUgar CAne NATuraL & nUtS~~

I am the coordinator for my area for Bread Beckers Co-op. We compile our orders to save on the shipping of grains, beans, honey and a host of other items. Quarterly orders are shipped to me where I commandeer the garage organizing individual orders to be picked up by the co-op members. All those white buckets of wheat and beans, wow, you should see the huge 50 pound bags!! Last quarter a 50 pound bag of sucanat was mistakingly left with us and we decided to buy it for ourselves. I'm not all together familiar with cooking with the sweetener so I need to get with it and learn!!

We filled one and a half six gallon buckets for easier access and safer storage.

Okay - so here's where we started...

I was making some of my annual Spiced Nuts for Christmas goodie-giving and didn't realize that I had very little sugar. But wait!!! I have FIFTY POUNDS of sucanat!!! I wasn't sure if the sugar could be replaced but if it could... oh, the possibilities!

~~~~~~

SPICED NUTS

1/2c sugar (or sucanat)

1/2t salt

1t cinnamon

1/4t ground cloves

1/4t nutmeg

2T water

1/2c walnuts

1/2c pecans

Butter cookie sheet. Combine sugar with spices and water in small pan. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture forms soft ball when dropped in cold water. Stir in nuts. Remove from heat. Stir until no longer glossy. Spread thinly on cookie sheet and allow to cool completely. Store in air tight container.

~~~~~~

I had enough white sugar to do a normal batch. Then I got out the sucanat and replaced the sugar. I was a little concerned that the heat of getting it to the soft ball stage might go wrong and it was beginning to look a little darker than the sugar batch. So I took it off the heat a little sooner than usual and finished up the steps.

The top pan below is the sucanat batch and the bottom one is the sugar batch. Can you see a slight color difference? It tastes the same to me. And my husband agreed. So, how about that?

~~you'VE bEEn FramEd!!~~

About four years ago I found some reclaimed window panes for $5 each and went ahead and bought them without a specific idea in mind. I pulled one out last year and set it in the middle of my table with a lovely Thanksgiving themed centerpiece. Without much enthusiasm I hung it (slightly crooked) on the wall until this Thanksgiving when I took it down from the wall for the table centerpiece again.

I finally saw so many ideas for reclaimed windows that I decided on one project because there were just enough panes for my pains... er, children. I used the clear photo corners that I had from Creative Memories.  Now I can update the frame whenever I'd like without much trouble. I made these photos 4 inches square, in black and white, printed on card stock. I love it when a plan comes together...

~~geEKifiED MoTheR's daY~~

Okay - a brief moment to brag on my husband and show you my 2011 Mother's Day gift.

A little while back my niece was visiting and she was wearing a big white watch. It immediately reminded me of this...

So, ever since, I have been swooning over the idea of wearing a BIG WHITE WATCH. Well, since Mother's Day was the closest day to (somewhat) justify a gift... my husband stepped up to the plate. And in his endearing "geeky" way this was the awesome outcome...

That, my sweet friends, is a Nano with a watch band... a BIG WHITE watch band! And now... the force is with me...

~~cRaFt NitE~~

Yup, it's that time, my homeschool homies...

Since May is the month of graduation we normally cancel our homeschool mom time, however, there are some of us who are not quite at that stage in our schooling so I decided to host a CRAFT NITE for those ladies that were free.

Here's our project this month!

Cute, eh? Well, I can't take credit for it. I am a follower of the My Chic 'n Scratch blog (Angie Juda is the creative genius at work) and she has posted all the instructions for her original rendition. I have altered mine only to accommodate the supplies I have on hand. This finished project measures 4-1/4" x 4-1/4" and has ten surfaces inside to decorate with your favorite snapshots.

Well?! Why aren't you RSVPing *right now*?!!?!

~~cOVeR 'eM up!!~~

As I was pursuing my plethora of blogs that I follow (there were 500+ posts to review... nope... I didn't make it through all of them... so, I moved on...) I spotted this particular post at Craftaholics Anonymous for a really cute nursing cover.

I went to her Etsy shop, Ruffled Begonia, and purchased the Summer Love Ruffle Nursing Cover PDF.  The instructions were to the point and simple. The owner of the shop, Linda, even offers to be available via email if any questions or confusion crops up... although I didn't have ANY problem.  I was able to complete it in a day with my sweet five "distractions", pesky pooch, and severe weather warnings... not bad, eh??

I used a poly blend for the ruffle and neck strap but a medium weight cotton toile for the apron part.

This one is for one of my gal-pals who had a new baby girl recently. Now I need to get on with another one for me!! Do you think an additional ruffle at the bottom of the apron would be too much?