Lazy Day Hat

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You know how you’ll sometimes wake up in the morning and say to yourself, “I’m going to accomplish something today”? I awoke today in such a mood and now Rabbit has a hat to show for it.

Pattern: Make It Perfect’s “Lazy Day Hat“
Fabric: I know it’s still available in stores, but my particular cuts of both do not have the fabric information printed on them. Sorry!

There is a mistake in the pattern at the end–turn fabric B RIGHT SIDE OUT in order to match it up with the brim when you’re making the huge hat sandwich.

A quick project that is reversible and downright cute! There are moments where you just have to trust the pattern and go with it…it’s gets a little “Wha…?” at times.

Bluebird now wants a hat made from the sock monkey fabric and some random American Flag print I’ve got in the stash. I told her she needs to wait until I make an apron and a shoulder bag for myself. It’s time to reward myself for all this sewing I’ve been doing for everyone in the past week.



Rabbit’s Monkey Apron

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I had hoped to complete this during last week’s “Super Homemaking Week,” but fell short by a few days. We just finished it this evening–me sewing, Rabbit standing by my elbow and cautioning me to “Watch yo fingahs…”

Pattern: Apron B from “Little Retro Aprons for Kids” by Cindy Taylor Oates
Fabric: Sock Monkey by Erin Michael #15071 (Moda), Red Gingham and some random piece of red with colored dots that I’ve had for forever, Canary Rick-Rack

I love little people in aprons. This is a size 4 (the smallest size in the book), so it’s a teeny bit big, but she’ll grow into it soon enough. I have enough Sock Monkey print leftover to do something big with…perhaps someday I’ll don a sock monkey apron myself, very fun.

Rabbit LOVES her apron! The first thing she said when I was fitting it over her head was, “Huwway! Now I can help Mama make some pancakes!” She loves her pocket and is convinced that there is a “liddle spoon” somewhere in the kitchen that she can carry in the pocket and whip out in a baking emergency. Oh, to be two years old and the proud owner of a brand new sock monkey apron…



Portabello Pixie "Claire" Peasant Top

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Ignore the pants, it was an impromptu modelling session.

Pattern: Portabello Pixie “Claire” Peasant Top
Fabric: Dots–from the “Smores” collection by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda, Gingham–from my stash, more than likely bought at JoAnn’s some years ago.

This cute little top was pretty easy to make and a great way to break in my serger. Bluebird thinks it’s so funny that we made her a shirt from the scraps from her apron…I hope she doesn’t get it into her head to wear the two at the same time.

Shirring with elastic thread is fun stuff. Just be sure that you wind the bobbin without stretching the elastic at all–there’s a part where the elastic was stretched a teensy bit when I wound it and there’s a part where I was careful to keep it loose, and the loosely-wound stitching does look better. I don’t know what makes it look better, but it does look better.

I really want to make the dress that comes with this pattern, and Bluebird wants me to purchase the pants pattern so that she can have something to match her shirt. (Personally, I think it would be a little too much pink gingham on one little person.)

Making Blueberry Jam

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OR “A Masochistic Way to Spend a Beautiful Summer Morning”

Homemade Blueberry Jam is one of my most favorite things in the world. I actually look forward to the summertime and to berries ripening throughout the land so I can replenish my blueberry jam hoards. Rabbit and I had fun this morning making jam together:

She’s my go-to girl whenever something needs “smashing” in this house, so it was only natural that she help me out with crushing the blueberries.

Now, to the uninitiated, I must warn that making jam can be rather painful because it spits like nothing else, which covers you with a smattering of burns. Cover any skin that you can, stir with a very long handled spoon and do not lean over your concoction while it cooks. (And shoo away any little ones from the kitchen!)

What things look like after you’re done boiling it all down:

Yep, it’s messy; you acquire a few burns and you’ll definitely spend the entire processing time cleaning up the kitchen.

But it’s worth it, because you end up with beautiful jars of gloriously tasty blueberry jam. It’s practically ambrosia.

And, in the words of my granny, who includes an extra step at the end of all her recipes: “Yummy”

Amber’s Apron

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My cousin, Amber, turns twelve this week; and she likes to help her mom out in the kitchen, so I thought an apron was a good birthday present choice for the dear girl. She’s one of my favorite people, and she’s named after me to boot (same middle name). You gotta remember the ones that are named after you! (I was even present at her birth…quite the experience for fourteen year old me!)

It’s Apron A from Retro Aprons by Cindy Taylor Oates and I used fabric from Sandi Henderson’s Farmer’s Market collection.

I am completely smitten with the fabric and I’ve been racking my poor, worn-out and exhausted brain trying to figure out a way to use the scraps in something else, but there aren’t too many scraps leftover. Wah.

Happy Birthday Ambone!

Midnight Frost Necklace & Earrings

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No offense to all the other pieces of jewelry I’ve made, but this set is one of my absolute favorites! It’s for my cousin Ashley, who turned 17 this month…where did the time go? I was in the fourth grade when she was born and she starts her senior year of high school this coming September!


Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes

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I am loving the Hello Cupcake! cookbook that we gave to Bluebird for Christmas. This is just one of the cute ideas in it. I made them for Recipe Club at the end of March.

It’s just cupcakes from a box, frosting from a can, strawberry preserves and Ferrero Rochers. Love it. They tasted good, too.

Planet Earth Cake

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I just realized that I never showed y’all my cute little Planet Earth cake that I made for Bluebird’s space birthday party. Here it is!

If you’re interested in making one for yourself (as in, next Wednesday is Earth Day…), it’s quite simple:

Take a regular ol’ box of cake mix, mix it up and pour it into your pans–I used Wilton’s Sport Ball pans, but I’ve heard of people using Pyrex bowls. Bake it. Let it cool. Frost it with some blue frosting (I used the stuff from a can…many of you are already aware of my disdain for making frosting.)

Now don’t get scared, but this next step requires a map or an atlas:
Make some green frosting and put it into a decorator’s bag with a #3 or #5 writing tip on it and freehand some continental outlines. (Don’t worry too terribly much about accuracy, it’s a blinkin’ cake…you’re going for recognition, not masterpiece.)

Once you’ve got your outlines, put on a star tip and start filling in your land masses.

Voila! Planet Earth Cake!

I laugh every time I see how close Japan is to Alaska, and I was thisclose to leaving Australia and New Zealand off of the whole thing altogether because it was really hard to get the frosting down there, but I figured I owed it to my brother (who resides in New Zealand) to represent his place of residence…oh the fun of frosting creations.