Happy Halloween!

I did some fun makeup for Halloween:

Then I remembered I have to wear my eyeglasses and that sorta messes up the eye look:
But let's pretend it doesn't ok. :)

I wanted to dye my hair red red, but I never found the dye I wanted, so I went with creepy makeup instead.

I hope you have a fun Halloween. Unless you don't DO Halloween, then have a fun Friday. :)

Oh and Dana, I don't know if you will see, but yes, I bought the large assortment. I've also gotten them individually too. Oh and that company I linked is a great company to buy from. :)

Random Promotion (Miracle Tape)

So adhesive. If you are a papercrafter you need some good adhesive right? But you hate to spend tons of money on it right?

Well I use the fab ATG by Scotch for most of my normal adhesion. I think that has been talked to death on the message boards so I'll leave it be. I do like it.

But I use something else too. Which I LOVE. Miracle Tape. Miracle Tape is double sided tape. It's STRONG. As strong as that "red liner tape" that is so popular in my opinion. And WAY cheaper. I get it HERE at Viva Las Vegastamps. Seriously it's great. the rolls have 50 YARDS on them. I think that red liner crap has like 15 FEET. The reason I bring it up today is that I got an email from Vivia Las Vegastamps and there is a special on it! I've bought this special before. I'm not buying it this time because I still have plenty left! But Here is the special. It is a TON of adhesive. Including the sheets which are SO fun. I like to do an image, color it and all, then cover it with one of the sheets of adhesive then dump clear glitter over the whole thing. Maybe I'll make a sample of that later.

Also I used this for years before I got into ATG. The ATG is cheaper over time, but this stuff is really affordable and very strong. Also if you are freaked out by the size of ATG or anything then Miracle tape may be easier for you to use.

So there you have it, a random promotion by me.

Creepy Cakes

So this is how it happened. Brian wanted me to make baked goods for his office. His company cut VOE spending which is how they fund goodies and Pizza Friday and such. So I'm going to step right in and bake for those guys once a month. It's the least I can do.

So I wanted to make some fun cupcakes. I wanted to make them this week because Brian's big boss is in town, and I'm a kiss up even if Brian isn't. haha. I originally wanted to make either a pizza cake (to morn the loss of pizza friday) or to pipe "VOE" on the cakes. But then I was afraid the boss wouldn't see the humor. Although Brian did say he's cool and would think it was funny.

So I decided to go with eyeballs instead. I mean it IS Halloween this week. I was going to pipe the colored part of the eyes, but I figured if I did the candies the boys could help me. So here they are. (I made 50, not 4, these were the first decorated)I also needed a cake for a church function on Saturday. It's our Fall Festival, which is really a Halloween Party, but being church we call it Fall Festival. Being a Halloween fan myself I made this: Because eating eyes is yum.

The cakes are all deep dark chocolate cake. Want my recipe? Ok then:
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
two sticks butter
4 eggs
2-3 tsp vanilla
1 to 1 1/4 of the DARKEST baking powder your shop sells. I used Giradelli dark for a while, but this time I used Hershey Special Dark as it's all they had and it worked. The point is get dark, and then we are using WAY more than any other cake recipe I've seen.
tablespoon baking soda
some salt (I don't measure, about half a teaspoon maybe?)
about 1 1/2 cup sour cream. I used to measure not I just dump the whole thing of sour cream in.
1 1/3 cup boiling water.

Mix that up (you know, butter and sugar and eggs together then add the other stuff) and bake at 350 until done. (different for different cake pans/cupcakes and what not)

The cakes are really dark, almost black. They are not very sweet. I like to top them with a basic buttercream for sweetness.

Oh and it makes a TON. I made 50 mini cupcakes AND this large eye cake with one batch. I adapted it from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com called "Sandy's Chocolate Cake" But with my adjustments. Click HERE for the original, which is delicious too, I basicly just made it darker.

And to see even CUTER creepy cupcakes check out Lulu Carter's post HERE. I love creepy cute food.

Window Clings

I don't have anything really crafty to show, but look at this: A while back my kids got this HUGE HUGE box of toys at yard sale for one dollar. They used all their cute adorable powers to get this deal. Inisde the box (it was one of those HUGE storage boxes you put you Christmas stuff in for storage) was all sorts of stuff, some Thomas the Stupid Engine stuff, an army of dragons, seriously so many dragons, Like 15 of them, controllers to heaven knows what... anyhow also inside was a kit to make your own window clings. A few weeks ago we made cherful ones for Brian's Popa who is in a nursing home (yes, it's sad) to have on his window. But today we made some just for us!

Ethan directed me in the tiger and fish. He did some of the stripes but mostly he just rested his hand on mine, they are really messy. Stephen wanted "Dinosaur He Stomps the Floor". So there is a large dino and a remote controller. I didn't look at a photo of the dinosaur in question, and mine really doesn't look like that one, but whatever.

So they take one to two days to dry then you peel them off and they will cling to the window. How fun is that? Oh and if the yellow one explodes in your hand when you squeeze it and the tip falls off and you get yellow paint all over your dining room table and floor it DOES wash off if you are quick.

I think I'm gonna sew up some dummy projects so I have something to blog! haha. STill sewing Christmas stuff.

Treasured

Etsy user CoffeeAndCream created a tresury of cool things on Etsy. Guess who has something in it?

ME!! I'm so honored.

Look HERE to see the treasury. Then buy the item. (haha)

Still working on Christmas stuff, still can't share any.

The Holidays

I LOVE me some Holiday Season.

We go to our first Halloween Party tonight.

Wanna see what my boys will wear?

I also got a swap package in the mail today! Oh yeah baby!

I'm gobsmacked. Anna, my partner, spoiled us silly. Three backpacks, two pillow cases, a book for the boys, a magazine for me. YUMMY!!! THANKS ANNA.

In other news:

I'm sewing the coolest project EVER. I'm in love with it. I want to keep it but I can't it's for my friend Kim. So I can't show you because Kim reads here. But I emailed it to my mom and Jennifer, and Patricia, and Lani... If you wish you could see the coolest thing ever drop me a line and I'll show you too! haha. (not you Kim)

I guess that's all for now.

I wish I had more cool pics to show you but everything I make right now is for Christmas.

Foundation Piecing

I've been skeptical about foundation piecing. I though, what's the point. Um... the point is in the POINTS for me! I was reading a library book on it I accidentally got (tricked me, lovely blocks looked traditional pieced to me) and I realized that foundation piecing might help me with my sloppy points.

So I went on the net and printed THIS pattern and gave it a go. I used some horrid scraps I have because I was still not sure and didn't want to waste any of my good stuff. But look: It did work, and look at those crisp points:
(yes, I see the humor in displaying "crisp points" with a blurry photo)
I didn't leave some scraps big enough I see now, but still it was super fast and easy to get this block sewn up. I'm sold!

In other news:
Me and the boys have colds AGAIN. Honestly we are not sick that often, but I only write about our health then it's poor. Because I'm human I guess. Anyhow it's just colds but you know a cold can make you so miserable.
My mom has given me hope of a visit from her. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my mom and the idea of her coming here for a week is enough to lift the fog of my cold and make me giddy with excitement. I hope it does work out and soon.
Can't remember any other news. blah head colds. Someone get on a cure quick!

One down... countless to go.

One Christmas gift made.

Whatever it is, it's reversable.

Attn all quilters

I am NOT buying more stuff for a while. I am drowning in fabric and I only started buying it a few months ago. I will NOT buy more.

So I need a favor.

Do NOT post anything else using 1930's repro fabric until after the new year.

I thank you and my husband thanks you.

hugs,
e

Doll Quilt Swap 5

I'm done with my quilt for DQS5. I chose this cat pattern. It's based on Cat Nap by Bear Paw Productions. close up to show the mouse/rat I quilted on this part.
A green cat.
A black cat.
I hope she likes it. :)

what a mess

I've started working on Christmas presents.

I need to deal with this first.

The couch holds recent purchases, things people have given me and so on. Basicly stuff that I've never put away. There is a WIP on my sewing table. I'm not working any more until I clean though.
My desk is a horrid mess too. Oh and also the floor in front of the desk, which technically is the kids play area.
Sheesh!

So today, in just a few minutes I'm going to a Quilt Bee. Old fashioned, how cute! After that I come home and clean this mess. Then it's all Christmas presents all the time for me. Of course that means less pictures for the blog. Sigh.

Oh yesterday I bought ALL the stuff I need to finish all my Christmas gifts. I'm so happy about that. So I should be able to just work until Christmas.

Later today some kid from the church youth group is coming over to do hard labor. He broke our car at a campout the my DH was the leader of. So the arrangement was that he has to give us an afternoon of work. He's doing the yard. I bet it rains all stupid afternoon and he gets out of it. Won't that figure.

Free Quilt!

Look at this beautiful quilt! Do you LOVE it? I know right!!

You can WIN this quilt on Pigtails and Snails blog HERE.

I'm so excited by free quilt give aways. I mean quilts are so awesome and VALUABLE. And awesome. And this one is YUMMY yellow. And my son wants a yellow quilt. So if I win I won't have to make a yellow quilt! I can spend that time making another quilt! Maybe one I'll give away? Who knows?

But if I don't win it I want YOU to win it. Yes YOU. You with the computer and who is reading my blog. (No not you, who just looks at the pics and doesn't read, haha, joke on that girl because she isn't reading this... kidding)

So go try to win it. If you DO win it come back and let me know so I can be all excited for you! Woohoo!

Oh and there are more pics of the lovely quilt on the blog I linked.

Alphanumeric bag.

A friend of mine is doing Weight Watchers. She lost 10% of her weight. At Weight Watchers you get something like a keychain or a bookmark for that. I felt that did NOT properly celebrate the occasion. So I made her a cute purse!

I am OBSESSED with fabric covered buttons.
Inside has two pockets with red alphabet fabric.
And this rad thing that you can hook your keys on so you don't have to dig for them. (look at my fat leg, I need to take inspiration and join WW or a gym too!)
This stitching is the green color from the numbers. Also there is a tiny pleat on either side of the button.

In other news:

I had the BEST day yesterday. I wanted to do something fun so I called my very good friend Lani and asked if she would go to Old Green Cupboard with me. She said yes. WEll first I picked her up at her house and looked at her AWESOME sewing room. Then we went to OGC and I got fabrics for Doll Quilt Swap 5 which I'm REALLY excited to be in. Wanna see?

I'm not totally sure what I'm doing, I have two ideas in mind. One involves piecing a cat shape, one involves embroidery. I LOVE these fabrics though. I hope my partner does too.

Then lunch, then back to Lani's house. She let me go through all her TONS of boxes of fabric. Half the time I said, "oh this is cute" she said, "You take that". It was magical. She also lent me a HUGE stack of books/magazines and I can take more when I return these, like my own quilt library. So wanna see what I got? (sorry the pics are bad You'd think I live in the Pacific NorthWEst with all this rain these few days)
This stuff is precut for the cat quilt pattern shown. I'm going to sew it for a mutual friend of Lani and mine. Then we will give it to her as a gift from us.

I might make my DQS5 with a shrunk version of this pattern. I'm not sure though. I wish I was in 5 mini quilt swaps. I have too many ideas.

In OTHER other news we went though our Christmas list and figured out what we have to buy/make. I have two people on my list who are IMPOSSIBLE to shop for. I won't name names. But if you are in my family and usually get crappy gifts from me it's because you are impossible! So besides those two people we figured everything out and I have a lot of sewing to do! Also our family has the lack of consideration to have their birthdays right during the Holiday Season. The nerve of some people! So the point is this, I won't be able to show you EVERYTHING I make. :(

My craft room. (and some WIP)

First up some WIP (work in progress)
I'm making these paper pieced hexagons all the time, while kids play at parks, while Brian drives and we are in the car, while watching TV. I want a huge hexagon quilt some day. Here are some of my favorite ones:Here they are in a cute basket. A basket or bucket of anything is cute. I did get all the bad stitching out of the quilt. I've not put any good in yet though. Too bummed still. I WILL do it, just not just now.

And here is my craft room. I consider this clean by the way, although there are some things on the floor. That dry erase board I have clinged my background stamps to. Here is my desk and iron. I share the room with the boys (the iron is NOT left on) so you can see their table, and I share it with Brian's sports garbage collection. I keep inks in that tub under my desk. I like it that way. I also love that 11x17 pad I got from Stampin Up to stamp on, doodle things and such. I've actually used most of the dirty sheets to draw my own patterns for sewing. :) Here is my sewing table. The leaf comes up when I sew and I turn the machine so I can just roll over from my desk to it. I just moved my cutting mat to this table yesterday, it's a trail. :) The kid is a constant, he's mad because he wants raisens and I was busy taking pictures. That's what's up with the green bowl, he wants "raisens in dis".

Look at this awesome embroidery art Kim sent me! You are jealous. Brian is mad I hung it not centered under that sports crap.
Here is the corner for storage. I just got the tall clear thingie yesterday. I used a rare 55% off coupon at the craft store! Oh look, it's that cute kid, someone give him raisens!
Inside of the black thing. Top two shelves are fabric. My system is that the top shelf is "weird fabric" the second is cotton. Then paper type storage stuff. And Ethan, carefully selecting supplies for his next project. Oh the glimpse of the military pic is my father.
Here is the other part. those clear magazine holder looking things all hold paper. I have TONS of paper. I go into a panic if I get low. The black/white check thing is full of my tons of zippers. The clear drawer thing under the paper is all my Odd Bird Planet stamps. I love me some Odd Bird Planet.


And there you have it. :)

Made a few things.

So I did get all the bad stitching out of the quilt. After all that I haven't had the heart to work on it at all. I have till Christmas, so I'm taking a break from it.

I do have a swap due soon so I got to work on that.
This was my first attempt. I like it but it took too long to make so I decided not to do it. It's stamped and colored on gesso painted cardstock, layers and layers of heat embossing. Instead I'm doing this. Which I love because it has fabric. :)
Priscilla is killing those birds with her potions and magic. She's very naughty.

I just have to color the rest of them (9 total) and I'll be ready to ship them out.
All these stamps are Odd Bird Planet.

Bad news everyone. :(

First the good news. My one on one swap with Kim came today. She is who I made the bat quilt for. I got all this goodness: And here is a closeup of teh embroidery work. LOVE it. Masks of each other! I can't stand how cute that is!! The red isn't just a background it's about 2 yards of yummy cordoury which I LOVE. :)

Well ready for the bad news? Ok.
I quilted for two and a half days. I was nearing completion. I looked at the back closley. it was weird. I looked more, very weird. I pulled at a thread. pop pop pop it comes up. What the heck? Look at my thread. It looks weird.

It's hand quilting thread. AND crappy hand quilting thread at that. It was so non flexable that it didn't work right in my machine. The top stitches looked fine, the bottom had NO tension. So I have to pick it ALL out and start over. This idea makes me want to puke.

So I had to go to Hobby Lobby for new thread. I got some. It's coats and clark machine quilting thread. I also needed some clearance fabric, home dec weight for $2 a yard. and a quilt book, and needle disposal thingies, and some embro patterns for Kim, and cookie cutters to make shaped sandwiches for the kids, and button making kits, and some grab bag ribbon. when you have a new cookie cutter the best way to show it off is by putting it on your head.
Ethan's still learning proper modeling so he's looking to Stephen for approval.
I made these buttons and attached them to elastics for rad new hair ties. LOVE the panda.