Taking a ride

I went over to my in-laws house yesterday to swim and have dinner. Ben is gone this weekend and a swim and nephews sounded way more fun than being home by myself. I took my puppies and just had to share this picture. This is how they chose to ride all the way home :)

Making things

Well it finally started acting like summer around here so I've been hiding out inside during the late afternoons. I usually spend a lot of time outside and don't do quite as much sewing. Here are a couple of my most recent creations. Oh and I apologize for my absence, our internet on the computer hasn't been working so this is from my phone. Not going to lie, I'm quite proud of myself for figuring it out.

Tea Towels for a soon to be married friend.


A yarn wreath for myself.

Gifts for my new nephew/niece

Someday very soon I will be an Auntie for the second time! I wanted to make a little something for this newest addition and found inspiration through this quilt he/she's mother made. It was so fun to make these becuase I love owls, and because I can't wait to meet this baby!

Funfetti Cake

For Ben's birthday I decided I wanted to try to make him homemade funfetti cake. He loves funfetti cake so homemade is even better right? Welllllll, not so much. I had fun doing it and it looked great but it was way to rich. The frosting recipe did have 3 sticks of butter in it and I think that was the cause. The first two bites were great, then after that it was just a stomach ache. I think next time I make funfetti I'll use the store bought cake mix (it's much lighter, this homemade version was very coarse) and try making a regular vanilla frosting. I'm a big fan of homemade frosting and the homemade funfetti chips look so pretty! So it's semi-homemade for me on this one, but it was definitely worth trying out.

Rearranging

I recently did some rearranging in our living area. I must say that it did come out of necessity not desire for change. My Grandma Sue had this great desk in the basement of her cabin up in Shaver. I asked her about it, to which she responded if you want it you can have it! I was super excited and had the perfect purpose for it, it would replace my cheapo sewing desk that was leftover from college. We get home and haul the beast all the way to the door of my sewing room and.....it's one inch too big to get through the door! The window is too small too! I was so frustrated the desk sat in our hall for a week becuase I didn't know what to do. Finally this last Saturday I jumped in to some shifting and I'm pretty happy with the results. The only downside is our big dinning table doesn't really fit well anywhere. We bought it for our someday home and not our current day and it's too big for our space. So as a result, it's a little cramped wherever we put it. It's new home in the kitchen isn't ideal but would be it's eventual spot becuase having kids someday eating over carpet is just risky.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Two years ago I married the man of my dreams. Today I think I'm more in love with my amazing husband than ever. He's a good man I thank God for his providence in bringing us together. Ok, now that I'm done with the mush what did we do for our anniversary? Wellllll not much. May has been extremely busy and going to Morro Bay (what we really wanted to do) was pretty much not an option. Don't get me wrong, everything we have been up to has been fun and I've enjoyed every second, but you can only be gone so much. I had originally settled for going out for dinner. Hopefully getting a nice break from cooking and treating ourselves to a movie too. Well that couldn't quite happen today either. So what to do? I ended up cooking one of our favorite comfort food dishes and bought some apple cider. Watch out! We crazy!

Now on a tangent about what I made. Fancy Macaroni. Try it. It will change your life. Warning: you will never look at good old craft mac n' cheese the same. I for one will never go back. I just can't. It's that good. Who do I have to thank for this recipe? Pioneer Woman! Have I said how much I love this woman? It's just the epitomy of comfort food. I'm a firm believer in sitting around the table with home cooked food. Made from scratch, semi-homemade, doesn't matter. What matters is getting around the table, eating food made with love. Some of my favorite memories of my childhood come from sitting around the dinner table. It's worth the extra effort.


Green salad with feta, macaroni with 3 kinds of cheeses! Oh yes I love cheese.

Everytime I make this, I make it a little differently. This time I used heavy cream instead of half and half. I will forever use heavy cream, sooooo good. I added garlic with the onions. The cheese I used were guyere, jack, and parmesan. Guyere is quickly becoming a new favorite.

Eco Market Tote

I have always wanted to make a purse. My wonderful husband went all by himself to Strawberry Patches (a local fabric store) and the ladies in there directed him towards a couple of purse patterns. One was the Eco Market Tote by "Favorite Things." My problem with new projects is I get intimidated. Once I dive in I am totally fine and usually end up making something I really like. I finally decided to give this pattern a try and make two for my sisters (they were both graduating this year). I headed down to Strawberry Patches and the wonderful ladies there gave me some direction on the supplies I would need and encouraged me to call if I got stuck. I just love that place! Anyway I spent an afternoon sewing and am quite happy with the results. My only regret is not buying fabric to make one for myself!

The fabric for this tote was basicgrey/origins by moda and Dots and Daises bybPiece o' Cake.

Fabrics for this tote were both Damask by Joel Dewberry.