Sew4Home feature #2!

I had intended to post about the fabulous purse I picked up while in NOLA a few days ago, however our wonderful North Shore weather and string of gray days is not giving me good light to take pictures of the beauty to really do it justice. So, on to other happy news! The wonderful women over at Sew4Home have been kind enough to feature me on their wonderful blog once again. You can pop over their today and grab my pattern for the Dual Duty coasters I've created.

The coasters I stitched up for them use linen and  my Family Forever fabric at Spoonflower. I tatted all around the edges to add even more vintage feel to them. I'm thinking of stitching up some more in the next couple of days using my Bottoms Up fabric to make up some quick hostess gifts for all the fetes this season!

In other fun news, check out the Where Women Create for another day of giveaways in their 12 Days of Holiday Traditions event!

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

So this weekend's dinners did not include chicken but rather homemade pizza and a really unhealthy dinner  from my younger days of visits to Grandma and Grandpa's house during lent. Fried potatoes and macaroni and cheese - not good for you but every once in a while I get the craving as do my brother and sister. My mom and her brothers and sister can't stand it and will never eat it again in their lifetimes!

The pic above was dessert this weekend - pumpkin chocolate tiramisu! So yummy! I wish I had a better picture but as we're plunged into darkness at about 4 in the afternoon now, getting good lighting is a lot more challenging.

This weekend was also the end of the contest to win some of my fabric from Spoonflower! I have to say thank you once again to the wonderful Sew4Home for their lovely feature. I continue to be astounded at the numbers of you who were kind enough to click over to my blog and especially to those of you who were so kind to leave comments. It's been so heart warming to see everything that you're all thankful for this year! So without further ado, the winner:

It was so fun to find that the winner is another very talented Spoonflower designer, Vo! I'll be in touch to get you started in claiming your prize!

Special delivery in waiting

Just look at the pretty stack of java jackets just waiting to go to their new home! Once payment arrives, they'll be on their way! I just love playing with fabrics and embellishments and trying all sorts of color combos when I'm stitching them up.

To get them ready for shipping I grabbed some of those cute red buttons I discovered at the antique store, punched some circles out of discarded cardboard coffee cuffs and secured them together with red and white bakers twine and wrapped 'em up. The final tough was sliding my business card in the back.

Now, once you've got your morning coffee or tea in hand, head over to Sew4Home. They've put together a pillow project featuring my Family Forever fabrics.

You've still got time to get entered in the contest to win a yard of my fabric from Spoonflower. Just click on to my post from earlier this week and leave your comment answering the question in the post before noon Central time on Sunday, November 14. The prize will be awarded on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Look, it's me!!!! (& a giveaway!!!!)

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a person who likes to have attention drawn to me and am a bit too humble and self-deprecating for my own good. So today we're taking a break from our regularly scheduled program and shining a light on me!!!! If you check out Sew4Home today you'll see a great big profile on me!

I was lucky enough to meet the marvelous sisters who run Sew4Home when I was attending The Creative Connection Event back in September. We first started chatting during class on our first day and kept in touch throughout the event and once we got back to our respective homes. I absolutely adore their site and the fantastic, totally doable projects and how they inspire and empower others to create projects to dress up their homes.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Spoonflower is helping me out with a little giveaway! YAY!!!! If you'd like to have a chance at winning one-yard of one of my designs at Spoonflower, just leave a comment following this post in response to the following question in the spirit of Thanksgiving:

"What are you most thankful for this year?"

Just leave your comment no later than noon Central Time on Sunday, November 14. I'll draw one winner from all the entries and announce the winner on Monday, November 15. Once the winner is announced, I'll have the specifics of how to choose your fabric and place your order with Spoonflower. In the meantime, you can start browsing my fabrics at Spoonflower and deciding which you'll choose if you're the winner!

Wonderful Weekends!

Today has been a great Saturday and there is even more greatness to come as hubby and I are all excited to watch SNL being hosted by the wonderfully talented and funny Jon Hamm!!!! Today has been wonderful for a number of reasons which include:

1. having a wonderful husband

2. it's a bit warmer and sunnier than a couple of days ago when we got our first snow which I am just not emotionally prepared for yet

3. working out on the elliptical trainer while watching the Rally to Restore Sanity makes the workout a LOT less onerous

4. getting a rock star parking space at the mall on a Saturday afternoon

5. singing along to Michael Buble in the car on a beautiful day

6. getting to enjoy a wonderful dinner at home on Saturday night

7. looking forward to hot carmel apple cider and homemade Madelines

I love Madeline cookies and desperately want to visit France one day. I also realize that the closest I am going to get to France in the very near future is visiting the French Quarter in New Orleans so I'll have to do what I can to bring France to me. I bought a Madeline pan a couple months back and finally attempted to bake some up yesterday. They taste yummy and look pretty. I still need to experiment to find just the right recipe and tweak it, but these cookies in the picture above are making me pretty happy right now!

After a day full of running around, it was so nice to come home and spend time in the kitchen making a meal completely from scratch. First off was baking some bread from this amazing recipe at Sew4Home. So yummy! And my husband is a carb fiend so he could eaten only this for dinner and been completely happy. Salad was on the menu, too - a combination of lettuces topped with apple slices, asiago cheese, walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette. Mushroom risotto which takes some time and attention but is so worth it. The recipe here is a good basic one but I always change up some stuff when I'm cooking. Just a little bit of balsamic and orange glazed steak on the side was wonderful!

What a great day! Now hopefully tomorrow I get to spend some time sewing - that will make for a wonderful weekend!

Creative Connection Day 1 Project

I've been feeling a bit under the weather but wanted to finally get one of the projects from my classes at The Creative Connection Event posted here. My first afternoon at the conference was spent learning how to make these beautiful felted wool ornaments and a couple of others. I had the best time and got to meet wonderful new people who were seated at our table. I met a wonderful woman named Anne from Sew4Home - you should definitely check out her site!