Mom's Birthday

A few years ago, my mother and I kinda stopped giving each other birthday gifts. Neither of us ever know what gift to tell the other person to buy, so we just started buying each other a bouquet of flowers and having dinner together on our birthdays.
This year, I bought her a bouquet of red tulips. My girl was with me when I picked them out, and when she saw me put the flowers in our cart, she pointed to a pink bouquet and said "more." So we got Mom the pink ones too.

For dinner, I made Mom her favorite, my stuffed shells. It's like manicotti, only I find it too difficult to stuff those stupid shells without tearing them. I think the shells are just cuter anyway.

Want the recipe? It's-
1 jar pasta sauce
3/4 box jumbo shells, cooked
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 C. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese
1 T Italian seasoning
1 T garlic powder (more or less to suit your taste)

Preheat your oven to 350 while you're mixing the ricotta, egg, Parmesan, seasonings, and nearly all of the mozzarella (I leave out about a handful to sprinkle on top right before it's done).
Pour about 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of a 13X9 pan, just enough to cover the bottom.

Fill your shells.

Side note here- I absolutely lovelovelove my cookie scoop. I use it for just about everything but cookies. I've found that it's the perfect size for these shells. Filling the shells is super quick, and less messy than using a spoon.

Pour the rest of your sauce over the shells, cover with foil, and bake until bubbly (about 45 minutes). Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.

Then eat way more shells than you had intended to just because this is a meal that is not often made at your house because your husband is the one person in the whole world that doesn't like ricotta cheese. ://cough cough//:

Anyhoo, I also baked her one of her favorite cakes. I have no idea what it's called- I just call it the Summer Cake because it reminds me of warm, sunny days.

It's full of yummy things, like mandarins, lemon, pineapple, and Cool Whip. Very summery, no?

I hope you had a great birthday, Mom.

Oven Mitt- FAIL

I really wanted to make an oven mitt.
I was hoping it would turn out well, because there is a girl at work getting married soon, and our coworkers made a cookbook for her, and I thought an oven mitt and a matching potholder would be a nice gift that would go right along with the cookbook (spoken in a whiny child's voice).
But nooooooo.
This project was a complete failure. Boo.
So the pattern was this one.
I had issues with this from the beginning- I should have known this project was doomed.
First off, as I was cutting the Insul-bright, I was getting all the fibers up my nose. I felt like I was breathing in some sort of toxic-to-your-lungs insulation or something. Then, the peices were too thick to run through my machine. I guess I need to get a walking foot for thicker pieces like this.
Anyway, I finally got the stupid thing together.
Not lookin' too bad here...
But you turn it right side out and you see where I had trouble sewing it together.

Oh, and the best part? This nice little hole at the top.

Ugh.

Buttercup bag

I decided to make something for myself, so I perused the web for a tutorial for an easy purse.
I found (and loved!!) the Buttercup bag from Made by Rae.
So I got out my fatquarter and started cutting.

I've never made a purse before, and I have no idea how to line things or attach buttons/snaps/closures of any sort. But Rae's tutorial was very clear, and I was able to follow it well.

Here's the finished product. I was a little disappointed in the size- the model has *way* skinnier arms than I do, thereby making her bag look larger. Ahem.

It is very difficult to photograph a purse that you're wearing, just so you know.

tool cup and paisley dress

I made a couple more things yesterday.

I decided that the kitchen table was NOT the best place for my sewing machine. It's just too hard to keep my toddler away from it. So, I made myself a little sewing area in our guest room.
I bought a small card table, which I think will actually help my sewing- you can't sew too fast or the whole table will bounce! This will keep my speed in check, which will in turn keep my seams a bit neater.

I needed a place to put my small tools, like my scissors, pens, and seam measure. I had just empltied this Vlassic jar, and decided to upcycle it into something useful.

It works beautifully!

Next, I made a pillowcase dress from fabric, not a pillowcase. I used the tutorial from Prudent Baby. Somehow, I messed up the top and the neck is waaaaaay smaller than it should be.

I think the problem came from the armholes- I cut them from the neckline. Oops.

Can you tell I made a mistake?

I had such a hard time keeping her still for these photos.

I love this dress. I think I'll make more. This time, I'll know how to do it correctly.

Next up, flannel lounge pants!

How. Stinkin'. Cute.

So, I just got my sewing machine out a while back and made the simplest baby blanket ever for a friend. That got me in the mood to actually use the sewing machine a bit more. So, last week I made curtains.

This week, I prowled the world of internet tutorials and found one for this-
The cutest little dress ever.


And it was easy enough for me to make.

I found it here. She does a fabulous job of showing you how to make this dress with easy, step-by-step instructions (with pictures!).

I couldn't wait to try it on my girl.

She was too busy with Granny's iPhone, and didn't want to be bothered for a photo shoot.

I certainly hope this girl likes dresses; I see many more in her future!

"What? My mommy made this?! I don't believe it!"

Now I'm off to knit a shrug to go with this dress....

Crafty Saturday

We've lived in our house for over 3 years, and until today, didn't have any window treatments in our kitchen.
So today I decided to change that.
While Ava slept, I measured, cut, pinned, and sewed three valances for our breakfast nook.
Here's a before shot-

and here's an after shot.

Not too bad for a little over two hours worth of work. And that included hanging the rods!

So, since I was on a crafting roll here today, I decided to embellish one of Ava's old onsies for practice.

I obviously don't know how to use my sewing machine very well.

I somehow managed to slice my finger open. Not sure how, as the needle is the only moving part, and I know a slice this size didn't come from the needle. Thank goodness I still had some Steristrips squirreled away.

We *love* cupcakes.

Mmmm, cake.
Even better in individual servings.
I made cupcakes while Ava was napping, and I planned for us to decorate them together once she woke up.
So, I set out little saucers with different sprinkles, and I pre-frosted a few. Then we decorated our cupcakes.

Did I say cupcakes? Because I meant cupCAKE. She just couldn't wait to eat her cupcake. Her eyes got huge the minute I set it in front of her.

She had to take a bite.

And then she looked at the sprinkles again....

...and decided to add a few more.

I've gotta say, this was not a clean project by any means. Do you have any idea how far non-pareils roll when you try to sweep them up?!

It was fun though. And really cute to watch.