Wendell follow-up

The prob w/Wendell is that I didn't get enough seam allowance going on him...so I think if I were to gift to any small child, he might be too "loved" and fall apart. Plus, I'm still not very good at all with stitching up the stuffing hole (I think there is a proper term for this, but I would have no idea), so my whip stitch (again, I think that's what I'm doing) is about all I have the patience to do with any amount of precision, and it shows (literally!).

I'm envious of those who are able to stitch...not a skill I have. I still have a WIP/UFO cross-stitch project floating around somewhere that was supposed to be a gift to my mom for Christmas 2006. And I have a completely unstarted cross-stitch project that was supposed to be for the guest bedroom (my Americana room)...the supplies are shoved behind my scrapbooking treasure trove. And on a completely random tangent, I really want to move, so I can pack up my apartment and see how much crap I need to get rid of...I'm sure I'll be the source of copious quantities of trash and Goodwill bags.

And I'm really envious of those who actually enjoy binding their quilts...because I view it as an entirely tedious process. I'm not sure I would actually pay someone to bind a quilt for me...I'm too cheap!

Wendell

This is my first attempt at a softie... He measures approximately 8" across. I decided to call him Wendell. :) His backside is Flutterby patchwork, which mis-cut rectangles (my quilty math is lacking). I think he is adorable, but not in good enough condition to actually gift to any of the numerous small monsters/children my friends possess.

The Things I Do For Love...

...or rather, the sort of stupid things I do for love. Steve decided he wanted to go camping this weekend at Joshua Tree, as part of his pre-birthday festivities. I agreed, and also foolishly agreed to hiking at Joshua Tree. So off we went on Friday afternoon, driving 170 miles east of LA to Joshua Tree. 3 hours later, we arrive and Steve sets up the "mansion," our 6-man tent we got from my mom. The thing has only been used a few times, but Steve figured if we were car camping, we could bring out the big guns.

We had fire pit turkey burgers for dinner, along w/grilled potatoes. Steve's an excellent fire starter - he used to pride himself on his ability to create awesome fires in his Boy Scout troop. We also roasted marshmellows, and I made myself a couple of smores.

The bugs proved to be too much Friday night, so we moved the party inside the tent, where I fell asleep halfway through a Stella while watching Kate & Leopold on the portable DVD player. Didn't sleep too terribly bad, although we were both woken up @ 3am by a gigantic group of teenage/college-age boys who came in this giant pack to camp. It never would have occurred to me to drive out to Joshua Tree @ midnight to go camping...strange boys! The other random thing at the campsite was that our neighbors across the way were using a Light Saber as a flashlight...huh...

The next morning, Steve made Egg McClones for breakfast (that's what they called them @ school, and we always found that name amusing, so it has stuck). This was the hearty breakfast before we set out on the day's hike...in what was probably 95-100 degree weather. We started a smaller trail that linked up with the trail we wanted to hit to the Lost Palms Oasis. We found the Mastondon Mine, which was actively mined from 1934-1971. This is the best shot of me being happy all day long...

And it all went downhill from here, somewhat literally and somewhat figuratively. I'm not an athletic person; I'm not genetically pre-disposed, and any recessive athletic genes went to my brother. So a 3 mile hike is really all that I can handle without any repercussions. I should have remembered this - the 7 mile hike across Catalina with a 30lb. pack last year totally did me in (had to take a bus back to Two Harbors to get on the boat home). So at about 4.5 miles into the hike, I was utterly miserable. Not only was it scorching hot, its the dry, dry desert. My hands were starting to swell from the heat & altitude (3000 ft elevation doesn't seem like much, but when I spend the majority of my time at a 100 ft elevation, it makes a huge difference!). I was too miserable, and forgot to actually take a picture of my fat hands. I couldn't curl my fingers into my palms with an ache in my whole hand...not normal. Really hope this isn't what happens with preggo bloat, because I'm going to be one unhappy future preggo woman. Plus, I have bad knees, which is funny because I've never been active enough to warrant bad knees...maybe it was 9th grade basketball??? The only thing that went right during the hike was that we both remembered to use sun screen, so no sunburns. So my heat-bloated, thirsty, sweaty, slightly nauseated self decided that it was not a priority to actually make it to Lost Palms Oasis. Steve ran down the trail a bit to the top of the Lost Palms canyon, and agreed that it wasn't worth the trudge down there if I was already that miserable, because there was another 3.5 miles back to get off the trail. My knight in shining armor left me at the end of the trail, ran back to the campground, and rescued my mildly heat exhausted self at the trail end, which I referred to as my "Parking Lot Oasis." The parking lot proved to be amusing to my addled brain...the woman wearing a skirt with yellow knee socks (because that's got to be a GREAT outfit to hike the desert in)...the woman speaking German (only knew it was German because I recognized one key word: wasser, or water...remember to say the W as a V)...my knight screeching to a halt in the parking lot, A/C blasting...

Our good deed for the day came with the fact that we paid for Saturday night camping, decided to go home, and gave our spot to a couple that had just driven in. By 7pm, our stinky bodies were back in ocean-breeze cooled apartment, where I promptly showered, lathered on some Icy Hot on my stiff knees, and received some kitty love. The kitty love is the funny part; for some strange reason, Radar loves the pepto-bismal smell of Icy Hot, to the point where he licked my PJ pants in happiness. Syl, on the other hand, is repulsed by the smell, and didn't stick around long enough to even get a lot of pets.

So the lesson here is that the next time I let Steve drag me camping, I will NOT do more than a 3 mile hike if I intend to keep camping. So next year, when Steve goes up to Yosemite to do a pre-Alaska Chilkoot trail prep hike, I will NOT go hike Half Dome with him. Instead, I will conduct my own personal visit Yosemite by car hike.

Oh, and by the way...we never actually saw a Joshua Tree in the area of the park we were in...talk about a waste of a trip!

Halloween...revisited!

So I decided to put myself out there, and post up some previous Halloween pictures.

This one is from 2004 - I made my Tinkerbell costume & Steve's Peter Pan top and hat by myself...we dyed his tight-tights (remember...Robin Hood: Men in Tights??). Pretty awful sewing job if I do say so myself, but I was on a budget with both time & money. I borrowed a friend's Husqvarna, which used to belong to her grammy. And so the love affair with the Husqvarnas began - even though the machine was way to complicated for my pea-sized brain to use.
This is 2005 in Vegas...that's right, Vegas. Also Steve's birthday weekend. For whatever reason, I decided to be a blonde...no, not a blonde...the blonde: Marilyn Monroe. Costume purchased from Target. Steve's was more fun to put together. Notice the authentic black snow boots - my mom found @ Wally World back in Nebraska and sent out (I knew she could find 'em!). Rainbow Bright is my friend Carrie. Mental note Michelle - if you ever wear a similar outfit again, get a better bra!

2006: Princess Peach was the outfit that triggered my current love affair with sewing. I made this costume too, also very poor sewn (what's a 5/8" seam??? well, I didn't know, and had a split in the fabric on the seam from sliding into the booth at a restaurant prior to the party we attended). I borrowed Joelle's machine, and then a Husqvarna showed up under the tree at Christmas (and so began the quilting). For Mario's costume, my mom was again enlisted to help - she sent the overalls from a farm store. But the sizing was a little...small... Dunno why, but Steve was squeezed into those suckers. The funny thing about this party was the fact that there was a random Luigi there - we have a picture with him, but I'm not going to post it. Again, what is my deal with being blonde? I don't enjoy it, it doesn't work with my pale skin (my foundation is called "Alabaster Breeze" - so NOT appealing!).

2007: We didn't plan anything, we were going to go San Diego for Steve's birthday until the fires there last year spoiled that fun.

Anyways, I'm planning to provide a peek of this year's costume later this week. I'm only making one part of it - and I do have to say that sewn part looks pretty good! Another hint: Steve & I are going with the couple's costumes again this year...and we're a relatively current couple! :)

Love the generosity!

If I had the time, I think I would be more proactive about crafting in general. I love making and giving things to people...so if I could do this full-time, I would. Like this:


Whomever wins this beauty is so lucky - I would be happy to win the pattern!

Oh wait, one more thing

Maybe I haven't fully explained my obsession with owls. It all started with these PJ capris from Target:

There are now matchy slippers @ Target - need to get my paws on those before they disappear.

Then there was the Scrabble tile pendant which I had to get.

Then the Tula Pink fabric...

Then the fabric used in the bag (I'm blanking on the name at the moment), which I found at the cheaper M&L Fabrics in Anaheim ($8/yard versus $9.40/yard at the fabric store about 1/2 mile away). Definitely worth the trip to Anaheim (plus I can sneak on over to the D-Land if its not Saturday).

So now I'm hooked...

Recent Finishes - Photos Finally!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a thing for bags...in particular, tote bags. I'm totally buying into this whole BYOB (bring your own bag) to the grocery store, Target, etc. Because I get to have bags. :) So when I saw the Day in the Park Backpack Tote somewhere on someone's blog, I knew I had to make it. So I jumped onto Purl's website, which is also where I found the magical pinky girlie airplane/rocket/helicopter fabric. Anywho, I LOVE this bag! The pattern was actually on tissue paper, like clothing patterns. But I just took my handy acrylic rulers, took measurements, and cut w/out the patterns using the good 'ol rotary cutter. The bag does have curved bottom corners, so I made a corner template from an index card, which worked very well for these purposes.

See, it's a tote...

...it's a backpack...
There's only a few things I would do differently from the instructions. First, when making the straps, I would use my preferred method of making straps (which I hate doing, BTW), as taught by the fabulous Nancy Greene of Pink Sand Beach Designs. Basically, Nancy's method involves ironing the strap fabric in half, then fusing a strip of DecorBond on one side, and Pellon Fusible Fleece 987F on the other side, plus a strip of twill tape snuck inside the folded over strap. This combo gives a really sturdy strap, and it is soooo much easier to edgestitch the open side. Now I know just to go with what I trust and know how to do. The other thing that I would do differently is the inside zipper pouch, also using Nancy's fab techiniques. She has taught me to create an inside zipper pouch in a manner which completely disguises all raw edges of the zipper. Plus, my metholodogy of just measuring the pieces to rotary cut worked out so well! One other tip: pin the pieces together and label when cutting. I would have gotten confused, and spent a lot of time figuring out what was what if I hadn't.

Did you notice my recent obsession with owls heavily influenced my choice of fabric?? Apparently, the love of owls is a quilter thing, but since I'm relatively new to fabrics that aren't sold just by Joanns, that's fine by me. I was super-excited a couple of weeks ago to score an entire fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's Full Moon Forest on ebay - the line is impossible to find, and I adore the owl paisley print in this line. I think some of the line will be part of my 5" squares to swap - I just have to work up the courage to cut into those awesome fat quarters.


Here is the Christmas tree skirt, which I talked about here. The backing fabric is just cream stars on navy from Joanns.

The "neck" of the tree skirt - oh, this was not fun to sew with all of the layers in such a tight little circle with bulky fabric/batting seams to go thru (even with the seams pressed open). I made the ties with leftover scraps of the fabric used - mostly because I didn't have the backing fabric at that time, and didn't want to sit around idly. So I just randomly strip pieced onto muslin. The conclusion here is that I need to go buy a fabric turner - it was hard to turn the tubes of the ties (wow, that sounds weird, huh??) inside out using my poly-carbonate straws, which are my normal turning tools (no chopsticks in this house, we eat Chinese food with forks).

The finished product - I love it!

Yes, I'm 26, and completely adore the country shabby look. Don't get me wrong, I like bright modern colors, but the country look makes my heart beat a little faster. Now that I'm working at a company that imports furniture, I'm trying to define my decorating style. For the living room, I would say the style if Modern French Country (modern because of the relatively clean, non-ornate lines of my furniture).

OK, enough babbling for today... I don't really enjoy reading long blog posts, so if you suffered through this one to the end, I commend you!

My first swap!

Yeeks! I signed up for my first swap! But this one should be easy - 5" squares of fabric. I just need to cut 24 of them... Better get on it!

Nebraska Enchiladas

So I've been making these enchiladas from a modified recipe in my Grandma's church cookbook since I was in HS. I call them Nebraska Enchiladas since they are only sort of like enchiladas (like the authentic kind I LOVE here in LA)...and they don't usually have enough kick behind them to be considered spicy in any way/shape/form. But here goes the recipe:

Nebraska Enchiladas
by: Michelle Fox

Ingredients:
3-4 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 - 2 cups Mexican cheese
1 cup salsa/picante sauce
1/2 - 3/4 pounds of ground beef/turkey
Burrito-sized tortilla shells
Spices

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Brown the beef/turkey with your choice of spices. I like the Mrs Dash spice mix, couple with some onion (dried is OK, the real stuff is better), garlic salt, etc. Meanwhile, soften the cream cheese in the microwave if you need to. Place 1 cup of the Mexi cheese and the cream cheese in a mixing bowl, along with 1/4 cup of the salsa/picante. Drain off any fat from the beef/turkey, and add to the mixing bowl. Mix it all up with a spatula (it will look sort of gross, and make squishy noises) until fully combined.

Coat Pirex 9x13 dish with Pam. Take a tortilla, and spoon the mixed cheese/beef/salsa in a line down the middle of the shell. Then roll it up, and place in the Pirex. I use tortillas that are probably close to 13" in diameter, so I lay them long-ways in the Pirex. This usually yields about 5 tortillas used. Once full of the tortillas, cover the tops with the remaining 3/4 cup of salsa and 1/2 cup of Mexi cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes in the oven, long enough that the ends brown a little (love the crunch on the end of the tortillas!). Serve & enjoy.

Tips: Philly makes perfect little 3 oz squares of cream cheese - these work great. However, they don't come in reduced fat. Lately, I've been using the whipped reduced-fat cream cheese. Feel free to experiment with the measurements of the ingredients - I don't use measuring cups anymore, I just put in what feels right. There's nothing offensive about the ingredients that too much of one thing will ruin the dish. These enchiladas also make great leftovers - they almost taste better reheated than the initial pull-out-of-the-oven stage...almost!

These things taste great with Diet Pepsi, which I haven't had for 10 days now. The withdrawal symptoms are starting to wane - the headaches are only mildly annoying, rather than completely distracting.

Word of the Day

RIDICULICIOUS

Source: Disney's California Adventure
Use: "This ice cream is ridiculicious!"

Yes, I'm going to be incorporating this one in my vocabulary. :)