Fall Wreath

I love fall. There is colder weather, leaves turning orange and maroon, college football, jeans, sweatshirts, tea, wind, and so much more. It is a sweet time to enjoy being outside and opening the windows in the house. After a very hot and very humid Tennessee summer, I am more than ready for fall.

All this talk about fall leads me to think of fall decorations. This weekend one of my projects was a fall wreath (even though it was over 80 degrees out side...).

I was inspired by my friend's wreath I saw last week and I knew I had to make one. Here are few of the ones that I liked from Pintrest.

You can find them here, here, here, & here.

I wanted a collage of all of these so this is what I ended up with:



To make the roses I followed this video at Cherry Street Cottage

And then I just used my creativity!I think the yarn gives it a fall feel while the flowers give it some color and vibrancy like the leaves have this time of year. I love adding personalization too with the letter b. I made the "b" by braiding a different kind of yarn and then gluing it on top. That last white rose I made with lace, too! Its so pretty.

I am linking up to the It's Fall Y'all Party today.

And I am entering this into the CSI Fall project of the week.

VT Fleece Throw

Over the weekend while I was at my local craft store, I came across the clearance fabric table. And there on the top was this beauty:



Yes, that is right,  Pink Virginia Tech Fleece on the sale rack (living in Tennessee does has its perks). I of course snatched a yard and a half up for $5 (usually $19.99 a yard).  Hey-o savings!

Instead of spending money on another piece of fleece, I wanted something classy and inexpensive. So I brought it home and looked at my spare fabric, nothing matched. But then I remembered a table cloth that had a stain in the middle of it that I never use. That is what became the back. Here are the steps that I took to make this amazing throw:

1. Place table cloth on fleece and cut to desired size (the table cloth was an oval - so I made the throw have rounded edges).



2. Then cut out in a contract fabric and apply interfacing. Trace Pattern.





3. Then sew on the the pattern and cut away fabric (using same method I used for the shirt in this post).

[caption id="attachment_381" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="I used the VT exactly where the stain was, so I eneded up cutting that away."][/caption]

4.  Sew fabric and fleece together along edges, leaving 5in open at bottom to turn inside-out.

5.  Turn inside out. Slip stitch the opening closed. AND DONE!

And it is perfect for watching the game on cold days or just using it while reading. Its great!

Hokies have a big game this weeks against Clemson. Let Go.... HOKIES!

Curtain Problems. Solved.

So my closet has this problem: the curtains show the clothes behind it.

Ugh. It is awful. It makes it hard to relax in there without thinking that I need to go organize it, clean it, etc.. I have been wanting to fix it for a while, and I have finally gotten around to it! YAY!

I enjoy not having closet doors and bring able to see the whole closet when I pull back the curtains. I also like the idea of sheet curtains, it fits with other curtains in our room (remember this post).  Anyway, with a little bit of sewing and some tacks, problem solved!

Soooooo much better. Yay for projects that take 30 minutes!

Project Purse

One of my friends here in Chattanooga has a beautiful Etsy shop (you should check it out here!), and I love her bags. They are amazing.  That is why I took on my most recent project.

I used a free bag template that I found here, and altered it a bit to fit the fabric I had and the style that I like best.

Here are the results:

What do you think? I love it. It is fun, these colors and fabric are amazing- can use it in the fall spring and summer! Its not perfect, but it is my first attempt at making these typed of bags!

Birthday Presents!

Ever since I have lived on my own, I have been trying to hand make most presents. I tell everyone its because I do it out of love, and yes this is true- but it is also because it ends up being WAY cheaper than buying the same thing. And it ends up being unique (and full of love).

Yesterday was my sister's 22nd Birthday (Happy B-day Meg!).  I really wanted to make her something that she would use and enjoy (and something easy to mail).

One project I have been wanting to make for a while was a reverse applique t-shirt ( I first saw it here at Sweet Verbena). I knew Megan would love it , so I went to work. Following the instructions on the blog, I ended up with this version:





This was a fun and quick project. And I think it looks wonderful.

Here is the total cost of the project (don't look, Megan!):

• T-shirt from Forever 21: $5.60


• 1 yard of Fabric (from Hancock): $3.95


• Fusible Interfacing (from remnants pile): $1.00

TOTAL COST: $10.95

And I had so much Fabric left over, I decided to make a Part II gift. Megan just moved into an apartment and is now cooking for her self, and what does every cooking student need? An Apron. So I went to work using the rest of the fabric from this project and a little bit from a previous project. I ended up with a pretty chic reversible apron with a pocket!

And on top of this, this apron was free to make since I had everything I needed!

Two unique gifts for $10.95. Oh YEAH!



Here is the tutorial on how to make this apron.  Hope you liked the gift Megan! :-)

GRE, Why?

Tomorrow I am taking the GRE. So no craft blog post, I need to cram.

I can't wait until tomorrow afternoon when this test will be done. Happy Happy.

B-T-Dubs (By-The -Way), I think its useless to study and be tested on material I have not learned since freshmen year of HIGH SCHOOL! And then try to figure out vocab words that no one ever uses any more. This test is not testing my ability to suceed in grad school, but my ability to take a standardized test. I digress, but I am so done with studying for this thing.

As I always say, this is just ONE test in light of ETERNITY with Jesus Christ. Amen.

ITS HERE!

This just came in the mail, finally! So excited about it. I think I'll spend the afternoon reading through this!

Design*Sponge!

Crab-y Bisque

Its been a while sine I have shared a recipe with y'all. So here it is, an AMAZING Crab Bisque. Warning, this is not at all healthy, but it is so amazing and so rich. I couldn't even finish a cup of it for dinner last night, that's how rich it is! Enjoy!

Crab Bisque

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour


• 1 (1.25 ounce) envelope hollandaise sauce mix


• 4 cups half-and-half, divided


• 1/4 cup butter


• 3 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning TM


• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard


• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed


• 1 cup whipping cream


• 1 tablespoon cooking sherry


• 1 pound fresh crabmeat (or 1/2 lb, depending on how crab-y you like your bisque!)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, blend flour and hollandaise sauce mix with 2 cups half-and-half.


2. Melt butter in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Slowly add hollandaise mixture, stirring constantly until thickened. Add remaining half-and-half, Old Bay, dry mustard, celery seed, and whipping cream. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Add crabmeat and sherry, stirring gently until warmed through. Serve immediately.

Taken from Karyn's Cream of Crab Soup Recipe

Making a Reversible Apron

I love cooking, and when you cook a lot, you must have an apron!  There are so many seriously amazing aprons out there (just check out Etsy). And they are really handy to have when cooking and baking, (and you are prone to making a mess like me).

That is why I recently made one for a friend! I hope she likes it, I think it is cute, elegant and will look amazing both on and hung on a peg in the kitchen.

So here are the steps I went through to make an easy reversible Apron:

1. Cut the Apron piece (I wanted mine to the knees, so it was 18''x26''), 3 strips the length of the apron (2''x26), and then one square (mine was 9''x8''). I wanted a reversible apron, so I cut the exact same in another fabric as well.

2. Iron hem into both squares for the pockets. Sew the top part (the widest hem)



3. Sew all the 3 band strips together to get two long strips.



4. Then sew the two strips together (right sides together) on the top only. (Using a small seam allowance)

5. Sew pockets on to each fabric piece.  (Make sure you don't sew the top, you want to be able to use the pocket :-) )

6.Sew the two pieces together (right sides together) leaving the top open. And then you will have something like this: (I added lace at the bottom of mine to give it some flare. You can add another piece of fabric, ribbon, or even leave it plain on the bottom.)



7. Add the band on the top, putting the apron between the two pieces. Sew the whole length of the band. Finish the band edges.



8. Iron & done!

And there you have it, a reversible apron that is cute and functional. This whole process only took about two hours. The possibilities are endless with  the use of fabrics, shapes, and accessories!

Chalkboard & Fabric Pots

I wanted to ease my transition back to the craft room, by making an easy craft of something I had seen on Pintrest: Chalkboard Pots. Now I realize that it is a little bit late in the year to think about flowers and pots and all the good stuff, but I didn't have the time, and now I do.

To help narrow down what I was thinking about making I consulted the encyclopedia of all things crafty: Pintrest. There are some really amazing ideas out there! Here is a little mood board of a few of my top faves.

Sources:  Sissors & Spatulas , The Craft Project, Christine Chitnis, & under the sycamore

After consulting those blogs, I went to work. I couldn't choose just one, so I went to work on  a few.

Here are my fabric ones (that your previewed in this post):





Next came time for the Chalkboard pots. This was easy, and I love the result.



And then after some chalkboard paint and three days (side note/rant: why in the world does it take three days until it is ready to be written on?) here is the result. I love it!

And I couldn't help myself:

I love chalkboard paint! What else can I paint with it? :-)

Kitchen Update

In the past month we have added a lot of big pieces to our kitchen.

My goal for our kitchen was more storage and more seating in the area. We love to make food and entertain, and out past situation was not very helpful in that. Fitting four at our past table was a struggle. And now we can do it, and the other weekend we fit 6 around the table - granted it was for dessert but we all fit, yay!

So here is the before:

And here is progress that we have made in the past month:

And what would be September without a little support to our College football teams?

Go HOKIES! Go BLUE!

I just finished one kitchen cushion, which means, there is one to go! I will hopefully have this done by the time October comes around. :-)