Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Happy Birthday To My Fur-Baby

Today my precious fur-baby, Vito, turns 8!

I can't believe he's getting so old!  Hubby got him for his 30th birthday back in 2006.  It's been a wild ride, but I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Monday, April 28, 2014

All Because Hubby Has A Big Mouth

I don't normally tackle what I consider big projects on week nights.  After getting home from work and getting dinner, I'm usually just plain wore out to do anything major.  Well... tonight had to be an exception.

Hubby works with my BIL (sister's husband) and I guess they were sitting around at lunch sometime last week chatting about cakes for some reason.  My BIL proceeded to tell everyone about the "best cupcakes he's ever had" and that I made them.  Hubby... being the sweetheart he is... volunteered me to make a batch for him to bring in so that everyone can try these "World's Greatest Cupcakes."  Yippee for me right? 

It's not just the time that it takes to make the cupcakes that's a pain (especially on a week night), but also shopping for the ingredients.  See...they're not just plain old chocolate cupcakes.

They're Irish Carbomb Cupcakes.  Chocolate-Guinness cupcakes with a chocolate-Jameson ganache, topped with Bailey's buttercream icing.  Very labor intensive to make as well as expensive.  I found the recipe over on The Brown Eyed Baker's blog, made them a few years ago for St. Patrick's Day and the BIL practically ate them all!  So, Hubby tells me last week that he wants to bring these cupcakes in on Tuesday when they do their pot-luck lunch.  If it wasn't for the fact that the BIL was talking them up so much, I probably wouldn't have.  But..... since they were so enthusiastically requested, as well as Hubby volunteering me to bring them, I obliged. 

Off to the grocery store we went on Saturday.  Had to pickup the beer, the whiskey, and the Irish Creme.  Problem is, you have to buy whole bottles of the stuff.  A four-pack of the beer, the 750mL bottle of whiskey, and the giant bottle of Irish Creme.  Seems kinda a waste to me for just making the cupcakes.  Fortunately, we have a new fancy-shmancy grocery store (Market District Giant Eagle for those in the area) that was a total God-send.  I was able to get one bottle of Guinness, a small bottle of Jameson, and the airplane sized bottles of Bailey's.  WOO HOO!!

I managed to crank out two dozen of them tonight after work, and boy does Hubby owe me!  I'm up way past my week-night bedtime, and I'm covered in powdered sugar.  I really hope they live up to the all the hype and everyone likes them tomorrow!


Sunday, April 27, 2014

Better Than I Had Hoped

Well, today was the day I took my MIL's Survivor quilt to the laundromat. 

I put it into a double-load machine, added the detergent, loaded it up with quarters, and said a prayer.  I was terrified that it would come out of the washer in pieces.  I did fix the seams that I found I had accidentally snipped, but wasn't sure if there were others that I missed.  As it was turning around in the machine, I watched.  Watched for a sign of something gone wrong.  Fortunately, to my surprise, it came out just fine!  Off to the dryer it went for a whopping 40 minutes to get it to dry completely.

After all was said and done... I'm ecstatic on how it turned out!
The seams frayed nicely, there were no more popped seams, and it's ever so soft!  I seriously can't wait until next weekend to give it to her!  I had to drive straight from the laundromat to a bridal shower, and I was showing it off to everyone.  It did shrink, but not too badly.  I was honestly worried that it was going to be too big, but now it's just that perfect size to cuddle up on the couch with!

I didn't get a chance to take a full-size photo today with the shower and all, but I will definitely get one posted before we give it to her on Saturday.  I can't wait to see the look on her face :-)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

WIP Wednesday: Whoops!

Another WIP Wednesday for ya :-)

http://www.freshlypieced.com/

I'm still plugging away at my MIL's Survivor Quilt.  I've got it all sewn together and I've been snipping seams for the past few nights.  I'll tell ya what... that job is easier said than done!  I've even got a good pair of rag quilt scissors and my hand is killing me after about a half-hour.

Apparently, I got too comfortable in my snipping and made a Whoops!

Snipped the seam :-(  Big time!!  Looks like I'm going to have to figure out how to fix this sucker.  Hopefully it's the only one.  I would just hate to get this to the laundromat and wash it, just to have it fall apart!

View from the back side
I'm debating on whether or not I should try and put it back on the sewing machine to correct, or just hand-sew it shut.  I'm thinking sewing machine as it will make a nice, sturdy patch.  We'll have to see though considering the other seams are already snipped.  May be more difficult to do than I think.





Sunday, April 20, 2014

Hoppy Easter!

Hope everyone is having a Very Happy Easter!  The Easter Bunny came and visited me last night :-)

Ironically he brought all of Hubby's favorites ;-)  It was really sweet of him to think of me though!

Before we got started with our day, I grabbed a bunch of fabric I bought for some upcoming projects, serged the edges with my Serger, and then threw them in the washer.  THANK GOD for the Shout Color Catchers!  I had one piece of red-red fabric that needed washed, and I was terrified it was going to bleed.  So, I threw it all in together with two of the color catchers and there was absolutely NO bleeding!  Woo Hoo!  These things are the most ingenious inventions, and I may have to take up stock in the company because I know I'll be using them on everything now!

Once everything was washed and dried, it was time for the fun part... ironing.  Took me about a half hour, but I got everything pressed and ready to go.

Top two cotton prints are for a self-binding receiving blanket for my baby gift stash.  The next three (blue, red, and black) are for an upcoming Dr. Seuss quilt I'm going to be working on, and then the bottom two cotton prints are for some reversible placemats for my kitchen. 

I can't wait to get started on my next project... but I'm trying to be good and finish the Survivor Quilt first. I got it all sewn together (haven't taken a picture yet... sorry!!) and am ready to start snipping seams.  As soon as that's all done (I'm hoping by this weekend), I can get started on another project.  I've got a million projects to do (and to finish!), and before I start a new one, one of the old ones needs to be completed.  Great idea in theory, but who knows if I'll actually be able to keep it up.  Lol.  I've got severe craft project ADD and can't just focus on one project at at time.  :-)

We spent the day with my family over at my sister & BIL's house.  We had a great dinner and it was wonderful to spend time with the family and with my ADORABLE niece... Miss L.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter! 



Saturday, April 19, 2014

SEWjo Saturday

Here we go for my first SEWjo Saturday from over at My Go-Go Life.


I'm still plugging away at the Survivor Quilt for my MIL.


Not much has changed since my post on Wednesday other than I started sewing the rows together.  Slowly but surely, it's coming together and I hope I can start snipping seams in the next few days or so. 

I headed off to JoAnn's again today, armed with coupons again (of course) and managed to escape with a minimal purchase. I just picked up some more flannel for doing some receiving blankets, the binding, backing, and batting for the quilt I'm going to use that jelly roll I bought the other day, as well as some fusible fleece to use on making some new place mats for my kitchen.  I was good :-)  I did decide to return that iron I bought last weekend.  There were just too many negative reviews for me to keep it.  Maybe it'll go on sale again and I'll grab it, but for now I think I'm going to stick to my "old faithful" Black & Decker. 


On a side note, today has been BEAUTIFUL outside!  So beautiful in fact that Hubby was desperate to grill out. 

Burgers and Italian sausage on the grill!!  YUM!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday!


Friday, April 18, 2014

Happy Mail Day

Happy Good Friday everyone!  Today Hubby and I are fortunate enough to have the day off, and what better way for me to spend my day than hiding out in my craft room and playing with some HAPPY MAIL!

The mailman just loved me today... orders from Quilters Warehouse, Amazon, Citrus Twist, and Missouri Star Quilting Co.  Lots of new goodies to play with!
A Touch Of Whimsy by Anka's Treasures from Quilters Warehouse.


Ansonia Pink & Chocolate Jelly Roll by Denyse Schmidt for Free Spirit Fabrics from Missouri Star Quilting Company.

Also from Missouri Star Quilting Company....


Now, I didn't take a picture of what's in my Citrus Twist kit for this month, but I'll try and do a video over the next few days showing off all the goodies in the kit.

So many new goodie to play with, I don't even know where to start!  Guess the first step is getting everything put away and organized in my craft room... and then it'll be time to play!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

WIP Wednesday - Survivor Quilt

Here we go with my first WIP Wednesday for Freshly Pieced's blog.

http://www.freshlypieced.com/


I was able to make major headway over the past few days on my MIL's quilt.  All the pieces were cut and embroidered over the weekend and now it was just time to sandwich them together and get it laid out. 



I need a bigger floor.  Lol.  I had to move everything up against the walls to get this laid out properly, and even then I ran out of room.  I'm really pleased as to the looks of it.  I was honestly really worried about the grey/black squares being over-powering, but I don't think it looks too bad.  The quilt looks HUGE, but I just need to keep telling myself that with using 1/2" seam allowances, it'll shrink up a bit once it's all sewn together.

Hubs and I are going over to my parents house tonight, so I doubt I'll get any work done on it today :-(  I am, however, off work on Friday so my plan is to get started sewing it all together tomorrow night and finishing it up on Friday so I can get it off to the laundromat at some point to get it washed.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

I Was A BAAAADDDD Girl!

I just couldn't help myself... I swear!  It's not my fault that JoAnn's put out so many coupons and had what I needed wanted on sale for a crazy price!  Hubby should have known better too... to let me go to JoAnn's unattended, armed with coupons!

I had a bunch of 40% and 50% coupons, PLUS a 20% off your entire purchase coupon (including sale items!)  so I just couldn't help myself.  Three hours in the store later, I was walking out with some major loot.

Mega ton of fabric for upcoming projects - Simplicity patterns for my mom ($1 each!), a Singer sewing box, crib-sized Warm & Natural batting, 50-pk of Wonder Clips, Dual-Purpose Marking Pen, "Precut Quilts" from Leisure Arts, straight pins, curved safety pins, a 6"x12" Omnigrip ruler, spray water bottle, a bottle of Mary Ellen's Best Press, and finally.... an Oliso Pro Smart Iron (on sale in the store for 30% off!!).

Now, the iron was totally a non-planned purchase.  I have seen it on various blogs and on many YouTube videos, and I really love the concept of it.  However, the reviews are split right down the middle and I really can't justify the cost, even after the 30% off, if it's going to give me grief in a few months.  I have a feeling it's going to go back to the store this weekend :-(  Does anyone have any experience with this baby to give me some feedback as to whether or not I should keep it?

Oh, and I also managed to finally settle on an ironing board.  $99 in-store plus a 50% off coupon = Happy Rosie.
My mom bought this same one last year I believe and she said she's been happy with it.  Although, after reading the reviews on JoAnn's website, I'm not too sure about it now.  It may go back with the iron on Friday when I have a chance to get back to the store.  I'm not sure. :-(

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Busy, Busy Day

No crafting for this gal today :-(  Between sleeping in a bit this morning and all the running around we had to do... no chance I was going to get into the Craft Cave and get any work done. 

Today is my FIL's birthday, so we headed down to Akron to visit.  After a quick stop at the mall to pick up his birthday gift, we were on our way. 

It is really nice that we get to go down and visit for a while, and my MIL is doing fabulous!  She's all done with her radiation <insert happy dance here> and is on her way to recovery!  We got to spend some quality time with Hubby's family and it was just so nice.  Plus, the weather cooperated beautifully, so we have an awesome day weather-wise for a nice drive down there. 

Hubby and I went on a mission when we left for the perfect ironing board.  My current ironing board is about 13 years-old and it was one of the cheapo ones from WallyWorld.  It's rusted, doesn't like to stay up, and in general... has seen better days.  So, while we were out, Hubby carted me around to about 5 different stores... none of which had one that I liked!!  Seriously, how difficult can it be to find an ironing board (especially one that doesn't cost a kidney!)?  Striking out at every store, we finally decided just to head home and we'd continue the search another day.

So... we're home, and I am totally drained from a long day out.  Really don't have the energy to do any crafting.  PLUS, I really don't have the energy to clean up my room so that I can actually get some work done.



Please tell me that I'm not the only one with a messy craft room!  How much more crafting stuff can I cram into one room?  I've got sewing/quilting stuff, scrapbooking stuff, and knitting/crocheting stuff all crammed into one little space.  I seriously can't wait until we move (eventually).  I'll need a room specifically for each one of my crafts.   He he he.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Say A Little Prayer

Today I broke out my embroidery machine that has been tucked away in a closet for over two years!  It was misbehaving worse than a tired two year-old so it was put in "time out" for a bit.  Honestly, I had given up on it and was in the market for getting a new one when I decided to give it one last chance.  If it didn't work, I was going to take it to a local sewing center and have it "tuned up," but I wanted to see if the time-out had worked first.

I started off easy by doing some appliques for my MIL's quilt.  This ribbon design I found on Etsy and I wasn't sure how it would embroidery out.  Sometimes, depending on how the design was digitized, the design comes out wonky.  So.... I held my breath and hit the start button.



Not too bad!  My fussy-cutting of the design wasn't the greatest, but it worked!!  I am SOOOO excited!!!  Maybe that time-out really worked :-)  Now the big test is, can it handle more embroidery.  With that in mind, I went in search of some applique designs that had a bit more to them and I found this from my favorite site to get embroidery designs from... Embroidery Library.  I changed up the colors a bit, but all-in-all, it didn't turn out too bad!

Not too bad :-)  The applique went down smoothly, and the satin stitching inside the flower stitched without a problem.  I swear.... I did cartwheels!  I'm so excited my machine appears to be working!

Now.... the true test will be to do a full embroidery design.  No applique.  For this one, I wanted to try an intricate design with some wording.  So, I went back to Embroidery Library and found this gorgeous design.


 Not only did it embroider beautifully, not once did I have a thread snap or a bobbin get tangled (which were the problems I had been having with my machine).  Seriously, I can't tell you how excited this makes me!! 

After a couple hours tonight of work, I managed to get all the squares cut for the blanket, all the applique blocks done, and two of the five embroidered blocks done.  All-in-all, not a bad night :-)


Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Cuddle Crazy

Cuddle blanket #2 is done!

Again, I apologize for the cruddy picture.  I never can seem to snap any pictures when there is daylight outside.  Anywho, this one was "rockstar" themed and I'm so happy with the way it turned out.  This time around, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on quilt binding and tried a few of their tips and ticks.  Also, this time around I hand-bound it instead of machine binding it.  It took me about an hour, but it was totally worth it.  Looks great from the back. 


Well, not great, but definitely better than the first time around!  My mitered corners still need a lot of work, but I'm getting there.  Hopefully after another couple of quilts, my technique will get better and I'll look like a pro :-)



Monday, April 7, 2014

I Need An Intervention


Hi, I'm Rosie, and I'm a craft-a-holic!

Seriously.... as Hubby frequently points out, when I get a bug up my butt about something, it's all I can think about.  I'm all about the sewing and quilting right now.  I've got so many projects planned, it's not even funny.  Now that I've finished my first cuddle quilt, I can't wait to get started on my next project.  I've got all the fabric cut for cuddle quilt #2, but I can't stop thinking about what project I'm going to work on next.

I can go ahead and post this here as I know she doesn't read my blog, but I'm going to be making my dear MIL a rag quilt for her birthday/Mother's Day next month.  She's a soon-to-be cancer survivor and I saw an this awesome blanket at the sewing expo over the weekend that I thought would be perfect for her. I didn't buy the kit because the color for general cancer is purple, but I managed to find her shop on Etsy and going to use it for inspiration.

Photo Credit: on Etsy
I LOVE the look of this quilt, but wanted to make it a little bigger.  Hers is 48" x 48" and I want to make more of a throw quilt.  So... I've modified the design a bit making it bigger, but also adding some "Rosie Touches" to it.  Instead of the word "HOPE" going across it, I'm going to use my embroidery machine to embroidery a couple of really pretty designs I found over at Embroidery Library

Because I'm a dork (and a computer wiz), I made up a layout in Excel as to what I want the blanket to look like.

The finished blanket will be 52" x 71" roughly.  I'm going to do some appliques as well as some fully embroidered designs on the white squares.  I just need to find an applique design of an awareness ribbon to use and I'm all set.  Hopefully my machine will cooperate with me and I can get them all done.  If not, I do have a plan B.... go to my mom's house and use her "Cadillac" Viking machine :-)

Armed with a handful of coupons again, I headed off to JoAnn's after work tonight and picked up all the fabric for this baby.


Only one problem.  I was looking for a dark purple flannel print for the solid squares (no embroidery) and COULD NOT FIND ONE to save my life!  I swear... they don't make purple flannel for some reason.  So, I had to improvise.  I think the grey/black scroll will work.  I'm just worried it'll make the quilt too dark.  Ah well... we shall see.

Even after all the planning I've done for this blanket, I've managed to plan not one but TWO more!  It's involving some shopping online and then yet another trip to JoAnn's this weekend to pickup all the stuff.  I just can't help myself.  There is just so much I want to do!  Add to that the THREE knitting projects I've got on the needles right now, and the TWO scrapbooks I'm working on.... there is just not enough time in the day for me to get it all done!

Can't wait until next week when I've got a three day weekend that I can just spend in my craft cave :-)






Sunday, April 6, 2014

Getting Back On The Horse

It has seriously been almost 2 years since I've sewn anything!  No joke!  I moved my craft room from downstairs to upstairs about a year and a half ago, and the sewing stuff got packed in the closet for safe keeping as there wasn't enough room in my new "Craft Cave" to accommodate all the scrapbooking stuff PLUS all the sewing stuff.  I got rid of my stash of fabric and tucked away my machines.  That is, until today.

My serger... all ready to get to work

After the expo yesterday, I'm so excited about starting on these cuddle blankets!  It feels good to pull out my machines, dust them off, and get them back up and running.  First thing was to serge all the edges of my flannel cuts so that I can get them all washed.  That was a chore in itself.  I forgot how to thread my machine :-(  After about an hour of fiddling, I finally got it and it was off to the races to get all the cuts done.

After a good washing and dying, the fabric was ironed and ready to be cut.  Fortunately, the blanket is small and the pattern very self-explanatory and the cutting was easy peasy.  I decided to do the boy version first as it was being done in Hubby's favorite... Superman!  About four hours later, I had this...

Sorry about the cruddy picture... it's late here and dark out and the lighting in my craft cave isn't the greatest for photos :-(

It came out so stinkin cute!  It's about 21" x 21" square and I did a 2 1/2" binding on it and did it on my sewing machine.  Boy I won't do that again!  The back came out terrible!  There are a whole bunch of spots where the machine didn't catch the binding on the back and I had to go back and hand-sew it anyways.  Plus there are a couple of spots where the back of the binding slipped and it's not even.  Next time I'm going to just hand-bind it and see how that goes.

The blanket itself was very minimally quilted.  I "stitched in the ditch" down the main seams in both directions.   I've yet to try machine quilting yet and I didn't want to mess this up trying, so I did what I knew.  Hopefully down the road I'll be able to try my hand at actually machine quilting it.  We'll see.

Now it's off to cut the pieces for the girl version :-)

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Inspiration Overload

Today was a total girls day for me and my mom.  She had an extra ticket to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo at the Cleveland IX-Center, so I got to spend the entire day drooling over machines, gathering inspiration, and having a blast with my mom.

Mom & I
I'm not going to lie.... I was in complete awe when I saw some of the new machines (embroidery and sewing) and it made me drool just a bit.  I've got a Brother embroidery machine that is about 8 years old and more temperamental than a 2-year old child.  Some days it likes to work, other days it likes to eat the thread and garble the fabric.  I do, however, have an awesome serger and sewing machine that are work horses.  It was really cool though to see how far the embroidery machines have come since I bought mine, and it makes me want to sell a kidney so that I can upgrade.  Ha ha ha.

One of the big bonuses to the show is all the vendors there with goods to sell.  Honestly, I was very well behaved and only managed to spend about $80.  A pattern (Playtime by KariePatch Designs), a couple of half-yards of fabric, and a pair of rag scissors was all I bought.  Had I have not been on a self-inflicted spending freeze, I might have gone nuts and walked out of there with an entire sewing room's worth of stuff!  Mom, on the other hand, had no hesitation and spent for the both of us.  Albeit, she has a larger room to accommodate all the loot, not to mention a new grandbaby to sew for.... so I can see how it was easy for her to shop.


My Loot (minus the pattern)

After the show, I met up with my BFF for some dinner and some retail therapy at JoAnn's.  With the prices of fabric at the expo a little out of my budget, I decided to check out the sale ads.  Low and behold... JoAnn's had flannel on sale :-)  So.... Miss Em and I headed off to the store, armed with the pattern I bought from the expo and a handful of coupons.

Flannel Galore!

I got enough stuff to make two cuddle blankets that I bought the pattern for... one boy and one girl.  I can't wait to get started!  It's been so long since I've sewn that my machines and all my supplies are still packed in a closet from when we moved my sewing room a few years ago.  The pattern doesn't seem too intricate, so I think it'll be a great warm-up project to get me back into the swing of things again.





Friday, April 4, 2014

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Welcome!!

Welcome to my new blog :-)  I've been blogging off and on for years, but decided to simplify everything and condense it all into one new blog.  Here I hope to share with you projects that I'm working on, hopefully share some inspiration, as well as ramble on about the on-goings of my crazy life.

Just to do a little introduction.... My name is Jess (a.k.a. Rosie) and I'm a thirty-something year old gal who is married to the most supportive man in the world, and mom to the world's laziest dog EVER!  I'm a knitter, a crocheter, scrapbooker, new sewer and quilter, and an aspiring photographer.  I am always looking for a craft to do which keeps me fairly busy.  I am notorious for not finishing projects, and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to start a blog.  To be able to have some motivation to finish things so I have things to share :-) 

I hope you find my blog inspiring and interesting, and please feel free to leave comments and subscribe!