New Year's Day Hike '11

I was reading a dear friends blog last week and she mentioned a resolution (she got this idea from her friends blog ), a non-resolution if you will, that consisted of one word. Not a pile or a list of things to hold yourself accountable to (that you’ll break by the time spring hits) but just one word that could sum up your goals for this new year.

I was challenged by this and knew I wanted to take part in it too. I already knew what I needed to work on (a whole long list of things!  ) but I needed to come up with a single word that could help me stay focused through the year. I asked God and He revealed a seemingly simple word but a word that has more power to it than people give it credit. A word that is somewhat unnatural for us to do in a very self-sufficient world that wants to do everything in its own ability. A word that would change all of our lives if we took more time to do it. A word that caused the Israelites to win battles,  that fed 4,000 people with just 7 loaves of bread, and a word that helps us have an intimate communion with God. I need more of this word.

Prayer

I want to be known as the woman who prays, who prays without ceasing, and a woman who prays in FAITH knowing that God is able!  Not just with my morning petitions to God but deep, intimate, uninterrupted conversation with Him. Prayers where I don’t rush half way through because I have to be somewhere in 30 min. Prayers where I get lost in God’s goodness. I think I’m too busy to pray at times but it’s the complete opposite: “I’m too busy NOT to pray”  <– (Insert book title that I’ve started to read )

I know what the power of prayer can do in someone’s life. I see influential women in my life that are so faithful in their praying. I know if I leave a request in their hands it will be prayed for…whatever the outcome may be. I want to be that woman.

Prayer encompasses so many things I want to carry out this year because all of my goals need to be lifted up in PRAYER. Everything needs God’s sifting. Everything that I’m going through, that my husband, family, and friends are going through; need to be lifted in prayer.

God asks us to pray, to pray with faith that can move mountains, and to pray without ceasing.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6

“…For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”  Matthew 17:20-21

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I want to lay everything before God and pray through it not in my strength but in His.

What is your one word?

(I’d love to hear your thoughts!)

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Sorry for my absense…I’ve been eating ice cream, brownies, ginger snaps, and candied nuts!

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A couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law asked if I could help her out with a stocking stuffer gift. She saw a blog post  from this place I was excited and took on the challenge! She sent me all the fabric and a “manufacturing fee” which let my buy some ice cream and a fun diy magazine!

Here’s what the “manufacturing fee”  really paid for:

1000 calories

60 grams of fat

&

a very satisfied tummy

Thankfully my husband helped me polish this tub off but I’ve been known to eat a whole one of these in one sitting. That’s what watching SATC and chatting with your bff does to you!

You can check out the blog for step by step directions. They were very easy to follow!

Yum!

I think almost every girl loves a new scarf to help accessorize their outfits. I do! I bought some grey knit fabric on clearance back in the summer and I still hadn’t used it for anything. I thought the light weight comfy material would work well turned into a scarf. I searched all over in the craft blog world and didn’t come up with much. Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty fantastic scarf ideas out there but nothing that jumped out at me for my sister-in-law.

Enter:

This was a very simple project.

What you’ll need:

* 1 yard fabric cut in (2) pieces, lengthwise

* Coordinating thread

….simple!

I don’t have specific step-by-step directions and I didn’t take exact measurements. This project is so simple I’ll just give you a run of how to do it.

Pin the (2) pieces together that you just cut and sew at one end, creating your typical scarf when you drape it around your neck.  

Put it on and find a good length for yourself (the scarf should meet your mid to upper thighs). I had to cut roughly 20″ off from each end making the scarf roughly 60+ inches long. Approx. 30+ inches for each rectangle.

Exact measurements? Nah…you make it the length you think would fit you best.

When you find the length the suits you best sew the other end together creating a big loop. You want the scarf long enough to wrap around your neck a couple of times.

If you have a serger you and finish off the seams like this:

No serger? No problem. With your fabric being a knit the raw edges tend to roll up anyway and it doesn’t fray so skip this step if you’d like!

And the scarf wouldn’t be complete with out a little flower pin.

Here’s the scarf on my sister….wrapped around her neck, twice, with an added flower

I’m Linking up:

Be Different Act Normal

Tater Tots & Jello

A Little Lovely

Thompson Family-Life

Cute? I think so!

Like I said in my last post, we celebrated Christmas over Thanksgiving this year and we made it a “Homemade Christmas.”  Us kids swapped names so we’d know who we’d be making the gift for. I was given my sister-in-law! I racked my brain trying to figure out what to make her. I thought about a re-useable grocery bag since I know she loves them but I knew she probably already had a few. So my next idea was place mats!

I didn’t want to make any old boring kind of place mat but a fun and colorful one with some vintage flare. I recently found a great quilting shop nearby and I searched for fabric designers like Amy Butler and Heather Baily. My heart fell in love with every type of fabric I found there. It took me a while to figure out which fabric that would scream my SIL’s name but I decided on this lovely pattern:

Free Spirit with Heather Baily 

“EAT” & “YUM” PLACE MATS

what you’ll need:

* A yard of both a pattern top fabric and a contrasting color fabric for the bottom

* Roughly 2 yards of light weight fusible interfacing

* Coordinating thread

* Pre-wash fabric

* Seam allowance : 1/4″

* This makes 4 place mats

Make a pattern out of newspaper of the size of place mats you’d like.

Cut out (4) 17″ x 13″ pieces of your top fabric

Cut out (4) 17″ x 13″ pieces of your contrasting fabric

Cut out (4) 17″ x 13″  pieces of interfacing

(sizes can vary)

 Lay aside once all pieces are cut.

LETTERS:

I started off by finding a font I liked using Microsoft Word. I traced the letters on paper and then transferred them to a sturdy folder.

Once I traced them to the folder I cut them out and this became my pattern for the letters.

When you have your letters cut out put them aside.

Take your left over interfacing and the contrasting fabric and iron the two of them together. This will give more weight to the letters.

Once you are done with ironing take your letters and start pinning them to the contrasting fabric.

 You will need to cut out each word (eat & yum) twice.

Depending on how ornate your letters are, you may want to take a deep breath before you start cutting. My hand was completely sore when I was done and I only cut out 12 letters total. I’m a wuss.

I then used fray check around the edges. Looking back and depending on the type of stitch you use you may be able to skip this.

Position your letters and start pinning them to your top fabric in preperation to start stitching them in place.

Take your fabric to your sewing machine and use an applique stitch. This was my first time doing this and it was a success!! It’s basically a zig-zag stitch with a short stitch length.

Go around the edge of the letter to as use that as your guide. Take your time because you’ll need to constantly twist and turn your fabric.

Here it is!

It looks fantastic!

Do this to the remaining letters.

When that is complete you can start on ironing the (4) 17″ x 13″ fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the contrasting fabric.

Read the directions on the interfacing as it will tell you what temperature to use and if you use steam. 

After that you can pin the right sides together of both top patterned and the bottom contrasting fabric together.

Sew along the edges (1/4″) and leave an opening so you can turn the place mat right side out.

Cut out the corners so when its right side out the corners will have a nice point to it.

Do a hidden stitch to close up the hole in which you used to turn the fabric. (no picture) 

I added a double top stitch around the edges for a decorative touch. 

And you’re done!

The lighting and picture is bad…but you get the idea

Here’s my sister-in-law unwrapping her new gift!

Yay! I think she liked them!!

I’m linking up to:

I Heart Nap Time

Sumo’s Sweet Stuff

 Making the World Cuter

Craft-O-Maniac

Get Your Craft On

Saturday Mornings

I can’t wait to share my projects! I’m super excited about one of them in particular!

See ya soon!

In highschool, I took a sewing class my senior year. I loved it! I made a hideous bandana style tank top/ halter, a button down shirt out of ugly sea-foam green fabric and (the one thing I still have and use) a pin cushion with an attached scrap bag. Over the summer I went to our local fabric shop and ran into my old sewing teacher. I told her I started sewing more and she was thrilled.

One thing I remembered learning from her was how to make a french knot. All it is a fancy way to tie a knot at the of the thread but it was my enemy. I’ve tried to remember for the longest time and I’ve had no luck. I picked up some sewing/craft books at the library and a few had directions on how to make it but it seemed like I was just reading a foreign language. It didn’t make sense. Finally, the other night, I was pretty darn determined to figure it out. I would not take “no” for an answer and ya know what?! I did it!

1. Thread your needle like you would normally do.

2. Then take the ends of the tread and place them behind the needle with a little extra left on top. Shown above.

3. Once you have the thread in place you are going to wrap the extra thread around the needle 2-3 times. This will create the knot.

4. Hold the thread in place, you might want to switch hands, and then pull the twisted thread (the knot) thru the back-end of the needle.

5. Continue to pull the knot down to the end of  the thread until it can’t move anymore.

6. You just created a french knot!

Even though a regular old knot would completely work it’s still nice to know how to make different variations!

Hopefully the directions are clear

She knew she needed to give them away and I guess I was just the person to help.

Clothes pin bags and teacher sweaters have a correlation.

Let me continue, I found an old jean jacket that screamed “teacher” from my MIL closet. She mentioned that this would be good material for her new clothes pin bag. I agreed.

 We’re re-purposing here, people.

Isn’t it great!?

Here is what the old clothes pin bag looked like.

A great way to figure out how something is made is by taking it apart! That’s just what I did. I created a pattern from the old bag and used the back side of the jean jacket for the fabric.

I wanted to make a more unique flower but this one was quick and easy!

Monday I went traveling through western Maryland and Pennsylvania with my husband and his parents. We toured one of the most famous homes that Frank Lloyd Wright built, Fallingwater, in Mill Run, PA. If you ever get the chance to go on this tour…I’d highly reccommend it!

Frank Lloyd Wright built this infamous home for the Kaufmann family in 1935. The home was to be a vacation “mountain cabin” for the family. This “cabin” turned into a main house, a guest house, a 4 car port covering, and a maid/butler service living quarter. The original budget for the home was to be about $40,000 but with the growing size of the home, the budget quickly grew to about 4x that much and roughly cost $160,000 to complete. Today that’s equivelant to about a 2.5 million dollar vacation home.

 Frank Lloyd Wright has always been one of my favorites. He did it all:  architect, interior designer, writer, and educator. He designed either 22 or 69 pieces of furniture in this home. Ha, I know that’s a big difference between the numbers but I can’t seem to remember  Either way, there was a lot of built-in cantilever furniture throughout the home and it was beautiful.

Sorry, no pictures were allowed inside the home. However, there was this beautiful lamp located in the master bedroom that I just fell in love with.

A origianl Green Lotus Tiffany Lamp.   

The picture above is showing a set of stairs that lead into the Bear Run River which is apart of the “fallingwater” water fall you’ll see shortly. Mrs. Kaufmann was known to walk down these steps everyday and sit at the edge with her feet dangling in the water.

This is the main entrance we used to enter the home. I love the horizontal lines.

These next few pictures speak for themselves.

We went at the most perfect time of year. The leaves were changing and the air was crisp.

 Perfect to enjoy God’s beauty.

Two blog posts in one day! Who am I?!

 The other day I noticed I was getting a few more blog views and it made me smile….thank you so much for reading!

I really enjoy sharing my projects

Here are a couple of great craft blogs that I’ve been featured on…

and

So much fun! Thanks for featuring me and thanks again for reading!