I've received another Versatile Blogger Award. I really don't know what to say other than that I'm honored. So lets do this again with all new things you don't know and 15 new blogs that I love.

Thank you Pregnant with Power Tools!

1. I once had to put my sewing machine in for repair because I put the needle down through my thumb and shifted the needle's center point a 1/4".....I guess needles and bone don't mix. 
2. I didn't learn to drive a stick shift until my grandmother called me a wuss. I guess that was motivation enough :) 
3. Harrison is driving me up the wall right now. HE WON'T LEAVE THE DVD PLAYER ALONE! argh!
4. I have posts lined up for like the next two weeks. I'm that behind in projects. 
5. I was in a car accident 10 years ago and broke my left arm. My left arm is now an inch shorter than my right arm. 
6. When I was pregnant I loved cheddar cheese and sour cream potato chips.....now I think they're just gross. 
7. When I asked Stephen what my last shared item should be, he said stubborn....then beautiful. Hrmmmm.

1. ~Haverford House~
2. Two Crazy Cupcakes
3. theCraftInMe
4. Ready, Set, Create
5. Life in the Dub Lane
6. A Hokie & A Wahoo 
7. Sew Totally Smitten
8. Fowl Single File
9. oh write!
10. The Hand Me Down House
11. Mod Events and Co. Blog
12. The Paper Pony
13. KatrinkaJane
14. No Apologies!
15. Mine for the Making

So every year since we moved back to Virginia, Stephen and I have hosted a 4th of July party - until this year. This year my Mom and Dad have graciously offered their home and land for the party. It also doesn't hurt that their  neighbor has ever-so-graciously allowed us to watch his fireworks display.

That being said, my house is still going to look patriotic on the 4th and that's what I did today. Gave her a quick make-over and finished some lingering projects. So here's what she looks like now!

I've had this idea floating around for a while, and I'm finally got around to making it. Too bad its an incomplete thought. I don't know how to finish this pillow. :(


Here's a free piece of advice.....ignore your computers while sewing. The picture below what happens to your fingers when you try to pin fabric while reading your brother-in-law's facebook post about how their dog, presumably Badger, locked them out of their house, while dinner was in the oven. Luckily, they are humans and sneaky and made it back into the house, but there was no word on how dinner fared. My finger....well, it'll heal. :)

Hopefully you guys will be able to help me figure out a good way to finish it! So on to the show!

What you need:
Striped Fabric
Kraft Paper

What you'll do:
I drew out a 7-1/2" long pie wedge on kraft paper and used this as my pattern.

Now here's the tricky part. This pattern is for stripes. Stripes can be a pain. Lay the pattern on the stripes so that the stripes run horizontally. You can also do vertically, but I did horizontally. Only cut one piece for right now.

Remove your kraft paper pattern and use the fabric as your pattern now. Line up the stripes and then cut 7 more wedges.

Sew up the wedges using a 1/2" seam and stopping about a 1/2" before the  point. Be careful not to stretch the sides, and I would sew towards the point. Line up the stripes and then sew. Sew 4 wedges together and then press. Sew the other 4 wedges and press those.



Sew the two halves together. Making sure to have all of your stripes aligned. there will be a bulge in the center so you will need to cut off some of the extra fabric.

So that's where I am now. I'm thinking of putting a rosette in the center of the pillow and tufting it, but I don't know what to do for the back. Decisions, decisions.

Updated! I took some of of your suggestions and here is how I finished this  puppy!

I added a 3" linen strip to the sides and back created a nice large 16" gusseted pillow. The center flower  is made from black felt and  then I tufted it with a nice wooden button. I am loving this little guy! :)

I hope you guys enjoyed today's post, and have a wonderful day!


Linking up to:

UPDATE

I've now added the pictures I forgot to put in originally! Also when I came downstairs this morning, this is what I found.

Yep....that's Harrison and a mess of torn toilet paper. Thank goodness his bink was there, otherwise he might have been eating said mess.  :)

I will start off by apologizing for the pictures. I have no pictures during this process, but luckily, it is an easy process :) This idea was spurred by another Target pillow.

This is what your pillow would look like if you covered the entire face with all 169 squares.

The squares are tacked 1" apart.

I know you can't wait to see how this one is done......so on to the show!

What you'll need:

• 2-5/8 yards of an easily gathered fabric (blouse material, sheers, netting, tulle, etc)
• 14" pillow form
• thread
• scissors
• patience
• time

What you'll do:
Cut your fabric into two 14-1/2" squares. Take the remaining amount of fabric and cut 169 4" squares on the bias (45 degree angle).  I found it easier to first cut the fabric into 4" strips (on the bias) and then cut the strips into 4" squares.

Take one of your 14-1/2" panels and draw a line 1/2" from each edge. Then make a hash mark every inch starting from one of the lines you made. Do this for each line. You should end up with 169 hash marks. Set aside for now.

Take one of your 4" squares and eyeball the center. Stitch a  long gathering stitch along the eyeballed middle line. Then gather the square up as tight as it will go. It will look like a bow or farfalle pasta :). Secure the ends of your gathering threads. I just knotted mine together. Do this 168 more times. I hope you have some time on your hands.

Remember those hash marks you made? Well those marks are where you're going to secure each and every one of those gathered squares. Fun, right? Start in a corner and pin one of your bows down in the center (presumably where your gathering stitch is). It doesn't matter which direction as long as its either vertical or horizontal. Move the next hash mark (either directly next to or below) and then pin your next bow going to the opposite direction of your first. So if you pinned your first bow horizontally, then your second bow would be pinned vertically. The bows will overlap and this is what you want. Pin the third bow next to the second going the same direction as the first bow (which is also opposite of how no. 2 is pinned). Keep pinning the bows down, alternating the positions of each one, until the entire row is pinned.

Lower your feed dog (you don't want your fabric moving, unless you do it), and choose the zig zag stitch on your sewing machine. Starting at the bow you first pinned down, stitch the center of the bow down with several stitches. Lift your presser foot and move to the 2nd bow (you will have to rotate your fabric 90 degrees) and stitch this one as you did the first. Repeat for the remaining bows.

Pin and sew the remaining bows as outlined in the previous two steps. Once completed, sew your pillow together as you normally would. Stuff, stitch and enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed today's lesson, but some of you may notice that my pillow was considerably less than 169 squares (which will fill the entire face of the pillow) and you would be correct. I only have 36, because my fabric piece was a yard long remnant and after cutting out the larger squares. I had 1/2 a yard to work with. The 1/2 yard garnered me 41 squares (just a one to short for a 7" square), which is why I only have a 6" square on my pillow, but I like it :)

I hope you enjoyed today's lesson and have a wonderful Sunday!

When it rains, it pours.
Thank goodness I love to dance in the rain....one of the only places you'll see me do it too :)

After brutally attacking my hem gauge the other day, my scissors, rotary cutter and cutting mat have all decided to retaliate. Today's post was supposed to be a tutorial on how to make a powder puff pillow. Yea, that's not going to happen, because it's still in 2 pieces. Also doesn't help that I don't have a black zipper....sigh.

Here's a close-up!

My scissors and rotary cutter have decided to stop cutting, and the mat has developed a taste for fabric, and not letting go. {grumble} After arguing, pleading and bartering with all of them, I got the pieces to the pillow cut out. Then I got part of it sewn up, and then I went shopping.

There is a brand spanking new Jo-Ann's at Fairfax Station which, luckily enough, is a mile {that's right 1 mile} from where Mom works! Dad thought he might have to work late tonight, they commute together, so I told her I could pick her up. We hit a detour on the way back home though. They detoured us through Jo-Ann's. While it was a detour entirely of our own making, its still a plausible story!

After spending about an hour maybe closer to 1.5 hours in there, I came home with these beauties:

A new {larger} cutting mat, new rotary blades and a scissor sharpening thing. They jumped at the not-to-be-passed-up offer of coming home with me and chillin' in my swanky new and improved craft room. So those trouble makers are going to have to go bother someone else. :) What's even better is that my oh-so-wonderfully-gracious Mom gave me her 40% off coupon for the mat, and the rest of the cutting supplies were on sale! Score. I also ended up with some foil transfer paper on clearance for just $1.97. We'll have to try this baby's out and I have just the project for them. Said project will also include - some fabric crayons. According to the packaging these beauts are iron-transferable. I.am.stoked. Now a once intimidating typography pillow maybe not so intimidating.

Now, after another trip to the fabric store, I am going to finish this troublesome pillow. I hope all of you have a SPLENDIFEROUS Saturday!

Good morning, everyone! I say good morning because I am actually writing this on Friday morning instead of Thursday or earlier like I usually do. It has not been a good week, but that didn't stop me from trying a new recipe! Sadly, I did completely forget to take pictures, so I apologize for that now. Did I mention it was not a good week? Well, I promise next week will be far more colorful. Now, with all that out of the way, here's the recipe...

Shred, Head, Butter and Bread

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Cook Time=10 Minutes
Yields=4 Serving

Ingredients
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup pulverized, seasoned croutons
• 2 pinches dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 small head cabbage, shredded
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions
Fill your largest pot 3/4 full with water and bring to a boil on high heat.
Melt the butter and croutons in a skillet. Add the mustard and caraway seeds and stir over medium heat until the butter browns and smells nutty. Remove the skillet from the heat, but leave dressing in the pan.
Add the salt and sugar to the boiling water and cook until dissolved. Place the cabbage in the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes exactly.
Drain the cabbage in the bowl of the salad spinner or colander. Spin the cabbage to remove any excess water. Add the cabbage to the butter-crumb dressing and toss to coat thoroughly.

As you can see, this recipe actually came from the Food Network's Alton Brown. I like it because 1) cabbage is really cheap--I've seen it down to 25 cents per pound before)--and tasty 2) it's silly-easy, and 3) the name is really fun to say--I think any kids you have will love to say this recipe name :-). Now, I know a lot of people either don't like cabbage or have never had it. Thankfully, Heather, Colie, and I had Bet as a grandmother, and she made delicious cabbage for us. Then again, even her "oops" dishes were masterpieces. The secret to cabbage is not overcooking it. Now, it's not a super-delicate food, and a little overcooking won't really affect it too badly, but, kind of like your dark, leafy greens (kale, spinach, etc.), too much cooking will cause your cabbage to get gross and smelly.

The croutons and butter in this recipe makes it very savory, though, I have to say I am not so much a fan of the caraway seeds. I tend not to like spices like this, though. Both caraway and cardamom are not my friends. Besides that, I can't help but wonder what it would be like if one left the croutons whole or didn't cook the butter and croutons. That would certainly simplify this recipe even more. I think I'll try that next time. As for right now, I have to go get ready for work!

Well here is the updated wall(s)! I am much happier with the new look, and even more pleased that there are still a few spots to add pictures :) So without further ado.....On to the show!

Now to refresh your memory. It looked like this:


And with a wave of my magic wand, and lots of help from Stephen!


I am really happy with how the picture project turned out, and I'm glad it's DONE! I still plan on working Stephen down to get my tree, but till then....I guess I will have to deal. :) Oh and I love 3M picture hanging strips....so much easier than measuring and nails. I also love that I didn't get charged for the first 3 packages. I didn't discover this fact until I was home from Target!

I hope all of you have a wonderful day, and don't forget that tomorrow is Friday Food Frenzy. So come hungry!