Cooking and sewing, but not at the same time

This Sunday I was a guest over at Lollychop's blog. She featured my Irish scone recipe. Easter is two weekends away and Mother's Day is right around the corner and these would make a great treat on either occasion. Trust me when I say I have test many, many, many scone recipes before this one was discovered. They are sooooo amazing!

And this weekend I was able to sew up a special little tote for a my church silent auction donation. I am jumping on the doily bandwagon. They look amazing paired with linen.

(MaryAnn- thanks for the button! I used one that you recently sent me.)

Jeff thought it was funny the the first bag I ever labeled was a donation to the church. Eh. Got to start sometime I say. I have been toying with the idea of getting a custom stamp made so I can stamp my own labels using fabric ink or just stamp the bag itself. In the mean time I used the alphabet option on my sewing machine. Once I figured out the programing it was a breeze to get done.

I wanted to make a bag so feminine it would either make your heart melt or burn your eyes. I think I accomplished it. It's all pink and roses and lace. I used a vintage button and loop closure and just did a few slip pockets on the inside. It's completely interfaced so it will hold it's own shape.

And for the record I did not sew and cook at the same time on Saturday, but I did leave the iron on while I was baking. Whoops! The house is still standing.

Buttons, buttons

Last week I picked up a new dress shirt at a store that's one notch below a Marshalls but slightly above a Goodwill. I found a pretty little shirt that has some interesting details but it was missing a button. For $6 I brought it home figuring I could replace all the buttons with something in my stash.

So I went through drawer number 1. Do you think I could find 6 identical white, black, or navy buttons? Of course not. The white buttons I do have are rather vintage and so they all have a yellow cast to them and looked rather dingy against the shirt.

No luck in this pile of shank buttons. All of them were too big.

Do I ever need a new system for my button stash or what?! Any takers on helping me get my button stash organized. I'll pay you in buttons.

The original buttons were fabric covered shank buttons but they were really cheap. The shank part is made of plastic and I could tell it was only a matter of time before they busted off. Like I said I found a vintage 'white' button set. Don't be fooled by the photo. They all had a yellow cast. And after I sorted through all my button mess twice I finally discovered 6 little grey buttons.Have I mentioned my sewing machine automatically sews on buttons? I kid you not! Sewing on all these buttons took me less than 6 minutes. There were 6 buttons. I'll let you do the math. :) I'll most likely wear this shirt with my grey dress pants and newly purchased $6 faux patent leather navy flats (also purchased at the same store).

Creative Challenge

About 3 weeks ago Rebecca offered up these vintage elastic cards to complete a creative challenge. At first I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Then one afternoon I picked up a nearby pencil and lightly doodled. I figured I could easily erase my marks and proceed with my original plan. But as I drew I heard my cat impatiently meowing at the back door to be let in.

"Kitty wants in." pencil, colored pencil, ink

Nothing to do with elastic, but that wasn't the point. Rebecca gave us free rein. And it felt good just to doodle. I haven't done that in a while.

What's on my desk...

I am waiting on some light weight interfacing that I need to pick up to move to the next step. I underestimated the challenge of sewing circles. This will be one rewarding project but one I may not attempt again in the near future. My perfectionist nature is screaming. I need to sew perfect 1/2'' seams to get round, not oval, rings. Not that any baby would care...

I got back in the sewing saddle with a very satisfying sewing project. I have to put in a little plug here for oliver + s patterns. If I ever need sewing confidence, all I have to do is sew up one of these patterns. I am always inspired to try sewing a garment of my own as soon as I finish up the last hem. If you can thread a sewing machine and can read English, you can sew this dress. And if you are looking to expand your sewing techniques from straight lines to button holes, this project will take you there.

This is the tea party sundress. Absolutely the cutest dress ever. (Well, maybe the Birthday Party Dress could possibly be cuter, but I haven't sewn that up yet!) Hello? Check out that piping! And I used my automatic button hole feature on my sewing machine which was awesome. Should have learned that trick sooner.

This is a size 3T. *le sigh*

Winning Hand Swap

Nothing will help get you back into creating/sewing better than a swap. The girls over at Sweet Goodness Swaps put together a fun little theme- The Winning Hand. We had to incorporate Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs in the swap. Let me tell you. It was kinda hard to put together a swap that wasn't cheesy and included a bunch on none usable/wanted items, but my partner Christine totally rocked it! (To see what I sent her, click on her name.)

Diamonds- She found this diamond fabric to make a wonderful guest book! Which is very timely since we actually have a guest room now. She also made her own printed fabric to make a traveling tea tag cozy! And Christine chose an Alice in Wonderland theme for the swap incorporating all the suits.

Guest book and tea cozy open. Have you noticed her great tags? She put so much time into them. I saved them all so I could reuse them!

Can you tell I like this gift? She included all the teas too. Funny thing is the day I got the package I was standing in the coffee/tea isle at the grocery store trying to decide which of these new Twining teas to bring home. I couldn't decide so I left empty handed. Imagine my glee when I found them in the swap package. Perfect I tell you.

The pinnacle piece of the swap was this thrifted book which is a continuation of the Alice in Wonderland story. Check out the cover. What an amazing find for this swap! She also included a pair of dice that had clubs on them and sweet butter mints. I love me some after dinner butter mints. MMMmmm.

And that's not all. There was this whole BOX goodies that included lemon cookies, raspberry jam, MORE TEA, and candy. Box isn't shown here because Jeff and I dug right into it. The lemon cookies were great with a cup of tea. And the jam? I plan on making a lemon/raspberry bunt cake. *rubs hands together* I can't wait for that!

BTW- I'm back!