Easter Dinner

I hope you had a Happy Easter!

We had family and friends over yesterday. Both my SIL and BIL came over. My dear friends also brought their son Finn, our godson. We had a simple dinner followed by egg dyeing.

Have I mentioned how much I love my oven lately? It's the best oven in the world! While my ham was cooking in the big oven, I had my lemon poppy cake baking away in the mini oven at a different temperature. It saved me so much time.

I truly had a wonderful time cooking the dinner up. I was in my element, singing (poorly) along to my CD's. Dan checked in on me and shook his head in bewilderment.

Of course, the mess all my cooking made didn't leave me quite as joyful. All I could think of after everybody left was a quote from an unknown woman. "If a woman was to see all the dishes that she had to wash before she died piled up before her in one pile, she'd lie down and die right then and there."



I should mention that I had already washed and put away the preparation dishes. Plus, the dishwasher had been loaded and ran once.

Rather than face it right away, I hid in my sewing room. Certain I couldn't handle any large and detailed projects, I opted to hem Dan's work pants.



It did the trick. It pepped me up enough that I was able to face the mountain of dishes. Dan had thought I would tackle them Monday morning, but there is one thing I hate more than a dirty kitchen and that is being faced with a dirty kitchen first thing in the morning. I'd rather have a root canal.

Showing off my Completed Sewing Projects

I've taken a mini break from my knitting time to sew.

Part of the blame for this diversion rests on my sister's shoulders. She called me last month to say she found this fun Transformer fabric at Walmart. Why she was in the fabric section of the store is not clear. She doesn't sew and she has no desire to learn.

It was decided that we (and by we, I mean I) would make each of the children pillowcases for Easter. The kids would love it; Transformers is their new favorite movie.

Well, I have one done.

As mentioned in a previous post, I decided to make the pillowcase reversible. This isn't the first pillowcase request I've received. Every year it's a different character. This year, I decided I would be tricksy. To make sure this pillowcase can be used until the children are grown and out of the house (and to hopefully reduce the number of pillowcases requested), I lined it with plain red fabric. When they no longer like the Transformers, it can be turned inside out.

Not happy with just blaming my sister (she's too easy of a target), I'll blame Jo too. Her recent projects of embroidery, dressmaking, and button rings have inspired me to keep the sewing machine on top of the desk rather than on the floor underneath it.

My latest project - just hung up this morning - is ... well, can you guess?

How about now?

It's a fan cover. The old fan cover (a white plastic dome with magnets to adhere it to the metal fan) was thrown out by somebody who didn't understand what the point of a fan cover was. That person has since learned the chief role behind a fan cover: to keep the *%$#! cold air outside where it ought to be. Yeah, so it was me. Who knew?

To make yourself a fan cover like mine: First, go to Panama and purchase a traditional appliqued piece of fabric. Or do what I do. Have your dear friend bring you back an appliqued fabric from Panama during her trip to visit family. Trim the edges to remove any fraying. Cut out a piece of flannel fabric the exact same size as your appliqued fabric. Put right sides together. Stitch a 1/4 inch seam all the way around, leaving an opening large enough for your hand to fit through. Turn the fabrics right side out. Press. Hand stitch opening closed using a slip stitch. Set aside.

Root through your fabric stash until you find a complementary fabric to your appliqued fabric block. Measure your fan. Cut out a square from your complementary fabric, adding on one inch for seams (my square measured 14 inches). Then cut out another piece of flannel the exact same size as your complementary fabric. Put right sides together. Stitch a 1/2 inch seam all the way around, leaving an opening large enough for your hand to fit through. Turn the fabrics right side out. Press. Hand stitch opening closed using a slip stitch.

Lay the appliqued block on top of the complementary fabric block. (The wrong side of the appliqued block should lay against the right side of the complementary block). Move the appliqued block around until it is centered. Baste the two blocks together. Use a slip stitch to secure the two blocks together. Remove the basting stitch.

Cut four one-inch sections from both the sewing tape and the adhesive tape of Velcro Brand Fasteners. Machine stitch the sewing tape sections to the the wrong side of the complementary block in each of the four corners. Mount the adhesive sections on the wall next to each of the corners of the fan. Hang your fan cover with the Velcro strips.

Four layers of fabric should be enough to keep the cold out outside. Gosh, I hope.

Roman Shades

The Roman Shades are complete and hanging in my dining room.



I was originally making these shades for my bedroom windows. During the removal of the old curtains, I realized that one window was much larger than the other. The shades weren't going to fit. Well one would and the other would look decidedly too small. Thankfully, I had only sewn the lining and the insulating flannel fabric together. (Yes, I triple layered the curtains to keep the glare down and the elements outside). I hadn't even cut the curtain fabric.

So, then I went in search of another room that was in need of new curtains. There couldn't have been an easier task. The only set of curtains in the entire house that I don't hate is in the kitchen. Let us just say that the woman who lived here before me had a love of flower prints (I hate flower prints), dark colors (not a big fan of dark colors either) and ultra-traditional style. I love traditional decor, but she took it to the extreme. I suppose I should produce before and after pictures.

I found one. It's not a picture of the dining room curtains, but the living room curtains were done in the exact same fabric and style. Ignore the quilt in the middle.

And now for the after picture:

The gold curtains match the fabric in the dining room set that we inherited from Dan's great grandfather. The white matches all the trim and built-in corner hutches. It does seem a bit devoid of color, but I'll make up for it in the accessories.

Can you tell that the fabrics match? Not color-wise, but they match in texture. I'm not sure if you can see that in the pictures. They both have woven lines running the length of them. I couldn't believe my luck in finding the white fabric, since I purchased them after the gold ones were installed. First, I was giddy about the texture, and then I almost jumped at the $1/yard price.

Note: I did not make the gold curtains. I purchased them ready-made. Well, I purchased the two short ties and one long curtain. I then cut the long curtain in half to make two skinny curtains. You can't see, but underneath the windows is a radiator. It was important to keep the curtains off to the sides and not block the heat. My dear friend Arecia, who hates to sew, recommended that I cut the curtains in half and hem them. She's almost as bad as my sister, who also hates to sew. My sister will call me if anything needs to be sewn for the kids or her house. Which is to say, neither would think of sewing anything themselves, but love to call me and tell me what I ought to be sewing for them. Do you have friends or relatives like that?

No Quilted Blocks Today

I feel like the last two weeks I have done nothing but talk about my Ode to Quilting blocks on this blog. So, today, I'm not going to mention them outside of this paragraph. Well, I have to tell someone that I am 75% done with my 8th block! It is titled Log Cabin block.

Instead, I'll show off my latest sewing project.

Can you tell what it is?

Don't feel bad if you haven't a clue. Dan wanted to help me spread out the tablecloth. I can give you a hint: it's not a tablecloth.

Rather, it is my roman shade for the dining room windows. One is already hung and mounted to the left window. It has been pulled all the way to the top to train it (allow the creases to form) and to not let onto the neighbors that we only have one window covering up. Goodness knows they already think we are a bit queer.

The shade in the pic is for the right window. I hope to finish it this week and have Dan mount it over the weekend. He is going to be working a lot of long hours this weeks as it is crunch time for the project he is on. So, the chances of him mounting the curtain during the work week are nil.

New Beading Project

I sure hope you aren't sick of hearing me whine about how many beads are on my current project. I have a new beading story to tell you.

I've rooted through my closet and pulled out an old beading project. Approximately 6 years ago, I decided I was going to make my neice a butterfly blanket. I used process of elimination to decide how the butterflies would be made.

Emboidery

• I don't own an embroidery machine
• Hand-embrodery would take me a long time and I hate it when the thread gets twisted

Cross stitch

• I don't own an embroidery machine
• Cross stich would take me a long time and I hate it when the thread gets twisted

So, this naturally led me to buying an enormous amount of beads. I made 5 butterflies in the month of December. As Christmas Day approached, I gently folded the blanket back up and stuffed it into the closet.

I pulled it back out yesterday with the intention of finishing it for my youngest neice. After seeing how big the blanket really was, I walked over to my computer and ordered the Pigeon book from Amazon.com.

The new plan is to finish it by June 2008. Wish me luck! I think I might need it.