Gingerbread house party TWO!

 Here we are with some more gingerbread house parts.................

Every year I make a coffee theme house for my favorite coffee shop.  This year I put the beans on the roof,  It smells awesome!!!

Here is the coffee house from the other side, with Santa waiting at the door. 

Here is Becky's house, well, it's a church.............. could anyone guess that she just got engaged?

Here is little V's pastel house, it looks like the house you would find in Hansel and Gretel to me! yum!

There will be another post when I get the pictures of the houses the 6 nieces and 2 more daughters made.......

The gingerbread housing project has begun

The first Gingerbread house party of the season.  This is the party I get invited to, it kicks off the whole season!

Here is a John Deere theme house, I know, around here people would think it was a Packer house, but check out the little John Deere tractor and hay wagon!

Here is my pastel beauty this year. 

Look at this fabulous one with the mirror ice rink!!!  I love this idea, I'll have to try that, and see the chocolate rocks around the "ice"  how cool is that?  The builder was worried about the tall tree to the front here, she thought it might fall over, I told her it's okay if it does, then just put an axe next to it and make a woodpile out of more pretzel rods!

This lovely builder liked the pastel idea so she went with my theme too.  ;-)

This builder went with everything candy theme............. yum!

This builder was on a short time limit and she popped this together in about 30 minutes before she had to leave for work!

Love the chimney on this one!  tooo cute!

And here is the most fun, a trailer trash theme!!! She wasn't finished when I took this picture, if you look hard you can see a toilet and a TV in the back yard, and then she was working on putting a little car ornament up on blocks!   

 

Come on back sometime after next Saturday when I host my nieces and nephews and all my kids for the big Green Family house party!  13 kids all together, not sure if 2 of the boys will participate, might not be quite cool enough for them, but that's okay, more candy for the rest of them!  Then in December I'm doing more houses for the girl scouts! 

bag handles

So, here is the tubing and connectors that I mentioned in a previous post.  All this was found at Lowes.  Yay for building supplies!  (and husbands with a Lowes card)

Here is the handy dandy tool that is most helpful in cutting the tubing without destroying your hands.

Looks a bit like a mechanical dinosaur doesn't it?

Here I am cutting the tubing, well pretending to cut the tubing for your benefit, since it takes a longer piece to make a handle.

It's helpful, though not totally necessary to make Whonk Whonk sounds as the tool cuts through.... 

And here is the latest ruffle bottom bag, which just happens to be available in my Etsy shop~



Note to Self...................

Even if ironing Heat N Bond onto the backside of fusible interfacing sound plausible..............

never
try
it
again.

as promised.............

A few posts back I posted a picture with some black and yellow scraps showing under the current project, so here is the finished bag!  Above is the bag with the handles in progress.

Those handles were hard, but worth it!  I covered some plastic tubing from Lowe's and the big guy helped me use a tube connector section to hold them together.  The bag book suggested taping them and then stitching your fabric tube over that, but it wouldn't have held very well at all.  The tube connector was a tough thing to push through, especially with the problem wrist on my left hand, but eventually I figured it out, I took a hairdryer to it to soften it up! 

And here is the finished black and yellow ruffled bag!  As Lady Lee would say...... "how stinkin cute is that?"  I'm working on another one using up scraps that will be in a very springlike colorway.

Miss V loves this bag!  The only problem is that I used a solid black for the lining and it's hard to see inside!  I could get her one of those little key chain flashlights I suppose!  I saw some very expensive bags at a department store once that had a light that went on inside when you opened them up.  Of course then I had to wonder if you could get one with a remote too..............

Still bagging along!

 Remember those calendar tea cloths that your grandma probably had hanging in her kitchen?  I have been watching them in vintage re-sale shops and it occurred to me that it would be neat to do something with ones that are from special years.  Oddly enough, as soon as I decided I wanted to pick some up to do something with them, the first one I came across was one for me!  What are the odds on that really?

So here it is as I was starting to cut it up........

Then I added some vintage fabric from my grandmothers stash........... yes I come from a long line of fabric hoarders collectors.  Then I found some cute ball fringe in the stash I inherited from a non family member.

And Viola!  a new tote. 

And the back of the tote.  The big guy suggested I embroider a circle around my birthday on it, but I think that might be a bit much.  ;-)  I never knew I was born on a Thursday, kind of cool!

Tomorrow (or when I get back on here) I'll blog my next vintage textile totes.  Bet you can't wait huh???

Bagging it

I've been working on some bags that a co-worker wanted for some Christmas presents. I forgot to take pictures of the ones for her girls, but here is the one I did for her mother in law.

She said her mother in law likes Victorian things, purses, stuff like that.  I dug into my stash of tapestry vests..........remember the 80's? and did a sort of crazy patch tote with those and some antique crochet and beading things that I had in my various stashes.  It's so GOOD to use stuff up!!

Then I used my new French manicure kit on my nails.

I am finding it amusing that I painted my fingernails to look like fingernails!  Who thought that one up???

and yes, for those observant friends, that is a new bag in parts under my hand......... just wait for it!

Another great retreat!

I was back at St Anthony's last weekend, so no sewing for me, but here are some pictures to share...

Seriously, could the sky have been any bluer?  I did not enhance these at all!

Love the roof lines on the old section of the monastery.

A volunteer came while we were there and brought pumpkins.  A truckload of them!

View from the upper balcony.  Too bad about the power lines.

It has been such a wet summer in Wisconsin that there are about a zillion varieties of mushrooms everywhere.

I could have taken more pictures, but my camera decided it needed a retreat too.  sigh.

My pretties and more baking

Look at these lovelies!!!!  Rumi from the http://luckyfrogblog.blogspot.com/ Lucky Frog blog and I did a little private swap.  She offered to knit me those cute red wavy's there on the left.  You use them for quick little wipe jobs in the kitchen, I offered to make her a tote bag.  I thought that was pretty good, then lo and behold when my package came there were two more gorgeous knitted pretties!  See the little brick wall?  It's so cushy that I use it in my fruit basket to keep my fruit from getting bruised, and the beautiful white star stays right there on our end table/trunk.   Thanks Rumi!!

Then since the weather was so cool, I did some baking.............

pumpkin pie seemed like a good idea since it's fall.

And I made a turkey and broccoli quiche for dinner...............

And since there was crust left, how about an apple pie?

Yeah the big guy and Miss V thought it was a good idea too.

Lovely Lemon Bars

One of my baking talents is lemon bars.  The entire secret (besides cooking with wine- see my glass back there?) is to only use fresh lemons not bottled lemon juice, and (duh) real butter.

What you see here (besides my wine, yum) is enough lemons to make a two pans of bars.  I believe in a LOT of lemon.

Here is the crust going together.....

Crust is baked, now to pour in the filling..........

2 pans out of the oven............

ingredients for lemon glaze, more lemon juice, melted butter, and powdered sugar.

and here you go, one for YOU!

some sewing at last!

I have had this fabric since I inherited my mothers fabric stash a few years ago.  I loved the way the two florals play off each other and I always thought it would be a pretty peasanty type blouse.

Turns out I was right! 

Here are the somewhat peasanty sleeves.  See that lovely edging?  That is hand made tatting!!!  Not by yours truly, trust me on that one.  My great gramma tried to teach me once but all I managed was a very impressive knot the size of a small cat.  She gave up. 

Happy blouse!  And see the necklace?  That is my favorite necklace of all time. Miss V bought it for me at a handmade shop, it's a piece of broken china and the chain is totally adjustable and has a green glass bead hanging off the catch.  I love that thing!!!

Chair tour 2010

Here we have a little ice cream parlor chair that was mine when I was a yung un.  Mostly it had an antique doll sitting on it.  I suppose I should refinish it, this pink is pretty bad.

This picture is to show you how really little it is, the foot, which happens to be mine is a size 8.

My favorite little red chair from my childhood.  Isn't it the nicest little thing?  I always loved this one, it was quite comfortable too.

Now it makes a perfect spot to set aside a book (please once again, ignore the dust on the rungs) it's also handy when a little one stops by for a visit and they need a spot to sit their little bum on.

Our piano chair, (ignore the shoes and the dog please) This is from a set of 8 that we inherited along with the big guys grandmas Duncan Phyfe table.  Harp back chairs and so pretty and graceful, just like the table.

Here is our vintage high chair, this one was used for the big guys dad, the big guy and all his siblings, and all our babies.  It has gone from white with red accents, to brown with white accents and back to wood grain.  And yes, the upholstery you see next to it is indeed yet another chair in our store room.

And does this chair look uncomfortable to you?  Yeah, it kinda is.  I found out that it was the chair that novices had to sit in when they were called before the Mother Superior for discipline at a convent.   How charming!!  again, the dust, you know what to do.  Either ignore it, or come over and get a rag out of the cleaning closet and take care of it.  thanks.