My weekend started on Thursday when my sister-in-law and her family spent the night with us. And as they were leaving on Friday mid-afternoon, my mom drove in from Sacramento and stayed with us until Sunday morning. It is now Monday and we can breathe again (inhale, exhale, repeat…)!
Mondays are usually well spent running weekly errands. Weekly errands = groceries and craft store. So I stopped by Beverly Fabrics and picked up more of the same yarn I am using for a pair of slippers. I was able to complete one out of the pair, tried it on, and (oh my goodness) it is so cozy! Very nice for the winter time….too bad the cold weather will not last for too much longer.
The last stop before home is Trader Joe’s – not for major grocery shopping, but for a few things. They have such great snacks! The dried dragonfruit is one of my personal favorites. I say “personal” because I have not found one person besides myself that likes it. Not just like it, but it can become quite dangerous when I am around it (I think I can eat a whole bag!).
Once upon a time….no, no, really. We have quite a collection of childrens’ books/fairy tales from the 1950s with beautiful illustrations. With not having children, a collection like this might seem a little weird. It is the Mary Blair-esque illustrations from that era that we are truly inspired by. Anyway, my husband found this one on Ebay:
One zippered pouch is complete! It doesn’t look too bad, but I goofed. It is pretty obvious from the photo so I will not bother explaining how.
Over the weekend, I went to Joann’s and found this neat fabric in the closeout section and a few zippers for my next little project. The zippered pouches! I have not worked with a zipper before so it is a little scary, but looking forward to the experience. There will be an update soon enough.
Now for something completely different (and for the guys)….
The Pine Car Derby event was at the church this weekend. I did not attend, but my husband did. He took some great pictures of the cars from the Kids division so I had to post them. What vibrant colors!
It is amazing to me how many adults really get into this type of event – children or no children. My guess is the competitiveness in all of us?
My vote for the most creative….
Today, I used Heather Bailey’s Hooray For Headbands pattern for my own selfish desires. Just kidding, but as a beginner, I like to find simple and practical patterns that will not take days to complete.
I love the fabric! It has that “70s-vintage” look to it. The fabric was purchased at Joann’s a few months ago and I have only made sachets with it thus far (that is seen in an earlier post).
Yay! It is done…..so what’s next?
A zippered pouch and I will use this tutorial.
An afternoon treat: workout, order a Peanut Butter Pleasure from Juice Shack and drive down Petaluma Hill Road while listening to the Beta Band – “Three EPs” (the first five songs).
Last night was, again, another night for baking more cookies (yes, more!). I only bake a dozen at a time and freeze or refrigerate the remaining dough – very bad things happen if I don’t. Anyway, they were very delicious (don’t take my word, but my husband’s)! I got the recipe from outside of the Arrowhead Mills Pastry Flour bag, originally called Granola Thumbprint cookies. I twisted the recipe a little into Pumpkin Spice Granola Thumbprint cookies. Here it is:
1 3/4 cup pastry flour
1 cup Trader Joe’s country pumpkin spice granola
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter
In a medium bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the egg, butter, vanilla, and sugars and add to the flour mixture. Chill dough for 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil baking sheet. Roll dough into balls, make a thumb print and spoon 1/2 tsp of pumpkin butter on each one. Bake for 12 minutes or until done.
My father-in-law’s birthday is tomorrow – Happy Birthday, Scott! I sent off a birthday package to him full of goodies. It is not creatively gift-wrapped, but I like the cheerful and vibrant colors.
One of the items in this package is cute and of course, practical (some sarcasm there). It is too bad I do not have a photo, but anyways, it is a kilt drink cosy from Scotland. One of my ex co-workers, Sandra, had a month long vacation in Scotland and brought it back along with a few other things for me. It was really sweet of her, but I thought a beer enthusiast would get more use out of it than I would. So I immediately thought of my father-in-law. Sent it off and as I am typing this, I am thinking “can I make this a little more tacky?!”.
Another cosy, made by accident. I started off making a toddler-sized knit cap, but I had troubles with the stitches increasing by one using the stockinette stitch. So I casted off early and found the most practical and obvious use for my unfinished creation….the half-pint cosy! Because everybody purchases half-pint bottled waters, right? Not likely, but maybe a lotion or perfume bottle cosy?
I give up!
