Shamrock Saturday - Happy St. Patrick's

For the month of March, I replaced my garden flag with the St. Patrick's theme.  I only realized that I did not have anything for this month.  Shortly after Christmas, I decided to make one using all the leftover fabrics that I have and found some shamrock that we use to decorate our twig tree.  When we lived in San Jose, my MIL would make corned beef and cabbage and have green beer.  Usually her daughter from LA would also spend a few days with her.  This year we probably won't do anything and we probably won't check out any of the local bars.  So my flag outside is the most Happy St. Patrick's Day that I could do.  And to all my Irish friends, here's my favorite Irish blessing.

Tweaking Thursday - No pattern sewing

Every now and then I like to try something that challenges my knowledge and experience in sewing. Last week I offered to sew pajama bottoms for my daughter and her hubby.  After they agreed, I immediately went to the fabric store to get my materials. Since they were not picky when it comes to pattern or design of fabric, they were open to anything even the fabrics that are on sale.  Lucky me, LOL, when I went to the store, there were a couple of designs that were appropriate and on sale. I immediately called my daughter to check if my picks would be approved. And I got two YES.  Of course I can't wait to start this project.  Although I did not use any pattern from the store, I used Jeff's pajama's for Mike's and used mine for my daughter.  But I was given their measurement, therefore I did all the adjustments that's needed and hopefully both PJs will fit like a glove or maybe just fit comfy.  I was a little hesitant at the beginning and made sure I measure twice and cut once (a popular expression I learned from Jeff's Dad).  Because I only bought enough fabric for this project, there was no room for error.  By the way, I recently made three weights that I can use to keep the materials in place when I am measuring and cutting. The fleece fabric was a left over from the NO-SEW blanket I did a couple of months ago.  To complete the PJs project, I shopped for a couple of simple t-shirts for their top and again I got lucky and bought some on sale.  Now when they visit us, they will have their new comfy PJ set waiting for them.

Pink is not my daughter's favorite color but it's ok as it is not for going out, just sleeping.

I thought this was perfect for my SIL because he loves to snowboard.

I love using these weights and although not too heavy (filled with rice), it's enough to keep fabric in place.

Misunderstood Monday - Biscuits?

When it comes to shopping for groceries and other stuff, we always go together as it is more fun doing it together.  But every now and again, Jeff needs certain items at Home Depot or Rona but he still ask if I would like to go with him.  There are times when I have nothing specific that I'm working on or finishing, I don't mind going and I do it more for the exercise, I walk around aisle by aisle until Jeff is ready to cash out.  One day, he said that he needs to go to Home Depot to buy some biscuits.  I was not really paying attention since I was concentrating on my painting, so I said, go ahead.  After a few minutes, I realized what he had said, and I thought it was odd that he is going to HD and get some biscuits.  I sort of shook my head and continued painting.  Later on, Jeff was back and I forgot to ask him what he got at HD.  A week later he was showing me some of the prep work he is doing for the shutters for our family room.  Guess what I saw?

These are inserts for in between the pieces of wood that he is putting together.

Stitching Saturday - Beginner's Quilt

Quilting is something I have never done because it looks too difficult and tedious.  But most of the quilted stuff I have seen are blankets which are big and heavy.  When we went to dinner at my neighbors a month ago, I saw some small hot plates (to protect the table surface) which she had made.  It looked really nice and seemed easy because it was a smaller scale.  So while cleaning my sewing area, I decided to check out how much left over fabric I have and if in fact I could make something out of it.  I started sorting the fabrics by their colors and sort of by pattern of the fabric.  Something caught my eye that I knew would be a good start to try it out.  The pattern of the fabric was lady bug and of course, there's only one lady I could think of, my MIL.  After cutting different size of pieces of fabric, arranging them by colors and design, back and forth, finally got the right positioning of each rectangular and square pieces.  Then I had to go to the fabric store to get some fabric for the reverse part of the place mat.  Here's my first one and the rest is history.  I ended up making 12 place mats and another set with some hot plates for a friend.  My favorite is the Canadian one, very patriotic but also perfect combination of design and colors.

For my MIL

My favorite

This set is for my friend and her family who lives in Vancouver.

These are combination of old and new, the reverse part is from our old placemats.

After cleaning all my leftover fabrics, I found a small ball of filler (batting) and I ended up with this.

Winter Wednesday - Warm house skirt

You are probably wondering what is a house skirt.  It is a skirt you were only and only inside the house.  It's kinda like a pajama but actually you can wear it during the day during the winter months.  I was at the fabric store last week and I stumble upon this very soft and comfy fleece remnant.  Since it was only $4.75 I decided to get it and figure out later what to do with it.  It so happen that the last few days it had been snowing and a little cold inside the house.  Although I can wear my sweat pants or leggings or jean, at times my legs would still be cold.  That's when I had the idea that I would make a long skirt so it covers my legs and use a comfy and soft fabric.  Guess what, I already had the perfect fabric.  It took me an hour and a half to cut the fabric and sew it.  Since it is a simple skirt, I did not need a pattern.  I measured my waist and hips and then ask Jeff to help me measure the length of the skirt.  It would have been quicker if I had just use an elastic for the waistline, but I opted for a zipper ($0.30) closure as I wanted to practice sewing zippers.  I added a ribbon for closure since I had it in my notion box.  So there, I was productive one afternoon and total cost of this warm house skirt - $5. Of course I can just ask Jeff to turn up the heat but actually it's already set to 20C or 68F, pretty warm, eh!

Storing Sunday - Recipe recall

After a while, each of the recipe for a coffee cake becomes so familiar.  Last week I tried two different recipes only because I wanted to make something from leftover cranberry sauce and canned jack fruit.  The first recipe I tried was the cranberry coffee cake.  Unfortunately I did not have enough sauce so I found a jar of my home made spiced plum jam.  When I combined the two, it was the perfect amount.  It was a very easy one bowl recipe.  I just dumped everything in our mixer and then transferred to a loaf pan which I lined with parchment paper, baked it for 55 minutes at 350F and comes out a nice moist coffee cake.  It was a perfect night to share with my neighbors so I sent Jeff to deliver a third of the loaf to a couple of homes.  One couple calls us now the Baking Goodies Fairies. LOL.  A couple of days later, I tried to make another coffee cake using my jack fruit (diced) and a small jar of my home made pineapple jam.  This time I did all the measurement by memory.  It was amazing what gets stored in certain parts of my brain.  It turned out great and this time I remember to take a photo.  In case you want to try it, I have added the recipe recall below the photos.  Enjoy.

Start to Preheat the oven at 350 F, then begin dumping the following ingredients in a mixing bowl, by the way if you don't have a mixer, using a whisk just works the same.  Place the batter in a loaf pan lined with parchment paper as shown above. Notice those clips I use, I learned that after watching a lot of episode of Martha Bakes.  Bake for 55 minutes and enjoy the very easy coffee cake.  You can use whatever fruit jam/sauce you have around.  So far both combination of fruit I used are awesome. It is more fun trying different combination and being creative using what is available from the fridge or your pantry.  Happy baking. 

• One egg
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup of fruit sauce or use half sauce half jam
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• If the batter looks dry, add 1/4 cup of citrus juice.

Threading Thursday - Needed a partner

While I was putting away some winter bed sheet set, I found another throw pillow that was inside the bench (storage) in the guest room.  Next thing I know, I am trying to decorate it so it can be a partner to the other throw pillow that is now on the bed.  These two burgundy pillows were from our living room couch in San Jose.  I brought it with us because I knew that I reuse it, maybe make new covers and add some buttons, etc.  So I started searching for something in the boxes of notions I have and sure enough, there was the perfect ribbon and buttons.  Here's what I had completed.  The other pillow is the one currently on the guest bed and this new partner pillow is on top of the bench. I just hope that the couple who will stay in the guest room does not use it for a pillow fight. That would be funny.