The Nifty Foodie's Life

Since I started sewing, I’ve started making a list of places where I like to shop for fabrics. I don’t prefer to order fabrics online, because I’d rather feel/see fabrics and heck, I’d much rather support local businesses! Usually owners of small businesses are very helpful, whereas online, it can be very overwhelming.

One of the businesses had a 50% off sale for gift cards to redeem at a later date. I went a little wild, and excitedly waited for the next weekend when I could redeem the cards.

I actually took a while, because there was just so many drool-worthy bolts of fabric. I wanted to take pictures in the store for y’all, but I got shy. I’m fairly shy in person, and I was afraid of what the customers would think with someone half their age shooting pictures. (Yes, most of the customers in the store were over twice my age.)

Because of that, they had an EXCELLENT Amy Butler selection still available. I got a little giddy…my first Amy Butler fabrics!

Since I finished my first quilt (pictures coming soon), I already started planned out my next one. This will be a baby quilt for hubs’ cousin (she’s expecting a girl). I found the cutest pattern online using charm packs, so I’m very excited to get into this with most of the fabrics pre-cut.

I had a little bit of credit leftover and this charm pack caught my eye. It’s July, I know, but a lot of fabric shops are already thinking Christmas since projects can take a while. I think I know what I’m making with this, but for now, I’m going to keep it a tiny secret from y’all.

I bought a few small accessories too, but those are boring. I just wanted to share the fabric pretties with y’all. I can’t wait to create with all of this!

 Ok, you saw the post of this title and thought I would be blogging about ham and cheese between two deliciously toasted slices of bread, did you not? I am a food blogger, after all.

While this sandwich does not involve pork or dairy, this sandwich is (visually) delicious. This sandwich is part of my summer goal. I’ve been longing for the moment to make this sandwich ever since I sliced into the fabric, turning those 5 fabrics into (almost) perfect 11″x11″ squares.

I was scared that it would turn into a disaster like this, but besides a few hiccups, I made a sandwich.

I nervously taped down my backing, which is quilter’s cotton (in natural). I stared at it for a bit and added the batting on top. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I draped the top over the batting and stared at it for a while. I just couldn’t believe it…my first quilt sandwich.

I got on my hands and knees, and meticulously pinned the sandwich together. 38 pins…I was nervous.

I carefully trimmed the edges of the sandwich to rid of excess batting and quilt backing. I never cut so slow in my life. Well, maybe in kindergarten when I wanted to put Cookie Monster on the fridge…

I slowly pinned bias tape to the edge of the fabric and then enjoyed the gentle humming of the machine, while kids were playing outside by my window. I thought, wow, that was me about 15-20 years ago (wow, that was forever ago!). I reminisced about the times that we would play outside with the neighbors until the mosquitoes attacked…childhood was great. I may have drifted off a little too much, because you can see a few waves in my sewing (should be straight lines on that bias tape). I need to remember to watch every stitch on the machine and not daydream.

After all was done, I draped a nearly completed quilt over my chair. This sandwich is now sealed together, and isn’t going anywhere.

All that is left now, is to replace the pins with some tied yarn where the fabrics meet in each corner. You might be thinking that this isnt’ very traditional, but this is a very basic, beginner’s quilt, folks. Normally, people quilt using curves/squigglies like this or straight lines like this. However, I’m following the book’s pattern/instructions and using yarn.

I can’t wait to enjoy this quilt! My very first one…

This past week, a good bit of “firsts” happened. “Firsts” are wonderful because they will never happen again and you will always look back on the first time such and such happened. They are bookmarks in your life, and while they are small bookmarks, your brain has them engraved in there for you to remember at random times.

I can recall my first hospital visit that happened in kindergarten after I sprayed nasal spray in my eye. I even remember my first food craft project, which involved me trying to convince the teacher that the animal crackers didn’t want to be glued to an ark, but rather, they would prefer to be in my tummy (early signs of a foodie or a fatty?). I can even recall my first needlecraft, which was a teddy bear cross-stitch that read “Welcome”. My parents still have this hanging by their door.

A couple of big firsts were involving the sewing machine. The pajama pants (#38) . I was supposed to finish these in June, but for some reason, June seemed like it was shorter than the average month. Why the heck is it July already anyway? I’m not ready for the Christmas in July ads.

Ok, back to the pajama pants. The pattern said “easy”, but this pattern was NOT easy. First of all, all they show are little pictures in steps. They don’t tell you how to get your fabric to look like that picture. I had to constantly reposition fabric after every step and repin. Annoying. Took me about 5 hours to make these. However, now that I know, I can probably pump out a pair in about two hours. I disregarded putting ribbon on them in the waist area, because I was fairly sure the puppy would see that as a toy and have something else to try to chew on.

Also, I finished the quilt top over the past weekend. Summer goal is *almost* done. All I have to do is assemble it together now.

We’re going to say I took a picture of the top upside down on purpose, ok? I’ll admit, my squares do not perfectly line up in some places (check out right of row 2 to right of row 3), but it’s ok. First quilt. The sole purpose is to keep my legs warm when hubs insists on keeping the fan on high in a room. My legs won’t care if squares don’t line up.

Last weekend was another “first”, which in no way was craft related. Remember my anniversary gift to the hubs? Well, he picked the paper that said “mow the lawn”. I’ve never mowed the lawn in my life, but I did it early last Saturday, which I’m sure was hilarious to my husband. (#33) There are no pictures of this “first”, because it would probably break computer screens and cause riots. A big girl fighting 100% humidity and temperatures in the 90s? Who wants to see that?

Have you had any “firsts” lately?

I was having dinner with my husband and his coworkers, when they mentioned a baby shower that was happening at the office. My husband admitted that he didn’t have a gift, and I thought that I could totally make a taggie blanket that is so popular in the sewing blog world.

I raided my local Michaels for fun ribbons a while ago, and also happened to have some soft minky fabric in my stash. For the stripey fabric, I purchased some receiving blankets from Babies R Us. I figured since we’re at the age where our friends are constantly having kids, making taggies with this fabric could be worth it.

I really like how this came out, and while I didn’t have the straightest lines sewing these fabrics together, I did learn that these fabrics with a stretch do take a little more effort to sew. Good lesson for when I finally make a T-shirt quilt.

I am a pretty tall gal (5’11″). Thankfully, most stores have gotten the clue and offer tall inseams in most pants, but unfortunately in my search for some great pajamas or workout pants, I come home empty-handed each time. So, I usually just go for capri styles instead, since those won’t make me look like I’m preparing for a flood. I will admit though, I really was hoping for a pair of pajama pants that make me feel, well, normal.

When I started sewing, I decided to stock up on patterns at Hobby Lobby because they were 99 cents each! Included in that was this plus-sized pajamas pattern. I wanted to wait a while to attempt garments, but Sew Mama Sew gave me a jolt of motivation with their challenge this month: Make it, Wear it!

I was a little intimidated, but there is a big red word on the pattern packaging: EASY. I’m sure that means easy peasy to a pro, but I’m just hoping it means manageable to a newbie like myself.

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and bought this pretty dark grey/blue floral pattern for my pants. This is gonna happen folks, and my seam ripper, once again, is at the ready!

Wish me luck!

Have you been intimidated by trying something new in a craft? What motivated you to finally go for it?