We'll be here!

Kissui Children's Store is hosting their first Craft Fair and I'm going to participate!  I'm a little nervous, I keep wondering "What if my item's don't sell?", but then my husband says, "But what if they do?".  I'll be making some applique shirts, crayon rolls, hopefully subway art, a bandelero or 2?  And, I think that my good friend, Meghann, is going to join me and make some carseat covers and burpclothes and maybe some other fun goodies! 

Hope to see you there!
Andrea

Ban-de-ler-ooooo!

I saw this really fun Snack Bandelero on "Celebrate the Boy" month on Made by Rae's blog at the beginning of the year and have wanted to make one for Adam since then - I've had the supplies for the past month or so and wanted to make one for both Adam and Aidan before Easter but wasn't able to find the time... so, I've been on a sewing kick since the Singer Sewing Party on Saturday and decided to just do it!  And I loved it!  And Adam loves it!  Yay!  So, you can check out the actual tutorial here, but I'll show you my own experience with it, but IF you decide to do this, you should really check out Deborah's tutorial because it was so well written and easy to follow!  Mine is probably a little more, umm, not easy to follow.  Yeah, I'll put it like that.  So, here's my toy bandelero!

Okay!  Let's get started!  Here's what you'll need:

• 1/2 yd medium weight twill
• 1/2 yd fusible interfacing
• 1 yd elastic, 1 inch wide
• Coordinating thread (I decided to use thread that would stand out on my bandelero)
• Snaps or buttons (optional - I didn't use them on mine)

Let's begin!

• Body - Cut 2 pieces from your twill measuring 3x30 inches (this is for an average 2 year old.  My son weighs about 28 lbs and is a 2t and I wish that I would've gone a little longer - maybe closer to 3x35 inches.  It's your call.
• Elastic piece - Cut 1 piece from your twill measuring 2 1/2 x 24 inches.
• Pocket - Cut 3x4 inch rectangle.
• Interfacing - cut 1 piece 3x30 inches.

Let's make the body of the bandelero!

• Take your piece of interfacing and iron it onto the wrong-side of 1 piece of your bandelero body.

• Put your two pieces, right sides together and sew a straight stitch along both long sides.  You don't need to worry about the short ends, you'll finish these are the very end.

• Now, turn your body piece right side out and iron it so the seams are flat.  Using a zig-zag stitch, stitch as close to the edge as possible on both sides.  Set aside.

Loop Piece:

•  Take your 2.5" x 24" piece of fabric and fold both sides in 1/4" and iron the folds.

• Fold this piece in half, like a hot dog and iron.



• Topstitch along both edges with a straight stitch - do it as close to the edges as possible.

Take your elastic and attach a safety pin to one end.  Insert into one end and feed all the way through.  You're piece will bunch as you go.  Cut off excess elastic.

Attaching Loops to Body:

• Fold your body piece in half.  I placed a straight pen to mark where I wanted to start my loops, which is about halfway on your body.

• Pin your loop piece to the body of the bandelero.  Attach the loop strip by securing one end, then folding it back on itself to trap that first raw edge under the strip as a whole. It sounds odd and backwards, but it totally works and gives a nice, clean finish. Place the loop strip so that the raw edge is pointing toward the body of the bandelero and the length of the loop strip is heading AWAY from where you want the row of loops to go. Stitch across the loop strip close to the raw edge to secure it in place.

• Now you'll want make your loops to hold the goodies!  I picked a few toys and a sippy cup and used those to see how tight to make the loops.  Once your figure out your placement, pin the loop down and sew along it.  I went over the seam a few times to make sure it would withstand a 3 year old little boy!

• Repeat this step for each loop that you want to create.  Once you get down to the end of your strip, turn it under and sew a seam along the top to finish it off nicely.

Pocket:

• Please check out Deborah's tutorial for the pocket!  I didn't take any pictures BECAUSE I seriously didn't know what I was doing and was just hoping it would work out!  It did, but if you want to make one, please please, PLEASE check out the instructions here.
• Sew on your pocket, right side to right side along the bottom of your pocket.  



After you sew it on, fold it up to create your pocket and press it with an iron.  Pin your sides to your body piece and sew them on. 

• You're almost done!  Now, fold your bandelero in half, right sides together and sew a diagonal seam along the bottom to finish it off!



• Cut the excess off close to the seam and turn your bandelero out - add toys and you're done!  yay!  You could put the button or a snap here instead of sewing it shut if you wanted.

Phew!  A big project crossed off my to-do list!  I might go make a few more right now!  A HUGE thank you to Rae from Made by Rae for hosting Celebrate the Boy month and giving mom's of boys fun things to make!  And a HUMONGOUS thank you to Deborah from Whipstitch for coming up with the Snack Bandelero and for doing such an amazing job with the tutorial so that I could totally copy it!

See you all soon!
Andrea

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful day!  I got to wake up (at 8 am!) to fresh brewed coffee, a chocolate chip filled chocolate icing doughnut and...

my son on a motorcycle!  I hope this is the ONLY time he's on a motorcycle!  Hope everyone had a Mother's Day filled with all of your favorite things!

At least he's wearing a helmet!
Andrea

Singer Sew Party Show and Tell

Hello!

Happy Saturday!  I've had a great day today, a great start to the Mother's Day Weekend!  My Singer Sew party was this morning, we had quiche, monkey bread, fruit, raspberry bars, wine, coffee... and sewing!  Can it get any better?!  I had a great turn out, we had 11 people come over and make the tool roll projects!  Here's some pictures:

We had 3 machines set up so that we could keep the party moving.  Here's my Mom, Rosa and Jena sewing away - the Singer Confidence worked awesome!  In the dinning room we had the precut 12x14 inch rectangles ready to be pinned and an ironing station.  Of course, no station was too far from the food!

Here, Christine and Amber were making their pockets for the tool roll while my Mother-in-law ironed her seams.

Here's my Grandma Grace turning her corners out.

There's not much better than getting together to make a fun, easy and time conscientious project!  And now it's time for a nap and then onto an Angel's Game!

Hope everyone's Mother's Day is wonderful!
Andrea



Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Hello out there!

Is everyone happy that it's Cinco de Mayo?  I am, it's kind of a big deal in our house... yes, I know it's not really Mexican Independence Day like most probably assume, but being of a Mexican-American  mix, I love any day that celebrates that half of me!  And what better way to celebrate than with food!  Yum!  Try this recipe - it's a fiesta in your mouth! 

Chocolate Banana Empanadas - courtesy of FoodNetwork

Ingredients


4 large ripe bananas

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 recipe empanada dough, recipe follows

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken in chunks

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

Mash the bananas, sugar, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl until creamy, but not completely smooth – you should still have pieces of banana chunks. Spoon a generous tablespoon of the banana filling on the empanada pastry circles and stick a piece of chocolate on top. Form and bake the empanadas as directed in the recipe. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve hot.

(I use premade pie-dough in a pinch, but here's the recipe for homemade dough!)





Empanada Dough:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour



1 cup masa harina



1 teaspoon baking powder



1 teaspoon salt



1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled



1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash



Butter, for greasing the pans



In a large bowl, sift together the flour, masa harina, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the melted butter. Gradually add 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water, working it in with your hands to incorporate; the dough should be easy to handle and not sticky. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and chill for 30 minutes.



Lightly flour your rolling pin and counter. Divide the dough in 1/2 so it will be easier to work with and roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 4-inch cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out 10 circles of dough; repeat with the other 1/2.



Spoon 2 generous tablespoons of filling into the center of each pastry circle, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Brush the edges with the egg wash and then fold the dough over in 1/2 to enclose the filling and form a semi-circle. Tightly seal the edges by crimping with the tines of a fork. Chill at least 30 minutes before baking.



Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the empanadas on a buttered baking sheet and brush the tops with additional egg wash. Using a fork, prick a few holes in the top of the empanadas for steam to escape. Bake for 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.

Good Morning

I've been wanting to share a little more about our day to day for the past few months in Adam's scrapbook, so I decided to dissect the day into pictures.  My goal is to share on the blog and then do pages so I can remember the different stages of our life... so much has changed in our daily routine from the time Adam was a newborn to now... it's easy to forget the different shapes of our life.

So, here's our morning (in pictures)... all before 7:30 am...

{my coffee, Adam's green juice, blog hopping}

{Disney Junior - it's my wake-up helper}

{And then we heard the 1st trash truck of the day}

{A little boy, 2 trash trucks - perfection}

{Adam - jammies, Mommy - jammies/robe = TMI for neighborhood}

Like I said, this is before 7:30 - it's a little crazy with a 3 year old, energetic boy!  And we did this routine for all 3 trash trucks, not to mention standing by the front door, looking for the trash truck and Adam tricking me into cleaning his playroom while he watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...

Hope your morning is spent in your jammies on a trash truck in the front yard too!

Andrea

Singer Sewing Party!

Hello!

Well, we just got back from the hottest, err, happiest place on Earth!  Yes, Disneyland!  It was 95 today, yikes!  See, even in the heat, we're still totally in lurve with Disneyland!  Poor Pluto, tho!  He must've been one hotdoggie!

So, I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I was picked to be a host for a Singer House Party a while back and my party is this Saturday!  Here's the Singer Sewing Confidence machine that I picked up on Saturday - I really really really LOVE it!  It has 62 stitches - and a cutting foot that will double as a serger even tho I don't know how to use it... trial and error, or errors.

And while I was picking up my new sewing machine, I also made the project that we'll be making at the party... a tool roll - so easy and so cute!  I think this is perfect for a plethora of tools... sewing, paper crafting, crayons (I'm thinking of Adam here, not myself)... very easy, it took less than 20 minutes!

{tool roll}

{All rolled up - I'll add ribbon for closures for the party)

And here's a picture of what's going to be in the goodie bags - this was all sent by Singer for the party for FREE!  Super cool!  I love free!  It's my favorite price!

I'll show you guys pictures of the party after Saturday, later this week I'll share some more Silhouette shirts that I made - 1 for my niece and 1 for my BFF's little girl (they were supposed be for Easter... opps). 
See you all later!
Andrea