give a little twirl

My girl was selected to give a tour at school.  Which means the girl needs a new outfit, not really but I’ll take any excuse to put needle and thread to fabric.  In the spirit of “sew what you know when you’re in a time crunch” I went with the tried and true and AWESOME laguna skirt.laguna twirl

In the spirit of make what you want, even if you never have, I tried my hand at free motion applique.  I’m certain 2 a.m. is not the best time to try a new technique when it’s due in the morning, so I went over all my free motion with a regular straight stitch to make sure it didn’t fall apart during the day. :-)

free motion applique

oh, and she cooks too

sort of! 

Cooking:  not my favorite thing, but hey we've got to eat and someones got to do it.  When Terry is in town I am totally hands off, but when he's gone its all me – all the time.  Here's a favorite at our house that I shared last week with my new friend Sarah and thought that you might like too.  This is one of the only things that all 4 of my kids will eat without at least 1 of them turning their nose up at. 

Start with 2 sauce pans, one is to boil water and cook the noodles in the other is to make your rue (cheese sauce) in.

731-1
While your water comes to a boil and your noodles cook (TIP:  instead of putting a dollup of butter in your boiling water, to help the noodles stay stick free, add a dash of salt)

combine

2T butter

2T flour

wisk until melted and combined add

2C milk

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

More or less s and p to taste

stir until it comes to a boil.  It's my understanding that as soon as it comes to a boil that's as thick as it'll get so you can turn it off

add 2 C cheddar

731-2

drain the water from the noodles and combine into a baking dish.  You can use any size from 8×8 – 9×12. 

Now, it's time for the secret ingredient, the one that takes this mac and cheese from good to great…

741-3

crush roughly 1 cup of cheese-it's, sprinkle them across the top, and then finish with a bit more grated cheese.

This is serious business and because it's working with cheese-its I can always count on help!

731-4

Yum, Yum!

731final

Terry makes a much more gourmet version with fancy cheeses.  Maybe one day he'll share ;-)

-C

oh, and she cooks too

sort of! 

Cooking:  not my favorite thing, but hey we've got to eat and someones got to do it.  When Terry is in town I am totally hands off, but when he's gone its all me – all the time.  Here's a favorite at our house that I shared last week with my new friend Sarah and thought that you might like too.  This is one of the only things that all 4 of my kids will eat without at least 1 of them turning their nose up at. 

Start with 2 sauce pans, one is to boil water and cook the noodles in the other is to make your rue (cheese sauce) in.

731-1
While your water comes to a boil and your noodles cook (TIP:  instead of putting a dollup of butter in your boiling water, to help the noodles stay stick free, add a dash of salt)

combine

2T butter

2T flour

wisk until melted and combined add

2C milk

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

More or less s and p to taste

stir until it comes to a boil.  It's my understanding that as soon as it comes to a boil that's as thick as it'll get so you can turn it off

add 2 C cheddar

731-2

drain the water from the noodles and combine into a baking dish.  You can use any size from 8×8 – 9×12. 

Now, it's time for the secret ingredient, the one that takes this mac and cheese from good to great…

741-3

crush roughly 1 cup of cheese-it's, sprinkle them across the top, and then finish with a bit more grated cheese.

This is serious business and because it's working with cheese-its I can always count on help!

731-4

Yum, Yum!

731final

Terry makes a much more gourmet version with fancy cheeses.  Maybe one day he'll share ;-)

-C

some stretchy combinations

Don't get stuck in a rut!  I love to mix fabric from different collections, designers and even countries.  While sometimes it's easiest to play it safe and sew directly from a collection (thank you designers for grouping like fabrics together for those days when we want a sure bet or to grab and sew)  I tend to lean toward mixing things up a bit more.  It's a little risky but can be a lot rewarding! 

Right now I'm itching to sew up some of our new knits.  Are you tired of hearing about knits yet?  I sure hope not, if you are pick some up and sew with them I think you'll have a change of heart.  Here are just a few combinations I'm really digging on right now.

Carnivaldaisydot 

Carnival, Stenzo dots and Daisy

Pycampanhilco

Blossoms, Gimnast, and campan

Naycampan

Nay Roses on super light pink ribknit with campan