Simple Decoration: Berries in a Jar

The post title totally gives away this little project. It is simply berries in a jar. 

Reminds me of this wonderful autumn season we are in,

and so it will sit, in the center of my table, with the candle and the pumpkin.

Lazy Daisy Stitch

I learned a cute new stitch. 

The possible uses seem endless. 

Yet, I cannot decide what to do with this cute little circle of my very first lazy daisy stitches ever.

A good tutorial for the lazy daisy stitch can be found here at Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials. Just FYI, I did not draw the little center circle as a guide, and I added a french knot to the middle of my flowers.

Give Thanks Embroidery

As I look forward to the coming holidays, I am reminded how important it is to be thankful everyday for all the gifts I am blessed with, large and small.

A few thanks for my journal today: gingerbread pancakes warm and crisp from the toaster, a hug from a customer, persimmons hanging high against a blue sky, cappuccino foam, birds on the balcony, afternoon silence and grace.


For the embroidery, I typed and printed the words in Word and traced them onto the fabric. I freehand drew the heart and randomly placed the french knots inside it.

For now it finds a home on the living room book case where all can be reminded of its message.

Sunny and 60 degree temps: November?

The weather this weekend was a special treat for my little part of the country. We took big advantage of it and got outside to explore some new places including Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.

As the leaves fall like rain and the sun shines bright and warm, I know there is little chance of another weekend like this in 2012.

Wrap Apron

I decided it was time for a new apron to wear to the coffee shop.

I wanted to do something a little different this time, so using a wrap around skirt as a guide, I made a wrap apron.

I like that it wraps the whole way around, allowing lots of surface for drying wet hands or wiping bits of this and that on.

I will try and explain how I made it.

The length is about 20"

The width at the top 50" and at the bottom 58"

These measurements were before any hemming or darts.

I sewed a few darts at the waist to help it lay better when wrapping.

I put a button whole at the waist for the under wrap string to come through. 

Again, this helps it lay better.

Some stitches just for fun at the bottom.

Crochet Cowl

A few weeks ago, a coworker introduced me to a new local, discount store. Among many other wonderful things, they had yarn. I could not resist the pretty pinks and purples of this hand dyed yarn. There was only one skein, but I knew I would come up with the perfect project. While making it, J asked, "who are you making that for?" I, without hesitation answered, "me." It is a new cowl.

I followed directions found here, http://www.jjcrochet.com/blog/free-crochet-cowl-pattern/.

Heart Embroideries

Hearts and love are needed in good times and bad. This past month I embroidered a couple of hearts while praying for some dear friends. One for good, a new engagement. One for sadness, a father diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Love and prayers for both situations.

Halloween Batty Headband

I know it's a week late but here is my costume for Halloween.

Directions and template for bat headband.

Hope you got to eat lots of candy over the past week! I know I sure have had my fill.

Pumpkin Recipes

J and I have been blessed to host and help lead a small group from our local church. It has been awesome to get to know these new friends that come each week. And, I have been able to try lots of new recipes to share and enjoy with them. Pumpkin has been the theme of late. 

Three of my new favorites:

1. Pumpkin Creamer (also delicious in tea)
2. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Ginger Pumpkin Bread

Again, I have been a slacker on the photos, but trust me, they all look and taste super yummy!

Banners and Garlands and Pirates, Oh My!

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent a lot of free time in the month of October preparing decorations and goodies for our church's women's retreat. The theme was Dauntless and had a pirate feel to it. Of course I did not take a camera to the retreat and also did not take any photos in the process of making. Oh well, here are links to the ideas and a few shots from a friend.

Crepe Paper Garlands: Sewn to give them a ruffled multi-color look.

Also apart of the decorations:

Tissue Paper Flowers

Circle Punch Garlands

Paper Flowers

Images on Book Pages Banner:  Dauntless printed on Bible pages

Scripture Collages

Pillow Cases (yes, we made 55 of them)

A great group of lovely ladies; it was well worth working the month of October to be apart of blessing them.

The Past Two Months

I am not sure where the past two months went.
I have been the worst blogger for those two months; my last post was September 14.
Really Ivy?
Yes!
I know, slacker.

I was thinking about why this happened, and while I don't totally know the answer, I have a few guesses.

1. Seasons change, schedules change, this all takes getting used to.
2. J and I started hosting a weekly small group from our church, therefore I now clean weekly (or at least organize the mess) and have spent some wonderful, quality time getting to know the lovely folks who are coming.
3.  I helped out with the hospitality team for the women's retreat at church and spent the month of October making decorations and goodies for that awesome weekend.
4. Fall is my favorite season and it just feels good to spend extra time outside.

I am excited to get back to blogging. I have a few catch-up posts this week, for those two months did have a few productive creative endeavors.

Wye Island Holly Tree

Toilet Paper Message

And, J says he is not creative. 

This seems pretty creative to me.

Sharpie Decorated Mugs Update

A picture is worth a thousand words;
isn't that what they say.

Well, here is my Sharpie decorated mug
after being run through the dishwasher twice.

Yeah, that didn't work out so well in the end.

                             : (

You can find the original post here, if you are still interested. 

Fried Rice

Fried rice is an easy dinner that can be made out of pretty much what ever you have in the fridge (and rice of course). I don't know if this is really how to make fried rice; I made it up. It is very similar to fried rice from the Chinese takeout place, so that works for me.

All that said, here is how I make fried rice.

Cook rice as usual, if I am short on time I do white, if I have time, I do brown.
I usually cook a cup of rice, sometimes double it if we need lots of lunches that week.

Saute whatever veggies you can find, this time, carrots and zucchini.

I also had some spinach that needed to be used,
 so I chopped that up to add towards the end of cooking.
Again, any veggies you would like.

Scramble some eggs; I usually do two but only had one egg left tonight.

Make a sauce. I use an easy stir-fry sauce from a recipe I found on-line.
Follow the link to check it out.

When it's all done, dump it together and mix and saute until combined.

Enjoy! 

Leftovers make great lunches.

Fabric Memory Game

Inspired by a post on the Purl bee for a fabric memory game, I made a memory game out of fabric scraps for my nieces's birthday.

The hardest, most time consuming part of the project was cutting out all the pieces. Once that was done, it was fairly quick sewing.

I used a zig-zag stitch around the outside edges, instead of a straight stitch and trimming like they recommend.

I also sewed a simple little pouch, with a velcro closure, for her to keep the memory squares in. Embroderied with the word "Memory," it is the perfect little keeper.

While still a little young for the Memory game concept, she loved the colorful squares, and can start by simply matching patterns.

Monsters! Banner

The monsters were a hit at A's birthday party this past weekend. While that's not exactly what this post is about, I couldn't resist another picture of those adorable guys.

Last minute, Friday night, I decided to make some monster banners for the party as well. I kept it really simple, tearing out pages from the book about making monsters that I got at Good Will and stitching across the top of them. On one I wrote "Happy Birthday" using a Sharpie. Done; it was simple but added some color and themed decoration to the party.

Monsters!

Today we celebrate my niece's 2nd birthday; recently she loves growling and pretending to be a monster. So, a monster party it will be. Last weekend while on our mountain getaway, my mom, aunt, sister, and I created, sewed, and stuffed many monsters for party favors.

While I had to break to stretch my back and fingers several times, we eventually got them all done. Okay, so maybe I gave up about 3 away from being finished but luckily my mom has more endurance than I at the trusty sewing machine.

Our inspiration came from this book I found at Good Will for 50 cents. I think it was worth the money.

A loved all the monsters, smiling and giggling when each was completed. 

She made sure to give each a loving hug.

Joy Banner: Paper Version

Lately, I have enjoyed using my sewing machine to sew paper, in particular to make cute banners out of reused papers. Some friends recently moved to a new home, so I thought they might appreciate a new, little decoration.

I hand wrote the words grace, peace, and love (many times) on blank pages from the front and back of an old book to be the background of the banner. Then I cut the letters out of handmade paper and sewed them on with the trusty sewing machine. Lastly I stitched across the tops to hold them together.

I hope their new home is full of grace, peace, love, and joy!