Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year!

Have you all been enjoying the Bowl Games? We're biding our time watching OSU vs Indiana in the Insight Bowl. We're just waiting somewhat impatiently for tomorrow when the University of Hawaii plays Georgia in the Sugar Bowl (3:30 p.m. Hawaii time) at 5:30 p.m. here in Vegas. I'll wager that many of my Hawaii ex-pats will be hitting the sportsbooks in the casinos to place their bets on the underdog Warriors. If I were a betting person, I'd be doing the same. Since I'm not a basketball or baseball fan, I will go into mourning after the Super Bowl. But, as one Mountain West official said, "Football ends in January and starts in February." So I won't have to grieve for very long. At least we have wrestling to keep us busy for awhile.

It's New Year's Eve and as usual in our household, we're holing ourselves up for the night at home. We're all happy my husband isn't on duty tonight and will be home safe with us. I just don't feel comfortable out on the streets with all the party-goers and merry-makers tonight. We do enjoy watching the fireworks from our front door!

I used to think we were in the minority, the ones who stay home, but I've found there are many, many like us. Please, if you're brave enough to go out tonight, have a designated driver and drive attentively because there are way too many who do not. I don't want to lose any of my 7 faithful readers! LOL!

Don't forget to have your black-eyed peas and collard greens tomorrow!

I'm on Etsy!

Okay, you knew it would happen. I couldn't possibly use all of those cozies. Well, yes, actually I could. I'd just have a different one for every major and minor holiday plus one for everyday. I really enjoy making things for myself and for gifts but I figured that if I sold some, Bernie couldn't complain about my increasing stash. We'll see. You can see what's for sale on my sidebar - Etsy Mini.

More teapot/coffee cozies

Is there an award for best dressed teapot? My teapots have the cutest outfits now and do their jobs so much better because of them.


Wanna know why I stopped using my French Press coffee pot? Because by the time I wanted a second cup, it was cold! I'll just bet these teapot cozies will work the same with my French Press. If it weren't midnight, I'd make myself a pot of coffee right now. It'll just have to wait until the morning.

Coziest Teapot Cozy

Early this morning at about 2:30 a.m., I just had to make another one before going to bed. It turned out much better than the first one.












When I woke up this morning, I was determined to get it down as perfect (for me) as I could. This blue one is my coziest cozy, ever!

Mele Kalikimaka!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day. At my house, the presents have long been opened, played with and some cast aside. The sound of a new drum set assaults my ears from upstairs. But with it comes peals of laughter that makes me smile. The dinner dishes have been put in the washer, one pot of tea made and consumed, one pot of coffee will be made shortly. The Lake House is on. Can you believe I've never seen it? Everyone has settled into the four corners of the house and I'm enjoying some peace and quiet (in between drum beats, ha!) I still have a friend to call and talk to. Better run as she's in a different time zone.

Peace on Earth!

Ugly But Cozy

Yeah, I know it's not attractive but it's just my prototype. I ultimately want to sew a quilted cozy but my yarn just happened to be sitting in my knitting bag right next to me. It works!



Okay, couldn't wait. Had to get to the sewing machine. This is not quite as ugly as the crocheted cozy but still not perfect. I'm actually pretty pleased with it but, of course, will tweak it until it's as good as I can get it. Good news is that for this 2 cup teapot, it only took one fat quarter and some thick polyester batting. I don't normally use polyester batting, but my friend, Pat, left me a good sized scrap of it after we made some tote bags one night. Next time, I won't take the batting all the way up past the drawstring. I do think that I'll have to use the polyester to keep that really lofty look, but we'll see. This one seems to keep the teapot hotter than the crocheted version, but I kind of expected that. Back to the drawing board. Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas!

Mmmmmm...Zuppa Toscana

Aren't you glad it's soup weather? I am. I love soup. I love to eat soup all year but especially when it's cold outside.

My little one and I met our friends for lunch at Olive Garden the other day for soup and salad. Pat and I always get Pasta Fagiole, which I can replicate quite well, and her husband, Jim, always gets Zuppa Toscana, which I have never made but didn't believe it would be hard to do. I was determined to make my own version just so I could have Pat and Jim over for dinner and serve it to them. We love Italian food.

Here is my version:
Michelle's Zuppa Toscana



1 lb. mild Italian sausage, casing removed
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 bag (1 lb.) Southern Style Hashbrowns, frozen
1 can chicken broth
2 cans cream of potato soup
2 cups water
3 cups milk
1 bunch kale, chopped

In stockpot brown sausage, breaking into pieces as you cook. After sausage is browned, add onions and garlic and saute until translucent. Sprinkle flour over sausage mixture and stir to incorporate, cooking for a couple of minutes to get rid of that raw flour taste. Add hashbrowns and all liquids. Simmer 10 minutes. Add kale and simmer until wilted. Mangia!

As per my usual M.O. I'm still working on Christmas gifts but I'm not stressing myself out this year. I'll have a bunch of cookies done and boxed for those "Uh Oh, I Forgot You" gifts. In fact, I'll make more tomorrow, and a bunch of Easy Peasy Fudge as well and maybe some brownies. Yum!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Hot Buttered Goodness and other drinks

Last night I was given this recipe for Hot Buttered Rum at a friend's party. I tried it with the rum but I'm not such a fan of alcohol these days so I prefered it in a cup of hot coffee instead.

Hot Buttered Rum

Cream:
1 lb of butter (do not substitute!)
1 box of dark brown sugar
1 lb of powdered sugar

Add:
1 quart of softened vanilla ice cream
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix in a large bowl. Place 1 to 2 tsp of mix in a cup. Add a jigger of rum. Add boiling water to fill the cup. Keep mixture in freezer.

********************

These recipes are for my sister, Sherry, with whom I share my immense love of coffee.
They also make great "gifts in a jar".

Spiced Mocha Coffee Mix
1 c. instant coffee granules
1 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 c. powdered instant dry milk
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp. dried orange peel

Combine the ingredients in a large bowl until mixture is well blended. Store in an airtight container.

To make one serving:
1 Tbsp. Spiced Mocha Coffee Mix
6 oz. (3/4 cup) boiling water

Place the coffee mix in a mug. Pour boiling water over the mix. Stir until completely dissolved. If desired, garnish with shaved chocolate.

Viennese Coffee Mix

1 1/3 c. instant coffee granules
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. powdered coffee creamer
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 dashes ground allspice
2 dashes ground cloves
2 dashes ground nutmeg

Combine the ingredients in a large bowl. Store in an airtight container.

To make one serving:
4 heaping tsp Viennese coffee mix
8 oz (1 cup) boiling water

Place Viennese coffee mix in a mug. Pour boiling water over the mix. Stir until the mix is completely dissolved.

Cappuccino Mix

1 1/4 c. powdered coffee creamer
1 1/4 c. powdered chocolate flavored drink mix
1 c. plus 2 Tbsp. instant coffee granules
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Store in an airtight container.

To make one serving:
2 Tbsp. Cappuccino mix
6 oz. (3/4 cup) boiling water
Whipped cream and shaved chocolate, optional (NOT optional!!!!!)

Place cappuccino mix in a mug. Pour boiling water over mix. Stir until the mix is completely dissolved. If desired, garnish with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

The University of Hawaii is PERFECT!

WAC Champions, the Hawaii Warriors just beat the Washington Huskies 35 to 28, which left them undefeated (12-0) and awaiting news of whether or not they'll get to play in a BCS bowl game. The speculation so far is that they'll get invited to play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Hawaii quarterback, Colt Brennan (perfect quarterback name!) was breaking NCAA records left and right, and is a Heisman hopeful, though most are calling him a long-shot.

I don't know how my kids managed to sleep near me in the living room while I screamed and whooped it up during the game. In fact, they're both snoring away right now.

My older son competed in a wrestling tournament today and lost both of his first two matches. The tournament was over at that point for him. The state championship football game was played today as well, but seeing as how we lost the semi-final match in Reno last week, he and his friends had no interest in going to the game. Many of them also wrestle so they used the tournament as an excuse not to go. I don't know how they felt when they found out that the team that beat them last week lost in the championship game today. I was happy that it was a Las Vegas team that won. I'm not worried. I'm looking forward to our team winning state next year!

I was able to do some knitting today at the tournament. I brought my sweater project with me and was so glad I did. I had hours to wait between Anthony's matches. I brought the same project with me last weekend during our 7 1/2 hour drive from Vegas to Reno but since we were driving home at night, I wasn't able to work on it on the drive home. I'm using the Bad Penny pattern by Stefanie Japel as a basic guide for my sweater.

Okay guys, almost 1 a.m. and time for bed. Hope everyone's college teams won today and their NFL teams win on Sunday!

Check this out! Awesome!

Winners! 3 TNT recipes

I have to post these because I don't want to lose them. First of all, I've been wanting to make some dinner rolls using my bread machine but I was so scared because I'd actually have to take the dough out and do something with it. Making bread is one thing...just put all the stuff in, wait awhile, and you have bread! My son, Anthony, and I are bread fiends in the house...though I think he's even more of a bread addict than I. Problem was, he would never even touch my bread machine bread. I searched high and low for a recipe that gave me instructions that made me want to try it. I found it here. Can I just tell you that they were perfect? When I got home from knit nite last night, there were about 4 (of 15) left and when I told him I didn't want any, he took those 4 and inhaled them! Winner! Since we're having Thanksgiving dinner at the firehouse, I was thinking that I could bring a bunch of these and some deviled eggs (hubby's favorites). I wanted to try a whole wheat roll today and I did. Not 100% whole wheat, but I substituted 1 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour for the white flour in the recipe and they were delicious!

Bread Machine Dinner Rolls

1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 1/4 to 3 1/3 cups flour (start with 3 1/4 c first)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp active dry yeast

Put ingredients in the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. For me, it was in the order above. Set the machine to the "dough" setting and start. As the dough ball formed, I used a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides. If at the end of the mixing/kneading cycle, your dough looks too wet, add more flour 1 Tbsp at a time until it is just sticky but not wet. Let the machine complete the dough cycle. Then remove the dough with lightly floured hands to a lightly floured surface. I had to pat the outside of the dough with a small amount of flour to make it workable. Place a sheet of foil in a 13 x 9 inch pan and spray lightly with cooking spray. Break off pieces a little bigger than golf ball sized and form them into smooth balls. Arrange the balls (you should have 15 of them) about an inch apart in the pan. Cover the pan with a sheet of plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray so the dough will not stick while resting and a kitchen towel over that. Let the dough sit for about 40 minutes and it should have doubled in size by then. Yesterday I had to take my dough into the living room where it was warmer. When doubled, uncover the pan and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. I like to finish them off by brushing them with butter as soon as they come out of the oven.

*************************

I made a big pot of beef/meatball vegetable soup for dinner and the rolls complemented it perfectly.

Beef/Meatball Vegetable Soup

1 lb ground beef
20 frozen pre-cooked beef meatballs, Italian flavor
1 can diced tomatoes with garlic, basil and oregano (15 ounces)
3 cans chicken broth (14.5 ounces)
2 small cans tomato sauce (8 ounces)
1 can corn (14.5 ounces)
1 1/2 cups mixed vegetables (I used a zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, carrot, & broccoli mix)
1 cup dried elbow macaroni pasta
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp. dried, minced onion flakes
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Brown ground beef and drain. Then add all the remaining ingredients and simmer until macaroni is tender, adding water if necessary, about 25 minutes, I think.
Too easy, huh?

************************

I made the mistake of mentioning fudge to Chris and he pestered me to let him help me make it until I relented. I had heard of a fudge recipe made from premade canned cake frosting about 10 years ago and hadn't thought of it again until today when I came across recipes for it. I had chocolate chips, I had frosting. Why not make fudge? I'm looking for easy Christmas gifts to make, after all. It couldn't be easier. Are you ready?

Easy Peasy Fudge

1 - 12 oz. bag milk chocolate chips
1 can Betty Crocker cake frosting, Chocolate Fudge flavor
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Empty bag of chips into a microwave safe bowl and melt them for 90 seconds on high. Stir in the entire can of frosting, vanilla, salt and nuts, if using them. Stir to make sure chips are totally incorporated. If they're not completely melted, put back in microwave for 30 seconds at a time. When completely incorporated, turn out into a buttered 8" x 8" pan, cover with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour or until firmer. It was yummy! Chris said so!

You can play around with different flavors of both chips and frosting. I read that the cream cheese frosting/chocolate chip variation was delicious but one set of instructions said not to use "whipped" frosting and that was the only kind of cream cheese frosting that I had. Oh well, next time! It really couldn't get any easier than this!!

On the sewing front, I made two pillowcases today with another one to be done tomorrow for Anthony and his two friends. They're in the school colors with one fabric in paw prints. They're the Wildcats but I'm pretty sure these were puppy prints. Close enough. Picture to come soon. They're heading up to Reno, Nevada this weekend to play against McQueen HS. The winner of this game advances to the State Championships. Las Vegas HS has won State for the past two years and I can't wait to see them do it again. Bernie and I are still debating whether to go up for this game or not. All of the cheap airfares are gone and it's about an 8 hour drive. I sure hope we go. I've never missed one of Anthony's games and I don't want to start now.

Off to bed. It's been a long day.

Roll-Up Pillowcase

The pattern for this pillowcase was a free hand-out at Nancy's Quilt Shop, however, I felt that the instructions were difficult to understand so I Googled around and found this one, which is easier to understand. I found another site that gave measurements for both standard and king sized pillowcases. That one said that you need 29" x WOF (width of fabric) for a standard pillowcase and 39" x WOF for a king sized pillowcase.

The one I made today for my youngest son is standard sized and it is a very generously sized standard. I like that you can't see the pillow peeking out of the opening, like the one currently on his pillow. That just drives me nuts. I will definitely make more of these. I want to make my older son one with a football themed fabric, if I can find one I like. I think it will be great to take to camp or sleepovers so they can easily tell which pillows are theirs.

Yay! Some quilting and crocheting done!

Last Thursday, Pat and I started on the Quilt Shop Hop here in Las Vegas. We were able to hit 3 of the 6 quilt shops that first day. While at Fabric Boutique, I saw a beautiful quilt done in Asian prints and set on-point with narrow black sashing. I am not comfortable setting anything on-point just yet but fell in love with the Asian print/black sashing thing. I bought some Asian fat quarters at Quiltique on the second day of the Shop Hop to play with but before I cut, I wanted to see how well I could do without a pattern. I came up with this table runner using some 4" squares won on eBay. Unfortunately, it doesn't go with my decor but I love looking at it anyway.





While looking around on Etsy.com this afternoon, I was inspired to try a crocheted coaster. The ones on Etsy weren't exactly like this, but they were pretty, too.


I'll be making more of these coasters for gifts because they're so dang easy. I know Thanksgiving is next week, so I might not have time, but I'd like to try this table runner in Thanksgiving/Fall printed fabrics and make some coasters to match.

Happy crafting to all!

Pinakbet?

Just came across this blog yesterday by a Filipino food blogger and read his post on his favorite Filipino dish. Ha! It's mine, too! It's the one thing my Mom must cook for me whenever she comes to visit. In fact, I made my cousin, John, make it for me when he came to visit, too! He and Mom have a competition of sorts going on when it comes to food. I think both of their pinakbets are awesome, especially since I'm pinakbet making impaired. What is pinakbet? It is a pork and vegetable stew comprised mainly of tomatoes, eggplant, onions, garlic, bittermelon, chicharron (deep fried pork belly), patis or bagoong (fish sauces) and sometimes okra, lima beans and long green beans. Doesn't sound too hard to make, does it? Well, my first foray into the pinakbet making world ended up sadly like my fellow blogger Burnt Lumpia. It had all the right stuff, just didn't taste the way it should. Luckily, I have some of my Mom's pinakbet squirreled away in individual servings in my freezer that I can take out when I get a craving. After reading Burnt Lumpia's post, however, I feel the need to make some of my very own. Unfortunately, I can't find my notes from the last time she made it. Guess I'll be following Burnt Lumpia's instructions...or call my cousin, John!

What have I been crafting lately? Not a damn thing! Actually, I've knitted 3 dishcloths and crocheted one scrubbie. I haven't quilted or sewn anything although I want to make a tote bag tomorrow.

I found some fabric in my son's school colors and tomorrow is the "Bone" game, which is the biggest rivalry of the year against Rancho HS. This rivalry has been going on since the 1950's when, according to legend, each school claims that they were the ones to discover a dinosaur bone during an archeological dig. The bone was named Sir Herkimer's Bone. It's actually a leg bone from a cow that was painted silver and later bronzed. The two schools agreed that the bone would go to the winning school as the trophy. This game is such a sore spot in my household because my husband graduated from Rancho HS and our son attends Las Vegas HS. My husband refuses to wear anything in LVHS school colors and during the game, refuses to sit on LVHS' side. I think he's being ridiculous! There are so many parents of LVHS players who graduated from Rancho but they support their sons. Argh! Anyway, the JV plays tonight so I'd better get ready to go watch us beat Rancho, huh? Later!

The Mom Song

Don't have anything to post today so I'll leave you with this video that was forwarded to me by my friend, Steph. Anyone who is a Mom or has a Mom will relate!

Crocheted "Swiffer" Cover

My friend, Stephanie, was telling me the other day that she was knitting a seed stitch cover for her Swiffer mop. I thought it was a really great idea because it's reusable. I decided to make one for myself but as I loathe seed stitch I decided to crochet mine. I bought a Japanese swiffer-type mop years ago and had been using the Swiffer brand sheets to cover it but every time I touched those sheets with my bare skin, I'd start to itch and felt like my hand was swelling so I stopped using them. I even tried using terry washcloths and just poked them into the four holes on the top of the mop. It worked but then I discovered microfiber mops, which I absolutely love and forgot all about the swiffer. Heck, to be honest, making it was just something to do with my hands while I watched TV. Here is the fruit of my labor.

Today's new bag

After spending 2 days checking out other people's purses and bags, I was itching to try a new one myself. This is what I came up with based upon a pattern called the Dorothy Handbag. The major differences are that there is no side gusset, I stuffed my handles with Poly-Fill instead of upholstery cording, and I used a magnetic snap closure rather than Velcro. Oh, and I didn't have a pattern! I used one fat quarter for the outside and handles and one 11" x 12" piece of fabric for the lining. After using it at the football game with no closure, I came home and dug a couple of scraps out of the trash can and added the closure, which thrills me to no end. I love this fabric and wish I knew who made it, but it was an unmarked fat quarter that I bought at a LQS. I think it's Moda but I can't call the store. They have closed up and will only sell online now. The bag is just large enough for my wallet, keys, cell phone, coin purse, and sunglasses.

Goodnight all! I'm off to clean my kitchen and then off to bed!

Doggie collar covers

Sam told me that she wanted her collar to match my new bag. Being the good mom that I am, I made a new collar cover for her. Sophie actually looks better with neckerchiefs, so she just might get a neckerchief collar cover to match. I prefer the collar cover type to the tie on ones. Here she's modeling one I made a few weeks ago.

New bag and pouch

What woman can have enough bags? I fell in love with this lilac pattern and bought it with no specific project in mind, but thought it would eventually work it's way into a quilt, which it just might. After reading the purse message boards on Craftster, I decided to sit down this afternoon and make myself a new tote. It kindof reminds me of a bucket bag since it's pretty tall. It has a layer of quilt batting sandwiched between the front and lining fabrics to make it nice and squooshy. I had cut enough to make a matching zippered pouch but got so involved in working around the zipper that I forgot to quilt it. I also had enough of the black/white and red fabrics to make a cosmetics pouch to match my other pieces. I'd say it was a rather productive day.

Quilt #8

I'm glad this one is done. I don't know what kept me from finishing it. The top sat for 3 weeks patiently waiting to be quilted and bound. I was really hoping to keep the momentum going and finish one a week until Christmas. Now to figure out which one I'll do next. I didn't think the black would be too overpowering since there is black in the floral print, but obviously not enough. Too big of a contrast! Isn't it funny how things don't look so bad until you take pictures of them?

How to finish a quilt binding by machine

I think I've mentioned before how much I love hand finishing my quilt binding, however, there are times when either I want to get it done more quickly or lately, because I'm having so much pain in my wrist that it hurts too much to hand sew. I know there are several methods for machine finishing a quilt binding but I just haven't been too happy with my personal results. I came across this video today and will have to try this method soon. Hope this helps someone else out there.

Oh yeah, I finished binding my latest quilt at Chris' baseball game tonight. I'll have to post pictures tomorrow.

Go Bows!

Hawaii 49, UNLV 14

When I was growing up, the University of Hawaii athletic teams were called the Rainbow Warriors or Bows for short. A few years back,a decision was made to get rid of the word "Rainbow" because it wasn't good for their image. They'll always be the "Bows" to me. They're ranked #22 overall with the #1 offense in the nation, according to the commentators at tonight's game.

I took my boys and a couple of their friends to the game here in Las Vegas this evening. We had a blast sitting in our free seats on the UNLV side (courtesy of the visiting WAC officials) and met some other Hawaii fans. This older man sitting right in front of me was really ticked off because he bought 6 tickets from an online scalper for $600.00 because he was told the game was a sell-out and he wouldn't be able to find tickets anywhere else. He said this was the most expensive football game he'd ever been to. We really wished we could have sat with the other Hawaii fans but beggars can't be choosers. I was able to see my sister and her family during half time. She and her husband flew all the way from Hawaii to be here for the game (along with a few thousand other Hawaii fans), while her sons (in the picture on the right side with their girlfriends) drove up from San Diego.

Has anyone ever seen the haka dance performed by the UH football team? It's an awesome sight. It's so cool because not only the Polynesian players do it, everyone does it! We didn't see it tonight, don't know if they performed it after the game as we left at the start of the 4th quarter because the score was already 42-7 and we wanted to avoid traffic. I did hear, however, that they won't be doing it anymore. Too bad, if that's true. Here's a sample:

More little goodies

Yep, I couldn't leave well enough alone. I had to make some modifications to the checkbook covers. If you're like me, you tend to stuff receipts and cards into your wallet until it's bulging before you go through it and weed out the junk. I had to add some type of closure and keep the pockets deep. I felt that an elastic loop would be good to take care of the expansion. It works for me.

I tweaked the iPod cozy and made a slightly bigger one for my phone. I also used a different way of constructing them so that they have a smoother, more finished appearance. I added a red lining because I had LVHS football on my mind and those are the school colors. Now I have a matching set of phone cozy, iPod cozy and a zippered pouch that I use to keep my tampons from disintigrating in my purse. I found an awesome tutorial here.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I changed the appearance of my blog, it wasn't because I wanted to. I posted about my little goodies last night, saved my post and then when I went to view my blog, everything but the posts were missing! WTF???? I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I closed everything and re-opened the blog but it was still messed up. Luckily, I had recently saved a copy of my template in a Word document and referred to that in order to re-create my blog. I upgraded to the new Blogger templates so I lost my cool template but I think it might be easier to upkeep in the future. We'll see. Damn Blogger!

Cubs for Kids!

Cubs for Kids!
Originally uploaded by fancygreenbee.

Here are the sweaters that the Football Alongers made for Cubs for Kids. Too cool!

Now that Chris has seen the camouflage sweater, he wants me to make one for his monkey.

Knitters Rock!

Whipped these up yesterday

Okay, don't laugh when I tell you that all the time I spent making these could have been spent finishing that quilt. Some days though, it is so satisfying to finish a bunch of little things than one big thing. Anyone else agree? These, obviously, are the binder cover, checkbook covers and iPod covers that I said I wanted to make last post. I was smart this time and either made patterns or took measurements so that I can re-create them without too much trouble. The binder cover and checkbook cover are just scaled up/down versions of the paperback book covers I made recently. Same exact technique. The iPod covers are fully lined and all the raw edges are either turned in or finished. I could still tweak this one just a tad but don't know if I will as they're fine as is.

A couple of quick projects

I really wanted to make a cover for my quilting binder but didn't have a pattern, so like always, I made it up as I went along. I also made another pincushion since I had a little more fabric left over. I'd like to make another binder cover but this time I think I'll draft a pattern to use again later. Maybe a quilted checkbook cover and quilted iPod cozy are in my future as well. I'll be sure to post pictures when/if I make them. Oh yeah, I still have that quilt to finish that I started last week. Good thing I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow!