Diner Napkins

I bought this napkin holder to sell...  But now I'm not selling it.  I had a free hour to sew, Sam was watching Luna and I made these napkins.  Sam asked why I was choosing to make napkins, and not the 5 other things I should have been working on.  Like gifts, or stuff for farm chicks.  Well, sometimes I just need some instant gratification.  I pictured pulling cloth napkins out of this holder and I just had to do it right then.  I love this fabric.  It was one of my favorites and I was going to hoard it.  I'm so happy I decided to use it to make some napkins.  This way I'll get to see the happy fabric every day.  I think I'm going to be making more from my favorite fabric.  I must admit the first time I have really messy hands I  may not want to wipe for fear of staining these.  I'm sure I'll get over that soon.  And that is why I need to make many more.  If one is ruined no big deal.  Practical sewing is so satisfying.  I love the little star on it, it makes it a little homier than just the plain jane ones.

I also made a few bibs for friends with this fabric.  Baby items are also satisfying to make- quick, easy, and oh so cute.

Tell me, are you making anything lately?  And what are some good fun easy projects to use up your favorite fabrics?

Lovable Luna

At 4 months I'm loving:

*How she turns her head spontaneously and looks at me with her sparkling eyes and flashes a huge grin.

*The way she always wraps her fingers around me

*The way she chews on her thumb

*Her instincts- she just started to grab things and really hold on

*That she doesn't seem to mind 90 minute walks

*Her little giggle

*Kissing her smooth soft little head hundreds of times every day (not even exaggerating)

*She's going to be tall like me.  She's off the charts at 27 inches and quickly outgrowing the cute baby clothes

*Her somewhat regular 3 hour afternoon nap

*How she is rocking the vintage clothes

*Her ever growing bald spot

                         

*These old lady glasses in baby size that were given to us for free from the kind lady at a thrift store on the first sunny day of the season!

* Her little arm wrapped around her dad

*These cute pajamas from grandma

* These chubby ankles

*These pictures of us

  *Her strength is growing every day. She likes to be on her tummy and can really flip!

 *Crawling into bed between these two late at night

  *Her long eyelashes

  *Her explorations and bath time swims

 *Her first piggy back ride

 *How she sleeps with her hands behind her head (She used to sleep with her fingers wrapped around her blanket.

*This face

Appreciating a Walkable Neighborhood

I love walking on South Altamont.  The weather is getting warmer and signs of spring are cropping up everywhere.  Ok- so the view was amazing at our last place but we were confined to walking in one little loop- not so fun.  I can't wait to check out all the neighborhoods in this area.  There are some amazing old houses that are awesome.  I get so inspired after long walks.  I think taking pictures while walking is my favorite kind of photography. I think you'll see many more of these posts.  There are 16 pictures here and that isn't even all of them.   Enjoy the pics!  

 I love seeing bright pops of color peeking through from the brown and gray debris of winter.

 Can I admit that I'm secretly hoping to get to know the owner of this place.  My goal by the end of the summer is to be invited to tea in this little room.  Creepy and stalkerish- yes- but if I walk when they are doing yard work I can chat it up right?  And having a cute baby helps- doesn't it?

  I'm hoping to get some good gardening ideas from the owners of this place.

 And this is my dream place.  I also need to get to know the owners of this place.  And my agenda here is to let them know that if they ever want to sell the place they wouldn't even need to put their place on the market.  Sam and I want to turn this place into a bed and breakfast/wedding facility.  Many of these properties have two houses on their lot.  And after running a bed and breakfast I realized that it is ideal to live in your own separate house.  We could live in the other house and have the best of both worlds.  The lot is huge, which means plenty of space for gardening and chickens.  And it even has some woods in the backyard.  But they have neighbors, so it's not as lonely as the country.  This place has 10 bedrooms.  Couldn't you imagine beautiful weddings taking place here in the summer?  Of course I looked up all the stats on zillow.  Am I a complete freak?  Does anyone else do this kind of daydreaming?

 If I walk far enough, I see this great view.

 More signs of spring.

 Spotting this red trailer made me happy.  Doesn't it look cheerful?  I imagined what kind of memories were made inside of it.  It made me reminisce the happy days we spent in our van.  I also was day dreaming about more trips in our van as a family of 3.

 This place was kinda cool.  Reminded me of a Frank Lloyd Wright place.  I thought they did a good job of modernizing it.  I just love this neighborhood.  It has every style of house imaginable.

 There are big beautiful trees that make the sidewalks crack.  My shins were so bruised from the stroller jamming into them.  I am definitely thinking of investing in a jogging stroller, even if I have no plans of jogging.

Luna seems to like the walks too!

The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe

This is the best and easiest sugar cookie recipe you will find.  Back when I was a cake decorator a fellow decorator shared this recipe and now it's the only one I use for sugar cookies.  I love it because it's great for last minute rolling.  Usually you need to refrigerate your dough for several hours before you can roll it out, but not with this recipe.  You can mix it up, roll it out, throw it in the oven for 4 minutes and you're ready to decorate.  I like to roll mine out a little thicker for a soft cookie.

Sugar Cookies:

1 Cup Soft Butter

1 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 Cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cream of tartar (this is the secret ingred. for allowing you to roll them out right away!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine the butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Roll out.  Cut out.  Bake at 400 degrees for 4 minutes.  Enjoy!

Frosting

I like this frosting the best.  But if you want to do the piping like I did in the pictures below you will need royal icing.  Sorry to be confusing, but I like the taste of this frosting best.  Royal icing doesn't taste the best, but it makes for the prettiest cookies!

3/4 Cup Soft Butter

4    Cups Powdered Sugar

3    T water

1    tsp vanilla

1    egg white

Sift powdered sugar.  Combine butter sugar and water.  Mix well.  Add vanilla and egg white and mix well.  Add food coloring if you'd like.  Have fun frosting the cookies!

I wanted to do a tutorial on how to do flood work with pretty designs, but it's kinda tricky to photograph at midnight!  I made these cookies for my dear friend's baby shower.  We were celebrating the anticipation of Lucy Wren.  I didn't get a chance to snap many pics from the shower, but it was gorgeous.  I have some talented friends who know how to throw a party.  I made this little embroidery hoop sign.

And here are the pictures from the valentine cookie decorating party at my house.  

My Favorite Movie

I really think this is the best movie I saw all year.  It is a documentary about a singing group of senior citizens who sing REM songs, The Clash, and Jimi Hendrix.  It makes you feel good and might even make you look forward to getting old.  These people are so dedicated and in love with singing.  Their director is hilarious and expects so much of them.  I guarantee it will make you laugh and cry.  I can't listen to Coldplay's  Fix You without getting a little teary!  They play huge venues to sold out crowds.  I would love to see them perform.

Here is the trailer:

Laugh Out Loud

Watch this video for a good laugh.  It is slightly weird but so so hilarious and clever.   I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.


MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

Happy Monday!