wienerdog tricks.

You Pick, K? (And a GIVEAWAY, eh?)

I am throwing around about 87 ideas for the next tutorial I want to put up, and would love your Bloggish Friend (BF) input. 

Here are the current choices:

A) The Old School Kleenex Ditty Bag

 

 
 B) The Army Bag Knock Off

C) The Baby Purse

D) The Toddler Apron

 

 

D) None of the Above. Something else that you've always wanted to figure out how to do but no one will tell you and you're too embarassed to ask but you think I could figure it out and explain it in a way that made you want to make it without making you feel like an idiot.

In order to motivate you to do this sort of online special sharing, I'm happy to offer up another one of these happy little apron kits . . .

 

. . . to a randomly chosen winner from the comments section. It's this one for the giveaway (happy scrappy 70s-ish patchwork & yellow stripes):

 

 

And with your deft trickiness at the sewing machine (and my cunning help via step-by-step instructions), you'll pull off one of these (but in seasonally-appropriate, non-snowman materials):

 

 

So start picking, k? Just tell me which tutorial you'd like to see, and I'll enter your name for the drawing. (I'll leave this open for comments until Monday, Jan 4th.)

And if I don't see you before then, happy new year, BF.

One Good Christmas.

One dear friend sharing the days with us:

One Christmas Eve family beach walk:

One 5 am start to Christmas Day:

One baby doll (well, 3):

One treasure hunt:

And one more way to be goofy with our goofballs (if I never post this next year, it will be because I'm singing. Or on drums.):

One good guy:

One. Good. Christmas.

Hope yours was good too, friends.

Christmas Tacos. I'm here for you.

No--I'm no her, her or her. And I'm certinaly not her (though I do cook every last thing she tells me to). But I do know really good taco filling when I make it.

Backstory: I have been toiling for eleven long years to make taco meat that surpasses everybody's favorite:

 

Because my (complex) husband has a (complex) onion allergy, I am hog-tied for moments like the "Hey let's have tacos oh all we need to do is throw in that mix that I keep 84 of in the pantry and we'll have a great taco night and it won't even be a big deal great let's have taco night tonight." Instead, I stand sweating at the skillet shaking cumin and chili powder and praying to the Taco Gods that this batch will taste better than the last.

It's been a long eleven years.

And then LAST NIGHT they arrived (the Taco Gods, I mean) and sent this batch of meat from heaven. It's in this little cookbook (which I highly recommend because it's organized by season, which is so. smart.)

 

 

And I know it's Christmas. And tacos don't seem Christmasy. But hello--how many nights can you eat ham? And is it just me or do you have an extra 32 people in your house who are hungry and who are looking at you? And haven't you already called pizza once for them? Like I said: I'm here for you.

Merry Christmas Tacos.

1 lb ground turkey, 1 cup beans (kidney, black, whatever . . .maybe not garbanzo), 1 onion, 1 pepper: fry this stuff up together. And yes I know it sounds weird to put beans right in there, but trust me that it gives the whole thing a whole other goodness.

3 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, 2 teaspoons chili power, 2 teaspoons lime juice, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, dash of something spicy if you like it that way: stir all this in there until the garlic seems cooked.

Eat it straight out of the skillet with a chip until your family catches you. Serve.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I feel known. Understood. Embraced for Who I Am.

This blog is my bar, and here is my proof. I walked out to the front stoop the other day (after I heard the Fed Ex Tuck peel out in front of my house) and found this:

 
It's from Breanna, a nice person who reads this blog. She is sorting through her great grandmother's fabric stash and she knows in her heart that I will give all these super-oldish odds and ends a good home. 

 

She's right.

Thanks, Breanna. Super Duper Thanks.

Also, here's my opportunity for a true-to-form mush post where I say--without the benefit of 6 Coors Lights--I Love You, Man.

Because I do--I love the little community of makers that gather around here at this blog with me. I love knowing that when I make things, I've got a fat group of friends ready for show and tell. I love having a place to remind myself that perfection is not the goal--just making stuff. 

So thanks to you all. May the sewing room rise up to meet you. May you have the energy to set an alarm and sneak away and sew in the darkness and skip sleep entirely and not even be crabby the next day. May you find all your favorite fabric on sale. May you sew and sew and sew and never have to rip. May all your good ideas come true.

Elf Work Update

Here's what I've pulled off so far:

Clockwise from top left: journally binder cover for 9 yr old Man Boy (that's fake woodgrain fabric. Totally excellent); little notepad thingy for girl party I'm going to tonight; cooking apron for 7 1/2 yr old Man Boy (um--yes it says HAWAIIN BEER. He went nuts over this old, strange shirt when he found it in my pile. What's a mother to do but make her son's dreams come true? And no--he didn't even notice that it said beer.); stack of christmas garlands for the Relatives; Christmas apron for the Mother; And a tiny little doll quilt for the 20 Month Lady Baby (used this tutorial and a cloth diaper for the batting.) 

Also, made this for a gift and am totally keeping it for myself:

 

The other side:

 
If you're looking for a quick-to-make gift for a sew-lover, I highly recommend it. And if you're really pressed for time, make 3000 of these like I have. Strangely soothing to glue, plus they're darling.

Good luck out there. 

Right When I Shouda Been Sewing Christmas Gifts

I had a wedding to go to. And when I go to a wedding, I haul along HIS & HERS APRONS. I've made them before, but they keep getting cuter. Not lying. Wish I could quit all my jobs and open up a HIS & HERS APRONS shop. (Hey--the SOCK STORE is still in business, so why wouldn't I have a shot?)

Anyway, anybody marrying gets pyrex with lids and HIS & HERS APRONS. That's how I roll. No, I don't care what you registered for. Because I don't feel like buying you one fork. Or half a shower curtain. You get pyrex with lids (because EVERYBODY needs pyrex with lids). And you get these:

 

Normally I would have hidden a little of that fruit print inside of the HIS apron, but I didn't think this particular groom could swing any amount of, um, fruit--so I used the dark plaid to make the HERS ties two-sided. Here's the best part of these:

 

Oh, and I finished the christmas garland for myself. And it's making me incredibly Christmas Happy.

 

Just spent two hours alone in a coffee shop and--when I could have been writing the country's next great contemporary american poem by a western woman with children and a convoluted protestant family background--instead, I studied my christmas list. I wrote it. I rewrote it. I made arrows. I crossed things out. I added them back. I crossed them out again. I made a timeline. And an ordered projects list. And a--very short--To Buy list. And then I cross referenced it with my calendar.

I didn't do this because I am a stellar gift giver. I did this because I have no Making Self-Control naturally, and without extreme measures of concentration, self-fortification, goal-setting and values reassertion, I will tackle too many things for too many people. 

And, like I already said, I don't want to. Because for Christmas this year, I'm working hard to give the gift of Mom With Her Personality Intact.  And I'm finding it quite tricky. 

Best of luck to you as you work to hold on to yours.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

The Rescued Fabric Apron Kits go to . . .

#47 Cayce said:

oh my, what cuteness!!!

 

#138  Sue Cahill said:

I love the idea of an apron kit. I love using kits the first time I make something, that way I have just what I need. Very helpful.

Congrats, bloggish friends. Hope you enjoy these kits. I can't wait to dig through the list now of all your comments and check out your blogs. This giveaway is such a hoot for find like-minded nutbags. (And I mean that with all the respect due a fellow sewing nutbag.)

For those of you who didn't win, do watch for updates. I'm doing my best to get a handful up on my etsy site before Christmas arrives like a guest at 5:30 for a 6:30 dinner.