You will NOT believe this!

I am the queen of finding stuff! I was driving to go get Miriam some Zyrtex (her father passed on his allergies, yeah.) and saw a sewing cabinet chunked in the ditch. I didn't think much of it since the cabinet looked trashed. So on the way back I got a different angle of it and could see sewing machine inside. It was seafoam green and I just about slammed on the brakes! I pulled over as quick as I could and then ran across traffic and checked it out. Well it looked AWESOME! I couldn't get it out of the cabinet without some tools and luckily it was only 2 blocks from the house. So I ran home and ran in the front door yelling for my husband (freaked him out!). We grabbed some tools and ran back and put the whole nasty cabinet in the trunk. We threw the cabinet away it was in horrible shape, disgusting. But here it is...

The tension knob is gone and it would be way too much work and money to get it working again but I just want to display it. I cleaned it up already and its SO pretty! I need to take a cleaned up picture but its in the shed still waiting for the bottom to be cleaned better. Ooooh it was like Christmas finding that thing!!!

You must try this!

I have discovered a new recipe that I must share with the world! Pumpkin is not my super favorite ingredient. I do love a good Pumpkin Pie but pumpkin cakes were never my fav. Well pumpkin cake has captured my heart after trying at a friend's house. I guess anything with chocolate chips helps. That always helps! This recipe makes two loaf pans but I made one of them in a vintage jello mold and it worked. I had to bake it an extra 10 minutes or so and cut off the "mound" off the bottom to make it flat. Oh, and I added some simple milk/powdered sugar glaze. We were having some good friends over for dinner and I figured I would make it 

fancy. So here it is...enjoy! Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

photo from Cooking Light

WOW!!

Well I am speechless! I don't know what to say!? I guess thank you is a good thing to say. Thank you to all who voted for the pet bed! I have never won anything EVER! This is so cool!

Check out the winning post!!!

Is it done yet?

Well as a participant in March of the Tools I figure I should post one of my favorite tools. I cannot cook without this...

Its my cooking thermometer! This handy $20 gadget that I purchased at Target is the best thing since sliced bread, seriously. I was sick and tired of not knowing when the meat I was cooking was done. I didn't like slicing into the middle of everything looking for pink. This little probe goes into the thickest part of the meat and it will tell you the temperature on the screen. It works in the oven or on the stovetop. You can "set it and forget it!" Instead of waiting a certain amount of time till you think something is done, you set the temperature and the alarm goes off when its done. No more over done or under done meat again! It also has a timer in case you need it. The other fancy feature is that it is a magnet so it will stick to your oven or refrigerator.  But don't try to use it for frying and attach the screen to your range hood over the hot oil. Because it will fall in the oil and it won't work anymore! And that's how my first one died. 

Vote for me, oh please vote for me!

I entered the Design Sponge DIY contest and I made the top 20! Are you kidding me?! Wow! There were over 500 entries too! So head on over to Design Sponge and vote. There are some seriously awesome projects over there so vote for them if you like their stuff. I have some stiff competition, seriously. So check out the entries and vote!

Easter Dress and my first Japanese

I think this is going to be miss Miriam's Easter dress. The one pictured is the one I'm hoping to make. Its just so sweet! I also love the yellow one, its very Annie don't you think? Please God let it be warm on Easter or I'm going to have to scramble for a little jacket for her. 

I bought my first Japanese fabric the other day! Sorry superbuzzy.com I borrowed this picture, I was too lazy to take a pic of mine I'm watching the Oscars hoping to see Elsa in the background. I was in my local quilt store the other day and I heard one of the older ladies working in the store mentioning how they got 3 bolts of fabric from Japan awhile ago and they hadn't sold very well. I was starting to silently freak out! I ran over there and casually asked where they were and there it was! The cutest fabric! Hello! Why didn't I know about this!? I informed the sales lady that Japanese fabric was all the rage and I had NO idea why it wasn't selling!? I got 1/2 a yard in the light blue background. SO CUTE! 

THEN...I was at the Richmond Home Show yesterday where I met the local Bernina Shop lady. I didn't catch her name but she was really sweet. I walked up and said, "Sell me on a Bernina, please!" I could tell she wanted to be my friend! Yeah, my dream machine is like 3 grand. Dream on. Is the automatic thread cutter worth it?  Seams like it to me. Anyways, Bernina lady told me that there is shop in town called The Quilt Man and he is known for carrying Japanese fabric! Why did no one tell me this either!!?? Well, guess where I am going this week? The Bernina store and The Quilt Man! Sorry Joyce, if your reading this don't worry I still love Quilting Adventures more (I just want a Bernina and more Japanese fabric)! In fact Bernina lady said that there is no way she could compete with Quilting Adventures in fabric so she doesn't even try. 

well, it fits the dog?!

i recently made the elf hat from "Bend-the-Rules Sewing" and I thought that my 9 month olds head would be smaller than was called for the pattern and lets just say its apparently not! so it fits the dog. but i also found out that it fits newborns! so i gave it to my friend sher who is about to have her first baby girl any day now. 

thank you to everyone who visited my blog after craft magazine mentioned my suitcase dog bed!! i usually average about 10 visits to my blog each day but this weekend i had 500 in one day!! that's amazing! so thank you thank you for visiting!! 

a couple of you had some questions about the bed. the strap i installed to keep the lid from closing, while your sweet pet is sleeping soundly inside, is removable. i installed a snap to the top and the bottom of the suitcase and then made a canvas strap that attaches and is tight enough to keep the lid from closing. i really should take a picture, that would make it clearer. i'll get on that. promise! 

so, i am training for my very first 10K. now, i have never run any sort of race...ever! so this is getting really hard. i started exercising about 6 months ago and felt very encouraged by my friends and really felt i could do this. so i am working out monday, wednesday, and friday and then running tuesday, thursday, and saturday. which only leaves sunday for my much needed rest! i have never pushed my body this hard and everyone is telling me that its 70% mental. well, its definitely becoming a mental battle!! i have never been a physically tough person, its not that i give up i just don't like to do things that don't come somewhat easily. i never did any sports growing up, just wasn't my thing. makes me sound like a wimp! but, i've just never done something this physically taxing and mentally "pushing through" when my body wants to stop is something new to me. 

fuzzy bunny

today i read miriam one of my favorite childhood books, fuzzy bunny. i always loved this story of a well loved handmade bunny who finds himself feeling threatened by his girl's new toys. he ends up being knocked to the floor and rolls under the bed where he feels he will never be found. his little girl finds him and realizes how worn he is and decides to fix him up. she gives him an "operation" where she re-stuffs him and even "put another stitch in his lips so that he could smile again."

these days "old worn out" aka "well loved" toys are relegated to the trash in leu of new brightly colored factory made toys. how sad! so i just love that this book is about a well loved handmade toy (made by the little girl's mother) being refurbished by the little girl no-less and then given a place of honor among her new toys at a tea party. she even "gave Fuzzy the biggest piece [of cake] because he'd been so brave."

How much is that doggy in the suitcase?

I thought I would share something neat that I made...

Its a pet bed made from a vintage suitcase! My animals LOVE suitcases! So why not a suitcase bed? It could be for a cat or a dog, but it comes with a squeaky dog toy. I made a strap that snaps on the back so that it won't close on accident while your pet is inside. I also have a hat box, and two other suitcases that are larger than this one so if your pet is bigger or smaller let me know and I can make one for you. You can purchase it from my etsy store.

Shop Update! (finally!)

Whew! That took long enough! Its later than I wanted for Christmas but still in time...shop away!

Yummy Soup

I made my favorite soup tonight and I thought I would share. It is so super easy and FAST! Enjoy!

Italian Wedding Soup
2 cans of chicken stock
Italian meatballs (Sometimes I make the from scratch, sometimes I buy them; cut in half or quarters, your choice. You don't have to defrost them they cut up well frozen, just be careful.)
Spinach (Use as much or as little as you like, I cut mine up half frozen into tiny bits.)
1/2 cup of orzo type pasta (any teeny tiny pasta will do)

If I feel like taking more time and feel like adding veggies I saute some carrots, onions, and/or celery before adding stock.

Bring to a light boil and simmer for about 10 minutes til the pasta is al dente and EAT! Yummy!

And now I wait for my hubby to come home. Poor thing his flight was delayed and then he is going to miss his connecting flight and will have to wait from 9 pm to 8 am for the next flight! Maybe something good will happen and he won't have to do that. UGH! Traveling can be so stressful!

Oh, I have crafted my little heart out lately. I sold stuff at my hubby's work, they have a Christmas bazaar and employees, spouses, and volunteers can sell. Lots of jewelry and food stuffs including some divine fudge. Remember that song from Sesame Street "One of these things is not like the other, One of these things just doesn't belong?" Well that was me. Not in a bad way, but my stuff was just different. But I made $100! I'll take it!

I will be adding the things I did not sell to my etsy site as soon as hubby helps me take pictures. He knows how to use the fancy camera. I'm still learning.

And if you want to see the cutest video of my sweet baby click here.

Cozy song...

Ok, this is a random post. I love this CVS commercial the artwork is amazing. All of you wonderful Aussies and Britons that read my blog. You much watch this commercial. It makes me so happy and cozy. Anyways, I found out that you can download the song (originally sung by Sarah McLachlan for the Charlotte's Web soundtrack) for free here. I love this version of the song, which is sung by Kathy Fisher. This song feels like a wonderful rainy afternoon with a good book and hot chocolate.

Enjoy!

birthday goodness!

my mom bought me last-minute patchwork gifts! yeah! it is so beautiful and it is really inspiring me to make a quilt! i have always been kinda partial to functional art so i like making clothing, toys, etc. but wall hanging quilts don't appeal to me as much. i want to use them, cover up with them, get all cuddly. my mom once had to find one word to describe me and her word was "cozy." i think she is definately right! so maybe i will make the wall hanging quilts larger or make it for miriam to use. but the day after i got the book (which joelle signed! i felt so special! i know she probably does it for all the books, but i don't care i loved it) i made the puzzle ball! it was really easy to follow her instructions. i didn't quite understand why she said to do certain things but i just did it and it turned out perfect! i didn't have any safety pins to hold it together while i sewed it but i made it work. i just sewed a few pieces at a time.

and bethany at bitty betty sent me some awesome shoes and a cutie little doggie for my birthday. she was doing a birthday give-away and i shared the same birthday as her son so she made me a little something! isn't he adorable!!! thank you bethany!

my artsy crafty space

we recently moved my stuff into the now official "office." we put the guest bed in miriam's room and put me with mike's stuff. so now we are sharing. scary. neat freak hubby sharing a room with artsy crafty messy wife. this should be fun. we still haven't painted this room but that's ok i like all my stuff i put up! see that tree? i made it from a felted thrifted sweater and am going to decorate it with felt "bumps" (sounds weird i know). i think i am going to sell it on my etsy site.

i love the cork trivets from ikea, they make great bulliten boards! and my hubby made those green shelves for me. good job honey! and i made the ribbon organizer out of two finials that i found in someone's trash for cleanup day! i loooooove cleanup day. everyone can put out anything they want thrown out, people throw out tons of awesome stuff. i'll have to take pictures and show everyone my loot!

Taking a break from the alphabet...or my first quilt!

I made my very first quilt!! Well...my first quilt was in high school and I made it for my mom, but it was so bad it doesn't count! I made Amy Butler's Bella Quilt. My quilt store didn't have all of the fabrics to match so I used a mix of Amy Butler and Heather Bailey's FreshCut. I have the top done so far and need to go buy the fabric for the border, back, and batting. My husband and I have a deal that we have to self-fund any of our hobbies cause we're poor like that! So I sell stuff on etsy and he does freelance projects. It works out well, it's great incentive. So here you go...my first quilt. Look how organized I am!

M and N

M is for Merry Christmas! I know I know its not even Halloween yet (have you noticed that's when they start playing Christmas music now!). I so am excited about it this year! We did not get a tree last year. My husband was out of town for two weeks and then we left to go to Georgia for Christmas so it wasn't worth the hassle. I was sad though, I really missed that tree! Oh, and I have this great idea for a tree made from a green felted sweater I found at a garage sale. Anyways I want to get onto N!

N is for Nest! Behold my mother's Birthday present! I am so proud of it! She loved it of course, she would love anything I made, she's my mom of course! She really likes bird's nests and robin's eggs. I used aluminum and copper wire from the hardware store and wooden eggs from Michael's and that glorious Martha Stewart glitter from Michael's. think I might make some to sell on etsy...

L is for Little Things!

Sometimes its the little things that make me happy. Miriam's smile when I get her out of her crib, chocolate chips, new makeup, clean sheets, a new book, diet coke, the new quilt store i found, happy music, and progress...I feel like I have kinda sorta caught up with putting things on my etsy site! I only had 8 things since Miriam was born and things have been selling sorta well this last week. It always makes me flattered and humble that some one would want to buy something I made. I love to make!! Oh, if you would like to make these cute little buttons...check this out!

K is for Kirsten

Yeah I couldn't come up with anything else! Kirsten, that's my name. In high school everyone called me "K." I was Miss Kirsten when I taught homeschool art in Milledgeville, GA in college. I have been Mrs. Schueler when I taught middle and high school art in Augusta, Ga. I have some friends who call me Shue. But, for my whole life I have answered to Kristen or Kiersten. I don't care. Call me what you will. Its Kirsten though. Names...they're so funny.

For anyone who wanted the embroidery pattern from the vintage wrapping paper...this one.

Well I finally cleaned it up a good bit and there are still some little parts where you will have to fill it in. The wrapping paper is so old and pretty fragile that the corners have been damaged. I had to scan it in in sections and...well I am not a graphic designer. I did my best :) I hope you enjoy it! Its a large file though.

J is for Joint Effort Craft Force!

My sweet husband helped me ALL day make these stuffie dachshunds for my etsy site! He did baby wrangling and cut out fabric and turned them inside out. He tried his hand at stuffing and we both decided he was not good at it. It felt so good to have an entire day to sew! I had had some customers ask when I was going to list some more dachshunds. So I felt compelled to make as many as I could in one day. I got 5 done. We started at 8 am and decided I couldn't do any more at 6 pm.

I is for Internet

Hi, my name is Kirsten and I am addicted to the internet. Yes, I don't know if I could live without it. Well of course I could live without it but I sure don't want to. I used it for recipes, crafty inspiration, shopping, attempting to make money, silly things, communication, news, work (I'm an at home secretary), and much more. I check my email way to many times. Oh, and I currently have 72, count them Seventy-two RSS feeds! Yes I have subscribed to 72 blogs! What am I thinking? Only about 15 of them update each day so its not that crazy, is it? And I am constantly finding new ones...

gratuitous Miriam picture...(we were giving her a break from her carseat on the 8 hour drive to GA two weeks ago)