My new baby!

Meet HECTOR!

Our new 6 week old baby German Shepherd.

Grandpa

So, my family had Christmas Saturday and I couldn't go because of work- both mine and J.'s. It was tough, as this is the first one I've ever missed in my entire life. They decided this year, while we were away that next year Grandpa doesn't need any presents, which breaks my heart a little.
He's my Grandpa! Everything I have I owe to him, and to my Grandma- who I miss everyday. Well, I was talking to J about this new decision, and I just won't stand for it! Every year from now on, I'm going to MAKE Grandpa something- he'll never get a repeat, as it's hand made- and then he still gets something at Christmas time.

2011- Grandpa's Made Gift, A Quilt.

My babies.

So, most people know of the crazy cat lady or the crazy dog lady. I'm both. I love my dog, Charlie, and my cat, Max, a WHOLE LOT! They bring me great joy every single day. So, for their Christmas presents I made them beds!

This is Max's bed. I found some reminant fuzzy polka dot material- and  had some left over qulit batting. So I pieced it all together into a kitty bed.

It has rolled edges, so that he can lay his head on them- like a pillow. It's now on top of the fridge, Max's favorite spot in the whole house. He's quite pleased with it.

This is Charlies doggie bed. I used velcro for the first time, so that I can wash the cover when Charlie tracks in sand or mud or whatever. It has two feather pillows inside it- two because Charlie likes to make a nest in the middle, and the crease between the pillows will help him with that.

Charlie seems to enjoy it- he's currently laying on it chewing a bone.

Happy Holidays to all the fur babies out there!

Baby Shower.

For those of you who know me, you know how much I HATE the color pink. Well, one of my friends is having a baby and I threw her a baby shower... It was all fun and games until she asked for the colors to be black and... you guessed it... PINK!

Here are some of the cool decorations I managed to stomach the overt girly girl-ness for.

A baby diaper wreath. I used a wooden floral wreath ring (available at most hobby stores), opened the diaper and stuck the center part to the inside of the ring, and tied tightly with ribbon on the outter section of the ring.

Close up of the amazing PINK and black bow I made for the wreath. I was so pleased with this project!

Here it is, hung up at the shower! My friend was thrilled and said she will hang it up in the babies room, that is, until she needs a few spare diapers- and then no promises!

I made roses out of baby socks for the center pieces. I also had chocolate covered pretzels with pink drizzle,but totally forgot to take a picture. I wish I had a better photo of the sock roses, because they're pretty cool.

And so, there is my very pink baby shower craftables.

Christmas

So, Looking at my Christmas Gifts I thought it was kind of cool how many crafty ones I have in the works.

Quilt for Grandpa, wall hanging for aunt- you've seen those ones. What else?

My in-law Christmas isn't until February so I have a little longer to work on those projects than the others. I'm making a quilt for my Mother-in-law. It's called a Sodku quilt.

That's the basic style- It's based off the Soduku game- the numbers game. Hers won't be yellow and black, but it will be in the Moda little Rascals prints.

For my Brother-in-law I'm going to make infused vodkas. I ordered really pretty cork stopped glass bottles from www.specialtybottle.com they're very affordable and very pretty. Then I'll just add produce (fruits, spices, etc.) to a really good vodka- shake and repeat. I'm excited for that one, as I've never done anything of the sort.

My amazing sister-in-law gets an apron, if I can figure out how to make it work, and hopefully a decorative and fabulous quilted pillow.

Probably going to look a little something like this. Which I'm excited for. We have this friendship Pineapple thing... Long story.

I don't know what else to do. I've got my work cut out for me with just those projects, and then the dream project I found for my husband. It's a quilt I will make him someday- and it shows off just how much of a nerd I am.

 It's a Mario One Up Mushroom cleverly disguised as a quilt! I LOVE IT! AMAZING! I will make this one day, oh yes, I will.

I DID IT!

That's right, you heard me! I finished my quilt! Finito! Done!
It's not fancy, and it's certainly not perfect- but it's one heck of a learning project!
The next quilt will be a little more complex, with actual fancy quilting patterns on it (the sewing bit, not the piecing bit).
But for now, here's my very first quilt.

It's small but mighty, just like Charlie dog. That's Charlie modeling with my quilt. Both items in this photo are quite awesome. I am pleased!

Adventures in sewing!

I got a sewing machine!! I got a Brother Machine for $50 bucks on Black Friday- no, I don't normally black Friday shop but I totally went out JUST to buy a sewing machine.

He's a good little starter machine. Now, when I mention how excited I am about a sewing machine it's because I haven't sewn ANYTHING on a machine since home ec class and that was over ten years ago (lord that makes me feel old).

Here are a few of my starter projects.

This is the start to a quilt for my Grandpa for Christmas. I have the rows sewn, I just have to get them together and a backing on it. Turns out- I can't cut in straight lines, and so all my blocks are different sizes and shapes! Huzzah! Any suggestions on cutting mats/utensils?

Pieced together Apron I'm making as a gift for Christmas. This is the first time I've EVER cut anything out with a pattern- also a challenge. I keep hearing things about webbing and interfacing, but I haven't the slightest clue what that means.

Stitched together apron, without pockets. All of the seams will be covered in binding tape- once I figure out how you do that...

A purse I threw together! I didn't use a pattern at all, just sort of rolled with it. I'm actually kind of proud- even though it is super long and the handles look goofy. But still! Not bad for a half an hour of goofing around!

In this photo it looks kind of like a diaper bag- but I'm okay with it.

So! There are my sewing escapades over the past few days. I'm still struggling with my hand sewing project (the wall hanging) but it'll get done,  I have high hopes. What are you working on for this holiday season?

Cookies!

So, I baked cookies the other day- and am just now getting to post them.
I started with a basic sugar cookie recipie.

I let the dough sit for an hour in the fridge and halved it.

Here is the dough in the fridge- sorry it's crooked, computer is being a pain.

I rolled the half out (using plenty of flour), into an 8" x 12" rectangular blob.
I sprinkled sugar and cinnimon all over said blob, and rolled it into a tight tight tight log.
Cut the log at 1/4" and back at 350 about 12 minutes.

And Wah lah! Cinnamon sugar pinwheels! They were AMAZING!

Next, I used the same sugar cookie dough- and cut it into little flower shapes.
Bake at 350 about 12 minutes
Next I dipped the cooled cookies into real milk chocolate and sprinkled crushed almonds on them- creating a biscotti style cookie.

They were totally awesome. Joel took them to work with him- and was a rock star on base! One point Burger Wife!

That's my baking update for now!
Happiest of Thanksgivings to everyone!

Of puppies and rescue

I am currently sitting on the futon in our den- while J putters away at his painting... and a chihuahua is asleep on my hip...

That's right, you read that correctly- chihuahua... the tiny little Mexican dog. Next to him sleeps my Charlie and on the floor by Js feet, a Golden Retreiver.

We rescued three dogs today. It was a good day. Our neighbors are hard on time and money and had three dogs living out doors. Two days ago I went out to give the dogs bones (being the crazy animal lover I am) and noticed that Elmo, the afore mentioned chihuahua, was nothing but skin and bone. I picked him up, and brought him inside. In tears I fed him and bathed him and treated his fleas. It was then I knew we had to confront our neighbors.

J went over the next day and told them whats what, showed them the poor conditions the puppies were in- and they handed over all three dogs without question. Cody- the old Basset Hound found a home this afternoon. We're still looking for a loving home for Elmo. Daisy, the golden retreiver, has found ranks in our house.

What a Wednesday.

Elmo on the left, Cody on the Right

Daisy enjoying her new favorite place ever.

And the most patient dog ever, just put  up with three strange dogs in his home. I'm so proud of him.

I love my dog.

Sewing and a 10 minute project.

I thought I'd post a few photos of my projects "in process" and of my very unique sewing table.

Fist is a photo of a picture collage frame I put together in ten minutes.

I had an unused cork board sitting in my closet. I took some lace that we used at the wedding and some left over barn twine. Hot glued the lace in place, and strung the twine up putting hot glue tabs in various spots so that pictures could rest on them- and Tah dah! I wanted to make diamond shapes out of the twine, but this is the end design Joel liked best.

My Aunt's Home Sweet Home wall hanging is under way- I keep running into a few set backs, I'll show you in just a second.

Here is the right side of the piece. As you can see the hand stitching actually looks pretty cool on this particular project. Eventually there will be pine trees on both sides of the cabin- and the words Home Sweet Home up top.

This is my set back. My sewing table. It moves a lot, and requires a great deal of attention. It comes and goes, and requires to be let out every once and awhile.

Yep, That's my Charlie dog. He was being needy when I was sewing- so he sat in my lap the entire time I was working, as you can imagine, it made things a little more difficult- which is why I didn't get the piece done.


Lastly, another photo of my boys.

J. looks thrilled that Max and Charlie nominated 3:30 to be "Snuggle with dad" time. I love them.

Christmas Crafts

Over the next few weeks I hope to show off some of the fabulous Christmas Crafts I've been working on.
For my Aunt Pam, I'm creating a log cabin hand stitched "Home Sweet Home" wall hanging. It's in the stitching process at this time, and then it will have to be mounted.

Using the same pattern I'm going to make some ornaments for my parents- which I still need to cut out and sew.

I have a wedding quilt I'm hand stitching, but I don't forsee that being done anytime in the immediate future.

And then I have a few more sewing projects for a couple other people- but I'm about 40% certain they will read this blog and therefore I can not divulge their gifts until a later time...

With all these sewing projects you'd think I would own a sewing machine... Nope! All hand sewn!
That's a big gift to myself I'd like to get eventually, but I don't even know how to use one. Any tips or suggestions on this one, I'd love to hear them!

Hey, Wait up!

Here I go, jumping on the bandwagon! A great big gob of my friends have started the blog train and I'm following. I'm going to try and blog some about life and it's marvelous updates, my craft projects, my cooking and baking, and of course about my pets. They're my favorites.

Let's start by introducing the family.

This is Maximus Jack Burger. He's the recently reformed bad boy cat. He glares, and he cries, but he snuggles because he really truely loves us at the end of the day.

 Charles Winston Esq. My puppy dog and favorite thing ever. He loves everyone and everything but especially his frisbee. He is the most patient animal I've ever met.

My husband, J. He's an SFC in the Army and so moving around alot and the lack of husband will most likely happen at some point. I love him though, he's silly and brings me great joy.

This is me. Pretty plain and simple.

This is J. and I on our wedding day. We're classy folk as you can tell. Yes, he totally got married in a Hawaiian shirt... no, we didn't get married in Hawaii- we got married in Ohio.

So, here's my start!
I'm going to update on the progress of some Christmas Presents I've been working on, and some job shenanigans. Fair ye well for now!