Saturday, April 25, 2009

Fabric scrap basket


I thought I’d share with you how to make my fabric scrap “basket”. It’s VERY simple. I whipped out another two baskets in no time at all. Now I have all of my smaller scraps organized into small, medium and large groupings. Did I even mention I'm a Capricorn and like to be organized to a fault? No? Well if this doesn’t prove it, I don’t know what will. Go ahead, make yourself a few of these today. You’ll love it so much better than your Ziploc bags. I know I do!
Directions




1. You will need to gather your supplies. I grabbed two fat quarters (one for the interior and one for the exterior) and my sew-in interfacing. I bought this a few years ago and have no idea of it’s name. It’s like a thick paper, not as thick as card stock, but thicker than printer paper. I think it’s something like this. You could also use a fusible interfacing, Timtex or batting. I found that I really like this interfacing for the boxes. It gives it a nice shape, but is easy to work with.
2. Cut out your pieces as follows: Exterior: 1 – 15 x 15” Interior: 1 – 14-7/8” x 14-7/8” ** Interfacing/batting: 1 – 15 x 15”
**I like my interior to fit and not be so rumpled from too much fabric, so this is why I cut my interior slightly smaller. You could of course cut it the same size as your other two pieces.
3. Cut 4-1/2” squares from each corner of your exterior and interfacing. I stack these two together and cut each corner. It should look like a giant plus-sign when you’re finished.
4. Take your interior piece and fold it in half one direction and then in half the other direction, resulting in a 7-1/2” square. Lining up on the corner with no folds, cut a 4-1/2” square. Again, you should have a giant plus-sign once opened out.
Note: You could also just cut a 4-1/2” squares out of each corner, it just goes a bit faster this way. The reason I didn’t do this with the exterior + interfacing is because of the rigidity of the interfacing I used. If your working with a softer material, or fusible interfacing, you could do this for your exterior + interfacing (or batting) pieces. This is your call.


5. Fold opposite corners of the plus-sign to each other (as pictured) and pin along outer edges. Right sides of fabric together. Stitch with a 1/4” seam allowance. Open out and repeat for the opposite direction. (See photos below for more photo explanation.)




6. You will now sew your lining in the same manner. Essentially what you’re doing is sewing your sides together by sewing the sides that were created when you cut out that 4-1/2” square from Step 3.


7. With right sides together, nestle your exterior box inside of your interior.
Note: By “right sides together” I mean to have the fabric facing out on your exterior piece, and the fabric facing in on your interior piece.
8. Pin these two pieces together at the corner seams, making sure the seam allowances are facing opposite directions. This allows you to butt the seams together for a continuous seam from inside out. (See photo)




9. You’ll notice that there is a little gapping between your exterior and interior, this is because your two fabrics are slightly different in size. You will need to ease your fabrics together, but pulling slightly as you pin.
I suggest you start with a pin in the center, and then half way between that and your edge seam, as shown in the second picture above. Continue around the top until it’s all pinned. You can see I have LOTS of pins in that last picture.




10. Sew around your piece with a 1/4” seam allowance, leaving an opening on one side in the center to turn.
11. Pull your piece right side out.
12. Press along the top edge.
13. Edge stitch along top edge, approximately 1/8”.
You’re done! So after writing all of that out, it seems like a lot of directions for something really easy…but sometimes explaining takes a bit of time. I hope you’ll give it a try and share your creations in my

The Dog wonders why I take pictures of all my food

Your dream about a funny guy eating a sub sandwich at 4 am was real.Yes, that's me back in January! There's a dog (not pictured) watching me. When it's late at night or early morning and I have food, she magically shows up. It's kinda spooky sometimes when she rounds the corner in the middle of the night with the goal of eating my meal, but she's not a ghost, so I'm not too worried.

Inside a Subway sandwich

This is the Double 6" (six inch) Turkey BreastSubway sandwich from a Subway restaurant.I've been ordering the "double"which has double the number of slices of turkeybreast. Now I suppose you want to see moreof the veggies! I like that idea.

See what I'm eating

Before eating this Subway sandwich, which was filling and tasted good, I wanted to see the veggies and take a picture so I could show it here The sandwich (also pictured last time) was from Subway restaurant.

My Morning Triple Treat


I was looking for a way to feel happy
Wednesday morning. After stopping
at three fast-food restaurants, I found
what I wanted to eat and drink.
This photo wasn't at a restaurant.
How I wish they had a local food-court
with all the famous fast foods in the same location, with tables where people could eat... umm and people watch and stuff like that. I have no idea where the single, available young ladies in their 20's, 30's, 40'sare, but it would be fun to meet them while err...dining on burgers, fries, shakes, sodas, etc. I'm such a romantic guy. haha
It's Thursday. I think I'll buy an iced coffee, then come back and listen to a new music CD I bought at the store.That ought to help me get ready for Friday.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

66 Square Feet

Muisbosskerm

Muisbos (lit. mouse bush) is a shrub that grows on the West Coast. I think it is Lycium, but what species? Box thorn in English. Muisbosskerm, the West Coast institution, has walls made of dry muisbos, and a great sandy space inside where huge fireplaces cook fish, crayfish, skilpadjies (little tortoises) and pofadders (puffadders). More about those later. Don't worry. It'll be OK.

Muisbosskerm is right on the beach and has no neighbours. It's just the sand and the sea. You are warned in their online literature and publicity leaflets, which blanket Lambert's Bay, to be prepared to spend 3 hours at dinner. But we were actually whizzed through the whole process in just over an hour. Far too fast given the variety of foods we ate. A little contemplation of each plate would have been a good thing, instead of being hustled like a foie gras goose from course to course.

We took our last bottle of chilled Prosecco with us. South Africa has a long standing and liberal attitude towards BYOB. Muisbos has cottoned on to corkage though, which is fine, given the wine choices on offer. We sat, a little chilly, at a picnic table outside above the beach, beside two Afrikaans couples tucking into their brandies and cokes, and puffing away on a relay of cigarettes. From the other side of the stoep came American voices. Caught between my worlds.

We popped our cork into the sunset and felt good, drinking the bubbly grape juice, and toasting our escape from the hell of the Lambert's Bay camp site.

This was our only moment of repose.

If things had happened more slowly, I would have tasted everything, but as it was, we were rushed from dish to dish and I could not bear to clutter my plates with too many ill-matching tidbits, so I edited, severely, and came away very happy with what looked like the starring items.

Never judge a book by its cover!


Dear readers,
By looking at the face on the right, can you tell if the man/women is good or bad? I wouldn’t want to even make a guess. Who am I to judge anyone anyway. How often have we heard the phrase, “never judge a book by its cover?” And yet more often than not, when we see someone or a scenario, we tend to take pleasure and jump in quickly to judge the person or the scenario. I guess it is only human nature and it takes years of practice before one can learn to see things in an objective manner.
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Click to view this n you will understand what I'm trying to explain :
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She really is an inspiration to all of us!
She so amazing!
She is awesome!
Just so fantastic!
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I received this URL from my friend,Sun!
Once i click in i wasn't expected she has a great voice,
When she started i totally stun!
She gave me biggest surprise!
Ridiculous, Unbelievable
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Finally, 47 years old Susan Boyle did it...*Congratulation,Clapz!*
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Lyric:
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high,
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
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Then I was young and unafraid
When dreams were made and used,
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung,
No wine untasted.
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But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame.
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And still I dream he'll come to me
And we will live our lives together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather...
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I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.