Advent calendar loot

I hit the $1 bins at Target and Walmart and came up with this pile o' stuff for Luke's Advent calendar. I grabbed some cars, animal figurines, stickers, tattoos, books, candy, etc.

My favorite: Glow-sticks! Or the slap bracelet with a frog on it. It's a tie.
Luke's favorite is going to be the obnoxious microphone, a purchase I'm sure to regret.



I'm excited to get started tomorrow!

Thanksgiving: On the menu

I made Thanksgiving dinner all by myself this year, and I think it was a success! Here's my menu. I'm posting this not because I think you're going to run out and roast a turkey this week but because it will make it easy for me to find next year.

Roasted Dry-Rub Turkey With Gravy (very flavorful and not dry)
Perfect Mashed Potatoes
Green bean casserole (a la the side of the French's fried onions can)
Paula's Cornbread Dressing
Sister Schubert rolls
Applesauce Pie (this recipe doesn't call for any cinnamon or other spices, so I added some)

My friend Leah sent some delish pumpkin cheesecake and fresh cranberry sauce with horseradish. Yum!

Tonight I'm polishing off the rest of the turkey leftovers with turkey-and-rice soup. Perfect for a cold and rainy Monday!

Kind of a bummer

We went to see The Blind Side today. It was sold out.So instead we saw 2012.

If you're keeping track, we swapped the feel-good movie of the year for one about the end of the world.

So how was it? Okay, as far as your apocalyptic movies are concerned. At least John Cusack is in it.

Turkey time

Free pattern from Spud Says.

His toes gave me some trouble, but other than that I think he's pretty cute!

This sure looks like the most depressing movie of all times.

I won't be watching it to find out!

Advent Calendar: All done!

I finished up the Advent Calendar today. (Here's a link to the tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew by Oh! Fransson.) I'm pretty proud of it.



I practiced the free-motion quilting for a while and then took the plunge. The stitches aren't even, but it looks good from afar. I had a hard time because it was tough to see the white thread on white fabric, but I think that works in my favor too!


I really liked making and sewing on the binding. Hand sewing the binding? Not so much. I'm not looking forward to doing that on Luke's twin-size quilt when it gets back from the long-arm quilter.



Thanks for all of the gift suggestions! I found some little toys in the $1 bins at Target.


So, now I have the skills to make a quilt on my own. Guess I need to make another so I can get some more practice! See how this can be addictive?

Where my word nerds at?

I'm not on the Twitter, but Fake AP Stylebook makes me want to sign up.
It made EW's Must List this week. Seriously, friends in proper grammar, why did we not come up with this?

A few favorite entries:

"Wannabe" is one word and can be pluralized, as in "The Chicago Manual of Style editors are lame wannabes."

Walmart is no longer spelled with a hyphen. Target is Target Corp. K-mart is still around, incredibly.

Use "quirky" to describe potentially dangerous crazy people that you don't want to upset.

Dates should be formated as MM/DD/YY except for the years 1990 through 1992, which should be denoted in 'Hammer Time.'

Enjoy.

{More} progress

I've been hard at work on my Advent Calendar (tutorial on Sew Mama Sew from Oh, Fransson!). It's definitely coming along! I had to get some new accessories for my sewing machine (a walking foot and a darning foot) to finish it up. Love the walking foot.



It's not perfect...but I'm pretty pleased! Just promise not to come after it with a protractor.


Love that polka-dot fabric. I'm using that for my binding too.



I taught myself how to machine applique. I need some more practice for sure, but I think I did an okay job. It got easier as I went along (8 = not easy).

Up next, I'm going to free-motion quilt the white sashing. (EEK!) I've never done this before. I'm hoping I'm naturally gifted... :) I've read lots of tutorials...so nervous. Off to practice!

Next time I show you this, it will be finished. Promise.

In the meantime, do you have suggestions of little gifts to put in the pockets? Small and 2-year-old appropriate? I've thought of candy and Matchbox cars...that's about it.

I've pretty much given up on SNL...

But it looks like last night's episode was actually funny.


That Taylor. She's a charmer.

What does your car say about you?

Think there's an EMBALM2?

This makes me think of Kramer's Assman license plate.

Will you see it?

George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges. Has to be good...right?

Something about Clooney telling Ewan McGregor he's a Jedi warrior cracks me up every time. Irony, I suppose.

Work in progress

I'm hard at work on an Advent Calendar using the tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew from Oh! Fransson. It's a challenge, for sure, but I'm learning lots of new skillz.

With any luck, I'll have something looking like Elizabeth's final product by December 1.
Wish me luck!

Oh, and be sure to check out this new blog, So You Think You're Crafty. Each week, 10 bloggers create a theme-inspired craft, and readers vote for their favorites. The loser gets voted off, American Idol style. The winning craft is posted as a tutorial. It's a craft-off!