January sewing

Hello again! I am absolutely LOVING my new Viking. It is such a dream to sew on that I feel like a big portion of my past sewing struggles can be blamed on my old machine. I know, I know, a poor workman blames his tools. Still, it is much easier to get nice results when the tension doesn't suddenly give out halfway through a seam, you know?

My first project of 2013 was a fun one - a disco costume for a friend's themed birthday party.

The party was the weekend after New Years and sort of snuck up on me. After a bit of online research, I decided the quickest and easiest route was to make extreme bell-bottoms to go over my green skinny jeans. I headed over to a shopping plaza nearby that has a thrift store and a fabric store, and I figured between the two I could put something together. Lucky for me, everything was half off at the thrift store the day I went, so I got that shiny silver shirt for $2.50 and then walked over to Hancock, where I bought a yard of this spectacularly tacky snakeskin fabric for $4. Success!

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This kind of mystery lamé fabric would have been a nightmare to sew on my old machine, but the Viking took it like a champ. I didn't have a whole lot of time to make these up, so I cheated here and there. I didn't make a proper casing for the elastic, finish any seams, or hem them. I figured it just needed to hold up for one night!

Funny story: I shopped in Joann's Fabric wearing this costume. Seriously. There are no Joann's ITP (inside the perimeter), so I try and wait until I'm already heading out to the suburbs instead of making special trips. I needed buttons and stuffing pretty badly, so I decided to throw pride to the wind and stop in anyway. I did take off the snakeskin bell-bottoms, but I still looked plenty strange with my shiny shirt, headband and heavy lavender eye shadow. The side-eyes were totally worth it though: I got my supplies, my costume was a hit at the party and I had a really great time.

My second project this month was a set of draft snakes to help insulate the sunroom a little better. Between the three large windows and the sliding glass door, it's pretty drafty. I am a total wuss when it comes to the cold, and so I wanted to make the room a little more comfortable for sewing. Plus, I love any excuse to break out the rotary cutter.

I used one of my 25 cent remnants in my stash from my trip to Fabric World. It was all straight seams and took no time at all. Stuffing, on the other hand, took what felt like forever. Like, a movie and 3 episodes of Felicity on Netflix over the course of several days. Totally worth the drudgery though - the draft snakes have helped keep the room warmer, and I'm pretty happy with the snug fit, considering the height and depth measurements were mostly guesswork.

Next up is the Lisette Market Blouse (Simplicity 2211)! I'm taking my fear of sleeves head on.

2012, by the numbers

It's New Years Eve, and I'm in a bit of a reflective mood. I always feel like I spend too much of my free time putzing around the internet and not actually doing things, be it adventures or crafting. Looking back though, it's been a very productive year. Here is my 2012, by the numbers:

Moved 455 miles

Completed 6 knitting projects (1 cardigan, 4 amigurumi, and 1 dishtowel)

Mrs. Darcy Cardigan by Mary Weaver

Octopus by Hansi Singh

Frogged 1 knitting project (amigurumi lion - I could never get the ears or mane right)

Little Lion Sock Critter by Lion Brand Yarn

Sewed 8 projects (1 dress, 1 tote bag, 3 costumes, 1 project bag, 1 hilariously bad t-shirt and  Christmas stockings)

Retro Space Age Stocking Tutorial by Tried and True

Read 25 books (These two were my favorite. Highly recommended!)

Donated 8 inches of hair and 0.75 pints of blood (turns out my veins are a bit selfish and I couldn't make it to the full pint)

Tried 50+ new recipes

Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Salad by Iowa Girl Eats

I hope you all have fun plans for tonight. I am going to a bar/music venue here in Atlanta to listen to local bands and usher in 2013. Even thought it's not the most glamourous of settings, I am still busting out my feathered fascinator and some sequins. Here's to a healthy, happy and productive 2013!

Home for the Holidays

Hello again! It's been a while, but I hope you all had a lovely holidays. I went home to Florida for the first time in a year, and had the best Christmas in ages. I spent time with my family and my in-laws, gave myself a stomachache eating too many sweets, and watched a marathon of RuPaul's Drag Race with my mom. In short, it was fabulous.

I mostly got very thoughtful, lovely practical gifts (my favorite - I must be getting old), but there are two very exciting crafting developments. I came home with a set of size 1 DPNs from my mom so I can knit this ridiculous Barbie power suit. City Councilwoman Leslie Knope Barbie, anyone?

And, behold, my new sewing machine. Well, new-to-me. My mother-in-law is a quilter, and last Christmas she bought herself a Bernina(!). This year, she decided she was ready to part with her old Viking, and I was the lucky recipient. Here it is, in its new home in the Woodsy View:

It has many embroidery features that I'll never use, but I was delighted when I read the instruction manual this morning and discovered it has 3 kinds of buttonholes, a stretch stitch, two overlock stitches for knits, and twin-needle capability. It's a huge upgrade from the starter White machine I've been using for the past couple of years that I bought for $30 on Craigslist. I'll be paying it forward and giving it away, so that someone else can continuously fight with the tension learn to sew.

I'm off to learn how to actually use this fancy thing, with its drop-in bobbin and digital controls. Hope you have a great weekend.

Robots and Krakens

This past weekend I finally finished something: a cute project bag.

Before this I had been keeping my knitting projects in ziploc bags. It gets the job done, but not exactly stylish, and definitely not fun. The women in my knitting group all have these adorable and quirky project bags, but until now I never attempted to make one because I am completely terrible at cutting with any sort of precision without a pattern, especially straight lines and right angles. No matter how hard I try to line everything up, it just ends up crooked.

That is until I combined the magic of a coupon, a sale and a bit of a splurge at Joann Fabric and came home with this:

I don't know how I ever lived without a rotary cutter! I can't wait to try this baby out on plackets and belts. It's like magic, and made putting together this project bag a breeze.

I used this tutorial by In Color Order and the robot fabrics were both remnants at Fabric World. My one regret is that I didn't have the foresight to put in a bobbin with brown thread when sewing the casing for the drawstring.

I'll get you next time, bobbin thread! Overall, I'm ridiculously pleased with it, especially because it's the perfect size to hold an amigurumi project and my notions bag:

That is the beginnings of a Kraken. In typical indecisive Emily fashion, I can't decide if the main color should be the lighter teal (left) or darker teal (right), so I knitted a bit of both. And I still can't decide. This is why it takes me forever to finish anything! :) Any votes? I'd love to hear in the comments!

Back from London (sort of)

Hello again! I'm back from my 17 day trip down a rabbit hole of Olympic coverage. I am probably the only person in America who actually likes watching the Olympics in prime time, which meant I basically had to swear off the internet to avoid spoilers. I do wish NBC would have mixed things up a bit, and showed more of some of the oddball sports like trampoline, synchronized swimming and ping pong in prime time. Even so, I spent 5 (!) hours glued to the TV each night.  And the fact it was set in London was icing on the cake, since I got to relive my 2006 trip with my then-boyfriend, now-hubby. Watching the games brought me right back to this...

Oh, college, you were so carefree. I'd love to go back (but minus the baby face!). If only I had one of these!

Alas, I had to settle for representing Team TARDIS at the Ravellenic Games. I made this fun dishtowel

and took home two medals! The Doctor Who theme played while I stood on the podium and I received Jelly Babies in lieu of flowers.

As much as I love the Olympics, I have to admit I'm a little relieved they're over and I can do more with my evenings than watch TV for hours on end. After all, there are things to make and books to read!

Prepping for the Ravellenic Games

The Summer Olympics are only week away, and I couldn't be more excited. I am definitely not a sports person, but I love, love, love the Olympics. There is something about the obscure sports, montages set to swelling music and interviews with Bob Costas that I just can't get enough of. This time, watching the Olympics is going even more fun because I'm participating in the Ravelympics Ravellenic Games. (Sidenote: I think the organizers chose a great new name, but I can't help but hope that a Ravelrumpus takes place at some point in the future).

I am on Team TARDIS, and making this Dalek dishcloth, modified to be a dish towel. I'm going to keep going in stockinette until the skein is used so I can enter the single skein sprint event.


And for once I'm actually going to use the recommended yarn. I'm using Lily Sugar n' cream in potpourri ombre:


I didn't want to choose anything too large or complicated because I'm mostly going to be knitting during commercial breaks. Every time the Olympics rolls around, I basically turn into a hermit for two weeks, celebrating athleticism by becoming a complete couch potato. This pattern is also perfect for entering into the friendly competition against Team Sherlocked to see who is really the most British by making the most British-themed projects. My dishtowel will be used to exterminate tea and biscuits from my dishes, so I'm golden.

And, just for fun, here are some links to some great articles on the Olympics I've read this week:
The Olympics...it's not like it was in the old days - Fascinating trivia about the first modern Olympics in 1896

Keeping Afloat - Athletes of less popular sports like synchronized swimming work all kinds of odd jobs to make ends meet

Lost Sports of the Summer Olympics - Rejected gems include pairs cycling and tug of war

New favorite recipes

I am in the middle of several projects, and actually have three (three!) knitting projects in the works. I don't usually let myself start a new project until I've finished the last one, so I don't have UFOs cluttering up my house. Alas, I have not followed my own rules, but hopefully soon I will have a knitted lion to share that I'm making as a gift for a mama-to-be at work.

In the meantime though, I thought I'd talk a bit about another hobby I've taken up recently: cooking.  After I got to Atlanta and had a couple of dinners out at somewhat foodie, vaguely hipstery farm-to-table restaurants I had the most basic of revelations: fresh food just tastes so much better. I'm definitely not going to give up Oreos any time soon, but I am trying to eat fewer processed foods.

And so I've begun, little by little, to shift from Pasta-roni to cooking from scratch. In the past few months I've found new food blogs, bought spices, learned how to saute garlic and embraced Greek yogurt. This past week I feel like I hit a turning point when my husband came home from the grocery store and pointed out that the only frozen thing he bought was waffles. Progress!

So here are my favorite recipes of late, collected from around the web:
1. Quinoa Pizza Bites by So Very Blessed via Pintrest

The first time I made quinoa, I was terribly disappointed that such a protein-packed food was so abysmally bland. Luckily, I found some better recipes, and this one is particularly amazing. In fact, we're having it for dinner tonight. I split the mixture and do half turkey pepperoni and half spinach pizza bites.

2. BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad by Iowa Girl Eats

I may have a bit of a girl crush on Kristin from Iowa Girl Eats. Her recipes are easy, healthy and delicious, and she has such a charming blog to boot. The best part of this recipe is the sauce - a 1:1 mixture of barbeque sauce and plain greek yogurt. It cuts the sugar of barbeque sauce while giving it a nice tang. Genius! I've made up some of this sauce on its own to eat as vegetable dip.

3. Sneaky Meatball Subs by Iowa Girl Eats

Another Iowa Girl Eats favorite. These subs are seriously delicious. Two bites in I turned to Brian and said, "We're making these again." Adding zucchini to the ground turkey not only adds a vegetable, but keeps the meat juicy and expands the turkey into more meatballs so you get more bang for your buck.

4. Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese by Confections of a Foodie Bride

This macaroni and cheese recipe substitutes Greek yogurt for some of the cheese. You still get that creamy texture without resorting to a processed cheese like Velveeta. I also mix in a can of tuna and at least 1 cup of peas.

5. Overnight Oats by Kath Eats Real Food

This is such a great breakfast for hot summer days. It's old fashioned oats, milk, yogurt and 1/2 a banana left overnight, topped with whatever fruit, nuts or nut butter you'd like. It's refreshingly cold and completely satisfying.  I've been doing strawberries and blueberries on top, but there are many different options.