Taste of Home Cooking School

My friends Jill, Gail, Gail's mother & aunt, Vickie, and I all went to the Taste of Home Cooking School this past Thursday night. The doors opened at 4:30 PM and it was over with at 9:00 PM. We all had a wonderful time together. I am not sure I would go back next year because our seats were very uncomfortable and the place was packed. I think I saw everyone that I knew and had not seen in years at this event.

Michelle (picture at right) was our chef. She was cute as a button and entertained us well. She was so funny and I did learn lots of tips. I also saw lots of cool kitchen gadgets that I would LOVE to have - not to mention new spices by McCormick! They gave away lots of door prizes (that I did not win.) We received a goody bag with lots of cool things in it and I have not gotten through the whole bag yet!

Re-usable Grocery Bag

I used my reusable grocery bag today and LOVED it!! It was well worth the time and effort. I didn't have to worry about it breaking or tearing. I was able to get quiet a bit into the bag I carried. I have 3 made and plan to do 2 more tonight. Then I will be too busy to sew anymore until this weekend (if then!)

The cashier looked like she didn't know what to do when I started packing my groceries. She never did bother to help or make any comments. That's odd since this store is usually very friendly. Maybe she was just having a bad day! Who wouldn't love my little bags?! :)

Reusable grocery bags

I could list a lot of facts here about plastic bags such as each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year. Or, according to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year. And finally, according to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion) But I am not going to do that! I am making re-usable cloth grocery bags for a very simple reason. I don't know what to do with all the plastic bags after I get them home. True, we use them to line wastebaskets and empty cat litter. And, sometimes we use them to carry our lunch in to work but the fact remains, I end up with more little plastic bags than what is needed. In fact, most aren't even recyclable because they have holes or tear when the groceries are put into them.

My husband, he who can't understand why I have so much cloth, mentioned to me that I really needed to clean out my closet or do something with the ever growing cloth stack in the bedroom. My mind starting whirling and I decided to make grocery bags with my fabric. My goal this week is to make 5-10 cloth grocery bags. Surely, that would help me tremendously in making a dent in the stash. By the way, I will make some really ugly bags because I have some really ugly fabric - can't imagine what I was thinking when I bought the fabric. The fabric in this bag matches my curtains in my classroom. I don't think it is ugly!

This is the first one I made. I took a Walgreen's bag (their bag is little bigger than other bags) and cut it apart for my pattern. I cut my cloth and started sewing. It only took me an hour to make this bag and I already love it. It is made just like the pleated plastic bags used in the grocery store. I might make some with square bottoms but this one was really, really easy to make.

I really want to keep sewing right now but I have to quit and run to the dermatologist office to have stitches removed. I hope to get several more made today. (I took the day off from work.) I just needed a mental health day and having stitches removed seemed like a good idea!

New Patio Furniture

I bought this furniture from a friend who is relocating to another part of the state. I paid $75 for it and it is beautiful. I can't wait to pick it up this weekend. I am going to miss my friend, but will always remember him and his family every time I sit on my deck! That precious little girl is Reese, his daughter!

Cottage Bedroom

Isn't this pretty? It is from Cottage Living. I love the colors. The bed looks so inviting to me. It certainly is an inspiration picture for me. Although at this point in my life, this room would NEVER survive two 7-year-old boys!!!

Window Boxes

I really want window boxes for the front of my house. It would take 3 boxes across the front. I was stunned to see how much they cost!! They average from $98-$138 dollars. That's not counting the soil, plants, hardware, etc... Let's say that $150 would cover all costs - that would be $450 for 3 boxes and plants. A little too steep for my likes right now. I could make the boxes myself for less than $30. The problem with that is if the boxes are not built and installed just right, it can cause lots of damage to your house from water. I will have to think on this project. Still, I think they would be pretty....

New mini quilt finished

I have been a sewing machine today! I made the curtains and finished this small mini quilt. I used old buttons to "tie" the quilt. I zigzagged around the perimeter of the binding but I am not sure that I like that. So, I might just buy some quilt binding and redo the edges. The necklace belonged to my mom and I thought it went well with the colors. I glued 2 shank buttons on to the end of the dowel rod to give it more of a finish. All in all, I guess I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Privacy curtains

I made these privacy curtains for my bedroom today. I wanted to see how privacy curtains would look since I like to have sunshine in my house. This material came from my stash. I am sure that I had great plans for it at one time. For the life of me I can't remember what it was. But, since the colors matched, I thought it would be good to make temporary curtains. I did not line the curtains, so it was all straight lines - cut, sew, press. They are not nearly full enough but that was all the material I had and it serves the purpose good enough. This summer I will make nicer ones for the fall. The jars in the window sill house all of my buttons - sorted by colors.

Wallhanging

I finished this little quilt today as the boys were resting. Each little block is an one inch square. I hung it up in my bathroom. It looks uneven on the bottom but I think that was the way it was hanging against the wall. In real life, it is even. I have two more to finish. In those words I have often read before, "SEW much to do, SEW little time!"

Tea time?

I just finished this sweet little teapot this morning. I love how it turned out - now to decide where to hang it; or, it might end up in a TeaTime gift!