Wednesday, June 20, 2012

FATHERS DAY APPLE CRISP AND LO MEIN

Sunday, we spent Father's Day at home.  We finally had a day w/out having a schedule and that is always a treat for us.  In the morning everyone pitched in and did a few chores and by mid-day, my husband got to relax and watch the NBA finals....Heat versus Thunder  (go Thunder!). 
As every Father's Day and his birthday, my husband always requests for steak
Seasoned beef ready for the grill!

and grilled veggies
Gettin' ready the veggies
so that was a given for his Father's Day menu.  My daughter pitched in with her Chicken Lo Mein (for recipe click here).  

We opted to leave the chicken out of the noodle dish and make it more of a vegetable dish so we added more veggies instead.  She substituted the angle hair pasta and used spaghetti instead since that's what we had on hand.  My son purchased a bunch of apples from the local wholesale store so he pitched in with the Apple Crisp (for recipe, click here) dessert. 
Fresh Apple Crisp with brown sugar/oatmeal topping

A scoop of macadamia nut ice cream topped with whipped cream on the warm apple crisp was the icing on the cake for the evening.

Hope you had an enjoyable Father's Day.  There are those who do the double duty as a single parent 365/24/7, and there are those who cares for children as if they were their very own.  Some of us were blessed to have fathers from the day we were born and care for us in every way all parents should, and for that I am extremely grateful.  In anycase I hope everyone had a chance to experience a real dad, even if it was only for a little time.

“Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad.” -Anne Geddes

Did you have a special menu for that special dad today?

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

T-Shirt Bag

There are so many way to re-cycle and up-cycle T-shirts.  personally think its an awesome way to remember the memories they come with.  Most of my T's comes from places I've visited, concerts I've been to, favorite logos, (to name a few) and when I look at them, they just bring back happy times w/my favorite people!  Well, the T-shirt blankets have been so much fun do to for my kids.  This time, I'd like to do something for ME!  Let's see....There's always a NEED for one more bag, right gals?  Thank goodness for this blog called A Very Purple Person, there's an awesome tutorial for a reversible bag.  You can see more inspiration of her reversible bag here on flickr.  So, here are my version of the reversible bags using interfaced T-shirts:
T-shirt tote #1
This one is a beach bag:
T-Shirt Tote #2
This one's my fave!  It came from a family owned surf shop in a sleepy little town on the Big Island of Hawaii.  To my surprise, when I used this tote, I had a lot of compliments and interest! 
T-Shirt #3
Interior pockets were added and the pattern was adjust slightly making it a few inches longer and wider.  Another wonderful bag from a wonder tutorial!

Any other suggestions for up-cycling/re-cycling T's?

Monday, June 4, 2012

BABY BOOTIES

A friend is expecting a baby girl...how exciting is that?!  Oh baby things are so small, so cute, so adorable but can be so expensive.  I was motivated to make a baby gift  that would WOW the mom and give myself another challenge to find that perfect gift to make.  Oh the wonderful world of the world wide web, I found the cutest bootie pattern at I Think Sew's website here.  Honestly, I had the hardest time selecting just one pattern because they are all amazingly adorable!  So, to make a long story short, this is the end result of my first ever bootie project:

Suede pink/black cheetah print with zebra faux fur baby booties and a matching gift bag
Black faux leather with animal print fleece baby booties and a matching gift bag
I couldn't stop with those two cuties...had to make just one more set:
Fagitues baby booties with matching gift bag
Had to give this little one his own onesie, too!
So, let me take this moment and give a few credits....you can find the adorable and oh-so-easy to make gift bag tutorial here at In Color Order's blog and the odorable onesie inspiration came from this blog.  Thank goodness for talent bloggers out there who unselfishly share their ideas with people like me....THANK YOU! 

Wait, got one more to show you....this was a special order and I was honored to make it for "Chaun" that has a friend expecting:
Faux zebra fur with pink trim baby booties and matching gift bag
So excited to know these little thingies will soon have an owner.
Hmmm, wouldn't these look cute on an adult, like say....ME?  Oh, oh, I just got a thought (again)...Maybe mama will want a matching pair for herself.  What do you think?

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

MAXI SKIRT

Oh how I love maxi dresses and maxi skirts!  It seems to be the hottest new trend this summer.  They seem so simple and elegant.  I've been wanting to make a summer maxi for myself but shopping choices are so limited in my area.  There was the cutest maxi skirt in a boutique window but, of course, they didn't have my size.  Luckily, to my surprise, I found a wonderful tutorial from Jaime Christina of Pretty Ditty here.  To make things even better, the local "Discount Fabric Warehouse" just rec'd a large shipment of assorted knits and there they were, rolls and rolls of "Ella Moss" labeled fabrics....I love Ella Moss.  I just can't afford to have an entire wardrobe of her collections.  After my purchases of "a yard of this, a few yards of that,...."My "Ella Moss" striped knits came home with me.

After about two hours (this includes taping newspapers together to make out the pattern), I end up with my very own Ella Moss copy cat skirt:

I LOVE IT!  My new summer maxi needs a quick steaming and it's ready to go to town!  Oh, I added a waist band following this tutorial

Thank you tutorial world for the inspirations! 

What's on your "make me this summer" list?








Monday, May 28, 2012

T-SHIRT QUILT, MEMORY QUILT

A friend of mine wanted to give her high school graduating son a memory quilt that he can reminisce through his childhood years.  Not having enough confidence to complete the quilt, I gladly offered to make it for her (even though I had all the confidence in the world she could have accomplished this task).  You see, she's visited a few times and along with a few other gals, we spent some time crafting and learning how to sew and she wanted to make this for her son.  Unfortunately, her schedule got a "tid-bit" hectic as graduation day approached and really, there wasn't enough time that would allow her to finished the quilt as scheduled.  Lucky for me, she did all the cutting and interfacing.  Personally, I think that is the hardest part of it all!  She dropped off the perfectly cut T-'s and together, we managed to finish it in the nick of time...one week before graduation day which  make it possible to have the blank block that was reserved for signatures from his family, teachers and friends to be filled in.....Congratulations "Mr. K"!  Hope you enjoy your quilt in the years ahead and wish you all the happiness and success in the world!


I found my inspiration on T-shirt/memory quilts a few years ago while watching HGTV's Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson.  I was actually watching something else and left the television on.  When I returned to the living room, Alex Anderson had a Special Guest talking about recycling out-grown apparel to quilts.  This is where I also learned about rag quilst which is how "Mr. K's" quilt was constructed.  The fringes will become more soft and "fluffy" as it is used and washed.

Of course as I was making the rag T-shirt quilt, I remembered a bin of T-shirt squares that was prepped a few years ago for my son.  With a few hours here and there on my good old faithful Jan (my Janome sewing machine), wallah, it got completed:


Oh the memories of each block....

If these blocks could talk, what would they say? 

Kalaeiki baseball camp for youths that pushed the purpose of academics and good sportsmanship:
 

A football T from my talented neighbor who played football for the local high school (#7) and the World Cup when it was in San Francisco:

Oh, this was a trip to a neighboring island and we tried the new burger joint with the kiddos:

A restaurant at I think, Newport Beach, Cali a few years back...they had delish food! 

Uncle's VW shop....

For the second quilt, I made it differently from the traditional quilt where there's a backing, batting and then the top pieces.  Instead with right sides together, I sewed the top piece with a 1/4" seam around the edges onto fleece leaving a gap about 8" wide for turning.  Once the corners were clipped, the quilt was turned and the gap was hand-sewn closed.  This method seemed much easier for me.  Machine quilting a large piece on a traditional table-top sewing machine is not my cup of tea so this seemed to be the route to take until I can "perfect" my quilting techniques.

Do you have a sentimental item that takes you back through the years?

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Silhouette sd

Last Christmas, I treated myself to a silhouette sd as an early gift to myself.  It makes the world of crafting so much more easier for me which motivates me to keep creating personalized gifts for others.  As in my last post,   I mentioned about fun gifts that was created with the silhouette sd die cutter. 

First are T-shirts for sisters..."Tita" in Hawaii is a word used as "sister".  So, here's LITTLE TITA's and BIG TITA's matching T-shirts:




Two other gifts made with the silhouette sd cutter using store bought ready made aprons:


The silhouette's website provides easy to follow tutorials.  This is the tutorial that I used which was very easy to follow. 

Have you had the opportunity to make home made gifts, lately?