Quick Yarn Fix

My LYS is open late on Thursdays, so although I was already stuck in traffic for more than an hour on my way home from work, I still had to stop by the yarn store. I didn't need any more yarn, but I just had to go. I have no idea what I am going to make with these, but I got them anyway.

Just looking at them makes me happy.

On a completely unrelated note, I made flan this past weekend. It's one of my favorite deserts. Have you tried making it before? It was made with Dr. Oetker Flan Creme Caramel Premium Dessert Mix. Waiting for the milk to boil was the hardest part; I was so bored.

Flan + yarn, not bad for a Thursday night.

Mittens for the Cold Winter

My aunt inspired me to make these mittens. She started making them, and of course, we all know knitting is contagious. These knit up so fast and are so practical, I love how they keep my fingers warm in the cold and rainy winter. I have to make my mom a pair as well for when she walks the dog.

Side view of the mittens. By the way, do you like my new nail polish? Not sure if this picture is about the mittens or the nail polish! 

Top view of the mittens.

OK, you caught me.... there is nothing in the cup! LOL

Have you been to Fresh & Easy? It's a new chain of grocery stores that sell fresh prepared meals with no artificial colors, flavors and those things that are bad for you. Everything was washed and packaged to make cooking super easy. This place was surprisingly affordable as well! The cranberry orange scone shown in the picture above was purchased from Fresh & Easy. So excited to discover a new grocery store in the neighborhood! 

Aaron's Favorite Things at Age Two

I have an adorable nephew, Aaron. He is two and reminds me of curious George. He loves going to the park with his aunt (that would be me) and uncle. I started a quilt for him a year ago and finally got around to finishing it last month. I hand appliqued trains, cars, hot air balloons, and airplanes; these are his favorite items. Although he was only a year old last year, he could say "airplane! trains!"So of course, I had to make him a quilt with all these items.

100% handmade

All aboard! Choo Choo! I cut out these trains from the fabric and applique them onto the quilt. The name of the fabric I used is called "Choo-Choo Puppy" by Kate Honarver" for Timeless Treasures, Inc. 

These trees are my favorite part of the quilt. I cut out red apples from a cherry fabric and embroidered the apple stems.

I used up some cute scrap fabric for these cars, they are perfect for it! I love that flower bed fabric you see here.

Hot air balloons

Airplane

This airplane took a long time, I redid the windows three times!

Not sure if I like this airplane so much.

Pink hot air balloon, a little bit of pink is okay! Right?

I used a car and airplane theme fabric for the back of the quilt. It's called "On the Go" by Jill Webster for Clothworks. The fabric I used for the binding is by Ann Kelle; you can find it here.  
 

I hand quilted this quilt using circles of different size, I love the way it came out. It will be so hard for me to give it away, but I know Aaron will enjoy it very many years to come.

Plastic Grocery Bag Holder

How do you manage grocery bags from the grocery stores? I usually try to reuse them, but oboy, keeping them can be a "messy" job? Here is a simple grocery bag holder I designed to "contain" these ugly plastic bags! I used new Japanese fabric that I purchased from my recent trip to Taiwan.

Kitchen is the best place to hang it!

Folded up when not in use. 

I just love these fabrics so much! The colors, patterns...

This was super easy to make. I assembled two different pieces of fabric into one rectangular piece that measured 16"x12". Then I double folded and stitched the shorter sides (i.e. top and bottom) of this piece, and sew along the 16" side (i.e. the longer side) turning the fabric into a tube. This is when I attached my new label! Once I had the tube, I inserted a 6" elastic into the hem created on the bottom, and created a loop on the top so it can be hung. That's it! Easy! Now I can put all those ugly wrinkly looking grocery bags into this tube and pull it out from the elastic side when I need it. 

If you make one, I would love to see it! Let me know if I can help with the process.

Custom Made Label

Gosh! What a crazy week... so glad Friday is here! I was super excited when the mail carrier got here today, check out what he brought me.

I finally had some labels made by gutenTags. If you are thinking about having customized labels made, I highly recommend Cassie. She was so patience with me and was extremely funny and easy to work with. So what do you think? Quite cute, huh?!

Back of the label.

I attached my very first label onto this grocery bag holder (pictures shown above) I made my aunt. I designed it and it looks beautiful in her kitchen. I will do a post on this project shortly.