Sew....Sew...Good!

Sewing Extravaganza Number Two!!!!!!!

My second sewing project was to make a simple, quilted, zip-up, make-up bag. Whew!

I am learning two HUGE things with this project: 1. Quilting, and 2. Sewing a Zipper into Fabric. Quilting, for those who aren't sure, when used as a verb means to stitch together two pieces of cloth and a soft interlining (Definition complements of dictionary.com). I am forcing my sister to claim the final product, because I feel like I need to have someone who would use the things I make. So, she chose two really cute green fabrics, one for the inside and one for the outside.

Not trusting my own work, I decided to make a sample first. I have some extra fabric (Thank you Kirstin!!!) and bought a super cheap zipper and some batting. When I went to JoAnn fabrics to buy supplies, I asked the women cutting it for me if she had any advice for a newbie teaching herself to quilt. She told me to draw lines on the fabric, pin it and go at it. So, I drew lines on my fabric. I was apprehensive to pin the layers together because I felt like when I did, it bunched the fabric too much. I thought the fabric would pucker while I was sewing. So I sewed the first set of lines and it went ok. I noticed the fabric and batting shifted while I was sewing. When I did the second set of lines I followed the lines to a T. Later noticing that that was a bit of a mistake. I think what happened when I sewed the first lines is that it distorted my second set of lines I made. Check out the picture.

You can see that the wood table is adding a straight line and that the seams are not straight. The fabric shifted so much while I was sewing that they didn't align correctly.

The second side thatI quilted was better, but still not perfect. After I sewed the first set of lines, I didn't follow the second set exactly, Instead I held the fabric straight while it was feeding through the machine. However, the fabric STILL shifted, even with pinning.

So, I wasn't quite sure what to do other than keep going. I actually found directions on how to construct the make-up bag on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyS2BKoZSAQ

There are a total of nine videos that are nicely labeled so you know which one is which. After you're done with the first one it will link you to the second, and so on and so forth. Here are pictures of my process.

The first two pictures are the pictures of the zipper process. The last picture directly above is how you make the bag able to stand on its own, by sewing ear looking things on the inside.

The pictures below are of the finished product. It is by no means perfect. There are many, many, flaws. I am pretty sure I am going to do another test run! I think the biggest problem was that the two sides were no longer even which caused the zipper to be uneven.

I don't think I am ready to move on to the final fabric that I paid for for this specific project. I think I am going to do a couple more runs, with or with out a zipper. Even to practice the quilting part. Quilting is a really cool thing that I would like to be able to do well. For this project and projects in the future. The reason I chose to quilt my own fabric instead of buying quilted fabric is because the pre-quilted fabric is expensive and the fabric choices are not always the prettiest.

What did I learn from the first go? Pin, pin, pin, and draw the second set of lines onto the fabric after I have sewn the first set.

Give me a shout if you want me to make you a sweet make-up bag! :) Don't worry, I will work out the kinks before I make it.

Courageous Cookies!

I have got to talk about this incredible chocolate chip recipe I tried.

Now, I have to be honest here, I am not very good at trying new things. I was raised by my father who sticks to what he knows and does it well. This trait rubbed off on me.

My third year of college, I met a girl named Michaela. She was constantly coming to class with new stories of all of her adventures. It seemed she tried a new recipe or something new every night. We quickly became friends.

I moved to Texas recently. For me it was a giant leap. Even if I do have family down here for support and love, it has been a very hard transition to make...especially with no promising job prospects. Not two days after I moved here a package arrived for me in the mail from New York, New York. I thought, what in the world? I do not know anyone from New York. I opened it and inside was a note from Michaela with a hand-made necklace that she had made for me from one of the artists on etsy.com. Written on the necklace was the word "COURAGE". The note read, "Christy, May you find the courage to follow your dreams and chase your passions."

Holy cow! It was as if a light bulb lit up above my head. She is right. All it takes is courage. That necklace is around my neck almost everyday and whenever I look in the mirror and see courage staring back at me, it is a reminder to follow my dreams and chase my passions. Thank you Michaela!

I am sure you are asking what this story has to do with a cookie recipe? Everything. I know how to make chocolate chip cookies. I have a recipe right on the back of the chocolate chip bag and I know that that recipe makes tasty cookies. However, what if there was a better recipe? I won't know until I try. So, I looked online in search of one. The first one that came up from my google search was Alton Brown's recipe titled, "The Chewy". I already start doubting myself if this is a good idea or not. --What if they turn out like crap? What if the cookies taste nasty? It would be a total waste of my time and ingredients. My sister and her husband would think I can't bake.-- These ridiculous thoughts run in and out of my head and finally I put a stop to them. All I have is time and I didn't pay for the ingredients (because I'm jobless). Honestly, it's a cookie. Have

the courage to try something new.

When I was looking at the recipe reviews posted by people who have made them, the posts were nothing short of the best cookie they ever tasted. I had to laugh because one woman even admitted that she created an account, something she never does, with foodnetwork.com just to rave about these cookies. What the hell. Preheat the oven, get the ingredients out, and start measuring.

Seriously, the dough itself was amazing. No way could these cookies taste just as good baked. I baked six cookies at a time just as the recipe recommends and the oven couldn't bake

them fast enough. They were, honestly, the best chocolate chip cookie I ever ate. My sister, who is a total cookie dough

junky, even said that this is the one recipe where she prefers the dough baked. Now that is a testimonial. MAKE THIS RECIPE! You won't regret it!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html

**I only chilled the dough for a couple of hours. I also didn't use bread flour. AND I made the cookies smaller, so obviously I didn't need to leave them in the oven for 14 minutes. I did rotate the pan halfway through (something that I have never done when making cookies and will now practice this with every cookie recipe). I must say that the cookies do get pretty brown on the bottom, but I am going to be completely honest with you when I say that it did not AT ALL hinder their taste. **

From here on out, I vow to be more courageous. Even if the end result won't be delicious warm cookies, the journey will still be worth the end result.

Sew...what?

Well, here I am. Jobless. With no money. What to do?!

Find a hobby.

I have sewed before, and I am not just talking about the pathetic tan sweatshirt I made in Home Economics class, back in my high school days. I have actually made two quilts. The first one was just a simple five inch block square with four different fabrics. It was made to fit a twin bed and it was

purple. (I was going through a huge purple phase at that time in my life.)

The second quilt I made, I sewed for my sister. I had it professionally quilted. It was comprised of many different pink and black fabrics and it was made from a pattern. I can't remember what the pattern was called, brick road...or something like that. Amber still uses the quilt today. It turned out really well.

However, when I made these quilts, I had a lot of help from two ladies that have many years experience with sewing.

I have always wanted to pick up sewing on my own and teach myself the lingo and the entire process of buying material off of a shelf and making it into a useable finished product. There was one problem, I didn't have a sewing machine. Countless Christmas lists had a new sewing machine on it, but no one seemed to want to buy it for me. I would walk through the sewing aisle in Wal-Mart to look at the beautiful new machines, but could never let myself spend the money while I was in college.

At my boyfriend's parents' house one night, him and his dad were trying to find all of the unwanted junk they could put on the curb for the town's annual junk day (not really sure what the official name is). His dad mentioned a couple sewing machines in the basement that they could hall to the curb as well. My ear perked up. "Sewing machines?" I asked. "You're going to get rid of them?" Then the most wonderful thing happened, I got a sewing machine for free! I brought it home, psyched to use it for the first time, and it wasn't working right. So, I brought it to the local sewing machine repair shop and $40 later I am able to sew.

My first project: A pillow case for my boyfriend (To make a long story short, I was supposed to have it done by the end of April so he could use it while he was turkey hunting. Since the machine didn't work I have had the material since. Because hunting season is over, I decided to make him a pillow case to use for everyday.)

A pillow case has to be pretty easy...right? I found this great pattern on this website:

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FL_ST_Construction_2006-102pr.pdf

It is very easy to understand and follow. It has a great pictures and diagrams. Now, camouflage is not my first choice for fabric in a bedroom...in any bedroom, but keep in mind the story above. After I cut my fabric for the queen sized pillow case, I realized I didn't have enough fabric for the coordinating border edge. So I had to make a quick run to Hobby Lobby. (Side Note: I could have spent some SERIOUS money in that store tonight. I got completely giddy when I entered the fabric section. Oh how I wish I had a job to support this hobby that I want to pursue.)

I bought a great gray fabric to match the gray in the camouflage print. The two fabrics are not the same texture or weight, but I think they worked together.

Anyone could make this pillow case. The whole process was easy. I think the worst part was cutting the fabric! Next time I would like to try a decorative trim.

Since the funds are low, I am not sure when I am going to be able to sew my next project. Hopefully soon!!

It's not a hassle it's a hostel...

Once again I have to talk about Chicago, yes I'm obsessed (How many movie titles have I mentioned in this blog post...).

So, I just graduated from college in May and I decided I am going to give myself a little gift for finishing in five years. That gift is a trip paid by me to Chicago. I told my sister Amber (the former Chicagoan) that she has to come with me. We planned this trip for maybe two months. Since Amber has moved she has visited and scored sweet deals on hotels from priceline.com, she insisted we do the same for this trip. So, the week of our trip we started putting

bids in to see what we could get. Nothing. Not even the day before our trip. I'm going to just state right now, we didn't bid anything over $85 a night for a down town hotel. We are bot

h cheap asses who don't have any money. Well, our bids were rejected, and Amber moved on

to the next best thing. The down-town hostel.

Now, I am not an experienced traveler by an means. Amber, on the other hand, has spent a whole semester abroad, traveling Europe, eating delicious food, and staying at hostels with complete strangers. So to her, this was no new hoopla to get into a tizzy about. I was a bit nervous. I had barely stayed in a Super 8. However, I trusted Amber, checked out the pictures online, and at least kne

w I would have a good story from this trip.

It cost me $72. 93 to stay in the hostel for two night. You can't go wrong. It was just like a college dorm room. It was a HUGE room with three windows that were floor to ceiling with spectacular views of the city. Amber and I shared the room with 8 other women and the bathroom was right down the hall. The door was locked at all times and could be entered with a, I'm going to call it, credit card key that you would get at any other hotel. There

was a locker for each person that you could put your belongings in. It could be locked wi

th a pad lock. Thankfully, I still had mine from my P.E. days in high school. I dusted that sucker off and found that I still knew my combination. My memory isn't as bad as I thought it was.

Linens were also provided. You do have the option to upgrade to a room with a bathroom in it, but let me mention one more time, Amber and I are cheap asses and to us it really didn't matter where the bathroom was as long as we didn't have to pee in a five gallon pail. However, to each their own.

In the mornings, free continental breakfast is provided. There was fruit, bagels, bread, jam, butter, cereal, milk, juice, coffee, and pop-tart type things. I could be forgetting stuff too. In short, it was a decent spread for someone who would rather spend their money on something else other than breakfast. The only draw back, you have to do your own dishes

when you have finished your meal. No biggie. The room that houses the cafeteria is another site. Huge windows that give you a wonderful view of the c

ity. Oh it was so nice to sit and eat breakfast, drink some coffee, and hear the chit chat going on from people across the globe. For a brief moment I felt l

ike I wasn't even in the United States anymore.

In the same area as the cafeteria, there is a commons area with games, computers, and an information desk where you can get the low down of the happenings in the city.

I could seriously go on forever about this hostel and the positive experience I had from it, but let the pictures speak for themselves.

The hotel's website:

http://www.hichicago.org/

A tale of two cities...

I would like to turn the page of complaining and start blogging about things that I encounter in my everyday life, research to learn a little bit more about them, and then share my findings with anyone who is interested in them.

After graduating from college my sisters took full advantage of their freedom and a college diploma. Amber moved to the windy city of Chicago and Ann moved into the southern living near Dallas. Being the youngest, my sisters have kindly let me have many opportunities to come and explore these two cities free of charge. Much of my hard earned money has been spent on airline or bus tickets to go visit.

Today, while reading D Magazine (For those who don't know what D Magazine is, it is a magazine dedicated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area), I learned that the two cities that now have a place in my heart, have something else in common as well, sculptures by the artist Jaume Plensa. According to his website, he has became famous for his sculptures that are created by plastic. Plensa has had exhibits in numerous museums across the world.

During my very first trip to Chicago, my sister took me to Millennium Park. Here I found pictures of people projected on clear bricks, and spitting water into a pool where (mostly) kids frolic and play. However, after my encounter with D Magazine I found the meaning behind it. The fountain, actually titled "The Crown Fountain", consists of two 50-foot glass block towers and are at each end of a shallow reflection pool. The pictures projected are actually videos of "a broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens." When creating these fountains, Plensa was inspired by gargoyle fountains that would have water running from their mouths. He adapted this idea to his sculpture in Millennium Park, and has videos of peoples faces puckering their lips and looking like they are spitting water into the reflection pool.

Here in Dallas at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Plensa's work will be on display. The show is called Genus and Species and will be on display until May 2. Take the time to view this artists work at the Nasher Sculpture Center, I wish I could!

Nasher Sculpture Center

2001 Flora St.

Dallas TX 75201

Millennium Park Map

http://www.millenniumpark.org/documents/5x7in.pdf