Entry Table from a Stereo Cabinet

Holy cow! It's been a month and projects are getting finished. We've recently created a cabinet for the cat litter box (which you can see here), Sweetheart made patio chairs out of cedar fence lumber and I created an entry table of sorts. We needed something after we rearranged the living room and this old stereo cabinet from the basement fit the bill nicely. I was going to use it originally for a litter box cabinet but that didn't pan out.

The deconstruction kept me well acquainted with a my Phillips screwdriver (holy cow it had a lot of screws!) to get all the extra parts out including the front panel and I added thin plywood for a new bottom and behind the tiled center piece. Otherwise I just shined it up, slapped on some stain where the wood was exposed and off we went! This works well to catch stuff, hold our board games and keep Max's toys up off the floor, plus sweetheart likes the retro.

Festival Food at Home- Kettle Corn!

If you're like me, you love festival and fair food. It's only available in the summer time and you find yourself craving it every year when June rolls around.

I grew up in the city that hosts the Missouri State Fair and I have a confession, I don't love that fair. Every year the fair would come to town with it's hoard of state troopers, tourists who didn't know which lane of traffic went where and nary an available restaurant seat to be had. Residents stocked up on supplies like a blizzard was coming or went to the lake for an extended vacation.

I also worked the fair as a teenager on those parking lot trams that, for 50 cents a person, would take you to the front gate. I did this for two years until I was old enough to get my first real job in fast food.

Newer fairs and festivals are quite different for me and now I look forward to street vendors selling deep-fried confections, sandwiches in foil wrappers and corn on the cob with any number of toppings. I love to wander through craft tents touching and smelling and shaking my head at demonstrators hawking products I don't need. I like the fairs and I want the food year round. Imagine my surprise when I learned, quite by accident, how to make kettle corn quickly and on the very very cheap.

The key to good kettle corn is an oil popper with a stir stick. You can do this with a pot and spoon but be very careful since the sugar gets super hot. The rest is very simple. I've given the measurements in parts, with my measurements in parenthesis, so you can scale up or down to your tastes. Don't skimp on the oil, it helps keep the sugar from burning.

Box Cutter Bias Tape Blues

I love pinterest, not only because it shows me things I hadn't thought of, but because it often presents me with a new way of doing the things I've always done.

Case in point-bias tape. I hadn't used bias tape much but when I did I used the store bought boring kind.

Enter pinterest and all the nifty ways to make pretty bias tape out of your favorite fabrics and put a good use to some scraps. I had some blue paisley I wanted to use but I don't have a handy dandy bias tape maker so I found a tutorial that used a box knife without the blade to fold the fabric.

There are several tutorials on making bias tape for how to cut the strips and sew them together so I'm not going to give you the easy bits.  This is to show you the how the box cutter method works so hopefully you don't have to have the same frustrations I did and can have awesome custom bias tape!

A very full update...

So it's been awhile. I know, I know, bad blogger! The end of May and all of June were pretty busy in the ranch so here's an update.

Chicago for vacation was awesome! We stayed with my little brother, acted like tourists and had a generally fantastic relaxing vaca. I could definitely see living there if the need arose. I also loved public transportation and not having to drive everywhere and search for parking. Max even got a souvenir.

June included Shakespeare in the Park with a great group of friends, wine, fruit, cheese and crackers.

Shakes in the Park, "Midsummer's Night's Dream"

Later in the month we did Pippi Longstocking with the niece and nephew at Union Station. The kids had a great time. Our niece loved the show and our nephew loved the backstage tour. Afterward we got to play with robotics at Maker Faire in the main hall.

Last week was a blur and included a Royals game on Tuesday Night. Our tickets were pretty high up but you can't argue with free. Plus we had a great view of the entire stadium and the Royals won!

1st Inning View

We had dinner guests on Thursday and Friday nights. Thursday night I did awesome crockpot ribs I found on Pinterest, pasta salad and corn on the cob with friends bringing oreo fluff for desert. 

Friday night included steaks, scalloped potatoes, broccolli, wine, wine, key lime pie, appetizers and DQ ice cream cake. Did I mention wine? Then it was off to the bar for a bit with one of the friends for a drag show.

Saturday we went to Sweetheart's sister's wedding near St. Joseph. It was very nice but we were exhausted. Sweetheart did the music and I wrangled the nieces and nephews to some degree. I also took some time out to use a gift certificate I'd won at a silent auction to grab some new sewing machine toys at a shop in St. Joe.

Open foot, zipper foot, leather needles,
quilting ruler and fat quarter of fabric for Max.

Now it's time to take this girl to bed. Never fear, I have new projects in the works! I know you want them but be patient. Something awesome is coming soon. What fabulous projects are you working on?

Little Make-Up bag

Yes, I'm posting this in the middle of the night. Tonight I decided I'd sew something off Pinterest instead of actually getting ready for our trip next week to Chicago. Procrastination should be my middle name this weekend. I decided on the "No Guts Boxie Pouch", which was a free pattern on Craftsy. (You do have to have or get a Craftsy account to download this pattern.)
Sweetheart was at the bar working her weekend gig and I usually do some sort of project on Friday nights. Tonight was no exception. I'd love to tell you I whipped this out in an hour or so but alas, I logged some serious time with the seam ripper. All the mistakes were my own but still had to be fixed. So, without further ado...my new make-up bag!

No Guts Boxy Pouch

The bag is about 7.5" deep by 4" tall and 6" wide which makes it perfect for packing toiletries for a weeks vacation. Try this bag, it's super forgiving and looks adorable. The instructions are really well done though it does take a bit of maneuvering at the end. People will think you spent a ton for it and all it really takes is a fat quarter of fabric or so for the outer shell and for the lining and a zipper. Tomorrow I have plans to make Sweetheart one out of blue and white paisley fabric to prolong the procrastination of getting ready to travel and I'm hoping my mistakes tonight will translate into faster work time tomorrow. Happy sewing!

Parties, Projects and Plants 2- Funky, Cheap Curtain Tie-Backs

I am a cheapskate at heart, in case you haven't gleaned that little pearl of wisdom by now. I'm also always looking for ways to spruce up the ranch. We have a double window in the dining room and some basic curtains. Since the window is so wide we needed 4 panels to cover it completely without looking cheap. A few weeks ago I shortened the curtains but at that length I couldn't knot them anymore to hold them back. As I'm staring into the silverware drawer for the millionth time I spy the meat fork. Don't ask me what utensil I was actively looking for, that issue was gone in my flash of brilliance and new project idea. I decided I could bend a serving spoon and fork and use those for curtain tie backs!

Sweetheart wasn't keen on this idea until I told her I would not be using the serving pieces out of the silverware set she bought me for Christmas a few years ago. If this sounds crazy, stick with me.

Parties, Projects and Plants 1- Game Night!

We have a great group of friends who we get together with regularly. Friday night was our turn to host game night with friends. We're a bit informal, meaning we don't actually start playing a game until at least an hour after everyone has arrived. That meant we opened the house at 6 and started playing Bananagrams around 8:30 after conversations about new books, a showing of youtube videos and general catching up.
I tried a couple of new-old recipes for game night which were a hit so I thought I'd share. I did Tomato-Basil Brushcetta with French Bread and goat cheese and Southwest Chicken Puffs (and you can too!).