Girls’ Night Halloween Goodies

I hosted book club at my house this week so of course I had to search blog land for some yummy treats to serve.  The most helpful sites were Twin Dragonfly Designs and I Heart Nap Time.  Be sure to check out these sites for even more ideas.  O.K. so here is what I made.

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Sugar Chips.  For the salsa, I cut up some apples, strawberries and kiwis.  I also added fresh blueberries and a bag of frozen mixed berries drained.  Lastly, I added about a Tbs. of fresh lemon juice, a Tbs. of white sugar and a Tbs. of brown sugar.  For the chips, I followed the directions on Twin Dragonfly Designs for cutting and baking tortillas and sprinkling them with cinnamon sugar.  I did have to bake mine for closer to ten minutes though to get them crispy.

Ghost Pretzel Sticks.  My girls had fun making these.

This last recipe is also from Twin Dragonfly Designs.  No Bake Oreo Cheesecake!  I like this recipe because it can be given as a party favor.  Just make it the night before and put it in some small jelly jars.


I put some cute Halloween fabric on top.  I planned to cover the metal ring with some Halloween ribbon but I ran out of time.  Oh well.


Witch Hat Cookies.  I didn’t serve these to the ladies but my girls made these later in the week for a treat.  They are super easy. Take a  Keebler Fudge Striped cookie and turn it upside down.  Add a dollop of Wilton colored frosting in the tube.  Then place a Hershey’s kiss on top.  Easy peasy!


Bat Decorations!  I saw this cute idea on Made last year and I knew I wanted to do it.  Super easy!  Just cut out some bat shapes and tape them to the wall.  They have been up for a couple of weeks and so far only a few have fallen down and we just stick them back up.

My boys really like these!

Check out my post from last year HERE to find out about Spider Snacks and Mummy Dogs!

I just had to share this picture because I thought that it was funny.  On the rare occasion we let the kids eat dinner in front of the t.v. and they love it.  Yummm hot dogs and Mac-n-Cheese what’s better than that.  Yes, my  boys are wearing costumes.

Showoff Bag Pattern Review

I was very excited when Rae from Made by Rae contacted me to pattern test her latest bag pattern.  It is called the Showoff Bag because it is nice and big and does a lovely job of showing off your favorite fabric.

I really love how these bags turned out.  They sew up really quickly.  I didn’t find that they were any more difficult to sew than a basic tote but the final look is so much “snazzier”!

Another one of my favorite features is that it opens up nice and wide.  I have sewn up a couple of other large bags but I have found that they don’t open up big enough to actually see everything.

The pattern gives instructions for adding an interior fabric.  I made mine 8”x6”.

I also added a zippered pocket to the other side.  Instructions for this pocket are not in the pattern but could probably be easily found on the internet.  I used the zippered pocket instructions from the Runaround Bag.

 

This little beauty with the Amy Butler fabric is for me.  I know greedy right?  I just can’t part with this lovely fabric.  The pattern calls for using a décor or canvas type fabric for the main outer fabric and a heavier fabric for the top.  I think quilting cotton works fine as long as you interface it with a mid-weight fusible interfacing.  I used a heavy weight interfacing and it was a bit too stiff.

This bag will be for my mom for Christmas.  Shhh…, don’t tell.  She doesn’t even own a computer so no fear of her reading this.  For this bag I used a décor weight fabric for the main part of the bag and a quilters cotton lined with light weight interfacing for the interior.  I found that this version sewed up very easily.

I even added a label and some snazzy stitching because you know moms appreciate that kind of thing.

Don’t forget to check out Made by Rae for the pattern coming soon!

Happy Sewing!

Hooded Towels

 

I have been wanting to make up a few hooded towels for my kiddos.  I searched Blogland and found some really great tutorials.  I chose elements of my two favorite tutorials and combined them to make exactly what I was looking for.  I used Andrea’s tutorial on The Train to Crazy and Lindsay’s tutorial on  The Cottage Home.

Materials:

1 large bath towel

1 hand towel

Coordinating strip of fabric “4 x 25 “

Ric-rac (optional)

Coordinating thread

sewing machine, scissors, etc. 

Rotary Cutter and Cutting Mat or Scissors

 

Tutorial:

 

Take your hand towel and cut the trim off of one end and about 3” off of the other end.  Your towel should be 24” long.

 

Now fold the towel in half and cut it to a width of 11”.

 

Find something round like a plate and use it to cut a curve on the top folded edge of the towel. Important: Make sure that you are not cutting the curve on the side with the finished edge.  This finished edge will be the edging of the hood.

 

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With right sides together, sew from the curved edge to the bottom of the hood piece.

Now we are going to attach the hood to the beach towel using a French Seam.  This awesome idea comes from Andrea’s tutorial on The Train to Crazy.  I love it because you won’t have an unfinished seam were the hood is sewn to the towel.  With wrong sides facing, lay the hood piece on the center of one of the long edges of the beach towel.

The raw edge of the hood piece should be just below the edge of the beach towel.  Pin the hood in place.

Sew using a 1/4” seam allowance.

 

Flip the towel over so that the right sides of the beach towel and the hood are now facing up.

Top stitch close to the edge of the beach towel and you’re done!  Wasn’t that easy?

 

Look at those nice finished seams.

 

Now if you want to get fancy, you can also use Lindsay’s idea from The Cottage Home and add some cute coordinating fabric.

 

Cut a strip of fabric 24”x 5”.  Sew a piece of ric-rac to each long edge and press edges under.  For the boys’ towel, I skipped the ric-rac and just folded the long edges under about 1/4”.

 

Lay your cut hood piece out flat and pin the strip of fabric close to the finished edge.

 

Sew the fabric strip to the hood piece.

 

I wanted to give the boys’ piece a little more pizzas so I used a contrasting thread and sewed with a decorative stitch.

Now complete your hood and attach it to the beach towel in the same manner described above.

Happy Sewing!

Round Neck Top/Dress Pattern Review

 

I have had this lovely Heather Ross Mendocino fabric for about a year now and I always new exactly what pattern I wanted to use with it.  The Round Neck Top/Dress from That Darn Kat at You Can Make This.  Well, I finally got around to doing it. 

 

I really love how they turned out.

This pattern was very clear and had plenty of photos.  I found it easy to follow.  I would say that it would be a great pattern for an advanced beginner to an intermediate sewer.  It involves, gathering, topstitching and sewing a button hole.  This would be a great pattern to try out some French Seams on the side seams of the dress.

I did have a little bit of a mishap when cutting out my pattern.  One of the photos in the tutorial is a mirror image of what the pattern piece actually looks like and like a ding-dong, I looked at the photo and didn’t pay attention to the actual pattern piece.  Luckily I was able to fix the problem and not waste too much fabric.

 

 

  

The finished dresses are very comfy on my girls and I think that the style is very versatile.  It can be worn in the summer as is and is roomy enough to be worn with a long sleeve shirt underneath in the winter.

Great news, That Darn Kat now offers this pattern in sizes 2-7  and 8  -14!  Yippee!

Now get going and sew up a few! :)

 

Happy Sewing!