fate

It was totally fate that I ended up here after a signing yesterday. Here's why:

1. These two places are in Emeryville. I was in San Rafael (15 freeway miles away). I got off the exit looking for something else and saw Pizza My Heart out of the corner of my eye. I knew it was the place for me.

2. I found street parking in an impossible place to find parking. Plus, I didn't have to parallel park - I pulled right in.

3. I found $5 in my notary bag. I don't even know where that $5 came from! It normally JUST holds my notary stuff.

4. They sell pizza by the slice. I had a slice of pesto chicken - yum! It had tomato sauce w/ chunks of pesto sauce and tomatoes and chicken.

Best.

Crust.

EVER. Really.

5. Pizza shop next door to a bakery. Hello! This looks like a place Tracy and I could spend a lot of time at on her next visit. And it's in a huge shopping complex.

See. Fate.

And what about that name. Pizza my Heart. *sigh*

patriotic

Hope all you locals had a fun 4th of July. It doesn't seem like a true holiday without a celebratory outfit does it? Here our ours:
With the leftover fabric from this shirt, I figured I try making a Pillowcase dress for Anna using the free tutorial/pattern by Habitual. It was easy to make, but I have to admit to not following any of the directions, so maybe that's not a fair assessment of the pattern.

For the boy

It's reverse applique Alabama Chanin style (thread ends on the outside). Once I finished it I thought I should have done a tutorial, but here's another one if you really are interested. I TAPE my fabric to the inside with masking tape instead of pinning though.

free books?? free money?? any takers??

Have you heard of Swagbucks.com?? It's freakin' awesome! You earn points by doing your searches (powered by Google) through their site. So you easily put their search toolbar into your search toolbar and earn points. If you search everyday you'll earn at least 1 swagbuck (total - not one with every search). Sometimes you'll get 3 "bucks" sometimes 10. Sometimes you'll even get multiple 1 Swagbucks if you happen to be doing a lot of searching.

Slowly but surely I've earned $30 worth of giftcard for Amazon.com. $30! That's like two free crafty sewing books! With free shipping to boot!! Just think, if you start now you'll have lots of money to spend by Christmas for gifts!

Click on the picture above or on this link. Sign up under me and as you win, I win.

Oh yeah! If you enter the "swagcode" (you'll see it as you're signing up) just enter CASHISKING and earn an extra 5 swagbucks!! Woot! Woot! btw - I'm sure this expires, but I'm not sure when. I just found the code on another blog. Also, I think it's just for people signing up for the first time.

Bit-O-Flowers

I love Summer for so many reasons. One reason is the flowers and colors it bring to the landscape. Don't get me wrong I love winter too, but after awhile I get really sick of seeing white. To spread the joy of color to the indoors I make a couple of little bouquets once a week and put them in the kitchen and where ever needs a little summery pick me up.  My oldest Daughter is eight and has a genuine love of all things crafty.  So the two of us grabbed a vase and some garden shears and set out to the garden. We snipped a few herb and flowers and bunched them in our vases. I was so proud of her flower arranging abilities and glad that we found a project to share.  Summers is the best, now if it would just stop raining!

trailer park donuts

Wow! Has it really been since June 8th that we last posted?? Sheesh!

Well, I've been at the beach all week long and before that have been doing lots of loan signings. Every where I go there is a bakery. Tracy wants to open a bakery one of these days so I tend to notice them more. I thought this cupcake shop in Mill Valley was really cute. I love the way she displayed her cupcakes. I did not try one though. I'm more of a pizza gal. If I could buy pizza every where I went I would. That should be my mission - to find the best pizza place in the Bay Area.

Anyway... my husband made these donuts the other day. I've named them "Trailer Park" donuts - not to say that if YOU live in a trailer you couldn't make the fancy kind of donuts. They are fast, easy, and cheap. And surprisingly delish!

Ingredients:

*Those biscuits that you buy in a tube

*Vegetable Oil

*toppings:
cinnamon/sugar mixture
powdered sugar
glaze or chocolate frosting



Smoosh the individual biscuit a little and tear a little hole in the center. This is usually my 5 year old's job. Then fry in oil until golden brown on each side. Transfer to a plate. If you use the cinnamon/sugar or the powdered sugar just put it in a gallon zip lock bag then it's easy to put one doughnut in and shake it up. The glaze is really yummy too. I must admit... we've had these more often than we probably should, but really - the biscuits are only $.59 a tube - maybe I should call them Recession Doughnuts. (that might be more P.C.)

speaking of skirts

This past weekend we went to a birthday party - petting zoo and pony rides - totally fun. I made this little shirt and hair clip for the birthday girl.I originally was going to put two sea horses on the shirt, but decided on one. I had already cut the second one out, so went to Anna's closet and found a white tank top.It's always fun having a matching skirt, so I made a skirt yesterday from the Lazy Days Skirt pattern (free!) from Oliver +S. If you are a beginning sewer this is the skirt for you! It's the easiest thing I've ever sewn. Really. The ribbon hem was so fun to do that I'm tempted to hem everything I ever have to hem again that way (but reverse so the ribbon is on the inside). Seriously.

I added the rick rack and velvet ribbon just for fun. Maybe I'll add some to the shirt too...

New Skirts

 I found the The cutest, easiest pattern.  It is by a company called Pink Fig Patterns. The instructions in the pattern stated that the "Girly Skirt" would take about an hour make and it truly did. I love it when that happens.  Also the coolest part is that we went shopping the day after I made this skirt for my little one and found an adult version on sale at the Gap for cheaper then I could make it for, so I had to buy It. I have been living in this skirt, it is so comfy I think I am going to use it as a reference and make another one for me. There is something about summer living that requires a flowing skirt, right!  P.S. I cleaned my sewing room (Ali, I hope you have cleaned yours too!) I need to post the before and after pics it is kind of embarrassing.