Sewing School!

I've finally got my act together, peeps.

I'm posting my information about fall sewing classes under the "Sewing School" tab of my homepage and just because it's new I thought I'd post it here too so you can check it out.

Fall classes can begin at your convenience; Just send me an email or give me a call.

Classes are typically 2-3 people for a weekly class and up to 5 people for a weekend class. Sewing classes are a really fun thing to do with friends, so get a group together!

Anyway...here's the info and I can't wait to get fall classes started!

Beginners Sewing 101- Calling all want-to-be seamstresses! Whether you’ve dabbled in sewing here and there or if you’ve never touched a machine, this is the class for you. In Sewing 101 you’ll learn the mechanics of your sewing machine and what all those sewing tools are for. We’ll talk about selecting fabrics, proper cutting and pinning, and using a pattern. This class is the most comprehensive of all of the Sewing School classes. You’ll make 6 super cute projects while learning all of the basics of sewing.

Classes are an hour and a half long, once a week, for 8 weeks. The cost for entire course is $200.

Fall openings: Monday,Thursday, or Friday 10:00 am to 12:00 pm,  Monday or Tuesday 6:30-8:30 pm

Beginners Workshop- No time for class every week? This is a one day comprehensive sewing workshop for beginners. We’ll cover the basics and give you an introduction into the world of sewing while making several sweet projects…all in one day! A homemade lunch and snacks are provided during the 6 hour course. If you have friends that would like to all take a beginners workshop together, I can schedule an event especially for you!

This is a one day class that meets from 10 am to 4 pm. We'll be having our first Beginners Workshop on Saturday, November 5th. The cost is $85, including lunch and snacks. The class limit is 5 people.

Other Sewing School offers include...

Studio Time: Studio Time is for anyone with sewing experience (or who has taken a beginners class) who has a specific project in mind that they need a little extra help with. Come in and I’ll get you started or let me help you finally complete a project that you’ve had on your to do list for a long time! Contact me for prices and more information.

Custom Sewing: I love a good project and I’m happy to take on yours! Whether it’s curtains for your living room or a whole nursery, I can help you pick out fabrics and then stitch them up with precision and care! You’ll have something unique, original, and handmade to treasure.

Specialty Classes: Look for classes coming up in the near future that focus on specific projects such as: baby gifts, throw pillows, curtains, Christmas décor, a simple a line skirt, and more! These classes will be for students who have completed a beginners class or have a sewing background.

Sign up today friends! I can't wait to sew with you!
mel

Put A Pin In It

Hi friends. It's 105 degrees outside, here in Macon, GA on this fine Friday afternoon. ONE.HUNDRED.AND.FIVE.DEGREES. Our plants are dying and our snow cones are melting...it's a sad situation.

Since it's much too hot to go outside, please let me tell those of you who are not already in-the-know about a sweet little thing called Pinterest.

**WARNING** If you have a small child that depends solely on you for their food, care, and general well-being, you might want to think twice before proceeding any further. This site can suck you deep into the vortex of the world wide web. Be sure you can exercise extreme self-discipline.

I know that many of you are already pinning away on Pinterest, but for those who are not, this is a website that basically acts as a bulletin board. You can pin anything from the Internet on to your virtual bulletin board and come back to reference or enjoy it's beauty at your leisure.

As if that wasn't wonderful enough, you can also see what your friends are pinning on their virtual bulletin boards. This is my favorite part! It's like window shopping with your friends or sitting over a cup of coffee and talking about the new dress that you want from your favorite store...via the Internet.

Anyway, I thought tonight I would share some of my pins from my boards. If you're already on Pinterest, you can check out the rest of my boards or follow me! (YAY! Window shopping together!) If you are not on Pinterest but would like to be, send me your email and I'll hook you up! (You have to be invited to join because the site is still so new)

::Holidays::

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I'm dying to have a hot chocolate bar at a Christmas Party!

::Fitzgerald Farm House::

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This board is all for Mama and Daddy's house. Mama, I thought you would like these kitchen cabinets.

::I Heart This::

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I don't think I have to say anything about this one. (except that I'm going to try to recreate it with David and Jack!)

::Party Time::

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Who wouldn't love to go to a party with those little Vacation Bible School cookies?

::Sewing Inspiration::

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A little shoesies sewing pattern...

::Yummy::

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Pretzel + Rolo + Pecan = Easy Peasy Turtle!

(Say it with me, people: Peeeee-Can)

::My Style::

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Look at this cute little fall outfit I found...too bad I don't think the temperature is ever going to drop below 90 ever again. It was nice knowing you, cardigans.

::Outdoor Inspiration::

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I call this "backyard heaven."

::Crafts::

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There is a lot of DIY going on over at Pinterest. Yet another reason to embrace it.

::Home Inspiration::

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Lovely.

::Chickens::

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I even have a whole board full of chicken stuff! This coop is cu-ute!

So anyway, happy Friday night. Go check out Pinterest (it rhymes with interest, but David calls it Pine-Rest...like a retirement home.)

Tomorrow, I'm going to fry one of Flannery's eggs on the sidewalk. 

mel

All You Single Ladies

Jon Jon just got a new truck...a bright, shiny, red, truck.

I feel it's my duty to inform the single women of the world that, in addition to being a builder of chicken coops and mudroom lockers, expert fisherman, and an excellent cook,...

...that John's got himself a sweet ride.

Also, keep in mind what you'd gain in terms of a sister-in-law.

We could be best-ies.

mel

PS: This ad is not endorsed by Jon Jon.

PSS: Please don't tell him about it.

PSSS: Email me if you want to marry him...I'll be handling the initial screening process.

PSSSS: After he washed his new truck, he washed my station wagon...he's quality ladies.

Easy Peasy Hot and Cheesy Spinach Dip

This weekend I went to a baby shower with some of my sweet sorority sisters. It was so much fun to catch up and celebrate the coming arrival of a sweet baby.

The shower was adorable and the food was wonderful, particularly a hot spinach and artichoke dip. It reminded me of this recipe and made me wonder why I don't make this 3 times a week.

It's so good and so easy.

It's even better with artichokes, but David no likey the artichokes.

Here's what you'll need:

10 oz box of frozen chopped spinach- thawed
1/2 cup of whipped cream cheese
3/4 cup of sour cream
1 cup of grated Cheddar cheese, plus more for sprinkling on top
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt (regular salt is fine, too)
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
(Optional, and not included here, is a 12 oz jar of artichokes- chopped)

First, combine your cream cheese, sour cream, and cheese. You can use regular cream cheese, if that's what you have handy, but the whipped variety mixes a little easier.

Before you add the spinach, you'll need to remove all of the excess water. There is a suprising amount hiding in there! This part is both gross and gratifying. Grab up some of your spinach, and squeeze the green water out of it.

Fluff the spinach back up and add it to the other ingredients. If you want to add artichokes, now's the time.

Add salt and pepper, then mix everything up.

Add the mixture into a teeny tiny baking dish. Look how little mine is! I think it's a 3 cup. It's the baby out of a set of nesting Pyrexes.

Nesting Pyrexes... nesting bowls... nesting chickens... We have a lot of nesting around here.

Sprinkle the top with cheese. I went a little overboard with the cheese here. Don't be like me.



Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until golden and heated through.

Serve with pita chips, bread, or tortilla chips while still warm.

You will not regret it.

Serve it at parties, or if your like me, don't wait for a party and eat it for lunch.
Call me crazy, but I'd like to stuff a chicken with it.

Not Eudora or Flannery, of course.

I'm glad they don't read the blog.
mel, lover of all things dip related


Sharing with friends at Tip Junkie

Sometimes You Need a Little Cake...

The other day, in an effort to further postpone yard work, we sat on the couch and watched a mini-marathon of Cake Boss. After about the third episode, David abruptly jumped up, grabbed his keys, and said he'd be right back.

When he returned, it was clear to me that the visual onslaught of sugary fondant had driven him into a state of cake desperation. For from a little grocery sack, David pulled a box of cake mix and a can of icing. Then, he announced that he was going to make himself some cupcakes.



After three long hours of Dave slaving away all alone in the kitchen, we had cupcakes: Red Velvet a la Dark

Take that, Cake Boss.
mel

Senorita Gafas

I can't see to drive at night.

Like a 90 year old woman.

David wouldn't let me have my keys past sunset.

It was becoming problematic.

I had never been to the optometrist until last week. I have pretty good vision (in broad daylight). When he said that he was going to dilate my eyes, I panicked and asked if he was going to stick needles in my eyes.

Doctors make me nervous. I'm paranoid that there's a needle around every corner.

Anyway, David held my hand, I garnered my courage, and the doctor dilated my eyes (which is SO WEIRD and doesn't involve any needles, in case you're wondering). Through a series of "Which is better? 1 or 2? 3 or 4?" evaluations, the good doctor determined that I needed the teeniest, tiniest prescription for driving.

So now I have driving glasses.

I call them my nighthawks.

I think they increase my street cred.

mel

Fitzgerald Farm House Update

Last week, I headed down to Fitzgerald to help my Mama make some decisions about stuff for the farm house. They are making some serious progress on the outside and it's time to start making decisions about the interior- tile, flooring, light fixtures, faucets, cabinets, etc. Anyone who's ever built a house knows that there are one million decisions to make about every little thing and those decisions have to be made sometimes quickly because of contractors' schedules. Anyway, Mama is trying to get a jump start on things so that she'll be ready when they call her up from the bull pen.

Anyway, I thought you might like to take a look-see at the progress that's been made to the outside of the house thus far. Right now, builders are putting up the siding all around the house.

The 'rents decided to go with a board and batten exterior- boards running vertically, rather than the traditional horizontal approach. Their thought was that it would make the very long and wide front of the house seem a little taller. I think they made a good choice. The vertical lines definitely give the house a little more height.

Now, check out all of the amazing stone work around the base of the house, on the stairs, and finally on the gigantic fireplace!

Here's the back of the house. Daddy decided to add a big porch all the way across the back because we all love to spend time outside together. Now there's plenty of room for a table and chairs and a big fire pit. I can't wait for our first fiesta out there!

There's going to be wrought iron porch railings between those stone columns.

On the side of the porch, you'll see the retaining wall moving out from the side of the porch that is necessary to retain something...I don't know what. I think Mama is going to make it into a flower bed. Then it will retain flowers.

 

Now that the outside of the house is near completion, it's time to choose an exterior paint color. Mama really wants a little yellow farm house, so these are the yellows we are choosing from:

Believe it or not (and despite what Daddy and David think), those are all different shades of yellow.We're leaning toward the bottom left color, which is Benjamin Moore Fresh Butter. Doesn't that sound farm-y? The darker colors are shutter options and all of the trim is going to be white. I like the bottom brown-ish gray for shutters, but the jury's still out.

Now inside, about the only thing that is done is the fireplace...but baby is it ever a fireplace. It are big.

Here's the bottom hearth area. Ignore the saw. Please. Or pretend it's a yule log.

It goes way up to the tip top of the cathedral ceiling. I couldn't even get the whole thing in the picture.

And look at these giant screws...this is where the giant mantle will go.



Doesn't it look great? Hopefully it won't be too long before we're all sitting in the house with a big fire blazing.

mel

A Peck of Peppers

Check out all of these Green Bell Peppers and Jalapenos that came out of our garden yesterday. And there are still p-lenty still growing on the plants. The peppers are about the only thing left in the garden at this point of the summer. In just a few weeks it will be time to start thinking about a fall crop. I'm especially excited about planting some pumpkins this year!

With all of these peppers ready, now is a perfect time to make Pepper Jelly.

I'll also use a few of the jalapenos to make Pioneer Woman's Salsa, which is oh-so-good.

Do you have any good pepper recipes? I'm going to need some new ways to use these!

mel

Sock Monkey Remix

When I was a little bitty, I had a sock monkey that I loved dearly. His name was Monk Monk. (I was obviously not a very creative child.) I carried him everywhere by his tail and sucked on his feet while I slept at night. He was with me through thick and thin. I broke my leg when I was 2 years old and the doctor put a cast on Monk Monk's tail to match mine. He retired tattered and torn and deeply loved...very much like the Velveteen Rabbit...just not quite as classy.

Many of you have probably noticed that sock monkeys are making a big come back (as are cropped sweatshirts, but we'll save that conversation for another day.)

Check out what a simple Pinterest search for Sock Monkey came up with:

Sock Monkey hats...baby not included

Sock Monkey-themed birthday parties

Yummy Sock Monkey cookies

A Sock Monkey table cloth.

All of this Sock Monkey hoopla going around the webernet coupled with my own 1985 love affair with Monk Monk, inspired me to make a Sock Monkey for one of my friend's babies.

I give you...

Sock Monkey

Remix

He seems to have a little attitude.

Dave thinks he's border-line creepy. I think that's just because he saw him before he had a face. I'll admit he was a little creepy at that stage of the project.

I think he's kinda cute.

I used this tutorial for Sock Monkey making if you're interested.

What do you think? Do you have a heartfelt sock monkey story OR do you think toys made out of socks are weird?

Tackling the tough issues,

mel

Your Chicken Questions Answered

Since getting the chickens, we've been getting scores of questions about the "in's and out's" of chicken rearing. They've been great questions...some of which we might should have considered before diving head first into the world of backyard poultry. Such is life.

Now that we've had the girls for about 3 months, I figure we are basically experts.
So, here are my professional poultry expert answers. You're welcome.

How do you know anything about raising chickens? Can you pass along any resources?

My dad knows all about chickens. He use to raise many many many chickens when he was a wee lad. So when I mentioned being interested in having a couple of hens, we started talking chicken. David's family also had a flock when he was a child, so we came to the table with a little bit of background knowledge. However, there are lots of great resources for beginners with absolutely no poultry knowledge.

Here are a few of my favorite chicken books:

If you were going to get just one, I would recommend Raising Chickens. It is an encyclopedia of all things chick. If you are getting chickens, get this book. A friend gave us Chick Days and it's a fabulous introduction to raising chickens and all that's involved. It has lots of pictures and makes the whole endeavor seem very do-able. Keeping Chickens is a lovely book, but not quite as informative. I love it for my coffee table, though. Ashley English can do no wrong.

How are you so lucky? Why are your dad and brother so awesome? Will they build one for me?

I know I'm super lucky. And no, they will probably not build one for you. Sorry. They love me lots. There are great plans available for building your own chicken coops on backyardchickens.com

What do the eggs look like?

They are brown beauties. One hen lays a bit darker egg than the other...all hens have a distinctive shade of egg even though the breed lays a specific color. The size varies from day to day, but typically they lay eggs that are comparable to "large" size grocery store eggs. Every once in a while we'll get a "jumbo." I refer to these as "golden luckies" and save them for omelets.

Why those weird names?

We named our chickens after southern writers Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty...we thought they seemed like little ol' southern ladies with an attitude, so these names are fitting. But truth be told, I can't remember which one we named which. I can tell the difference between the chickens, but I can't remember which one has which name. I'm thinking about changing their names now. This is why we don't have kids. We could very well be having this conversation about a baby.

How many eggs do they lay?

The girls lay about one egg per day, so we get at least a dozen eggs every week. The number of eggs a chickens lays depends on their breed, so be sure to research that if you're planning on starting your own flock of layers.

Are the chickens loud and smelly?

No, not really. If you keep the coop clean by changing the pine shavings often, there is no foul (pun) smell. It does however smell faintly farm-ish. Does that make sense? (another pun) Think about your dog: If my dog is relatively clean, he does not stink...but he does smell like a dog.

The chickens don't stink, but they do frequently give us the "stink eye." The coop is right under our living room window, and sometimes I stick my head out and look down at them like this:

They cut their little beady bird eyes up at me. This move has been coined "the stink eye." They are also not really as noisy as I expected them to be. During the morning, when they're laying their eggs, they making a lot of happy clucking and bocking noises, but that's about it. Roosters crow, not hens.

Are you allowed to do this in the city?

Yes, in Macon, Georgia residents are allowed to have chickens inside the city limits. Every city's laws are different. Most cities allow a small number of hens, but no roosters because of the noise issue.

Where can you buy a coop and chickens?

Because my Daddy gave us our chickens, they came from a local Fitzgerald chicken farmer. You can check the livestock section of your local Craigslist for chicken listings. We get most of our chicken supplies from our neighborhood hardware store. My favorite chicken supply website, however, is My Pet Chicken. You can buy chicken coops, supplies, and even chickens! Mail order chicks...who'd of thunk it?

What do your neighbors think?

Our neighbors really seem to enjoy the chickens as much as we do. All of the neighborhood kids come to hang out in our yard for hours, crowing and clucking at the chickens. We also bribe our neighbors by giving them fresh eggs to make up for the times when they can hear the ladies cackling. We'll poll them again in a few months and see if the novelty has warn off. Let's hope not. We have great neighbors, so I would strongly urge you to test the idea of chickens on your neighbors before you just bust some birds up on them.

Have ya'll lost your minds? Do you think you're a farmer or something?

Maybe. What's it to ya?

Just kidding. Chickens are really fun pets. You can hold them and watch them peck around for snacks and let them give you the stink eye...it's great. We love having fresh eggs. Every time we go out to collect them, it's like finding a prize! They really are much better than store bought. I didn't believe that they would be, but they are.

We enjoy gardening and raising chickens because it's very gratifying work. It doesn't make a big difference, but we also like the teeny tiny contribution we're making toward our good health and on the food production industry. It's good to be connected to your food... to tend a garden and see it produce vegetables or to feed and care for a hen and be rewarded with a fresh egg. It's a much richer experience than just showing up at the grocery store and picking something off a shelf that came out of a truck from who knows where. It makes me appreciate my food more and all the processes and work that it takes to get supper on the table.

My pet makes me breakfast.
mel

Emily's Baby Shower

Do you remember my friend Emily who's having a little bitty tiny baby? Well, I got to spend a good portion of my summer with Emily and watch Betsy grow right before my eyes. Emily and I also got to put all of her bedding in the nursery! Yay! And except for a few finishing touches, it's all done and looks AMA-ZING! I can't wait for you to see it.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from the adorable shower that some friends of camp hosted for Conrad and Emily back in May.

{Thanks, Sarah, for letting me use these pictures!}

First and foremost, look at this cute little mama.


The shower was at Camp Desoto and we dined al fresco, enjoying the cool mountain air.

Check out this sweet ride! It was used to corral all of the gifts for baby Betsy.



Paper bunting and twinkle light hung from all of the trees, making a cozy area for everyone to visit with the new parents.


The meal was de-li-cious thanks to the grilling team. We had dressed up hamburgers with fun and extravagant toppings and sides. Yum.


Here's the spread...such a pretty table. (Hi Carter) We had the most amazing homemade ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert.


 It was a perfect meal and a pleasant laid-back atmosphere. Camp has a calming effect on people. Trust me. Or maybe it's the twinkle lights and bunting that make me want to take a nap in the grass. Either Way. Who knows?



I do know that it was a lovely baby shower, hosted by dear people, for sweet friends. We were glad to be there.



And I know that I can't wait to kiss little Betsy's face.
mel