Week of 7-23-12 through 7-29-12 Projects and cooking

Well this week was filled with fun projects and new dinners.  I am currently working on my New Year's resolution that I would learn how to make five different types of apparel for myself.  One of the items that I chose to make was this adorable skirt that involves attaching a zipper to the back of the skirt. I have never used my zipper foot before, and to be honest I was really intimidated, therefore that is why I chose a project that would make me learn how to use the zipper foot.  Anyhow, I wanted to make sure that I knew how to use my zipper foot before I got to my skirt; using my seam ripper over and over again did not sound like a good idea on the type of fabric I chose for my skirt. :)  SO I created the following pouches and they were so easy to make!  I had so much fun making them and I don't know why I waited so long to use my zipper foot! Now I can't stop thinking of the new things I am going to make with a zipper! HA

 This is the toy pouch that I made for Hunty. He and I had previously made a small blanket with the bird cages on it so now he has a set. I had the middle material left over from the door curtains that I had made at the Emigration House.  They really look cute together!

This pouch I had made for myself. I really love this fabric!!  The two patterns were only two of the five patterns that I had used to make Nanny's birthday blanket this past November.

This next project stemed from the pouch project.  On Thursday this week Hunty and Evy went to Aunt Debbie's for the day.  She and cousin Craig took them to the aquarium and they saw the river otters, Hunter pet a sing ray, learned about electric eels, and they even went to the Dollar Store.  There he had picked out a play police set and sweet Aunt Debbie bought it for him. It included a play hand held orange gun, a pair of hand cuffs, a set of keys, and a walkie talkie.  Hunter wanted me to make a police pouch for him so he could put all of his stuff in there.  Off we went to JoAnn's.  I am a huge fan of Fabric.com but since we had to make this over the weekend we headed over to JoAnn's.  I LOVE the JoAnn's by our new house!  I am totally going to be going there more often. It is huge and has such a wonderful selection of fabric and craft items.  Even Hunty had fun at JoAnn's. Anyhow, we could not find any police themed fabric so naturally he settled for the next best thing- Robots!  HA
I had a 20% off coupon too so for under $5.00 (yep that is the least amount  I have EVER spent at a fabric establishment and $4.53 to be exact) I made the following toy sling.  I may have to make a more square shaped one like it for myself. :)

Top of the strap

Top of the strap and view of the under side

Super cute fabric. I only needed 1/4 of a yard

See my zipper foot! 

Viola!  Zipper attached!

An inside view...

An outstide view with the zipper and the strap intact

View of making the permenant pouches

Happy receipent!!!

Happy receipent!!!

This next sewing project I had started when I was pregnant and finally finished it. It is a homemade braded rug.  I had fun making this but I don't think I will make another just because of how time consuming it was.

In the begining of the year I found this wonderful website that has hundreds of healthy receipes and also cost efficent.  The website is called Skinny Taste and the author, Gina, has really brought some great variety into my house.  Here are some photos of some of the fantastic meals we had!  Enjoy!