Puppy Pillow

I've been busy working on several different projects - including trying to figure out my little camera. The following pictures are not great, but hey, it's a work in progress (well, I'm hoping there will be progress).

A few weeks ago I made a pillow for Giuseppe, our dog. He loves laying on blankets, throw pillows, etc. I wanted him to have his own because I didn't like sharing, haha.


This puppy pillow cost me about $4. I bought the center pieces at Joann's as discontinued samples. They're a tough, stain resistant/water resistant/who-knows-what-else material, which is nice because, well, our dog lays on it. The red fabric is recycled, although I can't remember where it came from. The stuffing is from an old pillow that had been replaced. (And why I still had it, I don't know.)


I had my first try making mitered corners and boxed edges with this pillow. It wasn't too hard. I looked online to figure out the mitering, and there were several different methods people seemed to be using. I did basically a combination of this and this. I started by sewing red strips of fabric to the center panel, overlapping at the corners, and folding one strip at an an angle to get a crease where the mitered edge would be. Then I just sewed along that line. I didn't topstitch like the sham example, and I didn't mess with all the marking and line drawing on the BHG example. It worked pretty well. The only problem was one strip that I had to redo because I didn't line it up to overlap with one of the other sides.


Giuseppe's verdict? He likes it. Most of the time.

When I started writing this, he was laying next to the pillow. Now he's actually on it. Works for me.

Salsa Makes it Better

It's taken me 5 years (well, to be fair, about 3 yr) to make tacos that my husband actually liked. The problem has been with the ground beef mixture. I started out making them the exact same way my mom does, then revised that, then re-revised that, then made him tacos with plain ground beef (gross), then something else, on and on, until I made this, and he liked it. This post has been just a saved recipe for... I don't know, months. I keep looking it up to make sure I'm making my own tacos the right way, haha. Now I'm finally finishing it.

Brown a package of ground beef (how much? I don't know, a pound? We bought a bunch of beef that my uncle raised, so we have all these little packages of ground beef...)
Add chopped onion (about 1/3-1/2 of a white onion)
Slice 1 clove garlic, add to beef
Chop some oregano (2 small stems?), throw it in
Add salt & pepper
Add red salsa and a little bit of water; cook until water is evaporated

Just add everything to taste. Sometimes I add other stuff; tonight I used a little cumin and 2 cloves of garlic. I'm sure it would be great with homemade salsa, but I just use medium Pace chunky salsa.

Salsa is also the secret to my guacamole. My husband makes better guacamole, but he takes forever and sometimes he just doesn't feel like making it. I just smush up an avocado, add some lime juice (1/2 a lime? if we have fresh), a little garlic salt, green salsa (not too much), and Cholula. Mix it all together, add salsa if needed. Or anything else if needed.

Apparently, tacos also taste better when I actually put them together for him... suspicious, yes?

PS - Costco sells raw tortillas that you cook at home - LOVE.them.

Adding Details

This weekend was nice and productive! I didn't have plans over the weekend (for the first time in a while), which gave me time to just work on things around home. The bookcase is completely built and in place, it has books on it, things are getting put into their "real" places around the apartment, and I even got to buy some new fabric. We've had our main furniture set up (ie, couch and TV) but the dining table is in the middle of our main space, sort of between the living room space/dining room space, and not much decorating has gone on around here. I'm almost done putting everything into the bookcase; the last step is some fabric boxes to store some loose odds and ends. I made one box tonight, and I have everything ready to get the other three done. This is the fabric:

Joann

It was kind of a last-minute decision, but I really like it. I tend to spend WAY too long shopping for everything, and this was no exception. I was in a hurry to meet my parents at Starbucks, though, and I had to just pick something. Worked out well!

Tonight was the first time I'd used my sewing machine in about a year and half - it felt good! I've been using my mom's machine, but even then it's been a few months since I've sewn anything. More projects are on my mind to work on soon - we'll see when they happen... Hopefully the boxes will be finished tomorrow. They're adding some nice color to our beige-y living room.

Settling In

I have several WIP's going on right now, and I keep thinking about (and planning) more. We're still settling in to our apartment and trying to find places to put everything is still a challenge! Right now, my biggest project is a bookcase. We sold ours before we put everything into storage two years ago, and when we found the apartment a few months ago, I started looking for replacements. Bookcases are expensive!

Then one day, I came across Knock-Off Wood. It is one of my new favorite sites! Ana builds furniture, provides free plans, lives in Alaska (my birthplace!) and is generally just awesome. I'm working on this. When it's finished (someday) I'll get some photo evidence.

In other news, we watched Iron Man on Friday night and went to see Iron Man 2 on Saturday. Liked them both!

Long Time No See!

I keep thinking about things I want to record here, but I haven't posted anything since September! We are now in our own apartment, with a constant Internet connection. It's been great to be able to catch up on blogs and shop and waste time in all the other silly ways I missed.

Speaking of things I do on the Internet - Do you ever watch a commercial and really like the song? I love the songs in the Kindle commercials, and I looked them up to see who sings them. The first one that came out around Christmas didn't have anything to download, but tonight I looked it up again (there's a newer commercial with another good song) and guess what? The song is on Amazon for FREE! Check it out!

Lovely Package - From Me

Short post - my Internet is working at home today!

This is the package I sent off for the Lovely Package exchange:



Haven't received mine in the mail yet, but I'll post when I do (and can).

August Already?

It's hard to believe that August is already here. It's been quite a busy summer. My husband just got back about a week and half ago - he's just about done with the Navy and is home for good!

He was totally sweet and surprised me when he flew in. My parents knew and tricked me into going to the airport to supposedly pick up some packages my dad needed for work. When we walked into the airport - there he was! I think I just stared at him at first, because it took a minute to sink in. The thought had crossed my mind during the week that he could surprise me, but I didn't really think he would. It didn't even occur to me that night, because I didn't think he'd be flying in to that airport.

It's wonderful to have him back.

The Internet, on the other hand... It's slightly difficult to get to right now. We're staying at his parents' vacation house, which does not have Internet access. We're using a wireless network which is kind of sketchy. I had high hopes to get back into some sewing, crafting, blogging, etc. but it looks like it will be slow going. I'm using most of my time trying to catch up on some of the blogs I like!