Beach Towel Throw Pillows

I’ve been wanting to make some new throw pillows for my couch for awhile, but couldn’t find fabric that struck me just right. Then I walked by a teal-and-white zebra striped beach towel on a clearance rack and realized its new purpose in life! These pillows were probably one of the easiest projects I’ve ever done, but very fun. The terrycloth was easy to sew on and since each pillow required just two straight seams, it was simple to use a fat version of French seams so that the covers won’t fray. Love them!

I used 16″x16″ pillow forms and cut pieces of the towel that were about 19″ long by the original width of the beach towel. This allowed me to use the sewn finish on the edges of the towel for the opening on the back of the pillows, and was a good fit.

The backs of the pillows are completely covered, but I made sure to leave enough of an opening to take the pillow forms out so that I can wash the covers if needed.

Materials: 1 beach towel, 2 pillow forms, thread
Project Status: Smashing success
Changes for the Future: Zero

GPS Case

I think I forgot I was trying to start a blog. ANYWAY…

I made this GPS case to house my beloved Garmin. It’s cotton on the outside, cotton on the inside (old sheet for lining), and nothing in the middle. When I make another for a family member, I might use batting or fleece between the layers of cotton for a little padding. Really though, it works fine without. I thought I might need to make some tweaks to the original one-piece pattern that I drew in sharpie on an old Taco Bell ad, but it fits perfectly and a couple inches of Velcro hold it shut securely.

Project Status: Success
Changes for the Future: Add a layer of padding (?); Switch the positions of the hook tape and loop tape – my machine sews flawlessly through loop tape and bumpily through hook tape. I put the wrong one on the visible front flap.

Chai Tea

This is so basic I’m not even sure it counts as cooking, but it was just so good. I was making hot tea (just water with a teabag in it) and I forgot about it and let it steep too long. I decided to dress it up a little and added some cinnamon, splenda, and warm foamy skim milk. Perfect breakfast drink.

Mmm, swirly foam :)

Mmm… (Italian) French Toast!

Today I had some extra time, so I decided to use what I have around to make a good breakfast. I used Italian bread because that’s what I had, and after the French toast was done I fried some banana slices in butter and syrup for a delicious topping. (After I had my fill of French toast and froze the rest, I ate leftover bananas straight from the pan). Recipe after pics.

with bananas

no bananas

Ingredients
* 2 eggs
* 2/3 cup milk
* 3 shakes of cinnamon
* 1 pinch of salt
* 1 splash of vanilla extract
* 1/2 loaf day-old Italian bread

Topping Ingredients
* 1 banana
* margarine
* syrup

French Toast: Whisk together the first 5 ingredients in a shallow dish. Cut the Italian bread into slices diagonally, so that each slice will have maximum soaking surface area. Let each slice soak in the egg mixture for a minute – if the slices are not submerged, be sure to soak each side. While this is happening, heat up a skillet with a little oil or margarine in it, to medium heat. Also turn on your oven to low heat. Cook a couple slices at a time until they are well browned on both sides. Put finished French toast slices on a pan in the warm oven to stay toasty while you finish.

Banana Topping: After all of the toast is in the oven, melt a little margarine in the hot empty pan and gently slice your banana into the melting butter. (NOTE: Be careful with the banana slices falling into the pan. I splashed my arm with hot butter… ow.) Drizzle syrup on top and stir it around until the bananas are lightly brown and tasty. You might need to sample one. ;)

Fuzzy Bow Headband

I’ve been wearing a ton of headbands lately, but because I always break the plastic kind, I’m reduced to the stretchy black bands, which get a little boring. I’m a beginner when it comes to crochet, but I’m pretty happy with this little headband. It was a quick project – I just made a chain of stitches with a little extra yarn at each end for tying the headband tightly, then stitched a rectangle and tied it on for the actual “bow” part of the bow. If I make another like this, I might do the bow a little differently.

Materials Used: Navy blue 100% acrylic yarn

Nutella + Oatmeal

breakfast in the snow

Some quick oats, some water, and a spoonful of nutella. It’s pretty good!

Pumpkin Waffles

The picture in the header is a batch of pumpkin waffles made from scratch in my Hello Kitty wafflemaker. Yum. This website is a showcase of some of my creative endeavors, wherever they may lead. Hello.