Lucy is a small dog. We think she’s a chiweenie (that’s chihuahua and dachshund). When it’s cold outside, Lucy shivers and shakes. We bought her and Fritz matching fleece-lined puffer jackets, but Lucy always manages to wiggle out of hers. Something had to be done. I’ll just sew her a sweater, I thought. Piece of cake.
I know, she’s the cutest dog in the world, and no, you can’t have her.
Recently, I checked out Betz White’s Sewing Green from the library. It’s all about using what you have, left over fabric, thrifted stuff and so on to make something new. She goes into great detail on using felted wool. I had no idea what this was before her book. Basically, felted wool is wool that has been felted, duh. Ever shrunk a wool sweater in the washer and drier? You just felted your wool.
When you agitate the wool fibers in the washer and drier they sort of mesh together creating a stronger fabric (while losing the knitted quality). This means you can cut it without unraveling the fabric. Got it?
I recently moved to the cold weather, so I don’t have any old wool sweaters lying around. The Goodwill to the rescue. Found two cute sweaters, washed them, dried them, vacuumed piles of wool fibers out of both machines, had felted wool.
And now for the Lucy sweater. Cal Patch has a nice tutorial of how to sew a dog sweater on Craft Stylish. I used it, you can too.
Here are my three sweater pieces before sewing.
Sorry! No photos of the sewing part. I spent an entire hour trying to make my machine do a simple zig zag stitch. It’s easy to do, but the machine kept messing up. I said it, the machine messed up, not I. After wrangling the thick wool through the machine, I had myself a cute dog sweater.
I was amazed at the beauty I found when I sliced into this beet.
The heat is on. For the past few nights it’s been dropping down into the 30s. In my opinion, that is too cold. However, that huge drop in temperature tells me that it’s time to roast some vegetables. I like roasting because it caramelizes the veggies and concentrates their flavor.
Roasted Fall Vegetables with Parmesan-Cheddar Polenta
Here’s what I do:
Preheat oven to 420.
Pick out firm root vegetables, add some garlic cloves (you also can add onions and peppers), peel, cube, toss in olive oil, sprinkle salt, pepper, and sage. *Sage being the key secret ingredient. It smells so yummy! The veggies I used here are sweet potatoes, red potatoes, carrots, and beets.
Now, line a rimmed baking pan with parchment paper. Please don’t skip this step. If you use the parchment paper your veggies won’t stick. Really. No sticking! Plop your veggies onto the baking sheet and spread them around into one layer. Place in oven and set a timer for 20 minutes.
When the timer goes off, take your pan out of the oven and give your veggies a stir. Then, place them back in the oven and set your timer for 20 minutes. Then do it all over again. I usually do 20, 20, 15 for a total roast time of 55 minutes.
You’re all set.
Whip up some polenta and add a bunch of shredded parm and cheddar. Throw your veggies on top. Eat. Enjoy.
Dearest Halloween,
I love you. There, I said said. I look forward to you every single year, usually planning my costume months in advance. Candy. One of my favorite parts. Especially those mini Twix and Snickers. Oh, and I can’t forget the jar of candy corn that has been sitting in a nice little basket on my end table since last year. Remember last year? I know, it was so sad. I was too sick to dress up and go out. The horror. The tragedy. This year, I have the cutest little frilly black dress. I can be a vampire, a witch, a dark fairy, a goth girl, or some other frilly black dress thingy. I can’t wait.
Yours truly,
Ashley
Now, for all of you that came here for costume ideas, I thought I’d raid the vault for some of my favorite costumes throughout the years.
Elementary
Simple and Easy:
Animal (In my case, a bunny.)
circa 1988
Re-purpose:
Zombie Princess and 50s girl (My sister’s princess costume was actually her flower girl dress that she wore to my aunt’s wedding. The great poodle skirt was made by my seamstress extraordinaire grandmother and was for a school program.)
circa 1989
Now fast forward many years in which I dressed as a hobo, Kermit the Frog, Country Girl (plaid shirt, overalls, braids, hat), genie, hula dancer, witch, Gypsie, among other costumes.
The College Years
(I went a little crazy…)
Crazy All-Out:
Space Cadet
circa 2001
Now all the world can see me in hot pink fishnets. I think I totally rocked that pink wig.
Next is one of my all time faves.
Two friends and I decided we’d all dress up as different Madonnas. I bought the fabric and then waited until Halloween day to sew myself a dress. BY HAND. I did not have a sewing machine at the time. I sewed a freakin’ dress. BY HAND.
Sew Yourself Something:
Material Girl Madonna
circa 2003
Post Grad
Things calmed down a bit by this time. Let’s be something sweet…aw.
Find a cute dress at Ross that looks like it could be a costume:
Ladybug
circa 2006
Rock & Roll Superstar:
Slash and Axl Rose
circa 2007
That’s my guy and me. Dameian totally looks like Slash. Really, he always looks that.
Alright…that’s a wig…and a fake nose ring.
Can you guess what’s in this little package?
I love wrapping things up. It makes the little gift, or purchase in this case, so much more special.
Blue paper.
My favorite yellow polka dot paper wrapped around.
Fall apple ribbon. (Target dollar bin!) I’m in love.
Are you ready for the answer?
Here it is:
It’s a University of Florida pendant. You know. The Gators. Like, national champions and stuff. My alma matter. Well, you knew that, of course. This little pendant will be going to Jacksonville, Florida, where my sister will wear it on her prettty little neck to the Florida/Georgia game (which the Gators will win, duh). She likes to match her outfits to whatever event she’s going to.
I made myself one too! I hand-carved those little suckers (the gators, not the “F”).
Hey, guess what? I can make you a pendant too! Just go to my etsy, Sweet Averie, and message me. I can carve you any little critter, thingy, or whatchamacallit onto your very own pendant. :)
While I was messing around with clay, I made a few other little goodies for my shop, Sweet Averie:
Last but not least:
Yep. I totally pulled out my copy of Interview with the Vampire.
Get yourself to your kitchen, pronto. I mean it. This cake is so good. What is it?
Fresh Pear & Apple Cake with Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.
First, you take lots of pretty photos of your picturesque pears. Then, you peel and chop those babies up. Add apples if you don’t have enough pears. I used three pears and two apples. Mix a bunch of sugar with the chopped up fruit and let is sit and marry for an hour. Go and do something for an hour. I vacuumed.
Next, your gonna measure and mix your dry ingredients. Then crack four eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Or the yolks from the whites, which ever you prefer. You can decide what you want to do with those yolks…just don’t throw them away. That would be wasteful.
Mix up your wet with your dry. Bake. Cool. Whip up some frosting. I taste-tested my recipe until it was perfect. Not too cream cheesy, just right. Now frost your cake and top with chopped nuts. I used walnuts. They’re good for you.
Look! It’s a piece of cake on my freshly painted chair. Remember, it was blue just a few short days ago?
That’s it. If you like, you can carry your piece of cake around and take pictures of it, or you can go ahead and eat it straight away.
Fresh Pear & Apple Cake with Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
4 cups peeled and chopped pears and apples
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 egg whites
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
1. Mix pears, apples, and sugars and let sit for one hour.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 13×9 pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
3. Mix egg whites, oil, and vanilla. Add to fruit mixture.
4. Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Stir in the fruit mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
6. Frost and top with chopped nuts.
Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
1. Soften butter and cream cheese.
2. Whip all ingredients until soft and creamy.
