Luna's new sweater

Have I officially introduced our little lady?  No??  

Allow me to present our crazy, Boston Terrier,

Luna!

Isn't she precious!

She is 6 months old, weighs 7 lbs, and has oodles of personality

 (ie, she's nuts, like certifiable, don't let the doe eyes fool you).

She joined our family 4 months ago and she is a perfect fit. 

We have never been dog people,

but she stole our hearts and makes us do crazy things like buy/make her clothes...

Being a little bitty thing, she gets really cold, she has a coat and jammies, but needed a sweater.

So to test out my novice sewing skills, I decided to make her one.

Don't laugh.

Ok, you can laugh a bit. I'll wait.........

Ok, on to the tutorial.

I bought this child's sweater for $3 during one of my Goodwill trips. 

It's hard to make out in this pic, but it has red metallic thread in it, very festive.

  

I had already pre-measured Luna, so I knew the length and width I needed to fit her. 

I turned the sweater inside out, transferred the measurements on to the sweater, and got prepared to sew a new seam from the top of the turtle neck straight to the bottom of the sweater.  

Luna checked my measurements.  Isn't she thoughtful?

Once I wrestled the sweater away from her, I was able to hit the sewing machine.   You can see the sparkles and the new back seam I created.   Cut away the excess fabric



Then I tried it on her, for fun.

Tee hee.

Yes, I need to do more measuring.

I planned for her legs to come out of the one remaining arm sleeve opening.  So I removed the sleeve at the seam.  I also cut the bottom of the sweater to length.  Set both of these pieces aside,

as you will need the hem of each to finish the sweater.



     

Luna was happily removing items from the bedroom trash can, dragging them under my bed and ripping them to shreds while I was completing the above.

I extracted both her and the trash for an other trial fitting and measurement.

Much better, just a few tweaks. 

Like shortening the length a bit more and adding the hems.

... and getting a new tape measurer.

I took about 3 inches off the end of the sweater to shorten it a bit

and to compensate for the hem. 

I used the previously cut bottom hem, cut it to fit and reattached to the

new bottom hem of the sweater.

I also cut the hem from one of the arms to attached to the arm hem, same as above.

****When attaching the hem YOU MUST turn the sweater right side out, then pin on the hem, right side to right side and sew.  ****

Believe me, it sucks having to undo an incorrect hem....twice. 

I told you I was a new to this sewing thing.

Notice the hem is pinned WRONG.  Big old fail for me.

Here is the sweater after I pulled out the incorrect hem, repinned and resewed the correct way.

Here is Luna modeling her new sweater!

and Jaime's legs.

I realized I forgot to add an opening for her harness so I opened up about 1 inch of  the back seam

and just sewed the edges open.

Again, newbie here.

She loves being all toasty warm in her sweater and I think

she looks adorable and stylish. :)

Jaime says this looks like her Senior Portrait. 

Do you have a faithful friend that needs a bit of warm style? 

If I can do this, you can too.

Try it!

You'll like it!



Happy 7 Year Anniversary to Us!

Jaime and I are celebrating 7 years married today.  

7 years, wow!!!

Seems like a blink of an eye.  Look how young we look!

2 cats, 1 handsome little man and a crazy puppy later, here we are.   

Happy Anniversay, Love.

Panko Crusted Mashed Potato Pancakes

 

I made these little gems from our Thanksgiving mashed potato leftovers and they were delicious.  We had them with breakfast, but you can eat them with any meal. 

The are crispy on the outside....

 

And creamy on the inside...

100% yummy and a snap to make!

The trick to these little guys is Panko bread crumbs.  If you haven't tried them, YOU MUST.  They are amazing!  Super crunchy and flakey.  I stopped using the regular bread crumbs.

 

Take your left over mash and make it into patties. I had left over baked mashed potato casserole with all sorts of yumminess inside and cheese on top.   The mashed potatos need to be cold.

 Pour the Panko into a bowl and dredge the patties on one side, flip and repeat. 

I didn't use an egg wash as the panko stuck easily to the patties.

All coated and ready for the pan.

I just dropped a pat of butter in a pan.  I could have used spray or oil, but let's face it, butter makes it better.

 (yes, I said that in a Paula Deen voice)

A few minutes on the first side, until it's nice and golden brown, flip and repeat.

Mmmmmmmm!

Plate and add a bit of cheese on top!  Perfecto!

Jaime loved them and ate 3.  :) 

Think of the possibilities to serve with butter (tee hee), bacon, sour cream, gravy....

Hope you enjoy these as much as we did. 

Jingle Door Bells, Two Ways

I love the sound of jingle bells.  It's a sure sign that Christmas is on the way.  I mean, there were bells on Bobtail, and bells when angels get their wings.   Definitely Christmas.   

I have a set of bells for my front door, but they have seen much better days.  Kinda sad, not happy jingles.   Anyway, I wanted a new set of bells that was updated and more my style.  I wanted them to be sturdy with a 4 and a half year old and puppy running around.  However, being a working mom, I wanted something quick and easy.   I figured I try this craft using two methods; sewing and hot glue.  This is what I came up with:

I really love how they came out and they make me super happy!

Here are the details for the sewed version. 

The supplies; fabric, ribbon, a key chain loop, and bells.

From the fabric, cut 2 rectangles 18 inches long and 4 inches wide.  Flip over the pieces so that the pattern is facing eachother (right sides in).
        

Sew the long sides of the rectangle, turn the sleeve right side out with your fingers, and iron flat.

 

Take each end and fold it once and iron flat then fold again and iron.  It should look like this when done.

Loop your bells through the key chain.  I wanted a total of 4 for the finished project, but wasn't able to sew with all, so I started with 3.   Next, loop the bottom of the fabric through the key chain and sew.  

 

For the top of fabric, just sew along bottom of the fold to create a pocket.  Cut your ribbon to length and thread through the pocket.   Then embellesh as you like.  I added these cute fabric flowers I made a few months ago.  I also added the fourth bell for a fuller look.  

 Lastly, add it to your door.  Isn't it pretty!!! 

  

 

For the hot glue version, I used wide ribbon instead of fabric and hot glued where I sewed above.  Easy Peasy.  The possibilities are endless.  All sorts of ribbon and embellishments, make it shorter, longer, multileveled, whateve's.