Peanut Butter Blues

All of this peanut butter business has me nostalgic for Peanut Butter & Company. Good times. Have you ever been? I'll tell you my experience but more on that later. First, my peanut butter saga...

On Sunday, January 4, I purchased Keebler Toasty Peanut Butter crackers. They seemed like a good snack-on-the-go for the kids. I'd never bought these before. On Monday, January 5th, I was puking my guts out (well, dry heaving if you must know.) It was awful. But who cares about me. My kiddos both had the runs. It made me so mad! And now I just heard a news snippet that the company might have known about the contamination. Can you say class action lawsuit please? ARGH!

Ok, so on to PB&Co. If you've never been, you must put it on your Bucket List. :) I brought home the menu because the combinations for the sandwiches are so clever. I might have a party and want to use some of those combinations. The actual restaurant is crazy small but packed full of people. The line was out the door. We had to wait for a table. My husband ordered The Peanut Butter Cup, which was PB and Nutella. It was tasty. I ordered the Fluffernutter, which is peanut butter with gobs of marshmallow fluff. It was so good, I bought a jar of Fluff for home.



So, though I currently have an aversion to peanut butter, I will remind myself of better times.

Embroidery WIPs

When I was a little girl, my mom bought me a cross-stitch kit. I remember that I kept having to ask for her help to undo some of the knots I created when stringing the embroidery floss through the fabric. She was patient and would show me how to be more careful and go more slowly so as to avoid the knotting. Now here I am an adult woman and I still have the same problem! But that aside, I have rediscovered my love of embroidery! My knowledge of stitches isn't much, but what I know, I stick to. I am comfortable with split stitch and satin stitch and can even make a somewhat perfect French knot! So, I get by.

You probably recognize the Wee Wonderfuls Hillary Lang pattern. The flower pattern is a free download from the Needlecrafter site.

For you other knitters on a budget, purchasing embroidery floss is almost as fun and fulfilling as buying yarn. And much cheaper too! The color selection is vast so I'm nowhere near bored of my collection yet. But as newbie embroiderer, here are my issues and questions:

1. The back of my patterns aren't very pretty. Are yours? Unlike knitting, the backside isn't nearly so interesting or attractive. Maybe it shouldn't be, I don't know.

2. Why do most craft stores only sell cross-stitch stuff? Maybe I just don't know where to look but finding a flower pattern to embroider took me a long time. Of course, all of Hillary's stuff is great so I am lucky there.

3. How do you store your thread? I've just been wrapping mine around those white plastic holders. Sometimes I have to scoop around my box to find a color. I figure there is probably a better system.

Please do send me links or ideas that you've come across that you think I can benefit from. I really appreciate it!

Time for Something Sweet

I'm being good. I've been working out and eating better. And although that is all well and good, I'm dying for something sweet right now. How can a blog writer with the blog name Silly Happy Sweet be avoiding sweets???? MiniMe went to a birthday party this weekend and got her toes painted and they served all the little girls gummy bears. Well since then I've been wanting a bear or two or three or four....

I took this picture quite some time ago. It is now the image I see when I close my eyes. :)

Why hello there!

Another peek at what sewing has been happening at Chez Mader the past two months. Pop into my Etsy shop to see the collection.

Another Wonderful Book

Lucky me for receiving all the books on my Christmas list this year. Yay! I mentioned one of my other books on my December 27 post. My other gift was Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner. I spent much of Christmas morning curled up on a chair reading this book in my pjs while the kids played. Good times.

This book is perfect for, well, any sewer out there! The patterns are really beautifully laid out and are of things that you'd actually want to make and keep. I loved the detail she goes into in the beginning from tools that you must have to those that are less used but very helpful. I have always wanted a tool to help me turn tubed items inside out. You know what a pain that is? I didn't know there was a tool out there! I am keeping this book close by as a reference guide. It really is all enclusive and so informative. Aside from all the information, the pictures are wonderfully done. All of the fabric for the book was provided by PurlSoho. I've visited this incredible store and felt like a kid in the candy shop when I looked around at all the gorgeous fabric. It's no wonder the pictures are so beautiful when I read the fabric came from the store.

I am a faithful reader of Anna Maria's blog. I was one of the readers who read about the contest being held by the publisher for the release of the book. They gave you a month or so to enter a contest to win a fabulous sewing machine, fabric, and a signed copy of the book. I entered daily and faithfully. I was so sure I'd win. Sadly I didn't win but I ended up receiving the book for Christmas so all wasn't lost.

If you are contemplating purchasing this one, run my friends! Don't think about it anymore. It's well worth it!

Rosette Love

I 've been brainstorming for new products for my Etsy shop. Do you like this cutie?