Saturday, May 30, 2009

"April Showers Bring May Flowers" garland

Happy weekend Blogland Neighborhood! Well, we know you've all been on the edge of your seats wondering what on earth all that yo yo flower and fabric covered button making was all about.....huh?!?! what do you MEAN you don't know what we're talking about !!! It wasn't THAT long ago ..... wait ..... let the MBIAJ Archives Dept find it in their files .... hang on a second .....OK, they have it .... we first posted about it here then again here and here and it was also mentioned here and here and yet AGAIN here . Well, the MBIAJ Sewing and Design Dept feels they have now successfully let yet another project drag on (and on and on and on ) long enough and they have added all the finishing touches and are now ready to unveil the completed project ..........(drum roll please) ......








.......ta daaaaaa....(oops, blurry as usual .... note to self .... fire photography dept ....)




.....and a close up ....(you can click on any of the pictures to see them better)








....and this is where it will be living during the summer .... slung across the window of the Pink Sewing Room....(the glass beads are fun because they catch the afternoon sun shining through them ...... then Daisy, Sam and Shadow of course feel the need to try and catch the reflections on the floor and sewing table).

Anyhow, the MBIAJ Sewing and Design Dept tell me they used 1 Moda Charm Pack of Mary Engelbreit's Baskets of Flowers fabric plus a fat quarter of the tone on tone green print from the same fabric group, and some blue and green glass beads and blue and green buttons (they're supposed to be the rain ..... you know .... "April Showers")

Well, it's a beautiful day and the MBIAJ Gardening Dept has some flowers to get in the ground ..... don't know what the rush is .... those poor things have been sitting around in their pots patiently waiting for a few weeks now .... and they're looking a bit parched and brown ..... uh oh .....

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

"B" is for "Boop's Bumblebee Birthday Bag" ....and also for "Big Black coal Banks" !!!

Well here it is Tuesday night already .... where the heck did that 3 day holiday weekend go?!?! Hope you all had a good one ! The MBIAJ Sewing Dept FINALLY finished up that "Bee" project on Saturday around 1 PM (about 12 hours behind schedule as usual) ..... giving me barely enough time to slap myself together, jump in the car, and zoom the hour plus drive to meet my sister "Boop" and her girls for a belated late birthday lunch (if brunch is halfway between breakfast and lunch, what is it called when you eat half way between lunch and dinner? linner? or lupper ..... lunch/supper?) ANYWAY ......as you probably figured out by now, the "Bee" project was part of Boop's birthday present.....



....a bumblebee tote bag with .....



....a bumblebee pin ....and inside the tote bag was....




.....the DVD "The Secret Life of Bees" and some "Burt's Bee's" goodies (body wash, soap, lotion, etc) ......it was a "Bee" theme!!! (well, I guess that was pretty obvious !) .... Anyhow, this picture of Boop (aka Karen) was taken at the end of our day when we were pretty well pooped (yes, Boop was pooped) ..... however earlier in the day.....



....she was a bit more bright eyed and alert as she is about to dive into her birthday crepe ..... yes .... a birthday crepe (see the candles on the plate) ... this crepe was filled with bananas and ice cream .....YUM! .... and, no .... she didn't eat that whole thing herself ... she stays very slim and svelte by sharing this kind of stuff with me ..... the fat sister .....



....see.... here we are .... the birthday girl wearing her "Tinkerbell tiara " with extra added blob o' ribbons on the side .... kind of hard to see in this picture) ...and the birthday girl's chubbo sister who looks like she has a few hibiscuses (or is it hibisci) flowers growing out of her head.....


..... and here's our birthday girl with her 2 girls Maura and Erin (the face maker in the middle).....well, no sooner had we finished the birthday crepes and wandered around a few fun shops in West Reading (yes, Boop lives in Jon and Kate plus 8 territory but no sightings ..... darn ..... that would have made a great blog post !!)...ANYHOW, as I was saying, no sooner had we finished the crepes and wandered around in a few shops when Boop's hubby Tom called and asked us to meet him and their boys for dinner ...... DINNER?!?!?.... we just finished lupper/linner .... but of course we made the sacrifice and met Tom and the boys at a fun restaurant called "Pirate's Cove" where we forced ourselves to ....




......have a drink and some appetizers ..... and we forced Tom to.....






....wear a Tinkerbell tiara !! (actually we didn't have to do much forcing .... Tom's a pretty good sport about this sort of stuff .... especially after a beer or 3 !)

So, that was day #1 of the 3 day weekend ....so now you're probably on the edge of your seat wondering what day #2 had up it's sleeve ....OK .... as the title of today's post says "B" not only stands for "Boop's Bumblebee Birthday Bag" it also stands for "Big Black coal Banks " because......


.....my Moonbeams Boys had a 2 hour long dirtbike race on the coal banks of my alma mater town of Tamaqua, Pa......this is Evan just as he finished his race (note coal dust EVERYWHERE except where his goggles and helmet were!) ....and...



......here's Matt right after he finished his race and took his helmet off....(not smiling because he's pretty delerious after a grueling 2 hour hot, dusty race AND because his teeth are black from coal dust .....YUCK!)



....and here they are relaxed and a little less grumpy after dumping water over their heads .... which, of course has now turned that lovely coal dust into coal mud ..... and that's Erin (Matt's girlfriend) standing next to the truck ..... she's a veteran of dirtbike races and knows that black is the color to wear!!!(especially when the race is on coal banks!) ....(and, yes, Evan is trying to pick coal dirt out of his teeth and off of his lip)

....and so now you're wondering what was on the agenda for day #3 of the holiday weekend ....well cleaning BLACK coal dust/mud out of the washing machine and out of the bathtub what else?!?!?!!!!! (oh, and out of Matt and Evan's teeth and nostrils, of course!)

Be back soon!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Friday, May 22, 2009

Buzzing along on a "B" .....or "Bee"

















TGIF Blogland Neighborhood! The MBIAJ Sewing Dept is busily buzzing along on a "B" (or "Bee" ) project because "B" might stand for "Bee" ....or "B" might stand for "Birthday" ..... ANYHOW, they're about to swarm because, as usual, they're beehind schedule and the hive is abuzz with activity ......bzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

Bee back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Spa Day .......

















Happy weekend Blogland Neighborhood! Well it seems Kitty has been quite stressed over the bee incident so she decided to relax with a "Day of Beauty" (like she isn't pampered enough.....) She swears by cucumbers over the eyes to "reduce puffiness and bags"..... and the occasional bee sting.....








.......hmmmmmm? oh, sure ..... Kitty says to please excuse her now because she wants to slather that chocolate masque on her face (looks and smells like chocolate pudding!), scarf up those Milano cookies and chocolate candy, soak in the tub by candlelight and daydream about the rumors of a possible new admirer Al's Big Boy ......hmmmmm....must be nice not to have anything else you have to do today ....

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

We've got a bee in our bonnet......


Good afternoon Blogland Neighbor-hood! Well, lately the MBIAJ Sewing Dept has been obsessed with "bee" stuff ....




......such as "The Secret Life of Bees" book AND movie (LOVED IT !!) ....and all those fun Burt's Bees goodies ....


...so now they've got a "bee in their bonnet" to make something out of .....



...this cute "bee" fabric .....



.....and here it is joined by some of it's fabric friends ....




......and of course some of us take the phrase "bee in our bonnet" more literally than others of us .....


..... Kitty , that's probably NOT a good idea !!!!




.......(sigh) ..... guess we better help the "Queen Bee" un-bee herself....





"Bee" back soon!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day !

Happy Mother's Day Blogland Moms !! (now that the day is almost over .... well, better late than never!)

Anyhow ...just had to pop in to show you all what those Sweet Moonbeams Boys did for their Moonbeams Momma ....




......some pretty PRETTY flowers from Matt and...



..breakfast in bed made by Evan and served at 7:15 AM (because there was a dirtbike race to get to by 10:30 AM)........DELICIOUS but enough food to feed a small army!!!(sorry for the blurry picture, but the camera was half asleep at 7:15 AM)




...the feast was continued down in the kitchen with a coffee cake fresh from the oven (also made by Evan) .... with the following notes left next to it :"Happy M Day" followed with a smiley face; and "Sorry I dint do the dishes & I hope re coffee cake is done . Happy Mother's Day (heart drawing) Evan"







.....and after some quick scarfing down of some coffee cake and fruit left over from my breakfast in bed, Evan, Erin (Matt's girlfriend) and Matt (in black hoodie)....



......headed off to a dirtbike race and I headed back in the house to clean up the mess in the kitchen....


Happy Mother's Day! Be back soon!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

A "Flower Pot Cozy".......a what????





















Happy day before Mother's Day Blogland Neighborhood! The "Sewing and Design Dept" here at MBIAJ was on a mission to come up with a quick gift idea for Mother's Day (because as you all well know, the "Sewing and Design Dept" is not known for getting things done ahead of time ... no... nope .... coming in just under the wire .... or most likely "fashionably late" is our motto). However, this time, due to a fluke of nature or maybe all of the stars aligned in the right order or something, this project is actually finished the day BEFORE the event !!!! So, we thought we'd like to share it with all of you (in case there are other procrastinators out there).

Anyhow, as you can see the project is a "Flower Pot Cozy" ..... and here was the thought process ..... people make cozies to keep their tea pots "cozy" ... so why not make a cozy to keep your flower pots cozy?

OK ..... here's what you will need:

- a flower pot (any size) and preferably with a flower/plant already in it
- 2 different fabrics (one big enough to cover the flower pot, & a scrap of another)
- rick rack (large size)
- yo yo maker to make desired size yo yo's
- 3 buttons (to sew into centers of yo yo's)
- a pencil or pen
- scotch tape
- Fray check
- freezer paper
- a piece of string

....and here's how you make it:


tape the piece of string to the center of the bottom of the flower pot and bring it up along the side and about 1 1/2 " above the top of the pot




cut the string



untape the string from the flower pot and tape it to the center of the dull side of the freezer paper; tape the other end of the string to a pen or pencil;


draw a circle on the freezer paper...



have your assistant hold the string if the tape doesn't hold it well enough.....


.....cut out the freezer paper circle; press the freezer paper circle (shiny side down) onto a piece of fabric and cut out fabric circle;



...on the right side of the fabric pin rick rack in a circle about 2 1/2" from outside edges;


.....stitch rick rack down using matching thread



....fold under 1" to wrong side of circle all the way around (as you can see, lots of pins are helpful)......press;


...stitch all the way around (1/4" away from raw edge of folded over edge) making a casing....

snip a "button-hole" in the center of the casing ....


...be careful not to cut through the stitching or through the folded edge ....


....dab some Fray Check on the buttonhole edges...




....thread a piece of rick rack through the casing;




....using the yo yo maker, make 3 yo yo's;


....stitch a button in the center of each yo yo;



.....now stitch a yo yo to the front of the cozy, and a yo yo on the ends of the rick rack ties...

...we suggest you put a piece of aluminum foil around the bottom of the flower pot before putting it in the cozy (in case of leaks); after you put the flower pot in the cozy, pull the rick rack ties to gather the cozy around the top of the flower pot....and TA DA !!! You're done!! (don't forget you can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger if you need to)

Hope you enjoyed our little last minute Mother's Day gift idea ! Enjoy !! and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY girls !!!!!

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Imagine .......






















Good morning Blogland Neighborhood! Imagine our delight when we came across this very cute "Imagine" doo dad at Walmart a couple of days ago....it, and other cute stuff are designed by an artist who is new to me ....Sandra Magsamen

...and ...Imagine the MBIAJ Sewing Dept's delight when ....





....some jelly rolls, charm packs, and a layer cake (all calorie - free) came in the mail !!! These were ordered from Real Women Quilt where they're having a heck of a sale !!! We LOVE these Moda precuts because : A) they're SO pretty ! B) we're lazy (less cutting !) C) they're SO fun! D) we're lazy E) they sound fattening but they aren't and ....F) we're LAZY !!!


....and...Imagine the MBIAJ's Baking Dept's delight when they were able to cut out more fat and calories from their favorite scone recipe when they read about substitutions on Spark People and were inspired by a new show on The Lifetime Channel called Cook Yourself Thin



......instead of using 1/2 cup margarine ..... 1/4 cup of natural applesauce + 1/4 cup lite margarine was substituted .....






......with delicious results !!!








...and ....Imagine the MBIAJ Dessert Eating Dept's delight when they stumbled upon....








....this combination of strawberries (those dark looking things in that lousy picture .... they really look much better in person....), Weight Watchers Double Chocolate Mousse candy AND Lite Cool Whip ..... which all combine to make ....










.....this YUMMY, good for you dessert ! (that's 3/4 cup plain strawberries with 1 Wt Watcher's Chocolate Mousse candy cut up on top and 2 Tbsp of Lite Cool Whip = 1 point in Weight Watcher Land !!!) (and trust us when we say this looks much better in person than it does in this lousy picture .... apparantly the MBIAJ Photography Dept hasn't had time to read the instruction book yet that came with the camera ...)


...and...Imagine the excitement around here when the MBIAJ Sewing Dept announced that they're closing in on the finish line (slower than molasses in January, but still closing in ) on ....




...this ....











Well, enough "Imagining" for one day .... too bad we can't "Imagine" dinner to appear on the table , or the toilets to clean themselves, or the dingy, stinky socks to jump into the washing machine all by themselves ...... (big sigh) ... so since none of that is gonna happen....we gotta zoom!

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)