Banana Nut Bread Mufffins and a Cookbook Cover

     One of my very favorite things abut visiting my grandparents is that my grammy always has a loaf of banana nut bread on hand. I love banana nut bread! So when I decided to try out the recipe book The Husbandman just bought for me, (I finally have my Betty Crocker Cookbook! I'm really a housewife/wife/cook/adult now!) I decided that using those slightly over-ripe bananas on the counter might be perfect!

     So here is my walk through of Betty Crocker's recipe. (Find the complete recipe here.) First mash your bananas. I always find this step oddly satisfying, and slightly gross all at the same time.

Mum Monday

I fall more and more in love every day.

T-Shirt Quilt Step 1

      I have been wanting to jump into the quilting world for sometime now, and since I don't think I have the patience for tiny squares and triangles, I decided that larger blocks would be a better bet. And where to get the larger blocks? My old college t-shirts that are too sentimental to go to Good Will, but are honestly ever-so-slightly too small to wear. However, I only still have four left. So where in the world was I going to get enough to make a quilt from? A few months ago I peeked in the husbandman's t-shirt drawer, and low and behold, there are stacks for t-shirts I haven't seen him wear in years. After several weeks of badgering, I have finally convinced him to hand over his oldest college t-shirts!

     Now, I have no idea how to quilt, and all the t-shirt tutorials I have found included complicated things like sashing, and were a little too even for something that is supposed to be as informal as a t-shirt. So I'm going to wing it! So these are my first few steps to making a t-shirt quilt. I'll share more as I get steps done.

       Take an old t-shirt, and cut the neck ribbing off. Then cut off the sleeves, and down the sides and across the shoulders.

   
     Then measure around you text or image. Each block for me is a slightly different size, because I just cut a border an inch thick around the focus point of the shirt.

      Or at least, I tired for an inch, I didn't always have quite enough room, so I got as close as I could.

      And just that easily, you have a quilt square! I'm trying to use mostly squares that have interesting fronts, but I know I won't have enough shirts for that, so I''m also cutting out the back of each shirt into a similar sized piece to use as fillers.

    
     I have been told by expert quilters that when working with knits, you need to get iron-on interfacing, and apply it cross-grain to the knit square or it will stretch out of shape very quickly. So as soon as I get some other projects finished, I'm off to go find cheap interfacing. Any suggestions? Any quilters out there who know what to do next?
    

Zoo Trip

     A little while ago, the husbandman, my brother, and I took Miss G to the national zoo. My sister-in-law is expecting another beautiful baby girl in November, and sadly was stuck with all day morning sickness and couldn't go. So it was the boys, Miss G and and me, and we had a blast.

Nail Polish Issues

     I have a question for any readers who have any experience with nail polish.

Image From Studying Fishes

     My amazing pen-pal Daniela always has these great nail polish reviews, and as soon as I try something similar I take it back off less than ten minutes after I put it on. I usually never wait long enough for it to dry properly and then smear the paint, or on the rare chance that I do wait, I get way too distracted while typing or sewing. Can anyone recommend a way to make polish dry faster? Or a band that just dries fast in general? Or a pretty, subtle color?

Image From Studying Fishes

 
    And since I am asking for advice, I though in one more question? I have been on a Rebecca Saint James kick lately, can anyone recommend a similar singer or group?

Bathroom: Before and After!

     Sorry it took me so long to get my act together for this post. The husbandman and I took his younger brother to Harding (the husbandman's Alma Mater) for their freshman/transfer orientation. It was really nice to go back to Searcy, to see everyone and revisit our old haunts, but I didn't have internet like I thought I would.

      So finally, here is the before and after post!

Before:

And After!

That's my mom's old surfboard on the wall. My dad was stationed in Hawaii when I was little, and we all surfed, but my mom's board was the only one that made it make to the mainland.

     I'm very happy with it. It finally looks finished. The hardest part of this room is that it gets absolutely no natural light. So making it look bright takes extreme colors that I would never be brave enough to use otherwise. The husbandman says I used colors too close to the Gators colors but I'm ignoring that for now.

     I sneaked in a little extra detail on either side of the closet, by turning the strips sideways. No one ever sees them except coming through the side door or when getting into the shower, but the still make me happy.

    What do you think? Better? Too much color? Or a tropical bathroom to last?

My Craft Space

     I'm a fairly nosy curious person, and one of the many questions I have for other crafters is where do you work/craft/sew/scrapbook. I get horribly jealous when people talk about having a sewing room. Then I get kinda smug (I'm a horrible person) when people talk about how hard it is to find space, and having to work with a craft closet or nook. I get smug because I have manged to find a way to sew without even having a table.

     Our room has enough furniture for an apartment so needless to say it is a little cramped. (Back story for anyone who is wondering about this crazy set up of ours: The husbandman is headed to grad school at FSU in the fall, but in the meantime, we are staying with my parents so that we can work his old summer job. So I have a whole house at my disposal, but kinda tend to live in one room)

     Back to the main thought, I don't have very much space where I can feel free to make as much mess as I want. I know could go use the kitchen table, but then I have to be neat, and I get so easily distracted (by everything) that not much work gets done. (I usually turn the computer off altogether during the day so I don't check Facebook 10,000 times) The other downfall is that I have to clean up my work space every night. Or else we don't have anywhere to sleep. Because my main cutting/ironing/measuring spot is better know as the bed:

      Then if you take exactly five steps to the right, you run into my sewing space, better know as the couch and a TV table.


     I'm hoping that when we get to Tallahassee, we can find a two bedroom apartment, and turn the extra bedroom into a library/sewing room guest  room. It would be amazing.

     How about you? Are you a kitchen table crafter? Do you have a whole room to work with? Where do you find space for your hobbies?

More painting tips

     I meant to post this yesterday, but it was just one of the rough days that just leave you with no engery. But here is the follow up to Tuesday's post. While I was musing over tips to share with you, I asked my facebook friends and family if they had any tips to share. This is what they came up with.

This is by far, the most helpful hint I received. It is an edger tool. My mom found it at Home Depot for less than $5. Don't try and paint without it!

1. Don’t eat it
2. Use paint
3. Bristly end towards the wall
4. (I have very helpful friends)
5. Primer is a must when painting over colors such as hot pink...otherwise your first two coats of blue just look purple. (Note from me: Even the new paint and primer combos are not enough to cover dark teal, not even with two coats. Priming over dark colors saves a whole lot of trouble)
6. Sanding cabinets may seem like a lot of work, but it's worth it if you want the paint to stick.
7. Don't work past your light, or you will find splotches in the morning.
8. Edger tools are awesome.
9. Oops paint is a good buy, especially if you're a little flexible on colors. We've painted five rooms so far for just over the cost of one good can of paint.
10. Painting in your underwear is a good way to keep paint off your clothes.
11. Decide on quality of paint based on how long you will be looking at it. The longer the time, the more money you should spend on the paint.
12. Patch holes, cracks, etc. a day ahead of time--the same day that you move furniture, etc. out of the way and cover everything with drop cloths.
13. Expect to do two coats.
14. Start with the ceiling.
15. Always cut in first, then roll. (For anyone like me, who didn't know what cutting in was, it's just going around the trim and corners and ceiling (or anywhere tight or tricky for a roller) with a angled brush)
16. To cover certain colors, you may need primer.
17. Invest in some quality brushes, buy at least one good angled brush for cutting in the ceiling and corners
18. Don't roll straight up and down, but do it at alternating 45 degree angles
19. Oh, and always clean your brushes thoroughly right after you're done or they will never be the same!

News?

      I'm sorry to do this, but I don't think I'll be posting for a few days. Things are rough here, and I just can't find the spirit to share. It's not that I don't have the time, I have plenty or that and more, I just...

     I'm sorry to be so depressing, and I'm be back before the end of the week, I promise. But in the meantime, I'll leave you with my latest, non-sewing project. I'm working on a baby blanket. I'm not sure who it's for yet, my brother and his wife's second baby hopefully, if I get in done on time, but if I don't it'll probably go to someone at church, or I'll just pack it away for future use, I'm not sure, it will come in time.

Source

I found this blanket by Maybe Matilda through my blog browsing, and fell in love with it. Tales from Cuckoo Land had the original blanket idea:

Source

     And she was kind enough to share her bobble tutorial. It is very easy, and I hugely recommend it to any crocheters, or even want-to-be crocheters. It could not be simpler. I am working on a much smaller blanket, it will be more of a snuggle blanket than a warmth blanket. My blanket is only 120 stitches wide, and I hope that eventually it will be square.
  
       I have followed the following pattern:
Double Crochet three rows,
Then on my bobble row, I Double Crochet 5 stitches, then start the bobble, then Double Crochet 5 more stitches, then another bobble and so on,
Then double crotchet three more rows before doing a another bobble row.

      It's coming together quickly, but I'm only really working on it while watching movies or on long-ish car rides.