I moved to a self-hosted WordPress. Here’s the new link: http://www.theniftyfoodie.com/life/

It’s ok if you missed the announcement. Let me catch you up in pictures!

I’m still learning to sew…

…making a goal of making a quilt this summer…

…had our first anniversary…

…growing fruits and veggies…

…and Millie is growing…FAST!

Won’t you join me at my new blog? I’d love to hear from you guys again!

So folks, if you don’t mind, please clicky over to The Nifty Foodie’s Life and heck, go ahead and visit The Nifty Foodie too!

If you have a minute, feel free to become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter and update your RSS readers. I conveniently put some perty buttons on the sidebar of the new blog for you to click on.

Oh, and feel free to comment on the new blog’s look/layout/whatever. I love me some feedback!

Here’s the site URL again:

http://www.theniftyfoodie.com/life/
http://www.theniftyfoodie.com/life/
http://www.theniftyfoodie.com/life/

Overkill? Ok…I’ll stop. See you over at the new blog!

See for yourself…

Another view…

I think my enemy was my (way too thick) interfacing, and maybe mixed with some impatience and a cute puppy who wanted to play, towards the end.  Next time, I’ll know to not buy it out of a pack at Hobby Lobby. Rather, go to a fabric store and get a feel for different interfacing.

I will say, I’m pretty proud that I sewed in my first zipper! I feel pretty darn cool about that!

Oh, and if you need zippers, don’t buy them at a fabric store. They are like $2 each, when you can buy a bunch on Etsy for way cheaper. I purchased from this seller.

Here’s a future project (as in, once I can sew straight lines with much more confidence) spoiler: I cut 30 squares for a beginner’s quilt, found in S.E.W. Everything Workshop. This is the book that is sort of teaching me most of the basics. I recommend it…great patterns and ideas in there!

Anyway, I bought the fabrics at Hobby Lobby…aren’t they cute?

How is National Craft month going for you?

So, after the puppy woke me up at 6:30 in the morning, I thought that it was time to work on a project that has been months in the works.

Yeah, ugly right? This was in our front yard…right here.

Yes, this was taken in October. I’d rather a pretty picture with grass to give you an idea of our garden in its prime. This spot used to have a HUGE sago palm that blocked the walkway and would randomly sting me (darn leaves) when I tried to weed around it. Also, they are very poisonous to dogs and we knew we would want a puppy.

**obligatory cute puppy picture of the day**

Since that photo of the house was taken in October, yes, it’s been that way for a while. I just couldn’t do anything in the winter, because I hate the cold. So, Saturday, I ventured out to Lowe’s and bought these perfect little pansies and some rocks.

Two hours of rock removal, sago palm seed clean-up (for the dog), filling in the hole from the palm, and weed blocking, it was time to make this garden pretty.

We bought this fountain almost a year and a half ago. It’s been sitting on our porch, and I was so glad to finally put it SOMEWHERE! It looks spectacular, and would you believe we paid under $15 for it? I’m sure you are asking how...stalk your local Target’s garden center when the Fall hits. After gardening season is over, they clear everything out: Furniture, BBQ pits, Fountains, etc. And I mean, clear out! Ours was 75% OFF!

We put the pansies in pots as well, and placed them in the rocks. The great thing about this garden is (hopefully) there will be little to no weeds! The landscape rocks surrounding the garden were from the old homeowners. So, essentially this garden was less than $50.

Another great addition to our yard? My birthday is coming up, and my husband knows I LOVE Louisiana citrus. He bought me this Meyer Lemon tree as a surprise for our backyard…isn’t he fantastic? I can’t wait to see some fruit!

Did any of y’all get great Spring weather to garden this weekend?

So, way back in the engaged days, we met with my photographer who had these GORGEOUS sample albums. I had no idea where she got them from, but my cheap self didn’t want to ask since she designed them (Sorry Amanda for my cheapness…). So, I googled the heck out of flush mount albums and found these.

I was still feeling cheap, so I couldn’t buy these on any old website. No sirree…I checked eBay and found ONE. One 8×10 10 page album (holds 20 photos) for $35. Talk about lucky….I was ecstatic and bought it up!

After the wedding, I knew that I wanted to print out 8×10′s for this album, but heck, I was broke and the price of 8×10′s on Mpix, which was recommended by my photographer, were WAY too high.

Fast forward nine months, I get an AWESOME email from Mpix saying 8×10′s are 50% off!!! So, I did not hesitate to print 20 8×10′s for $30 total. I printed them on metallic paper, because I’ve ordered those before and I think it just makes the colors POP. It’s not super metallic, just slightly shimmery. I highly recommend printing pictures on that paper through Mpix. They have great sales pretty often on printing too!

So, just a disclaimer, I’m not good at taking beautiful pictures of albums, so just imagine these 1000 times prettier. They totally are!

I’m so glad to have finally finished this book. Since we don’t have a coffee table, it’s resting soundly on the mantle against the wall behind a wedding figurine we got. I can’t wait to show this beauty off!

Crafting It Forward

As much as I hate to do this, I promised to craft it forward to 5 readers, and two people never got back to me after I emailed them. So, I’m choosing two people again!

Random.org chose Teale and craftysmurfette!! Congrats ladies! I’ll be emailing you two shortly to get your addresses and some basic information from you two!

Sewing

So, uhm, sewing is pretty fun but HARD. I tried to make a tote bag that was 12×14 and well, ended up with something way smaller because I thought I could cut straight lines with scissors. I realized a little too late that the rotary cutter would be my BFF. Erg..

Check this out. It’s terrible…I’m pretty sure I’m starting over on a new project because I’m impatient. LOL! It was cheap fabric anyway…

Look at how much I stink..I messed up sewing the bias tape flush to the fabric. Boo…I pinned it too. The light pink stuff is supposed to cover the zigzags on the blue fabric, in case you were like me two months ago and are thinking bias tape what?

So, I’m moving onto another project. I don’t need another tote bag anyway…psh. Maybe I’ll put yarn in it for knitting projects.

Not craft related, but I think my dog is seriously a ham. She poses like a model for the camera….how can you resist those eyes??

So, it’s rare for me to have a night out with some gals. After my husband and I got married, I went to my local board on The Nest and started talking with some fabulous girls in Baton Rouge. They would have get-togethers and a lot of them were IRL friends! Around Christmas, someone hosted a nestie party, and I finally chucked up enough courage (mind you, I’m shy) to meet up with these gals. Of course, my husband was a little weary since these were Internet friends, but hey, I did meet him on the Internet too!

After the party, I felt like I made a few new friends, and couldn’t wait for the next GTG. Well, that was this past Thursday and we met at Melting Pot for cheese/chocolate. Yum! It was fabulous to chat it up with these gals, and enjoy some sinful eats.

Spinach Artichoke Fontina Fondue (before/after)

S’mores Fondue (before/after)…gotta love the flambe!

Coincidentally, it was birthday season! We were celebrating birthdays for 3 of the gals so our waiter put candles in our dessert dippers. How cute!

Our waiter was pretty fun. He would chime in on the girl talk, as crazy and random as that was! (Hairy eyeball? Yeah google that phrase…it’s safe for work, but I never heard of it before!)

Hi waiter! He was pretty swift with making sure our glasses were full and our tummies were happy!

I gave one of my buds my camera to play with, and she ended up taking pics of everyone, so I thought I’d include them. Hope no one hates me after this..

Of course, I need to link to the photographer so you can see her ultra cute baby bump!

Oh yeah, and sometime during the dinner, I tweeted Bob Harper of the Biggest Loser to wish one of the gals (here’s her blog) a Happy Birthday.  He still hasn’t responded…c’mon Bob! Sigh..

I had a great time, and it’s awesome to have some local gals to talk to/hang out with! I don’t feel super lame socially as much anymore.

Sewing is so practical though. It’s a hobby I can justify for, easily. I can hem our pants, which saves money, sew pillows  for the couch in fabrics that are yummy, PJ pants that are long enough for my legs, etc. It’s just easy to justify spending time on, because the things you can make are very useful for everyday life!

I find myself drooling over free online patterns and things in Etsy shops, and making lists of what I want to make next. I tend to find most of my inspiration via Google, but lately, I’ve started to look into this site.

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CraftGawker is for ANY craft project. Basically, if you take nice pictures, unlike me, you submit your picture to CraftGawker and if they like your picture, they put it on their site. Then, craft junkies like me click the picture and are sent to the source of the picture: whether it be a tutorial (hopefully) or Etsy link (blah..I don’t wanna buy your craft, I wanna make it! I know, so selfish and cheap!). It’s very neato-mosquito if you ask me.

At the bottom of the site, there are categories, so you can go specifically to knitting projects, bags, jewelry, etc. I love it.

Here’s some sewing things that I’ve taken a liking to lately. These are from CraftGawker and multiple sewing blogs.

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I mean, seriously, how awesome are all of these ideas? There are tons more, but these are my favorites.

I also have an ultimate sewing goal in mind, which I’ve been waiting YEARS to finally do, after seeing a friend buy one for (gulp) $300 from someone who made it for her. Big savings if I can DIY, but I’ll keep you hanging and let you know about that project in another post.

They had 4 panelists debating this issue. Kim Bensen, who has lost over 200 lbs. and MeMe Roth, who I had never heard of before (and don’t ever care to hear of again…you’ll see why), were on the side saying it’s NOT OK to be fat. Crystal Renn, who is a plus size supermodel, and Marianne Kirby, who has written a book on fat acceptance, were advocating that it is OK to be fat.

Both sides had solid arguments, but sometimes MeMe and Kim had my blood boiling. First of all, Marianne Kirby is a big girl like me. You could literally see some moments in the debate where MeMe and KIM (Hello?! Weren’t you “fat” before? Stop being judgey..)had a face of disgust looking at this girl.

MeMe kept making comments that being fat is not acceptable. You can control it…she kept pushing that anyone could be the ideal weight.

I don’t know about that. Her definition of ideal was just plain wrong to me.

“There’s a lot of studies looking at staying at a lower end of BMI [body mass index] perhaps giving us longevity and healthier longevity,” said Roth.

BMI…one of the most unreliable measurements of ideals, to this woman, is the ideal. SERIOUSLY?

After watching this debate, I wanted to seriously become BFF’s with Crystal Renn. I agree, that while being unhealthy is a bad thing, fat is not a bad thing. Fat to society is SO broad, and like she mentioned in the interview, she’s a size 12, in the best shape of her life. The size 0 she once was, was UNHEALTHY! I’m sure a lot of society considers Crystal Renn to be fat, but hey, she’s making mega bucks being a gorgeous, confident woman with curves. You go girl!

I’m sure some of you might not agree with me, so what say you? Is it OK to be fat?

I’m obese. I know it, but I also know that I’m a person just like you. This especially applies to the people who were shopping at American Eagle yesterday as I went in there with my sister who is a size 6. Thank you Mr. Manager for asking how my day was, and offering to help me, despite probably noticing that I am NOT the proper size to fit in your clothing. However, to the girls who gave me side eye when I would look at a shirt (for my sister’s bday, mind you), I am a person too. I’m not a freak of nature, although people like you try to make it evident that I do not belong in your SUPER special regular sized clothing store.

I remember in college this was a frequent aspect of shopping at the mall with friends. I’m the big girl of the group, but I would go shopping with my friends who fit in smaller sizes and offer a “yay”/”nay” on the outfit. That’s just what friends do. I’d get the stares all the time when looking through shirts for my friend who wore an XS or asking the associate if they had this in her size. Oh MAN, the look on the employee’s face when I would ask that.

I got the stares ALL the time, especially in places like Hollister or the horribly over-scented Abercrombie where I had to suck in to get past all the racks in the store (enter humiliation). Not to mention, I’m 5’11″, a towering giant in a sea of shorter women. So, I’m easily noticed.

By the time all my friends were done shopping, they’d offer to go with me to Lane Bryant. I was already just drained and depressed from being the fat girl in the group of friends who couldn’t buy that super cute cardigan that my friend got to buy, so I’d just offer a “thanks, but I have enough clothes” line. A little white lie.

For those of you who are quick to judge people who aren’t of normal size, seriously, think about what you are doing. Most of the time, people my size have NO self esteem and really, are we bothering you that much? It’s not like I’m bumping into you or doing anything to bother you because of my size. Just seriously, I’m a person too. Please try to remember that.