Casserole Caddy

Have you seen these floating around? They're pretty nifty, and since I promised a friend of mine for her birthday last year, i finally got around to making one!

 

I'm fairly happy with the outcome, although there are a few things that didn't work out the way I wanted. Let's take a look shall we?

 

I used this pattern from Joann's. It was nice not to have to measure and worry about math, but as you can see i did some modifications. As cool and convenient it is to do the handles as the serving utensils, I personally find wooden handles to be not all that comfortable, and add a heavy dish full of food and I foresaw the actual carrier getting 'forgotten' in lieu of just carrying the casserole itself. Maybe that's just me. Either way, I didn't want to lose the convenience of having a place for serving supplies, so I just added a little Velcro strap to hold 'em.

 

You can see that the Velcro doesn't quite line up, the reason being isn't because I screwed up. Oh no, my 13"x9" dish is actually 13.25"x9.25", what weirdo designed that? But even with my unnecessary extra 1/4" sides it still fits pretty well.

 

So what didn't turn out the way i wanted? Well, I used flannel instead of the decor weight recommenced fabric and while I think it looks cuter and will function just was well, it proved a bit difficult to use with the 'insul-bright' batting. That being said I have never used any type of batting before, so there's a very strong chance my issues with it have everything to so with my lack of experience. Basically there was lots of shifting of fabric which led to puckers and some of my seams got shifted.

Oh, and I forgot to mention I put it together wrong first, and didn't discover my error until I had cut away the bulky seams and clipped corners! I blame it on the fact that it took me 2 weeks of 15 min here, and 20 min there to assemble and sew it together. Call it mom-brain if you must (thought you got your brain cells back after giving birth? Haha! Not a chance!)

I am overall happy with the outcome and will be experimenting with insul-bright again. Maybe a lunch bag for work? We'll see. I just hope the recipient likes and used this as much as I do/would! :)

My week of lame

(i know it's Tuesday... I totally forgot to hit publish instead of save Sunday! whoops! so just pretend its Sunday still :)

What did I do this week? I finished the catio my dad made/provided supplied for my birthday while he hung out with the kiddo. (I promise photos once the weather provides some nice light :)

 I had planned on being done with a friends birthday present, but I got a case of mom brain and did it totally wrong!! So frustrating, as it was the roughest (or so I thought) part of the project. I'd been done too, except I'm doing handles instead of dowels and adding some other fun things to the design. What is it you ask? Well, when it's done I'll show you! :) (for fear the recipient might stumble across this page, but who am I kidding really? Kenna, your the only consistent one reading this thang)

I also started another birthday present this week that I will hopefully get done in time ( these birthdays are on the 30th and 31st btw). This one is knitting, so it's been a bit easier squeezing in a stitch or two while nursing or when she naps (which has been a battle this week, let me tell you. Apparently there is no better bed than mom) but still. What do you think of the colors?

Oh! And one more thing to round out this random post, I finally got around to taking photos of the gloves I made my mom for her birthday last year! I plan on releasing the pattern soon (my first one!!!) and if it goes well you may see more of my designs in the future… A girl can dream though! :p

 

ps: I sold 3 things!!! So excited about that! So it will push those presents back a bit, because money makers take precedent!

Hope you had a wonderful week!! :)

Sunday Fun Day!

Belated Birthday Shenanigans!

So I turned 26 last Monday, and while I spent my Sunday doing a dinner with my family I had a pajama day on my actual b-day and waited until this weekend to do fun things with my man and friends. And I wasn't allowed to know anything about it! My guy likes to control my birthday, and he does a great job! So this is what happened this weekend:

After I got home form work on Saturday (8-5:30, whoo!) I was instructed to pack an overnight bag, and hop in the car! I was greeted a half hour later by the majority of my friends (with the rest shortly to follow) at one of our friends' house! We played Rock Band and talked and watched terrible (AWESOME) YouTube videos until everyone left and we crashed in their guest room.

Then I have to wake up at 6 am for this!

Yup, we did a sun rise hot air balloon ride!! (normally very expensive, but apparently John has an in with the pilot, so we got away with just paying for breakfast! :)

And on the way home we stopped by the Safari Park for animal watching shenanigans:

 

And now I'm being a couch potato for the rest of the day with my fur balls! Not a terrible birthday if I do say so myself. Thanks to all my friends and family involved in making it happen! :)