Pleated Pocket skirt

I just finished making this skirt and love how it turned out! I love the contrasting fabrics and the pink ribbon. I want to make one for myself now!

For the waistband and the ribbon tie, I used this Twirly Skirt Tutorial from house on hill road's site. It is a great tutorial and was easy to do.

For the pleated pocket, I used the pleated pocket tutorial from Made by Rae's site. I did make the pocket a little bit smaller and loved how it turned out.

For the hem, I just did a normal-fold-under (or whatever the verbiage is) hem, but I used bright pink thread to help tie in the pink a little more. It does look awesome...at least I think so :)

Recipe Friday - Penne with Chicken and Asparagus (my version)

I have been ordering Bountiful Baskets for the past couple of months. I love it! Go check out the website to find out what it is :) I get all of my fruits and veggies from them and my bread for so cheap. I even share my basket with a friend, because there is so much. My meals now center around what I get in my Bountiful Basket and you never know what you are getting until you pick it up. I was getting so much asparagus...for a few weeks. I had to find something else to do with it. I love allrecipes.com, because I just type in my ingredient and find a recipe. I always read the reviews, because people have some good suggestions on how they made the recipe better.

Penne with Chicken and Asparagus (my version):

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package penne pasta (or any pasta...I used rigatoni)
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice
1 small tomato - chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup cream cheese
splash of milk
1 bunch slender asparagus spears cut into 1-inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced and chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
mushrooms cut up (optional)

Directions:
1. Put water into pot for pasta. Chop asparagus into 1-inch pieces and put into the water. Bring water up to a boil. Cook asparagus for a few minutes in boiling water.

2. Pull asparagus out with slotted spoon. Add pasta to boiling water and cook.

3. Heat olive oil in a pan. Saute onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add chicken and salt and pepper. Cook chicken.

4. Once chicken is cooked, add aspargus, lemon juice, chopped tomato, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/4 cup cream cheese, plash of milk, mushrooms (optional), and parmesan cheese.

5. Cook on medium heat until warmed through and veggies are tender.

6. Pour pasta into chicken mixture and stir.

7. Serve onto your plates and sprinkle with more parmesan cheese :) Enjoy!

If you want to look at the real recipe, click here!

Chalkboard placemats

For my girl's stocking stuffers, I made them some chalkboard placemats. They love them! We were going on a big car trip and thought that it would be something fun to bring in the car. I will attempt a tutorial on how I made them. I didn't take pictures and I hope the tutorial makes sense without...sorry!

Materials:
-1/2 yard of chalkboard fabric (it totally stinks when the store cuts it, but that goes away. Joanns carries this fabric)
-1/2 yard fabric
- fabric scraps for chalkholder
-thread

1. I traced a placemat that I had to get the size that I wanted. Cut out 1 piece of the chalkboard fabric and one piece of the coordinating fabric.

2. To make the chalkholder: Cut two rectangles from your scrap of fabric. My first rectangle was about 4 1/2" by 3". And my second rectangle was 4". Fold the 4" rectangle in half so it is 2" long. For the other rectangle, fold the edges under about 1/4" on the top and the side. Put the 2" long rectangle on top of the other rectangle. Pin onto the chalk fabric in the corner. Topstitch around the side and top of the rectangle. Sew a line down the 2" rectangle in the middle. Ta Da! You have the chalkholder.

3. Then put right sides together of the chalk fabric and your other fabric. Sew all the way around, and leave an opening to flip it.

4. Flip it to the right side. Then topstitch all the way around the placemat.

5. You have the condition the chalk fabric by rubbing chalk on it and then wiping away with a papertowel or cloth.

6. And you are done!! (I will have to take pictures next time I make one!)

I think next time, I am going to make a smaller one. The bigger one was hard for my kids to color on in the car.

Circle Quilt

I admit that I am a total blog stalker! I look at people's blogs daily and see what things they are up to. I love when I find some great blogs with great ideas :)

Bijou Lovely has a great blog. You should check it out. She has an awesome circle quilt tutorial. Here is the link for the second part of the tutorial. This is my next project. I am in love with this quilt. I can't explain it. I just love the look of it and want to make it :) I have only made a couple of photo quilts (check out that post here), so I hope it turns cute.

What I have been making....dresses and some more dresses!

I came across this blog, Lil Blue Boo, while I was blog stalking. And I found a tutorial for a border fabric sundress. It was just what I was looking for! I already started making a dress for my little baby girl from scrap fabrics that I had. I was just piecing some coordinating fabric together to make the main piece of the dress. I was trying to figure out how to finish it, and that's when I found Ashley's sundress tutorial. I finished the top of my dress with her tutorial. Go check it out. It was really easy to make!

Front of the dress

Back of the dress

I loved making it so much, that I made another one. I did do it a little differently. I used two different coordinating fabrics for the chest band. One side is the main fabric, and the other side is my second fabric. I did that with the straps too. I also sewed the straps inside the chest band, instead of outside. I love it! It came out so cute :)

I have also been busy making this dress. It was easy to make and I love it!  I used the Simplicity 5695 pattern. Sorry I didn't get a better picture. I really need to work on my photography skills!