Finally finished!

Aunt Jen's sewing machine is now back in business! Jacob, sweet husband and genius engineer that he is, replaced the wiring that was cracking and peeling apart. He also replaced the plug so that the is no longer a risk of electric shock due to exposed screws and wire.

These 2 pics were taken during the "stripping" process. During this step, I found out that the top layer all over the desk was not real wood, but a laminate wood. :( Booo, bummer, darn, puh, grr..... This was such a let down. At this point, I decided, what the heck. Who cares what it looks like as long as it's clean, not sticky and has a fresh coat of polyurethane finish on it.

So I muscled through and wound up with this. Nowhere near perfection, but it'll do.










So now I have it all put back together and functional, but no sewing projects on the horizon. Hmm, I'll have to fix that...

Happy June!

Well, May has come and gone. Last month I found a cute calendar for my desktop at Leelou Blogs.

This month, I found an even cuter calendar for my desktop here. I love it. Makes me smile when I open my computer.

Craft update:
I finished re-finishing the sewing machine desk, but it's not completely put back together yet. I'll post pics as soon as it's in one piece.

My next project involves acorns, spray paint, and a wreath. You can check out where I found my inspiration here.

My chocolate, strawberries and cream creation

I found this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's blog, which she re-posted from Snappy Gormet's blog. They called this dessert Dark Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes with Amaretto Cream, but this title does not suit my creation at all. Here's why:
1. I used milk chocolate, they used dark.
2. The "shortcakes" came out more like cookies.
3. I didn't have any Amaretto so I substituted milk.
4. By making some alterations, I can claim it as my recipe. :)


I fed this to my small group girls last night and they loved it. It's not a very heavy dessert since I used fat free Cool Whip and cream cheese. And strawberries make it healthy right? right???

The recipe definitely calls for entirely too much of the wet ingredients so I ended up with massive amounts of cream left over. It was so tasty to dip the strawberries in though. I may make the cream as a fruit dip by itself next time. Yum!

The Future Mrs. Kilmer

Congratulations to Chris Kilmer and Katie Travis on their engagement!! Chris proposed to Katie on April 17, 2011. His and her immediate families were waiting at a nearby restaurant to surprise Katie and celebrate with her and Chris.


I was honored to help Chris with the planning of this event. I decided to bring some mason jars with store bought daisies mixed with a few daisies from my own flower bed.

I also decided to make a sign that said "Chris <3 Katie", but the wind would not cooperate for a picture. A huge shout out to Allie Millette for cutting out the letters for the sign with an Exacto knife. This was her first Exacto experience and she did a fabulous job.
Chris did a great job on the ring. It was a unique design made especially with his fiancee Katie in mind. It is an opal with crescent diamonds on either side.

Sophie's mobile

This weekend my mom and I threw a baby shower for my friend since Kindergarten Michelle. She is going to have a little girl in June named Sophie. I can't wait to meet her! Michelle's mother in law is making the bedding that will go in Sophie's crib out of a fabric from JoAnn's that has lady bugs, butterflies and flowers on it. I decided to make a mobile for the crib to match. Michelle liked it, which is all that matters. :)

My Great Aunt Jen

The 1950's Singer sewing machine that I have been using to learn to sew once belonged to my Great Aunt Jen. She was my grandfather's brother's wife. She died ~10 years ago and lived with Alzheimer's the last years of her life. I never knew her before she lost her memory, but the sewing machine I inherited has taught me so much about her. You see, this machine is built into a desk with 3 drawers. The contents of those 3 drawers are astounding. Anything and everything I will ever need to replace or use for this machine are in these drawers. She had spare everything. Thread, needles, bobbins, chalk, wax, darning balls, buttons, pearl snaps, measuring tapes, Singer oil, tools and all kinds of other things that I didn't even recognize.
This sewing machine desk has been around the block more than a few times and needs a major refinishing. Having zero experience in refinishing furniture, I naturally decided to tackle this task. Ask me how it went in a few weeks...

What I've been up to

Sorry to disappoint, but I haven't taken any pictures lately. My birthday was a few weeks ago so we went out to dinner Friday and had some friends over for a cookout Sunday, but there is no photo evidence. I planted some dwarf reddish orange plants. I don't know their name and I didn't take any pictures. My daisies are blooming like crazy, but you wouldn't believe me, because there are no pictures. I also planted jalapeno, cilantro and onions and they are sprouting, but I have no proof to show you. We bought a rug for the living room that is brown with a paisley-like design on it. It matches the couch nicely and I can now sit on the floor and use the coffee table! I also made Jacob some pillows and arm covers for his man cave. Last week I shaved Kallie. Okay, maybe i should take some pics for my next post. Challenge accepted.

I am really loving the spring weather and daylight savings time!