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Yesterday, we invited 6 people over for a potsticker party. With my hubby and I and our kids, I wasn't quit sure how many I should make. It is alway better to have more, than less, especially when you are the one throwing the party.

So, I made a TON of potstickers.

I mean TONS! I set a new record of how many potstickers I made in one day.

Let's throw out some numbers...

I mixed 9 pounds of meat with some vegitables

It took me about 3 hours from start to finish (cut- mix- wrap)

I wapped 258 Potstickers!

5 people showed + our family = 10 people

103 potstickers were eaten

The party lasted close to 4 hours, we played Guitar Hero, Blockus and Apples to Apples. It was lots of fun. I don't know why I thought I needed to make so many but I have lots of frozen potstickers in my freezer now. It is always nice to have something like that for a busy day.

Summer to Fall

We had a slow start when it comes to decorating for the fall, but last weekend we finally got our pumpkins! It made me want to decorate my house for the season. Here are the some pictures around my house.

The wreath set the tone for the front of the house...


This is my very first and only black quilt. I think it is the perfect color for the cold season.


I love small pumpkins! I picked out several of them, I decided to put five of them on the fireplace mantle.


I love love small white pumpkins! I had to get some but you know what my 6 year old said? "Mom, white punpkins are dumb. It's not orange."

"Yeah, son I know that... isn't that obvious?"


I was wamtomg to do this ever since I finished making the shelf! During the Summer, I decorated the shelf with lots of whites. Now, I've added some stuff, removed some stuff, and moved some stuff around, and created a fall look.


I am not big into Halloween decorations, but I am all for fall decorations. It is so fun to celebrate and enjoy each season, don't you think so?

I want to pick a perfect day and go on a "leaf hunt" with my children. I think it will be so fun to do some art projects with them. Do you have any fun family traditions or activities that you do during the fall? If you do, please let me know, I would love to hear from you all!

Down Memory Lane---Quilts for Michael ---

A while ago I went down memory lane, remembering the quilts I made for Christopher. I am going to do the same thing for Michael's quilts today.

For the first one, I used a pattern by The Ginger Cookie Company called "X's". I fell in love with the design! I used my scrap pieces for most of the parts. The hardest part was hand quilting it in the areas with seams, it was very hard to quilt. So, if I ever decide to make this quilt again, I would machine quilt it for sure.


The second quilt is my original design. I just drew things that I thought future Michael would like. I also included his initials too. This quilt holds special memories for me. I held him and we pointed out all the things on the quilt and he smiled and giggled while we did that.

I guess somethings are so precious that you will never forget.


The Third one is his circus quilt. I found the design in one of the embroidery books and designed the wall hanging for it. I wanted to do an American Flag theme room for the boys in the future and thought that this might be a good decore on the wall. When I look at it now, I think the animal rights group may not like this though...


And of couse, I did this flannel throw for Michael too. He uses it all the time.


Sometimes I make quilts to put in a show or just to hang it on the wall. I also make quilts that are meant be used. I feel warm and fuzzy when my loved ones are wrapped in the quilts I have made. I feel like I am giving them secret hugs.

In the near future, I will take you down memory lane for Rachel's quilts.

Thank you for coming down memory lane with me!

T-Shirt Makeover and More

I found these t-shirts at Gap when I found the socks I used for the little girls leg warmer tutorial. They were reduced to $4.99 and ON TOP OF THAT, they were having a special sale for an additional 40% off on sale items. I only paid $ 2.99 each.





I didn't buy them just because they were cheap. I had a project I wanted to try for a while. I was inspired by a tutorial on this blog and decided to give it a try.

You will need:

2 t-shirts

Matching Thread (I used DMC floss)

1. Cut circles out of one t-shirt. I made one template out of cereal box. The largest circle is 2 3/4". Then cut two smaller circles to put on top of it. I made 15 sets to cover the whole front neck line.


2. I folded the layered circle in 1/4 and sewed.


3. Then opened it, then sewed in different direction to make a crinkled look.


4. Sew them onto the other t-shirt by hand. Then it is ready to wear!


I saw a pretty t-shirt in the JCrew catalog and have been keeping an eye on them. This is a great way to make a look alike t-shirt inexpensively. I have to tell you though, after I washed it, those flowers layed flat and didn't look the same as in the picture, so, I sewed some of the petals of each flower together so it would hold the open flower look better.

I still have some left over t-shirt. It was really a good amount of fabrics, so I went through all my fabrics and found a match. It was the Amy Butler fabric I used in the headband tutorial. Then, I made Rachel a new tunic dress! I made it a little bigger (well... like 2 sizes bigger) so she can wear it for a while. I had so much fun with those projects.



Six dollars for these two finished items, I am very happy about that. How was my tutorial week? It was a lot of work to do three tutorials in one week but I also had a lot of fun! Especially when I got comments from you all letting me know how much fun you had or that you made the project for your loved ones. It is very rewarding.

Thank you all for enjoying this week with me, I will see you on Monday!

Tutorial ~Romantic Cardigan Transformation ~

Do you have a cardigan you have been wanting to spice up a little? I had one in my closet, I was thinking of making a corsage for it... Then, since I have been in a romantic mood lately, I decided to add ruffles and lace. What can be more femanine and romantic?

You will need:

A Cardigan

Cotton Lace

A Roll of Sheer Ribbon

Matching Thread

Fray Check

1. Pin the lace along the button line of the cardigan. Sew. I purposely made the lengths of the laces different. Eventhough I love the romantic look, I also wanted to achieve a "one-of-a-kind" look.


2. I used sheer ribbon for the next row. Make ruffles out of the ribbon (go here for instructions on how to make ruffles). After you decide how long you want it to be, seal the ends with fray check. I also, made the lengh of left and right uneven and shorter than the first row. The trick with this row, as you are pinning the ribbon, is to twist it several times. That way it gives a more interesting look than just sewing them flat.


3. Repeat the prcess. Alternate the lace and ribbon.


4. Test Run-- in my case, I am going to ask my hubby to take me out on a date!


I thought about adding more texture by using different materials, but I didn't. You can totally do that, more mix and match would be fun too! Since I used sheer ribbon, I will probably wash this in the gentle cycle of the washing machine and won't put it in the dryer. The ribbon might shrink. I am not willing to find out the hard way.

There is one more tutorial I want to share this week. I have so much going on this weekend, if I can deliver it I will be so happy, if I can't...Oh well, you have to wait little bit longer.

I hope you are all enjoying this fall weather, what are your plans for this weekend?

Tutorial ~ Little Girl's Ruffled Shirt ~

Have you been to the mall lately? Or, looked through the pages of some catalogs?
There are many pretty clothes out there for this Fall. My favorites are romantic shirts. Lots of ruffles. I was looking through a J. Crew catalog and saw some cute shirts for little girls. If you have been reading my blog, you would know me by now... I am not going to pay $30-$50 on a kid's shirt that they are going to out grow in a few months, even though I love the way it looks.

So, here is the shirt I came up with. Let's have some fun!

I bought this shirt at Wal-Mart for $3.50. I am going to use a camisole that is too low cut for me and I hardly wear. The color matched the shirt, this will be the ruffles.


1, Cut the strips. It is best to have 1 1/2 to 2 more length of where you want to put the ruffle strips. Since this is for a little girl's shirt, I cut the stirps 2" wide. Great thing is, you don't need to worry about the edges with T-shirt material. It will not flay.


2, Using big stitches, sew strips.


3. Pull one string to make ruffles. Even out the fabric to get beartiful ruffles.


4. Place them on the shirt first to see if you need more ruffles and where to place them. When you put the shirt in a dryer, the ruffles will shrink a little, so, it is better to have few more rows than you think you need.


5. Pin a ruffle strip and sew. Sew right next to the big stitches, so, you can pull the big stitches out afterwards. I started sewing from the bottom row and worked my way up. The space between sewed lines is about 1/2"; really I just eye-balled it. if you want a more fuller look, you can place the next row closer to the first one and sew more rows.


6. Done!



I didn't have a chance to let Rachel wear the shirt to take a picture, but I think she would love it.(I do!)

Oh, speaking of Rachel, our little girl debuted in an infomercial! If you are interested, go here and check it out! It was such a fun experience and the whole family (I mean extended families too) enjoyed watching this over and over again. You did such an awesome job Rachel!

New Items for My Etsy Store

I finally felt relieved to have shipped the items to Japan. Then, I noticed that I needed to make more Little Girl's Handbags for my etsy store.

I just finished them yesterday, took pictures and now, they are in my store. I think I am going to take a small break tonignt after this post.

I have been in a mood to restyle and create clothing. Next week I will be posting some of the projects I am working on now.

They will be easy and inexpensive projects, I promise.

Well, everyone, enjoy the new fall weather, see you all on Monday!