My First project

So since I am pregnant... I decided that my first project should be baby related. Not wanting to use any of the unique fabric from my stash... I grabbed an old baby tee that has shrunk to the point that my belly hangs out, even when I am not preggers. I grabbed a burp cloth I was given and went to town. The shirt was baby yellow so I decided that it needed an applique to spruce it up. I ended up delving into my stash anyway... pulled out an awesome yellow print. I searched through my cookie cutters to find the perfect shape for my first applique. I found a star. PERFECT! I thought to myself. I traced the star onto the back of he fabric witha Martha Stewart pen because I couldn't find my fabric marker that disappears and then applied it to the right side of my baby tee. I pinned it ever so neatly ( or so I thought) then asked my wonderful husband Mark to put my sewing machine on the table and ran down stairs to try my first applique ( of course not quite sure if I was using the right technique but hey at least I am trying it).

Hmmm... ok so the star applique is not perfect but it was a start. I quickly ran back up stairs to get the back of the baby tee I cut for the burp cloth. Pressed them with an iron... the shirt seemed a bit wrinkled and I have heard a million times to press everything. Pinned them together... ran down stairs again (ok plodded in my pregnant state) then proceeded to sew them together.

Result... not too bad. I gave it to my husband to inspect and he nodded with approval. See he was homeschooled and part of it included lots of sewing so I have to admit not only is he my tech support for my computer and my iphone. He is also my tech support for sewing...and he can also pick out my mistakes with crocheting!

With that I will see you tomorrow as I post pictures of my burp cloth! I welcome any comments on learning to sew.

So I have decided to really learn how to sew !

Ok... so I have been pregnant for 37 weeks... the house is kind of ready.... I have been on bedrest for approximately 3 and a half weeks. So I have done what any other good loyal crafter would have done. I have decided to add a new craft to my life. SEWING ! WOOOOO HOOOO ! I have dabbled in sewing here and there but thats it I am going to learn. I feel the same way now that I did when I took up crocheting approximately 6 years ago. I have always wanted to learn how to sew and I really want to be very good at it. So here I am armed with my stash of fabric (i always new I would use it someday... yes I am a craft stasher), my taylor 935 FA sewing machine, my owners manual and some great sewing books or at least they looked cool enough to buy and some guts... here I go. I kind of feel like Julie Powell who blogged about learning to cook through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking... but oh well here I go not afraid....

Earth Day - A Day Late

Belated Happy Earth Day! What a great planet we live on! I have been involved in the "GREEN" movement before it was COOL. I was a young environmentalist as I started in 6th grade being involved with an environmental science camp with Mr. Stern and Mr.Szigethy (sorry if I spelled that wrong). I did this for 2 summers and we were fortunate enough to visit ecofriendly sites all through out Long Island. My favorite trips were Caumsett State Park, canoeing the Nissequogue and traveling out east to Orient Point. I then got involved in the environmental club, hiking and then took an enlightening course called A.P. Environmental Science. As I got older I became an avid hiker and naturalist explorer. My husband and I have a national park pass that allows us to visit many national parks around us... so far we have visited Rocky Mountain National Park, Yosemite National Park, Acadia National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Muir Woods. (Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park are my favorites!) So all that background information was so that I could lead up to my EARTH DAY CHALLENGE for my readers..... I will try for 1 year (hopefully longer) to use as little plastic bags as possible. For every plastic bag I use from today till next earth day I will donate .25 cents to the National Park fund. If you would like to participate please post a comment! I will keep a tally on my website for my weekly plastic bag count. So HAPPY EARTH DAY to all ! Be green and Stay green! Remember Kermit the Frog..its not easy being green! but its worth it!

Becco

While this review is way overdue... I promised that I would. So last year ...literally a year ago. My friends and I went to go see Martha Stewart. After a very exciting show that was about bring your kids to work day we had reservations at Becco. Becco is owned by the Bastianich Family as Lidia Bastianich as the matriarch. The cuisine is authentic italian. My friends and I arrived early as we underestimated our travel time from the studio in Chelsea to the restaurant in the theater district. We were greeted warmly as the restaurant was just opening for the day. We were escorted to the bar where the bartender was friendly and introduced us to Lidia and her sons wine collection. The information was excellent and the bartender was pleasant and well informed. We were then seated and presented with the menus... and what a menu it was! All of us opted for the very affordable and very tasty prix fix pasta lunch menu. I selected a gorgeous white wine from Lidia's vineyards that was clean, crisp and very tasty. We started our meal with the antipasti offering which consisted of grilled octopus, swordfish, fresh mozzarella and many other tasty offerings. Among our bread offerings we enjoyed a great long thin bread stick that was buttery and perfectly crispy. The pasta offerings were rigatoni with a fresh pomodoro sauce, ravioli with broccoli rabe and fettucine bolognese. The best part is that I did not have to pick just one ! ( As a Korean American I love to graze and taste as opposed to eat one single flavor... We put out a large spread in even the most casual meals!) My favorite was probably the rigatoni in the fresh pomodoro sauce. The pasta was perfectly al dente and the sauce was the best I have ever had. What a great meal ! I highly recommend this great restaurant as a place to go while in the city and its easy on the wallet! What a deal! My hat is off to Lidia and the whole Bastianich family !

Missing In Action

It has been a long time since I have been able to blog but I have "written" so many blogs in my head already. So many things have happened. I have not heard back from the producers at Martha Stewart but we shall see. God is faithful. I have been hard at work trying to make my Etsy business sucessful (http://www.eastendhomearts.etsy.com/). My sales have risen with the onset of cooler weather. Praise God! I am now up to 12 sales. I have also been working on patterns for sale as well. I will hopefully be able to blog on a more regular basis now. I have also switched my full time job from a office setting to now I am a physical therapist in a school setting. I am so excited. I hope all is well with my readers and hope to hear from you all soon. Don't hesitate to post. Please check out my other new blog at knitterswithamission.blogspot.com . It is a great place to check out charity projects for crafters alike.
Suzy
Creative Director- East End Home Arts

Maidstone Arms Inn- East Hampton

What a week !!!! My husband and I have been recovering from a busy time in our life. He just finished a semester in school and I am finishing a year of having three jobs as well as starting my passion East End Home Arts and the edible division East End Edibles. I was destressing on thursday (my birthday) when ....my husband came home and told me to pack my bags. When I asked him where we were going he said he didnt want to tell me . Then I packed and we headed off to one of my favorite local restaurants O Sole Mio in Stony Brook. I had my favorite dish cavatelli with pink cream sauce, asparagas, spinach and mushrooms.... yummy. We headed home to grab some stuff we forgot and headed out east.... to EAST HAMPTON :-) We checked into the gorgeous Maidstone Arms Inn. What a fabulous surprise. We headed to town and went to Starbucks to chill out and enjoy some soy chai tea lattes no foam no water of course ! Then we headed back to the hotel to relax in our room and enjoy destressing. What a great night sleep we had! The next day we slept in (YES !!!!!) and got ready to head out to Montauk to continue destressing ! My next post will be a review of Purl by the Sea... a local yarn shop in Montauk.

Martha Stewart

Hi All.....
So I have decided to start a blog. I am an avid crafter and foodie. Last Thursday 4/24/08 my friends Sara, Suzanne and Laurel went to see the Martha Stewart Show. It was bring your child to workday so the show was focused on kids. We had a great time. The warm up artist Joey Cola (don't know if i spelled that right... sorry joey) was amazing! really energetic. He made me want to use the energy i have to be a warm up artist as well. It was really cool to see her set. It looks a lot like the one on TV (of course ...lol) The coolest part is that at the end of the show after the taping. Joey asked the audience if anyone else had a question for her and i raised my hand and he asked me what it was. I told him of my new entrepreneurship on etsy (http://www.eastendhomearts.etsy.com/) and that I wanted to ask her if she had any tips for me. And I got to ask her a question.... so exciting. She asked me what I did and I said knitting and crocheting. She also stated that she has had a lot of etsyians on the show lately and that if she liked my work that she would have me on the show! She asked me if I had anything ..all I had is a coffee cup cozy to use with my Starbucks that morning. So she told me to talk to her producers after and I did. So I emailed her and I will see what happens !!!!! I'm excited. I love to craft and she is the best at what she does. Next blog.....review of Becco (Lidia Bastianich's restaurant in the theater district)