A Simple Little Sewing Project

How to cover a cube......

Like these.....

when I say simple, I mean really, really simple. First of all, when I started this I realized my sewing machine wasn't working. arggggg. After a few choice words I did this:

So....always the one to improvise (that should be the name of my blog....how to improvise). anyway hot glue gun to the rescue! See how simple this sewing project is??? you don't even need a sewing machine!

First things first.

I found these cubes at IKEA www.ikea.com. oh, be still my heart. I LOVE that place. Second thing, the fabric on these cubes came from Lewis and Sheron www.LSFabrics.com. oh be still my heart. I LOVE that place.

Now, this is what the cube (49.00) looks like (after you do a simple put together)

1) Measure the top both ways and add 1/2". This was 20 1/2" square.

2) Measure the length and add 1/2" for the seam at the top and 1 1/2" for the hem. This length was 14 1/2". so....14 1/2 + 1/2" + 1 1/2" = what......I think 16 1/2" correct?

3) Measure all around the cube and add 1" for the seam allowance. (that would be 1/2" per side) This one was 83" (with the 1" allowance)

Now, cut out the square top and cut out the skirt (the 83" x 16 1/2 piece)

On the skirt turn under 1/2" and press

Then turn under 1" and press.

Get that glue gun good n hot (but don't burn yourself....you will never forgive me)

Glue the hem of the skirt.

Then turn under one side of the skirt 1/2" and press. Lay that turned under side over the other side of the skirt by 1/2". Then hot glue that. This would be wrong side over right side (I could explain this better if I was sewing it.) This will make a complete circle in the skirt.

Now, fold that skirt in half starting at the seam point and clip or mark the opposite side. Put the seam and that clip together and do the same thing on the two opposing sides. This will mark the four corners of your top piece so you will be exactly on target when gluing the top piece to the skirt. Sorry no pic for this ooops.

Pin the top piece (right sides together) to the skirt. Be sure to match the corners with the clip or markings. Be sure to notice what a mess my art/craft room is...oopsy.

Hot glue the entire area that is pinned. Hot glue between the fabrics right where the pin is attached.

Turn right side out.

This is the outcome! I don't plan to use this fabric, just had some leftovers for the demo.

And... I have to show you what my friend Mike Johnson made for Callen's sleeping porch. Oh summer, please get here!

Good luck Chickies! oh,,,,,don't forget! contest ends tomorrow. Scroll down to enter!

STOP THE CONTEST, STOP THE CONTEST!!! Just kiddin...

"Lollipop Love"

3 yr old project for Trinity School Spotlight on Art

Just want to talk about.....www.spotlightonart.com I am one of the lucky new artist displaying work at this amazing event. And when I say amazing, I mean AMAZING. I've never, ever, ever seen moms (and dads) work on something like these ladies and gents. So organized. These chickies have this thing down to a science. How wonderful to work so hard for the greater good of your children. The school is Trinity School in Atlanta. They have some truly incredible artist participating. Like my idol Steve Penley. They also asked some of the artist to work with the classes to paint their own projects. They will sell them in the silent and live auction. Fingers crossed that my class makes it to the LIVE!!! I worked with the 3 yr. old class and I can't tell you how fun that was. Cutest kids you've EVER seen! oh I had the best day there!

Just a sample of the work I will be displaying: after that, scroll on down and enter my contest to win my painting "Pansies" !! just 4 more days!! come on, you can do it!!!

"Angel Love"

for Spotlight on Art

"Three Trees II"

My cosmetic bags will also be available at the Artist Market!

I'm Givin It Away!!!

Okay Chickies, I told myself that I was only going to do this if I got at least 20 comments. Please know that I WANT to hear from you! Don't be shy! Even if I don't know you,,,,,I'm begging you!!! I did, however get over 100 hits on my site yesterday so I'm given it away. "IT" is my beloved "Pansies I" painting. I wanted to give away something RED in honor of Valentines Day and this was the one thing I had that is big time RED!

So.......tell me your favorite dessert. If it is the same as mine (and I'm the only one who knows) then you win! Then I'm going to share the recipe with you!!! In case of a tie, I'll draw a name.

"Pansies" is 15 x 30 on 2" block canvas, unframed with a retail price of da da da da!!!! 450 smackers!!!

Good luck, post only once but you've got to post here for a chance to win!!!!

Contest ends.........February 1st at 12 p.m.

"Pansies I"

15 x 30

Mixed media with heavy varnish

450.00

I'm thinkin about doin another art givaway.....

What do you think??????

I have gotten sidetracked....or maybe obsessed (with food?)

Help!!!!

I've gotten sidetracked!!! What am I doing? I am supposed to be blogging about my art for Spotlight on Art (Trinity School), and I'm doing FOOD and arts, and crafts, and family and so on and so on and so on. SO I'll stop it right now!!! From now on until the art show, I'm blogging about.....art......

Inspirations:

"The Lost Boat"

30 x 30 Mixed media on canvas

A storm was approaching out here at Lake Oconee. I looked outside to see a boat had gotten loose from it's owner. Possibly one from the Nature Center next door. I was looking at the sky and it was this dreary yet beautiful bluish green color. So this is it....The lost boat

"God's Soldiers"

20 x 24 mixed media on canvas

I have to admit, I have worried in the past that my angels are too bold, too strong, not soft enough like we envision. You know, the sweet little angels you see all over the place. Well a friend of mine the other day told me that in the Bible angels are considered God's soldiers. That they really look strong [like soldiers] because they take care of us. WOW!!! I loved hearing that! I love my angel series and hope you will too!

Enjoy!

Kendall

Just plain ole "spaghetti"

I can't believe I'm giving away my favorite recipe.....

Okay, fool proof, guarenteed to make Mr. Wonderful happy, as well as everyone else in the fam. Just plain ole spaghetti. Well if you wanna get really ITalian it's bolognese sauce but we folks here at the Boggs' house just call it "Spaghetti". (since we're not Italian) They come a runnin when momma has "spaghetti" on the stove.

Start with these simple items:

2 lbs. ground chuck

1 large can whole tomatoes

1 large can crushed tomatoes (be careful not to buy that stuff with all the spices in it.)

1 can of large tomato sauce

2 cans of large tomato paste

2 packages of McCormick's (I guess) I couldn't fine Lowry's but Lowry's is what I usually use (this is where I cheat) but it's worth it.

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

1 tablespoon sea salt

secret ingredient (we'll get to that in a bit)

Brown the ground beef really well adding the oregano and the sea salt

Add the McCormicks packages and 1 can of water. Mixed it up really well

Then add all the other cans of stuff. Cook forever, I mean like all day, bring it to a boil (don't let it splatter on you cause you'll never forget that one, take it down to a simmer and let it go ...like 4 hours or so. DO NOT forget to stir frequently. This is not a "let it go on it's on" kinda dish.

Don't forget a really good glass of vino or two, or three, heck, why not the whole bottle???? while you're cookin um, um, um, um, um.......

The Secret Ingredient -----can anyone guess yet????? shuuu don't tell!

There it is!!! One HEaping tablespoon of Nestles chocolate - makes is yummerlicious - put this in about 1 1/2 hour before serving. Remember, don't burn it...have I said that enough yet? I'm only saying that because I can't tell you how many times I've burned my "spaghetti"

While simmering you can do these other things:

Like Grate fresh - yes, fresh, not that packaged stuff, not that stuff in a can but FRESH parmesan cheese.

And make some garlic bread. I use a cheese slicer for the Plugra butter and lots of really good fresh smashed garlic

Make those noodles - I use only angle hair pasta. and yes, I drain them and rinse them. Too bad all you chefs out there that say don't do it. I'm rebelling.

There ya have it. Why did my pic have to be so blurred????? So sorry. oh, boy was it GOooooooooood!

By the way, the left overs are even better (especially if you freeze the sauce) oh be still my heart!

Family

My Family

I wanna talk about my family.

Husband:

(we have been married for 28 yrs. yep) T-W-E-N-T-Y E-I-G-H-T years,,,,,that's a long time.

All these bloggers out there that I follow have names for their husbands. Ree has what is it?Marborl man or somethin, Darb's has one as well. So, Mine has to have one too. At the risk of sounding "Pollyana" I'm naming mine "Mr. Wonderful". He's not always "Mr. Wonderful" mind you. Sometimes he can be Mr. "NOT so wonderful" well, a lot of times he can be that and I'll be sure to let you know when that happens....but...Let me give you an example of "Mr. Wonderful". He drove Evey all the way from here (Greensboro) to Bham back to her mom and dad. What grandfather would do that with a 15 month old after us keeping her for a week and a half just so his daughter could work on her house and so I could paint. He is always SO there for the kids, willing to do anything and everything for them. For Christmas he did this 12 days of Christmas thing where every day for 12 days I had a surprise awaiting somewhere hidden. One day it was in the fridge! 3 days when I was at the beach working on a house that I'm doing the design work on (another blog) he made sure those gifts were hidden somewhere in my car. On the third day [of Christmas] my gift was sitting in my garage all white and sparkly with tan leather interior, one of those little swoosh signs on the front and surprise! It didn't even have a top!!!. The other gifts weren't so elaborate, like an automatic soap dispenser. But I love it just as much as my Lexus!!!! Well.........

My Kids:

Let's start with...

Eric. (he really doesn't look like this....he doesn't sport a mustache at all)

Eric is Jordan's hubby. What a catch. I mean the BEST out of the sea. He is a wonderful husband to her, a terrific father and a great dad. They say you always marry someone like your favorite parent. Well Eric and I are JUST alike :)))). I am the ONLY one who can get his humor.....And we both always get made fun of.

Jordan.

special, sweet, smart, a fantastic mom who has a hard time controlling Evey because she's always laughing at her. but,,,,she's always so funny!!! She's also learning to sew, one of the things she never wanted to do growing up (and I am SO proud of her!) , I guess there is no better time than now! I smile at amazement at what a wonderful person her father and I have raised.

Gregory.

Did ya happen to see him on the sideline of the BCS championship bowl???? you know, the one where Alabama kicked Texas'....a--, um, behind? He was the one with the brand new camera taking 3000 shots. I am SO proud of this kid I just can't even tell you. Like a lot of boys, college was not first on his mind. His daddy and I stuck with him, he took a year off and went back...even made the Dean's List! Now he works for the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. What a great job! He is just like his father and that's the best compliment I can give him

Callen.

Oh, my sweet, sweet precious Callen. My baby. I was so much like her when I was her age. She has talents she doesn't even begin to know exists in that head of hers. She is beautiful, smart, talented and has a hilarious dry sense of gab. She's a junior at Samford and is majoring in history. What a fun person to be around and I am in awe of her love of life and her love of the Lord. What an unbelievable blessing she has been to her dad and me.

Evelyn Grace.....

okay, what do you say about the love of your life???? She's cute, sweet, wild, a sweet little girl with a bit of a tomboy (she WILL learn to play tennis and to throw a ball, oh, and swing a golf club). I salivate every time I get to see her, I wanna eat her up. On the 16 months she's been on earth God has blessed me every day with her presence just by knowing she is there. I love that little chicky to death......And the fact that she already likes Tory Burch....she already has my debit card....

Oh, and me....did I mention I love dogs?

It's a Vegetable Beef/cornbread kinda night

This is my grandmother's yummy, and I mean yuuuummmmmmie vegetable beef soup recipe. Key is to let it simmer for about 2 1/2 hours.

Here we go!

Start with one very tarnished copper soup pot

Brown about 1 1/2 lbs of stew meat with some garlic and sea salt

oh, add a little EVOO

Ingredients:

1) 2 large cans of diced tomatoes

2) 1 package of Bear's Creek Vegetable beef soup mix

3) 1 can of tomato sauce

4) 4 small cans of white shoepeg corn (optional)

5) 1 handful of rice

6) 1 handful of elbow macaroni

7) Sea salt and pepper

oh, and the stew meat (but that's been covered)

After the stew meat browns, dump in all ingredients EXCEPT the macaroni and rice. Add about a can full of water

Key ingredient....NOW THIS IS A MUST ACCORDING TO MY GRANDMOTHER.

A round soup bone. Not a square one, not one of those random looking weird shaped ones, but a ROUND one. Just ask the butcher. The key is the marrow that comes out of the inside. ewe?

Almost done! after simmering for 2 1/2 hrs. About 1 hour before serving add 1 handful of rice and one handful of macaroni (don't let it burn!)

Now to the dessert:

My friend Cindy Sturdivant's corn bread...OMG just kill me right here, it is THAT good.....she told me she would have to kill me if I give out her secret ingredient, but I'll take my chances.

Ingredients:

White Lily Cornmeal mix

Follow directions....

The key is to add 1/2 stick of butter to a VERY hot iron skillet..

oh, notice this butter....I'm a big fan of Plugra butter,,,,oh my, be still my hungry, salivating heart.

Mix it all up in a red bowl...well, I guess it could be green, or white, I'm just a red girl. (cause they match the bottom of my favorite shoes.

Get that iron skillet really, really hot in a 425 oven

Lookin good yet? just wait!

There's that Plugra butter (found at Publix)

Hungry yet? (and it's not even 7 a.m) we had this last night

Enjoy Chickies...Sissy (my grandmother would be SO proud!)