San Francisco

It's that time of year again, when I turn my craft blog into a travel blog. This time, Dan and I flew out to California to road trip it! We flew into California, picked up our rental car, and checked into our hotel in San Francisco. It was a really long day of travel so, after we settled in, our first stop was the highly recommended, Burma Superstar. I got a ginger lemonade, the burmese samusas, tea leaf salad (aka crack salad), and the Superstar vegetarian noodles. Everything was so fantastic and I wish I could bring this place back to Milwaukee.

This morning we headed over the bay to Emeryville for brunch at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe. The food was fantastic! I got a pomegranate lemonade and the California Blackstone special (toasted ciabatta, tomato, avocado, two poached eggs, hollandaise and chives). It was really cool to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, too. After brunch, we drove up some crazy winding roads to Muir Woods but it was so insanely packed we would have had to walk a couple of miles just to get to the woods. 


Next up is dinner with friends at an Indian place and a Jonny Corndawg show at The Utah. The scenery here is amazing, believe me, but I have a feeling this trip is going to be ALL about the food. Blogging might be a little tricky, though because I forgot the cord for my digital camera. For now, I'll have to rely on the sub-par photos from my phone. Maybe I can blog as much as I can on the go (so I don't forget!) and then supplement all of the entries later with better photos, once I get home.  

Furoshiki 2

Here's a more fashion-y pose with one of my furoshiki bags after we hit the town for a fancy dinner at Moto:

Furoshiki Purse

This project is definitely one of my favorites. It involves the Japanese technique of folding fabric, Furoshiki. It can be used to wrap anything: gifts, groceries, and even wine bottles. My aunt found several YouTube video tutorials for me and my friends and we all picked it up in a snap. My aunt has a legendary fabric stash, so as soon as we decided to make purses, the sky was the limit!

Here's a great tutorial video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC7MH3EzBWM

A stylish handbag with no sewing! What could be better than that? 

Here are the three (showing restraint!!) purses I made:

These bags were so easy and quick to make. I can't wait to make more!

Hex Nut Bracelets

I hosted a little crafting get together at my place today and we attempted this project. I love projects that use things you can find around the house or the hardware store! All you need is twine and small hex nuts. I would have loved to use gold, but could only find silver.

I love how mine turned out! Kind of a Skeletor angle, but you get the idea:

Special bonus "craft" - I tried out a new cocktail, the Diamond Fizz!  

2 oz gin

1 oz fresh lemon juice

1 tsp sugar

chilled champagne

1. Pour the gin, lemon juice and sugar into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

2. Shake, shake, shake!

3. Strain into a highball glass (with ice optional and also I used wine glasses?)

4. top with champagne

Braided Bracelets

A couple of friends and I got together to tackle this project. This is a great craft if you have some old t-shirts that you don't wear anymore. The tutorial was a little confusing, so we looked for a YouTube video and that helped a lot.

Here are all the ones we made piled together (mine are the three in front, olive, gray, and teal):

I normally don't wear bracelets because they get in my way or clank around, but these are perfect and comfortable. 

Dress Altered

I bought this vintage dress from an antique store a while ago and it was too big. It's the first project using my new dress form, Dolly, and it turned out perfectly! I just pinned each side and sewed it up. So much easier than trying to pin on myself!

Today, Milwaukee got a freak 80 degree day, hence my Heidi braids, and we're all hoping it sticks around.

Sewing Help

My sewing projects have been made possible by very generous family and friends. My grandma is an extremely talented knitter and sewer and when she moved into an assisted living home, I got her gorgeous sewing box, filled to the brim with every sewing notion known to woman. This isn't just any sewing box, though, it's a treasured piece of furniture.

My other most treasured sewing gadget was given to me by my aunt, MaryLee, who supports me in all of my crafting endeavors. This dress form will help so much with clothes making. Dan helped me set all of the dials to my own measurements. 

Amy, my good friend and sewing guru, told me that a dress form needs a name, so I chose the name Dolly!

This Hawaiian dress needs to be taken in and I can't wait to get started on it. Starting this project will definitely be made easier with the dress form but also because my friend Morgan was kind enough to offer to take out all of the side stitches for me! In Ellie's world, it takes a village to make a dress. Ha!