Tie One On Tuesday

Keeping up with the beach and summer time theme this week, I thought the best start for a "Tute'ing Tuesday would be "Tie one on" Tuesday with yummy fruity Tiki drinks. Helping me out this go around is a guy you all know and love-OMP! He is a drinkmaster 5000 as well as a Tiki drink history buff and he looks really hot mixing a drink, just saying.....

Let's start off with a regional favorite (okay, so it might not be a regional favorite in 2009 but it was in 1962) Panorama Punch.

Western Hotels set it sights on Panorama Punch for the 1962 Worlds Fair in Seattle . The drink was created by The Eye Of The Needle Restaurant (that's on top of the Space Needle kiddies) . I think after a few of these, you could see for miles and miles.

Panorama Punch
4 1/2 ounces Light Puerto Rican Rum
2 1/4 ounces Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice
4 1/2 ounces of Orange Juice
1 ounce Fresh Lime Juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup

Blend with 8 ounces crushed ice for 10 seconds. Pour into two Collins glasses, topping each with two or three ice cubes and a lime shell.
You get two drinks out of this recipe. One for each hand.


The next drink scared me while OMP was mixing it. This concoction packs a powerful punch! This drink originated at the Bali Hai restaurant in San Diego, CA and up until 1980's it was served in a Mr. Bali Hai mug. I'm sad to say that this drink is no longer available at the restaurant (a collective BOO!) but if you follow this simple recipe, you won't need to buy a plane ticket, rent a car, find the restaurant and demand to take hostages if you don't get the drink . Not that I have done this, I've just heard stories......


Mr. Bali Hai
1 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice
1 ounce sweet and sour
1/2 ounce Hiram Walker Coffee Brandy
3/4 ounce white Puerto Rican Rum
1 ounce Myer's Rum
Shake with a large scoop of crushed ice and pour into a Mr. Bali Hai mug. I promise you, after a few of these, you will begin to look like the mug.

If you like these drinks and want to be the envy at your next party, BBQ or office event, be sure to check out Beachbum Berry's Intoxica, a handy little booklet of vintage Tiki drink recipes. Dog and swizzle sticks not included.

Bottoms Up!

Life's a Beach!

Summer has officially started and what better way to beat the heat than to stay inside, turn the fan on high and watch a few movies.

Can't make it to the beach this year, well don't worry your pretty little head Gidget, I've got the cure for all that ails you. My first pick for all you gremmies is Beach Blanket Bingo. It is fifth in the series of Annette and Frankie beach movies and is possibly the best known. It has the standard, boy get girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. This is all done with fun little ditties, dancing and a mermaid. A few of the stars to grace the movie are Paul Lynde, Don Rickles and a very young Linda Evans. Frankie and Annette look ever so stylish whether it be surfing, skydiving or singing on the beach.

Still trying to cool down? Well, summer sizzles even hotter with Psycho Beach Party. This movie originally started as an off Broadway play and finally made it to the big screen. If you do nothing else with this movie, go buy the soundtrack. It's not a request, it's an order. Two words...Los Straitjackets. I digress, a very young Lauren Ambrose(before she was all dark and depressed) plays a Gidget style character with a twist. This isn't your father's beach movie. Don't expect a family friendly film. It has murder, mayhem and a little bondage thrown in for good measure. I didn't think it was possible to make those themes so cute and fun but somehow the movie pulls it off.

Afraid to go into the water? Well you should be cause there are strange things lurking in the ocean bottom. Horror of Party Beach will make you think twice of about sneaking off for that midnight swim or a day time swim for that matter. Hot rodders,toxic waste, rock n' roll music and a monster that looks like he ate all the hot dogs at your BBQ make up this mishmash of beach based crazy fun. Made on a budget of $1.98(someone had to pay for the hotdogs), this one gets the kittykill seal of approval.


So,pull the wedgie out of your bathing suit,slather some sun screen on your tender parts and head to the nearest video store to pick up these beach favorites. If you play your cards right, you'll be surfing like Frankie in no time.

Scrappy Dog Sunday!

Today's scrappy dog is Dexter! Dexter is a ladies man wrapped in a fluff coat! Let's learn more about the man, the myth, Dexter....

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I'm a short glass of fluff and attitude. A little bit Pomeranian, a little bit Chihuahua... how can you go wrong? I love the ladies and love to show them my moves. When I'm not busy with that, you can find me napping on or under the bed, tearing the limbs off and stuffing out of toys, or just generally being super ornery and cute.


Pet peeves: getting haircuts, being left alone at home and squirrels.

What are some causes you believe in?

You're expecting me to say PETA, aren't you? Well, too bad. My mama talks about the Portland Women's Crisis Line a lot, and I've been there a few times to hang out with her. I don't like violence, unless its me using violence to show my toys who's boss, so PWCL is a cause I can get behind.

I'm also part of the anti-cat and anti-squirrel movement.

What's your favorite thing to do on a sunny day?
Lately I like chasing fresh strawberries, mint and basil leaves in the yard. I do enjoy going to the dog park, but sometimes I get grumpy with other mutts who get all up in my business. Sometimes I just like to sun myself on the porch.



What's your outlook on life?
Let's be honest. On the outside I'm a macho ladies' man, but on the inside I'm a soft little marshmallow. Life is great as long as I have treats, toys and my people around to keep me company. And no squirrels. I'll eat them (or try, at least).


One word to sum you up.
Debonair.

Oh Dexter! You have won over this lady's heart!

I love collecting!

I love collecting! I love the adventure of hunting and finding new objects. I'm lucky that my husband is a collector too, but the downfall is we have A LOT of stuff between us. Right now I'm collecting vintage needlebooks. They are functional but so silly at the same time. Here are a few of my favorites.


I love the image of women sitting around sewing together. They look so happy and excited to be stitching.


I found the red scissor needlebook in St. Paul. I love that you got a free needlebook with your scissors. They should do that promo again ;)The Singer is from my mother-in-law. There are some scary needles in that thing.


I usually don't collect a lot of the same image but I have 3 of these-maybe cause they are so cute but more than likely it's because I forgot I had 2 other ones.


I LOVE the girl on this one. She is so pretty. What a wonderful gift for "my darling"-a needlebook!



This one is also one of my favorites. It's a souvenir postcard. I really wish they would bring these back. You could hem your pants and have fond memories of your vacation



Once again, very happy women sewing. I know when I'm stitching something up, I'm equally as happy (well, most of the time).

What about you? What do you collect?

Stitch up a feeling with Sublime Stitching Stationary

Did I mention that I love Sublime Stitching and Jenny Hart? She is the one of the main reasons that I got into embroidery. I love her patterns and kits. I most recently got the Sublime Stitching Stationary set. First off, the packaging is SO cute! The top and bottom of the kit is stitched. The inside is a little folder with 4 skeins of floss, 2 needles and 5 cards with envelopes.


The plus,the cards are preprinted and you punch the little dots and start stitching. Also, you pretty much get everything you need to make the cards. The patterns are very cute and there are a few familiar faces in the mix. If you want to cover up your stitching, the kit suggest to cover it up with a piece of pretty paper.



The only downside about the stationary is that I think some of of the lines/dots could be closer together on the curves, cause they are a little hard to do.

I think that you should use 5 or 6 stands of floss instead of the 4 I used and this would help cover the preprinted lines completely. The cards did bend a bit when I stitched them but once I was done, I put a book on top of them to flatten out.


In my opinion the stationary kit is well worth the money, in the US it's only $14.95. You really get a lot of bang for your buck. It's a project that anyone at any level can do. What better way to say I love you than to give your sweetie a handstitched card with your sugary sweet confessions on the inside. It's like candy for embroiderista.

Wonderful Wednesday!

I had a chance to interview Julie from Sewitsforyou. Her embroidery is so cute and whimsical. Not only is she a talented embroiderer but also one of the sweetest people you will ever meet.



How did you get into embroidery and how long have you been doing it?

I got into embroidery about 3 1/2 years ago when my husband Dan was put in the hospital to get his appendix out, then was released with his appendix still in..lol, and was so sick for about 8 days. I saw an ad for Sublime Stitching on Craftster and ordered a kit for all the time in the hospital and started stitching. I started to do embroidery because I could concentrate on a book and for some reason it seemed to relax me. Husband did need his appendix out just had a bunch of dumb doctors..lol


Tell me a little bit about yourself

My name is Julie, I live in Tarpon Springs Florida with my hubby Dan and we are expecting our first child ( a boy) in September. I grew up in Florida but have lucky enough to do some traveling with work and wound up back home about 5 years ago. I think one of the best periods of time I ever had creatively was going to art school in San Francisco. I met some amazing people and had a blast.


Tell me about your indie business
At first I was just making gifts for friends and family members. I had a lot of friends that were having babies and money was kind of tight so I thought I could make personalized bibs and blankies for them. We also would be invited to people's houses and I didn't want to go empty handed so I would make a set of cocktail napkins and package them really cute.

"Sew It's For You" started out because I had made some really cute Sublime Stitching sushi napkins for a family friend who did something. ( can't remember what it was..lol) and she said, " you should sell your things." So I started to sell to some of my mom's friends in her neighborhood.

My original stuff was sooooooo bad, it makes me laugh now. I used to make copies of the pictures, pin them onto the fabric and stitch through the paper to make items. What a huge pain.

I think a lot pf people even when they see certain things I have created have a hard time believing that I hand embroider and hand sew all my items. I do not know how to sew on a machine and the machine I can use for a bit of hemming is older than I am. Hand embroidery is really a lost art. The reason I love SS so much is that they have so many different patterns and they are edgy and they make it hip. I do love the vintage patterns as well as using artists work to create something for me to wear. I love Maicen ( she is on flickr) and Mitch O'Connell.

I did my first show in the fall of 2007 and did a couple more through 2007 and 2008. I ran my own show in the spring of 2008 and the fall of 2008 and it was a lot of work but so worth it. I am planning on only doing one amazing show this year www.atomicholidaybazaar.com. I did it last year and it was a HUGE success. This year is going to be better so if you are around Florida come stop by!
I am starting a new etsy shop soon with a friend of mine to sell patterns, it is kind of a very long WIP. We have had about5 or 6 series so far posted in my shop. These are pdf patterns created by the lovely Regina of wedgienet.net. I joined etsy in 2006 but didn't start selling until 2007. The name "Sew It's For You" came from my clever dad, even though I do embroidery and not sewing per se.



Any advice for the masses
Practice and find what mediums you like to work with/on. I used to get so frustrated when I would try to work with a material that just didn't looks good embroidered or was hard to work with. Now when I find something I like I buy a ton of it and keep it in my stash so I can make something when I need to and not have to go look and hope to find it.

Plus one thing I am working on still is to not take things so personally in life and with your work. I used to used to get so upset when I would post items on Craftster and they would get 500 views and two comments. I try to take it all in stride. I know I have many repeat customers locally and with a new baby on the way I can make him oodles of stuff ( until he is old enough to complain) and keep buys for a long time.

Network, I have met so many creative and fantastic crafters and artists through craftster, etsy and flickr. I have gotten to be very close with a girl from Craftster over the years and she is the best swap partner EVER. We have been through so much in each others lives and we have never met! She is the one I am opening the pattern shop with. I fell like I have known her forever and it was just through craftster we became friends. These fabulous people I have met inspire me and often I get ideas for the newest projects from what these artists post on their sites. A friend from flickr sent me 4 hand embroidered burp cloths for the baby just because. How sweet is that? I have never met her either so who ever20has enough girlfriends?


What is your website/blog
www.sewitsforyou.etsy.com
www.sewitsforyou.blogspot.com

What is your favorite piece of yours?
hmm this is a hard question. I think my favorites change all of the time. These are a few of my fav's





Who/What are some inspirations for you
Inspirations Who: Jenny Hart, Kittykill*, Dan, Sewsew-a-GoGo*, Maicen*, Wedgienet.net*, Lilyvanilli*, Kunderwood*, Amanda Panda Pants*, Shag, Keith Haring, Derek Yaniger, Mitch O'Connell, Adrien Lucas of Tuff Betty Bags. *'d people are found on flickr and maybe craftster too.

What inspires me: retro designs, kids, old school stuff ( ie Fraggle Rock, Schoolhouse Rock, 80's music), music, Flight of the Conchords, cool fonts, tattoos, fun!

Thanks again Julie! You are wonderful!

New Needlework Challenge on Craftster!

Reuse, Recon, Revamp
June 17th-July 17th
Posting your project July 18th-22nd
Voting July 23nd-28th
Winner Announced July 29th

We all have items laying around the house that we know we can make something out of or stitch something on. Now's your chance to do that and win some prizes! Do you have an old lamp shade that's just dying to be stitched on? What about a dated cross stitch that you found at a thrift store that needs to be updated? Let's see what those creative minds have in store for us!


The Specifics:
Post your craft during the period of July 18th-22nd. No sooner. No later.
Voting will happen from July 23-28th

On July 29th (pacific time) a winner will be announced

Each participant can enter ONE project.

The stitching can be any size and any style of needlework.

It has to be a current piece. It can not be something that you have already made and posted.

At the end, I will set up a poll and the winner will be announced


Prize: To be announced (want to donate? Contact me)