GF Brownies and Kaleidescope Hot Pads

Pictured are the gluten free brownies I made for New Years. Yum! I did put in some m&ms and it was delicious! Thank you Grant and Juri.

I purchased a Kaleidescope Ruler so that I could could make some Kaleidescope hot pads. I learned how to make these some time ago, but never made them because I needed that special ruler. I tried to make some without the ruler and they turned out horrible. I looked for them so that I could take a picture of them, but I couldn't find them. Pictured are the ones I made last year.

More Grocery Bags and Gluten Free Goodies

Here are two more grocery bags. The green aloha print one was my test bag. I used the Burda Style "Charlie Bag" pattern, but lined it. I tried to make the little pouch to fold it up in, but it was too small, so I didn't attach it. Then I decided to use the pocket from the Singlet pattern I used before. That worked, but I think I need to make it a little wider. The light floral print bag is made with the same fabric as the other bag only with a different color lining.

The last picture is of the yummy gluten free food I got for Christmas from my brother and his wife, with the exception of the M&Ms. I got the m&ms from my mom. Pamela's mixes are wonderful! We're having gluten free brownies for New Years! I've already eaten an energy bar and most of the shortbread cookies. I'm also halfway through the Cherry Brownie. All these goodies aren't going to last very long. Thanks Grant and Juri!

Now to get ready for the New Year celebration...hope all is going well with you.

Christmas gifts and island wide blackout

Well, we had another island wide power outage. We were having thunder storms. Then the power went out. Hawaiian Electric still doesn't know exactly what caused the outage. The whole island went down last night at around 6:30 pm. We got back our power at about 12 noon today. That meant that we were without power for about 18 hours! There are still people who don't have power! (It's about 24 hours now.) We ended up tossing some food from our refrigerator. Luckily, I had purchased a butane burner a few years ago. This was only the second time we used it. The last time was when a large earthquake rocked the big island two years ago. The weather forecast is for more thunder and lightening storms for the rest of this weekend. I hope the power stays on.

Now for a few of the gifts I made for Christmas. I made a sewing machine cover for my mother, that I forgot to take a picture of. It was green on the outside with salmon colored lining and salmon colored piping.

Anyway, pictured is the fleece scarf and hat I made for my no. 1 daughter in her favorite color. She loved it. I was surprised that it was so easy. She is attending college in Oregon and got delayed in Portland because of the snow storm! She had to spend the night at the airport with some other students from Hawaii. So much excitement!

Hope your day is going well with no power outages!

Grocery Bag and gift wrapping

Merry Christmas everyone, one of my co-workers is retiring at the end of the month. On her last day of work (school), we had a little get together with her and I made her a grocery bag. I don't know if you can see it, but on the side with the floral print, there is a pocket. The bag can be folded up and put in the pocket. I also made one with a pink dotted lining. I haven't taken a picture of it yet. When I do, I will post it.

I also made some reusable fabric bags. They kind of looked like mini santa bags. They were a hit! I hope to make more for next year.

Giveaways and A fabric envelope

I just got done going through the long list of giveaways at Sew Mama Sew. It took me two days. By the time I got to some of them they were closed and had already picked winners. Oh well, maybe next time.

I haven't really posted anything because I am sewing gifts for Christmas. I will post them after Christmas.

I am able to post about my attempt at being green. I made a reusable fabric envelope and put my SIL's birthday present in it. She has already received and opened it so it is safe to post about it now. This was my first attempt at making a reusable gift wrap. I made it too big. I found a pattern and instructions for an envelope pillow and adapted that to make this gift envelope. I am debating whether to make another smaller one or even make more to be used for Christmas or maybe I'd better make something a little simpler.
I'd better decide quickly or I'll run out of time!

Okinawan Sweet Potato and A Rummage Sale Find

An Okinawan sweet potato I bought from the market sprouted, so I decided to let it grow. As you can see I stuck toothpicks in it and stuck it in a jar of water. It grew like crazy. Within a week I had to look for a pot to put it in.

I went to Koolau Farmers to get a pot and some soil. I ran into an old friend who used to grow sweet potoatoes and they told me how to do it, which was good because I had no idea how to do it. They told me what size pot to get and when to transplant.

As you can see, they told me to put the potato in a small gallon sized pot. Here is what they told me. When the vines grow about a foot in length, cut the slips (vines) and transplant them into another larger pot. So, I said okay.

About a week later, there were two slips (vines) that were about a foot in length. I went back to Koolau Farmers to buy another larger pot and more potting soil. This time when I went there one of the clerks told me what to do. He said I needed to mix some chips with the soil so that I wouldn't lose any of my potatoes. It just so happened that the mix and chips were on sale. :) The sales person loaded it into my car for me and off I went.

I told my DH about what the sales person said and he helped me the next day to pot the slips. There was no way I could have done it myself because those bags of soil and chips were super heavy.

I just checked my potato today and it looks like I need to get another large pot to pot more slips. The Ag teacher at school said sweet potatoes grow like weeds! What have I gotten myself into?!


I went to a rummage and craft sale in Manoa a few weeks ago. To my surprise they had fabric remants on sale at the rummage sale. I picked up these three pieces of fabric for a total of three dollars. Since then, I've been trying to look for some garage sales that might have fabric on sale. I think the purple and silver one might make a nice bag, but I don't know, I may change my mind on that one.

A Fundraiser and a Rag Rug

We were invited to a fund raiser at Key Project in Kahaluu. Apparently they have it every year. Many of the businesses donate things for their silent auction. They had lots of art, wine, overnight stays at hotels and even ukuleles!

They opened the evening with the lions and fireworks. The green and red lions looked like Christmas. They had local entertainment which consisted of Jerry Santos and Olomana and a halau.

Our dinner was served in the lauhala basket and the center pieces consisted of a taro plant and some local fruit. I don't remember which fruits were in the husk.

Since our closet is overflowing with rags, I decided to make some t-shirt yarn. I followed the instructions in the tutorial on Polka Dot Pineapple's blog. I think I overdid it though because my hand got sore. I even tried using my rotary cutter. That's when I found out how dull it was! I have since bought a replacement blade. I haven't replaced it yet, but I will.

I am using the yarn to make a braided rag rug. It's giving me a bit of trouble because I can't get it to lie flat. I was hand-stitching the braids together, but I gave up and started to zigzag it together using my sewing machine. Now I have gaps between the braids where the machine didn't catch. I am deciding if I need to go back over it by hand or try again with the machine and a wider zigzag stitch.

I was trying to make it an oval rug, but it looks round. I also mistakenly used three different colors so that it looks like Christmas. Oh well, it will be Christmas all year round once I get it finished.