gotta love fall baking!

I'm sitting here, stuffing my face with hot apple pie & vanilla ice cream.

But, this isn't just any apple pie, this is sour cream apple pie & it's divine.

Last Friday, the hubs, the toddler & I headed out to a nearby apple orchard to pick us some apples. Basically the only ones in season were the VERY TART apples (so sour our eyes watered, I never knew there was such an apple).

So when life gives you sour apples, you make sour cream apple pie.I'm not sure why I decided to make this right after lunch, but I'm afraid it might be gone before the hubs gets home. Oh & might I add that this was my very first homemade fruit pie & it was a piece of cake, or pie! I was surprised how easy it was!
Sour Cream Apple Pie
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg
3 1/2 cups diced/sliced apples (about 2 lg apples).

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter

Beat together sour cream, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and egg. Add fresh diced/sliced apples & pour into 9" unbaked pie shell. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Removed and sprinkle with well mixed topping mixture. Bake an additional 20 minutes.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream

a simple reupholstering tutorial

A gal I know asked me to recover two chairs for her.
It was a simple project & I love the results.

Here's how easy it is, with photos!

First I took out all the old staples & pulled off two layers of old fabric & old foam. Next, I fixed up the webbing (the middle, off white part, it's stretchy-very expensive). These were quite old chairs.
Then I took my 2 in thick foam & traced my wooden seat with a sharpie. I also went around the sharpie marking (free hand, again with sharpie) about a 1/2" from it, where I wanted to actually cut it.

Well, I'm not quite sure of the best way to cut the foam...but the hubs always has good ideas & his was to use our electric knife & it worked like a charm!!!
After cutting it out, I cut the edge on the top of the foam, to give it a slanted edge so it wasn't so square.

I cut out the cute fabric & made sure it was a perfect fit.
And stapled the first side on. It's easiest if you staple the BACK of the chair first. That way you can pull the fabric really tight on the front, to give it the rounded look. If you're using a manual staple gun (like me), you've gotta put all your weight on it to get those staples to go in real deep.

So, staple the back first, then the front. Always start stapling in the middle of each side & work your way out towards the corners. Next do each side & then on to the tricky corners...

You pretty much just need to play with the corners until you get them to lay correctly. You might have to cut some extra fabric off, but start small, you don't want to accidentally cut too much off. You want just one big fold in the corners. Then staple, staple, staple! To hold it all in really well.
Make sure to always be pulling tight! And be sure to keep an eye on the pattern of your fabric, if there are lines or circles (like this one) you want it to all lay correctly, so it looks symmetrical.

Notice the circles along the front, how they line up. That's what I mean.

Sorry, not the best pictures, but you get the idea.

Now, grab an old chair & recover!!!
If you have any left over foam, egg carton pads or anything of that sort use it! Foam isn't cheap. If you buy it, at least use the 40% off coupon in the JoAnn's add!

believe it or not

Believe it or not, but we had to take another trip home over the last week for yet another funeral.
The past few months haven't been the easiest back at home. Sorry for the lack of blogging! I have several things on my mind & just need to get around to posting them, which I will be doing in the next few days. Check back soon.

I swear I'm doing something!

Life has been INSANE around here lately!
With school starting up again, traveling & the holiday weekend, it's been hard to find time to blog.
But no worries! I am working on something at the moment.

First of all, I am working on recovering these for a friend. I'll post a "how-to" as soon as I am finished, they should be super easy.
Over Labor day weekend, I hit up some garage sales & found a few great things. The winner of them all are these bowls, which I LOVE!

They were in their original box with a tag that said $48.00 & guess how much I paid? Three dollars. Love that. The colors are perfect for Fall. Maybe we'll have some warm chili, hot soup or a fruity dessert? Can't wait to use those!

Other things I am starting (or trying to finish):

• Refurbishing a table (still trying to decide what to do with it).
• Painting a coat rack-can't get enough.
• Sewing a Trick-or-Treat bag for my not-so-baby-anymore boy.
• Thinking of making a Halloween costume for the boy, but debating if I should just use one I already have??
• Starting to sew a darn cute table runner for Christmas
• Starting to make some cute Christmas tree ornaments that are kid friendly!
  It's never to early to prepare for the holidays is it?