Baby Nursery Sneak Peak

Well, I'm about 3 1/2 weeks away and the nursery is not done...but it's getting there.

It also serves as our guest bedroom.

I thought I would at least give you a sneak peak, just to give you an idea of my color scheme, etc.  My mom is bringing some of the things when she comes - such as crib skirt/sheets and some extra fabric for more bed pillows.  The main colors are yellow and berry - with a touch of turquoise thrown in.

Once it is completed I will give you a full tour - but this will have to do for now!

I made these drapes from a tapestry that I bought at Urban Outfitters.

I'm going to hang these lanterns above the crib.

The guest bed - needs a few more pillows.

This hand work was done my one of my aunts and was hung in my nursery, Charlotte's nursery, and now Lila's.

The Japanese good luck cat - and how cute are those tiny shoes!?!

This chandelier came from the house where Ryan grew up.  

It is hanging above the changing table.

So that's a little taste.

More to come soon!

xoxo

jessica

Chocolate-dipped Macaroon "Granola": gluten and grain free!

I'm always on the hunt for delicious and healthy snack foods.  Especially while I'm pregnant I feel the need/desire to snack.  So while browsing Pinterest, I pinned this delicious granola recipe.  It looks fantastic, but I wanted to make it grain free and add chocolate.  

What's the deal with grain free you may ask?  

Well, our society's diet is dominated by grains.  

Wheat is a huge part of that, but also oats, rice, cornmeal, barley, etc.

It's not that all grains are bad, but we don't need nearly as many as we usually eat.
Another name for a grain free diet is the Paleo diet.  You may or may not have heard of that.  Well, we don't eat that way all the time, but it has a lot of good principles.

Anyway, so that's what makes this snack great.  It's grain free - packed with protein, good fats, and antioxidants.

Plus it's just delicious.

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin seeds

3/4 cup of almonds

3/4 cup of walnuts

1/4 cup of ground flaxseed

1 1/2 - 2 cups of shredded coconut

1/2 t. coconut extract

1/2 t. vanilla extract

 1/2 c. coconut oil

1/4 c. butter

6 oz dark chocolate

*Preheat oven to 350

*Place nuts and pumpkin seeds on a cutting board and chop them roughly (you could also use a food processor, just don't grind them too finely)

*Put the nuts in a bowl and add the ground flaxseed and coconut

*melt the coconut oil and butter in a dish, then add the extracts

*pour the oil mixture over the nut mixture and mix well

*spread in an even layer on a rimmed cookie sheet (line with tin foil for easy clean up!)

*bake for about 10 minutes or until everything is toasty and your kitchen smells like heaven

*melt the chocolate in the microwave (go by 30 sec. increments so you won't burn it)

*drizzle the melted chocolate over the toasted granola

*stick it in the frig (or freezer!) until the chocolate has hardened

*break up the granola and store in an airtight container

*enjoy!!!

xoxo

jessica

*Giveaway Winner!!*

I wanted to thank everybody for your sweet comments about my blog - they were very encouraging!  And now the winner of this sweet little fabric:

Kat @ KaydeeBunz

Congrats Kat!!!  Send me an email containing your mailing address and I'll get your fabric in the mail!

jessica(at)sewhomegrown(dot)com

Today I'm busy creating a recipe - if it works out, I'll share tomorrow ;)

have a great day everybody

xoxo

jessica

{DIY} Chocolate Hearts : Valentine's Day in Japan

Well in Japan, Valentine's Day is entirely the responsibility of the women.  

and they must give chocolate.

  

to every man they know.

 

(can you guess who invented this rule?)

The better the quality of chocolate, the more important you are to them.  

They give chocolate to coworkers, friends, boyfriend, dad, uncle, etc. etc.

  

but don't worry.  

 The Japanese women were not to be fooled.

They created another holiday, exactly a month later called White Day.

  

and this is the day the women get paid back.

  

supposedly the men who received chocolate from them must give them something  

3x the worth of the chocolate they received. 

hmmm...really makes you think about your chocolate purchase.

It was originally supposed to be a white gift such as cookies, jewelry, white lingerie, or marshmallows (? you'd have to be given some pretty awful chocolate if marshmallows are worth 3x...) 

If you have a special love of your life, the best way to show you love them is to make them a chocolate confection.  So Charlotte and I decided to do just that for Daddy.  It was really very easy and Charlotte had a fun time.  Here's what you'd need to make your own.  

You still have time, it takes about 15 minutes.

melting chocolates (easily found at Michaels in the States)

small candy tins

sugar decorations/sprinkles

Simply melt the chocolate in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, until it's nice and smooth.  Use a spoon and spoon it into the tins.  Place the decorations on top, then put in the freezer to set until hard.  It might also be fun to experiment with something in the chocolate like peanut butter, dried fruit, marshmallows, or nuts.  Easy peasy and a great Valentine activity for those little hands.

Happy Valentine's Day!

(I can say that because it's already Tuesday here ;)

xoxo

jessica

p.s. don't forget to enter the giveaway!

A sweet giveaway for you!!!

I know I am long overdue for a giveaway here!

I really appreciate you reading this blog, and all your lovely comments, and giveaways are one way we bloggers like to say thanks!  So today I have a special giveaway - 

2 Liberty of London fabrics that are printed only for Japan and 2 rolls of washi tape!!

In 2010 Liberty of London printed a special Hello Kitty fabric for Japan - isn't she adorable?!?

I selected a coordinating Liberty of London to go with it.

These aren't quite fat quarters, because they do everything in meters here, but the measurements are 15"x21".  So here's what I've been thinking about.  I have less time to blog right now(between pregnancy and then arrival of baby), so I want to be sure that my posts are tailored to what you want to read.  

So to enter to win these fabrics please 

• leave a comment telling me which is your favorite thing to read about on Sew Homegrown (of course you can also give your own suggestion that is not on this list). 

                               *clothing sewing projects      *recipes      *things about Japan 
    
                        *knock-off DIY's          *home decor sewing projects        *kids crafts

• for a second entry, become a follower of Sew Homegrown (if you are already a follower, let me know in a second comment).

Hopefully this will help me write about the things you want to read about :)  

This giveaway will be open from now until Friday February 17th at midnight.

Good luck!

How Bazaar, how bazaar...

So a couple of times a year, the naval base hosts bazaars where vendors from the community can come in and sell their wares.  They had one a few weeks ago to benefit the high school on base, and as we were in desperate need of some furniture we went shopping!  

We walked into the the high school gym and were bombarded by gorgeous sights everywhere we looked.  Beautiful hand painted furniture, gorgeous scarves, hand thrown pottery.  We went on Saturday, but didn't buy anything as the prices were pretty hefty.  

But Sunday we went back and everything was half off!!

So yeah, we bought some stuff - wanna see?

Our first purchase was for our bedroom - it's a hand painted dresser in the Tibetan style.

I just need to get a mirror to sit on top of it.

Second purchase - also for our bedroom.  We brought no bedroom furniture, so we've had things laying around in boxes.  It's kinda been driving us crazy.  So we bought this bright and cheery dresser.

Then Ryan spied these sweet little Japanese quilts - so we bought one for baby girl.

I love how she did the hand quilting around the appliqued girls.

We also weren't able to move the quilt ladder, so after the bazaar we headed to a Japanese recycle shop - their version of a thrift store.  We bought this little thing - I'm not exactly sure what it's supposed to be used for, but we thought it would make the perfect quilt rack.

It's in our living room...which is starting to come together.

We also bought that media stand at the recycle shop.

In other Japanese news, Charlotte and I went to a Mochi Pounding ceremony last Saturday while Ryan went on a snowboarding trip.  The Japan-American society came on base and put it on.  They dressed us up in Kimonos and we went to a tea ceremony - it was really fun, although we weren't really fans of the mochi itself.

All of the Japanese ladies said Charlotte was super "kawaii" (cute), and I must agree :)

....and...

I finally have a giveaway for you coming on Monday involving some fun Japanese fabric and goodies!!!  YAY!!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

xoxo

jessica

Spinning Stars Baby Quilt Finished!

Well the evenings these days leave me pretty tired, but I still like to do something a little productive.  

So, I've been snuggled up on the couch, draped in this gorgeous flannel by Anna Maria Horner, as I hand quilt this little beauty for baby girl.

 

It's a small quilt, but full of color and super soft and cozy.

I used this free pattern from AMH's site, but I reduced the pattern (I think by 33%) to make it smaller.

I quilted it using the AMH line of pearl cotton thread - color #98.  

I love hand quilting using the larger stitches.  

The process goes faster and it adds some really nice detail.  

I didn't put any batting in this little quilt because the front and back are both flannel, and I didn't think it needed anything for added warmth.

 

I highly recommend using this flannel to make something - it is a treat to work with.

Now it's just waiting for a little girl to snuggle!

xoxo

jessica